My Children Swarm the Cosmos – Chapter 16

𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐤 (1)

October 11th, night of the day Bythos raided on Kreion.

The lights of Kreion’s mansion went off, and there was a single passenger car with its engine off on the road near the mansion.

The man in the driver’s seat of the passenger car was biting his nails, looking anxious.

‘𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵? 𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬. . . . .’

He was Bythos’ secretary. Bythos told him that there were many information leaks and that the easiest target to deal with right now was Kreion.

It’s been about 20 minutes since Bythos, who was boasting like that, entered the mansion with the lights off.

‘𝘖𝘩, 𝘮𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥. . . .’

Suddenly, the lights in the mansion came on.

Bythos’ network interference was cut off. In that case, it means that the ambush inside is over, but if the blackout lasted for more than 20 minutes, the aftermath would be difficult.

‘𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵?’

The lights are on, but Bythos doesn’t come out. He waited, still hoping, but Bythos, who had entered the mansion, did not come out for 10 minutes after the lights came on.

If it was none other than Bythos’ secretary, he had no choice but to understand the situation.

‘. . . .𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵.’

With the career he had built up so far, he could have gotten a better secretary job. Nevertheless, he chose to enter the Darwin Foundation and willingly participate in the chimeraz project. He could have quit being Bythos’ secretary in the meantime, but he didn’t. This is because Bythos’ hacking skills, which he showed in that preliminary selection, were extraordinary.

An army of artificial humans that moved under Bythos’ control. They annihilated other competing subjects from the start of the preliminary selection.

The overwhelming ability that overwhelmed the competing subjects at that time gave the secretary ambition. He dreamed of Bythos becoming the ruler of chimeraz, working at the Darwin Foundation, playing an active role on the battlefield, and a bright future as a secretary of such an outstanding bioweapon.

That dream was shattered to pieces just now.

‘𝘉𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴. . . . 𝘔𝘺 𝘉𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴. . . .’

The bioweapon he had been caring for was attacked by another secretary’s bioweapon. Even to Kreion, who was born a few months later than Bythos, a 5th batch subject who seemed to lack special abilities and personal combat power.

In a word, it was all Kreion’s fault.

It’s all Kreion’s fault.

“You son of a b*tch. . . .!”

Just imagining Kreion becoming the real ruler and living a happy life makes him want to turn his stomach.

“Hello? Yes. I have something very strange to report.”

Unable to contain his anger, he ended up reporting Bythos’ disappearance to the police. Bythos, who was headed to Kreion’s mansion, is gone.

In response, the police station in charge of the area investigated Bythos’ disappearance with suspicion. It was true that a suspicious record was found that only the security devices in the mansion and near the mansion were not working at all.

Kreion was identified as a strong suspect from the time of the report, and Haber, Kreion’s legal guardian, received a call from the police while driving to work at the mansion the next day.

“Yes, that’s right. Kreion was alone at home yesterday. No. No one said they were visiting. So, who is Bythos?”

Haber responded skillfully.

“I’m hearing this for the first time. Oh, my, he was an employee of an information security company. . . . So, you’re investigating like this. . . . Oh, yes. Of course. He’s still a minor.”

“I see. First of all, I’ll ask Young Master. He would never lie to me. . . . Yes. He’s under my care because he left his parents early.”

Haber arrived at Kreion’s mansion and parked the car.

“Ah, his parents are busy with business and are not in the Nemea star country. Both of them. Yes, I will cooperate as much as I can. . . . I understand.”

October 12, 8:02 AM. Haber finished his conversation with the police and entered the mansion.

Kreion was expressionless as usual, as if nothing had happened.

“You’re two minutes late today. Haber.”

“I’m sorry. I had something urgent to do.”

“I’m not going to complain. You don’t have to apologize.”

“Yes. Young Master. Haha. . . . Did anything happen last night?”

“I was just about to tell you that.”

“. . . .Did something happen?”

“Bythos came to kill me. He caused a blackout only in this mansion and turned off all the eyes of human society. Then he broke the window and came in and sprayed a virus on me.”

Kreion gestures to an empty room on the first floor.

“I was looking at the hologram map in that room when the battle started. Bythos must have noticed that I interpreted the virus during the battle, so he attacked me with physical force. Because of that, a crack formed in the floor, and the digestive fluid of Puker, which I had hidden in my blood, flowed down the crack and collapsed the floor.”

“Didn’t you say that Young Master’s experimental subjects are in the basement?”

“That’s why Ludwig ended up killing Bythos. . . . If the guy hadn’t shown excessive force in stepping on my tentacles, things wouldn’t have turned out that way.”

“Then. . . . Are you saying that it was Bythos’ fault that he fell into the basement during the battle? Because Bythos was the one who caused the crack in the floor in the first place. . . .?”

“Yes.”

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

A shrine-like room finished with white marble.

In the open garden, genetically engineered fruit trees are ripe and fresh.

A gravel path winds its way between the spreading fruit trees and flowers. A man in his 50s, dressed in an ocher-colored toga, is pressing the wireless earpiece on his right ear with one hand.

“That lousy secretary played dirty?”

━𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟.

The head of the Darwin Foundation, Francis Darwin, is on the phone with Haber. He heard from Haber about what happened last night.

“If the subject was dead, he would have reported it quickly and left the project, but it seems like a humanoid being swayed by personal feelings.”

━𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞.

“Of course. All those primitive subjects are manure for our Kreion’s growth. I can’t just leave them alone because I’m annoyed.”

━𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭.

“Mr. Haber does his job so well that I have to do it myself. So let’s keep it that way. So that Kreion can grow up to be a good soldier. Do you understand?”

━𝐘𝐞𝐬. 𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞.

Darwin hangs up the phone and immediately takes out his cell phone and turns on the screen. The cell phone, which recognizes the movement of the eyeball, scrolls the screen and opens the contact list.

“Let’s see. . . . Should I start with this person first. . .?”

He picks one of the contacts and makes a call. And he turns his head back slightly.

A small humanoid wearing a suit and a bow tie is standing with a teacup.

“Hey, what’s that, the electronic warfare specialization that Kreion ate?”

“Networking specialization. Zeul Pin Bythos.”

“Yeah, Bythos’ secretary, right?”

The small humanoid responds in a mechanical boy’s voice.

“Search results. He’s on the list of defeated ones.”

“That secretary is a guy who doesn’t even know the basics of a confidentiality agreement. He’s probably still in Nemea, according to the spaceport schedule.”

“Do you want to give an order?”

“Tell them to dispose of that secretary guy today.”

“I will convey it. Would you like to send a worker?”

“We can’t send a monster, can we?”

“Understood.”

Just then, the person who received Darwin’s call accepted the call.

“Oh, Center Director! I’ll close it. Hahahaha. Were you waiting? The situation I told you about the other day has finally exploded. That’s right. A humanoid ape is pooping on a precious project.”

He leisurely puts the teacup the humanoid was holding to his lips.

“. . . .Hmm. Yes, that’s right. I’d appreciate it if you could come out right now. This is not an ordinary thing for me. It’s a very, very important task. . . .”

The humanoid takes his teacup again.

“That’s right. This is such an important issue, and yet they’re clouding the water like that. So I got a little mad. The chief of police in that area is like that, and his work is too inflexible. . . . Yes. Then I’ll be in your care this time, Center Director. Hahahaha.”

That day, an angry voice rang out at a police station somewhere.

“How many urgent cases have been filed before this?!”

“But the cause-unknown blackout and the sour smell. . . . If you search the house right now. . . .”

“Do we have any grounds to break into that house?”

“That’s why we’re investigating for now. The rest of the evidence is a warrant through the investigation of the surrounding area and the undercover investigation. . . .”

“Undercover, undercover, you little brats! Do the work that’s been piling up, please! Oh, my God, I’m going crazy.”

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

“What are you filling up? Are you crazy?”

The police officer in the interrogation room froze as he was about to say something. This is because the chief of police appeared behind the Coelacanth representative. The chief of police seemed to have run in a hurry, his hair disheveled and his sweat dripping.

“I got a call from a police station early in the morning. . . . Chief. Is this the right procedure to keep him locked up like this and interrogate him without a guardian?”

“Oh, my. . . . It seems like we made a big mistake. Haha. . . .”

Kreion observes the two of them closely.

‘𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦?. . . 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦?’

Then, the Coelacanth representative came into the interrogation room and put his hand on one of Kreion’s shoulders.

“You’re making this kid suffer all alone when he came from another country. . . . No, is it okay to arrest our new employee without a word? At least I should have talked to Mr. Haber first. Right?”

“C-Chief. . . . I heard there was a report. Bythos, who disappeared, went to Kreion’s house yesterday. . . .”

𝘉𝘈𝘔!

The chief of police, who had come running, slapped the policeman on the cheek.

The policeman was shocked to find that he had been hit and lost his words with his mouth slightly open.

“I’ve heard that story too. That Kreion is suspected of something.”

“. . . . . . .”

“So, are you saying that this kid is a murderer now? A crazy guy just mentioned the word suspect without thinking.”

“. . . . . . .”

“The police are ignoring all procedures and arresting him first? Interrogating him first? Are you crazy about your performance? Since when has it become our duty to catch more than other departments?”

The chief of police reaches out and closes the door of the interrogation room tightly.

“But I’ve never seen a case where a group of people are collectively delusional and lock up an 18-year-old who has no evidence of any crime and treat him like a criminal.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Then let me ask you. Did you check what happened yourself?”

“No, I didn’t. . . .”

“Why are you holding onto the kid as if you know everything, even though the guardian hasn’t arrived yet? And he’s such a sincere and well-mannered kid.”

From the chief’s remarks just now, Kreion speculates.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦. . . . 𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.’

“. . . .I’m sorry.”

“Don’t tell me. Apologize sincerely to this friend who has been deeply hurt, as an adult.”

In the end, the policeman had no choice but to bow his head and apologize to Kreion.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

There was a bit of a commotion today, but it was resolved with the intervention of the center director of the security center that manages the entire Argos region.

The chief of police I saw in the interrogation room earlier was the chief of police of that police station, and there is a superior organization called the security center above him. The center director for short.

When I asked Haber about it, the answer was not much different from what I had expected.

“I pulled some strings and used my hand. Haha. I heard that Damian also used the power of his organization, which has connections with the police, to put Young Master in trouble. So this is self-defense.”

Haber used some kind of system in human society to exert power on the upper line. I think it was possible because the Darwin Foundation’s huge shadow was behind Haber.

And the representative of Coelacanth was unusually kind to me. He must also have some kind of connection with the Darwin Foundation through Haber.

I guess this is what they call collusion, but it’s good for me. Life in human society and work at the company should be easier.

And the hole in the room with the computer was fixed by the humanoid engineers while I was at the company.

Apparently, the technicians worked together to fix the hole in the floor when they recovered the bio-tissue of Bythos that had blocked the broken window, which I had removed in advance.

As soon as I got home, I went down to the basement.

“Master. . . . This is no fun. . . .”

A hologram projector was placed in the corner of the basement. And next to the projector were piled tens of thousands of human war movies and electronic books of Nemea Commonwealth field manuals.

I thought about putting those e-books in a small storage device, but since Ludwig would find it difficult to operate, I stacked them up as e-books so that they would be easy to touch.

“You need more learning to do your job well.”

Ludwig drooped the tentacles of his snout and played the next war movie.

“I don’t like the emphasis on the horrors of war and camaraderie. . . .”

“Why is that?”

“Human war movies are all. . . . It’s like they’re saying that war is a bad thing. . . . War is something that is absolutely necessary for the activities of the race. . . .”

Ludwig squints his vertically slit eyes. This child is feeling tired and bored for the first time since he was born.

“But the reasons why humans start wars are really petty. . . .”

“For example, what are some of the reasons? The reasons why human wars are petty.”

I have to teach Ludwig to be a good adjutant.

“If resources are scarce, instead of taking away from each other, everyone should join forces to find new resources. . . . And if you calculate it, the resources in this universe or on the old Earth were not that scarce. . . .”

“There are abundant resources in the universe. The resources of the old Earth were so abundant that they could be considered abnormal.”

“War is the activity that consumes the most resources. . . . But it’s really. . . . the height of ignorance to wage war because of a shortage of resources. . . .”

“There must be other reasons besides resources. There have been cases where wars were fought to reduce the population or to strengthen external national power.”

“Even those problems can be solved sufficiently if we join forces. . . . I can’t understand why they divide their own people into groups called ‘countries’ and kill each other and burn resources. . . .”

“Are you saying that all members of the same race should beallies?”

“Wouldn’t the real enemy be a different race in the long run. . .?”

Ludwig’s way of thinking is pure chimeraz itself.

“. . . .Still, that is something that can be overlooked considering the ignorance of humans at that time. . . . However, there were many cases where wars were fought between members of the same race due to beliefs in imaginary beings that did not exist in this universe. . . .”

“It is said that such beliefs are necessary for a group of humans to unite. But there is another group of humans who deny that belief, so they are eliminated by force.”

Humanity has fought wars for all sorts of reasons: food, resources, territory, beliefs, politics, and arrogance.

“I think the human race itself is inefficiently designed. . . .”

“That race now dominates our galaxy. The human civilization is evaluated as a superpower among the alien races of other galaxies.”

“That’s because humans were born much faster than other intelligent life forms. . . .”

“Are you saying that humans were lucky to be born when they were?”

“The solar system and the Earth are still incredibly lucky cases. . . . . . .”

“There are infinite possibilities in this vast universe. Such cases are not impossible.”

“Yes. . . . But surely, after thousands or tens of thousands of years, humans will become extinct. . . . By that time, the advantage of being a first-born ancestral race will no longer be meaningful. . . .”

“That’s not the story for now.”

“Yes. . . .”

“You know what kind of relationship we should have with humans, right?”

“The words of the person who is the mother of the master are valid. . . . I don’t know about later. . . . For now, it’s better to be as friendly as possible with humans. . . .”

“Always make sure your subjectivity is clear. Keep in mind that judgment is variable depending on the situation.”

“I understand. . . . Master. . . .”

As I said that, I handed Ludwig something I had hidden under the skin of the back of my hand. Then Ludwig reaches out a slender tentacle to the back of my hand.

“What is this. . .?”

“I picked it up on the street.”

A single strand of black hair.

I picked it up from the bustling city earlier.

“Is it human hair. . .?”

“No. It’s Aria’s hair.”

Ludwig brought the hair in front of his reptile-like eyes.

“Analyze Aria’s DNA with this.”

She is an opponent who cannot be defeated by any conceivable, conventional method.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

The next morning.

“Take care. Young Master.”

I get out of the car and head to the company. Every day, office workers who go to work go into the company alone or in groups.

And here it comes.

Aria was waiting in front of the company.

‘𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘦?’

━𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺. 𝘈𝘳𝘪𝘢.’

Now I get it.

It means that she wants to kill me now because the deterrence doesn’t work. I am convinced that Aria and Damian cooperated in that deterrence, using Bythos’ death.

━𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐫.

Aria’s command wave sweeps through my head. Then, my body tries to move the material inside my body to transform, regardless of my will.

This is downtown during rush hour.

There are many eyes watching around.

If I am forced to transform here, I will expose my identity to human society without any excuse.

Then I will violate the rules of the coming-of-age ceremony and be disposed of by the foundation.

━𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?

‘𝘕𝘰.’

Things will not go her way.

━. . . .𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐨. 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧?

I won’t think about it. What I prepared.

━𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧.

‘𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯.’

━𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠.

━𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞.

Her wave seemed to have crept into my head.

━𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫.

I think indirectly and opaquely. You can’t think of it specifically. You have to rely on instinct and what your body remembers. My head is no longer entirely mine.

━𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞.

━𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝.

From now on, the fight I will have with Aria may be similar to the cyber warfare of humans.