“I'll buy every drug you have. So bring me everything.”
“A-all of it?”
For a brief moment, Viper was stunned by a request unlike anything he had ever heard.
But he quickly regained his composure and looked at the madman before him through the mask.
“All of it? You already know how much my Drug Cocktails are worth, and you're still saying that?”
He had already abandoned the old-fashioned speech pattern he had used for the sake of his false identity.
But no one present cared anymore.
The moment Volk realized he was Viper, he had recognized his true self.
As for Jin Crow, whether he was an old man, a young boy, or a hermaphrodite was irrelevant.
The only thing that mattered was the stimulant.
“Of course, I won't be able to buy everything. What I want are items comparable to the vitality tonic you sold me before.”
“...Good grief.”
Hearing that, Viper almost retorted, 'Do you think something of that caliber is easy to make?'
But at the same time, his mind began calculating at breakneck speed.
Of course, they were difficult to produce.
But did that mean he had none in stock?
If they had really been that precious, would he have sold one in the first place?
'I'm starting to run low on operating funds anyway....'
Viper glanced sideways at Volk.
Since these were products he personally manufactured and sold, headquarters was unlikely to complain.
Still, it was best not to stir up unnecessary trouble.
In that regard, Volk wasn't a concern.
He behaved less like a wolf and more like an immature Chihuahua.
Even so, he kept his mouth firmly shut when it mattered.
“Hah. Volk, step outside for a minute.”
In the end, Viper nodded at Jin Crow's request and sent Volk outside.
Once they were alone inside the pharmacy, he finally spoke.
“I don't have anything exactly the same. That's my principle.”
Jin Crow silently nodded.
That much was acceptable.
It wasn't as though Viper was uniquely eccentric.
Unlike mass-produced brand products like Pentacle, skilled Drug Bartenders all possessed something resembling pride.
Or perhaps stubborn artistic conviction.
'Which is exactly why he ran a business under that ridiculous brand name, Hansarang.'
Jin Crow swallowed the remark that almost escaped him before speaking.
“So, the goods?”
“Here.”
At this point, there was no reason for Viper to hold back any longer.
The moment he had sent Volk outside, the deal had already been finalized.
So, with an annoyed expression, he handed over the familiar bottle of black pills he had sold Jin Crow before, along with a small rectangular paper box.
“And this?”
Already knowing what the black pills were, Jin Crow looked at the ordinary medicine box.
Viper answered.
“Pain relief patches. If you don't want them, don't buy them.”
“And the effects?”
“Nothing all that special.”
Despite saying that, Viper proudly puffed on his pipe beneath his mask.
Then he sank into an armchair sturdy enough not to budge even during an earthquake before continuing.
“They're pain relief patches that'll let you endure up to four times your recommended daily dosage. You'll build tolerance eventually, but that'd only happen if you're stuffing drugs into yourself like they're beer measured in cubic centimeters.... Both together, one billion. Paid in full. So?”
At that very moment, a sharp gasp echoed from outside.
Naturally.
Even Viper himself was secretly wondering whether he'd priced them too high, nervously puffing on his electronic smoking pipe.
If he felt that way, how much worse would it be for Volk?
To put the value of one billion into perspective—
Depending on whether the currency was Human Composite State dollars (USD), Credits, or Imperial Francs (EF), the value varied.
However, the average meal for an ordinary citizen in any of those nations usually cost less than twenty dollars.
Taking that into account, even Viper had intended to lower the price somewhat if necessary.
Of course, before that—
The insult to his naming sense absolutely deserved an apology.
'I charged him three hundred million last time. Even if I knock it down to seven hundred million, that'll be fine.'
Even after giving that discount, he would be free from financial worries for nearly a year.
Suppressing the corners of his mouth that kept trying to curl upward, Viper looked at Jin Crow, who stared back with his usual heavy-lidded gaze, and spoke.
“Well, I suppose that's a lot of money for one person to carry around. Fine, I'll be generous. If you handwrite an apology admitting you insulted the name of Hansarang Pharmacy, then I'll gladly—”
“Is that all?”
“Huh?”
For a moment, Viper doubted his own ears.
“Well, I suppose I'll have to settle for this. I worried for nothing.”
Meanwhile, Jin Crow merely clicked his tongue in disappointment before casually tapping his watch.
Ding.
“U-uh?”
At the notification, Viper lowered his gaze with stiff movements.
The moment he saw the transferred amount, the electronic smoking pipe fell straight from his mouth.
[1,000,000,000 USD]
“...You paid one billion dollars in cash just to buy stimulants? Are you insane?”
“H-he actually paid? Seriously?”
Volk rushed inside and checked the account himself.
Meanwhile, beneath his mask, Viper simply stared blankly at Jin Crow, who calmly packed the pills and patches into the bag he had brought.
At that moment, Jin Crow ignored the dumbfounded pair as he checked the latest message from Tita Zenorua.
Clicking his tongue, he immediately opened one of the patches and stuck it to the back of his neck before muttering,
“...At this point, I don't even know what's going on anymore. Tch.”
The message reported that Mer Corporation headquarters had collapsed.
And that the Queen had built her nest there.
When Stero Mer opened his eyes, he found himself inside a damp, pitch-black space.
The instant he regained consciousness, he remembered where he had been shoved.
He twisted his body with all his strength.
He clawed desperately in every direction, trying to escape.
But he soon realized something.
'...This space has no end.'
He was certain he had been trapped inside the Queen's abdomen.
At most, it should have been large enough to contain only a single person.
Yet the space stretched far beyond imagination.
Then—
Just as suffocation threatened to overwhelm him amid the confusion—
The surroundings slowly transformed like paint splashed across a blank canvas.
An all-too-familiar scene reconstructed itself before his eyes.
“Move it! Move it!”
Slash! Splash!
“Ghk!”
The first thing that filled his vision was a prison planet on the Empire's frontier.
Imperial guards stood everywhere, wielding crackling electric whips.
All around them, prisoners in ragged, worn uniforms continued their forced labor with trembling hands.
'...Ah.'
A sigh escaped through Stero Mer's cracked lips.
No sound emerged.
Yet before him unfolded the Imperial hell he could never forget—not even in his dreams.
“Move, you damned slugs!”
“You vermin who don't have even a shred of gratitude for His Majesty the Emperor's mercy!”
“Your bloodline itself is a sin!”
Brutal beatings continued everywhere until victims hovered at death's door.
The handsome men and beautiful women became the guards' playthings.
Merely because they had been born into the bloodline of criminals, they were forced to endure labor and abuse until death inside the Empire's penal colony.
Off to one side—
A platinum-haired boy sat blankly, clutching the corpse of another child his own age.
'The first me.'
The one in his arms was probably his younger sibling.
Even the memory had long since faded.
He stared silently at the tiny lump of flesh before the reversing memories swept him away without resistance.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
“You sons of bitches!”
“Kill them! Kill them all!”
The colors of the world shifted.
And more than that—
The roles of victim and oppressor reversed.
“S-save—!”
“Shut your fucking mouth, bitch!”
“Guhk!”
The guards who had humiliated, degraded, and brutalized the prisoners with guns and whips died like livestock.
Just as they had treated others.
The handsome prisoners were executed after enduring humiliation until the very end.
Those who finally gained their freedom revealed the violence and desires they had buried while living as the weak.
'The coup. Achieved by hiding Superhumans.'
At the time, infrastructure capable of identifying Superhumans had been primitive.
That alone made it possible.
Then Stero Mer saw another version of himself.
Now grown into a platinum-haired young man, he had severed the neck of the male guard who had treated him like a favorite doll.
Standing over the corpse, he laughed like a madman.
'Then came the great escape.'
Naturally, the Empire had no intention of quietly allowing a prison uprising.
Especially not one led by Superhumans.
Having finally vented every ounce of resentment they had buried for so long, the escapees stole obsolete Imperial warships and fled without any plan.
More than half were shot down or recaptured during the escape.
Some fleets attempted to defect to the Human Composite State, the Empire's rival.
But because the Human Composite State was under a ceasefire agreement with the Empire at the time, they simply arrested them, wrapped them up neatly, and handed them back.
Across the endless galaxy—
They had no allies.
“You fucking traitor!”
“Shut the hell up! Fighting the Empire in the first place was the stupid decision!”
Betrayals and internal conflicts continued.
The group that had once numbered over one hundred thousand people aboard more than twenty ships was reduced to a single vessel in less than a year.
Hope slowly faded.
Only death remained.
At the height of that despair—
While gathering food and fuel on a primitive planet—
Stero Mer encountered it for the very first time.
“...W-what? A girl?”
“……”
On a remote world inhabited by nothing but primitive plants and animals, Stero Mer could hardly believe his eyes.
Soon, however, he realized the girl's body was merely a hologram.
And that she wanted to lead him somewhere.
Curiosity overcame caution.
Following behind her, he arrived at a massive cavern surrounded like an ancient temple.
The girl hurried inside.
“...Ah, hell.”
Now grown into a man anyone would readily call an adult, Stero Mer scratched the back of his greasy hair before quickly following after her.
Watching that much, the present Stero Mer had no choice but to close his eyes.
Naturally.
Because what he found inside had been both hope—
And the despair that relentlessly drove him forward.
“...Nectar. Right. This is a deal.”
Emerging from the temple-like cavern, Stero Mer spoke with a hardened expression to the girl following behind him.
“We need a homeland. Help us. In return, I'll help you as well.”
The Stero Mer of the past extended his hand.
The girl named Nectar slowly accepted it before speaking.
“...This is atonement. And also recompense for the future.”
Back then, Stero Mer had been unable to understand what Nectar meant.
But before long—
When he finally witnessed the hidden fragment of truth she had concealed—
He writhed in even greater despair.
Along with overwhelming betrayal.
'......'
What followed was Stero Mer's entire life.
Yet to an outsider, it was the chronicle of the Free Planet Alliance's founding.
He consolidated the early factions.
He transformed that primitive world, once lacking even the most basic infrastructure, into a place fit for civilization.
He accepted drifters.
He spent decades building a foundation hidden completely from both the Empire and the Human Composite State.
Whenever death approached, Nectar helped him replace his body.
After the Empire and Human Composite State noticed the unbelievable growth of the Free Planet Alliance, he spread endless false rumors, orchestrated acts of sabotage, and ultimately succeeded in raising it into a major power.
And finally—
Reality overlapped once again.
He found himself overlooking a city of towering skyscrapers.
“...Ah.”
A voice escaped through his parted lips.
He blankly stared down at the city he had built.
Then—
Behind him came a voice.
Terrifying.
Yet strangely comforting.
“My child, my mate.”
He must not listen.
The warning from his body could no longer strengthen his already-broken mind.
Slowly—
He turned to face her.
“Your devotion is magnificent, pitiful, tragic... and utterly futile.”
The forms of a pure white angel and a demon overlapped.
Confronted by a being beyond comprehension, Stero Mer instinctively understood the immeasurable gulf between them.
Slowly—
He knelt.
As she greedily devoured his collapsing mind while speaking in a voice infinitely sweet, she whispered,
“Lay everything down. Submit. Dominate. Reign. And be loyal.”
“...Ah.”
He closed his eyes.
And when he opened them once more—
-Evolved. Further. Advanced.
It was no longer a human voice.
The Queen quietly smiled as she gazed upon the newly conceived King she had nurtured within herself.
Across the land, every Creature that had rooted itself to the earth lowered its body in worship.
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
-Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
And then—
From the shattered ruins of Mer Corporation—
Icarus, his wings half-melted away, rose into the false light.
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