Chapter 483

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 483: Beyond the Orbit (9)

Using Doatel as a money-laundering front.

At the sheer audacity of this plan, Jiseon couldn’t help but gape.

—Is that... really okay? I mean, even if this place is...

She trailed off, swallowing the rest of her words: even if it’s space.

A vast world governed by the law of power.

Wasn’t it a miracle in itself that charitable organizations even existed in such a brutal universe?

—In a galaxy where lunatics like you run wild, aren’t philanthropists the salt and light of the world? So why mess with people like that?

At that, Yeongwoo tilted his head and objected.

"I'm not messing with them. Either way, the relief centers Doatel runs are going to receive a ton of funding. It’s not like I’m taking it all for myself."

If he tried to launder all of it, it would no longer be tax avoidance—it’d be outright tax evasion, and he'd definitely get caught.

—So? You're actually going to donate some of it to the relief centers?

"Uh... Well, technically, our clients are the ones making the donations. But yes, a portion of the money sent to Doatel has to be used for genuine charity."

Of course, this wasn’t really out of the goodness of his heart—it was still for his own sake.

Taxes were up to the tax office, and as long as they were fooled, he’d be fine.

But karma—both good and bad—was judged by the universe itself.

“If our wrongdoing ends up doing some good, then maybe we can prevent our karmic debt from ballooning. So yeah, part of the donations need to go to actual charity.”

—…You do know you’re committing a crime, right?

"But at the same time, it's a good deed."

Yeongwoo smiled wickedly as he said this, and Jeonggu cautiously interjected.

“Then... how much are you giving that cosmic relief center?”

A sharp question.

Even Yeongwoo shrugged, as if he hadn’t considered it yet.

"Not sure. I’ll have to talk with Prince Aldo directly to figure out the laundering rate.”

“Laundering rate?”

“The percentage of money that actually gets laundered.”

—You lunatic.

Jiseon immediately clicked his tongue.

Crazy phrasing aside, if you were really going to launder money, that was a negotiation you had to have.

How much of the donations brought in by Renaissance would be diverted to fund the brigands, and how much would be used for “true charity”?

It was essentially a negotiation over the ratio of good to evil.

—Money laundering itself is a crime. You think that prince guy's dumb enough to just agree to it?

“Prince Aldo is seriously committed to virtue—like, almost stupidly so. So if we just balance things right... I think he’ll accept. After all, this would be a chance to spread more good across the universe.”

—Balance? What do you mean by that?

“There’s just... a thing like that.”

It was a concept only those who’d clashed with Aldo in the promotion arena could understand, so Yeongwoo didn’t bother to explain further.

“And to Aldo, even stopping an evil person from doing more evil probably counts as doing good. Good and evil are all relative, after all.”

That was the angle Yeongwoo planned to exploit.

While laundering donations wasn’t pure good, it wasn’t pure evil either.

‘If Aldo refuses my offer, I’ll have no choice but to commit full-blown evil. In that case, Prince Aldo would be complicit in letting evil run unchecked.’

Perfect logic.

Could the paragon of virtue, Prince Aldo, really argue against that?

“So, what about that installation thing? Let’s get moving.”

As Yeongwoo asked about the ship’s expansion status, Earth projected a series of graphs above its palm.

Fwoosh!

『I’ve already purchased the relay rights. We’re cleared for a star system jump.』

Then pointed to the smallest graph.

『Propulsion reinforcement is currently at 6%.』

“That’s gonna take a while. I’ve got a meeting later today with someone named Chancellor Herisa. Will it be done before then?”

『What time?』

“Uh... 7 PM, our time?”

『That’s an appointment you made before departure, right? They’ll probably contact you again through the access chamber. Either way, reinforcement should be done by then.』

With that, Earth waved its hand in the air and formed a bluish rectangular frame.

“…What’s this?”

Yeongwoo tilted his head, noticing it was the same height as he was.

Earth answered succinctly.

『A door.』

“A door?”

『To the access chamber. Only you and I can enter, but only you, the ship owner, can accept the ‘proposal’ inside.』

“Wait, you’re telling me the access chamber isn’t just a message inbox but an actual room?”

『The form of a message varies based on the sender’s level. Sometimes it's just text, other times audio, video, or even ‘meanings.’』

Meanings.

Likely referring to transcendental language or something akin to it.

『So if there’s not enough space, you can’t properly perceive certain messages. That’s why the access chamber takes the form of a room.』

“So from now on, all sorts of messages from all kinds of people are going to pile up in there?”

『Yes. Though, I doubt most of them will be pleasant...』

“Either way, I have to cause some trouble for those messages to start rolling in, right? Let’s get moving.”

Yeongwoo’s gaze once again turned to the endless sea of stars beyond the window.

Earth, as if expecting this, brought its hands together in midair and then spread them apart.

Fwaaa!

A black backdrop appeared, dotted with countless points of light—some kind of map.

Soon, a line began to draw itself across it.

Pop, pop-pop, pop!

A white line darted between the dots, growing longer. Yeongwoo couldn’t help but ask.

“What’s that? Our route?”

『Yes.』

“You already know where Doatel is. So why not just draw a straight line there?”

『We’re not taking a detour. We’re avoiding certain places.』

“Avoiding? What... exactly?”

『Territories allied with Shirach, and other celestial bodies deemed unsafe to travel through.』

Celestial bodies not recommended for transit.

Yeongwoo wanted to press further—his curiosity was piqued—but he couldn’t, because the outside of the cockpit had already begun to glow red.

Vrrrrroooooom...!

The Earth Ship was already drawing in energy for its interstellar jump.

『Star system jumping is considered one of the more advanced forms of interstellar travel. Some of the routes will be detected by the Ship Administration Bureau. And…』

“And? What else?”

Yeongwoo asked, but instead of answering, Earth spoke in a polite tone and broadcasted a planetary notice.

《Dear residents, this is Earth. Our planet will soon attempt the first star system jump in Earth’s history. A powerful impact is expected, so please take your seats.》

“Hey, wouldn’t that just scare everyone?”

『That might make them listen better. And the impact will actually be intense.』

With those words, Earth’s pupils glowed blue, and seeing that, Yeongwoo quickly sat down in the captain’s seat and gripped the armrests tightly.

“What the hell… Is this the ride quality of a supposedly top-tier ship?”

As Yeongwoo grumbled, curling up, a portion of the space outside the control room warped dramatically.

“Uh…?”

And then—

FWAAAAANG!

A sound like a thick rubber band being violently snapped rang out, and the view outside the window filled with countless streaks of multicolored light.

BOOOOOM!

A tremendous pressure shook the entire control room as if it were being held and rattled.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

—Are you nuts? Trying to kill every Earthling on board?

Jiseon couldn’t hold back at the absurdly rough ride.

At that moment, Earth sent out another planetary notice.

《Hold on tight. We're going again.》

Might as well jump again while everyone’s already shaken.

“Hey, we're seriously going to die like this. What is this, a way to weed out the weak?”

『There's no avoiding the first jump. But the shock will lessen with each one. Soon, the transit tunnel will adjust to our parameters.』

And again, the control room shook violently.

BOOM!

『Though that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to walk around casually.』

Earth’s official broadcast and its off-the-record comments inside the control room.

That’s how Yeongwoo and the rest of the Renaissance crew were repeatedly calmed down as the jumps continued.

WHOOM, WHOOOOM…

And indeed, the shock from the jumps lessened each time.

Eventually, it got to the point where Yeongwoo could stand up from the captain’s seat slowly.

“You really can get used to this, huh.”

『That's because we're passing through relay zones. If we ever have to do a sudden acceleration, though, people might actually die.』

“…That bad?”

『But if we’re accelerating like that, our survival is the real issue, not humanity’s. Unless there’s another ship right in front of us, we wouldn’t need to do that anyway.』

Earth then emphasized the importance of the captain again.

『In moments like that, it has to be manual control. So keep an eye out for someone worthy of being a captain.』

“A skilled captain who’d willingly take the helm of a planet-class vessel…? I’ve got a feeling it’d have to be some crazy villain.”

Wasn’t one mad clan head enough for this family?

Yeongwoo hoped to find a captain who wasn’t evil, but that didn’t seem likely.

‘If I clean up our family’s image with donation laundering, maybe we’ll meet someone good someday.’

Just as Yeongwoo was making a nearly impossible wish, Earth suddenly lifted its head.

『Oh, looks like we're almost there.』

The transit system had sent a notification.

It was saying the reserved route was nearly complete.

In other words, the destination was close.

“Doatel isn’t as far as I thought, huh?”

『What are you talking about? We've crossed so many star systems. We're almost at the upper reaches of the galaxy.』

“What?”

The Upper Galaxy.

An unexplored realm untouched by the lower galaxy’s families, where new houses had begun to establish themselves.

But to those upper galaxy families, the Earthship would be an unknown presence too.

『Fortunately, Doatel seems to be on the border of the upper region.』

Meaning they wouldn’t have to stir up the upper galaxy too much to get there.

FIIIIIT!

Then came a sharp screeching sound from somewhere, and the chaotic holographic patterns outside the window began to disperse.

「Entered the Upper Galaxy.」

「All families in the upper region sense the change.」

“Huh? What’s that? It says all the families are sensing a change?”

『Of course. A planetary system from the lower galaxy just entered the upper galaxy without permission. But they probably won’t know exactly what happened.』

They detected a major shift on a galactic scale, but wouldn’t realize a planet-ship had arrived.

FWASH!

The holograms outside completely cleared, revealing the pitch-black void of space once more.

And then—

“Huh?”

On one side of the dark expanse, a strangely shaped planet appeared.

It was milky white, like a candy drop, but what stood out was the countless specks floating outside its atmosphere, like cookie crumbs.

“Is that Doatel?”

Yeongwoo pointed at the milky planet and asked, and Earth nodded.

『According to the coordinates… that’s Doatel, all right.』

“That planet looks really unique.”

『Even I think so. Those aren’t rings… What are they? A cluster of satellites?』

Even Earth, itself a planet, couldn’t identify the “crumbs” surrounding Doatel, so Jiseon spoke up.

—Seriously? I figured it out at a glance. You guys really don’t know?

“What? What is it?”

—Doatel’s supposed to be a cosmic relief center, right? Then those are refugee ships. Probably more like scrap ships.

“What? All of those are ships?”

Yeongwoo blinked and stepped toward the edge of the control room.

Then Earth cautiously offered its opinion.

『If those are all ships… that’s hundreds of millions of them. And if even 10% of those are armed with cannons…』

“…”

Even without hearing the rest, Yeongwoo understood perfectly.

There was a reason Doatel, despite calling itself a cosmic relief center, had never been invaded.

“These bastards… They've got ten million cannons.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]