Chapter 645

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Chapter 645: The Space Police Bureau (1)

A suspicious request from Chancellor Herisa.

Truthfully, up until now, Yeongwoo hadn’t been thinking too deeply about it.

Wasn’t it just a mission where he had to find someone called Ketu, read this letter aloud, and come back alive?

Still, he had assumed there was no way the contents of the letter would be normal, and so he had practically regarded it as an assassination request.

After all, Chancellor Herisa herself had said that “a threat would arise before you even finish reading the letter.”

But even so.

“The Space Police Bureau…?”

Wasn’t killing a police officer going a bit too far?

And not just that, it was something that had to be done right in the middle of the galaxy belonging to the Space Police Bureau.

—Yes. What you are currently viewing is the Jegwit Galaxy. It is where the headquarters of the Space Police Bureau is located, and you may consider all planets within this galaxy to be part of the Space Police Bureau as well.

“Then… that Ketu guy I’m supposed to find is also police, right?”

Mantero nodded with a worried expression.

—If someone is staying within the Jegwit Galaxy… there is a very high probability they are one of the Bureau’s executives.

“Seriously.”

In other words, the request Chancellor Herisa had offered with a reward of 50 billion Karma was, unbelievably, an act that would provoke a high-ranking officer of the Police Bureau.

“What the hell is written inside this letter…?”

He wanted to open it and check in advance, but because of the iridescent seal left by Chancellor Herisa, he couldn’t.

—It is a request so incomprehensible that it is frightening. Fifty billion Karma just for reading a letter.

As expected of someone of royal lineage, Mantero, the very embodiment of common sense, opposed carrying out this mission.

—Furthermore, we are a planetary ship. The moment we approach the Jegwit Galaxy, we will be subjected to inspection.

“But… it’s not like we’re under government arrest warrants or anything, right? So it shouldn’t matter that much?”

—That may be true, but once you begin reading this letter in Rijibi, problems will inevitably arise, won’t they?

“Right?”

—And the target is likely someone affiliated with the Police Bureau.

“Exactly.”

—Then how, exactly, do you plan on coming out alive? Rijibi, no, the entire galaxy, will be filled with Police Bureau forces.

“Hmm… by ramming through with the ship?”

—……?

“No, I mean, it’s not like we’re waging an all-out war with the Police Bureau. Wouldn’t it be perfectly possible to just run away?”

Go to Rijibi, read the letter quickly, and escape immediately.

How long would this operation actually take to execute?

“And it’s not like I committed terrorism or anything. The entire Police Bureau isn’t going to mobilize just because I read a letter. Even if they did respond as a whole, I’d just run before that happens.”

It was dangerous enough to be worth 50 billion Karma, but theoretically it was possible, wasn’t that why Chancellor Herisa made the request in the first place?

Yeongwoo instinctively trusted the Chancellor.

At that, Jiseon tilted her head.

—Just what kind of content is in there that the Chancellor can’t read the letter herself?

“Whatever it is, it’s probably not that she can’t. It’s more that she won’t.”

Yeongwoo, having met her personally, knew better than anyone how overwhelming the Chancellor’s strength was.

Which meant this request wasn’t created because she lacked confidence in escaping the Police Bureau herself.

“Even so, there must be something about it that makes stepping in personally… inconvenient.”

—Anyway, you really intend to go through with this request? Even I think this one looks seriously dangerous.

“It’s dangerous, that’s why it’s worth 50 billion. It’s not like we have another way to get that much money right now.”

—That’s true, but if the opponent is police… isn’t that basically the polar opposite of criminals like us? I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

“In the worst-case scenario, I might end up in prison. If that happens, leave this place and regroup first. Rescue me when the situation allows, and if it’s really impossible then……”

—If it’s really impossible, you’re saying I should just abandon you and run?

“What else can you do? Build your strength and come break me out later.”

Of course, even as he said that, Yeongwoo was already planning to escape prison on his own.

The prisoners from Rohm who had attended his parents’ wedding were escapees too, and weren’t Koatu and Mantero also escapees?

Simply put, prison was a place one could escape from.

‘Of course, prisons properly managed by the government would be on another level. But now that I’ve entered the world of criminals, wouldn’t it be worth experiencing getting locked up at least once?’

As Yeongwoo stared out the window, the weapons merchant Koatu offered advice.

—Even for a criminal, voluntarily walking into the Police Bureau is insane, but we should leave this place quickly anyway. You never know when those Salzeo bastards might show up.

“Good point. Let’s move out right away.”

At Yeongwoo’s words, Earth asked,

『Where to?』

“Where else? We’re heading straight to the front yard of the Space Police Bureau.”

『You’ve seriously lost your mind.』

“That’s the life of a criminal, high risk, high return.”

Putting his life on the line for 50 billion Karma.

The real issue was that 50 billion was indeed an amount worth risking his life for.

“They said Jegwit, right? Let’s head there immediately.”

As Yeongwoo waved his hand through the air as if urging haste, Mantero squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before nodding.

—Understood. Setting course directly for Jegwit.

* * *

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The Jegwit Galaxy.

Effectively a government-controlled region where the Space Police Bureau was established.

Coincidentally, there were no nearby black holes, so Mantero recommended traveling via relay tunnel.

The time it would take to locate a passage leading to the nearest black hole and travel through it was about the same as directly making a stellar-system jump toward Jegwit from here.

Of course, if one insisted on precise comparison, the black hole route was slightly faster, but in that case, they would once again have to forge a vow that would be passed down to future generations.

Thus, Yeongwoo had no choice but to approve traveling via relay tunnel.

“No, space is huge, but isn’t a galaxy without nearby black holes rare? How did they just happen to build the Police Bureau there? Don’t tell me they know about the ‘passages’?”

As Yeongwoo muttered while staring out at the relay tunnel, Koatu, who somehow caught what he said, nodded.

—It’s too coincidental to call it chance. A group like the Police Bureau would have extraordinary intelligence capabilities… so they probably know about the passages too.

“Really? Are they that impressive?”

—They’re the ones taking responsibility, at least partially, for keeping order in this damn universe. So yeah, they’re not ordinary.

Then Koatu added,

—Even Salzeo probably tries not to clash with the Police Bureau. If they get caught on some pretext and end up getting harassed at every turn, it becomes a real pain.

“So even big shots like our chairman would be cautious around them?”

—I’ve never been that much of a big shot myself, so I wouldn’t know. But if you see the level of prisoners inside the prisons managed by the Police Bureau, you’ll understand.

Koatu grinned wickedly.

Since Yeongwoo might actually end up in prison today, it was half-joke, half-serious.

Then Mantero, who had been quietly listening while holding the controls, spoke.

—The capabilities of the Police Bureau are difficult to even estimate. No matter how powerful Chairman Dogo may be, he could never wage war against the entire Bureau. The same applies even to royal families.

“Yeah, makes sense. They manage law and order in a universe full of monsters running wild, they’d have to be insanely powerful.”

—However, that power cannot reach everywhere. The Bureau may be powerful, but realistically, they cannot fight every criminal across the universe at once.

“Ah, so that’s why there are holes in space security here and there?”

—Yes. Since they cannot oversee the entire universe, you can think of it as a matter of selection and concentration.

This was also why Yeongwoo, who caused incidents all over while traveling in a planetary ship, hadn’t been arrested by the Police Bureau.

Compared to the countless great evils lurking in the universe, Yeongwoo was still merely small fry in their eyes.

“Then big-time criminals are basically playing a game of nerves, right? They can’t win in an all-out war against the Police Bureau, but they also know a full-scale war rarely breaks out.”

—Exactly. There is an invisible ‘line’ between the criminal world and the Police Bureau.

“Got it.”

After listening to the explanation, Yeongwoo slowly nodded.

“So basically, as long as you’re a well-balanced criminal, everything’s okay?”

—……?

Around the time the conversation reached that point, the holographic tunnel outside the cockpit began to change.

Its color and texture subtly shifted.

It was a sign that the acceleration of the relay tunnel had changed, meaning…

—We are approaching the Jegwit Galaxy.

Mantero’s expression darkened further.

As a former chief navigator of the royal family who once walked only righteous paths, he was finally realizing he was now serving a deranged bandit leader.

No matter who the owner of the planetary ship was, visiting the Space Police Bureau as criminals sounded utterly insane.

—Fortunately, Rijibi is located in the ‘outer district’ of the Police Bureau.

“Outer district?”

—It means a general operations area where publicly disclosed duties are carried out.

“Then what’s not an outer district?”

—The so-called core zones, where the major divisions of the Police Bureau are physically concentrated. Those areas do not possess coordinates…

“The coordinates don’t exist?”

—To be precise, no one knows them. Except perhaps the highest-ranking executives of the Police Bureau, only the Great Typesetter would know the coordinates of the core zones.

“So basically a high-security zone. And Rijibi doesn’t fall into that category?”

Well, Chancellor Herisa herself had known Rijibi’s coordinates from the beginning.

Maybe it was like a police station where she had once been detained.

“Anyway, sounds like we’re not facing the worst opponents. That’s good enough.”

As Yeongwoo checked his equipment and prepared to enter Rijibi, Mantero added,

—There will likely be an inspection. The relay tunnel is already under control.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the hologram outside flooded with blue light and displayed a message.

Piaaaaat!

「Welcome to the Space Police Bureau, the power that saves lives.」

Before Mantero could even send a response signal, another message from the Police Bureau appeared.

「Entry of ‘Earth Ship’ and ‘Jeong Yeongwoo07’ simultaneously has not been authorized.」

Mantero looked at Yeongwoo with an awkward expression.

—It seems planetary ships cannot enter Jegwit. They are highly cautious.

“…Probably because of what our predecessors did. Anyway, they already know this is the Earth Ship.”

As Yeongwoo nodded as if he had expected it, new text appeared in the blue space outside.

「User ‘Jeong Yeongwoo07,’ please select your purpose of visit to summon an escort vessel.」

Then large words appeared one after another in the middle of the cockpit.

[Self-Surrender]

[Refusal of Enforcement]

[Report]

[Tour]

[Public Interest Donation]

[Meeting with an Executor]

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