(Return pt.1)

Radel’s plan proceeded smoothly. Though he had stepped down from the Sovereign position, there were still countless loyal subordinates in the military who would take their own lives at just one word from Radel.

Raseti, who initially agreed to only help send Kim In-woo to Earth, changed their mind partway through. They decided to follow along to Earth and help Kim In-woo themselves.

Radel couldn’t understand why Raseti was stepping forward. He casually searched through Raseti’s mind. There was no hesitation, and he didn’t even seek consent.

Even if they were his aide who had traversed battlefields together for hundreds of years and his cousin, Radel never trusted others. For him, thoroughly examining others’ minds was just a natural part of daily life.

Raseti accepted the familiar act without resistance. Fortunately, Radel accepted Raseti’s reasons. The fact that they, being a hybrid of Arkea and Corvia with exceptional abilities and strong physique, could easily fend off any threats to Kim In-woo if they arose also added points in favor of permission.

And so Raseti boarded the spaceship heading to Earth with Kim In-woo. Before activating the warp device to jump the long distance at once, Raseti carefully observed Kim In-woo.

He was certainly admirably pretty. But there was no way Radel had come to like Kim In-woo simply because of his appearance.

While the name Radel was an object of reverence to Arkeans, to other species it was simply terror itself.

When Arkea, who had been dominated and exploited by other species, began to fight back was when Radel was deployed to war at age fifteen. Thanks to Radel’s centuries of fighting, Arkea’s position changed from the dominated to the dominator. If Radel’s violence in killing enemies hadn’t spread to his own kind as well, he would still be on the battlefield.

In fact, compared to what he had achieved, Radel had little actual power. Of course, if he wanted to, he could have grabbed overflowing power right now, but Radel lacked the desire itself.

Radel’s personality wasn’t always like this from childhood. Like how mental ability users are typically sensitive and delicate, Radel would have been the same.

But after Radel’s mother, who was the representative of the anti-war faction, died and Ezel began taking care of Radel, things changed.

Ezel was an extreme racist who argued that Arkea should dominate other species. Looking back now it seems absurd, but at the time Arkea was being exploited by other species, so their argument took hold. To reverse the situation of the oppressed Arkea, Ezel wanted war.

To such an Ezel, Radel was chosen as the strongest weapon.

Radel can interfere with others’ minds to control and break them. Though it seems ordinary, Radel’s ability was on a different scale from other ability users. He could manipulate thousands of minds simultaneously by himself.

As soon as Radel’s ability stabilized, Ezel immediately pushed him into the military.

Of course, no matter how strong Radel was, there were limits. Ezel used every possible method to amplify Radel’s ability. Though there are no records so Raseti doesn’t know the details, human experimentation must have been routine. With abilities enhanced beyond limits that way, when Radel just inscribed one word to die in the minds of hundreds of thousands, entire armies would commit suicide at once. He repeated this dozens, hundreds of times a day.

Young Radel must have found that situation overwhelming.

Presumably after going to war a few times, Radel couldn’t endure and put his hands on his own head. And with his ability, he completely erased all his emotions and memories from that time.

Radel’s ability was powerful and worked perfectly on his own mind as well. Radel completely erased his previous self and became like a blank slate. Though he seemed to have grasped the previous situation by reading the memories of those around him, Radel, who was completely empty with nothing remaining, only took in his past as simple information.

Ezel effectively utilized Radel’s empty state. They deliberately pushed Radel into a precarious state of depression. Arkeans lose emotions when depression becomes severe. Even though Radel read Ezel’s mind and noticed their intentions, he silently went to the battlefield. Even being used didn’t stir any feelings.

For nearly a thousand years, Radel trampled countless lives while advancing victoriously.

And then he finally broke.

The man who had been suppressed for a thousand years gathered what little emotion remained like a final burning star and exploded it. The one emotion left in Radel was rage. Dozens of high-ranking Arkean officials lost their lives in a single night. Fortunately or unfortunately, that emotion too soon faded into depression. Other council members had no choice but to hurriedly agree to a ceasefire and Radel’s retirement.

Radel’s depression was severe. He spent time like a corpse, shut away in a mansion on a backward planet. They thought Radel could never change anymore. Raseti predicted they would soon hear news of Radel’s death.

But who would have thought that Radel would care for an ordinary human, cherish them, and willingly let them go to help them find a human life.

Raseti was curious what about Kim In-woo had changed Radel in less than a year. They needed to know what aspect of Kim In-woo had changed Radel, to support Radel after Kim In-woo was gone.

After taking a deep breath, Raseti woke Kim In-woo.

Kim In-woo, who had been sleeping well for several days, slowly opened his eyes. And as soon as he saw Raseti’s appearance, he screamed in surprise.

“Ahhhhh!”

Kim In-woo backed away far and watched Raseti warily. Raseti stood quietly waiting for Kim In-woo to calm down a bit. After looking around for a while with big rolling eyes, Kim In-woo showed intense hostility. And immediately rushed at Raseti.

Did he think he could subdue them because there was only one? Or did he think he had a chance because Raseti appeared slender?

Though Raseti could easily subdue Kim In-woo with one hand, they quietly let themselves be pushed by his hands. Raseti fell backward, and Kim In-woo mounted on top of them and grabbed their neck as if to strangle them.

“You, you, what are you.”

Weak breaths full of terror and excitement poured over Raseti. Raseti felt sympathy for the frightened fragile being.

“Hello. Nice to meet you, Mr. Kim In-woo.”

Though they spoke first, when Raseti greeted in Korean, Kim In-woo was startled and loosened his grip. Raseti worried for a moment if what they said was strange, but concluded that knowledge directly injected by Radel couldn’t be wrong and waited quietly.

Kim In-woo seemed confused as he looked Raseti up and down. His trembling hands repeatedly grabbed and released Raseti’s neck. Raseti playfully furrowed their brows.

“Um, are you going to keep fondling me?”

“Wh-wh-what are you saying!”

Kim In-woo jumped back in surprise. Raseti got up lightly with a shrug. They tried throwing out provocative words based on Earth knowledge from Kim In-woo’s memories that Radel had shared, and it worked surprisingly well. Given the situation, he could have gotten angry asking what it mattered.

Raseti carefully observed the small, weak, innocent and timid being. And concluded they needed to approach carefully.

“Mr. Kim In-woo. I am Raseti, the head of Degult, an interspecies human rights organization. I came to send you back to Earth.”

Kim In-woo blinked. The opportunity that came to him seemed too sudden to properly register in his mind.

“Um, really?”

Even the words he finally spoke after a while were thick with disbelief. Since they didn’t expect him to believe right away, Raseti nodded with the most benevolent smile they could manage.

“Yes. I’ve rescued and returned several humans besides you to Earth, and I’ll send you back too.”

“Why… why me? For what reason, what benefit do you get…”

“This isn’t really something to do for benefits, is it?”

“But you all…”

Kim In-woo trailed off without finishing. Even without completing it, the following words were perfectly understandable. Raseti shook their head.

“I understand why you would misunderstand. But not everyone treats other species as slaves or toys. From the start, Universal Federation law strongly regulates invasion of planets below certain technological development levels. Too many species and cultures disappeared that way in the early days of space conquest.”

“…”

“Of course, sadly there’s trash that breaks the law everywhere. You were very unfortunate, and I find that regrettable. That’s why I’m trying to help you.”

Of course, it was quite unfortunate that Radel fell into the category of ‘law-breaking trash’, but. Raseti had no particular intention of justifying Radel’s wrongs. Instead, Raseti pondered words that could break down Kim In-woo’s wariness.

“Actually, I’m mixed-race so I had some difficulties when I was young. I almost got sold, almost died. So I can’t stand discrimination just because of species.”

Kim In-woo’s eyes wavered. Though not as much as Radel, Raseti was also a mental ability user. To Raseti, it was clear that Kim In-woo held both suspicion and sympathy simultaneously. After hesitating for a while, Kim In-woo opened his mouth.

“How did you get me out? I was definitely in that Radel guy’s house.”

“Ah, that.”

“I heard everything. That bastard is supposedly some huge authority figure. And incredibly strong too. You say it’s a rescue, but how exactly did you rescue me?”

It seemed to be information from the training facility. That Lampresh bastard, injecting unnecessary knowledge. Useless one. Though they were already dead by Radel’s hand, should have killed them more painfully.

Though the unexpected question was perplexing, it was within the prepared range. Raseti answered smoothly without making mistakes.

“Of course, I don’t have the ability to forcibly extract you from there. I simply received you from Radel.”

“Received me?”

“Yes. He handed you over to me.”

“Why?”

“Well…”

Since they couldn’t tell the truth, Raseti’s prepared answer was evasion. Soon anyway, Radel would become a past nightmare to Kim In-woo. There was no need to know the details.

Kim In-woo was confused but soon seemed to accept it for whatever reason he thought of. However, he still didn’t look relieved.

“Was I the only one handed over?”

“Yes, just you.”

“Sun-ho hyung… the person who was with me?”

“I haven’t received that person yet, but they’ll hand him over soon. We’re sending people back in turns.”

Kim In-woo’s face contorted severely as he looked around. Raseti caught his anxious-looking arm.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to go back.”

“…Go back?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I can’t leave without Sun-ho hyung.”

Though trembling severely, Kim In-woo spoke quite composedly.