Chapter 128
by Afuhfuihgs
Chapter 128
From Cosmic Rascal to Professor.
Episode 128: Become A Science Girl (2).
It’s an unknown ceiling.
“…Where am I?”
“Ah, it’s the hospital room, you idiot.”
“…?”
As soon as I stood up, Ceti began scolding me.
“So you’re happy fainting whenever there’s a chance? Have you even thought about your family being worried?”
Confused, I had to endure the abuse.
“You really are putting up a fuss.”
Sonia then launched her physical attacks. Because I was a patient, she refrained from punching me and instead slapped me each time I took a bite of an apple, forcing me to bow my forehead.
“Are you okay?”
After harsh treatment from both, Rustila comforted me. Was this a good cop-bad cop tactic?
“Who the hell faints from laughing?”
You are the worst.
Since I only lost consciousness briefly, the discharge process was straightforward. However, Ceti grumbled that I now had to pay extra hospital bills for no reason.
“If I didn’t come here this way, when else would I use my health insurance benefits?”
“Don’t bring up health insurance. Don’t you dare bring it up.”
After making a joke, my sister hit me again.
Meanwhile, Rustila’s expression had noticeably softened. It seemed she had previously harbored reservations about Ire.
“Hey, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t waste money recklessly.”
“Yes…”
Ceti and Rustila soon returned to the Stellarium, where everyone was busy with upcoming graduations and entrance exams. That left me, Sonia, and Ire huddled in the corner. As I moved, Sonia followed automatically, and Ire trailed from a distance. I could guess why she behaved that way—she probably still felt uneasy around men.
“Yes, Professor. Yes. I just woke up. Yes, they said there’s no problem. Okay, I’ll come right away.”
When I returned to the lab, it was filled with a festive atmosphere.
“Graduation! Congratulations on your graduation!!”
“Wooaahhh!!”
Two PhD students who had co-authored the latest resonator research were popping champagne and making loud noises. Were they human or animals? Despite the presence of undergrads, they waved their trays without embarrassment, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings.
Ire’s expression was quite peculiar.
“What the hell is…”
“It’s something that happens sometimes.”
“Could it be an Outer God…?”
“No.”
Ire didn’t remove her suspicious gaze despite my denial.
As we passed two graduate students holding experimental equipment and twerking, I greeted Professor Stranov.
“Hello, Professor.”
“Welcome. Are you feeling better?”
We chuckled softly and nodded—she knew why I had fainted.
“You’ve succeeded in altering the properties of the asymmetrical polyhedron.”
The processed polyhedron, altered by the
“This is the person that did it.”
I signaled Sonia to bring Ire over. Ire hesitated, then shook her head towards Stranov.
“Oh ho.”
Professor Stranov’s eyes sparkled.
“How?”
“It’s going to be a long explanation…”
With my help, Ire detailed the process using the Constellation. However, since Stranov was also a scientist, she looked skeptical.
“I’ll show you myself.”
A picture is worth a thousand words.
In front of everyone, Ire once again activated the
“Ah, huh, haaah……”
What’s wrong with this woman?
“Young master, something’s wrong!”
“No!! Professor, please breathe! Breathe!!”
Professor Stranov clutched her chest and slammed both hands on the desk. Her breathing became uneven, and her face turned increasingly red as if covered in heat rash.
“What, what is it?”
Ire asked, surprised.
“Is it an Outer God? As expected, because of the asymmetrical polyhedron……!”
“……Student!”
Hooook, hooook. At that moment, Professor Stranov straightened her bent back and grabbed Ire’s hand. It was a swift movement as if she had teleported.
“How, how are you doing this? Suddenly!”
While Ire was flustered, Stranov entwined her hands even more. On closer inspection, the Professor’s eyes were shining translucently like jewels.
No, what are those eyes?!
I quickly realized. Of course.
“Your name is Hazlen… Ire Hazlen, right?”
The Professor. The student. There must be one reason for such a deep gaze.
“Are you considering graduate school?”
Ire stared blankly, then realized what she had heard and gaped.
“Graduate school, you mean…?”
I quickly signaled to Professor Stranov. In a very brief exchange of glances, the professor and I subtly nodded.
Professor, it’s not the right time yet.
Oh, really?
Yes, Professor, you’re being too hasty. Hahaha.
That’s right. Now was not the time to bring up such a topic. Professor Stranov cleared her throat and ended the conversation.
“By the way, an investor came by yesterday.”
“Why?”
“He said his daughter might die soon…”
The Professor didn’t continue speaking. That alone was enough to understand the context. My head bowed automatically. I couldn’t return the shares that were originally supposed to go to the investors because I was busy saving Ire. This was entirely my fault.
Glancing sideways, I saw Ire also had her head hung, her lips pursed. She must be thinking that others won’t get their turn because of her. In fact, liberating her from the Outer God first was the best choice. The asymmetrical polyhedron that Ire had processed just now—if it could be mass-produced, all problems would be solved.
There was a man—a funeral director. In the Federation, many people died in the war against monsters, so holding joint funerals quickly accumulated money. Despite being an avoided profession, the income was considerable. The man had viewed this job as a blue ocean since he was young, allowing him to afford a small satellite.
However, he now had to go to a frontier planetary system.
‘I heard the planetary administrator has passed away. The Inspectors have handled the corpse, so go and ensure it is properly guided to the Constellation.’
Honestly, he didn’t want to. The frontier—a place swarming with humans infected by the Outer Gods, and even those not afflicted—the region was insecure due to the typically underdeveloped economy of slums. It was a place anyone would avoid. He thought it would have been better to hold funerals for soldiers—patriotic service with proper pay.
But when he arrived on the planet, his thoughts changed. Just a bit away from the downtown area, corpses were everywhere. Dignity lay buried in every nook and cranny of the building debris, with bodies neither burned nor buried. As a human, he couldn’t stand to see it.
After completing the administrator’s funeral service, he took personal time to bury those people. He felt he couldn’t be at peace without doing so. At that moment, he realized:
People die. And even though death may have distinctions, it doesn’t favor anyone. Death is equal for all, so funerals should be equal for everyone.
From then on, whenever a request came from a peripheral planet, he was the first to volunteer. It was a somewhat dangerous job but rewarding. Before he knew it, he focused more on the funerals themselves than the income.
Then he met a woman.
“Thank you for seeing off my parents.”
Her parents, once renowned for their harmonious marriage, died due to interference from the Outer Gods of the Descartes Legion. However, her parents had started to lose their minds, biting each other and fighting daily. Eventually, the husband developed delirium and schizophrenia, while the wife suffered from delusional jealousy and eating disorders. These were not typical mental illnesses. At the funeral that day, what the man heard went beyond mere pathology.
“My father thought my mother was a monster and stabbed her with a kitchen knife. And my father… suddenly died while eating the food my mother prepared.”
The man bestowed the blessings of the stars and then held the sobbing woman.
“I have no family now.”
“If you wish, I will accompany you to the grave.”
He didn’t know why he said that to a woman he had seen for the first time that day. Out of pity and compassion? Of course, that was part of it. But he realized a bigger reason had taken root in his heart. Maybe it was love. Did he need a reason to fall in love?
Hee hee hee.
Since then, the man settled down with a woman from the outer planetary system. His coworkers questioned his marriage to a woman from the outskirts, but he didn’t care. Because it really was fine.
But happiness didn’t last long.
“…The mother has passed away.”
A crying child and a lifeless wife. Birth and death. The stark contrast colored his vision pure white.
Hee hee hee.
The man blamed the midwife and then began crying madly on the spot. He collapsed. He had lost his beloved, and only the child she left desperately cried out to live.
“I’m sorry for going first, darling.”
Yeah. I have to live. Because of the treasure my wife left.
“Your name is Lisa. From now on, you will be Lisa.”
He held his beloved’s funeral with his own hands—an indescribable feeling. He did his utmost to raise the child. That was the only meaning of life. Wasn’t life said to be full of ups and downs? The planetary system where the man settled wasn’t such an unkind place.
Some women bottle-fed the newborn and informed him of various things needed for raising a child. Nourished by their kindness, he regained his strength. His daughter, Lisa, grew vigorously. Because she inherited her father’s surname, she could hide the stigma of being from the outskirts.
However, being a single-parent family remained. Lisa would always ask.
“Where is Mom?”
Each time, his heart felt like it was being torn apart and his intestines cut. As a father, he had to live with hiding his emotions so his young daughter wouldn’t worry. He didn’t drink or smoke either, as that would also lead to an early death for him.
Time passed, and when his daughter turned eight and entered elementary school, not long after, she came back crying. Lisa was so beautiful that she received all the boys’ admiration, which led to some girls bullying her.
“What did they say to you?”
“Well, they…”
A motherless bitch.
Those days, elementary school students were particularly harsh in their language. Lisa was so frustrated that she vented her anger at him, asking why she was the only one without a mother. She wondered if she was really just found at a space station, given that it was just her and her dad.
The man swallowed his bitterness for the first time in a long while. It made things a bit better—after all, nothing helps you feel the grind of hard work quite like alcohol. So, he staggered, slurred his words, and barely held onto his fading consciousness as he finally made it home. What he saw was—
“Daddy, hee, heeheeheehee.”
His daughter scribbled all over the house with a red crayon.
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