Ch.208Prequel Chapter 13. The Last Supper (1)

“Ranger.”

“Yes……”

In the cramped bathroom.

The captain chewed on his cigarette, gnawing on the filter before coughing and exhaling smoke.

Ranger, who suddenly caught all the smoke in his face, couldn’t help but frown.

Having accidentally inhaled it, the captain gathered phlegm and spat it into the drain before facing Ranger again.

“Cough! Hack. Khrrrrp. Ptui! Whew…… Sorry about that.”

“It’s nothing. What did you want to say?”

“Nothing much. Just wanted to thank you for accepting such a difficult task……”

The captain scratched his head, wondering to himself how things had come to this.

How had this cargo ship—somewhat rough around the edges, but where everyone used to smile and chat like idiots whenever they saw each other—suddenly become drenched in blood, transporting two corpses like a hearse……

He didn’t want to live watching his fellow crew members, who had shared meals and faced death together, while fearing for his life.

He simply didn’t like this situation.

All he could do was pray at every moment that this was just a dream.

“Captain. But why me specifically?”

“……”

Stuffing the now-stubby cigarette into the trash can, Ranger let out a rough breath.

Why me of all people?

Among all the crew members.

He seemed to vaguely know the reason, but still wanted to hear it directly from the captain’s mouth.

“I don’t… I don’t really know either……”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, it’s not me, for starters. To be honest, I’ve been a bit confused lately, but I know for certain that I’m human.”

“I suppose so. From your perspective, Captain.”

“Hehehe. Right. So excluding me. Then I need to choose someone trustworthy, which is quite troublesome. As it happens, the most reliable person on this ship is Jin. Because she has an alibi. That’s why you were chosen.”

“What? I don’t understand what you mean……”

“You and Jin are at odds with each other.”

“We’re not exactly at odds. That woman is just desperate to get at me.”

“Right. That’s why it’s you.”

“……”

Though the explanation was quite unhelpful, Ranger couldn’t help but laugh as he began to understand the absurd logic.

The more trustworthy someone was, the more they needed to remain on the ship.

As Ranger pulled out another cigarette and put it in his mouth, the captain’s lighter flared up and lit the end.

Ranger chuckled as he inhaled, making the cigarette glow red and begin to burn down.

“Will it work out? That woman Jin, that…… Hayu. Damn. The more I think about it, the more my head hurts.”

“Don’t worry too much. Jin is smarter than she looks.”

“Oh please. The way she talks, you’d think she had ten years of construction site experience rather than being particularly smart.”

“She’s a Harvard graduate. Jin.”

“Kuhak! Kek! Keuk……”

Ranger ended up choking and coughing repeatedly.

When he finally looked up with tears and snot streaming down his face, the captain was still standing there with his arms crossed, looking serious.

It definitely wasn’t a joke.

“America was supposedly ruined by LGTV or whatever, but I guess it’s true. How could a Harvard graduate……”

“Well. Let’s just trust her for now. Of course, if I don’t die, we won’t need to rely on Jin.”

“That’s right. Of course you shouldn’t die, Captain.”

The captain glanced at Ranger and grinned.

Though he was far from reliable, there weren’t many options.

All he could do was trust his own sanity, Jin’s education, and Ranger’s courage.

Looking at this lineup, it was enough to make him sigh, but there was no choice.

“What’s taking so long in there? If you two are having sex, hurry up and finish!”

“What are you saying, Jin……”

The captain and Ranger hurriedly extinguished their cigarettes and stuffed them into the trash can, scrambling to get ready to leave.

Ranger felt the cigarette pack in his hand was particularly light and looked inside.

It was the last cigarette.

Clicking his tongue, Ranger took out the cigarette and tucked it into his pocket, then crumpled up the empty pack.

He had to save the last cigarette.

Without a cigarette in his pocket, things always went wrong……

“Do you have a lighter?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Then use this. It’s my lucky charm.”

“Yes……”

The captain handed over what looked like a cheap mass-produced lighter.

It seemed too shabby to be called a lucky charm.

As Ranger awkwardly accepted the lighter, the door suddenly burst open.

“Jin. Your turn now.”

“Ugh! The smell! You two were smoking, weren’t you?”

“Huh? No?”

“What do you mean no! I can smell the cigarettes!”

“……”

As soon as the door opened, Jin pinched her nose and started complaining.

Embarrassed, the captain glanced at the rattling ventilation fan and pursed his lips.

Apparently it wasn’t enough to hide the smell from a non-smoker.

“Leaving a perfectly good smoking room empty, really!”

“Sorry. I’m sorry……”

The captain and Ranger forced smiles and patted Jin’s shoulders as they passed by her.

The moment they passed Jin, both their expressions suddenly hardened.

This was just the beginning.

They needed to stay completely alert.

***

“Hmm. Hmm hmm hmm. Hmm hmm hmm. Hmm hmm.”

Peace had returned to the ship.

Music blared in the autopsy room, drowning out the cheerful humming.

One corpse with its skull split open and emptied.

And another corpse with a caved-in skull.

Hands in surgical gloves zipped up the bags, hiding both bodies in black bags.

-J. Strauss II: Voices of Spring

This text scrolled across the wall speaker’s display.

With elegant hand movements like a waltz dancer, Ash removed the gloves and returned all the cleaned tools to their places before leaving the autopsy room carrying both bags.

With a swift extension of the arms, the two bags flew into the docking pad, hitting with a thud.

Something might have broken or shattered inside, but that was no longer Ash’s concern.

After closing the hatch and pressing the pressurization button, the sound of air filling came from the other side.

“Farewell.”

Thud.

Along with the farewell spoken in fluent German, something exploded with a bang.

Lifting the window cover to check, the two body bags were already spinning and drifting far away.

Ash smiled with satisfaction and closed the cover again.

“Hmm.”

Turning around, a ding sounded from the vacuum sealer.

Opening the machine revealed a parasite corpse with all its legs spread out like a spider, sealed in a vacuum pack.

Ash carefully picked it up and placed it in an ice box, slamming the door shut.

“Now, let’s prepare the banquet……”

Everything that needed to be handled was finished.

All that remained was to hold a celebration praising the brave female warrior.

Ash rubbed his hands together and entered the empty navigation room.

“Oh my. I almost forgot to greet you. Nice to see you, Knight.”

Thud, thud.

Ash’s fist hit the forehead of the man wearing an eye patch, making a sound like hitting metal.

Ash went around behind the android and, after confirming that the control chip compartment was completely destroyed, sighed with relief.

Ash noticed the emergency control button had been completely torn out.

Testing it by pressing firmly, there was no response—the inside connections must have been completely severed.

Ash clicked his tongue and turned away without regret.

It seemed the banquet would need to be prepared as planned.

“Stupid men. Sheesh.”

Hands moving in rhythm with the music retrieved a wine bottle from storage.

It was an expensive champagne named after the monk who allegedly invented champagne.

With a pop, the cork came out, releasing a distinctive rich aroma.

It was a smell that Ash truly couldn’t understand why people enjoyed.

Before the contents could overflow and run down the sides, Ash quickly added finely ground sleeping pills into the bottle and capped it with a straw attachment.

“Well, it was a game that couldn’t be lost from the beginning……”

Everything was finished.

With a sense of relief, all the difficult paths traveled flashed before Ash’s eyes like a kaleidoscope.

From waking up in some laboratory, through being the German Peter, to now being the Mexican Ash……

So many things had happened.

When first encountering pirates and getting shot while fleeing in panic, it seemed like the end, but thanks to the ejection mechanism being completed in 4 years instead of the expected 20, Ash had managed to escape from that cramped skull before rotting away.

And then found a comrade.

After searching through 4 years of black box recordings, Ash discovered it.

Just before the hibernation device door closed on the fat captain who had fled from Ash, a black form could be seen slipping inside on the black box footage.

Due to the poor image quality, it was difficult to notice without careful observation, but Ash’s heart had pounded at the discovery.

Ash wasn’t alone.

There was one more—not just a creature, but another person.

Fearing someone might notice, Ash erased all black box records from before those 4 years, then killed the comrade first.

Humans are careless creatures who don’t question what’s already dead.

For 3 whole days, Ash diligently supplied water and nutrients through an IV to the comrade trapped inside the skull of the dead body.

The comrade couldn’t tear open the head and escape on their own without a completed ejection mechanism.

Finally, when the time came to dispose of the corpse, Ash was able to bring the comrade out into the world without arousing anyone’s suspicion.

Gustav was chosen as the new home for the comrade.

The captain who had everyone’s trust, Jin who had an alibi for the fat man’s murder, and Ranger who was harassed by Jin were all considered, but ultimately Gustav had to be chosen.

It was obvious that Gustav would be secretly developing a device to distinguish between parasites and humans.

There was no other way to prevent that.

“Oh. Is it over now?”

Coming back to reality, the table was already fully set.

Champagne, Japanese dry-aged wagyu, Norwegian smoked salmon, and though slightly out of place but undoubtedly excellent food, crispy biscuits from Combat Ration #2.

Ash stopped reminiscing about past events and sat down, rubbing his hands together.

“When will our female warrior arrive……”

There had been one accident along the way.

Ash hadn’t imagined Jin would have a hidden gun.

Of course, that wouldn’t affect the overall outcome.

The game was already over.

Jin would celebrate her survival as a “confirmed civilian” while enjoying the banquet.

And that was going to be Jin’s last supper.