[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 503: The Chaotic Universe (10)

Creating a stellar impact scar on the Planetary Ship.

As Yeongwoo conversed with his planet in what could only be described as utter madness, Zelo, who had been listening from a distance, quietly began preparations for departure.

Clunk.

He threw a metallic return orb onto the ground.

Noticing this, Yeongwoo quickly struck up a conversation, realizing the civil servants were trying to clock out.

“What, leaving already?”

■ We failed to secure any biological data and lost the fight. There's no choice but to return.

With a similarly deflated look, gunslinger Ridio pointed his bony finger at Yeongwoo and Earth.

■ Don’t you even plan to submit a navigation report? That alone might help us save face a little.

“Well... I’d like to, considering how hard you guys fought, but the thing is, I don’t even know where I’m headed next.”

■ …….

“But I can at least tell you this — I’ll be meeting a weapons dealer named Koatua soon.”

■ Oh, how generous of you.

Ridio didn’t seem to take Yeongwoo’s words very seriously.

And rightly so — when a planetary ship can change coordinates at any moment, knowing just one of its destinations was pretty much meaningless.

Wiiiiing!

The metallic orb on the ground activated with a whir, glowing brightly.

■ I hope we never meet again, Planetary Lord Jeong Yeongwoo07.

As Zelo finished speaking and stepped onto the orb, the other two civil servants leapt onto his shoulders.

Then:

■ Biological Data Collection Team 2, requesting return.

With Zelo’s short command, all three civil servants were enveloped in light.

Fwoooosh!

They began returning to their ship, docked outside the atmosphere.

“Hey! Let’s meet again — alive, I mean!”

Waving them off, Yeongwoo called out cheerfully.

Ridio, regaining some spirit, mimed loading his pistol.

And then—

Swoosh.

The silhouettes of the three civil servants disappeared completely without a trace.

They had, in effect, just clocked out of work.

『So, they failed their mission after all.』

“Of course. Who do they think they are, trying to steal the biological data of a planetary lord?”

『Still… it looked like it was a close call. If they had brought two or three more people, the outcome might’ve changed.』

“Hmph.”

Yeongwoo didn’t affirm or deny it.

If they were pushovers like Ridio, then even ten wouldn’t have made a difference — but if Zelo had two more like himself, the situation could have turned out differently.

『I wonder who took out Team 1. They were probably stronger than Team 2, right?』

Earth gave Yeongwoo a sidelong glance.

It was a silent suggestion: whoever disabled Team 1 must be even stronger than him.

Yeongwoo wrinkled his nose and muttered,

“How do you know when that happened? For all we know, it might’ve been a planetary lord from thousands of years ago.”

『Then that means someone was that strong thousands of years ago too, huh.』

“…Yeah, that’d be true.”

The universe was vast.

Even Yeongwoo couldn’t casually speculate about things beyond his knowledge.

Of course, stellar impact scars were an exception.

“Anyway, is that really important right now? Let’s go meet my mother-in-law first.”

『You’re really going through with that star headbutt nonsense?』

“If it’s possible, I don’t see why not.”

* * *

7:11 PM.

Returning to the Earth Ship’s control room, Yeongwoo headed straight for his mother-in-law.

“Mother-in-law…!”

As Yeongwoo stormed in yelling, Sun Moro furrowed her brow in irritation.

『What kind of crazy nonsense are you about to spew this time?』

She was old and perceptive — billions of years of life did that to you.

She correctly assumed her crazy son-in-law was here with a specific reason.

And indeed, Yeongwoo said:

“Can we survive if we ram our heads into a star right now?”

That was his reason for coming.

『…What?』

“I mean a stellar impact scar, ma’am!”

『So you're asking whether it’s possible to create a star impact scar on the Earth Ship, is that it?』

“Exactly.”

Yeongwoo nodded, and Moro turned her head to look at Earth.

『What do you think?』

『Huh?』

『Do you want an impact scar?』

She wasn’t asking whether it was possible to do the stellar headbutt — she was asking whether Earth wanted to do it.

Earth’s expression grew even more complicated.

『Wait… are you saying it’s actually possible for me to have one?』

『In theory, nothing’s stopping you. You’ve got enough mass.』

『But that mass is…』

Mass.

In other words, the planetary presence level.

Currently, Earth Ship's presence level was a simulated one based on planetary ship formulas.

『That mass — sure, it’s not innate. But you do have it now, and it’s working in physical terms.』

The fact that the solar system was still orbiting the Earth Ship proved it.

『So charging at another star to create an impact scar? It might work. But.』

Swipe.

Moro raised a finger for emphasis.

『In return, the planetary ship’s surface will be utterly wrecked, and some of it might even break off.』

“What?! That means the cities and everything would be destroyed!”

『Of course. It’s called an impact scar for a reason. From the star’s point of view, it’s a major wound.』

So, if Earth Ship intentionally created an impact scar, it would likely lose all or most of its population and infrastructure — that was Moro’s prediction.

『You don’t necessarily have to hit it head-on. Grazing it can also create an impact scar. Most of them are formed that way, actually.』

But even then, the destruction of most cities and residents would be unavoidable — Moro added.

“Ah… so there’s really no way?”

Looking disappointed, Yeongwoo slumped his shoulders — and behind him, Kubu opened his eyes.

— Theoretically, there is a way.

“Huh? Mr. Kubu, what do you mean?”

— Every planetary ship has a stability maintenance system, and our Earth Ship is no exception.

“…Right?”

When the solar system was rearranged, the system mitigated the catastrophic changes from Earth’s increased distance from the Sun.

— So if we only absorb as much shock as the system can handle, we’ll be fine.

“What exactly are you saying?”

Moro spoke again.

『He's suggesting we collide with a relatively small star. But even so, a collision is a collision. The physical shock would be immense.』

— That can be addressed by enhancing the stability maintenance system. Though it would cost a lot of money.

“…Damn it. Money again.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

In other words: in space, there’s nothing money can’t do.

With enough money, even headbutting a star was survivable.

— However, as Lady Moro said, this is still a ‘collision’. No matter how strong the system is, the impact zone will be devastated.

“Right, because the point is for that area to get destroyed and mutated — that’s what an impact scar is.”

That much, even Yeongwoo had expected.

So, naturally, he had a countermeasure ready.

“We’ll begin land surveys starting today. If we designate uninhabited areas as impact mark zones, that should work.”

『And then later rent out those zones?』

The Earth, mouth agape, finished the sentence.

Yeongwoo nodded.

“Exactly. Some of them will be rented out, and the ones without tenants will be used as shields—or the forehead—of the Earthship.”

『Forehead?』

“If it’s been hardened by an impact mark, we might as well use it, right?”

『Don’t tell me you’re planning to headbutt other planets with the Earthship?』

“Exactly. If we ram them with the impact-hardened sections, most planets would be blown to pieces.”

『……』

This guy’s imagination defied all logic.

Earth couldn’t even come up with a response.

But shockingly, Moro—the ambitious mother-in-law—sided with Yeongwoo.

『I think it could work.』

『…Excuse me?』

『If he managed to maintain homeostasis even before the impact mark formed, then after it’s there...』

Obviously, maintaining stability would be far easier.

In short, if this really worked, they'd be creating a planet-ship not just capable of firing cannons—but charging through the galaxy with headbutts.

『Isn’t this a bit ridiculous? It’s utterly absurd.』

“Would the other planets who see their neighbors get headbutted into rubble still think that way? We’ll become the galaxy’s ultimate fear.”

『Ha… fuck….』

Earth clenched its teeth and let out a hollow laugh.

It was just too absurd.

And yet, Yeongwoo was already setting things in motion.

“All right, so our immediate priorities are finding a star to create our first impact mark, and gathering funds to upgrade the homeostasis system.”

Yeongwoo considered paying a visit to the arms dealer Koatu—but he didn’t even have to.

Ziiing!

Suddenly, the ship’s control room lit up in a blue flash, accompanied by a sort of signal sound.

“Huh? What was that?”

Yeongwoo looked toward Earth, the ship's core intelligence, who blinked.

『Oh, right. I forgot in all this chaos.』

“Forgot what?”

『We had a meeting scheduled with Chancellor Herisa today. They’re sending a connection signal now.』

“Oh.”

Chancellor Herisa.

A mysterious philanthropist with multiple charitable foundations.

She was also the first to express interest in investing from the lower galactic regions—as head of the Bate family.

To Yeongwoo, she was a benefactor.

“That meeting was today?”

『It was scheduled for 7 p.m. our time, so… we're about 15 minutes late.』

“Damn! Bring her in quick. We need that investment money! Tell her to come to the conference hall.”

But Earth shook its head.

『They’ve already chosen the meeting location.』

“What? Where?”

『The Bate Family’s galactic station.』

Galactic station.

Yeongwoo, unfamiliar with the term, blinked in confusion.

“Galactic station...? How are we supposed to go if we don’t know where it is? Did they send us coordinates?”

『No. They said if we just give them our current coordinates, they’ll bring the entire station to us.』

“What the...”

Yeongwoo’s eyes widened.

Bringing a whole station?

That could only mean one thing—this was no ordinary person.

Of course, only someone with outrageous confidence would offer to invest in a planet-ship.

“Guess it’s time to swim in the big leagues, huh?”

When Yeongwoo asked this, Earth slowly shook its head.

『Who knows if it’s the big leagues or just rotten waters. I’ve got a bad feeling Chancellor Herisa might not be a real philanthropist.』

“What makes you say that?”

『Look. If she were a real philanthropist, shouldn’t she be over there right now?』

Earth gestured toward the window, pointing to Doatel.

A space relief center surrounded by countless refugee ships.

And yet, Chancellor Herisa was bringing an entire station just to propose an investment.

To Earth, this smelled fishy.

『Anyway, it’s just a proposal for an investment meeting. We don’t have to go. We could just continue on our way.』

Earth tried to warn him, but Yeongwoo’s eyes were already sparkling.

“What are you talking about? If she’s not a real philanthropist, that’s even better!”

『What?』

“If she’s a fake philanthropist, that makes her a senior in our line of work, doesn’t it? Send her our coordinates right now.”

『Then that station or whatever it is will be coming here. Aren’t you afraid of what might happen?』

“Afraid? A little. That’s why I want to meet her while we’re here.”

Yeongwoo then pointed at Doatel—just like Earth had earlier—and suddenly everyone understood.

『Ah.』

The refugee fleet surrounding Doatel.

If anyone dared start a fight here, that massive fleet would no doubt get involved.

“Think that station can handle that refugee fleet we’re too scared to face? This is the safest place for us.”

Then Yeongwoo added with a smirk,

“Bring her here. Time for us to touch some real money.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]