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Unfortunately, even though I came to space, I couldn’t directly experience the ‘grandeur of the universe.’

That’s because I can’t see outside.

This spaceship doesn’t have any windows. Of course, not all spaceships in the world are like that. I’ve heard that space stations have windows, and most of the spaceships launched from Earth have them too.

If they had installed some glass that could withstand the heat of breaking through the atmosphere and cosmic radiation, I might have at least caught a glimpse of Jupiter, but this spaceship didn’t seem to be meant for sightseeing, so such facilities weren’t provided.

Well, the bridge we were fighting on also had all screens showing the outside. And since we smashed all those screens, I really can’t say much.

“…We’ve arrived.”

So even when Cherry said we were near Jupiter, it didn’t really feel real.

“Is there some sort of facility?”

Ha-yoon cautiously asked Cherry.

“…Yeah.”

Cherry answered again, almost as if she didn’t really believe it herself.

Then, she turned the laptop screen toward us.

“This is… a space station?”

Ha-yoon muttered.

“That’s right. When looking toward Jupiter from Earth, I made sure it was hidden behind Jupiter. Though it’s so small that even if you could see it, you wouldn’t see it properly.”

But since there was something like a space telescope, if they had put it in a visible location, it would have been an ideal situation for exposing it.

In recent years, all probes planned from Earth to Jupiter were canceled.

It’s a planet already visited by aliens, and since we had learned everything we could from that process, there was no need to send any more. Moreover, considering the entire galaxy, Jupiter isn’t that remarkable.

Jupiter was merely the ‘largest entity among planets that humans could send something to,’ not particularly an overwhelmingly large or mysterious planet by galactic standards.

There are planets and stars with rings far larger than Saturn’s rings that we can visit directly. And now we could access those not just in theory and fantasy but also through actual photos, and while limited, we could even see them in person.

What Earthlings once thought were great scientific achievements completely twisted the moment they encountered the Galactic Federation. It was an experience that couldn’t simply be expressed with the word ‘shock.’ It was a story that couldn’t be fully captured even if one said the entire common knowledge had to be rewritten from scratch.

…And perhaps that’s why they could hide here. Maybe they didn’t even try to send anything all the way out here.

The facility seen on the laptop resembled a massive space station that looked like it could hold dozens of these ships.

Even though it was just a small screen, the atmosphere of that facility against the background of Jupiter was a bit surreal.

“Why here?”

I suddenly wondered aloud.

“There must be safer places to hide. Instead of being on a planet that no longer attracts attention, they could have hidden in a completely different star system… or even somewhere in between.”

From a distance, a galaxy looks like a structure filled with stars, but in reality, there’s a vast amount of empty space between them.

If they were just floating in a vacuum, they’d stand out, but hiding near a planet in a star system where no one lives would have been a much better camouflage.

“…They can receive a stable supply from Earth.”

But I had to keep my mouth shut at Cherry’s answer because what had to be supplied stably wasn’t just food or air.

“Can we dock?”

I asked.

“Just a moment.”

Cherry replied, tapping at the laptop.

“Yeah, we can. James’ communication line is still active.”

“Great.”

No matter how things turn out, we need to go in and see what’s happening.

I turned to the kids.

The magical girls and Pang-pang, who was not a magical girl.

Now I kind of regret it. Maybe we shouldn’t have come alone. It might have been better to gather with other heroes.

It was a decision made because I couldn’t trust the federation—

“…”

Noticing my worries, Ha-yoon took my hand.

…Right.

Now that we’ve come this far, regretting it is meaningless. We can’t just turn back after reaching this point.

If a really dangerous moment comes—well, I guess I’ll have to send the kids back.

“…Then, let’s go.”

When I said that, the kids nodded. Rose, who usually had a slightly playful expression, looked infinitely serious now.

The spaceship stopped. The entire ship shook slightly as if it was connecting to something, and then I felt a slight rush of air.

Together, we headed toward the facility depicted in the image.

*

The surroundings were extremely quiet.

To be exact, only the sound of machines running could be heard. Was the ventilation system running? Technically, it should be an air conditioning system.

In the enormous corridor that seemed wide enough for a line of dump trucks, there were not just people; even machines weren’t walking around.

But I didn’t feel reassured. The more it looked like this, the less relaxed I could be.

After walking for a while—

“…Ah.”

In the distance, there was a massive door blocking our way. Just as big as this corridor.

As I got closer and touched it, I had no idea how to open it. It wasn’t something you could just rip off.

Would it work if I cut through it with magic? I seriously pondered that—

“Wait a moment.”

Pang-pang stepped forward with a somewhat stiff face.

Then she slowly reached out and touched the door.

There weren’t any sensors or cameras on the door, but as Pang-pang placed her hand on it, a blue light formed around her hand as if drawing.

The light, which had been hovering just below Pang-pang’s hand, slowly spread back across the entire door, like a drop of paint in water.

The light reached the edge of the door and glimmered as if it were a border, before finally disappearing.

And then, without a sound, the door opened.

“…It was worth following. Thank goodness.”

Seeing Pang-pang scratch her head as she said that, I was left wondering how to respond. While it was true that I called upon her for this role… It still felt a bit bothersome treating a friend like a tool.

I had indeed treated her that way several times when living in the mountains with the magical girls.

I chuckled softly at how amusing it was for me to be thinking this way now.

In the end, I awkwardly nodded to Pang-pang, and we walked back inside.

Only after coming inside did the atmosphere begin to change.

The corridor gradually narrowed, and doors appeared on both sides. Each door had a window, and through those windows, we could see the ‘recovering aliens.’

“…Monsters.”

As I muttered, the kids nodded.

The aliens we had defeated, as well as those that other heroes from other countries had taken down, were all beyond that.

As if this place was some sort of hospital for those monsters.

However, we didn’t think of it that way.

It didn’t seem to be just for ‘humanitarian’ purposes.

Though the space inside was just as bright, the atmosphere inside those ‘hospital rooms’ seemed to change.

There were places illuminated by red lights, as if pressuring those who ventured inside. Although there were no spots stained with blood, machines with saw-like blades could be seen.

And there were similarities to armors we had seen when we interacted with the aliens disguised as robots.

A production facility.

That was my impression.

Clomp clomp.

“Pang-pang?”

I called out to Pang-pang, who was walking ahead of us, but she seemed spellbound, not responding as she blankly moved forward.

Had she been shocked to find out that this facility might have belonged to her grandmother?

Although it didn’t seem so strange…

Where Pang-pang was headed was the end of the path.

Though it wasn’t a dead end, the path branched out sideways at the end, creating a gentle ‘hole.’

From the outside, the facility appeared to taper downwards like an inverted cone, its dock protruding in all directions. It was a typical, if not traditional, SF-shaped space station.

So it was only natural to think that there might be something important ‘in the center.’

Pang-pang touched, then leaned her forehead against that spot, where there was a gigantic glass wall. The uppermost part of the hole itself was a huge piece of glass.

As we were examining the ominous room connected to the corridor, we were drawn to Pang-pang’s side and peered inside that facility.

“…”

And for a moment, we all lost our words.

We thought there would be some sort of ‘production facility’ inside that ship. But what we found was nothing. Just Earthling aliens packed in, and nothing more.

The facility we hadn’t found was right in front of us.

“…Artificial womb?”

Jua, who knew the most about these things, murmured. Noticing our gazes on her, Jua blushed a bit and clarified, “It’s kind of like an incubator. However, it’s designed to grow from the embryo stage… They were probably ‘producing’ aliens here.”

That was it.

Inside, there were human-sized beings, recognizable as ‘adults,’ lying there like fetuses inside a mother’s belly.

A facility that could grow humans into ‘adults’ in just a few years was right before our eyes.

“Why go this far?”

Pang-pang murmured.

“…Let’s go.”

I said, giving a reassuring pat on Pang-pang’s shoulder.

Pang-pang nodded.

*

In the center, there was no one we could converse with. Or were they hiding?

We moved cautiously, on high alert, until we reached the control device in the center of that facility.

The characters used on the control device weren’t from Earth.

“This… is the script from my hometown.”

Pang-pang murmured.

“Do you know how it works?”

“…”

Pang-pang placed her hand against the facility.

Then the same light we had seen by the door gathered below Pang-pang’s palm.

“…Would you like to stop the facility?”

Pang-pang whispered.

We all looked around in a panic.

The incubators still held people inside. Though they weren’t born naturally, they were beings that could certainly be considered Earthlings. At least, they must have used similar genes.

What would happen to these people if we stopped the facility?

“Something feels strange.”

Jua mumbled.

“Right. It’s strange.”

Cherry added with a tense voice.

“Not facing any resistance to get here. And that just letting someone manipulate the most important part of the facility with just one person brought here is very strange.”

Cherry looked at me as she spoke.

“More than anything, where’s James? James, who sent the personal channel log password… I mean, seeing this facility, even he would feel a sense of guilt, but it’s odd that he’s not here.”

James was a fanatic for the chairman. Has he still not changed his mind? Even after seeing this situation?

More than anything, where was the chairman? Where could the chairman be that they weren’t here?

“…”

Pang-pang tapped the screen a few more times.

“Wait, Pang-pang.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t touch that fingerprint.”

Pang-pang looked at the screen, which seemed to draw her in. Her hand movements looked familiar. Could it be that this is the interface used frequently on the planet she lived on?

“…”

After a while of touching the screen, Pang-pang inhaled deeply.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

When I asked somewhat anxiously, Pang-pang looked at me and said, “…There’s a function to transfer administrator rights.”

“To whom?”

“…To me. To the chairman’s closest relative. This is a kind of will.”

“…”

We were momentarily speechless.

We had never seen the chairman in person. James probably hadn’t seen him directly either.

We had only seen those following the chairman’s will.

“Though it’s called a will, it doesn’t write anything about asking for a favor or making a request. It merely states if the rights would be transferred or not.”

“Is that so?”

Just as Pang-pang finished speaking, someone interrupted us.

Another sharp clicking of heels echoed as a man with red skin approached. It was a familiar face, the employee from Noir Corporation we’d seen before.

“What do you think was the reason for the coup at Noir Corporation? Of course, you, Phung-pung, didn’t think our chairman had passed, but you thought that the ‘influence’ had weakened enough for it to be possible.”

The employee took a few more steps along the corridor we had come out from.

“Of course, the chairman also made some preparations, but the existence of that ‘insurance’ turned out to be far more troublesome than the chairman could ever expect.”

He was probably referring to Pang-pang.

“But since you’ve made it back this far, I’d like to propose something. Would you inherit the position of chairman? After inheriting it, you could do as you wish.”

“Pang-pang, don’t.”

Jua said sharply.

“This is a trap.”

“Whether you believe that or not is up to you.”

The man’s head shook left and right. There were people back there. People that had yet to be born.

“Don’t you think we can save them all? There are plenty of beings in the facility besides them.”

“…”

Pang-pang pondered for a moment before shaking her head.

“…No.”

Her voice was resolute. Even in the face of endless wealth and power.

“I don’t want this. That’s why I ran away.”

“Is that so?”

The employee exhaled lightly.

Still, he wore the same clothes as when I last saw him. His attitude resembled one of a customer negotiating.

I deeply disliked that he seemed to be moved by something beyond just money.

If only he were just a materialist; I wouldn’t feel any hesitation.

“…Indeed, the chairman also said so. He even mentioned ‘his childhood.’ So please take care of it.”

“…What?”

Pang-pang mumbled.

“Earthlings were able to be created in just a few years. That means our company has had such technology for a long time. It also means that someone from another planet could be created too.”

The man spoke, looking at Pang-pang.

“That indicates that creating a ‘clone’ of our planet’s people was a well-established technology even long ago.”

“Yeah?”

Pang-pang mumbled once more.

And then,

“Ugh!”

She grabbed her head.

“Pang-pang!?”

I shouted.

Ha-yoon had already drawn her sword.

So—

“I’ve been waiting, chairman. And the generator is also complete.”

The company employee said, with a certain ‘confidence’ written all over his face.

 

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