Bad Born Blood

Chapter 224

I stayed at Sonsu Industries' lodging for three days.  

I wasn’t the type to be picky about sleeping arrangements, but the hygiene of the place was atrocious.  

Every morning, I’d wake up to see yellow stains spreading across the pillow and bedsheets. The contamination was so deeply set that even washing wouldn’t remove it.  

Scratch, scratch.  

I scratched my neck and sighed.  

My body felt itchy for no reason, and I had the unsettling sensation of invisible bugs crawling through my hair.  

‘It’s not like Son Seok-jae is neglecting me on purpose.’  

This was just how life was at Sonsu Industries. A company run by rough and filthy men.  

‘At least my condition is improving.’  

I knelt down and did some light meditation. Thanks to Lapis, my prosthetics had stabilized. The alternating use of pain relief and recovery patches had also helped my biological injuries heal.  

‘It would be better if I could get proper treatment, though.’  

I opened my eyes, changed the gauze on my forehead, and secured it.  

Leaving the lodging, I headed for the factory. Sonsu Industries had been pulling three all-nighters to analyze Mushir al-Kashura’s prosthetics.  

Some of the employees were dozing off on makeshift cots or slumped in torn armchairs.  

Step, step.  

I walked over to a table in the corner of the factory. Leftover Jafa pizza and beer were scattered across it.  

The topping on the Jafa pizza was a thinly sliced snake, draped over the crust. At least it was cut up instead of being placed whole.  

Chomp.  

I grabbed a cold slice and chewed on it. The taste was similar to Jafa burgers, probably because they shared the same sauce.  

“…It’s not bad.”  

Before I realized it, I had already devoured one slice.  

I picked up another piece and watched the workers.  

“Oh, I didn’t even notice you there since you’re so short. My bad.”  

One of the Sonsu Industries employees shoved Lapis aside as he spoke. It was deliberate.  

“Oh, it’s fine. Even with eyes in your skull, you’re still too brain-dead to use them properly, huh? A normal person like me should be the one making allowances. But I am curious—what do you think your mother ate while she was carrying you to give birth to such a complete idiot? Radioactive coffee?”  

I almost dropped my pizza.  

For a moment, I thought I had misheard. I stared at the person who had just spewed out that long-winded insult.  

‘Lapis?’  

Her usual gentle speech was nowhere to be found.  

Well, it would be strange to be polite to someone like that.  

“H-Hey, what the hell did you just say?”  

The employee threw his tools onto the floor. Lapis didn’t so much as flinch.

"Are your eardrums rotting too, or are they just not working? How about down there? Just because it's attached doesn't mean it functions. Then again, you’d need someone to use it before you’d even know if it works. But judging by that half-baked face of yours, I doubt you have anyone to use it with."  

"Y-You…"  

The employee's hands and feet were trembling. Before he could say anything, Lapis casually tapped a metal plate with her tool and continued speaking.  

"Your mother must have had a hard time figuring out whether she gave birth to a son or just took a really big shit. Is she even still alive? Not that you'd need to worry about being a good son. I’m sure the people around you would understand if you didn’t bother. I mean, if you drop a lump of half-chewed meat into the world, you can’t exactly expect it to show gratitude, can you?"  

Lapis spoke calmly as she switched tools and continued dismantling Kashura’s leg.  

The employee’s face turned bright red. But he didn’t dare raise his hand against her—two Equessian mercenaries were watching from a distance.  

"Damn…"  

I forgot all about my pizza, too caught up in admiration for Lapis ‘noonim’ and her creative insults.  

I had thought I was pretty good at provoking people with words, but compared to Lapis, I was an amateur.  

"You fucking alien bitch… Just like that disgusting blue skin of yours, your pussy must—"  

The employee spat out a string of obscenities so crude I didn’t even want to process them. He spat on the ground before muttering.  

"If it weren’t for the boss’s orders, I would’ve torn you apart right here."  

Apparently, at Sonsu Industries, xenophobia was just part of the job description.  

The way the employees looked at Lapis and the Equessians wasn’t friendly in the slightest. Their gazes carried open hostility.  

Honestly, my sense of responsibility and guilt toward Lapis was growing. She was right. I hadn’t fully grasped what kind of company Sonsu Industries was.  

Here, I needed to act.  

Splat!  

I threw my half-eaten pizza right at the employee’s face.  

"What the fu— Wh— You…!"  

He recognized me and immediately flinched. Everyone here knew my combat skills.  

"That Tarfa woman is my personal mechanic. If you don’t want to die, watch your mouth. And don’t try to pick fights under the guise of ‘accidents’ either."  

"You’re a human too! Why the hell are you siding with aliens?"  

What a ridiculous way of thinking. But I could guess why they had ended up like this.

"Because she’s better at her job than any of you. I took down Mushir al-Kashura using the power of the prosthetics she built. And now you’re all feasting on the spoils. Do I need to spell out who the superior engineer is? Instead of fixating on race, if you have any pride as a technician, you should show some respect to a more skilled colleague and try to learn something from her."  

I spoke sharply.  

The employee, who had stepped back, pulled his cap down as if to keep his mouth shut. But soon, he muttered under his breath.  

"What a fucked-up taste you have… Sleeping with an alien chick who barely reaches your chest…?"  

Sometimes, having sharp hearing was more of a curse than a blessing.  

Swish.  

I picked up a gear lying on the floor as I stood up. It was only the size of a fingernail.  

"Don’t mumble to yourself. Speak up so everyone can hear."  

My words made the employee glare at me with barely restrained fury.  

"You should be ashamed as a human. That rat-sized alien bitch must be so good in b—"  

Alright. Got it. He’s a lost cause.  

Flick.  

I flicked the small gear into the air with my thumb.  

"Gaahk!"  

The gear embedded itself into the employee’s cheek. He hunched over, clutching the bleeding wound.  

"Hey. Stay right there. I’m about to rip that tongue out of your mouth. No joke."  

I slowly stepped toward him.  

The moment physical violence entered the equation, the entire atmosphere shifted. At this rate, someone might even pull a gun.  

Tsssss.  

I sharpened my senses, tracking every movement from the surrounding employees.  

‘Even Lapis isn’t stopping me.’  

She stood with her arms crossed, silently observing. Considering her personality, I had expected her to try and mediate.  

‘What the hell did Sonsu Industries do in the past?’  

I had already issued a threat. Since I’d spoken, I had to follow through—otherwise, I’d look weak.  

"Tsk. Just when I was finally getting some shut-eye, things got noisy."  

The blankets on a nearby cot rustled. It was Son Seok-jae’s voice.  

"B-Boss!"  

The employee called out in relief.  

Son Seok-jae, freshly awake, ran a hand through his disheveled hair. Unlike his usual suit, he wore a sky-blue work jumpsuit. The safety armband on his sleeve, marked with "SAFETY FIRST," was oddly striking.  

Chhk.  

Without any sign of grogginess, he lit a cigarette the moment he got up. Seemed like he switched to cigarettes instead of cigars when working.  

"Deputy Oh, come here."

Son Seok-jae gestured for the employee to come over. Clutching his injured cheek, the man hurried toward him.  

“Boss, I—”  

“Shh, shh. It’s okay. Oh dear, that handsome face of yours is going to scar. You’ve been keeping up with your tetanus shots, right?”  

“Ah, y-yes, sir.”  

Son Seok-jae held the employee’s chin and examined his face from side to side. From the outside, he looked like a kind boss comforting his worker.  

“Mr. Luka, no matter the situation, threatening to rip someone’s tongue out is a bit much.”  

As he spoke, Son Seok-jae shoved his fingers into the employee’s mouth and grabbed his tongue.  

“Guh, ugh, B-Boss—!”  

The employee mumbled incoherently with his tongue restrained.  

Ssssss—  

Son Seok-jae pressed his lit cigarette against the man’s tongue, slowly searing it. The employee’s pupils dilated, and his limbs trembled violently.  

“Let’s consider Deputy Oh’s rudeness settled with this. For my sake, at least.”  

Son Seok-jae smiled warmly as he looked at me. I gave a nod.  

Truthfully, I had been hoping for someone to mediate, and he had stepped in with perfect timing.  

Swish.  

Son Seok-jae let go of the man’s tongue. The moment he was released, the employee panted heavily and downed a flat beer in a desperate attempt to cool the burn.  

Clap, clap.  

Son Seok-jae clapped twice, drawing everyone’s attention.  

“Alright, back to work! You don’t get paid just for standing around. Safety chant! Safety!”  

At his cue, the employees responded in unison.  

“First!”  

“Once more! Safety!”  

“First!”  

“Check dead circuits—”  

“Twice!”  

As if the earlier tension had never existed, the workshop returned to its usual lively atmosphere.  

‘He knows how to handle people. And his employees both respect and fear him.’  

Son Seok-jae knew how to use fear as a tool. He probably treated his subordinates well most of the time, too.  

Even after having his tongue burned, ‘Deputy Oh’ showed no resentment or dissatisfaction toward Son Seok-jae.  

Wearing his work jumpsuit, Son Seok-jae was actively involved in the on-site operations. Since the company wasn’t very large, he was practically functioning as the factory manager himself.  

“Don’t torment my employees too much.”  

After finishing his instructions, Son Seok-jae walked up to me and spoke.  

“Then keep your subordinates in check. Treat Lapis Lazuli like a proper guest.”

"I’ve already told them to behave, but it won’t be easy. Every one of my employees has suffered at the hands of alien species, in big ways or small.  

See that guy over there with the welding torch? His girlfriend left him for a Begabunders whose cock was as big as he was tall. And that bald kid? His parents were murdered by Crawlers. As for Deputy Oh, his family used to run a small workshop, but then a Tarfa-owned competitor opened across the street, and his entire household was ruined."  

"Hmm. You can’t blame others for losing in competition."  

"Can a Tarfa outperform us humans in physical labor? They’re small and fragile. But their ability to focus on a single field is vastly superior to ours. It’s in their nature. Unlimited competition between different species is inherently unfair."  

"Unlimited competition isn’t fair even among humans. We all have different natural talents. There’s no point in whining."  

"Haha, fair enough. But when species differ, the gap becomes extreme. This society accommodates visible physical differences, but it doesn’t account for disparities in intelligence and cognition. If a short Tarfa can’t reach a book, someone will gladly help. But if a less intelligent species makes mistakes due to ignorance, society condemns them."  

It seemed Son Seok-jae wasn’t driven purely by hatred for aliens.  

"But different species have to live together here. Complaining about unfairness won’t change anything."  

"If no one else will change it, then I will. That’s what it means to live proactively."  

Son Seok-jae snapped his fingers, his energy brimming.  

"That’s an ambitious dream. If you despise aliens so much, why not head to the Empire? Isn’t that your ideal utopia?"  

"Can you really call people who abandon their flesh and blood ‘human’? It may be rare to find pure humans these days… but full-body prosthetics are something else. You understand that better than anyone."  

"Your ideal world sounds pretty complicated."  

I twisted my lips into a smirk.  

"In my view, the Empire’s full-body prosthetics… make them even less human than aliens. Before even considering species, they’ve been stripped of the basic instincts and desires that define living beings."  

A sharp observation. That was the first sign of losing one’s humanity.

Noblemen with full-body prosthetics repeatedly engage in unnecessary human-like behaviors to prevent losing their humanity. And slowly, they go mad.  

Only a rare few, those with exceptionally strong human nature, can still exhibit a semblance of biological vitality despite being encased in a metal coffin.  

Take Jin Gaw, for example. Even as his prosthetic body neared the end of its lifespan, his thirst for knowledge and his drive as a scientist kept his human traits intact.  

‘If Jin Gaw had been a natural-bodied human, people probably would’ve considered him an inhuman scientist instead. His desires are too vast for a regular human body to contain.’  

Because his desires were so overwhelming, he could lose parts of himself and still retain his humanity.  

In the end… the essence of being human is desire. That desire has no inherent morality—no right or wrong. Humanity isn’t defined by moral virtue.  

"Anyway, if anything happens to Lapis while I’m away… forget about deals, forget about contracts—everything will be over."  

"I understand. But, just to ask, on the off chance…"  

Son Seok-jae trailed off with a knowing tone. Damn it. I was going to develop a neurosis at this rate.  

"…I like human women! And ones my age!"  

I made sure to emphasize it. I’d lost count of how many times I had to say this.  

"Hmm, hmm. Understood."  

Son Seok-jae cleared his throat awkwardly.