A/N: First off, thanks so much for waiting for this arc guys! I was seriously unsatisfied with the original version, probably the result of being uninspired when I wrote it… 

These past two weeks, I kept trying to brainstorm a better idea or a rewrite but struggled and struggled. Then, thanks to a new reader, ByulKang, I finally found something I’m happy with! 

Originally I wanted to split the arc into two parts with 10K+ words, but I barely started writing/editing today so that’s not happening. Instead, I’ll be posting daily chapters with 3K+ words minimum. This is the first arc I’m writing/editing as I post, so I apologize if it’s a bit chaotic. All the other arcs were written long ago (I wrote/word vomited the story in its entirety around October 2021) and only needed editing before posting.

Anyway, I’m quite excited for this arc and I hope you guys will enjoy it too. 🤗 Right now it’s 2 AM. Imma sleep and wake up to write/edit some more. Expect another post today/tomorrow! 😁

—

[Part 1: Encounter]

“Certainly, my Host! Transferring to the world ‘The Cannon Fodder Strikes Back!’ in 30, 29, 28…”

A nostalgic, restraining warmth swaddled Jun’s body. Unable to move or open his eyes, the darkness surrounded and accompanied him. Outside, he heard distant, muffled voices. 

Was he being kidnapped again?

|System?|

| Yes, sort of, not really. Technically, no?|

That didn’t sound very reassuring, not that he wanted to be reassured he was being kidnapped. Having experienced it once before, it was not as exciting as imagined. 

|Just give me the plot…|

Once he finished skimming through the plot, Jun’s face was full of black lines. What a dog-blooded storyline. Furthermore, it was a BE—bad ending! Although the thrice betrayed, reborn cannon fodder protagonist’s resentment was resolved after he succeeded in his revenge, he died all alone from poisoning in the end. 

|Who am I in this world?| 

‘Hopefully not the protagonist.’ Jun mentally crossed his fingers. There were other “cannon fodders” in this world’s plot to choose from so please spare him the agony.

|Dearest Host, you are the mermaid! Er—I mean, merman…|

|... System, I’m not that mean to you, am I?|

|No, the Host is a very good host.|

|Then why…?|

In the last world, he was the unnamed Townsperson B. Now he wasn’t even a “cannon fodder” by any means, but someone from a mystical race that vanished from this world a millennium ago. An existence briefly mentioned having been stolen during some auction that held little significance to the world plot, appearing as some unrelated news headline the protagonist came across while browsing the internet.

 In any case, even as a merman, his current state of being stuck in the literal darkness and unable to move couldn’t be explained.

|Right now, your body is asleep, my dearest Host, waiting to be woken up.|

|... And exactly how is that supposed to happen?|

|All you need—|

|No, nevermind. Just tell me which mission this is.|

|I’m glad you asked, Host! This world’s mission is very special! Neither Type A or Type B but Type S!|

|...|

Sensing his precious host lacked the enthusiasm and motivation he expected, System 00 aspired to sell the special mission. Otherwise, his Creator would punish him with 1,000 squats. As a flying furball, executing 1,000 squats was the equivalent of being stretched, squished, and squeezed like a stress ball by the Creator x1000. Such humiliation—he didn’t want to relive it.

|In Mission Type S, you don’t have to think about your survival. Instead, your goal is to help the cannon fodder reach a resentment rating of 0 and a happiness rating of 100! Doesn’t that sound easy? And there’s no time limit or restrictions!|

Jun sighed. Did he have a choice? The mission indeed sounded less stressful enough. Was this one of those legendary “vacation” worlds? Legendary for Jun, because his luck didn’t permit such a possibility.

|Alright. Which cannon fodder do I have to help?|

|It’s the protagonist, Ylliam Ephraim!|

After all this time, Jun still doubted whether the system was truly on his side or not. If he were to give Ylliam Ephraim a rating in terms of cannon fodder, he was definitely a 10!

Besides, before starting his mission, Jun had to find a way to “awaken” first. In his current state of “sleep,” there was no way to discern where, when, or what was happening in the world. Neither could his useless system help in that department.

Hearing his host’s thoughts, System 00 chose to interject. 

|Actually, I can show you what’s happening outside…|

|Really!?|

|Why so surprised, Host? This is a special mission so there are special perks.|

|Oh, is that so.| 

Like before, Jun didn’t expect much from the system. 

|In fact, this is an upgraded version of my GPS function! Normally, I wouldn’t be able to use it until the next upgrade, but the Creator granted me special permission teehee.|

|So it is a GPS function. Ok, let’s see it then.|

Resisting the urge to argue with his host about the name of his skill, System 00 determined to prove his worth through actions instead. In Jun’s mental realm, a screen appeared, displaying the view outside his present state. Below was an audience of thousands staring straight at him while he was atop some stage. The audience’s faces were obscured for privacy purposes and their bodies were semi-transparent. These weren’t people but virtual holograms.

Behind him, a man’s voice echoed, brimming with excitement: “Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you, La Nuit’s final auction piece—a mermaid cocoon!”

Gasps of awe and disbelief surged from the audience. No one had ever seen a mermaid cocoon before, though many had heard the stories. Inside should be a mermaid in deep sleep, waiting to be awoken.

“Impossible!” One of the VIPs challenged the auctioneer on the authenticity of such a treasure.

“Rest assured, this is a real mermaid cocoon, excavated by the crew of Lustre from the depths of the Southern Seas.”

Lustre was a world-famous exploratory airship, capable of transforming into a deep-sea submarine, one of only five in existence. The other four belonged to the royal families of the four races found on the water planet Masa. As for the Southern Seas, it was the most dangerous location on Masa, densely populated by tier 5, the highest tier, deep-sea beasts.

Now thoroughly convinced of the authenticity of the cocoon, the audience was eager to start bidding. Over the years, many tales regarding merfolk have been passed down, the most notable one being that a mermaid can bear the offspring of any race. In a world where the fertility rates and population had dropped to an all-time low, this was the very essence of life. Compared to mermaid tears being pearls, this aspect was considerably more valuable. As long as the mermaid cocoon was authentic, of course. As for how to “awaken” the mermaid from the cocoon, that remained a mystery. 

Aware there was lingering skepticism in the audience, the auctioneer signaled to his assistant on the side of the stage, who pressed a switch in his hand. The cocoon was lifted higher as Jun watched the audience drift farther away.

“Behold!” The auctioneer shouted. Underneath the pure white mermaid cocoon, a UV light shone, revealing a silhouette inside—the body of a man with a fishtail. Pleasantly surprised, the auctioneer announced, “It turns out this is a merman cocoon, not a mermaid’s!”

This auction piece was a last-minute bonus given to the auction hall, so the staff hadn’t inspected the inside of the cocoon before the start of the auction. Lustre was a long-time client of La Nuit, their cooperation spanning the length of 5 years. Over the years, the auction hall accepted many items from Lustre. Everything was valuable and nothing was ever proven to be fraudulent. 

Compared to a mermaid, a merman bolstered even greater value. An ancient story claims the blood of a merman given willingly can bestow anyone, male or female regardless of race, the ability to carry children at a fertility rate of 100. 

With a wide smile, the auctioneer spoke, “Since that is the case, let’s start the bid at 1 million midsized levitation stones!”

Hearing that, Jun stopped paying attention to the auction. Regardless of the final bid, the cocoon was going to be snatched by the pirate airship Eclipse. As for what happened to the cocoon afterward, not even the plot knew for it quietly “disappeared,” much like the merfolk. What Jun needed to concern himself with was how to “awaken.” 

|Host, all that’s needed is—|

System 00 was destined to be interrupted. The auction hall violently shook, seeming to have been struck by a large object. Amidst the chaos, many of the holograms disappeared while the auctioneer remained stunned on the stage, gaping as the head of an airship punctured through one of the auction hall’s walls. The perpetrator was none other than the pirate airship Eclipse. 

As a world-famous auction hall, La Nuit was fitted with the strongest—most expensive—defensive shield available to the public, yet it was utterly ineffective against Eclipse. For a pirate airship, its equipment was as considerable as those belonging to royal warships. Not only were the defense systems down, but La Nuit’s navigation systems had also been hacked, causing it to stall and become incapable of escaping through teleportation. 

A dozen men wearing black oxygen masks marked with the unique emblem “E” fell from the airship onto the stage. One tackled the auctioneer and knocked him out. Another went after the assistant, and the rest threw EMP bombs at the various robot guards. Afterward, two more men leaped down from Eclipse to stand in front of the cocoon. 

“We’re taking this thing back?” One of them, the black-haired one, asked. On his head were three horns of a golden color, matching the eyes not concealed by the mask. Seeing this, Jun balked. Was this not Elior? The feeling was there, not to mention the eye color… 

Ah, the eye color, dammit.

Elior was a pirate in this world? A villain? Well, it wasn't the first time he was a villain. The man was once a “zombie emperor.”

That meant the other one, the white-haired one—Jun sighted the red eyes. Fuck, it was Azazel. Jun supposed that rather than be snatched/kidnapped by someone else, it was better to be snatched/kidnapped by his men. Just treat it as some weird play.

The man presumed to be Azazel spoke: “Jovin wants it, so...”

So what?

And was he talking about the male lead, Jovin, King of the Ignatius race? Then Jun noticed that all these men had horns and scaly tails. These people were of the Ignatius race! Stealing from their own King? Weren’t they worried he would come after them? Then again, they were pirates, ah. Pirates.

The next moment, the cocoon was transferred into a space ring and Jun’s viewing screen became dark. Nevertheless, he could listen to the ongoings outside from within the space. 

After the cocoon was snatched/kidnapped, the pirates promptly returned to Eclipse and the airship teleported away to an undisclosed floating island. But before they left, they reattached the broken wall for La Nuit. 

These guys were pirates, right?

Abroad the airship Eclipse, Jun in the space ring was taken to the lounge of the captain’s quarters. There, the cocoon was removed from the space ring. Large in size, it occupied 3/4 of the open space available, leaving just enough space for the two Ignatius to stand.

Made of hundreds of thousands of scales shed by long-dead merfolk, the pure white cocoon shimmered brilliantly underneath the sunlight filtering through the lounge’s windows. The oxygen mask had long been removed and the black-haired Ignatius knocked on the cocoon, his expression bewildered.

“Why do you think Jovin wants this, Aydamir? It couldn’t be that he believes in that story about merman blood?”

So this world’s Azazel was called Aydamir. That was relatively easy to remember. 

“Who cares, Ergun.” 

And this world’s Elior was called Ergun. Also easy to remember! If only it was like this in every world. 

“I care. Me,” said Ergun. “Aren't you curious? He's your younger brother.”

Right, Aydamir was Jovin’s elder brother…!? Should the plot have left out something so important, such as the fact that Jovin’s brother was a pirate?

“No, not really.”

“Then why'd you steal the cocoon back from him? You know that winning bid was his—”

“Whatever.” Aydamir turned away, intending to withdraw to his study on the right.

Ergun dragged him back. “Aren’t you curious about this thing? How do you even activate or unlock this thing? Should we smash it with a hammer or…?”

|Oh no, no, no. Host, if your man does that, your body won’t ever wake up and the mission will fail!|

|… Maybe you shouldn’t have assigned me a merman role? Or one that’s asleep, incapable of doing anything until someone manages to wake me up? How does one wake up a cocooned merperson anyway?|

|Oh, that’s easy. All that’s needed is—|

“No, this cocoon is a precious 1000-year-old artifact.” Lucky for Jun, there was still the ever-serious Azazel, reliable when Elior wasn’t. 

Did he just call him an artifact?

“I was joking, Aydamir.” Ergun half-smiled. No wonder this person kept reading “How to be a Proper Pirate” during his free time. The man lacked a humor bone. “Should we try kissing it? I’ve read in ancient fairy tales that the best method to wake up a sleeping beauty is to give a kiss!”

“What—”

Before Aydamir could prevent it or question Ergun’s thought process, his face was shoved into the cocoon the same moment Ergun kissed the cocoon. The instant their lips pressed against the cocoon’s cold surface, the cocoon flashed a blinding light and the scales separated as seawater surged out, nearly choking them. 

The lounge’s filtering system activated and drained the water, but by then, both men were a soaking mess. “Ergun, you asshole!”

Right on time to save Ergun’s ass, the ventilation and heating system started to dry and warm up the two men. Shrugging his shoulders, Ergun wiped away the water on his face. “How was I supposed to know that would happen?”

To think all it took was a kiss to break the cocoon… 

“Next time—” Aydamir paused, catching the strange fixated expression on Ergun’s face. “—What now.” 

Aydamir directed his sight at what captured Ergun’s focus and his expression soon matched the other’s. On the floor, laying atop a bed of pure white sparkling scales was a young merman, very much alive judging by the slight rise and fall of his chest. After one millennium, the merman was still alive? Until then, they didn't believe the stories about the merfolk cocoon being in a state of deep sleep.

Though the merman’s face was partially hidden by long, turquoise hair, the beauty underneath was undeniable. As his skin and body dried, the matching turquoise fishtail began to transform into a pair of slender legs.

Without realizing it, Aydamir and Ergun moved closer until they were kneeling beside the sleeping merman, watching over him. Their eyes roamed down the merman’s smooth naked body, infatuated. From his soft lips to his dusty pink nipples to his…

“!!!”

Simultaneously, the two Ignatius’s noses bled, their blood dripping onto the sleeping merman’s navel, enacting a sacred merfolk bond without any of them knowing. They gawked as their blood mixed and swirled into a seal, becoming permanent after the color changed from red to black, resembling a tattoo. 

Aydamir rubbed his nose with the back of his arm and punched Ergun’s arm. How embarrassing if the merman were to wake up and glimpse their perverted natures. Wait, when did that happen? Aydamir had always been serious about being a pirate and Ergun was only interested in machinery. 

As for why Jun was still slumbering, his soul was working on fully integrating with the merman body. While in the cocoon, his soul wasn’t completely attached, which allowed System 00 to grant him the ability to watch the outside world. As this was no longer the case, Jun didn’t witness Aydamir and Ergun’s nosebleeds, not that it made a difference. 

Not long after, his body followed his conscious soul and woke up. Emerald eyes blinked at a pair of startling red ones and another set of golden ones. Then they shifted away to glimpse Aydamir covering his face from the nose down, blood dripping from his hand to wrist, ultimately landing on the mark on Jun’s navel, causing him to tremble. The more blood fell on the mark, the hotter Jun’s body became.

What the heck.

Ergun, whose nosebleed was flowing freely, noticed the changes in Jun’s body and leaned over, adding his blood to the mark. Heat from Jun’s navel traveled to the rest of his body. He couldn’t stop the gasps and moans.

Wasn’t this similar to an omega’s heat?

‘Oh no,’ Jun thought. ‘Why me.’

“S-Stop that.” 

Neither Aydamir nor Ergun understood him, but his voice was very pleasant to the ears! Jun had spoken in the merfolk language. After the disappearance of the merfolk race and the decrease in the other races’ fertility rates, planet Masa’s overall population stretched and spread out. To facilitate communication between all the races, the universal language Masaya was established. 

No longer did the four races speak their languages, and there was only Masaya. After System 00 delivered Jun this information, there was a helpless expression on his face.

|System, have I wronged you too much?|

|No, not really.|

|Then why?|

|Dearest Host, I don’t choose the roles assigned to you.|

Then who? Oriana? Ah, big sis Ana, she would do such a thing.

“What did you say?” Aydamir asked.

Though they found each other early in this world, Jun couldn’t communicate with his men. At least, not yet. Learning a language shouldn’t require more than another month for someone like him. 

Someone like him?

Even so, Jun deduced what Aydamir had asked. Instead of speaking, he struggled to stand up just to stumble and fall forward. Instinctively, Ergun caught Jun by the waist with his tail and held him up, his legs and arms hanging down. At the sight of Jun’s perky butt, Ergun pinched his nose to hold back another wave of blood flow. This wasn’t good. No matter how extraordinary an Ignatius’s physique was, at this rate, they would lose their sensibility from the continuous blood loss. 

Aydamir vacated the lounge and went to his bedroom to retrieve some clothes. While squeezing their noses, they dressed Jun, who was still unable to control his body. A millennium of deep sleep had rendered him weak.

Due to the size difference of their races, the shirt and pants were too loose, and they had to roll up the sleeves and pant legs for Jun. A belt was even necessary to prevent the pants from sliding down. This image didn’t alleviate their blood loss situation but made things worse. In the end, they averted their gazes, which gave Jun time to calm down as well. 

Whatever he experienced earlier as a merman wasn’t exactly like an omega’s heat and after some time, his body returned to normal, thankfully. Now there was still the issue of communication. After fumbling around for some time, Ergun gifted Jun a spare terminal and attempted to teach Jun how to use it. Aydamir signed Jun up for an online class to learn Masaya. All this was done while avoiding Jun’s gaze. Jun found it somewhat amusing to see the two behave so shy and awkwardly around him. 

After the three of them managed to learn each other’s names, Aydamir and Ergun left Jun alone in the lounge to play with his terminal. Outside, they came back to their senses and thought: Merpeople were as frighteningly enchanting as the stories suggested!

Little did they know Jun hadn’t used any of his race’s charm skills. That involved the power of suggestion through voice and song. Jun did not know merfolk skills nor did he retain the memories of this merman. Besides, he barely spoke to Aydamir and Ergun, simply nodded or shook his head and made gestures with his hands. Body language was, after all, another type of universal language. 

Not to mention he was still tone-deaf. 

Later that night, the crew members with too much free time observed with some interest as the captain and chief engineer took their dinner in the captain’s quarters. Why weren't they eating with the rest of the crew? Wasn’t it two people? Who was the extra portion for? 

The crew’s life as nomadic pirates was exciting yet boring. Exciting in the sense that their lives and/or freedom were often at risk due to the deep sea beasts or Elite Guards. Boring in the sense that other than that, nothing else happened. No drama, no romance, nothing. As such, they spent most of their free time playing online games or browsing gossip pages.

After dinner, Aydamir princess carried Jun to the bathroom connected to his bedroom and placed him into the prepared bathtub, ready to help him bathe while avoiding eye contact. What neither Aydamir nor Ergun expected was for Jun’s legs to transform back into a fishtail, resulting in water from the tub overflowing. Ergun slipped and fell into the bathtub, accidentally pressing into Jun’s special slit with his thumb when trying to stabilize himself.

Listening to Jun’s gasp of pleasure, Aydamir and Ergun nearly had another nosebleed. Ergun hastily removed his thumb, eliciting another breathy gasp from Jun. In his head, he began to visualize various engine blueprints. Yes. Meanwhile, Aydamir mentally recited word for word everything he learned from “How to be a Proper Pirate.” 

Between awkward glances and touches, they somehow managed to help Jun bathe. Jun didn't resist them because quite frankly, he missed their touch. After spending 30 years as a monk studying medicine in the training space, he had some pent-up needs and urges that needed to be addressed, ok? Imagine always being done to oblivion for years, in several worlds, in several obscene ways, then being deprived of it for 30 years. 

Azazel and Elior trained him too well. The path down the road of being a shameless pervert had no U-Turns. 

When Jun was dry again, his fishtail changed back to a pair of legs at the amazement of all three of them. As for bedtime, they squeezed onto Aydamir’s double bed. The Ignatius race was large and bulky, and a double bed could barely hold one, much less two of them, and an average-sized merman. Luckily it was spring, and there was a cool breeze flowing in from the bedroom windows. At the ship’s current level of elevation, the air pressure was still tolerable for a merman used to the deep sea’s air pressure. 

After adjusting his position several times, Jun laid partially on top of Aydamir, partially on top of Ergun, while the two men were uncomfortably stuck to each other’s side. Tomorrow, they'd order a larger bed. No, it was best to search their storage for one immediately. Aydamir sent an urgent message to his right-hand man, Mars, who spent the night with several other crew members scouring through the many storage rooms of the airship for an XXL-sized bed.

The next day, several crew members discovered that chief engineer Ergun didn’t leave captain Aydamir’s room last night! Late at night, they were ordered to search for an XXL-sized bed. Their imaginations ran wild and gossip spread throughout the ship like wildfire. That extra portion had to be to replenish their energy after doing the deed! But why just one additional portion? 

Unbeknownst to Aydamir and Ergun, the crew calmly assumed and accepted that they were in that kind of relationship. Whenever Aydamir and Ergun strode past a crew member, they gave them an uncanny look of understanding. These two people were tri-horned. Only 1% of the already low Ignatius population reached that level. Alas, now they wouldn’t even have any offspring. It had to be true love!

Aydamir and Ergun were very confused by the crew member’s behavior but didn’t pursue the matter. Their minds were now completely occupied by Jun.

—

A/N: Just barely made it on schedule! So… this turned into something entirely different, neither interstellar nor ancient China but I pulled some aspects from both. 

Once again, thank you to ByulKang for the suggestion that inspired me lol. Also, this is the first arc I’m posting as I write/edit. The next part will be more action(?), and there will probably be some light smut. 😶🙃😗🤣