The Foreigner on the Periphery

As a prisoner, the world that Minjun perceived was full of malice and absurdity. If conception without consideration was violence, as some would claim, the creation of a prisoner was death by injury. 

A life of suffering because of unremembered sins. The suffering of the current life was close to the view of punitive reincarnation, which was due to the original sin of the previous life. 

Everything about it was absurd. Before recovering his memories, Minjun’s gaze toward the world was, of course, cynical and skeptical. Nevertheless, the moment of warmth slightly reflected in everyday life, that made him endure. Anger and despair did not go away, but he managed to cover them up with a little pleasure. At one point, Dell played that part, and once he came to Earth, he got it through emotional solidarity with those around him. 

In addition to this, the Dragon Lord was also one of those who sent favors to Minjun for no reason. It was only natural that Minjun of the distant past and Minjun of modern times felt mixed emotions and even felt guilty when they witnessed his body. 

The Dragon Lord was his friend. Minjun only realized that after his opponent died. Seeing the corpse of such a being and drawing a slaughter method in one’s head was not something humans would do. 

However, Minjun also knew… People were always interpreted subjectively. It was difficult to fully grasp the essence hidden under a single piece of skin or a layer of scales from the outside. 

However, he didn’t know it would be this difficult. Minjun found himself in agony. ‘Should I continue to maintain the road? Didn’t the very concept of contributing to his revenge collapse in the first place?’ 

Returning to the hotel room, he fell into deep thought. ‘If Raymond’s hypothesis is correct, Lord’s death is likely a suicide.’ 

Raymond thought it was an attempt to transfer the soul. If it was successful, he would have moved to the 18th child hidden away without anyone knowing. This was because the 17 children whose existence had already been confirmed did not resemble their father enough, or had not hatched. And so, he got hold of the artifact and tried to find the resurrected Rod to find out the secret to his success. 

‘Then what is the will?’ What would happen after 99 days? 

Because he was worried about choosing a direction to act in the future, Minjun first imagined a case in which he would not do anything. ‘First of all, the new Dragon Lord…’

The work behind the election of the ancient dragons was a strange ordeal. He didn’t know why, but Caliether declared her support for Jenkinson. Her dragons were also with her, who owed her, or had her trust, or had to do her bidding. 

The number was already negligible. In addition, there were dragons who originally supported the Dragon Lord. They had been on Jenkinson’s side from the moment the will was made public. Lord was treated as an eccentric during his lifetime, but among the young dragons, there were those who genuinely respected him. 

Unlike other dragons who only knew themselves, Minjun knew that Rod had often secretly conducted such ‘charity activities’ during his lifetime. That was why it was even more confusing now. Anyway, they also sent a declaration of support to Jenkinson behind the scenes. 

Even counting this far, he had won a formidable number of votes. Furthermore···

‘What if we add Raymond to this?’ 

He was also one of the outstanding candidates for the next road. Minjun had turned such a candidate into a servant. It was a big incident incomparable to the brainwashing of about 30 racist lawmakers. 

‘If we get Raymond to abstain right before the vote, and then he blows all the other dragons that have influence over Jenkinson…’ 

As long as they did not choose seclusion, many of Earth’s dragons were closely intertwined politically, economically, and socially. The factor that determined the direction of the relationship was mainly ‘force.’ The young dragons, whose business could go bankrupt with one breath from Raymond, would have no choice but to follow his instructions.

‘Wouldn’t that be enough votes already?’ Minjun realized that he had become a kind of King Maker who could decide the next road of the earth. 

The problem was that he wasn’t sure if that was the case. ‘It was the deceased’s will to make Jenkinson the next Lord. Giving his heart to the next Lord was also his will. At first, he thought he was passing power to a dragon with a similar orientation. But what if that’s not the case?’ 

Some dragons seemed to think that the Lord’s heart was a ticking time bomb. However, it was a final counterattack to give a blow to the ancient race that deemed to manage the corpses. 

Minjun dismissed the whole ordeal as nonsense. This was because he knew that the princess of Endelion could break her oath and steal the dragon heart. However, what if the direction of the bomb was not directed at the committee… but at the heir who would actually take over the heart? 

‘If he really did anything to Dragon Heart, Jenkinson who gets his hands on it could be in danger.’ At this, Minjun focused on the contents of his will again.

‘If the direct descendants cannot find the culprit, the heart will go to Jenkinson.’ Why was this condition set? Minjun imagined a case where a direct descendant found the culprit. Not one of the seventeen children people already knew, but an unheard-of dragon.

He pictured in his head a dragon that looked just like the deceased, covered in golden scales, appearing and claiming to be his hidden child. The scene where he/she would reveal being the culprit at once and would easily inherit the dragon heart. Perhaps the soul held in that body did not even belong to the young dragon himself. 

‘······!’ Just thinking about it for a moment gave goosebumps to the whole body. It was all just speculation, but… 

‘Then you just have to find the evidence.’ Minjun decided to focus on the essence of the problem. If Rod killed his son and took his body, did Minjun have the right to condemn him? 

He did not. However, if Minjun was also part of his plan, and the inherited legacy was also a stepping stone to achieve Lord’s plan… If the deceased was trying to use Minjun, was he still Minjun’s friend? Read the most updated version of this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at Novel Multiverse – “NovelMultiverse dot com”

“…” After some thought, he made a decision “Kentius, I need to see Lord’s body myself.” 

Upon returning to Hong Kong, the first thing he had to do was delayed because of Raymond. “If the speculation is true, you are the one who murdered Lord, right? because it’s suicide. In any case, if you present the evidence and prove it, the will would come into effect and the Dragon Heart will pass to you.” 

“But, did you really commit suicide? The last thing we saw was…” 

Minjun knew why he was hesitating. The two could remember the sight of Hong Kong’s tallest building collapsing. Lord was a dragon who paid attention to even the smallest details to the extent that even the water and gas pipes were neatly sealed when the New York private vault building was destroyed. He prepared so diligently for the work after his death.

It occurred to him that there was no way he would come up with a plan to collapse the entire building. Minjun spoke once more. “For what Rod did, the ending was too complicated and not cool. Maybe it didn’t work out perfectly as planned. An accident may have happened at the last stage. There’s no evidence left around, but there might be something left on the body. I wasn’t able to inspect Lord’s body up close and personal that day.” 

Before leaving, Dell had deposited the body in the basement of a dimension-jumping terminal managed by the Council. However, as a result of discussion among the Balaur, several conditions were attached to it. “In order to see the body, you have to leave the old dragon by your side as a witness.” 

“Call Jenkinson.” However, the last remaining friend of the dragon, the last bastion that kept Minjun respecting the dragon’s personality, did not reply. 

“It looks like he is busy. Hmmm, Raymond isn’t coming to his senses yet.” 

After completing the interrogation, Raymond asked permission from Minjun and went back to the rare. He and Kentius had both been treated by Yuntus, but the extent of their injuries before then was different. Raymond, who consumed much more life force, needed time to rest and recover. 

It was like the old Choi Seon-ah couldn’t wake up for a while even after he got better. Minjun began to get worried. 

“Uh?”Kentius, who was looking out the window, was taken aback. 

“Why?” Following that gaze, Minjun’s eyes also widened. 

-Different! Different! 

Loud music could be heard outside. That time had already come today: the laser show organized by the city government once a day. It was reopened as soon as possible in order to quickly erase the disaster of the ICC building from people’s minds and attract tourists again. 

Of course, the intention of the old dragon who ruled Hong Kong was reflected there. Rather than looking at the show, several passers-by stopped in their tracks as if they had seen the scene by chance while passing by. 

They began to whisper, “Did it really come back in a few days?” 

“As expected, a dragon is a dragon. Buildings collapsed and people died like that, but this is their choice of action? They’re like a psychopath.” 

Kentius had already come closer to the window and was shouting out. “Leo!” 

He disappeared shortly after meeting at the mansion and was unable to find a trace, but now he was dancing in the air, returning to the main body of the thunder dragon. 

Kentius found out his true identity today. He was a test subject that occupied a body whose soul had been removed. If it was like before, he would have interpreted that action differently, but now it seemed like a miserable outburst. It was then… 

“Uh?” Leo’s trajectory, which had been dancing in the sky, gradually changed strangely. He lingered on Hong Kong Island, then, as if he had judged that he had attracted enough attention, he began to move little by little to the north. He proceeded through Victoria Harbor as it was, his head pointed towards the Kowloon Peninsula across the water where Minjun was. 

However, it was a path that leaned more eastward than the hotel. Minjun estimated what was over there. A few facilities passed through his mind. Among them was… 

“Wait, can you…?!”

 *** 

The captain in charge of operating Korean Air flight KE681 was nervous as usual. The plane he held at the controls departed from Incheon Airport exactly 3 hours and 20 minutes ago and was about 5 minutes later in Hong Kong. It was scheduled to land at Kai Tak International Airport. Feeling a little sweat trickle down his palms, the captain swallowed his curse inwardly.

‘Ah, this fucking airport!’ 

After Hong Kong was taken over by the Guangdong Commonwealth, the British government’s plan to build a new airport was scrapped, and the famous Kai Tak Airport was still in use today. The airport was reviled by passengers for its aging facilities and complex interior, but was notorious for other reasons among pilots. 

The captain looked at the runway that stretched like rays on the water, beyond the city center colored with colorful lights. There was one ordeal left to go through to reach that place. The plane was already descending altitude. Flight KE681 descended, flying precariously over the heads of high-rise buildings, including the Kowloon Citadel. 

People down there would eventually look up and face an oversized looking plane, flying at such a low altitude that it was difficult to tell whether it is okay to fly that low or whether it was a crash or a landing. 

In such a situation, the captain prepared for a sharp turn. It was a gateway that he had to go through every time because of the surrounding terrain. The runway was already densely populated and full of high-rise buildings, but because of the nearby mountain, one would have to perform stunts close to aerobatics. 

Moistening his dry lips, the captain said the altitude, and the first officer repeated it. It was then… 

“·······?!” An urgent voice began to flow from the communication device. The two pilots listened to the communications from the control tower. They hadn’t seen it yet, but it seemed that a flying object was approaching over the waters off Hong Kong Island. Heading towards the Kowloon Peninsula, where the airport was located, at too high a speed. Recognizing this, the control tower sent a message different from common sense. Instead of giving an order to the unlicensed aircraft, it instructed all nearby “normal” planes to turn around, including Flight KE681, which was just preparing to land. 

The captain screamed. ‘Where now?!’ 

He couldn’t finish his speech because the first officer screamed. “Over there!” 

It was only then that the captain, who witnessed it with his own eyes, fell silent. A long object, covered in blue lightning all over his body, was approaching. Having already escaped the radius of the laser show, he ran through the sky as a moving neon signboard, as if he wanted all Hong Kong citizens to keep an eye on him. 

Sszz! Lightning was sizzling over the scales. 

“A dragon!” Immediately after shouting, the captain saw an even more terrifying sight. ‘Ha, it’s descending?!’ 

Was it really going to land on the runway like an airplane? However, as soon as he figured out the trajectory, he had a sudden realization. The dragon was not directed at the airport, but at another facility that occupied a site adjacent to it. 

“…Dimensional Jump Terminal?!” 

When setting up a terminal capable of traveling to outer space, the committee usually chose a space station or a location with the fastest-moving transportation hub on the planet. Since not all aliens could teleport from a distance like the ancient races, transportation links were an effective location designation. 

In the case of the district, the facility that performed that role was an airport. And so, the committee built an artificial island right next to the airport and built the facility there. Like the airport, it was called the Kai Tak Dimensional Jump Terminal after the place it is located in. 

It was the private property of the committee. And Leo, heading there, knew what a hefty bounty they imposed on criminals who conspired to commit acts of terrorism on committee property.