The Foreigner on the Periphery

Chapter 20 – Three Ways To Murder Your Boss (17)
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A few days after the Sokcho incident, Ye Minjun came out from work at the Changchun Bank headquarters.

He did not immediately try to catch a taxi. He glanced around instead, as if a sudden thought had arrived in his head. There was a flower shop nearby.

“Welcome.”

After passing the mandragora flowerpot with the vocal organs removed and the mosquito-repellent acid plant basket, Minjun stopped in front of the ordinary flowerpot. It was just the right size for carrying, and it had a lot of leaves, so it looked like the perfect gift for an Elf.

“What is this?”

“It’s money. The leaves look a lot like coins, so it’s also called the money tree. It’ll be able to give a lot of gifts to the newly opened store.”

“That’s fine, give me one of those.”

Minjun wasn’t interested in things like the origin of the botanical name, but it would be a good excuse to bring it to the store.

News came on the radio while the owner was packing the potted plants.

The government’s official position on the localized storm that occurred on the coast of Sokcho last week has not changed. After all, it was just a natural phenomenon. It’s also true that some of the Sokcho citizens with special abilities have received reports, but he added that there is a lot of room for confusion with magical phenomena for this particular type of storm.

The flower shop owner who had been listening snorted.

“What the… Who believes that? Did you see the video? It was all over YouTube.”

“Ah… what. I mean, yeah.”

Minjun then answered with a dry voice. The owner busily played with his hands as he continued talking.

“A normal natural phenomenon? You have to sound like a horse… Do you know what everyone says when people gather around? When I see the government trying to hide something so thoroughly, it’s a sign that something big has happened. Of course, you can’t say this on TV or on the Internet. If the government is stamped on me for spreading conspiracy theories for nothing, and even if my pension is cut…”

She then broke off as she stared at Minjun’s clothes. It didn’t seem as if he worked for the government.

“Anyway, the world is like a key point. How could such an incident be buried like this?”

Minjun received the flowerpot and answered dryly. “This is it. Thank you.”

After leaving the flower shop, he immediately took a taxi. After he told the driver his destination, he leaned back and began to ponder for a moment.

‘After all, even that barrier was not enough.’

The aftermath of the fierce battle that took place over an hour with Minjun, the Elder Dragon, and a dragon whose power was comparable to the Elder’s was on a scale that could not be completely hidden.

Nevertheless, the truth of the incident was thoroughly concealed. It was the result of Jenkinson’s influence. Even if it was still buzzing, the news would eventually disappear from the media in a few days, as it always had thus far.

That was one of the driving forces for maintaining this dangerous society.

‘Did Jae Tang-joon believe that this world was abnormal?’

The stream of thoughts continued naturally in his head. He could guess what the dreamer’s intentions were.

‘But, would all this change if the dragon was annihilated? For example, if there comes a society where humans will occupy that void, and they’ll end up ruling over everything.’

In the end it had just been a dangerous thought, something akin to a delusion.

Ye Minjun could still remember what he had said at the last moment.

The wind and rain that used to scratch Sokcho’s port were gradually getting weaker.

The flame that was Jang Tae-joon’s vitality was also rapidly fading.

Minjun knew that it was an injury that would put one in a coma if it had been any other creature. However, the dragon’s body helped him remain conscious, and to think normally during these moments. Minjun speculated that at least three of the six brains in Jang Tae-joon’s skull had already stopped functioning.

The dragon then sent out a telepathic wave that only Minjun could hear. The conversation between the two proceeded close to the speed of thought. It was so fast that Jenkinson didn’t even notice.

= I was originally going to leave this world tomorrow. =

Because of the difference of one day, his escape was unsuccessful and his life was lost. However, resentment did not permeate telepathy.

= If that homunculus had been found by an ordinary person, it would have been cremated according to my will. At any rate, it must have been a week or so after I left. =

It had been calculated considering the schedule that the body after the autopsy was delivered to the legal representative, and was properly paid for up to three days.

‘Right.’

Now, Minjun had an answer to one of the two questions running through his mind when he first discovered the homunculus. Why did he go missing and wait a week before hanging up a fake body? If one were to look at the decayed state of the corpse, the term clearly existed.

‘I thought it was because it was not planned in advance and it took time to make it… but there was another intention. If there is a reason that cremation must be done after you leave.’

Minjun took care of his facial expressions. There were fragments of meaning that came and went in an instant. His head had begun spinning rapidly, eventually inferring the answer.

‘You played a prank on the body.’

There was a slight sense of satisfaction felt in the returning telepathic message.

= A little, I tried my best to be grumpy. =

As he died, he had said that it was funny.

= A variant appeared during the study. A virus that was contagious only to the Balaur, but was expressed in a jumbled sort of manner. =

In fact, he seemed to have gone one step further than the predictions of Minjun and Lee Min-guk.

= It was vague to dismiss it as a success. What I wanted was a virus that was 100% lethal in any environment… because the symptoms that the mutant caused were disappointing. In some experiments, it ended with a weak reaction, in others, it destroyed the sample’s DNA in seconds. The strongest reaction was equivalent to exposure to radiation greater than 100 sieverts. =

His telepathic mind was slowly breaking down. Showing his concentration, the dragon confessed the malice he had hidden until the end.

= More samples were needed because the cases were jumbled up. So… I thought that it would be nice to spray this in a place where a reasonable number of individuals live. =

It was a fight that didn’t matter, even if he failed.

The dragon then gave out a sound that was close to a quiet laugh.

= So, I implanted a magical property into the mutant virus – to wake up from hibernation and begin activity when coming in contact with a temperature higher than 500 degrees. =

This was a temperature at which a normal virus couldn’t possibly survive. However, a cleverly hidden dose of magic would make it possible to do so under the right circumstances.

The homunculus was the best medium to hide it. Even if the police did an autopsy, nothing was found, and in the end, it would have been concluded that the body was delivered to the person related to it.

In the end, the virus must have spread far and wide by being cremated according to the deceased’s maintenance and mixing with the smoke from burning the body. That was Jang Tae-joon’s plan.

Minjun asked, ‘Why are you telling me this?’

= Well, you can guess why, prisoner. =

‘….’

= Now, I have said everything. No matter what choice you make with this… It’s up to you. =

That ended up being the last word.

All of these conversations were over in an instant, and Minjun saw Jang Tae-joon’s gigantic pupil slowly fading away.

Then came the death of a dreamer who hated his people.

“…It’s over.”

Jenkinson then quietly paid tribute to the deceased.

The few seconds of silence between them was enough time for Minjun to make a choice, deciding what to do with the homunculus.

“Jenkinson.”

Minjun’s decision was quick.

The goblin felt popular and raised his head.

“Ah… Master!”

Deong-cheol, who was brushing, greeted Minjun with a bright expression.

“Are you all right now?”

“It’s okay, hehe.”

After the day that Lakefield was safely evacuated to avoid the beasts of the dragon that had broken into the bookstore, Deong-cheol fell ill for three full days.

He had overcome the fear of dragons contained in his genes with his will, but the desperate resistance remained in his body as both poison and fatigue.

“If you are well, let’s go eat something delicious after business today.”

Joy and heat erupted from the goblin’s eyes.

Excitedly, Minjun entered the bookstore. “I have come. This is a gift.”

The gaze of the Elf, which had been fixed on the thick book, began to move. He spoke bluntly when he saw the flower pot of money in Minjun’s hand.

“Didn’t you have time to dry up and kill me this time?”

Minjun scratched the back of his head and placed it next to the cactus flower pot. He then sat while facing the bookstore owner.

“What about your body?”

“I used to be fine. Deong-cheol just insulted me.”

Despite his old age and weakened body, this Elf’s mind was as strong as steel. It was Deong-cheol’s side that worried the both of them. Minjun lowered his voice and said, “I am worried that it’ll remain traumatic.”

“These days, I kept searching for videos related to dragons on my cell phone and watched them.”

“…Okay..?”

It was an action that could be interpreted in a variety of ways.

“By the way, why didn’t you tell me?”

The Elf then asked a question that had been delayed. His gaze was directed toward the two flower pots that had been placed side by side.

However, Minjun didn’t have to explain why he had kept this bookstore as a barrier. He didn’t even mention why he didn’t tell Lakefield. He just smiled.

The old Elf furrowed an eyebrow as he looked at his sly expression. For a few seconds, an uncomfortable silence passed.

It was the Elf who spoke first. He talked about how the world was going these days, and Minjun had taken it as a joke. After talking like that for a few minutes, Minjun got up first. The reason was that there was a report to be submitted to the ‘headquarters.’

Then, Lakefield held out the thick book he was reading. It was a new book by that Dwarf writer. He said that he had already read it, and recommended that he borrow it if it was interested. Minjun flatly refused.

Whoa! Woo woo woo!

When he entered the office, he was greeted by a resonance from the warehouse.

The ego frying pan with an apparent lust for sexuality was still there.

After Jang Tae-joon’s identity was revealed, his will lost its legal force, and all property belonged to the state. So, originally, it had to be handed over to the immigration office, but Jenkinson communicated through his secretary that there was no need to do so.

It turned out that the model was a product that had been discontinued in production and sales long ago because the troll, Chef Myung, a creature whose personality was copied, sued the manufacturer. The reason was that he copied his ‘secret part’ that was not discussed in advance, and his taste was outdated to all dimensions. It was quite the understandable motivation.

A lot of time had passed, but legal issues were still complicated, and the immigration office seemed to be burdened with disposing of them arbitrarily.

Whoa! Woo woo woo!

He ignored the protests that were asking to talk to him.

‘Are you feeling completely refreshed now?’

When the frying pan was informed of the death of Jang Tae-joon, the artificial person’s response was only a short answer, ‘Oh, is that so?’

But all day long, the frying pan didn’t say a word, and it didn’t make a sound with its body.

It seemed to be its own way of commemorating its old master.

Beep!

Minjun then turned on the computer placed in the corner. It was an old machine made within one piece, including the monitor, the body, and the keyboard. When he began tapping, the black screen was filled with white letters. He was writing the final report by synthesizing what he had learned today.

The property of the deceased illegal immigrant was confiscated by the Immigration Bureau of the Korean government at the global level, and it is believed that there are no clues in the will to guess the identity of the accomplice.

In the morning, he visited the VIP vault of Changchun Bank’s main branch with an immigration officer. His purpose in doing this was to read Jang Tae-joon’s will. As long as he was proven to be an alien, administrative execution was natural.

Minjun then looked for clues in the content that would identify those who helped him smuggle in. however, to his disappointment, he didn’t find what he was expecting to find, and instead, he ended up learning something important.

Summary of the will: All stocks of Hyosung Industries (market price of 200 billion won) that Jang Tae-joon owned will be donated to the Social Welfare Foundation. It has been confirmed that the foundation is not involved in aliens or certain criminal groups.

After a few moments of flashing memories, he went through the next sentence.

The heirs of all other assets (market value of about 800 billion won), including deposits, securities, artworks, precious metals, patents, and real estate including the house where they lived, were designated to the human woman with who he had maintained a relationship with just before death.

Kim Yeon-joo assumed that most of Jang Tae-joon’s fortune would be owned by Hyosung Industrial Co., but the truth was completely different.

Stocks were only a part of it, and it seemed that they were trying to dispose of them in the form of donations before disappearing because they thought it would be dangerous to keep them.

In addition to this, the gist of the will was to inherit all the real baegi except stocks to Kim Yeon-joo.

‘Is the reason why I hung the homunculus on a distant mountain instead of letting it be found at home… Was it because that house is also a legacy to go to Kim Yeon-joo?’

If Jang Tae-joon disappeared in a more natural way, Minjun wouldn’t have taken this case. He would have died as a human and everything would have been executed as per his will.

But now, that had become a meaningless assumption.

After that, Minjun concentrated and wrote a few more lines of sentences.

‘This is the most important part!’

To list one’s achievements in clear and concise language.

The price Jenkinson personally promised had already been paid. This report was much more desperate than that, and it was a process for a different kind of compensation. When one wanted to catch a wanted criminal, one could report it in abbreviated form, but in this special case, one had to shed some light in order to get substantial results.

And so, Minjun was able to do better than anyone else with his 800-year job.

‘Send!’

He pressed Enter and the screen began to flash. There was no telephone line, let alone a LAN line, connected to this computer, but it transmitted data to a distant dimension using a communication network through the spiritual realm. Minjun now had to wait patiently for how many talents the committee would set aside.

Perhaps, even the contribution to the 50,000-talent request to clarify the principles of the ISP may be recognized. Immigration said that they planned to share some of the samples confiscated from Rare with the committee.

Specialized areas such as pheromone research were areas that could not be touched anyway, but if one could put a spoon in it like this, one would eventually feel very satisfied.

‘Well then…’

He then looked at the clock. There was still some time left until the closing of the Sangnoksu Bookstore. To kill time, he picked up the new Scotch that Kathy had brought to the office. He poured out enough to wet only the bottom of the glass, then put it in his mouth.

“…”

He then sat for a while, rolling the scent of a mixture of minerals and grains in his mouth.

He opened the drawer as soon as he remembered it. He took out a small ampoule from inside. Dark red blood was dripping inside the magic container.

He then muttered inwardly.

‘A virus that only responds to dragons.’

The moment Jang Tae-joon died in Sokcho, Minjun made a decision on how to dispose of the homunculus.

He handed over the entire body to the immigration office, saying it was evidence obtained during the investigation. After confirming the death of the original, the excuses he kept were now gone. There was also no reprimanding coming his way from the Immigration Department for missing an immediate report. That was the way contract agents worked in the first place.

However, he did not submit all parts of the evidence without an error of 100 grams.

‘Wake up from hibernation by applying heat?’

What he was holding was blood taken from a homunculus.

Jenkinson didn’t mention the conversation he had with Jang Tae-joon. It was because he was convinced that the Immigration Office would not burn it in the first place. As it was an item left by a dangerous terrorist, they would definitely conduct a detailed inspection. There was a high probability that they would find out the secret as well.

However, they wouldn’t know until the end. The fact that Minjun also possessed the virus.

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‘Someone might be suspicious. But that alone wouldn’t touch me.’

He put the ampoule back deep in the drawer and sealed it.

Setting this aside was more of an impulsive action on his part. Suddenly, a ‘premonition’ flashed through his head. Before handing over the homunculus to the Immigration Office, he said, ‘I don’t think it’s possible to touch it.’

And so, this time, Minjun decided to act contrary to his premonition. 800 years of experience was now speaking to him. His premonitions were always terribly wrong.

Minjun then passed his last sip and thought about how he could use that virus in the future. In addition to this, when he put the empty glass back on the desk, he completely erased from his mind the foolish dreamer who tried to love humans the dragon’s way.