The Foreigner on the Periphery (English Translation)

Three Ways to Kill Your Boss (14)

A taxi with a Seoul license plate pulled up in front of the villa located at the foot of a mountain in Gangwon Province. Minjun handed the driver a 50,000-won bill with his gloved left hand as soon as it was within reach.

"Keep the change."

The driver's face lit up. After the taxi descended along an unpaved road, Minjun turned his head to look at the entrance.

It was about 10 meters away, but he could clearly see the magical lock attached to the door. It was a bestseller released by the Witch's Cooperative two years ago.

The fact that it sold well meant its basic functionality was guaranteed, but...

'It can't be considered high-end.'

The reason he chose that particular lock likely had to do with his intention to make this place seem insignificant.

That was probably Jang Taejoon's expectation.

Whoosh!

Spring was still lingering at the threshold. The mountain wind was chilly. Minjun shoved his hands into his pants pockets and walked up a few stairs. He glanced at the lock.

Click!

As if welcoming him, the villa's main door swung open wide. Minjun didn't even pull his hands out of his pockets, nor did he slow his pace. He walked with steady strides. As he passed through the entrance, the door quietly closed behind him.

After easily disabling the lock, Minjun surveyed the inside. The interior reflected the villa owner's refined taste. It was modern, but not cold; clean, but not empty. At least, that's how it appeared on the outside.

Now, he had seen Jang Taejoon's human taste. But how had he decorated his true home?

Whirr!

White flames danced in his eyes.

'Hmm.'

He examined the overlapping ethereal landscape at the same coordinates within the interior. At the end of his gaze thrown into another dimensional layer, fluorescent figures stretched long, burning in circles, and undulated like waves. Minjun sifted through the magical faults accumulated over time. Most traces were less than a week old.

'Those are traces left by Society members who've been searching here.'

After finding nothing at the Hannam-dong residence, they must have sent other personnel to comb through this place.

'If I go back more than a week, the traces suddenly become very clean. Almost strangely so.'

So, the searchers could never have imagined Jang Taejoon's true identity.

But Minjun was determined to find what they couldn't. Now that he had a good sense of his opponent's identity, he needed to focus and exert strength in a way that was different from usual. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead for the first time in a while.

After putting in that effort, Minjun finally found it.

'Someone attempted to erase traces of the ethereal realm.'

Just as it's possible to smooth over footprints left in mud, similar actions can be performed in the ethereal realm, but the difficulty is far from simple. Even harder is detecting what has been erased. Minjun had done it. He followed the fragmented traces as they converged.

The entrance to the secret passage didn't lead to a deep basement or hidden behind a concealed wall in the bedroom, as conventionally expected.

Minjun stood in front of the fireplace, located in the center of the living room. It was just a few steps forward from the entrance. It seemed the villa's owner valued convenience over secrecy when installing the hidden door. The confidence that it would never be discovered was likely the reason.

'The space is awkwardly distorted.'

It was as if a super-high-resolution photo of reality was layered in front of the fireplace. But someone with keen eyes could spot something unusual along the edges of the image.

Minjun was that someone.

Swoosh!

He carefully inserted his hand into the hidden space. What seemed like a simple gesture was actually layered with multiple incantations. Several of his fingers seemed to vanish as he adjusted his angle to pry open the door.

Screech!

The air split apart. A passage that the Society had failed to find appeared before him. It led to the depths of the mountain range, and Minjun knew that following it would eventually lead to a vast cavern where a colossal creature could rest in its natural form.

Rather than rushing in, Minjun cast another spell. Whether it was a decoy villa or the real residence, he assumed it would be empty, but it was a precaution. He formed a small mote of dust with the leftover black magic on his fingertip.

"Phew!"

Like dandelion seeds, it floated off with his breath, disappearing into the darkness. As the dust moved, information flooded into his brain, and after a brief moment, he was certain the place was empty.

He proceeded.

He avoided traps and boundary spells as he walked. Finally, when he came to a fork in the path, Minjun immediately turned left. According to the species-specific design of the residence, this was where smaller creatures, not the owner, would stay. If Jang Taejoon had worked alone on his research, he would have used equipment suited to his shape-shifting state to conduct experiments.

'Just as I thought.'

His guess was correct. Finally, Minjun stood before a hidden laboratory.

After confirming there were no traps, he opened the door forcefully.

'······This is bigger than I expected.'

Inside, there were glass tubes filled with liquids, sample storage freezers, experimental equipment, monitors, and more, all packed closely together. The scale was hard to believe, considering he was supposedly doing all of this alone.

The experiments here had not relied solely on scientific civilization. Reassembling magical incidents was not difficult. There were reasons for using magic so frequently here, leaving traces that could not be fully erased, and reasons for confidently claiming this place was safe.

"······!"

Moments later, Minjun roughly understood what kind of experiments Jang Taejoon had been conducting here.

First, the glass tubes contained large amounts of dragon's blood.

'It was collected using magic, stored well, and remains very fresh.'

How could an ordinary human consistently collect such large quantities of dragon's blood?

The answer was simple. Jang Taejoon was not human.

His true identity was that of a species capable of 'self-sourcing' the dragon's blood required for the experiments.

'The more serious issue lies there.'

His gaze shifted to the freezer next to him. There, prototypes produced by Jang Taejoon were stored.

Minjun could deduce from the traces of 'sorcery' left here why Kim Yeonju's blood was necessary and why Jang Taejoon needed to research the reaction between dragon's blood and that substance.

Dragons do not catch diseases, and their bodies are impervious to poisons, something everyone knows.

So, could there be any substances that affect a dragon's body?

No.

'Blood of an ISP emitter who can seduce a dragon!'

The dragon race, unaffected by external chemicals, strangely reacts to that hormone. Noticing this, Jang Taejoon seems to have succeeded in synthesizing a catalyst that only affects dragons after researching the interaction between the two substances.

Up to this point, the research was already dangerous, but he didn't stop there. The next step seemed to be magical experiments combining that weapon with something else, attempting to insert a different substance into a missile warhead, replacing the 'love potion.'

And to Minjun, it didn't seem like that explosive substance would benefit the health of the dragon.

Ultimately, what Jang Taejoon sought to create was a bomb that only responded to and acted on dragons.

After figuring this out, Minjun immediately made a call.

"Yes, Agent, hello? I'm calling on behalf of Chairman Jenkins."

It was supposed to be a direct line, but the elven secretary answered. She must have been busy with something important, leaving the phone unattended.

However, Minjun couldn't afford to wait for her to finish.

"Put the chairman on the line immediately."

On the other side of the phone, the secretary's voice hesitated. But Minjun showed no sign of hesitation.

"It doesn't matter if the guest you're meeting has flown in from the other side of the world or jumped in from the edge of the dimensional plane. You need to come out and take this call right now."

The elf mumbled a few more words, but Minjun had no intention of listening.

Cutting her off, he spoke in a firm voice.

"Mention the illegal immigrant who shares the same ancestor as the chairman. That should get him running out right away."

On the other end of the line, instead of words, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed.

Less than an hour after the hidden laboratory of Jang Taejoon was discovered, many things were understood and organized.

As a result, a high-end black sedan stopped at a small port entrance in Sokcho. The passenger door opened, and Minjun stepped out. The damp sea breeze brushed his face. As he frowned slightly, the driver's side door also opened.

Minjun was not alone. A man with neatly trimmed blonde hair followed him out of the car. Judging by his appearance, he was likely in his late teens, more fittingly described as a young man than a boy.

The two didn't exchange glances or speak. They silently walked toward the breakwater. From their position, there was no one ahead by the sea. But as Minjun continued walking, the air rippled. The two crossed an invisible line almost simultaneously.

Then, a previously unseen view emerged.

A middle-aged man, sitting and fishing by the sea.

Minjun called out to him in a low voice.

"Jang Taejoon?"

The man, his back to the setting sun, slowly turned his head.

There was a mineral-like gleam in his gaze, calm and collected.

"······."

After a brief silence, Jang Taejoon spoke in a tone close to colorlessness.

"Well, this isn't the guest I was expecting."