The Foreigner on the Periphery - Chapter 107

The wizard, Kim Cheol-soo, exclaimed in a warm tone. “No, but how unexpected is this? The fact that I would see you here… Teacher hasn’t changed at all! I knew you were a quarter elf, but seeing you here is actually still amazing!” 

At this, Minjun smiled as well. It was quite an unexpected encounter with an old acquaintance. This was a student he had managed to teach decades ago. His face in his youth had overlapped over wrinkled skin. Although there had been a relationship between the teacher and the student, their official age did not differ significantly, and they seemed to be of similar age at the time. However, the passing years had widened the gap in appearance. 

Kim Cheol-soo felt the passing of time, and in contrast, Minjun realized the futility of a single life. “By the way, what’s going on here?”

Minjun explained the situation, causing the wizard to look surprised. “Yes?! What did you say now?” 

It was a reaction quite similar to that of Oh Man-sik, whom he had met at the witch cooperative in the past. Seeing him astonished, Minjun calmly repeated his statement. He was currently working as an immigration agent and was now searching for a longsword-type artifact believed to have been illegally imported from outer space. Illegal influx was an excuse, but if the Asif-1 fragment proved to be correct, then it wouldn’t be entirely wrong. 

Kim Cheol-soo also knew about the sword Holly, a man, and recognized the possibility that the murderer of a lawmaker had been manipulated by it. Still, he felt surprised because he couldn’t seem to trust Minjun’s job. 

“You’re an agent? A-An agent?” A gurgling sound emanated from his throat. 

“Are you saying that you are now working as a contract agent for the immigration office?” The tone mirrored disappointment. 

“No, you’re an agent… A gentle-hearted person like my teacher, my God.” Now, Jeongpal opened his eyes. What was this person saying?

As the Orc prepared to open his mouth, the wizard continued. “I still remember. When the teacher saw the students slaughtering dogs on lucky day, he told them not to do such cruel things to animals. How could a person who couldn’t even view animals properly do such a difficult thing…” 

At this, Minjun clicked his tongue inwardly. During his teaching career, he had acted like a pretentious mass of Earth-tailored socialization training. Those who remembered that phase back then couldn’t help but feel a sense of separation. The reason why he dried the cruel slaughter with a stick was because he had learned that it was the right thing to do as a universal standard. The other party misunderstood Minjun as being a weak-hearted individual. 

Minjun, always the sassy person, ​​turned the topic around. “Anyway, can I see you?” 

“Oh, of course not. Immigration is going to check it, so is there any reason for the police to stop them? But why didn’t you come in right away, and why are you standing still? Why do you seem so worked up?” 

Minjun silently pointed to the 2nd Team Leader standing next to him. Then, the detective’s face turned red. At the same time, the smile on Kim Cheol-soo’s lips disappeared. “Did you block it?” 

“Ah… I’ll need an official letter if the procedure is to be strictly followed…” 

“Really, strictly speaking, do I not have the right to command here now?” 

“…” 

“I know that when the Immigration Department requests cooperation, permission can be granted at the discretion of the on-site commander even without an official notice. Why didn’t you come and report to me first? Why are you judging and making decisions instead of me? This looks like some kind of monthly pass. Am I wrong?” 

His tone of inquiry was monotonous and soft, but his eyes were bitter. The 2nd Team leader looked at him with a droopy expression on his face and eventually lowered his gaze as he mumbled. “···I’m sorry.” 

Eun-in, who had contributed to the 2nd Team leader’s ability to defend the appendix, only then opened her eyes. Its achievements were buried, and neither the beneficiary nor the wearer knew. “I was so caught up in my conscience that I couldn’t take it all in. Please excuse the inconvenience, sir.” There was a pause before… “Actually, I was in trouble. If you look at the charm of a normal person, it is clear that there is a terrible curse, but there is no trace of it. Could you please take a look?” 

There was a depicted scene where a high-ranking police wizard asked the immigration office for cooperation. The old man’s eyes looking at Minjun had been full of anticipation. “I came here for that, of course.” 

Minjun then went inside, following the guide, and saw the troll lying on the floor. The killer’s body had been twisted, swollen, and his skin was dyed purple. His blood splattered around him. Unlike the wife of Kwak Do-chul, who barely saved his life, and the forensic team, the ‘host of the sword’ found this time had stopped breathing. In the CCTV footage before his death, it had been reported that he was spitting out verbal abuses while slashing the throat of a member of parliament. 

‘You are an unregistered weapon master. Why in today’s world?’ 

Hwareuk! He put white flames around his eyes and looked around. After intensive observation of the body of the troll holding the sword, he asserted: “There is no trace in the spirit world.” 

Kim Cheol-soo sighed. “Teacher, if you can’t see it, it’s not magic.” 

“Yeah, there’s no such thing as a curse on that sword”

Such was a moment when the hypothesis of mind control by the soul was almost certainly confirmed. Therefore, the reason to find the sword had become much clearer. “Then there will be no way to trace the sword in this state.” 

“Wait a minute…”

Without realizing it and after speaking in an old-fashioned tone, Minjun concentrated his mind. Trolls tolerated pain well, but after looking at their corpses, they must have suffered tremendous pain before dying. In addition to this, the more he died, the more difficult it was to attain enlightenment. 

And so, if Minjun’s prediction was correct, that troll’s soul was probably… ‘It’s still in here.’ 

As Minjun applied his power, a cloud of energy began to flow from his body. And gradually, it began to take shape. It was similar to that of a corpse. 

= Ah! Aaaah!= 

The agent then memorized a spell that would be able to subdue the troll’s ghost. His memory and Minjun’s consciousness were connected. Since it was not a proper spirit body, the inner world had come close to a chaos. Minjun concentrated as much as possible and looked at the meaningful pieces in it. He could barely retrieve his most recent memory. 

“Sell it.” 

“Yes?” 

“I’m looking into the memories of this Yang-ban’s life right now.” 

Oh my! A startled sound emanating from within Kim Cheol-soo’s breathing was heard. ‘Did Teacher master psychometry in the meantime?!’ 

He couldn’t even imagine that this personality had ever touched black magic or necromancy.

“The forensic class that the wizard stabbed and bounced, and then caught it right away. Was your race an Orc?” 

 “No, I am human.” 

“So you’re saying there’s at least one intermediate host we don’t know about.” 

“Ah… yes?” 

Minjun referred to the scene he saw in his memory. “Did you just look into how Lee Yang-ban got the knife?”

“No way!”

“Okay. Right before this troll got the sword, it was an orc who held it.” 

After the forensic team took their time with it, the long sword then passed through at least one intermediate host, including an Orc, to possess the troll. “It’s getting more complicated than you think.” 

Nodding, Minjun then stared at the messed-up memories of the dead. As a result of barely putting the pieces together, the record of the day he got the sword was completed. 

***

On that day, the troll was busy guarding the tobacco shop he ran. Looking at the surrounding landscape, it looks like an Orc community. A remote place with few passersby let alone customers. ”

An Orc then approached in front of a troll who had been bored with time. He was actually noticing the opponent from the moment they walked 1km ahead. It was because of the sound of footsteps and unnatural breathing… 

He contemplated hiding himself, but in the end, decided to face him. He didn’t know if it could be a ‘customer’. However, the Orc that appeared was holding a long sword in his hand. Feeling the sudden explosion of life, the troll quickly stretched out his hand. He pulled out a large sword dedicated to the troll that was hidden under the counter. 

In addition to this, the fight began, causing the troll to feel astonished. There was not even a single sword attached to the opponent’s sword. However, his movements mirrored that of a weapon master. Moreover, it did not break, no matter how many times it had collided with the Orc’s black sword. 

It was conceptually impossible. The workshop, which was not supposed to be violent in the first place, had suddenly become too intense. 

– Clap! 

The Orc dropped his sword to the floor. It was too defenseless to see it as an intentional loophole. Hundreds of routes could be seen right away, but the troll hesitated without attacking right away. At that moment…

The Orc fell, bleeding from his eyes, ears, and nose. And from there, he just died. The troll could not understand English. It was confusing, but first, the body had to be removed. If one was to leave it like this, then their being might be exposed. He began to pull the chemicals hidden behind the cigarette case. And, with his skillful craftsmanship, he began to melt and destroyed his body. It was fortunate that there were no eyewitnesses as the place was nothing more than a ruin. 

After doing so, the troll looked at the sword. Outwardly, it looked like an ordinary sword that could be obtained anywhere. There were probably thousands of similar swords roaming around Korea. 

However, he had experienced firsthand that its performance was unusual. He carefully ripped apart a few scrolls, but no other spells had been detected. It meant that the secret of hardness (硬度) that endured the sword was not in magic, but in the material itself. 

‘What the hell is that?’ 

Greed stirred in the troll’s mind. He approached and grabbed the handle of his sword. At that moment, the world was stained with blood. And a holy, so noble voice reached his ears. 

“Hmm.” Minjun, who had been busy reading the image of the ghost, frowned. From that point on, he had no memories left. He seemed to have completely taken control of his mind. 

Because of this, the agent decided to go back a little further. This was because there were too many suspicious things found in the troll’s memory. ‘Why would Master set up a tobacco shop in a neighborhood where there are no passersby and sit all day? What are the suspicious things hidden all over the store?’ 

Minjun, who was putting together the pieces of various scenes that came to mind, came up with a word. He then asked, ‘Abrams Helper Service?’ 

What was this?” 

“····” 

Kim Cheol-soo’s face hardened in an instant. He then quickly joined the conversation. “Do you have such a word in your troll memory?” 

The wizard then began to explain. It was the name of a relatively recent hit-and-run organization. 

“Interpol is trying to track him down, but he says it’s not easy to find his whereabouts. Even if we captured a few killers and interrogated them, there was no information about the command team.” 

“Hey, aren’t you the kid who worked there? It remains in my memory too clearly to be dismissed as an irrelevant word.” 

“····!” 

The faces of the police generally became more serious. What if the murderer of the National Assembly member was a killer belonging to a national contracting organization? 

“If it’s true, that explains why I wasn’t registered as a superpower!” 

“Sir, could it not be an accidental crime then?”

“Until that point, I can’t be sure. It is clear that the moment he grabbed the sword, his reason flew away.” 

So, it was indeed true that the killer had killed the MP, but had he killed while possessed by a sword? It was something that was quite difficult to accept in common sense. A killer would kill people in return for money, and when he killed, he maintained his cool rationality even after he killed. However, in this case, it was difficult to find cost and plan. 

Minjun searched even older memories, but all of them were similar records. There even came scenes of keeping the shop without customers all day. However, the agent did not give up and continued to dig into the puddle of memory. 

The more they went back into the past, the more imperfect the scene and the more difficult it was to understand the context and meaning as if a hole had been drilled. Meanwhile…

“Uh?” Minjun managed to save one more scene. Someone had come to the tobacco store. 

A foreign car that didn’t fit the neighborhood then stopped, and the door opened. A woman who did not appear to be a resident came down. She was thin and slender, as if she would break as soon as the wind blew, and she was a sickly woman. 

This was Lee Wan-yeon. She had come to her shop and held out a folded bill, and the troll who snatched it handed him a pack of cigarettes. It was over. 

‘Not much nutritional value.’ 

With his imperfect necromantic skills, he could no longer hold onto the ghost, so he dispelled the spell. The troll ghost, freed from its bondage, screamed and ran away instead of returning to the corpse. 

***

Kim Cheol-soo immediately shared the information Minjun had given to the police. After that, he seemed to want to move with Minjun, but instead, he stopped and simply bade him farewell. 

Afterwards, Minjun made his way to the house of the murdered lawmaker. However, unfortunately, he couldn’t find any clues there. Minjun then returned to the car and was immersed in thought. 

“It’s annoying. He’s asked Lakefield, so it’s difficult to search with a spirit. However, it’s just a very common looking knife.” 

Since there were no magical traces, observation, and tracking through the spiritual realm were impossible. The agent pondered for a moment and decided on the next destination. “Jeongpal, are you off today anyway? If you have time, would you like to work part-time with me? How is your body?” 

 At this, the Orc’s eyes twinkled. “I thought I was going to die until morning, but strangely, I’m not tired. I am okay. Where can I take you?”

If one needed a simple chauffeur, they would have taken Kathy with them. Minjun needed a police officer to go with him.

“Kwak Do-chul’s wife, where are you now?” Jeongpal had been named after a university hospital that was once owned by Changcheon but now passed over to the Red Dragon. 

“Let’s go there. I want to see her.” In the first place, the reason she first appeared in the world was because of the murder that had been committed. She didn’t know maybe she had the most important clue. 

However, Jeongpal’s reaction was ambiguous. “I think interrogation will be difficult.” 

Unlike the forensics team, Kwak Do-chul’s wife passed out on the spot, and she had never regained her consciousness until now. 

Minjun then replied, as if it wasn’t a problem. “I do not care.” 

“Ah, are you going to gather information other than through conversation?” 

Jeongpal, who was not a wizard, pointed out to Minjun that there must be a way that he did not know. Nevertheless, the reaction to this was still negative. “The parents will not allow it. That girl’s father is a 4th term MP. You’ve probably heard the name too. Choi Pan-seok, you know? If I told my unconscious daughter-in-law to have an agent in the room, I would be opposed to death… Because there’s some power at play, the influence of the immigration office may not work.”

Jeongpal discouraged him. This was because he had judged it to be a completely different level of difficulty from roasting and eating a few police officers. However, Minjun didn’t care. 

“Member of Congress? That’s good. Some of my friends know someone who can execute the task with a single fingernail.” 

“·····?!” 

“That woman, how badly was she hurt?” 

Jeongpal explained while looking through the documents. With his spine and other body fractures and brain damage superimposed, he had little chance of waking up without treatment from a high-ranking priest. “As you know, a priest at that level takes reservations three years in advance, right? Even if you are a member of the National Assembly, you can’t rush the waiting process. Unless you are a dragon supporting the church, you have no choice but to write your name at the bottom of the waiting list and simply wait for your turn in line.” 

 At this, Minjun snatched the documents and glanced through them. “How bad are the injuries? Ah, good luck.” 

“Hm?” 

Contrary to Jeongpal’s line of thinking, however, Minjun intended to interrogate her directly once she woke up. “Let’s stop by my house for a moment before going to the hospital. I have something to retrieve.”

“·····”