The Foreigner on the Periphery

– 60 seconds before the leap! All passengers are requested to sit down and wear protective gear!  

The artificial intelligence signaled the preparation for the leap with a beep. After entering the code, Blair’s expression from where she had been tied to the seat, changed to that of a lifeless corpse.  

She knew for herself that she was still alive, just in case she had trouble jumping. As soon as she arrives at the Guerlainko dimension, she would then be disposed of in order to destroy evidence.  

Jung-ryeong delivered a message to Minjun, but the timing proved to be too late. The leap had already begun.  

– 59 seconds, 58 seconds, 57 seconds…  

Princess Vermi’s heart beat wildly to the countdown. Almost done! Almost all!  

The moment of the liberation of the race was at hand. The past, filled with misunderstandings, would soon be buried in history, and Shutan would take yet another leap forward. He would build up glory again in a new land called Earth.  

The jumpship had no windows. When a blue flash started to spread from outside, the video sensor also stopped working, so one couldn’t tell what was happening outside. However, the instrument panel said that everything was fine so far.  

After a few dozen seconds, they would disappear from the earth, and if one were to wait a few more hours, their hometown would soon welcome them.  

Thud! It was a violent vibration that shook the happy imagination.  

"Cheuk!"  

A scream echoed among the Stanians.  

Curry! Confused screams came and went.  

“What’s the matter?!”  

"The hull… Oh my!"  

The jump ship was tilting and swaying like a raging boat lifted in a violent storm. He didn’t just get thrown out of the seat because of the protective gear.  

The view that turned over at an unusual angle made it difficult to understand the situation. That was then…

A long black line was drawn on the front display of the jump ship.  

Whoops! With a small explosion, something that Princess Vermi’s eyes couldn’t see was seen.  

It was a blue sky.  

***

Minjun was not 100% sure of the outcome of the gambling, but he had his own beliefs. The occupant of the jump ship he described was not a ‘person who loves me' but a ‘person whom I love.'

There was a reason why it was so limited. If it was the latter, it was because he expected that Dell would inevitably confirm its identity and to see what year it was. In addition to this, his guesses came true.  

Quarr! A long line of bronze tentacles stretched out from Dell’s back, which had lost his expression, and Minjun realized it again.  

‘You’re a real Endelion,’ he had already confided through her mouth, but seeing it in person was a new sensation. The scene where a giant creature in the sky disappeared and a human appears, and the scene where a tentacle sprouted from a human body was different.  

Memories of close to 100 years of marriage flashed through his mind. ‘It was a tentacle… a tentacle. Tentacles….’  

Meanwhile, the attack that stretched out like a whip hit the jump line blazing with blue lightning!  

"Wait, Dell!"

Minjun was confused again. No way, he didn’t know that she could grab the jump ship with her bare tentacles like that. Even on the jumpline exposed to dimensional resistance!  

Fireworks and sparks flew and a bizarre sound erupted. There was a reason that the jump ship could only be built by the committee. Despite the release of the blockade limited to that ship, when passing through the dimensional barrier, enormous resistance was applied and some materials were crushed.  

However, Endelion’s thick leather had to be about the size of a jumper’s outer shell to receive resistance as it was. It proved to be good to get involved!  

Then, there was a sound of metal being dragged to the floor. It was the sound of the blue current pulling the jumper it was holding out of the slot. creepy sound.  

‘Oh my God, what's that?!' The tentacles on Dell's back were much shorter and thinner than the original state.  

The scene where it wrapped around a huge jumper was like tying a truck with a thin thread. However, one thin stem could withstand the heavy weight. The tentacles flexed softly, and the jumpship, which had been completely removed from the lightning curtain, tethered and lifted high into the sky.  

It was like watching a Kraken wrapped around a ship with its long legs. And just as a hydra produces a young by budding, a thin stalk of tentacles sprouts again. It cut through the air so quickly that it could not be seen. Shhh!

The front part of the jump line was neatly cut as if cutting the tip of a Chinese cabbage. Dell overturned the big hole in the jumper and swept it away like a cookie bag.  

Minjun muttered softly, “ · · · · · ·Wow.”  

In addition to pure gravity, telekinesis was also applied to that phenomenon. As proof of that, the passengers who should have been fixed in their seats poured out all at once. It was also the telekinesis that they received so that they did not fall.  

There was also cargo among the black dots scattered in the air. The intention was to check if there was any hidden ‘year' in it. She was tenacious and thorough, just like her.  

Fluffy! Her passengers and cargo dangling from her air came towards her. Dell looked at them one by one with the gaze of a commissioned officer trying to track down the smugglers.  

Minjun saw the scene and realized that he had avoided the worst. "The princess has been caught, and all the cargo has been rescued."  

None of the passengers on the jump ship have had their necks blown away. Dell looked different.  

‘ · · · · · ·You are a human being.’  

However, the situation was not over yet.

"Who is this? I have no intention of harming you. I just want to see your face. Say hello to each other." Dell still asked with a smile on his face.  

This was the moment for Minjun to tell the truth. However, before he could answer, she spoke in a puzzled voice. He noticed that many of the passengers were of the species resembling a crocodile.  

"Stan? They don’t like them.”  

As long as they lived together, she knew exactly what she liked. She fixed her gaze on the unconscious troll but noticed that it was the very man and walked away. The last person she looked at was…  

"= It's you!="  

However, the frequency of her thoughts was too great. To the extent that an elf who was hit directly was black.  

"Aww!" She recalled being hit directly by Jenkinson’s Dragon Fear a long time ago.  

Surprisingly, her fear raged like a wave, fiercer than then. Eventually, the innocent elf froze and rolled her eyes. being fixed in the air.  

“No! It’s not him!”

Minjun had no interest in elves at all. Looking at the spirit earlier, it was clear that the opponent was also not interested in him. He finally began to tell the truth.  

“What?!" Dell put on a hurt expression again. At the same time, the tone became bitter. She no longer felt the ecstatic atmosphere of walking in her dream.  

"It's been a while since we've seen each other to talk, so are you lying because of work?"  

Her eyes, which had been hazy a few minutes ago, were instantly dyed with a sense of reality. The romantic mood provided by the reunion, which colored Dell’s head and heart, was shattered.  

She then protested, "You swore! Let’s live without lies to each other for the rest of our lives!”  

"Hey, I don't know if you remember, but we got divorced, right? Speaking of which, you are the first to break the oath."  

She then pointed out a criminal record of plotting the murder of her spouse. The long-standing marital quarrel was re-enacted for the first time after divorce.  

"At that time, I was out of my mind! And don’t you know that I tried not to lie to myself even in that situation? It was all because of it that I fell for the self-guided newspaper!"  

"Okay, but why are you here?"  

"Why are you here? Is that what you’re going to say to me now?”  

"Before deciding what to say and what not to do, I should have decided what to do and what not to do first!"

The agents slowly crawled towards them, who were arguing in a language they couldn’t understand. Minjun asked Dell to hand over the criminal while they were arguing, and Dell obeyed him while shooting.  

It was true that the Stan people were strong, but none of them had special abilities. Having already lost even the will to resist, they meekly surrendered.  

Princess Vermi fell defenseless at the hands of the agent who suppressed his body and pressed it. The scales touched the cold concrete floor. It was Earth’s land. The land she dreamed of reviving her race.  

After she migrated to Earth, she thought she could easily establish herself in the mainstream. It was only necessary to match her actual ruler, Dragon Beewi. She could produce any amount of gold to use as a bribe. She would not necessarily rely solely on the sacrifices of women but would use the method of magical ductility in the future.  

Even after she regained her original biological traits, she didn’t have to worry about being pushed back in terms of population. She gave birth to more children than orcs at one time, and she lived a long lifespan, so her numbers would eventually overwhelm her.  

However, all this was just a delusion. The mirage faded and then became cloudy. The princess, who she dreamed of doing to Earthlings similar to what they had been subjected to by immigrants, eventually felt that her hopes and her glory were fading away.  

And with that, the crocodile wept.  

***  

Pieces of clouds flowed slowly. The world was full of orange. The hour before the night soon revealed its traces. The sunset colored the empty apron. The quarrel with tentacles on his back did not last long.  

Many people died and the scale of the incident was huge, so it was necessary to organize and report. Minjun was also arrested for a long time, but only now had the time to spare.  

To his surprise, Dell waited for him until then. The two were sitting side by side on the roof railing of an airport building. The distance of a meter or so between the two of them projected the distance between them.  

"I'm sorry, for making a fuss."  

Hearing Dell’s words, he thought again, ‘You’ve changed a lot.’  

He expected it to change in any direction when she had gotten discharged, but it was beyond his imagination. Telesia did not live for 100 years as an ordinary person, and for over 300 years as a prisoner

. As a result, what overwhelmed her personality after discharge was the memories and values ​​she had built up while serving that dimension. That led her to make her tragic choice. Dell, too, was now a fusion of her original self and the prisoner’s self. Whichever one was bigger, there was a high probability that it was accumulated during Endelion.  

What affected the ego of inmates who had erased their identity and memories? Minjun knew that he couldn’t say that his personality now or Dell’s personality before discharge was his nature. However, it was difficult to dismiss it as a completely new personality. The answer must be known only to a few among the committee’s executives.

  "I think it was my original personality that I couldn't see anything when I was excited."  

As if reading Minjun’s thoughts, Dell began to make excuses. "Even if there was a criminal inside… it was wrong to threaten even the victim, the elf. I can’t apologize directly because I lost my mind, but I left a small gift and a letter so that it could be delivered.”  

"Why are you here?"  

When he saw her for the first time, all of his thoughts screamed, ‘You’re here to kill me!’  

However, when she saw what was going on, she was strange. His ex was Endelion. Minjun wouldn't die quietly just because she decided to use her hand, but if you really want to kill her, there are many good ways to prevent her from escaping and surprise her.  

Dell replied. "Is the reason so important?"  

“Let’s stop.”  

“ · · · · · ·Okay. I came here for three purposes. One is… I really wanted to see your face. I haven’t seen you in a long time.”  

A shy color brushed over her face once more. This part hadn't changed much. She was talking to her.  

"And one more thing, I wanted to apologize to you." Minjun didn’t say anything for a moment.  

"Now I can imagine and sympathize. How would you feel when I said that?" How her husband would feel when she revealed in her calm voice that her husband, whom she had been living with for decades, was plotting to kill her.

"I had a very difficult time back then. I will not make any more excuses than this."  

The place of dispatch of prisoners changed from time to time according to the instructions of the committee. In some cases, like Bradley and Minjun, after working in one world, they would move together, but there was also a high probability that they would be torn to another dimension if necessary.  

This happened several times throughout his life in prison. Minjun alone moved seven times in 800 years, and each time the relationship and social status he had built in that world were reset. The same went for the relationship between his prisoners and colleagues.  

Since Minjun never told him, Dell didn’t know exactly how much his bail was, but he knew it would be ridiculously expensive. This was because the "survival tax" he paid in terms of less than a month was 2,000 talents.  

"I thought I was going crazy. There is only one way to be free if you can’t leave on your own anyway.”  

That was death.  

"But I don't think so now."  

It meant that the delusion of escaping by killing had now been abandoned. Minjun was surprised several times. A clear light shone in Dell’s eyes.  

"But, the same is true that this is a no-win fight." That was what he was concerned about

"The talents you get for catching a common criminal are one hundred to two hundred, isn't it? If you catch a little less than 200 people a year, you only get 25,000 talents. By the way, you pay 25,000 talents every year as a living tax, right? The balance is zero. If you don’t pay the taxes, you’ll be killed by the special forces sent by the Commission’s Tax Collection Command.”  

It was something Minjun knew all too well.  

"But I can't take all my fortune and put it in my bank account." The severance pay was withdrawn from the prisoner’s account, and 90% of the special gift tax was automatically deducted when ordinary people such as Dell sent money to the account.  

When Jenkinson remitted 10,000 talents in return for saving Edeline, the president actually sent 100,000 talents because he had to pay the gift tax as well. Of course, 90,000 talents were recovered by the committee.  

Therefore, in order to receive talent remittance without deduction of gift tax, there was no choice but to win a bounty or perform a special mission announced by the committee.  

"I don't know how much my retirement pay will be… If my prediction is correct, there are very few individuals who can mobilize such a large amount as a common currency. At least I can’t.”  

"I will."  

Now he felt that the story was going in a strange direction. After the excitement of the long-awaited reunion was gone, Dell was surprisingly calm. She said her third reason she came to Minjun.  

"You have to find another way."  

She wanted to help him find his freedom using something other than bounty hunting or death.  

"I can help. I think that’s the way I can apologize."  

A sad expression formed on his face. What she was talking about was an offer to pay for the sin that had completely ruined her relationship.  

"I am Endelion."  

That meant that one could access information that other races didn't know. "Committee notice special mission No. 47."  

As soon as she spoke, Minjun naturally read an alien text that only his eyes could see.  

47. Securing and providing complete DNA samples of the following species long known to be extinct.  

1. Demonic Goblin (2) Metallic Moss Type 7 (3) Among the interstellar floating slimes, which have a golden color: 580,000 talents per species.

Dell then passed on some information to Minjun. This was the maximum amount of information that could be leaked "in good faith" without being subject to committee sanctions.  

After that, the two talked a few more words, and Minjun got up first. Contrary to his premonition, there was no fighting to kill each other and kill each other. Dell didn’t seem to want to stay here long.

"I have a job." Endelions were the race that ran the committee. They were famous for handing over most of the socially essential labor that members avoid to prisoners.  

In addition to this, he understood that Dell was really here to help him. Nevertheless, the conversation between the two did not last long. He understood and accepted the apology and goodwill, but moving on to the next step was another matter.  

Dell didn’t dare ask. He merely hinted at the fact that he would often be sounded like this once in a while. they just broke up  

"…" After Minjun left, instead of moving right away, Dell sat on the roof railing for a while longer.  

The golden flames that filled the sky were devoured by the horizon. When the clouds were buried in the dark blue darkness, things moving at night started to stretch one by one.  

Someone then whispered in Dell’s ear. It was a thought that was transmitted from afar, across several dimensions.  

= · · · · · · · ·Oh! Just found it, Princess! After you sang saying you didn’t want to work, did you run away to that far outskirts dimension?!=  

Dell answered bluntly in turn.   “Okay. I’ll be there soon. Lock it down or release it."  

The lockdown imposed by Jenkinson in cooperation with the committee was still in effect. She was quicker to move the committee directly than to explain to a dragon who didn’t even know her identity.  

=Already released.=  

"The terminal function is paralyzed here."  

= I’ve taken care of that too. Just jump right in.=  

There would be no details left in the Earth log. It would only be recorded that a single jump ship has moved to and fro due to a mission that the Commission had treated as ‘top secret.'  

She then stared into space for a moment, thinking about her relationship with her ex. about what to do in the future. When she was a prisoner, she wanted to pay for the crimes she committed as an ordinary person, and when she returned as an ordinary person, she wanted to atone for what she had done while in prison.  

Until the end, there was something she couldn’t say to Minjun. She didn’t get it out of her mouth as she decided. It was because she thought that if she said that, it would be seen as intimidating if she gave out information that would help her get out of the office and that she could continue to provide it in the future.  

She for one, didn’t like that.  

= I… Princess? =

Instead of getting up right away, she looked to her side. Although incomparable to the main body, the transforming body, which was much more sensitive than normal humans, sensed the body temperature and scent of a man who stood there faintly.  

Dell sat like this for a little while before deciding to leave.