The Foreigner on the Periphery

= Changcheon… Changcheon… Please! =

‘Where are the ghosts I'm looking for, and such a terrifying spirit body…'  

Clearly, someone did this with clear intentions. I saw things around me that I hadn’t noticed the first time I saw it. There was a magic circle that helped non-shamans to see and hear ghosts and other unknown ones were built beyond the barrier. The person who helped with the confinement had the ability to respond to the spirit, but seeing that an incidental magic circle was also installed, the owner of this place didn't seem to have that ability.  

And so, it was even more incomprehensible. What was the reason for observing ghosts with such an effort? What did one have to do with a spirit that was tainted with madness, one that couldn't even talk?  

=Save me… Give me!=

Whoops!  

‘Ah, hot!'  

The spirit of the spirit exhaled, giving pain to the spirit of the same spirit, the ghost.  

‘I think it would be dangerous to stay here for a long time…'  

At that moment I thought.  

Whoa! Ha Eun-seong contemplated his inner self in disbelief.  

‘Mistress, what is this again!'  

It was a familiar light. The beautiful brilliance he saw inside the vault of Changcheon Bank’s main branch. A huge crystal that disappeared like snow melted in the spring sun the moment he touched his hand. The dazzling light it radiated was softly radiating from Ha Eun-seong’s spirit body.  

‘After all, it didn't just evaporate!'  

It wasn't something he felt wrong at the time. The strange currency called talent was not thrown out into the spirit realm. It was absorbed in it. He didn’t notice it until now, but now he knew.

‘By the way, why now?!’  

One magic circle installed in the barrier was flashing. As if resonating with the flickering light in Ha Eun-seong.  

‘I don't think I should be here anymore!'  

He hadn't explored all the spaces yet, but Ha Eun-seong eventually gave up and ran away from the rear. In addition to this, he flew to the place where she was waiting, the only contact among the Red Star members. The woman’s expression was calm while explaining what happened at Rare.  

‘No, won't you be surprised to hear this? There was a dragon ghost in the dragon’s nest!'  

She listened calmly to her and said, "Are you saying you haven't been able to explore all of the rarities in the end?"  

= · · · · · · · ·Yes.=  

Even though he didn’t do anything wrong, he felt like he was getting embarrassed. "Hmm… yes. Then can you describe the internal structure, even the part you explored?"  

Ha Eun-seong explained in detail enough that you could draw a map as it is if one were to write it down. The woman didn’t have a memory as good as her ghost, so she quickly typed and documented it.  

“Thank you. Rest today. See you here again in three days."

= Ah… Hey.=  

Ha Eun-seong decided not to talk about the brilliance that flashed inside her. She had a foreboding that she was going to get caught up in a troublesome thing even more. She was hesitating now for other reasons.  

"Why?"  

= Do I have to go back to that Lair in three days? =  

"Yes. We also need to discuss this information. The next intrusion would be better after that."  

= Hey, can't we do that? =  

The woman’s complexion, whose expression had hardly changed until now, hardened slightly. Ha Eun-seong saw that and thought. She said, somehow, that she had failed to manage her facial expressions, rather than that she was deliberately so that she could notice herself. "Why?"  

= I thought it was too dangerous… =

He thought that it would be a bit unusual to bring this up now after he was rummaging through bank vaults and rares, but Ha Eun-seong was in a very depressed state because of the ghost of her he saw there.  

"You have experienced it firsthand. Even if it’s a dragon’s rare, it’s helpless in front of its abilities.”  

= Still, it’s a dragon. I never imagined a dragon spirit would be held there until I went in. If you go to places you haven’t been to yet, you might come up with something more terrifying and unexpected…=  

“Ha Eun-seong.” The woman said with a gentle smile. "You have to think of your brothers."  

= · · · · · · · ·=  

Ha Eun-seong also knew. Just looking at the papers handed out when he offered to help his younger brothers, they held too much information. It was also the Red Star who found the house where the two sisters moved. In other words, they can trace the steps of their younger siblings like the palm of their hand. said a woman like a nail.  

"Well, her youngest brother made a big decision. If you wish, we will introduce you to a good doctor."  

= · · · · · · · ·!=  

"I know the best authorities in the field well. We are."  

When her youngest child was relieved of her hardships, she said that she wanted to do some surgery, and she insisted on the second. Ha Eun-seong, who the two of them used to stop by to make sure her sisters are doing well, understood the woman’s story.  

So that was the problem. He knew that the character of the youngest. Because he considered such a topic to be shameful, he could never say it in front of people other than my family.  

When Red Star knew that, it meant that he had only heard the conversation between the two of them.

The woman said without waiting for the ghost’s answer. "I'll see you here in three days."  

***  

Deong-cheol is a fairly high-income earner by goblin standards. Working hours were rather long as he was not only responsible for handling the uncomfortable Lakefield but also chores at the bookstore. In this country where there was no such thing as a minimum wage, there was an implicit atmosphere that goblins were paid lower than other races doing the same job.  

Elves viewed such a practice as absurd and just paid them equally with other races, but the reality of this society was that he had become a high-income earner of the top 1% of the race at once.  

"Uh… Deong-cheol! It’s Deong-cheol…!”  

The poor of the tent village welcomed Deong-cheol, who came with a large shopping bag in both hands. They were all goblins living on the outskirts of the orc community. Deong-cheol also lived in this neighborhood until he met Minjun through an unexpected incident and was offered a job.  

At first, they lived together in a jjokbang village with a roof, but a few years ago, they couldn’t even live there, so they went out to the streets. Deong-cheol started working at a bookstore and even after moving out, he often bought dozens of lunch boxes and visited here. It was impossible to feed them three meals a day with his own salary, and he did not think complicatedly, such as that such help could not be a fundamental solution.

He simply thought that he wanted his friends to enjoy what he ate and thought was delicious. “Wow! looks delicious · · ·!”  

Everyone’s faces turned red and they put their faces in the lunchbox and started eating in a hurry. Once, after listening to Lakefield’s advice, he bought several boxes of convenience food that could be cooked with a portable burner and could be stored for a long time.  

After checking the results, he immediately changed the method. When hunger became commonplace, they ate 10 days’ worth of food, instead of sharing it for 10 days, they ate until their stomachs burst and ate them all in two or three days.  

After that, Deong-cheol buys a packed lunch to eat that day and preserved food for two days. He had to visit that often, but there was no way.  

“Uh · · ·?”  

The place where the tent was until a few days ago is empty. Deong-cheol looked around at his friends who were eating frantically. The number has decreased a lot since then. He waited until one of them had finished eating and then asked.  

"Hey… where have all those people gone? What about Kyung-soo-rang… Yoon-hee?"  

"Ah… that's…" The goblin rolled his eyes and spoke slowly.  

"They… to the dragon…" Deong-cheol was terrified.

"Did you get caught?!" Edeline came to mind. He was a naughty dragon who failed to do something bad to his boss and was upset by his master. It was a nightmare memory.  

What kind of dragon came all the way to this place and ate his friend?!  

" · · · · · · ·No, I went to the dragon." Deongcheol thought.  

Wasn't that what it was? However, he understood the situation by listening to the words of his friend who continued intermittently. He said that some time ago, ‘great people’ began to roam around the Orc community, in the words of a friend, who treated sick people for free.  

They were hired by the “great dragon” and offered to hospitalize and treat the sick for free. People were skeptical at first, but it didn’t take long for rumors to spread that the promise was actually kept. They welcomed everyone, regardless of whether they were humans, Orcs, or goblins. What was even more surprising was that the poor were allowed to stay in the treatment center even if they were not very ill.  

Of course, three meals a day were provided. Deong-cheol did not know, but in fact, the treatment center was run by Changcheon. The project plan she showed Minjun was about a new medical center to be built on a large scale on an empty site, and it had been a long time since they had already purchased the existing hospital building and started relief for the poor.  

"Then… why didn't you guys… go?"

"Dragon… that's it. What if I eat it later…"  

His instinctive fear of dragons made him overcome hunger. Goblins faithful to their instincts were left on the street, and the other friends went to the medical center in search of food and bed, regardless of the severity of their illness. the friend muttered.  

"I'm… scared. Are there really… great dragons…?”  

Hearing his words, Deong-cheol once again recalled Edeline in her mind. Cold eyes looking down at the trivial garbage. Rather than a single person, the expression on the side of the road. Deong-cheol couldn’t believe it.  

‘A good … dragon?’

***  

Ha Eun-seong went to her sisters’ house. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had made a fatal mistake.  

‘But, it's a red star!'  

Such was an apostle of justice for the poor. Why would they threaten them?  

When Ha Eun-seong arrived at the house, he looked around, taking full advantage of the characteristics of the spirit body that was not subjected to material resistance. As a result, he was able to discover several small marks that looked like mechanical devices and magic circles of unknown purpose.  

Ha Eun-seong, who saw this, was stunned.  

‘Watch how I'm doing it!' My mind was dizzy.'

‘What?!'

He could hear the conversation between her two sisters as he pondered. They argued without even imagining that their dead brother was here. “Sister! Please, this is my wish!"  

“Noisy. Don’t talk like that in front of me again! are you really crazy. You’ve never said anything like that before, so why are you doing this all of a sudden?”  

"I didn't say anything back then because I didn't have money! Because I also have a conscience. I don’t have enough money to live on right now, so what am I going to do with the surgery? But, now you have money!"  

"Is this money ours?" "It's our money! It’s our money, so it’s our money!”  

"You don't even know where the foundation is giving it to. Even if I come in now, I don’t know when it will stop. Save it well!"  

"Sister, I really can't live like this. Please give me surgery!"  

The biological father of her youngest brother, who was harassing her older sister, was an orc. Ha Eun-seong knew that the life of a half-orc high school girl was not going to be easy, but she didn’t know that she would be so sincere. In a world where beauty standards were tailored to elves and humans, the news of an increasing number of orc girls with anorexia who repeatedly ate and vomited wanting to be slim like them was not a new story.  

However, the case of the Half-Orc was even worse. Unacceptable to either race, they dreamed of getting as close to humans as possible. As part of that effort, some of them had to undergo surgery to overturn their entire bodies by paying huge debts, and they survived the pain of being torn apart alive. In fact, it was not wrong to say that he had to shave his bones right before he died.  

"Stop talking about it! What if I die during surgery? Now I barely have enough to live on…!"  

"No, I can't get a job or get married anyway. Is living like this living? Did all your worries about eating go away? My sister would be because it’s pureblood. But not me!"  

Hearing the fight between the two made my head more complicated. After thinking about it for a long time as he floated around his brothers who couldn't see him, he finally made a decision. The thought that it might be dangerous was only a premonition after all. No matter how many more times one would go in and out of Dragon’s Rare, it might end well.  

However, the real danger he thought was the question of how far and how much a woman would demand of her. Ha Eun-seong was now paying attention to the possibility that the Red Star might not be the apostle of justice he had envisioned. If true, just imagining it was terrifying.  

= · · · · · · · ·Damn!=

The ghost broke through the wall and came out of the house. He was still in deep thought until he came out through the hallway. Therefore, Ha Eun-seong could not find anyone and almost passed by.  

"Hey, there."  

=?! =  

Ha Eun-seong turned his head to where the voice was heard. A man was looking at him.  · · · · · · No, he mistook him for looking.  

‘What, isn't it?' Ghosts can be recognized by looking at people. Whether he was a rogue or not. The man who had just raised his voice wasn’t a psychic. He called the living person, but he seems to have reacted for nothing. However.  

‘ · · · · · ·Well? No one?'  

There were no passers-by around.  

‘Wait, this is the 15th floor?'  

The man was floating in the air 15 stories high. Wizard.  

"Look at where you are."

In the end, Ha Eun-seong was forced to say things he never imagined he would say to someone who was not a shaman.  

= · · · · · · ·Can you see me? =  

"Yes, I see. A penguin with a knife in his neck." The man who introduced himself as an immigration agent said that he came in contact with the ghosts and asked questions. Hearing that, Ha Eun-seong’s expression froze. Even if his ghost friends knew him, they didn't even know where his brothers had moved to. Something was wrong.  

‘You have to run away!'  

Shheeik! Ha Eun-seong gathered all of his spiritual power. He literally tried to fly away at high speed. urgent escape. However…  

=Kikikikick!=  

He saw an unbelievable sight. ‘Why are the ghosts..?!’  

Some of the ghosts wandering the city suddenly started running at Ha Eun-seong!

=Go away!=  

Just as he felt the heat from the spiritual flame that the dragon’s ghost evoked, the now gathering spirits could also exert influence on his spirit body. However, what he couldn't understand was why those crazy ghosts suddenly flocked to them as their targets.  

Minjun looked at the handle of the knife stuck in the Ghost’s neck with unusual eyes. ‘Where did you think you saw that?'  

Of course, one probably didn't see it on Earth.  

=Oh, no!= =Kiki-kick! Kiki-ki-kick!=  

The chase between one ghost and many ghosts did not last long. Like a pojol dragging a criminal, the ghosts brought Ha Eun-seong with them.  

= Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?!= Ha Eun-seong asked with a lot of fear.  

As Koh Deok-hwan had assured, the realization that he was not the perfect ‘Munchkin ghost’ made his frustration even deeper. Ghost-senpai was only half right. Although he was immune to exorcism-type magic, there was a way in the world to subdue demons in other ways. A way to cast a demon instead of expelling it!  

Minjun said sternly. "There are a few things I want to know, so please be honest."  

= … =

He had a lot of questions, but work came first. After obtaining the testimony of Red Star executives, Minjun headed to Changcheon, but she denied him entry. She couldn’t help but be absurd. Instead, she said, she had spirit sensors among her minions, so she searched and, as a result, ‘no ghosts’ were found inside, she says.  

Unless Changcheon had to hide the ghost, it was clear that he had already escaped, so Minjun changed his method. It was not difficult to find out the identity of the ghost when he was alive, and after looking for the houses of his brothers who were still alive, the suspect was eventually found. Minjun raised the same question he posed to Red Star executives.  

"Where are the talents?"  

= · · · · · · · · ·!=  

Minjun’s words when asked that way gave him a sense of authority and dignity that he had never felt since Ha Eun-seong’s death.

"It would be better to speak straight. Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you can get out of my hands.”  

He threatened not to think that ghosts would be 100% safe. Ha Eun-seong felt like a mouse in front of a cat. He was not alone because of the current situation that was suppressed by him. Although his mind was not completely mastered like the ghosts, the ghost, overwhelmed by the weight of his words, eventually gave up on everything and confessed.  

Minjun’s expression, who had been listening, changed from moment to moment. ‘What a nonsensical story!'  

Ha Eun-seong, terrified, cut both the front and back and brought out the story of infiltrating the bank. When he confessed the whole process from the moment he entered the safe to the time of his withdrawal, Minjun twisted his face and yelled at him. "Are you telling me to believe it now?"  

= It’s all true! I’m not lying!=  

"Did you absorb the talent? into your spirit body?!" Ha Eun-seong wanted to pass out because Minjun’s expression was so frightening that he was questioning him like that, but he couldn’t lose his mind because he was already a spirit body.  

=Ji… It’s true!= Ha Eun-seong wanted to cry.  

"And…" Minjun changed the question to a still sharp tone. It was the contents of whose direction he was moving. Only then did the ghost bring out the name of the Red Star, as Minjun expected.  

As soon as he heard the conversation between Ha Eun-seong and Minjun, his expression changed once again. "I, indeed. I keep hearing all sorts of weird stories today."  

=?=  

"What? Did you break in to find a ghost that was captured by a dragon? You broke into the bank and the rare to save a ghost?"  

Ha Eun-seong was embarrassed. That was because there was not a single lie in the statement. It was a deal that would not have been accepted in the first place without such a cause.  

"Moreover, the ghost followed Chairman Kim Kwang-woo for several months and disappeared?"  

=He said yes!=  

He did exactly what the woman said. Considering the ghost’s memory, it could not have been distorted. However, Minjun was looking at him with an expression as if he was talking bullshit.  

“Hey. Are there any other strange ghosts like you?"  

= · · · · · · · · ·?!=  

The ghost could not understand the intent of the question. Then Minjun materialized the sentence. He had already done one experiment after he caught Ha Eun-seong.

"You are a ghost, but exorcism spells don't work. Similarly, the shaman asks if there are ghosts invisible to the eye."

  = No? I haven’t seen such a ghost yet.. =

Minjun continued on with an annoyed tone. "Then you were taken advantage of after all."  

=?!=  

He wondered if he was talking about his younger brothers, but Minjun’s subsequent words contained completely different content. "In the beginning, there was no such ghost. Red Star’s helper imprisoned by a dragon.”  

=What is that!=  

"Then ask. What on earth must a ghost be to track a man who can see ghosts without being caught for months?"  

The ghost could not speak, and Minjun was sure that Ha Eun-seong was also deceived by the Red Star. There was a reason for this.  

This was because Minjun knew one thing that is was well known to the outside world regarding Chairman Kim Kwang-woo. The Orc that went into hiding with the wrong excuse while preparing for business with Chagncheon…  

"Chairman Kim Kwang-Woo is a spiritually sensitive person."  

=?!=

That was, he could both see and hear spirit bodies.