The Foreigner on the Periphery

After reading all the long messages from Cathy, Minjun put the phone back into his pocket. ‘Isn’t that pretty detailed information? Who’d you heard of this?’  

Cathy said at the end that it wasn’t 100% accurate just to be patient, but Minjun knew it was all true. The reason she didn’t even mention such trivial information in front of him was because she was afraid that it would look awkward for her to know something that was not even in the immigration database.  

‘I’ll have to ask who it is.’ It was probably a mistake, but reporting to oneself as a superior and not documenting the source of the information was not Cathy's. He felt concerned. Minjun, who had been contemplating for a moment, noticed his gaze and turned his head. Joachim was looking at him.  

Upon being asked a question, he smiled. "Do you have a religion, Agent?"  

Was it missionary in this situation? Religious people couldn't help it. “There is not.”  

"Then, would you like to spend some time and listen to the teachings of the truth?"  

He shook his head across. "I have no intention of starting a religion right now. And even if I have a god, an apocalyptic worldview is not my thing."  

"Why?"  

Although he was a high-ranking priest in the denomination, he not only kept his promise to ban worship for several days but also showed an attitude contrary to what he had seen in Rare. If he hadn’t witnessed the frenzied party, he might have been mistaken for a ‘pretty good guy’.'

Therefore, Minjun promptly responded to small chatter. It was a perfect way to kill time, even on a topic one was not interested in at all. "If everything is going to go down in the end, doesn't it feel like all the effort you put in to try to survive is in vain?"  

“Yes. Knowing that the end is set, everything can become ephemeral. However, our doctrine does not focus on the emptiness before the end. Rather the opposite. It is our purpose to prepare for the post-apocalypse."

Minjun couldn’t seem to understand. "You say this world is someone's dream? A fantasy that disappears when they wake up? So, what do you have to live for? I think that the premise that everything is nothing but a lie is an insult to existence and life."  

"How about thinking like this? Wouldn’t reality and lies be different depending on where you put your point of view? From the point of view of a dreaming god, we are a lie. However, there is no need for us living in this world to treat each other as lies and view them lightly and vainly. From our point of view, this world is real. As long as reality does not intervene in the virtual, the virtual is the reality. Until the gods wake up." The priest added.  

It was because they respected the value of dreams that they taught members to do their best in their daily lives instead of forcing them to commit suicide or destroy the social order. It was part of that teaching to use drugs during worship, but to blow away even the symptoms of poisoning with divine magic after it was over.  

‘What, isn't that a more productive doctrine?'  

That was, except for one thing. "Then what are those bizarre rituals?"  

Even the word bizarre was a mild word that Minjun had conceded several times.

"Why do you use drugs and do such things when you say you have to live well?"  

"There are two reasons. You cannot hear the voice of God unless you are in ecstasy. And, for you cannot do that without ecstasy . . . In my mind."  

"?"  

It sounded like they didn’t like it, so they didn’t do such a terrible sacrifice. When he pointed out that part, Jochaim meekly admitted it. "Again, this is the reality for us now. But what if God wakes up?"  

They thought that that point could be tomorrow or tens of thousands of years later. "When that happens, everything will collapse and disappear. Agent Ye Minjun, do you remember all the dreams you had while you were sleeping until the next day?"  

"…No, most of them forget it."  

"What if the God Awakens also completely forgets what he saw in his dream? We are virtual beings that have bloomed in his head. If it is forgotten by him who has returned to reality, he will be completely annihilated. But, what if he remembers us?"  

"Is this an emotional approach to saying that if there is someone who remembers you even if you die, you are not dead?"  

"It is not a parable. If we were born by the thoughts of God and our unconscious imagination, the existence that remains in our memories will be maintained. Whether in physical form or in spirit form. And this realization leads to a question. How can God remember us after waking up?"

"It must be an incredibly impressive dream."  

For example, there was such a nightmare of waking up screaming all over sweat "God's dreams are on a global, dimensional scale. Very sophisticated and extensive. In order to remain in his memory in such a vast dream, an event that is just as impressive must happen. But every time a carnage or war is committed, the dream world will be devastated."  

"But are you saying it's okay to kill snakes, mice, and sheep?"  

"We have always been looking for the optimal format. A method of coexisting with the people of the world and attracting the ‘eyes' of God has been established through long experience and trial and error, and has been solidified into the current order and form of regular worship."  

"But what if the dream is so terrible that God wakes you up?"  

"Fortunately or unfortunately, it seems that no church member has succeeded in that kind of thing yet."  

"Well. It sounds like a very dangerous doctrine to me. You said that you want to remain in the memory of God, and at the same time try not to harm the inhabitants of the world of your dreams."  

“That’s right.”  

"What if there is a member of the church who disagrees with that? I think the most memorable way is to give you a nightmare that will wake you up. What if someone who wants to wake up from God's sleep appears right away?"  

"That · · ·”  

"If that member has the power to put the plan into action, then it seems like a catastrophe that cannot be compared to the scene I witnessed in Rare. Be prepared. We will be here in a minute."

The last sentence had little change in tone compared to the previous sentence. And so, Jochaim's reaction was a little late. Minjun noticed that the patriarch was near. With that, he asked the priest. "Is it possible to do what you asked for?"  

"Alright. The risk is borne by the priest."  

The agent disappeared from the hotel room he was talking to. It was also what Joachim had requested beforehand. The reason was that, if Minjun was by his side, the opponent may be wary and not attack. And before he killed the patriarch, he said he wanted to see him even for a moment and see if he was completely crazy.  

It was a sight that did not give up the glimmer of hope. The priest, who was left alone in the room, looked at the door with caution. He then awaited the leader of the denomination was is coming to kill himself.  

Telepathy was sharply embedded in his mind. It was a warning. = It’s not that way! Opposite!=  

With that, Joachim saw a black figure clinging to the outside of the window. A huge body comparable to that of a troll covered more than half of the floor-to-ceiling windows. A dazzling light shone through the transparent glass.  

Clink! The glass shattered with a sharp sound. Stepping on the shattered shards, the giant walked in. Contrary to expectations, the opponent did not rush to kill Johaim in the first place. Instead, he stood in front and looked down at him quietly. He opened his mouth "Jochaim."  

"Patriarch."  

With that, the priest shot him. The Patriarch was one of the largest of the Dimension #77-102 Natives. And so, they could have subdued the trolls and skinned them alive. This was because it was an act that required tremendous physical strength as well as divine power.  

The intruder took off his hood, pale skin exposed. Unlike the two eyes filled with flickering madness, the third eye in the center of the forehead was closed. On the shaded part of the neck, which was connected to the chin, there was a scar that looked like it was pierced by a sharp object.  

At that, Joachim fired. "Please stop doing this crazy thing!"  

"Joachim."  

"You killed Archbishop Muller, Archbishop Schmidt, and even Bishop Raganathan horribly, and now you are gone? What’s next? If the castle is not unlocked, how many dozen or even hundreds of priests are you planning to kill and destroy all priests who have awakened to divine power?"  

"…I must return, Joachim."  

"Put that crazy noise away! Even if you kill a priest and perform the ritual, do you think God will send you back to your hometown dimension? It is the unconscious of the sleeping God that responds to us. Holy power can only work miracles within the power of the priest! And yet, no priest has been witnessed to have made a dimension shift without a jump ship!"  

"It is already very late. I have to go before it’s too late. You can’t miss this cycle.”  

"Now, why are you so obsessed with your hometown? Is that important enough to kill the bishops you took… and raised like your own? What the hell have we been to you?!"  

"I'm sorry, Joachim. I… have to go back to my hometown. To do that, there is no other way…"  

The Patriarch did not speak and rolled his eyes. Light convulsions occurred all over his body, and the third eyelid on his forehead, which had not been closed until now, was opened. There were neither whites nor blacks in it. Instead, a red, swollen mass of flesh was wriggling. There was a bump inside it, resembling a rolled-up tongue.  

Minjun, who was hiding, knew that it was a phenomenon that appeared when that race fell into ecstasy. It was trying to draw out divine power by immersing oneself in a trance state.  

‘I don't even need to see more!'  

Phishung! At the end of the orbit, as the aliens ripped through the air with their sharp claws, Joachim stood frozen, unable to resist. Because of Minjun’s restraint, he could not even fall into a hallucination state and was unable to show his proper power. The moment when the alien’s gigantic hands seemed to separate his head from his shoulders…  

Kyaaaaaaah!

Shadow Minjun promptly flew into the air with the monster attached to his back. His arms wrapped in black vapor collide with the alien’s claws. He had already cast a curse like a check in the dark, but after confirming that it didn’t work, he decided to use the original method.  

Bang! Body to body collided, but the sound of metal collided echoed. On the other hand, Joachim, who was pushed by the gust of Minjun, hit him on the buttocks. The second he blinked, the agent had already unleashed several strikes on the Patriarch. Black trails cut through the air and lashed out like a whip. Every time the angry monster howled above Minjun’s head, the force of the shadow grew stronger.  

The holy power that the priest drew did not work on the summoned demon. Sitting blankly, Joachim looked at him. When he was young, his arms that stretched out toward him while wandering the streets were torn off, and his legs, which he had walked tens of thousands of steps a day to lead many people to the truth, were being clenched as if being beaten with a hammer. And finally, the alien with only a torso fell to the floor.  

As a high-ranking priest, the wound healed itself without having to cast a spell thanks to internalized divine magic. "Ahhhhhhh!"  

Minjun then looked up at the sky and saw bubbles of blood running down from the third eye of the Patriarch as he lay down. There was proof that one had reached a state of extreme excitement at this moment. After a serious injury, substances in the brain, such as endorphins, ran rampant. The fallen madman whispered softly, in an alien speech instead of human language.

Knowing this, Minjun frowned. ‘Are you finally going back?'  

However, for a moment, he turns his head to look at Joachim. The priest nodded as if he had made a firm decision. Before he could raise the chin he had lowered down again, Minjun threw a black flash toward the floor. The alien’s neck fell off with a diagonal line drawn on the hotel carpet.  

Minjun then confirmed the death of the Patriarch. Yoheim opened his mouth again after Minjun finished the phone call asking the immigration office to clean up. "Thank you, you have granted my request."  

When signing the contract, Minjun put a condition on the prohibition of worship, and Yoheim also added a line. It was a request to make an effort not to damage the ‘head' of the corpse as much as possible. He seemed to know that he usually preferred to smash the skulls of his targets. There was no penalty for not doing so, so it was something that Minjun did not have to worry about, but in the end, he granted his request.  

The agent then asked in a dry voice. "Are you going to retrieve the body from there?"  

“Yes. I will. As you may have guessed… The Patriarch is highly respected by the people of the Earth. Although it is not possible to formally proceed with the process of appointing a saint, we will be revered as a greater being than any other saint. Until now and in the future."  

Although the words were not good, he was a leader with a symbolic meaning to the church members here.

Therefore, without revealing the truth of his death to the members of the church, it seemed that Joheim intended to take his head and embalm it. ‘Do whatever you want. It is not a race that can be resurrected after being decapitated anyway.'  

Minjun then stood by him and waited for the immigration officials to arrive. The priest, who held the severed head of an alien who was a religious proponent and adoptive father like a statue, sat down until he heard the bell ring

. ***  

The mission that started with a deadline of a week ended sooner than expected. There was nothing to do after receiving a large amount of the request in full in advance. Joachim returned to Germany immediately after collecting the head of the patriarch, and Minjun was able to focus on personal affairs again.  

In addition to this, the fragments of the magic circle subcontracted to the researchers of a large corporation under Jenkinson, a kind of ‘part,' were completed and delivered one by one. The delivery destination was Rare in Changcheon, which Jenkinson had bought. There was no other dragon to pay attention to such a huge rarity, so the purchase process went smoothly.  

‘If possible, it is better to recycle the place where the existing magic circle was installed. It’s rare to find a place that has this kind of space and is magically stable.’  

Minjun quickly finished assembling and then ran a test drive for talent extraction. He said that he couldn’t fill the first drink, but he showed a little bit of improvement, so overall, it was a success.

Just thinking about it… ‘I can extract the talent right away after just a few more tests like this' brought a smile to Minjun's face. It seemed like it would be good to bring Ha Eun-seong, possessed by a dragon, to this place by tomorrow at the earliest or the day after tomorrow at the latest.  

At the moment that he was about to finish today’s work with a happy smile… Tiling! A familiar sound echoed in his head. “What?”  

An alien-like character appeared in front of his eyes. There were usually two cases in which the committee sent a message directly to the mind, which sent important information such as a tax audit notice in the form of an e-mail, such as ‘I can't help it if I see it late or if I don't see it.'

When there was a change related to the talent or there was a change directly related to the mission. This time, it was the latter.  

– The list of special missions commissioned by the institution has been updated. Please check the inmates and refer to their work. Browse the list below.  

Then, as it turned out, the number of missions that were 444 when he last checked had been reduced to 443. ‘What’s missing? I wonder if any other prisoner other than me succeeded and received the talent?! ‘

The higher the talent amount set as a reward, the lower the probability of success.  

1. Proposal of a solution to the chronic food problem of dimension #31-490: 40,000 talents  
2. Locating and reporting the location of the secret base of the dimensional pirates led by the wanted Pechinog: 45,500 talents  
3. A global epidemic that occurs every 260 years ‘ Development of a vaccine and treatment for ‘Seger papinovirus’: 47,700 talents . . .  

Fortunately, the mission he was aiming for had not been cleared yet. Nevertheless, Minjun opened his eyes. ‘What, why is this missing?'  

The list of 444 missions had already been memorized and there was no way to be mistaken. It was clear. Mission 48 had disappeared from the list, and what used to be mission 49 was now down to number 48. Minjun clearly remembered what was missing.  

48. Witness and report what was happening within dimension #77-102, which had entered self-containment: 610,000 talent.  

Minjun then returned to his office and turned on the computer. And a few seconds later, he was able to check a mountain of mail from prisoners who had witnessed the same phenomenon.  

In the flood of information, the inmates who spread across each dimension had to quickly find the answer. It was that the residents of dimension #77-102, who had entered the lockdown system on their own, released the quarantine of their own will and started operating only one terminal again.