The Foreigner on the Periphery

Germany, Frankfurt. There was a man and a woman were eating in a fine dining restaurant by the river. A middle-aged Asian man and a woman with strong Western genes. The dinner course, which lasted more than three hours, was luxurious, but the form of eating both was not cool.  

Each time a new plate came out, she would take a few bites like this, and then she would immediately put down her knife and fork. After several such incidents, the hall manager eventually came and anxiously asked her what the matter was.  

The woman, Cathy, replied by saying that the food wasn’t the problem and that they both weren’t feeling well. After that, the eyes of the man and woman crossed again.  

With that, Cathy began to speak as if asking for her consent. "Well… that's bad. Right?”  

The middle-aged man answered with a tone that did not seem to match his appearance. "No matter how much I think about it, the food that my sister made for me when I was in the basement tasted a hundred times more delicious."  

After deciding to take Ha Eun-seong to Germany, Minjun asked Jenkinson to polymorph this pig dragon into a human of suitable status.

Since the identity of the owner of the body was not yet known, it was impossible to register an alien, and selling a new family register was very cumbersome. And so, Jenkinson chose one company employee and transformed Ha Eun-seong just as he was. After arriving in Frankfurt, Minjun then asked Cathy to get off in front of the central station, but in the evening, the two of them disappeared, telling them to take care of themselves.  

Ha Eun-seong, who said that it was the first time in her life to go abroad after her life, was eager to try German food, but Cathy proved to be adamant. Even if German food was delicious, she said that she was German and brought her to an Italian restaurant she knew.  

However, the food didn’t seem to live up to expectations. "The frying pan has ruined our taste buds."  

It was as if he had lost half of the pleasure of eating. Food that had not gone through those artifacts felt like sand in one's mouth and as blunt as paper, no matter what kind of seafood or seafood one was to eat. In the end, both of them continued to eat, and even took a bite of the third dessert and ate it as it was. “Nonsense. This is a chocolate cake. I can’t make it in a frying pan and I’ve never been coached about it, so why doesn’t this taste good?”  

Ha Eun-seong grinned sadly. "When I was alive, I ate anything sweet as long as it tasted good… Why did this happen?"  

"Just like Jeongpal said, we are already addicted. From now on, I have become unable to live without that frying pan."  

Both man and woman finished the meal in deep longing for her magic tools. Waiting for her bill, Cathy then began to ask. "So, how is the body's owner?"  

"It seems to have gotten a little better…"  

In this state, she seemed to have recovered enough to survive without dying even if she emptied her body for a while. As soon as the conversation opened up like that, Cathy asked what she was really curious about. "But why is Minjun so cold to you? He’s not really that kind of person. It wasn’t intentional to absorb the spirit power of its owner.”  

Cathy didn't even hear about the talent. Because of the risk involved with the committee, Minjun deliberately kept quiet. Ha Eun-seong, who was told not to open his mouth recklessly, mumbled out his words. "You must have been very angry."  

"So, it should be even weirder. There’s only one case where the yangban gets so angry. When someone touches ‘his own.' Whether it be a domain, a person, or an object, they are very sensitive to their own. But isn't that dragon just like Minjun's face?"  

The ghost, who had no way of explaining that he had done just that wrong without mentioning the talent, turned the subject off. "But why did we come to Germany?"  

Ha Eun-seong was completely unaware of the purpose of the business trip. He agreed to follow Minjun’s instructions to pay him back 180,000 talents in body (or soul), but he didn’t hear what he had to do.  

"Did you really not hear anything?" Cathy explained, and the ghost had no choice but to open her mouth to a story that transcended her imagination.

"So, to sum up… you have to find and intercept a heretic priest from another world before the heretical judge? Even that priest is running away with the body of the Pope who died recently… is the Pope an alien again?!"  

"To be precise, it looks like they call him the Patriarch rather than the Pope… but that's roughly right."  

The fact that the real target was the severed head of the Patriarch, not Joachim, had not been made known to Cathy. "Oh my God."  

Such was a story that felt unreal. Ha Eun-seong became afraid of how he was going to use himself for something like this. and future work.  

He didn't know how much 180,000 Talents was in Earth money, but how long would he have to work to pay them all off?  

‘About 1 billion won?’ asked Ha Eun-seong, guessing that.

"Does that agent always do missions that seem dangerous just by hearing this?" Cathy shook her head.  

"No, it's only the fourth time I've worked with you on this scale." Ha Eun-seong sighed in relief. It was said that the two of them had just been working together for over five years, but if it was four times in five years, perhaps once a year, but because of Cathy’s words, Ha Eun-seong’s face eventually turned gray.  

"Though all four of them have happened in the last three months. Seeing that, it’s strange Did you have a mark in 2020?"  

***  

There was a common misconception that train stations were located in the center of the city, but Frankfurt Central Station was an exception. As the gateway to Germany’s first commercial city, this station was located quite far from the business center as well as major tourist attractions and was the worst offender in the city.  

Behind the central station, three or three Orcs were gathering and flirting with each other, smoking strangely scented cigarettes, giggling while staring into the air with oddly out-of-focus eyes, or throwing swear words for half of the words. "What, is that person walking alone?"

"Shall we go and have a look? It looks pretty expensive." Minjun was walking where even a strong troll was afraid to go alone. In fact, a troll had been mass lynched by Orcs here a few days ago.  

This was because the watch on his wrist looked expensive. His severed wrist will grow back, but his lost watch would never be recovered. This was because it happened too often for the police to come out.  

"Hey, do you look okay? How is it? Shall I play?"  

"Hey, don't touch me. Can’t you see that? It’s an artifact.”  

"Hey, Nimi. Do you happen to be a wizard?"  

Without knowing what Minjun was listening to, the Orcs spit out swear words. The agent ignored it and continued walking. The same thing then repeated over and over again.  

There was also an oak community in Seoul, but it was located in a place where the middle class did not need to set foot in life. On the other hand, although this place was a major transportation hub, there were oaks everywhere.  

This contrast stemmed from German history. This country accepted the largest number of Orcs in Europe at the time of the second mass immigration. This was due to international pressure. A few years after the end of the war, the German government, struggling with the compensation it had to pay, agreed to accept the large-scale Orc refugees demanded by the two countries.  

It was in return for partial indemnity and financial support. As a result, Orcs were no longer a minority in Germany today. This was because it was already 10 years ago that they accounted for more than half of Germany’s population. Incidentally, it was a world first.  

However, even after that, what the pro-immigrants and multi-ethnicists expected did not happen. Despite the majority, the Orcs had not yet reached the center of wealth and power. Of course, this phenomenon served as a good excuse for those who claimed the racial inferiority of Orcs.

"What, are you going into the back alley?"  

"Even a wizard must drain the water."  

"Would you like to follow me? Wouldn’t even a wizard take his clothes off when he does that?”  

"Crazy bastard. I let go If you go wrong with the wizard, you’ll be out of luck for three years.”  

“Really? Then I won't do it either."  

"Sheesh, you cowardly bastards." Ye Minjun, leaving the Orcs behind, who could not even dream that they survived thanks to the superstitions probably created by the experiences of ancestors, entered a complicated alley.  

Then, there appeared a multi-ethnic landscape that could not be compared with the outside. It was Germany’s biggest entertainment district.  

Take it! Cheeky! A huge mouse that could even eat a cat ran across the street covered with garbage and filth.  

However, no one cared about it. Solicitors stubbornly clung to passersby, while drunkards were busy shooting vulgar words at each other. Minjun then continued to walk through the narrow alley. More shops lined up as they passed the unfamiliar graffiti, and the old neon signs were half-working and half-tasting, so it turned out to be rarely read.  

The eyes of people and mice were attached to Minjun's back. Whoever looked at it, a voice flew in as if it was a stranger. "Human brother! If you go further in, it’s all the same. go play here! Have you ever heard the saying that once you fall for an Orc, you can’t get out? how are you today?”

“Hey! Hey! We've got a Chinese friend there. How about the Fairy Show? I guarantee it will be an intense memory that you can’t experience anywhere else. Today’s special guest is slime.”  

"这儿有很漂亮的人类女儿, 您来看看~!请进来!请进来!"  

"Kurrerkwaak! It’s flowing!"  

An Orc woman in tight clothes, a dwarf man soliciting a picture of fairies with powdered sugar on his lips, and a young troll were all soliciting in poor Chinese because Minjun had been misunderstood as a Chinese man.

Even Minjun couldn't figure out his identity. He continued walking, leaving behind the cries of the grotesque race. In addition to this, he finally stopped in front of the strip bar he was aiming for. In contrast to the scene where the businesses he had seen so far were in full swing, the store doors were firmly locked and the signboards were not lit.  

However, Minjun had no intention of turning away. "You've been watching me since the moment I entered the alley, and now you're fussing?"  

It was a word that he guessed that someone inside was listening.  

Chunkyung! Profit! When you blink, the door then opened in vain. As he stepped down the stairs leading down to the basement, he heard a dog barking from inside. "Kong! Cuckoo!"  

"Alfred! No! Stop!”

If it detected the smell and sound of an intruder, one could hear an animal running from below. Minjun moved forward at the same speed he was descending. “Kong!”  

Finally, a calf-sized Shepherd appeared. The eyes of the beast and the agent then met. Such was the momentum to reveal and bite her teeth. However…  

"Kwak!"  

Shepard reproduced the common phenomenon of animals encountered by Minjun in the same way. The dog was startled and then ran away, urinating and running backwards along the way it came.  

"Keeing! Kiying!" Minjun didn’t do anything.  

It was just that the dog noticed a beat later with its sixth sense, which was rather insensitive than its sense of smell or hearing. The heinous morale leaking from the ritual dagger inside Minjun’s sleeve. A man then appeared in front of Minjun, who went down all the stairs taking care not to step on the dirt.  

The dog then ran out with great force and then curled up its tail and ran away, hiding behind its owner and whining. Minjun waved his hand to greet him. “Howdy. Mayatole. Long time no see!”

Said man was short and hard to tell whether he was a human or a dwarf. A lump of flesh melts and flowed down his face, and his eyes were twisted in an awkward direction. When his name was called, he spoke in a blunt voice. "…I am Liam."  

"Exactly, it's conditional permanent residency. Because if you cause a scandal on Earth, you will be disqualified from the asylum and be exiled to the original world."  

"I don't know what you've been hearing, but that's not what I did."  

"Calm down. I’m not here to arrest you. I didn’t come here to tell the German government what you did in the past.”  

"Then why are you here?"  

"I need information." Liam’s expression changed immediately upon hearing Minjun’s story.  

"Joachim Steinmeier? Why is a prisoner stationed in Korea so interested in him?"  

Intense curiosity then built up in his eyes as he treats Minjun as an uninvited guest.  

He could smell the money. "If you are willing to spend more than 10 hours on a plane, does that mean that prisoners located closer can also move?"  

"I don't know that either."  

"But why him? In a few days, the heretical judges will arrive on Earth, and Joachim will never be able to escape… Oh, that’s right. You want to intercept me before then. And when you guys are moving, it means that the committee has come."

Minjun neither affirmed nor denied. "The fact that you keep your mouth shut is at least confidential…"  

"I didn't say that."  

Liam rolled his eyes and said, "You're looking for people, aren't those leg crippled elves special?"  

"Watch out for words. And there’s a reason he can’t come.”  

“Ah! Indeed it is. There are too many old enemies who are still alive. If you wander around this town carelessly, you will end up getting eaten alive."  

The resentment of former East German intelligence agents toward a former CIA agent who retired decades ago and disappeared to Asia was clearly a thorny issue. However, that aside, Lakefield couldn't possibly come this far due to health issues.  

"Okay, let's look for it."  

As Liam disappeared behind the counter, the shivering dog followed him in panic. Minjun, who was left alone, took out the displayed liquor at will, poured it into a glass, and drank it. It was a car that was killing time.  

Bump! As Minjun came down, he heard the sound of the door that had been clearly closed and properly closed until the barrier was opened again. In addition to this, there was the call that followed.

“Hey! Liam! Everyone is here, so hurry up and get out!"  

The sound of rushing down the stairs. "Did you make any money in the meantime? Where did you get and install such a powerful barrier? Oops, I ate it… Hey Liam! Will you just piss me off? Pick up that heavy ass right now and come here… Ugh!”  

The man who came down grumbling like that, saw Minjun sitting alone in the basement and sipping his drink and hardened. Minjun read the glowing string above his head.  

Asif – 10,388,770. Such was the face of the blonde young man who confidently sprinted down the stairs became pale blue.  

"What do you think!" Minjun muttered angrily.  

"Why, why am I not here? Could the owner here be an informant exclusively for European prisoners?"  

"It's not that…"  

Minjun knew the cause of the frustration on his opponent’s face. He never imagined that Minjun, who lived in Korea, would have figured out the existence of the aliens running this idiot.

The other prisoners did not know that it was Minjun who put Liam, or Mayatoll, here in the first place. "The reason why you came is obvious."  

At this, Minjun took out another empty glass and put it on the bar with a relaxed gesture like the owner. "Shall we share information with each other?"  

Then, the prisoner crawled and said: “ · · ·Really? Aren’t you kidding me? Don’t you think it would be dangerous after hearing the information from my side?"

"…."  

Had he ever done something bad to this guy? He tried to remember, but he couldn’t remember. "You're normally fine, but when you compete for a mission, you roll your eyes! He said he felt like he was being taken away."  

"Don't worry, just come and sit here. I don’t do that to prisoners.”  

"Did you?!"  

"Is that so? Anyway, trust me this time."  

The young man then slowly approached him with a look of disdain.