The Foreigner on the Periphery

"Phew, I thought this neighborhood was quiet for a while, but it's a mess again. Inspector, can't you transfer me to another station?"

A member of the Vigilante Group grumbled, drenched in sweat from the sweltering heat. Jeongpal pretended not to hear him. Ignored, the human youth started the engine and pleaded again.

"Come on, please? I want to work somewhere other than the Orc community for once. I've lived here my whole life, and having to work here on top of it is driving me crazy. I want to escape. Escape!"

Jeongpal muttered indifferently.

"How am I supposed to transfer you when I don't have any connections or power?"

A certain face popped into his head, but he quickly erased it.

The two were on their way back from breaking up a brawl at an orc pub. With prolonged unemployment leaving them with too much free time and mounting frustration, the burly orcs had gotten heavily drunk in the middle of the day. The fight had been fierce.

At least no guns were involved. Since the collapse of the orc gangs and Red Star, they didn't even have the money to buy bullets.

The situation ended the moment Jeongpal charged in and unleashed a battle cry. But Jeongpal knew this would keep happening, the Vigilante Group member behind the wheel knew it, and every resident of the Orc community knew it.

"Why the hell are they acting like this? Sitting around fighting all day without working... it's driving me insane."

"They need someone to pay them in order to work, don't they?"

"They had that before, but not now?"

"They all died, went to prison, or went missing."

The impact Chairman Kim Kwang-woo and Red Star had on this neighborhood's economy was simply that immense.

Even if they weren't on the front lines playing Robin Hood or acting like gangsters, those two groups had spawned so many affiliated businesses that the majority of orcs were now unemployed.

Not all of them had been able to keep their jobs.

"I heard the workers hired by Marx's followers managed to keep their jobs, at least... but that place is closer to a school or a charity. It has its limits."

"Marx? Someone like that lived in this neighborhood?"

The young man tilted his head.

Hearing the word 'followers,' he clearly assumed the person they followed had been active around here as well.

"He even had people following him around? That's a first for me."

"...He's not from this neighborhood, and he's not alive either. I'm talking about the philosopher the Red Star bastards worshiped like an idol."

"Ah, you meant those commies. You should have just said that. I couldn't understand you because you were beating around the bush."

'Yeah, my fault.' Jeongpal inwardly lamented the education level of the Orc community locals. Then, the Vigilante Group member spoke up.

"Huh? Jenkinson."

The old police cruiser's air conditioning was pathetic, and having been parked out in the blazing sun, the interior felt like an oven. Even opening the windows did little to cool it down.

"Should we stop there for a quick ice cream?"

The Vigilante Group member pulled the car up in front of a convenience store. Next to the words 'Jenkinson 25' on the sign was a caricature of a red dragon drawn to be as cute as possible. Half of its face was taken up by its eyes—an image that completely ignored historical accuracy.

Depicting a conglomerate's head as approachably as possible to win public favor was a common strategy for corporate PR teams. However, that logo was a singularly unique case. Rumor had it that the chief secretary serving the Red Dragon had poured their heart and soul into it, harassing the design department for months.

"What the? Did this place get robbed again?"

The store's glass exterior was miserably shattered. The Vigilante Group member stuck his head out and asked.

"Mister, are you open for business?"

A rough curse came back in reply.

"Damn right I'm open. Gotta make a living."

After paying for two ice creams, Jeongpal glanced at the broken glass and asked the store owner.

"Did you report it?"

"What's the point? They won't even look into it. I handed the store's CCTV footage directly to the cops, and they still haven't shown any sign of moving!"

"I'll check on it myself when I get back to the station. Looks like the case was filed on my day off."

"Hmph! I'm not expecting anything. Aside from Inspector Park, no one cares about this neighborhood anyway, right? And it's not like you can catch every single petty thief and lock them up yourself. Please, just hire more cops! Or bring more in from somewhere else."

In terms of the police-to-population ratio, this neighborhood was actually worse off than the wealthy districts, even though it needed far more officers.

'Talking to the chief won't do a damn thing...'

Right then, the person Jeongpal was scheduled to have dinner with tonight popped back into his mind.

'Should I bring it up with him?'

Assemblyman Choi Panseok must not have been making empty promises, because he had reached out today to suggest a meal. Jeongpal was surprised, but he hadn't declined.

'An assemblyman's job is to listen to things like this anyway, right?'

Even to his eyes, the atmosphere in the Orc community lately felt unsettling.

In the past, blatantly robbing stores like this hadn't been a common occurrence. It meant people's financial situations were deteriorating that much.

Action was necessary.

Jeongpal said to the store owner in passing.

"I'll try explaining the situation to a big shot I know and request some support."

"Hmph. It's just the police chief, right? If talking to that guy worked, it would've been fixed ages ago."

The store owner snorted.

   *

Minjun was dumbfounded.

"Kim, it seems we've been played by that impudent Sword."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

Following the interrogation, he relayed what the Frying Pan had discovered.

"It seems the cell phone signal cutting off here was a scheme by the Sword itself. The mage isn't here."

"...?!"

"These guys didn't even know about the connection between the mage and Blade in the first place."

"Then...?"

"The assassins here were planning to track down Blade and dispose of the killer. They wanted revenge for their murdered comrade."

Knowing this, Blade had used the police.

"Blade must have anticipated the police tracking the mage's trail. So they intentionally sneaked close to this area and then turned off the phone."

The presumed goal was to force the police tracking that signal to cross paths with these guys.

Blade had forced the two groups tracking them to collide.

Killing two birds with one stone. Borrowing a knife to kill.

These men hadn't known Blade's location, but Blade knew theirs. That disparity in information was what ultimately led the assassins to their doom.

"Hmm..."

Kim Cheol-su groaned.

Then, he spoke as if suddenly remembering something.

"Then how were they planning to track a target whose face and identity they didn't even know?"

Minjun explained that as well.

Coming all this way and beating the assassins to a pulp hadn't been an entirely useless endeavor. From the interrogation, he had obtained another crucial piece of information.

"These guys were convinced Blade would show up soon. They were certain Blade couldn't have left Korea yet."

They had a basis for that claim.

"Blade still has more people to kill. Right here in Korea."

"Are you saying there's been another commission?"

"No."

Kim Cheol-su put on an expression of incomprehension.

"Apparently, Blade occasionally commits uncommissioned murders. Perhaps as a sort of leisure activity, killing without receiving a dime. It's not a very fitting action for a contract killer, is it?"

The half-elf mistress was likely a prime example.

The original target had only been Kwak Do-chul, but the partner he had been having an affair with was killed as well.

"The way headquarters knows this is because Blade sometimes spends personal funds to buy information on specific people from them. Purchasing location data, behavioral patterns, and the like. The information needed for an assassination."

"And if they check on those people later, they end up dead."

"Cleanly decapitated. That's right. Murder without a client. However, I'm told Blade bought information from Abrams headquarters even after arriving in Korea."

Minjun recalled the scene from the troll's memories.

In that scene from the past, the troll and Choi Seona (who was being manipulated by the Sword) silently exchanged cash and cigarettes. It was back before ties with headquarters had soured.

"All of them were targets headquarters had never received a commission to kill."

Kim Cheol-su latched onto the fact that Minjun's phrasing was plural.

"Multiple people?"

"Yes. I'll dictate the names and addresses now, so take notes."

The names Minjun listed were far more numerous than expected.

A staggering twenty-nine people.

"Abrams headquarters believes Blade won't leave Korea until all twenty-nine of these people are dead. They say that's what the past patterns indicate. And they were confident Blade would reappear to kill them."

Kim Cheol-su's eyes widened.

"Then..."

"Right. If we guard these people, we can catch Blade."

At that moment, the verification of the names and addresses Minjun had handed over was complete. Checking the results, Kim Cheol-su furrowed his brow.

"No wonder I thought these names sounded familiar."

"What is it?"

The mage spoke in a grim voice.

"These targets share one thing in common."

"What's that?"

"They are the people who were elected to the National Assembly this time and have just begun their terms."

"...?!"

Minjun asked for confirmation.

"All of them?"

"Yes, and... they all belong to the same political party."

The ruling party? Or the opposition?

However, Kim Cheol-su spoke the name of a third party.

"The Human Center Party."

The agent fell silent for a moment.

A group of species-supremacists who claimed that this planet originally belonged to humanity and that all power should be returned to humans.

"But why exactly twenty-nine?"

From what he knew, the party had secured thirty seats in this election.

But Minjun quickly realized the reason.

"I see. One was already killed."

The assemblyman whose head had been sent flying by the troll manipulated by Blade.

He, too, had been affiliated with the Human Center Party.

Kim Cheol-su muttered.

"A plot to assassinate dozens of assemblymen... If carried out, it's practically an act of terrorism against the state."

Minjun fell deep into thought.

Of the thirty assemblymen in that party, one was killed via a formal commission, and Blade was now trying to kill the remaining twenty-nine without a commission.

Just what kind of change of heart was this?

'Either way, if we stand guard next to those racists, Blade will show up.'

Scratching his chin, he muttered to himself.

'No, instead of waiting aimlessly, maybe I should lay a trap?'

Of course, he had no intention of getting the consent of the person who would serve as the bait for that trap.

   *

Jeongpal felt like he had become an idiot.

Or maybe he had gone deaf.

"Excuse me? I'm sorry, Assemblyman. I think I misheard you."

The clock pointed to ten at night. It was late for dinner. Having asked for understanding due to his delayed schedule and arranged to meet at this hour, Assemblyman Choi Panseok showed up at the traditional Korean restaurant exactly five minutes late.

Once the dishes were laid out and it was just the two of them in the private room, the words the assemblyman uttered were more than enough to fluster Jeongpal.

"Let me say it once more."

Choi Panseok repeated the words that nearly made Jeongpal faint.

"Would you be interested in receiving a party nomination this time around?"

"..."

Jeongpal froze like a block of ice.

Choi Panseok gave him time to organize his thoughts, picking up his utensils. It seemed his schedule really had been packed; he looked entirely famished. He shoveled food into his mouth with an appetite that defied his age.

A moment later, Jeongpal spoke with a dumbfounded expression.

"I barely have any formal education...!"

"Education level and the number of votes aren't proportional."

"And I don't know the first thing about politics!"

"If you look at the statistics, over 50% of first-term assemblymen come from professions entirely unrelated to politics."

"And I have no connections..."

"No connections? Even if we shook down all of Yeouido right now, I doubt we could find anyone who could rival Inspector Park Jeongpal's network. Besides, I am offering to act as your backer, however meager my influence might be."

Jeongpal was thoroughly confused.

He'd assumed the man would, at most, ask for some help with his election campaign.

But a party nomination!

"...You mean the upcoming by-election, not the one four years from now?"

"Correct. That is why we don't have much time. We need you to accept as quickly as possible so we can move in a hurry."

With that, Choi Panseok gave a brief overview of the current political landscape in Yeouido.

"When the results of the general election came out, they were wildly different from expectations. The ruling and opposition parties ended up with nearly identical vote counts. That makes this by-election extremely critical."

And they needed a new face to replace the orc who had been elected in the Orc community before dying.

The orc voters had grown sick and tired of Kim Kwang-woo, who had become an icon of corruption, scandal, and betrayal. Every outdated politician associated with him had to be weeded out.

"We are in a situation where every single orc assemblyman counts. Could you take a look at this? This is why I've been so busy lately."

He pulled a document from his briefcase and handed it over. Jeongpal received it politely with both hands and flipped the page. The title was quite lengthy: 'Draft for the Special Act on the Promotion of Urban Renewal in High-Crime Areas.'

"To summarize, it's a bill designed to establish the legal grounds for pouring state funds into the Orc community to push forward with redevelopment."

Despite the name, the Orc community wasn't solely populated by orcs.

However, the specific zone designated in the document was the most impoverished and crime-ridden part of it... an area where it was difficult to even set foot unless you were an orc.

"Most of the local real estate previously occupied by Kim Kwang-woo and Red Star has been confiscated by the state or handed over to the Red Dragon. The rest of the property owners are mostly ordinary orcs. The working class."

The real estate value here was devastatingly low. So low it was embarrassing to even consider it part of Seoul.

Because absolutely no one wanted to invest in it.

"Do you understand why we are pushing for this?"

"...I have a rough idea."

The assemblyman nodded and spoke.

"Why are orcs still treated as second-class citizens in this country? Because they're a minority? No, the time when orcs could be considered a minority has long passed. Give it time, and their numbers will swell to match humans."

He paused his words for a moment and took a gulp of barley tea.

"The reason our people are still subjected to unequal treatment and persecution despite this is that the vast majority of orcs are poor. They are marginalized, regardless of their numbers, because they have nothing. Pushed out of the mainstream. Thus, if we want to flip the board, we must redistribute a meaningful level of wealth to the orcs. This bill will be the first step in doing just that."

The purpose of this law was to make the orcs wealthy.

But Jeongpal couldn't believe something like this would pass the National Assembly. He didn't know much about politics, but just recalling the newspaper articles he had thumbed through in the past led him to that conclusion.

"Won't the opposition party be against it?"

The only ones who stood to gain and be happy about this bill were the orcs, the Red Dragon, and those who had swept up the real estate in that area ahead of time.

It was essentially an argument to fill the coffers of the rich and the orcs using taxpayer money; there was no way the opposition party would approve of such a lopsided bill.

"If we win this by-election, it is entirely possible."

Jeongpal couldn't understand.

"I'm not sure I follow. Assemblyman, please be understanding even if I end up spouting nonsense."

"Speak."

"In the past, this would have just been a fight between the opposition and ruling parties. But the situation in the National Assembly is different now, isn't it?"

In the recent general election, a third party had defied everyone's expectations and secured a staggering thirty seats.

With the ruling and opposition parties nearly tied in seats, they had no choice but to secure the third party's cooperation in order to clinch a victory. They had essentially become the deciding vote in the National Assembly.

"There's no way the Human Center Party will cooperate with a bill like this. They'll obviously ally with the opposition to block it. No matter how many votes you get in the by-election... this bill won't pass."

At that, Choi Panseok smiled with an air of composure.

It was an expression Jeongpal couldn't begin to comprehend.

"True... They are indeed a mountain we must overcome."

He added quietly.

"But who knows. Before the by-election... a miracle might just happen, don't you think?"

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