The Foreigner on the Periphery

After obtaining the Orichalcum Frying Pan from Dell, Minjun had contacted the Dragon Lord to sound out a potential sale.

The Lord replied that Minjun should bring it the next time they met face-to-face. Thinking back on it now, he had likely been planning to invite him to the Balaur Council ever since that message.

The two had finally met again today, but there was one problem.

Minjun had changed his mind since sending that initial message.

'Damn it... Looks like I got his hopes up way too high.'

The Lord's eyes sparkled. He was intensely interested in the item Minjun had offered.

"A frying pan made of orichalcum! The moment I heard about it, I felt as if I had been struck in the back of the head. Who could be the artist to execute such a daring concept? I have no idea which race crafted it, but I resolved that I absolutely had to see it with my own two eyes."

Fervor heated his voice. Seeing that reaction, Minjun realized he was in trouble.

"This is a fundamental provocation against the very concept and essence of tools. I could feel it just from your description! A delightful intention paired with a sharp critique of our current era! I cannot wait to see a piece that so perfectly harmonizes the technical skill required to mold a magical metal into any desired form with an artistic imagination that refuses all limits. Now, you brought it, didn't you? Let's see it."

He never for a second believed this orichalcum cookware had actually been forged for culinary use.

Naturally, he couldn't begin to guess in his wildest dreams that it was actually a blunt weapon and a shield.

The Lord firmly believed Minjun's item was a work of fine art.

'It wasn't made to be looked at and admired. It was made to smash bad guys' heads in.'

Muttering internally, Minjun spoke.

"...I apologize. I don't think we can go through with the transaction."

"What?! Why not?"

He was going back on his word, but he had no other choice.

When he first contacted the Lord, Minjun hadn't yet grasped the item's true capabilities.

Who could have imagined it? A frying pan that could crush a Weapon Master's neck with a light swing, and shear off the side of a mountain when parrying an attack.

Minjun had absolutely no intention of selling it now. So, he made up a suitable excuse.

"After examining it more closely, I realized it simply isn't worthy of being handed over to you, Lord."

Any other dragon would have been furious at a prisoner for offering a deal only to retract it. But Minjun figured the Lord would accept this explanation.

He guessed right.

"Is that so? Hmm. That is a shame, but I suppose it cannot be helped."

It was a remarkably cool response, contrasting sharply with his earlier enthusiasm.

Come to think of it, the old dragon had shown him an unusually strong favor since their very first meeting. He still remembered the Lord smiling brightly and saying, 'I think we could become good friends.'

Coming from a dragon—and an ancient one, at that—it was a shocking thing to hear. If Minjun had to categorize him, he was definitely cut from the same cloth as Jenkinson. No one dared disrespect the Lord due to his vast age, but had he been Jenkinson's age, the other dragons would have treated him as an eccentric weirdo or perhaps even dim-witted for saying such things.

Regardless, the Lord had only ever been helpful to him since then, never once causing him harm. Minjun occasionally had to cross borders to carry out Committee missions, which inevitably led to him causing a ruckus in other dragons' territories. Whenever the Ancient Dragons unleashed a torrent of complaints, it was the Lord who stepped in to mediate.

Knowing this well, Minjun apologized with proper courtesy.

He possessed two inner perspectives: one that viewed the entity before him as livestock, and another that respected him as the representative of an intelligent race. Minjun focused on the latter. He had to right now.

"If you came all the way here for the item, I am truly sorry."

"No, not at all."

The Lord shook his head.

"I had another reason for asking to meet you."

He dropped the topic of the transaction completely. The conversation took a sudden turn.

The Lord asked Minjun about the four recent cases he had resolved. Though Minjun would be testifying at the official Balaur Council, the Lord wanted to hear the details one-on-one beforehand.

This was his real reason for seeking Minjun out today.

Minjun thought back, answering as candidly as possible about what he had seen and felt. He brought up the Jang Tae-jun case, Princess Dermi's case, the Changcheon incident, and the dragon-spider affair one by one.

The Lord listened calmly, but his eyes grew razor-sharp as he spoke.

"So your testimony shows that Kavites were involved in three out of the four cases."

There was no hard evidence yet. If there had been, he would have made it public before the Committee a long time ago.

"They are plotting something foul. Think about it. Why else would they show such an interest in a virus that specifically targets dragons?"

"That is a valid suspicion."

"Our race needs to treat this situation as a serious threat. And yet, the others are ignoring it simply because we lack definitive proof. Unless they see their immediate power and wealth being chipped away, they refuse to act. It's incredibly frustrating."

The Lord spoke with absolute certainty.

"We cannot operate that way. If we wait to act until the evidence is staring us in the face, it will be too late. We must take preemptive measures. If necessary, we shouldn't just rally the dragons in our own dimension—we need to forge an alliance with the extraterrestrial Dragon Race as well."

He stared deeply into Minjun's eyes.

"Your testimony will be crucial in getting them to move. You were on the scene, and you resolved every single one of those incidents. I am asking you to testify before the council and tell them exactly what you told me today. I know stepping forward like this carries some risk for a prisoner. Naturally, I promise to compensate you accordingly."

Minjun had already made his decision on the matter before he even arrived in Hong Kong.

The Kavites were a race that produced numerous high-ranking commissioners and executives within the Committee. Consequently, this conspiracy might not be limited to the Kavites alone; the Committee itself could be involved. Deepening the conflict between the dragons and the Committee would only work in Minjun's favor.

Furthermore, it was quite common for prisoners to cooperate with the locals of their assigned dimension on a give-and-take basis. He had plenty of justification for his actions.

Therefore, he nodded and gave his word.

He did harbor one natural doubt, however.

'If this council is so vital, why did they drag their feet and delay it until now? I know the spawning season is a major issue for the Dragon Race, but still...'

After business concluded, the two men shifted to idle chat, catching up after a long time apart.

Glasses were emptied and refilled. The Lord seemed to be in excellent spirits, bursting into boisterous laughter time and time again.

Minjun, too, found himself deeply entertained by the various behind-the-scenes rumors involving dragons around the world, though his perspective had shifted somewhat from a few months ago. It was a bizarre experience; the dragons' scandalous love affairs, which used to sound like a dramatic soap opera, now sounded more like a nature documentary.

Their conversation continued until the lounge finally closed for the night.

   *

Jeongpal had been extremely conflicted lately.

Assemblyman Choi Panseok hadn't pressured him again since their initial meeting. He had given him a hard deadline. Jeongpal knew he needed to give him a definitive answer—one way or another—by then, but he still hadn't made up his mind.

He kept repeating it to himself. Good lord, a party nomination.

'Me... running for a seat in the National Assembly.'

When he first passed the police exam, his mother had thrown a massive feast. Back then, just as now, an orc police officer was a rare sight. Jeongpal remembered that day vividly. Goodness, she had been so incredibly happy.

If he took it a massive step further and actually pinned an assemblyman's gold badge to his chest, his mother might just faint from the shock.

'But can I actually do this?'

Choi Panseok's persuasive words still resonated deeply within him. It was a position where he could exert a far greater and more positive influence than if he just blindly weathered a few more years on the police force.

It was entirely possible that a path had just opened up—one that could address his longstanding frustrations much more clearly and effectively.

Assuming he won the election, of course.

If he won, he could actually bring change to the lives of the people in this district—people who, whenever they imagined rock bottom, somehow ended up experiencing something even worse.

He could change these very streets, where the stench of urine—whether human or animal—always lingered, where garbage rolled freely, where barely a single piece of public infrastructure remained intact, and where drunken young men got into gang fights in broad daylight.

Reaching that point in his thoughts, Jeongpal turned to the Vigilante Group member in the driver's seat and asked casually.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You've lived here your whole life, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"If you... ended up in a government office, what would you want to do for this neighborhood?"

"I'm doing government work right now, aren't I? Staking out this street to catch that pervert vampire rapist bastard—that's government work, isn't it?"

"I mean if you got elected to a high office."

"Why? Am I getting promoted? Are you finally transferring me to a different district?"

"Quit talking nonsense and use your imagination a bit."

The Vigilante Group member rolled his eyes in thought for a moment before replying.

"Man, screw that. If I got that kind of power, I'd bounce from this district immediately and wipe it from my memory entirely. I wouldn't even piss in this direction ever again."

Jeongpal sighed, giving up on getting a serious answer out of him. But the vigilante fell silent for a moment, clearly still mulling it over. Then, he spoke again.

"Shit, actually. I don't know about anything else, but I'd definitely install some damn streetlights around here."

The alley they were currently staking out was dismally dark. Barely any streetlights had been installed to begin with, and only a fraction of those even worked. They had been broken for ages, with no repairs in sight. It was blatant discrimination against a district with poor tax revenue.

"The whole reason we're staking out this spot right now is because that bastard is so fucking active around here. If these alleys were as well-lit at night as a normal neighborhood, he'd be terrified of getting caught and keep his head down."

Countless studies had shown that raising alley illumination even slightly led to a significant drop in crime. The city administration knew this perfectly well, yet their efforts never reached this far out.

"And I'd install some damn CCTVs, please. If even a few cameras were actually running, we would have caught that bastard by now. Plus, we need to bump up the headcount, whether that's cops or the Vigilante Group. Does it make any sense trying to cover this massive area with the manpower we've got?"

The two of them were currently on a stakeout to catch a vampire rape suspect, following a string of reports in the area.

Public perception had shifted a lot recently—even a chaebol heir had confidently outed himself to the media as a vampire trait holder—but a large portion of the public still viewed them as potential rapists. And the criminals who reinforced that ugly stereotype inevitably flocked to neighborhoods just like this one.

"My thoughts exactly."

The orc muttered in agreement with a nod. Having served as a police officer in the Orc Community for so long, he was uniquely equipped to bring those raw, vital concerns to the table.

His recent consultation with Minjun also tipped the scales for him. When Jeongpal confessed that Assemblyman Choi Panseok had approached him with the offer, Minjun had remained entirely unfazed. He showed so little surprise that it was Jeongpal who was left surprised.

Better yet, Minjun's response had been wholly supportive.

Jeongpal recalled the conversation they had shared.

'I tried to recruit you over and over, and you shot me down every time. But now you're folding for an assemblyman's badge? I'm a little hurt.'

'I'm sorry.'

'I'm kidding. Anyway, just follow your gut. It's Choi Panseok—he's never going to betray you or stab you in the back. He'll give you proper backing.'

'You really think so? Honestly, every once in a while, I catch a certain look in his eyes that feels... pretty unsettling.'

'When was the last time you saw him look like that?'

'Two days ago.'

'Ah, then you're perfectly fine.'

'...?'

'Anyway, you've always had great instincts. It'll be fine from now on, so don't worry about it.'

While Jeongpal was lost in thought, the vigilante had pulled out his phone, evidently bored. Jeongpal was just about to scold him for using it during a stakeout.

"Huh?"

The vigilante muttered, his eyes glued to the screen.

"The group chat is blowing up."

"Are they seriously all awake at this hour?"

"You know how many of these guys are unemployed with wrecked sleep schedules. Anyway, sounds like a massive incident just happened."

"What? Where?!"

Jeongpal's gaze instantly sharpened. But as the vigilante continued, his tension quickly evaporated.

"Overseas. Over in Hong Kong. They're saying it's no joke. Apparently, it feels like a literal warzone over there."

It was a foreign issue, an entire ocean and a multi-hour flight away. Jeongpal was just about to turn his attention back to the street.

'...!'

A delayed realization suddenly slammed into Jeongpal. Minjun was currently out of Korea on a business trip. And his destination... was Hong Kong.

'You don't think...?'

The orc's face slowly hardened.

   *

Minjun had no idea why he had suddenly opened his eyes.

The clock read past three in the morning. The moment he sat up in bed, his dormant senses came rushing back in an overwhelming flood, instantly clearing his mind. It was a perfect, absolute awakening.

A split second later, he realized exactly what had woken him.

"...!"

He instantly chanted a spell.

Flash!

The next moment, Minjun was standing on the roof of the hotel.

Whoosh!

A violent wind tore across the roof. His hair whipped wildly around his face. Hong Kong's dazzling nightscape was half-dimmed, but there was still more than enough light to trace the skyline.

Minjun glared toward the western edge of the Kowloon Peninsula. The tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong stood there: the 118-story International Commerce Centre, or ICC Building.

=You felt it too?=

A telepathic wave echoed down from the sky above.

Minjun didn't even tilt his head up. He didn't need to check with his own eyes; his senses were already screaming at him. A massive, overwhelmingly heavy entity had just manifested directly above him.

A living fortress, faintly reflecting the moonlight. The subtle contrast between the pitch-black void and the ambient dark of the sky traced a terrifyingly colossal silhouette. Three pairs of wings, looking as though they had been carved straight from the night sky itself, flared wide. Atop a long, elegant neck sat a head that resembled a jagged boulder. Twelve piercing eyes gleamed from that head, locking onto the exact same target Minjun was glaring at.

He surely hadn't planned to revert to his true form before the council even convened, let alone in such a public place.

But this unprecedented crisis had forced his hand.

The Elder Dragon Jenkins spoke to Minjun.

=That is the hotel where the Dragon Lord is staying.=

The top section of the ICC Building—from the 102nd to the 118th floor—was entirely occupied by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

The epicenter of the anomaly that had ripped them from their sleep was located right at the peak of that very skyscraper.

Zzzzt!

Minjun felt every nerve in his body stand on end.

The wind intensified even further, howling like an unforecasted hurricane. But Minjun knew this was no natural gale.

Whoosh! Whoooosh!

The roaring currents carried a bizarre, horrifying power. It was astronomical. At this exact moment, every single ability user in Hong Kong and its neighboring cities must have jolted awake in pure terror. It was a suffocating, overwhelming aura that no awakened being could possibly ignore.

And at the epicenter of it all stood the ICC Building. It was the eye of a hurricane formed by a swirling vortex of raw magical power. The hotel where the Dragon Lord was residing sat right in the heart of it.

"What the hell is going on over there?"

=I have been trying to contact the Lord for a while now. He is not responding.=

Flash! Flash!

All across the night sky, massive silhouettes resembling Jenkinson—though varying slightly in shape and scale—began to materialize one after another. The fleet of airborne behemoths rapidly multiplied. These were the dragons who had booked lodgings in Hong Kong for the Balaur Council. Every last one of them had sensed the crisis. Foregoing their Polymorph spells, they all manifested in their true forms, as if acting on a silent, synchronized command.

The result was a jaw-dropping spectacle that completely eclipsed Hong Kong's dazzling skyline. Hundreds of dragons hung suspended in the night air, every single pair of eyes locked onto the same target. Even at this desolate hour, screams and panicked shouts began erupting from the streets below. The ordinary citizens gaped up in sheer terror, craning their necks until it hurt.

A swarm of dragons blotting out the sky. It was the exact awe-inspiring spectacle Minjun had once dreamed of witnessing, yet he felt absolutely zero joy at the sight.

Frantic telepathic waves darted back and forth across the Dragon Race network.

=Someone Teleport inside! What is that old fool doing at this hour?! Is he trying to drop a meteor onto the city?!=

=Impossible! The spatial fabric around the hotel has been warped!=

=A barrier?=

=It's not an intentional spatial lock! It feels more like the sheer backlash of whatever massive spell he's preparing just naturally tore the space apart...=

=What?! That's even more dangerous than an intentional lock!=

Right as the panicked dragons were arguing among themselves—

"...!"

Minjun sensed a sudden shift. But just as he opened his mouth to shout—

BOOOM!

Before the eyes of hundreds of dragons, the very summit of the ICC Building violently exploded.

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