The Foreigner on the Periphery

People's gazes fixated on a single point in midair. The air grew heavy as a hair-raising terror crept over them.

The identity of the young man who had suddenly intruded was obvious. He exuded both a ruler's majesty and a predator's bloodlust.

The Red Dragon, Jenkinson.

'Damn it, damn it, damn it!'

His opponent was an Ancient Dragon whose domain was Korea.

His face drained of color, Baek Se-gyun racked his brain. Being caught by a dragon wouldn't end in mere death. That monster would extract information from his mind in ways a "normal species" like humans couldn't even imagine. If he wasn't careful, the domestic cells of the Human Rights Alliance, along with their overseas networks, would be completely exposed. It was the worst future Baek Se-gyun could imagine.

Did he have no choice but to die here?

'If I were the type to give up so easily, I never would have climbed this high!'

The justice Baek Se-gyun pursued had been the driving force that helped him overcome all hardship and suffering thus far.

To realize that value, he had endured trials that scraped his bones and carved his flesh. He couldn't let everything go in vain like this.

"...!"

His calculations finished in an instant. He would make one last desperate struggle. Coming to that decision, his eyes landed on a group that looked entirely out of place. Gathered in one spot were an elderly elf, a collapsed goblin, and a young human woman.

Among them, Baek Se-gyun focused on the long-haired woman who appeared to be a foreigner. She was the one who had just activated an artifact to pierce the barrier and send a signal outside.

'That artifact called the dragon!'

That brown-haired woman was one of Jenkinson's people.

'To think a human is acting as a dog for reptiles!'

Feeling a surge of rage, Baek Se-gyun chewed over what that fact meant. The dragon had flown all the way here because of her distress signal. To borrow the nonsense of those monsters, it was all for an "insignificant human."

It meant that woman held significant value to the dragon.

His decision was quick. Baek Se-gyun took aim at her. The only path to survival led straight in that direction.

A hostage situation.

*

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The goblin, Dong-cheol, felt a pain like a hammer pounding his temples. It was a heavy, sluggish throbbing. Nausea followed, as if all the blood in his body were flowing backward.

But what was even harder to endure was the rush of sensations pouring in from his surroundings.

Light, sound, scent, and every other sense crashed down on him with overwhelming clarity. It was more input than Dong-cheol could handle. It had started the moment that door shattered just now. Then, blazing flames covered his vision, and in the split second those unknown assailants launched their attack, a pain that felt like his brain was being scraped began.

Clutching the pistol Lakefield had handed him tightly in his hand, Dong-cheol barely managed to speak.

"I... I am..."

The sentence he couldn't finish was something like this:

'Just what exactly have I become?'

It was an ungrammatical sentence fitting for a goblin, but Dong-cheol intuitively judged that no other words could better express his question.

"I... am..."

Every syllable that spilled from his mouth sluggishly trailed behind the speed of his thoughts. His heartbeat, too, was suffocatingly slow. Like a broken tape.

Wherever Dong-cheol rested his gaze, people moved at an agonizing crawl. The assailant unleashing lightning from his hands, the bodyguard blocking it with a transparent shield, the warrior driving an aura-boiling axe blade into a shoulder, the mage flying backward while spraying blood from his entire body.

Everything around him flowed in slow motion, as if played back at a reduced speed.

However, perhaps because his mind had accelerated while his body remained the same, the words Dong-cheol struggled to mutter articulated just as sluggishly as the movements of others. As if trying to bridge the disjointed timelines of the "outside" and the "inside," Dong-cheol continued to vibrate his vocal cords, mumbling the same words.

Meanwhile, the sluggish passage of time wasn't the only abnormal thing. There was another strange anomaly that caught his eye.

'Everything is... red!'

Along with the blood scattered everywhere, Dong-cheol saw harsh, merciless red lines.

To describe it in terms unfamiliar to Dong-cheol, it was "visualized hostility." He felt something like red thorns shoot out from the intruders' bodies when they stormed the venue. Nothing significant happened the moment those sharp tips touched the bodyguards and the orcs. In other words, the blood-red color itself didn't seem to possess any power.

However, a moment after the red light made contact, the target was attacked without fail. It was similar to a sniper rifle with a laser sight he had seen in a movie. First painting the target with the laser, then driving a bullet into that exact spot.

And strangely enough, the same phenomenon occurred in the opposite direction. After the bodyguards poured red rain on the intruders, a real attack followed with a short delay.

It seemed that right now, here in this place, only Dong-cheol could see the red energy they were exchanging.

Just as it had been before.

'It's just like back then!'

With his accelerated thoughts, Dong-cheol recalled a past event.

When he had encountered the dragon named Edelinis in front of the Evergreen Bookstore, Dong-cheol had been crushed by Dragon Fear, unable to even move his body properly. He had barely managed to evacuate with the elf, but for a long time afterward, he blamed himself for what happened.

If only he had realized earlier, back when she was approaching from a distance, that the opponent was a Polymorphed dragon.

If he had, he could have taken Lakefield and fled much faster and more safely.

And it seemed that the terror and guilt he felt back then had awakened something sleeping in Dong-cheol's blood.

—If only I could see... the 'truth' that's invisible to my eyes!

A few months later. When he saw the strange, short-haired woman who came looking for Minjun. Cathy hadn't been able to find out anything besides the name 'Dell', and even Lakefield couldn't guess her true identity, but Dong-cheol instinctively knew. She wasn't an ordinary human.

Back then, too, the goblin's eyes saw visualized energy. A massive, blue-gray energy spinning around and enveloping the woman. It rotated in circles around a central axis, extending sharp, spindle-shaped thorns in all directions. It was imposing and frightening, but the thought of running away didn't cross his mind. He intuited that there was no hostility mixed into that color.

The same held true when he looked at the landlord, Minjun. Starting from a certain day, Dong-cheol could tell that the building owner was no ordinary quarter-elf. Once again, he saw the other party's true essence. A massive, silent, and heavy-flowing black sea of unfathomable capacity. However, a transcendent something, denied even the freedom to ripple, was bound inside Minjun. But just like before, he felt no "outward" hostility.

The first time Dong-cheol faced visualized hostility was the day the turtle-like aliens attacked.

That was the day Minjun vanished without a trace after slaughtering them.

'Back then, just like now... red rain fell... up... down... sideways... endlessly... to the point where I couldn't see ahead...!'

While staring at the nauseating sight of an excessive amount of information being transmitted, Dong-cheol realized one more thing.

'Back then... even though I could see it, it wasn't... slow like this.'

Even on the day the turtles attacked, everything hadn't moved sluggishly like it was doing now.

He hadn't realized it, but there must have been a special trigger for this phenomenon as well.

Just as he had gained the ability to see the invisible when he blamed himself for failing to see it.

"...!"

Just then.

Dong-cheol's gaze caught another strand of hostility.

'Red...!'

The man with a shadow floating over his shoulder poured out a red line once again. But unlike before, it wasn't indiscriminately aiming at the orcs or targeting the bodyguards blocking their way. This time, that line was approaching the person right beside him.

'...Sis?!'

Once the line touched, the attack would immediately begin. Dong-cheol felt as if lightning had struck his brain. Clear resolve filled his eyes, which had previously widened in shock at the sudden changes.

'I have to stop it!'

Thanks to his mental time passing several times faster than everyone else's, Dong-cheol could mentally recite what he had learned over and over again.

In a fraction of time that some might describe as a mere instant, he desperately repeated Lakefield's teachings.

'Feet shoulder-width apart... parallel to the target... extend both hands straight... push the lower abdomen out...'

Even as he simulated it repeatedly in his mind, the red line extended by the practitioner of Dark Magic had not yet reached Cathy. It continued to approach. Sluggishly.

Dong-cheol kept repeating the steps to himself.

'Weight forward... front sight at the muzzle... rear sight at the back... align the two into one... sight alignment... dead center of the target...!'

And right before the red thorn touched Cathy.

Dong-cheol finished his mental practice and simulation.

'Don't sway left or right... bend the knees... pull the trigger straight back... smoothly and quickly, dead center!'

The goblin stood up, raising the pistol. Dong-cheol held his breath. He realized the sound of his heartbeat was no longer sluggish. His movements were so fast that the vast majority of people couldn't even perceive them. The red line touched Cathy. The shadow monster on the Dark Magic practitioner's shoulder rippled.

At that moment.

Bang!

"Gasp?!"

The air froze.

Only then did people's gazes dart toward the goblin. He had overcome the fear and conflict clouding his mind, gripping the pistol with both hands while standing perfectly straight. His hands, which had shaken from the recoil right after firing, quickly ceased their trembling and held firm in midair.

The gazes of the practitioner of Dark Magic and the goblin crossed in midair.

"Crazy!"

The bullet Dong-cheol fired did not hit Baek Se-gyun. In fact, it hadn't even grazed him. However, from the very beginning, Dong-cheol had aimed for the undulating target above his head—a target far too massive to miss. And the artifact protecting Baek Se-gyun recognized the shadow monster as part of the user and shielded it as well.

What followed was a collision between the bullet and a defensive barrier protecting a target that hadn't needed protection.

The bullet failed to graze even Baek Se-gyun's collar, but because of that very shockwave, the timing of the shadow monster extending its hand was delayed. Just a fraction.

Kiyaaah!

"Damn it!"

And that opening provided Cathy with enough time to respond.

Flash!

At her hand gesture, a veil of light appeared. The surging black energy collided with the barrier, and what shattered was Cathy's Magic. She was horrified by the opponent's power, which was far stronger than she had expected.

However, blocking that attempt just once was enough.

Because right now, there was a dragon in this place.

=How dare you scoundrels!=

The completed Magic of an Ancient Dragon dominated the space. Jenkinson had already finished distinguishing friend from foe.

Float!

Among those gathered in the banquet hall, the feet of those belonging to the Human Rights Alliance floated off the ground. Baek Se-gyun was no exception. They thrashed urgently, but they were soon overtaken by an agonizing pain that squeezed the blood vessels and nerves throughout their bodies.

"K-Kuhk!"

The intruders' bodies contorted, and they began to thrash violently as they vomited blood from their eyes, noses, and mouths. Jenkinson glared at them with undisguised contempt.

The Ancient Dragon had no intention of taking their lives right here. This was a good opportunity.

He recalled the last words of the late Dragon Lord.

—I leave a fund of fifty million dollars to the Interpol Supernatural Organization Response Team. I wish for this money to be used entirely for the eradication of the Human Rights Alliance. Furthermore, I hope my decision serves as a wake-up call to some of the Ancient Dragons. See how much their faction grows each year as a result of being neglected just because they don't pose a threat in your own territories.

He muttered inwardly.

'A practitioner of Dark Magic raiding an orc assemblyman's banquet... it's obvious they're bastards from the Human Rights Alliance. It's exactly as Rod warned. Not only are they continuing to grow their forces, but they're also becoming increasingly bold and extreme.'

This happened just as the dragon wrapped up the situation with a single flick of his hand.

Cathy finally relaxed her tension and looked at Dong-cheol. Myriad emotions swirled in her eyes.

"Dong-cheol, did you just..."

"Ah... I..."

It was then that the goblin's senses returned to normal. It was the moment his mind, which had been accelerated to the limit, reverted to its standard speed.

"Uh..."

The goblin's vision tilted.

Thud!

"D-Dong-cheol!"

Dong-cheol fell straight backward and fainted. Lakefield examined him and noted that he seemed to have just passed out without any major external injuries.

"Ah!"

Then, Cathy cried out belatedly.

"What about Mister Jeongpal?"

The assailants who had just stormed in poured their attacks onto the orcs with deadly intent, even while engaged in a firefight with the bodyguards.

They looked like demons, desperate to kill even one more person.

"...He's over there."

Lakefield pointed to a spot. Over there was the orc assemblyman they had been worrying about.

"Mister!"

Cathy, who was about to rush over frantically, flinched and froze.

Jeongpal was covered entirely in blood. Thanks to a spirit informing him, Lakefield knew that it wasn't Jeongpal's own blood. The bodyguards Jenkinson had assigned to him had focused entirely on protecting their target, who had no Supernatural Ability, even in the midst of combat. Thanks to them, he was safe without any major injuries.

But the other orcs who hadn't received such focused protection...

"Ah..."

Cathy's face turned pale. She buried her face in her hands. Seeing the sight spread out before Jeongpal, she couldn't even breathe properly.

Right now, Jeongpal was kneeling with an expression that looked as if he had lost a part of himself. He had approached the very front row among the round tables prepared for the audience. It seemed that the dark mage's attack had swept through that area.

"That place..."

Cathy knew who that table—the one where they could see Jeongpal from the closest distance—had been assigned to.

"Mister Jeongpal's... family!"

Reflected in Cathy's eyes, he looked like a precarious stone cairn—as if the orc named Park Jeongpal had been smashed to pieces with a blunt chisel and then forcibly stacked back together. His shoulders looked like they would collapse entirely at a single wisp of a gentle breeze, or a single careless raindrop.

Kneeling on the damp floor, Jeongpal looked down at his family, who had gathered here on a day he would remember for the rest of his life.

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