The Foreigner on the Periphery

‘He’ couldn't remember. Who he was, how long he had been here, or where here even was.

Everything had begun with an intense flash of light. A wave so overwhelming it felt as if it would crush his very existence.

‘...’

No, he quickly changed his mind. Was that truly the beginning, the start of everything? Hadn't there been something before that? At the very least, he felt he had existed a little longer than that.

Regardless, his earliest memory as of now was the sensation of swirling, swept up in the light.

And whether it was fortunate or not, a change occurred as time passed. Just as eyes accustomed to the dark slowly regain their sight, his cognitive abilities, once swallowed by the light, gradually recovered.

‘I wasn't alone.’

A landscape he hadn't been able to see before. The walls of a sphere surrounding him came into view. Countless people lay slumbering there.

Unlike him, aimlessly adrift and caught in the flow of light inside the sphere, they appeared firmly anchored to the walls.

In other words, this place looked like the depths of an ocean formed by the massive amounts of blood these people had lost.

‘But that isn't a one-sided loss. Not anymore.’

Not anymore? What did that mean?

He couldn't understand the concept he had just thought of. His fragmented memories caused confusion, but soon, even that question vanished.

The realization came as if it were simply natural: the people were shedding light as if bleeding, but they were replenishing themselves with just as much as they lost.

It was a kind of cycle.

Everyone's blood of light mixed together and was reabsorbed into their respective bodies. This was possible because the space they inhabited was filled with light. The radiant waves overflowed wherever his perception could reach.

‘They're all... slowly blending together.’

In the beginning, someone must have injected a highly sophisticated substance into their bodies. It assimilated body and soul. As a result, the people had been melting down their souls over countless years. Just as a mountain range of rock salt dissolved in dewdrops—very, very slowly. When it flowed out of their bodies, it mixed with others’ before returning.

In other words, all of them possessed a piece of everyone else.

‘Wouldn't that process be painful?’

He worried for a moment.

But he soon realized it wasn't.

‘Everyone is dreaming happy dreams.’

So they could forget the pain.

He could guess what awaited at the end of this blissful suffering. Ultimately, everyone would be connected. In the end, not a single one of them would be truly, individually free. Because they all harbored a part of everyone else, denying another would mean attacking oneself.

‘But it will take a very long time.’

Although the fusion process had been interrupted once in the middle, the fundamental reason was that the process of bleeding and reabsorption was incredibly slow. The vessel each person had to hold the light was limited.

Unlike him.

‘Unlike... me?’

He turned his attention inward. He understood the phenomenon happening to those people, to others. But what state was he in?

Then, he naturally came to know. The limits that defined them didn't exist for him.

‘I have no limits, and I do not bleed.’

He wasn't losing a single thing, nor was his vessel overflowing; he just kept absorbing the light continuously.

At a faster rate than anyone else here.

*

“The Pope has descended to the lowest depths and imprisoned himself.”

There was a reason Yumtus had said that.

Minjun followed his guidance and arrived at a certain location within the order. The two descended the stairs into the underground. The passage, which seemed to go down endlessly, connected to a prison.

“Originally, this was the place where the order's sinners were imprisoned.”

Currently, there were supposedly no inmates held here. Minjun could guess the reason. It was likely because they were on the eve of war.

Then where did all the sinners go? Minjun didn't feel the need to ask. That answer was just as predictable.

At first, the damp, musty air typical of an underground space pierced his nose, but as they went further, the passage grew increasingly dry and filled with heat. Yumtus had been sweating profusely for a while now. Minjun indifferently cast his gaze at the walls. The moss and mold that would normally have made this place their home were dead, reduced to bone-dry dust.

Vooom!

As they stepped deeper, a faint light flowed from Yumtus's body. He had instinctively activated his restorative power. It meant the temperature had risen to a level difficult for an ordinary person to endure.

Minjun furrowed his brow.

“I can tell what that guy is up to.”

Yumtus bowed his head as if deeply humbled.

The scene Minjun had predicted unfolded before them a moment later.

Fwooosh!

The primordial race fought the urge to sigh. Beyond the iron bars glowing red with heat, a man with long hair sat cross-legged.

Magical flames roared and writhed wildly around the Pope's body. His skin and tissues burned and shriveled in the heat before regenerating with fresh flesh, over and over again. It was a good thing Asiph-1 was subconsciously suppressing the heat and focusing it entirely on himself; if his control slipped, this entire building would melt down.

Yumtus muttered on the Pope's behalf.

“He says he must punish himself, and he's stayed in that state, with his body set on fire, ever since.”

It seemed he had memorized the disciplinary method that blew up the Cathedral of Resurrection and was copying it.

Minjun recalled another universal truth that transcended dimensions. This was exactly why you shouldn't even drink water carelessly in front of kids. They would blindly copy you through fire and water.

Watching the Pope burn himself alive, Yumtus spoke.

“It was terrifying just to look at, so I tried to dissuade him, but he simply won't listen.”

Yumtus shuddered, saying he couldn't even imagine the pain. However, Minjun was actually thinking about something else entirely.

‘Wait a minute, if that guy's dominant personality is that Frying Pan...’

Instead of pointing out the fact that the Pope's job in his earlier days was to place himself over a fire and sear his own body with boiling oil—and that he even enjoyed it quite a bit—Minjun sent Yumtus back up to the surface.

There was no need for him to hear the conversation that was about to take place between the two of them.

“What are you doing right now?”

Sunk deep into his inner self, Asiph-1 didn't seem to hear him at first. ‘No wonder he didn't answer when I called him from afar.’ Minjun clicked his tongue and blasted a powerful mental wave.

=Get up!=

Snap!

Only then did Asiph-1 open his eyes.

“Ah, you've returned!”

He hurriedly extinguished the flames. He stood up and took a few steps, but instead of coming closer, he dropped to his knees. He bowed his head deeply. For some reason, Minjun found the sight incredibly unpleasant. With a casual wave of his hand through the air, the iron bars blocking them vanished.

“I asked what the hell you're doing right now.”

“I was punishing myself. Since Father did not hold me accountable for my sins, I believed I had to accept a fitting punishment myself.”

“You think setting yourself on fire counts as a punishment?”

“...Because the pain is certainly real.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Minjun let out a deep sigh. At that, Asiph-1 spoke in an urgent tone.

“Father, you have not yet issued a proper punishment.”

It was true.

After blowing away the Cathedral of Resurrection, Minjun had merely confirmed that no more Shadow Fragments remained inside Asiph-1 and immediately went to hole up for his own business.

“Of course I haven't. Your sin doesn't even exist in the first place, so why would I?”

Asiph-1's eyes trembled.

His creator and creditor had just declared that, from the very beginning, there was no debt to forgive.

“But I made the wrong judgment. I nearly annihilated all of Father's kin and ruined your plans disastrously.”

“Because you were deceived. You were used by Adkiel. It was an unavoidable situation.”

“I was coerced and lured, but the one who ultimately made the choice was me. If I deny the responsibility for that, I would also be denying my own free will.”

Only then did Minjun understand the reason for his stubbornness.

‘So that's what it is.’

His son, who had existed as a tool for a long time, was constantly trying to prove that he was a person. By expressing guilt, feeling shame, and volunteering for punishment.

However, part of that logic contradicted his creator's beliefs. Minjun believed that a sin could not be forced. Just as the things he himself had done out of loss and deprivation weren't sins, he couldn't punish choices bound by force majeure.

Minjun decided to acknowledge and tolerate this difference in their thoughts.

So, instead of denying Asiph-1's desire to be recognized as a person...

“In that case, I forgive you.”

“...?!”

He decided to give him an answer he could accept.

Regardless, it would be troublesome if Asiph-1 stayed in that state. That sickening sense of guilt reminded Minjun of his own past. Seeing him trapped in those chains was a complete eyesore.

“I didn't pardon you because I never considered it a sin in the first place, but if you need it that badly, I will acknowledge it. And I forgive you.”

Asiph-1 instantly wore a blank expression.

He asked himself if this was truly what he had wanted, but he also realized he had no grounds to refute Minjun's words.

With a bewildered face, he lowered his head once more.

“...Thank you.”

Minjun's indifferent words poured down over the back of his head.

“I can see exactly what you're thinking. You're thinking that your sin against me is resolved, but the sin you committed against Ha Eun-seong still remains.”

He flinched.

“Don't even dream of setting yourself on fire again and holing up in here. First, help me rescue that guy, and then go get forgiven by him directly.”

Asiph-1's eyes widened.

“Did you find a way to save him?”

“There was no need to rack my brain for a new method. We just have to do what we were already going to do. I've gained the certainty that Ha Eun-seong won't be destroyed anyway.”

Then, Minjun said something shocking that the Pope could never have imagined.

“He was probably made from my soul as well.”

He explained the scenes he had seen in Adkiel's memories. As the story continued, Asiph-1 couldn't hold back his fury. An intense light blazed in his eyes.

“What, so they forced Father's soul?!”

“Yeah. Originally, I also had the ability to ignore the barrier. It seems the part they excised from me went through some process and became Ha Eun-seong.”

The reason Asiph-1 felt a sense of kinship with Ha Eun-seong was likely because they shared the same origin.

Conversely, as to why Minjun had felt an aversion toward him, he speculated like this.

“I suppose it's the difference between a gift and extortion. I created you of my own will, but Ha Eun-seong is a part I lost because it was forcefully taken from me. It was like a piece that was originally supposed to be attached to me was wandering around outside however it pleased, so I might have felt repulsed by it.”

Even though he disliked him, Minjun had chained Ha Eun-seong with debt and bound him. He tied him to his side so he couldn't run away. Minjun guessed that this, too, might have been a subconscious mechanism to fill his sense of loss.

“Anyway, as long as his ego hasn't collapsed, we can save him. It will be possible once we regain control of Elahu-Praga.”

“Do you intend to absorb him again?”

Minjun denied it with an impassive expression.

“Why would I?”

“...”

He didn't explain the reason, but through that answer, Asiph-1 had a gut feeling.

His creator had changed.

If he had to put it into words... should he say his obsessive attachment to possession had weakened?

“Anyway.”

Having explained this much, Minjun finally moved on to the main point.

“You're going to have to go somewhere with me.”

It sounded like he was just asking to go on a quick outing.

At a time like this, right before a war? Asiph-1 couldn't understand.

“Where are you talking about?”

“My hometown.”

“...Hometown?”

Asiph-1's expression grew even more bizarre.

He had heard the story that Minjun was raised in a facility, but he hadn't heard where that planet was or in what state it remained now.

“Was it the facility that raised those who would become nobility? Are we going to the planet that cultivated the seeds destined to become superhumans?”

Minjun shook his head.

“Not there. I have a different place that I acknowledge as my true hometown. My life before moving there holds little meaning for me.”

“Ah, then!”

“Yeah. The place where I grew up. Let's go to the place where the ranch I owned used to be.”

The planet where he had spent a long time with Adkiel, and which Minjun had continued to manage even after she died.

The place the Ancient Race now called by this name.

“To Yongreung.”

Asiph-1 tilted his head.

“Then we'll have to cross dimensions. It's not a problem since the Space Mothership we secured this time has a Jump Code Generator, but...”

But the moment the Space Mothership moved, a covert infiltration would be impossible.

Then, would he bring Dell along this time as well?

‘That should be impossible.’

Yongreung was the center of the dimensional system. The situation was different from when Minjun had fled from a frontier dimension with a princess, a priest, and a dragon. The moment a massive creature like an Endelion appeared, there was a high probability they would be discovered immediately.

Sure enough, Minjun shook his head, showing he had no such intention. Then, he stared intently at Asiph-1 and said:

“This time, we can survive the jump without relying on Dell. Me, of course, but you as well. Did I mention it? Your body right now is durable enough that you wouldn't lose even if you fought an Endelion in hand-to-hand combat.”

“...?!”

For a moment, the Pope couldn't formulate a reply and merely opened and closed his mouth.

Minjun was right. Asiph-1's new body was originally a surprise gift that Dell had spent a long time preparing for her ex-husband.

And as many people could attest, she was a woman who didn't understand the concept of moderation.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!