The Foreigner on the Periphery

Yumtus muttered.

"How telling. A meeting kept secret even from Todd and Kavite. It seems they're willing to betray even them if necessary."

Someone countered.

"But couldn't we leak this to them? Deepen the infighting among the Ancient Race."

"If we did, Endelion would simply deny it. No matter how insidious they are, they'd trust their own kind over our word."

"And if we just reject this meeting, we lose the chance to see what cards Endelion is holding."

"Do they even have any cards? We'd be lucky if this isn't just a trap."

"It's a remote meeting, not face-to-face. Could they really do any harm?"

"They could lay the groundwork for a real trap, or disrupt us with false information. Either way, there are plenty of schemes they could hatch under the guise of a meeting."

"Let's hear what nonsense they have to spout."

His tone carried a firm conviction: no matter what the other side said, his stance would not waver.

Looking at Dell, Minjun remembered the promise he'd made her.

'Endelion won't go extinct. Even after the war ends, I won't slaughter them.'

But their flawed system for eternal life would eventually break down.

And Minjun had never made any promises to Dell about what would happen after they died.

After the meeting, he closed his eyes and focused his consciousness inward.

The hell within him was steadily nearing completion.

*

Hell is in the mind.

'Was that a proverb from the Bible? Or a Buddhist scripture?'

Jeongpal couldn't remember the source. He had never been interested in religion anyway.

Words of truth transcend time and personal interest. Lately, Jeongpal found himself agreeing with that quote completely. Hell existed within his own mind.

And the world was what had turned his mind into one.

'Can it change?'

Whenever he closed his eyes, gruesome scenes surfaced.

Jeongpal still couldn't sleep properly. Whenever he drifted off, the nightmares inevitably returned. In his dreams, his knees would soak through with something hot and damp—the puddles of blood pooling on the floor. Blood spilled by his dead and injured family.

'Can this world really change?'

The old orc, who had quickly become his ideological mentor, was certain it could.

"Assemblyman Park, you're here?"

Choi Panseok stepped out in a formal suit. But behind him was a face Jeongpal hadn't seen in a while.

"Ah... how have you been?"

Choi Seona bowed politely.

It was the first time Jeongpal had seen her since their encounter at the hospital.

His last memory of her was the miraculous scene where Minjun used some unknown method to save her from Magic Poison.

'I heard her symptoms had been relapsing lately, but she looks well today.'

Whether because Minjun was absent or because the treatment had intrinsic limits, Jeongpal had heard Seona's health had been failing recently.

Her sudden decline was the reason Choi Panseok had missed several important events lately.

"Have you spoken with their secretary's office?"

Choi Panseok's question snapped Jeongpal out of his thoughts.

"Yes. I told them you two would be accompanying me to see the Chairman, and they cleared it."

Even as he said it, doubt lingered on the orc's face.

"But why is your daughter...?"

"I'll explain everything later. Let's get going."

Today was the day they were scheduled to meet Chairman Jenkinson.

Jeongpal simply couldn't fathom why Choi Panseok had pushed him to hastily arrange a meeting with the Red Dragon, nor why the assemblyman insisted on bringing along his sickly daughter who had nothing to do with politics.

*

'I really don't understand this.'

Jenkinson stared at the elf standing before him.

Blair had only shown herself a short while after the barrier shattered.

Her eyes were bloodshot and the tip of her nose was red. She was doing her best to maintain a professional, businesslike expression, much like he had seen in his other dreams. But no matter how high a wall she put up, she couldn't hide it from a dragon's eyes.

'So what I wanted to see in my dream was my elf secretary—who was wailing loudly just a moment ago and still sounds congested—giving a business report in a stiff tone as if nothing happened?'

The subconscious was a truly mysterious thing.

"Here is the list of those who requested a meeting while you were absorbed in your research. However, since there is a prior commitment bound by draconic..."

It was a very realistic dream, but Jenkinson's mind remained hazy. Like he had just woken from hibernation, his thoughts and senses kept shifting back and forth between dull and sharp.

Probably because it was a dream.

He still didn't take the situation seriously. He decided to just play along and see where the dream went.

"Do as you see fit."

Shortly after, the visitors stood before him. They entered so quickly they must have been waiting right outside.

"Chairman, it's been a while."

The one who had requested the meeting was an orc named Park Jeongpal, but he had brought two companions.

Oddly enough, it was the older orc he had brought along who spoke up first.

"This is my daughter, Seona. I apologize for the sudden request, but could just the three of us—Seona, myself, and you, Chairman—have a word alone?"

Jenkinson's eyebrow twitched.

Even for a dream, this was a sudden leap in logic.

Jeongpal and Blair were just as bewildered.

"Excuse me? Assemblyman, what are you talking about?"

"Assemblyman Park Jeongpal is the one who requested this meeting..."

The dragon smiled in amusement.

Well, let's see where this story goes.

"Let them."

He was starting to get bored. How did one wake up from a lucid dream again?

Perhaps he'd been overworking himself lately; he felt exhausted even in the dream. Could he fall asleep inside a dream? He certainly felt like trying.

'Still, it's a rare experience. Should I watch a bit more?'

Right.

I'll hear what this orc has to say, then figure out how to wake up.

Go on, speak. Let's see what my subconscious has cooked up.

"It's just us now."

Once Blair Campbell and Park Jeongpal had left the room.

Jenkinson's subconscious, manifesting in the dream, spoke.

It wore the guise of an old orc.

"Chairman, this isn't a dream."

*

"..."

Oh, really?

"What?"

"You think this is a dream. It isn't. This is reality."

Jenkinson let out a hollow laugh.

This dream was remarkably deep. Psychoanalytically, this had to mean something.

What did an old orc usually symbolize? He'd have to ask a psychologist once he woke up.

"I instructed Assemblyman Park to arrange this meeting so I could accompany him and be the first to face you, Chairman. Before anyone else."

The old orc spoke in a calm tone. Beside him, his adoptive daughter's face was rigid with tension.

"There is a very simple way to prove this is reality. Pluck the scale from 'that spot' right now."

Jenkinson momentarily forgot he was in a dream and shot back.

"What are you talking about? What spot?"

"It's an open secret among dragons. A spot normally tucked between muscles, safe from anyone else's reach—a hidden place only you can touch. I hear dragons experience indescribable pain when a scale is pulled from there."

That just made him even more certain this was a dream.

How would an orc know about that?

"People often pinch their cheeks to tell dreams from reality. You have nothing to lose, do you? No matter what horrific things happen in a dream, you don't feel the full extent of the pain. If you dream of your leg being severed, you don't feel the actual agony of the amputation. It's neurologically impossible. So, if you pluck it now and this is truly a dream, you won't feel the proper pain. Give it a try, Chairman."

Fine, I'll play along.

That might just be the jolt he needed to wake up.

Just like how he always woke up right before hitting the ground in nightmares where his wings disappeared.

However.

"...Even in a dream, this is a bit embarrassing."

"Yes, I understand."

The old orc and his human daughter stepped back and turned around so they couldn't see Jenkinson.

Wondering just how bizarre his subconscious tastes were, the dragon reached down. He grasped a single scale hidden beneath the surface.

And pulled.

—!

*

At that exact moment, the citizens of Seoul living near Bukhansan felt a massive earthquake with a perceived magnitude of 6.5.

It was an artificial tremor that no weather or disaster forecaster in the country had predicted.

*

Craaash!

=Ch-Chairman! Chairman, are you alright?!=

Jenkinson couldn't even answer his secretary from beyond the wall.

"Hah... Hah!"

Jenkinson stared at the ruined interior of his Lair, the furniture completely collapsed. Had he been a creature that sweated, his entire body would be drenched right now.

The orc, who had stood far enough back to avoid the destruction, spoke calmly.

"Do you understand now? This is no dream."

It was hard to believe, but he seemed to be right.

The throbbing, burning agony in his lower body proved this was reality.

'Then!'

If I'm not a Gold Dragon, but Jenkinson, the Red Dragon living on Earth in 2020...

Then I must be...

The moment that thought hit him.

The haze in his mind finally vanished. His consciousness snapped fully awake.

The six brains housed beneath his red scales began functioning properly.

"Gaaaaaah!"

An agonizing pain tore at his head, as if it were being ripped apart from both sides.

An overwhelming flood of memories suddenly surged forth. It wasn't just the memories he held as a Gold Dragon; the scattered scenes the Red Dragon had seen, experienced, and felt—which he had previously dismissed as dreams—erupted into his mind. The missing gaps were filled and connected.

The scenes twisted and tangled together into a raging storm.

Literally too many... fragments of memory.

Craaaash!

Jenkinson clutched his head in agony. Sparks flew endlessly from his nostrils, and with a whoosh, a red pillar of flame shot into the air.

The old orc shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Yes, this is reality! You must not fall back asleep! If you sink back into that dream now, the consequences will be irreversible!"

"What the...!"

Jenkinson glared at him with bloodshot eyes, barely managing to squeeze out his voice.

"How did you...?!"

The orc pointed at the human standing beside him.

"My daughter Seona possesses precognitive abilities. It's not some petty trick like predicting the weather or earthquakes. It's been verified through multiple channels—she is one of the few precogs across all dimensions whose power is truly unmatched."

Even through the pain, the dragon's eyes shot wide open.

What?!

"For a long time, we have been simulating the branching paths of the future to meet certain conditions. Lately, however, the process became exceedingly difficult. The visions grew faint, and scenes we hadn't seen before began to appear. One of those scenes was here and now. To achieve a desirable future, I had to see you today. That's why I forced Assemblyman Park to arrange this sudden meeting."

It hurt.

It hurt like hell, but he had to ask.

"Why today, of all days?!"

"If we hadn't met, you would have believed this was a dream until the bitter end. The impulse in your mind would have whispered for you to embrace 'something red, massive, and powerful' and go back to sleep. You had only briefly woken up before being completely consumed. I had to strike during that opening. I had to be the first person you saw when you opened your eyes."

Something red, massive, and powerful.

He was definitely talking about the Dragon Heart he had been clutching just moments ago.

So this wasn't the dream—it was the other way around?

He had just briefly woken up from his slumber in a half-conscious daze?

Slash!

At that moment, it felt as though someone had driven a chisel straight into his skull.

Dream and reality inverted.

Snapping back to their rightful places.

His mouth opened, screaming out his sudden realization.

"L-Lord!"

The life of a Gold Dragon, forced upon him after being swallowed by an unknown magic.

That was the dream.

A seemingly endless dream that had stretched on for thousands of years.

But he had woken up halfway through.

'The magic engraved into the Dragon Heart... it was supposed to activate 99 days after the Lord's death!'

But Jenkinson had touched it before that time arrived, causing the incomplete magic to trigger prematurely.

Was that why he was able to wake up halfway?

"Yes, are you in your right mind now? You must not succumb to the urge to sleep again. I don't know who cast that magic, but if you go back to sleep, it will completely consume you this time."

Before he even had the chance to reply—

Craaaash!

The dragon roared in agony once again.

=Ch-Chairman!=

Outside, Blair couldn't stand by any longer.

Bang!

She defied his orders and threw the door open. Blair and Jeongpal burst into the room that was supposed to be restricted to the three of them.

Neither Jenkinson nor Choi Panseok had the spare focus to care about them.

The dragon spoke through gritted teeth.

"Urgh! ...It seems you were right about your daughter being an unprecedented precog."

By the door, someone gasped sharply in shock.

It was Jeongpal.

Choi Panseok didn't see the orc's face turn dead pale. Neither did the dragon.

"...But why tell me this?"

What was his goal?

Choi Panseok repeated the answer in his mind.

'Because 'He' will be exceptionally pleased to learn of this outcome!'

He couldn't speak the identity of the master who ruled him, couldn't utter those three syllables.

But the orc found words as close to the truth as possible. He couldn't lie to a dragon, after all.

Flames danced in Choi Panseok's eyes. His voice dripped with madness.

"I've just made a great contribution!"

"...What?"

"It won't be long now. A new world is coming. A world where you reap what you sow. A world governed by the Golden Rule and moral law!"

Jenkinson couldn't comprehend what the old orc was babbling about.

"In the world we live in today, the very concepts of right and wrong have collapsed. Poetic justice has long become the nonsense of the delusional. We live in a world where goodwill is not rewarded, and malice is not punished. But the future will be different."

The old man's voice grew fervent.

"It will be a world where everyone must prove their worth. People will no longer be judged by what they were born with. Everyone will be evaluated by their actions and get exactly what they give. A scale holding an absolute standard will separate man from beast. It will separate the righteous from the wicked. It will be a world where the wicked are naturally punished, and the righteous inevitably rewarded."

The wicked to hell, the righteous to heaven.

A world where everything functions as it should.

"And by saving you, I've secured my merit."

Jenkinson had to remain as his master's 'friend'.

"In return, I'll be rewarded both in life and in death!"

And the orc, Choi Panseok, would share that reward with his community.

With everyone inside his sanctuary.

With the 'people' most like him.

"Urgh!"

At that moment.

The pain scrambling Jenkinson's brain grew even worse.

His real memories and ego clashed fiercely with the experiences from the dream, violently rejecting one another.

While the dragon writhed in agony.

"...Assemblyman Choi."

Jeongpal called out to the old man, his face drained of all life.

Choi Panseok didn't look back. The five-term assemblyman who represented the orc community spoke firmly.

"Later."

"No, I need to know now. Is it true... that Seona is a precog?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner."

"Wait, if that's true...!"

Trembling with a mix of tears and rage.

Jeongpal's face contorted.

"If she could see the future, then that accident...!"

Choi Panseok cut off the junior assemblyman's words.

Still with his back turned.

"Precognition isn't an omnipotent tool. Seona can't just flip channels on a TV to see whatever she wants, whenever she wants. The terrorist attack that day... unfortunately, she didn't foresee it. Just like she didn't foresee you bursting into this room right now."

As he said those last words, he exchanged a brief glance with his daughter.

But Jeongpal couldn't accept that.

"But you! That day, the day the accident happened...!"

"Assemblyman Park, that's enough. Do not turn your mind into a hell with pointless suspicions."

The conversation between the two orcs ended there.

Craaash!

Riiiiip!

Jenkinson swore he heard a sound.

The sound of his own body splitting in two.

It was just his imagination, of course.

But the voice that followed was no hallucination.

Just as the chaotic storm of clashing memories and egos finally began to subside.

—'Well, that's a failure.'

The dragon heard it loud and clear. But no one else seemed to.

In a voice meant only for him, the presence in his head muttered bitterly.

—'And an awkward one at that.'

It was a voice he remembered.

Jenkinson, the Red Dragon, forced his eyes wide and screamed.

"...Lord?!"

From deep within him, he was hearing the voice of the already-dead Lord.

The first possibility that flashed through Jenkinson's mind was...

'Did the Lord's soul enter my body?!'

"You couldn't pass on? Are you possessing my body?! Then... that magic on the Dragon Heart, was it designed to steal my body from the start?!"

The voice sighed, exasperated.

—'You don't even have an affinity for channeling. How could two souls share one body? Think before you speak.'

"Then what is this?!"

The voice in his mind retorted.

With words the Red Dragon never could have anticipated.

—'Congratulations on becoming the first patient with dissociative identity disorder in draconic history, Jenkinson.'

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