The Foreigner on the Periphery

A man stood with his arms crossed in a corner of the office.

Jenkinson counted himself lucky to be using Polymorph to hold a human form. Had he been in his true body, he might have breathed fire in sheer panic. It would have been a disaster.

"My god."

He spoke cautiously, scarcely believing his own eyes.

"...Minjun?!"

The visitor wore a calm expression. In stark contrast, a myriad of emotions boiled up inside Jenkinson.

Without realizing what he was doing, the dragon took a step forward. For a moment, he forgot all the bizarre information he had gathered after Minjun's disappearance. The friend standing before him looked exactly the same as he had right before fleeing Earth.

Perhaps that was why. The dragon reached out a hand, just as he had done so often in the past, moving in for a welcoming handshake.

Then, his right hand froze in midair.

He flinched in alarm.

The Red Dragon worried that this might be a mistake. Was it acceptable to offer a handshake to a member of the primordial race?

Even the previous Lord had known little of their daily etiquette. What if this was taken as an insult? Would it be like a beast offering its paw to a human?

But his fears were unfounded.

"Yeah, it's me."

Jenkinson's hand had only paused in the air for a fraction of a second.

"Good to see you."

Minjun reached out and grasped his friend's hand.

   *

Only after absentmindedly shaking hands a few vigorous times did Jenkinson regain the presence of mind to study the other man.

'He's definitely changed!'

Knowing his true identity certainly played a psychological role.

But Jenkinson's instincts were screaming at him. He absolutely could not afford to act rashly in front of this being.

It was an unfamiliar yet recognizable sensation. Rummaging through his memories, Jenkinson soon realized what it was.

'Right. It's just like back then.'

Separated from the previous Lord's persona, he recalled the moment he had hatched as the Red Dragon Jenkinson—the faces of his parents looking down at him as he broke out of his shell.

At the time, Jenkinson had been seized by an overwhelming joy, attachment, and familiarity, all mixed with a bizarre sense of intimidation. It came from the aura exuded by the two adult dragons. The Hatchling had felt utter awe before the insurmountable wall separating him from his parents.

What he felt now was an aura that brought that exact moment to mind.

A presence so profound it made an Ancient Dragon mistake himself for a mere Hatchling.

'Minjun... you really are...'

Slouching casually against the desk, Minjun spoke.

"I came here in a hurry, so I didn't get all the details. I hear you've finally become the Dragon Lord of Earth?"

"Ah... that I did."

Jenkinson launched into a lengthy explanation of everything that had happened. He even began to wonder if he really needed to go into such exhaustive detail.

But in front of Minjun, he somehow felt compelled to report everything meticulously, without omitting a single detail.

'Why am I acting like this?'

He explained how he had exposed the atrocities of the man and woman who had tried to steal a Dragon Heart and flee, how he had completely extinguished the sparks of an election boycott, and how he had pushed through an immediate vote for the next Dragon Lord to secure his election.

Minjun stroked his chin, looking surprised.

"You locked those thieves up without the other dragons knowing? That's not your style."

"Take it as a sign of how desperate I was."

Jenkinson said, his crimson eyes filled with sincerity.

"I couldn't delay any longer. I needed to be elected as soon as possible. That way... when you returned, I could stand before you as the representative of Earth's dragons."

A brief silence settled between them.

Minjun crossed his arms again.

He silently observed the dragon's face for a moment.

"What do you mean by that?"

It was a question probing how much he knew.

Jenkinson readily told the truth.

"I thought it would allow me to peacefully 'transfer' this position whenever you wished. Even if only to keep the other dragons from causing trouble, I judged it better for me to hold the seat. For when the new master of the world..."

The Ancient Dragon's voice trembled slightly.

"...for the day you returned to Earth."

It was a sentence that even a battle-hardened Ancient Dragon had to muster his courage to finish.

A heavy shadow fell over Minjun's face.

"You've heard the prophecy. Are Choi Seona and her father here?"

"They are under my protection, just like your other acquaintances."

Jenkinson knew he couldn't let this opportunity slip by.

He didn't know when he would ever be allowed to speak with him alone like this again. Perhaps this was the last time.

Just as he was about to recite the words he had hastily prepared—

Minjun spoke first.

"You must have been shocked."

It was a reaction more befitting Jenkinson's friend than a member of the primordial race.

After all, a human had no need to care about the feelings of a beast.

Relieved, if only a little, the dragon caught sight of a thin thread of hope.

'Even after regaining his memories, his old persona hasn't vanished like a mirage.'

If that too was a part of Minjun now, it was worth a try.

"I was shocked. And terrified. The prophecy was that devastating. Plus, there were facts I uncovered through other channels. About the primordial race."

He knew that much?

Minjun's eyes sank into quiet stillness. Jenkinson threw him the question he had agonized over for so long.

"Do you, and the rest of your kind... really have to do 'that' to us in the future?"

Jenkinson purposely avoided explicit terms like dragon-eating.

"Is a world coming where none of us can escape that fate?"

Would they eat them all?

"No, that's not the case."

In that instant, Jenkinson felt the hope illuminating the darkness in his heart shine even brighter.

But it was only for a moment.

Minjun's next words gave him vertigo.

"They will have to constantly prove their worth."

"Their worth?"

Minjun withdrew his gaze and looked out the window.

Waiting for an answer, the dragon felt his heart rate spike and his throat run dry. He simply couldn't beat around the bush any longer.

"Does that mean dragons must prove they don't deserve to be eaten just to avoid being treated as livestock?"

"They will simply reap the karma they've sown in the past."

"But, Minjun, isn't the scale weighing that karma tipped a bit heavier for other reasons?"

The dragon questioned the justification of the punishment.

"Are their sins truly grave enough that they must be eaten as livestock? To the point of being stripped of their very right to be treated as people?"

Contrary to Minjun's words, Jenkinson argued that the punishment the dragons would receive was disproportionate to their actions.

"In the end, aren't we being eaten not simply because we are sinners, but because we are dragons who sinned? Even if they committed similar crimes, an orc, an elf, a human, or a goblin wouldn't be turned into food."

A punishment that varied depending on one's species.

"Ultimately, we are eaten because we were born as dragons, aren't we? Is that truly a just sentence?"

Jenkinson spoke, swallowing his wretchedness.

He knew the other might get angry, but he couldn't help it.

"If you see any reason in what I say, could you perhaps change your plans? I admit that many dragons commit horrific acts. I won't deny their sins. Nor am I asking you to spare them from punishment. Just... please don't strip us of the chance to change in the future."

This might be the last time.

Reminding himself of that fact, Jenkinson spoke with desperate earnestness.

"I'm not asking for clemency to cover up our past misdeeds. I'm asking you to acknowledge the possibility that we can change."

It was a plea that reminded Minjun of someone he had met at the center of the universe a long time ago.

"I hope you can show compassion to beings that feel joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. No matter how grave our sins, I ask that you allow us at least a bare minimum of dignity."

Though Jenkinson still had much to say, Minjun cut his appeal short.

And the words that followed left Jenkinson bewildered.

"How far does your fence extend?"

"..."

When Jenkinson couldn't readily find an answer, Minjun clarified his question.

"Where does this 'we' you speak of begin and end?"

The dragon realized Minjun was giving him a chance. Without the luxury of deep thought, he answered intuitively.

"As the dragon representing Earth, I suppose I can only argue for the fate of the dragons residing on this planet. But... as an individual dragon, I would want your compassion to flow across the entire universe, spreading out to cover us all."

"That's impossible."

A resolute reply.

The dragon spoke in a mournful tone.

"Is there truly no alternative?"

Minjun still hadn't pulled his gaze away from the window.

"An alternative?"

His next words were, once again, difficult for Jenkinson to understand.

"Can you change yourselves?"

"What?"

"Instead of becoming livestock, can you step up on your own? Of your own free will."

Until now, Minjun had used the word 'they' instead of 'you' when referring to the Dragon Race that was the target of their feeding.

Because his conversation partner, Jenkinson, was not one of them.

But now, he changed his phrasing.

"Can the dragons, including you, willingly sacrifice yourselves for someone entirely unrelated? This is something no one wants to do. But what if there was a reason you had to do it—a compelling justification?"

"A reason?"

"It's a very simple reason, really. The fact that only you can do it in the entire universe."

"I'm having a hard time understanding."

"I'm talking about this: events in the far future, after every one of you existing now is dead... The species that will live in a time so distant that the names of everyone alive right here and now are entirely forgotten."

Minjun finally turned his gaze back.

"If you were asked to volunteer your lives right now for the sake of all of them in the future, would a single dragon accept?"

"Minjun, I'm sorry, but I still don't follow."

Minjun imagined the distant future.

The primordial race would become blood—a medium that delivered nutrients to every cell of the universe once it transformed into a living organism.

Then where would the nutrients they carried come from?

Minjun stared steadily at the dragon before him.

Just then.

"Hmm?!"

Someone called out to Jenkinson telepathically from outside the door.

The dragon hesitated. This was a situation where they shouldn't be interrupted by anyone...

- Let them in!

The previous Lord's persona, who had remained silently passive until now, spoke up.

'What? Now? But I'm still in the middle of an important discussion with Minjun...'

- I have an idea. Just let them in for now. Quickly!

'Ah...?!'

Eventually, Jenkinson replied telepathically to Blair outside. Then he spoke to Minjun again.

"Minjun. I'm sorry to interrupt our talk, but I had actually summoned a few people here right before you arrived. It was to share the news about you. Word had reached even this frontier dimension. Since it's no longer a secret and the Committee has been annihilated, I figured they needed to know too."

"By them, you mean..."

Hearing the names Jenkinson listed, a strange light flickered in Minjun's eyes. Sharing Jenkinson's senses, the previous Lord's persona didn't miss that shift.

"Is it alright for a moment?"

"Sure."

A short while later.

The door opened and the group walked in.

"...Ah!"

The first to react was the woman with long, flowing brown hair.

"Minjun!"

Complex emotions swirled across the face of the primordial race being.

He murmured the name of the person rushing toward him first.

"...Cathy."

Her eyes widened.

Without a second thought, she threw herself at him.

Thud!

Over the shoulder of the woman hugging him tight, Minjun looked at the faces of the rest of the group one by one. And he was taken aback by their unexpected changes.

First was Lakefield. That elf wore an expression Minjun had never seen on him before he had escaped Earth.

Minjun's eyes couldn't be fooled. It was concern and wariness.

'I see. He must have heard it back then.'

He clearly already knew his true identity.

The next person to enter his vision was the goblin. Slower than Cathy, Dong-cheol approached with a blindingly bright expression, walking with that distinctive goblin waddle.

That sight startled Minjun even more.

'What the... Dong-cheol? But... how?'

He hadn't thought there was much left to surprise him at this point, but this was a shock like taking a hammer to the head.

As he conversed with Jenkinson and faced his other old acquaintances, Minjun realized that his persona as Asif-666 was actively surfacing.

At the same time, he muttered inwardly as he looked at the goblin.

'Why is your body overflowing with mana?'

And, finally.

'...Jeongpal!'

Seeing the orc's face, Minjun gritted his teeth before he even realized it.

'Jeongpal, what in the world happened to you while I was gone?'

Standing next to Lakefield and looking this way, the orc had a smile on his lips, but...

Minjun could read the true expression hidden beneath the surface.

It was an emotion he knew all too well.

The complexion of a man who had lost everything he had.

'I'm going to have to hear all of their stories.'

He finally managed to peel Cathy off. "Thank you, thank you..." she kept mumbling, as if she had lost her mind. After settling her into a seat, he looked at Jenkinson, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"I think we need to finish up our 'work' talk first."

Jenkinson's plea wasn't over yet. He was also curious about how his friends who had remained on Earth had been doing.

But he decided to resolve his reason for coming here first.

"Jenkinson. There's something the Dragon Lord of Earth needs to do. 'We' have to look for something on Earth starting now. I want the Earthlings to cooperate as much as possible. For that, you'll need to spread the word to the dragons first. So the orders flow from the top down."

Jenkinson looked dumbfounded.

"Look for what? And what do you mean, 'we'?"

Ah, his explanation was a bit late.

Minjun pointed out the window—the very direction he had stared in time and time again since entering the office.

"Look over there."

The moment the dragon turned his head...

Vwoooom!

"Gah?!"

A roiling storm of magic power battered the dragon's senses.

In that moment, the previously empty blue sky over Seoul tore open, beginning to reveal what was hidden inside it.

"T-That's impossible. I... I didn't know that was there until now?"

To think it had been hiding here all this time, having approached so closely?!

The dragon was on the verge of a panic attack.

As the empty air rippled, it revealed itself through the crack. A massive metal body even larger than an Ancient Dragon. It hung fixed in a single spot in the sky like a floating island.

Once every inch of it came into view...

"K-Keugh!"

Kilometers were needed to measure its size. A colossal shadow was cast over downtown Seoul. A giant object capping the sky like a lid. The sweeping lines of its fuselage were as elegant as a work of art.

It was a 'vehicle' that one would never see on Earth, but Jenkinson remembered it.

He gasped for air like a drowning man. It was a strategic weapon, an object of sheer terror from the war he had fought in his youth. Feeling his PTSD toward the Ancient Race flaring up again, the dragon forced out its name.

"A Space Mothership?!"

The human and the elf, the orc and the goblin also stared out the window, their jaws practically dropping to the floor.

Minjun gave a calm nod.

"That's right."

Jenkinson realized his mistake.

His friend hadn't returned to Earth alone.

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