The Foreigner on the Periphery

He felt that human capabilities were insufficient to fully cherish his people.

A man who believed the throne itself was incomplete, and so resolved to ascend to godhood.

Ha Eun-seong asked that man once again.

“We haven't been connected for long. Therefore, it would be a lie to say we fully understand the pain you've endured, or the despair of having your hopes crushed.”

Yet, his people sought to encompass even more than that.

“For that reason, should we give up even trying to empathize? Should we stop making an effort? We want to ask you. To help someone, you must first understand their will.”

Looking at the deeply sorrowful Ha Eun-seong, Minjun asked,

“Why are you going this far? If you had just stayed asleep... you could have transcended safely. If you just excluded me, you could have become the blood of the universe as planned. It would have been complete by now!”

“We are merely returning what we received. We already know what is most precious to you as a king.”

“We also know why you didn't look into the memories of the former Dragon Lord.”

“...!”

“Just like Jenkinson, the former Dragon Lord was someone too similar to you. He went beyond praying for the dragons of Earth—he dedicated his life to the entire dragon race. The moment you saw those memories... you probably would have absorbed his life entirely, going beyond mere empathy. From that moment on, you would have tried to protect the dragons of every dimensional realm just like us, just like your own people. You are that kind of king. You intentionally avoided looking because you knew that would happen, didn't you?”

Minjun did not deny it this time, either. Ha Eun-seong had pinpointed his exact mindset.

“As a man rather than a king... what do you want out of this life?”

No answer returned for a long time.

Ha Eun-seong then raised a hand and placed it over his own heart.

“Why do people live? Why did we fear death so much? By reflecting the wishes of your people, you, our king, offered us a path to live forever. Just as your son once thought, there might not be an inherent meaning to life given to us at birth. We simply give it meaning ourselves as we live.”

From somewhere, Asiph-1 undulated as if in agreement.

“We thought about it for a long time while merging. What would be the meaning of the life we'd lead once fully connected, once we became the blood of the universe? The conclusion was this: happiness. Perhaps people live in order to be happy.”

“...You all made that wish a long time ago. That's why my predecessors planted a special device in your brains.”

“But that was a manufactured, assembled happiness. It will be different from now on. We will cultivate happiness by our own will, helping one another. I want to ask again. What can we do for your happiness as a person? Let me change the question. Not as the objective entity of a king, but as a subjective human being—what is most precious to you?”

My most precious...

The moment he mumbled that phrase, a single person came to Minjun's mind.

“...”

Along with the warm wave Ha Eun-seong sent out, the mindscape shifted once more.

Bubble, bubble!

The figure that rose up this time took the shape of a goblin.

It wasn't because Minjun had thought of him. Nor had Dong-cheol actually joined the conversation.

This, too, was an illusion crafted from Ha Eun-seong's memories.

“Do you remember Dong-cheol's wish?”

“...He was torn between two wishes.”

Dong-cheol had two wishes, and it was hard to weigh which was more important. Since Cathy had previously transferred her wish, he could have made both wishes if he wanted to.

But the goblin agonized over whether he deserved to do so. He looked back and forth between Minjun and Jeongpal, who was waiting for his turn. His eyes were filled with deep anxiety.

Yet once the conversation actually began, his dilemma was easily resolved.

Distilled into Minjun's own words, the long explanation that followed amounted to this:

“One of them was to open a path for his friends to be free from hunger and pain. At the very least, he wanted to create a stepping stone for those currently lacking the ability to stand on their own.”

“You told him there was no need to make that wish. At that point, you were already doing the groundwork to allow the priests of the Ellahu-Praga Church to operate across the entire Earth anyway. The goblins were also targets of their relief efforts.”

As groundwork to make it easier for his son to rule the world later on, Minjun was already deploying priests throughout the various dimensional realms. Earth was just the beginning, and in the negotiations, the Space Mothership had served as the whip, while Mana Crystals were properly utilized as the carrot.

“Then the guy was delighted, saying he only needed to make one wish.”

Fwoosh!

Minjun noticed a blood-red flame. Ha Eun-seong pointed at it as well.

“To Dong-cheol, you looked... extremely distressed and in pain. He wanted you to be happy. His wish was quite similar to ours.”

Right then, Dong-cheol's form collapsed and bubbled. It shifted and rose up, soon creating a fireball similar to Minjun's.

Fwoosh!

Fwoooosh!

Now, upon the path made of luminous dust, a flame burning with darkness as its fuel confronted a flame that had swallowed an orc as its material.

Minjun spoke his name.

“Jeongpal.”

“Yes. In Dong-cheol's eyes, both you and Jeongpal looked like you were engulfed in flames. He hoped that the two of you would be freed from the pain of having your hearts burned alive—freed from that hatred and loathing.”

“I decided to grant that wish. It was a problem time would solve eventually, anyway.”

“You didn't mention that for one of you it would take a very long time, and for the other, a very short time.”

That was true.

“You thought Jeongpal's hatred would resolve quickly. Even without knowing exactly what had happened to him, it seemed like taking revenge on his behalf against the culprit who angered him would fix everything.”

But the moment he and Jeongpal began to talk privately, Minjun realized it wasn't as simple an issue as he had expected.

Before his eyes, their conversation from that time replayed. Jeongpal hadn't wanted the friends with him to hear what they were saying. Thus, the listening to his wish took place with a simple barrier set up between them.

Minjun felt as if the damp yet arid air of that day, its very texture, was perfectly recreated. Reunited after what felt like ages since leaving Earth, Jeongpal bore a look in his eyes that Minjun knew all too well.

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

And the moment Jeongpal's story began.

Minjun became extremely furious.

“...Yes, it was a story you never could have imagined.”

The terrorist attack that occurred at his inauguration celebration.

Many of Jeongpal's family members, whom Minjun had also known, suffered severe injuries or passed away.

Even though the culprits were arrested as a result of the investigation spearheaded by Jenkinson.

Jeongpal suspected that the incident was the result of intentional 'neglect' by someone Minjun knew well.

“Before you returned, the prophet knew about the terrorist attack in advance because his future sight temporarily returned to normal. But he didn't intervene. Most likely to plant hatred in that orc's heart and use him.”

Now, Jeongpal's fury blazed in two directions: toward the Human Rights Alliance, the direct cause of his family's deaths, and toward the prophet and his daughter who had let it happen.

The orc asked.

“Boss. Can I make two wishes now?”

Minjun nodded.

Then Jeongpal said,

“By any chance... could you bring my family back to life?”

It was impossible in the way Jeongpal wanted. Their souls had already crossed over into the spirit realm.

Minjun must have shaken his head, realizing once again that he was not omnipotent, that at his core, he was nothing more than a person.

As if he hadn't held much hope for that to begin with, Jeongpal changed his question.

“I had many conversations with the prophet's father... Assemblyman Choi Panseok. Because of that, I know more than the other friends here. Perhaps, I've come to know more about you than Mr. Lakefield does.”

Choi Panseok had repeatedly emphasized to Jeongpal the upcoming world order and the person who would lead that change.

In the midst of all that, Minjun had returned, and the pan-universal organization known as the Committee was reportedly destroyed.

And looking back, Choi Panseok—who had normally seemed perfectly sane—started acting like a fanatic at some point. As if he had become a completely different person. Or rather, it looked as if he had been brainwashed by someone.

It wasn't hard to piece the puzzle together with those facts.

“Are you going to become the new master of the world, Boss? Or at the very least, have you become someone with that level of power?”

Minjun confirmed it and asked Jeongpal.

“Do you want revenge?”

The orc's answer was firm.

“Yes, I want revenge.”

Fwoooosh! In the mindscape, the illusion of Jeongpal recreating that conversation burned even more fiercely.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as they say.”

Minjun felt he could predict what would follow. The Human Rights Alliance had massacred his family. If so, did Jeongpal also want to slaughter the terrorists' families, regardless of age or gender?

The orc spoke in a solid tone.

“I thought about the root cause of that terrorist attack. In the first place, it started with the intent to wipe out the entire orc race from Earth. Hatred was the starting point for everything.”

“Do you want to return their motives, their intentions, and that hatred in full?”

Did he want to completely erase the human race from Earth?

Did he wish to exterminate them from this planet?

“...”

After an uncomfortable silence where the air felt as gritty as sand, Jeongpal spoke up.

“I don't want that.”

Minjun must have looked at him in surprise.

The orc continued.

“Staying up through countless sleepless nights, I thought about why those bastards developed such motives. This planet, this country, has a complex history that cannot be easily summarized. As karma piled up and intertwined, humans and orcs have burned with resentment toward each other. We can't even hold the group that provided the root cause of all this accountable anymore. They've already been destroyed.”

The group mentioned at the end meant the Committee, of course.

“So I thought about it. What if the positions of humans and orcs were reversed? What if we held the status of humans? What if orcs were the dominant species on Earth? Would humans have suffered similar terrorist attacks then?”

The conclusion was yes.

“Yes, they would have. Orcs would have ostracized, lynched, discriminated against, and even killed humans. This is a rational deduction, because that is the nature of people. Anyone is capable of committing such acts. If so, should I refrain from condemning the Human Rights Alliance? Because if there's no need to condemn them, there would be no need for revenge, either.”

Minjun answered him.

“That is a foolish thought.”

“Yes, it's a delusion. Because this assumption is only justified under the premise that no matter what I, or we, do, it isn't wrong.”

The orc spat out a spark that resembled a deep sigh.

“I acknowledge that violence and discrimination are innate tendencies of people. However, I deny the proposition that such a skewed mind can never be fixed. Furthermore, if we cling to the assumption that the same thing would happen if our positions were reversed, we would have to tolerate every sin and evil in the world.”

From within the blazing blood-red flames, the orc said,

“I will not forget this anger. I will not extinguish this hatred. There is no forgiveness. Forgiveness belongs to the victims. But most of them have already passed away. Therefore, I will resent myself, and I will despise my enemies.”

Such feelings would become Jeongpal's strength.

“I've also decided on how to pay them back. I will take my revenge by dedicating my life to ensuring the same thing never happens again. I will create a world where the insulting words they used to casually spout are considered shameful. Moreover, a world where their very existence becomes a source of shame.”

A firm will, as strong as the flames themselves, flickered in the orc's eyes.

“God does not help us. He cannot change the world. Change lies within the very air of the world where people breathe and speak. Even if I can't erase the hatred in my enemies' hearts, I will spread the awareness into the air that committing violence with one's fists and inciting conflict with one's tongue is wrong. Of course, I will hold orcs to the exact same standard.”

Jeongpal thought about the Human Rights Alliance.

“I don't expect them to repent or change their minds. At the very least, I will create an atmosphere where they can't show themselves proudly and confidently. This is my revenge.”

And then, the orc stated his first wish.

“Boss, you did something to Assemblyman Choi Panseok's mind, didn't you? Please do something similar to me.”

Minjun was about to refuse immediately. But...

“What I want is for this resolve and will to never disappear. People get exhausted. They are bound to wear out. The mind is like a rubber band, after all. If you keep stretching it, it will eventually lose its elasticity and slacken. I don't want that. Burnout is a luxurious word for me. So please, let me continue to desire what I desire.”

Jeongpal still didn't know exactly how Minjun had granted that wish.

And his second wish was this:

“Boss, you told us to make only one wish each. But Serene's wish was transferred far too easily, and you've bestowed upon us many favors that we didn't even ask for. And you will probably... continue to watch over us. Because that's the kind of person you are.”

Jeongpal took his silence as affirmation.

“If I happen to make another wish later, you're the kind of person who will grant it again, regardless of the number. That's just who you are. And while I've currently resolved to use this anger and hatred in the direction I want, there's no telling how I might change over time.”

Waking up one day, resentment over his family might suddenly flare up, making him want to do the same thing to the terrorists' families.

Or he might burn with hatred toward the human race itself.

“I am a person. I am not perfect. I can be swept away by my emotions at any time. And whenever that happens, I'll remember the fact that a great being like you is standing right behind me. I will be tempted by the easy and fast path instead of the hard and long one. That is far too dangerous.”

The orc spoke with strong resolve.

“So, aside from my first wish, please do not grant any plea, request, wish, prayer, entreaty, or any other form of desire I might imply to you in the future. That is my second wish.”

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