The Foreigner on the Periphery

Chapter 24: Between Work (4)

Slurp!

While Minjun was deep in thought with a shitty-looking expression on his face.   Suddenly, the sound of liquid hitting table jolted him back.

"?!"

Only then did his focus return, and an embarrassed expression spread across his face as he discovered something.  

"Hey Cathy?"

Cathy's body stiffened as she realized that she had overfilled the customer's cup with her pouring. Her hand stopped moving, but the angle in which she had been pouring remained the same.  

"Oh, it's overflowing, it's overflowing!" Bradley shouted, but Cathy seemed to pay him no heed. Eventually, all the tea had left the kettle and had made a mess on the table.  

"Cathy?"

There was still no answer. The table top was wet with a pale, scarlet liquid. Minjun sighed softly and snapped his fingers.

Whoa!

The wet table and floor dried up in an instant, causing a smirk to spread across Bradley's face. The magic itself was not great, but the speed and control were unusual. Rather, it was easy to burn the whole tea table, and it was difficult to blow the water cleanly like that.

"I see that your workmanship is still there."

"Okay, anyway, you're going to buy me a drink, right? Great, let's go!"

Bradley then pointed to the side. "Can I leave this girl alone?"

"Cathy? Cathy? Cathy?"

Minjun called out her name three times, and yet it took a long time for the girl in question to answer.

"Yes.:

"I think we should go out and talk a little about what's going on behind the scenes. You worked hard today. You can leave early."

"Yes."

"Are you there, Cathy? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes."

With that, Minjun scratched his head as he stood up, talking in a shy tone.

"When you head out, please lock the door."

".Yes.'

The whole time Cathy responded, she was in the same frozen position.

The rain had eventually stopped. The two walked down the road where the twilight began to fall and then headed for a nearby bar. Upon entering, they found that there were no other guests.

"Feeling lazy? Is it because it's still far too early?"

Bradley was the one who said this.

"I've been here for quite a long time. That must be it."

As they sat down at the bar table, the bartender slowly approached them. Seeing him, Bradley nodded.

This was the place Minjun would go to whenever he just wanted to have a drink without talking to anyone. If one was sitting alone, the bartender might give them a word or two, but that was not the case here. Even after years of coming and going, Minjun still didn't know his name.

There was a simple reason for this. The only bartender in this bar was Ent.

"Culilla, double. On the rock."

"Give me the same."

The bartender nodded and stretched out a few twigs and vines from his side, and at the same time picked up a basket of ice, a bottle, two glasses, a snack plate, and a napkin. Unlike the slow gait, the speed of several hands moving was very fast. This was efficient multitasking reminiscent of that of an octopus.

After a while, the bartender, having finished setting up in front of the two of them, slowly walked back to the corner and sat down. Then, one root was stretched out and immersed in the mineral water bottle. He seemed thirsty.

After checking to see if anyone was zeroing in on them, Minjun made a barrier to block the sound.

"Alright. Now, let's talk."

"Now, this is the story I want to tell the most. Is it still possible to do business here?"  

The bartender remained silent. Minjun then decided to speak up, deeming it safe.

"People who like this kind of atmosphere come here, such me. The owner is a bit of a geek, so he wouldnt even care about things such as sales in the first place. Well, anyway

Minjun could sense the vicious energy emanating from Bradley. He felt anxious to ask about his ex-wife, and he seemed to want to tease him if he ever made an attempt to. Minjun, who did not want to live up to that expectation, deliberately brought up another story.

"Why did you come to Korea?"  

Bradley, who saw the motive, began to respond in a slightly sullen tone. "Because of the escort of Princess Vermi. I arrived early for the preliminary interview."  

What? What princess?"  

After hearing the familiar-sounding name, Minjun was able to obtain something from his hazy memories. "Ah, from the Gelanco dimension?"  

Come to think of it, it was as if he had heard the news about a planned visit to Earth. By the way, was Korea among the countries she would like to visit?  

"Oh, wait." The more he thought about it, the stranger he thought it was. "Why is the U.S. Immigration Service taking charge of the escort of envoys from Gelanco to Korea?"  

Bradley also had a similar disguise as Minjun. The pattern of work was the same, except that the area of activity was the United States. "

As one may know, the Princess Vermi has a weak political influence within the United Kingdom. Because of this, there are rumors that we havent been assigned enough escort personnel, and weve asked the Earth's side for help.

"Your political position is weak? But the proportion of the princess races contribution to the dimensional GDP would at least be significant, right?  

"They said that it would be about 15%. Still, this is the cold rice Shin Se-ra. Politics is a strange thing if you look at it like this."  

Minjun rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyway, the fact that the Korean government requested the dispatch of agents to the United States"  

"They say that the level of security they want is absurd, so external aid is inevitable."

Because of this, Minjun became suspicious again. You asked for a level that Immigration is not capable of?'  

If that was the case, there would have been a way to ask Minjun for specific help, but he had only heard of this for the first time today. Did Jenkinson deliberately exclude himself from this matter?  

Or maybe Cathy took care of it and cut it out in the middle.'  

The security mission, whose guidelines would have to be followed for days on end, was the kind of thing Minjun avoided the most, so this was a highly likely scenario. He then began to ask a few more questions. "Why are you suddenly coming to Korea? Whats wrong with selling gold?  

Unlike in the past, the status occupied by gold in modern times was close to that of industrial goods. This was because it was a magic sample supposedly consumed in large quantities for the most diverse purposes. Starting with the process of extracting energy from magic crystals, it was essential for various industrial magic, and so the demand for dragons was also high.  

If one were to look further into gold, which had such an important position, the market would be divided into magic alchemy supplied by alchemists, and biosynthetic alloys imported from the Gelanco dimension. The advantage of the former was that it could be produced flexibly by alchemists, while the latter had an excellent quality if it were to be used as a magic sample, as the daily production was proportional to the population of a specific race, and thus could be increased by effort'. Minjun had predicted that this visit would be related to the top export of Gelanco. However, what Bradley said next was a little different.  

"This is officially a business visit. But I heard there are rumors circulating that this is the stone that will lead to the eighth mass immigration of the earth."

"Eighth? Come again?"

  The most recent mass immigration approved by the Commission had been in 1981, so this would be the first time in 40 years if enforced. When Minjun heard the story, the first thing he wondered about was their size.  

Wait a minute, about Princess Vermis racial kidney  

"Average about 3.5 meters."  

"Ah, then of course it will be rejected. Her race's size is bigger than a troll."  

"Its not easy. So, I heard that the committee is preparing a gift that is just as enticing."

"Hmm." Its an interesting story, but it was not something he wanted to keep talking about, since this was a situation where they didn't know whether or not it would come true.  

Minjun thought that he should slowly bring out the story he wanted to hear, now that he had removed enough steam from the man beside him, one that he had deemed his opponent.  

"So, shall we really talk to you now?"  

"Wait a minute, my throat is a little sore."  

Bradley, who had been concentrating on the story and left the drink for a while, finally grabbed it. He took a sip and his face turned into tears. "Kek! Why did you order something that tastes like disinfectant?"

"Don't you remember the old days? The dimension where we worked together."  

At this, Bradley recalled the past for a moment, then smiled bitterly.       But Everything sold there smelled like this. There were solo spirits who can't tell if it's alcohol or alcohol."

Breaking his old thoughts, he then continued, "Anyway, this is all I know. We finished the mission in the previous dimension, and the inmates who couldnt pay their severance pay were scattered, right? You and I were sent this way, but Dell was torn apart alone."  

"Fortunately, it was." Minjun did not worship God, but at this particular moment, he felt so grateful and gracious that he thought about returning to religion for a while. It felt as if the great providence of the invisible universe was encouraging him that this world was still worth living for.  

"Again, half a million talents Oh, well, there must have been some money saved before that. Anyway, I dont know the details of how they gathered so many talents. but you know this Did you hear that Dell was ripped off with us and received hugely high ratings in that dimension?"  

      What? that girl? She was judged for doing a good job?" Minjun remembered the steps of Dell that he had seen from there.

Wouldnt it be impossible to catch the bugs they were told to catch in the space bug eradication operation, and then attack the shelter to capture the refugees they wanted? Or open the door to the secret vault of the purged dictator and tear the air curtain and annihilate a colony? Wouldnt they confuse the maintenance method of the propulsion engine and blow all the crew members on board into outer space and make them lost for a week?

Looking back on it one by one, Minjun felt goosebumps again without realizing it. A horrific memory of wandering through a frozen, dark universe for several days came to mind.  

"Well, it seems that the work you did with us was not a good fit for our aptitude. And now that I think about it, the accident Dell committed was all unintentional, wasnt it?  

"Thats the scariest part about her. She does something unintentionally, even if that particular action is something people can't accomplish on intention!  

Things such as the shooting technique that could accurately hit the evacuation line far away without being caught by the radar, the exquisite dexterity that accurately struck and tore the weak points of the atmospheric curtain that could withstand the collision with an asteroid cluster and over-technological plugging that reproduced the effect was something that most people couldn't do, even if they tried hard. Dell would do all of this without hesitation. and that too, by mistake!

Bradley continued speaking to Minjun, was shivering as he recalled all the nightmares. "Anyway, my guess is this. There must have been a special pardon for some amazing performance."  

"Like Telesia?" The moment I spit out that name without realizing it, Minjun felt embarrassed, his face hardening.  

""

Even Bradley couldnt hide his agitation. The name that has come out now also belonged to someone who served together in that dimension' with the two of them.  

Um?'  

After a moment of awkward silence, Minjun's thoughts came across something. wait for a sec.

Perhaps it was because he had recited Telesias name, so it naturally became an association. "Then you mean Dell got her memories back?"  

"I will."  

The limited amnestics that had been during their hard labor sentences made it impossible for prisoners to remember who they were, or what crimes they committed before being caught.  

"       Then, is she really okay now?"  

Bradley grinned. Why? Are you still worried if she's still the same woman you used to live with?"  

"Of course I'm not worried!" Minjun said in a stern tone.  

"I don't believe that. Of course you're worried, aren't you? I! I myself feel worried! Shed be afraid that shed reclaim her criminals memory and shred it, shed be worried about what would happen to my well-being if she did!

Then, Bradley said in a very suspicious tone. "Hey, how can you do that?"  

If Minjun were to lean on old memories, he would have to take another sip in order to sort through them painlessly.  

"How can a crazy woman become even crazier again?"  

"So you agree that it's even more terrifying. I think it might have gotten worse."  

Minjun took a deep breath Bradley scratched his head. "You married her because you liked her."  

"I didn't know she was like that."  

"Did you not notice?"  

Minjun mumbled in a melancholic manner. "The first 80 years we lived together, she was fine."  

"Anyway, you have to prepare yourself. Do you know how surprised I was when you said killed earlier?

Minjun had meant, "I killed the dragon," but the other party misunderstood it to mean "I killed my ex-wife."  

Bradley continued. Of course you are the best person Ive ever met In the place where the old man he met at the Witchs Cooperative today used the word personality, Bradley chose another word to fill in. "even though you're an assassin'. Its only been a few days since Dell was released and I cant believe she's already been killed. She's not someone you can kill so easily.  

It was not uncommon for many divorced couples to want to kill each other. However, Minjun and Dell were even worse. Of course, everyone had different reasons. In this instance, one wanted to kill the other because he thought the other was too dangerous, and the other might want to kill the other because she thought he was too lovely.