12. Three ways to kill your boss (9)
Minjun made a quick decision.
“Jeongpal-ah.”
The orc speaks urgently as he starts the engine.
“Let’s go there right now…!”
“no.”
If you travel 10km through Seoul’s downtown traffic, the situation will be over.
“Listen carefully from now on.”
Jeong-pal waited for the next words in tension. But, without any explanation, Min-jun took a deep breath and grabbed a stone knife in one hand.
Phew!
I hit the back of my hand with it!
“older brother!”
He knew that it was preparations for casting black magic, but Jeong-pal couldn’t help but be flustered when he suddenly did something like this. Furthermore, unlike what he had seen before, it wasn’t a small self-harm.
The blade penetrated Minjun’s left hand without any resistance, as if cutting tofu.
“Phew.”
Minjun lets out a rare, shallow sigh. And then.
Kwak! Knock knock!
He slowly turned the handle of the knife that had been pierced clockwise. Jeong-pal was restless as he watched the scene. In the meantime, even though he hadn’t pulled out the knife, a mist of blood began to pour out from the wound. It soaked Min-jun’s collar and slowly covered his body.
“Brother! My hand is now···”
Only then did the phenomenon he had intended appear. First, the stone knife disappeared. Then, a large hole appeared around that spot. The surrounding scenery seeped into his body as if it was melting into the air.
“Huh… Huh?!”
Through the hole made in his hand, the passenger seat drawer was clearly visible. It looked as if someone was slowly erasing the stain called Minjun on the transparent glass wall.
“It’s warp magic.”
“······ah!”
Jeongpal understood that it was a black magic type movement magic.
The part that the fog had slowly eaten away disappeared as if it was being deleted. Minjun said while sending his left arm to a distant place up to his shoulder.
“You don’t have to follow me. Once I’m fully transferred, you can go straight to Hyosung Industry.”
His speech was faster than usual, but the pitch was minimal. He gave instructions in a calm, yet efficient manner, as if he were simply conveying information rather than having a conversation.
Jeongpal knew that this was his characteristic when he was extremely angry.
“And secure Executive Director Kim Yeon-ju’s safety. Don’t worry about procedural issues. I’ll take care of it.”
The evidence was obtained through wiretapping, and no warrant was requested. Nevertheless, Min-jun promised to take responsibility for the aftermath.
“Don’t take him to the police station. You’ll get in trouble. Just keep him somewhere safe until I contact you.”
He says with a frown.
“If things don’t work out, I might have to use that woman as a hostage.”
With most of his body already transferred, Minjun was floating above his neck on the passenger seat. Before all of him could leave, Jeongpal asked urgently.
“No… a hostage? Who are you threatening with Kim Yeon-joo?”
Minjun asked with a look in his eyes as if to ask why.
“Who are you? It’s a dragon.”
With those words, Minjun completely disappeared.
***
“Welcome…!”
The first customer Sangnoksu Bookstore had in a long time was a young woman.
Her short, two-block hair is dyed a striking shade of blue, her arms are covered in various tattoos, and she has more than ten piercings on her face alone.
The woman ignored the goblin who bowed and greeted her, and passed by. As she entered the bookstore, there was an old elf sitting in his usual posture, turning the pages of a book. He sensed the presence and raised his head.
Crossing gazes.
It was the guest who broke the silence first.
“Hey, elf.”
The woman spoke cheekily. Lakefield noticed with his elven sense of intuition. ‘It’s a dragon.’
Even races like humans and orcs can overcome such disguises. The human shell couldn’t fool even the eyes of an elf. The opponent didn’t even wait for the old man’s response and immediately threw the main point.
“Take out the spirit for a moment.”
Lakefield adds one more modifier to his opponent’s identity: ‘A young dragon.’
An old dragon has enough alternatives that he doesn’t necessarily need to visit a spirit master. Therefore, for a dragon to be singing a spirit song here would be showing his immaturity. He spoke without avoiding the dragon’s gaze. His tone was calm.
“For a spirit master, a spirit is an inseparable alter ego, a soul mate with whom he shares life. Don’t you know that you should never summon a spirit in front of someone you don’t trust?”
The dragon smiled, baring his teeth.
“Yeah, I know. All the spirit-casting bastards just keep repeating that sound like parrots. The last time he summoned Jo Jin, he broke four of his fingers, and then he could summon him. How many fingers do I have to break to get our old man to open his mouth?”
The woman tosses a file in front of the old man.
Inside was a photo of a human male whom Lakefield had previously searched for.
“Let’s take it easy and don’t be so cocky. It’s really simple. Just find out where this little shit is. As fast as you can. Got it?”
The elf, who had been through many years, did not show on his face that he recognized the man in the photo. He looked away indifferently and spoke to the dragon.
“You didn’t understand what I said?”
The dragon finally couldn’t stand it anymore and let out a roar.
“Anyway, those elves!”
Roll! Roll!
The air vibrates. Lakefield feels the air become heavy like water. A drowning pressure squeezes his body.
Dragon Fear.
Bam!
Dong-cheol, who was cleaning in front of the store, dropped the broom he was holding. He turned around, trembling.
“iced coffee···!”
——————
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A violent atmosphere emanated from the bookstore. The instinct imprinted in my genes whispered. I had to run away! I had to hide! Right now! Quickly!
His ancestors lived by digging tunnels, and they evolved to fear dragons, their violent underground neighbors. And now, the fear that had been dormant in Dong-cheol’s blood was awakened by Pier. A sense of crisis as if a blade had been thrust into his throat. All his muscles twitched as if he wanted to run away right away. His legs were tingling.
but.
‘No… boss!’
The face of an old elf appears, half-obscured by the woman’s body. Their eyes meet for a split second before Lakefield signals with his eyes. ‘Run away.’
But the goblin consciously resisted. He went against his instincts and recalled his memories. The words Minjun had quietly called out to him when he first started working.
‘Dong-cheol, sometimes there are customers who bother the boss. I’ll probably get rid of most of them… but because of the law of conservation of quantity, no matter how much I catch them, they’ll crawl out. Huh? Oh, forget that long word just now. Anyway, that’s why I have a favor to ask of you.’
Goblins, whose intelligence is lower than that of other races, also have poor memorization skills. However, that does not mean that they have no memorization skills. It takes more effort than others, but if you try, you can memorize.
The goblin mutters as if reciting a spell.
“Yellow light flashes… The biggest book, the black book… Lower it… The lever of the hand that eats… Go straight… When you come out of the stairs, go down.”
I stood there anxiously, reciting the words as if that was the only way to survive.
“First, should we start here?”
The moment the woman roughly grabbed the elf’s wrist.
That action became the condition for ‘triggering’.
Pfft!
“······no?!”
A golden glow fills the bookstore!
The source of the gentle waves was at the entrance of the store. Lakefield, as surprised as the dragon, looked at it.
‘That’s it!’
It was the cactus pot that Minjun had given me a while ago. It was one of the pots he brought over every few months. Light was spreading out from it. The magic he was building was…
‘Barrier to expel guests?!’
Lakefield was no wizard, but he knew from long experience that such a barrier would only last a few months when embedded in an artifact.
‘Then, continue on until now···!’
The dragon cries out in bewilderment.
“what’s this!”
As if she had entered a state of weightlessness, the dragon’s body, which had transformed into a human, suddenly floated into the air. She struggled in resistance, but the barrier was activated faster than her response.
“This is crazy!”
Shhh!
A fierce storm rages. An invisible hand pushes the dragon away like an uninvited guest. It slams the door shut and eventually throws it out of the store.
And at that moment. Suddenly! A goblin rushed into the bookstore. The dragon reached out in anger, but the two-story building was already surrounded by a dome of golden protection. It was thickly protecting the building as if it would reject any intruder.
“Yellow light flashes… The biggest book, the black book… Lower it… The lever of the hand that eats… Go straight… When you come out of the stairs, go down!”
With tears and snot running down his face, the goblin ran to Lakefield, mumbling endlessly what he had memorized. The reason why he had hired employees in his small bookstore was revealed in the owner’s gait. The old elf, who could not walk on his own, was carried into the bookstore by the support of his employees.
Boom! Boom bang bang!
The dragon tried to break the barrier while concentrating his blazing aura on both hands. However, it did not budge.
“Can’t you stand there?!”
Roll!
Peers radiating once again.
The goblin stopped in his tracks without realizing it, hearing a terrible roar from behind.
“······!”
Gritting his teeth, he walked again, overcoming his fear. Standing in front of the bookshelf, Dong-cheol immediately grabbed the corner of the black-covered book. ‘Elf-Korean Dictionary.’ It was the thickest book on display, and it was a book that Lakefield would not open easily.
Sreung!
When he pulled the book, the entire bookshelf transformed into a hidden door, revealing a passage. When the goblin entered and turned the lever on the right, the entrance disappeared again.
So the two escaped from the bookstore.
***
“Those… little bastards!”
The dragon left outside the barrier glared inside with eyes that seemed ready to devour him.
“What is that now?”
“Are you a wizard?”
“Should I report it to the police?”
People began to gather around. The ordinary building was now isolated by a golden curtain. Anyone could see that it was magic. Those who sensed danger ran away early, but foolish people whose instincts were paralyzed gathered and took videos and pictures.
The dragon is troubled. In order to dismantle that barrier, he must return to the dragon’s body. However, if he were to do so in broad daylight, with witnesses present, he would be subject to concentrated fire from the elder dragon. Any action that would bring down the dragon’s dignity is against the dragonic code.
‘Wait a minute… I just need to make sure I don’t get caught, right?’
The moment when you seriously consider killing all the witnesses.
Someone who could solve her worries appeared.
Shhh!
“Hey, what’s that! Something weird is coming out again!”
“Isn’t this… bloody?”
A thick mist spreads in the air.
A moment later, a human male was standing in the place where it had disappeared.
The dragon and the man’s eyes met. The young dragon, Edelines, guessed the identity of the other person. She spoke with an annoyed expression on her face.
“Are you the owner here?”
It was a good thing. I didn’t know his name or face, but the owner of this store was said to be an immigration contract agent. The fact was replaced in Edelines’s mind as, ‘Jenkinson, that old man’s swindler who puts a leash on him and makes him work.’
“Good timing. You came at a good time. You, release that barrier and catch that old elf.”
“······.”
Such confident speech.
It was a language created by the baseless value system that humans who serve as ‘servants’ to dragons in exchange for a small amount of money must naturally follow the orders of other dragons.
Also, it is an action that is possible because you have no doubt that the other person will fear and respect you.
It was only natural, since dragons were a great race.
“···What, can’t you hear me?”
If he was an agent, he would have noticed Dragon Fear right away, but he was slow to react.
Edelines felt like her anger was about to explode again.
‘Why are all the kids I meet today the same?’
Roll!
The moment when he decides to increase the intensity of his peers and completely overwhelm the humans.
Minjun was checking inside the store without even looking at the dragon. Inside the opaque golden barrier, the store was empty.
Only after confirming that the two people had evacuated safely did Minjun open his mouth for the first time, and Edelines couldn’t help but doubt her ears.
Minjun said this with his voice filled with anger.
“······Is this fucking bitch really crazy!”
