16. Three ways to kill your boss (13)
Jeongpal suddenly sensed the change in the air and looked at him. However, he soon turned his head again because of Kim Yeon-ju’s subsequent words.
“I thought this kid was really crazy···.”
Kim Yeon-ju continued speaking while sobbing.
“I knew you were a dreamer, but… I thought you were a bit crazy when you started talking nonsense like ‘social pollution’… I said those things, and now you’re saying you didn’t ask any questions… You want my blood?”
He said that his independent, secret research had hit a wall and that the blood of the ISP manifester might provide a clue.
“So, really?”
Instead of Minjun, who had been maintaining an inexplicable silence for a while, Jeongpal asked. Kim Yeonju nodded and confirmed his guess. Then, a deep sigh escaped Orc’s mouth.
“Oh my···.”
She was so angry that she almost went crazy, but in the end, she gave blood as the other person asked. She confessed to the affair, but there was no response from the other person. Kim Yeon-ju decided to avoid the conflict this time as she had done for a long time.
Still, their relationship continued.
Jeongpal, who had heard that, muttered in a shocked voice.
“······They’re both really tight.”
Kim Yeon-ju regularly drew blood and gave it to him… In other words, she considered it as insurance to maintain their relationship by keeping their secret. She thought that she was sacrificing herself to continue this relationship. It was a thought that bordered on cognitive impairment.
But eventually, the end of this precarious relationship came.
It was a pretty violent form of catastrophe, too.
‘I’m sorry. I can’t put it off any longer.’
Jang Tae-jun, who suddenly dropped a bombshell in bed, declared his farewell that he had been putting off for a long time. The moment had finally come for him to leave. He still did not respond at all to questions about his destination.
Instead of an answer, this was the shocking statement that came to mind.
‘I plan to transfer all of my Hyosung Industrial stocks to the social welfare foundation.’
It was probably at that moment that the feeling of loss turned into anger.
‘And, Yeonju, I want you to sell me the stocks you own. I can’t tell you why, but please do it. I’ll pay you a sufficient price···.’
Kim Yeon-ju got up from her seat without even listening to the rest of the words.
‘Are you kidding me right now?! I’m dying from frustration because you’re saying you’re leaving without any explanation, but what? You’re selling my stocks? Hyosung Industrial, it’s not your personal company. It’s a company we grew together, so what the hell are you talking about?!’
‘I can’t tell you the details. If you keep holding those stocks… you might be in danger too.’
It was a half-hearted lie and an excuse.
From then on, I felt like my memories were cut off and I couldn’t remember them well. Only the frustration of being completely abandoned boiled over.
He devoted his entire body to the company and even regularly donated blood for personal research purposes. In the end, to Jang Tae-jun, he was nothing more than a multi-purpose subordinate, a convenient office wife who didn’t bother him, and a guinea pig for experiments who could suck his blood whenever he wanted.
After running out of the house and coming to her senses, Kim Yeon-ju was in front of her affair partner, Dragon.
Ethel wasn’t angry at her for confessing everything in an instant.
‘Well, I’m not really… annoyed. I don’t care who you sleep with outside. I’m a dragon. I’m a species that doesn’t really care about things like that.’
What caught her interest was something else in the confession.
‘A guy named Jang Tae-jun was researching dragon genes? And he was doing it alone, in secret?’
Jang Tae-jun briefly mentioned once that he had a secret safe hidden inside his ‘house’. He had built a proper lab inside it and was studying the genes of the Dragon Clan on his own.
However, the location and method of entry were not disclosed to Kim Yeon-ju. Although she had been coming and going for several years, it was kept a strict secret.
‘You want revenge on that kid?’
That’s how the two’s conspiracy began. Using the crime of treason as an excuse, Edelines kidnaps and tortures Jang Tae-jun, and at the same time steals all of his stocks and the data he had researched.
Edelines, who speaks like that, seemed more interested in the face value of the stock than in the purpose of implementing justice. It was a pitiful amount for an elder dragon, but it was a mouthwatering meal for a low-level dragon who came to Earth with nothing.
In the end, Kim Yeon-ju accepted her offer. And in the middle of the night, she secretly called Jang Tae-jun under the pretext of reconciliation, and Edelines was also waiting in hiding at that place.
But no matter how long I waited, Jang Tae-jun did not appear.
Since then, no one has seen him.
***
What followed was a series of confessions of regret, disgusting self-justifications, and excuses.
Jeongpal asked, judging that listening further would be meaningless.
“older brother?”
Minjun’s face is still frozen hard.
Minjun asks, half-convinced of something in his head.
“Who took your blood? How?”
He now knows why Kim Yeon-ju’s vitality was lower than that of a normal person. However, there is one thing that is bothering him.
“···Taejun, in person.”
“How much blood is drawn at a time? How often?”
Kim Yeon-ju spoke hesitantly. She had been getting blood drawn once a week, about 300 ml at a time, for about a year.
“No way! That’s ridiculous···!”
Even Jeong-pal flinched when he saw Min-jun with his face distorted.
“Why, why are you doing that?”
It was the first time Orc had seen the agent make that expression.
But Minjun didn’t have the energy to respond.
‘So that means you extracted 14 liters in just one short year!’
This wasn’t the usual blood collection method. It was a method of using magic to extract life force as well. This was the method used when using blood as a magic sample.
Jang Tae-jun drew blood directly from Kim Yeon-ju, and it is said that he always used a uniquely shaped syringe. Min-jun knew very well what kind of artifact it was.
‘If that much is extracted through magic bloodletting, no human will survive unharmed!’
But Kim Yeon-ju is alive.
The ‘sorcerer’ who drew blood had that much outstanding ability. He extracted enough life force contained in the blood to use it as a sample, but he had the advanced control to limit it to a level where it would not harm life. This is not something that just anyone can do.
Furthermore, according to what Kim Yeon-ju heard, the research that Jang Tae-jun focused on at the end was ‘the effect of the blood of ISP expressers on hemolysis and the clarification of the principle.’
To study the interaction of magical properties, two substances are usually needed in similar doses.
‘I thought that since humans were the only ones researching dragon genes, they got frozen samples from the black market. But that wasn’t the case!’
I was seriously misjudging.
‘If that’s the kind of research you do, there’s no way you’d need that much Kim Yeon-ju’s blood. If you did proper research… the magically collected ‘hemolymph’ would have consumed at least 14 liters. Where on earth would a normal person get that?’
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All the puzzle pieces fell into place in my head.
“Jeongpal-ah.”
“Yes, brother!”
The orc answers nervously.
“CEO Jang Tae-jun, what other real estate do you own besides this house?”
He searches through the documents hurriedly.
“Uh …
It’s only been three days since Minjun took charge of this case and started moving in earnest.
In the meantime, they were busy chasing the evidence overflowing in Seoul, so they didn’t have time to go to the real estate that Jang Tae-jun bought outside of Seoul. The police searched those places, but nothing was revealed. That would have been natural, since the wizard didn’t go there.
No, even if a member of the Society had gone, they wouldn’t have found any traces. If Minjun’s guess was correct.
“Among them, are there any buildings adjacent to mountains with a maximum height of 800 meters or more? Or are there any buildings adjacent to lakes with a diameter of 3 kilometers or more?”
Jeongpal found an item that met the conditions.
“Ah, the villa located in Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do fits the criteria perfectly. Seoraksan Mountain is right nearby.”
Minjun got up without even hearing anything else.
“Okay, let’s get out there right now…”
Stop talking and correct yourself.
“No, Jeongpal, you take Kim Yeonju with you. I’ll go alone.”
It’s dangerous to take Jeongpal with you this time too.
He muttered to himself.
‘Yeah, even if you search for it in Society for a hundred days… there’s no way you’ll find a secret safe.’
The reason why Min-jun searched Jang Tae-jun’s Hannam-dong house so thoroughly but nothing came out was also clear.
‘You have a secret safe in your house? That can’t have been a lie. It must have come out unconsciously.’
If Jang Tae-jun’s true identity is what Min-jun guessed, then the Hannam-dong mansion is not his ‘real home’.
Minjun knew that the true home recognized by that race had to be in a different form.
