19. Three ways to kill your boss (16)
***
Jeong Mi-hyang (42 years old, Sokcho City) was a troll, a yoga instructor, and a druid.
As the sun was setting, she was stretching alone in the yoga studio as usual. She was preparing for an evening class for office workers. Her muscles and joints were flexible, as expected of a troll. She bent into Eka Pada Rajakapotasana and concentrated.
Knock. Knock.
Sweat dripped down. The sunset, which looked like a rough red paint, fell on the window. A few birds flew in through the open window. The troll held her legs and arms together as if by magic and held her body still. Small animals landed on her shoulders and horns. They chirped.
A calm peace. A calm and pure air settled in the lesson room. Jeong Mi-hyang concentrated on her slow breathing, and soon even forgot about it and fell into a state of meditation.
It only took a moment for that peace to be broken.
Tit! Tit jack!
Padadot!
The birds that had been chirping above her body suddenly flew up. Jeong Mi-hyang opened her eyes in bewilderment. The sparrows were fluttering their wings outside the window as if they were running away in a startled manner. A few light brown feathers fell on the wooden floor.
‘······what?’
The animals ran away not because Jeong Mi-hyang suddenly moved. The cause was outside. As a druid, she could sense the fear of small things.
And it wasn’t just the flying beast that was scared.
Wong! Wong Wong! Kkiing!
Nyaaaah!
The screams of pets, almost screams, could be heard from all over the residential area. The closest thing was the barking of a Maltese dog raised next door.
‘Why is he like that again?’
Kaedol was seriously shaken up just like the day he got neutered a year ago when he followed her, wagging his tail, thinking she was going for a walk. No, it was even worse now. The sense of loss and betrayal that Kaedol felt when he woke up to find that something important in his body was gone was directly transmitted to Jeong Mi-hyang, and she had to open three bottles of soju alone that night to escape the empathy that had been buried.
Boom!
Jeong Mi-hyang expanded her senses to understand the situation.
And then she couldn’t help but be startled. Almost all the animals she could interact with, including her pets, the rats in the sewer, the squirrels in the mountains, and the livestock raised outside the city, were in a frenzy. They were all terrified and shouting at each other to run away.
And the source of the fear felt by those sensitive animals was approaching from the seaside.
She got up and went to the window. She could see the port in the distance.
The troll’s mouth opens slowly.
“What is that?!”
On the peaceful evening shore, a mountain of dark clouds was gathering, forming a whirlwind.
***
A few minutes before Jeong Mi-hyang felt embarrassed, ghosts were gathered and talking on the roof of the commercial building where she was meditating.
Unless you have special abilities, the eyes of the spirits that are invisible and inaudible to the living are fixed on one person. That target was a newcomer. The expressions of the old people looking at the orc ghosts who were eloquently speaking did not look like they were interested.
=So, I have one last question for you. Is there really no one who wants to go up to Seoul with me to protest this weekend?=
Park Tae-sik (age 36, 2 years after death, mostly seen in Sokcho City) grimaced as if he couldn’t understand at all.
=Wouldn’t everyone respond like this? We have to find our rights ourselves!=
Then, a man who had been dead for four hundred years rang out with a displeased expression. Like all the old people, he was a human who had become a ghost immediately after death and wandered the underworld, but had regained his self during the first mass migration and become a ghost.
=We are uninvited guests who go against providence and disrupt the world anyway. What right do these evil spirits have to gather in broad daylight and cause trouble? Heaven will be angry.=
He was buried wearing a silk official uniform instead of the hemp shroud used in modern times, and his spirit was reconstructed just as it looked at the time, which allowed the orcs to guess that he was of noble birth.
Park Tae-sik grumbled to himself, ‘Ah, I’m going crazy trying to convince even a four hundred year old Joseon Dynasty figure!’
Even though they became ghosts close to each other, the generation gap was a big issue between them, as they enjoyed life at different times.
=Hey, but. Even if we protest, there won’t be many people who can hear and see it, right? Are they clairvoyants…? Unless they’re one of those amazing shamans you see often these days.=
The ghost who had recently died expressed his doubts. Park Tae-sik agreed and grabbed onto the end of the words.
=Volunteers are here to help! If we use a special magic circle, even ordinary people can see us and hear us!=
=That kind of sorcery… tsk tsk!=
Ignoring the noble ghost clicking its tongue, Park Tae-sik spoke to the other spirits.
=You have to think about this carefully. If this bill passes and the installation of exorcisms becomes mandatory in new buildings, we will never be able to enter a place with a roof and walls. It is called the Privacy Protection Act, but in reality, it is the same as the Eviction of the Spirit and Restriction of Rights Act!=
=Can’t you just not go inside?=
=No, then will you just wander the streets and mountains for the next few hundred or thousand years?=
=So why do you go to a place like that and just look at people?=
It was an inspiration that was completely incomprehensible. Park Tae-sik felt his irritation rising.
=Those who think like that are treating all ghosts as potential voyeurs! Okay, houses can be like that. But do we really go to department stores, art galleries, and movie theaters just to watch people? What other activities can we enjoy besides ‘seeing and listening’ when we can’t touch or play with anything? If we can’t even do this, then in the future…!=
Park Tae-sik was unable to continue speaking.
=······Huh?=
The moment he thought his spirit body was being swept away by something, his vision had already been turned upside down.
=Huh··· Huh?=
The realization was delayed by a few seconds. Just a moment ago, a strong shock had struck Park Tae-sik’s spirit body. The rooftop of the building where he had gathered with his colleagues was no longer visible. Like a baseball hit by a powerful bat, he was flying high into the sky.
=Hey···. Long?=
He had already left the residential area of Sokcho and was quickly moving through the mountains. The ghost, who was not subject to physical resistance, dug into the rock face of the mountain.
=Wait a minute, this is Seoraksan Mountain!=
He felt a sense of crisis. He knew that there was a wide area inside that he could not enter because of the powerful exorcism. Fortunately, however, the angle was right, and Park Tae-sik did not collide with it, but passed through the rock face and soared into the sky again. His wide field of vision returned.
=What the hell is going on?!=
Spirits are not subject to physical resistance, but are more sensitive to spiritual shocks.
He returned to Sokcho a few days later, only to find out later that the magical shock that had started in the small port had blown away all the ghosts in the city.
Fortunately, he was only bounced to the vicinity of Inje-gun, but the longer a ghost has been dead, the further it is bounced. This is because its connection to reality is weak.
The one who was swept away by the spiritual storm and was lost the farthest was, of course, a nobleman ghost who died in the Joseon Dynasty. He barely made it back to Sokcho and terrified his fellow ghosts by telling them what he had experienced. He said he saw a huge island where iron birds were constantly landing and taking off again.
The noble ghost had been blown all the way to Incheon Airport.
***
That evening, the 119 control center was overwhelmed with reports from Sokcho citizens. Most of the callers were people with special abilities.
Depending on the type of ability, what they saw and felt varied, but they all had one thing in common: they all testified that something terribly terrible was happening in a small port.
Among those who reported, there were many who shouted excitedly, saying that a disaster could occur if citizens were not evacuated immediately.
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No one knew exactly what was happening, but their senses, beyond the ordinary, sensed a terrible terror.
The relay of call reports that virtually paralyzed Sokcho City’s 119 continued for over an hour that day.
***
Swaaaaaaah!
Heavy raindrops hit Minjun’s shoulders.
His behavior was very different from when he first entered Sokcho City. His clothes were torn here and there, and the exposed skin was covered in wounds. Both of his arms had disappeared below his shoulders, and instead, shadows were forming the shape of arms.
Also, the place where the left eye used to be has changed. An eerie darkness gathers and ripples in the hole where the pupil has disappeared.
He looked at one place with half biological vision and half spiritual vision. The rough waves danced as if they were wandering. The shore where the sound of anger was subsiding. The black, rippling water surface licked and touched what looked like sharp islands or a vast group of reefs.
A being floating on the surface of the sea, covering a large area in front of the port. It may be misleading because of its size, but it is not a geographical feature, but a living creature. Minjun knew that it was alive. For now, that is.
“What a… disaster.”
Chairman Jenkinson muttered as he approached him. He had returned to his human form, and unlike Minjun, he didn’t show any wounds. This was because he had disguised himself as a human. They both knew that if he returned to his original dragon form, he would be covered in serious injuries and scars.
“What do you think?”
Minjun, who could see the vitality, confirmed Jenkinson’s guess as fact.
“I’m going to die, soon.”
“······How can I revive him?”
“It’s impossible. Even if you receive it from a priest who is good at receiving new spells and deliver it, you can’t save it.”
“Hmm.”
As expected of someone from the nobility, he didn’t use harsh words, but Minjun could easily tell the frustration in his voice.
“There’s nothing I can do about it. He was stronger than I thought. He may not be Elder-level in age, but his strength was enough to be considered Elder-level.”
Originally, in order to fight and win against a dragon without sacrifice, at least two dragons of similar level had to be mobilized.
The problem is that this incident is enough to save face for the chairman, as it was the result of not being able to identify the illegal immigrants hiding in his territory for over 10 years.
So, given his political standing within the Dragon Clan community, Jenkinson wanted to handle this matter as quietly as possible and not let his political enemies know about it, which would leave him with no one to turn to for help.
There were only two elders who were judged not to be interested in his position, and it was a well-known story that the relationship between him and Changcheon was worse than that of enemies, and Gelberg’s life or death was still unknown.
There were complex political circumstances behind Minjun’s second attempt at dragon catching today.
And, despite the two of them coming forward, they ultimately failed to capture Jang Tae-jun.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the sky, the thunderclouds Jenkinson had created still hadn’t disappeared, and raindrops were constantly falling. Minjun wiped the moisture from his face with his shadowy hands.
Although they had blocked the surrounding area with a barrier, it wouldn’t have been perfect. Those with sensitive abilities would have fainted. It couldn’t be helped.
Minjun had done all he could to prevent the physical shock from being transmitted to Sokcho City and turn it into a scorched earth, and block the view from the outside.
It was Minjun’s achievement to land several near-lethal attacks on the black dragon and finally tie it up so Jenkinson could land one last blow.
“Hey, you.”
Jenkinson speaks to the other side. The dragon’s head, which had been lying on its side and submerged in the seawater, moves slightly. One eyelid, which is visible above the water, is lifted.
The pouring raindrops seeped through the dragon’s scales and flowed to meet the seawater. On the surface of the water, white foam, red blood, and black water met to create a strange pattern. Calmly, the dragon made a telepathic sound.
=Kill me…=
“If you stay still, you will return to the embrace of nature. Before that, can you tell me just one thing?”
=······Are you really that curious?=
The black dragon looked at the two people who had led him to his death. Strangely, there was no resentment in his eyes.
He returned the answer to the question he had guessed.
=I don’t know anything about them. I was just offered to help them. To sneak into Earth and do the research I wanted to do. To develop viruses in this remote area without worrying about being caught by other dragons.=
Then he sent a wave of laughter that was almost like a laughter.
=But I don’t think that help was enough. Looking at the current situation.=
Eventually, he was caught by the immigration office.
It was a suspicion thrown out without evidence, and an investigation started without even guessing that the species was a dragon… but the result was great. It was like catching a rat after the cow backed away.
Jenkinson asked a few more questions, and the Black Dragon answered what it knew and what it didn’t know.
The one who led the other person to death calmly asked questions, and the one who was about to die answered logically. Minjun felt a slight discomfort at that scene. He had never liked that dragon-like emotion.
“···Okay, would you like to return to nature right now?”
Deciding that the interrogation had been sufficient, Jenkinson makes an offer to the Black Dragon.
Then his large eyes shook slightly. It was the first time I had seen a nursery rhyme.
After a moment of silence, Jang Tae-jun sent a message.
The opponent was not Jenkinson, but Minjun.
=Human, when you first appeared, I was honestly surprised.=
“I don’t think there’s any tea.”
=It’s easy to make a fake expression on a fake face. You give off a familiar scent.=
He had interrogated an ISP manifester before coming here. It seems that the pheromone still remained in his body.
=How is that kid?=
He asks after the well-being of the woman he abandoned.
Minjun decided not to mention the happy bug here.
“So-so?”
The dragon narrowed his eyes as if he was guessing the meaning behind those words. Then he continued.
=Please don’t be too rough with me.=
Minjun didn’t answer.
=Yeonju has borderline personality disorder.=
He knew that it was the black dragon’s will.
=So don’t confuse attachment with anger. He had extreme thoughts, and he had an obsessive fear of being ‘abandoned’… He was a very anxious child, as all humans are. Maybe that’s why I was attracted to him.=
The dragon’s pitch-black eyes stared at Minjun.
=Since the first time we met, she’s stabbed me in the neck three times. Once, when she hid the fact that she met me and the young dragon at the same time for months. Twice, when she screamed at me for treating her like a lab guinea pig, and called me a greedy piece of trash who coveted her stock. And finally, three times, when she conspired with that stupid woman to kidnap me.=
Minjun was quite surprised.
That wasn’t something a normal dragon would say.
This was especially true when I thought about how Edelines treated Kim Yeon-ju.
=I guess I was a pretty bad boss. I wanted to kill him three times.=
Minjun said to the dragon who was smiling bitterly.
“She thought her ISP had only recently appeared. She said it was because of Edelines. But in fact, it had been like that for a long time, right?”
The dragon confirmed it with silence.
Kim Yeon-ju had a relationship with Jang Tae-jun for much longer than Edelines. Therefore, she must have been secreting ISP without realizing it since long ago.
However, the changes that I could notice on my own started with Edelines. It was a natural result of meeting two dragons at the same time. The pheromones that were getting thicker and thicker induced visible symptoms.
Therefore, it is highly likely that Edelines developed feelings for Kim Yeon-ju because she was attracted to her pheromones.
On the other hand, Jang Tae-jun was not like that.
Minjun was curious. Was this also part of Yong’s plan?
Instead of answering that question, Jang Tae-jun said.
=You are an agent and a ‘prisoner’?=
“okay.”
=I see. It can’t be helped.=
The subsequent telepathy did not reach Chairman Jenkinson.
Minjun narrowed his eyes when he realized that Jang Taejun was only sending psychic waves to him.
He was saying this.
=Do you have a homunculus by any chance?=
After a moment of silence, Minjun answered mentally. ‘Then?’
Minjun was convinced that the mastermind behind it was Jang Taejun. He wanted to officially die as a human before disappearing into outer space. And he hoped that everything would be carried out according to his will.
The black dragon sent a telepathic message that only Minjun could still hear.
=Then, I guess there’s no need to cremate it according to the will.=
“?”
=I’m going to die anyway and I won’t be able to see what happens next. So what you do with the information I’m about to tell you is entirely up to you. Tell that Elder Dragon, or even report it to the Council, or just forget about it.=
At the moment of death, the dragon reveals his secret.
