27. Princess Run (2)
The elf’s expression turned sour upon hearing the fairy’s question. It was not an expression of sympathy for the other person’s anxiety, but rather a protest as to how such words could be said.
“Larissa! What era are we in today that makes you say such outrageous things?!”
Blair looked as if she had been insulted. She was a loyal elf who took the insensitive language directed at her superior as a slander against herself.
Surprised by the stronger reaction than expected, the fairy muttered with half-mad eyes.
“Aren’t there any animals that are smart enough to beg for their lives? If so, that’s fortunate.”
“Don’t worry about useless things. The chairman is not a cruel tyrant who punishes his subordinates with death for making big mistakes. It’s hard to imagine a psychopath who would eat his subordinates if they didn’t do their job well, like dragons in the old days, and eat them when he’s hungry even if they do a good job.”
Then he mutters in an inaudible voice.
“······And it’s been quite some time since the Chairman stopped eating meat.”
“Then are you a vegetarian?”
“Stop telling those unfunny jokes.”
Hours later, they learned that it wasn’t Jenkinson who had been delaying his reply, but rather that there had been a disruption in communications between Earth and the otherworld.
“We are now reconnecting. Larissa, prepare to send the documents.”
Blair Campbell had no doubt that even if they did something big, they would not be subject to any more disciplinary action than was reasonable.
After barely restoring the communication network and reporting the situation to the chairman via video conference, she prayed earnestly in her heart that her faith would not be broken.
“······Let me summarize what I’ve heard so far.”
Chairman Jenkinson in the magical image had returned to his dragon form. Unlike Earth, the committee headquarters had accommodations that could accommodate all races.
Yong frowned as he placed his hand on a table that was as tall as a building several dozen stories high, and spread out a document the size of a school playground. As soon as the communication was restored, the fairy had printed out the data that had been sent to him. The flames followed his breath. Evidence that he was very upset.
The Elder Dragon slowly moved his eyes and read the documents again. The sentences were written from the perspective of a security officer. After reading them all, he opened his mouth.
“So, you’re saying all the ‘treasures’ in Sector B-39 were looted last night?”
“······Yes, that’s right.”
“You even knew in advance that there were suspicious signs around the warehouse, but you were still taken advantage of?”
“······Yes, that’s right.”
Every time he repeated the same answer, the elf felt himself getting smaller.
“There is absolutely no trace of the culprit, and even with the fairy’s powers, it is impossible to track him?”
This time, there was only one thing I could say in response.
“······Yes, that’s right.”
The dragon took a deep breath. The heat he exhaled made a roaring sound and burned the documents he was reading. The chief secretary knew that this was the most intense expression of anger Jenkinson had ever shown to a subordinate.
“Campbell, you know? Why have I been dimensional jumping six times to get to the committee headquarters and have been struggling with my head for days?”
“I know.”
“It was because of the stuff in that warehouse. And it was robbed? Larisa Andreyeva.”
When her name was called out as if by surprise, the fairy answered nervously. All of her energy had already left her.
“······Yes, yes!”
“Do you know how much money our company spends on just you?”
“······.”
The fairy kept her mouth shut, knowing that the question was not one that required an answer. The dragon, whose guess seemed to be correct, continued speaking without giving her a chance to answer.
“I receive a report every month on the expenses connected to the cost center under your name. Not only the basic salary, but also bonuses, welfare expenses, entertainment expenses, commissions, consumables, rent, etc… In total, it amounts to close to 10 billion won per month. It’s similar to the mission allowance we pay to the top 1% of contract agents, but I’ve never felt it was a waste of money until now.”
After a moment of silence, he adds:
“Because I had no doubt that you were the best in your field.”
His tone was calm, but the words he spoke were sharp and cut into the fairy’s heart.
“The reason I believed that was because you confidently told me that you had the best skills. The ability to freely travel to and from the spirit world, which dragons cannot enter or see.”
A heavy light gathers in the dragon’s eyes.
“I don’t intend to blame you for having your vault breached. I personally installed a significant portion of the barriers inside. But the problem now is your attitude in reporting that there is absolutely no way to track them. Is that what I’m paying you to say?”
“······sorry.”
“And, Blair Campbell.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“I know that the Earth’s otherworldly communications network has been down for several days. But is that the only reason you didn’t report it to me? Even though you sensed something fishy? Think about it. Was there really no way?”
“······.”
“I know, and you know, that there is a communication network that is absolutely unaffected by any internal or external environmental conditions. If you had gone to the committee branch on Earth and requested emergency assistance, you could have borrowed their astral communication network. But you didn’t do that.”
It was true.
“Why? It’s simple. I was afraid that sensitive information would leak out. They are not part of Jenkinson Companies and are untrustworthy strangers.”
All correct.
“And you didn’t even contact ‘him’. Your most trusted assistant while I was away. The reason is the same. He’s a contract agent, after all. He’s someone you can’t completely trust, just someone who’s tied to temporary terms of a deal.”
“······sorry.”
“That apology is very dangerous right now. Depending on how you interpret it, it could mean that the same thing could happen again in the future.”
“No, that’s not true!”
“I also know the psychological characteristics of elves well. You have an issue with ‘trust.’ You tend not to let others cross the line you have drawn.”
Blair nodded slowly, as if acknowledging it.
“But the reason I hired you was not because I expected you to continue to think and act like an elf. I hired you because I expected you to be able to show something more. If you are bound by the limitations of your natural race, by mediocrity, by the average, then there is no reason for you to work with me.”
The fairy and elf bowed their heads in silence. Jenkins gave them a moment to think before telling them what he planned.
“I will end the call and share this with the committee immediately.”
That was unexpected for the fairy. Jenkinson had been prepared to hide this fact from the committee for a while and even torment his subordinates more viciously. He had to find the items before the committee noticed.
The dragon immediately blurted out the reason.
“Regardless of the background of those thieves and their purpose, one thing is certain. They will try to get away from Earth as soon as possible and go to another world. Fortunately, there are no records of interdimensional passenger or cargo ships leaving Earth. I will work with the Committee to close all ‘terminals’ on Earth.”
He was talking about dimensional sealing.
“Even if I leave for Earth right now, it will take several days to get there. In the meantime, I hope to find as many traces and clues as possible.”
The dragon gives instructions to his secretary.
“Campbell, call him. He’ll give you whatever you want.”
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“Yes, I understand, sir.”
“And Andreyeva.”
“······yes!”
“You’d better refrain from making reports like this in the future. Otherwise, I’m afraid Dr. Yevdos will have to reconsider the advice he gave me.”
“Doctor… Yevdos?”
It was a name he had never heard before. The dragon kindly explained it to the fairy.
“That’s the name of the doctor who took care of me before I came to this world. I took his advice and stopped eating protein. He told me to do that if I wanted to live as long as I wanted.”
The fairy grumbled to herself, wondering how long a dragon, which can live for thousands of years without any accidents, could possibly live and make a fuss.
“!”
Soon, he realized the true meaning of those words and froze.
Yong said that he would consider eating meat again because of Larissa, even though he had stopped eating it because of the doctor.
If he were to change his diet and start eating meat again, it wouldn’t make much of a difference to the dragon whether it was beef, pork, lamb, or even fairy meat on his plate.
“···I will keep that in mind.”
The dragon turns its twelve eyes again and speaks to the elf.
“Campbell, remember. When you end the call, contact Minjun immediately.”
After making that threat, Jenkins takes a moment to think.
‘Things have gotten really tricky. I didn’t want to get into any more debt than this.’
The fact that Min-jun helped him with the Edelines and Jang Tae-jun cases could be seen as a give-and-take transaction, but in reality, it was closer to a request Jenkinson made with regret. In both cases, he asked Min-jun to do something that he did not want to reveal to the outside world.
Jenkins was wary that the scales would tip further in Minjun’s direction.
‘but···.’
However, the reason he ends up looking for him is because he trusts him that much. Dragon thinks with a thin thread of hope.
‘Yeah. Then… there might be a way!’
***
“This won’t work. There’s no way to do it this way. Unfortunately, I can’t see anything either.”
Minjun made that declaration right after receiving an urgent call from his secretary and arriving at Bukhansan Mountain, which had been reduced to ashes the next day.
The secretary purses her lips.
“I see….”
As per Jenkinson’s orders, they had commissioned Minjun. They had been investigating not only the fire scene but also the inside of the warehouse, which was off-limits to outsiders, in the hopes that they might find some clues. Since the inside had been looted and empty anyway, there was nothing to worry about.
“Hmm.”
Minjun, who was carefully observing the scene, asks Larissa. This was their first meeting.
“You’ve already explored the spiritual world, right?”
The fairy nodded weakly.
“There was nothing there because it had all burned down.”
“There’s no way I could see something that even fairies who can cross directly to the spirit world can’t see.”
With that assertion, Minjun immediately extinguished the white flames that had been covering his eyes. The elf spoke hesitantly.
“Then… is there really no way?”
Minjun had never seen his secretary, who had been intoxicated by Yong’s backing and had been whining without even knowing his true identity, struggling like this. He was thinking of increasing his dose and getting drunk on low-level pleasure, but he decided to give up because it seemed like a futile effort. It wouldn’t cost him a single penny.
“Have you tried any other methods of searching besides exploring the spirit world?”
“It’s only been a little over 24 hours since the fire was put out, so we haven’t tried many methods. We’ve just mobilized the psychometric power users and…”
“Even if you did that, nothing would come out. Residual thoughts can be easily erased with magic. With such a large-scale spell, even less traces will be left.”
“That’s right. And the clairvoyants hired by the company also shook their heads.”
“Of course. Judging from the exorcism installed in that safe, ghosts probably wouldn’t have come near this area in the first place. Even if they did wander around once or twice, they would have been swept away the moment the fire started. It seems like you won’t be able to find even a single spirit within 3km of here now.”
Unlike a phantom, it seems impossible to interview a ghost who can maintain his sense of self and give logical testimony. Min-jun scratches his chin for a moment and thinks. Then, the fairy who had been watching him comes up with an idea.
“Hey… Oppa. How about inviting a druid? This is a mountain. There are quite a few wild animals. How about having the druid look for any suspicious people they saw that night?”
“They are rare people with abilities. It’s hard to find them right away… In the first place, the animals that survived the forest fire ran far away and wouldn’t come near you even if you called them. They would be very surprised and exhausted.”
Minjun was talking up to that point.
“!”
His eyes sparkle as if he is lost in thought about something.
‘Huh? Wait a minute. This… Now that I think about it!’
A method that was impossible for psychometrists, clairvoyants, and druids, but possible for him, occurred to him.
‘Yes, he said that compared to before the 80s, the number of animals living in these mountains has actually increased.’
Not all of those wild animals could have escaped the fire.
The surviving animals ran far away and are no longer around.
But, on the other hand, dead animals would already be scattered everywhere.
Creatures that died less than three days ago.
