3. Burnout Syndrome (3)
“If it’s a reward, how?”
Etrella decided to reveal a secret to this periphery intelligence that would instantly raise her wanted level by several levels.
“Do you know why there are so many criminals flocking to Earth?!”
He nods his chin as if to ask me to say more.
“Because the greatest fortuneteller in the dimension predicted it! In the most remote dimension, there are soul fragments scattered by the worst criminal in history as he escaped!”
A secret that most Earthlings know nothing about.
“And I have a transcript of the entire prophecy!”
Etrella continued speaking urgently.
“There are detailed hints in the transcript explaining where the soul is hiding! If you sell this, there will be a line of bounty hunters! If you promise to spare my life, I will give this to you…”
“What if I try to take it and resell it to someone? The committee will put me on their wanted list. The ransom will be much higher than what you’re getting now.”
“······!”
The last attempt to evade the situation by committing fraud failed.
“I’ve heard all that nonsense.”
“?!”
At that moment, Etrella forgot to breathe and looked at Minjun. Her gaze was fixed on his left hand.
The hand that had clearly turned into a dried, twisted tree bark when the black magic was cast had briefly returned to normal.
“That’s ridiculous!”
In her common sense, there was no human who could do such a thing. The life force offered as a sacrifice to black magic never recovers. This was a natural providence, like the truth that the dimension is constantly expanding and new worlds are constantly being born without stopping.
He knows knowledge that humans cannot know, and even ignores the shackles of black magic.
Only then did Etrella realize that her opponent was no ordinary Earthling.
“This can’t be happening. You···”
Despair seeps into his eyes.
“What kind of race are you?”
Minjun muttered indifferently.
“I don’t know either.”
Etrella, sensing something, looked up.
bang!
The shadow monster struck down with his fist like a hammer.
The world she held in her eyes disappeared into the darkness with a snap.
***
I look down at the dead alien with its head covered in blood.
As Minjun had promised, Noh Kyunggu never broke the old woman’s head. Minjun did that for her.
‘Ah, I’m tired of it.’
The boredom and exhaustion that had disappeared like a lie while he was working came crawling up his esophagus as soon as he completed his mission. How many alien pots had he broken with his own hands on Earth? If he looked at the records, there would be statistics, but he had no desire to do so.
‘The hostage is···.’
Although there were dozens of holes in his body, he was still alive.
With his weak telekinesis, he would have been the perfect target for Etrella’s plan. She has robbed banks this way several times so far to secure cash. The specific method is to hide in the bank, and when a weak person with special powers enters, she will insert her tentacles and control them to commit the robbery in her stead.
‘My poor ability turned out to be poisonous.’
The reason why they target weak ability users is because if they are too strong, mind control is impossible. The reason why they must be ability users is because not only does it increase the chance of success in robbery, but their spiritual power can be drained and discarded. The abandoned target will be killed on the spot as an ability user criminal, so the destruction of evidence is also perfect.
But eventually, he was caught.
‘If I had the traits of an Odense, I could probably think of a hundred better ways to do this. The only thing I came up with as a weapon for mind control and ability absorption was a bank robbery.’
Let your imagination run wild for a moment.
‘If I just stick my tentacles into the neck of the conglomerate’s safekeeper without going far… Ah, well. I guess a pyramid like this can’t get through that tight security.’
Because the private safes of the conglomerates boast strict security that cannot be compared to the banks used by ordinary citizens.
‘If you exchange Earth currency for talent at an illegal money changer, they’ll take a commission of around 70%… so even then, they couldn’t think of a place other than a bank where they could take enough money to get ‘pardoned’.’
There is only one reason why a criminal would need a large sum of money: to present the common currency of the dimension, the talent, to the court to be pardoned for his crime.
‘I envy you, robbing a few banks is a crime that deserves to be pardoned.’
Even though he was the one who killed the person himself, if you put yourself in his shoes, you could say that he was envious.
***
As the fog cleared, police and vigilantes who had been blocking civilians from a distance approached the bank building.
“Are you done?”
To the questioning officer, Park Jeong-pal.
“It’s finished. Please take care of the rest.”
Minjun nods and answers.
A loud voice is heard among the vigilantes inside.
“Wow, this is daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Hey, take a picture of this! It’s a really creepy looking alien!”
Jeongpal shouts as if he is cracking down.
“If you take photos of the scene without permission and post them on the internet, you know what? You’ll all be fired!”
But Jeong-pal knew, those idiots knew, and Min-jun knew that an hour later, that messed-up picture of that race of aliens would be all over the internet.
“The hostage is still hiding.”
Jeongpal glanced around the scene and seemed to immediately understand the situation. The old woman he thought was a hostage was a criminal of a different race, and the young man he thought was a hostage-taker was actually the real hostage.
He said bitterly.
“Thank goodness. This time, I was worried because the culprit seemed so young. But it turns out he wasn’t a real robber and he didn’t die.”
“What does it matter how old you are? If you commit a crime, you will be punished.”
“Still, I thought it would be better not to have to make eye contact with a kid the same age as my son who was carried out with a hole in his forehead. It would ruin his dreams.”
“······.”
He speaks as if he is making an excuse, as if he has found meaning in the silence.
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“I feel that way because I see so many young people dying these days.”
“I’ve told you several times, but is it difficult to do something like this with such a soft feeling?”
Jeongpal laughed without saying a word, making a nasal sound typical of orcs.
Minjun also chuckled.
Instead of just turning away, he speaks as if he just remembered something.
“Oh, right. It’s not my forehead, but there are holes here and there on my body.”
“?”
“Let’s have a drink sometime soon.”
“Yes, come in.”
Minjun moves, leaving the police behind.
As soon as you walk a few steps.
Ding!
A text message tone rang on the flip phone.
-‘Jenkinson, Father & Sons Company, Ltd._National Administration Service Privatization Division (Republic of Korea Immigration Service)’ has deposited 223,540,000 won into your account.
As always, the deposit was quick. Minjun knows this is one of the perks he enjoys.
For most contract agents, the bonus for increasing the number of cases is paid after an on-site inspection and internal deliberation process. However, the immigration office just gave Minjun a bonus as soon as he sent a short text message saying, “Completed.” The amount was also generous compared to other agents.
This treatment was based on the fact that Minjun was the ace of aces, always ranked first among the immigration office’s exclusive agents. There was no one around him who didn’t know that he was the best agent.
“Where are you going?”
After getting into a taxi, briefly state your destination.
As the car started to move, I stared out the window and waited for the next call. Unlike the Korean government immigration office, their response was bound to be a little late. Minjun also understood that.
Some time passed like that.
Tiring!
The expected alarm went off. This time, not in Minjun’s ten-year-old 2G phone, but in his head.
Charrrr!
Alien characters visible only to his eyes are embroidered into the air.
○Prisoner’s personal information
-Prisoner identification number: Asif-666
-Dispatch Agency: Pan-Dimensional Intelligence Relocation Committee
-Department: Early stabilization of group immigration Task
-Location: Earth (Dimension #22-189, Extreme Territory Level 4)
– Employment type: Indirect employment for criminal purposes based on a labor reform sentence
※ Limited memory erasure is being applied to the prisoner in question.
During the consultation today, much more detailed information was revealed than what the doctor was looking at.
“······.”
Most people around Minjun are aware of his official status as an independent agent.
The number one that no one can surpass. A legendary agent who boasts a 99% completion rate on assigned missions.
However, there is one thing that most people around them do not know.
– Disguised identity (name/race): Ye Min-jun/human
Ye Min-jun is an alien.
Long ago, he committed one (or more) crimes, but unlike Etrella, he was not summarily executed, but was arrested and sentenced to reeducation through hard labor.
Before his arrest, where he lived, the duty of the intelligentsia was to pursue free self-realization and happiness, and paid labor was looked down upon. The socially necessary labor that was avoided was temporarily performed by criminals whose memories had been erased. In other words, employment meant imprisonment, and resignation meant release.
There was a complex social background behind the decision to send Minjun to a remote place like Earth.
The committee that hired him indirectly immediately sent him to the outskirts. Minjun hid his identity and went undercover in the chaotic primitive dimension to carry out missions, and received talents for every task he completed.
○Account information (Prisoner identification number: ASIFF-666)
-The ‘Committee’ deposited 200 talents into the prisoner’s account.
One of the few advantages of working undercover is that you get paid by both sides for the same job.
Minjun received 200 million won worth of Earth currency from the Immigration Office and 200 talents from the committee in exchange for catching a foreign criminal today.
And, as soon as the deposit is completed.
-Tiring!
Coincidentally, the account information has been updated again.
– Automatic transfer notification: ‘Tax Collection Command’ withdrew 2,000 talents from the prisoner’s account. (Payment of the prisoner’s regular tax payment)
200 talents came in.
At the same time, 2,000 talents went out.
And the current balance is.
-Your current account balance is 21,523 talents.
– Please note that the moment your talent in your account goes into negative (-), statutory interest will be charged and excessive late payment may result in immediate execution.
– The retirement allowance (immediate release bail) awarded to ‘Prisoner Identification Number: Asif-666’ is 5,124,990 talents.
The meaning of retirement pay here is a little different than on Earth. It is not money you receive when you retire, but money you have to pay to retire.
Ye Min-jun, who now only had 20,000 talents in his possession, needed a whopping 5 million talents to escape from his penal employment status and escape this prison without bars.
In the case of Etrella, whom he killed, the bail to avoid arrest would have been in the tens of thousands of talents.
The reason he stole Earth currency, converted it into talents, and went all out to make bail before his arrest is because once he starts serving time in prison, the difficulty of obtaining talents becomes hellish.
In short, Etrella was desperate to avoid ending up in Minjun’s shoes.
-The following are the legal channels through which prisoners can obtain talent and the scope of compensation:
A. Arrest/kill a wanted person: 10% of the announced bounty is paid in talents.
B. Perform special missions requested by the agency: Rewards vary by case. See details below.
1. Suggest a solution to the chronic food problem of dimension #31-490: 40,000 talents
2. Find and report the location of the secret base of the Dimension Pirates led by wanted person Pechinog: 45,500 talents
3. Development of vaccine and treatment for the ‘Seger Papineau virus’, a global pandemic that occurs every 260 years: 47,700 talents
4. Clarification of the principle by which some species-specific individuals release pheromones that attract other species: 50,000 talents
.
.
.
Once you are arrested and begin your sentence, you cannot even steal like Etrella, because you will always be under surveillance due to the convict seal imprinted on your soul.
Minjun had mainly been catching criminals to make money so far, but at this rate, his retirement/release was becoming increasingly distant.
So I started looking into money-making methods that I had previously dismissed as unrealistic.
.
.
.
45. Scientifically prove the cause of ghosts: 520,000 talents
46. Discover a way to completely control the abilities of the prophetic character and provide a turnkey solution up to the commercialization stage: 530,000 talents
47. Obtain and provide a complete DNA sample of the following species, believed to have gone extinct long ago:
(1) Demonic Goblin (2) Metallic Moss Type 7 (3) Interstellar Floating Slime, a type that is golden in color
: 580,000 talents per species
48. Directly witness and report on what is happening within the self-isolated dimension #77-102: 610,000 talents
.
.
.
Go down the list.
It was a list he had never even looked at before, but Minjun thought he couldn’t hold out much longer. Earth was the seventh dimension he had been sent to. Even as he toured the seven worlds, there was no sign of his prison life coming to an end.
Minjun was tired and bored.
Shhh!
As we convey our intentions, the list moves down quickly.
His eyes stopped at the item at the very bottom of the mission list.
.
.
.
442. Complete detoxification of the soul’s components: 3.8 million talents
443. The driving force of creation that causes the dimension to expand continuously and countless worlds to come into being: 4 million talents
444. ((Confidential)) Obtain and submit the soul fragment of prisoner identification number ‘Asif-1’: 7 million talents
*** This is the last chapter of the list ***
**** For a better tomorrow, the Department of Corrections will be a guide leading to a hopeful prison life. ****
The last 444th item he notices.
It was enough compensation to cover his retirement in one fell swoop.
Minjun made a promise. He would definitely succeed in resigning from his job on Earth, the seventh world he was sent to.
“······This time, I’m definitely quitting. I’m going to kick this out of me!”
It seemed like the taxi driver heard what I was mumbling without realizing it.
“I guess company life is tough. But in this day and age… I don’t know what you do, but I think it would be good to stick close to you.”
I could have just ignored the insensitive rambling.
Minjun spoke with a serious expression, as if he was making up his mind.
“No, I will definitely do it soon. I’ve been with this company for too long.”
There was something that Minjun overlooked when he first started his life as a prisoner.
He never dreamed that this forced employment would last for over 800 years.
