33. Princess Run (8)
The princess couldn’t even turn her eyes back to Minjun anymore. She just stared blankly at the scenery outside the window, which was clearly not what she was looking at. With an expression that still couldn’t hide her shame, the crocodile-like princess spoke.
“You looked so embarrassed. Don’t take what I just said to heart.”
I wanted to, but for some other reason, I didn’t think I could easily erase it from my memory. The princess remained silent for a moment and then spoke again. As if making an excuse.
“It was a mistake born of my immaturity. Like any other Shutan woman who knows her duty as a lady, I have never been in the same place as a Shutan man. Not even once.”
Some part of Minjun whispered in his head again. What the hell is that?
‘A quiet Shutan woman?’
Such morals and values must have been alien to their race, for they had no concept of chastity.
Originally, even if it was the princess’s bedroom, it was a society where it was not considered a flaw for different men to come and go every night. Regardless of who the father was, as long as it was confirmed that the princess gave birth to a child, it was recognized as continuing the royal bloodline.
‘No, wait a minute. Is this really true?’
Minjun was confused by the knowledge that was floating up like a buoy. It was obvious that much of it did not match the present.
“Many Shutan women sometimes get confused because they have never been close to a man of the same race. My attitude today can also be interpreted as that confusion. I apologize if you felt uncomfortable because of the emotional confusion I felt.”
“······it’s okay.”
After we had sorted out the conversation like that, I asked about the part that had been bothering me the most.
“It seems that the Shutan people have a culture that values women’s chastity.”
“That’s right.”
“If you don’t mind, may I ask how old this tradition is?”
Then the princess made a puzzled expression. Rather than an expression that said she was asking all sorts of questions… it was an expression that seemed to say that she had never thought about such things. It was a reptilian face covered in scales, but Minjun was able to extract detailed and deep meaning from it. So easily.
“Well, most of the records of Shutan from before the Race War were lost, so we don’t know its origins.”
The keyword ‘race war’ was nowhere to be found in the echo-like memories of the deleted personality.
The princess continued.
“So, if I were to guess, I would say it’s a long-standing tradition that has lasted at least 800 years.”
All information about the race war in the Gelanco dimension was what ‘Ye Min-jun’ had recently studied.
The nation she belongs to is a confederation of various races, and the Shutanites have the lowest political status among the members. This is because they lost the racial war that led to the establishment of the United Kingdom.
The concept of joining the Union as a defeated race was closer to joining as a war criminal or colony.
‘You said that Shutan had the most overwhelming fighting ability, but that actually became poison. You said that all the other races fought among themselves?’
To put it simply, he was bullied and bullied alone.
After thinking for a moment, he spoke again.
“Many Earthlings believe that this visit is a stepping stone for the Stein people to immigrate to Earth.”
But it didn’t seem like that was the case, considering he had just said that he wanted to take her back to her hometown. The princess quickly agreed.
“I knew there were rumors going around. It’s a misunderstanding that you can only have because you don’t know us very well. The climate of the Earth is not suitable for us.”
“That’s true.”
“The weather is one thing, but look at this body. Keep in mind that I am ‘very’ small in stature considering the average for my race.”
The princess who spoke like that was about 2.5 meters tall. She was one meter shorter than the average for her race.
“This world does not have the capacity to accept us. Even if we were to make preparations, it would take a lot of time and resources.”
That was also a story that Minjun had no choice but to accept.
Even during the mass immigration of trolls, the entire society suffered because of their size, and at that time, each country had to revise important laws, especially building codes and road traffic laws, due to pressure from the committee. The average height of the trolls that caused the chaos was 1.5 times that of a human. If they were over 3 meters, it was impossible to even guess how much more social costs there would be.
“Then you really came here for business.”
Then the princess smiled faintly. The guilt and shame that had been tormenting her seemed to have subsided considerably during the conversation.
“Yes, if I handle this well… maybe I will be given the chance to give birth. Beating out the other princesses.”
The memories from Minjun’s deleted personality were telling. Once a Shutan woman gives birth to a fertilized egg, she stops ovulating for decades. This is because she has to focus all her resources and energy on raising the children until they become adults.
So what is the intention behind the restrictions on reproductive rights for the Steiners today?
It is not realistic to assume that the number of gold-producing creatures will increase indiscriminately. If everyone plants only onions in their fields because onions are booming, the result will be a sharp drop in onion prices the following year. Someone may be controlling the number of Shutans, considering the time until the newborn females become adults.
And they may be the same ones who, in the distant past, were dissatisfied with the fact that Shutan only laid one infertile egg a month.
They would also have thought that the biological characteristics of Shutan, which makes it impossible to produce unfertilized eggs for decades after producing one fertilized egg, were irrational.
Jiik!
At that moment, Bradley’s voice rang out from Minjun’s radio. After recognizing the content, he asked the princess a question.
“We’re almost at the Gongdeok Station you mentioned. Now, I think it’s time for you to tell me your exact destination.”
Princess Vermi’s movements were strangely cautious.
They were so afraid that the information might leak out, so they only gave a rough idea of the destination and gave detailed information right before.
The princess nodded as if it was time.
“I see. Tell everyone, including the bodyguards and drivers, what I said. We are currently on our way to a company called ‘Koryo Precision Pension.’”
Minjun’s expression hardened slightly when he heard that name. But he soon regained his calm expression and relayed her words through the walkie-talkie. After turning off the walkie-talkie, he asked the princess again.
“It’s none of my business, but do you have any plans in advance? If you suddenly barge in like this, they will…”
“It was intentional.”
I thought I misheard.
“yes?”
“They said it was planned to embarrass them.”
“?”
“You seem curious. Well, you can’t help but wonder why I came to Earth.”
The next moment.
The princess’s mouth split open, revealing serrated teeth.
“!”
Then, the atmosphere hovering over the dark green scales completely changed. The princess, who had been shy and unable to even look at Minjun’s face properly until a few minutes ago, disappeared.
Instead, what was left in that place was a single female warrior who embodied the virtues of the Shutan people with her entire body, boasting the brute strength to tear steel with her bare hands and famous for pursuing her prey to the ends of hell and biting off their windpipe.
The princess said with a bitter smile.
“I came to this world to collect long-term bad debts.”
Only then did Minjun learn the true purpose of Princess Vermi’s visit to Earth.
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It wasn’t some kind of pre-arrangement for the 8th group immigration.
She came here to collect a debt.
***
The princess was a surprise in many ways.
To begin with, the area around Gongdeok Station was outside the expected route submitted to the government, and there was no travel ban in place. Therefore, most of the employees of Goryeo Precision Pension went to work normally.
Princess Shutan’s visit was announced five minutes before the vehicle arrived, and the moment they got out of the parking lot and entered the lobby, the atmosphere of the company turned upside down was vivid. The board members who had obviously rushed out greeted the princess.
Princess Vermi looked at the sight with a leisurely gaze, then made a sound like rolling an iron ball on a piece of glass.
The interpreter, Olga, translated the words in a calm tone.
“Tell the boss to come out.”
The CEO, who had been away for an external meeting, said he was on his way back in a hurry. In the meantime, the security guards, including Min-jun, conducted a security check in the conference room they were guided to and confirmed that there were no abnormalities, both magically and physically. During this process, Min-jun’s expression remained slightly stiff. His eyes had strangely changed since he first heard the name of this company.
And after a while.
An old man entered, supported by a staff member.
“I apologize for keeping you waiting, Princess Vermi. I am the CEO of this company…”
The old man froze as he spoke.
His gaze was fixed on a man who looked unusually young among the bodyguards standing next to the princess.
After a brief, cold silence, the president spoke with a look of disbelief. Given the circumstances, this time he did not make the same slip of the tongue as he had a few days ago.
“Professor Ye Min-jun?”
“······.”
Minjun nodded silently and spoke to Oh Mansik.
“It’s really nice to see you again. Why in a place like this?”
The CEO of Goryeo Precision Pension was a former colleague that Minjun had met at the Witches’ Cooperative some time ago.
Oh Man-sik looked back and forth between Princess Bermi and Min-jun and muttered.
“Oh, I see. You’re an immigration agent. ······Yes. It’s not strange for an agent to escort an alien VIP.”
Then he shows a bitter smile.
“If I had known this would happen···.”
The omitted words bothered them, but they could not continue their private conversation in front of Princess Vermi. The princess was curious about their reactions, and when she heard that the two knew each other, she looked surprised.
But that was it.
Princess Vermi was a woman with a clear distinction between public and private matters.
“Since safety has already been confirmed, the security guards are to wait outside the conference room.”
They followed the interpreter’s instructions. Minjun waited quietly outside for the meeting to end. It wasn’t impossible to eavesdrop on the conversation inside, but he didn’t.
The days of being unable to control one’s curiosity are over, and I know full well that it is better to leave some things unknown than to know them.
Just by listening carefully to the amount of money the princess lent and Omanshik’s debt repayment plan, it is not possible to know about the Human Rights Solidarity’s terrorist plan.
‘That gentleman just so happened to be one of the princess’s debtors.’
The taste was bitter.
I knew that the alchemy companies outside of the Big Five were not having an easy time due to the fierce competition between biosynthetic gold and magical amalgamation gold for the gold market on Earth. I thought it was news that had nothing to do with me.
‘by the way.’
Rather than being curious, there were parts that I didn’t understand.
‘The princess of the Stein, who leads the biosynthetic gold market, lent money to an alchemy company on Earth?’
According to the amendment to the Alien Investment Act, it was not absolutely impossible.
But why did the executives and employees of this company, including Oh Man-sik, choose to become debtors to a competitor company, since they were not fools?
This is in a situation where the big players of the world are already playing a game of chicken to drive out the gold from Guelph.
‘You can probably guess that it’s not purely good intentions.’
If so, there was only one answer.
Either you borrowed it without knowing, or the creditor changed midway.
‘You could think of a case where the borrower borrowed money without knowing that the princess was behind it, or where the original creditor sold the debt to the princess.’
In any case, it is clear that there are evil intentions behind it.
‘The reason why the Shutanites must hold the bonds of the Earth’s alchemy companies is ultimately…’
It’s probably not my intention to lead this company to ruin like this.
If you want to grow your biosynthetic gold pie in the global gold market, you have to take down companies in the US or Europe, and no matter how big a Korean company is, it is only a second-tier company by international standards. This company was no different.
Then there was only one thing left.
‘Is that it, after all?’
The Shutan people, including Princess Vermi, seemed to be seeking to diversify their portfolio in relation to the gold production process.
