The Foreigner on the Periphery (English Translation)

Three Ways to Kill a Boss (7)

Minjun quietly organized the information he had just heard in his mind. It was a hypothesis pieced together from circumstantial evidence, but it was a plausible scenario.

Above all, Executive Director Kim Yeon-ju was suspicious.

Although his questions about the motive weren't entirely resolved, Minjun knew that desire, by nature, is hard to interpret logically. Even when it isn't necessary, the desire to possess something can bloom simply because it's visible or within reach.

'Should I wrap this up soon?'

He had now pinpointed a fairly credible suspect, knew her current location, and had the know-how to interrogate her effectively. It was the perfect time to leave for Hyosung Industries without hesitation. However, there was a small issue.

Minjun didn't want to.

"Hm, well…"

Whether Jang Tae-jun researched dragon genes or snake genes, he no longer wanted to be involved in this case. While the alien scent in the case had weakened, the potential annoyances had exceeded a level where he could just brush them off.

Above all, it didn't seem like there would be any profit to be made.

"So, I should have mentioned this a bit earlier…"

Minjun made an exaggeratedly serious expression, setting a tone as though it was difficult to bring up.

However, the elf ignored his theatrical emotional performance and said, "If Agent Minjun hesitates, you are to give them this letter."

She took out an envelope and handed it to him.

The desk where Minjun sat was equipped with a luxurious desk pad made of gargoyle leather and an antique paper knife clearly crafted by a dwarf artisan. Chairman Jenkinson had clearly anticipated this reaction.

"He recommended reading it right here," she added.

Feeling a sense of foreboding, Minjun opened the seal and took out the contents.

"…"

The letter began with "To my dear old friend with whom I've had ties for a long time," and after reading it to the last line and confirming the dragon's seal, Minjun had to admit the truth: Chairman Jenkinson's determination to resolve this case was much more serious than he had initially thought.

He couldn't deny that the promise within the letter had made his resolve waver like a reed.

"…"

The reason Minjun sat there for over a minute, hesitating and biting his lip after reading it, was simple.

"…I suppose I'll accept it this time for the sake of the chairman's dignity."

He hadn't immediately agreed to avoid making it seem too easy.

Jeongpal was waiting for Minjun in the parking lot.

"What happened?"

After explaining what had happened upstairs, Minjun asked him.

"So, what are you going to do, Jeongpal? The chairman's point is this: Whoever that young dragon is who hired Society, don't worry. He'll back you up, so just prove the charges. Find Jang Tae-jun's whereabouts along the way."

Because of a kind of unwritten rule made for the dignity and camaraderie of the dragon community, the chairman couldn't step forward. Therefore, if Minjun proved the criminal act of the scaly thunderbolt on his behalf, he would be compensated.

"You're asking me to scratch an itch for you."

"And he's guaranteeing that there won't be any repercussions for touching a dragon."

Minjun then shared part of the contents of the letter. The personal promises Jenkinson had made.

He didn't reveal everything because he wasn't trying to monopolize it. The omitted details would make the explanation complicated, and besides, they were of no use to Jeongpal, and knowing them could be dangerous.

So, Minjun only mentioned the parts related to Earth currency.

"What?! Really? That much?!"

Jeongpal was stunned, his mouth agape at the unexpected sum.

"And if you keep working with me, I think the distribution of rewards will be…"

Before Minjun could finish, Jeongpal started the car.

-Vroom!

"Where to next?"

"Let's go to Hyosung Industries. I'll enter the address into the navigation."

-Whoo!

As Jeongpal started the car, the ego frying pan carelessly thrown on the backseat began to resonate and make noise.

"Why's that guy acting like that again?"

When Minjun had met the chairman's secretary early in the morning, he couldn't guarantee how the situation would turn out. If he managed to push his own will through, he would naturally back off, but now that Chairman Jenkinson was involved, his predictions had become unclear.

So, he had decided to bring the frying pan with him in case the situation flowed as he wished, planning to return it to Jang Tae-jun's house afterward.

But since it hadn't gone that way, he thought he'd hold on to it a little longer.

-Whooo! Whoo!

The frying pan didn't need to be touched to hear the conversation, but to connect telepathically, they had to hold the handle.

"Is he asking to be touched on the handle…? To be grabbed?"

"...I guess so?"

Minjun decided to ignore it for a while. He had a lot to think about.

Lost in a dilemma that didn't have an easy answer, the car arrived at Hyosung Industries.

When they arrived at the meeting room, the person they were waiting for appeared.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. The executive meeting just ended."

Kim Yeon-ju, the executive director, was a woman in her mid-40s. She held a Ph.D. in pharmacy and had been with Jang Tae-jun since the company's early days. She shook hands with both Minjun and Jeongpal, but there was no ring on her fingers.

Jeongpal introduced Minjun as a police colleague.

'Hmm?'

Sniff, sniff. Minjun subtly inhaled the scent. As soon as the person entered, the fragrance in the room changed. It wasn't due to cosmetics or perfume. If he had to compare it, it was a type of scent similar to the one given off by the elf, which had once overwhelmed his senses when he was with the chairman's secretary.

The reason Minjun disliked the elf's scent wasn't anything special. He was extremely sensitive to that type of fragrance—chemicals commonly referred to as pheromones on Earth.

"I gave the human police officer who came last time all the details," she said.

The officer who had conducted the interview back then was Team Leader of the Special Crimes Unit 2, who had handed the case over to Jeongpal. He had pretended to investigate but ended up running away to the immigration department, not wanting to get involved with the elf's serial disappearance case.

"There are a few things I want to go over again. Thank you for your cooperation," Jeongpal said, listing off a few standard questions.

Had Jang Taejun shown any suspicious behavior? Where was the last place he had been seen? Basic questions like these. Kim Yeonju responded with a clear expression of irritation, as if saying, "I have to say this again?"

"Was there anything unusual about him before he disappeared? Any new people around him?"

"Well, we didn't really talk much about personal matters."

"I heard that you and the chairman have been working together since the beginning of the company. That's quite a long connection..."

"Just because we've known each other for a long time doesn't mean we have to be close. We were just colleagues. We didn't interfere in each other's personal lives."

Her rejection was too strong.

Did she really need to be so harsh when talking about a colleague she had worked with for so long, whom she didn't even know whether alive or dead?

Minjun's gaze deepened. He was staring at her cleanly trimmed nails, which had never seen a nail art design.

"I'll ask one more thing."

"I really hope you don't ask the same questions again," she replied.

Though asking the same question in a different form to catch inconsistencies was a traditional method of investigation, Jeongpal's intention here was different. Minjun had asked him to buy some time.

While the executive spoke, Minjun stared intently at her face. He was briefly forgetting about the scent and focusing on something else.

'This feeling... this isn't unfamiliar. Where have I felt this before? Who was it?'

This déjà vu didn't come from her appearance, her tone, or the atmosphere.

It was the unique magic-user's sense that was fiddling with the drawer handle of his old memories.

'Right... she's in a state where her life force is vaguely draining. It's not drained enough to be considered a black magic sacrifice, but it's also insufficient to be considered in a natural state. Where did I see such a thing?'

It didn't take long for the lightbulb to go off in his head.

'Ah, yes! Those who had vampire traits back in the day were always frail like this!'

It wasn't surprising that it took a moment for him to recall. Those born with vampire traits no longer directly sank their fangs into human bodies for blood. Such behavior was now considered barbaric, like inserting a hose into a deer's neck and extracting blood.

Since the 1980s, the vampire community, concerned about various diseases and parasites, had actively discouraged such practices. They were replaced by safer methods, like using blood bags or erythrocyte drinks.

'If blood is drained through magical or curse-like means, the life force is also absorbed. Vampire feeding falls into that category. If it happens repeatedly, the person ends up in that state.'

As a dark magician, it was only natural for Minjun to sense the loss of life force.

To him, it seemed like she had only lost a minimal amount, just enough not to pose a threat to her life.

But the real question was, did Kim Yeonju have some outdated vampire boyfriend she was seeing?

"Executive Kim, I saw on the news yesterday that Hyoseong Industries' board of directors resolved to repurchase company stock and acted on it. Is that possible when the chairman, the major shareholder, is missing?"

She slightly rolled her eyes and replied.

"We've already disclosed it on the exchange and made the board meeting minutes public. Before he disappeared, the chairman had already delegated his voting rights to me."

"That's strange. It almost sounds like he predicted he would go missing," Minjun said.

"I don't know what the chairman was thinking," she answered indifferently, rubbing the back of her neck.

Minjun could read the hidden anxiety in her voice.

'It's clearly a strange story. But unless there's proof, I can't just accuse her because it sounds odd. She's acting so confidently, but something's off.'

He continued observing her quietly.

Then Minjun realized one more thing about Kim Yeonju: aside from the loss of life force and the anxiety she was hiding, there was something else very peculiar about her.

'She's a truly unusual person.'

Minjun didn't think that Chairman Jenkinson knew about this in advance, but sending him here was a wise decision. If it weren't for him, he wouldn't have been able to uncover all of this.

Finally, he figured out the identity of the scent he had noticed when she first entered the room.