The Foreigner on the Periphery

Chapter 11: Three Ways To Murder Your Boss (8)

"Are the questions over? I'm sorry, but I'm a little busy as of the moment."

Jeongpal looked at his colleagues, asking whether or not this was enough time with his eyes. At this, Minjun finally opened his mouth.

"I heard that another executive of the company reported the disappearance."

"Doesn't it mean that we all need to call the police one at a time, just because it's confidential information that's being shared by executives?"

"I heard that Managing Director Kim Yeon-joo objected to the report."

"I thought it was too hasty a choice. It might come back soon."

"Did you know the CEO well enough to judge that way?

".Hm."

Since they had been working together for over ten years, it would be fine to say that they knew each other very well, but there was no outright reply to this. If there had been, it would've been a contradiction to sharing one's private life.

Minjun then spoke once more. "If the CEO disappears like this, who do you think will benefit the most from the company?"

She gave an exaggerated smirk at this. "Isn't that particular question too explicit?"

"Are you comfortable with my question."

Kim Yeon-joo then grabbed the armrest of the chair.

"There's nothing to gain or lose from this. It's not just me, I'm sure everyone in this company feels the same."

"How do you think the president's feeling now?"

"I wish I could be somewhere safe and healthy."

"Don't you, by any chance, have a great liking for non-human creatures?

".Hm."

She looked as if she had been stabbed out of the blue by this particular question. As if this was the catalyst they needed, the executive director's expression shook for a moment. He must've been aware of that fact himself. Tension flew through the air.

Bingo!' Minjun's expression lit up.

"You see, I have some special abilities."

He pointed at his nose with a finger.  

"I've never heard of such a power." In the end, instead of denying further, the Managing Director blushed and confessed, "Yes, that is correct. I am an ISP presenter. But what does that have to do with the current investigation?"

ISP. The Interspecific Sex Pheromone.

It was one of the biological mysteries that had not yet been elucidated. Originally, it was common knowledge that pheromones only affected individuals of a genus capable of breeding, just like a mutant.

A typical example was the poem Serpent, who was the tragic love affair of the Salamanders in fairy tales that managed to hit all dimensions.

Minjun habitually stared at the string that was visible only to his own eyes.

1. Performing special missions commissioned by the Agency"

.

.

.

4. identification of how some idiosyncratic individuals release pheromones in order to attract non-breeding species: 50,000 talents

With this, Minjun asked another question, "What kind of species does a manager like you affect?

Upon hearing this, Executive Director Kim Yeon-joo's expression turned into one of open anger.

It was a deliberately rude question, and Minjun could sense a clumsy direction in that response. It seemed like he was trying to convince them that he was angry right now.

However, instead of making an aggressive gesture, Kim Yeon-joo grabbed the opposite elbow. She enacted a barrier that could protect the body, her mouth opening slightly and her eyes tense.

Behind this expression, however, her anxiety was still evident.

"I have no reason to divulge my personal story here."

"They say that ISPs need frequent contact with the species to develop. So, it must be   race that had secured a certain number of individuals on Earth, as well as a social life."

"You!"

"Except for elves and orcs that can have children with humans. The races that satisfy the conditions are trolls, goblins, dragons"

When he said Dragon,' Kim Yeon-joo's pupils contracted for a very short time. This was a change that couldn't be detected with ordinary eyesight.

I'm here now.'

Towards Kim Yeon-joo, who was now walking towards the door with an angry expression, Minjun threw one last word.

"Since when have you known Edelines?"

"!"

A chilly air then descended into the room.

The Managing Director said she could no longer answer rude questions and left. Jeongpal and Minjun, who then returned by car, parked their cars in a public parking lot near Hyosung.

"Are you sure that it's strange?"

When asked to guess CEO Jang Tae-joon's current feelings,' Jeongpal began to feel confident about the answer, I'll be safe and well somewhere.'

When he tried to imagine his psychological state,' what he got was, safety and survival' mentioned in a bizarre way.

"What do you think, Jeongpal? The most important question for us is What happened to CEO Jang Tae-joon?"

"It must be one of the two. One was kidnapped by a dragon. The two knew in advance that they would be kidnapped by the dragon as well as hid themselves."

The dragon in the world these days planned to kidnap a middle-aged business owner who lived in a luxury house in Hannam-dong, instead of the princess of the high spire.

"But from the beginning, I thought that the first possibility was low, but seeing Managing Director Kim Yeon-joo's reaction formulated my guess."

"Okay, continue."

"If it's true that the dragon's been caught did you say your name was Edeline? President Jang Tae-joon would have spit out all the stock he asked of the dragon, and then blew up the location of the secret safe. It must've been so difficult."

However, the stake of President Jang Tae-joon was still intact, and Yong-eun had entrusted this commission to the Society.

"I think so."

"Then that means he ran away voluntarily Why did he run away at night instead of entrusting his identity to the cops?"

"Isn't it a bit weak to say it was because I was an alien? If it had been hidden until now, it would be possible to hide it after reporting it to the police. Was he scared because his opponent was a dragon? How else did he know that it was a dragon that was aiming for him?"

He scoured the hard disk and call logs, but there was no evidence that he was feeling threatened.

And

That homunculus.'

Minjun hadn't told Jeongpal about it yet, nor had he reported it to the immigration office. If he had asked Lakefield one day late, the fake body would have been found, and the stock would have been inherited.

Who else made that up? Kim Yeon-joo? Are you really Jang? This is quite impossible unless, one of the seven chaebols is entangled.'

It was not possible for a young dragon or a man who was being suspected of being an alien, but was barely running a business as it was.

"By the way, how did you come up with the dragon's name? Executive Director Kim Yeon-joo's reaction was as if she had witnessed a grim reaper."

"Oh, what? It's nothing."

Minjun then explained the reasoning process that was able to reduce the number of dragon suspects to three. Jeongpal listened with interest, hinting that this might be the first time he had heard of such a story. In addition to this, he was just trying to find out why he had said Edeline's name.

• Whoa! Whoa!

The frying pan then started resonating again.

"Ah, that annoying bastard Really!"

He aggressively reached for the back seat and grabbed the handle. It was hard not to swear when something was interfering with your work.

= Oh! Sorry! I'm really sorry! When I heard that you were going to Hyosung, I was trembling because I had something to tell you, but it seemed like you were talking about someone I know again =

"Who knows?"

= Yes, it's the playing sister! =

Minjun's eyes turned cold once again.

President Jang Tae-joon would definitely not have commuted to work with this frying pan in his hand. By the way, how did that ego even know that there was no non-existence?

"Do you know Executive Director Kim Yeon-joo?"

Jeongpal, who could not hear the mental waves of the frying pan, was surprised only by then.

= Yes, I do! =

"How?"

= I know because I saw her at Tae-joon's house! In the past, she came like once or twice a week to sleep she's been busy for some reason. =  

"Hm."

Then

"Oh, bro! I can hear voices."

When he met Kim Yeon-joo, there was a reason why Minjun had asked Jeongpal to take his time was not just to find out what was suspicious.

• Whoa! Supportive!

Minjun had cast a magic on Kim Yeon-joo's body so that she wouldn't notice. This was the type of eavesdropping magic followed one around all day, absorbed sounds from its surroundings, and then proceeded to transmit them to the magician,

A stream of words came from the crystal ball that had been placed in the middle of the vehicle. After they left, there was only silence, so it was only now that they heard a voice again.

She was calling now. After a long period of ringing, the other party eventually answered.

"Uh-huh? Keep it short."

When Minjun raised his hand to increase the magic sensitivity, even the sound of the receiver was clearly audible. The opponent ended up being a woman with a blunt tone of voice. As soon as the connection was made, Kim Yeon-joo spoke urgently in a repressed voice.

"Two detectives just went there!"

It was definitely worth shaking her out of the office. The child then moved right away.

While urgently explaining what had happened, the other party remained silent.

".Hm."

At this, Kim Yeon-joo shouted nervously, "Why are you not talking? How are you going to do this? You should've already done it in the first place? How can you not find a single person until now?"

"Stop staring. You know I've been doing my best."

"The police have already been tracking us all to this extent. Since it's a dragon, shouldn't we at least find it before humans or orcs? What kind of dragon can't even summon a spirit!"

Jeongpal's eyes widened. He had to hold his breath and waited for the next word.

"Don't be stupid. Elemental friendliness is a trait that doesn't show up well with dragons. I've been working hard these days, haven't I? Do you know how many elves I have caught so far in order to find Jang Tae-joon?"

With this, the same event flashed through their minds at the same time.

The elf serial disappearance case.

This was the case where the head of the 2nd Career Detective Team passed over the disappearance of Jang Tae-joon to Jeongpal.

"They don't have enough spirit skills, so what should I do if I haven't been able to find them?"

The person on the phone continued to shriek for some more time, though after a while, began speaking in a slightly calmer tone.

"Don't be too fussy and wait for a while. One elf caught today vomited some interesting information. Even among them, there was a talented hermit elemental who's apparently extremely rare?"

"Okay?"

"Huh. Even if I insisted that there really weren't any bastards who are better at spirits than you, they'd keep their mouths shut and buttered for a few hours. Then, after saying hello, with the color of the left eye as well as the color of the right eye, I barely blew by. I didn't even have to beat that little girl thanks to that."

The other party over the receiver had a grin on his face as he spoke. "So I was on my way to catch that great spirit sage. Oh, I'm here now. Just please cut it off."

Only then did they realize that the person on the phone had been talking outdoors.

There then came the sound of footsteps. After a while, with a duller sensitivity, a voice came through the receiver.

"Ah It's a guest Welcome! Boss, we have a guest!"

At this, the two froze.  

What could be heard in the background was a familiar goblin's voice, one which Minjun and Jeongpal knew very well.