The Foreigner on the Periphery

The smell of urine and feces began to waft through the olfactory senses.

Minjun looked at the body hanging motionlessly under the shadow of a tree. The messy, swollen face on the tight rope made him wonder how the spirit could recognize that it was the same person as in the picture. Looking at the condition, it seemed as if a day or two had passed.

He checked the fingerprints.

‘It matches.'

The place that the spirit confirmed and what Lakefield told him ended up being in a small mountain near Seoul.

This was where Minjun encountered the body hanging from a tree.

There was a finely folded paper stuck in the back of his pocket. He opened it and read it quickly. The letter, which begins with an apology to those around him, stated that President Jang Tae- joon had long suffered from depression and received treatment and medication without telling anyone but made an extreme choice after thinking he could no longer endure it.

Information on how the funeral was going to be held, and how to proceed with the inheritance was discussed with the lawyer during his lifetime, and he did not forget the main point of asking for a "formal will with legal effect" in a separate place.

"The major shareholder and CEO of such a company took his own life out of personal reasons…"

Minjun looks up at the body once again.

"Well…"

A low mumble.

"Well done."

Lakefield issued a simple order to find a target that looked exactly like the picture while sending the spirit off. It's hard to find a resemblance to the picture with that terrible face right now, but the spirit seemed to have the ability to infer the condition before it was destroyed, also, with the ability to grasp subtle vibes that ordinary people couldn't notice.

The old spirit said that this thing couldn't be called a human being. He was able to know in no time by integrating his senses with the spirit.

This body looks like a human being, but it's not a human.

"Homunculus.

The cultivators of flasks.

Minjun was not in a good mood because of the old memories that were related to it.

However, he soon put his old thoughts aside and observed them with concentration.

"Since they used the same information as it was registered through CEO Jang Tae- joon's DNA, if we examine it, the results will come out saying it's correct."

In other words, the homunculus body itself was no different from a real human being.

Meanwhile, the spirit couldn't find the real Jang Tae-joon even after retrying. This suggested a lot of things. Minjun listed the questions that came to mind.

‘Why did he hang a fake body after waiting for a week of the disappearance being known? and why did he leave his house and chose a hill that's this far?'

More fundamental problems had to be solved in order to speculate on this.

"For what reason, who would have done this in the first place?'

Minjun decided to think under the assumption that Jang Tae-joon was an alien.

If that was the case, then who would benefit the most if his death ‘as a human being' was revealed at this point?

‘An heir without blood, presumably mentioned in the will.'

On the other hand, who would be suffering?

It is a country that cannot return illegal alien assets to the state coffers.

"If so, who did it?'

Whether Jang Tae-joon's intention was reflected or not, this was not something that could be made up by a 300 billion won market capitalization company. There were no real cases of Homunculus growing in flasks in this day and age. It took a large number of resources and could be implemented in Korea by the seven largest conglomerates.

‘It's getting far too big.'

The other question was, what value did this company's stock even for a plan such as this to be formulated? Minjun thought for a while about whether to continue this job or not.

And soon, a tentative decision was made.

‘Let's dig a little bit more, and if we think we can't find evidence that he's an alien, we pull out.'

The reason for not giving up at this stage was simple. High risk, high return.

If he could prove that an alien was intertwined in this big mess, not only would he be able to tear down a considerable amount of remuneration from the immigration office, but he would also be able to erase huge debts. Of course, he would get Talents as well from his real employer.

Minjun looked at the clock. 5 pm in the evening. It was close, but he decided to make a few calls.

"Yes, Soo-young. Send me a coffin here… it's time to wake up. It's almost sunset, so stop moaning. Yes, that's right. I'll send a picture of the location. No, it's clean. It's not that rotten. No, it's not the undead. I said it's not! I assure you. The coffin won't break. Yes, okay. please do."

Next, to Cathy.

"Lee Min-guk said he has not yet secured the will of CEO Jang Tae- joon, right?"

"Yes, I think it's hard."

If the Homunculus's body were to get handed over to the police this way, his death would be confirmed, and he will be released, but that was not what Minjun's employer wanted.

However, if the contents can be checked in advance before it gets released, there may be clues. Technically, of course, it's illegal.

"Where is the will kept?"

The immigration office might be trying by using moderately anomalous ways, but Minjun could also use extraordinarily anomalous ways. And so, he thought about making a move himself, but…

"The VIP safe at the headquarters of Chang-cheon Bank."

As soon as he heard that, Minjun erased the plan that had been forming his head.

"There was a reason why the immigration was struggling."

If it was the same level as the bank that had the robbery case last time, Minjun could have at least done something about it. But the place was impenetrable at all costs. Even if he died and woke up again, it still wouldn't have been possible.

"Okay, the will is a given up at this point. Instead, I should take a look at the house of CEO Jang Tae-joon."

***

His request was passed down to a company that managed the home through the immigration office. The next day, Minjun, who headed to a luxury residential area on time for his appointment and met with an unexpected person.

"Huh? why are you here, brother?"

"Huh, Jeongpal?"

The opponent was Lieutenant Park Chong-pal, who he encountered in the bank robbery a few days ago.

When the two organizations said they wanted to see the house at the same time, the company staff management, who couldn't grasp the situation, seemed to be humble, but he disappeared in a happy mood after they told him to go out and do his job as they would settle themselves.

Jeongpal seemed to have sensed the situation.

"What's going on? This is a double booking."

Jeongpal was also investigating the disappearance of CEO Jang Tae-joon. The immigration office and the National Police Agency launched an investigation with different routes.

"Wait a minute. Let me get this straight."

"What's there to sort out? You're going to ask me to assist you……oh! so that's why that bastard, the second team leader!

Jeongpal smiled as if he had noticed something. In the meantime, Minjun put a phone call into Cathy and waited calmly. And then.

"…Yes, yes. I understand."

After answering the phone call, Jeongpal spoke with a slightly darker look.

"From now on, I'm going to follow you around and fully cooperate."

Traffic control between the Immigration Office and the National Police Agency has been completed. Jeongpal found out why the second team leader coaxed the chief to pass the case on to him. He smelled it in advance.

‘Even if he solves the case, he's worried that the public will be transferred to the immigration office. He was saying he didn't want to be a jerk.'

The chief listened to all the complaints and passed them on to Jeongpal without even explaining why.

In fact, cooperating with the immigration office was not a big deal. It's not like he didn't know him since it was Minjun who owes him a few times. However, there was no way that the feelings towards the chief and the second team leader were going to be good.

‘You sons of bitches.'

Is this the only thing to be upset about while being a police officer? Jeongpal tried to calm down. Minjun also seemed to notice the situation.

"I know it sounds upsetting, but in my position, I'm glad you're here. It's better to work with a professional like you than to hang out with a bunch of thoughtless guys. If this goes well, let's share the compensation."

"Oh, no, that's fine. Just buy me a lot of drinks. What's between us.

After speaking, the two began searching all over the house. Minjun mainly searched for magical traces, and Jeongpal extracted data left on various electronic devices.

"Brother, I'll share the contents of the hard disk copy with you by tomorrow."

"Yes, please."

Then, he entered the room next to the kitchen.

"What's that noise?"

"What do you mean?"

Minjun searched every corner of the room along with the sound, but there was nothing special.

"Didn't you just hear something whirring?"

"I didn't hear it."

However, Minjun clearly heard a low voice.

"Well, it stopped for now. Did I hear it wrong? There's no way…Oh, wait!"

Minjun spoke while quickly putting his finger on his lips.

"Shh, shut up."

The sound was a little louder compared to before, and the murmur of air was circling around the house. Jeongpal, who was listening to it with a mysterious look on his face, seemed to take notice.

Whoops!

"Huh? Brother, this looks similar to a sword."

It sounded familiar to him as he used to handle swords before he started working as a cop.

"Really? Maybe there's an ego sword in the house. As expected, he haves a lot of money."

"Oh, wait!" Minjun's light bulb seemed to have lightened up in his head.

"It could be a clue."

Expectations were also raised in Jeongpal's eyes. He began moving silently, paying all his attention to hear. Jeongpal, who went after the sound, stopped his eyes at one place.

"…Is that it?"

What he looked at was not the sword he had expected, but a single-hand frying pan hung over the sink in the kitchen.

"Hmm."

It was obvious when I approached and observed. A slight vibration occurred on the surface of the frying pan that no one had touched, creating a calm echo. Jeongpal carefully grabbed the one and only handled.

"Whoops!!"

And in a second, he freaked out and let go of it. Thanks to his urgent release, as if he had been burned in his hands, the frying pan fell to the floor of the tile and made an annoying metal collision sound.

"You scared me! What's wrong?!"

"Bro, brother!"

"Why? Did it even speak?"

"Yes, it spoke!"

"……"

Minjun began to mumble inwardly. It wasn't an ego sword, but an ego frying pan?

Like a rice cooker with a recorded voice coming out when pressed, it was not hard to give a similar level of low ego into it.

However, the chances were high that Minjun would not be able to testify as he wanted to.

"If it speaks, it speaks. Why throw it?"

"No, that bastard… I mean, that frying pan is making weird noises!"

Minjun, who approached Jeongpal and stole his arm as if he were getting the goosebumps, picked up the frying pan that had fallen onto the ground.

And then, he threw it again.

"Oh, fuck!"

Curse words came out of the mouth naturally.

"What the fuck!"

He fully understood why Jeongpal had reacted like that, and also had no choice but to imitate the same. As soon as he grabbed the handle, telepathy with strange heat flowed into his head.

= Ahehhhhh! =

It was a mental wave that reminded him of something naturally without a choice. Minjun picked up the frying pan again, suppressing his urge to wash his hands with soap.

Then, a similar type of telepathy occurred.

= A-Ing… =

If it was to be replaced with voice language, it was an elastic combination of a snotty nasal voice and a mournful moan. Barely throwing it this time, Minjun asked the frying pan in a very unpleasant tone.

"What are you?"

It wasn't known whether it learned Korean or if it had a psychic sensitivity function, but the frying pan answered the question.

= Oh, ahhhhh! I'm sorry, it's been so long since someone's skin touched me. =

"……What?"

= The dust has been building up here for so long that I couldn't control myself. I'm sorryyyyyy! =

Minjun thought quietly for a moment whether he should just throw it away or not.

However, if it was a frying pan that had been left unattended in the house, it may have witnessed all the incidents here. Also, apart from the unpleasantness, Minjun noticed just from a few words of the conversation that the self-contained here was quite high-quality.  

It was almost a comparable perfection to the Ego sword.

"This made Jang Tae-joon's chances of being an ordinary human being even slimmer. This… is not an easy thing to get on Earth!"

What kind of crazy earthman would put such effort into a frying pan and not a sword?

Therefore, Minjun tried to keep the conversation under control while suppressing his psychological resistance.

"I'm going to ask you again. Who are you?"

= Thank you for asking! Who am I? Huhu…I am AI-powered cookware that copies some of the rituals and memories of the famous chef, Dignov Alcha-Taykyu, who represents the Elydom dimension! =

At that moment, Minjun visualized a telepathy that depicted the features of a chef. It was a furry middle-aged troll grinning with this frying pan. Covered with solid muscles, he was smiling while showing off his horns that symbolized masculinity. Apparently, it was like a profile picture for an advertisement.

"So, the thing that's talking right now is an artificial intelligence with a copy of that chef's ego and memory."

The frying pan poured out a lot of mental waves without getting tired of it.

= Not only do I have 1.92 million recipes representing the 245 dimensions but even if the outsider of the dish grabs me and shakes me through an Ultra-fine vibration wave emission function. As a result, a masterpiece is created where it gives you perfect and excellent taste…It is the secret weapon of housewives, the wizard of the kitchen, and that's not all! Since I can see and record objects within a radius of 3 meters, I can give you advice while looking at them together for the best choice when choosing ingredients. Also, I can understand and interpret any language through contact mental sympathy, so don't worry about the communication! Ahhhhh! =

Couldn't it finish a sentence without groaning? Minjun felt a deep irritation rising.

"Did Jang Tae-joon use you himself?"

= Yes, he used to use me a lot… Huhuhu! =

It occurred that whether Jang Tae-joon was a human or an alien, he was abnormal as well.

"I want to ask you something about Jang Tae-joon."

= Yes, of course, but before that…Could you do me a favor? =

Minjun asked bluntly, "What is it?"

= I am… =

Its mental waves were colored with shy emotions. Minjun had a bad feeling about it.

= Like you two did just a while ago, could you please throw me on the floor once more? It's been a while since I've felt it, and it's so thrilling… It's so nice and gracious to be treated relentlessly and coldly like this. =

"……"

= For your information, I'm a product made out of dark iron casting, so even if you throw me with all your force, you don't have to worry at all since I will never be bent or broken. Oh, but just in case, should we choose a Safe Word first? =

"……"

= Yes? Please, just once… I'm begging you. The neglect play is not bad, but it was just too long this time. I need some stimulation. =

When the artificial intelligence was being made, it seemed as if the secret taste of the famous chef named Dignov Alcha-Taykyu was also copied. Minjun thought about it seriously once again.

‘Should I just throw the bastard away the way it is?'