< 68. The Dragon Enthusiast, Dragon Hater, Dragon Butcher (2) >
Edward's eyes, having just made an unexpected request, were already those of someone who had made a firm decision. However, he could not entirely hide a trace of unease.
'Did he come here thinking of me as some kind of hitman?'
It was clear that Cassie had not heard about the specifics of this young master's request beforehand. If she had known, she would have put a stop to it right away.
Though Minjun was deeply displeased, he decided not to dismiss him immediately and listen further, primarily out of consideration for Cassie.
"I trust you will keep this matter confidential," Edward said.
Minjun responded coldly.
"Whether I accept or reject your request, I won't spread it around. But I hope this isn't the cliché story I'm afraid it might be."
A conglomerate heir requesting the murder of a woman and her children left Minjun with only one scenario in mind.
A vile plot to deal with a government secret and an illegitimate child all at once, conceived by the worst of the worst.
However, Edward did not immediately deny it, which only made Minjun more displeased.
"Please, hear me out. I believe you will understand me if you listen until the end."
Edward took out a tablet PC and showed a photo.
"This is the extraterrestrial I'm requesting."
The woman in the photo was a blonde elf. Given the length of her ears, she was a pureblood, unlike Edward, who had mixed blood.
Of course, elves from other worlds could exist. Even humans without Earth citizenship are considered aliens, and even a furry sea cucumber is an Earthling if it has citizenship.
"So you want her dead?"
"Yes."
"And why?"
He murmured in a gloomy voice.
The story began from the time of their meeting.
"I first saw her ten days ago."
'Ten days? So it's not a request to deal with an illegitimate child.'
This made it even more confusing, but Minjun decided to listen further.
"When I first saw her, I fell for her instantly. But... she politely refused."
"It seems the timing wasn't right."
"Yes, she said she wasn't planning on meeting any men for at least the next hundred years. As you might know, when pureblood elves say such things, they are often serious, not just hoping or guessing. I thought so too."
Elves, who live for over a thousand years, have lower reproductive rates compared to orcs, who have shorter lifespans. Some orcs, who take pride in their strength and fertility over elves, mock them as if they are impotent, but that's not quite accurate. A more precise description would be "intermittent sexual desire."
In other words, pureblood elves have a default state of asexuality, and feeling such desires in their long lives is very rare. It can happen every year at the shortest, or every few hundred years at the longest. Once they are ignited, their desire burns long, but the initial spark is extremely difficult.
Therefore, during the early days of collective migration, wealthy humans who wanted to gift their descendants the elves' long lifespan faced difficulties. Elves who agreed to marriage for social advancement still refused to engage in physical relations, demanding that humans wait until they felt like it.
Since waiting could extend over a hundred years, humans naturally could not comply and initially tried using alcohol, which failed. Elves, with their keen sense of smell, have never liked alcohol, whether in the past or present. Humans' desperate measures led to cocaine and heroin, which was possible back then.
Of course, with the development of artificial insemination technology today, everything has become much easier. The half-elf in front of him was likely born through such means.
Edward continued.
"I was anxious. She seemed like someone I could meet only once in a lifetime. It was a feeling I had never experienced before."
This was an overly personal story to share here.
Minjun realized that revealing such details was likely a ploy to justify the forthcoming confession.
"So what happened?"
"... I took off my sunglasses and approached her to speak."
"And then?"
"Somehow..."
Edward Mitchum confessed.
He said that they ended up having relations with mutual consent.
Minjun did not believe such nonsense.
"Did you reveal that you are a vampire to her?"
"... No."
Minjun shot him a contemptuous look. He had used his abilities to seduce an elf who wasn't in the mood.
"That's rape."
The vampire's charm ability, when abused, can cause great harm to society. However, many avoid punishment due to the ambiguous legal application.
"I regret it."
Edward said in a dark tone.
"Truly, I regret it deeply."
Minjun did not hide his disgust as he asked.
"Didn't the bodyguards waiting in the parking lot of the building stop you?"
Edward flinched.
The heir to a conglomerate wouldn't be wandering around alone. The bodyguards stationed below, not informed to Minjun, would have accompanied him when meeting the woman.
"You are impressive, as expected."
Edward's face grew a bit paler.
"It's all my fault. My attendants tried to dissuade me, but I insisted. As a result, I'm facing this."
He touched the tablet and played a video.
"After exchanging contact information the next day, she went silent. And exactly three days later... I received this video."
In the video, the blonde elf spoke in a calm voice from an unknown location.
She was holding a child in her arms. The child's ears were shorter than a pureblood elf's but longer than a human's, indicating a typical half-elf trait.
The woman opened a newspaper from the day the video was filmed, three days after their separation.
She then spoke to the camera.
She claimed that this child was Edward Mitchum's offspring.
The baby was the result of Edward's rape, and if his demands weren't met, she would not only report this to the media but also claim inheritance rights as a biological child.
Minjun's face contorted in disbelief. He couldn't make sense of the situation.
"No, wait a minute. You definitely said you first met ten days ago..."
Elves' pregnancy periods are not significantly different from humans'.
Moreover, the child in the video appeared to be over a hundred days old.
When Minjun pointed this out, Edward was nervously washing his face. He muttered in despair.
"Please, continue watching... Agent."
The elf on screen suddenly picked up a large pair of scissors.
Then she slowly brought them to the baby's face.
"?!"
As Minjun drew a breath, the woman used the sharp scissors to cut a handful of the baby's newborn hair and placed it into a separate container.
She then calmly continued her actions. She put a cotton swab into the struggling baby's mouth and scraped it firmly. That too went into the container.
"That was also delivered to me."
Edward claimed, despite thinking it was absurd, that he had secretly requested a genetic analysis. Of course, anonymously.
"What were the results?"
He answered with a groan.
"It's indeed my child. With a 99.99% probability."
This implied that the paternity test had been completed. Minjun shook his head.
"This is impossible. To conceive and give birth in just three days?"
As Minjun questioned this, a hypothesis arose in his mind.
"Could you have mistaken something? Perhaps you met her separately a year ago?"
"That never happened."
"Even if it wasn't her, it could be someone else's child that you're using to concoct this scheme."
"Please watch the next video, Agent."
He played a new video.
Minjun felt as if he were possessed by a ghost.
"My God."
This video was delivered three days after the previous one.
In a similar location and attire, the woman spoke to the camera. Opening the morning newspaper was also the same.
However, this time, there was an additional character.
"Twins?"
The woman was holding two similarly looking babies.
The following scenes were not much different. DNA samples were taken from various parts of the babies' bodies.
"Did that also get delivered?"
"Yes. And the result for that child as well... is that it is mine."
Edward said with a pale face.
"What's even scarier is what the woman says at the end of the video. If her demands are not met, she says she will give birth to another child in three days."
"?!"
What on earth is that supposed to mean?
If she says she'll give birth if her demands aren't met, it sounds like she might not give birth if her demands are met.
The most absurd part was the three-day timeline.
It's not like she's some kind of baby-making machine...
"It must be that she gave birth to twins from the start."
The half-elf shook her head.
"If that were the case, there would at least be triplets."
"Could it be?"
There was yet another video.
"..."
For now, that was the last one. The child on screen had grown to three, and once again, DNA samples confirming paternity were delivered.
'Wait a minute.'
Something caught Minjun's eye in the final video.
'The other two babies look a bit older than in the previous video.'
The growth spurt in just a few days was not normal.
As Minjun stared at the video, Edward spoke.
"When I first saw the results of the genetic analysis, I thought the children were homunculi. But the lab that conducted the analysis said otherwise. They are not children that were simply cloned. They are beings created from a combination of the genes of two individuals, born through normal means. In fact, the genes of the children do not even match completely. They are not clones."
"Wait, then..."
The paternal genes are confirmed to be Edward's.
But what about the maternal genes?
Edward revealed the answer.
"The maternal DNA belongs to a species unknown to Earth."
He spoke with certainty.
"That woman was not a pureblood elf. She was an illegal polymorph who appeared before me."
Minjun racked his brain.
There are indeed rare species that can store a male's sperm within their bodies for a long time through a single mating, continuously 'recycling' it to produce offspring.
But a species that can conceive and give birth in just three days from mating with another species?
Although he had thought about the past ecology of the Shutan people, he remembered nothing about this keyword.
"We need to find her quickly. She's threatening to give birth to another child in three days if her demands are not met. Yes, I know. It could be quadruplets. But what then?"
"Why do you think she's making these threats?"
"I think if I don't meet her demands, she plans to have as many children as possible and file a paternity lawsuit. If the speculation that she can give birth to as many children as she wants is true."
A groan escaped Minjun's lips.
Under Korean law, there is a system called the reserved portion.
If Edward's inheritance were, for example, two million won, at least one million won would be allocated to his children, no matter what the will says.
And if there are five children? One million won divided by five equals 200,000 won, which is the minimum inheritance each child would secure.
But... what if there were a hundred children?
If Edward only wanted one child but the alien gave birth to a hundred, how would the distribution work?
"It would definitely be recognized as children under current laws."
Regardless of the maternal species or whether she is an illegal alien or a permanent resident. Whether the child was born from rape or conceived for other purposes, it does not affect the legal interpretation.
A child born from two parents is classified as a biological child and has inheritance rights.
"But does that mean you want me to kill all those children? That's absurd."
Moreover, it's not entirely impossible to evade inheritance with some tricks. Though it would definitely cause quite a stir in the media.
Having considered all this, Minjun prepared to dismiss Edward.
"I... never wanted such children. Children born in such a grotesque manner are not my children, no matter how much the genes match! Such aliens that give birth this way and children born in such a manner should not exist in this world!"
Minjun let those words slip by.
Before issuing the final judgment, Minjun asked one last question purely out of curiosity.
"So, what exactly is that woman demanding? Is it a vast amount of money equivalent to an expected inheritance?"
"Yes, she is demanding money. But... it's an amount that I simply cannot mobilize."
"How much?"
Minjun's expression turned cold at the following words.
"It's not money that can be obtained on Earth... she is demanding an actual physical form of 'dalar,' a type of interstellar currency."
Minjun did not give a definitive answer about accepting the request and sent Edward away. Although he was visibly anxious, Minjun reassured him that he would keep the matter confidential before sending him off.
Minjun needed time to think.
He needed more information before making a decision.
'What kind of species could she be?'
Based solely on the nature of the request, Minjun's involvement was not necessary.
It was clear that the illegal polymorphing was a crime, and the threats against Edward were also criminal.
If the confirmed method of childbirth was genuine, she could be considered an illegal alien since she is not registered with Earth.
However, it was difficult to view the ability to give birth in a manner different from humans or elves as a crime. Though one could ethically condemn the use of childbirth as a means of extortion.
'At this point, I could just pass it on to any agent other than myself.'
Nevertheless, what concerned him was the dalar the alien was demanding as compensation.
'Could she know something?'
But there were too few clues at the moment.
Thus, Minjun decided to identify the species first. He wanted to determine what other abilities or behavioral traits the species might have beyond what he had already learned.
A species with no information available. Who should he ask in such a case?
Minjun turned on his computer and, after a long time, sent a mass email through the spirit world's communication network. The recipients were other inmates assigned to missions across various dimensions.
After listing the characteristics he had learned from Edward and asking if anyone knew about such a species.
Just a few minutes later:
Ding!
'Hmm, already?'
Someone had quickly responded.
Sender: Asif-26,188,280
Message: What the heck, just seeing the sender's name made me think it was a mistake! Other... (omitted)
'It's that lively guy.'
An old colleague who had just started their sentence and was still full of energy. Minjun opened the message to read the rest.
...I thought it was news about me when I got a message from you. Turns out it was a mass email. Anyway, by the way, I've been assigned to Earth!
It seemed he was coming to Earth as a replacement for Bradley, who had died during a mission.
Minjun skimmed through the continuation of the message with indifference.
By the way, what kinds of species live on Earth? What species are you currently inhabiting? I really hope it's not just another human... Human bodies are so weak that I don't feel motivated to carry out missions. If you're going to give me something, make it a robust and versatile body like a dragon. So, speaking of... (omitted)
Minjun kept flipping through the messages but found no answers to his inquiry. The remaining content was just filler, which made him frown.
'Anyway, since his new assignment is in the U.S., it's unlikely that I'll have to deal with him if he comes to Earth.'
As he was about to close the message, one line caught his eye again.
If you're going to give me something, make it a robust and versatile body like a dragon?
Minjun chuckled.
'A dragon's body for an inmate.'
It was a clear sign of how brief his time in labor re-education had been. As far as Minjun knew, no inmate had ever received a dragon's body, not a single one.
'This guy has big dreams.'
Minjun muttered as he closed the message.
Suddenly, he had an odd thought.
'Come to think of it... why is there none?'
A strong body would make it easier for inmates to carry out missions.
Even if it's not a great dragon, giving them a body of a young dragon just over a hundred years old would provide a powerful weapon compared to humans.
'Now that I think about it, I've seen all sorts of species' bodies among the inmates, but none have been dragons.'
Was there a specific reason for this exception?
It couldn't be that the committee was worried about inmates' power surging too much.
Even if a few inmates had dragon bodies, the committee should have enough control to handle it.
'Why? Why is it only dragons that are excluded?'
Minjun's thoughts deepened.
< 68. Dragon Lover, Dragon Hater, Dragon Abuser (2) > End