Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
60. Party (8)
After exchanging the device codes with the Crow Demon King’s representative, MITRON’s patissier, we parted ways.
As I finished looking around the hotel and shopping for daily necessities, I received a call from Jeon Mu-yeong saying it seemed they would be late.
‘Should I rest until the two of them come back?’
The Phantom Thief Neon’s notice letter created many variables.
It was difficult to make any plans without information, so I thought it would be better to go to sleep.
There were a nine hours difference between Korea and Britain.
As it was a quite big time difference, and I went overseas after a long time, I thought I would have trouble adjusting to the time difference, but I was unexpectedly fine.
When I was young, perhaps because I had a chess competition ahead of me, or perhaps because I came from another region, I was on edge and couldn’t sleep — and it took a few days for me to get used to the time difference.
It may be simply because of the time I slept this week, but for whatever reason, unlike those time times, when I struggled, now I slept soundly without dreams and woke up.
‘Is it because my physical strength as a Player is better?’
After waking up, the two people, Seong Gukeon and Jeon Mu-yeong were still absent.
As I turned on the device and checked the time, compared to how soundly I slept, less time than I expected passed, but in contrast to that, the messages were piling up.
The first one to catch my eye was the message sent by my disciple.
[Yeom Junyeol] Master-nim, hello.
[Yeom Junyeol] Did You return to the dormitory? When I returned home I was surprised when master-nim wasn’t there.
[Yeom Junyeol] (stamp)
Yeom Junyeol sent a stamp of Hongryong looking at the sky with a somewhat depressed face.
But when worrying about Yeom Junyeol, who was busy with the Student Council’s president’s work and Playlist incident, didn’t Yong Jegeon say to leave the aftermath to him!?
Luckily, as if Yong Jegeon did convey my words, another message arrived with a slight time gap.
[Yeom Junyeol] Jegeon hyung told me that master-nim went to Britain, but while talking about master-nim’s actions, Jegeon hyung looked to be in an extremely good mood, so I’m worried about master-nim.
For a moment, I thought ‘what are you saying’ that you’re worried about me because Yong Jegeon looked to be in a good mood.
But after thinking it through, if I saw Yong Jegeon being in a good mood while talking about someone, I would be a bit worried too.
Because it seemed that that person would be involved in the incident worthy for Yong Jegeon to be happy about.
[Yeom Junyeol] But it may just be that Jegeon hyung is in a good mood because he had an argument with his Friend.
What is that sound?
The first moment I saw the added word, I couldn’t understand what he was saying right away and thought that I read the message wrong, so I read it twice.
Saying that the reason Yong Jegeon was happy was because he had an argument with a friend was somewhat strange, but considering how the playful[1] dragon teased his friend, it was understandable.
Yong Jegeon’s only friend was Kim Sinrok.
I guess after we departed, Yong Jegeon got into a fight with Kim Sinrok over it.
‘As he enjoyed bringing up Seong Gukeon’s story and openly scratching his insides and instigating, and watching from the side, it would be enough to hear a word from Kim Sinrok.’
In the grand scheme of things, Yong Jegeon seemed to act for his friend.
But from Kim Sinrok’s standpoint, it would be like being hit by a bolt out of the blue with the matter from the past that he barely buried.
‘It seems that Kim Sinrok also feels sorry for Seong Gukeon who mourns his master’s death…’
It seemed that Seong Gukeon spent time mourning him on the Teacher’s Day and on Kim Sinrok’s fake death adversary.
I recalled the conversation Seong Guekon and Seong Siwan had on this year Teacher’s Day.
— Gukeon hyung! Did You come here after meeting with your homeroom teach-nim? Did You get hurt again? You didn’t use a recovery item card?
— Long time no see, Siwan. I broke my arm while conquering an otherworld. If teacher-nim saw it, I would do nothing more than worry him even more.
Kim Sinrok was Seong Gukeon’s homeroom teacher for three years he was in the class 0.
So there was a high chance that the one Seong Gukeon called ‘teacher-nim’ was Kim Sinrok.
‘There is a chance it was about his homeroom teacher from the elementary or middle school, but for some reason I think it was Kim Sinrok.’
I felt that with Seong Gukeon’s personality, he wouldn’t want to show his hurt appearance to his revered teacher, who was supposed to be deceased for over ten years.
My Playable Character’s fidelity and affection were that deep.
‘Even so, there is a limit to how much I can interfere between the two.’
Before, Kim Sinrok didn’t answer for certain whether he would accept or reject my suggestion.
The only thing I could do right now was to wait for Kim Sinrok’s answer.
I organized my thoughts, and checked another message, but that one too came from Yeom Junyeol.
[Yeom Junyeol] Uisin-ah, I told you to rest…
[Yeom Junyeol] (stamp)
Yeom Junyeol sent a message as a senior.
The attached stamp was the same, but the tone was completely different.
I was filled with pride and joy, feeling the effort Yeom Junyeol put into acting both as a senior and a disciple.
“We’re back. Sorry for being late.”
When I roughly skimmed through all the device messages, Seong Gukeon and Jeon Mu-yeong came back.
As if the two were experienced with getting through tight schedules worthy of an assemblyman, and his chief aide, the two didn’t look tired at all, just like when they left the hotel.
The two just changed the suit jackets and headed to the suite’s meeting room right away, and I followed after them.
“Did You see the news? The Phantom Thief Neon returned Big Ben to the original state.”
After I took a seat, Jeon Mu-yeong showed me the news.
On the hologram, the Big Ben without the neon notice letter was shown.
The Phantom Thief Neon’s Gwangrim ‘Magician’s Silk Hat’ could not only send the things put into the superpower silk hat to the location he wanted, but could also call them back into the hat.
It seemed that after the Phantom Thief Neon recovered his superpower wave, he retrieved the notice letter skin with the ‘Magician’s Silk Hat’.
It looked like he settled the aftermath based on the phantom thief’s philosophy, ‘art has to leave art in its true self’.
But it could be he did it just to destroy the evidence.
“The media ended up broadcasting the Phantom Thief Neon’s abrupt magic show live! There were many famous Players in the audience and even Fomori Demons, who came to check on the changes, but everyone’s eyes were fooled.”
As if he enjoyed that the Fomori Demons were hit, Seong Gukeon cheerfully laughed ‘Hahahee!’.
The media outlets were all talking about the unique magic show given by the Phantom Thief Neon.
Because some time already passed, other reports and topics were also started being published, but there were many people who talked about the Phantom Thief Neon just like before.
“There seems to be a Player, who did quite a plausible analysis.”
“What kind of analysis did they do?”
Jeon Mu-yeong sent a news video.
It was a news broadcast where a famous British magician Player was participating as a guest.
The magician Player, famous for showing magic using item cards, gave their analysis.
— What I paid attention to was a recorded footage left when the Phantom Thief Neon’s notice letter appeared on Big Ben.
— You mean the video from the recording devices around Big Ben?
— Yes. Please look at the comparison footage of those recording devices.
The magician Player categorized the dozens of recording devices around Big Ben into two categories.
The two groups were divided depending on whether they had a function to detect superpower waves or not.
The magician Player showed the organized results of the analysis of the recording devices with the function for the superpower wave detection, while speaking.
— The Phantom Thief Neon delicately manipulated the recording devices beforehand.
— Manipulated?
— Yes, that’s right. The moment the notice letter appeared, all the recording devices, which detected superpower waves, were manipulated to send a video recorded a second before. So I searched the recording devices to catch that one second.
— But to my understanding, the Association and police sides were procuring and analyzing the video from the residents’ recording devices in the nearby area.
— It’s possible that the Phantom Thief Neon tinkered with the recording devices possessed by the residents too.
The magician Player shook their head and opened an additional hologram.
— Coincidentally, without prior arrangement, there was a photographer Player filming the surrounding with the specialized device. I obtained the footage filmed by that Player. In it, the identity of the trick used by the Phantom Thief Neon was revealed.
The magician Player showed a screen with the video cut into several frames.
Big Ben was filmed from the distance, and above Big Ben the screen captured something blurry.
As it was zoomed in to the maximum, that something’s identity became somewhat visible.
It was an enormous silk hat.
They filmed the shape of the Gwangrim’s superpower wave when the Phantom Thief Neon used it.
‘The superpower wave doesn’t show when retrieving, but the trace is left when moving an object for the first time. They captured it well.’
The Player magician pointed at the trace of the superpower wave in the shape of the silk hat, and drew a conclusion.
— I’m assuming that the identity of that trick is an ability or Gwangrim owned by the Phantom Thief Neon. We can deem this top hat to be the Phantom Thief Neon’s signature.
As the crime was so bold, I thought there would be a person who guessed it, but they figured out this much with just a video?
This analysis was indeed worthy of the magician representing Britain.
When the interview with the magician concluded, the next news came up.
The content was the eyewitness account of the migration of the rare animals through the Celtic Sea, and it seemed to be the same rare animals witnessed in the Northern Sea.
‘How the hell did you move avoiding the eyes?’
It was amazing that there was always no witness to the movement process or its mid-migration process.
The number of the groups specializing in the research of rare animals and the Players affiliated with them wasn’t small, so how did they avoid the pursuit?
While I fell into thoughts for a moment, Jeon Mu-yeong closed the news screen as if he finished briefing preparations.
“We’ve received new invitations.”
As if there was no time to print them, Jeon Mu-yeong sent me a hologram instead of the printed materials.
On the hologram I saw a similar invitation and envelope to the Fomori Demons’ invitation I saw at the Red Lion’s private plane.
At a glance, it looked similar to the one I saw the last time, but the pattern and color of the wax seal on the envelope, and the scribble handwriting were subtly different.
‘The content looks the same…’
The first page of the invitation on the holographic screen was the same as the content in my memory.
“The location and time written in the new invitation sent by the Fomori Demons didn’t change.”
“Then is it the same for the rest of the invitation?”
“No. The schedule table was changed to blank.”
Seong Gukeon showed the second page.
That page was empty, so I could guess their intentions.
‘They left the schedule table empty. They adjusted the schedule, but are not planning to make it public, huh?’
In the invitation showed by Seong Gukeon and Jeon Mu-yeong, the key events were written down.
The events like guest introduction, dinner, party game, and a tea time and the auction.
We made plans matching that schedule, but on the newly received invitation’s schedule nothing was written.
“It seems they’re cautious of the Phantom Thief Neon, huh? They don’t plan to cancel the auction, but it means they will be on guard.”
“The Phantom Thief Neon’s superpower wave leaves no traces, and they have an ability to remotely move objects. From the standpoint of the auction organizer, it would be natural to be on guard.”
“Hahee, among the Demon stories, there are many about them underestimating humans and acting arrogant, only to be caught off-guard!”
I also knew the stories about the arrogant and stupid Demons Seong Gukeon was pointing at.
However, it seemed difficult to anticipate for this to unfold in such a manner during this infiltration.
“We should make full-fledged preparations before going, huh?”
Seong Gukeon unfolded the map as he spoke.
On the map was the location of the party venue and the inside structure.
“It’s possible to change the inside structure.”
“Even so, because it uses superpower, the area without twisting would be like this, and they can’t destroy or shift the pillars supporting the weight of the building.”
Because the information we knew was limited, full-fledged preparations were needed as Seong Gukeon said.
After this, we repeatedly devised and simulated plans without a wink of sleep until the Halloween party time.
And, at midnight October 31st, the Halloween party started.
*~*~*
[1] playful — or ‘game’, his category.
Translator’s note: Oh, I see, that magician Player was mentioned before in early chapters, so they’re someone to pay attention to.
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