Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
62. Way back home (8)
Hwang Myeong-ho’s great mansion’s side building.
When I opened my eyes after sleeping deeply, it was the start of an early morning.
Woof…!
Snare, who woke up earlier than I did, was waiting for me!
As Snare gave me morning greetings, my sleepiness instantly disappeared, and my body was overflowing with energy.
“Since when you were awake? You’re not going to sleep anymore?”
Woof woof!
I spoke up as I thought that the angel might’ve been disturbed because of me, but Snare was energetic since the morning, perhaps because it was a genius.
I admired that sight so much, I unknowingly sprang up to stroke and pour praises at Snare.
After I came back to my senses, I worried if Snare found it annoying, but the kind Snare was overflowing with understanding.
‘It’s probably good that they thought of the possibility of me being unable to return to the dormitory.’
There was a dressing room in the room prepared in the side-building.
The dressing room was fitted with clothes from school uniforms to ordinary clothes, bags, sportswear, shoes etc.
I hesitated because my hands didn’t go in well, but as I put on the school dress shirt, the shirt fitted in perfectly.
‘I was starting to feel that the sleeves of the uniform I was wearing were getting a bit short.’
The things prepared here were a bit bigger compared to the school uniform and shoes I applied for at the beginning of the semester.
It looked like they noticed that I’ve grown.
While I made up my mind to apply for school uniform next year in the size considering my growth speed, I left the room.
“…”
As I stepped through the door, my main Playable Character Baek Ho-gun was standing there.
The instant I met Baek Ho-gun’s gaze, I almost instinctively spat out ‘What ya lookin’ at?'[1], but I swallowed it.
‘I can’t make the same mistake as the last time!’
I almost made the same slip of a tongue like when I run into Baek Ho-gun for the first time in this world.
While I swallowed my words, Baek Ho-gun asked first.
“Slept well?”
If not for almost making dumb slip of a tongue, I would’ve greeted him first.
But because I was greeted by my reciting main Playable Character after some time, I replied with a happy heart.
“Uh, you?”
“…”
Baek Ho-gun didn’t reply straight away.
Instead of saying that he slept well, he said that his body was fine, so from those words it seemed that Baek Ho-gun didn’t get a wink of sleep.
‘Before I went to sleep, he talked with Eun-ho about the Mountain Spirit. Is it related to that?’
Was the Mountain Spirit perhaps disturbing Baek Ho-gun’s sleep?
I should add my power in capturing the Mountain Spirit on the next opportunity.
When I went down to the first floor of the side-building together with Baek Ho-gun, I ran into Eun-ho and Hwang Jiho, and the moment the two of them saw me, they checked my body condition.
I knew very well that they were doing it because they were worried about me, but I felt a bit subtle about being treated like a patient.
Even so, I couldn’t just refuse having a check-up.
Especially with Eun-ho.
‘… It can’t be helped, considering the last sight of me Eun-ho saw as Cheon Seong-hyeon, right?’
I still didn’t know how much Eun-ho talked about me in the previous world.
Even so, even without asking, I knew that Eun-ho was thinking about my last moments.
At the end of the short examination, as if confirming that my body was fine, the two tigers guided me to the dinning room without a comment.
“This one prepared everything this morning too. I overdid it a bit yesterday, so I prepared a simple menu that won’t be a burden on the stomach.”
Hwang Jiho spoke like it was nothing special, but looking at the table, it didn’t seem like that at all.
Even if I excluded the red bean rice and miyeokguk with perilla and dried pollack[2], he prepared over ten types of side dishes — where was it simple?
It wasn’t as many types as on the birthday table yesterday, but because the menu didn’t overlap with the birthday table, it didn’t seem like a simple preparation at all.
Moreover, it seemed that Hwang Jiho also made meals each morning for the tigers at both the main building and side building.
‘At the main building there are Kim Sinrok and Eun-ho’s descendants, so there won’t be fewer menu items.’
I thought so, but Eun-ho had his reasons for choosing to stay at the side building.
So I decided to not speak about the descendants.
Instead, I thought about something else, and I decided to postpone worrying about the relationship between Eun-ho’s descendants and Eun-ho.
‘Baek ho-gun and Eun-ho’s faces don’t resemble each other, but because their symbolic colors are similar, they look like brothers.’
The tigers, who were shining white, because of the morning sunlight, drew my eye.
When Eun-ho would quietly say something, Baek Ho-gun listened silently, and Snare sometimes would wag its tail, showing interest.
Perhaps because Baek Ho-gun, Eun-ho and Snare were all white, they truly looked like a family.
‘Even not-white tiger, well…’
Hwang Jiho didn’t have similarities with them, but perhaps because he diligently talked with them and laughed well, he looked like a part of the family.
The fact that I was mixed in here was a bit strange.
Before coming to this world and just after coming here, I almost never bothered with breakfast, and after coming to the Eungwang School, I would have breakfast at the Earthly Wings Council Hall’s dormitory cafeteria.
Eating breakfast, while mixed in such a harmonious atmosphere, felt completely unfamiliar.
I tried to change the topic and speak about the stories I couldn’t talk about yesterday, but hesitated.
‘… It’s a bit too much to talk about those matters at such a morning table.’
It would look like I’m cutting in at the family gathering, so I felt like it would be better to choose topics a bit more carefully.
In the end, I decided to just eat well at this table.
Then when would be a good time to talk about what happened in Britain, or what have to be done in the future?
‘I would rather skip school and talk.’
I was reluctant to do so, because the attendance rate would drop again.
The sad faces of teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim and our class children, and the desire to quickly talk about the future so I could decrease the danger for my Playable Characters even a bit, were coming and going.
Was it because I often skipped school these days, or because I met our class children in the plane just yesterday.
When the scales were tilting towards skipping school, Eun-ho said to me:
“Uisin hyung, just eat comfortably. If You have many thoughts, even if You eat slowly, You will have an upset stomach.”
Did he noticed that I was looking for a timing?
Eun-ho made the first move and blocked my mouth.
“It has been a long time since You went to school, correct? Let’s hear the story later. Please go to school and then come back first.”
Did those words mean to go back to the mansion’s side building today, after the school ended?
No, the words ‘go and then come back first’ might have been like this, but the words ‘it has been a long time since you went to school’ seemed to have a bone in them.
I had reasons why I couldn’t go to school, but it didn’t change the result.
“If there is something truly urgent, I or Hwangho-nim can respond to it. Doesn’t Uisin hyung likes Eungwang School and the People at Eungwang School? I hope You’ll enjoy Your school life.”
“That’s right, Jo Uisin. I’m going to attend school with you, and I’m going to leave my alter-ego at this mansion. If something happens, we can contact them right away.”
The two tigers’ persuasion continued.
As if Eun-ho was wearing a device, a hologram unfolded and floated up in my direction.
On the screen was written a device code I saw for the first time.
I guess that while I was absent, Hwang Jiho got Eun-ho his own device.
“This is my device code. When Hwangho-nim is busy, You can contact me right away.”
Like this I exchanged the device codes with Eun-ho.
No, my device code was already typed into Eun-ho’s address book, so it would be more precise to described it as a one-sided exchange.
“Then please go and be back.”
“….”
Woof woof!
When I came back to my senses, I had already promised to come straight to the side building when the club activities end.
I had a feeling like I fell into a trap prepared by the tigers, but because there were things I had to do anyway, and I didn’t have anything urgent on the schedule so it was okay to consent to it.
As such, while being sent off by the white tigers, I stepped on the road to school.
“Hi, Uisin-ah… Jiho too, hi.”
In front of the quiet gate, as it was still early in the morning.
I ran into Cheon Dongha, who was providing guidance at the school gates.
Usually, there would be at least two members of the Guideline Club providing guidance, but Cheon Dongha stood alone.
“Senior Cheon Dongha-nim, hello.”
I greeted him comfortably, but the geezer, who stopped pretending to be human in front of Cheon Dongha, acted fitting his age since morning.
“Okay. You’re working hard since morning, eh?”
“… I know that Jiho isn’t human, but it’s really awkward.”
Cheon Dongha made a complicated face as he looked at Hwang Jiho.
Hwang Jiho said with a face full of playfulness.
“Should I change my tone for You?”
“… That is awkward in another way. Anyway, Jiho is from class 0. If I think it’s a sound made by a class 0 junior, I’ll be able to just accept it.”
… Well, I could understand it if it was class 0.
Didn’t our class children all already accepted that Hwang Jiho was using such a geezer-like tone?
In any case, Cheon Dongha replied with a face I didn’t know if he was giving up or reaching Nirvana.
As recently, the shocking event like the secret his hidden dongsaneg had was revealed, he might have gotten accustomed to a certain degree.
Cheon Dongha cautiously looked around, and after confirming there were no people around, he opened his mouth.
“I plan to talk about it again with Eunha separately, but I think it would be better if the Ho tribe’s side took care of Eunha’s position for the time being.”
“Looks like the atmosphere at home isn’t very good, eh?”
Cheon Dongha was making a complicated face.
Cheon Dongha’s home was a chaebeol family where children were rare.
And it was Cheon family, one side of TC Group, which was smouldered with all kinds of suspicions.
Cheon Dongha was an upright person, but it was impossible to say that all his family and relatives were like this.
“Yeah. If possible, I think it would be better to pretend he has locked-in syndrome like before, until the Eungwang School entrance exam is held. I’ll prepare so there are no problem even if he stands at that time.”
“Got it. If something happens, tell me right away.”
“… I didn’t expect to be indebted to the Hwang Myeong Group again.”
Cheon Dongha and Hwang Jiho had a conversation about Eun-ho’s position for a while.
From listening to the conversation, it seemed that the day Eun-ho would step out of the side building was still distant.
Around the time the two finished talking, I asked a question to change the atmosphere.
“It seems You’ve started the school gate guidance earlier than usual today, did something happen?”
“Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim requested it.”
Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim requested it?”
Was there an incident recently that made him call the Guideline Club in early to start the school gate guidance?
“There were problems caused by the broadcasting station last time, remember? The Guideline Club was assigned around to prevent problems beforehand.”
“I guess other Guideline Club members were all divided and allocated, eh?”
“Ye. I can deal with it alone, because I have a wide vision.”
Problems caused by broadcasting station.
Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim.
Guideline Club and school gate guidance.
As I got to that point, I formed a guess as for why Cheon Dongha was standing here, and what teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim asked for.
“Dokgo Miro is attending school starting today?”
If Dokgo Miro was going to start attending school again, this was necessary to deal with it on the first day.
As if my assumption was correct, Cheon Dongha nodded.
“Right. Miro was a runner-up in an audition program, right? And there was a big incident in the last episode, so the press may kick a fuss again, so I’m here to deal with it…. Uh?”
As if Cheon Dongha saw something, he raised his head and stared into the distance.
From the looks of it, he didn’t activate the Gwangrim ‘Eyes embracing heaven and earth’, but it seemed he was examining the surroundings using the Thousand Li Eyes.
“… Why is he coming here, riding that?”
Cheon Dongha mumbled with a doubtful face.
As if Hwang Jiho also noticed something approaching, he also looked into the sky.
And soon, my eyes too started to see something.
Powerful flame-like superpower wave was flying in the air.
‘It’s Yeom Junyeol…!’
In the sky, Yeom Junyeol was flying towards Eungwang School, riding Hongryong.
*~*~*
[1] What ya lookin’ at — He didn’t say it with any accent, but he said it very crudely, so this is my best take on that.
[2] red bean rice and miyeokguk with perilla and dried pollack — red bean rice — 팥밥 (pal-bap), miyeokguk — 미역국 — is a seaweed soup, they’re a typical birthday breakfast, red beans are supposed to chase away evil spirits and seaweed soup is to bring good-luck.
[?] Possible hanja interpretations of the title — 귀(kwi) can also mean to have a wide view, to see, so the title could mean ‘method of seeing widely’. It can also mean honorific/formal speech (not what Hwang Jiho used toward Cheon Dongha, that was polite speech, a level lower, but I guess it could still count?)
Translator’s note: Jo Uisin, let’s try some other definitions of family. How about ‘everyone who loves you’?
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