Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
36. Beginning of growing thread (3)
The school representatives, who were planned to be mainly selected among the 2nd years.
The 2nd years were the ones who piled up outstanding otherworld conquest merits, research results and experience with out-of-school activities.
But they were beaten up by the 1st years, who still couldn’t participate in the otherworld conquest as an attack party according to the school rules, and for whom it hasn’t even been half a year since their Gwangrim bloomed. Those 1st years took nominee’ seats.
And there were three of them.
A stir arose in the whole conference room at this unexpected development.
“Ah… Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain, I heard those two names before. They’re the 1st year class 1 and 2’s presidents, who keep taking the co 1st place in rankings, right?”
“They’re the guys, who stood at the podium during the entrance ceremony, you know?”
“Jo Uisin? I think I heard that name before.”
“That’s that guy, you know? The survivor of the group 13, Unknown Supernova.”
“Ah! That so-called suspicious vice class president, who won the chess tournament.”
The gazes of all students present in the meeting room poured towards the three 1st years who were selected as school representative nominees.
“Congrats! Somehow I had a feeling that Uisin would be chosen.”
Kim Yuri whispered in a bright voice.
“… Thanks.”
My cheeks felt ticklish.
It was natural for my excellent title hero and heroine to be selected as school representatives, but my name coming out side by side with theirs was somewhat embarrassing.
‘Looking from the indifferent perspective of the school, if we only consider accomplishments and grades, it’s normal for me to be selected, but…’
Among the 1st years, there were overflowing with talent Playable Characters who just didn’t have an opportunity to play an active role yet.
As they were put aside, and I was selected as a representative, my mind was a bit complicated.
“Next, I’ll announce the 2nd year nominees. The 2nd class 1…”
After the noise settled down a bit, Yu Sang-hui continued to read the list.
About twenty people were chosen as nominees among the 2nd years.
The majority of them were Playable Characters or NPCs, but there was one unexpected name that popped up.
‘Gye Idam was also chosen.’
A taciturn 2nd year, Gye Idam, who belongs to the Earthly Wings Council and was said to like ghost stories.
His abilities were unknown, but for him to be selected without a preliminary match probably meant that his abilities were worthy to match that of Yeom Junyeol and Cheon Dongha, and Gwak Gyeong-gu mentioned there.
‘I didn’t hear what kind of decision Gye Idam made yet.’
The suggestion to become Seong Gukeon’s supporter inside the Eungwang School.
I wasn’t able to confirm what answer Gye Idam gave to that yet.
As he didn’t speak much, it was difficult to guess what he would think, so I couldn’t figure it out.
“… With this, the 2nd quarter student representative meeting will end.”
While I fell into thoughts, the meeting ended with the declaration of the speaker and Student Council president, Tao Wonu.
“Awesome. I’m going to write the article straight away~! Ju class president-nim, I’ll leave organizing today’s meeting records to you!”
“Okay. I’ll look forward to the article.”
“Ah, please give me an interview later!”
“If you can send me questions beforehand, I’ll prepare to answer.”
“Ok! Dain-nim and Jo Uisin too! Please!”
Speaking like this, Mun Saeron naturally led An Dain to stand at Ju Su-hyeok’s side, and she winked at me.
‘”Leave them behind”, huh?’
Mun Saeron, who had finished her role like this, run towards the Newspaper Club’s room straight away as if her hands were itching throughout the entire meeting.
Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain, who happily responded to Mun Saeron’s request and stood side by side, shut their mouths again.
“Ah, I have to go to classroom right now! Lena said she wants to buy ‘Kwon Jane hairband’, so we decided to go shopping with the girls.”
Are you talking about the lace hairband that was said to sold out because Kwon Jane was wearing it on the album cover?
If Kwon Lena said she wants it, Kwon Jane would certainly immediately give her the hairband that she was wearing and even sponsor it to just buy it, and gave her everything.
‘Should I talk to Kwon Jane if Kwon Lena said she wasn’t able to buy it?’
Kim Yuri conveyed with her eyes: ‘Uisin, you also have to get out! You got it right?’, and fled naturally.
Yu Sang-hun, whose hair turned into a magpie’s nest in the meantime, as if he lie down and slept during the meeting, suddenly spoke up.
“Hey, if you have nothing to do, let’s do 1 on 1. I brought a basketball.”
I don’t know if it was Yu Sang-hun’s intention or not, but I decided to accept that great opportunity to flee.
“Okay, let’s go. Then see you next time.”
After Yu Sang-hun and I turned our back to head towards the playground in the 1st year zone, I heard Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain, who were left alone, try to cautiously speak up.
“Hey.”
“You know…”
The two spit out words at the same time.
When the awkward atmosphere flowed between the two again.
After trying to yield their right to speak a few times, An Dain finally spoke up first.
“There is still something I want to talk with you about. That is… About the book that you recommended to me.”
“Th-then shall we… go seat… somewhere?”
“… Ok!”
Ju Su-hyeok, that moron, slammed a perfect date opportunity into the ground.
The two will end up holding a good and healthy book discussion within the school again.
‘Looking at this scene, the two wouldn’t be able to even eat dinner together, huh?’
I couldn’t suppress regret at this completely predictable situation, even though I didn’t see it.
“Ah, it seems that your name came out during the meeting. Caused an incident?”
As if Yu Sang-hun truly slept during the meeting, he made an incoherent sound.
“No. I was selected as a nominee for the Korea-China-Japan youth school exchange.”
“Grats. Was Yu Sanghui-ssi also selected?”
“It’s possible it won’t be held this year, so 3rds weren’t on the list. Because they are busy with preparing to graduate and deciding on their career, as you know.”
“… Yeah.”
Hearing the word ‘deciding on their career’, Yu Sang-hun’s expression changed slightly.
I guess that guy was also a bit worried about Yu Sang-hui.
“Hey, 1st year.”
“Wonu hyung, there are two 1st year here.”
The person I couldn’t expect was waiting for me.
Tao Wonu, who called me to stop.
At his side, the one who said a word, was Cheon Dongha.
I had no idea what the two 2nd and 3rd year 1st places were doing here.
“Why again?”
Yu Sang-hun looked at Tao Wonu with the eyes as if he saw something disgusting.
However, Tao Wonu looked at Yu Sang-hun with a friendly expression, as he spoke.
“Brother-in-law, have you been well? I want to talk with the brother-in-law, but right now I didn’t call our brother-in-law, but the sassy bastard at your side… ack!”
Before Yu Sang-hun’s fist flew, Cheon Dongha’s finger hit Tao Wonu’s adam’s apple.
I admired that lightning-like skill.
As expected, worthy of my Playable Character, Cheon Dongha wasn’t only good with his head, but his physical abilities were also outstanding.
“Wonu hyung, it wasn’t Sang-hui noona’s younger brother that you called, correct? Don’t make conversation cumbersome. Bow just once. No, don’t even bow.”
Tao Wonu was behaving ugly, but could you speak like that to a senior?
It looked like the two people were quite close.
“… About Sihu.”
Tao Wonu didn’t speak straight away.
He swallowed his saliva and beat around the bush, and then threw out words as if shooting.
“It’s not exactly that I’m not no-thankful, but it’s difficult to say.”
I didn’t know if he was thankful or not thankful.
In any case, as he expressed thanks, Tao Wonu’s corruption level was lowered from the ‘very extremely corrupted’ to ‘extremely corrupt’ in my head.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Cheon Dongha and Yu Sang-hun looked at Tao Wonu with a pathetic gaze, but he was firm in his corrupt behavior and turned his back.
“Then we’ll also be going.”
I spoke to Cheon Dongha, who was still looking in this direction, and was about to leave, but…
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
Has Cheon Dongha also something to do with me?
“I planned to ask you for a chess match after the final exams ended. It can’t be today, right?”
Cheon Dongha looked at a ball carrier Yu Sang-hun was holding, as he spoke.
“Yes. I have an appointment. Can I call You next time?”
“Then I’ll be waiting.”
Cheon Dongha wasn’t an aggressive type, so I didn’t expect him to ask for the match so proactively.
‘Even if he asked for a chess match, I expected him to speak about it as if just throwing a suggestion, and respond something like ‘don’t worry if you can or can’t do it. ‘
I couldn’t interpret if there were some other reason, or if he was only so proactive about chess.
After Cheon Dong-ha, who exchanged the device codes with me, disappeared, and I fell into thoughts.
“What are you doing? Go.”
My thoughts halted at Yu Sang-hun’s voice, and I headed towards the playground.
That day, I played 1 on 1 basketball with Yu Sang-hun until the sun set.
Yu Sang-hun, who diligently trained at the Basketball Club, widened the ability gap between us even more.
Because of that, Yu Sang-hun, who wasn’t mature and didn’t look after me, crushed me completely.
Enraged by the more than 15 points of the gap in the score, I asked for a rematch a few times but continued to lose.
As if mercilessly winning against a beginner felt good, Yu Sang-hun handed me the right to choose the dinner menu.
***
Next day morning.
Today a message sent by my disciple Yeom Junyeol also arrived early in the morning.
[Yeom Junyeol] Master-nim, hello.
[Yeom Junyeol] Starting tomorrow, the monsoon front will move north in full swing, so it seems there will be morning drizzle and the rain streak will grow more fierce from the evening.
After a usual weather prognosis, he continued to his personal affairs.
[Yeom Junyeol] When the monsoon season starts, I feel suffocated because every time I go out, the number of bodyguards doubles. Even when I go to school, I have to be together with Jageon hyung…
Wouldn’t Yong Jegeon stick with Yeom Junyeol even if it wasn’t raining?
It seemed that he, and the bodyguards who doubled, were just using the rain as an excuse.
[Yeom Junyeol] If I grow strong enough that I won’t be weakened by the rain, I’ll get permission to go out alone even on the raining days, correct?
[Yeom Junyeol] I want to quickly take master-nim’s next lesson to grow stronger!
[Yeom Junyeol] (stamp)
In the stamp sent by Yeom Junyeol, a deformed Hongryong was holding an umbrella.
The expression of Hongryeong who looked at the water droplets falling outside the umbrella, looked lifeless.
I guess the designer drew it like this to express Hongryong’s characteristic of being weak against water.
‘Should I hold the next lesson when the rain stops?’
I didn’t feel like doing a very risky training like superpower swallowing with the weakened Yeom Junyeol.
Yeom Junyeol will have to one day aim to conquer the rain, but not right now.
When I organized my thoughts like this, something started to bother me.
‘There was nothing about grades.’
I thought he would mention it in some way, but my predictions were amiss.
‘If my disciple hates mentioning it, should I pretend not to know?’
I promised myself to be careful with my words the next time I meet with Yeom Junyeol.
When I finished the morning training early and was entering the 1st year building while mapping out the lesson plan in my head.
‘What was that sound?’
Somewhere, I heard the sound as if someone was arguing.
The sound was coming from the direction of the certain teacher’s office located on the 1st floor.
It was a multipurpose room that was remodeled as a teacher’s office exclusive for honorary teachers.
‘The honorary teachers in charge of 1st years are all major figures.’
As I approached to check what was going on, I heard a loud noise straight away.
“Grandpa also saw it, didn’t you!? I don’t have any talent! Even with Gwangrim and blessing, I can’t use them because I’m a fool!”
“Shameful bastard! Don’t call me grandpa!”
“That’s what is important right now?!”
Those were voices of Bang Yunseop and Tak Geosan.
“I can’t! Shoot! In any case, ascetic grandpa is also just exploiting me to make that stone boy bastard into his disciple, aren’t you?! Don’t act as if you’re trying to teach me out of kindness!”
Tak Geosan’s reply to those words didn’t come straight away.
***
Kim Sinrok, who went to work early in the morning.
He was looking through the paperwork alone in the teacher’s office on the highest floor of the 1st year building.
‘It was like this the previous year, but even this year there are many troubles with securing a location.’
Kim Sinrok, who checked the 1st year youth training camp locations printed on paper, fell into thoughts.
A few years ago, a revision of the architecture law suggested by the national assemblyman Seong Gukeon was passed.
The key revisions of the passed law were related to facilities used by Players.
‘Considering the superpowers, the load limit and material strength have to be high. Rather, the law revision was late.’
Thanks to that, safety accidents related to Players significantly decreased, but the work increased proportionally.
‘Have you been living well and healthy…?’
The life period, when worked as a teacher not as Kim Sinrok, but under a different name.
He recalled Seong Gukeon from that time, who turned the school upside down with all kinds of incidents, and smiled.
He tried to keep a distance from Seong Gukeon, who was rumoured to avoid Jin people and descendants, but Seong Gukeon wasn’t able to recognise his identity until the end and followed him well.
Even when he had a quiet funeral to bury his fake identity, Seong Gukeon, as if he somehow found out about it, came to find him to pay respects…
“Sinrok.”
His recollections halted at Yong Jegeon’s voice.
Yong Jegeon came to work at such an early time for some reason, so he was immediately worried, but he quickly drew a conclusion.
‘It’s probably because he came to school together with the Yong tribe’s descendant, right?’
The final exams ended, and it was raining, so why Yong tribe’s descendant came to school so early?
Was he not satisfied with his 2nd place ranking?
Were the circumstances and mindset of him, a descendant who was treated ambiguously, and the Yong tribe descendant, who was treated with love, so different?
“You ended up having to go outside the Eungwang District, huh? But the ‘eyes’ problem still wasn’t solved.”
Yong Jegeon, who looked at the document over Kim Sinrok’s shoulder, tapped on the name ‘Seongmo Island’ with his long finger.
It seemed like he didn’t want Kim Sinrok, who was in an unstable position, to leave the divine realm.
“You’re also a vice homeroom teacher now, so you won’t be accompanying me. Because the class 0, class 1 and class 2 will be moving together. …Hwangho-nim and you are going, so will something particular happen?”
“Actually, it’s because I’m bothered by something besides the ‘eyes’ problem.”
Yong Jegeon’s jade eyes quietly reflected Kim Sinrok.
“Some time ago, I saw a human cherished by ‘Crow Demon King’ in the Eungwang District. That bastard can’t be said to match my taste just like before, eh?”
*~*~*
Translator’s note: … Huh? Huh? No notes to make?
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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