Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
37. Ruins of myth (2)
Midnight, when the final exams ultimate scores were announced.
In the middle of the room, Yeom Junyeol was sitting upright and waited with a nervous face to check the ranking straight away.
‘If I don’t quickly go to sleep, I may cause problems with tomorrow’s schedule…’
Except for the day some time ago, when he got home at dawn because the shooting for the school uniform advertisement was prolonged, it has been a very long time since he stayed up this late.
‘Why is the time not passing?’
He checked the holographic clock a few times, but the time almost didn’t change.
Yeom Junyeol always put his best into every exam, but it was the first time he aimed the first place with such effort and heart.
‘Master-nim has to be someone related to the school. I don’t know if he is a student or a staff member, but because the place we always meet is the off-limit zone at school, and he seems to also check chess game records straight away.’
If the master-nim, who was like the sky, was related to the school, there was something he had to do first to receive his recognition.
Get good grades.
Yeom Junyeol knew that a student’s value can’t be evaluated through grades.
However, at school, grades were the most universal standard to evaluate students by.
‘I couldn’t offer anything else but show an ugly appearance. I want to take the first place, by all means.’
During the chess tournament in which master-nim showed interest, he lost to his junior Jo Uisin.
He tried to make up for it by challenging the previous year’s champion, Cheon Dong-ha, and lost again.
Yeom Junyeol, who grew up among the Yong tribe members and high-ranking Players of the Red Lion, who were much more outstanding than him, was accustomed to losing.
But he wasn’t accustomed to losing to his peers, and humans.
Beeep!
At that moment, the alarm, which Yeom Junyeol set to midnight, rang.
After he refreshed the page that was open, the hologram screen turned white, and then the text floated up.
[2nd year 1st semester final exam ultimate scores’ announcement]
[1st place: 2-1 Cheon Dong-ha]
[2nd place: 2-1 Yeom Junyeol]
[Co 3rd place: 2-0 Geun Chansol, 2-0 Wang Chansol]
….
….
….
Yeom Junyeol, who confirmed the score, had a delusion of his vision turning black.
‘Not the first place!’
Even though he did his best and didn’t give up till the end, he still lost.
Both in chess and the final exam.
Helplessness and dejection welled up inside Yeom Junyeol.
‘I have to say something, right?’
He always just said that he would aim for victory in the chess tournament, and that he would aim for the first place in the final exams.
During each lesson, he said he would try hard to succeed in the next ‘Superpower Swallowing’, but some time ago, he just barely swallowed a palm-sized flame.
He was ashamed of himself when he compared himself to his master, who silently stopped crimes and rescued people, without revealing his identity to anyone.
‘I’m an ugly disciple, huh…’
Yeom Junyeol worried for the entire night about what he should say to his master-nim, while looking at the hologram.
In the end, Yeom Junyeol typed in just a phrase ‘My deepest apologies’ and prepared to go to school.
A reply arrived immediately.
[Master-nim] You don’t have to apologize.
[Master-nim] You worked hard.
The master-nim, who had a broad mind to cherish an inadequate disciple, gave the reply Yeom Junyeol expected.
The fact that he knew that master would tell him it was fine and the fact that he did send such a message, made Yeom Junyeol blame himself even more.
After he opened the door and went out, he thought something was suspicious because Cheongryong and Yeom Bangyeol were talking with serious faces, but the two people’s conversation didn’t reach his ears very well.
***
After classes, General Club Hall’s Newspaper Club’s room.
Today, all club members were summoned, as the Newspaper Club’s president said he will personally give a presentation about the summer break schedule.
While we sat down in the public meeting room wider than the freshman’s clubroom, and waited for the club president, I activated a small hologram and checked the device messages.
‘Yeom Junyeol didn’t reply.’
After the message ‘My deepest apologies’, no additional messages came from Yeom Junyeol.
When looking from the third-party perspective, Yeom Junyeol grades were pretty outstanding, but he wouldn’t be satisfied.
‘He wouldn’t be able to show even a trace of being upset, right?’
Yeom Junyeol would know that the moment he showed on the outside that ‘It’s a pity, I’m 2nd place’ or ‘I’m unsatisfied with ending as second in the tournament’, he would instigate an inferiority complex in the absolute majority of people.
And he would keep his mouth shut out of worry that if he showed any trace of that to the Yong tribe or Red Lion members, they would have a harder time than him.
‘I want to comfort you.’
Should I praise him more next time?
It seemed that those words would only put pressure on him.
Say that he did well with the second place?
Those words wouldn’t be even a bit comforting and would rather seem like a rebuke, ‘You did well, but why you didn’t get first place?’.
As I recalled the reaction the other people showed and my feelings when during my days as an elementary student I returned from the selection match for the chess Olympic game representatives, as a reserve and not a representative, I became certain.
Ending my worries, I sent a message.
[Me] When will we hold the next lesson?
This message was marked as read immediately and a reply came.
[Yeom Junyeol] …. Master-nim!
[Yeom Junyeol] Anytime is okay for me!
[Yeom Juneyol] (stamp)
He attached a stamp of Hongryong with shinning eyes.
Seemed like his mood was lifted, so I was glad.
And when I was about to type in the next message, I saw a strange phrase.
[Eun Seoho] Baekho-nim is angry at us….
What is that sudden sound?
There was no way that kind children like Eun-ho’s three descendants siblings would do anything wrong, and there was no way Baek Ho-gun was angry over a fair matter.
[Eun Niho] Jeokho-nim is back after a long time, but He doesn’t seem to have energy. We thought we might cheer Him up with the joke Mountain Spirit taught us, but it was a failure.
Looking at the further explanation, it was something worth to be angry about.
What is worse, Eun-ho’s descendants attempted the corpse play, which caught even Hwang Jiho, on Jeok-ho, who was sensitive about Kim Sinrok being targeted.
While Baek Ho-gun was reading an ancient book in the basement of the mansion.
The children played the prank against Jeok-ho, who was left alone, and Jeok-ho was frightened to death when he saw children covered in fake blood.
As a result, the descendants currently cannot move an inch and are sitting in the living room together with an extremely flustered Jeok-ho, Mountain Spirit was dragged to the training room inside the mansion in Baek Ho-gun’s hands.
‘But it doesn’t seem that Mountain Spirit took the lead this time… Well, it’s good if they become strong with the training, right? But Hwang Jiho still don’t know?’
As if Hwang Jiho was busy moving his alter-ego, he had a somewhat saggy appearance.
As I looked at Hwang Jiho, who was sitting beside me, as if he felt my gaze, he turned his head and read my hologram.
Soon, when he saw the content of my conversation with the descendants, his face stiffened and he grounded his teeth.
“Mountain Spirit…”
This time the descendants’ mistake was big, but even Hwang Jiho seemed to only think of beating up Mountain Spirit.
As if it was suffocating to just sit in silence in the living room, the three siblings continued to send messages.
[Eun Jaeho] (picture)
Among Eun-ho’s three siblings, the youngest, Eun Jaeho was the most diligent about taking and sending pictures.
His photography skills were gradually getting better, but today’s Snare’s picture was out of focus.
Even though the picture was blurred because the focus was messed up, Snare’s cuteness was perfectly conveyed, but— it was unexpected.
[Eun Jaeho] I wanted to take a good picture. I’m sorry.
[Eun Seoho] Usually when we say that we’re taking pictures to send them to Uisin hyung, it would take a pose, so it’s strange… It continues to run away.
[Eun Niho] Today, it didn’t even send off Uisin oppa. Is it sick?
It seemed that those kind descendants couldn’t imagine the possibility that I made a mistake against Snare.
After a moment.
[Eun Jaeho] (picture)
A picture with perfect focus arrived this time.
It was a picture of a sleeping Snare.
[Eun Jaeho] Sleeping pictures are perfect.
As the youngest Eun Jaeho said, sleeping Snare’s picture had very good focus and was perfect, and the photo subject Snare was also perfect.
“Stop making that stupid expression, please.”
Hwang Jiho, who was looking at me while I was saving the picture, scoffed.
Following that scoff, his voice had a note of loneliness somewhere.
“… No message arrived for me, eh?”
I had no idea what sound that bastard who sees the descendants at the mansion every day was making.
“Hey, silence!”
I heard the club president’s energetic voice.
The club president skipped the introduction and got to the point.
The vice club president, who was waiting behind him, immediately projected a title on the wall.
[Summer break overseas news-gathering plan]
The club members, who saw the text with the map of the world in the background, cheered.
“We didn’t have anything like this last year, you know?! Club president used a lot of power!”
“It’ll be the first time I would be going on an overseas trip!”
“Are we going to Russia? UR rank otherworld often open In Russia, so if we match the timing, wouldn’t we be able to go to see them?”
“I want to see the Player training centres in United States and China!”
“Isn’t China’s border crossing screening really troublesome these days~?”
“That’s a club activity, right? Then teach Jegal-nim is going as the teacher in charge, right?”
In the midst of the club members clamoring with excited voices, the club president spoke with a powerful voice.
“The story about the Korea-China-Japan youth school exchange came out, you know? To analyze the forces of our opponents and to raise the Newspaper Club’s unity, we will go overseas together! Everyone, adjust your schedules!”
The next screen was the outline of the schedule.
After staying at the air hotel ‘Icarus’ for a day by using a lodging ticket won from the 2nd year class 0 bastards, we would move to the airport early in the morning and start the overseas news-gathering plan.
No matter how I looked, it was closer to a sightseeing trip, but in any case, it also included news-gathering work.
“We never went out with teacher Jegal Jaegeol-nim, and we wanted to go on the overseas trip, but we never made a plan. But it doesn’t mean we don’t want to go on a trip with teach Jegal-nim!”
I guess the 3rds, who took the lead with the planning, wanted to go on an overseas trip with teacher Jegal Jaegeol-nim before they graduate.
I saved the plan, smeared with selfish motives to the brim, on the device, while the club activities ended.
I finished the club activities, but my schedule still wasn’t over.
‘It’s rare for me to go straight to the dormitory room these days.’
I also had a chess match scheduled today.
According to the opponent’s request, we planned to play at a location different than the Stalmate’s club room or the Earthly Wings Council Building.
[Me] Club activities are over.
The reply arrived straight away.
[Cheon Dong-ha] I’ll take a seat first.
The place I met with Cheon Dong-ha was a private study cafe in Eungwang District[1].
Cheon Dong-ha was in the reserved four-people study room alone.
“Sorry for calling you all the way here. A lot of people gathered when I played a match with Yeom Junyeol yesterday, so I wanted to play quietly today.”
“It’s okay.”
Cheon Dong-ha unfolded the wooden chess board he brought on the table.
There was a capsule coffee machine in the study room, but as if Cheon Dong-ha was drinking a coffee mix, there were coffee mix wrappings at the side of the paper cup.
After I helped organize the table, and sat opposite of him.
“Congratulations on the 1st place.”
“Thanks.”
Yeom Junyeol gradually narrowed the gap by raising objections, but Cheon Dong-ha took the 1st place by a narrow margin.
If only Yeom Junyeol’s score had risen, it was possible the situation would have been reversed, but as Cheon Dong-ha’s grades were also included in the correction targets, his score for some subjects also raised.
“I didn’t expect that senior Cheon Dongha-nim would come out to request a match.”
Cheon Dong-ha was a character with a top sensibility and consciousness at Eungwang School.
For him to come out so actively to request a match, was a bit unexpected.
“I was bothered because my dongsaeng is a fan of Unknown Supernova.”
Dongsaeng?
Dongsaeng of Cheon Dong-ha?
There was no mention of them in the game.
I was also surprised they were my fan, but I was even more surprised that he had a dongsaeng.
“A fan?”
“Yeah. When I showed him an article about you, I got a good reaction.”
It was a strange thing to say, Cheon Dong-ha didn’t mention his dongsaeng further than that.
After that, we quietly played a match in the study room.
The first victory was mine.
The second victory was Cheon Dong-ha.
We, who each shared one victory, ate chicken egg sandwiches from grain wheat bread for a light dinner, reviewed the game and then parted on good terms.
***
Weekend, the day came when I decided to extort Jang Namuk together with Yu Sang-hun.
Usually, Yu Sang-hun would pay, but today we decided that we would make Jang Namuk buy an expensive meal to teach him a lesson.
“But why did that bastard come?”
Yu Sang-hun, who looked at Tao Sihu, who had arrived at the promised location, spoke with dissatisfaction.
“I heard that Namuk plans to go play with you, so I came. As I also want to buy something.”
“I guess this is where baseball tickets came from.”
So that’s why he urgently changed the promised location to Jamsil to watch a baseball game.
I guess Tao Sihu obtained tickets.
“Sorry, I’ll buy you another meal next time! Ju-Oh is going to play as a visiting team for the time being, so I have to see it today!”
Even though I wanted to say something, as I looked at Jang Namuk, dripped in Ju-Oh Dragons cheering items from head to toe, no words come out.
As there was nothing to nitpick about Jang Namuk, who suffered because of Tao Sihu’s runaway incident, and he said he was so happy, I decided it’s fine to let it go.
Even though today’s match was TC Knights home match and Ju-Oh Dragons weren’t particulary visible, Jang Namuk was looking around the baseball stadium in delight.
“Let’s buy something for each person from that shop to that shop over there.”
“You have to buy us grated cheese deep-fried chicken[2]!”
“Then only Tao Sihu stands in the line, and we will go to other shops.”
“Uh? Uh?”
After everyone read the entire menu of the foods sold in the baseball stadium, thanks to using Tao Sihu as the stand-in-line totem to hold out the line.
We grabbed the seat at the table located in the central seating area and my eyes caught a glance of a familiar head.
‘Why is Ok Toyeon here again?!’
I saw Ok Toyeon, wearing the TC Knights uniform, stuck to the fence.
*~*~*
[1] at Eungwang District — curious. We have a stand alone ‘의 (ui)’ here, which I translated as ‘in’, but 의 (ui) doesn’t usually appear stand alone like this. If it’s a stand alone it shouldn’t be a grammar particle, but a noun, which could mean ‘justice/righteousness, loyalty, bonds (between people), meaning (of words for example). Yes, this is the same 의 (ui) as in Jo ‘Ui’sin’s name.
[2] grated cheese deep-fried chicken — full name is ‘grated cheese deep-fried and braised chicken’. Also. Grated cheese is literally called ‘snow flower cheese’ in Korean.
Translator’s note: *shaking egg sandwiches* What is your connection to him?! Answer me!
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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