Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
43. Things which don’t change (2)
‘… Why does Hwang Jiho want me to meet the Nok tribe’s head?’
When I recalled the ‘Nok tribe’s secret shop’ system in the game, I quickly came up with the answer.
When you solve the quest, the shop opens, and then if you use the shop a certain amount of times, a hidden menu will be added.
‘No way, is he thinking of making ‘customized elixir’?!’
Customized elixir.
It was a newly prepared elixir based on the result of checking the pulse of the person, who was taking the elixir by the Nok[1] tribe member in person.
Based on the character who used the secret shop, the Nok tribe member would decide to appear to personally administer the medicine.
‘Drinking the elixir is very good for the body, but it seems better not to drink it for the sake of sanity.’
I experienced many various things since coming to this world.
If I was to point to the most intense and unbearable experience among them, the ‘flavor of the elixir made by the Nok tribe’ would be one of my top five[2].
Through the Nok’s elixir, I realized the new possibility of disgustingness that I couldn’t forget even when I tried.
I didn’t know how the customized elixir would taste, but It didn’t seem it would be that different from the normal elixir for humans which was made at Hwang Jiho’s order the previous time.
‘I have to escape.’
As the sun just set, I could use Oh Hyeji’s Gwangrim ‘Under moonlight of Skanda’.
The efficiency would decrease, as it wasn’t late at night, but if I wasn’t caught by Baek Ho-gun, I would be able to flee.
“I’ll go to the dormitory for a moment…”
“Jo Uisin, where do you think you’re going?”
I tried to say goodbye to Eun-ho’s descendants and to activate Gwangrim, but I heard Hwang Jiho’s voice.
Damn geezer ruined my chances.
“If you need something from the dormitory, I’ll fetch it or buy a new one.”
“Ah, Uisin oppa! Let’s go web shopping together after You see the guest!”
“Please help us choose a new game!”
“I wanted to buy a new camera, so I planned to ask which one I should choose…”
Following Hwang Jiho, Eun-ho’s descendants drew a wedge with the faces that didn’t have an ounce of evil intentions.
When I was thinking of some other excuse, Hwang Jiho opened his mouth again.
“Shouldn’t we make a new elixir for the divine beast? Opportunely, Nok tribe’s head said that he wants to see the divine beast in person. They say it’s not good to drink elixir often, but on a level of preparation for the heat season…”
“Let’s go.”
As this year’s summer was pretty hot, it would be good to have an elixir for our Snare.
Hwang Jiho didn’t finish his words yet, but the reply came out of my mouth at its own.
…. Woof? Woof woof!
Snare stiffened with a shocked expression.
Baek Ho-gun picked up the frozen angel.
“If you don’t go, Jo Uisin may flee.”
Keung….
It seemed it was plainly obvious that I wanted to flee.
As Baek Ho-gun asked, Snare put down its ears and dropped its tail with the hardened, depressed face.
“Baek-ho, there is also your share. Carrying ‘Wrath of Heavenly God’ can’t be easy, right? As you faced the Ung tribe’s head’s right hand with that body, your fatigue should have piled up, shouldn’t it?”
Baek Ho-gun’s expression hardened.
As both Snare and Baek Ho-gun froze, it looked like the time stopped just around them.
I was happy that the two of them would grow healthier, but I was annoyed by Hwang Jiho’s openly provocative attitude.
“Why won’t you drink it too?”
“Are you worried about my body? That’s commendable, huh? Don’t worry. This one is strong even without drinking something like that.”
Embarrassingly, it wasn’t a sound made out of worry.
But I couldn’t refute it because though Hwang Jiho’s words were unlucky, they were right.
‘But if my main Playable Character Baek Ho-gun wouldn’t have that Heavenly God’s Wrath debuff, he also wouldn’t have a need to drink that elixir…!’
While hiding my apologetic mind, I accepted Eun-ho’s descendants’ send-off at the entrance.
After a short trip by taking an air shuttle, which was used to move through the maze garden.
‘It’s the first time I’m visiting the outer-buildings.’
Between the border of the maze garden and the yellow-gold fence, the buildings of not unified style were scattered.
Antiques hanoks[3], bold traditional Chinese wooden buildings, stiff Gothic buildings, burly Baroque buildings, Art Nouveau buildings that looked like blooming flowers, square cubism buildings.
They weren’t as big as the main building, the harmonious arrangement of the various styles of buildings was amazing.
It would be thanks to the excellent garden arrangement which harmonized with each individual style.
I felt it in the Silver Light (Eunhwi) Building and the main building, but that damn geezer had an extremely outstanding designer sense.
“You came! I was waiting!”
A child that was just like the youngest Eun Jaeho, who was 10 this year, excitedly jumped at the hanok entrance and shouted.
No way, did the Nok tribe’s head look like a child?
“Hwang-ho! Baek-ho! Hi, hi! Divine beast and human, hi!”
Looking how he openly called the two like that, it seemed it was indeed the Nok tribe’s head.
Just like usual, the Mythological category Ho tribe didn’t greet him, because it would mean offering respects, and the Nok tribe’s head who waved his hand once and greeted, came inside, leading the way.
“I’m happy that you called me. Because there were no opportunities worthy making the customized elixir personally by me…”
“If you just put your mind to it, you would be able to receive numerous customers.”
That was right.
If it was an elixir that could even lead to a chance of obtaining a rare skill if there are just the ingredients, it was obvious that anyone would covet it.
The boy, who had big round eyes worthy of the deer Jin, shook his head.
“In such a case, I wouldn’t be able to make it for any being. Besides, I’m busy. I can’t do that!”
I didn’t know if the Nok tribe’s head wanted to obtain new customers or hated to obtain them.
The Nok tribe’s head, who diligently moved his short limbs and took the lead, laid down boryo cushions[4] according to the number of people.
“Here, sit down!”
Hwang Jiho took the head seat, and the Nok tribe’s head sat down next to him.
“Let’s introduce. Me, Baek-ho and Divine Beast need no introduction, right? This is Jo Uisin.”
“Hello.”
As Hwang Jiho pointed at me while speaking, I bowed my head towards the Nok tribe’s head.
The Nok tribe’s head smiled brightly and nodded deeply.
“This is the Nok tribe’s head. Currently, he should be using the name ‘Hyangrok’.”
“Gladly! Please call me Hyangrok.”
Hyangrok took out a thermos from the backpack he was carrying on his back.
On the thermos was a mark in the shape of deer antlers, which was also on the pouches of the elixir I drank before.
“I brought medical tea! Will you drink? Ah, while you drink tea, I wanted to check the pulse of divine beast first…”
“Got it. We will gladly accept it, right?”
While Snare seemed to accept the pulse checking with mixed feelings, an automatic maid brought the refreshments and tea cups, and we ended up drinking the medical tea.
I was worried because it was a medical tea of the Nok tribe, which made that hellish elixir, but the moment Hwang Jiho tilted the thermos the room was filled with a sweet and refreshing scent.
It was completely different from the elixir, which from just the smell you couldn’t distinguish if it was a medicine or poison.
Seeing Hwang Jiho drink first, I also picked up a cup.
‘… Delicious!’
The instant I took the first sip, I felt warmth spread through my body.
Be it a tongue or a body, it felt pleasant.
If he could make something this delicious, why was the elixir like that?
“It’s delicious. Is it possible to make an elixir like this?”
Hyangrok, who was looking into Snare’s ears, spoke resolutely.
“Can’t! Because it was intentionally made like this.”
“… Intentionally?”
“Yep. I worked hard to make it like this. Doesn’t it taste completely different each time you drink it? I adjusted it, so one would experience new disgustingness every time.”
That taste was made intentionally!?
The moments when I worked hard to drink the elixir flashed before my eyes and passed.
Grrrrr….!
At that moment, I heard a roar that could came out from the depths of hell.
Was the Mountain Spirit around?
If not, could the deer in this world growl?
In fact, Hwang Jiho was also suspicious, but when the sound come out, Hwang Jiho was sipping tea, so he was excluded from the candidates.
“Um, even if you behave so scarily, I can’t compromise on the taste. Because such digustingness stimulates the taste buds’ nerve fibers, and it makes it easy to boost the superpower wave and raises the absorption efficiency of the elixir!”
I didn’t expect there to be such a useless explanation.
“At least I was considerate because it’s a diverse flavor that you never get fed up with.”
There was no need to be so uselessly considerate.
While Hyangrok spoke like this while smiling, it seemed I heard a roar from hell somewhere again.
The pulse checking of the angel ended, and it was my turn next.
“Not much time passed since he drank the elixir made from the Ho tribe’s spring essence. Watch for any side effects.”
“Ok, got it!”
At Hwang Jiho’s words, the Nok tribe’s head replied loudly and started to check my pulse.
Hyangrok moved his short limbs and checked the pulse on my hands and neck, and then he carefully looked into my pupils.
‘You’re wrapped in the superpower wave. Are you using a skill?’
It was faint, but I felt a superpower wave from Hyangrok’s hands and eyes.
Hyangrok, who used the superpower wave and examined me, asked abruptly.
“There is no pain whatsoever?”
“Yes.”
“… Really? Um.”
Hyangrok took a note about something, erased it, and then wrote it again repeatedly.
“Why are you like this? Is there a problem with Jo Uisin?”
“No, just… He seems to be in pain, but the pulse results are fine. Jo Uisin seems to be a bit tired, but he is very healthy!”
Then it wasn’t that there was no problem, right?
Still, it seemed there was nothing particular about my body.
Hyangrok, who finished the pulse checking, stretched out a business card with a device code.
“Contact me if you feel any discomfort when breathing[5].”
I heard a similar line from Acea before.
Before I could think more about it, my thinking was abruptly paused because of Hyangrok’s words.
“I’ll send the completed elixir before the summer ends. Wait for it!”
I wasn’t going to wait for even a bit.
* * *
As I went internet shopping with Eun-ho’s descendants, the time passed.
I thought about going to the dormitory after finishing shopping, but after Hyangrok left, Snare seemed very lifeless, so I decided to stay by its side.
‘I should check the messages that I postponed until now.’
Hugging Snare, who fell asleep in my arms, I turned on the device.
The first message I saw was sent by Sawol Seeum.
[Sawol Seeum] As expected, I believed that everything would be sorted out if Uisin came!
Even by reading just that, my face felt ticklish, but the thanks continued.
After almost scrolling all the way down, I saw recent news from Sawol Seeum.
[Sawol Seeum] We were going to all take a part-time job together to pay for the repair costs in the school staff lounge, but the chariman-nim decided not to charge us.
There was no way that Hwang Jiho would take repair payment from those three.
Because it was a lounge destroyed by the reincarnation of his old close friend and the class friends, who tried to stop that close friend from doing something dangerous.
If he wanted to take a payment from them, I would pay for it instead of them.
[Sawol Seeum] We refused chariman-nim, but it seems that because our class didn’t cause an incident up till now, other People looked at us favorably and decided to let it go.
Is that so?
If they behaved extremely strictly for no reason and the kind and meek 1st year class 0’s children got crooked, it would be the school staff, who would suffer.
[Sawol Seeum] But together with Han Yi and Lena, so the three of us, we had a lot of letters of reflections to write.
[Sawol Seeum] When we finish writing the letters of reflection, we’re going to play! Uisin should go with us too!
No matter how generously the school staff treated them, the children, who fought and destroyed the school facilities, couldn’t be let go without a punishment, so they had to write a letter of reflection, huh?
Sawol Seeum attached a picture of Han Yi and Kwon Lena laying on the infirmary beds and writing the reflection letters.
I had no idea what the three, who recovered from all injures, were still doing in the infirmary, but I was glad they seemed to have fun writing the reflection letters.
The next eye-catching message came up in the group chat room with Yu Sang-hun and Jang Namuk.
[Yu Sang-hun] (link)
Yu Sang-hun sent just a link without any explanation.
As I checked the link he sent, an official announcement about the representative selection for the Eungwang School and Military School sport competition and its results came up.
Looking at the basketball section, Yu Sang-hun was a sole representative chosen among the 1st years.
[Jang Namuk] Congratulations!
[Jang Namuk] In our school, only Sihu was chosen among the 1st years. I also tried to go with Sihu, but I failed…
I was a bit worried about the news about Sihu, who was cursed, but I guess he was doing well if he was picked up as the school basketball representative.
Under that, Jang Namuk sent a long congratulatory message for Yu Sang-hun, and wrote about Tao Sihu’s performance.
[Jang Namuk] I was assigned to the cheering squad, so it seems I’ll be cheering. It will be cheering for our school, but I’ll also cheer for you Sang-hun. Let’s compete with good hearts!
[Yu Sang-hun] thx
Unlike Jang Namuk who sent long messages, Yu Sang-hun sent just the three letters ‘thx’.
Out of politeness, I sent, one letter longer than Yu Sang-hun’s, ‘cgcg’ message[6], and then checked the next message.
[Gong Cheonghwon] Thank You for contacting me about this case.
[Gong Cheonghwon] If something happens to Han Yi in the future, please contact me.
Gong Cheonghwon left a polite thanks.
No matter how many times I read it again and again, it was an ordinary message sent by a good teacher-nim worried about a student.
‘I still don’t really feel that Gong Cheonghwon is Sinin…’
After I also gave a reply worthy of an ordinary student, I checked the next message.
The message after that was also sent by the Eungwang School’s teacher.
[Jegal Jaegeol] Is Uram okay?
[Jegal Jaegeol] It seems we’ll be going home late, huh? I’m sorry.
It seemed that the Newspaper Club and 2nd year class 0’s senior bastards were swept up in an incident again during the overseas trip.
*~*~*
[1] Nok tribe — ‘deer’ tribe.
[2] one of my top five — ‘my five fingers’ in raws.
[3] hanoks — traditional Korean house structure.
[4] boryo cushions — traditional sitting cushions.
[5] breathing — the word breathing can also mean to harmonize and cooperate with other people.
[6] Out of politeness, I sent, one letter longer than Yu Sang-hun’s, ‘cgcg’ message — in raws Yu Sang-hun’s message had two letters, so Jo Uisin sent a two times longer message.
Translator’s note: Let’s leave aside the completely ordinary student Jo Uisin for a moment and look at this mansion again…. Yep. Suspicious as always.
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