Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
46. Under stage (3)
It wasn’t only me and Kim Yuri[1] who reacted to Hwang Jiho’s stormy comment.
Yeom Junyeol looked at Hwang Jiho with an astonished face.
Rather than the comment’s content, Yeom Junyeol seemed to be surprised by Hwang Jiho’s existence itself.
Because descendants and Jin people can recognize each other.
‘I guess he only noticed now.’
Yeom Junyeol was preoccupied with Sawol Seeum, so perhaps he was still bothered by that he didn’t mention Sawol Seeum’s story to me straight away.
‘Previously, when Yeom Junyeol was throwing the first pitch, it was also like this… If Jin people’s don’t openly reveal their energy, you can’t notice them straight away, huh?’
The one to cut the silence was Han Yi.
“Hwang Jiho, do you have heatstroke?”
Han Yi and I have the same opinion.
Considering the day was hot, it seemed that the tiger’s head went nuts.
“Hahahaha! This one’s body is healthy. Don’t worry.”
“The problem doesn’t seem to be a body but the head.”
Han Yi commented as if reading my thoughts.
I had a feeling of enormous camaraderie with a classmate.
On the other hand, Dokgo Miro looked at Hwang Jiho with wary eyes.
When Dokgo Miro opened her mouth, she perfectly hid the wariness that faintly showed on her face.
“Han Yi’s old childhood friend, you say…? Since when the two of you know each other?”
“We first met at Eungwang School.”
Following Han Yi’s reply, Hwang Jiho added with laughter.
“Hahahaha! We indeed met for the first time around here.”
It seemed that Cheong-ho and Hwang-ho met here five thousand years ago.
The subtle situation where the conversation was desperately out of sync, even though everyone was speaking the truth, continued.
“Um… I want to go somewhere, as the day is hot. Did you eat lunch?”
After Kim Yuri looked at Hwang Jiho with a complicated face, she changed the atmosphere.
As Kim Yuri at the present moment was taught by the Ho tribe’s chief shaman, she knew Hwang Jiho’s true identity and the geezer’s lunatic power.
While moving, Yeom Junyeol asked Sawol Seeum.
“Teacher Yong Jegeon-nim is the 1st year class 0’s vice homeroom teacher, right?”
“Yes! But it wasn’t long since He took on the vice homeroom teacher’s role.”
“I heard that you all went to Ju-Oh Island together… Were everyone together with the class children?”
“Ah, do You want to see the pictures from that day? I will show them to You together with Miro! I wanted to introduce the class children who couldn’t come today.”
I guess my kind disciple was worried if Yong Jegeon knew about Hwang Jiho’s existence.
Seeing the picture of Yong Jegeon mixed among our class and enjoying the Ju-Oh Island trip, Yeom Junyeol made a relieved face.
It seemed that his wariness was erased when he saw Yong Jegeon and Hwang Jiho together on the screen.
While eating lunch bought by Yeom Junyeol, we talked about the 2nd semester’s school life.
“Will Miro attend to school starting the 2nd semester then?”
At Kim Yuri’s question, Dokgo Miro replied like flowing water, as if she prepared the answer beforehand.
“I still have many shortcomings. I want to dictate myself to practice.”
The in-game Dokgo Miro attended school starting in the second semester.
Was it influence of the ‘Playlist’ not being abolished?
Unlike her appearance in the game, Dokgo Miro was overflowing with life and openly declaring that she won’t attend the school.
As it wasn’t that Dokgo Miro wasn’t going to school for no reason, and she wouldn’t be coming to school to achieve her dream, the children couldn’t say anything.
“I hope we can become friends, as we’re in the same class.”
“Right, come to school anytime.”
Following what Sawol Seeum and Kim Yuri said, Han Yi also nodded her head, as if agreeing.
Looking at Han Yi harmonizing with the class children, Dokgo Miro smiled brightly.
It was regretful that the attendance rate wouldn’t go up, but seeing the friends of my Playable Characters and class children increase wasn’t bad.
* * *
As time passed, the start of new semester was just around the corner.
The students who stayed at home during vacation, or perhaps left the dormitory for a trip, short-period studying abroad or training, were coming back to the Earthly Wings Building one after another.
The number of students coming and going from the Earthly Wings Building increased, and it became difficult to use the simulator room without reservation.
There were several factors that made it feel like the start of 2nd semester was drawing closer, but the main one was the existence of class 0.
“Hey, Wings Store was completely robbed!”
“The entire bread in the dormitory cafeteria was also robbed.”
“How much did the 3rd year class 0’s bastards’ appetite increase during vacation?”
“What did Geun Chansol and Wang Chansol do to gain to be scolded by teach Jegal-nim?”
“They were trying to pave a flowery road to be used by teach Jegal Jaegeol-nim as a commemoration of starting the 2nd semester.”
The 2nd year class 0’s senior bastards were Jegal Jaegeol’s fanatics like before and the 3rd year class 0’s senior bastards were primitive people.
The 3rd year class 0’s senior bastards were especially seriously devoted to robbing bread.
Woo Gihwan’s gang fought for the last remaining sausage bun and then ended up blowing up the storefront.
‘Was the first bite of bread in the state of starvation so delicious?’
They say that anything tastes good when hungry, but the taste buds of 3rd year class 0’s senior bastards changed extremely.
The Earthly Wings Council increased their bread supply two times, but it was insufficient to satisfy the demands of the starving 3rd year class 0’s primitive bastards.
“… I’m thankful the 1st year class 0 is as it was.”
Bak Seunghyeon, who belong to the Wings Council, carried a box of bread as he said that.
During the summer break, Mok Uram joined and the dormitory students of the 1st year class 0 increased by one.
But Mok Uram was just a hogu, so there was no problem of him causing incidents.
At least he wouldn’t do anything to harm Kwon Lena, who belonged to the same dormitory.
“You seem very busy. Do you need help?”
“No, it’s okay. I had to prepare beforehand for the time when there are no 3rd year’s seniors.”
At my suggestion, he replied energetically.
It seemed that because the majority of work was taken by the 1st years, Bak Seunghyeon was busy.
It was because the Student Council president, Earthly Wings Council president and General Club Council president’s elections were drawing closer and each of the self-governed organizations’ 2nd and 3rd years students were starting to prepare for the transfer of duties.
“Is the candidate for the next Earthly Wings Council’s president confirmed?”
“Yeah, senior Gye Idam will probably come out as the single candidate? The 2nd year class 0’s seniors are almost all dormitory students. No one but senior Gye Idam can handle those seniors.”
I was dubious at the words of a single candidate, but hearing the additional explanation, I was convinced.
A self-govern organization president, who could be swayed by Geun Chansol and Wang Chansol, wouldn’t be trustworthy at all.
The current Student Council president Tao Wonu, the Guideline Club president Oh Hyeji and Wings Council president Seong Siwan had abilities and personalities to deal with the GeunChan&WangChan duo.
For that reason, it seemed that Gye Idam would take over as the next Earthly Wings Council president.
“Then I’ll be off to work. See you next time!”
“Okay.”
After parting with Bak Seunghyeon, I recalled the 2nd year key people and their future stories.
‘Among the 2nd years, if it’s someone like Yeom Junyeol, Gwak Gyeong-gu and Cheon Dongha, they wouldn’t lose to GeunChan&WangChan, right?’
However, the three were daily students, and they belonged to the Student Council and Guideline Club.
It would be difficult for them to take charge of the Wings Council.
‘There is a 2nd year Playable Character who belong to the dormitory, but…’
Among the 2nd years, Ma Jinseung belong to the dormitory.
But though Ma Jinseung was currently in the Guideline Club, he couldn’t deal with GeunChan&WangChan.
Ma Jinseung, who was a type of ‘weak in actual battle’, and couldn’t exactly be active in the otherworld conquest.
Therefore, to overcome his weakness, he made Yeom Junyeol, who an opposite fire superpower which was his weakness, into his rival, but it didn’t help at all.
Even though Ma Jinseung was born with an outstanding superpower, he still didn’t receive an alias.
‘The in-game Ma Jinseung received alias after his death.’
The main actors of that scenario were Cheon Dongha and Ma Jinseung, those two.
The goal of the two was ‘rescue Yeom Junyeol from enemies’.
With World in the Eye Cheon Dongha’s ‘Eyes embracing Heaven and Earth’, his remarkable brain, and usage of Ma Jinseung’s abilities, they succeeded in achieving their goal.
They succeeded in letting Yeom Junyeol out, but the two died, and Yeom Junyeol, who learned about the two’s death, went into a runaway and no long after lost his breath to the Dark Mastermind’s scheme.
That process was later revealed and Ma Jinseung received a post-morten alias.
“Uisin-ah?”
I suddenly snapped back to my senses.
In front of me was An Dain.
“Ah, sorry. You called?”
“No, I wanted to just say hello.”
An Dain’s hands were full of all kinds of portable bug eradication sprays.
It was indeed like the title heroine not to lose against the wicked uninvited visitors who endlessly appeared out of nowhere during the summer season and to actively respond to them.
Since we met after a long time, I congratulated her.
“Congratulations on the alias.”
“Thanks.”
As An Dain received recognition for her actions during the summer break, she received an alias from the satellite.
An Dain’s alias was ‘Shooter of Divine Bullets[2]’.
It matched well with An Dain, who shot bullets that seemed to contain divinity.
Besides conquering the otherworlds that suddenly appeared during the Youth Training Camp, An Dain showed off dazzling actions like maze search, finding priceless treasure, blocking an assassination attempt, etc, which were difficult to believe they were actions of a 1st year highschool student, so it was more than enough to receive an alias.
‘Ju Su-hyeok also received an alias.’
Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain received the same alias as in the game.
The development was a bit different, but it seemed to be like this because the content of the quests solved by the two on their own didn’t change.
After finishing congratulations, I sent her the newly obtained pictures of Snare and An Dain and I had an enjoyable conversation.
The conversation shared with my Playable Characters, who recognized Snare’s greatness was seriously worthwhile.
* * *
Playlist’s first broadcast.
The current 1st year class 0’s students from the dormitory reserved the Wings Council’s studio room to watch the Playlist together.
Because it was broadcasted late at night, we couldn’t regretfully watch it with the children who were daily students.
About 30 minutes after the broadcast started, Dokgo Miro appeared for the first time.
After a simple introduction video and subtitles passed, Dokgo Miro at the screen greeted the judges.
“Ah, it’s the kid from our class?”
“Yes! She said she won’t be able to come to school often. You probably will be able to meet her when they shoot at school.”
Maeng Hyodon, who safely finished the cultivation with ascetic Tak Geosan and returned, pointed at the pink hair and tilted his head.
Sawol Seeum also ended his secluded life and returned to the dormitory.
“What to do, she looks nervous…”
Kwon Lena said with an anxious voice as she looked at Dokgo Miro.
As she experienced standing on stage, Kwon Lena would understand Dokgo Miro’s feelings very well.
Even though we already knew that Dokgo Miro passed the preliminary round, everyone looked anxious.
Likewise, Dokgo Miro’s eyes were shaking, and her voice were trembling a lot.
“She may be shy. I understand.”
Mok Uram, who sat at the maximum distance from Kwon Lena, commented like this.
At those words, Sawol Seeum tilted his head.
“When we met the last time, it didn’t feel like that at all. Is she nervous in front of cameras?”
After Dokgo Miro’s song and dance ended, the judges had a long conversation.
The opinions for and against were divided, and they finally decided with the majority vote, and Dokog Miro barely passed with one vote.
After the assistant MC Yeom Junyeol passed on the words of success, Dokgo Miro shouted ‘Thank You!’ a few times.
“…”
Han Yi pressed her lips and watched Dokgo Miro with a face as if she was enduring pain.
Opportunely, the video about Dokgo Miro getting to the finals flowed.
The introduction video seemed to be taken when she was young, but the Dokgo Miro, who just became an elementary school student, singing with a voice full of confidence couldn’t be compared to her current appearance.
‘Did something happen to Dokgo Miro in the meantime?’
I was bothered by Han Yi’s attitude and Dokgo Miro’s change.
* * *
After the broadcast ended, and I returned to my dormitory room, I suddenly thought about the ‘Playlist’.
The Playlist’s cast was happy that they could show off their talents that they always really wanted to present and not the superpowers as Players.
‘My Playable Character was also there.’
The rap of the ‘Saint of Naejang Mountain’, with tidy short hair, as if they just started growing after he left the secluded life at the temple, left a deep impression.
After one of the entertainers among the judges, famous as a hip-hop musician, requested an on-spot freestyle rap battle, the ‘Saint of Naejang Mountain’ accepted it without hesitation.
The over 30 minutes rap battle was cut short to the 15 seconds, but even during that short time, the two’s rap’s veteran abilities could be felt clearly
Some of the judges, who admired the smooth rap, kept pressing the pass button during the freestyle rap battle.
‘You couldn’t show off such a talent?!’
I felt that I had to work hard, even if just for my Playable Characters and our class children.
If this world avoids the bad ending, the Players will also be able to follow their dreams.
As my thoughts reached this point, I suddenly recalled Yong Jegeon’s words.
— She said that if you wander around wearing the crow mask, you have to respect the favorite taste of the Crow Demon King and the human he cherishes.
— She said you won’t be able to obtain his favor by just simply wandering while wearing a crow mask.
‘Demon King’s favorite taste…’
Sillentium, famous as a Crow Demon King, borrowed the eyes of crows to observe the world and kept an indifferent and silent stance.
As he had quite a lot of eyes, it would take some time for him to recognize me.
I may have to move beforehand to prepare for the moment when I will need that Crow Demon King’s help.
While organizing the information I possessed and thinking about the next move, I unknowingly fell asleep.
*~*~*
[1] Kim Yuri — I feel like it should be Han Yi, but raws says Kim Yuri and raws is always right so.
[2] Shooter of Divine Bullets — Hehe. Okay. So homonyms for shooter are as follows: ‘teachings received from a master’, ‘protecting with your life’, ‘general term for tigers, leopards, bears’, ‘Four Guardian Beasts (Baek-ho, Cheongryong, Jujak, Hyeonmu)’, ‘standing water’, ‘Painting Four Sleepers, depicting monks: Fenggan, Hanshan, and Shide, and a tiger sleeping together.’, ‘one’s personal archenemy’, ‘Ghost curse; going insane because of the ghost’, ‘a trick to deceive others’. There are quite a few more, but I chose those that stood out to me. You can look up ‘사수 (sasu)’ if you want all of them.
Divine Bullets could also mean firewood/charcoal. The divine here stands for ‘神’ which refers more to a spirit/soul, than divinity, but it’s hard to differentiate.
Translator’s note: Ah… I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.
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