Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
46. Under stage (5)
The Seo tribe’s head Seodol wasn’t in a very good mood.
As he scowled at the Thames river, which was even darker than the gloomy sky and dark clouds, his mood seemed even worse.
Seodol’s unlucky subordinate, who kept his role as a porter, felt like dying.
“He ghosted me again after reading my message. Up till now he almost never read and ghosted me. Where did Hwang-ho learn such a rude behavior?”
After Seodol’s mood turned bad, he didn’t use that extremely tiresome polite tone.
While thinking that speech made things somewhat easier, the subordinate advised:
“Is the other party ignoring You even though He read the message? Then how about trying to call Him?”
“But I can’t do that because it isn’t urgent business.”
“Yes?”
“This business isn’t urgent and is just something to annoy Hwang-ho with. I can’t use a chance to call Hwang-ho on such a matter. If I do that, isn’t it possible that he won’t pick up when I call him with a really urgent matter?”
If so, shouldn’t you not contact him unnecessarily in the first place?
After Hwang-ho recently started to actively move, Seodol often contacted him with small matters.
Though the Ho tribe’s head read and ghosted him, Seodol’s usual behavior seemed to be a problem here.
Seodol’s subordinate thought so, but wisely shut their mouth.
Seodol was scowling as if he was in a bad mood.
“… Wow.”
Seodol’s expression, who observed the banks of Thames River, suddenly turned much better.
At the end of Seodol’s gaze was an Asian boy in an extremely eye-catching attire.
The Asian boy was wearing clothes from blue silk with a hibiscus[1] embroidery.
As the part of white petals was a mix of silver and white thread, the embroidery had a 3-dimensional effect.
Simply speaking, it was an avant-garde attire so eye-catching it would only come out in haute couture[2] collections.
The boy grabbed everyone’s attention, but it seemed that he had no idea about those gazes, as he walked glaring at the hologram as if it was his mortal enemy.
When Seodol opened his mouth, polite tone streamed out.
“That child, isn’t he quite good? It seems that he made those clothes personally, his hand skills are amazing. It’s more clean and delicate than a work of a sewing machine.”
Seodol was a world-renowned high premium fashion brand’s designer.
Worthy of a Jin, who greatly enjoyed the elegance made by humans, he decided to immediately approach the Asian boy.
Without giving his subordinate a chance to stop him, Seodol swiftly jumped over the terrace boundary.
“Hello. Can I have a moment of Your time? Ah, what am I. Ah, right. Do You perhaps not speak Korean? Then English…”
“It’s okay. You’re designer Seodol, correct? It’s my honor to meet such an extraordinary designer as You.”
Even though the boy’s posture when he politely bent his waist was pretty elegant, it looked extravagant.
Seodol thought that boy was somewhat strange, but he replied with a smirk.
“You know me? Then I’ll spare the introductions and get straight to the point. The finishing touches on the shoulder part…”
The boy in the avant-garde clothes, who seemed to be as angry as Seodol at some point, relaxed his expression.
The boy, who chatted with Seodol for a while, glanced at the opened screen.
In the left top part of the screen, Eungwang School’s symbol was visible.
“The screen You were just looking at seemed to be a homepage of Eungwang School. Are You a student there?”
“Yes, but I don’t go to school. My grand ambition can’t be achieved in Eungwang School.”
Truly strange kid.
Even though Seodol didn’t hesitate to have rude thoughts, he enthusiastically agreed.
“… Is that so? Were there some not so good news? Your expression wasn’t good.”
The boy’s expression darkened.
“I hate being compared. It feels like challenging my talent.”
The title of the article the boy was reading was ‘Red Wall Thief VS Phantom Thief’.
* * *
A few days passed since the new semester started.
At last the article including ‘that word’ dropped down from the Newspaper Club’s homepage main banner.
It was thanks to a raising shot article taking the main seat instead.
What became the Newspaper Club homepage’s main was an interview article with Dokgo Miro written by Mun Saeron.
The one to introduce Dokgo Miro to Mun Saeron was me.
Not a long time after the article was published, a thank you message from Mun Saeron arrived.
[Mun Saeron] Saw the article~? Suspicious vice class president-nim-ah, thank You for bringing Miro-nim to me!
It was me who was thankful.
I also did it with a good intention to give an opportunity to Dokgo Miro to promote her name, but the greater thought was that I had to quickly get rid of ‘that word’ from the main page.
In the first place, a chess player has to make a move to capture at least two pieces and carefully look out for a coming closer checkmate.
The next day after Dokgo Miro’s article took the School Newspaper Club homepage’s main.
The 1st year class 0’s children gathered in front of the main gates early.
‘This is first day of Dokgo Miro coming to school, huh? But she will come to school temporarily, and not keep going.’
From today’s morning, ‘Playlist’ shooting was planned.
Everyone accepted Kim Yuri’s suggestion to go with all class children to school on Dokgo Miro’s first day in school.
Sawol Seeum and Han Yi visited ‘MITRON’ beforehand and prepared snacks to eat in the morning.
“If they’re going to shoot today, many unknown people will come, right…?”
“Geurin-ah, should we go first?”
“No, I think I’ll be fine if it’s inside the school.”
At Song Daeseok’s words, Min Geurin shook her head.
She tightly pressed her AR glasses and hood, but it didn’t seem she had any intention to flee.
“Miro, here!”
After Kim Yuri waved her hand as she spoke, Dokgo Miro, wearing the school summer uniform, came towards us with an awkward smile.
“I’m Dokgo Miro. Please take care of me! It’s my first day at school, so there are still a lot of things I don’t know. I decided to shoot during the lunchtime and shoot a scene of practicing in the empty classroom during the selective classes. I’m not going to affect you.”
The King Dokgo Miro completely hid her bloody energy and spoke shyly.
When the children, who met with her for the first time, finished exchanging introductions under Kim Yuri’s guidance, and we were about to head to the class.
“… That’s some different story, eh?”
Hwang Jiho’s eyes sunk, and he looked up at the other side of the sky.
An air shuttle was approaching the Eungwang School’s main gates.
‘That’s broadcasting station logo, right?!’
Besides the air shuttle with broadcasting station logo, a ground vehicle, which seemed to be rode by people from an outsourced company, were heading towards us.
Dokgo Miro made a surprised face as if she noticed it.
‘Didn’t she say shooting will start during the lunchtime?’
It seemed that Dokgo Miro didn’t know why they were coming now.
“It seems to be the logo of broadcasting station which is shooting ‘Playlist’.”
“Didn’t They come beforehand to prepare for shooting?” [3]
“… No. They said they would come around the time to eat lunch.”
Before even Dokgo Miro’s words ended, the vehicles stopped in front of the main gates and people quickly started to take out lights and reflectors.
Dokgo Miro ran to the person at the very front who was giving commands and bowed her head.
“Hello, PD-nim. I… I heard You’re coming around 12 o’ clock.”
“Uh? I guess they didn’t contact you. Because the shooting schedule went wrong, we decided to shoot Miro early. It seems that because the rapper monk-nim footage increased a bit, the schedules didn’t match. Is that okay? Are those your class friends over there?”
Even though PD spoke with a friendly expression, he didn’t give Dokgo Miro a chance to protest or ask anything.
Looking at the situation, it seemed like power abuse against the new and weak performer who wasn’t a big topic.
While smiling goodheartedly, PD pressed Dokgo Miro.
“Shall we take footage of you going to the school together. Ah, I know that painter Min Geurin is in this class. Shouldn’t we start with an interview with her? Unknown Supernova would be good too. I don’t see the homeroom teacher Great Blue Sky Archer, but isn’t He somewhere? Miro try talking with Him a bit. It would be good for Miro too.”
Cameraman sat a camera on one shoulder and reflected Dokgo Miro with it.
Dokgo Miro tried hard to maintain her smile, but her face gradually stiffened.
It seemed that she noticed that from the beginning they were aiming at the famous people from the 1st year class 0, who didn’t appear on TV very often under the pretext of shooting at school.
I couldn’t just watch the 1st year class 0’s children being dragged like this.
“Hey, the entrance permission given to those people…”
I lowered my voice and spoke to Hwang Jiho, who didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.
Hwang Jiho heard my words and nodded straight away.
“I-I need- talk to- class children- first….”
With cameras in front of her increasing, Dokgo Miro’s face gradually froze.
“Let’s first enter the school grounds and then have a conversation. Because of the parking problems, it seems difficult to film at the school gates. Guys-ah, let’s go.”
“Talking with the student here is faster than with Miro. Are you perhaps Unknown Supernova?”
I smiled politely as I nodded my head.
While adequately responding to what PD was talking about, I walked towards the school.
“Um, Uisin had a suspicious face for a moment, so it seems it will be fine.”
“Yes, it will be fine!” [4]
Thanks to advanced hearing, I heard the whispers of children behind me well.
“Let’s go.”
“….”
Han Yi grabbed the hand of the frozen Dokgo Miro and dragged her inside.
Starting with Min Geurin, who entered with Song Daeseok first, the children safely crossed the boundary, leaving behind cameras and entered the school grounds.
And.
Craack! Crack!
“Aaack!”
PD, who was walking at the forefront, screamed.
He was struck by the discharge caused by the Eungwang School’s barrier.
Soon, together with the sound of sirens, Eungwang School’s security system activated.
Wiiiiiiii!
“How dare you break the promised time and set foot in the divine realm without a permission?”
Between the sound of swarming Foundation personnel and not turning off siren, I heard Hwang Jiho mumble.
The fainted PD was left alone, and an argument broke out between Hwang Myeong Foundation’s security team and assistant director.
“Ah, weren’t those people told in advance?… Looking how the barrier blocks them, I guess they changed the shooting schedule without receiving the school permission.”
“What Lena-nim said seems right. Did they ignore the school rules? That’s a reasonable action.”
“… Did you say Lena-nim just now?”
“That’s too much. It wasn’t only Miro they didn’t inform.” [5]
Even though a person in front of them was electrocuted moment ago, our class children showed no mercy.
On the other hand, Dokgo Miro was still stiff.
The camera was still around, but it didn’t seem to be the only reason.
‘There are many bothersome things about Dokgo Miro’s appearance.’
It didn’t seem like she simply was hiding her king’s bloody aura to show a face worthy of an idol.
Unlike her impression of when she was young, Dokgo Miro was afraid of cameras.
‘Moreover, her expression got even worse after crossing the school gate’s boundary.’
It was still in the guess domain, but I couldn’t come up even with a few ways to confirm it.
‘… It seems that I’ll have to borrow Ho tribe’s power.’
This matter wasn’t directly related to the happy ending I tried to make.
Moreover, Dokgo Miro wasn’t even a Playable Character, nor an important NPC.
If not for being a stagnant water and her being part of 1st year class 0 right now, I wouldn’t even be able to remember Dokgo Miro’s name.
Even so, I wanted to help.
I started to want to cheer for Dokgo Miro, who did her best to achieve her dream with a small chance of success.
“There is something you can check for me.”
Taking advantage of confusion I made a suggestion to Hwang Jiho.
Was it thanks to Dokgo Miro’s past overlapping with Hwang Jiho’s official ‘Childhood old friend’? Hwang Jiho nodded his head.
“Got it. There was also something that I wanted to personally check.”
* * *
That teacher considered elementary school students annoying.
Among them, the most annoying was the existence of Dokgo Miro.
When Dokgo Miro, who became a highschool student, appeared on the TV, the annoyance he forgot surged again.
‘I should drag her down when she gathers a bit more popularity. Right now there is no point of dragging her down.’
Even though that elementary school teacher was making a scheme to destroy someone’s life, he didn’t feel even a bit of guilt.
Wasn’t the teacher’s job treated as a sacred and holy profession on Korean Peninsula?
It was natural that he had to ruin the children, who dared to stress him, who was part of that holy profession, out.
Rather, he believed that it was his role to isolate such children who couldn’t adapt to the society in advance when they were still young.
Before, his actions were revealed, and he almost lost his teacher position, but he felt some kind of duty and even pride.
Anyhow, he thought it was his grand duty worthy to be praised to give Dokgo Miro fear of cameras.
‘I have to see that toxic bitch crumble.’
Teacher wasn’t a bad job, but he didn’t have talent, popularity and courage like Dokgo Miro.
He couldn’t climb the stage, but he wanted to drag down what was on top of the stage.
There was a plan that wouldn’t take long to drag Dokgo Miro under the stage again.
‘If I call kids after a long time to eat delicious food and talk about old times, while bringing up Dokgo Miro, they will spread the word for me.’
The teacher checked the list of the children, who were in the same class as Dokgo Miro.
He made a list of the children with light mouths that spat nothing but lies and had the worst personalities.
Even if the truth was revealed somewhere, Dokgo Miro’s fame would already fall to the ground.
There were many people who only trust the stories that spread first and would treat her as assailant for her entire life.
When he was writing a message, he suddenly felt a gaze.
“… It’s time to go home, what are you doing? You can’t come to the classroom if you have nothing to do.”
The other party was the child who transferred today.
The child, who looked up at him without a word, instead of responding, turned to look at the hologram unfolded by the teacher.
It was a message, whose content was containing the teacher’s evil trick.
But the child didn’t seem like he would know Dokgo Miro, know that he was fabricating something, and be able to stop it, so there wasn’t a problem.
‘Why isn’t he saying anything? Where did such a stupid brat come from? That’s annoying. How long it has been since the new semester started, and I have to take care of such a kid.’
The teacher thought about the kid.
‘Where was his house… It seems it wasn’t a rich neighborhood and wasn’t particularly big. Was it a rented house?’
The teacher, who judged the child’s parents’ social status and property, decided to ignore the child.
That teacher was clever enough to pass all kinds of tests and training to become the elementary school teacher, wise enough to know his subject and cunning enough to know how to aim for the law loopholes.
But he couldn’t have known.
It was time for the law of karma to play its role.
Moreover, he didn’t know that a transfer student came to the classes of all teachers, who were Han Yi and Dokgo Miro’s elementary school homeroom teachers.
The child with pretty[6] eyes observed the teacher quietly.
*~*~*
[1] hibiscus — Hibiscus syriacus, the national flower of Korea.
[2] haute couture — exclusive, custom-fitted high-end fashion.
[3] “Didn’t They come beforehand to prepare for shooting?” — Sawol Seeum’s sentence.
[4] “Yes, it will be fine!” — The fanboy Sawol Seeum’s sentence.
[5] “That’s too much. It wasn’t only Miro they didn’t inform.” — Sawol Seeum’s sentence.
[6] pretty — 곱상하다 (gob-ssanghada) — also means that something looks gentle, quiet, well-behaved.
Translator’s note: Let her debut, you fucking bastards! Gods, I almost forgot about my pacifist rules when translating this chapter.
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