Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
48. First practice (9)
After the first practice, thanks to the children sharing their lunches to eat and the Eternal Lake’s team performance after it, the heavy atmosphere after the practice relaxed a lot.
However, Kwon Lena was extremely nervous.
“Hey, Lena…”
Just before parting ways, Sawol Seeum spoke up to her.
“Did Lena also receive help from the Re… No, from that Person, perhaps?”
There was not even a bit of malice or suspicion on Sawol Seeum’s face.
At first, Sawol Seeum was suspicious of Kwon Lena, who saw Hongryong, which Red Wall Thief used at the Fantasy Auction, and responded.
But seeing Kwon Lena’s attitude, who tried to hide Hongryong’s existence from Yong Jegeon after it, the suspicions were completely erased.
Such attitude tormented Kwon Lena even more.
‘… I should say that I was also there!’
She saw Sawol Seeum inside the golden cage at the Fantasy Auction.
And someone who came to rescue Sawol Seeum, being thrown at the stage, and Sawol Seeum shedding tears seeing this.
It was difficult to say she was there and she did nothing but observed.
Her mouth didn’t open at all, and Kwon Lena could only give a nod.
“It was correct, eh! Where did Lena see that Person?”
It seemed that Sawol Seeum didn’t think Kwon Lena was at the Fantasy Auction as an participant.
“So, it was…”
Kwon Lena wasn’t able to speak in the end.
As the silence prolonged, Sawol Seeum apologized first.
“Ah! Is it perhaps something difficult to talk about? I apologize, You don’t have to answer. In fact, I also received help in a situation that is difficult to talk about.”
Sawol Seeum was probably excited because he wanted to share stories about Red Wall Thief.
Kwon Lena smiled vaguely while working hard to hide her mind that was sinking into darkness.
“Hi, Seeum-ah. I want to talk with Lena.”
Kwon Jane suddenly appeared and halted the uncomfortable conversation at perfect timing.
It was completely out of the blue, but as it was a common thing for Kwon Jane to take unexpected actions, Sawol Seeum stepped aside without showing any displeasure.
“Ah, yes! Teacher Kwon Jane-nim, hello. Then see You later.”
Sawol Seeum moved to the place where dormitory students were gathered.
Except for Jo Uisin, who left first in the limousine with Hwang-ho, the dormitory students were waiting for an air taxi.
At the thought that she would have to face Sawol Seeum again when going to the dormitory, Kwon Lena’s heart became heavy.
“I spoke up because Lena seemed to be in trouble. Are you okay?”
“Yes? That, thank You…”
Kwon Jane didn’t speak any longer, but she figured out the situation almost completely.
After the crimes committed by Kwon Lena’s adoptive parents were openly revealed, the Eternal Lake’s information team investigated the records related to Kwon Lena from beginning to end.
Among the investigated matters was a case related to the Fantasy Auction, and personal details of the 1st year class 0’s students.
Kwon Jane knew how and where Kwon Lena and Sawol Seeum’s first meeting came to be.
Kwon Jane quietly looked at Kwon Lena with blue eyes and then said:
“Did you bring a violin?”
“Yes….”
“Then let’s go to our team building straight away.”
“Yes?”
“Tomorrow is a lesson day, remember? Lena got hurt today, so I want you to be examined by the team doctor and then rest.”
Kwon Jane, who opportunely wanted to take Kwon Lena to the team building, suggested it.
Kwon Lena seemed embarrassed by the sudden suggestion.
“That, I wasn’t hurt that much… So…”
“… Do you dislike going to our team building?”
“No! It’s because it seems that I’m getting indebted to You for too much every time…”
“You can get indebted even more.”
Kwon Lena looked in turn at the firmly speaking Kwon Jane and at Sawol Seeum in the distance.
Ending her worries, Kwon Lena nodded.
She had no confidence in talking with Sawol Seeum right now.
* * *
The key goals of this first practice included confirming how the current situation changed from the developments in the game.
‘The biggest differences are the appearance of the Eternal Lake’s team members and the fact that the Frozen Otherworld wasn’t revealed. And Sillentium interference in the otherworld.’
Besides that, things moved according to the game.
Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain raised their popularity with their activities during the summer break, but as they took the biggest contributor seat this time, they became the hot topic again.
Thanks to conquering the otherworld before the two, my alias would also be mentioned.
Even so, the spotlight would be more on the two more than me, who had no activities revealed to the public recently.
As proof, there were soon a few articles published with the two as the main characters, but somehow even my alias was mentioned in every other line.
“Did you see all the articles?”
Inside of the air limousine.
After I read all the articles, Hwang Jiho spoke straight away.
Because while moving, Hwang Jiho was exchanging messages through the device, I checked the articles, but I guess he finished the exchange at some point and was glaring at me.
Hwish.
Hwang Jiho grabbed my hand.
It was the left hand, which rolled up sleeve was dyed with blood.
I thought there was a gap in physical abilities, but seeing how easily he grabbed my hand, I could actually feel that gap.
Hwang Jiho’s gaze carefully swept over the part that was injured.
“Looking at the state of the skin tissue, it seems that your arm was almost cut off, eh?”
As I entered the boss room, it was difficult to maintain Hongryong just as Sillentium said, but because Yong Jegeon hadn’t arrive yet, I barely maintained its physical form.
I immediately activated two Forks targeted at the Boss Enemy, but perhaps the Forks’ power dropped when my concentration dropped, I wasn’t able to take it down in one hit.
Just after that, I defended against the Boss Enemy’s attack, and my left arm was cut off halfway.
After it activated the skill, the Boss Enemy revealed a gap, and I was able to take it down by activating Forking just after that.
My left arm which was almost cut off hurts but not as much as lung cancer or when my stomach was pierced by Zhu Ganglie.
‘That bastard can know even that?’
In the game, if you fill up the HP gauge, that’s the end.
In a dying state, there were no abnormalities even just after recovering, and when vitality was recovered with an item or superpower, the previously injured people would be no outwardly different from others.
Even so, I guess it looked different in the eyes of the Myth category Ho tribe.
“You used a regenerative superpower at the Cymopoleia. Why did you use a recovery item?”
Because the Gwangrim has a time limit.
Cheon Dongha’s Eyes Embracing Heaven and Earth.
Yeom Junyeol’s Hongryong Summoning.
It’s not only those two Gwangrims, but I also had to use the Ritual Tools’ Summoning of the godly maiden candidate tonight.
There was a possibility that I would have to use another Gwangrim as necessary.
As Gwak Gyeong-gu’s 100 Seconds of Grace’s time consumption could be too big, I thought of using the recovery item.
“You know that you can’t thoughtlessly use recovery items.”
“I know.”
“You know, but you still did it?”
“I may have to use Gwangrim again.”
Hwang Jiho’s face visibly hardened.
Luckily, the air limousine arrived in front of the Hwang Myeong-ho’s mansion and the conversation was cut off.
“Go to the outbuilding. I called Hyangrok.”
No way, why would you call the Nok tribe’s head again!
My mind turned dark.
* * *
In Hwang Myeong-ho’s mansion, hanok-type outbuilding.
I haven’t entered yet, but I smelled the smell worthy of the end of hell.
It seemed that Hyangrok came beforehand and was performing some horrible acts.
Keuk…
The scene, which seemed to be from hell, completely changed at the small sound.
As there was an angel around, it wouldn’t be hell.
When I looked around, I saw Baek Ho-gun together with Snare coming towards us from the outbuilding.
Woof! Woof woof!
Snare saw me and ran, but then suddenly stopped.
Snare looked up at my left arm.
Our clever and kind Snare might have noticed something related to my injury.
Krrrr….!
For a moment I heard a sound that seemed to be a cry of a savage beast from hell.
Was Hyangrok excited about making the hellish medicine?
“Not my action.”
Keung! Grrrr!
“Yeah, I grabbed him. I just checked his hand to confirm.”
Hwang Jiho was saying something to Snare.
I had no idea why that bastard talking to himself in front of Snare.
As we entered the outbuilding, the poisonous smell grew stronger.
“Hwang-ho, Baek-ho, hi! Human, hi too!”
Soon Hyangrok appeared, waving his hand with a bright face, but every time he widely waved his hand, the smell of hellish medicine swirled, and Snare took a step back[1].
“Did you prepare what I requested?”
“Almost! Were talking about the elixir, which has immediate effects on stabilizing blood flow and superpower waves, correct? If I adjust it just a bit based on Jo Uisin’s pulse result, it will be complete! But is it true that you will give me a Jin as the price?”
Giving a Jin as a price for elixir?
My doubts about what kind of sound it was were immediately cleared.
“Yeah. Opportunely, one of the tortured Ung couldn’t endure the nightmare and his mind completely collapsed. As only a body is left, experiment to your heart’s content.”
“Nightmare…? No way, it’s a Jin corrupted by the dust left by Insomnium in the mortal world?”
Hyangrok’s face was instantly dyed with fear.
Not only the heads of the Jin’s 12 Zodiac, but also the Nok tribe’s head were noticeably wary of that nightmare and Insomnium.
“Yeah. As the mind collapsed, the dust was also said to flew off. Don’t you like the Insomnium’s traces left?”
“Yep, I don’t like them! I really don’t like them, but… I want to check how Insomnium destroys a mind! Make sure to give him to me!”
It seemed that Hyangrok was more curious than fearful from the beginning.
Hyangrok, who finished the deal, walked up to me.
After checking the pulse, Hyangrok said:
“It seems your hand was almost cut off. As your sense of pain is normal, you would feel all the pain. Yet even after such thing, your mind is stable… are you perhaps used to pain?”
Each time Hyangrok said something, the tigers’ gazes grew sharper.
Sense this and sense that, I have no idea why was he making such useless sounds.
“You didn’t have trouble breathing recently?”
After I shook my head, Hyangrok checked my pulse again and then headed to the outbuilding’s kitchen.
After a superpower wave flowed in the kitchen for a moment, Hyangrok appeared again.
In his hands were a medicine bowl and an earthenware bowl.
“Hwang-ho told me to make it especially disgusting, so power to you!”
… Then it was an elixir made to be disgusting beyond necessary?!
As I looked towards Hwang Jiho, who shut his mouth since a while ago, not only Hwang Jiho, but also Baek Ho-gun, who was beside him, and Snare, who was in Baek Ho-gun’s arms, quietly looked at me.
“You know Hyangrok’s skills, right? Don’t think of comparing it to the taste of the revitalizing healthy dessert made by this one.”
Are you talking about the herbal medicine ice creams?
The thing I thought was just an ordinary fruit ice cream was a delicacy mixing all kinds of herbs.
I was surprised when I learned that there were three kinds of ingredients in it, because when it was added to the baked croissant, I almost didn’t sense even a smell of grass.
But there was no such thing as mercy or consideration in the elixir infused with this thing.
“…”
Woof! Woof woof!
Baek Ho-gun and Snare quietly looked at me.
At the two’s urging, I finally stretched my hand towards the earthenware bowl.
The moment I swallowed the elixir, my awareness instantly flew away.
All my senses felt was ‘disgustingness’.
I would rather lose my senses when my awareness flew away first, but such luck didn’t come.
As I drank all of it, I felt the sensation of the superpower wave stabilizing and the blood circulating in the body, but my mind was in pain because of the disgustingness just like before.
Hyangrok added again something about breathing, and something about supposed aftereffects and then stepped back, but frankly, I couldn’t remember it properly.
After seeing the scene of me being possessed by the elixir’s disgustingness and being completely ignored by Snare, Hwang Jiho was a bit relieved, while being very pleased.
“You would make a strategy to summon Yong Jegeon to that place, whether he was coming or not. And it would be related to something besides the conquest difficulty rising beyond expectations. What happened?”
Because I didn’t think of hiding the answer to this question, I opened my mouth with difficulty.
I hid things about the deal’s component ‘Weight of Life and Fortune’, but I answered that I moved like this to obtain Sillentium’s cooperation.
“It doesn’t seem like there will be a matter to be same-minded with Demons for a lifetime, eh?[2] Even more so with the people, who boldly attach ‘king’ to their titles.”
When we were conversing for a while about things related to this matter.
The device notified about an incoming call.
[Caller: Jang Namuk]
A call from Jang Namuk came earlier than expected.
*~*~*
[1] hellish medicine swirled, and Snare took a step back — because of how the sentence is constructed ‘나 (na, which could mean ‘I/me’)’ is directly in front of Snare. Which makes it sound like I & Snare. I swear, whenever ‘I’ can be put together with Snare, Jo Uisin will do it (though you probably won’t see it, because English sentence structure makes it often impossible to reproduce).
[2] It doesn’t seem like there will be a matter to be same-minded with Demons for a lifetime, eh? — This sentence may look very strange, because it has no subject, so I’m not sure if Hwang-ho is talking about himself or about Jo Uisin. It could be either: ‘I don’t think there would be a matter I was same-minded as Demons for a lifetime’ or ‘I don’t think there would be a matter you would be same-minded as Demons for a lifetime’.
Translator’s note: *Screaming since previous chapter* Why medical herbs?!
(This actually could be explained as Hwang-ho being a big softie, but I can’t look at it properly when it’s mentioned with croissants.)
Patron thank you note
Thank you patron, Nobody, please accept this Hintonella mexicana’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Al, please accept this Holcoglossum kimballianum’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Luca, please accept this Holothrix orthoceras’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Amy Peters, please accept this Houlletia odoratissima’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Dust, please accept this Huntleya burtii’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Maru, please accept this Huttonaea grandiflora’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, kamisonk, please accept this Bletia catenulata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Kasimir Ilmonen, please accept this Hexalectris spicata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Tara Hess, please accept this Herpysma longicaulis’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Ice, please accept this Hemipilia calophylla’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, anonymous Kofi-supporter, please accept this Helleriella guerrerensis’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Links to support this translation and access to 5 advanced chapter (Patreon & Kofi)
> Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LibraryKeyTranslations
> Kofi-Euro: https://ko-fi.com/wanthetranslator
> Kofi-USD: https://ko-fi.com/wanthetranslatorusd
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
Leave a Reply