Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
49. Sport Exchange (11)
The four chaebeols of Korea, where the Clash of Different Worlds occurred, had a thing in common.
There were people born with powerful superpowers in each generation.
The key members of the Hwang Myeong Group were Ho tribe members, and the current heads of the Namkung, Ju-Oh and TC Groups were born with superpowers.
Because of that, once they became hostile towards each other, the economic and social losses were enormous.
The representative example was ‘Ju-Oh Split’, where the Group’s in-fighting caused greater harm than dozens of SSR rank otherworlds.
So after the Ju-Oh Split, the Player’s Association was said to be keeping tabs on the 4 Groups.
Thanks to that, the moment they received a tip, they were able to uncover the TC Group’s executive, who was involved in the mind manipulation of Tao Sihu.
‘I thought it was a type of a curse that doesn’t influence the ordinary superpower wave test results. But it wasn’t it?’
Hong Gyubin said that they figured out that a nurse officer, who was bribed by the TC Group’s executive, manipulated Tao Sihu’s test results.
After those words, Hong Gyubin continued to reveal the secret story tied to the TC Group.
— The TC showed signs of splitting in the past. It’s expected that the communication, transportation and otherworld industry divisions will break away from the TC Group.
That was treated as an odd rumor even in the business world.
But I knew those words were a fact.
When the 4 Groups’ secret fight broke out, it was a fact mentioned while revealing the secret stories of TC Group which was rotting.
But in the game it was revealed belatedly that there were such signs, and actually faction separation wasn’t achieved.
It was because the TC Group’s next head, who was leading the faction split-off, was gravely injured during the Jamsil Baseball Stadium incident and stepped away from the front lines, and other people also disappeared one after another.
— Because of the stock prices’ problem, it wasn’t revealed outside. Currently, they’re divided into the support faction and opposition faction. The support faction is responding calmly, but the opposition faction is the problem.
— The support faction is the TC Group’s next head… and Eungwang School’s current Student Council’s president student Tao Wonu’s grandfather, and the Ship King, whose name was famous in the past, is also in it.
Hearing about the confrontation composition inside of TC Group, I roughly figured out the related cause-and-effect.
Considering this world’s end, I’d have to look into the complexity of causes behind the targeting of TC Group’s next head and Tao Sihu.
Even so, I at least became certain the Dark Mastermind’s aims were closely connected[1] with the ones affiliated with TC Group, who targeted those people for selfish desires.
— Ship King stepped back from the Group management, but he has a lot of stakes in the shipping transportation, and has great popularity and influence.
— Eliminating the Ship King directly would have the greatest effect, but it isn’t easy. So they would be aiming at his son, who has many weaknesses.
Tao Sihu was a talented bastard, but it was a widely known fact that he was weak in the water and was a crazy bastard, who would jump into it, without knowing how to cherish his life.
One could say it was because of his dream, but there would be people, who suspected there was something wrong with his mind, and because of many mental gaps, he was easy for Demons to interfere with.
If by digging into that mindset, the Ship King’s only son, Tao Sihu, was made into a felony criminal and died, the Ship King’s position would break apart.
According to Korean society’s social convention, one’s reputation and position were destroyed as something of a collective punishment for the crime committed by a family member, even if one was completely unrelated[2] to it.
In addition, if they were legally under one’s protection, then one would have to take the entire financial responsibility of the apportionment of responsibility.
Hearing Hong Gyubin’s explanation, I informed him about the plan to assassinate Tao Wonu and the Cadet Council’s head by manipulating Tao Sihu at the opening ceremony.
— That’s how it is, huh? Adding to the adults’ situation, they probably would want to get rid of Tao Sihu and Tao Wonu, because they are outstanding students.
Hong Gyubin wasn’t surprised and spoke calmly.
— The problem is that that person, who took money from TC Group’s executive, belongs to army, but…
The person, who accepted the TC Group’s executive’s enticement and manipulated Tao Sihu’s examination results, was a nurse officer.
That nurse officer was the military division that carried out missions with Tao Sihu’s father, the Ship King, when he cooperated with the navy, and as such was trusted by Tao Sihu and the Ship King.
Hong Gyubin was informed about money coming and going, but that amount of money felt too shabby to be a reward worthy of breaking the military law and making the battle partner’s son into a murderer.
— Even so, the Regulation Enforcement Department will step out in this case. Because there are Players both among the victims and assailants.
Though they were said to be Players, the nurse officer was a solider belonging to the Player Army.
For a solider the military law took precedent over the Player Special law, and if a crime was committed, they were subject of regulations of the judicial authorities within the army.
Could the Regulation Enforcement Department step out in this case?
— We have a collaborator inside of the Military School. Thanks to that child’s help, we will get to interrogate him first.
But there were exceptions.
In a case where one couldn’t wait for the military police, because there was a chance that the crime committed by the Player solider could endanger life or cause property damage, it was necessary to quickly deal with it.
In the case a Player solider was arrested outside of the military protection zone, like the army facilities or military hospital facilities, even if the military police demands them, there was a room for the Regulation Enforcement Department to directly question them for a period of time.
The collaborator inside the Military School was said to plan to cooperate in preventing that nurse officer from escaping, while guiding him out of the Player Military Academy’s grounds, aka, outside of the military protection zone.
‘Considering he said ‘that child’, they seem to be a cadet.’
With their status as pre-soldier, such action would be a pretty dangerous act, but it may be fine.
— …. I tried to stop her, but she refused. Once my younger sister makes up her mind, she won’t yield.
It seemed that the collaborator was Hong Gyubin’s younger sister.
I made up my mind to ask Jang Namuk about a female cadet with the surname Hong later, and finished the call.
‘As Hong Gyubin and his sister stepped out, that side won’t be a problem.’
The problem was this side.
I stared at the priest of Avaritia tied by Jegal Jaegeol’s kotodama.
Thanks to the kotodama, the priest of Avaritia was completely neutralized as he couldn’t release miasma, or manipulate superpower waves.
At best he could puff his mouth towards the crow mask I was wearing.
Because the abilities of the vocal organs like vocal cords were blocked, even when the Demon moved his lips not even the sound of air leaking could be heard.
Even so, rather than look resentful or be filled with hatred towards me, the Demon’s eyes looked like he had a last ditch-effort with something.
‘Even without a sound, it’s annoying.’
⟨Using the target character’s skill ‘Kotodama’.⟩
Paa…!
Through the Player’s Trajectory, I used the activated Jegal Jaegeol’s skill, kotodama, and with each movement of my finger a letter was written in the air one after another.
With swiftly adding a few in the air, the lips of the scared Demon stopped moving.
I blocked the vocal organs to block the superpower abilities activated through sound, but I allowed his lips to move, because of the worry of suffocating if something went wrong, but it might have been better to block it in advance even if it meant piercing a hole in his lungs and pumping air directly into him.
The Demon’s face muscles stiffened with his mouth open wide.
“Don’t know the subject, eh? Is there a way that you bastard, who made cunning tricks, because he couldn’t directly lay a hand on Jegal Jaegeol, could compete with me and this person?”
Hwang Jiho, who looked to be in his 30s, spoke like that, provoking him.
Hwang Jiho coated the completely powerless Demon in barriers one after another, as if he was a pathogen, isolating him from the outside.
‘Uh?’
The eyeballs of the Demon tied with kotodama, rolled up.
It was just a second, but superpower wave rose from the Demon’s body again.
‘This is not a superpower wave emitted by this Demon. Perhaps, a Demon God…!’
Before I could use kotodama, Hwang Jiho kicked him.
“Don’t pull useless tricks.”
Peuk!
After Hwang Jiho kicked his throat, the priest of Avaritia’s body went limp.
It was clear that at the last moment he tried to do something, but I didn’t know if it ended in a failure or not.
“Sorry. You tried to catch him with his senses intact.”
Hwang Jiho clicked his tongue.
The reason why we worked hard not to make him faint was to prevent him from communicating with the higher being, which some Demons were serving, ‘Demon God’, through the medium of dreams.
That effort was gone like a bubble, but I would say we did our best.
‘What was he doing before fainting?’
Something done by the priest of Avaritia right now seemed like a variable I couldn’t predict.
But even when I used a Detection skill a few times around the Demon, I wasn’t able to find any traces.
“Go back first. After I leave this guy to the subordinates, I’ll join you in a form of a student.”
I couldn’t waste any more time here.
The communication would soon be turned back on and the Demons’ ‘Eyes’ would check this area again.
Before that I had to return to the appearance of the Newspaper Club’s member Jo Uisin and the priest of Avaritia had to be confined and transported inside of a vehicle with cut-off communication, which was prepared beforehand.
‘… I can find out later what he was doing just now, right?’
I nodded and started moving.
When I took off the mask and put on a school uniform, the dome’s roof, with unfolded communication blockade, was opened, and the communication was restored.
After communication returned, a message from Hong Gyubin arrived.
[Hong Gyubin] The nurse officer was safely secured.
[Hong Gyubin] I’ll contact you again after the interrogation.
It was certain Hong Gyubin would work over-hours today, but perhaps because he thought his little sister went through bigger hardships, he didn’t complain.
* * *
Following Tao Wonu and the Military Academy’s highschool department’s Cadet Council’s head’s signal to open the event, the representatives of the athletes squads gave an athletes oath, and around the time when that oath finished, I and Hwang Jiho were able to safely meet again in the place where class 0’s children were.
“Vice president and lunatic are back.”
“You should have come a bit earlier! The performance just before the opening speeches was amazing!”
“I thought it was just a sword dance recreating the scene from Gaecheon Myth, but a real Byeoksa skill was used… It seemed to be a person from our school, but who were they?”
The children looked at us and told us about Byeoksa sword dance with regretful faces.
I naturally knew that the performance was splendid.
Because it was my main Playable Character, who appeared in the whooping Gaecheon Myth personally, recreating his great feats.
The class children diligently described the sword dance to me and Hwang Jiho, who couldn’t see Baek Ho-gun’s sword dance, and listening to the children’s talking, I acutely felt that the confrontation with the Demon was over.
“Uisin-ah, Jiho-ah, did you see? Playlist came to shoot!”
After I and Hwang Jiho sat down, Sawol Seeum spoke with an excited voice as he pointed at the cheering platform.
On the cheering platform stood Yeom Junyeol.
Yeom Junyeol looked towards our class children and waved his hand, but then I saw his face stiffen a bit, when he saw Hwang Jiho.
It seemed he was utterly unfamiliar with how to deal with the Ho sitting among the teenagers.
Even though he knew that, Hwang Jiho spoke peacefully.
“Dokgo Miro’s singing isn’t bad. The shooting was agreed on.”
It seemed that Hwang Jiho knew about the Playlist’s shooting beforehand, but he didn’t say anything.
Playlist was currently shooting two members making a team and fulfilling a mission.
Dokgo Miro’s partner was my Playable Character, Saint of Naejang Mountain.
She was on the rise, but considering that Dokgo Miro, who barely survived through a death match, was in the bottom place as she didn’t accumulate achievements until now, she was paired with Saint of Naejang Mountain, who scored the highest place
“Before the soccer game, the stage used for the opening ceremony will be taken down and the ground will be prepared. Playlist’s shooting is planned during that.”
As the class children chatted, while waiting for the stage, Dokgo Miro, wearing an old white school uniform climbed on the stage.
Whoaaa—!
Cheers poured for Dokgo Miro, who became Eungwang School’s famous person through the death match busking video.
Dokgo Miro smiled brightly and waved her hand.
The moment the camera started the test shooting, her face hardened, but it looked much more natural compared to before.
At that moment, I abruptly felt a sense of incongruity.
There was something Han Yi said before.
— Because of stage fright, she couldn’t sing well when people were watching. She isn’t a type to be shaken by people, but I guess singing was different…. But I only could tell the difference because her expression was stiff, and the air was shaking a bit.
But unlike Han Yi’s words, Dokgo Miro wasn’t scared of the stage but the camera.
‘Thinking about it, it seems that Han Yi misunderstood Dokgo Miro.’
Dokgo Miro, who found our class children, waved her hands towards us, and Han Yi stared at Dokgo Miro on the stage with a complicated face.
*~*~*
[1] closely connected — 무돤하다 (mugwanhada) is one of those lovely words that can mean opposite things, one: completely unrelated, second: very closely related. There is no difference in usage, you just have to guess which it is from the context. Now, pray that this translator guessed right.
[2] unrelated — guess what word is used here. Yes! It’s 무돤하다 (mugwanhada)! Also ‘crime’ here could mean a ‘sin’. Generally, crimes breaking the law were considered also crimes against Heaven, so you can think of sin and crime as the same thing.
Translator’s note: … I don’t know what bothers me more, the Demon’s reaction or Jo Uisin’s reaction to a Demon.
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