Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
50. Set piece (10)
Hwang Myeong-ho’s great mansion was so enormous it was worthy to be called ‘great’.
There were of course the side buildings between the golden fence and the maze garden, but there were also numerous places I wasn’t able to enter even in the main building inside the maze garden.
No, rather it would be better to express it as there was a small number of places I had set foot in at least once.
The main building’s facilities I entered were the 1st floor’s common-use areas like the living room, dinning room, drawing room, and our Snare’s room, 2nd floor’s guest room and basement facilities filled with the ancient language.
‘Why are you suddenly telling me to come to the 5th floor? And not the drawing room you always meet me?’
What was on the 5th floor?
I tried to recall what Hwang Jiho said again.
— Thank you for telling me, Jo Uisin. To deal with this case… We will talk again when I regain my cool.
That was the last words Hwang Jiho left.
How was regaining cool related to the 5th floor?
“Hwang-ho told me to come to the 5th floor, eh?”
Jeok-ho, who checked the message, spoke like this.
As expected, it seemed that Hwang Jiho sent a message to the tigers and me at the same time.
“What is on the 5th floor?”
“5th floor is Hwang-ho’s personal space. Baek-ho and I never been there.”
It was a space that even Jeok-ho and Baek Ho-gun haven’t seen?!
As Jeok-ho and Baek Ho-gun lived in this mansion starting from the beginning of this year, it might be natural that there were places that they still were unable to visit.
“Did Hwang-ho also sent a message to Jo Uisin to come to the 5th floor?”
“Yes.”
“It seems there is no need to ask Baek-ho, eh?”
Baek Ho-gun nodded while walking up to the elevator installed in the center of the 1st floor and pressing a button.
The elevator, which was waiting on the 1st floor, opened its door straight away.
Because the elevator interior was laid with gold, my appearance, holding a shopping bag in my left hand and Snare in my right hand, perfectly reflected in the golden surface.
The Snare reflected in the golden wall, shining like a mirror, was so cute and perfect, I almost lost my soul for a moment.
‘It’s coated in gold like before. But it somehow looks a bit different from before…’
I used this elevator once to get to the basement during the 12 Zodiac Meeting.
Both that time and right now, the elevator was coated in gold exactly the same, but a little change in the interior decoration caught my eye.
The elevator button’s numbers were decorated with rubies[1], and the button borders were finished with platinum[2].
I admired the elevator interior, and then while observing the button’s numbers, I realized something important.
‘There is no 5th floor button.’
It seemed like the Silver Shadow (Eunyeong) Building’s case, where you had to press a special button combination to get to the basement.
Was this elevator moving on a similar principle?
“Hwang-ho, everyone is aboard.”
After Jeok-ho said that, the golden superpower wave whirled around the buttons.
No matter how I looked, it was Hwang Jiho’s superpower wave.
‘You must have Hwang Jiho’s permission to go to the 5th floor, huh?’
The elevator steadily moved up.
The number on the panel installed above the door changed from 1 to 2, from 2 to 3, but it didn’t show the 5th floor and it didn’t stop.
I had a feeling as we rised over the 10th floor.
‘Because it looks like five floors when looking from the outside, there is no way to move beyond that.’
It might be that the sense of time and space was a bit distorted, because of the barrier installed on the boundary of the 4th and 5th floor.
“Hwang-ho didn’t waste his age, eh? His abilities became much better than before.”
“After your son played a prank in Hwang-ho’s abode a few times, Hwang-ho said he worked hard on his abode barrier.”
“My son? My son infiltrated Hwang-ho’s abode? When?”
Jeok-ho and Baek Ho-gun brought up an old story.
It was said that the reckless troublemaker Kim Sinrok managed to snuck into Hwang Jiho’s abode and played a prank once, and after that, the abode’s barrier became stricter.
If Kim Sinrok grew enough to play a prank, it would be already after Hwang Jiho became a Myth category Ho, so I had no idea what kind of guts it was.
“Such a thing happened? As expected, it seems that my son was born with an extraordinary talent since he was young, eh? Thank You for raising my son so excellently, Baek-ho.”
“…”
Instead of worrying about Hwang Jiho’s honor or his son’s safety, Jeok-ho greatly admired his son’s potential and abilities.
Baek Ho-gun didn’t say anything in particular, but he nodded with a face less cold than usual.
I felt how different the tigers’ love for descendants was.
While Jeok-ho continued to brag about his son for a while, the elevator finally stopped.
“Let’s go out. I’ll lead the way.”
Jeok-ho went out first while smiling brightly.
He looked happy, as he got pumped up by his son’s stories.
‘It seems clouded.’
I was about to follow behind Jeok-ho without any thoughts, but my feet unknowingly stopped.
Beyond the elevator door was a fog or smoke, and what was in front couldn’t be seen very well.
As if Jeok-ho, who took the lead and stepped out, was swallowed by that fog, there was no trace of him seen.
“Let’s go.”
Woof!
When I hesitated, Baek Ho-gun and Snare spoke up to me.
Thinking about it, there was my main Playable Character and Snare in my arms, so there was nothing to be afraid of.
I took a step forward to step in straight away.
Paat!
After I entered a step into the fog, golden superpower wave flashed and then disappeared.
When my vision, which was dyed gold[3], returned to the original state again, a completely different sight unfolded.
In front of my eyes a corridor[4] so long I didn’t see an end of it unfolded.
The corridor was so wide that several people could walk it together, and the ceiling was so high, even if Baek Ho-gun raised White Fang high into the air, there would still be space left.
Proving it was a certain tiger’s mansion, the walls were filled with drawings of golden tigers.
Grrrr…
When I gazed at the painted tiger on the wall, the tiger quietly growled, then looked at me while moving around.
Soon, even the tigers from the distant paintings sparkled and jumped, and swarmed to me.
‘Are they perhaps like Baek Ho-gun’s Yeong-ho (Shadow Tiger)?’
When in his domain, Baek-ho could summon a familiar infused with superpower wave, the shadow tiger Yeong-ho.
All the golden tigers in those paintings might be familiars summoned by Hwang Jiho.
Jeok-ho, who observed the tigers moving in front of him, said a word, as if supplementing my thoughts.
“It has been long since I saw Hwang-ho’s familiar, eh? As they won’t come out of the walls without Hwang-ho’s permission, You don’t have to worry about being bitten.”
I wasn’t exactly worried about being bitten.
As if the tigers in the paintings also didn’t have plans on biting, they growled ‘Grrr!, while listening to some nonsense from Jeok-ho.
Jeok-ho faced the tigers with a smiling face, while taking the lead.
“I feel Hwang-ho’s energy from this side. Let’s go.”
What Jeok-ho pointed at was the paper sliding door, which was the closest to the elevator’s door.
The golden frame was plastered with paper, and as something in the ancient language was thickly engraved on the paper, it seemed there was some sort of barrier.
Swish.
After Jeok-ho stood in front of them, the paper door opened on its own.
And the thing I saw the moment I entered the door together with the tigers was…
Numerous Hwang Jihos.
It was overflowing with Hwang Jihos of all ages.
“Come in and sit down comfortably.”
The one, who spoke to me was wearing school uniform, 1st year class 0’s lunatic Hwang Jiho.
Hwang Jiho stood in the center of the room to greet us.
“Hwang-ho, what are You doing here? What is all of those things?”
Jeok-ho looked around the numerous Hwang Jihos and the room while speaking.
As if he was under a load, because he was moving alter-egos at the same time, Hwang Jiho’s reply was a bit slow.
“I’m examining old records.”
In this room, there were numerous types of ‘records’.
From all kinds of oracle bones like turtle shells and bones or clay tables, engraved with things, to the kinds that were drawn as wall paintings.
‘That’s a bamboo… a bamboo slip, and over there seems to be an animal leather. A goatskin?’
It wasn’t just record mediums before the spread of paper-making technique.
There were all kinds of record mediums like the bookshelves stacked with the paper formats, and chips piled up beside devices.
Hwang Jiho’s alter-egos were examining those record mediums.
‘You gathered alter-egos to examine the old records in person…?!’
Unlike when I last saw him, Hwang Jiho regained his usual peace.
He didn’t look like when he heard the story about Pungbaek, Usa and Unsa, and his words trailed off.
“There is not much left until the work is finished. Sit down and wait.”
Hwang Jiho pointed to the long sofa placed in the center.
Hwang Jiho’s alter-egos used armchairs and cushions placed around the record mediums, but left the sofa in the center empty.
After we sat down, Hwang Jiho fell into worry for a while, and then made a complicated face.
“I can’t call an automatic maid here. There is no tea set or tea leaves and… I don’t have anything to treat the benefactor? That was my oversight.”
“Hwang-ho, then did You miss the morning tea time today? You didn’t show signs of leaving the 5th floor even once.”
“I forgot about the flow of time for a moment.”
I guess there was completely nothing to drink on the 5th floor.
Hwang Jiho was stuck on the 5th floor like this?
I thought it was an excellent moment to hand over the gift I prepared and raised the shopping bag on the table.
“Drink.”
“Uh? What is it?”
What I brought as a drink was a gift set of the pine needle[5] flavor drink.
It wasn’t a gift worthy of giving to the Hwang Myeong Group’s head, but among the gift sets sold in an ordinary mart, nothing but this matched the geezer’s taste buds.
Hwang Jiho, who opened the shopping bag and looked inside, made a face of surprise.
“You brought a gift? And it’s the drink I like, eh? Can I praise it?”
Because I didn’t have time to search the department store, I chose something adequate, but Hwang Jiho and his alter-egos were seriously happy while they grabbed the beverage.
Not all alter-egos drank the pine-needle flavor drink.
The young Hwang Jiho, who looked like an elementary schooler, returned to his place again after hesitating.
The elementary student version of Hwang Jiho didn’t seem to have a taste for the pine needle flavored drink.
Children tend to have susceptible taste buds and were extremely sensitive to bitter flavors, so it might be related to that.
‘I should have also brought the young alter-ego’s share too.’
Looking at the young Hwang Jiho, who instead of drinking, put on the headphones and was alone listening to the verbal materials, I wanted to run out right now to order ice creams.
When I was looking at the young Hwang Jiho with a sorry mind, the school uniform-wearing Hwang Jiho abruptly spoke up.
“Jo Uisin, you brought a gift not for the Divine Beast or descendants, but for me.”
Hwang Jiho’s eyes sparkled.
I worked hard to put a drink that matched the geezer’s taste into his mouth, so I had no idea why he bothered making useless sounds.
Before I could cut him off, Hwang Jiho opened his mouth.
“No way, were you worried about this one?”
Hwang Jiho didn’t laugh, but his pretty eyes shined as he smiled.
Because he showed off such an extremely fine appearance, I regretted a bit that I refused Kwon Lena and Mok Uram’s dinner invitation.
“I expected you to come to discuss countermeasures about those ‘Eyes’, but it seems my thoughts were shortsighted, eh? Hahahaha!”
Hwang Jiho finally started laughing.
As the laughter prolonged, my regrets deepened.
I should have been eating dinner with our class children, while talking about the basketball match.
“It’s true my heart was shaken by the story about old battle comrades, who died in battle[6]. But this one is a head that have to lead the Ho tribe. You shouldn’t worry too much.”
If it was true that his heart was shaken, it seemed that it wasn’t a complete waste to worry a bit.
But it seemed like an action without particular meaning.
At Hwang Jiho’s words, Jeok-ho, who was quietly listening, asked:
“… old battle comrades, who died in the battle?”
“He said that Pungbaek, Usa and Unsa sprinkled snow on Christmas, eh? On our divine realm.”
Hwang Jiho briefly conveyed what I said to the confused Jeok-ho.
Because Jeok-ho stiffened and hung his mouth wide open, his reaction looked more agitated than Hwang Jiho.
Worthy of my main Playable Character, Baek Ho-gun kept his composure, while listening to Hwang Jiho’s words.
“I examined the records. Among the currently living Ho tribe members, no one personally witnessed the death of Pungbaek, Usa and Unsa.”
Then all the Ho tribe members, who testified that the three died were dead?
Hwang Jiho’s words continued.
“But the people assumed to be them, or in other words, people who possessed similar abilities never appeared on the Korean Peninsula. So I have something to ask you, Jo Uisin, which I couldn’t confirm through the records.”
Hwang Jiho beat around the bush for a moment, and then stared at me, as he spoke.
“In the ‘things you know’, what was I doing at the moment it snowed?”
*~*~*
[1] rubies — 홍옥 (hong-ok), literally means red jade.
[2] platinum — 백금 (baek-geum), literally means white gold/metal.
[3] gold — 금색 (geum-saek) is used here, it means gold, but 금 (geum) as you may see from the note above, can just mean metal. It’s sometimes used to describe Hwang-ho’s colors, and I’m always doubting if I shouldn’t translate it as a metallic color.
[4] corridor — homonyms of corridor is ‘to kneel down and pray’ and a drawing of an object from top-down perspective.
[5] pine — 소나무 (sunamu), pine trees are considered noble trees in Korea. Symbols of endurance, loyalty and unyielding spirit/will. Seeing a lush pine tree in the dream means that ones’ family will prosper or that one will reach high official position, or that things will just go well. A withering pine tree in the dream means illness. Pine trees were planted around the tombs of royal family, especially the kings. They are also believed to chase away evil spirits, so they are often hung on the golden ropes used in the byeoksa rituals or in making talismans.
[6] killed in the battle — homonyms are ‘to copy’, ‘to transcribe’, ‘to move to another place’.
Translator’s note: The space that can only be entered with Hwang-ho’s permission, the space that feels like it’s far away, even 10! floors maybe, a place cut off from the rest of the world, with distorted space and time… What were you doing Hwang-ho indeed.
(Also, why Jo Uisin is scared?)
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