Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
54. Dongsaeng (1) [1]
Just before I left the chatroom, my finger stopped seeing my Playable Character’s name.
Why is this bastard suddenly asking for Yu Sang-hui?
‘He wouldn’t be asking because he doesn’t know Yu Sang-hui’s contact information.’
It seemed that he had a reason, so instead of ignoring the message, I decided to reply.
[Me] The last time when I saw Her during the Student Council Meeting, She looked healthy.
[Tao Sihu] Is that so, huh!
I waited for Tao Sihu to say something more, but his words ended there.
It seemed he really just wanted to check whether Yu Sang-hui was doing well or not.
Before I could question him, Tao Sihu sent another message.
[Tao Sihu] How is Wonu hyung?
In recent days, Tao Wonu was doing well, outwardly.
Because his corruption disappeared, he was acting like the son of chaebeol and the prestigious highschool permanent first place Student Council’s president, as if taken from a manhwa.
‘There should be a reason why he troubled himself to ask me.’
As two of my Playable Characters were mentioned, I couldn’t just let it go.
Instead of talking about Tao Wonu’s status, I broach a subject.
[Me] There is something I want to ask[2].
[Tao Sihu] Ok! I’ll lend you a shovel!
My finger typing in a message abruptly stopped at those words.
Why was that bastard suddenly mentioning a shovel?
[Me] Shovel?
[Tao Sihu] You said you want to ask something!
[Me] ?
I thought that he perhaps sent a message meant for a different chatroom by mistake, but I guess no.
My doubts deepened.
[Tao Sihu] If you want to bury something in the ground, you need a shovel to be comfortable, y’know ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ [3]
[Tao Sihu] Ah, do you want to bury together? ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ
It was a joke?!
It seemed that Tao Sihu thought something and was attempting to make a ridiculous gag.
If I had a shovel and Tao Sihu in front of me right now, I would be burying Tao Sihu.
No, shouldn’t I ask Jang Namuk to bury him right now?
It seems like he would do it if given a good reason.
Even so, I first buried my rage and asked again.
[Me] I have something to ASK[4].
[Tao Sihu] You’re trying to sack something? What do you want to sack? ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ
It appeared that Tao Sihu couldn’t come back to his senses and planned to continue his ridiculous puns.
I opened an additional message window to deal with this situation.
It was the group chat with Jang Namuk and Yu Sang-hun.
[Me] Hit Tao Sihu for me.
[Jang Namuk] Ok? What’s going on?
[Yu Sang-hun] ㅋ [5]
[Jang Namuk] I don’t understand the situation, but you, Uisin have to have a fair reason to ask for something like that. What did Sihu do? Wait a moment.
Jang Namuk was also a good bastard.
He typed a long message before moving to action, but he didn’t ask for the detailed situation and decided to hit Tao Sihu right away.
Around a minute later.
While my anger melted, Tao Sihu sent a message as if he had been hit by Jang Namuk.
[Tao Sihu] ㅠㅠ….
[Me] I have a question. [6]
[Tao Sihu] Ok… I’ll answer ㅠㅠ…
[Me] For what reason you’re suddenly asking about seniors-nim’s well-being?
The replay didn’t come right away.
For no reason, I have an ominous premonition that he was strangely beating around the bush.
[Tao Sihu] That…
[Tao Sihu] TC Research Institute started a new project, and there are many People who want to call Sang-hui noona there.
TC Research Institute’s new project?
I tried to guess what it was based on the information from the game, but nothing easily came to mind.
Because Yu Sang-hui’s actions were so different from the game, there was nothing to guess from.
[Tao Sihu] I thought Sang-hui may have a lot of worries, so I asked how she is doing! ㅎㅎㅎ
[Me] Okay? And besides that?
[Tao Sihu] Ah, I’m just curious about Wonu hyung well-being?
It didn’t seem like Tao Sihu was lying, but it seemed like he was hiding something.
First of all, if it was really the only problem, he wouldn’t be asking about Tao Wonu’s well-being.
I thought so, but I didn’t press Tao Sihu any further.
‘It seems to be a matter related to the TC Group’s inside situation… It would be difficult to talk about it to me, an outsider.’
I couldn’t figure out the situation’s details yet, but two of my Playable Characters were involved, so I couldn’t leave it alone and watch.
I left the chatroom and slowly organized things in my head about what action to take to dig out the information and where.
In the meantime, the notification about the new message kept popping out because Tao Sihu kept sending useless messages.
[Tao Sihu] Tell me if anything happens to Sang-hui noona and Wonu hyung!
[Tao Sihu] Uh? Why isn’t it marked as read…?
[Tao Sihu] What y doing? ㅎㅎ
[Tao Sihu] Asleep?
[Tao Sihu] ㅠㅠ
[Tao Sihu] Sleep well…
* * *
Weekend, according to the original plans, I planned to help with Kwon Lena’s studies, but I only brought them snacks bought at MITRON and headed somewhere else.
The place I headed to was Hwang Myeong-ho’s great mansion.
‘I think I come here too often… but even so, for the sake of my Playable Characters I have to be shameless, right?’
TC Group was one of the Four Groups.
The person I thought of as someone who would know well about the inside situation, was the head of the Hwang Myeong Group, which also belongs to the same Four Groups.
I tried to talk with Hwang Jiho through the device, but as I asked about TC, the geezer called me here, saying to talk face-to-face.
As it was the matter related to my Playable Characters, I didn’t dare to refuse and ended up coming here.
“Come in, Jo Uisin.”
In front of the entrance.
Seeing Hwang Jiho, who came out to meet me, I felt regrets before I could think.
‘… I should have brought ice cream as a gift!’
The one, who welcomed me, was the elementary school’s student version of Hwang Jiho!
Why I couldn’t predict it would be the elementary school’s student version of Hwang Jiho today?
Recalling the scene where he couldn’t take a sip of the pine needle drink I bought last time, and only looked through the materials and fell asleep, I felt sorry for no reason.
When I made up my mind to go out, even right now, and prepare snacks that would match the child’s taste.
Keung?… Woof!
I came back to my senses at the sound of an angel calling me.
What I was trying to do right now? The one in front of me was Hwang Jiho!
I belatedly tried to settle the situation, but it seemed that Hwang Jiho already noticed my strange attitude.
“Hmm… Is your intelligence dropping because of the Divine Beast? No, something is a bit different.”
Hwang Jiho in the appearance of the elementary school student, narrowed his pretty eyes and looked up at me.
I desperately turned away from that face.
“Just come in.”
The one to end this matter was Baek Ho-gun.
As expected, my main Playable Character was deeply considerate.
“… Hm.”
It bothered me how Hwang Jiho’s eyes sparkled, but with such an appearance it wasn’t as ominous as usual, and I had a thought ‘Shouldn’t I buy and feed him something, so he can just think even harder?’.
Lucikly, this thought stopped after I arrived in the drawing room.
It was because the snack served today by the automatic maid was chestnut bingsu[7], and as if the finely chopped frozen milk sprinkled with the chestnut syrup suited his taste, the young Hwang Jiho ate it very well.
‘My dongsaengs also ate such snacks well.’
I had two dongsaengs.
As the two were fraternal twins, their faces weren’t the same and their genders were different.
Because the kids unexpectedly and suddenly increased by two, the family situation was a bit hard, and as the firstborn I had to yield a lot of things to my dongsaengs when I was young.
Between my food, living space and things related to my hobbies, the only thing my dongsaengs didn’t touch was my chess set.
‘It was just a snack at most, why was I so angry?’
Because my mind was young, when my dongsaengs stole and ate my share, I was angry.
For me, who was looking at the game records until late, my parents-nim would often go buy snacks like ice cream, roll cakes, castella, but when my eyes left them for a moment, my dongsengs would end up eating all of it, without leaving even one piece.
I wouldn’t say a word to my dongsaeng, who said they were sorry and turned my back to them, not talking to them properly for a few days.
It wasn’t that it was so delicious and precious food that it was worthy to act towards my dongsaengs like that, so if I thought about it right now, I didn’t know why I acted like this.
Unknowingly, I abruptly opened my mouth.
“Do you want to eat mine too?”
At those words, he opened his eyes a bit wide, and then his eyes curved up, as he smiled.
“It’s thanks-worthy suggestion, but it’s fine. I’ll order more as my share. Why aren’t you eating? Is it not your taste?”
“I just don’t feel like eating yet.”
“… Does bingsu in this season feels particular perhaps? The Sun[8] was good today, so I prepared cold food, but just in case I also prepared warm food. There are other menus, so I’ll order them.”
He appeared like an elementary school student, but as he talked with the tone Hwang Jiho usually used, he looked a bit different.
Listening to that tone, I thought it was an absurd action to overlap Hwang Jiho with my dongsaengs and moved the spoon.
“No, I’ll eat.”
“It’s binsu made from the Okgwang chestnuts[9] carefully selected by this one. Its sugar content and texture are quite outstanding, right? Savour it slowly.”
When he spoke as if barging with the appearance of an elementary school’s student, it was a bit too much, but when I ate it, it was truly delicious.
When I emptied around half of my bowl, the young Hwang Jiho, who already ate two bowls, got to the point.
“Jo Uisin you also know very well that Yu Sang-hun is Yu Sang-hui’s dongsaeng, right?”
I naturally knew that the two had a sibling relationship.
Yu Sang-hui was my Playable Character, and Yu Sang-hun was the first person I met after coming to this world.
“How much do you know about Yu Sang-hun’s illness?”
“… I know that when he was young, his body was so sick he couldn’t play basketball, which he loved.”
“Alright…”
No way, was this matter related to Yu Sang-hun?
The elementary school’s student Hwang Jiho unfolded the hologram and floated up charts.
In the top part, the name ‘Yu Sang-hun’ was written, and at a glance, they were ordinary medical records.
Even so, I couldn’t help but be terrified.
‘… All of those are Yu Sang-hun’s medical treatment records?’
The unfolding holograms increased fast.
The treatment records spanning hundreds of pages showed how desperately Yu Sang-hun fought the illness.
“If Yu Sang-hun awakened his superpowers even a year later, he would be already dead.”
It was a terrifying story.
Yu Sang-hui had superpowers related to healing, but in the case of skills, just like with recovery items, they only properly worked on people with superpowers.
The Gwangrim could also be used on ordinary people thanks to borrowing the authority of the higher being.
But thanks to the incident of the elementary school’s student Gwangrim’s runaway, caused by Kim Yuri’s father, there existed the so called ‘Seogu Elementary School Law’ in this world.
As Gwangrim of the Players under 17 were completely banned, the young Yu Sang-hui would have to watch her dongsaeng die.
“The strange illness Yu Sang-hun was suffering from can’t be solved with modern medicine. There is a high chance it’s related to the superpowers he was born with… Well, that’s not what’s important here, right? Anyways, the important fact is that if Yu Sang-hun couldn’t awaken his superpowers within the deadline, he would die.”
One more hologram was added.
It was the record of the times when Yu Sang-hun visited the superpower center.
The superpower center was a place to train the people born with powerful superpowers among the pre Players under 17, and it operated under the support of several superpower research institutes centered around the Association.
There were several research institutes in charge of the class Yu Sang-hui belong to, but among them, the TC Research Institute caught my eye.
And there was something even more eye-catching.
‘Yu Sang-hui visited the center with Yu Sang-hun?’
Among Yu Sang-hui’s entrance records, there was a note saying she was accompanying Yu Sang-hun.
“Look closely at the dates. And read this record.”
The next records show had Yu Sang-hun’s awaking time in it.
Not a long time passed after he visited the superpower center with Yu Sang-hui, when Yu Sang-hun awakened his superpowers.
‘I only asked about the relation between TC Research Institute and Yu Sang-hui, so what is the reason Hwang Jiho talks about Yu Sang-hun?’
At a glance, it seemed like Hwang Jiho was laying out unrelated stories, but as I thought of the fundamental reason for it to come out it, the answer came.
“Yu Sang-hun’s superpower awakening time is related to TC Research Institute?”
The young Hwang Jiho smiled with satisfaction.
“Yeah. Yu Sang-hun owes her dongsaeng’s life to TC Research Institute.”
*~*~*
[1] Dongsaeng — dongsaeng is usually translated as ‘younger sibling’, this can be a biological sibling, or a junior one is close with. But 동생 (dongsaeng) could also mean ‘to live together/to stay together’.
[2] ask — 묻다 (mud-da) ask is a homonym of bury. There is no way not to butcher this conversation if the joke was to be preserved, so for in this alter-dimension of ex replay, where this translation resides, please assume that Tao Sihu believes that Jo Uisin goes around burying people he doesn’t like.
[3] ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ — ‘hahahahahaha’.
[4] ASK — another word for ask ‘물어보다’, but ‘물다’ means ‘to grit one’s teeth, or bite’, or ‘to repay’. So Tao Sihu answer is ‘You want to bite/repay something? What you want to bite/repay’.
[5] ㅋ — ‘ke’ laughter.
[6] I have a question — Yet another word for asking ‘질문하다(jilmunhada)’
[7] chestnut bingsu — bingsu is shaved ice sweet and chestnut in Korean is ‘밤 (bam)’ which also means ‘night’.
[8] Sun — ‘sunlight’ in raws.
[9] Okgwang chestnuts — ‘Okgwang’ means ‘shine of jade/jade light’. It’s named after the particular shine of this variety of chestnut. Ok (옥 jade) also means prison, and naver dictionary also told me it’s an old word for particle -고(go), which… I think is grammar form but the dictionary isn’t very helpful here, but 고(go) also is short of highschool.
Translator’s note: … You’re very prepared, Hwang-ho.
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