Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
10. April Fool’s Day (4)
The student victim was harassed since his middle school days.
The victim possessed Player’s abilities, but his battle power wasn’t high.
There was nothing particular about his house, personality or appearance, but if you take a closer look, it was below average.
‘But his studying abilities were almost on a par with Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain.’
In contrast, the two bullies were the opposite, they were born with Player’s abilities, have outstanding looks, lived in very good houses, had many friends and were well liked by teachers.
They were even good at studying, but compared to the student victim, they were seriously behind.
There was an enormous gap between the 1st place and the 2nd and 3rd place in the school rankings.
That greatly hurt the bullies’ self-esteem.
The harassment was clever and difficult to pinpoint. They concentrated on shaking the victim’s studying pace.
‘His only hope was the Eungwang School…’
The student victim, even though he lived a harsh and lonely middle school life, studied desperately.
Because he thought that the bullies would never be able to enter the Eungwang School.
His fighting ability was weak, so to be admitted to the Eungwang School, the student victim had to receive a high score at the writing exam.
The victim’s bloody effort ended with him being admitted to the Eungwang School.
‘However, those bullies were the two guys who forged their way into Eungwang School as the result of borrowing the power of Choe Pyeondeuk in the special screening.’
The victim didn’t know about the news of the bullies being accepted.
It’s because, just like me, he didn’t attend middle school after his admission to the Eungwang School was confirmed.
‘He didn’t even have a friend who would meet him and pass the news.’
The victim led a peaceful and happy life at the Eungwang School after a long time.
That happiness ended on April Fool’s Day like a lie.
However, the bullies entered the Eungwang School through illegal admission. It caused them to pile up stress because they were surrounded by many outstanding Eungwang School’s students.
From that day on, the bullies used the victim as their stress relief tool.
‘The victim’s parents worked at the company managed by the bullies’ parents, so this kid couldn’t even resist.’
All of this was a content of the flashback before the Playable Character’s, Bak Seung-hyeon’s death[1].
“Are you okay?”
First, I took off the green tape stuck to Bak Seung-hyeon’s mouth.
He looked at me and mumbled:
“Unknown Supernova…”
It seemed that Bak Seung-hyeon knew who I was.
“Yeah. Did those kids hurt you?”
I pointed at the two guys restrained with the student council president Tao Wonu’s Gwangrim, Iron Lock Chain.
Seeing those two, Bak Seung-hyeon’s face distorted and he nodded.
‘I didn’t want Bak Seung-hyeon to go through this…’
I planned on lying down in advance, so in the moment the two were about to commit a crime I would give them a good smacking, but I was too late.
‘I should have thrown them out of the Eungwang School the moment I secured their names.’
I was left with a painful lesson.
Clank—!
I shattered the SR rank binding item which tied Bak Seung-hyeon with the Iron Lock Chain.
“You dog-bastard… Do you know how much that item costs…!”
Are you saying you bought an expensive item for this dogshit?
He still couldn’t come to his senses.
I guess he regained some energy, because he had Bak Seung-hyeon, who was an easy target which raised his self-esteem, in front of him.
⟨Using active character’s skill ‘Partial Discharge’.⟩
Ziiiig—!
“Kuuuug, uaaak!”
“Kuack! I, I didn’t say anything…. Aaack!”
The guy who didn’t say anything was fried up as a bonus.
“Bak Seung-hyeon, I want to throw these dog bastards out of school, what do you think?”
“Throw… out…”
Bak Seung-hyeon slowly said.
A slight happiness filled his eyes.
I guess he thought about his happy time at Eungwang School without harassment.
“However, this incident is not enough to throw out a student. It has to be at the degree of a murder attempt, rape or assault on a school worker, for the expulsion action to be taken. One student being locked up in the old school for 10 minutes on April Fool’s Day won’t get them expelled.”
Bak Seung-hyeon wasn’t even injured.
He was just locked in the old school for a moment.
But if I hadn’t come, who knows how much time he would have to spend here.
Even if righteous teachers would actively come out, those guys would end up suspended for a few days at most.
‘In addition, if this matter comes to the surface, the bullies’ parents are sure to retaliate on Bak Seung-hyeon’s parents.’
Understanding my words, Bak Seung-hyeon’s face became ghastly.
He would already know it.
There was no way that Bak Seung-hyeon, who was good at studying and had a good head, didn’t look through the teenage law and the school regulations to overthrow the situation.
“Even so, there is a way to throw them out of the Eungwang School.”
“Ha, what are you talking about?! Do you even know who our parents are…”
⟨Using the active character’s skill ‘Partial Discharge’.⟩
⟨Using the active character’s skill ‘Partial Discharge’.⟩
⟨Using the active character’s skill ‘Partial Discharge’.⟩
Zzziiiig—!
Zzig—!
Zzziiiiiiggg–!
“Aaaaaaaaaack, kuaaack!”
“Aaaaack, spare meeeack! I didn’t say anything…!”
Even the guy who doesn’t speak holds a collective responsibility.
After I used the skill without breaks, they quieted down.
‘They didn’t show any shabby traces like Son Mingi. It would be difficult to make them go bankrupt and make them crippled or to bury them socially like Son Mingi.’
Those guys were far better off than Son Mingi in the past.
To make them go bankrupt, I would have to borrow the power of a standard like Hwang-ho’s Hwang Myeong group or Ju Su-hyeok’s JuOh group to pressure them.
But moving them would take a lot of time and would be very risky.
‘And if those bastards have superpowers, victims will emerge. No matter where you go.’
Before the school started, I was looking for a way to banish those two for eternity from the Eungwang School and the Players World.
‘Skills and Gwangrims can be locked with Sealing Art[2], but that can be possibly released. Those kids have a lot of money, so it wouldn’t be a problem for them to find a way to release it.’
I couldn’t seal supernatural powers, so I made up my mind to erase them.
“There are cases where Players abilities disappear even after people turn 17 years old. Though it’s rare.”
To secure means for that, I made a dangerous transaction.
“The loss of Player abilities is a reason for expulsion from the Eungwang School.”
I took out an item I received from Ungnyeo of Grief on the day when I smashed the Fantasy Auction, the ‘Scale of Life and Fortune’.
⟨Reading item’s data.⟩
[Item name] Scale of Life and Fortune
[Type] Consumable
[Rarity] UR–
[Effect] Erases a person’s chances[3] for the price of fortune and life.
[Description]
The item card that possesses immense fortune value by itself.
For the price of erasing this card and the owner’s fortune, it erases a person’s chances.
In case the owned fortune is insufficient in comparison to chances which will be erased, then the item user’s life will be taken.
The Ung’s Eight Immortals created it with the intention of erasing the chances of the existence of Heavenly God and Sinin.
That was a failure.
I received a total of three ‘Scales of Life and Fortune’ from Ungnyeo of Grief.
Among them, one was to be used to erase the supernatural powers of those two shitbags.
The three people were shocked when they saw me pull out an item card.
“An UR– rank item card…!”
“You, are you really by chance…!”
“I don’t like it, don’t like it. Let go of me!”
I took out dozens of apple boxes from the inventory.
Those apple boxes were brim full of 50,000 won bills.
On top of that, I took out cardified otherworldly jewels and threw them on the boxes.
“It would be better if there is no trash like you at the Eungwang School.”
I didn’t know how much I would have to pay.
‘According to what was mentioned in the setting book, it didn’t take much for the Ung’s Eight Immortals to simultaneously erase the supernatural powers of three professional team’s Players. It’ll be fine.’
Even if unexpected variables arose, I would just pour out all the money I had saved and robbed from Byeon Sunhoe and Choe Pyeondeuk, which amounted to a few dozens of hundreds and my life would stay protected.
Because those shitbags’ abilities’ worths were so insignificant.
If it was any different, they would have no need to be illegally admitted.
“This item erases a person’s chances for the price of money or life. Your abilities will completely disappear, and you won’t even have a memory of why they disappeared or won’t be able figure it out.”
This item’s frightening point was that it made it impossible to figure out ‘Why the possibility disappeared’.
It was a heinous item optimized for a perfect crime, worthy of its UR– rank.
But as big as as was the risk, the difficulty of obtaining it was also big.
“It’s time for the next combat practice. You, who will be revealed to have have lost all your abilities, will undergo a thorough investigation and will become ordinary people after being deprived of your qualifications as Players.”
It will be the first case where a Player admitted to the Eungwang School lost their abilities after turning 17 years old.
When you thoroughly investigate a cause, the illegal admission will come out as a bonus.
The moment when I was about to use the item card.
“Wa–Wait a moment! Don’t do that!”
Bak Seung-hyeon waved his hands as he blocked the way between me and the bullies.
‘It can’t possibly be what I’m thinking, right?’
My brain went blank.
‘Are you thinking about forgiving those guys?’
In some stories appears a character who displays such an extreme love for humanity, they feed you sweet potatoes[4] and cancer factors.
It would be good if he said it was a lie.
It’s still April Fool’s Day.
Yeah, it may be a lie!
It’s a lie.
Let’s pretend I didn’t hear it, pretend I don’t know and just use the item…!
When I was spinning a mental victory circuit, Bak Seung-hyeon shouted loudly.
“…. Me!”
He extended his hand and fell on his knees.
“Me, let me take revenge with my own hands. I beg you, please!”
Bak Seung-hyeon’s glasses with heavy lenses were blurred by fog, and his face was completely swollen and covered in traces of tears. It didn’t look pretty.
It was enough for the guys, who judge people by the appearances, to look down at him.
“Day after day… I regretted why, why I, why I can’t say what I had to say…”
However, currently Bak Seung-hyeon’s eyes shined with piercing battle determination which didn’t lose to Jin people.
“Please, this time… don’t let me regret it!”
Bak Seung-hyeon, who kneeled down before me, stretched his hand out towards the card.
“…If you use this item, it may shorten your lifetime.”
“I wanted to die every day, because of those dog-bastards, I endured only because of my parents! What is the shortening of a lifetime? If I could, I would kill those bastards and go to hell!”
He shouted with a cracked voice as if his throat went dry.
It seemed difficult to break Bak Seung-hyeon’s determination.
In the game even Ju Su-hyeok couldn’t break it once Bak Seung-hyeon made up his mind about a matter.
It couldn’t be helped.
I handed him the item card.
“Ba…..Bak Seung-hyeon, we, we were wrong! We are middle school classmates. We’re friends. Friends can joke between themselves and that’s what it was!”
“Yeah! We were just joking around a bit, but you’re too much! This joke is going too far!”
The illegal admissions were terrified and talked nonsense.
Bak Seung-hyeon grabbed the card and burst out into a dry laughter towards them.
“Hahaha… You guys don’t even reflect in this situation, huh?”
These guys would just feel wronged even when they were put in the same situation.
It was reality that it was difficult to find even one remorseful guy even among vicious criminals shoved into a prison, so it couldn’t be helped.
“Bak Seung-hyeon, use this money.”
Even though I knew what would happen to him today, I couldn’t protect him.
I was thinking about this as a way of compensation.
After I pointed at the apple boxes, Bak Seung-hyeon nodded.
“Thanks….!”
With this, the ownership of the money would be transferred to Bak Seung-hyeon.
“Do you know what type of people are the most ostracized according to teenage school violence statistics? The ‘students whose supernatural powers disappeared’. In addition to your arrogance, you overflow with an inferiority complex, so you have a strange personality and you have a background among the backgrounds, so you’ll become a particularly good target for ordinary people to take out their anger.”
Bak Seung-hyeon’s hand holding the item card trembled as he spoke.
He still had tears in his eyes, but his lips were smiling.
“I hope that there are guys exactly like you in whatever school you go to when you get kicked out of the Eungwang School.”
Bak Seung-hyeon used the ‘Scale of Life and Fortune’.
The item card started to glow with ominous color.
Paaaaa—!
When the light so strong that I couldn’t see anything around me stopped.
The four of us: me, Bak Seung-hyeon and two bullies, were in a completely different space.
There was an enormous balance scale in front of us.
‘This is UR rank item’s effect…!’
The power I felt from that enormous scale was so strong my head was dizzy.
The scale was loaded with supernatural powers and dense inscriptions in an ancient language, which was impossible for the current me to interpret.
On one side of the scale were the two bullies, the other, representing the ‘Weight of Life and Fortune’, was overflowing with otherworldly jewels.
[What chances are you going to erase?]
In the subspace created by the UR– rank item.
A being covered with a pure-white bearskin appeared above the scale.
Because of the bearskin covering the eyes, the entire face couldn’t be seen.
However, from the elegant line of his lips and a voice that jingled in the ears[5], he overflowed with dignity.
“Ple–Please erase the supernatural powers of those dog-bastards!”
After Bak Seung-hyeon’s shout, the being standing on the scale nodded.
[Got it.]
Kiiik—.
The scale, which until now was maintaining balance with an external power, started to gradually tilt.
The being standing at the top of the scale judged the tilting progress.
The two illegally admitted guys started to shriek after actually experiencing the UR– rank item’s power.
“I ha–Hate it. Don’t. Bak Seung-hyeon, you dog-like bastard. Stop! You son of the bitch, why me!?”
“Aaa, I hate it, hate it! If I don’t have supernatural powers, I’ll kill that bastard’s parents, his family, I’ll kill them all. All. You trash bastard, I’ll make you!”
As expected, they were just pretending to be remorseful, huh?
The bullies’ true heart live broadcast continued.
The two bastards ran mad, trying to escape the scale’s plate, but it was absurd to think those two could resist the power of an UR– rank item.
Every time those bastards tried to throw their bodies outside of the plate, only sparkles bounced around the plate.
They were back again at the plate.
[Their potential is so very insignificant that there is nothing more to take, huh?]
The being standing at the top of the scale said with a regretful face.
At some point, the scale tilting stopped.
It leaned almost at 90 degrees.
Of course, the bullies soared so high that they could pierce the subspace’s ceiling.
‘I took out the money boxes for no reason.’
I saved money.
[Then let’s take their chances.]
After the being standing on the scale stretched his hand out towards the two, the shape of the scale’s plate changed to a box.
And that box began to slowly shrink.
“Don’t, don’t. Aaaack, it’s hurts. Ack!”
“Aaack, hurts, hurtshurtshurts. Ack!”
Squash, squaaash!
While the ominous sound of something being broken to pieces and shattering grew, in contrast the sound of screams subsided.
I didn’t know what was going on inside, but I knew that the process of removing supernatural powers would be terribly painful.
[You’re the child that Ungnyeo of Grief, that child, looked at with interest, huh? I was waiting to see what you’re going to erase.]
Suddenly, a voice rang inside my head.
I didn’t feel the sensation of jingling in my ears.
This guy! Directly into my head…!
Surprised, I raised my head and the being standing on the scale was staring straight at me.
‘Who is this guy?’
This item’s properties.
The remark which lightly brings up Ungnyeo of Grief.
The dignity and power stronger than Jin people.
Organizing my thoughts one after one, I came up with a guess.
It seemed that the being standing on the scale was a higher being.
‘Because erasing the being’s possibilities would be only possible at the level of a higher being.’
Bak Seung-hyeon, who stood beside me, stared at the box with bullies without turning around.
[The ‘Scale of Life and Fortune’ was yours. This is a change. I hope you make good use of it.]
The being standing on the scale gave me a look and then I felt something foreign inside my fist.
In my hand was one small, but black[6] glass bottle.
[I’m looking forward to what you’ll erase next time.]
The being on the scale laughed and smiled.
Right about when the laughter was about to stop, I, Bak Seung-hyeon and the two bullies returned to the teacher’s bathroom.
‘It’s a feeling as if I had a daydream…!”
However the glass bottle in my hand remained a reality.
“Those sons of bitches collapsed.”
I came back to my senses at Bak Seung-hyeon’s words.
We were inside the dusty teacher’s bathroom of the old school.
The place was a mess with the apple boxes full of cash and item cards I took out scattered on the dirty floor and two sons of bitches.
‘Let’s dump those guys here and go.’
First, I collected all the apple boxes and item cards.
Besides one Scale of Life and Fortune I used up, I didn’t see too much of a loss.
“Hey, let’s wrap it now and run, Bak Seung-hyeon.”
“Yeah, I really, really thank you.”
He smiled really brightly.
The sun had already completely set.
After the two of us dealt with the remaining traces of us, we dumped the two bullies and then left the off-limit zone.
“Are you also a dormitory student? What floor? I’m on floor 17.”
“I’m on floor 20.”
“It’s on the very top! How is it on the 20th floor?”
“The elevator comes late, so it’s inconvenient.”
I moved with Bak Seung-hyeon as he was also a dormitory student.
Why did I appear in that place? Why did I make so much fuss that I even used an UR– rank item?
Even though Bak Seung-hyeon had to be curious about a lot of things, he didn’t ask about anything.
He said nothing more, just a thank you.
‘This is Bak Seung-hyeon who is talented and with a head good enough to make other people jealous. He would handle this wisely.’
Bak Seung-hyeon and I arrived at the 1st floor lobby of the 1st year dormitory.
At that moment, the 1st year student wearing school gym clothes, who was laying down on the 1st floor lobby’s sofa, suddenly stood up and ran towards us.
“Bak Seung-hyeon, why did you turn off your device? Why didn’t you say anything and came back from school alone? You ungrateful bastard.”
“Uh, uh. It’s just.”
“What, did you cry?”
The 1st year student wearing a gym uniform checked Bak Seung-hyeon’s face and then looked between him and me.
“Isn’t that Unknown Supernova? Did something perhaps happen between you two?”
The 1st year student, who seemed to be Bak Seung-hyeon’s friend, crossed his arms and took on an alert posture.
Bak Seung-hyeon spoke hurriedly.
“No, it’s just…. He just listened to my worries.”
“… Okay? Hey, is your device out of battery? It charges automatically when you leave it in the sun. Starting tomorrow, let’s go and play outside during a lunch break. You also should charge the battery.”
“There is still some battery… It turned off somehow.”
“What somehow? You unreliable guy. Turn it on quickly.”
Clearly those dog shits turned off the device after tying him up.
After confirming Bak Seung-hyeon’s device had power, the guy wearing a gym uniform put an arm around his shoulder and started chatting.
The two bullies will soon be expelled from school.
From now on, Bak Seung-hyeon could live an ordinary school life with his friend.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Ah, wait Jo Uisin.”
Bak Seung-hyeon hesitated a bit and then suggested exchanging device codes.
It was a bit unexpected.
‘In the game he didn’t actively try to befriend people.’
It looked like Bak Seung-hyeon had a very passive attitude because he piled up trauma thanks to those evil kids.
After I gladly exchanged device codes with him, I went to my room.
And after April Fool’s Day came to an end and April 2nd came.
The 1st year class 0 students who come to school rose to 7.
*~*~*
[1] Bak Seung-hyeon — So ‘Bak’ is usually romanized as Park (I still can’t believe it, but that’s the truth). I thought about it long and hard, and though in any other novel I would go ‘Okay, this is the usual romanization, let’s not follow revised romanization on this one and make it easier for people’ in this novel my only thoughts are: ‘I can feel it under my skin, the author will just casually throw ‘Bak’ somewhere and will be like ‘Heh? You saw it and still didn’t connect the dots?’ We can’t let it happen! Let’s romanize it as ‘Bak’. So Bak it is.
[2] Sealing Art — Called it the sealing technique before, but as I started to translate ‘술’ as ‘Art’ for all other skills, I’ll call it art here too.
[3] Person’s chances — chances of something happening in the future or potential to develop into something.
[4] Sweet potato — It’s a popular slang, so you may have heard about it before. It refers to the story or situation which makes you uselessly frustrated or emotional. To the point where you feel stuffed as if you ate ‘too many dry sweet potatoes’. The cider-like story would be the opposite.
[5] voice that jingled in the ears — Jo Uisin is saying this voice is really really good.
[6] black glass bottle – ‘black’ as a meaning of color, but it could also mean: ‘depressing, hopeless’ or ‘illegal, evil’.
Translator’s note: It’s so funny because I had realized that Jo Uisin was just slightly disrespectful towards the higher being in this chapter.
Important Name Note!: Lee Rena name will be changed to Lee Lena. Sorry about that. ㄹ always messes things up. Remember to never trust ㄹ!
Leave a Reply