Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
59. True nature (9)
As I turned my gaze towards the source of the sound, I saw broken chopsticks scattered among the broken pieces of porcelain.
It seemed that the chopsticks struck the porcelain with an extreme force, and the bowl and chopsticks broke at the same time.
As if Kim Sinrok couldn’t understand what had happened for a second, he looked at the tableware debris, and then made an embarrassed face.
He immediately hid that expression, as if he was familiar with hiding his expressions, while working as a teacher mixed among the humans, but I and Yong Jegeon already noticed Kim Sinrok’s agitation.
‘There is no way that a descendant, who lived for over 5 thousands years forgot how to control his strength right now.’
It was clear that Kim Sinrok was agitated by Yong Jegeon’s words.
‘Is there something between Seong Gukeon and Kim Sinrok? No, something might have happened between Yong Jegeon and Seong Gukeon.’
I recalled PMH story in my head again, while trying to find the point of contact between the three, but there was no way that a secret story of Kim Sinrok, who died in the prologue without even a name, would come out.
In the end, I could do nothing but guess based on the three’s personalities and backgrounds to find the cause.
The easiest to guess was Seong Gukeon’s side.
‘Seong Gukeon doesn’t like Jin people and descendants very much. Moreover, with the superpower in his eyes active, Seong Gukeon can see through the other party’s identity while having a conversation.’
In the past, Seong Gukeon had a conversation with me, while that superpower was active to check whether I was a human or not.
After confirming that I’m a human, Seong Gukeon released the superpower.
‘Yong Jegeon is a Jin, Kim Sinrok is a descendant, and Yong Jegeon doesn’t hide his identity.’
Even if Yong Jegeon or Kim Sinrok attempted to make contact with Seong Gukeon, Seon Gukeon would refuse.
However, there existed a point of contact between the three.
‘Did they meet at Eungwang School? As a teacher and student.’
Kim Sinrok was of similar age to teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim according to his setting, but I knew that he was in a lower seniority position than the Head of Student Department, teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim.
Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim first met Seong Gukeon, when he was in the 3rd year of highschool, as a vice homeroom teacher.
Then there would be no point of contact between Seong Gukeon and Kim Sinrok, who was appointed later than teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim.
Because at the point when Kim Sinrok was appointed, Seong Gukeon already graduated.
‘Hwang Jiho has several identities with different names and ages, so perhaps Kim Sinrok has too. Did he meet Seong Gukeon before he used the name Kim Sinrok? At the time, Kim Sinrok and Seong Gukeon might have been a teacher and a student.’
Up to here it was all a guess, but assuming that guess was the truth, I gradually arrived at a plausible hypothesis.
My thinking continued.
‘What would happen if the previous identity crossed the average human lifespan, or its true nature was uncovered, or its use expired? In such a case, wouldn’t that identity be erased by death or going missing?’
Supposing my guess was the truth, Seong Gukeon would lose his teacher at a young age.
Seong Gukeon was a person who spent his stormy highschool days turning the whole school upside down once.
I couldn’t guess how much the affectionate Seong Gukeon would have suffered if the teacher he got attached to in those teenage years had died or went missing.
If he saw Seong Gukeon like that, I could understand why Kim Sinrok was so agitated.
‘… No, my guess could be competently wrong. I don’t have enough information and clues to figure out what happened.’
It seemed like Yong Jegeon would give me that information and clues somehow.
As he mentioned Seong Gukeon’s name in front of me and Kim Sinrok, while snickering like this, it seemed like I would get to know the reason for it too.
“… Ah.”
Kim Sinrok, who stared blankly for a while, tried to clean up the plate pieces with an embarrassed face.
But there was a being who moved faster than Kim Sinrok.
Snap! Paaat!
With the sound of snapping fingers, Kim Sinrok’s surrounding was covered in big and small jade spaces.
Yong Jegeon was covering the tableware debris with the summoned big and small spaces.
Even though the porcelain pieces scattered very thoroughly, Yong Jegeon got them all with the Space Art without leaving even a particle of powder behind, it was a skillful usage of power indeed worthy of the Yong tribe’s favorite.
“It broke because of me. I’ll clean it.”
“I broke it.”
“Yeah. You broke it because of what I said.”
For someone who agitated Kim Sinrok to his heart’s content, Yong Jegeon spoke very softly.
Kim Sinrok said something, but Yong Jegeon ignored everything he said, while smirking, and he ordered new tableware and dishes.
That giving the disease and then medicine was truly like the playful[1] dragon.
When Kim Sinrok grabbed the plate and was about to eat, Yong Jegeon threw another bomb.
“It seems that Uisin-i already figured out what kind of relationship Gukeon-i and Sinrok-yi had.”
Tak! Clang!
I heard the sound of the thumb tack Kim Sinrok threw towards Yong Jegeon clash with the space.
It looked as if Yong Jegeon predicted Kim Sinrok’s attack and unfolded the Space Art to block the thumb tack.
“Uisin-i knows your identity and also has contact with Gukeon-i. And I think of meeting with Gukeon-i. In such a situation, if it’s Uisin-i, wouldn’t he find out sooner or later? I think it’s better to just speak with your own mouth. It’s not that you hide this.”
From what Yong Jegeon said, it seemed that my guess was almost correct.
Kim Sinrok threw a few thumb tacks at Yong Jegeon, but Yong Jegeon blocked them all with the Space Art like nothing.
As if Kim Sinrok hated seeing Yong Jegeon’s smile thicken every time he launched an attack, he stopped attacking and turned his head to look at me.
“Jo Uisin-gun, what have You guessed?”
This story was deeply connected to Kim Sinrok’s personal story, but it didn’t seem like Kim Sinrok would be happy if I pretended not to know what I have already guessed.
‘If I pretend not to know, Yong Jegeon will see through me completely and using his special style of speech, he will guide me to the answer he wants.’
Looking at Yong Jegeon, who was very excited right now, it seemed like he liked this situation.
Seeing Yong Jegeon with that face, I felt like there was no use in trying to change the subject.
I felt a bit sorry for Kim Sinrok, but I organized my thoughts and spoke frankly:
“I thought that if teacher Kim Sinrok-nim worked at Eungwang School under a different name before You used the current name, there is a high chance that You had a point of contact with senior Seong Gukeon-nim. And I’m also guessing that teacher Yong Jegeon-nim also met Seong Gukeon-nim at Eungwang School.”
When I finished speaking, Yong Jegeon and Kim Sinrok had vastly different reactions of joy and sorrow.
Yong Jegeon’s face looked like he was dying from happiness, so it seemed that my guess was entirely correct.
Yong Jegeon slightly turned his head away, so Kim Sinrok wouldn’t see that expression, but Kim Sinrok probably guessed what kind of face Yong Jegeon was making.
As if he gave up on putting Yong Jegeon under control, Kim Sinrok spoke after sighing shortly.
“… Yes. Student Seong Gukeon was my personal student. The name was different, but the previous identity was also a teacher, and at that time, I ended up as a teacher of student Seong Gukeon, who was still a highschooler.”
Kim Sinrok spoke with a bitter face, and that face was dyed with a faint longing.
It was clear that Kim Sinrok also cherished Seong Gukeon.
Looking at that face, I came up with one more guess.
‘Did Kim Sinrok and Seong Gukeon perhaps meet as a homeroom teacher and a student?’
Seong Gukeon was said to be in the class 0 throughout all three years.
Usually the homeroom teacher changes every year, but there were cases where the homeroom teacher of the class 0, which gathered the problem children and oddballs, continued to be the same for three years.
Im Yeonhwa, who was the homeroom teacher of the 3rd year class 0, was the homeroom teacher last year too.
Moreover, wasn’t Jegal Jaegeol already planned to be the eternal homeroom teacher in the case of the 2nd year class 0, he was in charge of?
‘If they met as a homeroom teacher and a student for three years, it would be enough to accumulate affection.’
I drew such a conclusion and asked:
“Were You perhaps the class 0’s homeroom teacher?”
“… Yes. I was student Seong Gukeon’s homeroom teacher for three years. I tried to avoid being the class 0’s homeroom teacher, but besides me there was no teacher, who could handle student Seong Gukeon, so I couldn’t help it.”
It seemed that Seong Gukeon was treated as Eungwang School’s legend since his 1st year.
It was difficult to compare, but it was because Seong Gukeon had the lunatic energy of Geun Chansol and Wang Chansol, and the outstanding grades on par with Tao Wonu and Woo Gihwan.
“Student Seong Gukeon was a student who left a deep impression. He lived his life like a recreation of the youth days from biographies of great men in the reality.”
Kim Sinrok, who opened his mouth, told the tale of his old student, Seong Gukeon.
“I thought I should keep my distance, but Seong Gukeon, who grew close to me, was following me a lot. Doesn’t student Seong Gukeon have an ability to see through the Jin people and descendants? He trusted me so much he didn’t even look at me with that ability to check my true identity.”
He disguised his identity as human, but Kim Sinrok’s real identity was that of the descendants of the Ho tribe and Ung tribe.
In other words, the being Seong Gukeon avoided.
In addition, looking how Kim Sinrok mention it right now, it seemed that he knew very well what Seong Gukeon thought about Jin people and descendants.
“While living masking my identity, I tried not to get close with any side, students or teachers, but… when he turned 3rd year, student Seong Gukeon tried to consult me about establishing the Earthly Wings Council out of trust for me, and I realized that I’ve made a mistake.”
The Eungwang School after Seong Gukeon became the Student Council’s president was no different from a battlefield.
The atmosphere at the school was walking downhill, the teachers disagreed with each other’s opinions, and the conflict between student and teacher deepened because of the tricks of the director broad.
Seong Gukeon was said to trust and follow his homeroom teacher, Kim Sinrok.
Kim Sinrok was absent because he deliberately often went on business trips and left the class management to Ham Geun-hyeong, who was the vice homeroom teacher, trying to put on the distance, but it seemed it was useless.
“At the graduation ceremony, student Seong Gukeon came to find me in person, and said goodbyes, saying he would visit me often. So, though it was a bit early, I decided to quickly dispose of my previous identity.”
“… Dispose?”
“After the graduation ceremony ended, I dealt with the previous identity by making it quietly die from illness.”
This action felt no different from stabbing Seong Gukeon with a knife.
Wasn’t it like killing the revered teacher, Seong Gukeon trusted and followed, at the same time as he graduated, so to speak?
Kim Sinrok expressed getting extremely close with Seong Gukeon as ‘mistake’, but in my eyes, it seemed that the other side was the mistake.
However, that was when I thought from Seong Gukeon’s standpoint.
If I was in Kim Sinrok’s position, I might have acted similarly.
Ending with the words that his old identity was buried, Kim Sinrok became quiet.
When Kim Sinrok finished talking, Yong Jegeon spoke up as if he was waiting.
“When it was the time to bury that identity, I was the chief mourner at the funeral. It would be a bit too much for a Ho like Jeokho-ssi to step forward, right? As the work colleague and Sinrok-yi’s friend, I took on the role of chief mourner.”
Yong Jegeon took on the role of chief mourner?!
He said something I couldn’t even imagine, but as Kim Sinrok didn’t refute, it seemed it was real.
“To bury the identity quietly, even on the Eungwang School’s side no one knew about the funeral. Because it’s usual to respect the deceased’s dying wishes, there were no problems. But Gukeon-i somehow found out, gathered the kids and came to pay his respects.”
At Yong Jegeon’s words, Kim Sinrok tightly closed his eyes.
It seemed that Kim Sinrok also knew that Seong Gukeon came to pay respects on the fake funeral.
“Gukeon-i resented me, saying I was an idle on-looker to Sinrok-yi’s death. It was the first time I saw Gukeon-i lose composure like this and yell.”
Seong Gukeon wasn’t the type to lose his composure in a fight, even when bluffing.
Even when a dogfight occurred in the assembly, he would face it with a smile and relaxed face, but he yelled at the chief mourner on the day of the funeral?
I felt like I understood how much Seong Gukeon followed Kim Sinrok and how sad he was.
When looking at the reaction Kim Sinrok showed right now, it was clear that he also felt a sense of guilt towards Seong Gukeon and longed to reconnect[2].
‘However, there is no way Kim Sinrok will step forward with his personality. He kept away for five thousands years even from his father.’
I looked at Yong Jegeon, who started this story.
Yong Jegeon was looking at me with expectant eyes.
‘… Is there nothing I can do? No, is it something I can get involved in?’
In the end, I unknowingly thought about the current situation in my head.
Seong Gukeon’s values.
Kim Sinrok’s fake identity and choices.
Yong Jegeon’s reaction.
Request for Yeom Bangyeol.
After collecting all key factors and thinking about them, I opened my mouth.
“Teacher Kim Sinrok-nim, I have something I want to suggest.”
*~*~*
[1] playful — or ‘game’ same as his category.
[2] longed to reconnect — I added ‘to reconnect’ because if I just say longed for him, some of you guys will really misunderstand (which I’m okay with, but it’s not what author-nim had in mind here, I’m pretty sure).
Translator’s note: Kim Sinrok, the man who didn’t have one normal close relationship in his entire five thousands years of life.
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