Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
63. Surveillance (3)
As I accepted the call, Yu Sang-hun right away asked to see my face tomorrow.
It somewhat bothered me, as Yu Sang-hun happened to ask me to meet him just after I talked about TC Research Institute and Yu Sang-hui.
And it also bothered me that he called me at this hour.
‘If it wasn’t anything special, he would send a phrase ‘Tm time ok?’ and end on that.’
Considering how Yu Sang-hun usually contacted me, you could guess how strange this situation right now was.
I had not even a bit of an idea what was the matter and why he wanted to meet, but I agreed straight away.
“Okay, when do you want to meet?”
“After the club activities end.”
Yu Sang-hun had the Basketball Club’s activities, and I had the Newspaper Club’s activities, so we made an appointment to meet in the evening, after all the club activities end.
The conversation immediately ended, and after Yu Sang-hun said ‘See you tomorrow’, the call cut off.
Under the hologram informing of the end of the call, I saw that Jang Namuk’s long messages kept coming.
Jang Namuk, who had a slightly strict lifestyle, would be sleeping at this hour, but I guess he was so bothered by it, he couldn’t sleep.
‘I should comfort him the next time we meet.’
As Ju-Oh Dragons missed the victory again, Ju Su-hyeok and Oh Hyeji, who were a part of the Ju-Oh Group, would also be regretful.
I felt like especially Ju Su-hyeok, who often showed his face on the baseball stadium, would have a very hard time, even if he didn’t show it.
After I organized the list of people, who probably would be dispirited because of Ju-Oh Dragons ending as runner-ups, I thought about the appointment with Yu Sang-hun.
‘There is a high chance it’s related to Yu Sang-hui and TC Research Institute.’
There was a possibility that Yu Sang-hun called me for a reason I couldn’t imagine, but in any case, the beforehand preparations in such a case were of no use.
So I limited myself to Yu Sang-hui and TC Research Institute’s case, and continued thinking.
‘I don’t know how I would start this conversation with Yu Sang-hun… but if I got permission, I wanted to hear about the process of Yu Sang-hun’s disease getting better. But isn’t it a too personal question to ask?’
The strange illness Yu Sang-hun suffered from.
The miracle-like awakening of the superpowers.
The siblings Yu Sang-hui and Yu Sang-hun, who I knew and TC Research Institute. And people related to the TC Group. [1]
I organized my thoughts like arranging chess pieces on a chessboard in my head.
Because of the accumulated fatigue, my eyes tried to close, but I kept on thinking.
At that moment, the cotton ball-like angel in my arms wriggled.
Keung…
Looking in the direction I felt warmth from, I found Snare looking up at me and kindly waiting.
Meeting my eyes, the angel slightly moved its body, asking to be petted.
I immediately stretched out my hand and petted Snare, exclaiming:
“… You kept waiting for me? How can you be so kind?!”
Moreover, I, who committed an enormous sin of leaving Snare alone and making it wait, was generously forgiven by the angel.
As I kept stroking Snare, who was kindly waiting, drowsiness poured in.
Each time I tried to think, Snare would press its body against the palm of my hand, distracting me.
In the end, I stopped resisting.
‘Okay… If I continue organizing it again after hearing Yu Sang-hun’s story tomorrow and talking with the tigers…’
I quickly cut off my thoughts and fell asleep.
Morning, I welcomed it after sleeping soundly without dreams.
Today too I opened my eyes in the tiger mansion.
Thanks to the room allocated to me in the side-building having a wardrobe that also served clothing management functions, the school uniform that I put in there yesterday was waiting for me in an immaculate state.
‘There are no one or two side-buildings at the tiger mansion. Does every side-building’s closet room has facilities of this standard?’
But there weren’t that many guests coming to the tiger mansion.
No, thinking about it deeply, with how Hwang Jiho usually spent money, it seemed possible.
When I finished the morning routine and opened the door, I straight on met the eyes of the tiger.
Baek Ho-gun was standing near the door.
“… Hi.”
Woof woof!
Baek Ho-gun wordlessly nodded, while accepting my and Snare’s greetings.
Baek Ho-gun, who greeted us, passed me by and headed to the 1st floor.
‘For some reason I felt a sense of déjà vu…’
Baek Ho-gun looked exactly the same as when he wished me goodnight last night.
Did he perhaps stay up all night searching for the Mountain Spirit?
Next time I should join in the search for the Mountain Spirit so Baek Ho-gun rests a bit.
“Good morning, Uisin hyung.”
“Did you sleep well? Your complexion looks much better, eh?”
“… Hello.”
As I descended to the ground floor of the side-building, even though the hour was quite early, the tigers were already gathered.
Besides Baek Ho-gun, who I ran into a moment ago, there was Eun-ho, Hwang Jiho and Jeok-ho.
I thought I woke up early, but I guess I woke up much later compared to them.
Did everyone not sleep in the morning, because of their age?
Eun-ho spoke, while preparing the tea set.
“Uisin hyung came, so let’s have breakfast first.”
“Hahahaha! I’ll prepare it right away.”
At those words, Jeok-ho, who was the only one who looked tired, made a seemingly relieved face.
Jeok-ho offered me a seat with a happy face.
‘He was listening to nagging about getting hurt by Zhū Gāngliè’s Nine Iron Teeth Rake since morning, huh?’
Perhaps because of the thought he was bearing a sin, Jeok-ho had a tendency to prioritize the Ho tribe, and especially his son Kim Sinrok, over his body.
But no one would actively nag Jeok-ho.
Because Hwang Jiho was taking a step back as per contract he had with Jeok-ho, and Baek-ho was taciturn.
And his son, Kim Sinrok, who he just reconciled with, couldn’t say anything.
If someone was to say something to Jeok-ho, Eun-ho was qualified.
“Jeokho-nim, let’s continue our conversation after Uisin hyung goes to school.”
“… Understood.”
Reassurance and relief disappeared from Jeok-ho’s face.
The winter cabbage and cockle doenjang-guk[2] Hwang Jiho served for breakfast was full of November seasonal ingredients and tasted amazing, but Jeok-ho had a dark expression throughout the breakfast.
Eun-ho scolded Jeok-ho with a soft tone.
“Jeokho-nim, why such a face in the morning? I guess because Jeokho-nim was so harsh on his body, Your health got much worse.”
“Hm, wouldn’t it be good if you drink an elixir? Opportunely, I have something to talk about with Hyangrok, so I should invite him, eh?”
“I’m fine…!”
In an instant, the date of creating an elixir for Jeok-ho was set.
Jeok-ho finished breakfast, while managing his expression, but it was already too late.
After Jeok-ho, trouble shifted to me.
“Jo Uisin, you should also have another small meeting with Hyangrok.”
“I believed that Hwangho-nim would naturally take care of Uisin hyung’s share too.”
“Hahahaha! How could this one treat the benefactor carelessly?”
Hwang Jiho and Eun-ho were getting alone very well since morning.
My mind went blank because of the danger of elixir, but I had to say something.
Before the story about the TC Research Institute was brought up, I struck up the conversation first.
“Today I plan to eat dinner with Yu Sang-hun. It seems he has something to say, so it would be good if I hear it first, and then we talk about the plans.”
“When did you make an appointment? That’s fast, eh?”
“Yu Sang-hun contacted me first.”
“Yu Sang-hui’s dongsaeng and Uisin hyung are close, correct…?”
The conclusion was drawn right away.
We decided to continue the discussion about this matter after hearing Yu Sang-hun’s story.
Like this, we ended the conversation, and I stepped on the road to school together with Hwang Jiho.
Because the wind was chilly, we rode the air shuttle instead of air boards, and arrived in the 1st year class 0’s classroom.
“Uisin-ah, Jiho-ah, this is a huge incident!”
Just when we opened the classroom door, Sawol Seeum ran to us like flying.
If my Playable Character said it was a big incident, I naturally had to hear him out.
Before I opened my mouth, Sawol Seeum looked around and checked if the classroom door was closed.
Was it a story that would get things complicated if other people heard it?
“Why, what happened?”
Sawol Seeum’s answer was something I couldn’t predict at all.
“Han Yi and Miro are going to fight!”
Han Yi and Dokgo Miro are going to fight?
My thoughts halted for a moment at the combination that I couldn’t predict.
Thinking that Hwang Jiho, who was concerned about Han Yi, would know something, I looked in his direction, but his eyes were twinkling.
Because it seemed that the geezer wouldn’t be of particular help in solving this situation, my head turned to Sawol Seeum again.
“Um… Seeum-ah, if you put it like this, people will misunderstand!”
Before I could ask any more questions, Kim Yuri began to explain.
Looking behind Kim Yuri, I saw that almost all class children already came to school; and looking at their expressions, everyone seemed to know the situation.
“Yesterday, we remained to wait for the kids, who introduced themselves as Luis Perenna and druidess.”
It seemed that Kim Yuri decided to call the two attention seekers what they proclaimed themselves as.
It was a situation where it wouldn’t be strange to just call them attention seeker 1 and attention seeker 2, but it indeed was like Kim Yuri to faithfully call them Luis Perenna and druidess.
“Before we parted, Han Yi called Miro out for a moment, saying she wants to have a talk with her. So the two left, but we went looking for them when they didn’t come back after some time. Everyone was worried that some bad person was messing with Miro again…”
Kim Yuri’s explanation was as follows.
The place the class children found Dokgo Miro and Han Yi was an empty classroom.
The two were raising their voices.
She said that because they were raising their voices, it looked like Han Yi was one-sidedly questioning Dokgo Miro, while Dokgo Miro was replying without sincerity.
“I wasn’t able to hear very well what they were talking about. Elementary school? It seemed to be something about that.”
I guess the person who happened to discover them was Song Daeseok.
Song Daeseok didn’t have any particularly interest in the two people, so it seemed that he leaked all the conversation content he heard.
While Min Geurin stared at Song Daeseok, making a face of half worry and half of absurd.
Even though it was absurd that Song Daeseok couldn’t remember the conversation that happened not a long time ago, she showed signs of worry that his memory was getting bad because he was suffering from the life of a researcher.
“Hahaha… Because they were discovered by Daeseok-i, they stopped, but it seems they were a bit too late. Anyway, those two decided to spar.”
… A sudden spar?
Did it mean that the two, who were fighting with words before, were now planning to fight with their bodies by holding a spar?
“Han Yi and Miro asked us to watch and be witnesses.”
“Witnesses?”
“Uh. The two will decide the victory through the spar instead of fighting anymore.”
Kim Yuri briefly explained what Han Yi and Dokgo Miro meant by victory.
“If Miro wins, Han Yi will never ask about the past events again. If Han Yi wins, Miro will tell her about the past events.”
I guess Han Yi got a clue what Dokgo Miro went through in the middle school.
To prevent Han Yi from being swept in the bullying, Dokgo Miro distanced herself from Han Yi.
Dokgo Miro did it for Han Yi, but from the standpoint of a friend, Han Yi, it was no different from a bolt out of the blue.
Han Yi right now was different from Han Yi in the past, who was young and didn’t have power.
Even though it was belatedly, Han Yi would learn what happened.
“The two want to spar using superpowers, excluding Gwangrim. They asked teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim to be a referee.”
Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim permitted it!?
If it was teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim, who saw and handled numerous class 0’s students, it appeared he thought that instead of a bad feeling festering between the two or fighting with each other without him overseeing, it was better for them to have a proper spar in front of him.
“When is that spar?”
“Soon. The first class is ‘Player’s combat practice 2’, remember? The two went to warm up first. Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim went first to watch them.”
If teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim was watching them, there was nothing to worry about, but… was it really so?
As the homeroom teacher-nim gave permission and the eyes of the school chairman beside me were sparkling, they wouldn’t be disciplined.
“The beginning-of-day meeting is going to be omitted. I think we should go straight to the 1st year exclusive gym no. 3. Uisin-i and Jiho are here, so let’s move now.”
“Ah, but… I don’t see Lena…”
Mok Uram hesitated and asked.
It seemed he was bothered because Kwon Lena wasn’t here.
“Ah, Lena contacted me, saying she will be a bit late.”
“Yes? What happened?”
“I didn’t hear… Isn’t it because of violin practice? She sometimes practices even in the morning.”
Like this, excluding Kwon Lena, and Han Yi and Dokgo Miro, who were going to spar, the 1st year class 0’s group was heading to the gym.
“Hm…”
Hwang Jiho, who looked to be in a good mood, with his eyes sparkling, abruptly stopped in his tracks.
Hwang Jiho’s gaze was directed at the top of one of the cedar trees[3], which were planted alongside the walk trail heading to the gym.
Swish!
“Tsk!”
“Keuk, we’ve been noticed!”
At the same time as the sound of violently shaking leaves, two silhouettes flew off into the distance from the crown of the tree.
The children, who saw it, were dumbstruck.
“Ah…”
“Those fuckers…”
I guess the two attention seekers were watching us.
*~*~*
[1] The siblings Yu Sang-hui and Yu Sang-hu, who I knew and TC Research Institute. And people related to the TC Group. — DOT in raws!
[2] winter cabbage and cockle doenjang-guk — doenjang-guk is a soybean paste soup, cockle is blood cockle (Tegillarca granosa).
[3] cedar trees — Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara). In Korean it’s called 개잎갈나무(gae-ip-gal-namu), which when I first saw I thought it meant ‘the tree of dog leaves road’, but apparently it means fake larch. It’s called tree of gods in Sanskrit and is a very important tree in Hinduism.
Translator’s note: Yeah, Jo Uisin, it’s a suspicious coincidence, isn’t it?
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