Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
66. Another candidate (9)
Baek Ho-gun didn’t reply right away.
I thought he might not reply, but I didn’t expect him to contemplate it for so long.
‘The last time he didn’t reply was when I asked about the Nightmare.’
At the time of the 12 Zodiac Alliance meeting, the Yang tribe’s head[1] said this:
— 未[SheepZzz] “There is a person who carries the Nightmare here. I feel Nightmare’s energy beyond the magic circle connecting the meeting.”
— 未[SheepZzz] “We only have to uphold a ‘nonaggression promise’. However, we have been in this 12 Zodiac alliance together for 100 years, so let me warn you. Currently, a person attending this 12 Zodiac meeting, or a person around the magic formation, is the ‘Nightmare’ itself. So don’t be swallowed by the Nightmare.”
When I sought out information about the 12 Zodiac’s heads’ words, it seemed that the ‘Nightmare’ referred to the God of Nightmares, Insomnium.
‘Nightmare’ was a higher being with the greatest interference authority into the human world, yet starting with 20 years ago, they gradually wore out.
‘They weren’t mentioned in PMH, and even after coming to this world, it was difficult to obtain information about that Nightmare.’
On the road back to the dormitory, after the meeting ended.
I asked Baek Ho-gun about the Nightmare that the 12 Zodiac Alliance’s heads were wary off:
— What is Nightmare?
Baek Ho-gun replied to this question with words I couldn’t understand.
— No need to worry about this right now, Jo Uisin.
— Stop worrying and do what you want to and what you have to do.
As my main Playable Character put it like this, I couldn’t question him.
Hearing those words, there seemed like there was no need to worry or bother with the Nightmare, so I forgot it.
‘It’s even more difficult to answer this question right now than it was to talk about the Nightmare?’
At that time, the answer which seemed to have no connection to the question came out immediately.
Baek Ho-gun opened his mouth after a long silence.
“It’s difficult to answer.”
“… Why?”
Why was it difficult to answer right away?
“I decided to prioritize the promise I made first.”
Hearing the answer, my mind became even more complicated.
With who the hell and what kind of promise did Baek Ho-gun make that he appeared that day, and that he had to shut his mouth right now?
I looked back through everything I knew about Baek Ho-gun, but had no guess.
Though I didn’t know with who and what promise Baek Ho-gun made, it was clear they[2] didn’t appear in PMH or their actions were unknown[3].
Judging it was impossible to directly reason it out, I decided to ask another question.
“With who and what kind of promise?”
“In exchange for giving help, I won’t interfere.[4]”
What the hell is the connection between that promise and Baek Ho-gun appearing in the ‘Tutorial of the unnamed supporting character’?
The eyes of Baek Ho-gun, who stopped talking for a moment, turned a bit downcast.
“It seems that uselessly intervened the day the Ung tribe attacked, eh? I’m reflecting.”
Baek Ho-gun was a person of few words just like before, but there were a few bits a few bits of information I was able to obtain through this conversation.
‘You knew that the Ung tribe attacked the Eungwang School that day, huh?’
It wasn’t just that Baek Ho-gun knew that the Ung tribe attacked the Eungwang School that day, he also knew precisely that it was aimed at the group no. 13.
If not, Baek Ho-gun would have to search all other practice exam sites, and there would be witness accounts of Baek Ho-gun appearing at the other practice exam sites.
The problem was the timing of Baek Ho-gun’s appearance.
‘You knew about it, and thought of blocking it, but came a bit late. The reason you were late… Isn’t it perhaps the same reason like Gye Idam?’
Gye Idam said that he regained his memories on the brink of the start of the exam, in other words, just after I came to this world.
Did Baek Ho-gun also perhaps recall the attack of the Training category Ung at a similar timing?
If that was the case, I could make another supposition with it.
At the moment he recalled the attack, Baek Ho-gun, who is under the debuff ‘Prisoner of Divine Realm’, was somewhere in Eungwang District.
The moment he recalled it, he headed straight where the group 13’s practice exam was held.
Because of the distance, though he arrived earlier than Gye Idam, he arrived only after I took down the Rinoseron.
‘It makes sense if I think about it this way, but many doubts remain.’
How did Baek Ho-gun obtain that information, and what the hell was that promise?
‘In exchange for giving help, you won’t interfere’?
Who the hell was helping Baek Ho-gun, and with whom Baek Ho-gun was not interfering?
It seemed that because of that promise, Baek Ho-gun couldn’t answer properly, so I decided to throw a curveball and ask:
“Is that promise perhaps related to the Transcendent Universe?”
“…”
Baek Ho-gun kept his mouth shut.
His usual cold impression was no different from usual, but there were obvious signs of trouble.
I waited, thinking I may be able to hear something akin to a hint like before.
Creating trouble for my main Playable Character was very against my real intentions, but with difficulty, I endured.
“I’m sorry.”
But what came out of Baek Ho-gun’s lips was not a hint, but an apology.
Hearing those words, feeling of guilt surged in me.
I was causing trouble for my main Playable Characters, but what, I kept asking for things!?
I didn’t know what the hell he was sorry for, but in the end, I could do nothing but say it’s fine.
“It’s fine.”
The moment I replied ‘it’s fine’, I had a sense of déjà vu.
The day I slept at the mansion, just before Jeok-ho was injured by Zhu Ganglie, we had the same conversation.
Baek Ho-gun visited in the middle of the night and apologized and I replied ‘it’s fine’, but…
It was different from the situation that time, but something bothered me.
But because I couldn’t say anything to the apologizing Baek Ho-gun, I decided to bury my doubts.
* * *
Next day morning.
We had a tea party late at night, but perhaps because I relieved stress yesterday, I slept soundly.
Though it also might have been because I slept in bed with my angel Snare and woke up together with the angel in the morning again.
‘… Is it okay to suddenly come and to eat and sleep so well?’
I barged into the tiger mansion without warning at late hours, and threw troublesome to answer questions at Baek Ho-gun, then not only I was given tea, I was also provided meals and lodgings.
Thinking of it again, it was completely shameless of me, but luckily the tigers generously let it pass.
When eating the breakfast prepared by Hwang Jiho, Eun-ho asked:
“I heard that You’ve sparred with the 2nd years student, Gye Idam. What happened?”
It was even more difficult to tell it to Eun-ho.
Eun-ho would know very well about the military’s grilling culture and about the malicious reviews and comments directed at PMH.
It seemed he would be seriously angry if I told him about Gye Idam.
Not exactly because I was a victim of Gye Idam’s bulling.
From a 3rd person perspective, there were many things that Gye Idam did which were justified, even if he cursed and grilled.
As I beat around the bush, Eun-ho said, as if mumbling to himself.
“Gye surname isn’t very common…”
… did he perhaps know about ‘Gye’fucker from the previous world?
No, I didn’t say a word about ‘Gye’fucker to Cheon Seong-heon in the previous world, so there was no way he knew.
Did he perhaps make an association between the Gye surname and ‘kye777ing’[5], that appeared every time an article about PMH came out?
“Uisin hyung, tell me any time if you need any help.”
Seeing I had no plans to talk about Gye Idam, Eun-ho spoke softly.
Baek Ho-gun, who sat at Eun-ho’s side also nodded.
He seemed to mean that I should tell if I needed any help.
‘You mean even though you can’t speak because of that promise, you can help?’
My doubts deepened, but I couldn’t trouble Baek Ho-gun after shamelessly barging into the tiger mansion.
I gave up on directly asking Baek Ho-gun.
But I decided to remember that promise Baek Ho-gun said he made.
‘Another variable, different from PMH, appeared in this world… No, should I call it a variable?’
Baek Ho-gun knew something, but it was clear he wouldn’t directly step forward because of that promise or something else.
When the Ung tribe attacked, Baek Ho-gun’s interference didn’t exactly greatly change the situation, but wasn’t he reflecting saying he intervened uselessly?
“Did you have a good talk with Baek-ho?”
“Ye.”
“Seems like you have no plans to tell me what you talked about, eh?”
As I headed to school from the tiger mansion, I ended on the road together with Hwang Jiho.
Of course, it was Hwang Jiho in the appearance of the 1st year class 0’s lunatic, not chairman Hwang Myeong-ho, accompanying me.
Hwang Jiho seemed to have been in a good mood since the last night.
Though his attempt at trying to dig into what I and Baek Ho-gun talked about last night failed, Hwang Jiho didn’t seem to be in a particularly bad mood because of it.
Before entering the classroom, Hwang Jiho said a word.
“It’s fine, even if you don’t have any particular business. Feel free to visit the mansion any time you want like yesterday.”
Yesterday, I visited with a business.
I wanted to snipe back like this, but I decided to gratefully accept Hwang Jiho’s goodwill this time.
As we entered the classroom, the class children welcomed us loudly.
Perhaps because the class children, who commuted to school, had a lot of worries, I was asked a few times if I was injured anywhere.
“Sit down.”
I worried that teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim, who appeared for the start-a-day class, would say something about what happened yesterday, but he didn’t say anything in particular.
He only checked one more time if I was injured anywhere.
Watching the worried teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim and class children, I reflected on myself.
‘… I should be more careful in the future.’
When I grill Gye Idam in the future, I should be careful so the class children and teacher-nim don’t find out.
I had to make sure that kind 1st year class 0’s people don’t get stressed because of the ‘Gye’fucker.
On the other hand, the news of the spar between me and Gye Idam spread wide throughout the Eungwang School.
Together with the result of the spar — the victory of the Unknown Supernova.
‘Because Gye Idam was hospitalized and was absent because of it, rumors grew even bigger. Did he have to be freaking absent from school? Though I did grill him with the thought of hospitalization.’
There was a word going around that the 1st year class 0 was gradually becoming truly a class 0 class, but because I didn’t do anything against the school rules, I wasn’t exactly reprimanded.
Ending a comfortable day, it was after classes.
As the club activities ended, I went to the main gate and there, standing beside the air limousine with the Red Lion logo, was Yeom Junyeol, waiting for me.
“Uisin-ah, let’s go.”
I thought that Yong Jegeon may be inside the air limousine, but fortunately I didn’t see him.
I heard he always accompanied Yeom Junyeol on the road back home, so did he have some other schedules today?
Today, the role of Yeom Junyeol’s bodyguard took one of the Red Lion’s members.
The place the air limousine headed to was the air hotel ‘Snow and Air’, owned by TC Group.
“I was invited here in the past, and it was neat.”
He said he was going to buy dinner, so I went with a light heart, but I guess he made a reservation in the Snow And Air Hotel’s highest floor restaurant.
I realized once again that Yeom Junyeol was a star Player born with a red diamond spoon.
“I’m sorry it’s so late, but happy birthday.”
When we sat down, Yeom Junyeol took out two red envelopes sealed with wax.
I received the first envelope Yeom Junyeol handed me.
“… Thank You.”
“Open it.”
As Yeom Junyeol watched me with expectant eyes, it was difficult to say that I’ll open it later.
Inside the envelope was an item card.
‘This is…! Hongryong cheering stick!’
Engraved on the card was a dragon-like cheering stick resembling Hongryong.
Because it glowed in reaction to superpower waves, I thought it may be a superpower item, but I had no idea it was really an item that could be cardified.
“According to what Jegeon hyung said, you looked interested in it, when you came to our house to play last time. So I asked a Yong tribe Member to make an additional one to give to Uisin-i.”
Yong Jegeon told Yeom Junyeol that?!
I wasn’t sure with what kind of intention Yong Jegeon told him that, but for this moment I decided to be thankful.
Later, as I looked into places to buy one, the quality of the sold cheering sticks was much worse than what I saw that day, so I didn’t want them, but this item card was different!
“This is my gift as a disciple.” [6]
When my emotions settled down, Yeom Junyeol handed another card.
It seemed he prepared the gifts as a senior and as a disciple.
*~*~*
[1] Yang tribe — yang for sheep or goat.
[2] they — plural they.
[3] unknown — in the meaning that there is no way of knowing some information, but also in the meaning that something is too far away, remote to see, or memories being blurry because they’re so old.
[4] In exchange for giving help, I won’t interfere. — so, it literally translates to ‘in exchange for accepting help…’, and while a very natural interpretation is that it’s Baek-ho, who is being helped here, it’s tad ambiguous actually who is being helped.
[5] Gye surname and ‘kye777ing’ — ‘Kye’ is another romanization of ‘계(gye)’, sorry, I somehow keep forgetting that author-nim romanizes ㄱ as ‘k’ and keep creating confusion.
[6] “This is my gift as a disciple.” — he switched to polite tone here.
Translator’s note: Fascinating implications in this chapter.
Anyway, may I give a spotlight to this ridi top comment:
“Today Baek Ho-gun said around 25 words, 70 characters… the silence was longer, but I still believe it’s a day to celebrate(…)”
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