Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
67. Gap (1) [1]
A few days ago, air hotel ‘Snow and Air’.
That day, Yeom Junyeol had an appointment to discuss his future in the entertainment industry.
At Yeom Junyeol’s words that he plans to withhold from entertainment activities until his turn as the Student Council’s president is over, the agency person was disappointed, but the conversation ended well.
As there was a Red Lion’s team member sending sharp glances behind Yeom Junyeol, it could only end well.
When he was about to stand up from his seat, a porter handed Yeom Junyeol a note.
‘I sense Jin energy. Looks like they deliberately left energy on it.’
Before Yeom Junyeol accepted, the Red Lion’s team member, in the role of a bodyguard, snatched the note.
After Red Lion’s team member checked there was nothing strange about the note, Yeom Junyeol was able to read the content.
[Yong tribe’s descendant, hi! I’m the head of Sa tribe[2]. Can we meet? I’ll buy you coffee.]
The content was dubious, but if it was really the Sa tribe’s head, he couldn’t ignore her.
Yeom Junyeol responded that if the Red Lion’s team members can accompany, then it’s fine.
“Thank you for giving me some of your time. It’s my first time seeing you.”
The Sa tribe’s head smiled without hiding her vertical pupils.
She was a woman with a much smaller stature than Yeom Junyeol.
But Yeom Junyeol and the Red Lion’s team member had to work hard to hide their nervousness towards her.
‘As expected, the head-rank is different, huh…!’
Because of the superpower wave and spirit in her pupils, Yeom Junyeol unknowingly compared her to Cheongryong.
The Sa tribe’s head looked up at Yeom Junyeol with a smile, and then spit out.
“Do you want a blessing?”
They were unexpected words, but the Sa tribe’s head seemed to like Yeom Junyeol.
Yeom Junyeol was nervous, but as he often got caught up in situations where someone offered a blessing, he replied like flowing water.
“Thank You for Your offer. However, I decided to not accept anyone’s blessing except for the blessing given by the Dragon King God until I become an adult.”
Currently, the only blessing Yeom Junyeol received was the Dragon King God’s blessing ‘My fire won’t burn you’.
It was a rule set because everyone tried to give Yeom Junyeol a blessing.
“That’s a pity. I hoped to give another person at Eungwang School my blessing.”
Yeom Junyeol thought those words were unexpected.
Usually, people offered him a blessing because they were curious about the star and the Yong tribe’s descendant, but the Sa tribe’s head seemed to offer the blessing because he was a student of Eungwang School.
But the title of the student of Korea’s most prestigious Player special highschool, Eungwang School, was one of the keywords drawing public attention.
Yeom Junyeol decided to ask about the part of the Sa tribe’s head’s words that bothered him.
“Have You given a blessing to a Player at Eungwang School?”
“I did. One shithead-like bastard.”
Yeom Junyeol momentarily thought he heard ‘shithead-like bastard’ wrong, but then thought again.
Looking at the face of the Red Lion’s team member standing beside him, it seemed he heard correctly.
Following that, the Sa tribe’s head continued, putting emphasis on ‘shithead-like bastard’.
“Let’s leave that shithead bastard alone. I want to hear about Eungwang School.”
* * *
After finishing a meal, I returned to Eungwang School.
Yeom Junyeol sent me off in the air limousine right in front of the school.
Though I said I was fine, Yeom Junyeol said he invited me, so he had to send me off, and refused my refusal.
In the end, I admired my kind and earnest disciple and senior’s mindset, and obediently went home with him.
“Uisin-ah, then see you off tomorrow. Stay safe.”
As we were in different grades and attended different classes, we wouldn’t run into each other, right?
But I met with Yeom Junyeol at school quite frequently.
Even so, I put it aside as a conventional goodbye and didn’t dig into that.
Ding.
Not long after I parted with Yeom Junyeol, a message arrived on the device.
It was the message sent by Yeom Junyeol.
Perhaps mindful of the eyes around, Yeom Junyeol sent the disciple’s goodbyes separately, through the device.
After arriving at the dormitory, I wrote a reply and sent the message — and only then did I belatedly realized what I wasn’t able to talk about today.
‘I planned to tell him to not come to the Dragon Palace around the time the Dragon King God’s shaman maiden scenario occurs… but I missed the timing because of the story of the Sa tribe.’
There were two months until the new year, so there was still time — couldn’t I take it slowly?
I must not forget to talk about it the next time I have a chance to talk with Yeom Junyeol.
Sitting in the corner of the spacious dormitory room, I went over the conversations I had with Yeom Junyeol today.
The two birthday gifts Yeom Junyeol gave me, Yeom Junyeol’s master with wanderlust… Both left a deep impression, but what was the most on my mind was the story of the Sa tribe.
‘It wasn’t only Yeom Junyeol, the Red Lion’s team members were also there. Even if she deceived Yeom Junyeol’s eyes, she wouldn’t be able to deceive their eyes too, so she probably wasn’t scheming anything else.’
Then did the Sa tribe’s head really approach Yeom Junyeol to talk about Eungwang School?
I talked for quite some time with Yeom Junyeol about the Sa tribe’s head, and just based on the content of that conversation, it was difficult to think the Sa tribe’s head had any malicious intentions.
— She called that student a ‘shithead’, but She seemed worried about him. She bestowed a blessing, so I believe She must have been concerned.
— Did you hear what kind of blessing?
— I didn’t hear the details. But it seems it wasn’t a powerful blessing, as they don’t share minds.
The blessing of higher beings and Jin people carve their ‘presence’ on a being under mutual agreement.
The more presence is engraved, the more powerful the blessing is, and the scope of mind sharing becomes larger.
It appeared that the blessing the Sa tribe’s head gave to the shit-head Eungwang School student wasn’t that great.
— She said She tried to contact him out of worry after a long time, but was told to get lost.
Someone the Sa tribe’s head bestowed a blessing upon.
The shithead Eungwang School’s student.
The shithead who would rashly tell the Sa tribe’s head to get lost.
It was pitiful to call them clues, but someone soon came to mind.
‘No one but that bastard comes to mind.’
There were around 1500 students currently enrolled at Eungwang School.
Among those numerous students, I could think of only one Eungwang School’s student that the Sa could be describing.
I also happened to know through the status window about the blessing that was bestowed to him.
The content of the blessing was as follows:
[Blessing] Certain Sa tribe member’s cheer, ‘That shit-head is your charm’
The one who bestowed Bang Yunseop a blessing was the Sa tribe’s head…?
There was no proof, but it just seemed to be the case.
‘Even if the one who bestowed Bang Yunseop a blessing wasn’t the Sa tribe’s head, it doesn’t change that that bastard is involved with the Sa tribe.’
The Sa tribe is one of the candidates for the Long Tail, so I couldn’t treat it haphazardly.
In addition, I was bothered by what MITRON’s patissier, Ryu Jang said not a long time ago.
After saying that Bang Yunseop isn’t buying cookies recently, Ryu Jang said this:
— After he stopped buying cookies, the frequency of errands for student Jo Uisin greatly increased. He didn’t come to the shop with the female student and got angry when I mentioned cookies. Is there a correlation between the two?
— It’s easy to be targeted if You have gaps in Your heart, isn’t it?
The words ‘gaps in your heart’ heavily weighed on my mind.
The ‘Eye’ left by the priest of Avaritia also vexed me.
And Bang Yunseop, whose mind and heart were full of cracks and holes, worried me.
Ding.
I fell into thought for a while when a message arrived on my device.
The message happened to mention Bang Yunseop.
[Mok Uram] Hello, class vice president. I sent a message to report that I caught student Bang Yunseop smoking.
[Mok Uram] At the time of discovery, student Bang Yunseop wasn’t smoking, but remembering Your words to contact You if he even has cigarettes, I decided to report it to You.
[Mok Uram] (picture)
In the picture sent by Mok Uram, the crouching Bang Yunseop was biting an unlit cigarette.
Bang Yunseop had no idea that his picture was taken, and was staring in the sky with a dark and blank face.
Usually, his face would just look stupid to me, but was it because of the story I heard from Ryu Jang?
Band Yunseop seemed to have a face of someone at the peak of their misery because of a heartbreak.
‘… Should I spend some time investigating Bang Yunseop?’
There were many things to do, but wasn’t Bang Yunseop connected to the Sa tribe?
There was value in spending time on it.
After I sent Mok Uram bread gift certificate, bakery location and menu, I closed the message window.
‘I should start checking on Bang Yunseop starting tomorrow. If I feel there are any problems, I should first consult with Tak Geosan and…’
Just like always, after making plans, I fell into sleep without dreams.
And the next day, morning.
I ran into Maeng Hyodon and Sawol Seeum in the dormitory cafeteria and ate breakfast with them.
There were a lot of loud noises around, so I couldn’t communicate well with the class children while eating breakfast.
“What? Why is everyone so noisy?”
“It’s probably because of the article on the Eungwang School’s bulletin board!”
When Maeng Hyodon, who ate two bowls of baked mackerel and mackerel gangjeong[3], said with dissatisfaction, Sawol Seeum showed him the Eungwang School community’s general bulletin board.
Various posts were published on the general bulletin board, but one story in particular drew the eye.
‘Raid on the 1st year homeroom teachers’ exclusive teacher room?’
I didn’t know it’s content yet, but it felt like something related to class 0.
Sawol Seeum continued his explanation.
“It seems that after classes yesterday, some student raided the 1st year teacher room!”
“Students can enter the room. What for did they need to raid it?”
“They raided secretly to steal all the attendance books.”
“… What?”
Maeng Hyodon forgot to move his spoon and asked back with a dumbfounded face.
After classes yesterday, two bizzaro, assumed to be students, invaded the teacher room, exclusive for the 1st year homeroom teachers and stole the attendance.
Teachers could manage the attendance through the device, but it seemed there were attendance books for the teachers who preferred analog methods.
The two bizzaro targeted those the attendance books.
“There is no way our homeroom teacher missed it.”
“Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim wasn’t there. At that time, there were only three Teachers in the teacher room… I don’t know those teachers-nim very well either.”
The bizzaros used the gap created by the teachers, who couldn’t respond properly, took the attendance books and ran.
The teachers tried to belatedly chase after the bizzaros.
At first the list of suspects included the 2nd year and 3rd year students.
They had no reason to steal the 1st year class 0’s attendance book, but the teachers’ opinions was that they would do such things without sufficient reasons.
“However, all the 2nd and 3rd year students denied. As such, it became certain it was the 1st year class 0, but… the whereabouts of everyone were confirmed, excluding the People, who don’t attend school.”
Considering the timing of the incident, it was when I joined Yeom Junyeol in front of the school gate.
With the recording devices in front of the main gate, my location would be confirmed, so I would be immediately taken off the suspect list.
“Then who is the culprit? You said it’s not the class 0.”
“No, the culprits are class 0!”
Sawol Seeum turned his words around, but hearing those words, I immediately figured out who the candidates for the culprits were.
As if Maeng Hyodon didn’t understand, he frowned deeply and tried hard to use his stone head.
“If it’s not the 2nd year class 0, or the 3rd year class 0… and it’s not our class guys…”
“The culprits seem to be our class children who refuse to attend school.”
The culprits weren’t 2nd or 3rd year class 0.
The culprits weren’t the 1st year class 0’s students who were attending school.
The culprits were class 0.
Combining the facts above, the culprits must be the 1st year class 0 who refused to attend school.
At my words, Maeng Hyodon belatedly exclaimed ‘ah’ and understood.
“Yes! It’s as Uisin said! Ah, a picture was uploaded a moment ago… They committed a crime wearing strange clothes.”
In the picture Sawol Seeum showed me, were people I knew.
Their faces were covered, but seeing their silhouettes and the clothes they wore, I immediately knew who it was.
‘… Those attention seekers!’
The ones who stole the attendance book were two attention seekers, Phantom Thief Neon and Gu Seulbi.
*~*~*
[1] Gap — 틈 (teum) has so many meanings… Anyway, it can also mean ‘brief period of time’, ‘opportunity’, ‘to open, to clear’, ‘to get acquainted, to befriend’, ‘to start business with’, ‘to open a market’, ‘to dawn’, ‘to sprout/bud’, ‘to crack’, ‘to be left with no hope’.
[2] Sa tribe — ‘snake’ tribe.
[3] baked mackerel and mackerel gangjeong — 고갈비(gogalbi) name for baked mackerel translates to ‘mackerel ribs’ and was a cheap replacement for beef ribs (I guess you could say baked mackerel fills the gap in the heart created by inability to eat beef ribs). Gangjeong(강정) is a type of rice cake (to be precise, it usually refers to puffy rice cakes), but mackerel gangjeong doesn’t contain any rice cakes (as far as the recipes I saw went), it’s just a type of marinated fried mackerel chopped and sauce similar to rice cakes. Gangjeong(강정) also means ‘stubborn and obstinate personality’.
Translator’s note: Look Jo Uisin, everyone is just so inspired by your actions.
Patron thank you note:
Thank you patron, Nobody, please accept this Bellonia aspera’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Al, please accept this Codonanthopsis macradenia’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Dust, please accept this Columnea crassifolia’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Maru, please accept this Columnea domingensis’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, kamisonk, please accept this Columnea flexiflora’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Kasimir Ilmonen, please accept this Columnea glabra’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Tara Hess, please accept this Columnea hirta’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Ice, please accept this Columnea linearis’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Hematite, please accept this Columnea microcalyx’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Deflubs, please accept this Columnea microphylla’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, TheFloorGuy, please accept this Columnea minor’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Akemidy, please accept this Conandron ramondioides’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, vicky moch, please accept this Columnea orientandina’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Diana-Maria, please accept this Columnea purpurata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Ch W, please accept this Columnea querceti’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, aila ilzyana, please accept this Columnea rubricaulis’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, MeltedMochi, please accept this Columnea sanguinolenta’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Kia, please accept this Crantzia cristata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Links to support this translation and access to 8 advanced chapter (Patreon & Kofi)
> Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LibraryKeyTranslations
> Kofi-Euro: https://ko-fi.com/wanthetranslator
> Kofi-USD: https://ko-fi.com/wanthetranslatorusd
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
Leave a Reply