Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
8. Birthday cake smash and bonus (2)
“Our class vice president…”
Maeng Hyodon stared blankly at my student ID.
He unconsciously tightly gripped the hem of his blazer.
The finely ironed school uniform was outdone by his power and started to wrinkle.
“… Why did the vice president come here? And you look different from the picture. Like an old dog.”
“I’m disguised, obviously. Hey, come to the school sometimes. Our class attendance rate is at the bottom.”
For the infiltration, the subject of the Player’s trajectory was an adult character.
From the body build and part of the face visible from underneath the mask, it obviously didn’t look like a 1st year highschooler.
“The attendance doesn’t affect the graduation in Eungwang School. Why are you talking about the attendance rate?”
“Our homeroom teacher cares. The class president seems to care too.”
“Whatever. I don’t even know those two faces.”
“Come and check yourself if you’re curious.”
“Bastard, I’m not curious.”
When we had this conversation, which I thought was suitable for the class 0 students of Eungwang School.
Maeng Hyodon suddenly closed his mouth, then he bowed his head and said:
“Anyway, no.”
“Got it. If you go outside, the ‘Chaser Group’ will follow, right?”
Maeng Hyodon’s body shook.
“…You know about that. Vice president bastard’s personality really is like a dog.”
Maeng Hyodon gradually lowered his head.
I held out the item card towards him.
“Before you come up on the ring, break the big window and jump outside. Use this item card to land.”
The item card I held out was the ‘Wing powder of a lesser wind spirit’.
This item gives the effect of flying in the air for 5 seconds.
It was mainly used when landing after falling from high places.
However, Maeng Hyodon didn’t take the item card.
“You know it! The Chaser Group will follow! They said dozens of Jin people’s family bastards will follow! They said I cannot leave until I pay the debts, said I can’t escape…”
The end of his sentence gradually blurred.
The angry spirit I felt when I first saw him was gradually fading.
“Maeng Hyodon.”
I tapped Maeng Hyodon’s shoulder.
He was short, but as expected from a fighting genius, his shoulder was tight with muscles.
Still, he seemed to lack energy somewhere.
My playable character Maeng Hyodon was a guy who stood shoulder to shoulder with Ju Su-hyeok and bursted into cheerful laughter as they conquered otherworlds.
I didn’t want to see him looking like this.
I tapped Maeng Hyodon’s shoulder and made him raise his head, then I forced him to take the item card into his hands.
“After you jump out, run towards Eungwang School’s gates, the main gates.”
Maeng Hyodon’s fiery eyes which stared at me, who spoke confidently, shook a little.
He no longer swore or complained.
“I didn’t come alone. Besides me…”
Maeng Hyodon made an expression showing that he couldn’t trust all my words, but he grasped the item card tightly.
***
Close to midnight, the Fighting Club became busy.
Gradually, people started to gather and neatly dressed waiters started to redistribute glasses of champagne among them.
‘I guess it will start soon.’
I mixed among them and sat on the sofa close to the ring.
After I sat down, fruit canapé and a glass of champagne was naturally placed beside me.
Additionally I had to wave my hand and chase away the woman in a bunny outfit, who tried to sit beside me and offer her services. I glared at the ring.
‘Are you using a minor as a fighting slave in the Fighting Club and then say to drink, play with a woman and shit in front of him?’
I couldn’t know about it, because the detailed description didn’t show up in the game as it was censored.
People at the Fantasy Auction at least pretended to be classy, however here they didn’t do that.
Waves upon waves of dog-like things showed up. Is it a dog park?
Today’s world is full of trash.
‘It’s time.’
Midnight.
The day changed.
The moment the day changed, several colors flashed as the disco ball began to spin.
When the disco ball flashed with psychedelic colors, a poor EDM remake of the birthday song dropped.
“Everyone, today’s the owner’s birthday. Time to raise a toast!”
The people cheered after the host, wearing only a briefs and bow tie, climbed up on the ring.
My eyes bled at the sight of the freak outfit.
‘Ack, my eyes!’
Isn’t it an obligation towards the general public to warn before showing hateful or disgusting images?
What are you doing without even a warning?
I covered my mouth and tried to recall pretty and good things in my head.
‘Ruined. I can’t think of anything.’
I couldn’t recall anything but Maeng Hyodon’s crown, who gripped the item card sitting quiet like a mouse[1], from moments ago.
As I took a breath, a large-sized hologram unfolded above the ring.
‘Choe Pyeondeuk…!’
At the screen, Choe Pyeondeuk was wearing a mask with a birthday cake motif and an outfit as obscene as the host.
The people finished singing the birthday song together and then the host continued:
“We had the unsavory incident on the New Year, but we’re all here now, avoiding all storms. You know it’s all thanks to the owner, right?”
The majority of the bastards here were involved in the Fantasy Auction.
It was an incident which caught hundreds of people at once.
Naturally, there were bastards who escaped like Choe Pyeondeuk, but there would also be the bastards who received generous treatment.
‘It won’t be like that this time.’
Excluding a part of the staff, the only people here were Players.
All Players will at least be permanently expelled from the Player’s Association, and those who were already expelled will receive criminal punishment.
“The battle to commemorate the owner’s birthday! The match between the Jin’s family and the Player boy fighting with his bare hands!”
On one side of the ring, Maeng Hyodon’s silhouette was visible.
On the other side I saw…
A demonic beast similar to the Rinoseron I brought down during the entrance exam.
“In the blue corner, specially cast by the owner, the Ung’s demonic pet! Demonic pet Rinoseron no. 109! This Enemy is several times stronger than the guy who attacked during the Eungwang School’s practical exam!”
What.
Even if everyone here knows the owner is related to the Ung tribe who was the puppeteer behind the Eungwang School’s practical exam attack incident, why are you talking about it like this?
Really, I didn’t think they would make so much noise. They may as well brag about it.
“In the red corner, the bastard who receives the love of the Fighting Club and is known by everyone. The super human who survived when his arm was almost chopped off. The master of perseverance who stood in the ring to the end even when his stomach was pierced. The lunatic who survived to the end, even when both of his legs were squashed by a demonic beast!”
Did you make a guy who barely became a 1st year highschooler bare-fist fight like that?
It’s not Maeng Hyodon who is a lunatic, it’s you bastards here.
“Red corner, the elite Player of the Korea’s most prestigious highschool, the Eungwang School, Maeng Hyodon!”
The spotlight lit up above Maeng Hyodon.
He didn’t climb up the ring.
However, he also didn’t run towards the window.
He was just bowing his head in the dazzling light.
“……”
Are you really hesitating to go now?
I stared at Maeng Hyodon from the crowd with an anxious mind.
‘What are you doing!? Jump quickly!’
Supposing Maeng Hyodon doesn’t escape from here, I have to revise the entire plan.
In this case, I may have to put off the plan to capture them today.
It’s rare for Choe Pyeondeuk and the VIPs who manage this business to all gather in one place.
‘If the plan is delayed this time, I’ll have to wait half a year…!’
At that moment.
Maeng Hyodon raised his head and screamed loudly.
The voice, much louder and much stronger than the voice of the host making noise and holding a microphone, came out from that small body.
“I’m going, bastards!”
Maeng Hyodon charged towards the window like a beast.
I seemed to hear the sound of the cutting wind, even though we were indoors.
Woosh! Crack-jang!
“Kyaaa!”
“What, what!”
“Uughck!”
After Maeng Hyodon spectacularly broke the tinted reinforced window and jumped out, the rainstorm rushed inside.
In the pure instant when this happened, the audience, who couldn’t avoid it and were covered in glass shards and blood, screamed at the top of their lungs.
‘Well done, Maeng Hyodon!’
I raised from my seat with a smirk.
It was time I also should move and reward his courage.
I slowly walked towards the ring.
I got closer little by little to the trembling Choe Pyeondeuk on the screen.
“Where you dare… Catch him! Ungrateful bastard who doesn’t know who gave him bed and food and dares to speak! Send the Chaser Group immediately! Today’s show will be tearing off highschooler’s legs and feeding them to a demonic beast!”
“Owner, they’re letting them out now!”
As the host who was using the device said, over the broken window I saw the heads of dozens of the Enemies jumping out.
The identity of those Enemies was the Ung tribe’s family.
To be precise, they were a family of the ‘Trainer category Ung tribe member’, the culprit behind driving the supervisor, Kim Sinrok, to near death and releasing a demonic pet before the middleschoolers during the Eungwang School’s entrance exam.
‘Done.’
With this, the building was stripped off of the Chaser Group which was defending it.
The operation was progressing exactly as planned.
‘Jo Uisin, I fulfilled all your instructions. Preparations on this side are complete.’
I heard Jeok-ho’s voice from the earring.
Hearing those words, I climbed up the ring.
The host, who talked to Choe Pyeondeuk about everything, saw me and made an embarrassed expression.
“G-Guest-nim? You cannot climb up here…”
I gave a shining smile under the mask as I stared at Choe Pyeondeuk in the disgusting outfit.
I thought my eyes were rotting, but soon I thought about happily smashing him with a birthday cake and felt refreshed.
“Owner, on your birthday… I won’t celebrate, but let me give you some birthday cake smash.”
My actions and words were too weird.
Thanks to this, I think they would guess I’m the one behind the Maeng Hyodon escapee incident.
Choe Pyeondeuk let out a ‘heh’ sound from his opened mouth and then said in a loud voice:
“This, this, talking without fear like this! Do you not know who I am?!”
“Who are you? You’re Choe Pyeondeuk.”
After I said Choe Pyeondeuk’s name, the whole floor stirred up.
The people already completed battle preparations.
“H-How dare you say the owner’s name?!”
“Oh my!”
To act dirty, you need anonymity.
And I broke the anonymity of the sky-high owner, who has connections with high-ranking people.
Is it because the people here thought like this?
At most, Choe Pyeondeuk and his followers shouted with foam in their mouths after I called out the name.
People were in battle stances.
However, they held back and only stared at me, because fights inside were strictly prohibited.
‘Similar situation happened in the game when Ju Su-hyeok started the ruckus.’
I gave the final words to Choe Pyeondeuk in the screen.
“I know everyone upstairs. Choe Pyeondeuk.”
“Again, again! Dare, dare to call the name! Where is it?! Who am I?! Ehem, the guy who doesn’t know anything. Okay, come and see!”
Excited, Choe Pyeondeuk roughly stood up from his seat.
His words ‘Come and see’ looked careless at first glance, but it was a remark made after his own calculations.
‘The VIP’s room’s immaculate security is hard even for Jeok-ho’s Red Smoke to break. They even prepared an escape portal. The upper floor is a place into which making Choe Pyondeuk devoted his heart and soul into making.’
Of course, I had no thoughts of going to the upper floor full of traps.
“Choe Pyeondeuk, this building is illegal.”
I read the certified copy of the real estate register and this building was registered as a simple shopping mall, not suitable for Players’ usage.
This world’s building law was a bit different from the one I knew.
To bear the Players’ supernatural powers in this world, the building used by Players demanded more strict screening and higher strength designs.
Thanks to that, construction costs and time of the same building correspond to four or five times more than normal.
‘But even so, there are times when a building collapses, because of an excessive usage of Players’ abilities.’
It was a common affair for the Eungwang School’s gymnasium, which underwent a strict screening, had a perfect plan and was built under supervision, to collapse during students’ spars.
‘In addition, Choe Pyeondeuk even illegally remodeled this simple shopping mall building.’
Jeok-ho obtained the building’s blueprints and when compared with the actual building, it could be confirmed Choe Pyeondeuk made an illegal addition to the building to once again embezzle the money in the middle.
So the actual limits of weight and load this building full of degenerated businesses could bear was extremely low.
“In spite of this being an illegal building with weak construction, you brought over dozens of Enemies, each one weighing over a ton and made them rampage on the upper floors? Are you crazy?”
I laughed bitterly as I noticed the cracks on the walls.
The collapse was already progressing little by little.
Their unconcern about safety was terrifying.
‘Did those people think they will be safe even if the building collapses, because they are Players?’
As if he guessed what I wanted to say and what I was about to do, Choe Pyeondeuk opened and closed his mouth.
I didn’t wait for his answer.
“Take your birthday cake, Choe Pyeondeuk!”
The moment I raised my hand high and flicked my finger, the red lightning penetrated the entire building.
*~*~*
[1] Quiet like a mouse — Original idiom: A mute who ate honey. Means a person who can’t express their thoughts easily.
Translator’s note: If I get a nickel for every time I remember the collapse of a building being mentioned in this novel or used as a plot device, I would have three nickels. Which makes me a bit terrified.
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