Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
16. Central Library Basement Stack Room (3)
Power of Fate.
Since coming to this world, this EX-rank skill has activated a few times.
It was a skill which guided fate and created surrealistic interferences based on the experiences, ideas, thoughts, goals, convictions etc…
I still couldn’t completely comprehend this skill.
‘What will happen this time?’
The followers were all dragged out in the hands of the Regulation Enforcement Department and nearly insane students were in the middle of talking gibberish to Hong Gyubin.
I looked around but didn’t see any particularly weird phenomena.
I turned my gaze and browsed the bookshelves standing around me.
Paat—.
A light was coming out from somewhere.
The ceiling height of the basement stack room was around 3 stories high.
The closely touching bookshelves were filled with rare books.
Among them, one book stuck in the highest place was emitting light.
‘That’s it!’
The glowing ancient book quietly got out of the bookshelf by itself and fluttering, it fell towards me.
Seeing the process of its falling, the speed and its location, it couldn’t be seen as a simple incident.
I stretched out my hand towards the descending ancient book and safely received it.
‘… What is it?’
I opened the book and took a look, but the majority of the writing was blurred or was entirely erased, so the book was almost blank.
In addition to it, what language was that?
‘There are some characters that look like letters, but… from their shape it seems to be an ancient language. I don’t have the ability to read it.’
I saw that language in the setting book before.
Then I saw it two times in this world.
When using the ‘Weight of Life and Fortune’[1] which I received from Ungnyeo of Grief, on the enormous scale which appeared. And in the magic formation installed in Hwang Myeong-ho’s basement which I visited when observing the 12 Zodiac Alliance meeting.
‘Let’s put it in the inventory of the Exclusive Menu for now.’
After I put away the ancient book, which stopped glowing in the meantime, in the inventory window, I opened the device and sent a message to Hwang Jiho.
It may become a problem later, so let’s get the chairman’s approval.
[Me] Hey, lent me a book from the basement stack room.
As if one of Hwang Jiho’s alter-egos was playing around, he checked and responded straight away.
[Hwang Jiho] Okay.
Worthy of Hwang Jiho, he didn’t ask what the book was.
[Hwang Jiho] But show it to me.
I sent an ‘ok’ reply and closed the hologram.
In any case, I wanted to ask Hwang Jiho about the identity of this book.
That guy seemed to be able to read the ancient language.
But it was a question of how much he would be able to read from such a messy state.
“They are simply not in the state for the conversation. Let’s slowly move, Uisin. The density of the power here is too high.”
As if he gave up on the conversation, Hong Gyubin sighed a little.
Also, it seemed that this kid, with some reason still remaining whose I spoke to, got hit in the head soon after and she passed out.
‘… It’s better for her to close her eyes for now rather than endure losing her mind.’
While I was moving with Hong Gyubin to the surface, I asked about something which was bothering me.
“What will happen to those kids?”
“We will immediately quarantine them and get down to work with them. The curse has progressed too far. We have to take action before the kids in such a dangerous state harm themselves or their superpowers run wild. The risk of danger’s is too high, so we will have a formal conversation with their guardians afterwards.”
“Okay.”
So what awaits those guys in the future?
The process of removing the curse is long and painful, and the costs are high.
Because of cheating during mid-term exams, they will be punished and expelled from school.
They will have to confront the guilt of their ugly selves, which tried to survive by sacrificing others.
Nothing will be easy even if they receive generous treatment as minors.
So if it was my hogu-like Playable Character, Jegal Jaegeol, he would choose to stand up for them.
I was different.
“Uisin, do you remember what I said to you before?”
Hong Gyubin spoke up to me, who had fallen into thoughts.
What he said before?
He talked a lot, so I had no idea what he was pointing at.
“I said that more than the skills you had shown during the entrance exam, I liked your response the most. Even if your choices cause a controversy in the future, I will take your side.”
Those were the words Hong Gyubin said during our first meeting.
Though I thought that he was sweet-talking me to induce me to disclose my Player information details.
“Like at that time, I like all the choices you had made to deal with the current incident.”
His words continued.
I guess he was worried that I might feel guilty.
“Uisin, I thought you did really well. I really appreciate your choice. If not for you, teacher Jegal-nim would sacrifice himself to rescue those guys.”
I didn’t say anything.
There was no way I regretted my choice.
In the game, my Playable Character died as a replacement for those guys. Jegal Jaegeol didn’t even get any chance and left his students behind.
At least the students involved in this incident could repay their sins and still had a way to live a new life.
“Team leader-nim, we completed transferring all teachers. Should we move students now?”
“Yes, please.”
Two men appeared behind Hong Gyubin.
He said beforehand that he would talk about my story with the two subordinates who are going to enter the basement stack room.
I decided it was okay as I thought that there was nothing I could do about it as we were going to meet in the stack room anyway.
But…
‘What? Why are you coming here?’
One of the subordinates hastily walked towards me.
… I felt some déjà vu. It shouldn’t be just my imagination.
“Unknown Supernova-nim, long time no see. Even the crow mask suits you really well!”
Hearing the voice, it was the face I saw once before, the employee Jeong.
Even this guy was a member of the Player’s Association’s Regulation Enforcement department?
“Um, may I ask for one autograph? And a picture if possible. Ah, in the mask and without it. It would be better to take both pictures separately. And device code, please.”
Snatch.
Before his words ended, the person assumed to be manager Yun, grabbed employee Jeong by the back of his neck.
Seeing how his reaction was lightning fast, I guess it happens all the time.
“Wait a second, manager-nim! Agh! Ah really, it will take only a moment! I worked hard, give me a break, please!”
“Let’s go.”
“Ah, really, that’s why you got dumped by your girlfriend, really… ack, keuk! I’m sorry, I was wrooaaug! Keuauk.”
Employee Jeong dug himself an impressive grave.
It appears that I heard something like the sound of a tightening neck.
The face underneath the mask gradually turned a bit bluish, but manager Yun didn’t release his grip on employee Jeong’s neck.
Hong Gyubin stared at this scene with soulless eyes.
“… Ignore it, Uisin.”
“Yes.”
It seemed there was one more thing my thoughts aligned with Hong Gyubin’s.
***
Before midnight.
Hong Gyubin was barely able to return home.
Even so, he was scheduled to return to work again within the hour.
Because of it, he wasn’t able to decide whether he was returning home or visiting it.
‘Let’s take a shower, only change clothes and then go to work.’
The priority was to confiscate the guys’, who had followed Choe Pyeondeuk or something, devices to check all the message records.
The technology support team was called in advance, so they could get straight to it.
They would extort a maximum amount of information within limits of the Association’s authority.
Just before handing them to the police.
‘This incident cannot be known to the rest of the school staff, so let’s proceed after talking with the Hwang Myeong Foundation’s side, just like when we received the stack room entrance permits.’
One of the Player’s Association’s purposes was ‘Player protection’ and things related to it, so the Association could also interfere here.
Because young Players and one righteous Player almost lost their lives.
‘Next, we have to cover the existence of the hostages and the connection to teacher Jegal Jaegeol-nim, catch the guys involved in the mid-term exams cheating case and…’
There were many matters to be handled and collaborated with the Foundation.
Catching the person who had touched the recording devices in the Eungwang School’s 2nd year zone’s staff room.
Pick out the people who possibly manipulated the entry records to the central zone library within the recent month.
Compare and contrast the students’ rankings in mini tests and mid-term exams to pick up the subjects that may have been manipulated and catch the teacher in charge of it.
And if possible, interrogate the students after recovering them even a little bit.
‘… It’ll be impossible to leave work on time until May.’
Hong Gyubin’s body moved mechanically while he repeated his thoughts.
His body was exhausted because of the overworking before, but his thought process still remained sharp.
‘The Eungwang School’s crisis still hasn’t ended, so I can’t rest.’
Hong Gyubin’s Foresight skill rang in alarm as before.
‘Teacher Jegal Jaegeol-nim, will you be okay?’
Jegal Jaegeol gave up so many things because of him.
It was impossible to say that he repaid his help by just solving today’s incident.
‘Will I ever be able to repay it?’
He could know the answer even without the Foresight skill activating.
Clearly, such a day won’t come.
He was able to follow his dreams thanks to Jegal Jaegeol. Because of that, Jegal Jaegeol had to give up on his own dream.
‘… And come to think of it, I still didn’t send a message today.’
The day still didn’t change.
Coming out of his house, Hong Gyubin activated a device and like he did every day, he sent an ordinary message with his regards to his kind teacher[2].
While sending a message, Hong Gyubin wondered whether his teacher would think about it as a nuisance or not if he sent a message at this time.
Without even waiting for a reply, he was about to enter the Player Car when…
Ding.
A message arrived.
[Teacher-nim] Good. You’re also doing great.
The reply came from the only contact saved as ‘Teacher-nim’ in his device address book.
The face of Hong Gyubin, who had stared at the reply message for a very long time, brightened.
Did something good happen to his kind teacher who had not so long ago asked him ‘Who are you’?
His exhaustion seemed to vanish.
‘I thought you would be annoyed, but I’d be happy if you weren’t.’
Hong Gyubin headed to the association with his unique, slightly smiling expression, which Jo Uisin thought made him look cunning.
***
A lot of things happened yesterday, but the school was quiet.
There was a big incident of uncovering cheating during mid-term exams, but luckily it was still mid-term exams wrong answer objection application period.
It seemed that the reaction was smoother than I thought as it was before the final results came out.
‘Team leader Hong Gyubin-nim will have to work overtime.’
The information which came from Hong Gyubin, who was assumed to stay up overnight, was as follows:
Currently, the truth of this incident is known to extremely few people from the Hwang Myeong Foundation’s side.
The details known to the school staff was that the teachers mistreated students using leakage of midterm exams problems as a bait.
Moreover, it was only known that all teachers and students involved will leave Eungwang School.
‘It’s a spreading scandal of leaking exam questions at Korea’s most prestigious highschool… It’ll spread someday. However, the evidence that it was aimed at Jegal Jaegeol and what happened will be completely crushed.’
There was no way that Jegal Jaegeol’s fanatic, Hong Gyubin, would leave something for him to worry about.
It’ll be a struggle to conceal and control information, but I trust that a talent like Hong Gyubin will do well while working overtime.
So the school was peaceful and quiet.
… I thought so, but it wasn’t.
“You know, I saw 2nd year class 0 seniors coming all to school together today! It was amazing!”
It looked like Kim Yuri met with 2nd year class 0 on her way to school.
“Ah, I saw photos of that published on the general bulletin board!”
From Sawol Seeum’s words I guessed the photos were put on the general bulletin board straight away.
I opened a hologram and searched for the general bulletin board. It was noisy with the 2nd year class 0’s flashy school coming incident.
The 2nd year class 0 threw away their sense of shame and entered the school with Jegal Jaegeol, wearing likely self-made fluorescent group clothes.
Seeing the clothes thickly covered in the school name, class name, personal names and introductory phrases which I assumed were written by others, I thought that 2nd year class 0 had to have a really great time.
But I also thought that their fashion sense was miserable.
Especially the design of Jegal Jaegeol clothes was too amazing.
“Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim was in charge of this morning’s school entrance guidance, so he caught them by the back of the neck. Teacher Jegal Jaegeol-nim had a very apologetic expression.”
Kim Yuri, who was at the front gates, described the battle of nerves the 2nd year class 0 had with the Guideline Club.
Eungwang School was quite free with its attire.
The hair was free from regulations and the uniform could be modified and worn however one wanted.
There was so called school gate guidance, but as a matter of fact, the Guideline Club only performed safety checks and gave students morning greetings.
‘However, because 2nd year class 0 was not wearing school uniforms at all…’
As not wearing the school uniform at all was too much, equal to the number of 2nd year class 0 students, the members of Guideline Club jumped out.
Finally, the Guideline Club president Oh Hyeji and Ma Jinseung, who was expected to be the next Guideline Club president, coldly gave all 2nd year class 0 members a large amount of penalty points for not wearing school uniforms.
Even so, 2nd year class 0 was cool and didn’t bother with whether Guideline Club showers them with penalty points or not.
Rather, they started a proud march as they passed the school gates.
They even decided to have a photo time in front of other photo making students.
As a result, there was a large amount of photos published on the general bulletin board.
‘My Playable Character suffered a lot.’
The moment Jegal Jaegeol passed the gate, he disappeared straight away to go to the staff residence to change his clothes.
But it seems that he stopped and stood before the students holding the device camera one after one and let them all take photos.
‘They should have come without catching anyone’s attention, but… this is too much attention. Though it’s not an issue as they kept quiet during the operation.’
The class president, Geun Chansol, personally published on the bulletin board ‘The 2nd year class 0’s 1st outing review’.
I guess they really ate and played well.
But what is up with that ‘1st’?
Surely you’re not planning a 2nd and 3rd?
Then something I completely couldn’t expect happened:
“… I’m envious. Let’s make our own group uniforms and go on an outing too!”
Kim Yuri was envious of 2nd year class 0?
“One night and 2 days will be difficult, but I have a plan, so it’s okay if we go and play for a bit. Let’s match our clothes and go play somewhere with teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim!”
“Yeah, let’s go!”
“Great.”
“Me too. I want to go too!”
Lee Lena, Han Yi and Sawol Seeum immediately agreed.
Already four people. More than half of our seven people class agreed, so class 0’s outing was confirmed.
In any case, the outings were planned for each grade, but I guess they wanted us to go out on our own.
Also in the group uniforms.
‘Do these kids really like things like this?’
Sawol Seeum who marvels over anything may be like this.
However, I didn’t expect the docile Kim Yuri, Lee Lena and Han Yi to envy matching group uniforms after seeing 2nd year class 0.
‘I still can’t understand my Playable Characters and NPCs!’
It was a shameful day for me as the hypewreck’s rotten water.
Let’s repent.
“Uh… It’s fine if it’s May.”
Maeng Hyodon, even you.
I heard that his ban on going out will be dropped in May.
Did he want to get out soon?
I was making a subtle expression, so Hwang Jiho’s eyes were sparkling.
Seeing this guy, he was sure to agree, huh?
“Will we go to the Han River? I was envious when I saw people having a picnic and all ordering and eating chicken together.”
“Please order a sweet chicken for me. Boneless.”
“Spicy for me!”
Soon even chicken taste was decided?
The conversation gradually progressed.
Finally, before the day-start meeting started, most of the plan was completed thanks to the talented Kim Yuri.
***
And the same day after classes.
I visited Hwang Myeong-ho’s mansion.
And I brought the ancient book given to me by Power of Fate with me.
*~*~*
[1] Weight of Life and Fortune – Called it a ‘scale’ before, but ultimately decided weight is a more appropriate translation.
[2] kind teacher – raws uses a very specific word which means ‘a teacher one was taught by and is thankful to’. Also that word is 은사 (could also mean talent, gift). There are so many cool words in Korean which start with 은 (Eun – silver). Like 은혜 which means help, favor or divine love (god’s love of humans). Or 은하 which means galaxy, or 은신 which means hiding, 은인 which means savior, benefactor… Is this translator getting on something? … Maybe? Maybe not. We will see.
Translator’s note: I’ll repeat something someone in the raws’ comments very wisely pointed out: “Hong Gyubin ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Teacher Jegal said he never thought about his students as annoying. ㅠㅠ”
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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