Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
[1]
Demons among Jin people.
Unlike other Jin tribes, they didn’t choose their leader and didn’t group together.
Among Demons[2], there were three exceptions from it.
First, the priests[3] who worship the same higher being – an evil god.
Second, the worshipers of ‘Demon king’ who proved their power by vanquishing numerous Demons.
Third, those who are fascinated by the same evil magic research topic.
This Demon group belonged to the third case.
“Zhu Ganglie contacted us.”
Among them, the Demon in charge of the contact with outside mumbled like that in the darkness.
Hearing those words, Demons opened their 3rd eyes connecting them with the present world.
Demons’ bodies raised from the magic formations produced by each of them individually.
Their surroundings brimmed with superpower waves of various colors and magic power.
“Zhu Ganglie? Are you talking about Zhu Bajie, the head of the Don tribe?”
“Yeah. He asked for a deal through ‘that guy’.”
“A deal? What is he asking for?”
After brief explanation about Zhu Ganglie’s deal ended, Demons criticized[4]:
“That would be a bit complex. But it’s not something we can’t do.”
“The payment?”
The Demon who was speaking easily, like flowing water, replied one bit slower this time.
“… He said he ‘will give us permission to watch Ju-Oh and TC’s boat party which will be soon’?”
Fake ‘ha!’ laughter burst out everywhere in the space.
Demons didn’t hide their displeasure.
“That’s all for moving us?”
“Permission? How arrogant. I don’t like that. It’s not the divine realm that we can’t leave our eyes there.”
“Right. If we know the place beforehand and just prepare, some transmission is possible even if a higher being interferes.”
At some point, the demon’s conversation topic changed to slandering Zhu Ganglie.
“Wasn’t Zhu Ganglie appointed as Cleanser of the Altars by ‘enlightened one’? Even though he piled up virtues to aim for attaining Buddhahood, it was insufficient. Why did he come to the present world to begin with?”
“Zhu Ganglie ended up being corrupted after Clash of Different Worlds. He lost a lot of enlightenment when holding hands with ‘that guy’, right?”
“That’s the look of the Heavenly Admiral, who commanded 80 thousand navy troops in heavens and roamed the Milky Way[5]?”
“I guess Cleanser of the Altars got fired by now already, so he has nothing to look after, hm?”
The one who passed on the deal suggested by Zhu Ganglie dealt a finishing blow.
“Zhu Ganglie is cheeky enough that he pointed out one among us? He said he wants to cooperate with the best guy?”
The supernatural waves and magic’s wavelength reflected the Demons’ emotions and brimmed.
“Is that pig saying it can judge who is inferior or superior among us?”
“I’m curious, who was chosen?”
Between superpower waves changing into ominous colors and forms, the Demon’s voice echoed.
“One of the demon gods of 7 deadly sins, Invidius-nim. His priest had been chosen.”
Passionate priest of one of 7 deadly sins demon gods, Invidius.
The strange demon who would suddenly jump out on the priests’ gatherings for topics like these and interfere into the Frozen Otherworld evil magic research to make brilliant contributions.
Recalling that Demon, they had to agree, even though they were greatly displeased.
“… Well, if it’s that snotty bastard.”
“We can’t say that he isn’t the best among us, right?”
“Humph.”
The conversation topic changed to Invidius’s priest.
“So where did that snot go now? He isn’t visible.”
“Recently, he often has been going in and out of the present world while saying he is bothered by the ‘Crow Mask’.” Did he go to the present world again?”
“Thinking about it, I didn’t see him at all these days?”
Then a Demon who had stayed silent up until now replied.
It wasn’t Invidius, it was a priest of a different demon god.
While thinking ‘Strange demons are close with each other, huh?’, Demons perked up their ears to that priest’s voice.
“That snot went to the present world. Because he has some work to do.” [6]
“Work to do?”
“He decided to make a deal with Ung Eight Immortals.”
At the title ‘Ung Eight Immortals’, some Demons threw a question.
“Ung Eight Immortals you say… The mad ones? Or the not mad ones?”
“The not mad ones.”
“Who? If it’s the bear of Delight, I want to personally meet him. It seems that he recently brainstormed a fun technique.”
The priest of the demon god shook his head in the darkness as he replied.
“The one who offered to make a deal was Ungnyeo of Grief.”
***
“Are you thinking of not saying where you were yesterday? It seems that you have stayed with that Jin bastard in the same place for quite some time.”
Hwang Jiho asked me who fell into thoughts.
A very annoying Jin.
A Jin who bestowed Hong Gyubin with a blessing.
It looks like I spent some time together with that Jin last night.
‘You say it was long enough to leave traces?’
After parting with Hwang Jiho last night, there were three places in space of which I spent a long time.
Inside Eungwang School barrier.
Riding air staged limousine with Jared Lee.
Eternal Lake team’s building, and among the rooms there, inside Kwon Jane’s room.
‘It wouldn’t be in Eungwang School, whose barrier was strengthened after the case with Nabiryeong’s message and… it’s likely Kwon Jane’s room, right?’
I thought about asking Kwon Jane about that later, but it would be better to also ask Hwang Jiho.
“Yesterday I went to see senior Kwon Jane-nim.”
“Kwon Jane… Did that bastard stretch his evil hands even towards Blue Violinist?”
Hwang Jiho frowned.
As he called him ‘annoying’ before, it looked like it wasn’t not a Jin he had a particularly good relationship with.
“Then what type of Jin is that bastard?”
“It’s a bastard you would have also met with before, through the magic formation.”
Jin I met through a magic formation?
You’re talking about the 12 Zodiac Meeting, huh?
No way, is it one of the 12 Zodiac heads that had nicknames like elementary school students?
“The Jin referred to as Cunning, the head of the Seo tribe[7].”
I guess the one stuck around Kwon Jane and Hong Gyubin was a bigshot rank Jin, a head of the Seo tribe.
‘Both of them have a lot of troubles, huh?’
But I didn’t make a sound with Hwang Jiho stuck beside me.
***
Lunch time.
I chose a menu which I thought I would be able to eat the quickest.
Chicken legs braised with ginger and onion.
Chicken eggs cooked in sauce with a taste of noodle soup.
And lastly, stir-fried rice with enoki mushrooms and chicken lightly boiled with enoki mushrooms.
‘I wanted to eat braised spicy seafood with snow crabs, hard-shelled mussels, octopus and shrimps[8]…’
If the foodie Maeng Hyodon knew about it, wouldn’t he rub salt in my wounds by saying I made a foolish choice?
I couldn’t choose it as the time it takes for the braised spicy seafood to be served and eaten was too long.
Because there was something I wanted to check during lunch time.
‘There are a lot of messages of support even today.’
After eating lunch, I found a walk trail without human traces.
I sat down at the bench as I activated the device and then saw chess tournament support messages I couldn’t check in the morning piled up.
While giving short thanks, I scrolled down the message record and found the name I was looking for.
[Me] Hello, team leader Hong Gyubin-nim.
[Me] There is a question I wish to ask, are you currently busy?
Hong Gyubin replied quicker than I expected.
[Hong Gyubin] Yeah, Uisin. It’s currently lunch time, so it’s fine ^^!
[Hong Gyubin] What is the matter?
It was Hong Gyubin, who was usually often asking me about news, but these days the question ‘Is there nothing particular?’ occurred more frequently.
Somehow Hong Gyubin’s actions seemed related to the question I currently had.
[Me] Do you know about a Seo referred to as Cunning?
My question finished, messages poured down like a terrible Hong Gyubin storm.
[Hong Gyubin] Did that bastard jump at you too in the end? ^^;;;;;;
[Hong Gyubin] Ignore him. You’re going to get a headache if he gets involved!
[Hong Gyubin] He was annoying when he whined to receive his blessing, but because I received a blessing, his behavior turned even more annoying. When he is bored, he will just pop out suddenly, whether you like it or not! Please investigate that! Please look into that a bit!
[Hong Gyubin] Absolutely never get involved with him! It’s the most nasty and clingy Jin in my life!
‘Nasty and clingy’ was a modifier used by 2nd year class 0 GeunChan&WangChan duo towards Hong Gyubin.
I guess the Jin and the Player who gave and received a blessing resembled each other.
[Hong Gyubin] In particular, when that Cunning bastard uses a polite speech he didn’t use before and says things like ‘I, something is very good[9]’ after smiling lightly!
[Hong Gyubin] Don’t look back and flee. Run inside of the Eungwang School’s barrier! Understand?
That Jin, the Seo tribe’s head Cunning, annoyed Hong Gyubin because of his Foresight skill.
I still didn’t know his identity, but for Hong Gyubin to go as far as describing him as nasty and clingy, I’d have to be careful.
[Me] Yes, thank you.
[Hong Gyubin] Wait, Uisin. Thinking about it, where did you hear the name ‘Cunning’? You weren’t already caught, right? ㅠㅠ;;?
It was still an ambiguous situation to say I got caught.
And it was difficult to say where I heard the title ‘Cunning’.
How should I gloss over it?
In any case, I’m busy, so should I just ignore it?
When I was worrying like that.
“Student Uisin.”
Someone, without leaving any signs of walking up to me, abruptly spoke up.
It was a bright and clear voice, but as I heard it suddenly, I could only be surprised.
“Teacher Gong Cheonghwon-nim.”
The one who spoke up to me was Gong Cheonghwon, the teacher in charge of the Introduction to Enemy Studies and Han Yi’s revered teacher.
During class, he was a scary teacher whose presence couldn’t be felt the instant you took your eyes off the blackboard and started reading the textbook.
I guess he always hides his presence from a habit.
“You once again didn’t come to the previous lesson, so I was worried.”
Teacher’s Day, I skipped Gong Cheonghwon’s class to go to Maeng Hyodon’s alma mater Tallae Middle School.
I guess he came looking for me because of that.
But I had no idea how did he find me inside the vast Eungwang School.
“Student Uisin, if you have any suggestions, I’ll listen.” [10]
Gong Cheonghwon spoke while smiling with a generous looking face.
It seemed that since coming to Eungwang School, all the classes I skipped were Gong Cheonghwon’s classes…
It was a reasonable suspicion to think that I was displeased with Gong Cheonghwon and skipped them.
In addition, wasn’t the previous class I skipped on a freaking Teacher’s Day?
“… My apologies.”
“Please contact me next time before going absent.”
Gong Cheonghwon’s face turned a bit bitter.
“Student Uisin is participating in the chess tournament, yes? I heard that today is the last day, so… Are you going to prepare for the match?”
You’re subtly asking if I’m going to skip class again, huh?
From the beginning I was thinking about going to listen to today’s class.
“No, I want to hear the lesson.”
Gong Cheonghwon was happy with my reply.
“Were you planning to come to today’s class?”
“Yes.”
As expected, it looked like he came to catch me to prevent me from skipping class today like the previous one.
‘Strangely, no excuses come.’
All his words and expressions were soft, but somehow I felt overwhelmed.
“The class bell rang just in time, huh? If so, let’s go to the classroom together.”
The class bell informing about the end of the lunch break was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastorale’ with the Heiligenstadt forest at the outskirts of Vienna as a background.
Among them, it was the 4th movement titled ‘Thunder, Storm’.
It was a symphony that portrayed the scene of pouring rainstorm and lighting and fleeing animals inside of the forest.
‘It seems that the Broadcasting Club makes such song selections with the aim of lessening the after meal drowsiness.’
And Edvard Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of Mountain King’ which came out previously.
It seemed that the class bells with a feeling of urgency came out whenever I was caught by Gong Cheonghwon.
Though I looked like a delinquent being caught just before class, even today Gong Cheonghwon’s Introduction to Enemy Studies was an excellent class worth hearing.
***
After classes, Newspaper Club’s room.
“The 3rd year class 0 launched an air garden!”
“Rather, on what kind of principle is that floating?”
Rumors started to circulate that it was a 3rd year class 0’s move to take revenge on Energy of Universe.
They probably decided to regularly attend classes after they surrendered to their homeroom teacher, so they didn’t move straight away and waited until the end of classes.
“This time I better catch their tail by all means! I’ll dig into those mad guys’ heads!”
Mun Saeron, who had failed a few times to gather news about 3rd year class 0, burned with enthusiasm.
The Newspaper Club members who came up with the converge plan before.
Then, with Mun Saeron as a lead, they swiftly looked back at me and said:
“We won’t be able to go support the suspicious 1st year class 0’s vice president today, but we will cheer you on in our hearts!”
“Yeah, it’s fine, even suspicious, so go for it.”
At last, I heard ‘suspicious’ sound even in the Newspaper Club.
The support phrase made by our class kids and hologram with my portrait drawn by Min Geurin.
As it even became a topic on the general bulletin board and spread out, I guess all people in the Newspaper Club also saw it.
Thanks to Min Geurin being a famous artist, things became uselessly big.
“Hahahaha! At last, it even spread in the Newspaper Club, huh!”
Hwang Jiho burst out laughing as if something was good.
In any case, I finished club activities while receiving the Newspaper Club’s members’ support and headed towards the chess tournament venue.
***
General Club Council building, gym no. 3.
The result of the four matches during the 2-days tournament.
Around 60 people from before, including seed players determined by drawing lots, decreased to four chess Players.
‘Remaining people are all Playable Characters! Let’s work hard.’
Block A: Yeom Junyeol, Bak Seung-hyeon.
Block B: Gwak Gyeong-gu, me.
‘Unexpectedly, there are no 3rd years.’
Semifinals, my opponent was 2nd year Student Council member, Gwak Gyeong-gu.
Yeom Junyeol’s friend and Ju Su-hyeok’s senior brother receiving teaching under the same master.
Worthy of the Player holding twin swords like Ju Su-hyeok, the palm of the hand I shook was solid like iron.
‘Worthy of the twin sword Player who is second to Ju Su-hyeok at Eungwang School, huh?’
Results of the coin throw.
Gwak Gyeong-gu held white, I held black.
“Please start the match.”
Yong Jegeon’s voice rang out in the chess tournament venue.
*~*~*
[1] Empty title – Title of this group of chapters is ‘Invisible deal’ or ‘Unseen visit’, with deal in the meaning of transaction, exchange, and visiting in the meaning of two parties visiting each other in order to establish a friendly relationship. It also refers to a subordinate reporting to a superior after an incident occurred. And there is one more curious meaning. It’s a buddhist term for ‘Past and Future’, so the title of this chapter could also be ‘Unseen past and future’. And as it is invisible … it’s really invisible.
[2] Demons – to make distinction easier, I’ll capitalize it when it refers to Jin people from now on… Or at least, I’ll try, because this translator clearly has problems when it comes to remembering stuff like that.
[3] priest – this word always confuses this translator somehow, because it also refers to teacher-student relationship, but if we’re talking about gods, it’s probably priests. I’ll also change Yu Sang-hui ‘Acea’s disciple’ to ‘Acea’s apprentice priest’ as the same word is used there.
[4] criticized – could also mean ‘grit their teeth’ or ‘asked’.
[5] Milky Way – in Korean it’s called ‘silver river’.
[6] “That snot went to the present world. Because he has some work to do.” – That demon here and in the following sentences uses a polite tone. Other demons never used a polite tone.
[7] Seo tribe – seo for ‘rat/mouse’.
[8] snow crabs, hard-shelled mussels, octopus and shrimps – Snow crab: Chionoecetes opilio (Great crab in korean), hard-shelled mussels: Mytilus unguiculatus (Red mussels in korean), octopus: Octopus minor. Shrimps are normal.
[9] I, something is very good — ambiguous statement, because ‘전’ translated as ‘I’ here has a comma after it which makes it… hard to interpret (at least the three brain cells this translator has left can’t figure that out). So it either could be ‘I, me’ or it could mean ‘past’. Seo tribe head used a very similar phrase before when talking about Jo Uisin with his tribe members.
[10] Gong Cheonghwon’s speech tone – did I ever mention that Gong Cheonghwon is using a polite tone towards students? Well, in any case, here is a reminder that Gong Cheonghwon is using a polite tone.
Translator’s note: Yes, Jo Uisin, you should feel urgent about Gong Cheonghwon. Probably.
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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