Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
34. Final test (6)
Dark Mastermind called ‘That Person’ or ‘that guy’[1].
It looked like Dark Mastermind was aiming at Eungwang School 1st years.
‘Youth Training Camp incident was an incident caused by the Dark Mastermind to procure sacrifices…!’
I recalled the Youth Training Camp incident from the game.
In pitch-black darkness.
Training camp, completely cut off from the outside due to communication failure.
The scene I saw beyond the screen was still vivid.
‘As I blocked Dark Mastermind’s moves until now, they will come more prepared than during that time, right?’
Thanks to the actions of Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain, and teachers like teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim, and even Kim Yuri’s runaway overlapping, Dark Mastermind didn’t achieve all of their intentions and withdrew.
But even so, some unlucky students were said to die without even knowing the reason.
‘I don’t know what offering means, but I’m certain it’s aimed at students’ lives.’
Hwang Jiho’s words continued.
“I had a thought of changing the schedule, but if we act like this, that guy will just change their target, right?”
“Yeah, I think the same.”
After I calmly spoke, Hwang Jiho examined me quietly.
“You’re not surprised, eh? You also knew about this?”
“I didn’t know about sacrifices.”
“But you knew that they’re aiming at the Youth Training Camp?”
As if knowing that I wouldn’t reply even if he asked how I knew, Hwang Jiho changed the topic straight away.
“… Let’s quietly discuss this later. Because in the case of this conversation spreading among students, it may reach the ears of that guy.”
At Hwang Jiho’s words, I nodded my head.
In addition to countermeasures against Kim Yuri’s runaway, the things I have to think about have increased.
***
Lunch time.
Hong Gyeongbok was examining the portfolios of the art clubs’ students.
He didn’t accept Eungwang School’s students as his disciples like Min Geurin, but he planned to teach them as a teacher working at school.
‘They’re worthy of teaching, eh…?’
In the past, he was disappointed by youngsters’ attitude towards Min Geurin and isolated himself from worldly affairs, but there were still so many youths, who overflowed with talent and possessed sound minds it was a pity he wasted that time.
Eungwang School’s art clubs’ students, who passionately followed the teacher and disciple, Hong Gyeongbok and Min Geurin.
Military Academy’s cadets, who flew to the remote mountain area for their friend.
While recalling their faces, Hong Gyeongbok made a delighted expression.
At that moment.
“Painter-nim!”
It was an elder in hanbok, who was looking for his fleeing temporary disciple for the entire lunch break, Tak Geosan.
He rushed towards Hong Gyeongbok and spoke urgently:
“That dog fucker painter-nim tried to cut off the hands before. His hand was chopped off.”
“What are you talking about? Speak clearly!”
Tak Geosan started to explain the whole story.
The result of Tak Geosan, who had some acquaintances in the police, looked into Hong Gyeongbok’s excommunicated disciple’s investigation situation.
He said that the disciple was arrested after getting treatment in the hospital because he was discovered with his wrist severed after using a cutting machine.
“How the hell did such an incident…”
“It seems that that bastard had an incident under the influence of alcohol! They said that at that time his blood alcohol concentration was higher than 0.2 percent. In addition, they said that the result of the drug inspection came out positive…”
If you drive when drunk to such a degree, even if you don’t cause an accident, your driving license will be revoked and you will become a target of criminal investigation.
If you take medicine in such a state, it wouldn’t be strange to cut off your own hand.
“He received a Heavenly Punishment! It’s worthy of cutting that dog fucker’s hand, correct?”
“Huh…”
Tak Geosan was wearing a big smile while he spoke.
He felt relieved at the thought that Hong Gyeongbok had no reason to do any nonsense, now that the target disappeared.
Unlike Tak Geosan, who was extremely happy, Hong Gyeongbok’s thoughts were complicated.
He didn’t believe in the existence of Heavenly Punishment.
Because if there was something like this, there was no way the bastards, which cutting off hands hundreds of times was insufficient, would still fare well.
‘… Someone probably cut off that bastard’s hand and disguised it as an incident. Some people, who have the ability to fool the eyes of police and knew about the situation, delivered a punishment, right?’
The first to recall was the Yong tribe member, who was 1st year class 0’s vice-homeroom teacher.
‘If the Yong tribe steps up, it would be possible for them to methodically hide it. But they won’t step up if it’s not related to their descendant.’
The next to recall was the chairman of Hwang Myeong Foundation.
It was widely known that the Hwang Myeong Foundation[2] was backed by Jin people.
As the bastard, whose wrist was cut, also seemed to have caused an incident at Hwang Myeong Foundation, it wouldn’t be strange if he suffered their retaliation.
If it was the Hwang Myeong Foundation, it was certain they could leave a video record of him going crazy by himself and cutting off his own hand.
‘I’m indebted to you, eh…?’
Hong Gyeongbok stared at Silver Light Building and fell into thoughts.
***
After classes.
Newspaper Club’s 1st years’ club room.
Mun Saeron, who organized the article about the Battle between Tak the Great, Tak Geosan’s temporary disciple, Bread Shuttle VS Hidden Powerhouse, Maeng Hyodon, spoke coldly:
“At this rate, I won’t have any news. I can’t even shield him. Bang Yunseop is too weak~!”
Mun Saeron opened a report analyzing Bang Yunseop’s performance while she spoke.
Here and there short video reports of him smoking or holding a cigarette, fleeing because he was caught by Maeng Hyodon and getting easily caught, were placed.
I knew very well that my Bread Shuttle was weak, but seeing him getting easily beaten up by Maeng Hyodon, who was much shorter than him, he looked even weaker.
“Maeng Hyodon-ssi and Bread Shuttle. The combat power gap between the two is too big~! And as if he is thinking he will lose anyway, Bread Shuttle is just avoiding and running away from Tak the Great. I can’t even imagine how awful it will be~!”
Maeng Hyodon was someone who stood on equal footing with Ju Su-hyeok since middle school and experienced cruel life-and-death battles at the Fight Club.
Bread Shuttle Bang Yunseop was someone who grew a bit thanks to Eungwang Training Course, but was still extremely behind.
If he doesn’t accept ascetic Tak’s guidance, the result is obvious.
‘If this goes on, Maeng Hyodon will win too easily.’
Mun Saeron, who was vomiting words like fire, spoke while looking at me with an expectant face.
“But in a way, Suspicious Vice President can help.”
I figured out why Mun Saeron stuck to me and spoke like this.
Mun Saeron and my interests aligned.
Because she wanted that competition to be a bit more fierce and I, in my heart, wanted Maeng Hyodon to become ascetic Tak’s disciple.
“I’ll help Bang Yunseop ignite some enthusiasm.”
“As expected, you know what to do! Please do~!”
I summoned a chatroom, which conversation record was full of bakeries’ names.
[Me] Hey.
The message was marked as read, but no reply came straight away.
After a moment, a very short message arrived.
[Bang Yunseop] ㅗㅗㅗ [3]
What is that sound?
Does it mean he wants to be beaten up three times? Or does he want to go buy bread three times?
Amazing, it somehow meant that Bang Yunseop didn’t lose his spirit even in this disastrous situation.
‘Let’s endure.’
It didn’t feel particularly good, but I decided to endure for the sake of strengthening my Playable Character Maeng Hyodon’s growth and power.
[Me] If you win against Maeng Hyodon, I’ll release Fire Pincers of Promise’s contract.
[Bang Yunseop] What?
[Bang Yunseop] For real?
[Bang Yunseop] Not a lie? [4]
He sent frantic messages.
[Me] If you can’t trust me, I’ll make an article through Mun Saeron.
But if an article comes out even this bastard will say he trusts me.
The eyes of Mun Saeron, who was looking over my shoulder on the hologram, twitched as if she thought the same as me.
[Bang Yunseop] If you’re lying, you die.
Bang Yunseop wouldn’t be able to kill me with his abilities.
After finishing the communication like this and closing the hologram, Mun Saeron spoke with a satisfied voice.
“Now, this will be a bit worth seeing! Then I’m going to promote it and set up a location.”
“I rented a space already.”
“Hahahaha! Shall we set off fireworks that day?”
“O, Hwang Jiho-nim, are you going to throw your money? Call!”
Even after that, the Newspaper Club members were discussing how to set up the competition between the two people.
It seemed that all our class children, excluding Maeng Hyodon, were looking forward to that event, so we had to prepare thoroughly.
“Do you plan to play a match today also?”
“Yep, I’ll go first.”
“I’ll go to see it.”
Me and Hwang Jiho left the Newspaper Club’s room and moved to the Stalemate clubroom.
I had no idea why this bastard Hwang Jiho would follow me saying ‘there is something to see’.
Of course, Sawol Seeum and Han Yi, who were diligently studying chess, were welcome to watch.
“I was waiting! Let’s take the seats!”
Today’s opponent in the matchroom was Ma Jinseung.
My ears pricked because of his booming voice, but seeing my Playable Character’s energetic appearance didn’t feel bad.
‘Ma Jinseung is obviously a chess beginner. If so, I’ll be able to play moves that are worth studying for him.’
Unlike me, who observed and made moves carefully, Ma Jinseung moved chess pieces boldly.
In the end, his inexperienced and incautious moves soon ended the match.
But it wasn’t like a previous scholar’s mate.
“This time… It’s a lot more than four moves, so I grew! Good!”
Ma Jinseung’s expression, even while disappointed, was satisfied.
When we were about to leave the matchroom after finishing a short review.
“Uisin, let’s talk for a moment.”
Yong Jegeon grabbed me to stay.
“Ah, then we will go to Yuri’s house first.”
“We’ll go first.”
Sawol Seeum and Han Yi were about to disappear in the blink of an eye, but Hwang Jiho wasn’t like this.
“… Hm.”
Hwang Jiho’s eyes sparkled while he looked between me and Yong Jegeon.
He looked curious about what the conversation would be about.
I was worried how to get this guy out, but those worries were solved by our class’s kind children.
“What are you doing, let’s go.”
“Let’s go quickly!”
Hwang Jiho was unwilling, but he couldn’t help it when Sawol Seeum and Han Yi[5] spoke from both of his sides and pushed his back.
When like this only Yong Jegeon and me, only the two of us, remained.
Tak! Paat!
After Yong Jegeon flicked his finger, the matchroom was covered by jade-color space.
It seemed we were about to talk about something which would be difficult if other people heard about it.
“Did you receive the message Junyeol sent well?”
What is that sound?
“No, I never received it.”
“You gave a device code, but the message still didn’t come, huh?”
I was caught again in that strange way of speaking.
“You met with Junyeol in Red Wall Thief appearance yesterday, right? Thanks to that, Junyeol’s expression got a lot better. You saw it when you played the match, but his state was particular, you know? It was a big incident, because Cheongryong and Yeom Bangyeol saw that droopy Junyeol and were about to lose their minds.”
My head spun because ‘that word’ came out again.
I calmed down my mind with difficulty.
‘… But he is not in a position to talk about it. Because Yong Jegeon was also in the group who was about to lose his mind, you know?’
As if he was worried that he was a bit harsh towards Yeom Junyeol, Yong Jegeon was walking with dropped shoulders the day before yesterday.
“Ah, Junyeol is so excited about the new device he bought, that he doesn’t know what to do. He repeatedly writes and erases messages… So I expected that he wanted to say hello, but the message wasn’t received? No way, you wouldn’t give him a false device code, right?”
Naturally, the device code was real.
But Yeom Junyeol is acting like this behind the scenes?…
He seemed to be hesitating if it was okay to send a message, so wouldn’t it be better if I sent a message first?
“Looking at your reaction right now, the device code you gave was real, huh? Looks like Junyeol is an exception even for Red Wall Thief who thoroughly erases his traces and moves carefully. But it’s natural to be like this with our Junyeol.”
To not be caught in Yong Jegeon’s style of speaking, I kept my mouth shut and only listened.
As if he figured out an underlying meaning from that reaction, Yong Jegeon’s reasoning gradually contained.
“The result of my observation as a vice homeroom teacher so to speak… You have some kind of firm ‘criteria’ when dealing with people. Am I right?”
Criteria Yong Jegeon was speaking about.
I could guess what that criteria was.
Playable Character I spent 10 years together with.
It was a fact that I was somewhat soft towards the people who were in that category.
“It seems that me and our Junyeol meet those ‘criteria’. So you react softly when your identity is revealed or the risk of it being revealed grows.”
“… I really have no idea what you’re talking about. If there is nothing more to say, I’ll go. I have an appointment with class children.”
As this topic dragged on, I became uncomfortable so I tried to change the subject, but…
“Is this topic uncomfortable?”
On the contrary, he read right through me.
As if he was like this because Yeom Junyeol perked up, Yong Jegeon seemed more active than usual.
“I’ll look forward to what is the identity of your ‘criteria’.”
Pat!
After I turned around and stepped forward the matchroom door frame, he lifted the Space Art.
I didn’t reply any more to Yong Jegeon’s words and headed to Kim Yuri’s house.
*~*~*
[1] ‘That Person’ or ‘that guy’ – I use ‘They/Them’ or ‘they/them’ accordingly as a reminder.
[2] Hwang Myeong Foundation — interestingly, while usually in raws the entire name is written together, here ‘Foundation’ was written separately. Which might be a joke because ‘Foundation’ could also mean ‘cut’ or ‘judgment’. There is one more interesting detail about the possible meaning of ‘Foundation’. It could also mean ‘A place where rituals and rites for Heavenly God(s), Earthly God(s) and Buddhas are held.’
[3] ㅗㅗㅗ — to answer the next question, those are three middle fingers.
[4] Not a lie? — Bang Yunseop uses that ‘cute/reportive tone’ which I mark with ‘~’ usually, like with Mun Saeron above, but I’m pretty sure Bang Yunseop isn’t attempting to be cute here. I also believe that Mun Saeron attempts to sound more like a reporter by using it, but sadly I’m not proficient enough to figure out how to show it.
[5] Sawol Seeum and Han Yi – it’s a rare occasion when the name order doesn’t match who was speaking. The order of the above conversation was Han Yi and then Sawol Seeum.
Translator’s 150 chapter thank you note:
I made two thank you notes before, but this one is a bit more special, because this chapter should be coming out a few weeks before one year anniversary of this site! That means we’ve been doing this for a full year!
Therefore there are two groups of people I need to especially thank this time.
First, for dear proofreaders (also called editors, because they do more than they should). They are doing it all completely for free and by sacrificing their precious time. They deserve all the love in the world. So thank you, novio (who has been editing between chapters 10-100), Solarin (who started from around chapter 100) and Personal Ghost/Jas (who has been here the entire time). You’re all great and lovely people.
Second, people who made donations. I never promoted or asked for donations, and even the link to make them is hidden in the side-menu if you’re on the phone (which site statistics indicate that majority of you are). So the fact that you made them means you were actively looking for that kofi link, which is by itself the greatest compliment for my work I could receive. But not only that, thanks to those donations I can cover 95% of the annual fees that goes into keeping this site alive. I cannot express how grateful I’m for that. There weren’t any benefits to making a donation, so all I can do is to promise you that I’ll continue this translation and do my best to continue to improve it.
But there is a third group that I need to offer my endless gratitude and this is you, you readers as a whole. This translation wouldn’t exist and keep going if you weren’t here. If not for you reading it, not for you leaving comments, for catching some ridiculous typos, for leaving ‘thank you for the chapter’ and talking on our discord channel. There are so many for you my brain breaks when just trying to think of the number.
I had some bad months this year, but they didn’t feel nowhere that bad as they usually were, because there was always a new comment under a chapter, or some message on discord, or just a random spike in views. This may be one of the best years in my life, and it’s surely the best year I had since becoming an adult if that says something.
So thank you, dear reader.
(Let’s see if I can improve this translation throughout the next year~!)
Note about changes to To Sihu and To Wonu’s surname (Yes. Yet again):
So I planned to change it if my suspicion is confirmed, but it’s driving me crazy, and even if it’s not true, it’s something that just exists in Korean and is there, sitting in my face, and it’s been months since I was thinking about it, so…
To will be changed to Tao.
So it will be Tao Sihu and Tao Wonu.
I’m very sorry for changing it again. I promise that is 99% certainly the last time I’m changing their surname.
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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