Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
39. Tossed coin (1) [1]
Min Geurin left the hologram floating up and fell into panic.
The hologram was opened on the folder ‘Our class’ in the address book.
She was like this because excluding Han Yi, who didn’t participate in the training camp, she couldn’t contact anyone in it.
‘It’s strange that for everyone comes up a message ‘Currently out of communication reach’.’
When the video call was suddenly cut off, Min Geurin didn’t think much of it.
Though disconnection was unnatural, she thought that she would reconnect with Kwon Lena.
However, she had a feeling of incongruity at the fact that a call message didn’t come up after a few minutes passed, so she tried to contact them, and then ended up in this situation.
From Kwon Lena to Kim Yuri, after Kim Yuri was Song Daeseok and then other boys, and homeroom teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim.
She even searched through the internet and found Seongmo Island youth training camp staff and the Player’s Association’s Lighthouse’s information, and tried to call them, but no one answered.
‘Something must have happened to our class kids and teacher-nim…!’
Min Geurin came to such a guess, but couldn’t think of reporting it to the police or Association.
Min Geurin, who lived through harassment and was swept up in bad incidents, knew roughly how authorities respond to students’ reports.
‘As it’s difficult to see it as an obvious emergency, they won’t mobilize straight away. At best, they will give a reply that they will communicate with the relevant department to check and will call a few days later. It’ll be too late then!’
It didn’t seem like the authorities would move if she told them that she couldn’t contact others in the middle of the night.
There were powerful famous figures, who would listen to Min Geurin, even if her words didn’t have much basis, but it was difficult for her to contact them at this late hour without any particular evidence.
‘Master-nim and grandpa Song got involved into a lot of troublesome matters because of me. Even now, they favor me, and I heard a lot of talk how they move for their connections, so I can’t contact them thoughtlessly.’
She thought like this, but Min Geurin didn’t give up.
‘I need a plausible excuse to move the Two!’
The first thing Min Geurin, who had reached such a conclusion, recalled was the Player’s Satellite.
‘There may be something in Satellite records.’
Min Geurin, who connected with the Player’s Association’s homepage, searched for the satellite records in the vicinity of the Seongmo Island.
But she couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.
She noticed that some of the values were out of normal range, but they were all within a possible error margin.
‘That won’t work…!’
She seemed to be losing her mind out of worry if something didn’t happen to teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim, Song Daeseok and her classmates.
She worried about all the children and about teacher-nim, but she worried the most about Song Daeseok.
‘Daeseok didn’t even particularly want to go. Be-because I sent him…!’
At that moment, suddenly the words of Song Daeseok flashed in Min Geurin’s head.
— There is something I’m a bit bothered by.
— Bothered?
— Previously, the Seongchon Lake’s side was a bit strange. And some time ago, Cymopoleia’s vicinity was strange.
While saying that, Song Daesoek showed her the satellite observation data.
Min Geurin, who saw over hundreds of lines of observation data, said this:
— The numerical values fell out a bit of the standard ones, but everything seems to be within acceptable range….
Song Daeseok contemplated how he should say it, so Min Geurin could easily understand, and then replied.
— If one or two values fall out, it’s okay. However, if all values fall out of the normal range even if it’s within acceptable range, it’s strange.
— Strange?
— To compare… Okay. When throwing a coin, the heads and tails will come out at the 50% rate. It’s not strange whichever side will come out. Whether the coin lands on heads or tails, it’s normal, right?
— It is, but then…
— However, what if you throw a coin hundreds times and only heads come up?
Min Geurin, who judged that Song Daeseok was talking about something related to an independent experiment, replied without particular thought.
— (1/2)^1000. A number extremely close to 0.
— Right. If you throw the coin ten thousand times, then it’s certain that heads or tails will come out five thousand times, but what is the probability of only heads coming up five thousands times in a row, and then only tails coming up five thousand times?
— I can’t say the exact value difference without a calculator, but I think the value would be closer to zero than the previous one. It would be a much smaller number.
— Right. So it’s strange!
Song Daeseok opened dozens of holograms as he spoke.
— It may be difficult to find if you look only on Player’s Association’s Satellite’s records. However, besides the observation data of the satellite, the data that was published by the meteorological office, national marine science institute, Korea astrology research institute, national oceanic survey institute… Ah, and besides the government and Association, there is also data from private institutes, universities’ research centers, national and astronomical observations from other countries. If you combine them all and cut the beginning number to examine, the results will come out.
— What result?
— You will see a ‘strange point’ as if someone is manipulating it, like the coin toss we spoke about earlier.
Song Daeseok, who was crazy about satellites, gathered all materials even very remotely related to the satellites, and read them like possessed to understand satellites better.
In Min Geurin’s eyes, it was just a list of simple numbers, but she tried hard to understand Song Daeseok’s story with a thought of making it into a drawing, even if it was just a simple combination of points and lines.
Song Daeseok also understood that Min Geurin had such a mindset and worked hard to help her understand.
‘Found it!’
As she scrolled up through the device messages, a link to the web application sent by Song Daeseok came up.
It was a software, which through the algorithm designed by Song Daeseok, analyzed the vast observation information published by the research facilities across the world, and found ‘strange places’.
After Min Geurin set the range for the time when communication was cut off and Seongmo Island’s area, the application, which analyzed the data, started its operation.
As a result.
A red dot appeared on Seongmo Island.
‘… It’s the location where the training camp of Seongmo Island is!’
There was no reason to hesitate any longer.
Min Geurin, who confirmed the results, ran out of the room.
Her destination was the next house, where Great Hero Song Daeseok lived.
At the same time, she messaged her master, painter Hong Gyeongbok.
Min Geurin started to run, forgetting that she wasn’t wearing her AR glasses.
***
[Me] I checked only now.
[Me] What happened?
I sent a reply to Min Geurin, but she was unresponsive.
‘No reply. Is she asleep?’
It may be urgent, so should I call her?
However, it wasn’t an ideal situation for a long call.
“… This is fine?”
After joining Jeok-ho, Kim Sinrok and Yong Jegeon.
Hwang Jiho was furious when he looked at the wretched scene.
“It’s fine.”
Jeok-ho replied shamelessly.
His body, covered in the aftermath of the explosion of the Ung tribe members, said to be caused by the Bear of Anxiety, was far from fine.
I couldn’t distinguish from whom the blood came from.
The clothes tattered everywhere.
The traces of burns on hands and face.
No matter how I looked, he was far from fine.
It was even more so, because he couldn’t use recovery items as an effect of ‘Foreseen Hell’.
“Is it fine, because you kept your life? The Bear of Anxiety puppetry art improved so much? Unlike that impostor, he didn’t age in vain, eh? If he could hurt you like this.”
“This much is not a problem as it’s possible to recover with just self-healing.”
“’Not a problem’? Both bastards went crazy…”
When you’re saying ‘both bastards’ are you talking about Jeok-ho and Yong Jegeon?
It seemed that Yong Jegeon’s clothes also were all burned, and he had burn injuries, but as if he used a recovery item, his injures were healing fast.
“…Jo Uisin, why are you pretending to be unrelated? I’m talking about you.”
It seemed that the previous time he said something of which the key point was that my and Jeok-ho’s thinking circuits were similar, but did he still think like this?
I made up my mind and decided to continue to pretend to be irrelevant, so I turned my head away.
Before Hwang Jiho said more nonsense, luckily Jeok-ho cut in first.
“The target I have to protect is alright. So I said it’s alright.”
As he said, Kim Sinrok was alright.
There was not even one snot stain on his clothes, so it seemed that he wasn’t affected by the Ung tribe members’ explosion at all.
I guess the reason why Jeok-ho and Yong Jegeon were so terribly hurt was because they protected Kim Sinrok.
“… It’s like this, eh? It was Hwangho-nim’s order?”
Kim Sinrok, who stood with a face white like a ghost, though he wasn’t injured at all, spit out those words.
“So it was all because of such an order? Jeokho-nim and this dragon, because of that.”
“Sinrok.”
Yong Jegeon cut Kim Sinrok’s words off.
“I don’t know the Ho tribe’s situation, but do I look like someone who takes chairman Hwangho-ssi’s orders? I only follow chairman’s orders in the matters limited to the school work.”
Beeep! Beep!
In the heavy[2] atmosphere.
The devices started to mindlessly vomit alarms.
The devices, which received the satellite warnings late, sent otherworld warnings and conquest completion notices.
The notice said that the conquest of two otherworlds on the Sangju Mountain’s side were completed, and the Gijang Island’s otherworld was being conquered.
“Jeok-ho, Yong Jegeon, erase the Ung tribe’s traces and go to the Son of Heaven. Investigating this impostor will wait. Kim Sinrok… You move with me.”
“I was about to join you, even if late, but it can’t be helped. See you later, Sinrok. Uisin too.”
We couldn’t waste time here, so they spoke like this, and we parted.
Jeok-ho and Kim Sinrok didn’t make eye contact until the end.
***
After communication was restored, the situation was soon settled down.
The teachers and students, who had energy left, subjugated the Enemies and participated in the otherworld conquest.
After Enemies’ responses already completely disappeared from the Seongmo Island, when the Association’s support arrived.
“Uisin, Jiho! I’m glad you’re safe!”
“Hey, why is Sawol Seeum on your back? He isn’t hurt, right?”
On the deck of Son of Heaven, we reunited with class children.
Excluding teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim, who was in charge of settling the situation, and the two honorary teachers that participated along the way, all students and teachers went home straight away.
I liad Sawol Seeum down on a bed in the cabin allocated to the class 0 as I spoke:
“Just asleep. Others?”
“Yuri is sleeping in the infirmary. There were no external wounds, but it seems she will have to have a medical examination of her superpower wave status, but…. Daeseok…”
Kwon Lena’s words trailed off.
As he was injured and poisoned by the Superpower Poison, his state wouldn’t be particularly good.
The Superpower Poison by itself wouldn’t kill him, but as there was no antidote to quickly and completely heal it, would we have to borrow Yu Sang-hui’s Gwangrim?
‘In the end, I wasn’t able to control all the variables…’
There were no dead, but there were injured people.
Students who suffered injuries in the otherworld conquest process.
Kim Yuri, who lost control and burned herself out, because Nabiryeong’s blessing was cut off.
Class 2’s female students, No Yeongmi and Song Daeseok, who suffered from superpower poison.
I recalled their names one after one, and then thought as if making excuses.
‘The difficulty of the otherworlds summoned by Dark Mastermind was much higher than in the game. So Ju Su-hyeok had more trouble than I thought, and Hwang Jiho was late because of the youth training instructors’ deviation, and…’
Even when I put forwards such excuses, when I thought about the injured people, my mind became heavy.
Was this the best way?
Couldn’t I perfectly protect everyone?
As I thought like this, I felt my fingertips turn cold, like when I played chess.
“Even so, I’m glad that we can all return together…! Really, at one point I expected this, but…”
“Yeah. If vice president didn’t remain calm, something bad might have happened.”
“Yep! At the time, you came to inform us, so thank you, Hyodon.”
I heard the conversation of Kwon Lena and Maeng Hyodon, who sat at the side of the bed with the sleeping Sawol Seeum and who lowered their voices.
“You heard that?”
Hwang Jiho, who stood at my side, spoke up.
“I know what you’re thinking. However, nothing in this matter was your responsibility. If you look for the origins of the failure in this case, the decisive failure factor[3] was me. If I had gotten there in time, the number of injured would have decreased, right?”
Was this old geezer blaming himself?
When I was thinking it was truly unexpected, Sawol Seeum tossed around and opened his eyes.
“Uh? Where am I? … That, that! Uisin!”
“I’m here.”
Before the half-asleep Sawol Seeum made a slip of a tongue, I replied straight away.
Sawol Seeum saw the bloodstains on my clothes and burst into tears, because he realized I was injured, and I struggled to calm him down.
If Kwon Lena didn’t talk to Sawol Seeum with me, it seemed he wouldn’t have been able to stop crying even after we arrived in Eungwang District.
Maeng Hyodon sometimes threw a word, but he fell into thoughts more blankly than usual.
“Then everyone is going to return to the dormitory first?”
“Ah, they said that my uncle is coming.” [4]
After receiving medical examination in the Hwang Myeong Foundation’s Hospital located in Eungwang District, we got a permission to go home.
From our class, everyone, excluding Kim Yuri and Song Daeseok, could go home.
“… They can’t be visited for the time being, right?”
“We can’t because a lot of reporters are flocking, right? It seems that at least a few days will have to pass.”
“Geurin still didn’t call, but Han Yi said that she wanted to come straight away. I want for all of us to visit the hospital together.”
It seemed that our kind class children were already thinking about visiting.
I should create an opportunity for the fastest visit possible, even if I will have to beat up Hwang Jiho.
“I’ll look into it. Let’s come together if a visit will be possible.”
“Ok!”
“Okay.”
I was about to return to the dormitory with Kwon Lena and Maeng Hyodon, but…
Just when I was about to cross the Eungwang School’s gates, Hwang Jiho grabbed me.
“Jo Uisin, come to my house.”
Now?
There were many things we had to organize, but because I stayed up for two nights in a row and used Gwangrim, I was extremely tired.
I was about to say I’d come tomorrow, but…
“Divine Beast has something to show you.”
“I’m going.”
I changed my mind straight away.
*~*~*
[1] Tossed coin — Let’s see, let’s see. This chapter title is also quite interesting. The first part, here translated as tossed, is 던지다 (deonjida), which has … many meanings. Among them are:
To throw away, to give someone a ‘look’, to offer something/dedicate something (for example life) to someone, to illuminate something, to give up, to cast a shadow, to cause a stir or raise a question.
The second part is 동전 (dongjeon), dong means copper so it should mainly refer to copper coins, but it could also be other alloys. The other meanings are: ‘being the same as before’ and ‘to change and become different’. Also, a different way to refer to Joseon dynasty.
[2] heavy — literally: ‘itchy, burning, painful or pungent’.
[3] decisive failure factor — 패착 (paechak), it refers to the defeating move in go, but I suspect it may also be used in other games.
[4] “Ah, they said that my uncle is coming.” — Sawol Seeum’s sentence
Translator’s note: … Jo Uisin, why are you rallying up against Hwang-ho? You’re really tried, it seems.
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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