Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
43. Things which don’t change (10)
Han Yi roughly guessed the abilities of Hwang-ho, who was nicknamed the 1st year class 0’s lunatic.
The other party used it like a joke, but he somehow won against Han Yi by a landslide.
Even while he was playing around, she couldn’t help but recognize the overwhelming martial prowess he showed.
Stamina, toughness, muscle strength, ability, reaction speed, magic power…
In addition, even Taehokwon.
He was not someone the current Han Yi could compete against in strength.
Even though she could win in terms of studies, considering how Hwang-ho scored a perfect 40 points in every subject, she thought that even there should be some kind of trick.
‘I thought that if Hwang Jiho fought seriously, I would lose in just a few seconds.’
Even though a few minutes passed, a victor wasn’t decided.
When their fists clashed, Han Yi realized the reason.
‘You’re fighting according to my overall ability level!’
The power of each fist was almost equal.
That meant that the match would be determined solely based on Taehokwon.
‘It wouldn’t be easy to fight when suppressing your power.’
Even though she thought so, her hand couldn’t slow down.
She was angry, but even using pure Taehokwon, Han Yi was greatly outmatched in terms of ability.
She felt an energy of an expert from her opponent’s serious Taehokwon as if he trained for dozens, no… for hundreds of years.
While sophistically using even the difficult techniques, the opponent quickly burrowed into Han Yi’s gaps and launched an offensive.
She could do nothing but recognize it as she saw a perfect motion, as if embodying the Taehowkown textbooks.
‘I’m really angry, but it seems that Hwang Jiho is a few levels higher than teacher Gong Cheonghwon-nim…!’
As the number of one-hit exchanges increased, Han Yi was gradually backed into a corner.
When the foot of Han Yi, who was late to take a defense posture, slipped, and she fell down.
Hwang-ho halted for a split-second, and then took a posture to deal the finishing blow before Han Yi could stand up.
“Stop!”
Gong Cheonghwon shouted loudly, while shooting out a superpower wave, so Han Yi could also sense it.
“Hwang Jiho wins!”
As if Gong Cheonghwon had something to say, it was clearly visible even in Han Yi’s eyes.
The moment Gong Cheonghwon gave a signal to stop the spar, Hwang Jiho[1], who halted his technique, stretched out his hand.
“Help you stand up?”
Even though they sparred just once, Han Yi was completely exhausted, but Hwang Jiho didn’t have a drop of sweat.
Han Yi, who felt as if she was about to burst into tears because of how pissed she was, straight away kicked the ground and stood up.
“I can stand up alone.”
“Hahahaha! Right, eh? It doesn’t seem like you need my help.”
Hwang Jiho, who looked at Han Yi, who stood up alone, and laughed loudly, looked extremely happy.
“Thanks for accepting a spar, eh? I also wanted to spar with You, but… the typhoon is getting stronger, so let’s go back.”
Hwang-ho, who looked at Han Yi and Gong Cheonghwon in turn, held his gym uniform jersey and left the gym.
Gong Cheonghwon smiled softly as he waved his hand.
“You worked hard.”
After Hwang-ho disappeared outside the gym, Han Yi asked while doing a final stretching exercise.
“Are You going to spar with him?”
“Yes. If that child asks.”
Gong Cheonghwon was smiling with a corner of his lips as before.
It seemed he was really thinking of accepting a spar if Hwang-ho requests it.
‘Teacher-nim…?’
There were many students who asked to spar with the outstanding teachers of Eungwang School, but not everyone accepted.
Among teachers were people like the strong homeroom teacher of the 3rd year class 0’s Im Yeonhwa who accepted everything like a warmonger.
However, there wasn’t a small number of teachers, who refused when they judged it was unnecessary for the lesson.
It was because though facing one or two people wasn’t a problem, they didn’t have a way to overcome the requests for spars from all overflowing with power students.
There were many people who asked for a spar from Gong Cheonghwon, who possessed a rare skill, but he firmly refused with a gentle speech.
‘But He said that he would accept it so willingly…?!’
Han Yi halted her stretching and asked:
“It seems that teacher-nim is a bit soft towards that kid. I thought that if it was as usual, You would block a spar immediately…”
“That’s true.”
At Gong Cheonghwon’s reply, Han Yi stared at his lips.
She thought that she had to have read his lips wrong, but it seemed that Gong Cheonghwon truly responded ‘that’s true’.
“That’s true… I’m not angry at that child even when he behaves rudely.”
Han Yi thought ‘Was Hwang Jiho ever rude?’, but she wasn’t able to ask and shut her mouth.
Gong Cheonghwon looked at the door on the opposite side where Hwang-ho disappeared, as he mumbled:
“On the contrary, I feel sorry. Even if that child is somewhat unreasonable, I want to accommodate him.”
And those words of Gong Cheonghwon were passed to another child besides Han Yi.
Gong Cheonghwon’s sonorous voice clearly reached the ears of Jeok-ho, who remained in the gym.
Jeok-ho, who hid his body with Red Smoke, observed the two people’s conversation with a complicated expression.
‘The two seem human no matter how I look. Neither Cheong-ho or Sinin can penetrate this Red Smoke. Before, no matter how much I raised the output, they would see through it.’
It was bitter, but if the two became humans, it would be natural that they wouldn’t be able to detect the Red Smoke.
‘… But something is strange, eh?’
Jeok-ho felt a sense of incongruity at Gong Cheonghwon’s attitude, who was said to be Sinin’s reincarnation.
‘Gong Cheonhwon may have dim memories of Sinin remaining, eh?’
Just like Han Yi said, Gong Cheonghwom responded somewhat softly to Hwang-ho.
He was even acting so generously towards a student who abruptly pointed a Bō at his vital point during their first meeting.
Besides it, the words ‘I feel sorry’ felt decisive.
‘Because after Sinin and Cheong-ho left, Hwang-ho’s duty became much heavier… if it was Sinin, he would feel sorry.’
On the other hand, Han Yi was different.
Even though she spent a long time at the side of Hwang-ho, who was acting so suspiciously, she didn’t realize at all.
Even now, Han Yi didn’t show any particular thought towards Gong Cheonghwon’s questionable attitude.
‘It seems that Cheong-ho completely forgot.’
Jeok-ho recalled Hwang-ho’s words.
— Perhaps it was also part of the price.
— To cut ties with us, who were close friends.
Jeok-ho, who observed the two a bit longer, couldn’t endure the pain and left the place.
Even though he believed that his friendship with Cheong-ho wouldn’t change, it wasn’t an easy thing to see with his own eyes.
Piercing through the gradually intensifying typhoon, Jeok-ho headed towards the mansion where his close friends were waiting.
* * *
The Transcendent Universe, who summoned me to this world, knew me very well.
From my insignificant background, to my family relationships, to even the record of games I played, the Transcendent Universe materialized them in this world.
So the Transcendent Universe would naturally know that I don’t dream.
Such me could use ‘Replay’ function.
[Replay]
Future recorded in a different dimension in a form of a game, reenacts the record through a dream. (Phase 1)
I, who didn’t dream, could use the function, whose description included ‘reenacts through a dream’.
So I should have been suspicious from that moment.
It meant that this ability applied to other people, the people I selected.
‘Why didn’t I think about it…!?’
Up till now the added read the setting book, re-read the log, open the surrounding’s map were all things that only I could use, so I naturally thought the Replay was also like this.
However, unlike Replay, those functions were things that were in the game.
As Replay wasn’t a function that was in the game, I should have thought through its identity a bit more.
‘Jang Namuk once, Yu Sang-hun twice…!?’
Son Mingi would also have that dream, but no matter what that bastard dreamed about, it was fine.
But I couldn’t bear that I made Jang Namuk and Yu Sang-hun dream such a nightmare.
When I first came to this world, it was those two showed me a part of the happy ending that I wanted to see all along.
In contrast, what the hell did I show them?
Was my thinking so careless because those two weren’t Playable Characters?
“Jo Uisin.”
I heard Baek Ho-gun’s voice and turned my head.
Baek Ho-gun’s finger touched my forehead.
Paa…
I felt the superpower wave move towards the tip of Baek Ho-gun’s finger.
‘This…!’
Baek Ho-gun’s index finger was dyed black, the color of my superpower wave.
It seemed that Hwang Jiho used the same method when suppressing the superpower waves of Kwon Jane and Jeok-ho before.
“I told you to get rid of that habit.”
No way, was I pressing my windpipe with a superpower wave?
I couldn’t feel it at all.
When I wasn’t able to say anything, Jang Namuk on the other side of the device kept talking.
[Ah, there were some differences between the two of us.]
“… Differences?”
The two said they saw the dream from the first-person perspective, not the third-person perspective.
[Immediately after Son Mingi failed to escape, our accounts were a bit different. At the time I couldn’t take my eyes off of Son Mingi. In contrast, I guess Sang-hun was looking towards the door, because he thought others would come from there.]
The two people were in the same space in the dream, but they said there were few scenes where their descriptions missed each other, because their gazes were pointed towards different places.
Listening to those words, I felt even more certain what kind of function the Replay was.
‘Replay lets the person experience the time when this world moved according to the game through a dream, huh?’ [2]
The start of the game, tutorial.
In other words, the day of the entrance exam.
The dream’s starting point of the two people was the same as the starting point of the tutorial.
And the two people, who died almost at the same time when the game started, experienced that very moment through a nightmare.
‘Using Replay, I could peek into memories of the people, whose movements were vague. That’s true, but…’
Doesn’t that mean that I would be showing People that nightmare?
Every Playable Character of this world dies miserably.
There were characters, who already died at the current point, but there were also characters who died one year later and characters like Ju Su-hyeok, An Dain and Baek Ho-gun, who died after going through this painful experience to the very last moment.
I didn’t want to make them to go through such a thing again even if it was a dream.
[Uisin-ah? Are you listening?]
I returned to reality again at Jang Namuk’s words.
As Baek Ho-gun was pressing my forehead with a cold expression, it seemed that I still wasn’t controlling the superpower wave.
The tip of Baek Ho-gun’s finger was darker than when he first pressed my forehead.
“… Don’t worry about that dream. You guys won’t have such a dream again.”
[Uh? … Do you know something perhaps?]
“I’ll explain later. Sorry.”
[Uisin-ah?]
After saying I’m sorry and cutting off the call, I took a deep breath.
I wanted to be alone right now and organize my thoughts.
I said goodbye to Baek Ho-gun.
“Then I’ll be going first.”
“Jo Uisin…”
It seemed that Baek Ho-gun was worrying if he should grab me to stay.
Baek Ho-gun looked at me with the eyes as if he wasn’t approving of it, but he didn’t say anything.
Instead, he quietly lowered the dyed black finger.
It seemed that he thought of sending me off.
“See you next time.”
I was about to rush outside the Byeoksa barrier, into the typhoon.
However, before that, my and Baek Ho-gun’s devices rang out at the same time.
Ding.
I didn’t know who it was, but I wasn’t in the mood to check messages right now.
First go back to my dormitory room to examine the current situation again and then think about Replay…
“Let’s go.”
Baek Ho-gun blocked my way forward and spoke.
Let’s go? Where?
“Check your device.”
I looked the message which was sent to both Baek Ho-gun and me at the same time and came to the device a moment ago.
There weren’t many people who would send a message to Baek-ho[3] and me.
The biggest probability was that it was Eun-ho’s descendants or Hwang Jiho.
I had an ominous premonition, but as there was a chance that Eun-ho’s descendants sent a message, I decided to check.
[Hwang Jiho] I know that you’re sparring with Baek-ho in Silver Training (Eunryeon) Building today.
[Hwang Jiho] Come together to my mansion when you finish the spar.
I was at a loss for words the moment I checked the last message.
[Hwang Jiho] The Nok’s tribe elixir arrived.
*~*~*
[1] Hwang Jiho — just for a clarification. It’s not a typo on my end. It may be on author-nim’s, but who knows?
[2] ‘Replay lets the person experience the time when this world moved according to the game through a dream, huh?’ — that sentence is a bit strange… first, a part in raws which would be ‘Replay(,) when this world moved according to the game’ is separated from the rest of the sentence (I can still explain it from a grammatical point of view, but commas are always a bit suspicious). Second, the word for ‘moved’ here refers more to ‘flowing’ like flowing water motion. Third, the raws uses ‘that person’, which makes it sound a little bit as if Jo Uisin is talking about some specific person.
[3] Baek-ho — same situation like with Hwang Jiho.
Translator’s note: Funny coincidence that Nok’s tribe elixir arrived at this very moment.
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