Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
44. After bad weather (3)
Before Ju Su-hyeok arrived at school, inside his exclusive air stretch limousine.
After Ju Su-hyeok and Kim Cheol set the destination to Eungwang School and switched the limousine to the self-driving mode, they had a conversation.
“… In the afternoon, after eating lunch, I plan to go to Hongcheon with Uisin to bring Hyodon and Yunseop. I’ll contact You if I need a pickup… Cheol hyung?”
When Ju Su-hyeok called, Kim Cheol was late to respond.
Kim Cheol played the role of Ju Su-hyeok’s bodyguard and secretary.
He was a talent, who rose to a high position at a young age solely through his abilities, without any connections and was in charge of the chairman’s direct family line.
Recently that Kim Cheol frequently was in such a blank state.
“My apologies, young master-nim. Can You please repeat?”
“Yes! I plan to go to school today’s morning and deal with the Guideline Club’s work that I delayed in the meantime, during the lunch…”
Ju Su-hyeok explained his schedule again, without showing any displeasure.
Kim Cheol started to take notes at the device, but like before, he seemed to lose his concentration.
‘Is Cheol hyung thinking about that mysterious whistle again?’
After the Cymopoleia boat party incident, Kim Cheol occasionally fell into thoughts like this.
At the same time when Ju Su-hyeok fought against Enemies at the ship rear, the stern side was swept by a natural superpower wave.
At that time it was Ju-Oh and TC bodyguard teams who faced the natural superpower wave.
‘Cheol hyung said that to change the direction of over SSR rank natural superpower wave, he had used an item centered on the barrier and tuned his superpower wave, right?’
While leaders and members of the bodyguard teams drew on their superpower waves, Kim Cheol and a few bodyguards sensitive to the superpower waves said they heard some kind of sound.
The sound of whistling.
While the danger of the boat being overturned by the superpower wave drew near, the moment they heard that whistling sound, they had a feeling that their superpower wave grew more than usual.
‘… If considering the size of the superpower wave explosion at the time, there is no way that the bodyguard teams, who had no experience with dealing with natural superpower waves and insufficient time to prepare, would be able to block it.’
However, the bodyguard teams achieved a miracle.
Though after achieving a miracle all bodyguard teams’ members fainted, that fact didn’t change.
Regretfully, the recording devices seemed to be damaged as an aftereffect of the natural superpower wave and the situation afterward couldn’t be properly recorded.
And Kim Cheol suspected if it wasn’t a man-made miracle.
Kim Cheol seemed to believe that a righteous man[1] was hiding his name behind the bodyguard teams that day.
‘The Ju-Oh and TC’s bodyguard leaders-nim suspected interference of a higher being. But Cheol hyung believes that there is a real hero, who rescued the Cymopoleia, huh?’
After that incident, though not as much as the chaebeol children, who personally stepped out to conquer the otherworlds in the Cymopoleia, the bodyguard teams also became a hot topic.
It was well-known that they received a hundred million units worthy of monetary reward.
As a rule, the amount of monetary reward wasn’t revealed, but it was because of the careless journalist who saw a hundred million check through the gap in the envelope of the team member who opened it.
And with his upright personality, Kim Cheol wasn’t inclined to take money and fame that wasn’t his.
‘Even I suppose like Cheol hyung that someone helped them at the time, but if not for the bodyguard teams, the damage would be much bigger.’
He directly told Kim Cheol his thoughts, but Kim Cheol was unconvinced.
Even if he wanted to help Kim Cheol find the real hero, as there was no trace remaining in the recording devices, he had no way of helping.
So all Ju Su-hyeok could do was to cover up for Kim Cheol’s mistakes that he might make.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Please stay safe.”
Through the door gap he saw Kim Cheol, who gave him polite goodbyes, fall into worries again, but Ju Su-hyeok pretended he couldn’t see it.
‘I’m glad that today’s weather is good. Should I ride a board instead of the shuttle?’
Thanks to the typhoon, which had just passed, the air was refreshing, and he decided to ride an air board.
About the time when he made the third prospective search route of the mountain where Hongcheon Country where he was going to search for Tak Geosan and his disciples party, Ju Su-hyeok arrived in the Guideline Club Hall.
As he scanned his student ID with the entrance permission code at the Guideline Club Hall’s entrance, the number of people currently inside showed up.
Number: 1
Even before Ju Su-hyeok entered, there was someone there.
‘Uh? Who came?’
He thought there wasn’t anyone who said they were coming today in the Guideline Club group chatroom, perhaps under the influence of the typhoon.
But Ju Su-hyeok also pushed his schedules forward because the typhoon ended earlier than expected.
When he entered the Guideline Club’s room while thinking so, his eyes met with Oh Hyeji’s.
“Hello, Hyeji noona… uh?”
And the moment their eyes met, a single tear dropped from Oh Hyeji’s eyes.
* * *
I wasn’t able to hear even a word if it was okay to come yet.
But when I returned to my senses, I was climbing an air board and selecting the Guideline Club Hall in the central zone at the destination input panel that opened.
“What happened to senior Oh Hyeji-nim? Ah, if it’s perhaps something hard to talk about, it’s okay not to talk.”
[That… I also don’t know. Even so, I can’t leave Hyeji noona alone so…]
“Isn’t it a situation where we should call teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim?”
[It doesn’t seem to be a situation to call teacher-nim…. Maybe.]
Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim was the advisor of the Guideline Club, homeroom teacher of our 1st year class 0 and head of the Student Department.
In the first semester, teacher Ham Geunheyong-nim recommended me to join the Guideline Club, so I was flooded with belated regrets.
‘If I knew that something would make Oh Hyeji cry, I would join the Guideline Club alongside with the Newspaper Club!’
I put my regrets aside for a moment and put my brain to full operation.
If it was Ju Su-hyeok, there were no doubts that I could trust him with soothing Oh Hyeji, but there still may be something I could do.
Luckily, before I arrived in the Guideline Club Hall, I came up with a breakthrough.
“I have some words to pass on to senior Oh Hyeji-nim…”
Ju Su-hyeok, who listened to my words, replied with a surprised voice ‘Got it’.
After Ju Su-hyeok passed my words, He soon came back to express Oh Hyeji’s intention to meet me straight away.
As if they came out to pick me up the moment they heard my words, just as I stepped down from the air board, I saw Ju Su-hyeok and Oh Hyeji coming out to pick me up.
“Uisin-ah, is that really true?”
Oh Hyeji’s eyes weren’t swollen at all and her voice wasn’t greatly sunken.
But she couldn’t deceive the eyes of the stagnant and rotten water of PMH.
I hid the rage of which origin was still unknown and spoke:
“Yes. Because an opportunity arose by chance.”
“Is Hyejeong unnie living well?”
The bait I planted was Oh Hyeji’s biological older sister, Oh Hyejeong, who I meet in the Sawol family’s mansion.
After I passed on the words of which key point was ‘I know Oh Hyejeong’s contact information, so if something happened, wouldn’t you want to contact her?’, Oh Hyeji responded straight away.
It wasn’t my intention to sell Oh Hyejeong’s name, but it couldn’t be helped.
As Oh Hyejeong requested to contact her if something happened to Oh Hyeji, it wouldn’t be a problem to use it to this degree.
“Yes, I saw her not long ago, and she looked to be in good health. Do You want to come inside to talk?”
I entered the Guideline Club Hall with two people as we spoke.
As people from Ju-Oh Group were searching for Oh Hyejeong, who messed up with the engagement with Ju Su-gyeom, it would be better to be cautious.
As if Oh Hyeji also understood my intentions, she closed the Guideline Club Hall’s door straight away and guided me to the Guideline Club’s room.
“I had no idea that Uisin knows Hyejeong noona.”
“We recently got acquainted. She found out that I belong to the Eungwang School and asked about the news about senior Oh Hyeji-nim, so we got to know each other.”
“I’m glad that unnie is living well.”
Because it seemed that Oh Hyeji’s eyes were turning red again, I and Ju Su-hyeok shut our mouths at the same time.
“Ah, Hyejeong unnie didn’t contact me through my device, because she was concerned about the likely possibility of a bug, right? As expected, unnie is clever.”
Seeing us shut out mouths, Oh Hyeji[2] apologized and changed the topic in consideration.
The place we arrived at after passing the lobby, where the Guideline Club emblem hung, was a conference room.
Oh Hyeji sat on one side, and I and Ju Su-hyeok sat on the opposite side.
“May I ask what happened?”
“Hyeji noona, if there is anything I can do to help, I’ll do it. So please speak.”
Oh Hyeji hesitated and then opened her mouth.
“It seems that Uisin is close enough with Hyejeong unnie to know her device code and… You also helped with Sihu’s case, so I can probably talk about it.”
After briefly mentioning ‘Ju-Oh Split’, Oh Hyeji spoke about Ju-Oh Group moves to tie Ju Su-hyeok and Oh Hyeji.
“After Cymopoleia incident there was less of such things…”
“… That’s because of me.”
“Yes?”
At Ju Su-hyeok’s words, Oh Hyeji blushed a bit.
Oh Hyeji fiddled with the sand-pink skin strap of the wristwatch.
“During that incident, Su-gyeom oppa covered me and got injured, remember?”
Ju Su-hyeok nodded.
“I often met with Su-gyeom oppa after he got hurt. I visited him in the hospital, and then we had a meal, and… Though I called it a ‘hospital visit’ as he used a recovery item, he wasn’t hospitalized besides one day for the medical inspection, so I wasn’t able to visit him more than once. But I received a watch as a thank-you gift for that hospital visit.”
That watch which was said to be an ordered model wristwatch from Neuru?!
I thought that she seemed that she liked the person who sent that gift a lot, but I guess the person who sent the gift was Ju Su-gyeom.
‘You’re saying it was Ju Su-gyeom!?’
Ju Su-gyeom was Ju Su-hyeok’s cousin twice removed and was almost engaged to Oh Hyejeong.
As he outwardly resembled Ju Su-hyeok pretty closely, there was nothing to criticize about his appearance.
In addition, he possessed outstanding abilities worthy of Ju Su-hyeok’s older brother and when conquering the otherworld, he covered Oh Hyeji.
In addition to being a descendant in direct line of the Ju-Oh Group’s current president, he didn’t have any scandal in his seat as an executive director and his work accomplishments were outstanding.
Even so, I couldn’t acknowledge him.
‘My Playable Character tied with that ‘workaholic smoker without blood or tears’?! I pity Oh Hyeji!’
Recalling Ju Su-gyeom modifier coined by Oh Hyejeong, my hostility for Ju Su-gyeom burned.
On the other hand, as if Ju Su-hyeok completely didn’t realize the situation, he opened his eyes wide.
“Because I often met with Su-gyeom oppa, this time those senile old men tried to tie me and Su-gyeom oppa.”
Ju Su-hyeok was dumbstruck.
“There is a ten years gap between Su-gyeom hyung and Hyeji noona! In addition, noona is still a highschooler… I’ll also protest in this situation. Hyeji noona, I apologize, I didn’t know beforehand and couldn’t deal with it.”
But it didn’t seem that was the reason for Oh Hyeji crying.
Ju Su-hyeok was the perfect title hero, but it seemed that he was very dull about the problems of romance.
Oh Hyeji spoke with a face as if she was about to cry.
“… Yeah. It seems that Su-gyeom oppa thought the same as you.”
Ju Su-hyeok realized his mistake too late and shut his mouth.
“During our last meal together last week, he called me dongsaeng a few times more than ‘you’. And today… he said that he is going on a date with a prospective marriage partner next month.”
Oh Hyeji bowed her head to look at the watch she was wearing on her hand.
As if Ju Su-hyeok was confused because he couldn’t understand the current situation straight away, he wasn’t able to say anything.
The one to break the silence was Oh Hyeji.
“So… Um, I’m ashamed to speak about such things to juniors. Hahaha, I shouldn’t have talked about it!”
“My apologies.”
Oh Hyeji, who told Ju Su-hyeok not to apologize with a bright smile, looked at me and said:
“Can I contact Hyejeong unnie? I think I will feel a bit better if I talk with unnie after such a long time.”
“Please use my device.”
“Thank you, Uisin-ah.”
I typed Oh Hyejeong’s code into the spare device I bought for personal usage and borrowed it to Oh Hyeji.
And we quietly left Oh Hyeji, who started the call.
“Uh… Should we decide where to start searching?”
“Let’s do this.”
After I spent about 30 minutes with Ju Su-hyeok, sitting on the sofa in the Guideline Club Hall’s lobby, while looking at the map and talking, Oh Hyeji appeared.
Oh Hyeji’s face looked relieved but tired.
“Hyeji noona, I’ll see You off.”
“What do you expect those senile old men to do again if you do this? I want to be alone, so get going today. Su-hyeok, I’ll do the work assigned to you.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to go earlier?
“I came to the Guideline Club Hall because I didn’t want to stay at home.”
As Oh Hyeji said that, there was nothing more to add.
It would be difficult to be stubborn to stay with her, so we finally went out.
I left the Guideline Club Hall with Ju Su-hyeok with heavy steps.
‘There is nothing I can do for my Playable Character right now…!?’
The resentment and rage towards Ju Su-gyeom, who made Oh Hyeji cry, no matter what his intention was and me, who was powerless, shot up.
When I drowned in the sense of shame, the device informed me about a new message.
Seeing the message window that came up together with a ‘ding’ sound, I was at a loss what to say.
[Oh Hyejeong] Uisin-ah, thank you. Thanks to you, I had a good talk with Hyeji. If something happens to Hyeji again, contact me.
[Oh Hyejeong] I’m going to kill Ju Su-gyeom now ^^.
*~*~*
[1] righteous man — very funny. In Korean righteous person(/man) is 의인 (uiin), 의 (righteous) is part of Jo Uisin’s name and even has the same hanja.
[2] Oh Hyeji — literally ‘Oh Hyeji side’ in raws.
Translator’s note: … No, you crazy maniacs, wait…
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