Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
47. Loser Resurrection Match (6)
‘Player’s Trajectory’ was a Gwangrim that allowed me to manipulate level and use the abilities of the Playable Characters I fostered in the game.
It was an ability ignoring the rule there is no identical Gwangrim in this world.
On the other hand, Jeon Muyeong’s Gwangrim ‘Time Without Traces[1]’ was an ability whose fundamental rule was that it erased sense of presence and traces starting from the shadows.
There existed other Gwangrims, which possessed similar effect of hiding traces, but currently only two people in this world, Jeon Muyeong and I, could use a Gwangrim, whose effect spread out from the shadow.
“Jeon Muyeong uses Hiding skill quite skillfully, but not enough to deceive my eyes. The thing he used at the last moment felt a bit different from a hiding skill, eh? It clearly was a Gwangrim.”
The eyes of a tiger with an appearance of an elementary school student, Hwang Jiho, kept sparkling.
If he did that with an appearance that grew old, it would be annoying, but with his current appearance, no negative expression came out.
“I know that you can use other people’s Gwangrim[2]. I personally saw it, and made a bet guessing on it.”
Hwang Jiho figured out the existence of my Gwangrim a few times up till now.
It didn’t seem like he questioned me about the usage of other people’s Gwangrims.
‘What did Hwang Jiho figure out about what the Gwangrim is? On April’s Fool Day I almost got caught using Cheon Dongha’s Gwangrim. But he probably didn’t see it. Then what Hwang Jiho figured out…’
Hwang Jiho didn’t see it in person, but as he knew the real identity of ‘that word’ is me, he would know that I used ‘Hongryong Summoning’ and ‘Remote Ignition’ in Yeom Junyeol’s appearance.
During the Youth Training Camp, besides Baek Ho-gun’s Gwangrim, he even saw the process of lifting Heavenly God’s debuff with his own eyes.
Moreover, the day Jang Namuk visited Hwang Myeong great mansion, I summoned ritual instruments with the godly maiden candidate’s Gwangrim to hold Byeoksa ceremony on Tao Sihu’s belongings.
Hwang Jiho already knew that I could use several people’s abilities through the Gwangrim.
“When Jo Uisin and I acted together for the first time, he used a Flight skill, correct? It seems You can’t usually use it.”
“Flight skill, you say. Then during April Fool’s Day, it was not an item, but a Flight skill you used to move?”
Jeok-ho added a word.
On the day I acted with Jeok-ho and on April Fool’s Day, I borrowed Yong Jegeon’s power, but I hoped that Yong Jegeon’s name wouldn’t come out here.
Luckily, Yong Jegeon’s name didn’t come out straight away, but it looked obvious that Hwang Jiho was picking out beings who used Flight skill in his head.
Among the candidates for that being would be Yong Jegeon.
“You can use the Gwangrim of Myth category Ho tribe member, Baek-ho, so it’s not strange that You can use other human’s Gwangrims. There is a separate part I wanted to point out.”
Thanks to Hwang Jiho giving this lengthy introduction, I also guessed to a certain degree.
The matter of me using other people’s abilities wasn’t particularly worthy of pointing out at the moment.
But Hwang Jiho saw me and Jeon Muyeong use the same ability in front of his eyes in a short period of time.
If he compared two of us like this, Hwang Jiho would also realize something.
‘…He probably made many inferences about my identity, huh?’
I concentrated as to not reveal any signs of agitation, and waited for the words Hwang Jiho would throw.
“How come[3] you manifested Gwangrim more strongly than Jeon Muyeong?”
Why did I use a stronger Gwangrim than real Jeon Muyeong?
‘Among the two ‘Time Without Traces’ Hwang Jiho saw, my ability would feel more powerful than Jeon Muyeong’s.’
I could easily answer this question from the gamer’s standpoint.
Unlike skills and overall stats, Gwangrim didn’t have levels, but depending on a Player’s growth and condition, the usage time and manifestation qualities differed.
Even after Jeon Muyeong died in the story, I used him in free battles and free quests modes, etc. for repeated character fostering.
The ability of Jeon Muyeong I used to film Dokgo Miro’s death match mission video was a complete version, fostered to the maximum level.
‘In the game, the adult characters had little room to grow compared to highschool characters. Even so, I would be handling the Gwangrim better than the current Jeon Muyeong.’
In the PMH game menu, there was a ‘Story mode’, where you progressed the main story and the ‘Free mode’ where you could enjoy the game without restrictions.
The characters, who died in the story, were impossible to use in the ‘Story mode’ after the point of their death, but they could be deployed in ‘Free mode’ however much you wanted.
“….”
I couldn’t explain such game parts in front of the tigers.
I decided to keep silent.
While I shut my mouth, young-looking Hwang Jiho ate two waffles.
After he ate the last piece, he opened his mouth to step forward.
“Looking at how you’re not answering, it seems like important information that is difficult to talk about, eh? The fact that you can use a stronger ability than the original, I’ll make sure to remember it.”
I didn’t say anything, but the elementary school student Hwang Jiho made a satisfied face.
“I have a guess right at the tip of my tongue, eh? Jin people, descendants, humans. You use Gwangrims of all of them. The common factor is ‘Eungwang School’, but their personalities, age and ideas are different, right?”
Young Hwang Jiho stopped even eating and started to happily reason things out.
As Hwang Jiho had still a small number of samples identified, and had no way of knowing about the existence of game PMH, a perfect reasoning was impossible.
But Hwang Jiho was gradually approaching an answer with limited information.
“… Jo Uisin is the Ho tribe’s benefactor. Is it okay to dig into personal information he doesn’t want to reveal?”
Jeok-ho spoke cautiously.
After reconciling with his son at the end of doing useless things[4] for five thousand years, it was said that he was revealing more or less of his personality, but as expected, compared to Hwang Jiho, Jeok-ho was a gentleman.
Even though his close friend spoke like this, the young-looking Hwang Jiho laughed and replied:
“Hahaha! I received Jo Uisin’s permission. When Jo Uisin saw through my alter-ego’s identity, he said ‘Wouldn’t it be no fun if I said it with my own mouth?’.”
Hwang Jiho was saying a what now?
While saying what I said to him before, he imitated my tone for a moment.
If Hwang Jiho wasn’t an elementary school student right now, he would look almost like the Ho tribe’s head or whatever and have a very serious face.
If it was highschooler Hwang Jiho bastard or one of his older appearances, who imitated me, I would hate to see it so much I would curse.
But did he take those words as some sort of permission?
‘It wasn’t a permission, but an excuse.’
Jeok-ho glanced at my face and sighed as if he read my thoughts.
“Please don’t forget that Jo Uisin is our benefactor, Hwang-ho.”
“Hahahaha! There is no way I’ll forget that, right?”
He laughed with his young appearance, but as if Jeok-ho stopped him from talking to a certain degree, he stopped his work of digging into my Gwangrim and changed the topic.
After I let go of my worries, Snare showed off its charms, as if comforting me for my hard work.
The stroking felt somewhat different, perhaps thanks to the beauty treatment, so I decided to lose my soul for some time, while diligently petting it.
* * *
On a walk returning to dormitory with Snare and Baek Ho-gun.
The middle of September was drawing near, but the weather was still warm.
The sun had set, but I was worried if it wasn’t difficult for Snare, because it wasn’t particularly cool thanks to the heated up ground.
Fortunately, after splendidly getting back on its feet, as if Snare was very healthy, it was briskly running around.
Before Baek Ho-gun would warn Snare not to fall a few times, but now Snare was running so stably, no warning was necessary.
‘I have something to ask Baek Ho-gun.’
Perhaps thanks to having a lot of thoughts about the game, because of Hwang Jiho’s questioning, I abruptly recalled something I wanted to ask.
Baek Ho-gun appeared almost from the beginning of the game, but until he got close to Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain, those two people, the time of his appearances was small.
There were a few times Baek Ho-gun ran into the two.
But it took a long time for them to have a conversation beside seeing only each other’s faces in passing, even longer to officially create a party to act together.
‘Because Baek Ho-gun usually acted alone, there were almost no times when he ran into Jeok-ho or Hwang Jiho accompanying Ju Su-hyeok.’
The in-game Baek Ho-gun and Ju Su-hyeok first met during the 1st year 1st semester summer break.
Midst fulfilling a quest during the break, Ju Su-hyeok ran into Baek Ho-gun during the process of purifying the remains of Jin people’s garden.
Ju Su-hyeok recognized Baek Ho-gun as a Jin and was very wary, but Baek Ho-gun disappeared without saying a word.
The Player knew that Baek Ho-gun didn’t have an evil role, but Ju Su-hyeok was confused by Baek Ho-gun’s identity.
‘Even if I leave it alone, it seems like it will be fine, but let’s check.’
Supposing there was a misunderstanding, wouldn’t it be fine to solve it?
Obviously if I suddenly mentioned Baek Ho-gun to Ju Su-hyeok, it would be strange, so it seemed best to talk through Baek Ho-gun.
“Last month, didn’t you run into a Player with twin swords at the outskirts of Eungwang District?”
Baek Ho-gun, who was looking forward, turned his head and looked down at me.
As usual, there was no particular warmth[5] in the indifferent eyes.
“I didn’t.”
Ju Su-hyeok solved the quest according to the in-game development, but Baek Ho-gun didn’t run into him?
Was it distorted because the in-game Baek Ho-gun wasn’t staying in Hwang Myeong-ho great mansion, and the current Baek Ho-gun stays at the great mansion with his close friends, descendants and Snare?
As there might be a complicated situation where Baek Ho-gun and Ju Su-hyeok don’t recognize each other, I might have to personally step out and act as a bridge.
I was about to end my thoughts like this, but Baek Ho-gun added a word.
“There wouldn’t be a problem, so there was no need to go.”
There wouldn’t be a problem, so there was no need to go?
As Ju Su-hyeok ended up solving everything alone, there was no problem.
Baek Ho-gun’s tone was somewhat misleading.
‘It’s a tone as if you knew nothing would happen even if a problem occurred.’
I couldn’t continue my thoughts.
Woof woof!
Snare barked brightly and started to run into a different direction from a dormitory.
Baek Ho-gun, who was holding the leash also followed Snare’s guidance.
The Eungwang School was wide, but there was no way that those two got confused about the location of the residential zone.
While thinking it was strange, I asked.
“Where are you going?”
Baek Ho-gun replied to my question:
“Didn’t you say you wanted to test something through a spar before?”
Obviously I said something like this.
The day the typhoon hit the Korean Peninsula.
But in the Silver Training (Eunryeon) Building, Baek Ho-gun suggested playing chess instead of a spar, and I agreed to it.
Because we played a game, we couldn’t spar in the end.
“Should we test it today?”
As expected, my main Playable Character was deeply considerate.
Of course, the angel taking the lead and guiding us to the Silver Training (Eunryeon) Building was also like this.
* * *
Landscape zone’s Silver Training (Eunryeon) Building’s center training room.
Baek Ho-gun stood under the dome embodying the night sky and Seven Western Constellations.
Swish!
With the cry of a drawn sword, Baek Ho-gun activated the Gwangrim and White Fang appeared.
“Take out your weapon, Jo Uisin.”
I took out a weapon card.
Usually I would take out Nine Iron Teeth Rake, but today was different.
What I was holding in my hands right now was a transparent item card ‘Unknown Fate’.
“Is this the thing you want to test?”
“Ye.”
Baek Ho-gun, who heard my words, released White Fang’s summoning.
Paat!
After White Fang disappeared, Baek Ho-gun was left empty-handed.
Are you thinking of facing me empty-handed if it’s not the Nine Iron Teeth Rake?
“I don’t know what may happen, so I think it would be best to hold a weapon.”
I said that, but Baek Ho-gun said, while observing ‘Unknown Fate’ I was holding in my hand.
“Try testing what you want.”
It seemed that Baek Ho-gun had no thoughts of taking out a weapon.
Do you not feel any sense of danger from this transparent item card?
‘If something happens, we will have to use Gwangrim one way or another.’
While thinking like this I released the superpower wave to materialize the card.
Paaaa….!
After I emitted the superpower wave, the transparent card started to turn black.
*~*~*
[1] Time Without Traces — once again, reminder that ‘traces’ can also mean ‘shadow’ here. At this point I’m starting to think there must be a better way to translate it to say both shadow and traces at the same time…
[2] other people’s Gwangrim — So Hwang-ho actually says ‘other person’s Gwangrim’ here.
[3] How come — I shall not speak about how weird this sentence is, because I don’t think I would be able to explain, but ‘how come/how/why’ here can also be ‘so by chance,’. So the sentence could be ‘So by chance, you manifested Gwangrim more strongly than Jeon Muyeong?’
[4] doing useless things — literally digging, so it could be either doing something in vain or digging his own grave.
[5] particular warmth — so particular can also mean ‘star’.
Translator’s note: The power of young Hwang-ho is too much, now not only he drives me insane with everything he says, he also drives me insane with how he managed not to be petted by Jo Uisin yet.
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