Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin *revised*
3. Unknown Supernova (4)
In the dark gym, with the ominous sound of a Demonic Beast and the barrier clashing, the distorted voice of a student was heard.
The face was mosaic, but thanks to it covering only the eyes, any person who saw the recent news would know straight away who that student was.
It was the middle schooler, who became an over-night star not a long time ago as the ‘Little Hero’.
That Little Hero was pointing an item card at the student, who couldn’t move because he was injured when covering him.
— It’s different if there is a living and moving bait, right? Won’t the Jin and that familiar be satisfied if three people die? Baits-ah.
— You’re thinking of using ■■■ as a bait? ■■■ was hurt to save you. You fucker who doesn’t know gratitude!
— Gratitude? Get real. Were you playing the middle school? You too are a winner bastard who came this far by stepping on others’ grades.
The Little Hero used the item card to tie up the injured student.
* * *
The Hwang Myeong Foundation’s director board, which suffered attacks from the public, decided to release a video.
The position of the Hwang Myeong Foundation’s director board was as follows:
‘The director board, which belatedly confirmed the student in question’s heinous actions, decided to refuse to cover the medical bills and such, and to solve the public misunderstanding, they decided to release a video.’
Belatedly confirmed.
‘For someone who knew everything, but tried to bury it and move on, they change their stance like a knife.’
Hwang Myeong Foundation provided the processed video to the press in advance.
The eyes of the people, who appeared in the video, were covered with mosaic, and the parts where names were shouted were erased.
And perhaps they wanted to avoid another controversy, or Hwang Myeong-ho was considerate towards me, but the scene where I used my hand against Son Mingi was cut out.
After the Hwang Myeong Foundation released the processed video, public opinion turned upside down in an instant.
Each news company put their archon’s comments and captions, and released it on their regular broadcasts.
After that, the news companies published the video on their web video channels, and the videos got a million hits in an instant.
The Little Hero Son Mingi, became Son Meatjig[1].
The articles related to Son Mingi were overflowing with comments denouncing Son Meatjig.
[Little Hero? ㅋㅋㅋ[2] It’s just Son Meatjig, right?]
[Son Min Gi Son Meat Jig]
[He was saved and then tried to use the hurt kid as bait?? Today Demons earn one loss[3]. Devil species[4] earns one loss. Beware Player bast*rds blessed by Satan~~~~]
[100% super shivers;;; a fucker worse than Enemy]
[Hwang Myeong Foundation’s people-nim-ah… Please don’t pay this fucker hospital bills. Please. That money can be used for an expansive lawyer, You know?… I’m too angry…]
[give money here, get hogu certificate]
Son Mingi’s side responded immediately.
They didn’t appear in regular broadcasts or in the key newspapers, but articles in support of Son Mingi started to be released occasionally.
[‘Little Hero’s’ tears, ‘I was scared, I’m sorry for my friends.’]
[Hwang Myeong Foundation’s security hole pierced, young elites driven into the corner]
[Video released without approval of the person concerned ‘Little Hero’. Complaint warning about defamation charge]
Public opinion already turned its back a long time ago by now.
He almost killed a person to live.
That fact might easily cheat out of sympathy votes.
Because of it, all arrows could be pointed at Hwang Myeong Foundation.
But the public wouldn’t forgive Son Mingi who dared to deceive them and act like a hero.
[Take out all that detestability and be shameless]
[Summary: Give us money]
[School’s protection duty?? Defamation charge?? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ The school kindly put a mosaic on everyone and changed all Your voices before releasing, and before You entered the exam grounds, You signed the oath, which stated that the school holds no responsibility ㅋㅋㅋ You self-served yourself doxing during the interview as*holes ㅋㅋㅋ]
[I looked up the name of the reporter who wrote the news with the interview about XX accusation. Reporter-nim, how much did You get for this?]
[Look closely at the article. It’s not ‘accusation’, but ‘complaint’, and it isn’t ‘defamation charge’, it’s ‘warning about defamation charge’. They’re testing waters, because they’re getting anxious.]
And the next day.
The web community was swarmed with comments bringing revelations about Son Mingi.
On the school side, it was ‘pushing the academic records’ by manipulating Son Mingi grades to send him to Eungwang School.
The person who wrote the revelations revealed that they had two or three subjects they were better than Son Mingi, but when they checked the rankings per subject, Son Mingi and their places were swapped.
There were people, who suspected the manipulation.
But the moment the suspicions of manipulation came out, the person who wrote the comment with revelations, published their student ID and a screenshot of the message with Son Mingi’s confession.
Because Son Mingi was overconfident in his backing, it seemed he blackmailed them with ‘If that fact is made public, I’ll make you unable to go to highschool’.
‘If Son Mingi falls, I expected that the people, which Son Mingi ‘stepped on grades’ of, would naturally shoot support, but…’
I didn’t know it would be this much.
[A student from the same school as Son Meatjig, who got disadvantageous grades because of Son Meatjig, made a comment. Three lines summary. 1. Son Meatjig’s backing + school manipulated Son Meatjig grades. 2. Son Meatjig’s confession, blackmail 3. Son Meatjig is fucking dogshit]
[Isn’t that a crime? Murder attempt, grades manipulation equal to assault, and even blackmail! I hope he goes to prison!]
[All of it was committed by a 16 year old. How the hell many people would be sacrificed if he wasn’t caught and was raised as the elite from the Korean Republic Most Prestigious Highschool? Terrifying.]
After that, no more news supporting Son Mingi was published.
And the public wasn’t only cursing Son Mingi.
His parents, who directly revealed their faces to the media to play a part in Son Mingi’s deception, caught a spark.
[The People, curious about the faces of the parents of that disgusting Son Meat Jing, can see them on the news again^^]
[I worked at Son Meatjig’s dad company and will share the story of quitting]
[I put a link address to Son Meatjig’s company site~~~~ Whether you want some schadenfreude or not~~~~ Kuehehe~~~~ Spit!]
[Anyhow, it’s ruined here because they completely turned to the irregular work positions, but no one has plans for an employee position. I can’t share the details, but Son Meatjig… Um… If you plant soy, you get soy, and if you plant beans you get beans[5], right?]
Son Mingi’s parents ran a company that sold consumables used by Players to the Player’s Association and Pro-Player team.
After the company name was leaked, comments demanding to cut off trade with Son Mingi’s parents’ company poured on the Player Association and Pro-Player teams’ homepages.
And the fund-raising to support Son Mingi had its leading member disappear at some point, and it had to be dropped.
The anger of the people, who participated in fund-raising, turned towards Son Mingi’s family.
[Spit out donations you family of lying fuckers]
[I got hooked by Son Meatjig and posted so many comments… I even donated. I think I’ll curl up because of embarrassment.]
[↑Curling up. With me too ㅠㅠ]
[Son Meatjig hogu[6] donators embarrassment suicide. Isn’t the Han River water cold in December? I’ll test it first and tell you.]
[Don’t you know about Player teams residing around the Han River? The Han River suicide difficulty is hell.]
[I made a café to take refund action for the fraud Son Meatjig donations. We’re currently discussing the future responses… Please join the cafe.]
Around a week after the video was released.
Son Mingi was completely driven into the corner because of financial problems.
If one combined all the settlement money, hospital bills, expenses on an attorney consultation and bribes for the media companies executives, it would be billions.
In addition, their whole company was boycotted, and it was uncertain whether they would be able to renew the supply contracts next year.
Naturally, there would be no surplus money for the arms and legs restoration surgery.
Moreover, all highschools Son Mingi applied to refused his admission, naturally including the Eungwang School.
Son Mingi ended up as a middle school graduated left only with debt.
Son Mingi completely crumbled at the end of December.
Around the time the topic of Son Ming’s settled down, the attention turned in a bit of a different direction.
[The biggest contributor Jo-ssi? Ju-ssi? Why aren’t you saying anything? Son Meatjig blackmail sus.]
[I smell Son Meatjig’s blackmail GLuck]
[Thinking about it now, v strange. Other kids are fine, so why he alone is hurt? Why the biggest contributor chosen by the PlayerSAT-K is treated like air?]
[But why he ended up hurt? ㅋㅋ Seems like a threatened them like a foul and then poured it at himself.]
[Biggest contributor is in our class! I’m from jsMiddle School 3rd year class 8 kk He doesn’t come to school, as if this matter is very difficult ㅜㅜ;]
[Isn’t he just trying to stay loyal? In the first half of the teen-crime video, where they were discarded by Son Meatjig, they were awesome when jumping around.]
Because of our matter, Son Mingi was attacked again, but he couldn’t play with the press about seeking an amiable agreement.
Because if the agreement details were revealed, he would have to pay three times of settlement money as a penalty.
I, who was monitoring the key articles and comments, while the situation progressed, closed the hologram with satisfaction.
As planned.
No, it ended better than planned.
* * *
“These days, I read the news and comments daily. And I scrap all comments, which gave me a deep impression. Every time I have a hard time, I’ll read them again.”
In Yu Sang-hun’s room, Yu Sang-hui smiled gently towards us who came to play, and showed us a hologram.
“They call day after day. It was satisfying at first, but now it’s annoying. He said he wants to apologize and put a picture on SNS of the four of you being friendly…? It was his arms and legs which were cut off, so why behaving like he lost his brain instead?”
With her long hair flowing down and basking in the sunlight, Yu Sang-hui looked pure, worthy of the priest of the healing goddess.
But the content of her words was bloody.
Jang Namuk drank the apple[7] juice served to him by Yu Sang-hun, without showing any particular reaction.
I guess he got accustomed to Yu Sang-hui now.
“I didn’t give you guys’ contact information. I’m playing with him, while pretending to hesitate, so don’t’ worry.”
Yu Sang-hui put down all the juice cups and snacks and walked up in front of me with a refreshing smile.
“Thank you, Uisin-ah. It’s all thanks to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t trust you from the beginning. I’ll make sure to repay this debt.”
“No. I actually didn’t do anything.”
“How humble. Don’t argue. Now that I’m Uisin’s senior, be comfortable and call me Sang-hui noona.”
Yu Sang-hui smiled towards me brightly.
Yu Sang-hun, who watched it from the side, made a face as if he saw a Demonic Beast.
“Ack, you ‘Sang-hui noona’?”
Peuk!
Yu Sang-hui’s hand struck Yu Sang-hun’s back.
Yu Sang-hun didn’t react as if it hurt, but his complexion turned somewhat pale.
… Yu Sang-hui’s Vital Point Strike skill was level 3.
Wouldn’t the injuries around there worsen again?
“Then go play well. Call if you need anything.”
After Yu Sang-hui left, I plopped on the room floor, in a comfortable position.
As I plopped roughly, my back touched a basketball, which was in Yu Sang-hun’s room.
I tapped the basketball, which was rolling everywhere, while speaking:
“Then why did we gather here today? A vacation celebration?”
We exchanged messages in the group chatroom, but it was the first time we gathered offline after signing up the agreement.
I was skipping school, but those two were faithfully attending school, so there was no time to meet.
“And to congratulate you. ‘Unknown Supernova-nim’.”
Where did they learn it?
“I saw it on the Player’s Association’s official homepage. You were recorded as a Player, who subjugated a wanted Enemy.”
Yu Sang-hun added, looking at my face and probably reading my mind.
While Son Mingi’s downfall was in progress, I went back and forth the Player’s Association.
Because there was no precedent of a 16 year old ordinary person, who wasn’t recorded in the PlayerSAT-K subjugating a wanted Enemy, they said a problem occurred in the record management.
I hated to leave my real name, so I decided to receive beforehand the Player alias decided arbitrarily based on the activities by the PlayerSAT-K.
The result of that was Unknown Supernova.
Hong Gyubin said…
‘Because it was an action played by an ordinary person with no record, who couldn’t even use Gwangrim, and still a young middle schooler, it suits you.’
I didn’t like sly Hong Gyubin, but the nuance of the alias itself wasn’t bad.
Currently, I was a pre Player Unknown Supernova, but in a few days I would automatically become an official Player when turning 17[8].
“Okay, thanks. You and Jang Namuk will also become official Players in a few days, so is there a need to trouble yourself with congratulating?”
“It’s also a vacation, so it has a double purpose.”
“You called to congratulate, right?”
“Let’s play a game.”
“Hey.”
I and Yu Sang-hun continued a useless chitchat.
While taking out a controller for the fighting game[9], Jang Namuk suddenly dropped a bomb.
“I decided not to go to Eungwang School. I’ll go to the Player Military Academy Highschool and become a soldier.”
“What?”
“What?!”
At that completely unexpected development, I and Yu Sang-hun opened our mouths wide.
Behind the glasses, Jang Namuk’s eyes filled with determination, shined.
“In the first place, I sign up to Eungwang School because of my grades. I had no plans ‘I’ll make sure to go to Eungwang School’ from the beginning.”
You mean you tried to get into Korea Republic most prestigious highschool because of grades?
If the two millions of highschool students of Korea Republic heard this, Jang Namuk would become an assassination contract target or had a bounty put on his head.
But Jang Namuk’s voice was serious, and I heard some sadness in it.
“I don’t have the courage to throw my body like you, Sang-hun, and I can’t make a strategy like you, Uisin. I could do nothing but move according to the strategy and shout to run away.”
“The world is overflowing with fuckers who can’t do even this.”
“There are cases like Son Mingi, right. I also couldn’t make a scheme like Uisin, and couldn’t even trust Uisin like you, Sang-hun.”
“Jang Namuk…”
Yu Sang-hun noticeably wanted to stop Jang Namuk.
But Jang Namuk shook his head while speaking firmly.
“I just have good grades and superpowers, so I applied to Eungwang School. I used to think that my career’s hope is to join a Pro Player team, but I actually have no career hopes or goals.”
“Where is a middle schooler who has a proper career hope? If someone asked me, I would just roughly answer president.”
“Even so, you want to become a Player at the Eungwang School. I’m not like that.”
Yu Sang-hun closed his mouth, as if he couldn’t follow with anything more to say.
“Eungwang School educational philosophy, which values freedom, doesn’t suit me. Even if I go to Eungwang School, I’ll only hold you back like now.”
Jang Namuk was a bastard so sincere it was frightening.
Jang Namuk’s words continued.
“However I also want to become someone who helps other people and can protect them. To learn it, I plan to go to the Military Academy and grow to become a soldier.”
For him to speak this much, meant that he probably worried about it every day after that incident.
What should I say to him here?
Advice from the experiences in the military?
Analysis comparing Eungwang School and Military Academy’s pros and cons?
If Jang Namuk’s eyes showed even a bit of hesitation, I would say something.
“Okay, got it.”
But the current Jang Namuk had no need for such information.
“If anything happens, contact me at any time. Even if I can’t do anything, I’ll at least listen.”
Jang Namuk didn’t tell us because he wanted us to stop him, or to tell him something he didn’t know.
He told us because he wished for a ‘friend’ to listen to his story.
“Like an uncle.”
“Uncle?”
My extremely serious attitude was roasted right away by the two middle schoolers.
Soon, I and Yu Sang-hun continued our incoherent chatter.
Jang Namuk at some point also started to nag, roasting the content of no particular meaning, with a relaxed face.
* * *
Winter day was short.
We, who ate a bit of an early dinner at Yu Sang-hun’s home, decided to part before the sun set.
Yu Sang-hun’s family was regretful, saying we can sleep over.
But Jang Namuk’s parents-nim came personally to Yu Sang-hun’s house to pick him up, and I also declined.
There were three categories of transportation I could get home.
Subway, ground bus and automatic air bus.
Because the automatic air bus was expensive, and there was no air bus station in the neighborhood I lived in, I decided to use ground bus.
When I waited at the bus with Yu Sang-hun, who went to see me off all the way to the bus station.
“It seems that Jang Namuk didn’t notice, but it bothers me.”
“What?”
There was nothing on the road.
The only sound heard was the sound of the passing cars from the roadside.
“It was strange that you threw the item at Son Mingi at that time. It would be better to throw it at the barrier to increase the status effects.”
It was the first time Yu Sang-hun spoke so long.
Even when he was stabbed in the back and on the brink of death, he didn’t speak this much.
I guess he doubted it for a long time.
“Did you thought about it before?”
I didn’t answer.
From the moment the Power of Fate activated, I presumed the worst case scenario and thought about the next move.
‘Anyone, who was a gamer who played this game until the last chapter, would assume such a thing and move.’
I left a few ways out for him.
If he abandoned the idea of using Yu Sang-hun as bait, or didn’t snatch the ball with the media play.
If he sincerely apologized to Yu Sang-hun even once, it wouldn’t go this far.
But Son Mingi only played the worst moves.
“I got the bounty. I’ll buy a meal next time.”
Yu Sang-hun stared at me who openly changed the subject.
Yu Sang-hun gave up on hearing the answer.
“I got the settlement money. I’ll buy. Let’s invite Jang Namuk too.”
Thinking about it, the settlement money was much larger than the bounty.
I felt a sense of defeat.
But the settlement money was divided between me and Jang Namuk, as much as it raised on the condition of us keeping our mouths shut.
We projected the holograms to decide where we would go beforehand and started to search around.
The search engine AI recommended two places.
Winter special buffet of the Snow and Air Hotel with a view of the Han River.
Limited dinner course in commemoration of the famous French pâtisserie Player’s visit to Korea.
Both looked good.
When I was seriously contemplating whether it should be a hotel buffet or course cooking….
“Thanks, Jo Uisin.”
Yu Sang-hun abruptly thanked me.
I pretended I couldn’t hear those thanks.
* * *
And after a few days, February 1st.
I, Unknown Supernova, Jo Uisin, turned 17 and became an official Player.
The moment the second hand of the analog clock pointed at 0.
I heard the system notification.
⟨Gwangrim’s usage became possible. ⟩
*~*~*
[1] Son Meatjig — In raws ‘Son Bait’, they make a word play with his name, as bait is ‘미끼 (mikki)m very similar to ‘민기 (mingi)’.
[2] ㅋㅋㅋ — ‘kekeke’ laughter
[3] one loss — a slang for when a person states something and that statement turns out to be untrue.
[4] Devil species — ‘악마 (akma)’ referring to various evil creatures in different beliefs, but most often to those in Abrahamic religions.
[5] If you plant soy, you get soy, and if you plant beans you get beans — a Korean saying that means you get what you deserve.
[6] hogu — a pushover.
[7] apple — ‘사과 (sakwa)’ also means apology.
[8] turning 17 — This novel was written using Korean Age, so everyone turn year older on 1st January. In the national age, it would be turning 16 here.
[9] fighting game — literally ‘great battle’ game.
Translator’s note: WHOOO! I got through it! Ah… my fear of this chapter was so deep it took me a month to get through the comments (and then things turned hectic, and I couldn’t work on it for like two-three months, and when I sit up to do it, the rest was finished in less than a day. Fear the comments).
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