116

Some time ago, weekend.

Eungwang School residential zone, staff residence.

It was the weekend, but Kim Sinrok returned after finishing work late in the afternoon.

Recently, as the National Assembly requests for materials submission increased, he didn't have a rest day even on weekends.

'It isn't even a government inspection period, but it's a bit excessive, eh?'

It wasn't just the National Assembly, but a separate request for the school management materials also came from the local district assemblyman.

Although the legal procedure was to request submitting of materials through the plenary session's or standing committee's decision, as this was ignored by not one or two assemblymen, the administration work had no signs of decreasing.

But it couldn't be helped as there were many directors and teachers involved in the Fantasy Controversy.

'Especially Seong Gukeon-gun. He abides by procedures, but the frequency is high.'

The student Kim Sinrok taught in the past under a different face and different name, and currently, a serving member of the National Assembly, Seong Gukeon.

From the moment the Fantasy Controversy exploded, he regularly requested Eungwang School management materials.

'As incidents broke out, he started to check more persistently. From the contracts selection process for chores, to budget management and its usage… Even up to yearly and quarterly student statistics. What are you looking for?'

Thanks to that, he didn't think that the amount of management work would decrease.

Not long ago, the 2nd year class 0's students, who were dissatisfied with the enormous amount of work of the Head of School Affairs, Jegal Jaegeol, invaded.

A few teachers who were goofing off at work while shifting their responsibilities were captured by the 2nd year class' students and even dragged in front of Jegal Jaegeol.

They acted considerate towards Kim Sinrok, who was the advisor of the Wings Council, so his originally small amount of work decreased even more.

'I should work hard for the students.'

When Kim Sinrok fell into thoughts while walking, someone called out to him to stop.

"Sinrok."

Yong Jegeon was waiting in front of Kim Sinrok's room.

"Teacher Yong Jegeon-nim!"

"Did you come back from work?"

"Yes. I got behind with work. I finished it now." [2]

Ping.

Kim Sinrok unlocked the fingertip recognition type door lock, while speaking very friendly.

Yong Jegeon burst out laughing, looking at that appearance.

"Are you going to imitate a teacher even on a weekend? Isn't that face suffocating?"

Kim Sinrok tilted his head after he heard those words, while he glanced around.

The moment he confirmed there were no traces of presence, his expression changed, and he dragged Yong Jegeon through the open door, entering inside.

"Hahaha! Ah, that's 'I have no idea what you are talking about?' expression. It makes me laugh every time I see it."

Yong Jegeon burst out laughing even while being dragged inside.

Unlike Kim Sinrok, who was hiding the fact he is a descendant, Yong Jegeon lived revealing that he belonged to Jin people.

Yong Jegeon, who was Kim Sinrok's old bad friend, sometimes teased Kim Sinrok like this.

"Why did you come to school? It's not because you have work to do."

"Even if I wanted to work, I wouldn't be able to, you know? Because chairman Hwangho-ssi limited the range of my work."

While Yong Jegeon sat down as he liked, even though he wasn't offered, Kim Sinrok released the skill that was holding his face.

After that, Kim Sinrok's features became well defined and red energy started to circulated through his eyes and hair.

"Your real appearance is so much better. Isn't it regretful to live hiding it?"

"You're noisy."

Even though he spoke harshly, Kim Sinrok took out two tea cups.

The tea he prepared was seasonal longjing tea[4].

This tea, cultivated as Dragon tea of Tiger Spring with cold water from Hupaoquan[5], was Yong Jegeon's favorite tea to drink.

Observing Kim Sinrok, who was moving diligently, Yong Jegeon smiled.

'He is exactly the same as his mature father when he was young. Even his face resembles his father, but even so, he resembles his mother more.'

With just a look at Kim Sinrok's real face, it was obvious he was the son of the two, Jeok-ho and Ungnyeo of Grief.

But because of it, he had to live hiding his face even more.

"Drink that and go."

"I'll drink well."

Longjing tea had a deep and clear fragrance and color like jade.

Yong Jegeon savored the taste of tea with satisfied face and then asked:

"Did something happen to Jeokho-ssi?

"What about it?"

"Something did happen, huh? I guess he was even injured."

"…"

"There was a period when both you and Hwangho-ssi were anxious at the same time, you know? And then you suddenly stabilized."

Kim Sinrok shut his mouth and tilted the tea cup.

'In addition, isn't Ungnyeo of Grief moving while wearing a red dress?'

Yong Jegeon decided to keep his mouth shut about this clue.

"Pass on my congratulations on complete recovery."

"How the hell did you guess all of that?"

"Oh, I see he is fine now. I'm glad."

"Ah, really."

Yong Jegeon always talked as if he looked into the head of his conversation opponent.

Kim Sinrok, who was pissed, soothed himself with the longjing tea.

"Talking about your life savior[6], Unknown Supernova."

After Yong Jegeon tried his luck, Kim Sinrok immediately replied:

"Jo Uisin-gun is a benefactor of the Ho tribe. If you harass him, the Ho tribe won't stay still."

Kim Sinrok's voice was filled with worry.

Half of it seemed to be a worry about Jo Uisin, and the remaining half seemed to be a worry about Yong Jegeon.

"If he is your life savior, he is also my benefactor, you know? I would never harass him."

Looking at Kim Sinrok's reaction, talking about Jo Uisin's story seemed dangerous, Yong Jegeon immediately changed topic.

It seemed likely that what he was talking about now was the main topic.

"Sinrok, don't leave outside of Eungwang School for the time being."

Even though Kim Sinrok thought it was weird, he shook his head.

"There are events where I have to guide students, so I can't do that."

"Um… What should I do? I won't be able to accompany you to the outside events because of my contract."

"Why?"

Yong Jegeon recalled the 'eyes' he felt every time he left outside of Eungwang School.

As a person extremely sensitive to space or gazes, that faint feeling was probably gazes.

Yong Jegeon spoke as he looked outside of the window.

"Because someone is watching."

***

"Hello."

Yong Jegeon, who accepted my greetings, immediately entered the simulator room I was training in before.

'It's that expression, you know?'

Yong Jegeon was making an ecstatic expression.

It was an expression I saw after coming to this world and a few times in the game.

I had an ominous premonition.

"Uisin. Before you entered this place, there were no traces, but now, excluding you, I can feel traces of other kids."

It seemed that the ominous premonition was correct.

I turned my eyes to check the surroundings, in case other children heard that.

As if to say to relax, Yong Jegeon snapped his fingers.

Snap.

Together with the sound of snapping fingers, little by little, I heard the surrounding noise.

I guess he blocked the sound before, just like he blocked the sound between the audience seats and the chess tables during the chess tournament.

'He activated Space Art from the moment I came out, huh?'

As expected, my Playable Character was good at preparations.

"Let's talk a bit. "

But the problem was that his instinct and reasoning abilities were also extremely good.

***

Central zone, General Club Council building.

Chess Small Group clubroom.

There was no one here, probably because the sun was already setting and the club activities had ended.

'It's full of chess.'

Holograms with likely self-made chess problem applications in the middle of running.

Chess pieces from several materials: wood, acryl, crystals, otherworld metals, etc.

Manuals, likely in the middle of being studied by students of the small group.

Chess opening encyclopedia, which gathered 'book moves' from the early periods of a chess game.

Among those, the most eye-catching were chess board cases with name tags attached.

1–0 Sawol Seeum

1–0 Han Yi

I guess they prepared personal chess boards for all the trainees.

Names of our class children who decided to take a beginner course.

Looking at the two's names, a bit of warmth seemed to return to my hands which were icy cold.

'Was it necessary to bring me all the way here?'

Yong Jegeon, who covered up gaps with activation of the Space Art, spoke as if he read my mind.

"It's because among the places I'm limited to in Eungwang School, this is the only place where even chairman Hwangho-ssi can't look into."

Yong Jegeon, who finished speaking, glanced at my hands.

"You won the chess tournament, so I thought you may overcome your trauma. Looks like it's still there, huh?"

Snap.

After Yong Jegeon snapped his finger, the clubroom was dyed with jade color.

It looked like a barrier was created with space and color was applied to it.

'He would be aware of the existence of the trauma if he investigated my background and observed me play chess up close during the chess tournament, right?'

It was Yong Jegeon who watched every game and the whole playing field thanks to his own Space Art.

It wasn't weird for him to notice that every time I played chess, my body displayed abnormalities.

"I continued to worry about you from the moment you saved Sinrok."

"You're acquainted with teacher Kim Sinrok-nim?"

"Yeah. Sinrok is my friend."

Yong Jegeon is friends with Kim Sinrok?

Both of their lifespans are long, and the Ho tribe and Yong tribe had exchanges, so those two learned about each other and spent time together?

"Speaking of the main point, I know your identity, Uisin. These days you're using a crow mask, right? Red Wall Phantom Thief."

I was prepared, but the hell 'that word' came out?

Suddenly, my face grew hot, and it seemed that the surroundings became warmer.

I should be wearing summer clothes.

Let's start wearing summer clothes from tomorrow.

Even when I was escaping reality like this, Yong Jegeon continued to speak using that word.

"But it was Junyeol who had figured out most of it. Junyeol can't match my space and traces sensitivity, so he would lack clues to search for Red Wall Thief."

Yong Jegeon explained his reasoning process.

'That word' person possessed appearance and Gwangrim similar to Yeom Junyeol.

From a certain day, Yeom Junyeol halted his search for that person and engrossed himself in training.

"There is no way that Junyeol simply gave up on Red Wall Thief like that, you know? I thought that our excellent Junyeol found Red Wall Thief and made him his master."

Yong Jegeon's voice, who spoke like that, was full of pride about Yeom Junyeol.

He didn't show it as much as Cheongryeong and Yeom Bangyeol, but Yong Jegeon also seemed to be Yeom Junyeolmin.

"But it was strange as I couldn't feel the traces of that master."

"Then why are you calling me that… calling me senior Yeom Junyeol-nim's master?"

I couldn't bear to use 'that word', so I used a different expression.

"I combined several pieces of clues. Starting with the Jamsil Baseball Stadium incident which occurred on the day Yeom Junyeol suddenly said he would throw a first pitch before."

Jamsil Baseball Stadium incident which occurred on the day Yeom Junyeol threw a first pitch.

That incident and the following boat party.

Lastly, the 1st year class 0, which had ties to the Fantasy Auction.

"The people who had connections with all three conditions are Uisin and Hyodon. But among the two of you, Hyodon was in the Fight Club when the Fantasy Auction occurred, you know?"

Even so, those were only indirect clues.

There was no direct evidence.

Before I could refute like that, Yong Jegeon took out an item card as he spoke:

"Last clue turned out to be this. Jin, with whom I made a deal in the past, gave it to me in return, you know? She said that on the day of the boat party, something fun would happen, so I should use it to observe the deck. And I used it, and this is the remaining card."

Looking at the item card border, it was UR rank.

'Trace of absentee'.

At first glance, it was the name of a consumable item.

"It's UR rank, but if one doesn't have trace detection ability like me, it's a useless item. On the day of the boat party, I used this item to constantly detect traces on the deck."

It's an UR rank item, so why the hell do you use it on useless things like this?

Yong Jegeon's words continued.

"Uisin, your trace changed from Hyeji to Seung-hyeon, then from Seung-hyeon to Gyeong-gu. Then it returned to Uisin again, right?"

Yong Jegeon accurately recited the sequence of 'Player's Trajectory' I used.

That day, I used Oh Hyeji's 'Under moonlight of Skanda' to move quickly.

After that, I used Bak Seung-hyeon's 'Army conducts Marching Song' and Gwak Gyeong-gu's '100 seconds of Grace' in order to block Forks.

"Hyeji was on the Cymopoleia, but during that time, she joined the otherworld attack team, right? And Seung-hyeon and Gyeong-gu spent the entire weekend in the dormitory."

Yong Jegeon spoke with a voice filled with confidence.

"That's your Gwangrim, right? On the day of the Fantasy Auction and then during training with Junyeol, you changed into Junyeol. The traces remaining in the simulator room right now are also probably because of that Gwangrim."

Since it was exactly like this, there was no way for me to refute.

After I nodded my head, I asked:

"Who is the Jin who repaid you?"

"I think you already know her. It's a Jin who worries about Jeok-ho."

Jin who worries about Jeok-ho.

It wouldn't be a member of the Ho tribe, so he was probably talking about Ungnyeo of Grief.

I wanted to consider the moves of Ungnyeo of Grief, but it wasn't currently an important thing.

"Are you going to inform the Yong tribe about my identity?"

At my question, Yong Jegeon shook his head.

"I have no thoughts of revealing your identity. Even to Junyeol. Instead of that."

Yong Jegeon's eyes were shining.

He probably went through all the trouble up till now of digging up my identity through the reasoning to say this:

"Next time, include me, please. For certain."

I half-guessed it, but as expected, it was like this, huh?

It seemed that observing and acting together with Red Wall Thief was added to Yong Jegeon's new hobbies[7].

"If so, please take good care of me in the future, Red Wall Thief."

It would be better if he stopped chanting 'that word'.

***

After parting with Yong Jegeon and heading towards the dormitory, my mood was ambiguous.

'It's not bad to move together with Yong Jegeon.'

Yong Jegeon possessed capabilities comparable even with the Yong tribe's head Cheongryong.

If I moved together with him, the moves I could play would increase exponentially.

'It's still a long time until it occurs, but 'Dragon Palace collapse' or 'Dragon King's maiden[8]' scenario… If I had Yong Jegeon, I could twist the scenario or make something happen which has never happened before.'

Yong Jegeon was someone, who in addition to possessing amazing Gwangrim and skills, displayed extraordinary reasoning abilities and patience if he was only curious.

'If it's Yong Jegeon, I thought that he may have figured me out, but he figured me out so quickly.'

Red Wall Thief = Jo Uisin.

Currently the only one to realize that fact was Yong Jegeon.

'The beings that know that I'm the Crow Mask are Hwang Jiho, Jeok-ho, Ok Toyeon, Hong Gyubin… Ah, and Maeng Hyodon is also aware of it, huh?'

All of them learned that because I let them see me wear the crow mask or I personally revealed it to them.

Yong Jegeon ended up figuring it out with almost no contact with Jo Uisin.

'No, there is also Baek Ho-gun, right?'

During the Birthday Cake Smash, I was wearing a crow mask and my outer appearance was changed with Gwangrim.

Baek Ho-gun, who suddenly appeared, called me 'Jo Uisin' when he looked at me.

'Opportunely, I have a business with Baek Ho-gun.'

I brought out Baek Ho-gun's device code, which still had no records of receiving or sending any messages.

'Can I talk about it out of the blue?'

Thinking of Baek Ho-gun's personality, he would on the contrary hate to waste time on unnecessary greetings.

I got straight to the point.

[Me] I want to hear the Nine Iron Teeth Rake's voice. Please help.

Baek Ho-gun's Gwangrim summons weapons.

In the game, it wasn't described in detail, but there were scenes where he seemed to communicate with his favorite weapon, White Fang.

It seemed that he would know something.

[Baek Ho-gun] Got it.

[Baek Ho-gun] There is a condition.

A reply came straight away.

But a condition was unexpected.

[Baek Ho-gun] Play chess with me.

There was a condition I couldn't even think of.

*~*~*

[1] No title – Title: "Weapon's voice (4)" =-=

[2] "Yes. I got behind with work. I finished it now." – Yong Jegeon is speaking casually, but Kim Sinrok is speaking politely here.

[3] "Why did you come to school? It's not because you have work to do." – Kim Sinrok isn't using a polite tone anymore.

[4] longjing tea – also known as dragon well tea. In korean it reads as yongjeong and… if not for hanja, one may interpret its name as 'dragon affection'. I'm just saying.

[5] Dragon tea of Tiger Spring, Hupaoquan – Hupaoquan literally means 'Dreaming of Tiger Spring', so longjing tea is also popularly known as Dragon tea of Tiger Spring. I'm not even saying anything now. At this point, the people in the know should be already screaming.

[6] life savior – I usually translate 은인 (eunin) as benefactor, but it could also be translated as savior. In fact, in many cases, it would make more sense to translate it as savior, but because Jin people like to casually throw it around, I decided to tone it down to benefactor, because otherwise other people around not catching up on just how much Jo Uisin did for benefactor-chanting people would be weird. 은인 (eunin) general meaning is a person who helped without expecting anything in return.

[7] hobbies – raws: game/amusement, the same word that is used for his category.

[8] maiden – if you remember my note from chapter 105 about 'shaman/godly maiden', that is the same word. I decided to use godly maiden or just maiden when the god is mentioned.

.

Translator's note: Yes, our Yong Jegeon is a genius and Baek Ho-gun is… Um… Bad at not being suspicious.