119

In front of Eungwang School gates.

Time when no students attending school were seen, because the sun had already set.

When the brightened up by lights clock tower pointed at the time promised with Hong Gyubin.

"Uisin, sorry to make you wait. Get in first."

A Player Car stopped in front of the school gates.

Hong Gyubin's voice was heard over the open car window.

For the first time after our first meeting Hong Gyubin spoke with such a bright voice.

'After that we only met when I was ordering him to work, right?'

Hong Gyubin had a neat appearance like always, but his eyes were bloodshot, and his vigor disappeared.

Even so, he looked energetic today.

Especially the face of Hong Gyubin, who looked at the magazine filled with supplements which I dropped by the Newspaper Club room for, was overflowing with enthusiasm.

"You were busy in the meantime. Is it okay even if you don't rest?"

"Naturally. In any case, I was planning to go drinking with my subordinates today. It would be more tiring if I go there."

"Ah, was it an office dinner?"

Wouldn't his subordinates be happy if their superior was absent from office dinner?

"No. It was a drinking party with just the two subordinates you met before."

"You're talking about the People who I met at school before, yes?"

"Yeah. Manager Yun is having a difficult time after breaking up with his girlfriend. I was about to buy him a drink. But then I gave them my card and came here."

So the two, Manager Yun and Employee Jeong, ended up drinking together?

I recalled the appearance of Employee Jeong who was blabbing about useless and annoying stuff.

It seemed that if Hong Gyubin was not there, he would behave even more spitefully, so I don't know if Manager Yun would be fine.

'Manager Yun. He looked like a blunt person.'

Last April.

During the central stack room incident, Employee Jeong suddenly almost broached the topic of Manager Yun being dumped by his girlfriend.

I guess Manager Yun was still in shock of broken heart.

'I guess he liked her a lot.'

Let alone consoling, it seemed that Employee Jeong would behave like a snow bird[2], so I had no idea if it was good for the two of them to go out to drink together.

"This magazine was made by the Newspaper Club? Amazing. Teacher Jegal-nim had so many pictures from his younger years? Where the hell did you find them?"

While I sat down in the passenger seat and wore a safety belt.

Hong Gyubin, who opened the magazine to look at it, continued to burst into admiration.

The face of Hong Gyubin, who checked the table of contents, didn't feel even a little bit exhausted.

"There is even an interview recordings hologram chip, you know!? There are even those I couldn't see among those in the table of contents. Did you do an interview with them too?.. Ah, there was a time when I couldn't check, because I was very busy. That time, huh?"

No way, it won't be that I will have to listen to Hong Gyubin's first magazine opening and admiration review as I sit here like this, right?

When I was starting to contemplate if I should flee, Hong Gyubin lifted his gaze from the magazine.

"Where should we go then?! Do you want to go shopping? If not, how about dinner?"

There were no items I exactly needed and I didn't recall any menu I wanted to eat.

When I was contemplating if I should run a random menu list app, Hong Gyubin suggested introducing me to an excellent restaurant he knows.

After asking about any existence of allergies, Hong Gyubin typed in the destination into the navigation, and he drove the Player Car in the manual mode.

When the short drive ended.

'There is no signboard.'

Hong Gyubin stopped the car in front of a certain tile-roofed house in the Bukchon Hanok Village[3].

A wide parking lot was prepared, but there was no clue anywhere informing it was a restaurant.

'I can feel a superpower wave in the walls.'

After walking following the high walls, an enormous gate appeared.

On the gate were hanging beautifully decorated cheongsa lanterns[4] from red and blue cloth.

Kiiii—!

"Please come in, Hong Gyubin-nim."

After I stopped in front of the gate together with Hong Gyubin, the gate opened, and a person wearing hanbok welcomed him.

I didn't think in those circumstances he came here after making a reservation.

It seemed that Hong Gyubin was a VIP here.

'It seems to be a traditional Korean restaurant operating on the membership system. Aren't places like this difficult to enter without substantial wealth or connections?'

Hong Gyubin may have much better origins than I originally thought.

After following the person holding a cotton-yarn lantern covered by cotton-yarn of several colors, we entered a pavilion with hanging string curtains.

It looked like one pavilion was allocated to each guest.

Hong Gyubin, who sat down on the Korean sitting cushion laying on the floor, spoke up:

"Ah, this place has only one menu. But it changes everyday."

According to Hong Gyubin's words, the menu card didn't exist.

The moment I sat down, the dishes were served straight away.

The main dish was cold chicken soup made from silkie.

The ingredients were excellent, but I was deeply impressed how they poured their hearts out into preparing each and every inch of the chicken, beginning from the skin.

"Then let's talk slowly. This place is well secured, so it's good for conversation."

What came out as a dessert was Jeho-tang.

It was a traditional drink made by mixing and boiling medical cardamom and black cardamom[5] with honey and with the smoked plum powder, made from peeled seeds of smoked plums.

"How did the boat party incident turn out?"

"The way we talked beforehand. Though, the matter of manipulating the records remaining in the Player satellite was complicated…"

Hong Gyubin concisely summarized the Player's Association's response.

It seemed that they were a bit pressed for a response thanks to Ju-Oh and TC Group digging here and there.

'Even so, if it's to this degree, Dark Mastermind wouldn't be able to notice, right? Yet.'

People planted inside of the Association by Dark Mastermind were swept out with the Fantasy Controversy.

But they would try again to dig for information in the Association through other means.

"Uisin, as you had said that day, if I didn't prepare beforehand, I would be still overworking, right? Hahaha!"

For a moment, the light disappeared from Hong Gyubin's eyes, who said that.

In the future, when Hong Gyubin has a lot of work to do, it would be good to occasionally throw him a carrot so he doesn't sag too much.

'As it seems that Hong Gyubin has a lot of money, then the material worth throwing as a carrot was nothing but teacher Jegal Jaegeol-nim.'

And in addition, there still seemed to be something I didn't know about the subject of the relationship between the two.

This was a part I should continue to observe.

I switched to the next topic.

"I want to hear about the Seo[6] called Cunning we spoke about before."

The expression of Hong Gyubin, who heard the word 'Cunning' hardened.

"Talk about that dirty and clingy Jin, huh?"

But let's not talk about how dirty and clingy Hong Gyubin can be for one magazine.

"That Seo probably got interested in me because of my background, and then when he learned that I possess the Foresight skill after bothering me, he started to bother me even more stubbornly."

Hong Gyubin's background?

Thinking back, Hwang Jiho said previously that Hong Gyubin's chance to become a Player was interesting.

He said he even observed him a few times.

Hong Gyubin was probably unaware he almost ended up stuck with one more strange Jin.

"His behavior was too annoying, so I ended up accepting the blessing in the end, but… After I accepted the blessing, his behavior became even more irritating. Accepting Cunning's blessing was the craziest choice in my life."

Hong Gyubin sighed as he spoke.

"That Cunning goes crazy for human's drama. He is the most extreme human praise[7] chanter I know. I get horrible goosebumps when he uses respectful speech unlike himself and says 'I, like it very much'. Probably if a human possessing a bit of a dramatic background also had quite good superpowers, he would suddenly stick to them, right?"

Dramatic background.

Quite good superpowers.

The person I recalled straight away was Kwon Jane.

Kwon Jane's family history, talent and superpowers.

It probably matched Cunning's taste very well.

'As expected, that day I probably was together with Cunning in Kwon Jane's room.'

After I fell into thoughts, Hong Gyubin stood up from his seat as he spoke:

"Recently Cunning seemed busy. I don't think it's good for you to stay outside of Eungwang School's barrier for long. Let's go, Uisin. And if there is something you want, tell me straight away!"

Hong Gyubin added a word:

"And if you make such a good magazine again, make sure to take my share too."

His speech was precisely on GeunChan&WangChan duo's standard.

The moment I was going to sleep after parting with him, returning to my dormitory room and finishing all preparations.

Hong Gyubin's messages came flying like a hurricane.

[Hong Gyubin] Uisin!

[Hong Gyubin] This is the 2nd print. There is no 1st printing edition?

[Hong Gyubin] All three copies are 2nd print, huh…!

[Hong Gyubin] It's fine even if it's a very extra premium. Sell it please!

[Hong Gyubin] Uisin! ㅠㅠ!

Hong Gyubin's appearance overlapped with the 2nd year class 0 guys obsessed with the 1st print edition.

Jegal Jaegeol's students all think similarly, huh?

However, I also had no way of obtaining a non-existing 1st print edition.

I ignored Hong Gyubin's dirty and clingy message, asking to tell him the Newspaper Club president's contact information, and fell asleep.

***

Next day, morning.

Excluding Hong Gyubin's dirty messages, one more bomb was dropped on me.

'What is that?'

In the morning, I received a call from the Wings Council, which received parcel deliveries inside of the dormitory on my behalf.

After opening the dormitory door, my eyes landed on the parcel packages piled up into a stack taller than me.

Packages were engraved with 'Moon Rabbit Rice Cakes' logo.

It was Ok Toyeon's special Moon Rabbit Rice Cakes gift set.

[Ok Toyeon] Benefactor, are you surprised?

[Ok Toyeon] I didn't know what the benefactor would like, so I prepared one set of each kind of rice cakes we are selling.

[Ok Toyeon] There had to be at least one rice cake that is the benefactor's favorite flavor, right?!

[Ok Toyeon] Benefactor, did you eat them all? Which did you like the most? Which rice cake was most delicious? I love the rice cake filled with synurus[8]!

[Ok Toyeon] Benefactor, benefactor…

[Ok Toyeon] Why aren't you replying? — —

[Ok Toyeon] And what did you like the most!?

I had yet to remove the wrapping, but Ok Toyeon's messages poured down.

It seemed that it would get more annoying if I didn't reply, so I simply said 'thank you' and 'I'll eat slowly' and turned off the alarm.

'I don't think I will be able to eat all of it alone.'

I grabbed a few sets filled with several kinds of rice cakes and took them to school.

1st year class 0, in which I arrived like this.

There was a child who arrived earlier than me.

"Uisin, hi! I made blueberry syrup today, so let's eat it together."

Kwon Lena wearing a summer uniform.

She was setting up ice bottles filled with ice cubes.

The two of us prepared the table together, while I thought it worked out well as the throat will dry up quickly when eating rice cakes.

Kwon Lena, who had divided blueberry syrup into paper cups, sighed quietly.

"Um… as expected, it looks more purple than blue, right?"

"Uh, that's right."

Kwon Lena, who heard my reply, made a depressed face.

Originally, blueberries, unlike their name, were closer in color to blue-violet or black.

To make blueberry drink or dish blue, it had to be mixed with food coloring.

"As you know, we're going to see senior Kwon Jane-nim this weekend. Because I received too big of a gift the previous time, I wanted to prepare something. What should I do?"

I guess she wanted to prepare something blue to match Kwon Jane's alias 'Blue Violinist'.

That Blue Violinist would be happy to drink a glass of tap water Kwon Lena brought.

And it seemed that Kwon Jane liked blueberries.

It was because on the day I met with Kwon Jane, the only dish she held in her hand once after completely refusing all food was blueberry jelly.

"Senior Kwon Jane-nim likes blueberries."

"Uh? Really?!"

Kwon Lena, whose shoulders dropped, raised her head and made a bright face.

"That's lucky!"

Looking at Kwon Lena's happy face, I was also happy.

Soon other children came to school and after hearing her story, they gave some ideas.

The one to offer the best opinion was the talented class president, Kim Yuri.

"If that's the case, let's prepare one more thing besides the blueberry syrup. It would be better to use blue curaçao to dye it blue."

"Blue curaçao? Isn't that alcohol?"

"There are liqueur types of blue curaçao which contain alcohol and syrup types which contain non-alcoholic sugar."

Kwon Lena, who heard Kim Yuri's short explanation, decided to also make blue lemonade syrup.

"You know, it's a type of syrup that even if you don't eat it, if you put it in a glass bottle, it looks pretty. Even if the senior-nim doesn't eat handmade food, it would be good as a decoration."

"Blue curaçao… I should go buy it today!"

"I bought it before when decorating a home cafe. Do you want to come to my house together to make it together?"

"Uh? Is that okay? Talented Yuri-nim!"

As Kim Yuri was probably better at cooking, it seemed that Kwon Lena decided to cook while accepting her guidance.

As Han Yi and Sawol Seeum also showed interest, a cooking class ended being held at Kim Yuri's house after classes today.

"That… Can I also go? But I can't if there are too many family members."

Kim Yuri smiled towards Min Geurin, who spoke while hesitating, as she replied:

"Yeah! It's fine. No one is at home right now. Come to play. Ah, you can just stay for a sleep-over!"

"Uh, uh… Th-there is someone I decided to eat dinner with, so that's it."

I, who was listening to that conversation, recalled the scene from the game in my head.

'Kim Yuri's father is hospitalized. And her mother is nursing him.'

In the game, around the final exam of the 1st year 1st semester, Kim Yuri's mentality was gradually crumbling.

And during the summer break's incident, her mental balance was said to collapse completely.

'I won't leave this matter alone to explode.'

Looking at Kim Yuri smiling among the children, I thought about what move I should play.

As if I was making a suspicious expression again, Hwang Jiho was looking in my direction with sparkling eyes. I ignored it.

*~*~*

[1] No title – Senior's request (2) =-=

[2] snow bird – slang for a person that can't read the room and behaves inappropriately.

[3] Bukchon Hanok Village – a neighborhood in Seoul, popular as a tourist attraction thanks to big clusters of traditional Korean houses preserved there. A tile-roofed house (giwajip 기와집) is a type of such house. Yes, its main characteristic is having a tile roof.

[4] cheongsa lanterns – cheongsachorong (청사초롱) – traditional square-shaped lanterns hung during ceremonies, banquets or weddings, or to guide officials who went out during the night in the past. Red and blue colors represent yin yang.

[5] medical cardamom and black cardamom – Wurfbainia villosa and Lanxangia tsaoko, in korean they are called 'sand benevolence* (sain 사인)' and 'grass fruit (chokwa 초과) '.

*I'm not quite sure about that, it may be archaic hanja for herbal medicine.

[6] Seo – Seo tribe – mouse/rat tribe

[7] human praise – it's a Korean media trope referring to humans overcoming the difficulties they face (in very simplified terms). It comes from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood's Will A. Zeppeli's line: "Human praise is the praise of courage! Human greatness is the greatness of courage!" Korean exact translation is 'humanity anthem'.

[8] synurus – synurus deltoides. When Ok Toyeon was punished for sneaking out to watch baseball, she was also whining to eat synurus rice cakes.

Translator's note: I have no idea what to say, so I'll share a fun fact.

.

'Eungwang' means silver light. I wanted to mention it earlier, but I was never sure, because I couldn't find hanja to confirm it. But recently, when chapter 1000 of raws was published, I get to confirm it, so I can now confidently say that Eungwang (at least when referring to Eungwang School) means silver light.