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33. Outcome of choice (4)

"Uisin, thank you for contacting me. Su-hyeok said he started searching at the west coast. We almost made a mistake and missed him. That lunatic fuck–… Can you explain what Sihu was doing when he was discovered, and where it was?"

While To Sihu was being beaten up just like before, Jang Namuk spoke up to me.

Seeing how curses were coming out of Jang Namuk's mouth, I guess he was still mad.

"He was first discovered by a Person from an information desk at Sokcho Seorak Sunrise Park…"

After I finished my explanation of To Sihu's travel account, the Military Academy cadets each sent him one more punch.

Puk! Bang!

Following all the cadets' flapjacks, Jang Namuk made a finisher with a Pop-up European Uppercut[1].

Pueuk!

A straight punch towards the sky, cleanly struck To Sihu's chin.

"Ack…"

As if it hurts, To Sihu, who clenched his teeth and withheld the screams, let out a quiet groan.

Even just looking at cadets' linked attacks, I thought it hurt.

"Sihu, are you sane? You almost drowned in the 2 meters deep school swimming pool, and I heard you suddenly jumped into the sea, which is cold and got a fast current ? Do you want to die?"

I guess To Sihu already had a criminal record.

The face of Jang Namuk, who said those words, turned white as a sheet.

"If you want to die like this, then I'll beat you up to death, you fucking lunatic!"

"Yeah, leaving by being beaten up and leaving by drowning, is exactly the same, but that's better. For what sins do the maritime police have to clean a drowned body?"

"Player's corpses have the possibility of superpower residues remaining even after death. Not the maritime police, but our seniors would have to deal with it." [2]

The Military Academy cadets, who seized To Sihu so he couldn't escape, spit out stormy words.

They spoke roughly, but the young faces, which didn't harmonize particularly well with their buzz cuts, were filled with worry.

"… I didn't think of dying. I thought that if I could swim, no one would stop me."

"Even if you could swim, the seasickness wouldn't go away, so I would continue to stop you."

"To Sihu, you fucking lunatic, why suddenly go crazy?" [3]

To Sihu, who was scolded, looked at Jang Namuk as if clinging to him, as he spoke:

"… Can't you just support me?"

Jang Namuk's face twisted.

I seemed to hear 'I want to go die, but can't you just support me?' in those words.

I planned to quietly observe, but it was difficult to keep my mouth shut.

"Hey. You can't expect Jang Namuk or your cadet friends to be able to support you. Even if it was me, I wouldn't be able to do that."

I wanted to support my Playable Characters with everything they want, but if they say they wanted to go die, I would stop them.

But if it's a situation where they can't help, but go to a dangerous place, I would go with them or make countermeasures to play.

"Even though those kids can't say what you want them to, they were seriously worried about you. Are you aware that Jang Namuk didn't get a blink of sleep and ran searching for you?"

To Sihu, who heard those words, closely examined Jang Namuk's face.

Jang Namuk's highschool cadet outer appearance was that of a model of a pre-soldier, but his eyes were bloodshot and his lips were dry.

Other cadets also had similar faces to Jang Namuk.

As if at least the messed up faces of his friends entered his view, he made an ashamed expression.

"…Sorry."

"Even if you apologize, I can't support you."

"Hahaha, okay…"

To Sihu apologized to all the children one after one.

Looking at this scene, it seemed that To Sihu won't try to jump into water or commit suicide again.

He probably felt something, as he saw his friends worrying about him so much.

"Don't stand outside, and come in, everyone. You came a long way, so I should at least treat you some tea."

Yes? Our apologies. We were so rude…"

"Huhu, if I thought you were rude, I would tell you to quickly get out."

Under the landlord's resolute attitude, the Military Academy cadets ended up coming inside.

Inside the shack.

We sat on cushions.

I asked Jang Namuk, who was making a tired face as if all tension left him.

"How did you get a tiltrotor?"

"In our cadet group, there is a kid, who was affiliated with the Research Institute under the Ministry of Defense since a long time ago. She asked for it. Because she requested it saying she wants to drive it for training, the permission came straight away."

It was amazing that premission came out straight away, but are you saying a person the same age as Jang Namuk personally operated a tiltrotor?

It seemed there were also many hidden talents at the Military Highschool Academy.

But it seemed like an extremely flashy move.

"You submitted a stay-out request in To Sihu's place, remember? Won't someone from the school side notice you with such an eye-catching move? Will it be okay?"

"It will be fine. I'll take responsibility as a cadet group leader."

You know that just sounds like you're saying that you will receive a punishment if you get caught, right?

I don't know about other guys, but it didn't seem completely fine for Jang Namuk.

'Jang Namuk is a cadet group leader?'

In the Player Miliary Highschool Academy, the cadet group leader is personally picked by cadets from the relevant group after admission.

For now, he would be the person with the highest position in his age group until the cadet president is selected among his cadet group when they enter higher grade.

'I heard that the first place is usually put in charge. I guess he gained trust with the mass game and things like this.'

Not only he didn't mention that he was admitted as second place in rankings, he was a guy who talked a lot, but it seemed that he didn't talk much about important things.

"Let's see your injuries."

While we waited for the tea to be prepared.

Ham Geun-hyeong held an item card and examined To Sihu, but…

"In any case, Sihu will have to be beaten up again when he returns. We will treat Sihu when he is all corrected. Thank you for your consideration."

Jang Namuk stopped him very politely with words that the content didn't match the politeness.

To Sihu, who shut his mouth before and sat without commenting, spoke with trembling voice:

"…Uh? I have to be beaten up again?"

"Yeah, the kids are lining up to beat you up. They lined up on our cadet group's exclusive training grounds."

"… My head hurts. I need to take medicine."

After To Sihu spoke while holding his head, Jang Namuk who threw a fist into his face a few times, asked worriedly:

"Does your head hurt a lot?"

Hearing those words, To Sihu spoke triumphantly:

"My head hurts, so I need to eat a ton of medicine. Because my head hurts a ton![4] Hahaha… ack!"

Slap!

One of the cadets slapped the back of To Sihu's head to shut his mouth.

The atmosphere turned heavy and To Sihu made a sullen face.

"Did something happened to that fucker's head after the trashing?"

Song Daesoek, who was hiding Min Geurin behind him, spoke harshly.

It's a pity, but To Sihu's head was originally like this even before trashing.

It was a bit reassuring because it seemed that To Sihu returned to his usual self.

"I brought tea. Let's just sit down and drink."

Painter Hong Gyeongbok, who even though witnessed highschoolers, who he saw for the first time, crowd in front of his house and deliver a one-sided lynching and gang beating, was treating them tea with a broad mindset.

According to his words, everyone quietly sat down and started to drink tea.

The freshly made tea was galbun tea[5] made from grounded long arrowroots.

The refreshments were galbun dasiks made by putting arrowroots, ginger juice and honey together.

'It's a meeting without reason, huh?'

Min Geurin, who held on to Song Daeseok's collar and hid behind him because there were many strangers.

Teacher Ham Geunhyeung-nim, who was sitting in the place that blocked Min Geurin's view.

Military Academy's cadets, who were sitting on the edge and stiffly drinking tea.

Painter Hong Gyeongbok, who spoke as if he liked their quick to move mindset.

The trigger and members of this gathering were subtle, but thanks to the great man, painter Hong Gyeongbok, the tea ceremony somehow ended well.

When we drank tea and dealt with the situation.

"Our apologies for causing disturbance."

"Apologies!"

"Huhu, what apologies? Raise your heads."

Hong Gyeongbok had a satisfied expression as he looked around at the good buzz cuts.

"Then I will go to send you off."

"I'll be back."

It became a mess because of To Sihu's run-away, but today was a day when the two artists, master and disciple, who represent Korea, met for the first time in a long time.

And it seemed that Song Daeseok also met Hong Gyeongbok after a long time, so I hoped they could slowly talk.

Teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim probably also thought the same as me, and went out together with us.

'And there was a person I planned to meet in Hongcheon county…'

In fact, from the beginning, I thought of leaving in the middle.

[Me] Senior-nim, I arrived in Hongcheon. Where should I go?"

[Seong Siwan] Where? I'll pick you up! ㅎㅎ[6]

Today I planned to meet with Seong Siwan and Gye Idam.

***

The Military Academy cadets, Ham Geun-hyeong and Jo Uisin went down the mountain.

Song Daeseok observed them through the window.

"Your class vice president is a truly nice kid, huh? Geurin's family also weren't stingy for praises for the class president kid… Geun-hyeong is a homeroom teacher, so it goes without saying, right?"

Hong Gyeongbok spoke as if comforting Song Daeseok.

"It seems that Geurin won't get involved in difficult matters even if you start attending school, huh?"

Song Daeseok didn't reply to those words and instead looked at Min Geurin who was frantically admiring Hong Gyeongbok's new paintings on the other side of the room.

The faces of the people, who tormented Min Geurin, flashed in his head as he recalled their names.

"Think of it well. It's an opportunity to spend your school time with Geurin."

But he soon recalled the 1st year class 0's children.

And Min Geurin who praised class kids whenever she could.

"I'll also help you, Daeseok. Because I made a decision when Geurin started to come to school and you came to find me."

"…Yes?"

Hong Gyeongbok, who spoke like this, operated the device and started to contact someone.

Song Daeseok, who heard the content of the conversation from the side, made an expression of disbelief.

***

After confirming that the Military Academy cadets bought tickets for airbus, I decided to meet with Seong Siwan.

"I guess you have an appointment, huh?"

"Yes, I planned to meet with senior Seong Siwan-nim. Do you have plans, teacher-nim?"

"Nothing particular. I plan to get indebted to the elder and stay in his house for a night, because I have to conquer the SSR rank dungeon tomorrow. I'll wait with you until Seong Siwan arrives."

I guess Ham Geun-hyeong was worried about his disciple being in an unknown area.

But there was no need to worry that much.

As if reading my thoughts, Ham Geun-hyeong added:

"Ley lines in this area are unstable. During the change of seasons, otherworlds always occur very frequently. It's not recommended to move alone."

"Ley lines of this area?"

"Yeah."

Ley lines…

According to the legend of Oeum Mountain Sammachi of this area, the ley lines were severely damaged, so it was expected.

Hearing Ham Geun-hyeong's words, I started to guess the cause of his business trip.

"Teacher-nim's business trip is related to Hongcheon county's unstable ley lines?"

"Yeah… In the past, I cleared an otherworld in this area, and it became a trigger for me to help them year after year."

I knew something about this.

The case of blocking otherworld outbreak in Hongcheon County ski resort began Ham Geun-hyeong's legend as the Great Archer of Blue Sky.

The otherworldly crack appearing as an expanding type otherworld, was gradually widening, but the resort was in crisis as the support was delayed because of the heavy snowfall.

After Ham Geun-hyeong subjugated all the Enemies outside, he conquered the dungeon in a short amount of time, by playing both the role of the defense and attack team alone and perfectly solving the incident.

'To conquer the SSR rank dungeon alone at such a young age!'

As expected, it was an accomplishment worthy of my Playable Character and my homeroom teacher-nim.

As we stood in front of the airbus terminal, and I carefully listened to Ham Geun-hyeong's exploits, soon Seong Siwan appeared.

"Uh, teacher Ham Geun-hyeong-nim! Hello! Is your business trip finished?"

"Yeah. I will only clear the SSR rank otherworld predicted to occur tomorrow and plan to go back."

"I also planned to conquer it and applied to the Association. Let's go together. Idam is also going as an attack team."

"Okay."

"Excellent. As I can do nothing but close-range attacks… Ah, teacher-nim. Do you want to join us for lunch?"

Seong Siwan had a bright smile, while inviting Ham Geun-hyeong to his house.

As if Ham Geun-hyeong didn't have anything to do and didn't want to interrupt the meeting between the painters who saw each other after a long time, he accepted straight away.

'Should I ask about it?'

On the road heading to Seong Siwan's house.

Pretending to just chat, I decided to dig Seong Siwan's hometown.

"Senior Seong Siwan-nim, is your hometown in Hongcheon?"

"No, my parents-nim moved before I was born. Because superpower waves were detected during the pregnancy, they went to the place where Players lived. And so I was born in Seoul. After I entered Eungwang School, my family returned to Hongcheon."

"Was your cousin hyung-nim also like this perhaps?"

"Yeah, Gukeon hyung too! Gukeon hyung came to the superpower center I was going. When hyung was there…"

As Seong Siwan started to boast about Seong Gukeon's past, there was no end.

When I walked, leaning my ears, because it wasn't bad to hear about my Playable Character hidden behind-the-scenes stories.

"Long time no see, teacher Ham Geunhyeong-nim."

Ham Geun-hyeong turned with a surprised face towards the direction from which the voice came from.

"Gukeon…"

In front of Seong Siwan's parents' home.

Seong Gukeon was looking at us.

*~*~*

[1] Pop-up European Uppercut – I'm pretty sure there is no 'pop-up' european uppercut, but my wrestling knowledge is limited, so I may be wrong…And that's what raws appear to say.

[2] "Player's corpses have the possibility of superpower residues remaining even after death. Not the maritime police, but our seniors would have to deal with it." – This is a person who uses 'cute/ changing verb form into noun form tone'. I'm not sure how I should interpret their tone anymore. Adding '~' here feels unsavory and I don't think it was what the author had in mind. Another note, the second sentence uses a polite tone suddenly. I'm not quite sure frankly speaking.

[3] "To Sihu, you fucking lunatic, why suddenly go crazy?" – The person from note [2] continues to speak using 'cute/ changing verb form into noun form tone'.

[4] My head hurts, so I need to eat a ton of medicine. Because my head hurts a ton! – Joke is untranslatable, so I replaced it with something else but here is the raw's joke:.

"My head hurts, so I need to take two buckets (두 통) of medicine. Because hurting head is a headache (두통)!"

[5] galbun tea – galbun is a powder arrowroots.

[6] ㅎㅎ – 'haha'

Translator's note: Happy new gregorian year to you, dear reader~