Chapter 183 – Tossed Coin (2)
(T/N: Hi everyone! The “Nok Clan” that makes the medicine and was previously translated like so, will now be referred to as the “Deer Clan”. Happy reading!)
On the residential area and public lounge of the 17th floor of the dormitory building of the freshmen Eungwang High students.
Even after the students parted ways, Hyodon couldn’t come back to his room and instead sat in the lounge.
‘I couldn’t do anything.’
A total of seven students from Class Zero participated in the youth retreat.
Despite the pressure from the emergency situation, Jo Euishin was able to command everyone of their tasks, and even joined Saeum of April in safely evacuating the civilians.
Even though he was injured, Song Daesok was able to protect the kids from the other class before Hwang Jiho rescued them.
Kwon Yuri’s light skill eliminated a lot of the enemies, while Kwon Lena and Kwon Jein calmed the madness of the sea.
Maeng Hyodon wasn’t able to do anything.
If he had to say his contribution, it would be that he conveyed the message of Jo Euishin to the other students.
‘If this kind of situation happens again in the future, what could I possibly contribute?’
Hyodon’s heart felt heavy.
Aside from being good at fighting, there’s nothing else special that he can do.
On top of that, he specialized in close-contact combat so there was little he could do in the face of last night’s situation.
His eyes dimmed as he recalled the collapsed Yuri, the oncoming tsunami, and the large number of enemies.
As he reflected on the past events with a troubled heart, the performance of another person with abilities similar to him suddenly came to his mind.
‘…That’s right! That pseudo-saint old man!’
Tak Geosan was able to split the sea even with just his close-contact combat skills, and he was able to annihilate a large number of enemies.
‘I have nothing but close-contact combat skills. If I reach that level, I’ll be able to do something…!’
As he had such thoughts, Hyodon couldn’t just continue sitting down.
At sunset, as the summer sun was beginning to set.
Hyodon just started running.
He supported his father.
He survived in the fight club.
Hyodon lived peacefully in Eungwang high after those two goals were achieved.
Now it looks like he has a new one.
‘I’ll become stronger and join the fight!’
Maeng Hyodon zoomed through the humid air and towards the dedicated building for freshmen students and teacher’s office.
It is uncertain when Tak Geosan, who was currently on vacation and in charge of handling the incident and coordinating with the association, would come to school. But Hyodon intended to wait unconditionally for him, just as Tak Geosan did for him in the past.
* * *
At the front door of Hwangmyeong’s mansion.
Olmu was waiting with sparkling eyes.
I felt the accumulated fatigue disappear cleanly.
“Olmu! Were you waiting for me?”
Bark bark!
Olmu let out excited barks as he spun around my leg.
Even though my stupidness made Olmu suffer in the past, he still welcomed me so warmly!
Although confused, joy rose in the heart of the good, generous, and cute Olmu.
“Yes! Shinsoo was waiting for Euishin hyung!”
(T/N: ‘Hyung’ is an honorific used by younger males to refer to older males.)
“I wanted to eat lunch together with you, but it was already a bit late so I just went ahead and ate first. Please have dinner with us.”
“Hyung, come play with us after dinner!”
My heart warmed up at the thought that the Tiger Clan’s descendants and Olmu were being treated kindly.
Bark! Bark Bark!
“Hmm? Why? Is there something on that side?”
Olmu suddenly waved his tail and motioned for me to follow him.
Olmu took me to his room.
A colorful name tag, which I presume is made by the descendants, was hung on the door.
It seems like they made me a room where they put their gifts for me.
‘Thinking about it, he said he wanted to show me something…’
When I entered the room after Olmu gestured for me to do so, I noticed things placed in the center of the room.
They were almost-empty pouches with just drops of liquid left in them.
‘Isn’t that the medicine pouch given by the Deer Clan?’
The deer horn mark on it was clear.
I stiffened in shock.
“Olmu… did you drink all these…?”
Olmu made such a decision even though he hated the drink so much.
My heart broke at the thought of the kind-hearted Olmu having to do such a cumbersome thing.
Bark?…Bark? Bark bark!
“Ha… Hahahaha! I said I wasn’t gonna laugh! Hahaha!”
Hwang Jiho, who had been in a sour mood, started to laugh.
Olmu tried to send me a kind message through such an act, but due to the shock from such a grand gesture, Jiho must have thought that Olmu was so cute that he couldn’t stop smiling.
“He drank it all instead of getting rid of it.”
A warm voice was heard in the backdrop of Jiho’s hearty laugh.
White Tiger entered from the outside.
Bark!
Olmu let out a short and thick bark as if to tell me that I was right.
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Olmu drank all the medicine that I bought.
“If it wasn’t you who bought it, he wouldn’t have taken it.”
When White Tiger’s additional hit came in, my heart was overwhelmed.
“Olmu! I’m sorry! I didn’t know that… You did well in drinking them all!”
Bark bark!
I hugged Olmu who ran to my embrace.
I saw a passerby in the living room as I was hugging Olmu.
One was Yong Jegun, the other was a red-headed man that I didn’t know.
“Hello, Yellow Tiger Chairman Lee. I’m glad you invited me. I was happy and prepared to run away from work with whatever excuse.”
“…”
I think I’ve seen this person before somewhere.
‘His face looks oddly like a mixture of the Red Tiger and the Sad Bear Goddess…’
Especially his eyes.
The right eye that wasn’t covered by his hair had a single eyelid and looked similar to the Red Tiger’s, while the left eye had double-eyelids and looked similar to the Sad Bear Goddess.
The answer came out as I finished my train of thought.
“Kim Shinrok professor?”
“Ah, is it your first time seeing this face? This is my real face. It looks much better right? I change my identity often so my face changes a lot too. If I didn’t do that and just went around with this face then…”
“Stop it.”
Shinrok tried to poke Yong Jegun in the side, but Jegun avoided it very lightly.
It was a great move just like from my playable character.
‘If he went around with that face, it would be easier to cover it up.’
It’s very obvious from his face that he’s the son of the Red Tiger and the Sad Bear Goddess.
“Kim Shinrok, listen to my story before you go.”
“…Okay.”
Shinrok answered Jiho with a firm face.
His face became even stiffer as he saw the Red Tiger enter.
“Then, let’s talk about this matter now. Take a seat everyone.”
The automated maids brought tea and refreshments as we all sat down.
The tea served was iced Plush Darjeeling Tea, which was harvested in the rainy season of July.
There’s also plum tea, which was made by drying plums in season and adding honey and grain powder.
Each of them was served in a glass dish and tea bowl decorated with gold on the handle.
“I’m going to explain my experience on the situation. Let me know if I miss some details or information.”
Hwang Jiho explained the outline and agenda for today’s meeting.
I and the Red Tiger gave the information that we knew.
Ok Toyeon and the Moon Palace observed a ‘world calling’.
Negotiations with the association occurred to have them cover the Black Screen’s eyes.
The deviation of the retreat instructors.
The defense made by the students against the other world.
Evacuations of the civilians.
The swarm of enemies headed towards the island and Kim Yuri’s explosion.
We explained these points when Hwang Jiho interrupted us to ask me something.
“Are you sure that Kim Yuri’s order is now cut off because of the events last night?”
“Yea. The Butterfly Clan was the one relieving the pressure through that order.
“I’m glad any relationship between Yuri and that Butterfly is over now.”
Although mutual consent is needed when forming the order, it’s not necessary when terminating it.
An order is something that can be given to the lower being, but terminated by the higher one.
An example was that the heavenly god gave an order to the Bear Clan, but took it back later on.
“Continue your report.”
Hwang Jiho was the one who suppressed the retreat instructors, got rid of the bombs, and saved the students affected by the poison energy.
Kim Shinrok, Yong Jegun, and Red Tiger confronted the other Bear people.
Lastly, the Shapeshifter and the Bear of Agony were mentioned.
‘These uncontrollable variables are a pain in the ass.’
The events caused by the butterfly effect were because of my actions.
That’s why the Bear Clan appeared and aimed for Saeum of April and Kim Shinrok.
There’s something that bothered my heart.
‘The flow was similar to the game. Even if it was the same, the difficulty of the level had certainly increased.’
The difficulty of the collision between the two worlds through the ‘world calling’ increased, and the effect of the poison energy was also more powerful.
Although Choi Pyeondeuk and the retreat instructors openly mentioned procedures and confirmed the plan to interfere with evacuations, it wasn’t mentioned before that they planned to bomb the central evacuation center.
‘Is the difficulty increasing because things aren’t going the way they were supposed to?’
After Hwang Jiho’s explanations, we move on to the next topic.
“That’s all I had to say. Red Tiger, what happened to the Shapeshifter?”
“The chief sorcerer locked him up. As instructed, his arms and legs are being broken every time it regenerates. Every joint of his bones are being crushed with great care.”
I almost choked from the calm explanation of such gruesome matter.
It’s impossible to enjoy the refreshments gracefully while listening to such reports.
As expected of the combat tribe with a 5000-year history.
I eased my mind by petting Olmu who was between my arms.
“What about the questioning?”
“The chief sorcerer didn’t deal with me. I think he only speaks to the White Tiger.”
“White Tiger.”
The White Tiger opened his mouth.
“He didn’t say anything important. I’d have to question him further.”
It seems like the Shapeshifter only says bullshit when he opens his mouth.
“What about the search for the Bear of Agony?”
“Cheongho’s disciples are aboard the Cheonja and are hunting him down.”
“Do it properly and tell them to return to the new station. The enemies might return and try to aim again for the ‘sacrifices’ that they missed.”
Sacrifice.
I don’t know what the ‘sacrifice’ was for and what it meant exactly, but I know who the Black Screen was aiming for.
‘The female students from class one and two. I don’t know the specific number of people it was aiming for, but I’m sure Ahn Dain was a target.
However, Ahn Dain’s physical structure was different, which made the Black Screen’s plan collapse.
My plan was to use that to our advantage and send Jiho to the spot instead.
‘As it was in the game, Dain and the female students from Class Two all moved together, so I thought there wouldn’t be much problem with that.’
However, Hwang Jiho was late because he had to deal with some unexpected things. So, Song Daesok and the other kids were injured, and the Shapeshifter aiming for Saeum of April arrived early.
The damage increased because of the uncontrollable variables.
“Next, I want to say something about Jo Euishin.”
As I was deep in my thoughts, the attention turned to me.
“Did you guys feel anything odd before we reunited that day?”
“No.”
“No.”
Red Tiger and Kim Shinrok answered at the same time.
Their timing was exactly on point.
“Ah, are you talking about that light? It was difficult to detect during the battle because it was quite far away. It was a very familiar power.
“I see…”
Hwang Jiho was talking about the ‘Heaven’s Light’.
“Jo Euishin, you borrowed the White Tiger’s powers to defeat the Shapeshifter.”
“Didn’t the White Tiger defeat the Shapeshifter before? So, I thought that by using White Tiger’s strength, I could…”
“When I arrived, Jo Euishin had already overpowered the Shapeshifter.”
All their eyes focused on me.
There’s no way for me to hide it any longer because Hwang Jiho spoke with conviction.
“You used White Tiger’s power. There’s no such skill that can be used to borrow the strength of the mythical Tiger Clan. Although the rating of the light skill didn’t appear, judging from its power, I bet it’s of the EX rank rareness.”
Hwang Jiho spoke continuously.
“Jo Euishin, you have a form of light skill that lets you use the power of another being. Am I right?”
It’s difficult for me to avoid the eyes of the person who had been observing me even before I entered the school.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
When I affirmed his suspicions, Hwang Jiho’s eyes sparkled ominously.
“Other than your light skill, I learned another secret about you.”
Other than my light skill?
Before I could even raise the question, Jiho spoke again.
“Yeah, it was a long time ago, when I was out for a smoke. At that time, I personally witnessed the power of the unnamed April member. The contemporary world is almost completely separated from the past with the last dynasty, but there are times when it intersects occasionally.”
What do you mean when you were out for a smoke?
The first cigarette recorded in the history of Korea was in 1618.
If it’s a story before that year, that would be around the beginning of the last dynasty.
“It must have been the power of the April Clan “King’s Word” which helped in the evacuation of the civilians. For that skill to be activated, there must be the presence of a subject that the messenger holds dearly.”
So Hwang Jiho knows about the power of the April clan this well…
“So, even though the successor of the April family was very much qualified to use the skill, only those who were involved with him can use his power. There is only one person in Saeum of April’s short life that deserves to be granted permission to ride Saeum’s power.”
“…Only one person?”
“That’s right. During the day of the collapse of Hwanmong Auction, there was a person who saved Saeum of April. That person used a power similar to that of the Dragon Clan. Jo Euishin, you have the ability to use the powers of other beings. You were the one who used Saeum of April’s King’s Word.”
Hwang Jiho’s eyes were sparkling more than ever.
“Therefore, there’s only one conclusion to make.”
I already guessed Jiho’s next words, so my hands and feet prepared themselves for the cringe-fest.
I want to summon the Hongryong right now to shut this guy’s mouth.
“Jo Euishin, you are the Red Wall Thief.”
‘That word’ finally came out of the mouth of this jerk.
