Sleeping Min Greeb.
The woman in her dream was back to the day she first visited the home of Hong Kyung-bok. There was a firebox full of the smell of ink and glue. Finely ground ink on several inkstones. Paintings hanging all over the wall. A new world drawn by Hong Kyung-bok’s brush tip.
In Min Green’s eyes, everything seemed to shine. Although excited, she asked questions without any pause, but Hong Kyung-bok answered them all with a smile.
—Grandpa artist, what’s that picture over there? Why isn’t it included in the scroll or picture frame?
When Min Green pointed to the drawing board in the corner of the studio and asked, Hong Kyung Bok could not answer right away.
—…
—Painter Grandpa?
—That picture is incomplete.
—Why?
—Because I can’t draw anymore.
—Why?
—The person who asked you to draw that picture is no longer there.
—Why?
—…
Even though Min Green kept repeating ‘Why?’, Hong Kyung-bok did not answer any further. After looking at the picture hanging on the wall once, he started painting again. She didn’t get an answer, but Min Green had also lost the opportunity to ask why because she found herself getting lost in Hong Kyung-bok’s brushstrokes. She couldn’t understand Hong Kyung-bok’s words.
However, he soon realized that he couldn’t continue to paint this picture.
‘Then, if I secretly draw it and finish it, you might be pleased!’
Min Green thought so in her young heart and picked up a brush for the first time in her life.
“Green, it’s all over.”
She returned from her dream to reality with the voice of Song Dae-Seok.
“Uh…!”
When Min Green opened her eyes, Song Dae-seok’s face could be seen in front of her. She was reflexively startled and tried to step back from her, but she was immobilized because she was being held tight. It was then that she found out that she was in his arms.
“… … Dae-seok?”
When Min Green pouted in surprise…
Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong.
Notifications started pouring out of wearable devices belatedly. It was because she had set the alarm to go off automatically during her sleep.
More than half of the caller’s history that appeared on the AR glasses linked to the device was filled with Song Dae-seok.
She then began to apologize, “Dae-seok, I’m sorry! Did you wait long? I fell asleep without realizing it…”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m really sorry! Am I heavy? Put me down and I will walk.” Her socked feet slid through Min Green’s stumbling blankets. The player shoes she received from her school at the time of her admission to silver high school, which she always wore when she went out, were not visible.
It was as if Song Dae-seok had left her shoes at Kim Yuri’s house.
“Shoes…”
“I forgot. sorry. I’ll take you home.”
“Are you going all the way home like this?”
Instead of answering, Song Dae-seok gave more strength to the arms that were holding Min Green.
Ding dong.
At that time, a phone notification message appeared on the earring type device with vibration.
[Sender: Master Hong Kyung-bok]
“Did you call?”
“Huh.”
Seeing her expression, he immediately recognized who the caller was.
“Are you a painter?”
“Huh…”
It was well known that the bully was what made Min Green refuse to attend school. This happened not only within the school but also in Hong Kyung-bok’s studio. Hong Kyung-bok publicly excommunicated all the disciples who participated in the bullying or who knew but pretended not to know.
He didn’t just throw away his disciples. He felt so angry that he erased his name from his collaborations with his former students and burned all works that used the craters they had given him.
‘At that time, I didn’t know how heavy the follow-up measures the artist took.’
Now, seeing how his former students were buried in the art world and how their lives were ruined, he knew.
‘In my eyes, it was natural to do that and it was refreshing, but the painter was alone. It wouldn’t have been easy to cut off all the ties like a knife.’
Although he succeeded in avenging Min Green, he practically lost all of his students because of what he did. He was one of the few adults he could trust.
Song Dae-seok then began to speak in a soft voice. “Take it. You’ll be worried because I’ll call you when I find you.”
Shortly after the incident, Min Green was so busy with her own work that there was no time for her to care about Hong Kyung-bok, and she now regretted not contacting him any sooner.
She hesitated for a moment, but was encouraged by Song Dae-seok’s words and warmth and pressed the answer button.
* * * *
An unfinished painting by Hong Kyung-bok, who led Min Green’s path to becoming a painter, ‘The Ghost of Imugi’.
In addition to this, Hong Kyung-bok and the former player association Korea branch manager were contemporaries who lived through a dark age.
The two may have been friends.
‘Maintain and clue…’
On the screen, the former head of the Korean branch of the Players’ Association did not say what the clue was, but seeing the two words ‘jinjok’ and ‘clue’ gave me a guess.
‘It must be a clue to the location and number of frozen alien realms created by certain factions on the Korean Peninsula. I can only say that much because of the contract that binds the soul.’
I was sure he had left a clue behind, but I didn’t know that he had hidden it in one of the ghost stories floating around within Eungwang High.
‘But how does the picture become a clue? If Hong Kyung-bok had figured out something, he couldn’t have kept his hand.’
Besides, Lee Moo-gi’s Destiny was one of the most loved Korean paintings by Koreans. Currently, the painting was beautifully being displayed at the National Museum of Contemporary Korean Art, and one had to line up inside the museum to see it properly.
‘There must have been humans as well as Jinjoks among the spectators. It’s a little strange that no one noticed something.’
At that time, I suddenly remembered what Hwang Jiho had said.
—Language is a high-level communication system, but it has limitations.
With those words, Hwang Jiho interpreted the old book in a way he had never thought of. Perhaps something like Hwang Jiho’s interpretation was needed in order to find out the meaning of this clue.
‘The branch manager also said that this painting was ‘one of the clues I left behind’. There are more clues.’
When I thought about that, the landscape before me changed abruptly.
Sticky, supportive…
The voice of the branch manager could be heard sporadically through the noise.
—Excellent students… A secret can be kept… If the conditions are met… To the hidden stage…
It seemed that the influence of fate had ended and he had returned to reality.
“Um, I can’t hear well because of the noise. There must have been an error because it was an old simulator.”
Then, Sung Siwan’s voice was heard. “It seems to be necessary to get to the hidden stage. I don’t know what it is.”
Inside the simulation’s boss room.
There was only one video in which the video with noise was played repeatedly. There was nothing other than that.
“Isn’t it like temporarily taming Enemy and bringing it back? Hahaha!”
In the game, there were sometimes such gimmicks in the tower of monstrous form and difficulty. In some cases, it was possible to move on to the next level by twisting the previous floor’s energy with skills or items and dragging it to the next floor, or by inducing the energy to a certain point and making it a scapegoat.
It must have been attempted by someone from the history of the secret society.
‘I wonder if that’s where the sacrificial beasts of the secret society are supposed to come from in ghost stories.’
Considering how ghost stories were transformed and distorted from reality, it seemed more than likely.
“It seems difficult to find any clues beyond this. It’s late, let’s go back today.”
At Siwan’s words, Gye Dam nodded. Only I, who possessed a fraud skill called fate, found a hidden clue. However, why was I able to find the clue on my own?
‘Some of the abilities or characteristics I have met that ‘condition’.’
One might think that it was simply due to fate, but I wanted to consider other possibilities.
However, before I put my thoughts together and clicked the ‘Give up simulation’ button, I asked Siwan one thing that bothered me.
“Sung Siwan. I think you were surprised when you first saw the video. Do you know the person in the video?”
“The person in that video looks like my deceased grandfather. I’ve only seen it in photos or videos, and I can’t be sure because there is a lot of noise on that screen.”
Hearing those words, he realized something.
‘Sung Siwan and Seong Guk-eon are cousins. if so… ’
The former branch manager was also Seong Guk-eon’s grandfather.
* * * *
My dormitory room arrived with the two seniors seeing off. Left alone, I was thinking about the clues.
‘I want to see Lee Moo-gi’s ghost in person, and I want to talk to Hong Kyung-bok as well.’
In the former, all you had to do was go to the art museum early, but the latter was a problem. Currently, Hong Kyung-bok was living in hiding from Seoul, and his relationship with Min Green was almost cut off.
‘Shall we try to solve this problem and think about it? I’ve solved the first task that Seong Guk-eon gave me, but the investigation into the second ghost story hasn’t been completed yet.’
There was a ghost story about the ghost gate of Cheoniksan Mountain.
Soon, I fell asleep while studying the data of Mt. Cheonik, which was studied by Woo Ki-hwan, the class leader of Sanggeoji, of Year 3 Class 0.
* * * *
The next morning. In front of the Year 1 building entrance.
I saw Min Green with a pale blue face running. She shouted when she saw me. “Hey, help… !”
My playable character was asking for help, so of course I should. But what happened? No matter what happens, there is no way Mingrin can’t escape on her own.
‘Wait, you’re not wearing player shoes!’
Min Green was wearing plain tattered sneakers with her soles off, maybe her shoes broke while she had been using her skills. She left the player shoes at Kim Yuri’s house yesterday, so she wore them.
‘Considering Min Green’s financial situation, she can’t have any spare shoes other than the player shoes she gave her at school.’
Why didn’t I think of giving Min Green a spare shoe as a gift?
As I was reflecting on my lack of consideration, a loud voice hit my ear. “Painter Min Green! Come on, listen to me for a second!”
“Ah, you’re off!”
“I’m going to turn you off.”
“Hey, there’s a painter over there!”
There were badges in the shape of brushes, palettes, and sculptors on the collars of the school uniforms of the students running this way. Seeing that, I ran away from teacher Ham Geun Hyeong because I was scared before.
They were like the art club and the oriental painting small group.
‘Did Teacher Ham Geun Hyeong come here aiming for the absent now on a business trip? How do you deal with these guys?’
It was still too early to go to school. It seemed that no one in my class had attended school except Min Green and I. There was nowhere to turn for help right away.
“I came early to present snacks to the kids. People came… !”
Perhaps because of the presence of strangers, Min Green was holding two paper bags in her hand, breathing heavily. One was a blanket borrowed from Kim Yuri. The remaining one was filled with cookies stuffed with almonds. Perhaps she felt disturbed by the summoning of Song Dae-seok because she had fallen asleep while studying yesterday.
‘Shall we run away with Min Green like this? No, if you do that, the same situation will repeat tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Let me show you the bitter taste so I won’t touch it again.’
First, I began thinking about which skill to use. With my own eyes, the heterogeneous groups began to gather.
In addition to this, I felt a sense of déjà vu with the rapidly changing vision.
‘This is similar to the feeling of using the Baron’s Eye in the dark!’
And then, a system message that I had never seen in this world before popped up.
