“I’m OK! I’m fine! I have work to do, so can you please just send it to me?”
“I’m afraid that can’t be done.” Do Sihoo swiftly tried to counter, but was blocked by my homeroom teacher’s apparent determination.
‘You don’t look okay at all.’
The drooping eyes and the darkened shade of eyes.
Bluish lips.
A towel was placed over wet hair.
No matter where one looked, one could tell he wasn’t in his normal state at all.
“Green, come behind me.”
“Uh…”
Song Dae-seok could evidently feel Do Sihoo’s extraordinary talent. He grabbed Green’s arm and hid her behind him before Min Green could even answer.
In the meantime, Do Sihoo was watching Ham Geun Hyeong warily as he tried to run away.
‘It seems like they don’t even know I exist.’
Even if this was the case, the head of the student department of Eungwang High couldn’t possibly act recklessly. There was no way I could run away from that teacher Ham Geun Hyeong now.
“Hello, Mr. Ham Geun Hyeong. What did Do Sihoo do?”
Once I greeted, Do Sihoo’s expression turned into one of surprise.
‘You must have known that I was coming today, so you must have brought me here. You must have known that Do Sihoo and I were acquaintances since you were aware of the baseball field incident and the party incident.’
Even if there was no manpower in Gangwon-do that could subdue Doshihoo, there was a way to call Jiwon from Seoul and take over. Still, Professor Ham Geun Hyeong had dared to drag this guy to Gari Mountain in Hongcheon.
“This morning, a request for support came from the tourist information center of Seorak Sunrise Park via the Sokcho Maritime Police Station.”
Ham Geun Hyeong’s explanation was as follows: Seorak Sunrise Park, once called Naemulchi (內勿淄), was located along the coast at the entrance of Seoraksan Mountain. The information desk staff witnessed a high school boy with short hair sitting idly under a sea pine since morning.
‘Did you come here to cool your head because the final exams are coming soon?’
The staff evidently thought so.
The high school boy took off only his coat and jumped into the sea. The average water temperature in the East Sea in June was between 14 and 19 degrees.
‘There are a lot of players who use eccentric training methods or streamers who create radical content… Is that so?’
Even though he thought so, the receptionist was concerned about the students. He soon found Do Sihoo drowning and struggling, and, frightened, went to the rescue.
In addition to this, this was repeated.
“Repeat?”
“Yes. First in front of the tourist information center, then Oeongchi Beach, Sokcho Beach, Cheongho Beach, Lighthouse Beach… When the people dried up, they rode the coastline to the north and jumped back in.”
What did you want to do after Do Sihoo?
“I didn’t just jump in.”
“Can you swim? But for something along the lines of that reason…”
“No, I can’t swim. There was no justification for this, but I thought I could do it.”
It seemed that this trip after Do Sihoo had been due to unfounded confidence. Song Dae-seok, who had been watching this side warily, began to look at us with a suspicious expression.
“What?”
“If you’ve failed this much, then I think this is now the time for success.”
Do Sihoo now made a crazy noise.
“Really, this is the last time! If you wear it now, you will be able to float. Oh, I think I’m almost done! send me to the sea I think I will be able to succeed in my first swim this time!”
I didn’t know if Do Sihoo could really swim or not, but it was clear that if this guy were to gamble, he would end up blowing everything from the TC group. This was the point where everyone shut their mouths for a moment upon taking in this maddening story.
“You’ve explained for a long time that Ji is a tora.”
Song Dae-seok broke the silence by reciting objective facts.
Do Sihoo, who sensed that the atmosphere had shifted into a cold one, morphed his expression into a gloomy one.
“It is said that jumping from a high place by one’s will without flying skills or items is called suicide by suicide. That’s not what he’s doing now. A guy who can’t even swim goes into the sea in early June? How many times do you repeat falling and being rescued? By the way, that idiot is a player, so normal people can’t even stop him. Korea’s leading manpower is wasted right now because of that bastard. This isn’t something a tori would do, so what is it?”
When Song Dae-seok assaulted him with facts that were several times longer than Do Sihoo’s lines, the latter’s expression became even gloomier.
“Dae-seok…!”
Min Green, who had been overwhelmed by Do Sihoo’s apparent talent, came to her senses and stopped Song Dae-seok, but he had already said everything he wanted to say.
He said, “I thought that if I contacted the home or school after the city, things would get bigger, so I said that I would take the job. He asked if he had someone else to contact, and afterward, he kept his mouth shut.”
Teacher Ham Geun Hyeong said this as he looked at me. I nodded and began to speak up, “I have a child who is looking for Do Sihoo now. He will contact you.”
As I unfolded the hologram, Do Sihoo was confused as he asked, “…Are you trying to contact Soohyuk?”
“I’ll contact Joo Soohyuk later.”
“…So Won-woo hyung?”
Looking at the way he was speaking, Do Sihoo seemed to know that I had been trying to contact Jang Namwook and thus was acting like this.
He didn’t seem to need an answer, so he kept his mouth shut and wrote the message.
[Me] Found after the city.
The message was read and answered immediately.
[Jang Namwook] Where are you?
[Jang Namwook] Send me the coordinates. I’ll go right away! No, if you’re coming this way right now, you might get it all mixed up. What should I do, should I wait?
[Jang Namwook] No, Sihoo may come and end up going another way.
[Jang Namwook] Eushin-ah, tell me where you are first. I’m going to take action now.
Looking at the messages, I could see just how worried Jang Namwook was. I spoke whilst looking at the artist Hong Kyung-bok.
“It seems that a friend of Do Sihoo wants to meet you. May I give the coordinates here?”
“Heh heh, it seems like there are going to be a lot of guests today. Green wants to do whatever his friend is comfortable with.”
Song Dae-seok looked displeased at the words ‘Green’s friend,’ but Min Green stared at him pointedly, causing him to keep quiet regardless.
“Is Namwook coming?”
“Yes.”
Do Sihoo was making an expression that said he wanted to destroy my device at any moment. However, upon seeing Teacher Ham Geun Hyeong’s terrifying expression, he remained still.
We could feel our homeroom teacher was and therefore sent coordinates with a relaxed state of mind. “Let’s not stay out here any longer, let’s head in.”
At the words of artist Hong Kyung-bok, everyone, including Do Sihooo, went into the hut. Although it was early summer, it felt particularly cool in the mountains, so Do Sihoo, who came to bathe in the sea, was given the sunniest spot, as well as hot jujube ginger tea.
“I’m sorry for not saying anything in advance, old man.”
“Heh heh, no. It’s good to see you messing around after a long time.”
Artist Hong Kyung-bok stopped us from helping and instead gave us chilled ginger honey tea.
“Student Jo Euishin here is Geun Hyeong’s disciple, and Green and Dae-seok are classmates?”
Artist Hong Kyung-bok, who sat down, looked at me with a soft expression. It seemed that Song Dae-seok didn’t like the terminology ‘classmate’ very much.
“Yes, old man. I am the vice president of Class 0.”
“Heh heh heh, he looks very smart.”
I had gotten so used to hearing how I looked suspicious and mentally-lacking, so these words only served to tickle my stomach.
“Master, he actually gave me an item card and AR glasses….” Min Green succinctly described her case when I gave her her ‘waterdrops with her mermaid’s breath,’ as well as her AR glasses.
Hearing the story, Hong Kyung-bok’s gaze softened even more. In particular, when he heard the story about all the classmates having attached markers for Min Green, one could even see tears in his eyes.
“Yes? I heard that all of Class 0 are troublemakers, but because my hyung is a disciple, it seems that there are only kind and good ones!”
“Yes! All the classmates are nice!”
The famous painter also knew it well. There were only good guys in our class.
“The vice president was also very well chosen as a bright and kind boy. Heh heh heh.”
“Yes! That’s our award-winning but kind vice president!”
They waited for the flow of the conversation to change, but the painter did not finish his words.
‘Shall we bring up that question?’
In the end, all the people here ended up being trustworthy. This was because the people here were only those who had died fighting the darkness in the game.
“May I ask the painter a question?”
“Yes, tell me.”
“I want to ask you about the reason for drawing Imugi’s Ghost Heaven.”
“Ah, that was a request from a close brother. He suddenly called me because there was something he really wanted to have drawn.”
Hong Kyung-bok’s gaze turned to the picture frame hanging on the wall. There were faces he saw in the hologram of the secret passage between the Seondo Vice Center and the Student Union Hall, along with the young cast iron arms Man-seok Song and Hong Kyung-bok. He was the former head of the Korean branch.
“There were a lot of orders. The body of the Imoogi to be included in the sketch must be exactly three inches from my finger. When coloring, you have to mix silver wine with magnetism and make your own dye…”
Painter Hong Kyung-bok’s voice was apparently filled with nostalgia. “The thing I didn’t like the most was the paper. Even if I don’t like it, they insist on drawing it on ‘Another World Paper.’ In the end, I was defeated by my own insistence, but… If I had known that it would go like that, I would have drawn it quickly without ever questioning it.”
An alien-like paper?
Were there any such items?
When I listened to every single word that Hong Kyung-bok said…
“…!”
Suddenly Ham Geun Hyeong and Hong Kyung-bok stood up at the same time and looked up at the sky.
Doo doo doo…
When I listened closely, I could hear something similar to the sound of an engine in the distance.
“This is an area where airbus and air taxis are banned, what do you mean? It is difficult to come by means of general ground transportation.”
“The engine is too loud. Oh, it sounds like a helicopter.”
Song Dae-seok and Min Green also seemed to have noticed. Do Sihoo’s expression hardened, as if he knew what the sound was. Seeing that expression on his face, I could barely guess his identity.
“Let’s go.”
When I went outside, I could see a large tiltrotor floating near the hut. The wind generated by the tiltrotor’s propeller shook all the vegetation.
“You guys step back. Old man, please come in.”
“Heh heh, it’s nothing like this.”
Teacher Ham Geun Hyeong and painter Hong Kyung-bok stood in front of us and covered the wind. Both players were able to withstand the wind pressure head-on without even staggering.
‘You two of you seem to have noticed the tiltrotor’s identity.’
The insignia of the Player Military Academy was engraved on the surface of the tiltrotor covered with alien metal in a large and beautiful way. It seemed to be a tiltrotor needed for practice at the Military Academy.
Soon, the door of the tiltrotor opened and those holding item cards began to descend one after another.
What fell were five cadets with tight hair.
Paah! Papa! Shhh!
When they landed on the ground stably using the item, the tiltrotor promptly turned and disappeared in the air.
Doo doo doo doo…!
The engine sound was now getting farther away and the wind pressure was getting weaker. Jang Namwook came out like the wind and wasted no time in punching Do Sihoo in the face.
“Do Sihoo, you bastard!”
Puch!
It was the first time I had ever seen Jang Namwook swearing since the Son Minki incident. Do Sihoo tried to avoid it, but he ended up being beaten, perhaps because he had lost his strength from such a challenge.
“However, if you hit someone as soon as you see them…!”
Whoops!
Before Do Sihoo could finish speaking, he punched him in the opposite cheek again. It was admittedly quite the blow.
Tight! Whoops!
As Do Sihoo stumbled, other bald heads appeared and began to beat him. They had set the order in advance, and following Jang Namwook, they began to slap their stomach, back of the head, and back in turn.
Anyway, he wasn’t defeated enough to die, so Ham Geun Hyeong didn’t stop pretending he didn’t know.
“The kids are very lively. I should prepare five more cups of tea. Haha.”
Painter Hong Kyung-bok began to look at the one-sided brawl that took place in front of the house with joy.
He was known as a great person in Korea
