Chapter 184 - Tossed Coin (3)
It’s not only Hwang Jiho who started to use ‘that word’.
“What do you mean Jo Euishin is the Red Wall Thief… Wasn’t that a person a Dragon Clan or a descendant of them?”
“The matter of the Red Wall Thief doesn’t really concern us.”
“You. Did you know that the Red Wall Thief is Jo Euishin?”
“Yeah, I knew about it. Junyeol was looking around for clues about the Red Wall Thief and he found a lot of them. I got lucky.”
“Yong Jegun, since when did you know the truth about the Red Wall Thief?”
Sigh…
Would it be possible for these royal lineage people and descendants to speak one sentence without using ‘that word’?
I do want to talk about this matter with the royal lineage people, but I’m consuming all my energy by distributing all the cringe factors throughout my hands and distorted face.
My life is at stake in trying to manage my facial expression at the moment.
I already had a poker face since earlier, but I’m passionate to keep myself expressionless.
‘If they notice how I feel about ‘that word’, this old man is going to tease me about it until we graduate!’
When I first came across the news article, I was able to hold my poker face up until that ‘checkmate’ part.
Right now, words such as ‘suspicious’ and ‘what a low intelligence’ are coming out of their mouths, so I have to devote myself to managing my facial expressions.
Bark?
“………”
The only thing I can take comfort from in this situation was Olmu, who gave me his trembling hand. And of course, the White Tiger as well who remained quiet as usual.
“Jo Euishin? Why aren’t you reacting? Did I say something wrong?”
Hwang Jiho shot me a question again.
I did my best to not get caught by this guy who used ‘that word’ continuously.
“No, why?”
“That’s odd. The secret of the Red Wall Thief is a big deal, so why are you taking it in a bit too calmly? Ah no, instead of being ‘calm’ you seem to be holding something in and pretending you don’t know anything.”
“Idon’tknowwhatyouretalkingabout.”
“…Your reaction is weird.”
I unintentionally spoke fast.
It’s true that I only pretended to be calm.
I tried thinking of something different.
I tried to focus on Olmu who was in my arms.
I somehow managed to calm my heart as I patted Olmu’s head and scratched his neck.
“Hmm… So, did your intelligence go down again?”
“Yellow Tiger, just get to the point already.”
The White Tiger who kept quiet all this time had spoken.
‘Did he change the topic because he sensed that I was uncomfortable?’
As expected, my best playable character was the only one I could lean on.
The difference between him and that old man Jiho was clear.
“Well, shall I explain the reason why I revealed it here? The achievements of Jo Euishin or the Red Wall Thief were impressive, but they’re dangerous. It’s not something that should be done on his own.”
Upon hearing ‘that word’, the hand that was stroking Olmu stopped on its tracks, but I was able to manage my facial expression.
Hwang Jiho continued speaking.
“I figured out your identity and let everybody in here know. So, you don’t have to hide it anymore when you move as the Red Wall Thief, or when you borrow the power of White Tiger.”
It seems like Jiho wanted to help me.
I understood the messed up dude’s good intentions.
But I still wished he stopped using ‘that word’ though…
I wanted to change the subject so I asked something I was curious about.
“…What did you see on that night of the retreat?”
“I saw when the ‘Heaven’s Light’ went down on you.”
That’s a short while after my conversation with the Sangbosimgeumpa.
“When I arrived at the scene, you were injured as you carried Saeum of April on your back. You were confronted with the Shapeshifter. Right before I tried to intervene, I saw you ask the heavens for permission.”
…So he witnessed that scene too.
I got shy from knowing that the White Tiger knows now that I used his lines, but it didn’t beat the embarrassment brought to me by ‘that word’.
“Your timing of using the Glare skill was good. Did your confrontation with the White Tiger help with that?”
“Yea.”
Although the confrontation with White Tiger indeed helped, the truth was I knew the exact timing of when to use the skill even before I came into this world.
That level from PMH, which did not have an auto-function and had a hell-like operation, could not be cleared in just a day or two.
Aside from that, I had 10 years’ worth of experience in using the skill of White Tiger, to the point that I can nail the timing with my eyes closed.
“Well then, let’s move on to the next agenda. It’s about dealing with this matter.”
Hwang Jiho worked with the association to prepare to cover up this case.
Although we can’t hide the fact of the occurrence of the transition between the two worlds and the invasion of enemies, the appearance of the royal lineage people was something that we could hide.
“For the side of ‘That person’, we can hide the fact that there had been a confrontation between the Tiger Clan and the Bear Clan. That’s because we’ve minimized the number of witnesses. Yong Jegun, did you feel the existence of ‘Eyes’ right after the communication was cut off?”
“No. I felt the presence of ‘Eyes’ right before communication was cut off, but it felt different after that. It seems like the consequence of having the communication blocked is them not being able to use the ‘Eye’.
“That’s some useful information. Inform the Kkoedeori about this and they should be able to conduct more research about the ‘Eye’ skill.”
Hwang Jiho continued with his explanation.
“We can hide the truth about Saeum of April’s powers. Although it would be a bit tricky to have the citizens shut their mouths, the power of Saeum of April ‘Words that Shall Not Remain in Records’ likely concealed the truth as it made the civilians’ memories a bit ambiguous. The Tiger Clan team has already started with large-scale information manipulation, and it’s all progressing successfully.”
Most of the recording devices connected to the web had been disconnected that day, but the Tiger Clan information team is finding and removing the remaining data from the recording devices that operated on offline mode.
“Among the Bear Clan, the Bear of Agony and his two servants managed to escape. There’s no question that those two servants saw Kim Shinrok, Yong Jegun, and Red Tiger. That’s all I have to say. Any questions?”
I looked around after Hwang Jiho finished with his explanations.
Shinrok wore a stiff facial expression as he raised his hand.
“Yellow Tiger nim, the people might find this unnatural.”
He thinks they might find it unnatural?
Shinrok continued when Hwang Jiho nodded at him.
“If we’re talking about this dragon, they may find it strange that Red Tiger was around me. They may think that we knew about the Bear Clan’s plan of attack in advance and we were prepared for it.”
I think I know where Shinrok was coming from.
‘Without Hwang Jiho’s order, there is no way that the Red Tiger would move to meet Kim Shinrok in private. So, even the Bear Clan would find that matter odd.’
That’s what Shinrok was worried about.
“You think they’d find it weird that a father would want to come to see his son who almost died after visiting a friend?”
“Yes. It’s more convincing that Red Tiger trailed me because the Yellow Tiger ordered him to do so.”
The temperature in the room seemed to decrease by a few degrees after Kim Shinrok spoke.
“Kim Shinrok…”
Hwang Jiho opened his mouth, but the Red Tiger could only shake his small head.
After that, no one else spoke.
‘The Red Tiger thinks that Shinrok is uncomfortable with him, and Shinrok seems like he would misunderstand what Red Tiger would say from here on.’
It was difficult to speak after a few seconds passed.
It’s difficult to settle even a small conflict in a year or ten, not to mention that this one is between a man and his son.
‘The Dragon Clan seemed to be reluctant to intervene on matters that don’t directly concern them. So, Yong Jegun won’t try to intervene in this case. White Tiger doesn’t really talk much. I don’t know why Hwang Jiho, the talkative old man, is keeping his mouth shut.’
I wonder why Hwang JIho doesn’t want to mediate the conflict between the father and son.
If he keeps this up, no one else here can mediate between the two.
‘I don’t know exactly what happened and when it happened in this world though…’
Before I lost my siblings and parents in the accident.
I was nervous because of my upcoming big tournament, and I left the country without properly saying goodbye.
And then, I lost my family in a common and ordinary traffic accident that made very little headline in the news.
Well, I don’t know when or what happened in this world before its collision with the other world.
What came to my mind was how those two died inside the game.
When the image of the Red Tiger bleeding through his black clothes came to mind, I suddenly spoke up.
“When the Red Tiger was injured from the branch of that river, Professor Kim Shinrok tried to sneak into this mansion secretly to see him.”
“Jo Euishin!”
“What? Shinrok did that?”
After I said those words, Shinrok suddenly stood from his seat.
Just like a normal teacher.
It looks like his face remembered the gloomy and inhumane appearance of the Bear people.
“He failed with his plan on sneaking inside and got caught by Hwang Jiho. Even so, he looked over the Red Tiger for a few hours as he slept.”
“S-stop! Please stop! Ah…”
Kim Shinrok reflexively reached his hand out to me as if he wanted to hold me back, but the royal lineage person was quicker.
Yong Jegun covered Shinrok’s mouth with his hand and winked at me.
As if telling me to say more instead of stopping.
The dragon must have been excited about the disclosure of his friend’s dark history.
Red Tiger wore a surprised face as if he couldn’t believe the words I was saying.
“The descendants of the Silver Tiger once ate ramen prepared by professor Shinrok, but the results weren’t very good. But Red Tiger ate it all without leaving even one spoonful.”
“T-that’s because it’s the descendants who boiled the… Ahk!”
Shinrok tried to speak again after Yong Jegun took his arm off for a second, but he was able to block his mouth again.
Shinrok looked between Hwang Jiho and White Tiger as he failed to win against Jegun’s force.
He tried to ask for their help through his eyes, but the two Tigers didn’t respond.
“Red Tiger requested not to tell professor Shinrok that he got injured in case the professor would get worried about him. Well, the Red Tiger requested it to Hwang Jiho and not to me, so I just ignored it and told professor Shinrok anyway.”
Shinrok, who struggled to get out of Yong Jegun’s grasp, moved occasionally to see if Jegun loosened his grip.
“After receiving the information that ‘That person’ was aiming for Shinrok, he had a more difficult time than when his body was pierced by a tooth of the Sangbosimgeumpa. Hwang Jiho ordered for the teacher’s protection, but only when he’s outside the school because he’s worried that the professor would find it burdensome.”
Kim Shinrok completely stopped after hearing those words.
Even when Jegun relaxed his hand, he didn’t say anything.
“Whatever happens to you professor Shinrok, the Red Tiger will always be there in his black clothes for you.”
After I finished speaking, the room turned quiet again.
Shinrok looked at Red Tiger with a flushed face, and Red Tiger looked at his son as well.
“It seems like the two of you have a lot to talk about.”
Hwang Jiho laughed with sparkling eyes.
He winked as he stood up from his seat.
“I’ve told you everything that I wanted to talk about, so I’ll be heading outside now. Oh, and don’t come out of the living room until you two are done talking.”
* * *
The royal lineage people who went out of the room looked very happy.
“Hahaha! I’ll need some good liquor for today’s dinner.”
“Good job, Euishin.”
Wouldn’t it be too early to have a toast?
It’s not going to be easy to mend the resentment between the two in just one conversation.
In other words, this is only the starting point.
Seeing the royal lineage people so happy even though they knew that fact as well, I raised some questions.
“Why have you left them alone up until now?”
Yong Jegun answered first.
“I tried to intervene once, but then Shinrok tried to cut all ties with me after that. I vowed not to get between the two of them again so he forgave me eventually.”
So something like that happened.
I think he’ll get in trouble with Kim Shinrok again after today’s events.
Although we are on a break right now, I’m still a student in a school where Shinrok is a professor.
I’d have to live my life more carefully in the dormitories from now on.
“What about you?”
Hwang Jiho hesitated before answering my question.
“…. I signed a contract with Red Tiger, so I couldn’t meddle with their business.”
A contract?
Thinking about it now, back when Red Tiger fainted, he mentioned something about a ‘contract’ to Hwang Jiho.
I don’t know exactly what’s going on between Hwang Jiho and Red Tiger.
Dingdong.
A message arrived as we came out of the living room.
The sender was Min Geurin.
Looking at the message history, several messages arrived in intervals in addition to the new messages.
It seems like she heard about the Seokmo incident from the other students.
The problem was the last message she sent.
[Min Geurin] Hey.
[Min Geurin] I think there’s a big problem.
[Min Geurin] I think you need to talk to Daesok immediately. I can’t contact him. What should I do? Is Daesok not done yet with his check-up?
‘It seems like she doesn’t know just how bad Daesok’s injuries are.’
Other than that, it seems like Min Geurin has something else to talk to Daesok about.
