The body produced by Hyunmoo was the kid from our class who never attended school.
“This child has valuable talent. Just as I cared for this child’s teacher, many higher beings care for this child. But he’s been wandering around for a while without listening to the words of the higher beings, so his body has been hurt a little.”
Hyunmoo tried to hand over Mok Wooram to me, but Jiho intervened and took him instead.
When the black silk covering him slowly disappeared, his thin body was seen wearing cotton cloth.
Jiho observed Mok Wooram before saying something.
“It doesn’t look like his body has been “hurt a little”. I can clearly see the difference in his weight now and back from what I remember on his physical examination record during school admissions. It looks like his body is completely drained of energy waves, and he has traces of battle scars. Is he really cured?”
“Yes. Healed by borrowing the power of Yeomje. He seems a bit weak so I think he needs further examination.”
“I don’t see the device given to him by Eungwang High. Just what happened exactly to him all this time? I know he took the final exam though.”
Hyunmoo turned his head and looked at Mok Wooram.
I couldn’t read his expression clearly because I was covering my eyes, but I saw a gentle smile on the corner of his mouth.
“This child’s teacher has the ‘blue violinist’ as his muse, but this child has none.”
There was a person who devoted himself to the famous energy wave violinist Kwon Jein.
‘The muse of Mok Wooram’s teacher is Kwon Jein.’
Unlike his teacher, Mok Wooram didn’t have a muse. According to his entrance examination interview previously discovered by Moon Saeron, Wooram must have been wandering around looking for a muse.
But there was something that bothered me.
‘Seeing that he was able to take the final exam, I don’t think it’s possible that his body would just turn out this way. Maybe something else happened after the final exam.’
The remote tests are always performed with the player having to wear an energy wave-infused headgear.
At the time of the final exam, I remember contacting homeroom teacher Ham Geunhyung and informing him that I was ready to take the test.
Did this happen because he completely lost his mind and got impatient with wanting to search for a muse as soon as the vacation started?
Considering the type of people Class Zero students usually are, I guess that’s possible. But something tells me not to treat Mok Wooram as a simple nutcase.
“This child has great skills but lacks the source of inspiration. This child’s teacher has lived long enough to gain enough wisdom to know how to manage frustration and anxiety, but this young child is yet to have that. No matter what the higher beings say to this child, he still wandered recklessly in search of his muse.”
“Is this the result of that?”
“That’s partly correct?”
“Partly?”
“It seems like this child has recently discovered who his muse was. So…”
The hem of Hyunmoo’s black clothes fluttered.
The wind rolled up the sleeves of Mok Wooram’s cotton clothes.
On the back of Mok Wooram’s hand and pinky finger were recent wounds.
He spoke while showing the wounds.
“It looks like he was defending himself.”
When someone gets attacked and threaten, they instinctively try to defend themselves.
The same is true even if the opponent is holding a blade for a weapon.
The person being attacked will still instinctively put his hands up to defend himself, even though he knows that the blade will cut through his skin.
These defensive scars are a sign that the victim was aware of an opponent attacking and tried to counter it.
That kind of defensive scars was all over Mok Wooram’s hands.
‘The shape of the wounds doesn’t look like he just cut himself by mistake. No matter how I look at it, it’s obvious that he was defending himself from an attacker. I can’t believe a player of Eungwang High has had to defend himself with just bare hands. Just what is going on?”
And who attacked him?
An enemy?
Or another player?
Hyunmoo’s soft voice interrupted my thoughts.
“That’s right. This is evidence of someone trying to harm this child. This child was about to head to Korea to meet his muse. A lot must have happened before that.”
“What happened?”
“You have to ask this child yourself. I merely protected this child who tried to run from my territory.”
Hyunmoo indirectly revealed that he had no intention of getting involved further.
Hwang Jiho also didn’t ask if the kid had tried to borrow the powers of Hyunmoo, nor does he intend on questioning Hyunmoo further.
“It looks like Mok Wooram asked you for help personally, and you decided to come forward and protect him. What a rare occurrence.”
Even if he didn’t find the cause of Mok Wooram’s injuries, it must’ve been rare for the Hyunmoo to intervene this much.
Once Hyunmoo pulled the corner of his mouth and smiled, he moved forward like flowing water.
“Alright, let’s go meet the player who received Yeomje’s order.”
We left the chamber and followed Hyunmoo.
Hwang Jiho, who was carrying Mok Wooram with his mana, said something.
“When you visited the Eternal Lake Team Building in the past, you asked Kwon Jein about something right? And then the story of Mok Wooram was mentioned?”
“Yeah.”
An item I have never used before, ‘Destiny of the Unknown.’
A violin made by the only master in the world, ‘Energy Violin’.
The explanations for these two items were quite similar.
In order to know more information about the item ‘Destiny of the Unknown’, I asked Kwon Jein some things about Mok Wooram.
“And then an unidentified ‘power’ was activated, and you discovered the Hyunmoo that even I couldn’t detect. Hyunmoo has entrusted you with Mok Wooram.”
Hwang Jiho’s voice in his 30s is much lower than his voice as a teen.
Perhaps because of the hallway, his low voice seemed to echo well.
“You can’t say that this is a coincidence.”
There’s no concrete evidence right now, so I think I’m still okay.
It was time to brazenly respond and claim that it was in fact a coincidence.
Keuuukukuu…!
A louder sound rang when the stone wall opened.
When the innermost wall of the hallway was opened, I saw a room illuminated by a small torch.
Inside the stone chamber, there were dozens of kinds of herbs hung up on the walls. There were plates full of food placed on a long table at the center of the room.
“Greetings, I’ve been waiting for you.”
It was a kid around my age who greeted us.
He was wearing silk clothes with a similar design and color to what Hyunmoo was wearing. He too spoke fluent Korean.
“Nice to meet you, head of the Tiger Clan, and to your guest. My name is Li Wei.”
It was one of the five very common names in China.
Looking at Li Wei made me curious about something.
‘Hasn’t he been alive since a long time ago? Why does he look so young?’
Hwang Jiho greeted Li Wei back.
“I see we’ve kept you waiting. You look younger than what I have heard.”
“I am only eighteen years old. My father, who received the grace of Yeomje, passed away.”
It seemed like Hwang Jiho didn’t know that.
As the conversation between Jiho and Li Wei continued, Hyunmoo gestured towards the table.
“Let’s take a seat while we talk.”
Hyunmoo sat at the head of the table, with his chair having a backrest and an armrest. Unlike its appearance, the chairs were surprisingly comfortable.
While Hwang Jiho and Li Wei were talking, Hyunmoo pushed a plate of food towards me.
“Have some. I think they have a lot to talk about.”
All the food at the table were signature dishes of Sichuan.
It is difficult to refuse the food recommended by Hyunmoo himself, but I can’t manage to eat them all throughout the night so I just took small bites.
As I ate the food bit by bit, Hyunmoo looked satisfied and poured himself some tea.
While Hyunmoo and I kept eating, Hwang Jiho and Li Wei finally decided to talk about what we went for here today.
“My light skill is yet to be as complete as my father’s. Will that be okay?”
“Of course. The Tiger Clan requests your light skill. This interaction will not be let known to the outside world. You just have to promise two things.”
“If you do me a favor in return, I will gladly follow the suggestions of Tiger Clan.”
“Go ahead, tell me.”
Hwang Jiho pushed aside the bowl that was in front of him.
On the other hand, the seemingly nervous Li Wei couldn’t even get a sip of tea.
Although, it certainly is fascinating that the 18-year-old Li Wei speaks to the head of Tiger Clan with no hesitation.
“I’ve heard of the 12-point alliance in Korea.”
So he knows about the 12-point alliance.
I don’t think Hyunmoo told him about it.
Maybe the Yeomje Divine Farmer told him?
There was one beast belonging to the 12 who was deeply related to Yeomje Divine Farmer.
Yeomje was known to have a cow’s head on top of a human body.
“Let me meet the head of the Cow Clan.”
Hwang Jiho put down his utensil neatly and squinted his eyes.
“So it is not money or power that you desire.”
Hwang Jiho seemed to doubt Li Wei’s proposal.
Considering that there were traitors in the 12-point alliance, it’s just right for him to be wary.
“The connection between Yeomje Divine Farmer and the Cow Clan goes deep. If the Divine Farmer desires for you to meet them, he will make that happen.”
“About that…”
Li Wei began to stutter.
“I’ll listen to your reason first. And then I’ll think about it.”
Li Wei completely shut his mouth after hearing Jiho say those words.
Meanwhile, Hyunmoo just sat down and paid attention only to his tea, as if showing that he has no intention of intervening.
“If you can tell me the reason, contact me right away.”
When Hwang Jiho spoke after waiting patiently, Li Wei gave him a deep bow.
“…Thank you for your consideration.”
That’s how the first contact with Li Wei ended.
Hyunmoo said something to me while he gave me his device code.
“I like your name a lot.”
“Excuse me?”
“Eui means ‘righteousness’ and Shin means ‘dawn’. I think the name is worthy of your power.”
I never told him my name. I wonder how he knew it.
Perhaps he used the power of wisdom?
“I hope this child’s talents will help you and give you the strength to endure until the dawn.”
Hyunmoo wrapped a silk cloth around Mok Wooram and gave his words of blessing.
When we came outside after exchanging farewell, the poet’s song was already over.
What we saw instead were dancers dancing along with the backdrop of gold instruments.
Without interrupting their dance, they opened up the way for us to walk out of the pavilion.
“…I wanted to ask a lot of questions, but we should get ready to bring Mok Wooram back home.”
“I think it’s going to be a bit difficult to do that. Both his device and his ID are missing.”
“That’s right, it’s going to be tricky to bring him back to Korea but that’s not our biggest concern. The problem is if authorities find out that Mok Wooram entered the Korean Peninsula without going through the proper immigration process.”
Mok Wooram is a player registered in the Players’ Association, so wouldn’t it be faster to visit the association’s branch here in China?
I think there was a branch in Chengdu too…
And then it hit me.
In the end, I was able to figure out a way to solve our concerns faster.
“I think ID cards will be issued quickly if a senior employee of the Players’ Association comes forward and confirms Mok Wooram’s identity.”
“I think I know who you’re thinking of.”
I remembered the name of the Association employee who was currently doing his best to finish all his work so he can leave the country for vacation.
I wrote a message to him immediately.
