The Nation’s Failed Game, Player Master High School.
At the bottom of the deep and rotten waters lies a fossil.
That was one of the things I knew for sure.
I thought there was no mistake.
However, since I came to this world, there were times when I wondered and doubted so many things.
This is one of those times.
My playable characters Saeum of April, Kwon Lena, and the NPC Hani, were fighting each other.
Crash! Klang! Boom!
The broken flowerpot collided with the window and the glass was completely smashed.
Because of that, we were able to clearly see what was happening inside.
The longue was in a complete mess.
Saeum of April was using a wind skill which caused fragments of furniture to fly around the room.
“Teacher Gong Cheonghwon told you to stay here, so why are you being so stubborn!? Was there some sort of person who messaged you to go somewhere? Are you crazy?!”
It felt odd to hear Saeum asking our classmate if she was crazy.
Swish!
Kwon Lena tried to block Hani’s way with her whip.
However, before the tip of the whip could reach her, Hani changed her trajectory by throwing the whip to the side with her bare hands.
“They move very well. Looks like they trained well with Tae Hokwon during the vacation.”
Hwang Jiho watched and uttered as we watched the other kids.
“…Move, or you’ll get hurt.”
The two people who were very familiar with Hani’s skills had a nervous look.
Despite some fear in them, the two shouted without falling behind Hani’s momentum.
“…Then we’ll just do our best to not get hurt!”
“That’s right! If one of us gets hurt, we could just use recovery items to get better! We can’t let you get hurt by getting out of here, Hani!”
“Lena’s right. Those people look extremely dangerous! We’d rather be the ones to hurt you a little bit so you’d end up in our school nurse’s office than have you chase after those dangerous people!”
“You’re right, our nurse’s office is not that bad. The bed is nice and the snacks there are delicious.”
“So it’s not that bad to send Hani to the nurse’s office then!”
“That’s right!”
M-my playable character is openly saying he wants to send our classmate to the nurse’s office!
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Although they’re not thinking straight right now, I know they’re good kids and are just acting this way because they care so much about Hani.
Sigh…
I hope I’m right. My playable characters are good people at heart, I know that.
And kids are supposed to grow up fighting anyway.
“I’m not gonna go easy on you two…”
It’s a 2 versus 1 fight, but the truth was, our class’ weakest were Saeum and Lena.
They’re no match for Hani.
The three stood facing each other for a while.
Unlike Saeum and Lena, Hani was hesitating.
Contrary to her refusal to go easy on the two, Hani seemed to be unable to use her skills freely as she knows that she might hurt the two badly.
“This reminds me of when I fought with Blue Tiger… That jerk didn’t let me off the hook either.”
Jiho reminisced some old times, just as I was lost in my thoughts because I was seeing Tae Hokwon in Hani’s movements.
This old guy, who had been in a bad mood until just now, was watching our classmates fight with an excited face.
“Their leg skills are still a bit clumsy. They’re good, but they still lack training compared to myself.”
Comparing the training experience of a 5,000 year old man and some 17 year old high school students isn’t really fair.
The chairman didn’t seem to care much about the fact that the school building was being smashed like this.
Rather, he gave some comments here and there as we continued watching our classmates go at it.
And just like that, other students from Eungwang High flocked to the scene.
“Yo, the Class Zero kids are fighting!”
“There’s a fight in the teacher’s lounge right now!”
It started with someone shouting like that, and students flocked here and there around the area.
“Who’s that? Are those sophomores? Third years?”
“Year 2 Class Zero are in China right now, and the Year 2 Class Zero are on a deserted island for their boot camp. That means…!”
“Those guys are first years?!”
“Why are they at school though?”
The surrounding area turned noisy, but our classmates were still busy fighting.
‘I wish they’d calm down by now…’
It wouldn’t be good to have a big rumor going around.
When I stepped forward, a hand grabbed my shoulder.
“Stay back, Euishin.”
“…”
Chairman Sung Siwan stopped me.
Next to Sung Siwan were some other people, including Gye Idam.
The Jiikhoe have personally gone where the fight was going on.
“Hahaha, I knew the Year 1 Class Zero would get themselves in trouble someday… but I didn’t think it’d occur even before the second semester has started.”
Sun Siwan said faintly to Gye Idam.
“Idam, you stop the kids.”
“Sung Siwan sunbaenim, I will stop them.”
I spoke right after Sung Siwan gave an order to Idam.
However, Sung Siwan shook his head at my words.
“Freshmen are often less skilled at controlling their abilities than their seniors. Leave it up to us. Idam would do better at mediating them than any of us here.”
On a whim, Gye Idam jumped into the messed-up lounge.
“Please don’t get in between us!”
“Who are you?”
“Wait a second… I can’t use my energy wave!”
A few seconds after Gye Idam entered the scene, my classmates immediately felt an odd effect on them.
After a few moments, it turned completely silent.
When suddenly…
Swish!
Just in time, someone appeared riding an airboard.
It was our homeroom teacher, Professor Ham Geunhyung.
Seeing Ham Geunhyung’s ferocious face, the Eungwang High spectators all unconsciously held their breath.
Ham Geunhyung saw the kids with torn clothes and scratches on their skin.
With a low voice suiting the scary expression on his face, he spoke at once.
“…All three of you, follow me to the faculty room. No, let’s stop by the nurse’s office first.”
He addressed the students with a scary face and a scary voice, but it was obvious that he seemed worried about his advisory class who fought for the first time.
On the other hand, Saeum of April and Kwon Lena felt relieved to hear that they were going to the nurse’s office.
“Alright, let’s go to the nurse’s office! Hani, come on!”
“Sigh, it went well after all. Let’s go!”
Saeum and Lena immediately went to Hani’s side with smiles on their faces.
Seeing this scene, Ham Geunhyung had an extremely confused face.
“…Weren’t you guys fighting just now?”
Meanwhile, Hani became more and more hopeless.
First Lena and Saeum, and now even Jiikhoe executives and Professor Ham Geunhyung are here.
It’s now impossible to go after Teacher Gong Cheonghwon.
“Professor Ham Geunhyung! Teacher Gong Cheonghwon is….”
“He’ll be alright. I’m going to check on it.”
Professor Ham Geunhyung doesn’t seem to understand the full situation yet, but he didn’t push to ask when he glanced at me.
Saeum said something.
“If Euishin goes to check on the teacher, then I’m sure there’s going to be no problem at all! Now, let’s all calm down and go to the nurse’s office.”
“I’ll take care of you!”
“Me too!”
Anyone could tell that Saeum and Hani were more injured than Hani was, but they still offered to look after Hani.
Hani pursed her lips before addressing me with a breaking voice.
“…Please.”
It was clear that Hani was asking me the favor, but it was Hwang Jiho who answered instead.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go there myself so you know nothing bad will happen. Ah, I observed that your footwork was a bit off when you punched to avoid the whip. One of the basic positions from Tae Hokwon, the ‘Tiger Step’ didn’t connect that well with the attacker. This is because you still lack practice. Practice it more than 100 times every morning and evening.”
Reading Hwang Jiho’s lips, Hani made a disdainful face.
Seeing that expression, Hwang Jiho let out his signature ‘Hahaha!’ which made Hani deepen her disgust even more.
When Professor Ham Geunhyung led the other kids to the nurse’s office, Hang Jiho and I headed to the abandoned factory where Gong Cheonghwon went.
As we were leaving, I heard the voices of the Jiikhoe staff whispering to each other.
“Those kids had a fight, right…?”
“Those Class Zero kids… As expected, they live on a different level than what we think.”
“Let’s go get the automatic cleaner…”
“Oh, this one didn’t break as much as I thought! I don’t think we need to repair this one.”
“…As expected, those Class Zero kids are gentle!”
Overhearing their short conversation, I felt sorry for them.
* * *
Jongno 1-ga, at the Red Lion Team Building.
Winning a game of rock paper scissors earned Yeom Junyeo some break time.
He wandered around the wide training room.
However, Yeom Junyeol wasn’t seen next to the artificial waterfall, inside the cave, or under the pond.
‘Based on Junyeol’s personality, he wouldn’t have left the training room.’
The man from the Dragon Clan used his energy wave to sharpen his senses.
He took a breath and sensed that Yeom Junyeol was sitting in the shade of the trees inside the bamboo forest.
It seemed that his presence was more blurry than usual, but the man didn’t think much of it.
“Junyeol! It’s hot, isn’t it? The training room matches the real temperature outside so… Should I lower the temperature a bit?”
“It’s alright. I’m a descendant of the Dragon Clan after all.”
“Still, make sure you drink enough water. Here, get some ion drinks and a wet towel. The pre-interview material that arrived today was sent to the device too.”
“Thank you.”
Yeom Junyeol smiled politely as he got up.
Although he spoke brightly, Yeom Junyeol was secretly nervous because the skill instructed by the Red Wall Thief for him to master was still lacking.
To hide his anxiety, he turned on his device and checked on the interview data.
“Have you decided on the audition list?”
“They’re still in the process of recruiting, but this is the first confirmed player list.”
The list contained photos and brief histories of the players who were scheduled to appear in the audition program.
Promotions were still not done properly, but there were a few players here and there who already wanted to participate.
Yeom Junyeol looked surprised as he was checking on the list.
“What’s wrong? Do you know anyone there?”
“No, it’s a classmate of a hoobae of mine.”
“From Eungwang High? So there’s a kid from Eungwang that will participate… But what kind of hoobae are they? Are you very close to them? They’re not weird kids, are they?”
The man from the Dragon Clan was immediately on guard.
Yeom Junyeol’s friendship with this hoobae was being thoroughly questioned, but it was because he had no history of interacting with juniors at school.
“The guy who played chess with me and Saeum. Jo Euishin.”
“Oh, that…”
The man recalled the defeat in the chess tournament and looked distressed.
The Blue Dragon, who was watching this scene from afar, sent a sharp energy wave.
It was meant to reprimand the man to not remind Yeom Junyeol of such painful memories.
Yeom Junyeol of course didn’t notice this.
He showed the list and smiled brightly.
A picture of a girl with pink hair was attached.
“Her name is Dokgo Miro, a freshman from Eungwang High. It’s a name I heard for the first time.”
* * *
In the outskirts of Eungwang District, at an abandoned factory in Gwangil-dong.
Hwang Jiho’s expression felt somewhat strange.
“What’s wrong?”
“…I feel two energy waves colliding.”
Could Gong Cheonghwon be in the middle of a fight?
However, Jiho’s expression tells me that might not be the case.
Hwang Jiho murmured as we jumped over a rusty barbed wire fence.
“I feel a familiar and nostalgic energy wave…”
As we entered the abandoned factory, Jiho’s movement speed increased.
Another collision of energy wave occurred, and this time, I felt it too.
I glanced over to Jiho and saw his hair and eyes already turned golden.
‘What the… What’s wrong with him all of a sudden…?!’
Hwang Jiho activated his power and began to move again.
He ran inside this maze-like abandoned factory at a speed that was difficult to follow.
When we finally arrived in the middle of the factory.
In a distance, Gong Cheonghwon was seen overpowering the men with an iron pipe.
“Blue Tiger…!”
What? Blue Tiger?
Before I had the chance to ask, Hwang Jiho took a stick and rushed forward.
Golden energy wave and wind pressure attacked the men who were fighting.
Fwaaaaaa!
The flash was so strong that I couldn’t see anything, so I hurriedly invoked my skill.
<Skill ‘Glare’ activated.>
Although it was still very bright when my skill was activated, I could clearly see the flow of energy wave and the silhouettes inside the factory.
‘H-he overpowered everyone with a single blow!’
Hwang Jiho had no intentions to hold back.
Only Hwang Jiho and Gong Cheonghwon remained standing, while the men from the service company all collapsed.
‘W-what is he doing right now…!’
The end of the stick that Hwang Jiho was holding was directly threatening Gong Cheonghwon’s neck.
The weapon was filled with golden magic and energy wave.
It shone brightly enough to hurt my eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Hwang Jiho asked fiercely.
“Where did you get that order? Where did you get that order similar to Blue Tiger’s?!”
