— You’ll never win against me in Taehokwon.
That’s what the Blue Tiger said before she disappeared that day when a typhoon was raging.
After a long time.
The Yellow Tiger met the Blue Tiger once again.
The Blue Tiger who became a human.
‘In the end, I’d really never win against you in Taehokwon.’
The Yellow Tiger felt it clearly when his and Hani’s fists collided in that Taehokwon match.
The Hani that exists now is a human being, not someone from the Tiger Clan.
She was not the close friend of the Yellow Tiger, but rather a classmate of Hwang Jiho.
Throughout her life lived as the Blue Tiger, not once did the Yellow Tiger win a match of Taehokwon against her.
And now, though reincarnated as a human, the Blue Tiger is not really the Blue Tiger anymore.
In the end, it’s a bitter fact that the Yellow Tiger really wouldn’t win against the Blue Tiger in Taehokwon.
Fwaaa…
The rain and wind that was soaking the Yellow Tiger’s body suddenly became blocked.
A red mist spread around him.
“Yellow Tiger, why are you acting miserable?”
The Yellow Tiger looked back and saw the Red Tiger.
The Red Tiger stayed in the gym for a while after watching the match between the Yellow Tiger and Hani.
The Yellow Tiger didn’t expect the Red Tiger to catch up to him that quickly as he was lost in his own thoughts.
‘I thought he’d watch over Gong Cheonghwon and Hani for much longer… Looks like he can’t bear to watch the human reincarnations of the Blue Tiger and Son of God for a long period of time.’
The Yellow Tiger looked at the Red Tiger with his sunken eyes.
Perhaps it’s the first time since the Red Tiger and his son made up that Yellow Tiger gazed that way toward the Red Tiger.
“I know that it’s not going to be a problem for you to be soaked in the rain like this, but the descendants and the other subordinates might see you. Don’t let them see you look so miserable.”
“Hahaha! You’re right. Cover me up well.”
“I’ll do my best until we get back to the mansion.”
The Yellow Tiger roughly pushed up his wet hair as he began a conversation with the Red Tiger.
At some point, their chatter turned into a report somehow.
“I’d just finished the first investigation on the man that you’ve mentioned before. The man named ‘Sungheon’.”
The Red Tiger said so as they arrived near the mansion.
‘Sungheon’, the name last mentioned by Jo Euishin in front of the Cheondansu before he collapsed.
It was one of the things that plagued the Yellow Tiger’s mind.
“Go ahead. Report.”
“I don’t know what I should report to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I investigated all the people related to Jo Euishin. His friends in Eungwang, and even his family. But…”
The Red Tiger briefly closed his eyes before continuing to speak.
“Nothing came up at all.”
“Nothing?”
“I found no such person named Sungheon.”
“…I see.”
“I’ll look into it some more.”
The Yellow Tiger nodded in agreement.
Soon enough, an air van stopped in front of the mansion came into the Yellow Tiger’s view.
Because their bodies were covered, the people waiting inside the van couldn’t see the two Tigers approaching.
The Yellow Tiger watched the van carefully before checking his device only to see that his secretary had sent him a message.
He blinked his eyes once.
“…Yellow Tiger?”
“Looks like Hyangrok has paid us a visit. Let’s go in.”
The Yellow Tiger sent a message to his secretary to let the head of the Deer Clan enter the mansion.
Soon after, a small shadow holding an umbrella ran out of the air van.
Behind Hyangrok was a team of assistants starting to transport things from the van’s trunk.
Seeing this, the Yellow Tiger looked very satisfied.
“Jo Euishin and the White Tiger are having a chess game today, right? Looks like they can come here together then.”
After sending a message to Jo Euishin and White Tiger, the Yellow Tiger’s face turned bright.
Although he feels sorry for Jo Euishin, White Tiger, and Shinsoo, seeing the Yellow Tiger’s happy face made the Red Tiger feel happy too.
* * *
I wanted to return to my dorm room right away.
But it’s not possible to run away from it now.
I couldn’t shake off my main playable character, the White Tiger.
Even more so now that I see his fingertip still stained black.
Why on earth did the head of the Deer Clan decide to deliver the medicine at the wrong moment…
Did he have to deliver the medicine in such terrible weather?
Even if it was completed today, they could’ve just brought the medicine after the typhoon has settled down.
“Jo Euishin.”
The White Tiger’s voice made me snap back to reality.
“…Alright, let’s go.”
If it were a normal day, I could’ve easily ignored the message sent by Hwang Jiho.
In the end, we reached the mansion in no time.
I thought we were going to the main building right away, but the White Tiger led us to the annex to meet the head of the Deer Clan who was unable to enter the main building.
“Hey, White Tiger! Hello to you too human!”
The detached house, surrounded by the maze garden, was covered with tiger flowers in full bloom even amidst the storm.
Among the numerous annexes, Hyangrok chose the hanok-type again today.
In front of the hanok-type building, Hyangrok waved his hand and greeted me and White Tiger.
Grrr….!
From inside of the annex, I heard a cry again.
Is the mountain spirit playing over here somewhere again?
Or maybe it’s the sound that Hwang Jiho made.
“Shinsoo, it’s alright. White Tiger and Jo Euishin are here too. It’ll be bearable if you guys take the medicine altogether.”
It was the Red Tiger who spoke.
By the way, Shinsoo?
I belatedly saw my angel Olmu who was inside the building all along.
Woof woof!
Soon, the little angel came out of the building and greeted me.
The thought of taking the customized medicine made by Hyangrok must be hard and scary, but I’m very proud that my Olmu sat here kindly.
To comfort the good Olmu, I hugged and petted him until he became calm.
Whimper.
Olmu rubbed his face on my fingertip before looking up at me.
What’s wrong?
Olmu clasped my finger.
‘Ah, is it… Is it because my fingers are too cold?’
Shortly after playing chess, the news about the Replay function came to me.
My hands, which were already cold from playing chess, must’ve gotten colder because of that.
“It’s just that the weather is cold because of the typhoon. I’m alright.”
The kind Olmu kept whimpering.
Seeing that, Hyangrok said something in a bright voice.
“Is it just because of the typhoon? Humans are very much vulnerable. Take my medicine and you’ll be better in no time!”
My hands seemed to have gotten even colder after hearing that.
“What are you guys doing hanging out here on the porch? Let’s go in.”
Behind us, Hwang Jiho had just arrived.
I thought he was already inside, but it doesn’t look like it.
“Hello, Yellow Tiger! What were you up to?”
“I just got rained on for a little bit. I’ve got a lot of guests today so I had to go change to neat clothes before seeing you all.”
He got rained on?
No earthquake, or even a tsunami, could ever be enough to hit that guy.
Just what could’ve happened to make him depressed that he had to get himself rained on?
‘…But is that what he calls ‘neat clothes’?’
The clothes that he was wearing right now were Eungwang High’s summer uniform.
Hwang Jiho seems to be faithful to his role even during the vacation.
“Let’s go! I’ve already done all the preparations in advance!”
Quilted cushions were already set in place.
The room had a smell of a mixture of medicinal herbs and grapes.
This time, Hyangrok seemed to be making medicinal tea by adding ginger, herbs, and grapes.
All of which were seasonal in August.
‘Looks like the Deer Clan’s head is good at making medicinal tea.’
Unfortunately for me, I’m supposed to take the medicine first before drinking the delicious tea.
The three cushions right in front of Hyangrok seem to be designated for me, White Tiger, and Olmu.
When we sat down, Hyangrok put down three pouches heated up by a double boiler one by one.
“Alright, drink up! I came here to observe what changes would happen right after you take the medicine. It’ll help me make necessary adjustments!”
So that’s why Hyangrok is here to watch us drink the completed medicine even though he doesn’t need to.
In other words, he’s here to judge whether he needs to make the medicine taste worse next time.
“Go on, and take it. I’ve also prepared some snacks for you to cleanse your mouth after.”
The Red Tiger showed us some bite-sized persimmon-flavored jelly.
Looks like he’s still holding a grudge against White Tiger for hurting Kim Shinrok.
The White Tiger had a distorted face as he glanced at both the medicine and the persimmon snack, but he was the first one to take it among the three of us.
As expected!
Despite the bad-tasting medicine, my playable character managed to keep a straight face.
I took inspiration from my playable character and drank my medicine as well.
‘…Customized medicine tastes so much worse!’
I felt a comforting warmth take over my body when I drank the medicine, but my mind couldn’t think of anything else other than the hell-like taste of it.
I finished it up and pushed a persimmon jelly into my mouth.
With Olmu also finishing up his medicine, all three of us were done.
“Hmm, looks like there isn’t any problem! As expected of my own hand-crafted customized medicine!”
The taste…
The taste is a serious problem with this medicine.
Contrary to the collective suffering of us three, Hyangrok looked very much satisfied.
“Ah, what the Yellow Tiger asked me to do before has paid of… Should I say it here?”
Hyangrok peeped in my direction.
Must be because I’m the only human in here.
“You can say it.”
I glanced at Hwang Jiho and saw him smiling in enjoyment after the medicine tasting event.
“Alright! With the humans given by the Yellow Tiger before, we have developed a new version of the trial drug!”
Humans given by Hwang Jiho?
When I looked at Hwang Jiho again, he began to explain.
“It’s a human that you know too. I handed over the instructors during the recent youth retreat.”
Is he referring to those guys who planned to bomb the innocent students and civilians on the island?
As I recalled what those instructors did, I really can’t stand to even remember who they were.
What they did was absolutely unforgivable.
‘Developing an antidote to poison energy would surely be a big help.’
We didn’t question what kind of clinical trial they did.
However, considering that there was an extreme side effect in the experimental drug used by Hwang Jiho during the retreat, I could guess what sort of improvements they made with the new one.
“There’s still a risk of damaging your guts. Still, this version can be used by humans because you can mitigate the time when it’d melt your insides if you use it along with a highly rare recovery item!”
“Hmm, well that’s good.”
…Is it really?
I hope Hyangrok researches more to produce a proper antidote.
After passing around the new version of the antidote, Hyangrok received a case full of cash.
Dragging a case bigger than his own body, Hyangrok rejoiced greatly.
Hyangrok said he plans to use the money for some new research.
“The rain got so much worse. You can stay here if you’d like.”
“It’s fine! I need to supervise some experiments in my lab, and… If I leave them unsupervised for a very long time, it might be dead bodies that welcome me home.”
Rumble!
Just after he spoke, a strong lightning struck near the annex.
Hyangrok still had his bright face as he spoke, but the background of strong wind, rain, and thunder made his words sound scary.
When Hyangrok was escorted out of the mansion, I also tried to leave with a bag full of medicine pouches.
But it looks like I failed again.
“Are you really planning on abandoning the exhausted Shinsoo here? What a heartless benefactor.”
“Stay here for a while. The descendants would be very pleased.”
After the Yellow Tiger and Red Tiger said so, Olmu started groaning too.
Whimper…
Olmu had its ears folded, struggling to get away from the White Tiger’s arms to come to me.
Still, I hesitated.
I couldn’t just rest up here after what the Replay function did to Jang Namwook and Yoo Sanghoon.
“Jo Euishin.”
While I was caught in my dilemma, the White Tiger called me and raised his finger.
It was his index finger that he used to demonstrate my bad habit with my energy wave.
The Red Tiger, Hwang Jiho, and Olmu all looked at the White Tiger.
‘Is he saying that he’ll reveal what he knows if I don’t stay here in the mansion…?!’
Well then, it’s decided.
I picked up Olmu and headed to the mansion’s main building.
* * *
At the Hwangmyeong Mansion, morning.
I opened my eyes and found Olmu still wrapped around my arms.
I woke up to the sound of my device ringing, indicating that I received a message.
The message was from Joo Soohyuk.
[Joo Soohyuk] Euishin, why don’t we go and look for Hyodon?
[Joo Soohyuk] I heard that the mountain where they’re training with Grandpa Tak is in a mess right now because of the typhoon.
[Joo Soohyuk] Wouldn’t it be better to pick them up since there’s not much time left in our vacation anyway?
The article sent by Joo Soohyuk showed a hill in Hongcheon, which was ruined by a landslide.
