The typhoon passed inland last night.
It gradually became smaller and naturally disappeared earlier than expected, but all the damage left by the typhoon wasn’t accounted for yet.
The extent of the damage in Hongcheon doesn’t seem to be fully reported yet.
The photo in the article sent by Joo Soohyuk was taken by a satellite, not by the reporter himself.
[Joo Soohyuk] I can’t contact Grandpa Tak, Hyodon, and Yoonseob.
[Joo Soohyuk] I know they’d be alright because Grandpa Tak is with them, but they still seem to be in the middle of training even after everything.
Don’t tell me they’re still training on that mountain!
Tak Geosan must be very excited about the fact that this is the first time he’s had two followers in his life.
‘Nevermind Tak Geosan and Maeng Hyodon. Is Bang Yoonseob alright with staying in such a place?’
Big trees collapsed due to the strong wind and rain last night.
Fallen trees were scattered everywhere, and the muddy mountain path made it unsafe for people to go there.
[Me] Let’s go pick them up today.
[Joo Soohyuk] Okay!
[Joo Soohyuk] What time should we meet? I have to stop by the guidance room so maybe we could meet at the school at around lunchtime if that’s possible.
I stood up after we settled on a time and place for our meet-up.
While I was checking my messages, Olmu soon woke up too and started acting cute.
I don’t know if it’s because of Olmu or the medicine I took yesterday, but my body felt incredibly light.
‘It could be because I fell asleep early too…’
After diner yesterday, while I was hanging out with the descendants, Hwang Jiho interrupted us to make us go to bed early.
The descendants begged him to let us hang out some more, but Hwang Jiho strictly stood his ground.
I went to the guest room and my eyes felt heavy so I fell asleep right away.
‘Was I more tired than I thought?’
After freshening up, I went to the living room and saw Hwang Jiho drinking tea.
Hwang Jiho was the type to have his early morning tea in bed, but right now he’s wearing a school uniform and enjoying his tea.
“Take a seat. I’ll prepare you some tea.”
Today’s morning tea was a Scottish Breakfast based on Assam.
Although my stomach was still empty, I enjoyed the scent of the Ceylon and Unnam.
“Do you drink this every day?”
“Yes. I barely managed to fit it in my schedule today.”
Hwang JIho slightly tilted the ceramic cup with a blue gaze on its rim.
‘There is a saying that tea first entered Korea during the Three Kingdoms Period but… I wonder exactly when Hwang Jiho started drinking this.’
No, I doubt that the time when tea was first introduced to Korea even matters.
It’s because this Tiger can exist anywhere, even outside of Korea.
Thinking like so, I suddenly got an idea.
One of the eight founders in Chinese mythology, the Yeomje Divine Farmer.
In China, there’s a theory that he was the one who first devised the concept of tea.
“When did you start drinking tea?”
“I don’t remember exactly when. I guess I started drinking when I saw the one that I admired the most enjoying some tea.”
The one that Hwang Jiho admired the most.
Is he referring to the Son of God who ruled over Korea?
Or their leader, the Silver Tiger?
Or is it neither?
Hwang Jiho must’ve felt my gaze on him and knew that I was trying to guess who it was.
“Are you curious about who it is? I’ll let you know if you tell me that you’re really curious.”
“No thanks.”
With Hwang Jiho’s cunning smile, my curiosity quickly disappeared.
“You didn’t look alright yesterday, but looks like you’re good now.”
Was it that obvious?
My hands were incredibly cold yesterday, but I thought that I at least did a good job in managing my facial expressions.
“Jo Euishin, when you face an enemy or when you play chess, you hide your facial expressions well. The color of your face doesn’t change at all. That’s until the moment you realize that you’re close to winning.”
It’s a relief to hear from Jiho that my poker face works well.
But what does he mean that my facial expression changes once I think I had won?
“On the contrary, when you’re not in the middle of a fight, everything that you’re feeling shows. Although it’s not that obvious.”
I think it’s still better for me to fix it.
Thinking like so, Hwang Jiho soon laughed again.
“Hahaha! I just pointed it out. No need for you to worry about it or try to fix it. Don’t worry.”
I hated the thought of him being able to read through me, so I just opted to drink my tea instead of replying.
I gave some snacks to Olmu who was still in my arms.
Seeing Olmu’s tail wagging in happiness made me happy too.
I tried to forget about Hwang Jiho who was sitting opposite me.
Soon, people living in the mansion appeared in the living room one by one.
“Ah, I see you’re already up.”
“Hello!”
“Hello…”
The descendants appeared together and greeted Jiho brightly.
On the other hand, the children’s greeting toward White Tiger and Red Tiger sounded a bit weaker.
“…”
“What’s the matter?”
It was the White Tiger who answered Red Tiger’s question.
“I caught them trying to enter Jo Euishin’s room.”
Oh, so something like that happened while I was asleep.
I was sleeping so soundly that I didn’t notice.
Looks like the descendants’ hiding abilities seem to be getting better.
After White Tiger spoke, the children raised their voices in protest.
“We wanted to surprise Euishin oppa!”
“We wanted to play with hyung too… It’s unfair that only Shinsoo gets to hang out with him.”
“…I wanted to take a picture.”
The descendants cutely complained, to which the White Tiger worldlessly responded by shaking his head.
I was once again impressed by the consideration of my playable character who made sure that my sleep wouldn’t be interrupted.
“Looks like Jo Euishin didn’t notice you guys. That means you’re getting better at hiding yourselves. Good job!”
“Thank you, Yellow Tiger-nim!”
“We’ll do our best!”
After complimenting the descendants, Hwang JIho brought up one more thing.
“…So whose idea was it to sneak up to Jo Euishin’s room?”
“Mountain spirit!”
So the culprit is the mountain spirit again.
It was the first-born Eun Seoho and the second-born Eun Iho who spoke.
“At the end of the year is the entrance exam for Eungwang High. You should prepare for that.”
“We’ll do our best to enter Eungwang High’s Class Zero!”
The descendants who love to play along with the mountain spirit’s pranks seem to have a desire to enter Eungwang High’s Class Zero.
White Tiger looked around as if he was trying to catch the mountain spirit, but it was quick-witted as it was quick to run away and escape.
“…You don’t have to do that. I’ll put you in any class you want.”
Hwang Jiho put down the tea cup and pressed his finger on his temple.
Maybe he thinks it’s better to have the descendants placed in any class they like than to have them learn crazy pranks from the mountain spirit just to enter Eungwang High’s Class Zero.
At Chairman Lee’s suggestion, Eun Seoho and Eun Iho brightened up even more.
“Ah, really? Can you choose what year we’ll be on too?”
“If so, then I want to be in the same class as Euishin oppa and Yellow Tiger-nim!”
“Me too! I also want to be in the same class, Yellow Tiger-nim!”
The 10-year-old Eun Jaeho raised his hand too and expressed his intention to start high school.
The children quickly flocked to Hwang Jiho’s side, giving him anticipating gazes.
At the children’s expectant stares, Hwang Jiho spoke seriously.
“…Shouldn’t we expand the Tiger Clan further?”
He decided to stop his thoughts right there, afraid that it would really happen.
“I want you all to have the full experience of it. Starting from the entrance exam and ceremony.”
“Entrance exam and ceremony…”
“Yes. The entrance ceremony is held at the Sangin Hall. If you enter Eungwang now, you wouldn’t be able to attend the ceremony as a freshman.”
“Euishin oppa, how was your entrance ceremony?”
Fortunately, the children seem to have changed their minds about immediately entering Eungwang High when they heard of the entrance ceremony held at the Sangin Hall.
I showed them some pictures.
“We’ll prepare hard for the entrance exam!”
“That’s right! The top student is usually chosen as the freshman representative, right? I want to be that too!”
The photo of Joo Soohyuk and Ahn Dain taking oath side by side made an impression on the descendants.
They became even more enthusiastic as they watched video recordings of this academic year’s entrance ceremony.
“We’ll keep working hard to get into Class Zero.”
“That’s right! Let’s do our best!”
Hwang Jiho pressed on his temple again.
Red Tiger wasn’t sure whether to support or stop the children who declared that they’d work hard.
“Ah, right. Toyeon noona is coming to play with us soon, so let’s test her out.”
“Alright!”
Looks like the descendants are planning to pull a prank on Ok Toyeon.
It was the same trick that fooled Hwang Jiho and Red Tiger.
I thought the tigers would reprimand the descendants, but they seem to be actively supporting them.
“That sounds like a great idea.”
“I’ll give you guys some fake blood. If you want to fool that rabbit, you’ll at least need some amount of fake blood. Or we could go with some real blood too?”
“Shall we prepare some magic trick as soon as she enters the maze garden?”
Hearing their plans made me worry about Ok Toyeon’s mental health.
Maybe for about just three seconds.
I then enjoyed my tea for the rest of the morning.
* * *
After breakfast at the mansion, we drank the customized medicine once again.
It would’ve been devastating if I were going through this alone.
I’m glad that I have Olmu and White Tiger to share the agony with.
“Well then, I’ll see you again next time.”
“…It’s the middle of vacation so why are you so busy, Euishin oppa?”
“Even Yellow Tiger-nim doesn’t seem busy today so why is Euishin hyung…”
Whimpers.
The descendants and Olmu stuck right next to me, but I can’t stay anymore because I made plans already.
Thankfully, the understanding descendants and Olmu were able to send me off.
I dropped off the bag full of medicine pouches in my dormitory room before heading to my destination.
‘Soohyuk’s a bit late.’
Central area, in front of the Student Council Office.
Joo Soohyuk and I planned to meet during lunchtime and have a meal at the cafeteria.
However, five minutes have passed since the time that we agreed on and Soohyuk is still not here.
It’s not like him to be late without giving any notice.
‘Did he get caught up in a lot of work?’
He’s been busy since after the youth retreat incident.
Being a child of a chaebol family and an overly promising player, it’s only expected for him to be busy even during the vacation.
However, he became busier as he gained more popularity after the big incident at the youth retreat.
Inside the game, Joo Soohyuk has accomplished a variety of quests.
In this world, he was able to help resolve a major incident which inevitably made him more famous.
It’s in-character for the game’s title hero to come to school and do his job in the student council despite being so busy.
As I was reflecting on PMH’s title hero and his track record, my device rang.
[Caller: Joo Soohyuk]
Seeing him make a call, there must be a big problem.
When I answered the phone, Joo Soohyuk’s sorry voice immediately came up.
[Euishin, sorry. You’ve been waiting for a while now, right? I’m really sorry but my schedule today is…]
For a moment, his voice started going quieter.
I felt like he was talking at some distance away from his device.
I could still his voice, even though it was faint.
[…Soohyuk, it’s alright. You go ahead.]
[Hyeji noona…]
Over the device, I heard the voice of my playable character.
Third-year student Oh Hyeji, president of the student council.
Her voice sounded heavy.
‘…Is it really Oh Hyeji?’
Oh Hyeji is a strong and determined character.
Even when talking to people much older than her, Oh Hyeji expresses her thoughts coherently and she doesn’t back down.
It’s only during the death of Yoo Sanghee that she showed tears inside the game.
I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I felt anger forming within me.
Just what on earth made my playable character cry?
