Inside the PMH game, the Horse Clan didn’t get much air time.
And inside the game, it’s known that the Horse Clan continuously battled against the Demon Race even after the collision of the two worlds.
‘Because of that, the Horse Clan wasn’t really that deeply involved in the game’s storyline…’
In terms of the language used in the intellectual Korean Peninsula, the two clans were completely opposite of each other as the name that refers to them are homonyms.
They’re both “Ma-Jok”.
Ma as in horse, and Ma as in demon.
Even so, it seems that the Horse Clan has suffered more from that fact.
‘I’m sure they suffered until the end of the game. The Demon Race is a self-indulgent group that launches sporadic attacks.’
The Head of the Horse Clan, the Black Horse, looked at us one by one after introducing herself.
Tak Geosan stood the closest to her.
Right behind was me, and Joo Soohyuk who seem more fascinated by the three white horses, and Bang Yoonseob.
From afar, we could see Maeng Hyodon running towards us.
‘Is she gauging our skill levels? No, I don’t think so. I think she’s looking for something else…’
The Black Horse then turned her attention to the three white horses.
The white horses neighed and sighed, and then tapped their hooves to the ground.
“That’s odd. I definitely felt one of these ‘five heroes’ coming. They’re not it?”
One of the heroes that the white horses of Oeum Mountain are searching for.
That reminded me of the five legendary generals who were never reborn due to a lost connection.
Since the land is slowly restored and not completely dead, did the five legendary generals appear again?
I recalled a conversation with Song Daesok and Min Geurin when I encountered the white horses in the past.
‘There were four outstanding players from Hongcheon.’
The great hero, the iron arm, Song Manseok.
Min Geurin’s master, Painter Hong Kyungbok.
A known book collector, the principal of Eungwang High.
And the grandfather of Sung Gukeon and Sung Siwan, the one who managed the Dark Ages in Korea.
Those four are confirmed to be born in Hongcheon, but the remaining one is unknown.
‘At first, I thought that Sung Gukeon and Sung Siwan, the best-known players from Hongcheon, were the only ones to choose from, but they aren’t.’
When I visited Hongcheon, I asked Sung Siwan where his hometown was.
— No, my parents moved before I was born. During my conception, they sensed that I have some sort of energy wave so they brought me to a player’s facility. I was actually born and raised in Seoul. I studied at Eungwang High and my family went back to Hongcheon.
— Yep, Gukeon hyung too! Gukeon hyung was also in the same energy center that I was brought to, but when hyung was there…
‘Sung Gukeon and Sung Siwan were born outside Hongcheon. That means it’s not those two.’
And from what the Black Horse said, looks like the remaining one wasn’t among the four of us either.
Tak Geosan asked the Black Horse a question.
“The head of the Horse Clan came her to personally give her thanks?”
“Last night, a player was here helping save some people, and he also saved a family of mine.”
Last night was when the strong typhoon hit Hongcheon.
I’m not sure what the three of them did, but it does make sense that perhaps they went out and wandered around the hills last night.
Tak Geosan doesn’t seem to know anything in particular.
Bang Yoonseob, who had a gloomy expression, wasn’t it either.
Maeng Hyodon, who had just arrived and couldn’t understand the situation, was blank for quite a while before saying “ah!” and telling us what he knows.
“We were looking for the couple who went to the mountain to harvest some mushrooms when I saw a wild horse trapped in some cover so I let it go. Is that it?”
“So the one who saved a family of mine was you, young disciple.”
Looks like the wild horse saved by Maeng Hyodon was a beast domesticated by the Horse Clan.
And hearing what Hyodon said, it looks like he helped out in rescue operations last night.
As expected of my playable character.
“He’s still young and weak in power, so if he was left there alone, it would’ve been a big problem. Thank you. I’d like to return the favor.”
The Black Horse walked up to Maeng Hyodon.
Maeng Hyodon stepped back and looked embarrassed.
“Uh… I don’t think that’s necessary. You didn’t have to personally thank me.”
“Really?”
After contemplating for a second, the Black Horse shook her head.
“I don’t think so.”
“…Eh?”
“I think it’s necessary for me to come greet and thank you personally.”
“Ah… alright.”
The Black Horse’s strong personality is on display.
Maeng Hyodon, who had no choice but to receive the Black Horse’s greeting, reacted to the white horses tapping their hooves.
At first glance, it seemed like the Horse Clan didn’t have any intention of being hostile toward humans.
‘Still, the Horse Clan has some people on its tail. No matter how they try to resist against the Demon Race, it’s completely possible that they’re already under the Black Screen.’
There are people from the Demon Race who cooperate with the Black Screen, but there are also some who don’t.
If the Demon Race completely join hands with the Black Screen, some crazy things are sure to happen.
People wearing crow demon masks and acting crazy would be one.
Therefore, it’s difficult to think about the Horse Clan as a friend just because they’re also the enemy of the Demon Race.
“Why did your horse wander through the hills on such a rough day?”
Unsure if the horses were actually thanking Maeng Hyodon or just bothering him, Tak Geosan asked a question to divert the Black Horse’s attention.
“Amid yesterday’s typhoon, I was busy taking care of the Demon Race’s attempted invasion.”
“An attempted invasion by the Demon Race… You mean the Demon Race which is the exact contrast of the Sky Clan?”
“Yep.”
So that sort of thing happened during the typhoon.
“It’s still not completely dealt with, so I’m still busy trying to take care of that. Anyway, give me an address to where I can send you a gift.”
“A-ah, that won’t be necessary…”
“Address.”
Eventually, Maeng Hyodon had to give in to the persistence of the Black Horse.
He gave the address of the dormitory of Eungwang High.
“You’re a student from Eungwang High?”
“…Yes.”
The Black Horse contemplated for a second.
“Understood.”
I don’t know exactly what it is that she understood, but the Black Horse collected the three white horses and turned to leave.
Before they walked away, the Black Horse said some nonsense.
“See ya.”
Don’t tell me she’s planning to personally come to Eungwang High?
I glanced towards Maeng Hyodon and saw a stiff expression on his face.
Looks like he and I reached the same ominous conclusion.
After the Black Horse left.
Maeng Hyodon was the first one to speak.
“…Hey, why are you guys here?”
I think it’s better for Joo Soohyuk to answer this question.
“We wanted to hang out and play with everyone before the vacation is over. We came to pick you up because we couldn’t contact you.”
“Hang out?”
“We couldn’t finish our schedule because of the incident at the youth retreat, right? I want to call everyone who was at the youth retreat.”
Joo Soohyuk put up a hologram.
The hologram showed a guide map of the Joo-Oh Island.
“I’m thinking of inviting first-year Class Zero, Class One, and Class Two to Joo-Oh Island.”
* * *
At the laboratory of the Player Association Satellite Management Team.
The unnamed Player Satellite Laboratory was treated as a division of the satellite management team on paper.
And for the first time in a long time, a new researcher has entered the highly secured department.
The new researcher, who went through an unusual recruitment process, was the 17-year-old grandson of the great hero Song Manseok.
Although the recruitment was quite odd, none of the personnel managers or researchers at the institute had any objections.
It’s because that high school student was already perfect in terms of his ability and security.
Compared to the other researchers, the only thing he lacked was experience and education.
On top of that, although Song Daesok hasn’t graduated yet, he was performing well in Eungwang High School.
Players belonging to the association agreed that Song Daesok’s educational background and career problems were to be resolved on their own eventually.
‘He can just gain career experience, can’t he? He can do it right in this lab!’
‘Doesn’t matter if he’s a middle school graduate. To be honest, I wish I could’ve just dropped out when I was in high school and immediately work as a full-time researcher.’
If only Song Manseok and Hong Kyungbok weren’t protecting Daesok, the researchers honestly felt that they wanted Daesok to work permanently at the institute.
And when Song Daesok didn’t go to work for a few days because of the incident with Min Geurin, it was a mess.
As a result, the project was delayed several times.
Today, the delayed schedule was successfully adjusted and Song Daesok finally faced his responsibility as the center role in the project.
“I didn’t know that the royal lineage was involved in the satellite project of the association.”
“It hasn’t been that long since the royal lineage was involved. This is a top secret. You can’t tell this to anyone, not even to Iron Arm sunbaenim!”
Im Jihwa, the head of the satellite team, continued speaking.
“Everyone worked hard to make the technology alliance go smoothly. Satellite technology is at the border between energy and science, but most researchers can only approach the satellites in terms of science and technology. For the longest time, we left the energy part of satellite technology unattended.”
Song Daesok nodded his head.
It’s easy to understand because he’s seen the statistics that the majority of satellite-related researchers were former PHD players who published satellite engineering papers.
“The technology we created with the help of the royal lineage is of perfect energy… No, it’s almost like it came from fiction or fantasy. None of the researchers here understood the mechanism by which the royal lineage makes their technology.”
Putting the realm of fiction and fantasy beyond the realm of energy into satellite technology?
Im Jihwa smiled brightly when she saw Song Daesok’s excited face.
‘The other researchers had a frightened expression when they heard of this…’
When Im Jihwa first revealed this matter, the researchers cried, saying that they couldn’t imagine how they could reconcile science and energy.
In contrast, Song Daesok looked like an excited child upon hearing the matter from Im Jihwa.
“Daesok, you analyze the player satellite from a universal perspective, right? I want you to personally meet the people of royal lineage and talk to them about your insights.”
“I’m not really a good speaker.”
“That’s alright. It is kind of a unique royal lineage race, but… I don’t think they’re hostile towards humans. And they’re very talkative too, so if you run out of things to say, just listen to them.”
After Im Jihwa and Song Daesok completed several security procedures.
They walked towards the end of a corridor.
The corridor ends with a block of wall.
Song Daesok predicted that the one of royal lineage was behind this wall.
Just as he expected, when Im Jihwa raised her palm and pointed at the wall, it gradually became transparent and the other side became visible.
And…
“Huhuhu! Waaah!”
They heard some moaning cries.
When the wall disappeared, they saw someone sitting on the floor crying.
There was another one soothing the crying person.
“Calm down. They’re all safe.”
“Waah! How could this happen!”
No matter how softly the other person spoke, the woman on the floor still kept wailing.
‘…Is she the one of royal lineage that Team Leader Im Jihwa mentioned?’
When he took a closer look, both the woman crying and the woman comforting her had red eyes.
The red-eyed person of royal lineage sobbed and said…
“But I thought they were really dead! As soon as the good guys went to the crazy tiger’s mansion, I heard of something bad! Playing dead? Are they crazy?! Toyoon unnie, can’t we just go over there? Hmm? Unnie…”
“…Toyeon-ah, those kids are descendants of the tiger clan.”
The two women of royal lineage, Toyeon, and Toyoon were both gritting their teeth.
Daesok’s not sure what’s happening, but it seems like the two women of royal lineage suffered an unfair and resentful incident involving a mad tiger’s mansion.
The one called Toyeon murmured for a long time before she sensed the presence of Im Jihwa and Song Daesok.
“…Ah, is he the guy who’s in the same class as the “benefactor”? Wow, he really looks like a young Song Manseok!”
Song Daesok was more curious about the word “benefactor” rather than the fact that he’s been called a lookalike of his grandfather.
Ok Toyoon tapped Ok Toyeon in the head to make her shut her mouth, but Song Daesok’s already heard the word “benefactor”.
I’m in the same class as the benefactor? Do they mean “savior”? Are they talking about Class Zero? Who could that savior be…? It does sound like something I’ve heard recently though.
Seeing that his memory wasn’t that clear, it seems like he heard it during the youth retreat.
Song Daesok’s memories aren’t that vivid after he got infected with the energy poison.
While rummaging through his dim memories, a word suddenly came to mind.
— Are you safe? Looks like I’m a little late to deal with what my benefactor asked me to do.
His classmate, the Class Zero crazyhead, Hwang Jiho.
He appeared out of nowhere and said those words.
