After hearing Hwang Jiho’s explanation, the kids had their own reactions toward Dokgo Miro.
“She dances well!”
“I want to paint her. The color of her hair is so pretty that the screen turns bright every time she moves.”
“I feel like I can hear the music just by seeing her dance. She’s really good at dancing…!”
“I agree with that.”
Saeum of April, Min Geurin, and Kwon Lena complimented Dokgo Miro’s dancing skills.
And there was also Mok Wooram, who would definitely agree with Kwon Lena’s opinion no matter what his own thoughts were.
“Does this mean our class has eleven people on it? Including the one who appeared on the television? Wow!”
Kim Yuri felt pure happiness.
“It’s still the middle of vacation though. What are they going to film at school?”
“Even if they film once the second semester starts… She hasn’t really gone to school even once, right?”
Maeng Hyodon and Song Daesok had a realistic perspective.
Hwang Jiho knew about Dokgo Miro in advance, but he didn’t consider how the other kids would react on whether the number of students in our class would increase.
Hani was the only one who showed a different response to the possibility of another addition to our class.
Hani stopped scooping on her patbingsu which had overflowing chocolate syrup on top and stared blankly at the screen.
When the camera took a close-up shot of Dokgo Miro’s face doing an eye smile, she kind of looked disgusted for a moment.
“…Hmmm.”
Hwang Jiho looks like he knows the reason.
‘They encountered Dokgo Miro during the incident at Gwangil involving the nursery. Perhaps we can consider them as acquaintances?’
In the game, Dokgo Miro stopped going to school when Hani and Gong Cheonghwon left.
With that, I guess it’s possible that they know each other.
I know Hwang Jiho must’ve done a thorough background check on Hani, so I think he knows exactly what kind of connection Hani and Dokgo Miro have.
But I didn’t want to ask Hwang Jiho so I decided to ask Hani directly.
Just in time, I was able to sit opposite Hani so that I could see her face when I asked the question.
“Do you know her?”
With a complex expression, Hani answered.
“We’re from the same middle school.”
Oh, so they went to middle school together.
Her response was quite subtle so I couldn’t gauge whether they were close friends or not.
“If you guys went to the same middle school… then does that mean the school you went to is around Gwangil area?”
“Wow! I didn’t know that Hani had a friend who’s an idol! What’s her name?”
“Why doesn’t she attend school?”
With Hani’s revelation, the other kids’ attention turned toward her.
However, Hani didn’t answer most of the questions properly.
“I haven’t really seen her that much since middle school. I heard that she came to the nursery once, but I haven’t really seen her…”
Hani answered the questions in a vague manner.
She carefully chose her words and only revealed information that anyone would know about Dokgo Miro from watching her on television.
Her name, the middle school she went to, and that her hair color during middle school was black.
Hani then hesitatingly added one small detail.
She seemed to be unsure whether to say it in Dokgo Miro’s absence.
“One time, she was so nervous because everyone was watching her to the point that she couldn’t sing. She’s not the type to tremble in front of people, but I guess she does when it comes to singing. … But then, I only felt that because her expression was different and the atmosphere was different that time too.”
Wouldn’t that be a big problem then?
The pre-registration isn’t really that much of an issue since the preliminary round was through a submission of a video personally taken by the participants.
There aren’t really many judges who are present too.
However, in the finals, the contestants would be performing in front of a live audience.
The competition program has veteran singers as contestants too, and even those veterans who have performed in front of a full stadium also feel nervous and make mistakes.
Can Dokgo Miro, a trainee with stage fright, handle it?
“Seeing that she’s participated in the audition, perhaps she’s overcome it?”
With Kwon Lena’s comment, Hani smiled faintly.
“…Yeah, I hope so.”
I don’t really know what Hani thinks of Dokgo Miro, but I think I could guess just by looking at her expression.
They don’t contact each other, but it seems like they were friends.
After we had our breakfast, we had some free time again.
Because the weather was nice today, most of the students decided to play some outdoor water activities or swim around in the sea.
Among the water activities was a tornado slide that was ridden with a four-seater tube.
Another one was a floating pool where you could see the beautiful scenery of Joo-Oh Island.
Expecting that the other kids would flock to the water attractions, my classmates decided to enjoy the other facilities that Joo-Oh Island offers.
‘Min Geurin’s hoodie or AR glasses might come off while riding the water attractions. It’s better to avoid those especially since there’s a lot of people there today.’
None of us verbalized it, but I’m sure everyone in our class was thinking the same thing too.
Not wanting to go to the crowded places, our class visited the DIY souvenir workshop at the Joo-Oh Resort.
Here, visitors of Joo-Oh Island could either make their own handmade souvenirs or ask professional instructors to make one for them.
My classmates chose to make one themselves.
“Wow, Geurin’s good at making sculptures too.”
“It’s nice to have a change of pace sometimes.”
“Geurin, I’ll help you make the frame! You might hurt your hand with that wire.”
Min Geurin and Song Daesok created clay sculptures for our class.
Meanwhile, the other kids who weren’t as confident with their skills were seen contemplating.
The instructor working in the workshop suggested making an energy wave crystal.
Showing a transparent block of rock, the instructor spoke.
“These are low-value “otherworld ores.” They are actually too soft to be processed and made into weapons. If you inject your own energy wave into it, the ore gets its own kind of unique color. Be careful though, if you put too little energy wave, the color wouldn’t really stick, and if you put too much, the ore would break.”
When the kids decided to make the energy wave crystals as suggested by the instructor, Maeng Hyodon spoke.
“But isn’t this kind of thing available in other places other than Joo-Island too?”
“Still, it’s meaningful now that we’ve come here and we can make this thing!”
When Kim Yuri responded to Maeng Hyodon, the latter was convinced and he immediately began to cut the rock although he wasn’t really that skilled.
Maeng Hyodon seemed to be thinking of making it a fist-shaped ornament, but no matter how hard I look at them, they really only looked like stones.
On the other hand, Hwang Jiho seems to be making souvenirs for the descendants.
He made the ore into a tiger shape and planted his own energy wave in it.
Seeing the golden tiger that Hwang Jiho made, he got praised several times by the instructor.
With all the praises, Hwang Jiho gave a satisfied laugh.
He then turned to ask me something.
“Jo Euishin, what are you going to make?”
“I can’t really think of something.”
I can’t think of anything that I can make that’s within my level of handicraft skills.
On top of that, the color of my energy wave is black, so I guess it would be a little dull to have it as a souvenir.
“Is that so? Well, then help me put in some stripes in this artwork that I’ve made.”
Hwang Jiho handed me the golden tigers.
I don’t really like it when he tells me what to do, but I decided to try it out on these tiger-shaped decorations because they’re gifts for the descendants after all.
Although…
I couldn’t really control my energy wave well.
Some of the little tiger ornaments turned completely black in color, and some were smashed.
Every time I ruined one tiger, Hwang Jiho makes another one.
“Hahaha! You seem inexperienced, Jo Euishin. Concentrate some more!”
I think I could concentrate better if this old man just shuts his mouth.
A harsh word came to my mind, but I kept it in.
I tried to think of the descendants instead.
After struggling with ten more tiger ornaments, I was lucky enough to complete the job just before lunchtime.
“Good job. This one’s for you.”
Hwang Jiho gave me one of the tiger ornaments.
I guess this one’s my share.
I’m quite uncomfortable holding an item with Hwang Jiho’s energy wave in it, but since it’s the same item that the descendants would receive, I guess it’s still meaningful.
“….”
While looking at the other kids’ finished products, Hwang Jiho’s gaze stopped on Hani’s work.
Hani’s work was of a Taehokwon robe dyed blue.
Unlike the color of Kwon Jein’s energy wave which was the shade of the lake, Hani’s color was more of a dark blue similar to an ultramarine blue.
This may have been the first time that Hwang Jiho has seen the color of Hani’s energy wave, since she only ever fights using Taehokwon techniques.
‘Perhaps it’s the same color as the Blue Tiger’s.’
We took a group photo with our own finished products.
It’s lunchtime already so we decided to go back.
* * *
After eating lunch, our class decided to try out the water attractions.
“I heard from Dain that there aren’t many people in the water attractions now. There must be a lot of kids who stayed up late last night and got too tired so they all went back to take a nap.”
When Kim Yuri spoke with a bright voice, Min Geurin looked excited.
This might be the first time that she’d gone to water attractions again since elementary school, so it’s natural for her to be excited.
Song Daesok also looked excited and he couldn’t take his eyes off the water attractions as we all walked together.
“Song Daesok, come with me for a second.”
While we were walking, Ham Geunhyung suddenly appeared in front of us.
He seemed busy all morning taking care of Im Yeonhwa and the Class Zero seniors.
What could he want from Song Daesok who can’t even take his eyes off the water park?
Ham Geunhyung had a less grim look than usual.
“Professor Noh Youngmi wants to see you. Hwang Jiho too.”
Noh Youngmi wants to see Song Daesok and Hwang Jiho?
It’s an unexpected combination, but I could guess what the reason was.
My classmates seem to be getting worried that the two have some kind of sin to Noh Youngmi.
Kim Yuri spoke on behalf of everyone.
“Professor, can we go with them too?”
After contemplating for a while, Ham Geunhyung nodded.
“Alright.”
In the end, our whole class decided to come altogether.
The place we were headed to was a recreation room near the lobby.
Inside, not only Noh Youngmi was there but also Joo Soohyuk, Moon Saeron, and Bang Yoonseob.
Those were all kids from Class Two.
“Sorry for calling you out here all of a sudden, Song Daesok and Hwang Jiho.”
“…What’s the matter?”
When Song Daesok asked hesitatingly, Noh Youngmi gave a soft smile.
It was rare for the cold and calm Noh Youngmi to have such a soft expression on her face.
“I apologize for expressing my gratitude so late. On that day, Song Daesok stayed with the Class Two kids to protect them on his own. I also heard that you protected them with your body when the window shattered.”
As expected, Noh Youngmi wanted to talk about the incident at the youth retreat.
Immediately after that incident, Noh Youngmi and the students in Class Two were seriously injured and were hospitalized due to poisoning from the energy poison.
By the time they were discharged from the hospital, Daesok was already working at the association’s research institute, so they didn’t really have the chance to personally thank him.
Noh Youngmi expressed her gratitude to Hwang Jiho too.
“Thanks to you two, the whole class was safe.”
Following Noh Youngmi, the students who fainted that day thanked Song Daesok and Hwang Jiho.
Song Daesok looked puzzled, not expecting that he would be thanked like that, while Hwang Jiho looked as if it was only natural for him to be thanked.
Seeing the two, Bang Yoonseob looked a little weak.
‘Is he suffering from the heat? Or perhaps he got that zombie virus from when the seniors bit him yesterday.’
Finally, Joo Soohyuk, the title hero and president of Class Two, gave his thanks.
“Thank you for protecting my classmates.”
“O-oh, yeah sure…”
Song Daesko looked embarrassed.
On the other hand, Min Geurin, who was hiding since there are some people here that she was not close to, didn’t know what to do.
But after some time, Min Geurin looked very proud of Daesok.
After that, we parted ways with the Class Two students and made our way to the water attractions again.
However…
There were a lot more people than we expected.
But perhaps she’s mustering all her strength for the sake of Song Daesok, Min Geurin did not hide.
Daesok had a stupid face all throughout playing in the water attractions.
* * *
The activity scheduled for tonight was a campfire.
Campfires are usually done on the last day of a trip, but we decided to do it today to accommodate the special guests.
“Please gather around according to your class. Ah, Third Year Class Zero, please stand behind the First Year Class Zero students!”
It was the teachers who stepped up and organized everyone.
But there was one teacher missing.
‘I don’t see Yong Jegun anywhere.’
It’s normal for the people of Dragon Clan to do things by themselves, but I’m quite worried about him.
* * *
At some uninhabited island where the sun is beginning to set little by little.
Yong Jegun had a lace handkerchief that didn’t match him at all.
Last night, Yong Jegun discovered the lace handkerchief while searching for Im Yeonhwa.
It had a faint trace of belonging to one of a royal lineage.
GPS coordinates of an uninhabited island were engraved on it with energy wave.
It’s unexplainably dangerous to go to suspiciously engraved coordinates alone.
Yong Jegun knew that, but he still decided to go to the location on his own.
It’s because the color of the laced handkerchief was red.
“It’s been a while, Bear Goddess. Do you want me to tell you something interesting again?”
And just as expected, the Sad Bear Goddess wearing a red dress appeared.
