We finished our dinner as the sun gradually sunk into the horizon.
The surrounding area became completely dark as the scheduled time with Jang Namwook approached.
The automated lights inside the mansion were triggered after it was sufficiently dark.
‘Come to think of it, the tiger flowers haven’t fallen yet.’
The tiger flowers at the maze garden were still in full bloom.
Based on the climate on the Korean Peninsula, these tiger flowers are supposed to be in bloom only during July and August, so I don’t know why they were still in full bloom.
‘Did he do this on purpose?’
Unlike in the past, perhaps it was Hwang Jiho’s enthusiasm that keeps these flowers in bloom.
This spring, the cherry blossoms around Eungwang High and the Hwangmyeong Mansion were in bloom for a long time too.
When the thought came up, I remembered Olmu, who I haven’t seen again today ever since we left the Hanok.
I felt quite sad.
“He’s here. Fix your foolish face.”
I looked up after Hwang Jiho spoke, and I could see the lights turning on one by one from afar.
The lighting was different in terms of brightness and style in each and every annex.
Jang Namwook was coming this way as he was guided by Jiho’s subordinates.
“Hello, Euishin and Jiho. Sorry for visiting at such a late hour again.”
“It’s alright. …Are all the contents of those carriers what we’re supposed to do a ritual on?”
Jang Namwook only brought one carrier last time.
This time, he brought three, and they were all bigger.
‘It looks like an alloy case mixed with otherworld ore and Duralumin. He’s paid attention to every single detail.’
Jang Namwook sincerely thanked the subordinates who carried the luggage for him.
“A-ah, thank you! I’m sorry, I could’ve carried these on my own…”
Hwang Jiho gestured for the subordinates to leave, but their pride didn’t seem to be hurt by the fact that they were a human porter for the day.
They showed their loyalty by carrying out every order with their best abilities.
“I am only being polite to the guest of the mansion. It would be rude for me to let a guest carry this much luggage.”
“Is that so…?”
Jang Namwook, who grew up in an ordinary human home, didn’t understand old man Jiho’s words at first.
In the end, he just passed it off as a “Class Zero kid being a Class Zero kid”.
This easy acceptance could be because his roommate, Do Sihoo is also an eccentric kid.
“Well then, let’s begin.”
“Do you not need me to create a boundary this time too?”
“Yeah. You don’t need to help.”
I opened the carriers on the ground and activated my light skill.
<Light skill, Player Identity activated.>
Among my playable characters, I tried to choose one of the candidates to be the next Dragon King’s Shaman.
Perhaps because of my excessive use of my light skill today, the number written on the “available time” under the card was much smaller than usual.
I chose a card that could be used for more than ten minutes, and all of the others disappeared.
<Using Character’s Light Skill, ‘Summoning Ritual Instruments’>
Fwaaaa…!
The ritual instruments immediately appeared after I activated the light skill.
The Five-Colored Flag, hay-cutter, divine knife, flute, and musical instruments appeared one by one.
I also had the Sun-Moon Blue Dragon Fan that I used last time.
Open!
In a heartbeat, I opened the huge fan and invoked the skill.
Energy wave spread through the fabric of the fan, covering the face of the blue dragon and winding it to the sun and moon.
<Using character’s skill, ‘Ward off Evil Spirits’>
Fwa! Fwaaa!
Three dragons appeared as I swung the fan to each opened carrier.
The blue dragon disappeared as it passed through the carrier, but unlike last time, nothing appeared.
No seeds or anything of the sort was found.
‘There’s nothing here?’
The skill of the strongest candidate to become the Dragon King’s next Shaman didn’t find anything.
Something was odd here.
‘I activated the Ward off Evil Spirits successfully. Did I do something wrong?’
There was nothing planted in Do Sihoo’s stuff.
“Impossible! Then why is Sihoo…?!”
Do Sihoo had been acting very weird lately.
Jang Namwook even witnessed the unidentified thread that manipulated Do Sihoo with his Eye of the Star Maiden.
“I’ll try it again.”
<Using character’s light skill, Summoning Ritual Instruments>
Among the instruments, I chose another item.
I held the Sun-Moon Blue Dragon Fan in one hand, and the Blue-Yellow Dragon Fan in the other.
When I held the two fans, I saw that the time limit for my Player Identity light skill was drastically reduced.
‘I’ll only be able to use this one more time…!’
<Using character’s skill, Ward Off Evil Spirits>
Fwawang!
The fans blew a strong wave of wind.
The Blue Dragon floating between the sun and the moon appeared on my left hand, and the Yellow Dragon crossed between large waves on my right hand.
“Jo Euishin…!”
“Amazing! The two dragons appeared at the same time, and they became stronger!”
Just like last time, Hwang Jiho was using magic to closely observe me, while Jang Namwook watched with the Eye of the Star Maiden.
Both of them were looking at the fans that I activated with my energy wave.
As the fans moved, the two dragons rushed through the air and penetrated the three carriers at the same time.
Fwaaaa….
But nothing appeared again.
The seeds that we found last time didn’t come up.
“Euishin’s skill didn’t find anything… Is Sihoo really just suffering from stress, just like the doctor said? No, I don’t think that’s right…”
Jang Namwook was confused, and the Eye of the Star Maiden looked blurred for a while.
His eye given by Astria is one that can illuminate the truth.
However, it hasn’t been that long since Jang Namwook’s ability was activated.
In addition, although Jang Namwook is very mature for his age, he’s still a 17-year-old high school student.
It was impossible for those eyes to penetrate all evil or detect conspiracy hidden behind the truth at this stage.
‘…Maybe the situation now is worse than last time.’
When I deactivated my Player Identity skill, the fans and the dragons disappeared.
“It’s sure now that there’s nothing planted on Do Sihoo’s personal stuff.”
“So will Sihoo be okay?”
“No.”
I shook my head firmly.
“The Seed of Curse must be planted on something else, not on Do Sihoo’s belongings.”
“I looked at Sihoo directly with my eye after he showed some odd behavior! The thread that was controlling Sihoo quickly disappeared, and there were no signs other than that… I’m sure the seed is planted somewhere.”
I nodded.
“You’re right. It could be that the seed is planted directly on his body. Deep enough to leave no trace in his personal belongings, and hidden enough for you not to see them.”
Jang Namwook stood still, forgetting to breathe.
He blinked again and again as if looking back on all the strange things that happened to Do Sihoo.
“W-why couldn’t I have thought of that? Come to think of it, my eye is still at a low level… Why was I overconfident about it? And now Sihoo is…”
Jang Namwook’s words were filled with guilt.
He was so worried about Do Sihoo, but I was frustrated to think that all Sihoo has been talking about was the navy and his dreams without being sensitive to Jang Namwook’s feelings.
“What kind of light skill does Do Sihoo use?”
“That’s…”
Jang Namwook hesitated.
It isn’t polite to reveal a person’s light skill without their consent, and it is against the Player Personal Information Protection Act.
“I’ll take responsibility if there’s something that goes wrong. Tell me.”
“No! I’m the one who asked you for help with Sihoo. Of course, I have to be the one to take responsibility.”
The sincere Jang Namwook determinedly said he’d take responsibility.
“Sihoo’s light skill is subtle. It’s not an aggressive type. It’s more of a capture-type…”
When I heard the explanation of Do SIhoo’s light skill, I saw Hwang Jiho’s face turn stiff.
The sports exchange match between Eungwang High and the Player Military Academy is just around the corner, and Do Sihoo is set to participate in that event.
Hwang Jiho knows that if Do Sihoo’s light skill gets overridden by evil forces, it’s going to be big trouble.
“Jo Euishin. Do you think the son of the King of the Ships will be used during the exchange match?”
“It’s completely possible.”
Inside the game, Do Sihoo died during the four major group’s scenario was unfolding.
Do Sihoo was discovered leaking information to Joo Soohuk, and he was killed in secret.
The four major groups are already caught in some tension now, but they’re not fighting explicitly yet.
However, with the addition of the sports exchange match in this world, the scenarios would definitely be quite different.
“There might be someone in the TC Group who wants to kill Do Sihoo. By killing him, the executives of the four major groups can achieve what they want. They don’t want Eungwang High and the Player Military Academy to be in tight connection with each other. By dealing with one of the participants in the upcoming event, they could separate the two schools from interacting again.”
Jang Namwook’s face became completely devoid of color after I explained what I thought, while Hwang Jiho just smiled.
Jang Namwook must’ve never imagined that such malice and evil could be plotted by anyone, while Hwang Jiho seems to have the same thoughts as me.
“There’s something that I want to do with the authority of Chairman Lee.”
“Speak.”
I told some things to Hwang Jiho.
Jang Namwook looked puzzled, but he just nodded along.
He seems to be convinced by what I was suggesting, but I bet he’s wondering why it seems like I’m asking permission from Hwang Jiho.
“The White Tiger… I want him to be there on that day. In the form of a student or a faculty member.”
“Alright.”
* * *
The weekend passed by quickly and it was Monday again.
Today was the start of a new week and the start of the first sports exchange match between Eungwang High and the Player Military Academy.
The student council has been preparing to adjust the timetable ever since the news of the exchange match was announced during the first semester.
Thanks to that, the whole school only has morning classes today.
Although it wasn’t mandatory to watch the sports exchange exhibition, the student council has well organized the timetable in advance so that classes do not hold students back.
The school was in a festive atmosphere just a few hours before the opening ceremony.
“We’re distributing team items! Who didn’t get a T-shirt?”
“Hey, all the S sizes are gone!”
“Just write your name here! We’ll have it to you before lunchtime.”
Even though the match wouldn’t be held at Eungwang High today, the campus has been noisy all morning.
Students’ associations and some clubs prepared various cheering items like t-shirts, sticks, towels, slogans, and even the cheer song.
There were already many students wearing the official shirt, and many hummed to the cheering song.
Our class was no exception.
“Did Geurin draw this?”
“Wow… The word “Eungwang” looks so pretty being written like this.”
Min Geurin anonymously participated in the application for the cheering logo for the exhibition match, and her design was the one chosen.
The masterpiece has the school’s logo and the word “Eungwang” beautifully written in bold.
Although it hasn’t been revealed that she was the one behind the design, most people already guessed that it was Min Geurin who made the logo.
Min Geurin was distributing some cheering towels for our classmates.
The kids floated their holograms and began to plan which one they’d watch.
“The volleyball match and the handball match are being held at the same time… I don’t know which one to watch!”
“Hmm, why don’t we watch the replay later?”
“Watching a replay of a sports game is different! Look, the chants for each game are slightly different too.”
My classmates looked excited as they examined the game schedule, wondering which game to watch first.
Mok Wooram appeared, carrying a box of cheering supplies.
“But no games overlap with each other during the first day and the opening ceremony! Still, I’m just happy to be with Lena-nim and everyone today.”
“That’s not the problem right now, Wooram!”
“Where did you get that?!”
Everyone looked shocked and worried when they saw Wooram carrying the box of supplies.
They all doubted that Mok Wooram got scammed and paid money for those things.
Fortunately, it turned out that Park Seunghyun of Jiikhoe packed them in advance before Mok Wooram got scammed again.
I gathered myself at the peaceful sight of my classmates.
‘Let’s respond calmly even if something unexpected happens.’
Later in the afternoon.
The opening ceremony and the first game will be held.
