A late hour in the Hwangmyeong Mansion.
Both the descendants and the Yellow Tiger’s young alter ego were asleep, but the Yellow Tiger’s body, wearing a Eungwang High uniform, was still awake.
Yellow Tiger’s alter ego and true body were clearly different in terms of physical limitations and performance.
Unlike his alter ego, which accumulates fatigue like an ordinary royal lineage, his real self was strong enough to continue existing without sleep.
What Yellow Tiger was looking at right now was a report on an elementary teacher in the school where his alter ego is infiltrating.
‘It’s going smoothly.’
There were small incidences – the teacher’s acquaintances making a new group message room without him, ignoring him during the teacher’s meeting, and such.
There was also a big incident; the teacher’s fiancé unilaterally cancelled their engagement.
The true reason for the breakup was a letter, which contained the teacher’s social media history and past activities, secretly sent by the Tiger Clan.
However, the fiancé chose to make poor excuses, such as lack of marriage funds, to avoid getting caught up in the teacher’s messy past.
It was a ridiculous excuse considering the wealth of the fiancé, but it was difficult for the teacher to find fault as it was a breakup after he did prepare some prenuptial legal moves.
The fiancé announced the news of their engagement being cancelled on social media and did not make any further comments.
However, there was a close acquaintance of the fiancé that commented “Your ancestors have guided you”, which was up-voted by many people, including the fiancé herself.
With that, everyone could somehow guess the real reason why the engagement was broken off.
‘As scheduled, it will be over when this alter ego transfers next week. After that, I will be faking his disappearance and hand him over to Hyangrok…’
Something bothered Yellow Tiger.
‘Jeon Muyeong was investigating this teacher.’
Yellow Tiger was reminded of the face of the student council president of Eungwang High 15 years ago, Sung Gukeon, who was now a lawmaker.
Sung Gukeon is a clever human being, and he may someday figure out the things that the Tiger Clan made happen.
‘Then shall I come to see him in person like I did back then?’
Sung Gukeon was someone worth observing closely, but the Tiger Clan pulled out from doing so when they saw his relationship with Kim Shinrok.
Sung Gukeon hated the royal lineage and its descendants, but he followed Kim Shinrok well.
If the Yellow Tiger takes the risk and keeps a close eye on Sung Gukeon, the truth about the relationship between Tiger Clan and Kim Shinrok might be revealed, and Kim Shinrok would lose a disciple.
Perhaps Sung Gukeon’s respect for Kim Shinrok would overpower his hatred, but the consequences and risks were too big.
The Yellow Tiger doesn’t want to risk putting a nail in the heart of his clan’s descendant, who couldn’t even speak to his biological father, just to observe a human being.
‘Now that Kim Shinrok is a bit more relaxed, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to meet and talk to him someday. Though, I do not have the desire to observe Sung Gukeon anymore…’
The image of the only human being being observed by Yellow Tiger naturally came to his mind, and just in time, the device lit up and notified him of a message.
The message was from Jo Euishin.
Yellow Tiger’s eyes widened when he saw the message, and he pressed his temples while he wrote a reply.
After his message was read by Jo Euishin, no reply came back.
“Red Tiger, are you there?
Yellow Tiger gave up on waiting for a reply back from Jo Euishin, so he called the Red Tiger with energy wave in his voice.
The Red Tiger appeared in the leaving room right away, as if he were nearby.
“What is it, Yellow Tiger?”
“I’m intending to send Kim Shinrok to the association. Go with him.”
The Yellow Tiger briefly conveyed Jo Euishin’s suggestion.
“Jo Euishin is still awake?”
With the Red Tiger’s question, Yellow Tiger nodded as he pressed his temples.
With the mention of Jo Euishin, the two tiger’s conversation naturally shifted to his performance at the opening ceremony.
Yellow Tiger spoke to White Tiger, who was quietly sitting on the living room sofa with the sleeping Shinsoo in his arms.
“White Tiger, how did you bring back Do Sihoo to his consciousness?”
White Tiger’s hand that was stroking Shinsoo stopped.
“I am not the one who did it.”
“Then I’ll change the question. How did Jo Euishin do it?”
The White Tiger closed his mouth.
He seemed to know something, but he didn’t want to answer.
‘It would’ve been simple to use the April Clan’s skill King’s Word… but that means Jo Euishin delivered White Tiger’s will.’
Yellow Tiger had a hypothesis, but he didn’t find enough clues to back it up since he was very busy as well.
‘White Tiger and Jo Euishin have almost no contact. They had battled several times, but I don’t think that’s enough to make the White Tiger the subject that he values the most, a requirement for the King’s Word skill.’
In the end, the topic changed without a proper conclusion.
The new topic was Kim Shinrok, who monitored Yong Jegun throughout the opening ceremony.
It was the Red Tiger who led the conversation.
The Red Tiger spoke proudly of his son, but he was also worried about his mental fatigue.
After that, a heavy topic was raised.
It was about the Bear Clan who killed the Tiger Clan’s descendants.
“I talked to the chief sorcerer. The garbage trapped in the garden right now doesn’t intend to open his mouth. I told him to refrain from torture that would damage his body.”
“…I see.”
“I will not let that happen to that garbage unless it’s under my own hands.”
At the end of Yellow Tiger’s words, the three tigers turned silent.
They left the living room without greeting each other a good night.
The only one left in the living room was White Tiger.
* * *
The next day.
The victory of yesterday’s first match has yet to subside for Eungwang High School.
There were many students who wore cheering T-shirts and mufflers designed by Min Geurin instead of their uniforms.
Everyone seemed to be planning either to skip morning classes or run to the stadium as soon as morning classes were over.
Of course, we’re going to watch the game in the afternoon too.
‘I can’t miss the match of my playable characters!’
I chose to watch the game where my playable character is participating.
‘Tomorrow is the first basketball game.’
I don’t have playable characters that would participate in that game, but I decided that I would watch it.
I had promised Yoo Sanghoon back in Joo-Oh Island that I’d watch all his games.
By that time, Do Sihoo might have recovered already, so I’d be watching a match between Yoo Sanghoon and Do Sihoo.
I made a promise in advance so I had no problem making a decision, but the others were torn between the basketball game and the soccer game which would occur at the same time.
Our class was no exception.
Since there were many events, it was inevitable for games to overlap.
Our class was quite divided into which match they wanted to watch, and unlike the first day, everyone decided to go to whichever they wanted.
“So there are three people going to watch the soccer game tomorrow. Saeum and I will be preparing snacks. Should we ask Hani to prepare drinks?”
“Oh no, I put a different game on my schedule instead of the soccer match… Watching yesterday’s soccer game made me want to watch another one though…”
“Ah… It’s difficult to get tickets for the soccer game now. All the tickets were sold out after Eungwang High scored a goal yesterday.”
With Kim Yuri’s words, Kwon Lena looked very disappointed.
When Saeum of April, who had just arrived at school, overheard their conversation, he spoke brightly.
“Do you want to swap tickets with me? I like soccer, but I don’t mind watching the basketball game too. Euishin said he’s also going to watch the basketball match.”
Kwon Lena’s expression was visibly stiff when Saeum of April proposed to exchange tickets.
“Uhm, well… It’s fine.”
“No, we can swap. It’s alright…”
Saeum looked sad, perhaps noticing that Kwon Lena was avoiding eye contact.
‘Those two got even more awkward.’
However, if anyone points out that they’re being awkward with each other, it would make matters worse.
I decided to wait and see what happens.
Meanwhile, Hani was holding a document given to our class.
She was holding a copy of Eungwang High’s team cheers.
There were various cheering songs, but most were composed by the cheering team.
Hani seems to have memorized them all.
On the other hand, Hwang Jiho, who had been nagging me early in the morning to get more rest, closed his mouth when he saw Hani.
It was a bitter sight, but I was thankful that the old man had finally shut his mouth.
“Miro is mentioned in an article!”
Min Geurin, who was looking through newspapers to find drawing materials, spoke brightly.
It was an article about the sports exchange match’s opening ceremony and the filming of Playlist that occurred during the same event.
The article was mostly about the sports exchange event, but it also detailed the performance of Dokgo Miro and the Saint of Naejang Mountain.
The kids diligently read the article.
“There’s no death match in Playlist this week.”
“Oh, isn’t the death match a weekly thing?”
“Yeah. Instead of a death match, two contestants will be eliminated next week.”
The team winning first place for the duet song mission will get a “death match exemption” card.
Dokgo Miro is gradually getting comfortable with cameras and her skills are naturally showing little by little, and the Saint of Naejang has been good from the beginning.
It seemed that the two people are expected to win first place for the week’s mission.
The kids talked excitedly about Dokgo Miro.
However, there were two people who were uncharacteristically silent.
One was Kwon Lena, who has been acting awkward since Saeum talked to her, and the other was Mok Wooram, who was anxious to see Kwon Lena acting that way.
‘I don’t know if Mok Wooram is slow-witted or just sensitive.’
Kim Yuri was doing a good job of keeping the atmosphere lighthearted, but both she and Hwang Jiho must’ve noticed the awkwardness in the air.
As the conversation continued in a peaceful but subtle atmosphere, the school bell rang and Ham Geunhyung appeared.
Only after the conversation was cut did Kwon Lena look relieved.
* * *
Lunchtime.
I usually have lunch with my classmates who are headed in the same direction as I am or hang out with my acquaintances from other classes.
Today, however, I was forced to eat with this tiger.
“I prepared Yakbap for you. Eat.”
(T/N: Yakbap is a Korean dish with rice and other healthy foods like nuts, jujubes, etc.)
When I opened the lunch box, a sweet cinnamon scent came up.
It was an ordinary Yakbap with pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, and chestnuts, but its color was much better than the ones being sold in supermarkets.
“…What else did you put in this?”
“I added some other herbs and corn milk. Considering the hard work you did yesterday, I’m showing you mercy and giving you delicious healthy foods this time. You can eat it with ease.”
I lifted my chopsticks happily with those words.
Before Hwang Jiho assured me, I was thinking that the rice was incorporated with the hell-like customized medicine from Hyangrok, so I couldn’t get myself to put it in my mouth.
When I took a bite, it felt like the scent and the delicious sweetness softly spread to my mouth, and it felt like a warmth was taking over my body.
It was indeed a benevolent taste.
I glanced at Hwang Jiho and briefly saw his face harden as I ate the Yakbap.
“There’s someone of royal lineage who entered Eungwang High’s boundary unauthorized.”
An unauthorized royal lineage?
I put down my chopsticks and looked straight at Hwang Jiho.
He was looking in the direction of the east gate of Eungwang High.
“A ‘majok’ has visited.”
“Which ‘majok’?”
(T/N: The Demon Race and the Horse Clan have the same name in Korean.)
It took Hwang Jiho a moment to answer as if he was moving his alter ego to check.
Eventually, Hwang Jiho spoke.
“One of the 12-point alliance. The Horse Clan led by the Black Horse.”
