The events in the Player Master High School game plays out slower than in real-life.
I started playing PMH the day after my college entrance exams, but by the time title heroes Joo Soohyuk and Ahn Dain finished their freshman year, I was already an adult and about to enlist in the military.
[A new update for Moblie RPG Player Master High School is scheduled this week!]
It was a few days before Christmas when that news came out.
For the first time, the Christmas in real-life and inside the game overlapped, and the expectations of the small number of players left dedicated to the game skyrocketed.
The only information given on the update was the schedule, so the fan community forum was flooded with predictions and expectations.
[If it’s another healing story I swear… LOL. It would’ve been nice if some people of royal lineage gives a surprise performance at the music club presentation or something.]
[Gah, I’m on a business trip to the countryside at Christmas. Why is the event scheduled like this…Grrr…]
[No spoilers please;]
There was a lot of speculation within the fan community.
There were negative prospects, of course, but the feed was overwhelmingly filled with hopeful comments, perhaps thanks to the Christmas and holiday spirit.
[I guess the update is just some random item. Yong Ssaem in a Christmas outfit will be released for purchase, right? There’s no way this event isn’t about Yong.]
[The students’ association and the student council were discussing a Christmas event. I think it’s a bit impossible for Sanghee, but Dain and Hyeji will 100% wear santa clothes.]
[If it’s a Christmas party… Will we get to see Yuri again? When will Yuri go back to school? TT; No need for her to be in a santa outfit. I just hope she comes back…]
[Maybe it’s a dating event for Christmas? When will Joo Soohyuk and Ahn Dain finally date each other? Maybe they’re going to hold hands this time???]
[I hope they release a new item weapon. The last boss I battled almost broke my smartphone.]
[Please give the NPC’s some new outfits… I want to see the Red Tiger in something other than a black shirt! TT]
And on Christmas Eve, the long-awaited new story has been updated.
However, I couldn’t play the game right away.
I turned down Cheon Sungheon’s invitation to a Christmas Party because I had a part-time tutoring job that day.
To be honest, since my colleagues were almost all in the military, I thought it was fortunate that I had an excuse to not attend a party full of juniors.
‘I can’t ruin my good mood by going to a party I don’t want to be in. And I have to go home early to play PMH.’
Although I couldn’t go to Cheon Sungheon’s party, I managed to feel the Christmas spirit thanks to my student who gave me a piece of cake to celebrate Christmas Eve.
There was sleet on my way home from the part-time tutoring job.
During that time, I was still staying in a studio-type apartment instead of a goshiwon since I had enough money.
However, I often choose to walk home instead of taking the bus.
‘…I’m sure there are a lot of people who cleared the new story by now.’
On the way home, I held an umbrella in one and my phone in the other.
I was in agony as the freezing chill hit my fingertips while I was downloading the updated file.
I don’t know which chapter the story was on at that time, but I guess the first chapter of the new update has been up already.
Someone must’ve posted a review on the community board.
I didn’t want to see any spoiler, but I was curious about what the atmosphere was within the fan community.
‘I’m going to play right away after seeing the review’s title…’
After much consideration, I opened up the fan community board.
And that was when…
I witnessed the collapse of the concrete fan base of PMH.
Everyone kindly put the “[S]” tag on their posts, indicating that their post contains a spoiler, but I can’t help but think that the S means something else.
It looked like everyone was curing out the game.
In the end, all the spoilers were thrashed to my face as soon as I opened the community board.
I had a hunch on what would happen in the game because Red Tiger’s diehard fans lost all reason and flooded the community board with curses to the production team.
New comments continued to flood the community board as I tried to grasp the situation.
[Leave this to me. Everyone who wants to leave, please do. The opponent is a royal lineage. I’ll take care of it.]
That was what the Red Tiger said upon evacuating and rescuing Joo Soohyuk and his classmates.
Red Tiger decided to face the traitor to the 12-point alliance on his own.
He knew that the opponent was a head of a clan, one from the 12-point alliance, thanks to a clue unknowingly given by Choi Pyeondeuk.
The traitor knows of the debuff on Red Tiger’s strength, and they decided to fight Red Tiger without using skills or weapons to protect their identity.
The Red Tiger did a good job of keeping up with the traitor.
The fight was fair and square.
What tipped the balance was the snow that began to pour into the Eungwang High School.
[This snow is…]
As the snow piled up, the Red Tiger’s movement became dull.
Red Tiger seemed to be getting increasingly corned both physically and mentally.
However, the fact remains that the Red Tiger is an NPC.
The user off-screen can’t provide him any help.
The Red Tiger’s movement completely stopped as he looked up to the sky with empty eyes.
He seemed to have figured out who was the cause of the snow pouring only on the site of Eungwang High.
[Pungbaek and Usa… Unsa is… Why are they…]
The traitor didn’t miss the moment when Red Tiger’s movements stopped.
After a close-up of Red Tiger’s face, Red Tiger vomited blood with a sound effect that sounded like his bone and flesh being pierced.
The opponent’s weapon completely penetrated his abdomen.
The Red Tiger collapsed, spilling enough blood to stain all over his black clothes.
Just before Red Tiger completely stops breathing, the Sad Bear Goddess in a red dress appears, blocking and intervening in the story.
The scene ends with the implication that Red Tiger sacrificed and fought with his everything for the Bear Goddess.
Since the Red Tiger died, the information about the traitor and Pungbaek, Unsa, and Usa wasn’t relayed to the main characters.
‘I don’t know if I’m revealing this too early or too late.’
I was bound to tell the Tiger Clan about this Christmas day event one day.
Still, it was hard to gauge if my timing is right.
It was difficult to reveal it too early as I might not have enough credibility, and there’s a possibility that I’d be suspected.
However, if I reveal it too late, we won’t have enough time to prepare for what’s about to come.
To give an analogy to chess, it’s not easy to predict which pieces would be left to me in the middle game if I’m not careful with my opening.
‘I don’t have any evidence that Pungbaek, Usa, and Unsa caused the snow… Was revealing that a mistake?’
After I finished speaking, Hwang Jiho did not respond.
I prepared for a scene where Hwang Jiho would explode and become unable to control his emotions and magic, but his reaction right now was the complete opposite.
I was flustered by his lack of response.
…Is it because he thinks what I’m saying isn’t realistic?
It might’ve been the better choice to build more trust or collect more plausible evidence before I revealed this to Hwang Jiho.
“…I believe you, Jo Euishin. You have saved our descendants several times and defended our territory.”
Hwang Jiho was visibly suppressing his emotions and choosing his words very carefully.
“But Pungbaek, Usa, and Unsa died protecting the Son of God in a fight against foreign enemies a long time ago.”
A struggle against the foreign enemies.
If so, that time is before the Heavenly God granted the wishes of some people of royal lineage.
By logic, it was a time before Hwang Jiho had his wish, to exist anywhere, granted.
“Have you witnessed it yourself?”
“…”
Hwang Jiho couldn’t answer right away.
He pressed on his temples hard before opening his mouth again to speak.
“…No, I didn’t witness it. Someone else testified to their death. I only saw the limb that was left of them.”
In other words, Hwang Jiho didn’t see the moment that those three died.
He hasn’t even seen a proper corpse.
I threw him another question.
“Are Pungbaek, Unsa, and Usa brothers? Are two of those three twins?”
“Correct. The capricious characteristics and friendly personalities of Pungbaek and Usa, even their physical appearance, are similar.”
Inside the game, there were twins standing side-by-side below the Black Screen.
I am still unsure if those twins are Pungbaek and Usa, but there was very little room for doubt.
I didn’t have any more questions so I stopped speaking.
With my continued silence, it was Hwang Jiho who spoke first.
“Jo Euishin, among the ‘things that you know’… Which territory would they attack?”
Hwang Jiho looked conflicted, as if deep inside he wants to trust both his former comrades and me.
Even though he was visibly flustered, he tried to calmly grasp the situation.
I respected him for that, and I decided to objectively convey what I know.
“On Christmas Eve, a snowstorm with a debuff effect will go down on Eungwang High School. The snowfall is likely caused by Pungbaek, Usa, and Unsa.”
“What’s the basis for that? There are several people of royal lineage who have the power to control the weather. The Eungwang High territory will surely suffer a lot from what you’re saying, but I don’t think it’s impossible.”
Hwang Jiho coldly weighed the possibilities.
Still, I have a card that can possibly use to make him believe me.
“The ‘thing that I know’ is that it was Red Tiger who judged that it was the three of them who made it snow in Eungwang High.”
Hwang Jiho turned speechless.
He spoke again after briefly catching his breath.
“If it’s those three, they can make the whole Korean Peninsula covered in snow. If Unsa collects dark clouds, Usa sprinkles rain, and Pungbaek freezes it, it’s possible. However, they gave up a lot of their power to be able to go down on this land. To do such a thing…”
Hwang Jiho’s words halted.
Something seems to come to his mind at the mention of the ‘rain ritual’.
“…That thing cannot be done easily. They used the rain ritual before, to save the Korean Peninsula from famine and other natural disasters, and they had to sacrifice themselves to do that.”
It seems like Hwang Jiho’s reminded of a keyword.
When I first heard of that keyword, I didn’t really understand what its importance was in this world.
However, after spending a lot of time in this world, I was able to make a hypothesis.
And now, it seems like Hwang Jiho and I are drawing different conclusions from the same clue that we both know.
“Yes. A huge ceremony is required to make such a ‘sacrifice’. It would need a long time to prepare.”
Sacrifice.
The Black Screen has long sought to sacrifice Eungwang High students.
The body and soul of Eungwang High students who possess unique talents and are still connected to upper beings would make for good sacrifice.
Inside the game, the Black Screen tried to catch some students to sacrifice with the help of Choi Pyeondeuk, and with that, they half-succeeded.
The reason why they didn’t completely succeed was the Butterfly Spirit (Nabiryeong).
The Black Screen had captured students from Eungwang High, but the Butterfly Spirit caused Kim Yuri’s light skill to explode, lowering the quality of the sacrifice.
Some students died because of Kim Yuri’s light skill instead of being sacrificed by the Black Screen.
“…Is the sacrifice they’re referring to connected to the blizzard that will hit Eungwang High?”
Hwang Jiho closed his eyes tightly.
When he opened them again, I saw a golden light forming on the back of them.
“Yes. That’s what I think as well.”
Hwang Jiho became lost in thought for quite a while.
He had a look on his face that I cannot quite read, but his dark brown eyes shifted from its natural color to having a golden shine from time to time.
“…I don’t think I’ll be able to attend the sports exchange match today. I apologize. Tell the others for me.”
Hwang JIho left me with the empty lunchbox.
Before he left, I gave him a soft ‘thank you’.
“Thank you for telling me, Jo Euishin… I will talk to you again once I regain my composure.”
There are a lot of things that we have to discuss, but Hwang Jiho seems like he cannot muster enough strength to speak.
After reuniting with the other kids, a thought of regret belatedly came to my mind.
‘Should I have asked Hwang Jiho if he was okay?’
