The Hwang Jiho inside the game wasn’t a crazy character, rather he was of a respectable royal lineage.
He stepped back from all the events to observe what was happening to Joo Soohyuk, and he would appear from unexpected places and help in unpredictable ways.
It was hard to read what the character was thinking and why he acts the way he does.
Observing Joo Soohyuk and openly expressing his interest in him only made it difficult for me to understand Hwang Jiho’s character inside the game.
So, considering his behavior, I tried to have an interesting conversation the first time I met the Hwangmyeong Chairman in this world, and as a result, I ended up in the same class as Hwang Jiho.
Since then, he and I have been doing things together.
However, I still don’t understand the Hwang Jiho from inside the game.
‘But I guess I can tell what he was doing the day that it snowed in Eungwang High.’
The chairman was absent when it snowed on Christmas Eve.
Even his other alter egos didn’t appear.
“You weren’t in school on that day.”
“Did I have a reason to leave school that day…? Something that I can’t have my alter egos do instead?”
“No, you were away from school all year. All I know is you don’t appear until the first semester of our second year.”
It wasn’t just a day or two that the chairman was away from school.
When the students and the board of directors were at odds under the leadership of Sung Gukeon fifteen years ago, the chairman wasn’t there.
As a result of the student association’s evidence presented in the case, media attention was on Eungwang High and the videos were translated and subtitled into over thirty-eight languages.
The chairman only returned once to the school with the attention that it got in both local and foreign media.
That was when Sung Gukeon negotiated with the chairman.
Hwang Jiho, who had been lost in thought for a while, spoke with a subdued voice.
“…From ‘the thing that you know’, you said that Red Tiger only wore black clothes. Jo Euishin, you don’t appear in it either.”
On the day that Jang Namwook visited the mansion, Hwang Jiho said this;
— There’s something that stuck with me among the things you said.
— In ‘the thing that you know’, does it include that Red Tiger only wears black clothes?
— If you weren’t there that day, Kim Shinrok would’ve died.
Hwang Jiho must’ve deduced that I also do not appear in ‘the thing that I know’ based on our conversations before.
“What do you mean I would only wear black clothes?”
Red Tiger, who had been absent-minded since the mention of Pungbaek, Usa, and Unsa, finally spoke again.
He questioned the mention of black clothes.
Although Red Tiger doesn’t dress as fancy as Seodol does, he actually pays attention to his clothes.
He’s the type of person who unless there’s something going on, I don’t think he’d wear just one color for his entire life.
“If it isn’t for your existence, Jo Euishin, who knows what would happen to this world? Suppose that Jo Euishin did not take the entrance exam for Eungwang High?”
Looking at Hwang Jiho’s expression, he seems to have guessed the reason why in ‘the thing that I know’, he was never inside the school.
But why would he direct the question to Red Tiger?
‘Is the cause related to Red Tiger?’
Red Tiger’s face stiffened.
“If Jo Euishin wasn’t there that day, not only the students, but the supervisor would’ve died. Red Tiger, if that had happened, how would you have reacted?”
“If that happened…”
Red Tiger couldn’t speak right away.
It seems like he’s terrified by just the thought of it.
“If my son died inside our territory under the hands of the Bear Clan, I won’t be able to forgive Yellow Tiger.”
“Yes.”
Red Tiger continued to spit out spiteful remarks for some time, and Hwang Jiho just listened to everything.
It seems like Hwang Jiho was still overseas the day that Kim Shinrok was hurt by the Bear Clan.
“Yellow Tiger, don’t forget the agreement that you and I made.”
With that, Red Tiger’s remarks ended.
He’s talking about the “agreement” or “contract” he mentioned last time.
“What ‘agreement’ is that?”
Red Tiger glanced at Hwang Jiho.
Hwang Jiho nodded.
“I don’t mind. You may say it.”
“…I see. I don’t mind as well.”
“Well then, I will explain.”
Hwang Jiho calmly spoke.
“After Red Tiger committed his crime, he offered his life to protect his son until he became an adult instead of paying for his crime.”
Is that what their agreement is?
However, Red Tiger is still alive, and Kim Shinrok remains to be with the Tiger Clan even now that he’s already an adult.
I don’t think that’s all there is to it.
“At that time, I was only the temporary leader on behalf of Silver Tiger. On behalf of the Tiger Clan, I refused Red Tiger’s proposal and I proposed my own. Well… It’s more of a threat than a proposal.”
“A threat?”
“Yes. Because it’s an agreement that Red Tiger could never refuse.”
Hwang Jiho revealed the details of their agreement.
“As long as Red Tiger lives and pays for his sins and hears my orders, I will protect his son and take him as a descendant of the Tiger Clan. However, the moment Red Tiger dies, his son will be regarded as a descendant of the Bear Clan.”
Hearing that made some pieces of the game finally make sense.
There was a reason why the Red Tiger, who committed a great crime, survived and stayed with the Tiger Clan, and his son Kim Shinrok remains in the clan’s territory.
Yellow Tiger made an agreement to save a friend and his son.
“I accepted the agreement and decided to be tied to the red rack for a long time. The only way that my son could be saved was through Yellow Tiger’s suggestion.”
Red Tiger added another word.
“Instead, I dared to add some conditions. My terms are to not let my son know that I am his father and that I am not to engage in a father-son relationship. It was a presumptuous condition, but Yellow Tiger showed mercy and responded.”
Some scenes passed through my mind after Red Tiger and Hwang Jiho’s words.
— I’m alright. I didn’t leave my mark on the Pig Clan’s side. Don’t worry….
— Yellow Tiger, if there’s an emergency, that child… the contract…
Red Tiger, who fell into the hands of Jogangryeob, asked Yellow Tiger to show mercy because he has performed his mission successfully before he lost control.
If he died on that day and Kim Shinrok became a descendant of the Bear Clan, as a father, he would not want to imagine what would happen after.
On the other hand, I remember another conversation involving Hwang Jiho and Red Tiger.
— Why have you left those two alone all this time?
— … I can’t intervene because I have an agreement with Red Tiger.
Hwang Jiho vowed through their agreement not to intervene between the father and son.
Although Kim Shinrok found out that his father was Red Tiger, he couldn’t be involved in the subsequent events.
Hwang Jiho and Red Tiger had such an agreement, but what if Kim Shinrok had died under the hands of the Bear Clan?
‘The relationship between those two tigers in the game must’ve been completely inexistent.”
There is indeed a traitor inside the 12-point alliance, but if a descendant of the Tiger Clan dies inside their own territory, there is no one to blame but the Guardian.
From Red Tiger’s standpoint, it would be difficult to forgive the Yellow Tiger whom he asked to protect his son’s life under a harsh contract.
‘I see. The Bear Clan harming Kim Shinrok inside the Tiger Clan’s territory was so Red Tiger and Yellow Tiger would be separated.’
I could see now why Hwang Jiho only appeared in the game after Red Tiger died.
“If Kim Shinrok dies, Red Tiger would never forgive me. He will avenge his son with his own hands, and he’ll call me negligent and remove himself from me.”
Red Tiger did not refute what Hwang Jiho said.
The first attack of the Black Screen was aimed at Kim Shinrok, which effectively divided the Tiger Clan.”
“Jo Euishin, it will be difficult for me to intervene in this one. Do you know what my next actions were after that incident?”
I don’t know it well and so I wasn’t able to answer.
“I’m not sure.”
“I see.”
Hwang Jiho didn’t exactly look disappointed when I said that I don’t know, and he didn’t press on the topic.
I’m curious as to what Hwang Jiho was doing in the game too.
Why in the world did Hwang Jiho disappear?
All I know right now is that Hwang Jiho starts to actively move after Red Tiger’s death.
He would make moves that the title hero Joo Soohyuk wouldn’t know and run the school according to his will.
Still, from a gamer’s point of view, I could only guess what he was doing.
I couldn’t know for sure.
‘No… There’s a method to find out for sure.’
One thing came to my mind.
The Replay function.
The function allowed Jang Namwook and Yoo Sanghoon to see the events of the entrance exam in the game where they had died.
‘If I use this function on Hwang Jiho, maybe we’d be able to see what he was doing in the game from the day of the entrance exam?’
If my predictions about this function are correct, Hwang Jiho will experience at least a year and a half in his dream.
It will be from the moment he appears to the moment he disappears, or the moment that he dies.
If he’s alive until the end of the game, the duration of his dream would be much longer.
I still don’t know if there are other side effects to this.
“You’re thinking of ways to find out my whereabouts.”
I was completely silent and Hwang Jiho must’ve been staring at me the whole time.
This old man has an annoyingly sharp wit.
I decided to answer truthfully.
“There is one, but I don’t know yet if I can use it. And there are risks.”
“Risks? To whom?”
“You.”
With that, Hwang Jiho answered right away.
“Let’s try it then.”
He answered without hesitation, but I was still reluctant.
Jang Namwook and Yoo Sanghoon only experienced one hour in their dream, but they had an extremely hard time already.
“I did things that even you do not know. Maybe there are problems that only I know about. Wouldn’t it be safer to know of those things in advance?”
Hwang Jiho said coldly.
He was right.
‘I need to find out eventually why Hwang Jiho disappeared. It’s better to try this now.’
I opened the menu window and selected the function.
[Replay]
Be able to view the future and records engraved in the game dimension as reproduced into dreams.
(Stage 1)
When I chose the function, the list of characters that appeared in the game unfolded in front of me.
The list was arranged like a chess board, and the figures on it looked like chess pieces.
Hwang Jiho was higher up on the list than the last time I opened the function.
After hesitating for a bit, I selected Hwang Jiho’s name.
<Not available at the current stage>
Just like last time, Hwang Jiho couldn’t be selected again.
“I don’t think I can use it yet.”
“Yet. Then when will you be able to?”
“It’s kind of like a skill, so I think I need to raise its level first.”
But I don’t know how to do that.
I don’t know how the level of this special function would go up.
‘The simplest and most intuitive way is to keep using it.’
It would be a good idea to use the function several times.
To people that I can use it on.
Someone who I won’t have a problem with using the function on.
Someone immediately came to my mind.
“I’ll try to level it up for a while. But you have to keep an eye on someone. If possible, have a doctor near him or have him test for energy wave.”
“Got it. Who is it?”
I chose a person who’s almost at the top of the list of characters.
The target was the one who gave me the opportunity to talk to Hwangmyeong Foundation’s Chairman.
“Son Minki.”
