“I will do it.”
“No.”
The father and son disagreed.
Red Tiger had heard about the Replay function before when we were on the fifth floor of the mansion, so he noticed my intention before I finished explaining what I wanted to happen.
I was expecting a stream of harsh words from Red Tiger, but he only looked at Hwang Jiho grudgingly instead of me.
Considering that I had once saved Kim Shinrok’s life and helped the two of them reconnect, perhaps he’s decided to channel his anger to someone else.
Red Tiger shot back at Hwang Jiho.
“Yellow Tiger, didn’t you say Jo Euishin will use that skill on Son Minki? Why are you suddenly saying that he’ll use it on my son?”
“I think it’ll be easier to understand if we all sit and talk about it. Look at this.”
“…What is this?”
Hwang Jiho handed over the prepared data as if he knew Red Tiger would blame me.
He sent holograms to Red Tiger and handed out printed paper to Kim Shinrok, who prefers his documents in physical form.
Red Tiger’s expression darkened after seeing Son Minki’s results.
“I see his mind is unstable. His sleep time has been greatly reduced. His energy wave balance is also getting unstable, and it’s best to seal his light skill before it explodes.”
“I plan to do that. It wouldn’t do much damage if his energy wave explodes, but it’s better to be sure.”
Kim Shinrok, who quickly read the printed material, placed one of the papers on the table.
The paper contained a table with Son Minki’s major observable changes by date.
“What does this mean? The dates are printed in bold. Is it related to Son Minki’s condition that suddenly started deteriorating after it improved?”
“Those are the dates when Jo Euishin used his skill on Son Minki.”
After Son Minki’s medical documents, Hwang Jiho handed over a document that noted daily observations of him.
I looked at the document and I was able to accurately understand how Son Minki’s condition changed after I used the Replay function.
I formed a hypothesis.
‘The function’s initialization time is related to the mental condition of the last person I used it on.’
It takes longer for the Replay function to become available to use again when I used it repeatedly on Son Minki.
But for Yoo Sanghoon, the initialization time was shorter after I used it on him twice.
Comparing those two, I could easily establish a hypothesis.
Yoo Sanghoon has a sound mind; he has a hobby, and he has friends and family around him.
What about Son Minki?
If you believe in the superstition that one lives longer after getting a lot of hate, then that’s the only thing he has that Yoo Sanghoon doesn’t.
“…I think his condition deteriorated after because of the ability that Jo Euishin used.”
“Yes. Jo Euishin said he’s trying to level up that skill. To do that, he would have to use it several times. As much as possible, he needs to use it on as many people as he can.”
Red Tiger was lost in thought and had his eyes closed.
He contemplated for a long time before opening his eyes again.
He looked at Kim Shinrok and then at me before beginning to speak.
“Jo Euishin, you can’t use it on my son. Please use it on me instead.”
With the function’s current stage, I don’t think I can use it on Red Tiger yet.
Before I could reply, Kim Shinrok spoke.
“Didn’t you say you can’t use it on Yellow Tiger-nim? Then that means that ability has certain conditions. You can use it on the students who were in the entrance examination of Eungwang High. I know you can use it on me too.”
“Son, will you really be alright?”
Red Tiger looked into Kim Shinrok’s eyes and spoke firmly.
I don’t know what kind of conversation they had after the youth retreat incident and when they reconciled, but since that day, Red Tiger has used informal language on Kim Shinrok.
‘I guess Kim Shinrok asked him to?’
Red Tiger tried his best to persuade him, but it seems like Kim Shinrok has already made up his mind.
“I’m alright. And… If I can clearly remember what happened that day, I would like to.”
All parents have a soft spot for their children, and so Red Tiger finally folded.
He gave up and only repeatedly told his son that if his son’s mind changes, we should stop right away.
Kim Shinrok was touched by Red Tiger’s concern, but he doesn’t seem to want to listen to them anymore.
He stood up and headed to where Hwang JIho guided him.
In the inner part of the living room, Kim Shinrok sat on a recliner with a separate footrest.
“Jo Euishin’s skill will be invoked after the subject falls asleep. I’m going to use this scent that Hyangrok gave to make you fall asleep. Everyone, step back behind me.”
Hwang Jiho warned as he took out a golden incense burner.
I could only guess how powerful it was to be able to make Kim Shinrok, a descendant of the legendary Tiger Clan and Bear Clan, fall asleep.
“Tell me when you’re ready.”
I opened my special window and chose the Replay function.
My fingers were about to press on it, but I suddenly stopped when my eyes landed on the sleeves of my black coat.
The tigers gave me new clothes and fed me today, and yet I’m about to give their descendant a nightmare.
That thought didn’t make it easy for me to move.
Whimper…
The whimpering Olmu in my arms brought me back to my senses.
Olmu was biting on the five-colored silk thread of his clothes.
“…”
White Tiger was silently looking at us.
I fully got a grip on myself as soon as I made eye contact with my playable character.
‘If I hesitate and can’t do the right thing, those nightmares can turn into reality.’
With heavy fingers, I picked Kim Shinrok’s name from the list.
<Selection complete.>
I nodded toward Hwang Jiho and he began to activate his energy wave.
Fwaaaa…!
The golden wave began to head toward the golden incense burner.
When the incense began to burn, Hwang Jiho activated a boundary around Kim Shinrok.
The smoke from the incense and the boundary made Kim Shinrok’s appearance a little blurred.
I activated a skill to get a good view.
<Skill Glare activated.>
The energy wave pooled into my eyes and made me see clearer.
The first thing that caught my eye was the surface of the golden incense burner which had a design of tigers and clouds.
The finely carved patterns moved at some point.
‘Those weren’t moving before the incense was lit.’
As the scent began to spread, the tigers leaped high between the clouds and headed to the top of the incense burner.
At the top of the incense burner, the scent mixed with light particles flowed out, making it look as if the tiger jumped into a cloud.
As the sleeping scent began to spread, Kim Shinrok’s eyes slowly closed.
His eyes soon completely closed and he fell asleep.
Hwiii…!
With my glare skill, I witnessed the sight of Kim Shinrok being swallowed by a black fog before disappearing.
* * *
Someone who’s from where he originated was aiming for him.
It was a miserable thing to happen to a descendant, but Kim Shinrok was able to respond calmly because he had been through this situation before.
‘I can’t take this one on. I need to run away.’
He is currently in front of the gym where the practical exam of the Group 13 is ongoing.
It wasn’t an ordinary thing for the Bear Clan to break into the site of Eungwang High, and Kim Shinrok was struggling to cope.
It was a desperate crisis, but Kim Shinrok immediately thought of what he could do.
‘I need to leave and call for support.’
He knows that Yellow Tiger was away from school, while White Tiger might be somewhere in the territory but he doesn’t know the exact location.
It crossed his mind to call his father, but he quickly dismissed the thought.
‘…It’s better not to contact Red Tiger-nim.’
Kim Shinrok decided to call the Yellow Tiger’s secretary who was stationed in the Silver Hall, and then he would call Jegal, the Namok Poet.
However, the call didn’t go through.
The communication inside the building was completely blocked, making it impossible to send messages or make calls to the outside.
Grrr…!
When his device stopped functioning, the monster under the Bear Clan’s authority started to attack Kim Shinrok.
Kim Shinrok grabbed the tack he was rolling in his hand and jumped away to avoid the monster’s attack.
He tried to aim for the enemy’s power source, but his hands hardened before he could make the attack.
‘It’s impossible to attack them like this.’
Due to the constraints surrounding a descendant of a royal lineage, he can’t fight back at all.
However, he didn’t feel that the crisis was severe since the rarity of the enemy was quite a low level.
‘I can manage enough to escape.’
He tried to recall Jegal’s movements in his head.
That’s when…
“Ah, you’re here!”
The enemy suddenly rushed directly into him.
Kim Shinrok hurriedly dodged and went back.
‘There’s someone behind it…!’
However, he realized it was a beat too late.
That’s when he felt a burning sensation on his leg.
‘Oh?’
Fwaak, hwing, dddeuk.
The sound of flesh and bones being cut resonated in his ears.
Before the stark sound ended, the burning sensation turned into a sharp pain.
“…!”
Kim Shinrok’s knee was completely destroyed.
As his body lost support, Kim Shinrok soon collapsed to the floor.
He reflexively turned on his back and raised his hand, forming an energy wave on his fingertips.
‘…I need to use a skill!’
He failed to defend himself from a low-level enemy that seemed to be R-rank at most, but this time he was anticipating something different.
This wasn’t the same enemy.
He was overwhelmingly surprised.
However…
Fwaaa!
“Haha! That’s useless!”
The person from the Bear Clan kicked Kim Shinriok’s hand.
As soon as the person came into view, the energy wave gathered in his hand began to scatter.
The pain and humiliation made Kim Shinrok lose his mind.
A sneering sound was heard from the clouded figure.
“Aren’t you the abandoned descendant? I’m glad there’s no such thing as a mixed race among our descendants.”
Kim Shinrok’s memory has then become blurry.
He crawled away from the enemy and the figure.
‘That is…’
When Kim Shinrok came to his senses, he was already past the hallway.
On the other side, he saw middle school students who came to take the Eungwang High entrance test.
‘Group 13 has… Three? No, was it four…?’
Kim Shinrok squeezed the last of his remaining strength and shouted to the students.
“Run… away…”
He tried his best, but his voice only came out small.
Kim Shinrok realized that he was out of energy.
Fear, emptiness, and helplessness began to engulf Kim SHinrok.
‘Students in front of me are about to die, and I can’t do anything…!’
Under the hands of the enemy sent by the Bear Clan, all the students, and Kim Shinrok, lost their lives.
As he reached the end, many faces flashed in his mind.
Akwoo, the one who gave him his current fake name and status.
His teacher, who treated him as a descendant of the Tiger Clan.
His mother whose eyes were covered with a fan and refused to look at him.
His father.
That was Kim Shinrok’s last memory.
* * *
Immediately after falling asleep, the calm on Kim Shinrok’s face completely disappeared.
Even if I didn’t look at him with my glare skill, there was surely something odd about Kim Shinrok’s condition.
“This isn’t good. I will wake him up!”
Red Tiger grabbed Kim Shinrok’s shoulder and shook him, but he didn’t wake up.
He began to form energy waves around his body as if he intended to wake Kim Shinrok up by blowing energy waves at him.
However, White Tiger stopped Red Tiger.
“Wait.”
“White Tiger, get out of my way!”
“He’s waking up now.”
Just as he said, Kim Shinrok’s eyes opened immediately.
Red Tiger, who was struggling to brush off White Tiger’s arm that held him, immediately stopped moving.
Kim Shinrok jumped up and looked around.
He didn’t seem to realize yet that he’s woken up from a dream.
But when he made eye contact with Red Tiger.
“Ah, fathe – “
Kim Shinrok’s words were cut off, realizing that he almost called Red Tiger “father”.
I guess he still finds it uncomfortable to say in front of others.
The atmosphere suddenly became breathtakingly awkward.
“I don’t see any notable abnormality.”
Hwang Jiho suddenly looked relieved after staring at Kim Shinrok for a long while, as if he didn’t find anything wrong with him.
He prepared a drink in advance for Kim Shinrok to have as soon as he woke up.
“Drink all of this to wake yourself up completely.”
Kim Shinrok accepted the omija tea with slightly trembling hands.
When he completely emptied the teacup, he finally opened his mouth.
“…I think I ran into the long tail that day.”
