The next day, after school.
At the general club hall in the central district, the staff room for freshmen newspaper department members.
Upon arriving at the staffers’ room, Moon Saeron distributed some foreign articles to the freshmen members.
“Is this the thing we saw last time?”
The two articles Moon Saeron distributed were in English and in Danish.
The photos attached to them showed a flock of birds and various quadrupedal animals running all at once.
“Wait a second, I’m not done reading it yet.”
“If you can’t read the English newspapers quickly, just use a translation app.”
“Anyone here knows Danish?”
“I can roughly recognize some Latin words…”
While the other staff read the article, Moon Saeron suddenly talked to me and Hwang Jiho.
“Oh right, you guys weren’t there so you wouldn’t know. Do you remember one of the photos we sent before we arrived in Yekaterinburg?”
“Yes. You said there was an accident before you got on the trans-Siberian train. The pictures are similar to what you sent back then.”
“Right? All of these animals are either rare or known to be extinct already.”
Last summer vacation, the newspaper department embarked on a strange adventure along with the Year Two Class Zero students.
Most of their experiences during that trip remain a mystery, one of which was when they “witnessed a great migration of rare animals and turtles’ as they say.
“Explanation in the article says so too, so I guess it’s really what we saw that time, right?”
“No, but why are the animals from Russia seen in the North Sea at this time?”
The animals seen in the article were between the Atlantic Coast of the North Sea, Denmark, and Britain.
“How the hell did they get there?”
“I’m sure there’s some energy wave or abilities involved. No matter what route they take, they’re bound to cross some country’s borders so it’s strange that there are only a few sightings of them.”
“It seems like they’re headed to England. Maybe they’re moving little by little?”
“Maybe the UK is just a stopover? We can’t know for sure.”
The mention of the UK reminded me of Sung Gukeon’s message.
[Sung Gukeon] The ‘Imoogi’s Exorcism’ painting is identified to be in England.
[Sung Gukeon] They say it’s going to be auctioned off at some Halloween party held by a local leading people of royal lineage.
If we already know where it is, shouldn’t we act on it right away?
When I asked Sung Gukeon for the painting’s exact location, he only laughed.
[Sung Gukeon] Hahaha!
[Sung Gukeon] I heard that this year’s freshman Class Zero were well-behaved, but I see their vice president is different.
While I was thinking about the events in PMH and the current events in this world, Sung Gukeon sent additional messages.
[Sung Gukeon] I’ll let you know when I’ve figured everything out. Promise me you’ll tell me first if you’re planning to do things on your own.
I felt the care of our Class Zero senior from that message.
I answered and he replied, satisfied with what I said.
‘Is there a connection between the Halloween party and the mass immigration?’
While I was thinking if there was a connection between that painting and this strange event, Hwang Jiho suddenly called my attention.
“You’re thinking of suspicious things again.”
What does he mean by suspicious things?
I’m only trying to find a valuable piece, the first work of my playable character.
“The use of the Replay skill, we plan to allow it in at least one-week intervals. It wouldn’t be bad to do it in ten-day intervals though.”
Hwang Jiho is a quick-witted guy, but he didn’t notice what I was thinking about at this moment.
I never liked it when he reads my mind, so I find this situation quite pleasant.
“Okay.”
“…Why are you answering so naturally? That’s even more suspicious.”
Oh, should I have shown a bit more hesitation?
Well, it’s already done.
I ignored him and didn’t respond, so Hwang Jiho continued to try to deduce what was going on.
“Are you worried about Kim Shinrok? Oh, he will have a bodyguard for the time being. You can visit him if you want.”
I knew exactly what Hwang Jiho meant.
It’s because we encountered Kim Shinrok, who was supposed to meet with Kwon Lena for some academic matters, lurking around the general club hall.
Kim Shinrok looked a bit sad when he tried to talk to me under the guise of having to discuss some matters regarding the Jiikhoe,
“Euishin, I have something to tell you—”
However, his words were cut off.
A red mist crept up behind him before he could even finish his sentence.
At the same time, a jade-colored energy wave created a wall around him and covered the area around Kim Shinrok.
Fwaaa!
A red fog wrapped around Kim Shinrok’s shoulder and soon swallowed his whole body.
When the red mist completely disappeared, there was no trace left of Kim Shinrok.
The sudden scene that unfolded was quite ridiculous, but I soon got a grasp of what just happened.
‘So Red Tiger was right behind him.’
It seems like Red Tiger was following him for fear that his son would do something dangerous.
“Hello, Euishin.”
“…Hello, Professor Yong Jegun.”
There was one more witness aside from me.
Yong Jegun stood beside me with his signature ecstatic expression.
He was the one who tried to hide the kidnapping scene from other students or teachers using his jade-colored spatial skill.
There were some students who went this way when they saw a sudden release of energy wave, but they all immediately retreated when they saw Yong Jegun’s ecstatic face beyond the waves.
They seemed to think Yong Jegun was up to something again.
He gave me a very satisfied smile before going his way, perhaps to meet Yeom Junyeol or to go to the students’ hall.
The central area became peaceful again as if nothing had happened.
‘…I’ll just pretend I didn’t see that.’
All the people of royal lineage, except for Kim Shinrok, seemed to be in a good mood today, so I decided to take that as a win.
On the way to the Concert Hall, I ran into another acquaintance.
“Ahhk!”
“You bastard! Where are you going? Why are you running to the school gate?!”
“Aish, the tests are already over so you should let us play around for at least a week!”
“You wicked bastard! How dare you say ‘aish’ to your teacher?!”
It was Bang Yoonseob and Grandpa Tak.
Tak Geosan was dragging Bang Yoonseob by the ear with two fingers.
He seemed to be holding him lightly, but he didn’t budge no matter how hard Bang Yoonseob tried to escape his grip.
Although Bang Yoonseob was performing well these days, it seems like he’s still not good enough to resist Tak Geosan.
‘Maeng Hyodon’s not here. He must be diligently training already.’
My Bbang Shuttle was still the same, but I was satisfied to know that Maeng Hyodon seemed to be working hard.
After all those incidents, I finally arrived at my destination.
Kwon Lena, who was hugging her violin case, was waiting for me.
* * *
Player Military Academy, men’s dormitory.
Do Sihoo had an early dinner and returned to his dormitory room.
He checked his messages with a sullen face.
‘…Why aren’t they reading my message?’
Last night, Do Sihoo sent individual messages to Yoo Sanghoon and Jo Euishin.
However, neither of them even read his message, let alone replied.
‘I have something to ask though…’
Do Sihoo seemed to have regained his strength after he told Do Wonwoo the rumor he heard about Yoo Sanghee.
However, he was still rather anxious because he knows how ugly Do Wonwoo could become in this case.
‘Soohyuk said Wonwoo hyung seemed normal though…’
He wanted to hear Yoo Sanghoon and Jo Euishin’s opinions aside from Joo Soohyuk’s, but the two didn’t reply to his message.
Jang Namwook, who had just returned from outside, saw Do SIhoo’s sullen face.
“What’s wrong, Sihoo?”
“About Euishin and Sanghoon… Are they really difficult to contact?”
“No? I think I messaged them this morning.”
Jang Namwook showed their group message room.
Jang Namwook wrote dozens of lines about the current flu epidemic going around, all of which were read by the two.
There were only two to three-lettered words in response to his long messages, but Jo Euishin and Yoo Sanghoon still responded.
Do Sihoo became even glummer.
* * *
The concert hall in the central district.
Kwon Jein held a performance in Korea a few months ago, and that’s when I first came here.
After that, I never visited this place again.
At that time, the hall was filled with audiences and staff, but now, it was empty.
‘It feels very different.’
I became more aware of the structure of the empty hall.
Crafts reminiscent of sceneries of waves coming through the glass ceiling made me feel as if I were in the water.
I understand now why Kwon Jein chose this smaller venue instead of a grand concert hall.
‘The facilities are actually nice. The interior is similar to their team’s building.’
But I wonder why Kwon Lena wanted to talk with Saeum here.
Perhaps it’s Kwon Jein’s influence.
“…”
Kwon Lena was nervously looking at the door.
We stood on the stage of the concert hall, and only she and I were there now.
Kwon Jein and Jared Lee offered to come, but they moved to a different place in consideration of Saeum.
Soon, it was the appointed time, and the person we were waiting for finally arrived.
“Hi, Lena! Are you okay? Oh, Euishin is here too.”
“Hi.”
Saeum of April greeted us nicely, but Kwon Lena couldn’t return it right away.
He looked worried as if he thought she wasn’t feeling well again.
Kwon Lena left the violin case to Kwon Jein a while ago, and so she stood nervously, clasping her hands together and her voice shaking.
“Saeum, I… Uhm…”
Kwon Lena could hardly speak even though Saeum was still a few steps away.
Saeum waited patiently until Kwon Lena spoke again.
“I was there…”
“…Huh?”
Saeum looked confused.
Of course, he would.
Kwon Lena tried to speak again, but it wasn’t easy at all.
“…”
In the end, she hesitated before taking out something.
What she held in her hand was an item card of the platinum energy violin given by Kwon Jein.
Fwaaa!
When the violin materialized, Kwon Lena began to play a piece.
She played pizzicato, not using her bow.
The intro reminded me of a song.
‘This was the song playing that day…!’
The song Kwon Lena played was called ‘Homecoming’ which Kwon Jein first released in that venue.
Saeum and Yuri also know of this song.
Saeum also looked quite happy, perhaps because he recognized the song.
And at that moment, Kwon Lena’s light skill, Banquet of Illusions was activated.
