After letting Dokgo Miro know about the planned interview, Yeom Junyeol and Yeo Raehun left her waiting room.
They headed to the next waiting room as they made plans to meet the kids.
Just in time, Yeom Junyeol’s manager and bodyguard said something while looking at her device.
“Junyeol, I think your lines changed a little because of the added interviews. When I checked the script, some of the lines are the same as those you’d be asking during the interview.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Yeah, I think we need to fix the line division with Choi Jina-ssi. Did the writer say they give a new script?”
The two continued walking while checking the script when the manager suddenly stopped.
Her expression was subtle.
“Hmm…”
“What’s wrong, noona?”
“Nothing. I just got a bad feeling. Maybe it’s because Yong Jegun is nearby.”
“Oh, isn’t it raining? Uncle Cheongryong (Blue Dragon) said earlier that he wasn’t in a good condition…”
The Dragon King is a superior being closely related to weather and climate.
However, since there are other mythical and legendary superior beings related to weather, the Dragon King alone cannot control it.
Even so, those who served the Dragon King are still greatly influenced by the weather.
In other words, the status of their energy wave and condition might change because of that.
The Dragon Clan used to be significantly affected by bad weather, whether it was natural or caused by superior beings.
That’s why the Dragon Palace, home of the Dragon Clan, was hidden in the sea to avoid the influence of weather as much as possible.
“Hmm, I don’t think it has much to do with the weather… And I bet Cheongryong-nim is like that because you’re too busy these days, Junyeol. Because of your student representative work and the filming for Playlist, Cheongryong-nim can hardly spend time with you.”
“I have been neglecting the people around me lately. I’m sorry. After today’s filming is wrapped up, I’ll be staying away from the entertainment industry for a while. I’ll spend time with the Red Lion guys, the Dragon Clan, and my teachers.”
“Teachers? Oh, you mean Yeom Bangyeol and the guy that’s got some wanderlust? I thought he hasn’t returned to Korea yet. Well, it’s best that you contact them from time to time.”
“Hahaha…”
Yeom Junyeol gave a clumsy smile and changed the topic.
He has two teachers known to many.
First was the Red King, Yeom Junyeol’s father, Yeom Bangyeol.
The other was a dragon with wanderlust.
However, unbeknownst to most, Yeom Junyeol had another teacher.
‘Although I was second place again last midterm exams, I’m glad I was chosen as the student representative safely. I can proudly face my teacher now!’
Yeom Junyeol’s face turned soft as he recalled the Hongryong summoned by his teacher.
The people around him saw that smile and also made a similar expression.
“Junyeol, you’re going to be quite busy, so I’ll take care of the things about the interview. You go on ahead.”
“Oh, is that okay?”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk before the show started. I’ll see you later.”
“Thank you!”
While Yeom Junyeol stopped in the hallway to talk to the assistant writer and manager about the script, Yeo Raehun headed to the waiting room on his own.
The third finalist was the eldest of the three.
He was an office worker who joined a company related to otherworlds, and he also attacks otherworlds in his free time.
He was the eldest but he wasn’t more than a few years older than Yeo Raehun.
There were some people who teased him sometimes because he looked older than his age, perhaps because of his stressful work life.
People screen-captured him standing beside Yeo Raehun and captioned it ‘father-and-son.jpg’ for fun.
Knock knock.
“Hyung, it’s Raehun. May I come in?”
An answer was heard soon after Yeo Raehun knocked on the waiting room door.
When he opened the door and entered the room, Yeo Raehun immediately saw a man with an exhausted face stretched out on the sofa of the waiting room.
Since he wasn’t wearing makeup or his stage outfit, he seemed like an ordinary office worker secretly taking a break rather than a finalist for a survival show.
The man lying down on the sofa asked Yeo Raehun.
“Aren’t you nervous, Raehun?”
“I am nervous. Have you heard the update about the interview? We need hyung’s consent and the people you invited first though.”
“Interview?”
“Yes. For the fans, friends, and family who came to cheer for you.”
“There’s no one to interview though.”
The man smiled with an exhausted face.
Yeo Raehun returned a small smile, thinking about how different his face was from when he performed on stage.
He often had that face and say “I’ll be eliminated. I’m ruined.” but then explode his emotions through his singing ability on stage.
So Yeo Raehun thought that it wasn’t true that the man won’t have family or friends to interview with.
“I looked around earlier though, and I think hyung’s coworkers are coming.”
“…From my job?”
“I don’t think they’re here yet, but their seats are reserved.”
Yeo Raehun smiled again at the man with a mysterious expression.
Recalling the man’s business card, Yeo Raehun spoke again.
“I looked around the stage a while ago. I looked at the audience seats and there was an area reserved for “Namgung C&T Otherworld Industrial Division 1.”
The man’s face stiffened.
Yeo Raehun sensed an incompatibility with that expression.
***
Kim Yuri had been exchanging messages with Dokgo Miro for a while.
“They might have to interview us right away, so shall we decide who will be interviewed? It might get messy if all of us do it. Oh, Miro said she’ll come to meet us soon!”
“Heol, we’re meeting Miro?”
“I don’t think my heart is ready yet!”
My classmates all reacted well to the news that Dokgo Miro was coming this way, but the Class Zero seniors went crazy.
Especially the GeumChanWangChan duo as they looked excited at the words “interview” and “Miro”.
“Alright, first, those who will be interviewed—”
“ME!”
Geum Chansol and Wang Chansol raised their hands at the same time.
Their timing was completely on point as if their voices were recorded and played at the same time.
Those guys are greedy for camera and air time, and even though they’re not part of the freshmen Class Zero, they appealed themselves, saying that they must stand in front of the camera as our seniors.
Perhaps because of all the mischief they’d been doing and the excuses they had to make, the two had become quite good speakers.
Their affection for Dokgo Miro also seemed extraordinary.
They recited the song titles that Dokgo Miro had performed on the show so far.
“You guys know a lot. I should listen to the songs that Miro sang too. It seems like Chansol likes Miro a lot.”
Jegal said so with a pleased face, satisfied that his students cared well for their hoobae.
However, the next words said by the duo completely crushed that satisfaction.
“But we don’t like her as much as we like Jegal ssaem!”
“I agree with Wangchan!”
“…Yeah, thanks.”
“Hahaha… since the request for the interview was directed to our class, I’d like to hear from our classmates first and—”
Kim Yuri laughed awkwardly and looked around our class.
Not many showed the willingness to stand in front of a camera.
But for Hwang Jiho…
“Yours truly has recently appeared in public, but I intend to choose what type of media I appear in. If it’s a regular interview, I can’t really do it but…”
“I think it’s better to ask the other kids.”
“I’m not done talking, Jo Euishin.”
Maeng Hyodon, Hani, and Kwon Lena looked somewhat passive.”
“I don’t mind it.”
“If there’s no one who wants to do it, I’ll go. …I hope they don’t ask questions about my elementary school though.”
“Oh no, I’m not as confident as the sunbaes if they ask questions about Miro!”
On the other hand, Min Geurin was shaking her head desperately so we decided to respect her decision.
“I want to do it!”
Among our classmates, only Saeum of April volunteered actively.
Jegal looked quite sorry, but he had to stop Saeum of April firmly.
He whispered something to Saeum, and he could only exclaim and nod his head before backing down.
‘It’s kind of weird for a son of the April Clan to appear on an entertainment program.’
After the Hwanmong Auction, Jegal gave his contact information to Saeum of April so he can contact him if he needed any help, and it seems like Jegal has been taking care of him well until now.
In the end, Kim Yuri and the Class Zero sunbaes were set to be interviewed.
We headed to an opaque glass door with a guard standing in front, and we were allowed to pass when Kim Yuri explained things.
Beyond the opaque glass doors, we saw some people who appeared to be a player and security guards.
The player was wearing a jacket engraved with a famous team’s logo.
‘Looks like the broadcasting station has tight security.’
There was an incident in the past where a crazy someone of royal lineage and an enemy suddenly barged into the station.
Although the Player’s Association and the nearby player teams belatedly managed it, it was impossible to turn it back once the program went on air.
Since then, the station has put a lot of attention on security measures.
In addition to security checkpoints and hiring players from top teams, they also made the internal structure complicated and only a few facilities were made available to be seen on the building’s map.
Beep!
Maeng Hyodon, who was the first one to pass through, made the alarms sound.
The player guard asked him.
“Do you have weapons or weapon item cards?”
Maeng Hyodon hurriedly took out an item card from his pocket.
“Oh, I have this card given by the school… More than a weapon, it’s like a defense item…”
“I’m in charge of these children. Is there anything wrong?”
Embarrassed by the sudden situation, Maeng Hyodon couldn’t speak properly so Jegal had to step up and check the weapon item cards that we had.
The player guard put stickers on the cards one by one.
The sticker was engraved with an energy wave seal.
“An alarm will sound if you remove the sticker or materialize the weapon before passing the security checkpoint. Please be careful.”
If the weapon is materialized, the broadcasting station’s security team will be called.
In our case, there were about 300 weapon items supplied by the school and every one of them were put in a deck and had stickers attached.
The alarm didn’t go off after that.
‘It looks like the items on my item window aren’t caught.’
I was thinking about an excuse to make if the Sangbosimgeumpa gets detected.
Meanwhile, Hwang Jiho was looking at me with his sparkling eyes.”
“How did that not get caught? Did you leave it? No, considering your personality Jo Euishin, you couldn’t have left it behind.”
This old man’s face looked like it had a lot of meaning behind it.
He came to an arbitrary conclusion.
“Perhaps it’s one of the ‘leverages’ that you have.”
