Hwangmyeong Mansion.
Shortly after Jo Euishin left with Hwang Jiho for school, Hwangho’s younger alter ego arrived at the mansion.
Hwangho, who would usually head straight to the main house, headed to one of the annexes.
The annex was silent even after the young Hwangho entered.
He headed to the living room and sat opposite Eunho enjoying his tea.
“Hwangho-nim, you’ve arrived.”
Eunho greeted Hwangho while preparing a cup of tea for him.
The young Hwangho reached for the tea and said,
“Eunho, you’ve detected my presence quite late.”
“Yes. My mind and body are still not the same as before.”
“I see you still haven’t read half of the report I gave you.”
With Hwangho’s words, Eunho put down his teacup and floated a hologram.
Eunho got used to using a device quickly, but it’s evident that although he’s familiar with modern-day technology, he’s still adapting to things as advanced as these.
He opened a hologram and calmly spoke the truth.
“I am not in a normal state. If I absorb information in a hurry, my thoughts would get sloppy. I can only enter so much information in my head a day.”
“I see.”
Hwangho nodded, satisfied with Eunho’s explanation.
Although Eunho says that he’s not like he was before, Hwangho was relieved at the gesture that was very Eunho-like.
“Then tell me what you’ve experienced as you are now.”
“Didn’t you say the information you can take in a day is only limited?”
“I’ve left some space in there to listen to Hwangho-nim’s stories. I wonder why Hwangho-nim, who must be very busy with so many things, spends time and energy being an elementary school student.”
Eunho was speaking normally, but Hwangho looked quite nervous.
There’s a reason why he takes an appearance of an elementary school student.
However, half of the reason was just that he takes fun in observing a human.
Hwangho saw the expression on Eunho’s face and knew that he can see through him already.
“…There was some incident in that elementary school.”
Cheongho, who became human in the form of Hani.
And Hani’s friend, Dokgo Miro.
When Hwangho finished telling the story of the elementary school, Sung Gukeon, and Jeon Muyeong to some extent, he cut off his own words with a subtle expression.
“…Wait. I think the moon rabbit found something on the Moon Palace. A phenomenon never observed before. The broadcasting station where the Year One Class Zero students are is involved.”
“How did Euishin react?”
“Jo Euishin doesn’t seem to know about it either.”
With those words, their conversation took a pause.
Eunho recalled the storyline in PMH as best as he could, but he couldn’t remember anything related to the current situation.
‘Perhaps it’s an unexpected development…’
Eunho recalled the Black Screen, whose identity was never revealed even at the end of the PMH game.
Considering things, there’s a high possibility that unexpected events would occur.
‘Euishin hyung has been blocking them all this time. In the future, unexpected developments would surely occur.’
Eunho decided to confirm what was observed in the Moon Palace.
He asked while recalling the contents of the report he read today.
“A long time ago, there was a report that an otherworld that spawned ‘without warning’ was observed from the Moon Palace, right?”
“That was the case when we went to the baseball stadium on Children’s Day and during the youth retreat. I think it’s the Black Screen’s doing.”
“And the thing that’s observed now is different from that.”
“Yes.”
Eunho compared the phenomenon with the events in the PMH game where an otherworld suddenly spawning occurred.
His silence continued for a while as if he was having difficulty finding an answer.
Hwangho, who was quietly watching Eunho, finally spoke.
“Eunho, about your descendant that the damned moon rabbit…”
Eunho’s thoughts were interrupted by the word “descendant”
He unconsciously recalled the tianji he’s read a long time ago.
The one where his descendant became a warrior that would defend their land, and his brother and his friends would die while protecting his descendant.
‘But isn’t that a long time ago already? Foreign enemies have already disappeared so…!’
However, the laws of heaven and earth were bound to change over time.
Eunho cannot see the future now, so he has no way to confirm it.
In a tense voice, Eunho asked Hwangho.
“…Have you met my descendant?”
“Yes. Although not your immediate descendant.”
Not an immediate descendant?
Hwangho’s words made it sound like Eunho had more descendants than he knows of.
He quickly made a guess.
“So my descendant have had children.”
Eunho looked remarkably relieved when Hwangho said that they haven’t met his immediate descendant.
There’s only one descendant that he’s seen when he read the tianji, and that was his daughter born a long time ago.
“…”
Seeing Eunho’s wary attitude, Hwangho decided to drop the topic about the descendants.
Eunho tried to speak again to dig deeper about his descendants, but the conversation didn’t continue further.
“…!”
Hwangho suddenly raised his head and hurriedly turned on his device to contact someone.
His hardened expression seemed to mean that something was happening.
“What’s going on, Hwangho?”
“An otherworld spawned in the broadcasting station. Outside communication is blocked. Their weapon items are sealed as well. I’m calling our subordinates.”
Eunho’s face stiffened.
He doesn’t have to worry about Hwangho.
Hwangho is a mythical tiger, and even if he suffers damages, he can switch alter egos at any moment so he could escape any situation.
What Eunho was worried about was someone other than Hwangho.
‘Euishin hyung just woke up today…!’
The human-turned Cheongho can fight with her bare hands, but he’s still worried about them.
While Hwangho was calling his subordinates, Eunho grabbed him and asked.
“Please tell me the names of all the players at the broadcasting station.”
Hwangho put out a list and handed it over to Eunho.
After checking the names, Eunho became even more anxious.
There were unfamiliar names, but some names he remembered were there.
‘…I have a bad feeling about this.’
The young Hwangho buried himself deep on the sofa after contacting people.
He’s relaxing his body so that he can focus more power on his other alter egos.
“From here on, I will lead those who can fight and take charge of defense until backup comes.”
“What about Euishin? Is he coming with you?”
“Jo Euishin and Yong Jegun are headed somewhere else. I think they plan on joining with Yeom Junyeol first.”
Eunho felt uncomfortable.
He’s not at the scene so he doesn’t know the details, but he can tell that Jo Euishin was acting strange.
‘Euishin hyung is going separate ways with his playable characters from Class Zero? Yong Jegun and Yeom Junyeol are his playable characters too but… Considering things, it would be natural for him to go join Hwangho-nim.’
Eunho was convinced that there’s something that made Jo Euishin join Yong Jegun and Yeom Junyeol.
After thinking of what measures to take, Eunho spoke again.
“It’s still hard for me to see the changes in this world and the observations I saw from the other universe. I’ll leave it up to Hwangho-nim and Euishin hyung to take care of things there. Instead, I have a favor to ask.”
Hwangho nodded as he listened to Eunho.
Hwangho also felt uneasy about Jo Euishin’s behavior, so he decided to follow Eunho’s opinion without question.
* * *
Apollo controls a number of areas.
The Sun God Apollo symbolizes art, medicine, and prophecies.
He was the god of archery who competed with Artemis.
Apollo left countless stories related to archery in Greek mythology.
The most famous of them was the story of how he protected his mother, Leto, where he shot a phyton with a bow.
That phyton used to be classified as a dragon.
‘If Cadmus is the natural enemy of the Dragon Clan, Apollo is the natural enemy of Cadmus.’
Cadmus, a dragon that owes the Greek gods.
Apollo, a Greek god, and a dragon slayer.
When Cadmus saw the arrow of the sun, he hurriedly lifted a shield made of lion skin and tried to protect his vital points.
However, my target was something else.
Fwaaa…!
The place where the sun arrow was pointed was on the thing he used to kill Drakon.
I had to prioritize neutralizing him and stopping him from hurting dragons further.
“You…! You’re going to borrow the power of gods in that state?”
Yong Jegun shouted in an urgent voice.
I pulled the bow before Yong Jegun could stop me.
Swish! Whoosh!
The explosion produced a light that blocked my vision.
I was convinced that the sun arrow destroyed Cadmus’ spear considering the huge collision.
But I can’t relax just yet.
‘What Cadmus used to kill Drakon Ismenios was two spears and a lion’s leather shield. I’ve broken one spear, but there’s still one left.’
I put an arrow on Apollo’s bow again.
At the same time, Ham Geunhyung’s card fluttered in front of me, as if giving me a warning that I don’t have much time left with my Player Identity skill.
I have about ten seconds.
I knew that the usable time for my light skill would decrease if I use it with the Fate of the Unknown card, but I didn’t know time would run out this quickly.
‘…It’s more exhausting than I thought! Even though I borrowed the power of a god, I only shot one arrow. Is it because I suffered a lot of damage?’
The taste of blood filled my mouth, and the action of loading an arrow again seemed to make my energy wave go unstable.
‘I need to smash that spear!’
Perhaps it was because of excessive bleeding, but my vision became blurred and I began to lose strength in my fingers.
The Ham Geunhyung that I know from PMH game is capable of killing an enemy even while he’s severely injured, but it’s surely different now that I’m doing it.
Fwaaaa! Shaa! Crash!
Cadmus’ bloodlust was still strong even while the bow gathered power.
His target was Yong Jegun, who was busy using his spatial skill to cover me.
The spear wielded by Cadmus isn’t as powerful as the Dragon’s Fang, but he’s aggressively approaching us, breaking layers of space in the process.
‘He’s too fast! I can’t focus on the spear!’
I decided to change my target.
Swoosh!
However…
Cadmus was able to change the arrow’s trajectory.
The sun arrow struck the wall in vain and lost its power before melting down.
‘…Was it foolish of me to use the same arrow on Thebes’ hero?!’
I felt distant in front of me.
At the same time, Apollo’s shrine disappeared into a particle of light.
The time limit for my Fate of the Unknown card is over.
Cadmus must’ve felt that Apollo’s power disappeared, and so he grabbed his spear tighter and continued rushing toward us.
Yong Jegun gathered his strength as he prepared a space again, as if he intends to use his light skill.
However, Yong Jegun’s light skill involves the appearance of a dragon, and so it’s foolish to use that in front of a dragon slayer.
‘I can still use my light skill. But if I don’t heal myself right now…’
Instead of Kwak Gyungu’s defense light skill, I can invoke Ham Geunhyung’s light skill again to counterattack.
But if that fails…
‘…I can’t hesitate right now. If I do, Yong Jegun and Yeom Junyeol will get hurt.’
I made up my mind.
<Using light skill, Player Identity.>
As if the skill read my hesitation, two cards appeared in my mind.
One was Kwak Gyungu, the other was Ham Geunhyung.
Just when I focused on Ham Geunhyung’s card…
Fwaaaa!
Arrows flew through the open window.
Hundreds of arrows containing light poured toward Cadmus.
Just like the skill I used moments ago, they’re infused with Apollo’s power.
‘These arrows are…!’
Over the broken window…
I saw Professor Ham Geunhyung in a distance
