Saturday, at Eungwang High School.
Having a nine-hour difference with England, it is now in the afternoon back in Korea.
It was a Saturday, but students were walking here and there, either for club activities or academic requirements.
There were also the dormitory students, walking around like zombies as they wandered the school campus on the weekend.
Among them were Maeng Hyodon and Bang Yoonsebo, who had just finished morning training with Tak Geosan.
“Aish, I was going to skip morning training today, but that Class Zero pushover just…”
Bang Yoonseob grumbled as he took his bag from his locker.
He’s usually too tired to grumble on normal days because of exhausting training, so it seems he’s more relaxed today.
Maeng Hyodon, who was inhaling a mini box of milk next to him, looked at Bang Yoonseob with a pitying face.
“You shouldn’t come to school if you’re gonna skip training. That old guy — I mean Professor Tak gave that kid from our class a bonus for doing such a great job.”
“Oh, he said he has an appointment at school today. Why does he do this job for that old man when he already has a part-time job.”
“He’s probably working on another one.”
They talked about Mok Wooram for a while.
Having prevented Bang Yoonseob from unfavorable activities, Mok Wooram was greatly favored by Tak Geosan.
Tak Geosan added a bonus in addition to the promised compensation whenever Mok Wooram caught Bang Yoonseob’s tail.
As a result, Mok Wooram works even harder.
He was also tasked to be a smoke detector for Bang Yoonseob, a sideline he got from Jo Euishin, which makes Bang Yoonseob shiver whenever he thinks about Mok Wooram.
Mok Wooram’s persistent pursuit improved his ability to detect a presence, but he wasn’t thankful for it.
‘I thought I’d be fine if I was in front of the school gate! How did that pushover jerk know…’
Bang Yoonseob recalled someone he made an appointment with, who has been waiting for him all along.
Because he was eventually caught by Mok Wooram, he was forced to attend morning training with Tak Geosan, infuriating Bang Yoonseob to no end.
What was most annoying for him though was that he made the person he was supposed to meet with wait for so long.
He eventually took out his anger on Maeng Hyodon.
“Why are you walking this way? Isn’t the dorm that way?! Don’t follow me!”
“I’m going to buy bread at the store in front of the school before returning to training. There’s nothing to eat at the dorms since the Year Three Class Zero sunbaes eat all the bread.”
“Those bastards! Gosh!”
The Year Three Class Zero relieve their stress from being defeated by their homeroom teacher Im Yeonhwa by binge eating bread.
They are big eaters from the start, but as Woo Kihwan’s party’s losing streak continued, their bread consumption gradually increased.
Im Yeonhwa saw her “cute” students’ high-calorie and high-carb diet as a sign to give them harsher training, concerned that their diet would lead to adolescent obesity.
As a result, the Year Three Class Zero became stronger, which made them want to challenge their homeroom teacher more.
However, they just can’t beat her.
The more they lost, the more bread they ate.
Anyway, for that reason, Maeng Hyodon wanted to stop by a convenience store instead of the dormitory cafeteria to buy snacks before training on his own.
Bang Yoonseob was of course shocked when he heard that this genius bastard was already trying to train different skills on his own before he could even master his passive skill.
He doesn’t really want to try harder, but he was disappointed in himself.
‘…But my plans today aren’t just to play around. It’s okay! I’m not messing around!’
Thinking about his plans for today, Bang Yoonseob suppressed the brewing negative emotions.
Maeng Hyodon and Bang Yoonseob walked three or four steps away from each other, but they’d sometimes make conversation.
It’s unclear though whether it’s a simple talk or an argument.
Their topic was how Mok Wooram’s capturing skills could be surpassed, when suddenly…
“Yoonseob-ah.”
Someone called Bang Yoonseob from behind.
While they were walking and talking, they arrived at the school’s main gate before they knew it.
The person understood when Bang Yoonseob explained what happened.
Still, that person waited for Bang Yoonseob throughout his whole morning training session.
Talking with Maeng Hyodon distracted him, making this person wait even longer.
“Uhm… did you wait for a long time?”
The person shook their head.
An awkward silence.
The plain-looking girl didn’t speak well even after she and Bang Yoonseob managed to get along.
The person that Bang Yoonseob made plans with was this well-intentioned student who was once embroiled in a fraudulent admissions case that once shook Eungwang High.
During the midterm exams, Bang Yoonseob happened to sit in the area where the female student hangs out to study.
Since then, they have encountered each other a few more times, and this has led to them having some sort of a study group with just the two of them.
They were supposed to meet in the morning to study at a cafe near the school.
“…”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
Bang Yoonseob decided to apologize first.
The girl’s expression was quite difficult to read, but when he looked closely, she doesn’t seem to be very angry.
Maeng Hyodon quietly said goodbye without saying anything more.
When Maeng Hyodon left, he took another glance at Bang Yoonseob and the female student and saw them walking side by side, talking about something.
Though it seemed like Bang Yoonseob was doing all the talking.
‘Did that guy have a girlfriend?’
Although he often met Bang Yoonseob, Maeng Hyodon doesn’t know much about him since they almost never have a proper conversation.
Maeng Hyodon sort of recognized the female student as one of the victims involved in the admission scandal at school, but he didn’t know that Bang Yoonseob and the girl knew each other.
‘I have seen her face before.’
Maeng Hyodon recalled the girl’s face.
When the fraudulent admissions incident broke out, Maeng Hyodon had just started going to school.
It was the least of his concerns, but when he saw the girl’s face today, he felt something strange.
‘It’s a familiar face.’
He tried to dig deep into his head, but it just wouldn’t come to him.
Maeng Hyodon had always been a home-school-training type of person, so there were only a few places where he could interact with people of his age.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t seem to remember.
‘I don’t think we were from the same middle school… None of the kids from nearby middle schools went to Eungwang High too.’
Maeng Hyodon was the only graduate of Tanrae Middle School to attend Eungwang High.
Including all the nearby middle schools, Maeng Hyodon was the only one who passed a player-specialized high school.
Tanrae Middle School even boasted about it as they hung a tarpaulin of Maeng Hyodon in front of the school.
‘It was kinda mean to the other players.’
Thinking about his middle school days, Maeng Hyodon felt a little bitter.
As the stone he had been kicking while walking rolled in unexpected directions, Maeng Hyodon’s thoughts were also all over the place.
When he was about to buy bread and drinks from the convenience store…
“Hey.”
Someone called Maeng Hyodon.
When he turned around, he saw another male student holding a paper bag filled with convenience store food.
It was someone Maeng Hyodon knew.
“Oh, hey. You’re vice president’s friend.”
It was Yoo Sanghoon.
Yoo Sanghoon was from a different class, but he often visits the Class Zero classroom since he was friends with Jo Euishin.
In addition, the talkative Jang Namwook talked about Yoo Sanghoon so much back at the baseball stadium, that even the not-so-smart Maeng Hyodon remembered him.
Maeng Hyodon asked Yoo Sanghoon if he came to train with the basketball team.
“Yeah. Class 3-0 are in the convenience store in the central area, so I had to come all the way here.”
It seems like the Year Three Class Zero students have gone beyond the dormitory cafeteria and begun to rob the canteen in the central area.
Yoo Sanghoon took a bite of his shrimp hot bar, getting hungry just from the thought of the seniors.
They were walking back to school when Yoo Sanghoon hesitatingly asked something.
“…Is Jo Euishin in the dorms? I can’t contact him.”
“I don’t think he’s there. Why?”
“Nothing.”
Yoo Sanghoon seemed to want to say something, but he quickly shut his mouth.
Maeng Hyodon thought it was strange, but he guessed that it was just about Jo Euishin’s birthday.
The two went back to walking together silently, each eating their own snacks.
***
At the party hall decorated with colored pumpkin lanterns.
The guest in a swan mask began walking this way.
They were wearing a white blazer that looked normal at first glance, but it seemed to be decorated with fine and tiny crystals.
The pattern of their bowties was delicate, making the person look full of personality and elegance.
‘I can’t think of brands that make those. Is it made-to-order?’
Custom-made clothes…
The thought made me feel unpleasant.
The thief that I knew always appeared in handmade clothes whenever he did his so-called “thief acts”
“Hello, good evening. I have a question for the gentleman wearing a crow mask. Could you spare me a moment?”
He was polite, but the greeting was a little embarrassingly exaggerated.
And he spoke in Korean.
I felt even more unpleasant.
Sung Gukeon also glanced at me, wary that the person used Korean.
I answered in English, doing my best to pretend to be calm.
“…Please go ahead.”
“Thank you for sparing me your precious time. Mr. Gentleman in a Crow Mask, you…”
Before the person in the swan mask could speak further, my fingertips twitch unconsciously.
It’s as if my body and mind sensed danger instinctively.
“What do you think of the Red Wall Thief?”
My fingertips shriveled at the mention of ‘that word’
I can only think of one person who would wear a noticeably handmade suit and would ask about ‘that word’ when he saw a crow mask.
Phantom Thief Neon.
That cringe-worthy guy is standing right in front of me!
“…Red Well Thief? You mean the one in the Hwanmong Gate case?”
My vision darkened.
Sung Gukeon replied first.
“Your companion knows it well. Yes, I’m asking what you think of the Red Wall Thief.”
Well, I find it incredibly cringe-worthy.
I was about to say those words, in fact, they were at the tip of my tongue.
However, I couldn’t make the mistake of slipping and revealing my identity.
While I was thinking about what to say…
Ding… Ding…
A bell sound rang long through the party.
People headed to the platform hidden by blue curtains.
“I think the bell signals the start of the auction.”
At that moment, all the lights at the party were switched off.
I thought it was intentional, but the Phantom Thief Neon suddenly clicked his tongue.
“No! We can’t lose this player!”
He shouted so in a shocked voice and moved quickly toward the window.
What the hell is going on?
My question was answered in no time
Crash!
Clink!
The windows on both sides of the platform were broken at the same time.
On one side, a neon-signed firecracker burst out, and on the other side, countless beasts appeared.
There was a boy who turned his back on the light of the firecracker and there was a girl who turned her back on the shadows of the beasts.
The two of them shouted loudly.
Even in their voices, the two had colorful energy waves that shone.
“The worldwide sensation Phantom Thief Neon, I, am here!”
“Here I am, the disciple of Merlin, the greatest Druid in Celtic Mythology!”
The two…
They appeared and spoke at the same time, but their words were almost buried by each other.
Most people probably didn’t understand what they just said.
The two had their eyes wide open, staring at each other as if they wanted to kill each other.
As someone who knows who both of them are, I felt a headache come up.
Both of them were my playable characters.
