It’s been a while since I went to Eungwang High, and it was still as lively and boisterous as ever.
‘It’s nothing like November in PMH.’
Because of the continuous casualties among students, Eungwang High in PMH felt strangely quiet and gloomy.
On the other hand, Eungwang High in this world looked like a normal peaceful high school.
‘Well, I can’t really say it’s normal. There’s still Year Two Class Zero here.’
Year Two Class Zero students caused an incident again today.
It wasn’t really a big thing, but it was something that no one would doubt that their class would do.
‘It’s hard to say anything since they did it for our class.’
Most of the journalists and malicious fans were filtered out by the student council and student association, except for some.
One malicious fan succeeded in infiltrating the school during a break between classes when the student council’s guard was relatively lax.
‘I can’t believe they tried applying for a job in Eungwang High just because they’re a fan.’
The very first one to notice was Jung Haeon from Year Two Class Zero, Dokgo Miro’s fansite.
The response of Class 2-0, led by Jung Haeon, was fast as a lightning bolt, and the malicious fan was induced to a gym with an otherworld simulator.
To put it simply, they experienced hell.
Belatedly knowing his class’ actions, Jegal had a difficult time cleaning up their mess.
‘It’s a player good enough to infiltrate Eungwang High. I guess it’s not so bad that they experienced training in hell with an otherworld simulator.’
The other seniors were dealt with, but the details aren’t yet known.
In any case, considering that Dokgo Miro is relatively safe, we seem to have benefitted from the incident caused by our seniors.
With that, our lunch break finally came.
“Student Euishin, I heard from Hani. It’s late, but happy birthday.”
I was checking the bulletin board alone after eating lunch when Gong Cheonghwon suddenly appeared.
‘How the hell did he know where I was?!’
Gong Cheonghwon says it’s a coincidence, but there’s a situation similar to this that happened before.
His specialty seems to be catching a student off-guard.
I had a lot of absences last week, and as a result, I missed all of Gong Cheonghwon’s classes.
“I always say the same thing. If you have any suggestions, I’ll listen to them anytime.”
“…I apologize.”
Gong Cheonghwon’s classes are more difficult than others, but I always think that they are most beneficial.
Contrary to that, I don’t have any excuse to offer for missing his classes.
Gong Cheonghwon was speaking with a smile, but it was hard for me to do the same.
“I hope to see you in the next class.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“Alright, I’ll be on my way now. Rest well.”
Seeing that Gong Cheonghwon was holding class materials in his hand, he must have his next class soon.
He walked away first to prepare for his class while I was left behind with a heavy heart.
‘…I’ll make sure to attend. I need to aim for a perfect score on the quiz. Now that I’m done looking at the bulletin board, should I go prepare?’
I checked the bulletin board again as I made some plans for the rest of the day.
The board was full of stories related to Dokgo Miro.
‘Quite a lot about our class too.’
With Dokgo Miro’s return to school, Year One Class Zero became the center of attention at Eungwang High.
On the comprehensive bulletin board, articles related to Dokgo Miro and accounts of the student council and associations’ leadership in dealing with malicious fans and reporters were posted in real-time.
Although she’s only a runner-up, it’s still natural for people around us to react like this because it’s her first time going to school formally, which was one of the central topics put to light in the first audition program for players.
It wasn’t her intention, but Dokgo Miro was attracting the attention of Eungwang High students.
While thinking about Dokgo Miro, the two attention-seekers suddenly came to mind.
It’s questionable how far the two, who lived long overseas, would know about Dokgo Miro, but they would’ve instinctively noticed in just one glance that they have no chance of receiving attention if they were to compete for it with her.
‘I think people are going to be talking about Dokgo Miro for a while. I don’t know when those two will come back.’
By now, the two attention-seekers must’ve investigated Dokgo Miro and seen the dozens of articles posted on the bulletin board.
Even if they didn’t know about her at first, there’s no way they don’t know about her now.
It’s clear that they’d be wary of her, and possibly delay the time of their return to school.
‘Considering the current situation of things, even if Phantom Thief Neon reveals his identity, his story will be buried. He knows it too.’
His crime ended in failure.
So, at this point in time, Phantom Thief Neon is just some guy who played a prank involving Big Ben.
And it’s beyond clear that Dokgo Miro, who proved her skills by performing in front of the whole country, would draw more attention rather than an unidentified mystery man.
‘Maybe I should be satisfied that those two decided to go to school at this time. Now only three other kids are missing.’
There are a total of 16 students in Year One Class Zero.
Our attendance improved thanks to Dokgo Miro, though it wasn’t as Professor Ham Geunhyung expected due to the quick exit of Phantom Thief Neon and Goo Seulbi.
There are currently 11 students attending class — Me, Hwang Jiho, Kim Yuri, Hani, Kwon Lena, Maeng Hyodon, Saeum of April, Min Geurin, Song Daesok, Mok Wooram, and Dokgo Miro.
If I were to include Phantom Thief Neon and Goo Seulbi, the number would be thirteen.
‘They’ve never shown up until now… Do they really have no intention of going to school?’
According to Professor Ham Geunhyung, those who are still refusing to go to school are currently taking all their exams regularly.
When I heard that, I thought it was possible that they wouldn’t fail first grade.
‘If they weren’t talented enough, they would’ve been dropped in the first place just based on their strange personalities.’
Professor Ham Geunhyung and Kim Yuri seem to have expected the two attention-seekers to return, but Neon and Goo Seulbi never did until the end of the attendance check.
“I wanted to see our classmates’ faces too. Too bad.”
Dokgo Miro was the only one who didn’t see the faces of the two attention-seekers, and after hearing the story, she expressed regret.
It’s obvious that the two attention-seekers will be wary of Dokgo Miro, and there’s no way that the King of Back Alleys would back down so I don’t really know what would happen.
I think it’s a good thing that they didn’t meet today.
“I think they’ll go back one day based on what they said. I don’t know if they’ll come today but… Oh, do you guys want to wait for them?”
“…Yep!”
Dokgo Miro readily agreed to Kim Yuri’s proposal.
She just seemed happy to have more opportunities to talk with our classmates.
Dokgo Miro attended my birthday party, but it must’ve been difficult to have a proper conversation with the others since that day was mostly about me, and everyone mostly talked to me.
“I’ll go buy some snacks then!”
“…I’m coming too.”
Saeum of April and Hani also expressed their intention to stay.
The other kids who don’t have extracurriculars also seemed to be planning to stay in the classroom until the end of the day.
I thought about talking them out of it since I know that those two attention-seekers would never show up if the spotlight isn’t on them, but I decided to keep it in for the sake of Dokgo Miro.
It would be a little difficult to hang out outside school with all the reporters and fans lurking.
I thought it was best to think of this as an opportunity for Dokgo Miro to socialize with our classmates, so I decided to let things flow.
“Call me if they come. I wanna see them too.”
“Yep! Good luck with your extracurriculars!”
I greeted the other kids goodbye, and Hwang Jiho and I headed out first for our activities with the newspaper department.
While on the way, my student who had been working hard today contacted me.
[Yeom Junyeol] Euishin-ah, happy birthday.
One message was as my sunbae.
Along with an apology for greeting me late, he sent a stamp of Hongryong holding a cake.
The other message was from him as my student, and it was slightly different.
[Yeom Junyeol] Teacher, happy birthday…!
[Yeom Junyeol] I’m sorry for greeting you late. I won’t forget next year, and I’ll greet you right on time.
The same Hongryong stamp was sent below that, but it included another stamp of Hongryong looking sorry.
After a while, another message arrived.
[Yeom Junyeol] I can’t think about what gift I should give you, teacher…
I wanted to end his worries by telling him that I’m alright with not receiving any gift, but I don’t think my student would like that response.
In the end, I told Yeom Junyeol that I’d be looking forward to his present.
“I’m sure everyone already knows, but Phantom Thief Neon is the same Phantom Thief that we met last time!”
In the central area, at the Newspaper Department Room in the General Club Hall.
Moon Saeron announced so with all her might.
At the same time, several holograms were being floated behind her.
‘This is… the incidents caused by that attention-seeker.’
The Eungwang High Clock Tower prank back on April Fool’s Day.
A self-proclaimed “Phantom Thief” wearing bullfight attire that they met during the summer vacation news coverage trip.
And just a few days ago, the announcement of a Phantom Thief Neon left in the Big Ban.
The holograms arranged by time zone were all related to Phantom Thief Neon.
‘It’s Moon Saeron, of course she’d notice.’
She was preparing to write a special article presenting several hypotheses about Phantom Thief Neon.
I was impressed by the articles presented that showed Moon Saeron’s keen observation, but there was something that bothered me.
‘Why is that word constantly appearing in her special article?!’
I tried to propose to reduce the number of mentions of that word in the article, but it wasn’t easy.
“If there’s someone to compare him to, the content of the article becomes more apparent at first glance!”
My attempts were shut down by Moon Saeron.
I tried to come up with a different way somehow, but it wasn’t easy to be active.
It was because of the old man next to me…
His eyes sparkled whenever that word was mentioned.
Because of Eunho’s remarks, I think this old man already figured out my weakness.
After our meeting, on the way home from the newspaper department activities…
I headed to the tigers’ mansion with Hwang Jiho.
“Shall we go now? Eunho is waiting.”
Hwang Jiho said that we should have dinner together, and he suggested that I choose the menu.
“Do you have something you want to eat? I’ll make dinner once we get home.”
“I’ll have anything.”
Honestly, hearing that word constantly made me lose my appetite.
Although I answered with no sincerity, my words weren’t completely empty since I know that anything Hwang Jiho makes will be delicious.
Maybe because he was in a great mood all day, Hwang Jiho only responded with a smile to my soulless answer.
“Preparing ‘anything’ is actually the most difficult thing to do. Alright. I’ll be happy to accept the challenge posed by my benefactor. Hahahaha!”
Hwang Jiho laughed to his heart’s content, but he suddenly shut his mouth.
He looked sort of defeated.
I decided to ask out of courtesy first.
“What’s wrong?”
Hwang Jiho paused.
“Sung Gukeon and Kim Shinrok are in contact. With my elementary school student alter ego.”
