“Come in. I apologize for the late greeting.”
Eunho’s polite greeting made Jeokho choke.
Before Jeokho could come after Eunho, Baekho-gun blocked him and Hwang Jiho said something that made him stop.
“Jeokho, did you forget that Kim Shinrok is here?”
Jeokho halted.
Ever since he saw the red thunderbolts raining down earlier, Kim Shinrok hasn’t budged.
The conflicting image of a cool, serious, and heroic father and an immature tiger fighting with his friend seemed to be on his mind.
As if he was malfunctioning, Jeokho then began to speak kindly to his son.
“The wind is cold, son. Let’s go inside.”
“…Ah, I was lost in thought. I’m sorry.”
“You must be very tired. I heard being inside the chief sorcerer’s boundary consumes a lot of strength.”
Kim Shinrok went back to his senses when he heard his father’s concerned words.
Jeokho concluded that Kim Shinrok was just exhausted.
Witnessing all this, Eunho smiled bitterly.
“You two are really on great terms.”
“If you’re jealous, let’s go to the main house and meet your descendants.”
“I said I don’t have the intention of meeting those children yet.”
…I think I understand now why they fought.
While we were away, the two tigers had opposing opinions on whether Eunho should meet his descendants.
Hwang Jiho noticed too as he pressed his temple, while Baekho-gun stared at Eunho quietly.
‘I’m glad we got to the mansion before their fight got bigger.’
Inside Eunho’s annex.
Jeokho’s red lightning messed up the outside, but the inside was perfectly fine.
When we moved to the living room, I didn’t notice anything wrong inside.
The building was solid and the boundary skill that covered it was strong enough that it can’t be penetrated by Jeokho’s lightning.
“After Eunho woke up, he expressed his intention not to meet the descendants, and we respected that choice.”
Hwang Jiho sat on the main chair in the living room and spoke to Jeokho who was sitting next to me.
“Why do you suddenly want Eunho to meet his descendants?”
“That’s…”
Seeing the bold rain of thunder earlier, I thought he would answer without hesitation, but he did.
His mouth was open for some seconds but closed it again when he saw Eunho.
Instead of continuing to question Jeokho, Hwang Jiho turned to Eunho.
“Eunho, do you have anything to say?”
Eunho served tea to everyone and poured his cup last.
He looked down at the teacup and opened his mouth.
“I didn’t mean to tell you yet… but it’s hard to keep it a secret.”
“Is it difficult to say? You don’t have to.”
“It’s alright. I’ve told Jeokho. I don’t think Jeokho-nim would want to keep it a secret too.”
Hwang Jiho gave Eunho the chance to not speak, but Eunho was already decided.
Eunho looked relaxed, but Jeokho was noticeably nervous.
“While you were away, I told Jeokho-nim an old story.”
“An old story?”
“Yes, a story before I fell into a deep sleep.”
Eunho brought up the story of him and his descendant.
The tianji that he saw, his choice as the clan head, the betrayal of a human shaman, and his child who was born helpless.
And he left his child to the Rabbit Clan.
Eunho narrated the whole story.
“…Whatever prophecy your descendant was born with, I would’ve protected her.”
“Yes, I know you would, Hwangho-nim. My child would’ve survived too.”
Eunho looked straight at Hwang Jiho.
“At least while you are alive, Hwangho-nim.”
Hwang Jiho fell silent.
Having heard Eunho’s story, I’m sure he knew how Eunho would answer.
Why did he bring it up then if he knew it?
‘He wanted to save his descendant even if it meant that he’d die.’
While the tigers were in agony, Eunho’s words continued.
“If I had known that shaman’s betrayal in advance, I would’ve prevented the prophecy from changing. My descendant would’ve been a warrior who protects this land.”
Eunho slowly looked at each of the tigers, and then at Kim Shinrok.
If Eunho’s descendant had been born safely, the trials of the Tiger Clan during the mythical era would’ve been lighter or not have existed at all.
Does Eunho think the Tiger Clan had a rougher time because of him?
There was a deep sense of guilt on his face.
“However, because I was incompetent and ignorant, my child lost her fate as a warrior and became a child without a parent. How can I dare to show my face to the children she left behind?”
Eunho’s words made the air heavy.
Giving the tigers some seconds to think, Eunho paused before continuing.
“What do you all think?”
Should Eunho reveal his identity and meet the descendants?
Jeokho was the first to answer.
“I still think you should meet Seoho, Iho, and Jaeho.”
Jeokho, who heard the story first, was firm in his stance.
For Jeokho who recently made up with Kim Shinrok, he seemed to want the same to happen.
He wants Eunho to reconcile with children who bear his blood.
“I want my dongsaeng to do as he pleases.”
Baekho-gun, as expected, put Eunho’s will at the top.
My main playable character truly cares about his brother.
“I said at first that I will respect Eunho’s will, and I will not go back on my words. But Jeokho’s idea isn’t bad either.”
Hwang Jiho remained neutral.
He once said that Eunho was the being he respects the most, but it seems that he still wishes for him to see his family.
“…”
Meanwhile, Kim Shinrok looked at Jeokho silently.
Perhaps he has a different opinion from his father.
I guess he can’t openly oppose his father.
No, perhaps Kim Shinrok just wishes that the descendants would open up their hearts to Eunho.
I sat back to wait and see what the tigers would decide.
“What about you, Euishin hyung? Don’t tell us you think that you’d be meddling in other people’s business.”
…Eunho saw right through me.
Since it’s between the family of tigers, I didn’t expect my, an outsider, opinion to be of value.
Eunho smiled gently but somehow I felt a strange pressure.
“Euishin hyung, you saved me and my descendants. It’s only natural that we ask our benefactor for his opinion.”
“Eunho is right, Jo Euishin. I agree.”
This old man suddenly butted in.
Jeokho and Kim Shinrok were looking at me expectantly too.
Do they want me to do what I did with the two of them?
“I want to know what you think, Euishin hyung. Do you think I should meet those children and reveal my identity to them?”
Eunho laid out the question straightforwardly.
To be honest, it would be nice if Eunho met his descendants.
But I also understand his position.
‘If I had a family, I would want to meet them.’
I had distant blood relatives, but those aren’t really “family”
They were worse than strangers.
If I had another true family member…
I can’t count how many times in my lifetime I thought and wished about this.
Eunho’s descendants lived with the Rabbit Clan like a true family, and the relationship between the three siblings was good.
I decided to think about it from their perspective.
‘I want to consider both Eunho and the descendants’ positions though…’
As a result of my careful consideration, I decided to postpone the answer.
“Eungwang High’s entrance exam is just around the corner. Shouldn’t we help those children concentrate on that first? I think it would be good to talk about this again after the exam.”
Eunho, as well as Eun Seoho and Eun Iho, would take the test.
It would be cruel to reveal something as big as this before the fact.
The tigers still seemed riled up, but they agreed with me.
Jeokho looked disappointed, but in the end, he retreated.
* * *
In my dormitory room.
It’s Monday tomorrow and the tigers needed time to think so I left early.
I still have some business to do at the mansion, but considering the tigers’ condition, I decided to postpone it for now.
‘…I’ll have to ask Jeokho next time.’
The twins who control the wind and rain.
Jeokho was the one who had the clue about Pungbaek and Usa in PMH.
Although the current Jeokho doesn’t know anything about it, there’s a means to obtain that information.
The Replay function.
‘As to the extent of the replay for Jeokho… wait, can I even use it on him?’
I’ve replayed the game hundreds and thousands of times but still ended up with a bad ending.
The replay function would probably start after the Nameless Supporting Role’s Tutorial level.
In other words, after Kim Shinrok and the Group 13 test takers died a disastrous death at the hands of the Bear Clan.
‘I’m going to show Jeokho a future where his son died? For a piece of information?’
Just imagining it made me feel suffocated.
But it’s difficult to say that I won’t do it.
Just think about how much information we got from Kim Shinrok’s replay!
If it weren’t for that, we would’ve continued to doubt Jecheondaesung as the Long Tail.
Hwang Jiho wouldn’t have contacted Jecheondaesung, and without him, the TC Research Institute Case would’ve gone in a different direction.
‘…We’re not gonna use the function right away anyway. I’ll do what I can do first.’
I stayed up all night last night, but I recovered because of some good sleep and trashy medicine.
I turned on my device so I wouldn’t have to think about anything else and took out the data chip.
It was old, but fortunately, it was still compatible with modern devices.
As soon as I saw the file inside, my eyes literally turned.
Inside the chip was a vast amount of text files, pictures, and video files, but no proper information was found.
‘I knew it would take a lot of time to download but… there’s too much dummy information. Do I have to go through all these?’
I can’t miss any of this hard-earned information.
I took a breath and opened the file at the top.
Line by line and frame by frame.
I started going through all the files without missing anything.
At some point, the day turned and the sun began to rise, but I kept focusing on analyzing the information.
‘The information that the former head tried to leave… is it this?’
The moment I caught a clue among the vast amount of information, I heard a system message.
<Dimensional understanding of two-dimensional future transformed object has increased.>
<Skill ‘two-dimension future transformed object exclusive menu’ Replay Function has increased from Stage 2 to 3.>
