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“Oh, they’re here!”
“Good job on your match!”
The kids who were waiting outside the room greeted brightly when they saw Jin Jungmok and the attention-seekers.
All three were wearing our school uniform.
‘It’s a jacket, but a uniform is a uniform.’
The attention-seekers wore the white old-school uniform jacket, and Jin Jungmok wore the new black one.
Of course, underneath the robe, the two were wearing their aurora-themed Santa costumes.
“Hello again. I am Jin Jungmok.”
Jin Jungmok gave a salute to the kids who watched him with an anticipating face.
He then explained how they got the uniforms.
The attention-seekers prepared it in advance with the intention of making him wear the uniform as part of their victory ceremony.
The attention-seekers were defeated today, but Jin Jungmok still decided to attend school.
“Good decision.”
Professor Ham Geunhyung happily looked at the three people wearing the uniform jackets.
The three of them attending school must feel like a Christmas present for him.
Although his facade is harsh and could be misunderstood, Professor Ham Geunhyung is delighted.
The confident Jin Jungmok treated Professor Ham politely without being intimidated.
“I’ve heard a lot of you from the master, Professor Ham. Please take care of me well.”
“Yes, you look a lot like your master.”
“Is that so? Thank you!”
They’re both faithful to the martial artist concept, so of course they would look alike.
I don’t know if Professor Ham Geunhyung meant it as a compliment, but Jin Jungmok seemed happy nonetheless.
Following the welcome greeting, Professor Ham praised the efforts of the attention-seekers.
“I heard that you tried hard to get Jin Jungmok to attend school. Good job.”
“Yes…”
“We tried hard…”
The two’s reactions were dismal.
‘Those two are weird. Do they feel bad because Jin Jungmok is getting more attention?’
No matter what strange thing those two do today, the attention will inevitably be on JIn Jungmok whose name is first revealed today.
Jin Jungmok sticks to his concept as well as the attention-seeker, and he’s receiving the newcomer buff so it’s natural that the two would be pushed back.
I tried to appease them by giving them some attention, but something was wrong.
‘I don’t think it’s because they lack attention. They seem distracted by something else.’
I can’t believe there’s something more important to the two than getting attention!
It was surprising but strange.
“We can’t force it out of him… What do we do?”
“It can’t be helped if he doesn’t want to talk. We shall use our reasoning skills instead!”
“Yeah, let’s do that!”
What are those two playing at?
It bothered me, but I decided not to get involved.
‘What happened today, the conversation with the martial artists, the attention-seekers’ attitude… I could guess based on those things, but I’ll just pretend I don’t know.’
I tried to hold myself together and moved away from the ominous and clingy thoughts.
Our classmates talked to them, perhaps bothered that the two weren’t attempting to steal the spotlight.
“So are you two going to school now, Seulbi and Luis?”
“I think they’re going to find the other two.”
Mok Wooram gave a plausible hypothesis to Kwon Lena’s question.
When the two didn’t seem like they would attend school just yet, Professor Ham looked sad for a moment.
“Of course. We’ll get the other two to go to school as well.”
“But now there is a more important issue…”
Goo Seulbi and Ong Gildong’s words trailed off.
The two didn’t seem to have properly decided on what to do.
At that time, Hwang Jiho laughed as if he were pleased with their words.
“Hahaha! One of them won’t be easy to force to go to school.”
He keeps emphasizing that he knew one of the remaining two, but what the hell does he want us to do?
Does Hwang Jiho need attention too?
Hwang Jiho was looking at me with twinkling eyes full of anticipation.
I was going to say something to him back when we were talking with the Black Forest, but I gave it up because I didn’t want to waste my energy.
I decided not to say much again.
Dokgo Miro frowned and asked Hwang Jiho instead.
“You seem to know the other one. What kind of kid are they?”
“Well, it’s a bit of a shame to say it myself. But if you’re really curious, yours truly can tell you about —”
“That crazyhead is starting again.”
The attention-seekers stared at Hwang Jiho and whispered something quietly again.
Is it because he confirmed that he knew the other kid?
They seemed wary of Hwang Jiho.
“Oh, Jungmok-ah, do you want to see our class’ performance?”
“Come with us too, Seulbi and Luis! You didn’t get to see it last festival.”
“The big battle is over, so I guess some rest will be good.”
“…I’ll go if he goes.”
With that, we all decided to move on.
Most of our classmates, including the attention-seekers, were going to see the performance released last time.
“Do you mind if I take the master with me?”
“Of course! We left some empty seats just in case.”
If the team master of the Black Forest comes, it will surely be crowded again.
I was worried, but there was somewhere I had to be, so I decided to leave it up to them.
Other than me, Min Geurin seemed to be checking out another exhibition.
“Contact me if anything happens.”
“Where are you going?”
“To Class One. I have an appointment.”
“Really?”
“Don’t worry, yours truly will be coming with him.”
I didn’t plan for Hwang Jiho to come with me, but he seemed adamant about tailing me today.
With that, Maeng Hyodon nodded and turned his back.
I felt sorry that I made Maeng Hyodon worry so much because of last time.
“So, Jo Euishin. Where are we off to?”
Why’s he following me if he doesn’t know where?
“To Class One.”
“Did you make plans with Yoo Sanghoon? I was worried about his disheveled face yesterday, so it would be good for him to see you.”
Hwang Jiho is talking about Christmas Eve.
In other words, when we were dealing with Uma.
I wonder what Hwang Jiho did after I left.
I’m a little bothered, but I decided not to ask because I’ll be meeting Yoo Sanghoon anyway.
Like that, we arrived at Class One.
Several people were coming out of the classroom as if the screening had just ended.
Most of them had very short hair.
“Euishin-ah!”
A tall guy with eyeglasses stood out among the crowd and came running this way.
It was Jang Namwook, dressed in civilian clothes.
He seemed to be in a hurry, but since he was indoors, he didn’t run full-on.
“I was worried because you replied late, Euishin-ah. Sanghoon told me about the black snow. Did you reply late because you were resting? Well, I guess it can’t be helped that you were out of reach after using such great strength.”
“Yeah, I was resting.”
“I see… I could’ve helped if I had come on Christmas Eve. The standby order was issued, but the cadets who were out weren’t forced to come back. If I was in the Eungwang High area, I could’ve…”
Jang Namwook poured out all the words of regret.
I heard half of them, but the other half passed through my ears.
Jang Namwook felt sorry that he wasn’t in Eungwang High that day, but I disagreed.
I intentionally prevented him from coming on Christmas Eve.
Fwat!
Jang Namwook, who had been talking for quite a while, looked at me over his glasses.
I couldn’t see well because of the light, but starlight was blaring.
Worried, Jang Namwook is looking at me with the Eye of the Star Maiden.
“You’re growing smoothly. It would be better to readjust the boundary on your eyeglasses.”
Hwang Jiho, who installed the boundary in Jang Namwook’s glasses, said so.
That must mean that Jang Namwook’s power has grown considerably.
Jang Namwook spoke.
“You don’t seem to be hurt. I’m glad you’re safe! Still, it looks like you used up a lot of energy waves, so I think you should rest. Let’s just meet at another time.”
“I’m fine.”
“Awful.”
Yoo Sanghoon appeared out of nowhere.
He must’ve been working with his classmates as the vice president.
I was really okay though.
I tried to ignore Yoo Sanghoon’s words, but Hwang Jiho interrupted.
“There’s no way that Jo Euishin will say he’s not okay. Don’t worry, this body will be watching him.”
“That’s that.”
Yoo Sanghoon also snapped at Hwang Jiho.
He didn’t say much, but he watched Hwang Jiho closely.
It must’ve been impressive that Hwang Jiho was in disarray.
Confused by the two’s conversation, Jang Namwook spoke.
“Huh? I thought Jiho got taller but… he looks shorter now.”
At the time of the TC Research Institute incident, Jang Namwook encountered Hwang Jiho in his 20s appearance.
He really thought it was Hwang Jiho.
‘They’re one person but… if his eyes are good, shouldn’t he have put two and two together by now?’
He saw a taller version of Hwang Jiho, and so he’s confused to see the teenager Hwang Jiho again.
Hwang Jiho spoke shamelessly.
“Hahahaha! This body is in a growth spurt. I can change my height a bit.”
“I see. I heard that various phenomena can occur during growth spurts because of energy waves.”
Yoo Sanghoon looked at Jang Namwook with a stupid expression, but he didn’t bother correcting him.
Like that, I fulfilled my promise to see them face to face on Christmas.
The next place I headed to was the newspaper department.
I couldn’t help with the preparations, so I had to come visit.
“Sir, it’s not time yet! Hurry up!”
When I arrived at the exhibition room, Moon Saeron called me urgently.
I followed her right away.
When I saw the scene in front of me, I realized that it really was an emergency.
“…”
“…”
At a cold outdoor area.
Joo Soohyuk and Ahn Dain sat awkwardly without saying a word.
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