The dorm cafeteria after the morning training session.
This morning’s menu was Korean-style and Western-style breakfast.
The Korean style was bulgogi* with steamed taro and egg served in a ttukbaegi**.
The Western-style breakfast was toast with strawberry and peppermint cream cheese spread in a checkered pattern.
Korean style was fine, but the Western-style wasn’t.
*bulgogi: a Korean traditional dish made with marinated meat.
**ttukbaegi: a Korean traditional pot. When bulgogi is served in this pot, people abbreviate it into ‘Ttuk-bul’.
‘Why does it have both on, can’t we choose between strawberry and mint……’
After a short thought, I chose Korean food and stood in line.
I heard conversations here and there.
The students were mainly talking about Jae-in Kwon’s performance in Korea yesterday.
“I heard that senior Jae-in Kwon will stay in Korea for the time being.”
“I wish she could perform again! This time at Sang-in building…!”
“They said the first song on the show yesterday was a new song. When will the album be released?”
I was worried that the message sent by the butterfly spirit would become a hot topic, but thankfully no one from the audience saw it.
“Those who are as sensitive as an Original clan may have noticed, but ····.”
It’ll be fine if Jae-in Kwon covers it up as a part of her concert’s special effects or something.
I put a ttukbaegi bulgogi and a ttukbaegi steamed egg on my plate and looked around.
Over there, Hyo-don Maeng was sitting alone.
“Hey, what’s up.”
“……Oh, hey. Vice prez.”
Hyo-don looked busy looking into the hologram.
It looked like something important enough to do while eating.
I decided to ask.
“What’cha watchin’?”
“Choosing presents for my teachers on Teacher’s day.”
He said teachers, so he must mean Geunhyung Ham and his homeroom teacher who taught math or something in his middle school third-grade year.
“Present, huh. What’cha have in mind?”
“A watch or a bag? I don’t have anywhere to spend money anyway, so I’m just going to spend all my money from part-time jobs and prize money.”
Hyo-don really seemed like he was going to spend all the money he earned from part-time working scholarships and the prize money he earned from assassinating Enemies at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium on Children’s Day.
When I glanced at the hologram, I saw a catalog with an average amount of 10 million won(9000 US dollars).
‘Yup, he’s really going to spend all his money.’
He had good intentions and a warm heart, but unfortunately, if he gets that gift, both the giver and the recipient will be caught by the police.
“That’s against the anti-bribery law. Don’t buy it.”
”What’s that?”
I explained to Mr. Knucklehead Hyo-don about the law on the prohibition of illegal solicitation and bribery for about five minutes in a way he could understand easily.
In Geunhyung Ham’s case, he evaluates and guides Hyo-don, so they have a clear job-related relationship. Therefore, it is difficult to give each other gifts because it may be bribery related to Geunhyung’s job.
“······For this reason, as long as Geun-hyung Ham is your homeroom teacher, personal gifts are not allowed regardless of the price.”
Upon hearing the explanation, Hyo-don scowled and turned off the hologram.
“This is stupid. It took me fucking hours to choose the presents!”
“And your middle school is a public school. If your 3rd-grade homeroom teacher is a public official, you can’t give expensive gifts even if you’re not connected to him. If it’s over a million won, you’ll definitely get caught.”
“Aw, shit.”
Hyo-don, who was eating slowly before talking to me, now spooned vigorously, filled with anger.
He seemed to be very disappointed that he can’t buy a present for Teacher’s Day.
“So, what’s good today?”
“……The bean sprouts in the ttuk-bul. It’s perfectly cooked and perfectly soaked in the bulgogi sauce. Don’t eat the toast, though. The peppermint scent is so strong that it doesn’t taste like strawberry cream cheese at all. It’s like toothpaste.”
I guess he remembered the taste all the while choosing presents.
“Hello! Is there a seat next to you?”
As I was listening to the gourmet, Hyo-don, Se-eum Sawol greeted us.
I nodded and Se-eum took a seat next to me.
On his plate, there were four of the toasts that Hyo-don criticized a moment ago.
“What, eating Western today, too?”
“Huh? Yeah, the color is pretty and it looks delicious!”
“I’ve never seen you eat Korean food.”
Hyo-don made an odd face, but Se-eum gobbled up his toasts happily one by one.
He made it look so delicious that I asked Sawol Seeum to cut half of it, but as Hyo-don said, it only tasted like toothpaste.
“Let’s go to class together today!”
“Sure.”
“I’m gonna eat another ttuk-bul, though.”
We decided to finish our meal slowly and go to school together because we had time until morning attendance.
Home room of first-grade class 0.
Inside the classroom, Yuri Kim and Lenna Lee were soothing Han-yi, who was depressed.
“Since I started my working scholarship at Eun-kwang high this year, I thought that I would be able to give him a good present……I wanted to give Teacher Chung-hwon Kong a new suit.”
Han-yi and Chung-hwon Kong have known each other for a long time because Chung-hwon was an educational volunteer at the nursery where Han-yi grew up.
Han-yi wanted to spend the money he saved from his working scholarship to buy a present for Chung-hwon on teacher’s day.
However, Mr. Kong became a full-time teacher at Eun-kwang High School starting this year, and is a teacher in charge of introductory energy aesthetics, a class that Han-yi was in, and the advisor of the Tae Ho-kwon club.
It was against the law to deliver even small gifts.
“Mr. Kong will be happy even with a carnation!”
“Right. I heard that Mr. Kong got offers from Entertainment agencies and pro player’s teams, but always stayed as a teacher. He’s not the materialistic type, so he might feel uncomfortable if you give him something expensive.”
Hyo-don, who is in a similar situation, also made a complicated face while listening to them.
Mr. Ham and Hyo-don’s middle school teacher won’t be materialistic, either.
‘All they’d want from Hyo-don and Han-yi is for them to be healthy.’
Because of people like Pyun-deuk Choi, the anti-bribery law was enforced and it became difficult to give gifts, but being able to express gratitude without buying anything at such events was, I guess, a positive thing.
I also wanted to give Mr. Ham something, even if it had nothing to do with money.
‘This Friday is Teacher’s Day, and Green Min hasn’t contacted yet. Mr. Ham will like it if she came to school just for one day.’
”Hey, Ui-shin.”
While the class was chatting around Han-yi, Jiho suddenly spoke to me.
“Come after class.”
It was without context, but I immediately understood it.
Looking at Jiho’s expression, Jae-in Kwon must have told quite an important story.
* * *
Myung-ho Hwang’s mansion after school club activities.
As soon as the front gate opened, Olmu ran towards us.
Arf arf-!
“Hey, Olmu. How are you?”
Olmu looked up at me, as if understanding what I said, and rubbed her head at my feet.
Arf arf, woof!
I knew she meant ‘I was well’ and wanted me to pet her.
Or maybe not, but I petted her anyway because I wanted to.
Olmu was happy that I petted her head.
So, I guess I was right.
“Yeah, you must be doing fine. Did you get along with the tigers?”
Jiho Hwang was looking at me like I was absurd.
Olmu, who was peering at Jiho, made a feeble sound.
·····groan.
I don’t think she’s on good terms with Jiho Hwang.
I knew she senses the vibes and atmosphere of situations, but maybe she really understands my words.
Olmu was said to have completely lost her ego as a sacred animal when she was discovered, but now, I don’t know.
Either way, I was on our smart, sweet Olmu’s side.
I held Olmu in my arms and looked at Jiho.
“Are you bullying our Olmu?”
“Ui-shin Cho, you are turning stupider and stupider in front of the Shinsu.”
Jiho looked disgusted, but I didn’t care at all because Olmu noticed I was taking her side and showed gratitude by acting cute.
He must’ve prepared tea and refreshments in advance because there was a sweet aroma in the air as I carried Olmu to the parlor.
Today’s tea was strawberry-scented Ceylon black tea.
The refreshments were pancakes topped with butter slices.
‘It’s very sloppy.’
The pancakes were burnt and crumpled here and there.
It wasn’t like Jiho, who always perfectly equipped refreshments tea.
“The Descendants of Silver Tiger made it themselves. They’re making dinner, too.”
I was wondering where Silver Tiger’s descendants went. They must have been cooking in the kitchen.
‘He won’t show it, but they must be getting along well.’
Jiho Hwang seemed agitated when he first met Seo-ho Eun, the eldest son of Silver Tiger.
I was a little worried about how they were doing, but considering the Parents’ Day event, the kids seem to like Jiho.
I cut the pancakes made by Silver Tiger’s descendants into bite-sized pieces and tasted them.
‘…… The pancake tastes bitter.’
Looking at his expression, Jiho appeared to have the same thought, but he ate the pancakes without any complaints.
White Tiger was also eating it with a straight face.
The two Tigers looked determined to eat all of the pancakes.
“So, let’s get down to business.”
Jiho told me about the conversation he had with Jae-in Kwon at Eun-hwi Hall.
The surprise attack on the British Players’ Association on the eve of the domination of Manchester’s Other-world.
The Original clan that was captured.
A clue obtained after 10 years of interrogation with the help of a Relic Original clan.
A bear clan from the Korean peninsula sent by “the one”.
‘The incident that was mentioned only in the background story was also related to the masterplan.’
Jiho’s words continued.
“Jae-in Kwon told me that she stayed put in England to find the Butterfly clan. Among the Original clan, the Butterfly is considered ‘humble’. I think it has something to do with the information Shin-lok Kim found out.”
The information a Bear clan member spat out, ‘the humble being next to the one’.
According to Hwang Ji-ho’s words and the game information I know, it seems that Kwon was looking for Biryung Na in England for some reason.
“Why is senior Kwon looking for the Butterfly clan?”
“The Butterfly appeared in front of the Everlake team, who were going to apply for the British Association on the eve of the Manchester Other-world domination.”
“The Butterfly clan?”
“Yeah. Jae-in was lead right into a trap between reality and dreams by the Butterfly clan. All of the EverLake team gave up their support for the association and rescued Jae-in.”
When the team master is in crisis, team members will usually make that choice.
Especially since the members of the EverLake team are Jae-in Kwon’s true fans, and the team’s submaster used to be Jae-in’s mother until that day.
“The team members who remained in reality received the coded message left by the butterfly. Her mother, who was also a mathematician, decoded the message. They figured out it represented latitude and longitude, they headed there….”
Jae-in was caught in the trap of the Butterfly, but returned to reality in 10 hours on her own.
When she couldn’t contact her teammates who went to the location pointed to by the GPS coordinates, where Lake Lena is now, she headed for the rest of her teammates.
And Kwon Jae-in faced hell.
Five dungeons, one tower, two labyrinths.
Because the association was completely paralyzed by the Original clan’s attack, the alarm did not go off, and communications in the area were cut off.
Teams of professional players in the UK were also overwhelmed with the attack on the Original clan and Other-worlds sprouting across the area.
The Eternal Lake team, who gave up waiting for backup, succeeded in clearing all the worlds, but Jae-in Kwon lost her mother and most of her early teammates.
“Since then she says she’s been looking for the butterfly.”
So this was what Biryung Na was doing behind the scenes.
‘This means she has been with the mastermind for a long time, and she’s trusted enough to know important information in advance.’
Even now, she’s close to the mastermind enough to make the Bear clan jealous.
“And as you may have noticed, Biryung Na sent a message to Jae-in Kwon. Bold of her to break through the school barrier, right in front of my eyes.”
Jiho swallowed a bit of pancake and black tea, frowning ferociously.
“This was the message.”
Golden letters were engraved on the table as Jiho moved his fingers across the air.
Unexpected. Reservation. You
items. exhales. dame
It was a message that matched what I saw in the log.
Jae-in must have read and memorized the message that passed by in a blink of an eye.
“We have not yet figured out what it means. It looks different from the last message, which was like a math quiz. There are words that seem to be related to her, but the grammar is just nonsense.”
Did she change the style because her mathematician mother wasn’t here anymore?
‘Six words left by the butterfly……’
She had to send a message that can be deciphered.
Jae-in Kwon.
Biryung Na’s previous message.
GPS coordinates.
‘Maybe…… There’s a place these words are referring to.’
As I sorted it out one by one in my head, the answer came to my mind.
“Ui-shin Cho?”
I started the device and entered the values one by one.
Once, twice.
Both results were the same.
I seemed to have found the answer.
