Chapter 23

“Student Committee? That place works like a dog. Why would you ask Jo Eushin to join?”

“What a way to phrase things. Eushin doesn’t seem interested in basketball, so wouldn’t it be better to join the student committee that will help his future.”

“What are you even saying. How would you know if Eushin is interested in basketball or not.”

It was hard to interfere.

“Oh, it’s the strong wind of recovery skill possessor, senior Yoo Sanghee!”

“Didn’t she appear on TV sometimes? For being blessed by the top Araceae.”

“She looks better in real life.”

“She was Sanghoon’s sister…maybe we should ask him to introduce us….”

“Strong wind of recovery skill, the light of wind that heals. What a fitting name.”

No.

Sanghee’s player name was the strong wind of recovery.

But the character they referred to in her name referred to her name wasn’t referring to light, but madness. Those reckless first years need to learn how to read better.

Meanwhile, Sanghee was listening to the conversation where she was being discussed.

She brushed her long hair to the side and turned sideways to give them a neat smile.

“Wow…..!”

“Ohhhh.”

“She’s pretty….”

The reaction was explosive.

Sanghoon who had witnessed this made a face of devastation, as though he had seen an enemy coming to attack.

“Will you please, just leave.”

Sanghoon rubbed his arms as if he had goosebumps.

Sanghee didn’t react and smiled but I’m sure when they got home he wouldn’t receive a hard slap worth skill level 3 to his back.

In the end, what ended this situation was the class bell.

[Amazing grace how sweet the sound-]

Today’s class bell must be coordinated by the choir committee.

Amazing Grace from the morning.

It was an unusual choice.

The sweet voice of the soprano without any instrument accompaniment changed the whole feeling in the classroom.

“Well. Think about it and feel free to contact me Eushin.”

“See you later Eushin.”

“Okay senior Sanghee. Bye Sanghoon.

After the two finally returned, and the morning assembly ended.

Ham Geun Hyeong called out to me.

“Do you want to join the Leader’s committee?”

This was the third offer for today.

The student’s committee required an interview process after applying or being recommended.

The leader’s committee needed a recommendation from a professor.

It had only been a week but it seems like I had given Ham Geun Hyeong a good impression.

‘Was it because I survived the entrance exam? Or saved Lee Lena? Or because of Bang Yoon sub?

Or could it possibly be all three?

The only freshman students to have received these recommendations would probably be Soohyuk, Dain, and myself.

“Thank you for the recommendation. Would it be alright if I took some time to think about it?”

For unexpected events, the best thing to do was buy time.

“Sure. Think about it.”

The official deadline to submit a committee application was the end of this week.

It was still possible afterward, but the process was complicated.

I had to decide within a week.

***

As usual, straight after class, I ran to Cheon Ak San.

I wasn’t able to meet Cotton wool but I met someone else.

It was the main heroine of this world, An Dain.

“An Dain….!”

I was running at full speed along the walking route.

She jumped down from the branch of a pine tree and greeted hello as she dusted off the pine leaves from her hand.

“Hi…You’re Jo Eushin from Year 1 Class 0 right?”

I assumed we would bump into each other one day, but I didn’t think it would be until March was over.

Dain and I had no commonality, so the only reason she talked to me must be Yuri.

“I heard a lot about you from Yuri. I heard both of you have been friends since young?”

“Yup!”

Dain smiled more brightly and beautifully than the flowers blooming behind her.

If Soohyuk saw Dain now he would probably trip and fall again.

“I heard about you from Yuri too. That the nameless supernova is in class 0. Yuri is the class lead and you’re the vice lead right?”

Dain must treat Yuri as a precious friend.

She was what they commonly referred to as a self-made success.

Her family was below average and there weren’t any players in her area.

There were only two types of people around her.

Those blinded by jealousy over Dain’s beauty and intelligence.

Or those who looked up to her as a god.

‘She didn’t have anyone to call a friend before she met Yuri.’

She met Yuri who transferred into her primary school and her world changed.

The two became best friends, and their friendship continued to their secondary school and now to Eunkwang high.

“Have you heard anything from Yuri?”

Dain was unable to understand why Yuri volunteered to join class 0.

Because Yuri hides her fears about her esteemed ability even as she dies.

Especially from Dain.

“I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong about class zero. It’s just…I don’t understand why Yuri would volunteer to go there…..”

As a gamer, I knew the reason but decided to change the topic.

“The classrooms are nice because they’re big and wide.”

“Hmm?”

“My class has less than twenty students, and most of them don’t even come to class.”

Dain’s face darkened.

She realized I wasn’t going to give her the answer she wanted.

“Why does it matter whether you’re in the same class or not. You and Yuri are friends regardless.”

Dain’s face brightened up slightly at these words.

After seeing Dain relax, I decided to ask her what had been bugging me all this while.

“Have you seen a dog around here?”

“A dog?”

“It’s a dog with white fur….”

“Oh, I saw someone walking it. It seemed to have discomfort in its legs but it was cute like Cotton wool.”

What.

My mind was puzzled.

No, there might be a similar dog that looked like Cotton wool.

I tried to stay positive.

“I think that’s a dog I know. What does the owner look like?”

“I can’t recall cause I bumped into him while I was training…only that it was a male.”

My positivity dissipated.

Seeing her smile I was certain.

There couldn’t’ be another white dog with a limping leg that could make Dain smile like that.

Cotton wool must already belong to someone else.

Why? Why did things change from the game?

‘A male owner…I couldn’t even make a wild guess.’

Dain wouldn’t have paid any attention to the dog owner so it will be hard to find out who the owner is.

Maybe things will be okay since Dain isn’t the one raising Cotton wool so it won’t be subjected to danger.

This brought an end to my futile search for Cotton wool.

Although I think I might still run Cheon Ak San as it was fun.

***

Freshman dormitory building.

I was heading to my room through the 17th level shared common resting lounge.

Someone who had been engaged in a conversation with the rest, who were watching a real variety show via the huge screen that made up one of the walls of the common lounge, stood up.

“Eushin!”

It was the Jiik committee head, Siwan.

“Are you busy? Can I drop by your room?”

I didn’t know what it was about but I didn’t have any pressing excuses to decline the Jiik committee head.

“Ya. Sure.”

Siwan picked up the biggest and fancifully packed box from the table in front of him and stood up.

“Alright, I’m off. Don’t stay up too late you guys.”

“Yup. Thank you for the snacks.”

“Bye Siwan, see ya.”

“Let’s go, teacher.”

What, teacher?

Looking closely in one corner of the common resting lounge.

Kim Shin Rok, the homeroom teacher of Year 1 class 1 was there.

He was pressing a thumbtack into a pamphlet and securing it to the cork noticeboard.

He must be putting those up in consideration of those who preferred paper over the holograms.

He kept the remaining thumb tacks and followed Siwan and me to my room.

‘Kim Shin Rok must have something he wants to discuss as well’.

“The graduating Jiik committee members brought us way too many snacks, so I brought some over to share with the freshmen. This is especially for you.

It was a box neatly wrapped in traditional parchment.

It had a font printed in a calligraphy style and read “Moon Rabbit Rice Cake’.

It was a luxury store that specialized in rice cakes and was operated by the rabbit clan form the royal lineage.

It was a gift set from that store.

‘It takes over a month to make a reservation and one box should be worth a few hundred!’

I opened the box and there were various sized rice cakes wrapped individually.

Baekseolgi, Bupyeon, Songpyeon, Injeolmi, Sirutteok…there were even some rice cakes that I didn’t know.

“It’s the Jiik hall’s tradition to eat rice cakes during the dormitories orientation and on the day you move in, but you didn’t come. And I felt bad about the incident from that day and how I made you say it was a prank.”

It was thanks to Siwan that Lena’s attempted suicide was forgotten without causing any gossip, but he must have been feeling bad about it all this while.

But why was Kim Shin Rok here?

“Oh, I was on the way when I bumped into him, and he said he wanted to come too. Professor Kim Shin Rok is the advisor for the Jiik committee.”

“I’m only an advisor by name. All I do is approve documents.”

‘Did the Jiik committee have an advisor?’

I wasn’t all too familiar with the Jiik committee.

There were hundreds of characters in the game but in Eunkwang high, there were at least two thousand students and staff attending Eunkwang high.

Of course, there were some things not referred to in the game.

‘Siwan was an example. A character whose name didn’t even appear.’

“The falling concrete floor in Fullmago incident’

The incident…that led to mass deaths in the character, the devastating scenario that had no dream or hope.

It was during a conversation from this incident where the Jiik committee was first referred to.

[What happened to everyone from the Jiik committee?]

[….They all died.]

After that, no one spoke about the Jiik committee so it was impossible to know what had happened.

Kim Shin Rok looked at me and spoke with a benevolent look.

“I owe you my life, I’m sorry for thanking you so late.”

“Professor Kim Shin Rok?”

“During the entrance practical exam, you lured the enemy away from me.”

I assumed that the invigilator was dead and planned my strategy as such.

I simply lured it away because I wanted the corpse to at least be in one piece even if it was dead.

I wasn’t sure if that counted as saving his life.

“Anyone would have done the same in that situation.”

“I’m sure you know that isn’t true.”

Was he referring to Son Minki?

I think he was just the odd one out.

Kim Shin Rok thanked me again with a smile as I stood awkwardly.

“Eushin. Thank you, truly.”

After that, we engaged in a casual conversation.

The taste of the sweet capsule coffee and the moon rabbit rice cake that melted in my mouth.

I was rather shy as Siwan added on words of encouragement.

Kim Shin Rok continued to share praises.

Even though it was a conversation between a professor and a senior, excluding the awkwardness when they showered me with praises, it was a comfortable catch up.

“I should go now. Rest up.”

“Yes, goodbye.”

We decided to part ways as the night started creeping in.

Kim Shin Rok shared his wearable device code and told me to contact him if I ever needed anything.

Before we parted ways, Siwan left me with a question.

“Do you want to join the Jiik committee?”

“I’ll think about it.”

I repeated the same phrase I used multiple times today and said goodbye to Siwan.

I cleared away the empty paper cups and the box of rice cakes and was about to bring out and turn on the robot vacuum cleaner that was in my bedroom.

When suddenly the living room felt cold.

I looked towards the balcony and saw that it was open.

Someone was standing on the edge of my 17th-floor balcony.

‘What….!’

As a reflex, I was about to bring out my esteemed ability but stopped.

Right now I was a player.

Even without my detection skill, my senses were pretty sensitive and acute.

On top of that my specialized skill would sound an alarm if the enemy was nearby.

‘Is that…..’

The opponent was not an enemy so I couldn’t detect their presence without activating my esteemed ability.

It was someone who could get past Eunkwang High’s security barriers without being affected.

I was quickly able to narrow it down and guess who it might be.

“Hello, student Jo Eushin.”

It was hard to think that he was a royal lineage when he was being so respectful.

My guess wasn’t wrong.

<’Notification on Red Tiger’s Profile.>

[NAME] Red Tiger

[TITLE] The legend faction tiger clan

[BELIEF] None

[Esteemed ability] Inactive

[CONDITION] The great god’s wrath – skill and esteemed ability have been sealed, overall skill and ability degraded, predicted to go to hell – (Failed to load partially)

[Overall skill] Lv.45

[Skill]

Red Thunder Lv.8

Red smoke Lv.8

Leap Lv.8

Brightness Lv.8

Roar Lv.8

….

….

“Nice to meet you, Red tiger.”

He was the divine tiger whose name was erased from the Myth of Geacheon.

He was the Legend faction’s lineage, Red tiger.