Chapter 697: Mask

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Main house of the Hwangmyeong mansion.

The kids were waiting at the front door.

“We were waiting for you, Euishin hyung!”

“It’s Euishin oppa!”

“Sorry I’m late. Oh...”

“Let’s go!”

As soon as they found me, Eun Seoho and Eun Iho grabbed each of my arms and led me to the living room.

They were overly excited, but the tigers didn’t want to stop them.

I could understand the cold old man who arrived with me, but even Baekho-gun, who quietly sat on the sofa, was just watching.

Jeokho and Kim Shinrok, who briefly appeared from the kitchen, also went back right away.

I was dragged in front of a huge tree.

It seemed like a normally decorated tree at first glance, but the arrangement was strangely sloppy, the electric wires of the lights tangled.

‘The descendants must’ve decorated it themselves. But I think something’s missing.’

There was something strange about the tree.

There were all sorts of decorations, but there was no topper.

After looking at the tree in full, the youngest Eun Jaeho offered to open a box.

“We were waiting to decorate it with you, Euishin hyung.”

The box contained a black star-shaped Christmas tree topper.

Gold, red, blue, white, and silver were shining inside the star from what seemed to be processed otherworld ore.

It was as if stars of five colors were shining in the night sky.

‘There’s only a few hours before Christmas ends, but they’ve been waiting to decorate it with me.’

Star-shaped toppers are common, but having them in black is rare.

Perhaps they wanted to let me place it since my alias is related to stars and the color of my energy wave is black.

I thought they should’ve gotten a different topper than wait for me.

“This topper is custom-made, Jo Euishin. The descendants helped make it, designing various shapes and colors.”

“That’s right! We designed it with you and the tigers in mind!”

Eun Iho said so.

I stopped thinking and couldn’t come up with anything to say.

After faltering, I decided to put the topper silently.

Hwang Jiho laughed while Eun Jaeho took a picture of me.

I felt my energy drain even though I only placed one decoration, but an angel’s voice saved me.

Woof woof!

The sound brought back the strength in my whole body as I turned around and saw the small genius warrior.

The angel was dressed in Santa clothes, and I was amazed at how he could appear so nice whenever his small white feet moved through his red clothes.

He had the Santa doll that I gifted him on his back.

Touched by Olmu’s deep heart, I uttered words of praise for a while.

“Calm down, Jo Euishin. Olmu is a genius, but your own intelligence has dropped.”

The old guy said some useless things.

I already know that though, so it’s okay.

As I was enjoying Olmu’s genius and ignoring Hwang Jiho, someone else spoke.

“...Can I have this star later on?”

Sanryeong, dressed as a reindeer, said so.

He was looking at the Christmas topper with an anxious face as if he really liked it.

Sanryeong spoke to Hwang Jiho, and the old man’s face looked sullen.

Sanryeong showed strange behavior around the time I appeared, but he wouldn’t say the reason until the end, which greatly depleted Hwang Jiho’s mood.

I thought he’d say no, but Hwang Jiho responded unexpectedly mercifully.

“I gave this topper to the descendants, so they should be the ones to decide.”

He looked older than when I saw him, perhaps wanting to appear like a father.

‘This must’ve taken a lot of concentration and control to capture this so elaborately. The watchman isn’t ordinary.’

While looking at the photos, the youngest Eun Jaeho spoke.

“I want to give him a picture too... Can’t we go where our father is?”

The Silver Hero died around the time Eun Jaeho was born, so I guess he didn’t have many of his pictures.

We can’t go freely to the bridle like Ok Toyeon or the Silver Hero though.

“I’ll tell you if I’ll go there.”

I said so in consideration of the young descendant, but Hwang Jiho immediately stepped in.

“Are you going to go there again? Get a grip of yourself, Jo Euishin. It’s better to order the moon rabbit. That damned moon rabbit has a lot of debt to our family, so we can order her around as much as we like.”

Although Hwang Jiho grumbled, he still looked at the photos with interest.

The descendants became more talkative too.

The center of the conversation was the watchman.

“I’ve thought about it since a long time ago, but it’s great to see the three descendants. There are quite a few royal lineages who aren’t blessed with one.”

“Right? Isn’t it amazing? We almost became four siblings too!”

“Four...?”

Hwang Jiho looked surprised, and his expression immediately turned dark.

There are three children here with us, making the mention of a fourth child spawn ominous assumptions.

With the tigers’ unusual energy, Eun Iho spoke up.

“Our mother told us. The person who was almost our unnie went somewhere else.”

“What do you mean went somewhere else?”

“She was born to be someone else.”

The tigers’ expressions softened when they realized that it wasn’t a sudden death.

But questions still remained.

“It’s been a while since a descendant of the Tiger Clan was born since you three. Where on earth has that child gone?”

“We didn’t hear that from our mother... Oh, but she said something before. The one who almost became my noona had a good chance of being born as a child of the Tiger Clan.”

The first-bron Eun Seoho began to tell the story from the Silver Hero.

The Silver Hero said she knew she would have three children.

However, she tried to have another child, but she eventually failed.

The Silver Hero said “I felt sorry for the Tiger Clan’s child to wait outside without a certainty, so I decided to welcome her as my child. However, in the end, our fates were out of reach.”

“...I see.”

“I don’t know what kind of people she might have been involved with, but I hope she’s doing well.”

The Tigers looked complicated.

The descendant Kim Shinrok kept his mouth shut, and Baekho-gun was silent as usual.

Even if they didn’t talk, they were clearly worried about how the child, who was almost a descendant of the Tiger Clan, was doing.

‘A child who almost became a descendant...’

Based on what I know from PMH and in this world, a hypothesis came to mind.

I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t in a position to intervene in the family history of the tigers, but there was something on my mind.

‘There’s a way to check my hypothesis.’

After the Christmas party, when the descendants fell asleep.

I headed to the bamboo forest with Baekho-gun and Hwang Jiho to meet the masked couple.

On the move, I asked the tigers something.

“I have a question.”

“What is it?”

It was a question that I wanted to ask Jekoho, but he wasn’t here now and I couldn’t do it because it would be too harsh.

But I wanted to ask these two.

“Do you remember the faces of the tigers behind their masks?”

The tigers couldn’t answer “yes.”

My hypothesis became increasingly solidified.

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