“Vice President, are you here to eat? I am working on a work scholarship.”
“Hi…Eui Shin.”
Unlike Maeng Hyo-don, Irena was a little hesitant to answer.
She must still feel awkward around him.
There was also the attempted suicide incident, and since she cried until she was tired in front of him, it seemed she was having trouble with how to deal with him.‘I forgot in Silver Light, there was a system called a part-time job scholarship. Looks like they are doing it together.’
The part-time job scholarship was a part-time job system that paid about four times the minimum hourly wage in exchange for helping with school chores.
‘Because Silver Light has a very extensive security procedure, it is very difficult to hire or outsource faculty members.’
Most of the silver light students did not run out of money with items obtained from targeting the other world and bounties to subdue wanted Enemy.
However, it is a school rule that first graders can target the otherworld starting from the second semester.
So, first-year students or second and third graders in need of money often participated in the part-time job scholarship.
‘Because neither of them can get support at home, I guess Mr. Ham Geun-hyung introduced me.’If you live in a silver light dormitory, you did not need tuition or miscellaneous expenses.
Still, it would be difficult for a teenage high school student to live without a penny.
‘If they worked two or three hours a day with a part-time job until the second semester, they should be able to hold on until then.’
With that in mind, he tried to move to make a request to cook pasta.
“Vice president, this is the most delicious today.”
Before he got to move, a meat bomb that Maeng Hyo-don threw on his tray fell.
Gwangyang-style beef bulgogi was piled up like a mountain.
It was a really neat and unobtrusive movement and speed.
While admiring that he was also Joo Soo-hyuk’s rival, his mind was dazed by the absurd amount of meat.
He was sure it was because he thought well, but… This was a lot.
“Hey, Maeng Hyo-don. If you’re going to give me food, give me vegetables and rice, not just meat.”
“This dish is the most delicious, so fill your stomach with it today.”
“What.”
There was no turning back.
Maeng Hyo-don’s was stubborn.
In the end, there was only meat on his tray.
This diet completely ignored the nutritional balance.
“Haha…… I think he did give you a lot, but today, bulgogi is really good.”
Irena said, smiling awkwardly.
Following the hidden gourmet Maeng Hyo-don, Irena said that, so he had no choice but to eat it.
‘If you give up…… it’s comfortable…….’
It looked like he was filling his stomach with meat today.
Goodbye pasta.
He was surprised when he ate a piece of meat after clearing his mind.
‘What. It’s really good…!’
Beautiful taste.
Delicious–!
‘Wow, it’s much better than bulgogi at most traditional Korean restaurants.’
The seasoning that harmonized with the juicy juice from moderately cooked meat melted on the tongue and disappeared into the throat.
Was this really a menu that would come from a high school?
Maeng Hyo-don, he really was a gourmet.
He emptied the whole plate without leaving a piece of meat.
Maeng Hyo Don was proud of seeing him eating well.
“I ate well.”
“If you know that, then good.”
He knew that Maeng Hyo-don did this in good faith, but he hoped he would know that things went wrong, this can be seen as harassment.
When he first saw the mountain of meat, he felt like he was slapped with bulgogi.
Bulgogi slap.
It was an apt word to describe the meat terror that was forced on him today.
“That…… until now…… that. I don’t think I ever properly said… thank you.”
Maeng Hyo-don, who was handed a bowl at the exit, muttered.
It was a voice like an ant crawling.
“······Thank you.”
It seemed that the mass throwing of Gwangyang beef bulgogi was a result of gratitude.
He got a little playful.
He pretended as if he couldn’t hear it.
“What did you say, I can’t hear you?”
“Ah, I said thank you, vice president bitch!”
Bitch, bitch!
Maeng Hyo-don’s words resonated, leaving an echo effect in the enclosed space and dormitory restaurant.
All the students who were still in the cafeteria looked over to him.
He didn’t want to stand out.
He decided to bounce.
“Yes, I got it. You know you didn’t have to say that? You don’t have to care about that. Alright, I’m heading out. Work hard.”
“Hey, wait a minute…… Vice president, You!”
He went out of the restaurant as if he had nothing to do with Maeng Hyo-don very naturally.
Maeng Hyo-don, who was working as a scholarship student, stayed there while receiving the attention of the dormitory students.
The last moment he saw him before he left his ears were so red to the point one might think it was bloody.
This wasn’t a retaliation to the bulgogi slap, it definitely wasn’t.
* * *
Lobby lounge in the first-grade dormitory building.
He was sitting on the innermost sofa in the unisex common room.
The person he was waiting for was Irena.
When he left Maeng hyodon, he spoke to her asking to see her for a moment.
‘I have to hand it over today.’
He pulled out a white envelope from the item window.
The item in the envelope was the gold ribbon that remained in the living room of his room during the previously attempted suicide incident.
He kept missing the timing to hand it over.
This was because Irena was always with Kim Yuri and Han Yi in the classroom, so it was hard to interrupt her.
If they ask him why he had this, things would become difficult as well.
“Eui Shin.”
Irena was looking down at him with her eyes wide open.
The break room on the first floor was quite large, so he thought it would take a while, but she found it right away.
“Oh hey, sorry for calling you out. I have something to give to you…”
He wanted to quickly give her the ribbon and leave, but she cut in between his words.
“Eui-shin, would you like to take a walk…?”
It looked like she had something to say.
‘······It is a little cold.’
The walkway around the first-grade building in the residential area.
Spring had come, but the April night breeze was still cold.
The residential area was even closer to Cheonik Mountain, so it was windier.
‘I guess no one is talking a walk because it’s cold.’
Irena’s half-tied hair fluttered a little in the night breeze while walking.
She just hesitated and hasn’t even said a word yet.
“Shall we sit here?”
Irena pointed to a bench under artificial lighting next to the trail.
“Okay.”
He walked first and sat down, blocking the direction of the wind.
If Irena catches a cold and the attendance rate drops, Ham Geun-hyung and Kim Yu-ri will be disappointed.
Irena sat down with enough distance to fit two people next to him.
“Eui Shin, I haven’t been able to say thank you… ··· I didn’t know what happened between you and Hyo don but looking at Hyo don today I wanted to be like him so….”
Was it because of Maeng Hyo Don?
“That day, I think it’s fortunate that I didn’t die. It’s still very difficult and painful remembering what my parents said, but… I have classmates and teachers waiting for me to come to school now.”
She kept stop talking several times, but he kept waiting.
“I have something I want to do these days. Do you remember the day when the first spring rain fell? Did you know that the class bell rings in the dorm room as well?”
He had just come after seeing the minutes of the Intellectual Society meeting so he knew.
The class bell rang in the dormitory room as if they were applying unspoken pressure to people to come out and go to class instead of being stuck in the dorm room.
Last year, 1st-grade class 0, where the majority stayed in their dormitory room, didn’t like that very much, so it caused the broadcasting department to be raided on April Fools’ Day.
In the end, most of last year’s first-grade class 0 spent time and money to carefully renovate the speakers installed in their room, and then they got caught by the Intellectual Society.
“There was a song called ‘for LENA’ among the songs that were used for the class that day.”
He remembered that the day he was raiding Choi Pyeon Deuk because the first rain fell, it was listed with songs about rain and water all day long.
Ravel’s “Playing Water”, Chopin’s “Raindrop Prelude”, John Strauss II’s “On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Waltz,” and Debussy’s “Garden in the Rain” etc.
And ‘for LENA’.
‘The most popular song among the OST of the Plamago game was for LENA.’
‘For LENA’.
It was a masterpiece composed by the team master of “Lake of Eternity”, one of the four major foreign otherworld teams in England.
The team master of the Lake of Eternity was a British Korean, a senior who graduated from Silver Light.
The team master was also excellent in talent, but it was widely known that he was a famous violinist and received a medal of honor from the Queen of England.
‘He was being invited to naturalize in the UK every day, but it’s amazing that he is still Korean. I don’t know why he’s working in the UK if he was not going to be naturalized.’
Manchester United Kingdom attack is a famous example of attacking the other world, which is said to be a legend of the player world.
The Team master of the Lake of Eternity team cleared the worst and largest dimension rifts in the world in British history, five dungeons, one tower, and two labyrinths in just a week.
After clearing, as a side effect of the team master’s enormous use of his abilities, a lake appeared on the ground where gaps in the other world were created.
‘The Queen awarded the Eternal Lake Team Master a medal of honor and granted the right to name the lake that appeared on the land.’
The team master gave the lake the name “LENA”, the name of his mother who died during the attack.
After the lake was given its name, a memorial ceremony was held for the members of the Eternal Lake team who died in front of the lake LENA.
The commemorative song ‘for LENA’ was composed and played by the team master on the spot.
“I remember listening to that song in the dorm room alone. I wanted to learn the violin before my player’s ability was realized. When I was young, I begged my parents, but I forgot because they didn’t allow me at that time saying that the lesson fee was expensive.”
If they had spent the amount they spent in a day playing in the VIP club of Choi Pyeon-deuk’s decadent business, Irena would have been able to buy a violin for practice and take lessons for three months.
They must have thought the money spent on Irena was that much wasteful.
Before making them bungee jump without a string at Hwangmyeong Tower, I should have slapped them with a bundle of money.
“As I spoke to Mr. Ham Geun-hyung, he made me consult with a string music advisor. When I join the string music club, they said they will give me a violin for practice and support private lessons. The seniors said that they will also help.”
That masterpiece saved Irena so she can come out of the room.
She was smiling brightly under the moonlight.
In this world, so far all he ever saw were faces with eyes wide open and hesitating, embarrassed, or terrified.
“Thank you, Eui Shin. Really…… I think it’s a good thing that I am alive.”
He opened his mouth for the first time since he started listening to her.
“If you have a concert recital, call me. I will take our classmates to go watch.”
“Yeah······! I will practice hard!”
Irena laughed in tears.
“Okay, I’ll be waiting. And you left this last time.”
He gave her a white envelope.
“This ribbon! I lost this last time… Thank you!”
Irena looked inside the envelope and said thank you again.
It seemed to him that he heard a lot of thank-you greetings today.
However, he didn’t know whether it would be okay to receive thank yous for this ribbon thing.
‘Irena will appear as a villain next year. The cause is still unknown.’
Currently, the biggest cause of foreseen was the disagreement with her parents, but he wanted to be prepared in case the prediction went wrong.
If she became a villain, children will be injured, and those children were very likely to be in the first-grade class 0.
This ribbon was a just in case thing.
‘The blessings left on this ribbon will protect Irena and the other children.’
Naejang Mountain National Park Naejangsa incident.
Irena’s ribbon was blessed by using the Gwanglim ‘Touch of Rest’ of the playable character, ‘Saint of Naejang Mountain’, who managed the incident.
The usage was massive, so if he used this level of blessing, he will not be able to use the player’s trajectory for a while, but he used it despite the risk.
Since after April Fool’s Day, the days were peaceful.
“No need for thanks. Sorry for returning it to you late.”
He said as he hid complex emotions.
Even if something happened, there was no guarantee that Irena will have that ribbon at that time.
He just hoped that the day will not come when the remaining blessings on the ribbon will be used.
* * *
Next day.
It was a peaceful day except for Maeng Hyo-don, who was waiting for him in the dorm elevator on the way back, grumbling with the fact that he left him in that situation at the dorm restaurant.
No, to be honest, it wasn’t really peaceful.
“They said that a student whose ability disappeared came out in the morning class. They seem to be the ones that were discovered at the old school building a while ago…”
It seems that Sawol Seum heard the news somewhere.
Kim Yuri and Irena also added as if they heard the story as well.
“I heard that there have been several cases of loss of abilities after the age of 17 abroad. Although this was the first time it happened in Korea.”
“I heard that there is no case that the lost abilities returns…… Do you get expelled if you lose your abilities?”
“Yeah. It’s expulsion according to school rules. Although there is no precedent.”
Han Yi, who was listening quietly, immediately gave an answer.
Han Yi was deaf and had many penalties.
She would not want to leave Silver Light, so she would have thoroughly investigated the school rules.
“What, there is such a thing?”
Maeng Hyo-don wasn’t showing off any fear, but he was worried.
Rest assured, Maeng Hyo-don.
His abilities will not disappear until he dies, and he will get strong enough that people called him an overpowered character.
‘At last, the loss of abilities of the two illegal admissions who harassed Park Seung-hyun was discovered.’
He pretended to know nothing, pretended to be irrelevant, and maintained his expression.
Hwang Ji-ho was staring at him like that.
“What.”
Hwang Ji-ho laughed and said as if he was sincere.
“Okay, I’ll pretend I don’t know.”
Yes, keep pretending not to know.
* * *
A few days after that.
After about ten close examinations, the two students’ determination of loss of ability was not reversed.
During the investigation of the cause, the school was completely turned upside down when it was revealed that the two students were fraudulent admissions pushed by the wanted criminal Choi Pyeon-deuk.
“People must live nicely! I didn’t know that there was an illegal admission to Silver Light. I’m glad those kids have lost their abilities!”
Sawol Seum and Han Yi tilted their heads at Kim Yu-ri, who was a little angry.
“Even if they don’t do that, they could have just studied hard…”
“Right.”
The two of them didn’t understand because they were full of talent who came to this school after studying on their own.
On the other hand, Irena, who barely passed the Silver Light exams trying to get accepted by her parents, tried to stay still, ignoring the two.
“Somehow, they were ones I hadn’t seen at the tournament. I remember even seeing Bang Yoon-seop a few times, but they didn’t even show up in the preliminary rounds.”
Said Maeng Hyo-don, the only person qualified to pass the special screening.
As he heard more, there seemed to be a lot of talk about the disposition of students with inferior grades than those who were admitted for fraudulent admissions.
‘Still, he got the opportunity, so if he tries, he will be able to remain in Silver Light.’
It seemed that the victim of good intention was hit by a lightning bolt right now and had a lot of heartaches.
There are many opinions that there is a high possibility that the recommendation for transfer will fall if you fall within the bottom 10% of the overall grades for the midterm exam.
“But why were the two found in the old school building? Looking at the general bulletin board, there were talks about how they were dragged by a ghost, and that they had lost their talents and were punished.”
“There must be a guardian angel in Silver Light.”
To Kim Yu-ri’s question, Sawol Se-eum answered with bullshit.
What guardian angel?
For a strange title, the Red Phantom Thief was enough.
Hwang Ji-ho was bursting out loud laughing next to him while he was holding back the distortion of his face.
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Damn him.
If you’re going to pretend you don’t know, keep it low.
The other kids were puzzled when they saw Hwang Ji-ho suddenly burst into laughter, but they all thought Hwang Ji-ho was a bit strange, to begin with so they just figured that was just how he was and moved on.
* * *
The date on which the expulsion of the two illegal admissions was confirmed.
Several messages arrived on his device.
[Park Seung-hyun] Thank you.
Now Park Seung-hyun can live a happy silver light life again.
There will be no chance that the two will kill Cotton Ball or torment Andain, and the other children will not be sacrificed when a major incident breaks out.
He archived Park Seung-hyun’s message.
[Yoo Sang-hoon] haha
Yoo Sang-hoon did not use the group message room with Jang Nam-wook and sent a one-to-one personal message unlike usual.
He seems to have noticed something weird with his senses.
The day before April Fool’s Day when they were possessed by ghosts, he suddenly asked for their names, so he guessed he had no choice but to know…
This message was immediately deleted.
[Hong Gyu-bin] Eui-shin, there are many incidents in Silver Light…
Hong Gyubin must be working overtime again.
As Korea’s first player 17 years of age or older was involved in the dismissal due to loss of ability, and the case was also involved in the case of Choi Pyeon-deuk.
He just ignored this message.
* * *
The day after those two were expelled.
Cherry blossoms began to bloom in the silver light. Today, he met Maeng Hyo-don, and Sawol Seum by chance in the dorm lobby so they decided to walk to school together.
They walked toward the first-grade building while reviewing the taste of raspberry scones served as a morning snack in the dorm restaurant.
Ahhhhhh!
Kyaahhh!
There was a scream erupting near the entrance of the first-grade building.
Rather than a human scream, it was a sound that a pterosaur would make.
Looking at the color of the nameplate, not only the first years but also the second and third year was in the crowd.
What happened?
“There are a lot of people. Hey, let’s go somewhere to waste time.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah. The weather is nice today, so let’s go for a walk! Flowers are blooming on the walkway in the 1st-grade area, so it’s really pretty. I saw it while flying in the morning, but the cherry blossom path leading to the central area and the walking path in a little remote area leading to Cheonik Mountain are…”
It was when the three of them turned to the first-grade section promenade.
“Wait.”
It was a voice that seemed to tickle his ears.
In front of the three of them who turned their heads at the same time.
There was a connoisseur wearing a silver light school uniform.
‘It’s Yum Junyeol…!’
It was the face he used at the fantasy auction.
The Red Lion Team Master, the son of Yum Bang-yeol, the King of Red Flames.
Small Red Dragon Yeom Jun-yeol, a descendant of the dragon tribe.
He was in front of the first-grade class 0 classroom.
