It was after the Phantom of the Red Wall had disappeared.
Jun-Yeoul Yeom used his recovery item, then chose the no-record route that the vice president of the student council and his senior at his school club, Myung-soo Ji, had taught him and left the off-limits area.
Someone called him when he went to the front of the school gate.
“Jun-yeoul.”
“Mr. Jae-gun Yong……!”“I got off work. You can call me bro now.”
“Technically we’re still inside the school. Did you wait for me? Let’s go.”
Jae-gun has a sharp sense of intuition.
He is the master of all the Dragon clan in detecting even the slightest noises, senses, presences, and traces.
Jun-yeoul worried that he may notice his mentor was the Phantom of the Red Wall.
Still, he couldn’t possibly leave Jae-gun, who waited for him, behind.
“Were you training?”“Huh?”
“The trace of your ability. You’re full of it. You must’ve worked hard on your own.”
Perhaps it was because the training session had ended not long ago.
Junyeol was nervous that Jae-gun might say that he sensed other traces of energy, but Jae-gun said nothing more.
‘He didn’t sense my mentor’s trace.’
With a sigh of relief, Jun-yeoul left the school with Jae-gun.
Jae-gun seemed to be in a good mood than usual, but Jun-yeoul couldn’t ask about it in case he gave away anything related to his secret.
Instead, he chose to change the subject.
“Let’s get something for Parent’s day together! I picked father’s present, but mother’s present is hard to decide. Will you give me some advice?”
Jae-gun smiled and nodded at Jun-yeoul’s words.
Today is Parent’s day.
After school on Friday, most students left the dormitory to spend time with their parents during the whole weekend.
For the students that were leaving, all the club activities were on break.
Due to it, I was able to visit Myung-ho Hwang.
“It’s so quiet.”
“Everybody seemed busy since morning. Let’s talk.”
I stepped inside the front door but saw no sign of the **Silver Tiger’s three descendant siblings, Ho-goon Baek(White Tiger’s fake human identity), or Olmu.
There was no way of knowing if they were inside the mansion or outside.
(**chapter 65 translated this as silver fox. This translation is wrong, silver tiger is correct. My apologies- translator)
‘I wanted to see Olmu……’
That was too bad, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
I immediately found tea and refreshments as I followed Jiho to the parlor.
Today’s tea was heuk-im-ja tea, a type of tea brewed with black sesame seeds and tea leaves.
The snacks were black sesame traditional sweets that were butterfly-shaped.
Usually, the refreshments were made with seasonal food, but not today.
‘Black sesame is in season in October. Why is this here now?’
Maybe he’s not in the mood for seasonal food.
“Ui-shin, do you know the difference between the Relics(Young-mul) and the Humble beings(Mi-mul)?”
“A little.”
Just like humans are classified by bloodline, the Original clans are classified into Relics and Humble beings by their original roots.
The clan whose origin is based on the founding mythology of the Korean Peninsula, and the native clan based on the legend of the moon rabbit, which everyone in East Asia knew about.
Those two, and the other clans of the 12 Zodiac were treated as Relics and recognized by everyone.
On the other hand, the clans whose origins were ambiguous or had low reputation was belittled as the Humble beings.
“One of the captured Bear clan said there was a Humble being who is with ‘the one’ and has gained ‘the one’s favor. I mean, I think the term ‘Humble being’ is stupid. By my standards, it’s the Bear clan that deserves to be called ‘humble’.”
The word Humble being, or mi-mul, is used to ridicule unimportant things.
As it is a relative expression, it will be difficult for Jiho to specify the clans that are called the Humble beings.
Unlike me, who knows information through the game.
‘The Humble being the Bear clan guy mentioned has to be from the Butterfly clan. Most likely a woman named Bi-ryoung Na.’
Bi-ryoung Na.
She has her origins in Chuang Tzu’s “Butterfly dream”, an ancient Chinese idiom.
Although it is highly recognized, the butterfly spirit, which appears only in a few lines of Chuang Tzu’s book, was treated as a Humble being.
‘In the game, she was as strong as, if not stronger than, the Relics.’
The Kwanglim of Bi-ryoung, which obscures the boundaries of all things, was so cool it was almost a fraud to exist.
It was hard to understand why she lived in the shadows of someone else when she had the power to turn everything around.
‘She belonged to the final mastermind, but it wasn’t for sure…… She eventually died without me getting to know whether she was a friend or foe.’
Jiho let out a small sigh.
“Along with the Bear clan, the Pig clan, and Long Tail, some other Original clan is thought to be beside ‘the One.’ Whoever it is, that person isn’t weak, so it’s very troublesome.”
“Yeah.”
“…… you aren’t surprised.”
“I am.”
I pretended to be calm because it was obvious that he would be more suspicious if I acted like I was surprised.
The next issue was the Jamsil Baseball Stadium incident on Children’s Day.
I explained briefly about that day.
“It doesn’t explain why you were there with the Red Lion, the Dragon clan, and the damn moon rabbit.”
“It’s a coincidence.”
Hwang Ji-ho scowled, not hiding his distrust in the word ‘coincidence’.
Still, it seemed like he hasn’t lost his will to find out in person about the things he was curious about.
Instead of questioning anything else, he moved on to the next topic.
“The Moon palace’s technology seems to capture the ‘Unpredicted outbreak of the other-world’ that Player SAT-K can’t capture.”
“Yes.”
“The relationship between the Tiger clan, the Korean government, and the Players Association is not bad. It’s not very desirable for the relationship to waver.”
Jiho Hwang was lost in thought for a moment, then sipped his tea and sighed.
“Maybe we should beat the damned bunnies up and take the information of the Moon palace map(Wolgoong Gyedo) and do something…… but then we won’t have enough people to do it.”
It was a very altruistic idea for a member of the original clan to think of but was a bit contrary to human’s ideas.
I made a suggestion that humans would make.
“It’s not always easy for the Tiger and the Rabbit clans to pay attention to the other-world. Why don’t you join forces with the Players Association?”
Jiho’s eyes twinkled as if he hadn’t thought about gathering forces with human groups when attacking the other-world.
“The technical alliance between Moon palace and the Players Association. OK, I’ll consider it. If it goes well, Hwangmyeong Group will act as a bridge.”
Hwang Ji-ho added a few words.
“······I think I need to buy a few companies. It’s a good thing that I didn’t spend much money so far.”
Bullshit. You spent a lot already.
The facility level of Hwang Myung-ho’s mansion and Eun-gwang high was ridiculous.
Finally, I brought out the last topic.
It’s probably the most meaningful topic for my playable character.
“Is there any tickets left for the EverLake Team Master’s visit to Korea?”
Lenna Lee said she kept refreshing the page during every single break to get the tickets.
The dark bags under her eyes told me she wasn’t getting any sleep and was going through living hell.
“I did search for it……. I had it, but now it’s gone.”
What the hell.
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I guess he tried.
“The concert is done at the Hwangmyeong Foundation’s school, so he sent me some invitations. The problem is that Jae-in Kwon has a lot of fans within the Tiger clan…”
What Jiho said was:
Usually, Jiho handed over the invitation to his subordinates.
They naturally thought he would do the same this time, and subordinates who decided to share the invitation ticket to the concert of Jae-in Kwon quarreled over the ticket.
Because of the large number of fans, the Tiger clan even held a Taehokwon martial arts tournament to win the 4 invitation tickets.
It is said that the winner was decided after dozens of hours of competition.
‘The Tiger clan is such a happy, lively family.’
Jiho added something that the winner of the ticket will faint over.
“Well, I could duel him with Taehokwon and bring back the ticket.”
No. I really hope he won’t do that.
“I don’t want to become enemies with the Tiger clan.”
“Is that so…… Yeah, based on the winner’s personality, he would cry over the lost ticket.”
And you still thought of taking it away from him.
What a rascal.
Anyway, it seems that there are big fans of Jae-in Kwon among the clan members.
Jae-in does not visit Korea often and rarely holds concerts in Korea.
If you take this opportunity from a Tiger clan member, who can’t leave the Korean Peninsula, they might really cry.
“If you just want to listen to a live performance, there are other ways,” Jiho said, his eyes shining.
“The daily staff seats at the concert hall can be left blank. It was a sudden visit to Korea, so we have not yet selected all the staff due to security screening issues.”
I wasn’t able to get a seat, but thankfully I think there will be another way.
When we finished talking and moved to have dinner, someone stopped us.
“You’re back, Mr. Golden Tiger! Brother Ui-shin too!”
“Mr. Golden Tiger, Brother Ui-shin Cho! We were waiting for you!”
“Hello……”
The Silver Tiger’s three descendants were waiting outside the parlor.
“Mr. Golden Tiger, I…… today is Parent’s day so…… When our parents were alive or when we were taken in by the Rabbit clan, we prepared carnations every year to express our gratitude.”
“We asked brother Shin-lok for the materials. We meant to give it to you this morning, but it wasn’t finished……!”
“Urm…… here……”
The youngest, Jae-ho Eun, presented a paper carnation to Jiho.
It was sloppy overall because he didn’t have much skill yet.
The carnation leaves were crooked, and the seams were messed up because glue was reapplied several times on the part connecting the flowers and leaves.
“Are you giving it to me?”
“Yeah······!”
Hwang Ji-ho leaned in front of Eun Jae-ho with the most dazzled expression I had ever seen.
Jae-ho used a clothespin to attach the carnation to Jiho’s uniform.
“······Thanks, guys.”
“We always thank you, Mr. Golden Tiger!”
“And we thank you in advance, for taking care of us in the future as well.”
The harmony of Jiho’s sincere, smiley face and the sloppy carnation on his perfectly ironed school uniform was not bad.
‘They’re nice.’
The concept of Parent’s day only recently came into Korea.
The three siblings’ father may have been human, seeing that they follow the customs of human beings, which is like “the latest trend” according to the original clan’s standards.
Woof woof……!
As I was watching the heartwarming scene, I heard our Olmu barking somewhere.
I looked around to find out where she was, but I couldn’t see her.
“The Shinsoo(sacred animal) must be waiting.”
“Oh, right.”
“Actually, we made another one for brother Ui-shin when we heard you were coming!”
“Yeah, we made it with gratitude!”
What, you made mine too?
It was too long ago since I last exchanged carnations on Parent’s day, I didn’t even imagine mine.
Giving, I’ve done, but receiving, never.
“Mr. White Tiger, please open the door!”
The second sibling, Lee-ho Eun’s bright voice was heard, and the door closest to the entrance opened.
Even if it was near the front door, it seemed to be far away because it was way across the hall.
Woof woof!
Olmu barked, stuck out her face once through the crack of the door, pick something up, then ran towards me.
It was another sloppy carnation.
She looked up at me, wagging her tail quickly, asking for me to take the flower.
“She kept looking at the flower, so we let her give it directly to you.”
“And we wanted to surprise you, so we made her hide.”
Olmu even wore a sloppy flower crown on her head, also probably made by the three siblings.
It looked better than a real flower crown just because it was Olmu who was wearing it.
I hugged Olmu before I took the carnation and shouted,
“You’re an angel!”
Yup, our Olmu wasn’t a sacred animal, she was an utterly sweet angel.
As I was giving thanks to the Silver tiger’s three descendants as well as Olmu for their wonderfully kind act, I heard Jiho muttering something.
“I know it’s a common human exclamation, but it’s weird to hear the sacred animal of the Tiger clan are likened to the envoy of the heavenly race.”
While my carnation was being pinned to my school uniform, Jiho’s muttering continued.
“Wait a minute. Why is Ui-shin’s carnation treated like the main event? The head of the clan is me.”
Jiho kept complaining, but I knew the corner of his lips twitched upward every time he looked down to his carnation.
The three brothers and sisters laughed brightly every time they heard compliments, explaining how they made this flower and how many times they failed.
Olmu wearing a paper flower crown, rubbing against my chest.
The White Tiger was watching all this with a somewhat cold, nonchalant look.
He also had a carnation dangling on his shirt.
