NOVPUBIn the elevator heading to the first floor:
After taking his seat, Seong Guk-eon left a brief, formal greeting and boarded the elevator.
Kim Shin-rok tried to escort him to the first floor, but Seong Guk-eon declined.
After Cho Yi-shin speculated about Unsa’s whereabouts, Jeok-ho became noticeably agitated, and as a result, Kim Shin-rok’s condition worsened.
‘Yi-shin is highly trusted by the Hojok. No, it’s not just trust, it’s something far deeper.’
The Hojok were deeply pained by the thought that Unsa might be in such a position, but no one questioned Cho Yi-shin’s speculation.
Furthermore, no one from the Hojok showed discomfort towards Cho Yi-shin’s unsettling remark.
Had someone unrelated to the Hojok made such comments about Unsa, they might have been silenced immediately, either to extract information or to keep them from speaking carelessly.
“I’ll take you home... though I doubt you’ll go.”
“I’m going to the office. There’s much I need to check. You’re curious too, aren’t you?”
“That’s true.”
Dawn was breaking, the sun about to rise.
Though both had just woken from a long sleep, they were still mentally exhausted.
But neither felt the need to rest.
“Yi-shin wanted to hear about what happened on the last day. I’m curious too. Once we rest and recover a bit, tell me.”
“You probably won’t believe me if I say I’m fine.”
“You’re also worrying us, saying you’re fine.”
Since Unsa had been mentioned, proper information sharing had been impossible, so they had decided to exchange documents later.
At that moment, Cho Yi-shin had requested a detailed account of what happened to Jeon Moo-young on the last day.
Hearing that, Seong Guk-eon realized that Jeon Moo-young hadn’t simply woken up earlier because he had died before Seong Guk-eon did.
Seong Guk-eon, too, was concerned about what had happened to Jeon Moo-young in the replay.
Even though he was concerned, he didn’t want to pressure Jeon Moo-young, who was already in a bad state.
Seong Guk-eon thought of something reassuring for Jeon Moo-young and said:
“Breakfast is a bit early, so let’s call Si-wan for lunch. We can eat together.”
“...Sure!”
At Seong Guk-eon’s suggestion, Jeon Moo-young’s face brightened.
In the replay, Jeon Moo-young had been tormented by the thought of sending Si-wan off and reading autopsy reports.
So seeing Si-wan alive and well as a university student would likely lift his spirits a bit.
Thinking about this, Seong Guk-eon also felt a weight lift off his tired mind.
‘It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Yi-shin is the one who saved Si-wan. Yi-shin must have saved countless others, starting with the teacher.’
In Seong Guk-eon’s memory, there was always Cho Yi-shin at key turning points.
In reality, Yi-shin had been involved in the field test, Children’s Day, youth camps, and Christmas.
Although it seemed that Yi-shin didn’t know everything in as much detail as if he had directly experienced it, it appeared that Yi-shin knew quite a bit.
While thinking of his benefactor, the elevator arrived at the underground parking lot.
The elevator doors opened, and brightly colored hair entered.
“Hey, guys.”
Under the dim lighting of the underground parking lot, Yong Je-geon’s cyan-colored hair glowed brightly.
Suddenly, the dragon tribe member, who had appeared out of nowhere, called the congressman and his secretary “guys,” treating them like children, and even Seong Guk-eon, a master of rhetoric, was momentarily speechless.
Yong Je-geon, pleased with their reactions, spoke:
“Want some coffee? I’ve got sandwiches too.”
In his hand, Yong Je-geon was holding a coffee carrier, and it was still warm, as if freshly packaged.
He then raised a paper bag containing sandwiches with his other hand.
It was clearly not a portion meant for just one person.
He had been waiting in the parking lot, timing their exit, clearly with the intent of sharing.
Had this happened during Seong Guk-eon’s school days, he would have ignored it, but today, he didn’t feel like doing that.
“Haha! I was just getting hungry. Would you like to come to my district office? Let’s eat together.”
Seong Guk-eon had something he wanted to ask Yong Je-geon, who had experienced the replay.
At Seong Guk-eon’s suggestion, Yong Je-geon nodded eagerly with a delighted expression.
Even long after Seong Guk-eon and Jeon Moo-young had left, the tigers showed no sign of standing up.
While Seong Guk-eon and Jeon Moo-young’s condition was concerning, to be honest, the state of the tigers seemed worse.
‘They’ve likely been imprisoned and tortured. But it’s hard to believe they’ve been used by the dark forces.’
Jeok-ho, staring at the floor for a long time, turned to Hwang Ji-ho and asked:
“...Are Pungbaek and Usa still not awake?”
“They’re the same. They’ve been kept like that, waiting for us to capture them.”
As Hwang Ji-ho said, Pungbaek and Usa had not yet woken up.
It seemed the dark forces had used their powers to ensure they couldn’t wake up if they fell in enemy territory.
To use a crude metaphor, it was like receiving a broken electronic device with the power off, and now there was no way to turn it on or extract information from it.
‘The Hojok could have killed them easily if they wanted to, yet they’ve left them defenseless.’
Of course, since Unsa’s whereabouts were tied to this, Hwang Ji-ho wouldn’t kill them.
The tigers slowly recovered from their shock as they spoke to each other.
Baekho, who had been listening quietly, was calm as he listened, and just watching him seemed to help the others settle down.
The saying “sorrow shared is halved” seemed to apply here.
Although the conversation was still about Pungbaek and Usa, the tigers were beginning to shift their focus from the past to the future.
“In the replay, it was Pungbaek and Unsa who killed Seong Guk-eon, but now they’re in our hands. Doesn’t that mean the assassination might not happen?”
Jeok-ho spoke, trying to build a case.
Hearing this, Kim Shin-rok visibly relaxed.
It seemed Jeok-ho’s words helped calm his worries.
But my thoughts were different.
“The dark forces have probably found someone to replace them.”
“Pungbaek and Usa may look like children, but their powers are no small matter. It will be difficult to find someone who can easily replace them...”
As Jeok-ho said, it wouldn’t be easy to find someone to replace the figures from the river god myths.
But I had an idea about who it might be.
This clue was something Hwang Ji-ho had heard as well.
“There’s something Navi-ryeong said at the Dragon Palace.”
Navi-ryeong had passed on information through the Dragon Palace’s attendants.
It was something Hwang Ji-ho and the Dragon King had heard.
—[He used the contract to subjugate the demons. Thanks to that, the person’s confidant who had been sent to the demon realm has returned.]
Recalling that and sharing my thoughts, I said:
“Unlike in the replay, the demons failed to fulfill the contract. As a result, the dark forces were able to withdraw their arrangements in the demon realm. The person sent to the demon realm is probably strong enough to replace Pungbaek and Usa.”
The confidants trusted enough to be sent to the demon realm would likely be the ones leading the plan to assassinate Seong Guk-eon.
Also, since TC Labs had handled Mujigi’s powers, it seemed even those other than Pungbaek and Usa might be able to wield Unsa’s powers.
Though the dark forces couldn’t use spiritual energy in the same way in the replay, the assassination still seemed likely.
“In the replay, Pungbaek and Usa wasted their powers trying to mentally attack Seong Guk-eon. On the contrary, that means if they don’t use mental attack abilities, they’ll have plenty of power left.”
The dark forces still had the strength to kill Seong Guk-eon and Jeon Moo-young without leaving a trace.
At first, in Plmago, Seong Guk-eon and Jeon Moo-young were listed as missing.
There were those who claimed that due to the political maneuvers against Seong Guk-eon, including the deaths of people like Seong Si-wan, he had intentionally disappeared.
Seong Guk-eon’s supporters didn’t believe this.
The recording devices containing footage from the time Seong Guk-eon left Eungwang High weren’t functioning properly, and there was debate about whether Seong Guk-eon had broken them or if someone else had done it.
‘Was it the ruler of Eungwang High who found the first clue?’
Doh Go-mi-ro, who firmly believed that Seong Guk-eon hadn’t disappeared voluntarily, had tracked him down.
In the end, she found old smartphones with apps installed to use as CCTV, where Seong Guk-eon’s image was faintly captured.
The video showed Seong Guk-eon and Jeon Moo-young hastily escaping in an air sedan but being swallowed up by something, though the image was blurry.
Doh Go-mi-ro anonymously sent the video to Seong Guk-eon’s supporters and media outlets, spreading it on video sites.
Though some claimed the video was fabricated, after a long verification period, it was confirmed to be true.
However, even as Seong Guk-eon disappeared and the evidence was being investigated, many other incidents took place, and Seong Guk-eon faded from public attention, losing its significance.
‘They said they were investigating, but in the end, it was left an unsolved case.’
The kidnapping of a congressman was a huge deal, but with so many major events happening on the Korean Peninsula, it was buried.
As the mood grew heavy, a message arrived on my device. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
I regretted not turning off the alarm.
It was from Yong Je-geon.
[Yong Je-geon] (photo)
[Yong Je-geon] ^^
The message only contained a photo and an emoji.
The photo showed a table with sandwiches and a takeaway coffee cup on it.
It looked like three servings, but the problem was where the items were taken.
‘This is Seong Guk-eon’s district office. They must have gone together after waiting.’
The wall behind was covered in post-its, with messages like ‘Fighting, Seong Guk-eon!’ written on them.
Anyone would recognize that it was Seong Guk-eon’s office from that wall.
“That dragon...”
It seemed that Yong Je-geon had sent the message to Kim Shin-rok as well.
At an unexpected moment, Yong Je-geon seemed to enjoy getting on Kim Shin-rok’s nerves.
“...Yong Je-geon takes care of his students. I should get up now. I’ll also prepare your breakfast.”
It seemed that Hwang Ji-ho felt some competitive spirit and offered to make breakfast.
I was about to return to the dorm, but I decided it was better to stay and talk more about the replay over breakfast, so I followed the tigers.
When I stood up, Hwang Ji-ho looked at me and said:
“Your expression says you’ve got something planned.”
Of course, I couldn’t leave my playable character in danger without taking some precautions.
Facing the imminent assassination scenario involving Seong Guk-eon and Jeon Moo-young, I was confronted with yet another massive crisis.
As soon as Sa Wol-seum saw me, he greeted me with a rushed expression.
“Yi-shin, you’ve arrived! We’ve had a tough battle while you were gone.”
Sa Wol-seum led me to the Ziegghweigh Study Room.
As soon as I entered the study room, I saw Kwon Re-na with a pale face and Mok Woo-ram diligently explaining something.
Turning my gaze to the corner of the room, I noticed something that looked like a leftover stone.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Maeng Hyo-don, collapsed from exhaustion after a battle with the math department.
The midterm exams were about to begin.
