NOVPUBIt wasn't like I had asked him to explain about Gwangrim, but the elder spoke extensively about his own Gwangrim.
On top of that, Eunho asked a sharp question, and after receiving the answer, he became quite knowledgeable about Gwangrim.
Although the main focus was on how much of the Old School Building’s ghost could be recreated, as a result, I was able to almost fully understand the elder’s Gwangrim.
The elder’s Gwangrim had extraordinary performance, but it came with a lot of restrictions.
‘To think it can even recreate someone else’s memories if the conditions are right. It’s a good Gwangrim, although with many restrictions. But the elder used his Gwangrim to make the 15th floor look like this to show the ghost?’
The elder’s Gwangrim was extremely difficult to control.
The psychic energy required for using Gwangrim was substantial, and if concentration wavered, the memories would blur, making it hard to show them to multiple people at the same time.
The elder needed tools to use his ability effectively.
Just like how Baekho wore protective gear for hand-to-hand combat, or how Do Won-woo and Do Shi-ho used support tools when employing natural abilities.
‘For the elder, that tool must be the 15th floor of the alumni hall.’
The space covered in otherworldly metal was designed as a tool to use the elder’s power, optimized for transmitting and recreating memories.
The alumni must have put a lot of effort into building the building just to gather comfortably; it seems like the seniors of Class 0 are quite strange in the things they put their energy into.
At least, thanks to that, we could see the distress signals from Unsa.
“The amount of information is too much, so it might be difficult to show it all at once to the three of you. It was strange earlier; Gwangrim activated strongly without much effort, but that’s not usually the case. If we split it over a few days, it should be possible.”
“We can’t take up your time for so long, senior. Also, using Gwangrim continuously might be too much of a burden for you.”
“I’ve never seen a junior worry about me like this...!”
The elder spoke with a touched voice.
I wasn’t really worried; I just didn’t want to waste time, but I let him misunderstand.
The seniors prepared the elder to use Gwangrim by giving him Player-strengthening energy drinks.
Besides the energy drinks, they also took out recovery item cards and food. I didn’t bother to ask why items that looked like they were from the frontline of otherworldly explorations were in the alumni hall.
Anyway, using the elder’s power, we were able to confirm the appearance of Unsa through the memories of several seniors.
‘It’s better if I see it than the tigers seeing it.’
I had to choose one person to view the memories.
Earlier, I almost got dizzy just from looking at the memories, so choosing Eunho, who is in his first year, didn’t make sense.
Hwang Ji-ho had been silent after seeing Unsa’s appearance in the memories, perhaps because he felt guilty about leaving the Old School Building unattended.
In the memory, Unsa must have been suffering in every form, so showing that was a bit too much.
Just as I was about to say that I would do it, Hwang Ji-ho spoke.
“I’ll do it.”
Without asking if it was alright, Hwang Ji-ho simply stated it as if it were already decided.
He didn’t seem to be willing to yield, but I decided to say something anyway.
“I can do it. Or we can take turns viewing it.”
“I’ll view it all alone. Jo Eui-shin, you’ve been busy lately, haven’t you? I can’t put the burden on a junior.”
Hwang Ji-ho’s gaze landed on my left eye.
He was probably treating me like an injured person.
‘But isn’t it okay not to imitate high school students in front of the seniors?’
Hwang Ji-ho didn’t speak in the typical high school student tone, but the seniors didn’t seem to question it or doubt his identity.
There were enough people in the alumni hall who spoke even stranger than Hwang Ji-ho, so there was no sense of discomfort.
Eunho, who was referred to as a junior by Hwang Ji-ho, asked.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Of course.”
Hwang Ji-ho stood up and spoke.
“I’m just doing what I should have done earlier.”
With that, I couldn’t stop him anymore.
The seniors, who had no idea what was going on, began to chatter.
“Junior, it’s not too late yet!”
“Yeah, you’re still a second-year, right?”
“You’re acting like you’re a hundred years late, junior.”
“A hundred years might be a bit too long, maybe fifty?”
“No, you should have been doing the ghost exorcism since the moment you entered! You’re way behind!”
Hwang Ji-ho ignored the seniors' nonsense and headed straight for the 15th floor.
Today’s coverage was successfully completed.
Although it ended without major issues, it wasn’t exactly smooth.
While Hwang Ji-ho was viewing the memories, Eunho and I conducted interviews with the seniors.
The seniors answered, but they kept muttering and complaining.
―Why did it take so long to get here? Every year, the ghost story special barely mentions the Old School Building.
―The ghost story of the Old School Building barely made it into the Plet article! If it had been there earlier, the ghost would have already attained peace!
I couldn’t help but think that there seemed to be quite a few students at Yeonggwang High who paid attention to the Plet articles.
A lot of incidents happened around Yeonggwang High, and even with the huge event of the Korea-China-Japan Youth Exchange coming up, it didn’t take away from the attention on the school.
Besides, even among the newspaper club, there were fans of that top game, so articles about it were constantly being published.
Meanwhile, besides the alumni hall seniors, there was another person making things complicated.
‘Ugiwan, who found out the article was going to be about the Old School Building ghost, made a fuss.’
Ugiwan, being a senior who graduated from Class 0, had an interview scheduled as well.
It seemed like he was trying to manipulate the interview.
Recently, he had been lobbying for an article condemning the strong homeroom teacher Lim Yeon-hwa, who had stopped participating in duels often.
‘He rarely agrees to duels... didn’t he have one on Teacher’s Day? Does he want to fight more, even though he loses every time?’
Recently, Lim Yeon-hwa had been busy assisting with a project for the Satellite Management Team at the request of Lim Ji-hwa.
Although still the head of the Research Department, he had been so busy that the homeroom position for Class 0 had been passed to Gong Cheong-hwan.
Lim Yeon-hwa was indeed a strong force, but it didn’t seem like he was doing much in terms of action. It made me wonder why the association had requested cooperation from such a powerful teacher.
‘Lim Yeon-hwa is an expert on the Jin tribe, which raises suspicions about his involvement with the Jin tribe. Could it be related?’
Lim Yeon-hwa had been so strong that suspicions about the Jin tribe often surrounded him.
Because of that, he had studied and earned a degree in the Jin tribe.
Also, the association’s satellites were a product of combining the Jin tribe’s abilities with modern technology.
Considering that, it wasn’t surprising that the satellite team from the association had asked for cooperation.
Although the leader of the Toseok tribe, Ok To-yeon, was part of the satellite team, I didn’t trust him very much, so inviting a Jin tribe expert made sense.
As I was sorting my thoughts, Eunho called me.
“Eui-shin hyung, have you finished organizing all the material from today’s coverage?”
“Yeah.”
Right now, I was at the tiger mansion’s annex.
I still hadn’t heard what Hwang Ji-ho had seen yet.
Although he hadn’t suffered from dizziness after viewing the memories, he remained silent.
Hwang Ji-ho had said, "I will speak when everyone is present."
‘He probably wants to speak when the other tigers are around.’
So, I had come to the tiger mansion as well.
I didn’t feel like pressing him to talk now or later since I wanted to go back to the dorm early.
“Jeokho and Baekho hyung are here. Let’s go hear what Hwang Ho has to say.”
Following Eunho, who was now in his true form rather than in Cheon Eun-ha’s disguise, I headed to the reception room.
In the reception room, Jeokho and Baekho were sitting as if they had just arrived.
And at the head of the room, Hwang Ji-ho had been waiting alone.
Jeokho spoke.
“Did you finish the interview well? Looking at Hwang Ho’s face, it doesn’t seem like there was nothing there. Hurry up and speak. If there’s nothing to say, I’ll go watch Unsa.”
“...”
“Look, Baekho’s not saying anything, but he’s urging us.”
Jeokho quietly pulled in the silent Baekho.
Baekho just stared at Jeokho without saying anything.
“Baekho, how about you speak if you want to object? If you don’t, I’ll interpret it my way.”
“I wasn’t urging.”
“Yeah, sure.”
If you’re not going to accept a rebuttal, then why say something like that?
It seemed like Jeokho was slowly regaining his old way of speaking.
Hwang Ji-ho spoke.
“I confirmed the Old School Building through the memories of Yeonggwang High graduates. The graduates witnessed the distress signals sent by Unsa.”
“Did Unsa really send a distress signal? How unfortunate that it went to the Old School Building, which is rarely used. If it had reached the center of Eunhui-gwan, even Hwang Ho would have seen it.”
“The distress signal from Unsa was transmitted through the veins. That’s why it reached the Old School Building.”
After hearing Jeokho’s sharp remark, Hwang Ji-ho calmly stated only the facts.
It seemed like Jeokho noticed something different in Hwang Ji-ho’s attitude after hearing the answer.
Hwang Ji-ho, as usual, offered tea but didn’t drink it himself.
In the sudden silence, Hwang Ji-ho began to speak.
“Unsa sent messages dozens of times. Some were hardly even messages, but it’s clear that there was an attempt to communicate.”
Hwang Ji-ho began describing what he had seen.
All the places were the Old School Building, but the time periods were different accounts.
Unsa appeared either burning or reduced to ashes.
When there was a movable mouth, Unsa tried to speak by moving its lips, and when there was no mouth, Unsa used its fingers. When even that didn’t work, it tried to draw something on the ground with its body.
It was too terrifying, so ordinary humans would not have been able to interpret it. Even the seniors from Class 0, who were still in their teens, found it hard to understand.
Paaaaaaaa...
Hwang Ji-ho sprinkled golden psychic energy into the air.
The psychic energy transformed into the shape of Unsa from the memory.
Thanks to Hwang Ji-ho’s psychic energy, it looked like a piece of gold, but in the actual memory, it would have appeared as a ghost made of fire and ash.
“Unsa sometimes mentioned places, sometimes gave warnings about traitors. It seems like Unsa also tried to say something about its plan, but it was difficult to interpret. Without prior knowledge of Unsa, it would have been hard to understand what was being said.”
“Unsa like this...”
Jeokho frowned as if he was imagining what the golden psychic energy might have looked like.
Hwang Ji-ho then projected a hologram.
It was a map of the Old School Building.
There were many points densely marked on the map, and next to each point were times and brief notes.
The notes recorded what Unsa looked like and what messages it was trying to convey.
It seemed that Hwang Ji-ho had seen Unsa burning at all the points marked on the map.
“I’ve organized the places and times where it was witnessed. I’ll go to the Old School Building myself to check Unsa’s lingering energy and figure out the exact message. That’s all.”
Hwang Ji-ho finished his briefing without showing any emotion.
Then, he suggested sharing the map, but the tigers didn’t immediately move.
They just stared at Hwang Ji-ho in silence.
Seeing that, I began to question whether it had been the right choice for Hwang Ji-ho to view the memories alone.
‘There’s no way it wouldn’t have affected him.’
I recalled when Hwang Ji-ho had muttered that he should have gone to the Old School Building at least once when he saw Unsa’s memories.
Both then and now, seeing the old tiger who always smiled slightly behaving like this created a strong sense of discomfort.
I found myself speaking without realizing it.
“It’s not your fault that you didn’t find Unsa’s message.”
Hwang Ji-ho seemed surprised, his eyes widening slightly as he looked at me.
A little expression appeared on his face, which had been suppressing emotions.
