NOVPUBIt seemed like the tigers hadn't considered my theory.
Watching the Ho tribe stare at the timeline in silence, my guess felt heavier.
If they hadn't considered it, the chances of it being correct seemed much higher.
Higher beings don’t always love everyone equally.
Just look at the Dragon King, who deeply cherishes the Dragon Tribe and the Priestess.
Dragon Jegon is called "the Dragon King’s favored one" or "the Dragon Tribe’s favorite."
"Favorite" refers to someone who is specially loved, a term that would never be used for a group where everyone is loved equally.
‘It’s true that the Celestial God blessed the Korean Peninsula and cherished the Ho tribe. But the Celestial God particularly cherished Shin-in.’
It was hard to understand the full extent of the Celestial God’s affection for Shin-in, just from the stories the Ho tribe told about their reverence for the Celestial God.
Pungbaek and Usa had been enraged when they saw that the Hundred Days trial had been reduced to Thirty-Seven Days through Shin-in’s word.
It wasn’t surprising that the Celestial God cherished his own son, Shin-in.
The real issue was how much the Celestial God loved Shin-in over everything else, and how far the Celestial God would go for Shin-in.
‘If the Celestial God’s power was gradually running out, wouldn’t the Celestial God want to pour all of it into Shin-in? If I think about it more extremely, maybe the Celestial God would feel that others, like the Ho tribe or humans, were taking the divine blessings meant for Shin-in.’
If the Celestial God were to abandon the Ho tribe and the humans of the Korean Peninsula, and choose only Shin-in, Shin-in would have tried to persuade the Celestial God first.
If that didn’t work, he would have likely sought another way.
“If what you said is true, Eui-shin, then Shin-in’s actions make sense. If he became human and has been repeating life and death on the Korean Peninsula, the Celestial God would never forsake this land.”
Eunho spoke calmly.
Having experienced human life himself, Eunho seemed to accept the situation fairly quickly.
Baekho was also silent, but he wasn’t looking away from the timeline.
However, Hwang Ji-ho and Jeokho couldn’t take their eyes off the section of the timeline related to the disappearance of Shin-in and Cheongho.
It seemed their absolute faith in the Celestial God still blinded their judgment.
“When was the last time you heard the Celestial God’s voice?” Eunho asked.
“It was when I became the divine beast,” Baekho answered.
That was something anyone familiar with Plmago would know.
In the timeline, after the war, the Celestial God descended.
The Celestial God granted Baekho the power of "omnipresence," allowing him to go anywhere.
However, upon discovering that Baekho had lost his True Name, the Celestial God sealed his power, stating that his arrogance needed punishment, preventing him from using his power as a divine beast.
It was likely then that the Celestial God had appeared to punish Baekho.
“When did you lose your True Name, Baekho?” Eunho asked.
“...It’s difficult to pinpoint the time,” Baekho replied after a brief silence.
He had lost something so important, yet couldn’t clearly recall it.
It seemed like the shock of losing his True Name was so great that it troubled him.
‘Given how big of a shock it was, the Celestial God’s punishment might have been too harsh.’
I didn’t have a good opinion of the Celestial God for treating Baekho like a sinner just because he had lost his True Name.
I could understand that the Celestial God wanted to protect Baekho, but I wished the Celestial God had treated him differently, not by limiting his power.
There were many ways to protect someone besides restricting them.
‘Baekho didn’t get his True Name back in the end, but he did succeed in breaking free from the restrictions of being a divine beast and fought with all his strength until the very last moment.’
If Baekho had broken free from the constraints of being a divine beast earlier, perhaps Plmago wouldn’t have become so grim.
The lack of a True Name meant a higher risk of falling into a deep sleep, but he might have exited earlier as a result.
Before Eunho could ask again, Hwang Ji-ho broke the silence.
“After the planar collision, I sensed a great anomaly and called upon the Ho tribe. By that time, I couldn’t sense Baekho’s True Name anymore.”
“What about before that?” Eunho asked.
Hwang Ji-ho fell into thought for a moment before answering.
He seemed to be recalling distant memories from hundreds of years ago.
“Well, a few hundred years ago, he must have had it. But since we only spoke from a distance, I can’t be certain.”
“So, it seems you two haven’t met in over a few hundred years.”
Instead of answering, Hwang Ji-ho glanced around at the tigers and gave a slight smile.
It seemed that he hadn’t seen his old friends in such a long time.
Though there were other members of the Ho tribe, they weren’t the same as the mythical Ho tribe members Hwang Ji-ho had recognized as close friends.
“I won’t ask how you lost your True Name. But I’m sure you didn’t lose it because you were distracted by idle amusement. If that were the case, your ‘sect’ would have changed from the Mythical Ho tribe to the Leisurely Sect long ago.”
“...Baekho would never have become like the Dragon Tribe of the Leisurely Sect.”
“Hahaha! I agree!”
For the first time, Kim Shinrok spoke.
It seemed that he didn’t want Baekho, whom he regarded as a master, to belong to a sect like the Dragon Tribe of the Leisurely Sect.
I also agreed with that view.
The Leisurely Sect was already more than enough with just Dragon Jegon.
In any case, thanks to Hwang Ji-ho’s words, the mood lightened.
“Now that we know why Shin-in became human, it will be easier to consider the physical body of Cheongho. Cheongho must have acted in line with Shin-in’s words.”
Hwang Ji-ho redirected the topic, and the tigers began sharing their thoughts.
Soon, instead of the timeline, a hologram appeared in front of us, showing a map of the location where Cheongho’s uniform belt had been found, along with the time and process involved. 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝑚
During the lengthy meeting, no one spoke ill of the Celestial God.
And no one voiced any doubts about my theory either.
It seemed that the tigers were just accepting the situation as it was, no matter the Celestial God’s intentions.
However, another question was left unspoken.
‘If my theory is correct, there’s something odd here.’
If Shin-in had chosen to become human, the Celestial God would have had to hide his identity to prevent being biased toward him.
Even so, the Celestial God must have tried to find Shin-in.
But the Celestial God appeared in the dreams of Han-i and Cheon-seongheon, but not in Gong Cheong-hwan’s dreams.
Before Teacher’s Day, Gong Cheong-hwan had consulted with Eunho and me about Han-i’s dream.
‘If Gong Cheong-hwan had seen the Celestial God in his dream, he wouldn’t have been so worried about Han-i’s dream. He would have immediately recognized it and accepted it.’
If he had known about Han-i’s existence, understanding Gong Cheong-hwan would have been easier.
Why, then, did the Celestial God choose to approach Cheongho, instead of Shin-in, when Shin-in was the one he cherished?
As I pondered over this, the meeting continued.
“The list of major player facilities within a 10 km radius of where Cheongho’s uniform belt was found is now available. I’ve found something concerning while investigating further,” Jeokho said.
Just a while ago, he had been busy with the case of Seong Hyeong-woo’s body, but he had diligently continued his investigation.
“Do you remember that the country where Cheongho’s uniform belt was found is China?”
“Of course I do.”
Jeokho displayed a list of facilities around the location where Cheongho’s uniform belt was found, along with a map.
Among the twenty or so facilities, he pointed out one.
Several faces of young people, who appeared not yet adults, appeared in the hologram.
“Most of the Chinese representatives for the Korea-China-Japan Youth Exchange come from here.”
Next to the profiles, a note read, “Korea-China-Japan Youth Exchange Representative Selection.”
The reflection on Shin-in and Cheongho continued as the exam period dragged on.
As the weather grew warmer, those who had been wearing their spring and autumn uniforms, reluctant to bring out their summer uniforms, vanished.
While most students wore the new school uniforms for the winter and spring, summer uniforms were a bit different.
In summer, students who wanted to wear white shirts typically chose the old uniforms, while others just wore the new uniforms as usual, creating a mix of colors on the way to school.
But despite the differences in their outfits, everyone was suffering from the upcoming exams.
There were some exceptions.
“Hey, I uploaded the video you edited.”
Yu Sang-hoon showed up as usual.
Yu Sang-hoon, who had no interest in grades, continued playing PlayerZ and even started a game stream.
Though he hadn’t done any live streaming yet, Yu Sang-hoon uploaded videos ranging from 10 to 20 minutes long and quickly accumulated subscribers.
It wasn’t because he actively promoted it, but because fans of the shield-bearer character in the trailer shared the video in the PlayerZ community.
Looking at the comments, half were from Koreans, and half were from foreigners.
‘I’m running a global server, and the trailer video was just uploaded with Korean voiceovers and subtitles. Normally, they’d dub or produce something separately.’
Despite the trailer’s voice being in Korean, the well-made game spread quickly among foreign gamers.
Thanks to that, Yu Sang-hoon was often called “Bangpaegyeong” (Shield Bearer) by foreign fans, instead of using the official name.
Anyway, because Yu Sang-hoon’s videos attracted many foreign viewers, he started adding English subtitles, which led to a surge in views.
Currently, Yu Sang-hoon’s channel was growing at a frightening pace in both subscribers and views.
“Hey, since you kept telling me to do it, I’ll apply for the earnings. I’ll reduce the editing fees for you.”
“No need to.”
“I’ll do it.”
I heard that an MCN, which had signed contracts with famous gamers, had contacted Yu Sang-hoon multiple times, and it seemed he was considering signing a deal.
Though Yu Sang-hoon despised anything bothersome, he seemed inclined to agree to the contract for the sake of spending money on PlayerZ.
Yu Sang-hoon, who was determined to become a heavy user, must have planned to earn money by playing the game, and it seemed he chose the route of earning money through streaming rather than directly spending on the game.
‘To earn money for the game by streaming... Well, the viewers will enjoy it as he does it without hesitation.’
It looked like Yu Sang-hoon might soon become a video creator and a professional gaming streamer.
While he still wanted to play games with me, Jang Nam-uk, and Do Si-hu, we all agreed that it would be better to let Yu Sang-hoon take the lead with his solo plays.
Since we were beginner gamers, we didn’t think our plays would be fun enough for the broadcast.
‘As promised, Yu Sang-hoon seems to be focusing on studying when his sister is around, so he shouldn’t fail his exams.’
Although Yu Sang-hoon couldn’t be a basketball player, he could certainly become a professional gamer or streamer.
It was the first time I saw him so passionate about something other than basketball, so I decided to support him for now.
Once his channel grows, though, some toxic fans will likely attach themselves, but I could deal with that.
Thinking of toxic fans, something had been bothering me.
‘Recently, the tone of malicious comments aimed at Anda-in has been changing. Since he pulls attention with a variety of topics, it’s not obvious, but there’s been a growing number of comments tying him to the Japanese representative.’
The Chinese representative from a training center near where Cheongho’s uniform belt was found.
The Japanese representative, who seemed to view Anda-in as a rival.
Though small noise is common in large events, considering the hidden forces in this world, I couldn’t just let it slide.
After the exams were over, we’d move on to preparing for the Korea-China-Japan representative exchange, and I had many concerns.
