In front of Eungwang High’s front door.
At this point in time, no one could see the other students leaving school, simply because the sun had already set.
It was when the hands of the illuminated clock tower pointed to the time promised with Hong Gyubin.
“Sorry, sorry to keep you waiting. Get on at once.”
The player car stopped in front of the school gate, and Hong Gyubin’s voice could be heard through the open car window.
It was the first time that Hong Gyubin spoke in such a bright tone of voice since their first meeting.
‘After that, we only met when we were working.’
Hong Gyubin, who was always neatly dressed, now sported bloodshot eyes and a lost vitality. Still, it was undeniable that he looked good today.
Truthfully speaking, however, Kyu-bin’s face was full of vitality only when he stopped by the newspaper room and looked at the paper bag full of magazines that he had personally brought.
“You must’ve been busy. Are you okay with not taking a break?”
“Of course. Anyway, I was going to have a drink with my subordinates today. I’m tired of going there.”
“Oh, was it a dinner party?”
Since the boss had left the dinner party, the subordinates definitely wouldn’t like it.
“No, it was just a place where the three of you had a drink together with the two men you saw before.”
“Huh, are you talking about the people you met at school last time?”
“Huh. Deputy Yoon broke up with his girlfriend, and it was still too difficult to give a treat of drinks. I gave a card and came here.”
Then, Deputy Yoon and Employee Jeong would end up having a drink together. I could still remember the grumpy expression that had fixed itself upon the face of Jeong.
Without Hong Gyubin, I felt like I would have been more hateful about the matter, but I didn’t know if Deputy Yoon would be okay.
‘Deputy Yoon. He was quite the blunt-looking person.’
Last April.
In the case of the Central Library, Employee Jeong brought up the statement that Assistant Manager Yoon had been kicked by his girlfriend.
Meanwhile, Deputy Yoon seemed to still be in the shock of a broken heart.
‘You seem to like it a lot.’
Instead of comforting him, Employee Jeong seemed to be acting like an eagle, but I didn’t know if it would be okay for the two of them to head out for a drink.
“Did you make this one yourself in the newspaper department? Oh, my gosh. Teacher Zhuge, were there really this many pictures of you when you were young? Where the hell did you get this?”
While I got into the passenger seat and fastened my seatbelt, Hong Gyubin suddenly exclaimed. There was no apparent fatigue on his face.
“There’s even a hologram chip to record the interview! There’re some things I haven’t even seen in the table of contents. Were you interviewed here? Oh… there was a time when I wasn’t even able to check because I had become a little busy. That’s it, I think.”
I didn’t think I should sit like this and listen to Hong Gyubin’s magazine opening and impressions. However, as I began to contemplate whether to run away or not, Hong Gyubin took his eyes off the magazine.
“Then, where are we going? Do you want to start shopping? Or do you want to eat?”
I didn’t really need any items, and I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to eat.
While contemplating whether or not to run a random menu app, Hong Gyubin suggested that he guide him to a restaurant that he knew. He then asked if I had any allergies, entered the destination in the navigation system, and proceeded to drive the car in manual mode.
Later on, when the short drive was over…
‘Huh. It doesn’t have a sign.’
The place where Hong Gyubin stopped the car ended up being in front of a tiled house in Bukchon Hanok Village.
There was a large parking lot, but there was no clue that would hint at it being a restaurant.
‘I can feel the duality in the wall.’
A huge gate came to greet us as we walked forwards, adorned with a green lantern with red and blue tiers.
Hey-!
“Welcome, Hong Gyubin.”
The gate eventually opened, and a person in hanbok greeted them. It seemed as if they had not made a reservation. That must mean that Hong Gyubin was a VIP here.
‘It’s like a Korean restaurant operated by a membership system. It’s hard to come to a place like this without any financial resources or connections.’
Hong Gyubin may have been born a lot better off than I had initially thought.
As I walked along the one carrying the four lanterns covered with multicolored plasters, the sight of a pavilion greeted us.
Hong Gyubin, who had been sitting on a silk cushion in a Korean room, then spoke up.
“Ah, there is only one menu here. It changes every day.”
As he had said, there was no menu board. As soon as we were seated, our food started coming out right away.
The main course was chogyetang, made from bone broth.
The ingredients themselves were excellent, but I was more impressed with how they carefully cared for each one of the chicken in order to match the texture of the broth.
“Then let’s talk about this slowly. The security is good here, so we can talk freely.”
For dessert, Jehotang was served.
It was a traditional drink made by boiling five mae meat seeds removed from five mae mae, and then marinated in honey.
“How was the party on board?”
“It’s just as I said before. Manipulating the records left on the player’s satellite was tricky, but…”
Hong Gyubin briefly explained the player association’s response.
It seemed that Chuo and the TC group were trying to dig up this and that, making it a little difficult to respond.
‘Even so, the black shroud would have noticed. Not yet.’
Those who had planted a black curtain inside the association were swept away by the Hwanmong Gate.
I would definitely try to dig up more information from the association in alternative ways.
“If I hadn’t prepared for it in advance, as Eushin said, I would still be working overtime. Hahaha!”
The light in Hong Gyubin’s eyes as he spoke those words then disappeared for a moment. He had a lot of work in the future, so it would be good to occasionally throw praise or treats here and there so he didn’t sag too much.
‘Hong Gyubin seemed to have a lot of money, so the only material that could be thrown his way is Teacher Zhuge Jagul.’
Besides, there seemed to be a problem between the two that I didn’t know yet. I would definitely keep watching this part, eventually moving onto the next topic.
“I want to hear about the seo-jok I mentioned before.”
Hong Kyu-bin’s face hardened,
“It’s that crappy and stinky Jinjok.”
It was not something that Hong Gyubin, who could scramble and shove in one magazine, would say.
“I wonder if that western clan was interested in my background, saw it, and clashed with it, then realized that he had the foresight skill and started to push more tenaciously.”
Hong Gyubin’s background?
Come to think of it, Hwang Jiho had previously said that the opportunity for Gyubin to become a player was quite interesting.
He said he had observed it several times. Gyubin didn’t even know that another strange Jin faction was about to join.
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“I was so bothered that I had finally received protection… after receiving the protection, I became even more annoyed. It was the stupidest choice I had ever made in my life.”
Hong Gyubin then sighed and said, “That idiot is too fascinated by human dramas. He’s the most extreme human I know. The creepiest thing about this is when I use non-respectful words, like, ‘I really like this kind of thing.’ If there was a human with a more dramatic background and a more plausible ability, he would definitely lash out.”
Dramatic background.
Plausible ability.
With these descriptions, Kwon Jae-in came to mind, specifically Kwon’s family history, talents, and abilities. That sounded just about right.
‘After all, the idiot was in Kwon Jae-in’s room that day.’
Contemplating this, Hong Gyubin got up from his seat and said, “Looks like the idiot has been busy lately. I don’t think it’s good to be outside Eungwang High’s barrier for this long a time. Let’s just go, my darling. If there’s anything else you want, contact me right away!”
He then added, “If you make a good magazine like this again, be sure to take my share, too.”
What I had been talking about was the level of the Golden Chan Wang Chan duo.
After parting ways with him, I arrived back at my dorm room, got ready to sleep, and just before I actually headed to bed…
Hong Gyubin then sent a message.
[Hong Gyubin] Eushin-ah!
[Hong Gyubin] This is the second edition. Is there no first edition?
[Hong Gyubin] All three volumes are second editions…!
[Hong Gyubin] It’s okay, even if there’s a lot of premium attached. Sell it!
[Hong Gyubin] Eushin-ah!
The appearance of the Year 2 Class 0 guys obsessed with the first edition and Hong Gyubin had now overlapped.
However, all of the Jegaljaegul disciples had the same thoughts. There was no way to save the first edition without me.
With this, I fell asleep whilst ignoring Hong Gyubin’s next message, asking me to give him the contact information of the head of the newspaper department.
The next morning.
In addition to Hong Gyubin’s poor message, I had another bomb dropped on me.
‘What is this?’
I had received a call from the Jiik Committee, which received parcels on behalf of the dormitory.
When I opened the dormitory door, parcels stacked higher than my own height greeted my bewildered sight. The logo of ‘Moon Rabbit Rice Cake’ was stamped onto the boxes. These were apparently the moon rabbit rice cake gift sets that Ok To-yeon had thrown.
[Ok To-yeon] Eunin-ah, are you surprised?
[Ok To-yeon] I don’t know what you like, so I prepared a set of each type of rice cake that they’re selling.
[Ok To-yeon] At least one of these rice cakes must fit your preference!
[Ok To-yeon] Eunin-ah, have you eaten it all? Which one do you like the most? Which rice cake is the most delicious? I like rice cakes with surichi!
[Ok To-yeon] Eunin-ah, Eunin-ah….
[Ok To-yeon] Why don’t you reply?
[Ok To-yeon] What do you like the most?
I hadn’t even opened the packaging yet, but Ok To-yeon’s messages had already begun pouring in.
If one didn’t reply, then the sender would inevitably be more bothered, so I simply said thank you, that I’d like to eat slowly, and then turned off the alarm.
‘I don’t think I can eat it all by myself.’
I picked up a few sets of different kinds of rice cakes and took them to school.
That was how I arrived in 1st-year class 0. However, there was a child who had arrived even earlier than I did.
“Hello, my lord! I made blueberry cheong today, let’s eat it together!”
I then found Kwon Lena in summer clothes. She was setting a cold bottle of ice. After eating some rice cakes, I found that I had gotten thirsty quite quickly, so I thought the offer sounded good. The two of us began to prepare a table together.
Kwon Lena, who shared the blueberry juice in the paper cup, sighed a little.
“Well… Doesn’t it look purple rather than blue?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
After hearing my answer, she made a sad expression.
Contrary to its name, blueberries were originally blue and black. Blueberry drinks and food would have to be mixed with food coloring in order to give them a blue color.
“You’re going to see Kwon Jae-in this weekend. Last time, I received a very large gift, so I wanted to prepare something. What do we do?”
It seemed that he wanted to prepare something blue in order to match Kwon’s nickname, which was ‘Blue Violinist.’
Come to think of it, it did seem as if Kwon Lena liked blueberries. The day she went to meet Kwon Jae-in, the only food she had in her hands was blueberry jelly.
“Jae-in Kwon likes blueberries.”
“Really?!”
She nodded, her expression brightening. “Thank God!”
Seeing Lena’s happy expression made me happy, too. Soon, the other children came to school, listened to her story, and promptly gave her their own individualistic ideas.
Kim Yuri, the head of the talented class, had given the best opinion.
“Then let’s prepare something other than blueberry juice. If you’re going to make blue, you’d better use Blue Curacao.”
“Blue Curacao? Isn’t that a type of alcohol?”
“Blue Curacao has a liqueur type with alcohol and a syrup type with sugar that doesn’t have alcohol.”
After hearing Yuri’s brief explanation, Lena decided to make another blue lemon juice.
“Even if you don’t eat blue, it’s still pretty if you put it in a glass bottle. Even if you don’t eat homemade food, it will be fine for ornamental purposes.”
“Blue Curacao… I’m going to buy it today!”
“I also bought something while I was decorating my home café. Would you like to come over to my house today and make it together?”
“Huh? Okay? The talented Yuri!”
It seemed that Kim Yuri was far better when it came to cooking, and Kwon Lena decided to cook this under her guidance. Meanwhile, Han-yi and Saeum also showed interest, so today, after school, I ended up opening a cooking class at Kim Yuri’s house.
“There… Can I go, too? There shouldn’t be too many families around.”
Kim Yuri said this with a smile to Green, who spoke a little hesitantly. “Huh! Okay, no one is home now. Come over. Oh, forget it, you can just go to sleep!”
“Uh, uh… I have a kid we decided to get dinner with, that’s all.”
As I listened to the conversation, the development in the game came to mind.
‘Kim Yuri’s father was hospitalized. My mother is nursing.’
In the game, before and after the final exams of the first semester of the first year, Kim Yuri was mentally crumbling. After an incident that thusly occurred during the summer, that mental balance was inevitably broken.
‘I’m not going to let that happen this time.’
Looking at Kim Yuri, who was smiling among the children, I began to immerse myself deeper in my thoughts.
In addition to this, I knew that I had on a suspicious expression at that moment, so I decided to ignore Hwang Jiho looking at me with his eyes twinkling.