Chapter 253

There are subtle misdeeds that do not appear on the records.

This was the case where there were no obvious perpetrators or evidence, only the victim and their words.

If Choi Pyeondeuk hadn’t been caught by Red Tiger, he would’ve been released on bail by now and suspended from execution.

And, Kwon Lena’s adoptive parents were so different from their façade that they were able to deceive players from the Lake of Eternity.

Assuming that they knowingly commit evil deeds, those deeds would’ve been buried for life if those of royal lineage and their investigative powers didn’t intervene.

This isn’t just a prediction.

Their misdeeds were never revealed in the game, and until the end, they never faced any punishment.

It’s speculated that it was that kind of villain who caused Dokgo Miro’s camera phobia.

‘The elementary school where Hani and Dokgo Miro went to had a big incident where several teachers were fired from their positions. But that incident isn’t really related to cameras.’

Embezzlement of school funds, payment of bribes, selection of after-school companies, sexual manipulation, theft, and others.

All the unsavory events that could happen in an elementary school classroom were woven together like a comprehensive set.

The one who put an end to it all, Sung Gukeon, came forward to investigate.

But not everyone was punished.

There was one, who was a first-time offender and had a good social reputation.

By the time the clamor on the case died down, he was treated very leniently.

Hwang Jiho seemed to have imposed “private sanctions” against the teachers who received unjustly light punishment.

— Don’t worry. Those people won’t be able to live and eat well. They won’t be able to sleep with their feet stretched out either.

Hwang Jiho made that comment when the topic came up during the meeting with the newspaper department.

Still, I don’t feel at ease.

‘Those series of incidents had nothing to do with Dokgo Miro’s camera phobia.’

Where could she have gotten it?

When I looked at Dokgo Miro right when we entered the school grounds, it solidified my idea that she got it from school.

If so, it would be a teacher or a student who planted that trauma, but I think it’s less likely to be a fellow student.

‘Dokgo Miro hid her face and reigned as the King of Back Alleys among elementary students. It’s hard to think that an elementary student could do that damage to her.’

The only other possible option would be a teacher.

So, the first thing that I did was put some teachers on the suspect list.

‘There’s a possibility that that teacher didn’t get caught up in the big incident. There could be someone sneaky who hasn’t even been disposed of.’

The thought of an evil person living and eating well bothered me, but the bigger problem is that I don’t know what harm they would do again against Dokgo Miro and Hani in the future.

‘But I don’t really have concrete evidence that all the homeroom teachers of Hani and Miro committed any evil acts. There’s a possibility that an innocent teacher would be dragged into this mess if I’m not careful. So it’s better to go through the list one by one and personally check it.’

The favor I asked of Hwang Jiho was to visit those teachers personally.

I have a playable character who was an elementary student, so I actually could’ve done it myself.

However, if I borrow the face of my playable character and infiltrate an elementary school, it’s likely to cause a problem later on.

I also didn’t have enough time to create a new fake identity.

On the other hand, it’s easy for the Tiger Clan to secure a new identity because of their close ties with the government and the association.

On top of that, it would be an easy task since those of royal lineage could control how old they appear.

‘…So Hwang Jiho went there himself without any backup.’

Hwang Jiho did say that he wanted to check it out himself, but I thought he meant that he would delegate the task to his subordinates.

‘Is that kid really Hwang Jiho? No, that’s definitely him.’

I felt stupid.

To think that this elementary school student is the 5,000-year-old Hwang Jiho.

Normally, this damned old man’s voice would be the first thing that comes to my mind, but he actually reminds me of my real younger sibling.

Hwang Jiho’s high-school student appearance was taller than mine so I have to look up when talking to him

But now, I had to lower my head to make eye contact with the choding Hwang Jiho.

(T/N: Choding means elementary school student.)

Woof!

Olmu’s bark brought me back to my senses.

That’s right.

No matter what Hwang Jiho’s appearance was, he was no match for my angel Olmu.

“Hahaha! You seem surprised. As expected, I flawlessly emulated an elementary student.

Perhaps he’s satisfied with the astonished look on my face, choding Hwang Jiho erased his kid-like expression and blinked his eyes.

Although he’s supposed to be an elementary school student, the way he talks, his eyes, and his smile still look like the Hwang Jiho that I know.

“Hello, Yellow Tiger-nim!”

“Wow! It’s a little Yellow Tiger-nim!”

“I’m back.”

It felt odd to see the descendants greeting the choding Hwang Jiho that way.

Hwang Jiho greeted the kids and came this way.

He gestured that he wants to whisper something, so I had to go down to my knees.

“Shall we move somewhere else? What I’m going to say now is not good for the children’s character development.”

Hearing choding Hwang Jiho say so, I thought that it was going to be a very, very delicate situation about to unfold.

* * *

In the living room of the Hwangmyeong mansion.

When I sat down, an automatic maid offered me a snack.

‘Parfait instead of tea?’

Instead of the usual tea, a parfait with fig pulp, thin bananas, and cereal was served today.

Did his taste change because he’s in the body of an elementary student?

Or is he just sticking to the concept?

Perhaps it’s just a simple mistake in ordering the snacks?

I don’t know which one happened, but choding Hwang Jiho sat on the top seat and began to eat the parfait as if it was all intentional.

“Have you heard what happened to those who dared to set foot in my territory before the time that I allowed them to?”

“Are you talking about that staff member?”

“Yes. A few hours ago, a piece of broadcasting equipment malfunctioned and accidentally ruptured a water pipe, resulting in a group of people being electrocuted. They didn’t die, but they were hospitalized.”

So such a thing happened a few hours ago.

I’m not sure about the details of what happened, but I’m sure it wasn’t just an “accident.”

Hwang Jiho spoke again.

“The broadcasting equipment that caused the electric discharge was Namgung Electronics’ product. The Namgung Group recently had some business in Gwangil, they don’t have the proper conduct indeed.”

Hwang Jiho killed two birds with one stone.

“The Namgung C&T actively tried to buy the theme park, and I don’t really like those who go back on their words. In the acquisition process, they wrote a contract four times and changed the words three times. The acquisition was delayed because of that.”

It’s only natural that the purchase of the theme park right in the middle of Seoul wouldn’t be settled within a day or two, but there must’ve been a reason for the long delay.

It’s seen that the service company called by Mr. Choi, head of Namgung Group’s strategic planning office, was running wild in Eunwang District.

The relationship between Namgung Group and Hwangmyeong Group was gradually changing.

“There will be many problems with Namgung Electronics products in the future, so make use of that. And don’t ride car models from NK Mobiles.”

It looks like Hwang Jiho already planned his future retaliations.

Sooner or later, there might be incidents involving NK Mobile airbags failing to work, or continuous brake defects in their car models.

“…How’s life as an elementary school student?”

“Hahahaha! It was more fun than I expected. I made a collection of elementary school literature, but eight out of the twenty works were plagiarized! It was all pretty minor similarities. I wouldn’t have been able to notice it if I didn’t have such enormous intelligence.”

In more than a week, the choding Hwang Jiho seemed to have had his fun.

He smiled excitedly and said something.

“When I pointed it out, they said they would remove my name from the collection. I had to eat lunch alone too. Well, I didn’t really want to eat in the first place since the food didn’t taste good. Oh, I set my home address to a cheap house, and somehow they started calling me a beggar.”

Hwang Jiho seems to have been ostracized as soon as he entered the school.

By the way, how do they know the house of a child who just transferred?

Did the teacher leak the information secretly?

“By the way, a student of the orphaned Blue Tiger had a similar experience. He was assigned to garbage duty…”

A similar situation seemed to have occurred where the Blue Tiger’s students infiltrated.

Still, Hwang Jiho talked very excitedly, as if the elementary school experience was fresh.

But the words he said didn’t sound so pleasant.

“It’s disgusting to learn that my friend experienced this.”

Hwang Jiho floated several holograms.

The hologram showed pictures of elementary school group activities that seemed to have been taken during picnics or hands-on trips.

The young Hani and Dokgo Miro were cramped up tightly in one corner.

In the first pictures, the two young children stood side by side with smiles on their faces.

As the years passed, their expression in the pictures grew darker and darker.

And when they reached the last years of their elementary school, Dokgo Miro wasn’t in the pictures at all.

“When they were in their second year, everyone except for one teacher treated them like garbage.”

Hwang Jiho explained what had happened.

When the two first met and became friends, the teacher in charge of them was an ordinary teacher.

That teacher didn’t make effort to protect the two, but he didn’t participate in evil actions either.

It was their second-grade homeroom teacher.

“But that teacher had a bad reputation. The other teachers treated him as a non-social misfit, and the parents thought that he was indifferent to the children.”

On the other hand, the other teachers all received a fairly good evaluation.

“Meanwhile, the garbage teachers all had good reputations. They’re popular among other teachers and parents. After all, even if he bullies one student, he’s extremely good to twenty others. He’s smart and manipulative.”

If he had behaved like that, even if he gets caught later, people would doubt that he really did what he did.

It would drive the victim further into a corner.

In addition, Hwang Jiho and Blue Tiger’s students vividly experienced being a victim although it was for a short period of time.

“The disciples wanted to bury those teachers under the floor of the Taehokwon Dojo.”

Hwang Jiho began to talk about the punishments that he could put on these teachers with the use of the Tiger Clan and Hwangmyeong Group.

He seemed to be planning to destroy them all.

All the methods that Hwang Jiho proposed were desirable, but there was one thing that I wanted to suggest.

“I’ll leave it up to you. But, I hope you consider this suggestion…”

When he heard my suggestion, the elementary school student Hwang Jiho nodded his head with twinkling eyes.

* * *

A few days later.

A commotion started in the school.

It’s because the freshmen are set for their first class on defense against otherworldly attacks.

And, the joint practice of the team for the sports exchange match with the military academy began.

The Eungwang High team had their matching uniforms and they even built an athlete’s village on Eungwang High campus.

[Yoo Sanghoon] (Photo)

[Yoo Sanghoon] I’ll win.

Yoo Sanghoon uploaded the photo of the entrance ceremony to the athlete’s village to our group chat with Jang Namwook.

[Jang Namwook] Wow, the Eungwang High uniform looks awesome!

[Jang Namwook] Should we have matching uniforms too? I’ll make that suggestion.

[Yoo Sanghoon] Copycat.

[Jang Namwook] Whatchumean copycat! Even the national athletes have matching uniforms!

[Jang Namwook] Anyway, we’re not going to lose. Eungwang High had to build an athlete’s village because some students commute on the way to school, right? All military academy students live in the dorms, so we’ve been together since the beginning. You’ll never get that level of teamwork in a short time.

[Yoo Sanghoon] LOL

The war of nerves between the two was likely to occur until the end of the sports exchange match.

I sided with Sanghoon since I’m a student at Eungwang.

Even though it was two against one, we couldn’t beat the length of messages that Jang Namwook was sending.

“Have you seen yesterday’s episode of Playlist? Yeah… Miro went up for a death match!”

“Yes… The reaction to her stage wasn’t really that good. In the end, she had to go up for that death match.”

The usually late Class Zero freshmen were already in the classroom.

They were talking about Playlist with gloomy faces.

“Have you seen the mission? The mission and the opponent weren’t favorable for her.”

Kwon Lena’s voice was shaking.

Hani, who was listening silently, had a dark expression.

Dokgo Miro will do a death match mission which was randomly picked.

Just as Lena said, both the mission and the opponent weren’t good for Miro.

“Could it be manipulated?”

“Yeom Junyeol sunbaenim picked it himself so I don’t think it’s manipulated.”

“That’s true… But it’s too much. It’s nonsense that she has to compete with a famous streamer player on a video views match!”

Dokgo Miro’s opponent was a famous player-streamer who streams attacks from the other world.

There was no way the camera-phobic Dokgo Miro even stands a chance against the famous streamer.

The situation is as worse as it gets.

But it wasn’t the end yet.

‘This might be a good opportunity.’

Finally, I saw the chance to personally help Dokgo Miro with my own powers.