Chapter 440: What must be hidden (4)

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For some time since then, things have been seemingly calm day after day.

Especially in our class.

The conflict between Hani and Dokgo Miro is yet to be resolved, but the two would go to the cafeteria together more often than before.

They also go talk to Gong Cheonghwon together.

‘Seeing them like that makes them look like normal friends.’

After the match between them, I saw Hani talking with Dokgo Miro’s fansite, Jung Haeon.

Hani didn’t seem to give up on figuring out what happened in the past just yet even though she can’t directly ask Dokgo Miro.

Hwang Jiho thoroughly erased traces of what happened then so it’s going to be difficult for Hani to figure it out on her own.

‘Kwon Lena was just busy all week.’

Kwon Jein even contacted me to ask to take good care of Kwon Lena.

She probably noticed that Kwon Lena is trying to figure out what happened to her sister, Lee Yeoreum.

Since it’s involving someone that Kwon Lena treats as her own sister, Kwon Jein didn’t seem to intend to intervene in the matter.

‘Hong Gyubin said Namgung C&T’s Otherworld Business Division 1 is being held and investigated at the order of the court.’

The governing body of the Players’ Association shall act upon such orders from the judiciary.

It took time to get a warrant, perhaps because the relationship between the association and the government is getting shaky, or perhaps it was a simple procedural issue.

‘…It’s a warrant from the judiciary. It shouldn’t matter whether the association and the government are getting along well, right?’

But the world didn’t work so fairly.

Especially for players.

I have a playable character who wanted to break that status quo.

‘He said his dream is for players to be treated fairly before the law.’

That playable character is a partner lawyer at a firm that specializes in cases involving energy and abilities.

My playable character’s main job was to defend players, free of charge.

‘There are players who are discriminated against just because they’re players even though they can’t use items or attack otherworlds.’

That lawyer sometimes attacks otherworlds since he doesn’t earn much from his main job.

Well, since he really doesn’t have much to do usually in his main job, it could be mistaken that attacking otherworlds is his main occupation.

There are a lot of people who mistake that law firm for a professional player team.

After taking over a case, that partner lawyer appears in PMH as a playable character.

‘…He’s got no connection with the Black Screen yet at this time.’

In any case, the association eventually obtained a search warrant for seizure and successfully raided Namgung C&T’s Otherworld Business Division 1.

Regulatory enforcement quickly retrieved all their devices, chips, and printed documents.

It wouldn’t be strange for something like a large company to be raided and searched to reach national headlines, but the association was quiet with their measures taken.

Even if I looked for articles related to Namgung C&T, the only ones that appear are about the finalist of Playlist that belonged to the company and the incident at the time of the broadcast of the show’s last episode.

According to Hong Gyubin, there seemed to be no problem considering the amount and content of the data they collected, but something seemed to be on his mind.

[Hong Gyubin] The search and seizure were done safely, but there’s something strange.

[Hong Gyubin] The employees we interviewed contradict each other so objective data collection was necessary but…

[Hong Gyubin] It took too long for the warrant to come out.

[Hong Gyubin] I have a bad feeling about this.

Hong Gyubin has intuitive skills.

But a simple hunch isn’t material enough to look into just yet.

The data analysis is still being delayed so I think it’s best to wait for a while.

‘…He’s probably busy. He’ll need some time.’

An incident with the TC Research Institute exploded just recently too, and the employees at the association must be struggling with dealing with two major companies at once.

The Eungwang High festival is still quite some time away, but I wonder if Hong Gyubin will be able to attend to see Jegal’s 3D photobook.

I’ll have to get him a first-edition pamphlet or a printed copy for now.

Meanwhile, throughout this week, we frequently encountered attention-seekers 1 and 2 even though they still refuse to attend school.

‘They’re already on campus so why don’t they just attend…’

Self-proclaimed Luis Perena, the Phantom Thief Neon, and Goo Seulbi hovered around our class and observed us persistently.

They seemed to be carefully studying when and how to attract our class’ attention.

Even in PMH, the two put their physical and mental energy into useless things, but they’re even worse here.

These attention-seekers were easily discovered by Ham Geunhyung and Hwang Jiho, but they escape at a terrifying speed whenever they’re found.

It seems like they haven’t set an optimal time for their appearance, and the two’s escape abilities have improved tremendously.

‘…Seeing them run away so well makes me think they’d be safe for the time being.’

I tried to think like that, but I remembered that those two face their end while fighting against the Black Screen.

There hasn’t been an incident yet in which the two of them might encounter the Black Screen, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious.

I can’t force them to attend school either so thinking about those two gave me a headache.

‘I should worry about the kids already in school first.’

But even worrying didn’t do me any good, so I tried to push my thoughts away.

One thing that stood out in class this week was definitely Yong Jegun.

Kim Shinrok and Yong Jegun must’ve fought again.

I happened to have a chance to talk about it with them when Yong Jegun brought it up without me asking.

— Shinrok prepared an event for me, but he must’ve gotten angry ‘cos I figured it out too quickly.

—…An event?

— How should I explain this… Oh, like a treasure-hunting event.

Treasure… hunting?

I can’t image Kim Shinrok preparing treasures for Yong Jegun.

And just as I expected, Kim Shinrok spoke in a choked-up voice.

— Yeah, you like treasures…

— Yeah that’s right.

Kim Shinrok was being sarcastic but Yong Jegun just felt even happier.

As his ego was being scratched, Yong Jegun produced a space from his arms.

The space was filled with small tacks, and seeing those made it obvious.

‘Kim Shinrok hid those for revenge, but Yong Jegun found them all.’

Yong Jegun shook Kim Shinrok as he held the fist-sized space in his hand.

Kim Shinrok’s expression got very bad.

It’s obvious that it wasn’t a “happy event” prepared by Kim Shinrok, and it seems like Yong Jegun is just pretending not to know.

As the confrontation continued in the peaceful hallway, Ahn Dain suddenly appeared.

Flustered by her appearance, Kim Shinrok quickly hid the mechanical pencil lead he was about to use to stab Yong Jegun.

— Professor Kim Shinrok, I want to discuss some class management matters with you.

Kim Shinrok looked sorry.

He felt guilty about his class’ management matters, and it was obvious in his face even if he doesn’t say it out loud.

He looked sorry for spending time dealing with this dragon when his student was going through things.

— …Yeah. Tell me. Since Sanghoon isn’t attending school lately, you must be under a lot of pressure, Dain-ah.

— It’s alright sir, but I want to assign a temporary officer since I’m away sometimes too. Our class is waiting too.

— Did you talk to Sanghoon?

— Yes, he said he didn’t mind if he gets replaced as the vice president but… I want to stop him from stepping down.

Ahn Dain naturally separated Kim Shinrok and Yong Jegun.

She momentarily gazed at Yong Jegun and saw the tacks that he was holding with her sharp eyes.

‘…Those are eyes trained to look at a target beyond a scope.’

Marksman Ahn Dain usually shoots with her bare eyes, but she sometimes uses a scope too.

Only when the weather is bad or if her target is too far.

The usual cut scene in PMH features Ahn Dain attaching a telescopic sight to her gun as she looks at her target.

In that split second, Ahn Dain looked at Yong Jegun.

Her eyes reminded me of what Yoo Sanghoon told me before.

— I think your assistant homeroom teacher keeps picking on ours.

— Our homeroom teacher has a lot of fans. If he continues to have a hard time, they’ll attack Yong Jegun. And I’m not gonna stop them.

Yoo Sanghoon, who seemed to have no intention of participating in that war even though he said he wouldn’t stop his classmates, wasn’t attending school lately.

In that case, only the hardliners are left in Class One.

‘I dunno if they’ll push through with attacking Yong Jegun though.’

As if he was thinking the same thing, Yong Jegun had an ecstatic face.

I decided to take the same position as Yoo Sanghoon for now.

‘I need to talk to Gye Idam or Sung Siwan first.’

As another secret of Imoogi’s Exorcism is revealed, I need to find out more about the secret organization.

I tried to talk to them, but the Jiikhoe seems to be very busy these days.

— Year Three Class Zero went after the staff’s cafeteria!

— The cafeteria workers and the Class Zero kids are in a fight.

— Hey, call Idam!

—…Can’t we just call Siwan hyung?

On the day I visited the Jiikhoe, they seemed very busy dealing with the mess that Year Three Class Zero caused.

I guess the bread and snacks at the students’ cafeteria didn’t satisfy their hunger.

They wanted to secure all the bread at the faculty cafeteria and finish all the snacks that Im Yeonhwa, their homeroom teacher, liked.

It was a childish act uncharacteristic of senior students of Eungwang High, and Im Yeonhwa reacted in a way she hadn’t before.

— You wanted to finish your teacher’s snacks that much? You guys are so cooked…! Your training is not enough!

When the sausage that Im Yeonhwa was holding and about to bite into was snatched, they said she looked very disappointed.

I think that might be the moment she finally began to doubt the character of her students.

I think it’s a little late.

The Class Zero sunbaes almost felt like they won, but Im Yeonhwa smiled again as she took out a hundred bundles of sausages that she keeps on her own.

— Don’t bother the cafeteria from now on. Just ask your teacher to give it to you! If you arm wrestle with me and win, I’ll give you guys a bundle.

Im Yeonhwa’s stock of sausages was enormous, so the silly action of the Class Zero sunbaes was almost meaningless.

In the end, the seniors failed to take away Im Yeonhwa’s joy again.

They seemed to have challenged her to arm wrestling, but they all failed since they were all exhausted.

Still, they received a sausage stick as a consolation prize.

In the wake of the incident, the strong homeroom teacher worried about her students’ weak arm muscles and became harsher with training.

‘In the end, all those sunbae-jerks got were sausages.’

It was a defeat for them, but I didn’t feel sorry for them at all.

Though I think they’re crying somewhere.

The week was very peaceful other than that, and the troublesome message that I got in the morning.

[Prankster] It’s the weekend, are you busy?

[Prankster] I want to give you the present I bought to celebrate my return!

[Prankster] Today, if possible.

…I don’t really want to receive it.

I didn’t feel like it since he was speaking with honorifics, which made me a bit wary.

Lucky for me, I had an excuse.

[Me] I have plans today so I don’t think I’ll be able to see you.

I sent the roughly polite message and turned off my device.

Confirmed that I was finished with messaging someone, Cheon Dongha spoke to me.

“Should we go in, Euishin-ah?”

“Yes.”

In front of the Hwangmyeong Mansion.

Cheon Dongha and I rang the doorbell.

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