Chapter 449: Another candidate

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Corporal Gye (계 상병), Dog Disease (개상병), Sergeant Gye (계 병장), Dog House (개병장), Gye Bastard (계 새끼)

Those are all different words, but they only have one personification.

In any case, his existence is what made my military life hell.

He doesn’t use direct violence, and most of his ploys were basic, but nevertheless, I couldn’t sleep well because he made me do all the miscellaneous tasks I didn’t have to do.

That Gye Bastard basically tore me up.

At first, my colleagues and I shared the sentiment that at least I didn’t end up with an utterly deranged person.

‘Then the story went around about me being a chess player.’

I wonder why that Gye Bastard suddenly gained interest in me.

As people dug into it, my career as a chess player was naturally revealed.

Perhaps because it’s a small world, but the rumors spread like fire.

— I heard you were famous, Private Jo.

— Was he?

— …A chess prodigy! He won several international competitions when he was young. Why aren’t you exempted from military service?

— Bet he volunteered.

After the rumors spread, another one began to circulate about that Gye Bastard being a fellow chess player who was defeated by me.

There’s another version of it saying he was an aspiring chess player who felt inferior to me.

It sounded plausible, especially because there weren’t just one or two people who don’t bother to check my record as a chess player.

But that Gye Bastard doesn’t even know the rules of chess, and he only learned that I was a chess player from rumors.

So why in the world…

— Is it because of the accident?

— What does a car accident have to do with his thirst for bullying?

— I heard that he got plastic surgery several times because of the accident, but because of the aftereffects, his face is still a little…

His facial features were indeed awkward, but was it because of an accident?

I could never have imagined it because all his limbs seemed fine.

I thought his ugly face was simply the result of a garbage personality being reflected physically.

He could’ve been exempted from the military if he had wide burn marks or if he was diagnosed with some other disability, but what a shame.

Not for him, for me.

‘What’s his face being damaged in an accident got to do with him screwing me over?’

I questioned it, but there were already too many absurd things going on in the world to even care much.

I ended up being bullied until the day that Gye Bastard got discharged from the military.

There was a time after he was discharged that I heard he almost got into a car accident.

But really, I thought I’d never see him again.

Until this moment, when I’m now faced with a Eungwang High student with the surname Gye.

‘Is he really Gye Bastard? Is the Gye Idam from Eungwang High’s Jiikhoe really…’

His voice was eerily familiar, and the inkling sense of disgust matched.

Of course, even though the voice is the same, there’s no saying for sure that that thing — I mean Gye Idam is really Gye Bastard.

But it wasn’t just his voice.

His speaking habits, the way his voice gets higher and the speed of his words were all consistent.

It was too suspicious to the point that I can’t pass it as a mere coincidence.

‘He seems to speak well in front of other people, but he’s not speaking to me.’

I can tell from Park Seunghyun’s reaction.

If Gye Idam were usually a quiet person, Park Seunghyun would’ve found it odd that he was speaking instead of the other way around.

Park Seunghyun looked like he was used to being spoken to by Gye Idam.

And the decisive factor — he looked shocked the moment he saw me.

He avoided speaking too.

I didn’t want to believe it, but it seems clear.

‘There’s another candidate other than Eunho!’

And out of all people, it’s Gye Bastard.

I was branded, thanks to this bastard, as the ‘numbskull who only knows failed games’ when I was bullied in the military, but look how the tide has turned.

That Gye Bastard was playing PMH too after all.

And he was clearly obsessed with it too seeing that he completed the game around the same time Cheon Sungheon and I did.

‘His name and face were different so I didn’t recognize him right away.’

My position in this world was prepared as the ‘two-dimensional future transform object’ and placed as the fourth student in the Nameless Supporting Role’s Tutorial level.

It’s different for the “candidates” though.

Eunho too arrived in this world not as “Cheon Sungheon” but as “Cheon Eunha”

In that case, the Gye Bastard that I know and remember came here as “Gye Idam” instead of his real name.

‘So is this how he looked like before the car accident?’

Gye Idam’s face right now is probably how Gye Bastard looked before he got in an accident.

I didn’t notice it all since he looks very young, and his hairstyle and clothes were very different.

On top of that, it never crossed my mind that Gye Bastard would be here.

However, after piecing the puzzle together, Gye Idam began to look like Gye Bastard.

Looking at his face carefully, I found Gye Bastard somewhere in his eyes.

‘I wanna ask him a lot of things.’

About the transcendent universe, him being a candidate, PMH, his life as Gye Idam…

There were too many questions.

However, deeply-buried anger and irritation resurfaced and I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

‘Has he been behaving all this time?’

I suddenly began to hate everything related to Gye Idam.

I’ve always sort of despised him even before I learned who he was, but my hatred grew even further.

He picked on me for playing that damned PMH game but he’s here now…

What a thick-faced bastard.

It’s disgusting too to see him come to this world and take a student leader position.

I hated how he kept his mouth shut and never attempted to approach me for fear of getting caught red-handed.

“Euishin-ah? Idam hyung?”

Sensing the unusual atmosphere between me and Gye Idam, Park Seunghyun hesitated to speak.

Come to think of it, this Gye Bastard was saying something about Park Seunghyun forgetting to close the door or whatnot.

I guess he couldn’t break the habit of being unnecessarily mean to others.

This jerk is the president of my playable character?

If I knew Gye Idam was Gye Bastard, I never would’ve allowed him to be Jiikhoe’s chairman.

While I was thoroughly scanning my mind for the impeachment system for heads of Eungwang High’s autonomous student organizations…

“…Sorry about back then.”

It was Gye Idam who ended the silence.

He apologized as if he knew he was wrong.

If he hadn’t been caught, he would’ve kept his mouth shut until the end.

If he hadn’t been caught, he never would’ve apologized.

His apology was insincere, and irrelevant — one that’s not worthy to be accepted.

Knowing now that this Gye Bastard doesn’t intend on hiding his identity any longer, I decided to ask away.

“Were you the one who left malicious comments in those articles?”

It’s wrong to suspect someone without concrete evidence, but my guts told me I was right.

Whenever I see malicious comments posted on every single article on PMH by a single person, I thought of this jerk.

The person’s ID username, the way they curse and talk, and the way they nitpick were all consistent with how Gye Bastard acts.

“I asked if you’re kye777ing who used to post malicious comments on every article.”

“Huh? Idam hyung posting mean comments?”

Park Seunghyun looked at Gye Idam with a flustered face.

Yeah, it’s time for Park Seunghyun to find out the truth about this bastard.

Thinking weasel would deny it, I thought of using a lie-detector skill to force it out of him.

“…Sorry.”

Gye Idam gently confessed, perhaps knowing I wouldn’t let him off the hook easily.

I expected his answer, but when I looked at him with my own eyes, I felt an indescribable deep anger.

The crazy hater who is obsessed with posting mean comments on PMH articles, as it turns out, is one of the game’s avid users!

And he was obsessed with it enough to make it to the final chapter!

I mustered whatever self-control I had to speak as calmly and quietly as possible.

“If everything can be solved by an apology, why would there be law and retaliation?”

Of course, law and violence cannot be on the same line.

However, this world is one of energy, enemies, otherworlds, and disasters that do not follow the laws of man.

There are times when violence would inevitably be used, and I think now is one of those times.

“Ah, been a long time since we had a peaceful evening.”

“Are there still waffles brought by Hyungoo?”

“There were some left earlier.”

“Anyone wanna play VR games?”

I heard voices talking in the distance.

Dormitory students began to flock around the Jiikhoe office since dinner time is almost over.

Among them was the former Jiikhoe chairman Sung Siwan.

“Oh, you’re here early, Euishin-ah. If I knew you’d come early, I would’ve eaten dinner with… Wait, did something happen?”

Sung Siwan, who initially talked to me with joy, stopped in the middle of his sentence upon noticing that something was unusual.

I talked to Gye Idam before more people arrived.

“Take off your dog tag– I mean your nametag and let’s fight.”

Gye Idam nodded reluctantly.

Park Seunghyun, who was watching us with a blank face, suddenly spoke.

“…Oh right, Euishin is from Class Zero too.”

***

Central area, at the Student Association’s Office.

Yeom Junyeol, who finished his activities early, was on his way home.

Today, Do Wonwoo and Yoo Sanghee sent individual messages to the members of the student association who were worried about them.

Their message played a role in the speedy process of work in the association today.

Everyone seemed to be glad to hear that the two were safe.

‘If I knew this would happen, I should’ve met with him today and given him my present.’

Yeom Junyeol prepared a late birthday gift for Jo Euishin.

He prepared two gifts.

One was a hand-made gift for his teacher, the Red Wall Thief.

The other one was for his hoobae Jo Euishin, and it was an item he requested to be produced at the suggestion of Yong Jegun.

It took a lot of time to complete but it was of high quality, still, Yeom Junyeol worried since it’s been quite a while since Jo Euishin’s birthday.

He wanted to give the gifts as soon as possible, but the situation didn’t permit it.

‘I wanted to give it to him over dinner… Should I invite him right now? No, it’s a bit much to invite him suddenly, and I have to make a reservation at a good restaurant…’

After much consideration, Yeom Junyeol decided not to contact Jo Euishin.

Instead, he decided to kill time by walking along the central area.

Yong Jegun, who was supposed to leave school with him, was still welcoming a new member to the Stalemate club.

Yong Jegun told him he could go ahead first, but Yeom Junyeol decided to wait for him.

‘Jegun hyung waited for me every time too, so I’ll wait for him today.’

As Yeom Junyeol leisurely walked along the central area, he heard some students’ voices.

They were looking at device holograms, some have the Eungwang High bulletin board floated on some screens.

“A Class Zero kid is fighting with Gye Idam!”

“The Jiikhoe chairman?”

“Yeah!”

Yeom Junyeol smiled bitterly.

People in Eungwang High really enjoyed watching fights.

It’s because everyone at school was quite talented so fights are fun to watch, and there’s also a learning aspect to it.

‘Poor Idam.’

Yeom Junyeol thought that, obviously, someone from Year Two or Year Three caused another mess in the residential area and their pranks reached the Jiikhoe.

That kind of thing doesn’t happen only once, so Gye Idam has to deal with Class Zero students a lot.

Yeom Junyeol wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“Who is it? Year Two? Three?”

“No, Year Two is out to scout for the fall picnic, and Year Three is doing a daily bulk-up challenge.”

“So it’s a freshman?”

“Oh, more of those kids attend school these days, yeah… Who is it though?”

“If it’s Miro then I’m gonna watch.”

A freshman Class Zero is fighting with Gye Idam?

Hearing those words, Yeom Junyeol immediately felt worried for Jo Euishin.

‘Euishin-ie must be having a hard time. Year One Class Zero is relatively well-behaved, but it won’t be easy handling class management and his activities as the Red Wall Thief at the same time.”

However, Yeom Junyeol’s worries were quickly erased the moment he heard the words uttered behind him.

“Gye Idam is fighting with… Freshman Class Zero’s vice pres, Nameless Supernova!”

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