Chapter 457: Another candidate (9)

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Baekho-gun didn’t answer right away.

I knew somehow that it was possible that he wouldn’t answer, but I didn’t expect that he would take this much time contemplating.

‘The only time he didn’t answer was when the head of the Sheep Clan said something about nightmares.’

[Sheep Zzz] “Someone here brings nightmares with them. A sense of nightmare exists beyond the magic circle connection that connects us.”

[Sheep Zzz] “All we must keep to each other is our ‘promise of inviolability’. However, I warn you as a head of one of the clans of this alliance that have been together for more than 100 years. Those who are now attending this 12-point alliance meeting and those who are around the magic circle are the ‘nightmare’ itself. Be on guard not to be swallowed by it.”

From the words of the clan head, the ‘nightmare’ seemed to refer to Insomnium, the god of nightmares.

That superior being has a great authority to intervene in the human world, but that ‘nightmare’ has been said to have calmed down around twenty years ago.

‘It wasn’t mentioned in PMH, and information about it was hard to get even after coming to this world.’

On my way back to the dorm after the alliance talks, I asked Baekho about it.

— What’s the nightmare they were talking about?

Baekho-gun answered my question with words that I couldn’t understand.

— You don’t need to worry even a little about that, Jo Euishin.

— Don’t pay attention to it. Do what you want and need to do.

I couldn’t question my main playable character when he said that.

His words made me feel like I wouldn’t have to worry or care about whatever those nightmares were, so it already slipped my mind.

‘Is it more difficult to answer this question compared to the nightmare-related one?’

My curiosity ended when Baekho-gun finally spoke.

“It’s hard to answer that.”

“…Why?”

He answered right away.

“I decide to prioritize the promise that I made first.”

The answer only made things more confusing in my head.

So Baekho-gun appeared that day because of a promise with who-knows-who, and he can’t speak about it now?

I tried to recall everything I knew about Baekho-gun, but I couldn’t guess what it was.

I don’t know to who Baekho-gun made a promise, but it was clear that the person was either not in PMH or whose actions weren’t made known in the game.

Thinking that it was impossible to deduce, I decided to ask again.

“Who did you make a promise with?”

“Instead of getting help, I decided not to interrupt.”

What is the connection between that promise and Baekho-gun’s appearance during the ‘Nameless Supporting Role’s Tutorial’?

Baekho-gun, who fell silent for a while, lowered his eyes a little.

“The day of the Bear Clan’s attack, I felt like I was making unnecessary interference. I’m reflecting on myself.”

Baekho-gun was still usually silent, but I obtained some useful information through this conversation.

‘He knew that the Bear Clan would attack Eungwang High that day.’

Not just that, but he knew exactly which examinee group would be affected.

If he didn’t, then Baekho-gun would’ve checked all testing sites, and other examinees would’ve seen him.

The question now is the timing when Baekho-gun arrived.

‘He knew, and he thought about intervening but he was late. The reason for that, maybe… Is it the same reason as Gye Idam’s?’

Gye Idam said he regained his memories just before the test began, that is, right after I came to this world.

Perhaps Baekho-gun also remembered that there would be an attack by the Bear Clan around the same time.

If so, then I had some assumptions that I could make.

The moment when he remembered, Baekho-gun must be in Eungwang District because he still has the Heaven’s Wrath debuff.

As soon as he remembered, he came to the gym where Group 13 was taking the practical exam.

He arrived earlier than Gye Idam, but only after I defeated the Rhinoceron.

‘It makes sense to think of it that way, but it still leaves a lot of questions.’

How did Baekho-gun have that information, and just what kind of promise did he make?

He said he decided not to interrupt instead of getting help?

Who in the world is Baekho-gun getting help from, and who did he decide not to interrupt?

Baekho-gun cannot seem to answer my questions properly because of that promise, so I decided to make a guess.

“Does your promise have something to do with the transcendent universe?”

“…”

Baekho-gun did not reply.

His cold expression was no different from usual, but I could see clearly how he was in a difficult position.

I waited, thinking that he would say something just like earlier.

Getting my main playable character in trouble was a big deviation from my intentions, but I put up with it.

“I’m sorry.”

His words started to make me feel guilty.

My main playable character was already in trouble and I kept asking!

I don’t know what in the world he’s sorry for, but in the end, I couldn’t say anything else.

“It’s alright.”

I felt deja vu at the moment.

One day when I slept in the mansion, I had a similar conversation just before Jeokho was injured by Jogangryeob.

Baekho-gun came to me in the middle of the night to apologize, and I said it was alright…

Of course, the situation back then was different, but it still bothered me.

I couldn’t say anything more when Baekho-gun apologized, so I decided to bury all the remaining questions that I had.

***

The next morning.

We had some tea late at night yesterday, but I slept quite well because I had something that relieved my stress.

I slept in the same bed as my angel Olmu and woke up to him still there.

‘…How can he sleep so well when I visited so suddenly?’

I stormed into the tigers’ mansion late at night without notice, asked difficult questions to Baekho-gun, got served tea, and was provided a place to sleep.

It was definitely very brazen of me to do all that, but the tigers were thankfully very generous.

While we ate breakfast prepared by Hwangho, Eunho asked something.

“I heard you battled the second-year student Gye Idam. Did something happen?”

It was more difficult to say it to Eunho.

He knew of the bullying culture in the military and the bad reviews and comments on PMH.

I thought he’d be very furious if I talked about this.

It’s not really because I was a victim of the things that Gye Idam did.

Even from a third party’s perspective, Gye Idam seemed like someone who would curse and bully someone a lot.

Perhaps sensing my evasion to the question, Eunho muttered something to himself.

“The surname ‘Gye’ isn’t very common…”

…Did he happen to know Gye Idam in the previous world.

No, I didn’t say a word to Cheon Sungheon about Gye Bastard in the previous world, so there’s no way he would’ve known.

It’s possible that he’s reminded of user ‘kye777ing’ who leaves a comment on every PMH-related article.

“Feel free to ask for help if you need it, Euishin hyung.”

When he saw that I had no intention of talking about Gye Idam, Eunho spoke softly.

Baekho-gun, who was seated next to Eunho, also nodded.

‘Does it mean even if he can’t say anything about that promise, I can still ask him for help?’

My questions only grew, but I cannot trouble Baekho-gun any further.

Not when I’ve already brazenly invaded the tigers’ mansion.

I gave up on asking Baekho-gun directly, but I made sure to remember this matter.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

‘It’s another variable in this world that’s different from PMH… No, can I even call it a variable?’

Baekho-gun knows something, but it was clear that he’s not in a position to do something because of a promise that he made.

When the Bear Clan attacked, Baekho-gun intervened but the situation did not change much.

He even said he was reflecting on himself, saying that he interfered unnecessarily.

“Did you talk well with Baekho?”

“Yeah.”

“I see you have no intention of revealing what you talked about.”

Since I stayed at the tigers’ mansion, Hwang Jiho and I headed to school together.

He was in the appearance of a freshman student, of course.

Hwang Jiho has been in a good mood since last night.

He failed to find out what Baekho and I talked about, but it didn’t seem to bring him down.

Before we entered our classroom, Hwang Jiho said something.

“You don’t need to have some reason. If you wish to visit the mansion, you can come freely like you did yesterday.”

I visited the mansion yesterday because I had some business to do though.

I tried to respond like that, but I decided to thank Hwang Jiho first for his generosity.

Our classmates welcomed me loudly when we entered the classroom.

The commuting kids asked several times if I was injured.

“Alright, take your seats.”

Professor Ham Geunhyung arrived for an attendance check, and I was worried that he’d say something about yesterday’s events.

Fortunately, he let it pass and only checked if I had injuries.

Seeing Professor Ham Geunhyung and my classmates worry like that, I reflected on myself.

‘…I’ll be more careful from now on.’

In the future when I roll Gye Idam again, I should keep it quiet so that the kids and the Professor won’t know.

That Gye Bastard caused stress to my classmates, so he has to be punished.

Meanwhile, news of our battle yesterday spread widely within the Eungwang High community.

They knew that the result of the battle was an overwhelming victory for the ‘Nameless Supernova’

‘Rumors spread like crazy because Gye Idam was absent from class since he had to get treated. I can’t believe it. I didn’t intend to hospitalize him though.’

People say that Year One Class Zero is starting to live up to its name, but I didn’t really violate any school rules.

The day passed peacefully.

I went to the school’s main gate after finishing my extracurriculars, and I saw Yeom Junyeol waiting for me along with an air limousine with the Red Lion Team’s emblem.

“Let’s go, Euishin-ah.”

I prayed that Yong Jegun wasn’t inside the air limousine, and my prayers were thankfully heard.

I heard that they always went home together, so perhaps Yong Jegun had something else to do.

A Red Lion Team member was in charge of Yeom Junyeol’s security today.

The air limousine was headed to a TC Group-owned hotel, Snow and Air.

“I was invited there last time, and the place was neat.”

I came here feeling unburdened since he only mentioned that he’d treat me to dinner, but it turns out he made a reservation at the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel.

It hit me again that Yeom Junyeol was a star player born with a red diamond spoon.

“Sorry I’m giving a gift this late. Happy birthday.”

When we sat down, Yeom Junyeol took out two envelopes with red wax seals.

“Thank you.”

“Take it out.”

With Yeom Junyeol looking at me with anticipating eyes, I couldn’t say I’d open the gifts later.

When I opened the envelope, what I saw was an item card.

‘This is…! A Hongryeong light stick!’

The card showed a light stick with a dragon decoration similar to Hongryong’s image.

I speculated that it was an energy item since I saw that the light sticks used during Playlist’s last broadcast responded to energy waves, but I didn’t know it would really be a cardable item.

“Jegun hyung said you looked interested in it when you came to our house last time. I asked the dragon clan to make another one so I can give it to you as a present.”

Yong Jegun said something like that to Yeom Junyeol!

I could never know what Yong Jegun’s intention was, but I was thankful that his words led to this moment.

I tried searching for places that sold a similar light stick that day but only found low-quality ones, but this item card is different!

“This one is my gift as your student.”

While I tried to contain my emotions, Yeom Junyeol took out another card.

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