Chapter 602: First Christmas (13)

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After Gong Cheonghwon and the seniors joined, Exit 1 entered a lull.

Although vigilance was necessary because of sporadically-appearing enemies, it seemed that there would be no difficulty maintaining the defense line unless a royal lineage leads a large number of attackers.

“The 2nd year seniors aren’t coming…”

“Maybe they’re assigned to another exit?”

“It’s strange that no one’s coming. I guess they haven’t arrived yet.”

As time passed, people slowly started talking about the missing sophomore students.

Kwak Gyungu, who is in charge of Exit 1, sometimes looked toward the sophomore area with a worried face.

As I expected, those who are aiming for Yeom Junyeol have taken advantage of this day, so it will take time before the sophomores arrive at the student association hall.

‘Chokryong and Jegal must’ve joined them by now.’

All department-level professors are expected to be overseas on Christmas.

However, it was necessary to prevent some of them from leaving.

In particular, I wanted the Spiritual Word skill user Jegal to remain in Eungwang High.

Although Invidius’ priest saw me use Jegal’s skill with the eye that he found, he didn’t seem to share information with others.

Therefore, it was necessary to place Gong Cheonghwon on this side where Bang Yoonseob was and Invidius’ priest would exert his power, and Jegal on the other side.

Yeom Junyeol is a strong player, and he’s prepared himself to move with the sophomores.

Jegal’s advisory class is with him, so I let him go there since he might be worried too.

‘There’s little chance, but there was a possibility that Invidius’ priest shared information, so I had another card in store.’

That’s why I placed Chokryong next to Jegal.

I was originally going to have one of the dragons or the Red Lion team, but their faces are too well-known.

Therefore, it’s difficult to deceive the enemies’ eyes just by giving them an umbrella.

Not only that, but there was a possibility that the traitor among the Dragon King’s Shamans would notice.

‘It would be safer to have Cheongryong or Yeom Bangyeol with Yeom Junyeol, but we’d have to worry about other things if I did that.’

I thought hard about who to place, and just in time, Chokryong was in the country.

She left Korea for a long time as the wanderlust dragon, so her face wasn’t known by many people.

She’s strong enough as she fought alongside Cheongryong in PMH, and she’s someone who cares deeply for Yeom Junyeol.

It’s also not strange for her to leave the Dragon Clan’s territory and raise suspicions with the shamans since she’s known for her wanderlust.

With that, I moved her through Yong Jegun.

Chokryong’s side was easily solved, but not so much with the professor.

— As you know, the department head teachers of Eungwang High have huge responsibilities, Jo Euishin. All three of them are players more than worthy to put on international stages.

Hwang Jiho said so during our strategy meeting.

It’s hard to remove the three from overseas business trips and it’s hard to find a replacement for them.

However, I wanted Jegal to remain in Eungwang High.

So I prepared something.

— There’s a perfect teacher who can participate on behalf of the professor.

— Yeah, this body can go in the form of the Chairman.

— …

He was right, but I didn’t bother to entertain Hwang Jiho’s nonsense.

Although she’s not as much as the chairman of the board, we named someone who can represent our school.

— Let’s send Principal Hwangbo Yoon there.

Hwangbo Yoon, the principal of Eungwang High.

An eccentric book collector whose face wasn’t known well and who doesn’t do many outside activities.

Even students of Eungwang High rarely see her face.

The gender-neutral-sounding name confuses people too.

However, it remains that she’s the respectable principal of Eungwang High.

If the principal herself goes, no one will find fault with the absence of Professor Jegal.

— You want to send the principal? She wouldn’t want to go to such a prominent event, JO Euishin.

— I’ll ask her myself.

— …Come to think of it, you visited the principal’s office the other day, Jo Euishin.

Hwang Jiho was very suspicious of me.

Principal Hwangbo Yoon does not usually interact with students, so it can’t be helped.

It wasn’t Hwang Jiho’s job to suspect me anyway, so I decided to shamelessly ignore him.

— Euishin hyung is good with older people because he’s polite. Wouldn’t that be the same for the principal of Eungwang High? I’m sure you know it well, Hwangho-nim.

— I’m also much older compared to Jo Euishin…

The old man looked convinced at Eunho’s words.

I am polite to the elderly, but perhaps I haven’t shown it much to Hwang Jiho.

I know that he’s older, but he was the one who told me to speak comfortably when we had just met.

— We need to prepare for Jegal to move comfortably around the school. We need an excuse to convince him, and we need to be prepared to deceive the eyes of the demons.

Eunho changed the subject and I jumped in on it.

In preparation for what Eunho pointed out, I laid out a few measures.

Though Eunho’s proposal sounded better.

— Eungwang High will be holding a Christmas charity event. Class 2-0 will be participating. We can hide Jegal there.

— What’s your idea?

— To start, I can make a hiding item. With a design that goes along with the Christmas charity event.

Jegal can hide himself using Spiritual Word.

However, if we ask him to use it from the beginning, Jegal would think it strange.

— I’ll make doll clothes that will go well with the event. I heard from Dongha hyung that the student council will be wearing Santa or reindeer costumes.

— You want to tell him to hide in costume and participate in a Christmas event to surprise students instead of going on a business trip?

— Yes. I heard Jegal couldn’t participate in the event of the class that he’s in charge of during the festival. If we use the students as an excuse, he won’t be able to say no.

Jegal tried not to go near the 3D photo book prepared by Class 2-0 during the festival.

The students liked it so much that they couldn’t stop the event, but Jegal ran away because it was too embarrassing.

He probably stopped by once, but only stayed for a short time when there were no people around.

Hong Gyubin also pointed out his absence.

— He can naturally hide his face and body while wearing a costume. Unless someone uses a high level of skill, they won’t know that it’s Jegal.

I accepted Eunho’s idea.

Jegal will wear a costume and join the sophomores with Chokryong who came to see her grandchild.

The other tigers agreed too, but they seemed to be worried about something.

— Will you be okay, Eunho? There’s something else you need to make besides the costume.

— I’m alright. I’ll prepare so I won’t be late.

Eunho replied to Hwang Jiho’s words with a smile.

He seemed to have other items to make other than the costume.

Hwang Jiho looked dissatisfied at the answer, but it was Baekho-gun who verbalized it.

— We’re not worried about you completing it on time. Hwangho is asking if your body is okay.

Hwang Jiho nodded vigorously at Baekho-gun’s words.

— Baekho is right. You’re going to move on Christmas. Wouldn’t you be tired if you use up your energy waves making items and then moving outside?

It was just as Hwang Jiho said.

Eunho said he’s been resting, but he has been in a long state of deep sleep.

It was natural to be worried about him.

Eunho, who was using Cheon Eunha’s appearance, also made me worry.

But he was firm.

— The reason I hide in Hwangho-nim’s mansion and save my energy is for me to be useful when it’s needed. It’s not because I’m worried about my safety.

His will was immovable.

Neither Baekho-gun nor Hwangho seemed to be able to stop him.

— And that time is now. I’m going to do everything I have to do to face the danger of Christmas that looms over our territory.

Eunho must be moving by now.

‘I also have to move now for the next measure.’

I tried to take a break to slowly leave, but Yoo Sanghoon and Maeng Hyodon were keeping a close eye on me.

They moved under Kwak Gyungu’s orders, but it was difficult to escape because we were in the same group.

Finally, I found a gap to escape during the break.

However, I was caught by Gong Cheonghwon.

“Student Euishin, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Gong Cheonghwon looked kind as usual, but I felt a strange pressure in front of him.

From his perspective, he must be confused about a lot of things.

He was going to participate in the event at the nursery, but suddenly Jeokho appeared and called him to EUngwang High and asked him to find me.

While looking for me, the condition at Eungwang High began to be strange and enemies and a royal lineage appeared and attacked students.

He fought in the meantime in the face of the emergency, but he must have many questions.

Gong Cheonghwon had a lot to say to me.

***

Freshmen area, in the backyard frequently used by teachers.

The place where all the students evacuated from was now covered with the Bear Clan and their minions.

In the center where they were surrounded was a space summoned by Yong Jegun.

Kwang! Kwwang!

Kim Shinrok clenched his teeth as he watched the cyan space slowly break.

Kim Shinrok tried to materialize a weapon item card, but it didn’t work.

He couldn’t use his skill either.

They were completely surrounded by the Bear Clan.

Yong Jegun, who was supporting himself through Kim Shinrok’s shoulder, made a silly remark as he watched the scene.

“Seeing that you can’t fight, those guys must be from the Bear Clan.”

“Stop talking.”

Yong Jegun coughed as soon as Kim Shinrok threw a small tantrum.

Then, his shoulder was covered with a hot breath and the smell of blood.

Kim Shinrok turned his head at an unbelievable speed and saw that his shoulder was full of blood from Yong Jegun’s mouth.

Jwaak!

At that moment, the space created by Yong Jegun was broken.

Looking at the cracks in the cyan space was the Beonmin, the Bear of Anguish.

“Is this the end of the Dragon King’s favorite child?”

Beonmin pointed to one of his men as if he had no intention of dirtying his own hands.

He pointed to a woman bear with a thin double-edged knife.

“Kill the Tiger Clan’s descendant first.”

“Understood.”

The female bear folded her umbrella and swung her double-edged knife to destroy what remained of Yong Jegun’s space.

Then…

A red fog rose in front of the space and a sharp lightning flashed.

It was Jeokho.

“I expected you to appear, Jeokho. Weren’t you at the retreat in Seokmo Island?”

However, no one was surprised at the red fog.

Rather, the bears spoke disappointedly.

“It’s disappointing to deal with the same thing.”

When Beonmin pointed to the male bear, who uses sorcery, the sorcerer touched the ground and spilled energy waves.

Kwaaaa kwaa!

At that moment, a giant trap made of ash trees swooped in on Jeokho.

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