EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school - Chapter 197

Red Tiger and Shinrok couldn’t hide their shock at what Hwang Jiho said.

“Yellow Tiger nim, you’re thinking of going overseas?”

“Yellow Tiger… You’re not kidding are you?”

“No? It’s been a long time since I breathed in fresh air from abroad.”

“You’ve been busier these days… I see this is what you’ve been preparing for all this time.”

“Hahaha! You’re right.”

Jiho looked at me before explaining further.

“Jo Euishin. I know you know this, but the order I received from the heavens is ‘the one that can exist anywhere’, which is, the power to use an alter ego.”

“Right.”

“The land that reaches the heavens’ order is only here on the Korean Peninsula, so it’s the only place where my alter ego can exist.”

I remember looking at Jiho’s status window.

[Explanation]

Yellow Tiger who appears in the Myth of Gaecheon

Received ‘the one that can exist anywhere’ order from the heavens

He can exist wherever he wishes, as long as it is on the ground where the heaven’s order touches

He volunteered to protect the body where the White Tiger was locked up, to which the heavens permitted

(Failed to load.)

Although he can’t use it now because of the heavens’ wrath, I heard that White Tiger’s power to go anywhere is not confined to the Korean Peninsula.

The Yellow Tiger’s skill of alter ego is very powerful and fraudulent, that’s why there’s such a restriction placed on it.

“You’re thinking of going abroad with your alter ego?”

“Yes. It’s been a very long time since I went overseas.”

Hwang Jiho looked excited.

The old guy who lived for more than 5 thousand years must be thinking of going on a trip meant for high school students.

‘He’s been doing such a great job lately, so he should catch his breath for a bit.’

His subordinates became speechless at the thought of Hwang Jiho running around in his alter ego.

So Jiho spoke to Olmu instead.

“Olmu, what kind of presents do you want?”

Keeuung?…. Woof!

After that, Jiho prepared to go overseas while thinking about what gifts he should give Olmu and the other descendants, as well as the other kids in our class.

* * *

A few days later, the newspapers’ overseas coverage schedule began.

On the first day, to use the accommodation ticket obtained by the 2nd Year Class Zero students for the energy tag match, the newspaper department decided to gather in advance in preparation for the coverage trip.

Accommodation tickets were for Icarus Seoul, a leading hotel company in Korea.

The hotel was named after the son of Daedalus, the creature with white wings. As such, the VIP floors from the 50th floor have an exterior structure in the shape of a wing.

The wings extended in four directions, east, west, south, and north wings respectively. All suites were concentrated on these four wings.

The place where we were supposed to stay in was one of the four wings.

“On behalf of the freshmen who entered Eungwang High this year, Moon Saeron will be speaking!”

East Wing, the especially premium lounge on the top floor.

It is the peak summer season where we were supposed to be on vacation, but the newspaper members who rented the top floor suite in exchange for winning the tag match all listened to Moon Saeron’s toast.

All the members held old fashioned glasses with round ice balls and carbonated drinks. Looks like everyone was excited.

“Cheers to our adviser who will join us tomorrow, professor Jegal, who is also the biggest contributor to the previous camp. And also to Hwang Jiho!”

“Cheers!”

The clear sound of old fashioned glasses clinking here and there was heard.

“Hahaha! Jo Euishin, raise your glass!”

Hwang Jiho, who was mentioned in Moon Saeron’s toast, was sitting right next to me. He lifted his glass with a leisurely smile.

I asked him something as we clinked our glasses.

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

“Will you really be ok when you go?”

I think he’s already decided on it, but I still asked.

The head of the Tiger Clan leaving the Korean Peninsula.

Although his alter ego will remain here, wouldn’t it be too harsh on his body to be abroad?

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about Yuri. I left the chief sorcerer in charge of her.”

“Chief sorcerer?”

“Yes, he will keep the boundary in place until Kim Yuri can control her energy pressure.”

Of course, I’m worried about Yuri too, but that wasn’t my top concern.

He put the chief sorcerer in charge of Kim Yuri?

As I observed before, I guess Jiho doesn’t intend on keeping on hiding who he was.

Kim Yuri, who’s also one of my playable characters, won’t make it too difficult for the Tiger Clan.

“Also, Yuri said that she wanted to learn how to deal with her light skill. Borrowing the power of a higher being, because that jerk is more expert than I am.”

As expected, our class president and my playable character had a different perspectives.

I’m sure she’s had a hard time, yet she’s shown much improvement even though her body and mind are exhausted from the first explosion of her light skill.

As the vice president, I’m all set in supporting Yuri well in the future.

It was time to down the carbonated drink with much pride.

“Now, attention! I know it’s a bit sudden, but I will be announcing a slight change in our schedule.”

“Eh? Right now?”

When the deputy director of the newspaper club said so, the other members buzzed around.

The deputy director showed a hologram. It was of the director coughing several times before speaking in a solemn voice.

Eungwang High’s most dangerous group.

When I heard the director say so, I became alert of the faces of the newspaper club members.

‘They’re talking about GeumChanWangChan of Year 2 Class Zero!’

There’s also a ‘dangerous group’ in Year 3 Class Zero, but they don’t have any reason to target our team here on Im Yeonhwa’s boot camp because it’s being conducted during vacation.

Therefore, the dangerous group being referred to by our director is none other than Jegal’s Year 2 Class Zero students.

“We will not change the duration of our stay abroad. However, I’m informing everyone now that the course we will go through is completely different from what I previously announced.”

“Yep! I’m sorry for not letting you guys know. But when else would we get the opportunity to have Professor Jegal all to our own!”

Looks like the deputy director and the director has a plan in mind.

The club members, though flustered by the news, began to praise the director’s plan.

“As expected of our directors!”

“I want to go shopping for souvenirs with Professor Jegal… Geum Chansol interfered with us last year so I couldn’t buy stuff in the end.”

Amid the cheers of the members, the director began to explain our trip’s itinerary. 

The director, who was showing a map while explaining, pointed to the Japanese archipelago.

“Ah, for everyone’s information, we won’t be able to go to Japan again. Their borders are about to close again.”

“Gosh, again?”

“Yeah, you know Saeron’s daad is a reporter, right? They contacted me after knowing our plans for this trip. He’s in Japan right now, and the situation over there might have been unusual.”

The flow of history from this world is quite similar to the real world, but there are of course a few differences.

Especially with the history after the world collision.

The timing of major historical events and their development is slightly different from the real world.

“I’ve looked up information from new sites in Japan, but nothing particular stands out.”

“It seems like media is still strictly under control there.”

“Maybe they learned a lesson from the events of previous world transitions.”

There was an event of world transition shortly after the Republic of Korea established its sovereignty.

Japan’s media and government then made up ridiculous stories, such as Korea was being punished by heaven for not accepting the Japanese rule. However, Japan eventually experienced a world transition too in their archipelago.

They consistently tried to hide that fact and treated the people who claimed to fight against enemies as psychotic and made them the subject of collective harassment.

Therefore, the efforts for players’ training and government countermeasures came late for them, and no defensive measures were deployed for areas that suffered enemy attacks from world transition.

There became a conflict between the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korean Peninsula. The Japanese government claimed that the outbreak was South Korea’s conspiracy and responsibility.

“Ah, perhaps there’s a world transition again in Chiyoda City?”

“Yeah, it seems like it.”

“Really? Again? Isn’t it better to give up Chiyoda now? I think it’s better to just empty the city and have players reside in the area.”

“They can’t do that because the Imperial Palace is there. If the building was completely destroyed, they wouldn’t hesitate to abandon the area. I guess they can’t just give it up because the thing is still standing.”

One of the 23 special districts in Tokyo, Chiyoda.

Important symbols for Japan reside in Chiyoda, such as the Imperial Palace, the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, the National Assembly Shrine, and the Supreme Court. Administration, legislature, and judiciary were all gathered in there.

As if to play a cruel joke on Japan who didn’t believe in the existence of the world collision, numerous bureaucrats including Ministers of State Affairs died from a world transition in Chiyoda.

Among those who died were foreign ministers, so the head of the government demanded compensation from Korea.

Out of the 15 ministers of state affairs, only three survived.

Japan’s situation improved ever since the youngest of the three, the Minister of Culture, Sports, and Science took the responsibility of being the prime minister. From then, as prime minister, he acknowledge the existence of world transitions and started negotiating with the general headquarters of the Players Association.

However, less than a decade later, he was removed from office.

Since then, Japan’s protocol for world transitions has been motivated largely by politics.

It has been their routine to block borders and control the media when they see fit.

“…I wonder if the Korea-China-Japan player exchange match will proceed smoothly.”

“These days, there’s a notable player from Japan. A girl who entered an all-girls school this year, and she’s rumored to be from the Flower Clan. The world’s best genius who defeated Korea and China! I think that’s the way they described her.”

“Ah, I think I’ve seen that on TV a few times.”

“Looking at her experience, I think she’ll be pushed back by Dain.”

Since then, our members spent their time checking our changed schedule and gossiping about the notable players in the Korea-China-Japan player exchange match.

We enjoyed our dinner at a specially-dedicated restaurant for the East Wing suite.

‘Hmm?’

While walking back to the lounge after having after-dinner tea, I saw a strange shadow outside the window.

I think the shadow was of a person hanging upside down.

“Suspicious Vice President, what’s the matter?”

“I think I saw something outside.”

“There’s nothing in there though?”

Moon Saeron tilted her head.

Considering the altitude outside the hotel, it sure feels like we’re more than 20 stories from above the ground.

It would surely be weird if someone was just outside our window.

‘If I tell her what I saw, she’d be scared for no reason.’

It bothered me a little, but I just passed it off by saying ‘maybe it’s just birds.’

In the central lounge, we saw Hwang Jiho settle down and laugh loudly.

After the enjoyable tea time as we took in the night view…

“Alright then, see you guys tomorrow! If anything comes up, contact me or the vice president.”

“Us second years are going to stay up all night and we’ll play around until morning! If you can’t sleep, come over to my room!”

“Oh, can I go too?”

“Of course! But then, once you come in, you’re not allowed to get out!”

“If you guys just want to chat, come to our room instead of theirs.”

“We’re not just gonna chat around, but a horror-radio-story concept will be our event all night long. We’ll talk about Eungwang ghost stories.”

The members began to flock to the point where they wondered if we needed to rent more rooms.

“Jo Euishin, what do you plan on doing?”

“I think Moon Saeron’s just going to tell funny stories instead of scary ones all night long. I’m thinking of going there, or just going to sleep.”

It was my roommate, Hwang Jiho who asked me.

Jiho designated me as his roommate during room assignments.

All the rooms had ample space because we rented out the whole floor. However, the Presidential suite where Jiho was assigned to was even more spacious. It had two bedrooms with its own personal bathroom, a separate conference room, and a dining room.

“Hmm, so we don’t have the share the room for tonight?”

After much consideration, Jiho suggested instead for the presidential suite to be used by the kids. The members of the club soon gathered in the room.

In one corner of the conference room, students played games loudly, while on the other side, some students took turns in telling scary ghost stories. Eventually, the director and deputy director fell asleep on the sofa.

Most of the newspaper club members were asleep when breakfast time came.

Dingdong.

[Yeom Junyeol] Hello, teacher.

It was Yeom Junyeol’s message that woke me up in the morning.

It seems like he wants to inform me of the weather today as usual.

I’ll be leaving soon, so Korea’s weather information wouldn’t really help me much.

However, Junyeol’s message was different from what I expected.

[Yeom Junyeol] I’ve been thinking about something since last night.