EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school - Chapter 810

Obituary of Kim Shinrok, Jeon Muyeong’s professor.

Sung Gukeon consoled Jeon Muyeong and agonized for a moment whether he should come with him to the funeral, but he quickly gave up the idea.

‘He’s the professor who took over after I graduated. Even the students weren’t Eungwang High students yet.’

A politician going to a funeral where he has no direct connection would raise suspicions that he’s trying to use their death for political purposes.

He’s an Eungwang High alumni still, so it was acceptable that he send a wreath.

He set his mind, but it kept bothering him.

Perhaps it’s because he’s a professor that Jeon Muyeong followed well despite being accused of being incompetent, and now he’s dead after failing to protect the examinees.

‘The incompetent one isn’t the poor teacher but the negligent figure above him.’

In the end, Sung Gukeon tried to come up with follow-up measures instead of going to the funeral.

He examined the movements of the Bear Clan, checked the condition of Eungwang High’s boundary, and strengthened the security of other test sites to prevent such a situation from happening again.

From his investigation, it seems like the students and the teacher died as collateral damage in the dispute between the Tiger Clan and Bear Clan.

The thought of it made him more furious at the royal lineage.

Meanwhile, he heard something unexpected from Jeon Muyeong who gave his condolences.

“I ran into a dragon at the funeral.”

“He must’ve had a connection with the Dragon Clan. It’s not strange since a descendant of them is a student at the school.”

“It wasn’t just one dragon. The head of the Dragon Clan, Cheongryong, was present too.”

“The head of the Dragon Clan?”

He felt like something wasn’t right.

Cheongryong was known to have little care for people who weren’t part of his family.

It’s only natural for him to be protective of people who were deeply connected to the Dragon Clan and their descendants since the world was still full of traditions on slaying dragons and there was a lot of unrest.

Sung Gukeon didn’t trust the royal lineage, but he didn’t have strong opinions against the Dragon Clan since he trusts Yeom Bangyeol who is deeply related to them.

Except for one mischievous dragon.

“Professor Yong Jegun was at the funeral.”

“That dragon?”

The tone of Sung Gukeon’s voice went lower at the mention of the dragon’s name.

He remembered how the dragon smiled at the funeral of his teacher.

The thought of him smiling at this funeral again couldn’t have made him happy.

“Yes. But unlike last time, Professor Yong Jegun was…”

Jeon Muyeong hesitated and swallowed his words.

“No, I may be mistaken.”

Thinking that Sung Gukeon wouldn’t believe that Yong Jegun sincerely expressed his condolences, Jeon Muyeong chose not to say it.

Even after that incident, Eungwang High was plagued with constant problems.

Even Sung Gukeon’s data had deficiencies, and there were frequently missing documents.

He was wondering if the person in charge had changed, so he checked it and saw that it was indeed the case.

‘The deceased professor was the one who prepared the papers that I asked for every time.’

Kim Shinrok was in charge of documents and correspondence, and after his death, a corrupt professor named Choi Pyeondeuk took over.

Sung Gukeon belatedly regretted that he didn’t remember this connection and couldn’t make it as an excuse to pay his respects.

Since then, he sometimes thought about Kim Shinrok.

And his eyes tingled every time.

It felt as if a superior being who gave Sung Gukeon his order was trying to divert his attention.

‘Does it mean I could be in danger if I dig more about him?’

It was hard to pay much attention to a teacher he’d never met anyway.

The general election is set in late April.

Sung Gukeon ran as an independent candidate and secured re-election safely.

It was expected since polls conducted before the election predicted that he would win.

But more than his re-election, Sung Gukeon’s mind was somewhere else.

‘The ruling party’s election order was different than expected. They included a low-profile name.’

Among those at the top of the ruling party’s nomination list for proportional representation was a name that Sung Gukeon didn’t know.

It was common to put promising political newbies on the nomination list, but Sung Gukeon somehow didn’t like him.

Sung Gukeon decided to keep a close eye on him even though he was a seemingly unproblematic person.

However, events prevented him from watching the movements of other politicians after a big incident happened in May.

“What’s the extent of the damage?”

“We’re counting? There are a lot of serious injuries so the death toll is likely to increase.”

A number of unforeseen deaths occurred at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium on May 5th, Children’s Day, as a result of numerous otherworlds spawning.

A large number of otherworlds spawned in Seoul that day too, which delayed the response of the Players’ Association and the professional player teams.

“Wasn’t the Dragon Clan at the stadium for the first pitch?”

“They left less than an hour after the pitch. They haven’t appeared in public for a long time since Yeom Junyeeol went to study abroad.”

“I see.”

The possibility of royal lineage being their enemies should always be taken into consideration.

The Dragon Clan isn’t an enemy yet, but help can’t be expected of them.

Sung Gukeon established that perception and moved to identify the cause of this incident and to discuss damage recovery, countermeasures, and implications.

“It will be Teacher’s Day soon. Don’t overdo it with attacking otherworlds.”

“Haha! I have to show my teacher that I’m no coward.”

“If I were the professor that you respect, sir, I’d wish you put your safety first.”

Despite his busy days, Sung Gukeon adjusted his schedule to keep his promise to his teacher.

However, just before Teacher’s Day, Sung Gukeon got injured by one of the otherworlds that they attacked.

As Sung Gukeon was putting bandages on his arms, Jeon Muyeong argued that he wanted to resign, but he gave up his own idea.

“The professor was always worried when he saw students who didn’t get along well. I can’t make him worry up there in heaven.”

Jeon Muyeong said so melancholically. 

It must’ve been mentally difficult since the teacher, who he believed and followed faithfully, died unceremoniously and was criticized by the public.

Sung Gukeon comforted him as he raised his unscathed arm and grabbed his shoulder.

‘I didn’t want to show the professor that I’m injured, but I should go to Eungwang High with Muyeong today.’

So they brought red carnations instead of chrysanthemums and headed to Eungwang High.

While looking around the building, Jeon Muyeong noticed a hologram on the wall and teared up.

“Professor Kim Shinrok preferred analog things. There were bulletin boards for attaching paper handouts from Eungwang High.”

But since Kim Shinrok died, there was no one left to use them.

So the boards were taken down and replaced with holograms.

‘My teacher preferred paper handouts too.’

Devices weren’t common yet during Sung Gukeon’s day, and senior teachers usually preferred paper handouts.

It seems quite odd for Kim Shinrok to have the same preference since he seemed quite young.

‘The bulletin boards would’ve stayed if the professor was here.’

Reminiscing about their teachers, Sung Gukeon and Jeon Muyeong walked inside Eungwang High.

Their conversation wasn’t continuous, but Jeon Muyeong would occasionally talk about his memories.

Every time, Sung Gukeon was strangely dejected.

‘Professor Kim Shinrok’s description reminds me of him.’

The same seemed to be true of Jeon Muyeong too.

The professor that Sung Gukeon spoke about sounded like Kim Shinrok.

It wasn’t strange for good teachers to be thoughtful of their students, but they were strangely similar.

However, perhaps because of the day and place, they started to think that there was actually a connection between the two teachers.

“Could it be… Ah.”

But Sung Gukeon quickly cut off his words.

Because he saw a sickening long hair in the distance.

Yong Jegun.

‘Does he not go home?’

Although there was still a bit of distance, he thought Yong Jegun would feel their presence and head over to say something disgusting, but he had no response.

Yong Jegun was just walking around the school quietly.

They didn’t know what kind of joke he was trying to play, but he looked weak and slow.

“Professor Yong Jegun doesn’t seem to be well.”

“He must be up to something.”

They didn’t know how Yong Jegun spent all his energy making a wish that wouldn’t come true.

Sung Gukeon thought he was plotting something, and most people at Eungwang High thought the same.

Only a few people knew of Yong Jegun’s case.

And so Sung Gukeon said something cruel.

“If he uses his power as the Cintamani, maybe he can revive Professor Kim Shinrok.”

“Uh…!”

Jeon Muyeong raised his head after his thoughts were seen through.

After seeing Yong Jegun’s face at his professor’s funeral, he thought maybe he could make that wish.

He felt the urge to throw away his pride and hang onto Yong Jegun.

But Sung Gukeon spoke objectively.

“He would’ve done it a long time ago if he had the intention. It’s one professor. Do you remember my conversation with that dragon at my teacher’s funeral?”

Jeon Muyeong silently nodded.

Sung Gukeon had just graduated at that time of disarray.

On that day, he poured out his words, expressing his feelings without hesitation.

— The power of the Cintamani could’ve cured that disease! But you watched the professor die, and then you dare show your face here?

— You’re right. I could use the power of Cintamani if the Dragon King allowed it. But I didn’t bother to use it.

— So why…!

— The Cintamani ‘makes others’ wish come true.’ If the subject didn’t wish it, it won’t come true.

Unlike that day when Sung Gukeon’s heart was on fire, he was cold today.

“He’ll say the same thing.”

Sung Gukeon said so in a cold voice and left Eungwang High behind.

Without even realizing that the two visited, Yong Jegun continued wandering around Eungwang High.

As time went by and summer came, big incidents continued to happen.

Freshmen students who went on a youth retreat faced unexpected otherworlds and were attacked by an unprecedented scale of enemies.

‘That royal lineage is sitting still even with these things happening.’

Sung Gukeon swallowed a mockery as he received reports of the situation.

There was no sign of Eungwang High’s chairman taking action.

‘Is this much death not enough to move him?’

Sung Gukeon was worried about the students of Eungwang High, but there was a limit to his ability to intervene in school affairs.

His cousin Sung Siwan, a student at the school, looked tired every time they met.

It was mostly because of a flurry of incidents on campus and the confrontation with Choi Pyeondeuk, the professor who replaced Kim Shinrok as Jiikhoe’s adviser.

Every mistake made by the young juniors would be blamed on Jiikhoe, slowly building up excuses to abolish the organization.

“I’m worried about what will happen to Jiikhoe after I graduate next year. Will it be flunked?”

Sung Siwan said it like a joke, but he seemed half-sincere.

He knew how students were treated back when Jiikhoe was yet to be established.

“Students are easily nitpicked. Something like that will be a burden to the community.”

Sung Siwan forced out a laugh.

After consoling the soulless Sung Siwan, Sung Gukeon was lost in thought.

‘I can’t leave the secret association to Siwan.’

Sung Gukeon sighed as he thought of his late grandfather, the former head of the Players’ Association.