Ex Rank Supporting Role's Replay in a Prestigious School

The wind carrying Acea’s power swooshed over me.

Roar-!

The particles of light in the wind blinded my eyes so I reflexively covered them with my arms.

With each blink, my vision became more and more distorted, and the noise became louder.

After three or four blinks, my surroundings had completely changed.

Whirl-!

I was inside a dark space.

The roaring noise stopped, and only the sound of the wind was faintly heard.

‘What happened.’

I looked around to figure things out.

Right behind me, there was someone glowing softly.

Their face was hidden under a veil, but their smile was elegant.

‘I feel deja vu.’

On April Fool’s Day, the being I met when I used the “Weight of Wealth and Life,” who was wearing a pure white bear skin and stood on the giant scale.

It was similar to the time I met that superior being.

[Hello.]

I heard a sweet but dignified voice.

“Hello.”

[Yes, my priest’s savior is a polite child.]

That someone was satisfied with my greeting.

The upper being who would call me the savior of her priest, and considering this situation, I guessed who she was.

‘It must be Acea who gave Sang-hee her blessing.’

Acea, the goddess of healing, was also the etymology of the word “Panacea”, which means medicine that cures all illness.

The Power of Destiny and Sang-hee’s Gwanglim must have linked me to Acea.

Acea, observing me beyond the veil, spoke.

[Strange. I don’t see where to heal you.]

“Pardon?”

[Were my senses wrong? I borrowed a lot of my priest’s power because you looked sick, but it seems to be in vain. What to do?]

I almost said the words “How should I know.”

I mean, she can’t get an answer through me.

I just wished she would treat Red Tiger.

[Oh, I’ve been asked to tell you something. They want you to use the “loose change” quickly because it has an expiration date.]

Loose change?

When I heard the word, there was one item that came to mind immediately.

“The being who said that, was it……”

[If you have breathing problems, come to my priest without delay.]

There seem to be many beings in this world who just say what they want and disappear, like the white shadow who previously gave me the ‘Anonymous Fate’ through Golden Tiger’s translation of the ancient book.

As soon as I heard her last words, my vision became more and more blurry.

“Ui-shin Cho!”

Roar-!

I could hear Jiho Hwang’s voice mixed with the sound of roaring wind.

‘I’m back.’

Chairman’s Office.

I saw Sang-hee and Red Tiger surrounded by wind, and Jiho coming towards me.

“You’re awake. After being caught in Gwanglim, you lost consciousness for about five seconds.”

According to Jiho, my body remained here and only my spirit was connected with Acea.

‘That was only five seconds?’

It was a short conversation, but it certainly didn’t feel like five seconds.

Perhaps time flies differently when only spirit is connected.

“What happened?”

Jiho Hwang asked, lowering his voice.

Sang-hee was still treating Red Tiger, so I answered in a small voice so as not to interfere, as well.

“The upper being Acea spoke to me. She said I looked sick.”

Jiho’s expression hardened at my words.

“What, you’re sick?”

“No. She said I didn’t have anywhere to heal.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.”

Instead of unfreezing his hard expression, Jiho looked at me with a doubtful look.

I didn’t lie.

I just didn’t tell him something.

Swoom-!

Just then, the light and wind that filled inside the barriers ceased.

Jiho, who had been looking at Red Tiger with anxious eyes all this time, made a relived face.

“Looks like it’s over.”

After the frenzy gale completely stopped.

Sang-hee, with sweat on her forehead, took a breath and looked back at me.

“Ui-shin, are you okay? Acea has never intervened in this way, I’m sorry.”

Sang-hee also sensed an anomaly.

Although she couldn’t do anything about it because she was busy tending to Red Tiger.

“That’s fine. Your Gwanglim is a healing Gwanglim. It’s just like having a health check-up by a superior being. So, how was he?”

All eyes in the Chairman’s room were directed toward Red Tiger.

Red Tiger still couldn’t open his eyes, but his face was clearly better.

“His body was torn into nine pieces inside. Then he used a strong psychic skill in that state, so his psychic wave flows were disrupted too. If he wasn’t an Original, he wouldn’t have made it.”

Jiho glared at Red Tiger with a nasty, furious look.

I think he was angry from remembering what Red Tiger said after coming home in such a messed-up state.

‘I guess Sang-hee found out Red Tiger is an Original clan.’

It was unavoidable because she used a superior being’s power to heal him.

“And in his body was already a strong presence of another higher being, so there were limits to storing the power of Acaea in his body. For now, I think it’s best to rely on the Original clan’s own healing power.”

The other superior being she mentioned was probably god of heavens.

Red Tiger had two restraints from the god of heaven.

It was difficult to borrow the power of another superior to fix him on the spot, it seemed.

“Thank you. How long does he take to get better?”

“I think about a week. I’ve had a few opportunities to heal other Originals before, and it took about that much to heal.”

Sang-hee answered, after thinking a little about his question.

Sang-hee healed other Original clans before?

‘A week. It’s not that long compared to the severity of his injury.’

I was gazing at Red Tiger’s even breaths, lost in thought.

Sang-hee spoke to me, smiling gently.

“Ui-shin, call me again if something happens and you need help. I and the little idiot that lives in my house will be happy to help whenever you need us.”

Little idiot meant Sang-hoon Yoo.

I couldn’t help it this time, but I don’t want to drag them into complicated business.

To change the subject, I thanked her.

“Thank you for coming today, senior Sang-hee Yoo.”

“No problem, it was really nothing. And call me Sang-hee noona. Am I still difficult to you?”

Sang-hee looked downhearted.

Sang-hee only asks juniors who are really close to her to call her noona.

She pretends not to hear anything if someone other than that calls her noona.

‘……What a tight position.

Yoo Sang-hee’s favor was nice, but I wasn’t ready to call high schoolers noona or hyung.

It was terribly awkward, and my conscience kept telling me it was wrong.

But I couldn’t refuse my playable character’s request, especially when she came here and cured Red Tiger at this late hour.

“No, not difficult at all, Sang-hee noona.”

“Yeah! Keep calling me that in the future, too.”

I’ll try, but I wasn’t sure if I could call her noona every time I see her.

After exchanging device codes with Jiho, Sang-hee left the Chairman’s office with his secretary, who was still waiting.

The secretary was going to escort her home.

The only people left in the Chairman’s office were me, Jiho, and Red Tiger.

“So, let’s check the information that Red Tiger brought.”

Jiho looked relaxed after Red Tiger became stable.

Jiho unleashed his power by lifting his finger, the one that had turned red by touching Red Tiger’s forehead.

Paat!

Golden light filled the area around Jiho.

Red smoke rose from his fingertips.

Jiho squinted like a predator, eyeing the red smoke.

I guessed it when Sang-hee Yoo said his insides were torn into 9 pieces…… but Red Tiger was hit by  ‘Sangboshimgeumpa’ (which literally translates into Upper treasure soak gold chop).

Doduk-chunjon was considered one of the three deities of Taoism(a type of religion) along with Wonshi-chunjon and Youngbo-chunjon.

Doduk-chunjon, also known as Taesang-nogun, had a Bagua(8 symbols used in Taoism) cauldron that could melt the strongest metal.

A weapon made in that Bagua cauldron was Sangboshimgeumpa, a steel rake with 9 teeth, made specifically for the general ‘Chunbongwonsu’ of the heavens, Kang-ryup Jeo.

“So he was hit by the head of the Pig clan.”

“You’re right. The name he uses in this lifetime is Kang-ryup Jeo. His Buddhist name is Jeo-ohneung, and his weapon is Sangboshimgeumpa, which that bastard doesn’t deserve to have.”

Kang-ryup Jeo also used the name Jeo-ohneung, but he is most commonly known as Jeopalgyae.

In the 12 zodiac meeting, his username was [I’mI’mJeopalgyae].

“Red Tiger has found their next target.”

The red smoke with the power of Red Tiger floated unsteadily.

“Other-world phenomenon without foreshadowing, Manchester, Bear clan, and Pig clan allied with Bear clan.  It’s not complete yet, but the dots are connecting.”

As the red smoke disappeared, buried in the golden light, Jiho stared at me with twinkling eyes.

“I think the clue caught by Red Tiger connects to the Jamsil Baseball Stadium incident.”

I had no idea what Jiho found out, but now that he had all his powers opened up, his eyes looked like laser beams if he stared at me like that.

“The Pig clan is aiming for the party on board next weekend. The leading clue is the heirs of Juo Group and TC Group. The Jamsil Baseball Stadium incident and the party on board, all of which are attended by the heirs.”

Perhaps ‘The one’ is aiming for the heirs of the two groups.

“Although you, Ui-shin Cho, will know better than me. Are you planning to argue that all of this is still a coincidence?”

I answered, unashamed.

“It’s a coincidence.”

I could tell he did not believe me at all.

It was my intention to be involved in the Jamsil Baseball Stadium incident, but it is a coincidence that at this point, I was involved with the party on board.

‘There was something similar to the party on board, one of the main events in the game.’

If the events that will happen in the future and the gimmicks in the game story do not change significantly, there is always a solution.

“Finding evidence to make you come clean is for next time. There’s something more important now.”

Jiho’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“I will tear the heart of the pig that made Red Tiger like this into 9 pieces, no, more than that.”

*    *    *

When I returned to Myeong-ho Hwang’s mansion, Ho-gun Baek and Olmu were waiting in front of the front door.

The blood of Red Tiger was nowhere to be seen, so Ho-gun must have cleaned it.

‘Did the two keep waiting here?’

Ho-gun asked about Red Tiger in a cold voice and expression.

He didn’t look scary at all due to Olmu in his arms.

“Golden Tiger. What about Red Tiger?”

“He’s fine. He’ll be fine in about a week or so.”

Jiho said, pointing to Red Tiger that was floating in the air with magic.

Ho-gun’s eyes, staring at Red Tiger, was nonchalant, but its coldness was worse than usual.

Arf-arf……!

Olmu barked cutely, worried about Red Tiger also.

“It’s too late to sleep. I’ll move Red Tiger and come back. Ui-shin, White Tiger, wait in the parlor. Let’s talk about it over tea.”

At Jiho’s suggestion, White Tiger and I nodded.

The tea prepared by Jiho was second flush Darjeeling harvested around May, and the refreshment was Cherry almond tiramisu.

We talked about the incident in the parlor over tea, and soon it was past sunrise.

In the end, it was day two without sleep.

*    *    *

Sunday evening.

“It was really fun. Thank you! Ui-shin hyung!”

“Come again, Ui-shin oppa!”

“We’ll wait for you!”

Silver Tiger’s descendants saw me off.

We decided to keep it a secret that Red Tiger was injured and was being treated in this mansion as a secret to the three siblings.

Whimper…….

On the way back to the dorm, Olmu tried to pick a leash to join me.

I gave her too many leashes to choose from, so she was having a hard time.

So she just asked me to choose instead of her.

My Olmu asked for it, so of course I had to pick it.

Bark bark!

I picked a white leather leash and put it on her myself, and Olmu loved it, smiling brightly.

All of my exhaustion went away.

Walking with Olmu got rid of all my exhaustion and worries, but I had to keep thinking.

‘There was a lot going on overnight.’

Injury of Red Tiger.

The Power of Destiny activated, mixed with the power of Acea.

The loose change and my breath Acea mentioned.

The head of the Pig clan, Jeopalgyae Kang-ryup Jeo.

The next target of the Pig clan, the on-board party.

The heirs of Juo and TC group.

There was a lot to think about.

‘There are two things I worry about the most.’

First, Jiho Hwang’s reaction.

Jiho was shocked enough to say that he was stupid when he saw Red Tiger’s injury.

He wanted to kill Kang-ryup Jeo so bad.

‘Jiho is sincerely worried about Red Tiger, and he wants revenge.’

If this is Jiho’s real feelings, why didn’t he do anything when Red Tiger died in the game?

‘Even if he was indifferent to the world, he didn’t do anything even when his friend died? Strange.’

Jiho made frequent appearances after Suhyuk Joo became a second-year.

When he started to observe him as classmates in second-grade class 0.

Thus, the year after Red Tiger died.

‘Although he basically threw away school operation, company operation, and clan operation, he would’ve wanted to get revenge. ‘Observing Suhyuk because he is interesting’ may not be the sole reason for his behavior.’

A little investigation will tell you that Red Tiger was close to the main character gang, and Suhyuk.

He might have been interested in Suhyuk, but he may have sent one of his avatars to find clues for revenge.

If you assume that, there is another unanswered thing left.

‘Why did Jiho, who joined Suhyuk, not appear beyond a certain point?’

There’s something I don’t know.

I continued thinking.

‘Also, this may have nothing to do with the story, but······ It just hangs in my mind.’

The second concerning thing.

It was a golden opportunity to solve it.

“I have a question.”

Ho-gun, walking with Olmu’s leash in his hand, looked down at me.

“I want to hear about the ‘accident’ that Shin-lok Kim caused many years ago.”