EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school

The impression looked quite intimidating as they approached us wearing their team uniforms, but I immediately recognized some people.

‘Those guys are the ones who came to catch Jang Namwook and Do Sihoo before.’

These guys were the ones on Gari Mountain where Painter Hong Kyungbok lived and where an incident with Do Sihoo occurred.

Everyone on that day in Gari Mountain seemed to be here, except for Jang Namwook and Do Sihoo.

‘I should say hi at least.’

I can’t stay long to chat because I don’t have much time.

I made eye contact with one of them.

“…!”

As soon as the military cadets saw us, the sound of soldiers marching the floor resonated through the area.

They rushed and stood in front of us.

The cadets stood in a straight line and saluted with their right hands raised at an angle.

The object of the salute was Painter Hong Kyungbok.

“Pa! Jeok!”

The cadets shouted in a loud voice a salute slogan used by military units consisting of players.

The salute literally means “Destroy the Enemy!”

The regular Korean military units usually say “loyalty”, and “victory”, but the commanders usually have discretion on what various salute slogans they could use, depending on the unit.

The biggest goal of players belonging to the military was to defeat enemies, so that was the slogan that they use.

‘So the “jeok” in their salute was a placeholder for otherworld enemies?’

It took quite some time after the first otherworld occurrence before people settled on what to call the entities that came from them.

Some people call them enemies, some called them monsters, modified bodies, otherworld creatures, etc.

At first, most people used the term “monsters”, but eventually, the word “enemy” was adopted worldwide.

Some enemies actually look human-like, or some were even beautiful in appearance.

It was the opinion of the government and experts that the word “monster” doesn’t really fit the appearance of some enemies.

‘The National Institute of Korean Language once tried to campaign to change the term to “outside foe” but they failed.’

(T/N: In the novel, the word “enemy” is phonetically written in Korean. This means that the institute tried to create a non-English Korean translation of the word.)

It meant to refer to the entities as “outsiders” who tried to invade Korea, but their campaign failed because the word “enemy” was already being used by everyone.

And technically, there were “outside foes” mentioned in the Gaechon myth that do not refer to the otherworld enemies, so it’s actually a good thing that the campaign failed.

“Salute.”

Painter Hong Kyungbok and Im Yeonhwa responded to the salute with an even sharper attitude than the cadets.

Painter Hong Kyungbok once volunteered to join the military, and Im Yeonhwa was a senior who graduated from the military academy’s high school.

As soon as Painter Hong Kyungbok lowered his hand, the cadets followed suit.

Painter Hong Kyungbok looked into the faces of the cadets one by one and asked if they remembered the cadets who beat up Do Sihoo at Gari Mountain.

“I see. Those were the kids. But where are Namwook and Sihoo?”

“Namwook will be called up as our jockey cheering squad leader and he’ll be entering with the military band. Sihoo is with the team that will play today. They’ll be entering separately.”

Painter Hong Kyungbok smiled kindly at the cadet’s answer and proceeded to give them a pep talk.

After hearing all the good words, the cadets thanked him in unison.

“We owe you a lot since back then. Thank you so much!”

It seems that Painter Hong Kyungbok did more than serve tea to the cadets back then.

‘Is it because Jang Namwook was taken to the disciplinary room during the incident with Do Sihoo?’

At that time, Hong Kyungbok summoned the 3 Stars and rescued Jang Namwook.

Im Yeonhwa has no idea what happened back then, but she didn’t ask anything and just pretended that she wasn’t listening.

After the short conversation with the painter, some of the cadets greeted and talked to Im Yeonhwa directly.

I heard them saying the words “strong cadet”.

The legend of Im Yeonhwa, a strong cadet who evolved into a strong teacher, seems to be passed down to the cadets.

‘Come to think of it, why did the military let go of someone as talented as Im Yeonhwa? Did something happen?’

A cadet belonging to the high school of the Player Military Academy is treated as a quasi-military and is commissioned as soon as they become an adult.

At that time, there was a lot of talk about unconventional measures being put forward by the government in relation to other worlds and enemies.

In particular, the activities of the young cadets of the Player Military Academy and the other graduates were made into big dramas.

Although school days are painful and they are sent on dangerous missions, the career path is wider for high school students who graduated with high grades.

Im Yeonhwa chose to become a teacher at Eungwang High, filing only the mandatory service period required by the military.

“Well then, I’ll be heading off first.”

I decided to leave first.

Im Yeonhwa’s story is intriguing, but I have something else to focus on right now.

It was harder than I thought to move naturally inside the Eungwang Stadium without using my abilities.

The main stadium alone was more than 20,000 square meters in area.

Pretending to walk in the shade and through the aisles in a discreet manner, I finally reached my destination.

‘So this is the central control room.’

Central control room, located at the highest point of the Eungwang Stadium.

This place controls the main and auxiliary electric boards of the stadium and is in charge of video transmissions and announcements.

Across the window, I could see the holograms which were set to be projected to the whole stadium.

I can also see a figure who seemed to be a soldier belonging to the Public Affairs Office of the Player Military Academy.

I opened the door as soon as I approached it.

The stadium management staff talked to me as soon as I came in.

“Students aren’t allowed in here.”

The person spoke kindly, but the moment I saw their face, I felt my spine freeze.

‘This guy’s not a staff member…!’

Last weekend, I received a list of all the staff members for this event.

I memorized all their names and faces.

Every single one, including on-site management personnel, bodyguards, broadcasting staff, cleaning service workers, and contract workers.

And the man in front of me right now…

He wasn’t on that list.

Nevertheless, he was shamelessly working in the central control room with a fake staff nametag.

‘I thought it was most likely that the intruder would pretend to be an audience member. They’re bolder than I thought. Are they that confident that they’d be able to control the information that would come out?’

No matter how much care is put into security measures, it’s difficult to prevent the infiltration from the Demon Race at such a large event.

There’s no confirmation yet, but it’s possible that this guy is an Avaritia’s priest who’s set to control Do Sihoo.

I calmly showed my ID to the man.

“Hello. I am Jo Euishin from Eungwang High’s newspaper department. Can I ask to take a photo of you and film an interview with you?”

“I can’t easily allow that since it hasn’t been scheduled in advance. I’ll agree to the interview, but since the opening ceremony is in a few minutes, can we do it later?”

No matter how much I look at him, he really does seem like an ordinary staff who’s only doing his job.

Even in the game, those in the Demon Race are extremely good at impersonating people.

‘Because of the seeds planted by this demon, my playable character is…!’

I gritted my teeth as I remembered the reason why Jegal died in the game.

But I can’t act recklessly right now.

Just like how this demon is pretending to be a normal human, I’ll pretend to be a kind student who has nothing to hide.

“Sure. Thank you.”

I backed down and didn’t say anything other than that.

I need to look around all major facilities before the opening ceremony begins.

‘What luck. I found the Avaritia’s priest right away. It’s unlikely that two demons would intervene today, but I still have to look around. Ah, I should call Jiho first…’

I turned my back and headed to the players’ entrance pit and waiting room.

I sent a message to Jiho while I was walking.

That’s when…

“Hello, Euishin. Are you covering for today’s event?”

It was my playable character.

“Hello. I’m just taking pictures right now.”

“Is that so? …Are you super busy?”

I shut off my device while my playable character hesitated to ask.

It seems that Yeom Junyeol has something to say.

“Yeom Junyeol sunbaenim…?”

Yeom Junyeol was wearing a semi-formal suit instead of a school uniform.

He had his hair pulled back and looked as if there was scheduled filming in this place.

He looked around, making sure that no one was watching.

‘…Come to think of it, why is Yeom Junyeol in such a deserted place alone? Is his ‘stifling the presence’ skill this good already?’

I felt quite proud as his teacher.

Yeom Junyeol started to speak after thoroughly confirming that there wasn’t anyone who could overhear us.

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

“Alright, please go ahead.”

Just as I was feeling proud of my student’s achievement, his next words did huge damage to me.

“Do you know the Red Wall Thief?”

Why is “that word” coming up now?

* * *

Player armies had training centers all over the country for smooth mission performance.

It wasn’t to defend a fixed place like a country’s border but to deal with otherworld enemies that might appear anytime and anywhere.

There is a training center in Eungwang District so the team of the military academy stayed there during the weekend in preparation for the exchange match.

Hours before the opening ceremony, Do Sihoo came to his senses.

‘Where am I? …Oh, it’s the training center.’

Do Sihoo’s memory has been bad lately.

The results of his examinations all come back as normal, but Do Sihoo himself suspects that something isn’t right.

The feeling of being unable to control his energy wave, or feeling like he doesn’t have any at all, fuels that suspicion.

‘I should’ve asked my dad for a separate checkup.’

Currently, it is difficult for Do Sihoo to be checked in a general hospital without permission from his superiors.

It’s a different story though if he were outside of the military area and he absolutely needs to be rushed to a civilian hospital.

Do Sihoo plans to contact his family as soon as the sports exchange match ends.

“Sihoo, are you okay?”

Jang Namwook, who was the representative of the cheering squad today, spoke to Do Sihoo.

Since the incident at the dormitory rooftop where Do Sihoo was suspected to have sleepwalked, Jang Namwook has been worried a lot about him.

On top of that, his worries are intensified by the increased frequency of those strange occurrences.

Do Sihoo bluffed to ease Jang Namwook’s worries.

“Of course I’m okay!”

Do Sihoo thought that he managed to make his voice sound bright, but Jang Namwook’s darkened expression says otherwise.

It seemed that the starlight-like shine behind Jang Namwook’s eyes was flickering and almost extinguished.