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nIt was dinner time after the carnation delivery ceremony.

nThe dinner menu was Korean traditional dishes(Hanjeongsik).

nShiitake mushroom *jeon, pollack jeon, pumpkin jeon, and steamed spicy beef ribs sliced in **gujeolpan.

nThe main dish was Yeolgujatang (悅口子湯), which means broth that pleases the mouth or also known as sinseon-ro.

nJae-ho, the youngest of the siblings was struggling with his bowl, so I helped him.

nSeeing that, the first and second sibling pushed their bowls at me, too.

n*Jeon: a Korean traditional fried dish that looks like a pancake or pizza

n**Gujeolpan: Korean traditional platter that allows nine dishes to be served at once

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n“Can I have more ginkgo nuts and shiitake mushrooms, please…!”

n“I want a lot of shrimp balls please!”

n“Sure. Eat up.”

n“Thank you!”

nThe three were acting unusually more childish today.

nI was told the Silver Tiger’s three siblings made carnations for the entire clan members, so that must be the reason why.

n‘I guess they’re too tired.’

nI took notice of the dished the three siblings liked the most and gave them my share of those dishes. They were delighted.

nJiho Hwang, who was watching us with a twinkle in his eye, but then sort of messed things up.

n“Here.”

nJiho tried to copy what I was doing and handed the youngest, Jae-ho, a bunch of abalone and sea cucumbers.

n‘That kid doesn’t even like seafood.’

nEun Jae-ho looked down at his bowl all teary-eyed, not being able to eat it or throw it away.

nClatter.

n“Oh……”

nWhite Tiger, who was watching the whole scene, silently replaced it with a plate piled with beef ribs.

n“M-Mr. Golden Tiger, Mr. White Tiger. Thank you.”

nEun-ho thanked the two at last, free from the pressure of seafood.

nJiho made a weird expression and White Tiger continued to eat with a cool, indifferent face.

nIt seemed that White Tiger is one level above Jiho at taking care of children.

nOn the way back to the dormitory.

nWhite Tiger and I matched the pace of Olmu, who was walking slowly and carefully.

nOlmu is usually busy running around me and White Tiger, but today she was worried that she’ll drop the paper flower crown on her head.

n‘When she dropped it while running near the front gate, she looked like all hope was lost.’

nOlmu had stopped in her tracks as if someone pressed a pause button.

nShe didn’t move again until Ho-goon Baek put the flower crown back on her head.

nI think the three siblings managed to film that. I’ll have to ask them to send that later.

nAfter a long walk with Olmu and Ho-goon Baek, I came to the dorm building.

nBefore entering the first-grade dormitory building, I put the paper carnation in my item window.

nI thought I could fall asleep in a good mood, but while I was heading to my room, I ran into an unexpected person.

n“……Oh, Vice prez.”

nThe central common room on the 17th floor.

nIt was quite late, but Hyo-don Maeng sat blankly on the couch in the lounge.

nIt was common for the common room to have at least three or four people, reading and watching holograms.

nNow, only Hyo-don was there.

n‘Quite a lot of 2nd and 3rd graders stayed at school but most 1st graders went home. Se-eum Sa-wol also went home, too…… Hyo-don must have a lot on his mind on Parent’s day.’

nThere is still a lawsuit between Hyo-don and his father who sold him.

nMaeng Hyo-don has never brought up a topic about his father since his birthday incident.

nHe didn’t say so, but I was sure he didn’t forget about his father.

n“Wha’cha doin.”

n“Nothin’.”

nI turned around and sat on the sofa opposite Hyo-don.

n“Not going home today?”

n“No, I ended the lease on my house before entering the dormitory, so I have no home.”

n“What are you talking about?”

nI answered Hyo-don’s question too honestly.

nMaybe I shouldn’t have said that.

nI regretted it, but it wasn’t something to hide, so I told him the truth.

n“It’s been a while since my parents and siblings died. If I still had a house, there would be no one to manage it, so I took care of it before coming to live here.”

n“…… Oh, sorry.”

nHyo-don grimaced as if he thought he made a grave mistake.

n“……When was it?”

nMaeng Hyo-don forced his words to try and somehow change the subject in this heavy atmosphere.

nI think it was a mistake when I said, ‘It’s been a while.’

nIt’s old by my standards, but in this world, it was still last fall.

n“Last year.”

nBang!

nIn response to my answer, Hyo-don hit his head on the wall behind the sofa.

nHis stone-hard head will be fine, but I was worried about the dormitory wall.

n“Ah, **…… sorry.”

n“There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

n“Well, sorry anyways!”

nThings got awkward.

nNo people, no conversation.

nI thought of going to the vending machine for a soda, but Hyo-don broke the ice.

n“…… Hey, uh, my lawyer and my teacher said never to contact him, but I don’t know what to do.”

nIt was easy to assume who the person not to contact was.

nHe’s talking about the trash that was sued in multiple lawsuits, the one who sold Hyo-don to the Fight Club, who is now an unemployed debtor.

nHyo-don chose to escape from the fight club, but on the inside, it seems that he has not completely ended his relationship with his father.

n‘Hyo-don is only 17 years old. Even after going through this kind of thing, it would be difficult to break the relationship with his only father at once.’

nHyo-don kept his head pinned on the wall, his gaze towards the ceiling.

n“People say that him paying the price and me just watching him get his chance to change is better for the both of us, but I don’t know.”

nHe is a bastard with no life achievements other than providing the sperm from which Hyo-don was born from.

nOf course I wanted to tell him not to contact him.

n‘But let’s not talk about it to Hyo-don. He won’t contact him anyway.”

nHe said he didn’t know, but Hyo-don didn’t even touch the device.

nHe wasn’t the one who would go against the advice given by Mr. Geun-hyeong or the lawyers who helped him, even if he did hesitate a bit.

nShhh-.

nHe stopped talking, and the only sound that was audible was the air purifier spinning.

nI decided to say anything to change the subject of the conversation as the silence grew.

n“Did you eat?”

n“……No.”

nI was hoping for a taste-appreciating comment by Hyo-don.

nI couldn’t believe Hyo-don, a gourmet foodie who ate all the menus of the dormitory cafeteria, skipped dinner!

nHe must’ve been in serious mental agony.

nIf you’re hungry, you’ll have more useless and destructive thoughts.

nI had to feed him something.

n“Let’s go to the convenience store.”

nInside the elevator going down to the first floor.

nI thought we were going to the first floor right away because there were no people, but it stopped halfway.

n“Hey, those are our classmates.”

n“Huh? Hi……!”

nAs Hyo-don said, there were Lenna Lee and Hanyi.

nThese two also have no home to go back to, so they probably stayed in the dorm, too.

n“We are going to the convenience store. Where are you going?”

n“To take a walk. Lenna’s head hut while she kept refreshing the concert ticket page.”

nLenna seemed to have bogged down in the hope of getting a canceled ticket.

nNow that Jiho and my talk is over, I should quickly free Lenna from her bog.

n“Then let’s go to the convenience store together. If they have a 3 1 deal, let’s share that.”

n“Okay.”

n“Yeah······! It would be nice if the ice cream was on discount.”

nAs we moved to the convenience store outside of the school grounds, I told Lenna that I was likely to have a staff seat available for the concert.

nWhen she heard that, Lenna’s zombie-like face came back to life.

n“Wow, wow! Really? I definitely want to do it!”

n“Good for you, Lenna.”

n“Yeah……!”

nThere was more than one staff job left, so I decided to ask the other kids later.

nHanyi and Hyo-don already said they couldn’t come because they had already had a part-time job on the day of Jae-in Kwon’s performance in Korea.

nThe four of us bought a bunch of triangle kimbap, bread, cookies, and ice cream from the convenience store.

nIn the lobby on the first floor of the first-grade dormitory building, in the unisex common room, we spent time eating snacks until May 8th ended.

nSometime before midnight.

nShin-lok Kim visited Myeong-ho Hwang’s mansion.

n“I’m sorry. I was late because I had something to discuss with the Academic Affairs Officer. Golden Tiger, White Tiger. Did Eui-Shin Cho already go back?”

nPaper carnations were adorned on the collars of the two mythical beings, Golden Tiger and White Tiger, sitting on the living room sofa.

n“Yeah. The talk is over. Eui-shin also returned to the dormitory.”

nGolden Tiger had a playful face.

n‘Is he thinking of ordering me around again?’

nTo Shin-lok, who said in advance that he would not be able to come to this place, Golden Tiger placed a warning saying, ‘Must stop by today’s mansion’.

nSince Golden Tiger has recently been motivated, he had been slightly harsh to the other Tiger clan members.

nThe Tiger clan were delighted with the changes in Golden Tiger but suffered because of the increased workload.

nHis descendant, Shin-lok, also significantly reduced his sleeping time.

n“This is your share of flowers. The siblings fell asleep while waiting for you. They told me to give it to you today.”

nGolden Tiger picked up a paper carnation from the table and handed it to Shin-lok.

nAs Shin-lok got closer to the sofa, he saw the sacred animal and the three descendants of Silver Tiger sleeping on the sofa and rug.

nShin-lok had no idea that there would be carnations for him.

nHe looked astonished as he received the carnation from Golden Tiger.

n“Thank you.”

nHe carefully took the paper flower and held it against his chest.

n“There is also a paper carnation for Red Tiger, and I think it’s best for you to take it to him.”

nShin-lok Kim had changed his identity several times and has been a teacher and lived with humans for several decades.

nHe knew what day it was and what the carnation meant.

nHe didn’t even glance at the carnation remaining on the table.

n“No. I think it would be better if the children gave the flower to Red Tiger themselves.”

n“You really think so?”

n“Yeah. I think so.”

nShin-lok had an unnatural expression as if wearing a mask.

n“I will go back if our business is over. There are materials to be submitted to the National Assembly and Seoul City Council within this week. Golden Tiger, sir, and White Tiger, sir. I will head out.”

nShin-lok gave no time for Golden tiger to speak any further, and after a polite bow, he turned around.

nWhen Shin-lok disappeared outside the mansion, Golden Tiger opened his mouth again.

n“He talked about things I didn’t ask. He must’ve really hated the whole situation.”

nGolden Tiger looked back at White Tiger and continued.

n“Shin-lok and Red Tiger are stupid. Don’t you think so, White Tiger?”

nAs Golden Tiger expected, White Tiger gave no answer.

nOn the weekends, Sang-hoon Yoo, Nam-wook Jang, and I hung out.

n“Hey, why do you look so tired?”

n“I hung out with the dorm kids last night and went to bed late.”

n“Well, Ui-shin. It is important to get adequate sleep in your teenage years. Growth and development are declined and academic ability is declined also. In particular, studies are being conducted that lack of sleep has an effect on the development of psychic skills…”

nEven today, Nam-wook Jang’s nagging was the same.

nWe arrived at the cinema while ignoring Nam-wook.

nThere was a movie that Sang-hoon Yoo wanted to see, so the first schedule is to watch a movie.

nThe movie Yoo Sang-hoon chose was a Hollywood blockbuster in which a Korean star player appeared as a cameo.

nUnlike what was widely advertised on posters, there were only a few words or scenes in which the Korean star player appeared.

nHowever, after the film was over, Sang-hoon mentioned those few scenes over and over.

n‘I guess Sang-hoon was a fan of that player.’

nHe said things like the psychic skill activated just before landing was exquisite, and the shooting form was perfect in the scene of playing basketball with the main character.

nSo Sang-hoon likes that player because he plays basketball.

nThen the topic changed.

n“I heard Sihoo’s far cousin and you are childhood friends. In particular, that cousin’s savior and precious person is your sister….”

n“Childhood friend is bull**.”

nThey’re talking about Won-woo Do.

nSang-hoon interrupted Nam-wook and expressed intense feelings.

n“Has anything bad happened? I only heard compliments about him.”

n“…… I made a completely crazy guy into just a crazy guy.”

nIn the end, I think it’s the same, as either way is crazy.

nSang-hoon scowled horribly as he said that.

nThere seems to be something about Won-woo’s story, but Sang-hoon did not seem to have any intentions to tell.

nNam-wook thought so as well and spoke about something else.

n“Ah, I heard something from Sihoo. I think it would be better to leave time free for the next or next-next weekend.”

n“Why.”

n“I heard that Juorang TC Group will hold a party and give awards for the incident at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on Children’s Day.”

nThey do things like that?

nIf that happens, they will contact the school next week.

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n‘It is highly likely that the main characters will participate. If there is a party, I definitely want to go.’

nAfter we three ate 5 servings of thin-sliced pork belly and *naengmyeon, we had fun in the VR game room.

nPerhaps it was because I haven’t played many games except Player Meister High School.

nAmong the three, I had the lowest wins and Sang-hoon showed the highest.

nWe played until the Nam-wook’s curfew, then promised to meet again and parted ways.

n*Naeng myeon: A Korean traditional noodle. It’s served ice cold, usually. People like to eat it after Korean bbq.

nIt was weekdays again after the weekend.

nThe performance day of the EverLake Team Master Jae-in Kwon arrived.

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