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nThe nation’s worst game ever, Player Meister High, was well known for its delicate portrayal of the characters’ facial expressions.

nThe title hero, Suhyuk Joo, was rich in emotional expression among many characters, but outside, he only smiled as the heir of a prestigious conglomerate, always prone to media exposure.

nEven in times of crisis, Suhyuk Joo never lost his smile to reassure his comrades.

nHowever, there was one thing that made him lose the smile.

nIt was related to Dain An.

n‘That was the stupidest look that Suhyuk Joo could make. He had that face when Suhyuk and Dain’s personal toxic fans, who they got after clearing Other-worlds, had such a big fight they grabbed each other’s hair in Gwanghwamun square.’

nEven that dull, stupid face had received hot reviews among some fans, like “his eyes are full of despair” and “It makes my heart so lonely.”

nGotta admit, they weren’t wrong.

nOur title hero, “face genius” Suhyuk made those cringy reviews feel like they were the truth.

n‘Anyway, he is for sure struggling with Dain problems right now.’

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nI approached Suhyuk with a level of certainty that a super hardcore player of this game should have.

n“Wassup? Classes are about to start.”

n“Oh, Ui-shin.”

nSuhyuk responded slowly.

nUsually, he would’ve sensed I was coming and said hello before I came to him.

n‘Is it more serious than I thought it was?’

nSuhyuk’s expression and reaction made it likely that he had a problem that was not easy to solve and was related to Dain.

n“Nothing. Just needed fresh air.”

n“Had lunch yet?”

n“……No.”

nWas the problem so serious he skipped lunch?

nWas he here sulking for the entire lunchtime?

nI looked back at the possible conflicts between Suhyuk and Dain in my head.

nBefore I could make a hypothesis, Suhyuk opened his mouth.

n“Ui-shin, are…… you coming to that party on board?”

nThe problem must be related to that party.

nWhen I nodded, Suhyuk sighed.

n“There may be strange rumors between Hyeji noona and me.”

nWhen I heard Suhyuk, I came to my senses.

n‘Yeah, that must have been what happened!’

nIn the game, there was a story about the marriage and engagement between Joo and the Oh family to stabilize the Juo group.

nThe Juo Group began with the co-establishment of the Joo family and the Oh family.

nThe chairman was always from the Joo family, but many Ohs were presidents of the major affiliates and foundations.

n‘Then they had a falling-out and went to the brink of disbanding the Juo group.’

nThe fight between the two houses, aka “Juo’s war,” sent Juo’s stock price plummeting.

nDue to the bottom-breaking stock price, all kinds of psychic battles flooded at the general meeting of stockholders, and protests continued in front of the group’s headquarters.

nThere was even a ridiculous rumor that shareholders hired professional foreign players specializing in assassinations, saying that they’d kill the Juo group and die along with them.

nThe Ju and Oh family were driven into a state of disaster.

nIn the end, shareholders and public criticism managed to push them to reconciliation.

n‘They would have decided to solidify the relationship between the two families by establishing an in-law relationship in the wake of the Juo war.’

nThe victims of this decision were Suhyuk’s second cousin and Hyeji Oh’s sister, Hyejung.

nHowever, this ended when Hyejung rebelled and ran away on the day of the engagement ceremony.

nA male and female that are about the same age and was directly related to the company’s chair.

nThe only ones who currently met this criteria were Suhyuk Joo and Hyeji Oh.

n‘In the game, due to the Jamsil Baseball Stadium incident in May, the engagement couldn’t happen. Then Hyeji Oh died before Suhyuk was in his second year, so the engagement got canceled.’

nThe incident at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on Children’s Day was complete.

nThat’s why the engagement is still going on.

n‘Suhyuk’s second cousin and Hyejung Oh was described as young adults in their early 20s. Maybe they decided to hurry the engagement to lay hold of Hyeji after they saw Hyejung run away.’

nSuhyuk’s heart was only for Dain.

nHyeji Oh considers Suhyuk to be his close brother.

nIf they force them together, all they will get is one unhappy couple.

n‘They were both my playable characters. I can’t let them be unhappy.’

nIn the worst scenario, I will pull a “Hyejung Oh” that is even crazier than the original one and escape with all of them.

n“You’re talking about the head of the student guidance department, aren’t you? I won’t believe the rumors, even if I hear one.”

n“Okay……”

nThat was very halfhearted.

nAccording to the game’s worldview, Suhyuk was the most awesome character in the world, but when it comes to Dain, he completely loses his confidence and falls into negative thoughts.

nIf he was so anxious, he could’ve made an excuse- for example, the book again- to go see Dain, but nope, he was sulking and suffering all by himself.

nMy playable character’s pure love was very… unique.

nI should help this guy change his mood.

n“So, I’m skipping class to so somewhere. Wanna come with?”

nSuhyuk was a perfect student, so he never experienced skipping class to have fun.

nSuhyuk hesitated at first but nodded when hyo-don’s name came up.

n* * *

nAt the end of lunch, First-grade class 0’s classroom.

nIt was empty because all the students have gone to their selected classes.

nWhoosh-.

n“Hey, vice prez. Why did you call me? Class is starting.”

nThe automatic door of the classroom opened and Hyo-don appeared.

nI entered the password of his locker installed in the back of the classroom without answering.

n“Uh, that’s my locker……”

nBeep beep beep-!

nInside Hyo-don’s locker.

nI saw a pile of textbooks and a crumpled gym suit.

nOn top of a pile of textbooks that were on the verge of collapsing, there was a basket of carnation flowers with a bunch of math symbols glued to it.

n“Change your locker password. Why is it still 0000, the password assigned on the day we got our lockers?”

n“What’chu doin’ opening someone else’s locker?!”

nI knew his behavior patterns.

nHe wouldn’t change the password just because I found out. It was too much of a work for him.

nHyodon will keep his password as 0000 until he graduates.

n“Let’s go.”

n“Go where, man? Leave that and ** off.”

nIf I really left this, this basket of carnations will never be delivered to Hyo-don’s middle school teacher.

nHow pathetic, not being able to man up even after he went flower shopping all night, which he hated every moment of.

n“If you want it back, come and get it.”

nI shook the basket of flowers as if to taunt him.

nThen,

nThump thump-!

nI sprinted out of the classroom as fast as I could.

nHyo-don did not respond quickly to the situation.

nHe blurted out something, but it was too late.

n“What? Vice prez, you crazy bitch! Stop acting like a **ing child!”

nThe mischief and bullying in the classroom of an elementary school.

ngrabbing people’s things and running off.

nI was doing that now.

n“Oh you BETTER get over here!”

nHyo-don started running.

nObviously, I started first, but he was catching up fast.

n‘His physical abilities are like Hulk.’

nWell, then, I’d better use a more Hulk-like skill, Gwanglim.

n〈Gwanglim, use ‘player’s trajectory’.〉

nThe character I used was a grown version of Green Min.

nThere were only a few playable characters with better leg strength than Green.

n〈Use the character’s skill, ‘Sprinter’.〉

nIn addition to that, I used another skill to increase my speed for a short time, a skill which Yuri Kim also had, and distanced myself with Hyo-don.

n“Ah **. You’re too fast! You used skills, didn’t you!”

nHyo-don, who was chasing me without any use of skills, did not seem out of breath.

nIf it hadn’t been for the Gwanglim, I would have been caught.

nWhile the Sprinter skill was activated, I was able to check my device message.

nSeeing me running away and still having time to check my device, Hyo-don was furiously screaming again like a maniac.

n“Seriously! I’m going to kill you!”

nThe first message came from Saeron Moon.

nSaeron Moon Yeah, I know that because of the interview I did the other day!

nSaeron Moon Sent you the coordinates! Fighting! (fighting is a term used in Korea that means ‘go for it!’, ‘I’m rooting for you!’, or ‘pull a leg!’ etc)

nSaeron always has the information.

nAs Player’s Meister High’s best information source, she is quick at it, too.

nI copied the coordinates and sent them to Suhyuk, who answered immediately.

nSuhyuk Joo got it. meet you at the front gate!

nWe were moving so fast that we arrived at the front gate in an instant.

nWhen the white clock tower came into sight, I lifted my Gwanglim powers and started running on my own.

nThe distance between us narrowed.

nI dove into the rear door of the vehicle which was waiting in front of the front gate.

nHyo-don followed me in and reached for the handle of the carnation basket.

n“Gotcha!”

nI handed over the basket of carnation flowers to Hyo-don without further resistance.

nSwoosh-!

nClick.

n“……Huh?”

nWhen Hyo-don looked back, the door of the unmanned air taxi was already closed automatically.

nThen at last he noticed something was strange.

nBut guess what? Too late.

n“Let’s go.”

n“Nope! Ui-shin, Hyo-don. “Seatbelts!”

n“Hey, vice prez, Suhyuk Joo! What the hell!”

nSuhyuk, who was sitting inside already, manipulated the button, and the air taxi rose into the sky.

nVroom-!

nThe landscape out the window changed rapidly, and Hyo-don looked at us ridiculously.

n“Hey! What are you doing? Y’all need to get to class!”

n“Nope! I decided to skip class with Ui-shin today. It’s more fun than I thought! Would you like a cream cheese caramel pretzel? It’s sold in the unmanned air taxi, and it’s delicious.”

n“Vice prez is a bad influence on this dude. Tell me where we’re going!”

nSuhyuk was excited about skipping class for the first time ever.

nHyo-don looked at us in bewilderment, saw us with our seatbelt on, then put on his seatbelt also.

nI checked his seatbelt and told him.

n“The middle school you graduated from.”

nThe destination of the air taxi was marked with the coordinates of Hyo-don’s middle school, “Tanrae Middle School,” which Saeron kindly informed us.

n* * *

nShinwol-dong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul.

nTeam EverLake’s building, near West Seoul Lake Park.

nThe top floor with a view of West Seoul Lake Park.

nScreech- squeak! Screech! Scritch!

nA noise was heard, like a violin screaming in pure agony.

nThe source of the noise was a psychic-made blue violin held by EverLake Team master Jae-in Kwon.

n“Jae-in, stop! Stop putting your noble, incredible talent to waste! This is self torture, an artistic suicide!”

nJared Lee kneelt down behind Jae-in, was speaking distorted Korean.

nEven at Jared Lee’s pleas, the eerie noise didn’t stop.

n“Shut up, Team sub master. This is all because of you!”

n“That’s right, shut up. If you’re a true fan of Jae-in, you, you······ have to accept even the noise that disgraces Jane’s musicality!”

n“If you keep listening, that sorrowful and painful melody isn’t that bad. Our Jae-in is showing her genius talent by expressing her emotions with sound today, as well.”

n“Playing or not playing, shouldn’t she eat something before she passes out? She hasn’t had a sip of water since she went to Seokchon Lake.”

n“It’s not just Jared, but it’s also because of what that **ing butterfly said to her……!”

n“The team Doctor is waiting outside, ready with recovery items and a bed just in case she does faint.”

nThe executive members of team EverLake were on pins and needles behind Jae-in.

nJae-in stopped playing, peering down at Jared with a pale face.

nHer blue eyes were full of agony.

n“Jared……”

n“Jae-in, I’m so sorry! This is all my fault!”

nAfter telling her everything that happened, Jared Lee apologized without making any excuses.

nHowever, Jae-in did not think it was Jared Lee’s fault in the slightest.

nIt was herself that she could not forgive.

n“No, you did nothing wrong. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have left it entirely to you, I should have done it myself. I’m sorry you got caught up in this.”

n“Jaaaaeeeiiin! Please don’t apologize!”

nJared Lee felt even more remorse at Jae-in’s attitude.

n“Sorry, I want to be alone.”

n“If you promise to eat more than one meal today, we’ll go out.”

nThe youngest of the EverLake team executives, but also the longest member next to Jared, said.

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nAt those words, everybody, including Jared, agreed.

nJae-in nodded, feeling guilty again, thinking that she worried her teammates.

n“All right.”

nAt her word, the team executives went out in relief.

nJared, who couldn’t move because of a cramp in his foot, was dragged out of the practice room.

nJae-in placed the blue violin on the table, called out an address book that had been hidden from the device, and made a call.

nBefore two rings, someone at the end of the line answered right away.

n“There’s a student in first grade class 0 of Eun-kwang High I want to investigate. One…… No, two people. Their names are……”

nJae-in spoke the names of the two juniors and proceeded to end the call.

n“That’s all I need. Thanks, Mr. Clever.”

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