EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school - Chapter 10
Translator: Hong | Editor: Darling, Aira
Players in South Korea can start using their light skill once they turn seventeen.
However, when the collision between otherworlds occurred, here had been several decades when there was no legal age limit for players.
However, since players’ light skills usually go against all laws of physics, logic, and sense, it’s surely a difficult thing to handle for young minds and ungrown bodies.
There had been cases, both small and big, caused by an underage players using their light skill.
There had been propositions to enforce regulative laws on players’ light skills, but the lawmakers were passive for most of the years.
And then, approximately 30 years ago.
The now-abandoned Segu primary school in Gangwon province.
Three classes were caught up in students’ light skills going out of control.
The press went ballistic and the government and national assembly were heavily criticized for their failuet to establish safeguards and policies.
That was how the restriction or age limit on players’ use of light skill, ‘The Segu Primary lLaw.’
This law restricted those under the age of 17 from using their light skill.
From then on, it was legalized to implant chips invented by the Players’ Association.
The chip acts as a ‘seal’ that prevents players from using their light skill.
And now.
1st January.
I turn 17 in this world and I was authorized to use my light skill..
‘The seal is gone.’
The seal that I had in my left wrist, marked by a red semicirle the size of a thumbnail, had disappeared.
As soon as the seal was gone, it was as if my body immediately knew what light skill I had.
<A miracles takes the form of light and descends on the body>
‘It’s the exact same description as what Baekho-gun mentioned in the game….!’
I could instinctively sense what my light skill was.
Along with that, I think my body knows exactly how to use it.
<Using light skill, ‘Player Identity’>
Hundreds, or even thousands, of multicolored cards flooded out of my body.
As soon as I saw the face of the cards, I doubted my senses.
‘My playable characters….!’
The cards had the characters I farmed and used in the game for the last ten years.
It was the exact same thing shown in the game whenever I had to choose a character to use for a quest.
All the characters in the game’s launch screen were before my eyes.
The hero and heroine of the game.
The many characters that played minor roles.
The extras that appeared once or twice before they died.
And the character that I had until the very end, Baekho-gun.
After scrolling through the cards, I opened up the menu to read the detailed description of my light skill.
<Viewing skill details of Light Skill ‘Player Identity’>
[Player Identity]
Reproduces the future from the game dimension.
The explanation of my light skill tells me that I can assume the attributes of my playable characters from any point in the game.
One character had several cards reflecting their abilities from different points in the game.
Baekho-gun, for example, had more than ten character cards.
And….
‘This is Sanghee’s card…’
It showed her in the form of an evil slayer after she had made a deal with the Goddess of Revenge.
‘All that’s shown here is my player history.;
The future where Sanghee became a vengeful spirit was gone.
In this world, the biggest evil warrior Sanghee card I had was considered as a different world’s possibility and record.
Card after card.
Various emotions passed over me as I went through the various character cards.
‘This card I used when I just graduated high school, this card I used when I was in the army, this I used when I was preparing for work….’
I’ve played this game for ten years.
There were happy times, and hard times all shared with these playable characters.
The growth of my playable characters often consoled me and motivated me to grow as well.
My game history and records.
They shined like stars in front of my eyes.
I stared at the cards for a long time.
In the game’s ending, all the playable characters of this game died.
Of course, that means all the characters contained in these cards were dead.
‘I had even continued to grow the potential powers of the dead characters.’
I used to raise these characters using free battles and free quests.
Deep in my heart, I was expecting the cliche plot twist in most stories — that the characters I thought were dead were actually alive.
In the game, it was impossible to use the dead characters in story mode, but it was still possible to grow them outside of it.
I, the PMH fanatic, had used every character and grown all of them without throwing them away.
‘Let’s achieve a good ending this time.’
As though in reply. the character cards shined brightly.
‘Let’s do this!’
The first card I chose was of course my main playable character, Baekho-gun.
Out of the various cards for Baekho-gun, I chose his final form where his debuffs were already gone.
But before I used the card…
I noticed the description written on the bottom part.
[Usable for 3 seconds]
“What am I supposed to do with three seconds!”
Cards with excessive power had a limited usage period.
***
1st Jan 12:09 am
I left the house.
The sharp wind felt like it was cutting through my body.
‘I’ll freeze to death at this point.’
I dressed a little thinly in consideration of what I had to do today, but now that I was outside, it felt like I was walking through ice.
It made me want to return home right away, but there were things I had to do today.
The moment I obtained my light skill, I told myself that I will use it multiple times.
‘I considered borrowing Hwangho’s or Hong Gyubin’s power at one point. I’m glad it isn’t a cumbersome process.’
The Player Identity skill was a piece better than I expected.
Now it was time to use that piece to make my next move.
‘It’s like volunteering to jump into hell.’
I still feel chills on my spine when I think about my encounter with that Rhinoceron enemy.
It was an entirely different experience from safely tapping options on my smartphone.
‘I was a disabled person beyond the screen of my smartphone. Will I be able to do well?
Sigh~~
As I sighed into the air, the foggy water vapor scattered in the night sky and blocked my vision.
Ding Dong.
A notification sounded from my wearable device.
The notification was from the group message room with Yoo Sanghoon and Jang Namwook.
I had been busy since I gained my light skill so there was a backlog of unread messages.
[Namwook] Eushin-ah, Sanghoon-ah. Happy New Year. Even though I am going to a different high school let’s keep in touch and meet up often. Looking forward to another good year ahead.
[Sanghoon] HNY.
[Namwook] Sanghoon if you’re lazy to type, just send a voice message or a sticker.
[Sanghoon] K
[Namwook] ….Forget it. Fine. It’s cold today so careful not to catch a cold.
[Sanghoon] K
I stopped walking and stared at the message screen.
Then I moved my fingers and typed a message.
[Me] HNY
I sent the message and laughed.
I knew that Namwook would nag and Sanghoon would send a short reply like ‘LOL’.
Even though it wasn’t much, the messages seemed to make the air a little warmer.
I turned my device notification and GPS off and started running.
<Using light skill Player Identity.>
The character I selected was my playable character, a member of the student council and incoming third-year student from Eungwang High — Flash in the Dark Oh Hyeji.
<Using character’s light skill, Moon’s Skanda .>
This light skill dramatically increases the leap skill and movement speed, its intensity determined by the moon’s visibility.
Within the game community, this light skill had been dismissed as trash compared to other characters’ light skills.
Still, there were certain times when this light skill was extremely useful.
‘I need to use a character card that would save me time and energy.’
Fortunately, there was a supermoon high up in the sky tonight.
In the blink of an eye, my body was absorbed into the night sky.
* * *
A New Years Party at a convention center in Yeouido.
With the night sky and the Han river in the background, the structure of the building was greatly emphasized.
Each floor of the internal structure was around 500 pyeong.
(T/N: A pyeong is equivalent to 35.58 square feet.)
Approximately a thousand people attended the party, and there were more than 100 security guards dispatched.
I looked at the area around the convention center.
The stationed security guards moved in teams of three and reported once every 10 minutes through their earpieces.
‘The security is tight. It’ll be difficult to infiltrate.’
Even though there was a good character I could use to infiltrate, it wouldn’t be very efficient.
The problem was whether I would have enough time to escape if I use this character now.
‘This is why I prepared another option.’
I headed straight to the main entrance.
“Good evening, please excuse me. May I see your invitation?”
I stopped in my tracks.
I was suited up in a tuxedo, but it was obvious that I was just a kid.
Even so, the security guard spoke to me with respect.
‘The sons and daughters of some high flyers must be here.’
I looked at the guard with a thick-face as I pretended to feign ignorance.
“Invitation?”
“Yes, this is an invite-only—”
“Wait!”
The guard standing next to him seemed to recognize me and stepped in.
“This student, he’s the famous…!”
He looked like he wanted to ask me for an autograph right then and there
.
“He’s the son of the infamous Red King Yeom Bangyeol…He’s Little Hongryong Yeom Junyeol!”
(T/N: Hongryong translates to “red dragon”)
I smiled at the guard who recognized me.
My appearance was now of one of my playable characters, Little Hongryong Yeom Junyeol.
The Red Lion Team was one of the famous teams that deals with otherworlds.
He is the Red Lion’s team master, Red King Yeom Bangyeol’s only son.
Yeom Junyeol is an incoming second-year student at Eungwang High, and is known for his looks as a young noble and his grand light skill.
With the guidance of his father, Yeom Junyeol became a star player as soon as he started learning how to deal with otherworlds.
My skill Player Identity perfectly replicated Yeom Junyeol’s physical appearance.
‘Yeom Jun Yeol hated the adjective ‘small’ that PlayerSAT-K had added to his alias.’
The word “small” was Yeom Junyeol’s trigger.
To call him the “Small Hongryong” was equivalent to asking him for a fight.
Now was the time to act aggressively.
I imitated Yeom Junyeol’s crankiness which I knew well from the game.
“Small Hongryong?”
“…..Ah! I-I apologize, Red Dragon sir! You look much more mature than you seem on TV!”
That was true.
Yeom’s current age was 18.
But the character card I chose from my light skill was Yeom Junyeol when he was 19 years old.
To be more accurate it was Yeom who had died at 19 in the storyline and whose power I had continued to grow.
I decided to continue acting thick-skinned.
“Do you still want to see if I have an invitation?”
The guard seemed taken aback by my fierce attitude.
“Please excuse my…my manners. Red dragon, sir! Could I verify your player identification or student id at least….you see, there are cases of people imitating famous players.”
<Using character’s light skill, Summoning Hongryong.>
Instead of replying with my words, I spread my hands into the air and summoned Hongryong.
Fwahhh!
A space appeared between my hands and the dragon’s head soon appeared.
Light skills are special and cannot be imitated, therefore, the presence of Hongryong should be enough to identify that I was undoubtedly Yeom Junyeol.
“Is this something others can imitate…?”
“I apologize!”
The security guard pressed his earring-type wearable device with one hand and reported what was going on.
“….Yes, this is the main entrance. Hongryong Yeom Junyeol-nim is here….ah, alone….yes….yes…”
Of course they would suspect Yeom Junyeol’s sudden appearance.
But having Yeom Junyeol here would open a door to a vast network, an opportunity too tempting to pass up.
‘They will try to seize this opportunity any way they can.’
If it was Yeom Junyeol who went here alone, he could be captured by these people in a flash.
They might even consider using him as a hostage, or use his participation at this ‘event’ to his disadvantage.
I was confident that the organizer would let Yeom Junyeol in.
“I apologize for keeping you out here, please, you may enter!”
As expected, they made way for Yeom Junyeol.
Being in Yeom Junyeol’s appearance, the event manager soon escorted me in.
Past the carpeted corridor to a duplex event hall.
The duplex hall was full of guests donned in tuxedos and dresses.
The brightly lit Chandelier and golden velvet curtains covering the windows were hurting my eyes.
‘So it seems the dress code is Vegas gold….’
The duplex hall had people wearing Vegas gold- colored dresses, head ornaments, cuff buttons, and even handkerchiefs.
‘They sure splurged.’
There are some A-list and S-list celebrities who would have spent the new year in far more expensive locations such as air hotels over the sky, but the ones here waiting for the new year countdown were considered to be in the top layer of society.
After all, the organizer owns this convention hall.
“At this party, all communication material besides the ones approved and used by the security teams intranet are not allowed. We ask for your understanding.”
The event manager then advised me of other cautionary measures before handing me a gold box with a silver coin.
“We hope you enjoy your stay.”
The event manager bowed and disappeared.
I looked down at the silver coin.
<Viewing item information>
[Item name] Silver Coin of Silence Oath (duplicate)
[Type] Prop
[Rarity] SR+++
[Effectiveness] It is used for silence oaths
[Explanation]
Duplicate of the silver coin used by the Demon King of Spectatorship and Silence, Sidelentium.
The head of the coin shows the seal of Sidelentium, and the tail shows a crow.
Using this item to oath silence over any matter would prevent user from speaking of any similar or related content.
This silence oath item of rarity SR+++ is not destroyable unless the item’s curse is lifted or the user’s tongue is removed.
This item was manufactured by the Ungnyeo (Sad Bear Goddess), on of the Eight Bears, from the mythical Bear Clan.
As expected this party was related to the bear I was looking for, the Sad Bear Goddess of the 8 Real Bears was involved.
‘If I can’t find her here, things will get complicated.’
But for now, there was a more pressing matter at hand.
I will think about Ungnyeo another time.
I silently left the event hall and headed to the targeted location.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Wait. I thought his skill can only copy other people’s skill and not their appearance ?