EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school - Chapter 14

Translator: Hong | Editor: Darling, Aira

My newly appointed alias was….

The Red Wall Thief. 

It must be because of the wall of fire I created at the Hwanmong Auction and for wiping out the stolen items supposed to be sold.

A reporter must’ve seen that wall of fire and been inspired to give me that alias.

Fortunately, the public was focused on the endless misdeeds of Byun Soonhui and his people that they forgot about the Red Wall Thief. 

The problem was what came after. 

It occurred when I anonymously returned the national heritage items to their rightful places.

The items that were only found in the records of the Hwanmong Auction. 

As the items were returned to the national heritage cultural centers, the administration must have made it known to the press as my actions were published in an article. 

Along with the title the Red Wall Thief. 

[the Red Wall Thief that broke the Hwanmong Gate, return national heritage items]

[The kind deeds of the Red Wall Thief that exposed the Hwanmong Auction, national heritage culture center ‘sends their appreciation.’]

After this, my alias was fixed The Red Wall Thief. 

I was embarrassed. 

Red wall…

And to be called a thief…!

[TITLE] Two-dimensional future transformational object, Nameless Supernova, Red Wall Thief

I checked the status window and saw that the Red Wall Thief had been added to my title section. 

Of course, only I was aware of the fact that Jo Eushin was The Red Wall Thief. 

But it was impossible to stop myself from cringing in embarrassment. 

* * *

Days passed as I struggled to live with my own embarrassment. 

Byun Soonhui had finally tackled someone he should not have. 

It was all over as the main headline of the news portal sites. 

[Hwanmong Auction participant, ‘Little Hongryong Yeom Jeonyeol was present at the scene’, is Yeom Junyeol The Red Wall Thief?]

[The swindler has the audacity to cry victim to fraud as Byun Soonhui cries victim to arson, kidnapping, human trafficking, and violence. ‘Investigate The Red Wall Thief, Little Hongryong Yeom Junyeol’.]

Yeom Junyeol was the sole son of the Red King Yeom Bangyeol. 

He was also a star player loved by many fans. 

To attack a subject of love and adoration was the equivalent of insulting their love directly. 

‘Of course, it was beyond Byun Soonhui to figure this out.’

I opened the comments section of the article. 

Already thousands of fans had commented after seeing the association with Yeom Junyeol. 

[Suddenly moody Yeom Junyeol]

[I am XX an acquaintance of the Red Lion Team. I know that Byun Soonhui had been asking for the attention of the Red Lions but was ignored. And since The Red Wall Thief is associated with fire, he seems to be trying to pull anyone down along with him.]

[On that day Junyeol was doing a live dragon show on his SNS from the air hotel. It was a live show with more than 10 million views lol]

[Our red dragon really must have become famous for some criminal to leech onto him]

[Soonhui don’t suffer in pain… just die already.]

Byun Soonhui’s statement proved to be invalid as numerous witnesses stood as an alibi for Yeom Junyeol. 

Yeom Bangyeol and the Red Lion Team, finding this incident to be very unpleasant, called for a press conference to make a statement. 

Yeom Bangyeol was clearly furious as he emphasized twice in his statement that he wanted Byun Soonhui to receive a strong punishment.

Even though the Red Lion Team dealt with the situation and the police ignored Byun Soonhui’s statement, the rage of the fans was not so quick to dissipate. 

‘Byeon Sonhui must’ve lost his mind.’

From Byeon Sonhui and his accomplice’s point of view, they had clearly seen me who had adopted the appearance of Yeom Junyeol, so it must have driven him nuts. 

It seems my words had provoked him greatly that day, as Byeon Sonhui didn’t give up on dragging the Little Hongryong Yeom Junyeol till the end. 

It was impossible for two people to have the same light skill and it was impossible to copy anyone’s light skill, so he insisted that Yeom Junyeol was there. 

‘In that convention center, there was no record of any form to prove his statement as there were no surveillances.’

I was able to keep my identity from being exposed as Byun Soonhui had used a large-scale, device-controlling equipment 

The only photo of the Red Wall Thief was a picture taken from afar with the backdrop of the red flames rising to the sky. 

As a result, Byun Soonhui’s statement only seemed like an attempt at defaming Yeom Junyeol to drag him down along with himself. 

Byun Soonhui didn’t seem to repent of any of his crimes and only chose to continuously mention Yeom Junyeol. 

There were several thick-skinned participants, mostly those who were victims of the attack, from the Hwanmong Auction who claimed to have seen Yeom Junyeol as well. 

Eventually, the furious fandom of Yeom Junyeol called for action, resulting in the creation of the ‘Hwanmong List’ 

The fans utilized all their sources of information and editing skills to gather the list of participants from the Hwanmong Auction. 

They uploaded and shared this list publicly, mainly with Yeom Junyeol’s overseas fans, and were headstrong and brazen not caring about the possibility of being sued. 

There were high-quality photos of individuals. 

It contained details of past misdeeds, evidence, and personal information of the auction participants. 

It also contained a detailed summary of the current Hwanmong Auction investigation process. 

After the Hwanmong List was publicized. 

Those that had been luckily sidelined due to the vast number of investigation suspects, were exposed via the Hwanmong List. 

Those with their names exposed on the list raised an outcry of defamation. 

‘No matter, it is impossible to eradicate anything that has been published on the web.’

Later on, the Hwanmong List was banned on search engine portals. 

However, it was easy to find the Hwanmong List by searching it up with an alphabet modified in the word or searching it as jargon. 

The Hwanmong List had been quickly archived and there were also mentions of Yeom Bangyeol and his Red Lion Team’s involvement in this. 

Eventually, the Hwanmong List became a public record for everyone to view.

As I read the article, I swore to myself that I would take this secret of having used Yeom Junyeol’s light skill, to my grave. 

***

With the upcoming start of school, we decided to meet up for a meal where Sanghoon would be treating us.

The question was whether to go for an Air Hotel’s  Snow and Winter Air special buffet or the famous French patisserie player’s limited edition dinner course commemorating his visit to Korea. 

The three of us debated, taking into consideration both quality and quantity.

If we wanted to go for quantity, the buffet was the right choice. 

But Namwook suggested that we familiarise ourselves with table manners for the upcoming official players’ event. 

This shallow debate was easily resolved. 

Sanghee, who had been listening to us told our exchange, suggested that we ‘go to both’ while looking giving us a pathetic look.

It was to the extent that Sanghoon’s parents offered to buy Namwook and me a meal of whatever we desired once every week. 

As Namwook had entered the dormitory in his military school, we agreed to meet on the weekends when everyone was free. 

We decided to have the course meal on Saturday and the buffet on Sunday. 

And when Saturday came…

It had been some time since I had met Namwook. 

The military school required short haircuts, so Namook had a buzz cut. 

“What’s with the hair man?”

“….it’s the school rules.”

Namwook answered Sanghoon’s pleasant greeting while averting his eyes. 

‘A soldier haircut..’

A few years back I also shared the same hairstyle. 

Even though Namwook was not an adult enrolled in military service, it seemed like the rules of military service applied to military high school as well.

The three of us purchased a suit to match the dress code for the french restaurant and to prepare us for the official player event coming soon.

After having the ready-made suit recommended by the departmental store staff altered, it was nearing the time of our reservation so we headed straight to the restaurant in our suits. 

That’s how we arrived at the restaurant.

After being escorted and seated at our table. 

“Congrats on entering the Player Military High School  as the second-best in class, Jang Namwook.”

I finally offered my congratulations after having waited for the right time. 

Namwook looked surprised by the sudden congratulations. 

“How did you know? Thanks, Eushin-ah.”

Sanghoon, who was just opening up his table napkin, looked surprised.

“You were the second-best in class?”

Namwook remained silent. 

‘Sanghoon would never have known if I hadn’t mentioned it.’

I displayed the article I had scrapped on my wearable device.

In the article, there was a picture attached of Namwook and another person.

“I happened to come across the interview of Player Military High’s first and second-best in class. You’re not so photogenic, Jang Namwook.”

“He looks the same as always. Looks bad as always.”

Sanghoon giggled while taking a jap at the picture of Namwook and Namwook in person. 

In the photo, Namwook looked extremely tense and rigid as compared to the relaxed and confident first in class. 

“Anyways, congrats. So how’s the first-in-class like?”

Sanghoon stopped teasing him and offered his belated congratulations before saving the article to his own wearable device. 

Namwook watched Sanghoon saving his article with a look of embarrassment. 

 “Thanks anyway. I’m sharing a room together with the first in class and… he’s unique.”

Namwook made a confused face at the mention of the first-in-class. 

Unique?

I was slightly curious. 

But it seemed rude to ask in detail about a person who wasn’t present, so I changed the subject of the conversation. 

Our first course had just arrived so it wasn’t difficult to change the subject. 

“Have you started training in your dorm yet?”

“Yeah. The schedule at the military high is a little faster as compared to normal high schools. It’s quite tough but it gives you a sense of meaning at the end of the day.”

Sanghoon also seemed more interested in dormitory life than the first-in-class. 

“How are the dorms like?”

“….I need to clean and ventilate it. It has a staleness to it.”

I was well aware. 

I was sure it was slightly different in military high, but I was familiar with the stale air of routine life. 

Even if you cleaned the place to the last speck of dust, the staleness still lingered in the air. 

The only thing you could do was get used to it. 

“If you dislike it, come back to Eungwang High anytime.”

Sanghoon still seems to have lingering hope. 

“….No thanks. I chose this path. Even if I were to walk a different path later on in life, I am going to be responsible for my decision until I graduate.”

Sanghoon seemed grumpy at Sanghoon’s reply and stabbed at his amuse-bouche. 

Namwook nagged at him to keep his table manners. 

Whenever I was engaged in a conversation with these two it felt like what had happened on the 1st of January was a dream…

Although I don’t dream.

We discussed our future high school life and discussed our expectations for the future. 

Then, the hot topic in the interest of players, the Hwanmong Auction came up as a topic of discussion. 

The Red Wall Thief was of course mentioned and I had to try my best to restrain myself from cringing. 

‘Why did that journalist have to add a name like the Red Wall Thief…’

It would be more acceptable had it been some nameless persona or something along those lines. 

Just as the entrees were being served, Sanghoon asked something. 

“Jo Eushin which class are you in? I’m in Class One.”

We had already received the notification of our class allocation.

I was in a class close to Sanghoon. 

“I’m in class 0.”

When I checked the notification via the wearable device, as a result of my deal with the Chairman, I was allocated to class 0. 

Clang. 

Drop.

The sound of utensils dropping was heard. 

Both Sanghoon and Namwook, the latter having nagged at Sanghoon to keep his table manners, had dropped their forks and knives. 

What’s up with them? 

I tilted my head, but Namwook and Sanghoon looked appalled. 

“Do you have a criminal record?”

“Confess, Jo Eushin”

What were they talking about…

I guess the notoriousness of Class Zero was more pervasive than I had anticipated. 

I brushed their comments aside and enjoyed the rest of the course meal. 

The two were worried about my enrollment in Class Zero even as we parted ways. 

* * *

There are around 2 months remaining until the start of the academic year at Eungwang High. 

I ignored all remaining secondary classes, graduation, and similar events. 

The homeroom teacher had called several times but I made an excuse saying that I was still traumatized by the recent Minki incident. 

There wasn’t much time until the start of high school. 

I had no time to invest in the likes of the secondary school curriculum. 

I had to continuously research on this world, purchase necessary items, build my stamina, and prepare for my entrance to Eungwang High. 

Then came March. 

It was the day of the entrance ceremony.