The White Tiger’s loud laughter made the other Tigers aware of it too.

Cheongho purely comforted me.

“Yi-shin, none of the others, including me, misunderstand. You cheered for both of them so much — how could they not know that?”

Thanks to my classmate’s consideration, I felt a little consoled.

But then Hwang Ji-ho, who was preparing breakfast, appeared with a barely concealed smirk and spoke, souring my mood again.

“So you saw that post, huh? It was an intriguing story about the heart of a benefactor, wasn’t it? Don’t worry, I understand your meaning well.”

There was nothing wrong with what he said itself, but seeing him say it with that expression, it was obvious he and the White Tiger would team up and laugh about it heartily.

Though I thanked Cheongho for his words, I had no desire to respond to Ji-ho’s.

I only muttered one thing silently.

What do they know about my intention?

“...so Jo Yi-shin thinks,”

This thought was immediately relayed by Ji-ho’s damn close friend.

Cheongho sighed at that mess, and the other two Tigers laughed as expected.

Ji-ho’s lively laughter filled the mansion.

“Hahaha! Jo Yi-shin, I don’t think you’d steal Andain’s connection — which is like a nephew to us. Even if you did, I’d stay neutral rather than cheer for one side and wait for you to change your mind...”

“Shut up.”

Instead of listening to Ji-ho’s nonsense to the end, I cut him off.

He didn’t get to finish what he wanted to say, but he still seemed thrilled the whole time.

Even after arriving at school, it was the same.

Because of the two Tigers’ behavior alone, half the class had already figured out what had happened to me.

“Oh, since Ji-ho and Baekho are laughing like that and Yi-shin’s expression is dead serious, I guess they read that post. Good thing it wasn’t on his birthday.”

“I don’t know what post it was, but I see they’re teasing the vice class president.”

Sawol Seyum, who seemed to check almost all posts mentioning me in the player community, understood the situation; Maeng Hyo-don, who wasn’t interested, didn’t know the details but recognized that the two guys’ attitudes were pathetic. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Our class attendance wasn’t high today, but judging by the atmosphere, more than half seemed aware of the post.

Fortunately, there were no misunderstandings like immature Tigers teasing or people leaving comments and fighting over it.

Instead, there were those who worried.

Kwon Rena hesitated before speaking carefully.

“Um, maybe it’s better to avoid acting alone with Suhyeok outside of school for a while... No, even inside school might be dangerous.”

“Partner! Things are rough these days and I’m busy, but if you need company, I’ll go with you!”

“Me too!”

Ong Gildong and Guseulbi said enthusiastically, but I decided to just appreciate the intention.

If I had to do outside activities with Joo Suhyeok, having those two accompany me would only attract more attention.

Though I thanked them for the offer, Ong Gildong’s words bothered me a bit.

‘But what does it have to do with the situation being rough and being busy?’

Since Ong Gildong was always strange anyway, no one seemed to mind much, but I was a little concerned.

Separate from being a show-off, Ong Gildong had a delicate sense, designing and making martial arts clothing fitting for our classmates.

He had insight into parts of the plan despite no informants inside the black curtain.

Though not very conspicuous, there were posts on the community worried why most members of the Jeolheukpungnim sect had stayed in Korea for so long.

I was also worried Ong Gildong might get directly involved with the black curtain, but it didn’t seem like I needed to check personally yet.

‘Guseulbi’s here, and Inseon Oh too. Ong Gildong won’t go on a rampage alone.’

It bothered me a bit that the Jin tribe member interested in Ong Gildong was Seodol, but the other kids around were trustworthy.

In Guseulbi’s case, she might also go on a rampage, but Merlin, a master she can meet in dreams, was attached to her.

Also, Inseon Oh was quick-witted and talented, and liked those show-offs.

If anything happened, she would step in or notify the clan leader.

Feeling a gaze, Inseon Oh glanced once toward me, then toward the noisy show-offs, and spoke.

“You don’t have to worry.”

Inseon Oh smiled gently but didn’t say much.

It seemed she understood what I was worried about.

On the surface, it sounded like she was telling me not to worry about absurd rumors going around, but because her gaze turned to Guseulbi and Ong Gildong, her true meaning was that she would watch over them, so I could rest easy.

Inseon Oh nodded once and then looked out the window.

On the windowsill sat a quiet crow that wasn’t crying.

‘Still wandering around Eungwang High.’

The crow locked eyes with me and suddenly flapped its wings violently.

It seemed like a protest.

The crow dispatched by the Silent and Passive Demon King Sidellentium often behaved like this when it missed a spectacle.

‘Looks like it’s disappointed it couldn’t watch Bimuyeon. But this time, it can’t be helped.’

Jeolheukpungnim was a group of martial artists fighting against the evil demon cult.

That cult referred to the seven deadly sins demon gods and their priests and demon kings who harmed humans.

As the modifier implies, Sidellentium, who chose to be passive, was strictly speaking not included among them.

Even so, it wasn’t possible to openly invite demon kings or their followers to that place.

The contractor Ryu-jang was the same.

If the black curtain side saw them coming and going, their moves would become more complicated.

‘The guide of the demon world is a hard-won asset. It can’t be exposed to the black curtain.’

Moreover, there was a hardline faction within Jeolheukpungnim insisting all demons should be excluded without exception.

They couldn’t leave seeds of discord for Sidellentium’s enjoyment.

So I didn’t drive the crow away, letting it vent regardless of its raging, but the impatient Tigers wouldn’t stay still.

The three Tigers’ gaze shifted toward the crow.

“Why is that crow acting like that?”

“Leave it alone. Birds of prey are naturally more active this season.”

“It’s distracting.”

The White Tiger moved so fast his afterimage lingered, pulling down the blinds over the glass where the crow was visible.

The crow flapped its legs in protest but the Tiger, who hadn’t listened to even gods or clan leaders, had now become a beastman.

So no matter how violently the demon king’s follower acted, he wouldn’t change his mind.

‘Still, if I’m to talk about what’s next, I’ll have to deal with the crow.’

Still unsettled by rumors circulating around, I steadied myself to think about the next move.

At that moment, Jin Jeongmook, who had been quiet all along, moved.

Unlike the neat hairdo he had at Bimuyeon, today he had messy hair as usual, but his eyes were sharper than that day.

Jeongmook approached the White Tiger and spoke.

“Baek Daehyup, I want to ask about the method of movement you just used.”

It seemed Jeongmook wanted to learn something from the White Tiger’s movements.

If the White Tiger didn’t answer sincerely, Jeongmook planned to nag him with noisy thoughts, but no need—he answered clearly.

But a small expression bothered me.

‘He calls me “So-hyup” but calls that White Tiger “Dae-hyup.”’

Well, by age, calling him “Dae-hyup” was embarrassing enough.

Calling a senior “No-sunbae” or “No-gosu” with the prefix for old or even plainly “No-sa” was more than enough.

While thinking about all the various titles for addressing elders in martial arts stories, Kim Yuri entered the classroom.

It was a close time near the morning assembly.

I had heard she met with Mun Saeron early this morning for an interview, but it had apparently run late and just ended.

“Oh, almost everyone who said they’d come to school today is here!”

Kim Yuri looked around the classroom and greeted cheerfully.

Today, Dokgo Miro and Song Daeseok were absent again.

Dokgo Miro’s debut single was performing very well, entering the top 10 on the music charts.

Despite many pessimistic views about her solo idol activities without group experience and overlapping comeback timing with other idol groups, she was fighting hard among the chart-toppers, which included OSTs from currently #1-rated dramas.

‘It’s surprising how busy she is just to attend Eungwang High sometimes. But they said her active period is planned to be short, so she’ll come back soon.’

Dokgo Miro planned to do official activities briefly following trends and have short comeback cycles.

Even after official activities ended, she would sometimes do variety shows or ads but wouldn’t skip school as much as now.

However, Song Daeseok’s situation was still uncertain.

He had become a guest researcher in the satellite management team, with projects nearing results, and was busy communicating with the satellite development team, existing only at the Player Association headquarters.

Moreover, before the demon world scenario, various statistics in Gangwon Province were fluctuating.

Gangwon Province was Song Daeseok’s hometown, so he knew the area well and was worried, so monitoring was being done more thoroughly.

Still, the class schedule couldn’t be delayed.

Kim Yuri went straight to the electronic blackboard.

“I contacted Miro and Daeseok! They’re both really busy lately, so the schedule has to match their time.”

Kim Yuri was busy with her duties as student vice president and her participation in Bimuyeon, but she was mindful of class schedules.

The words ‘Autumn Picnic’ soon appeared on the electronic blackboard.

Instead of fitting the schedule to the two busy students, the location selection was left to the others.

“They said to leave the location choice to us. Oh, but it can’t be somewhere with too long travel time!”

Ong Gildong and Guseulbi immediately looked disappointed, as if about to propose a list of famous overseas spots as candidates.

They had traveled a lot overseas around Halloween, so they had lots of info.

‘Wherever we go, if it’s outside the Eungwang District, the chances of demon eyes following are high.’

Despite the mental chaos caused by the ridiculous public opinion I heard this morning, I looked at the cufflinks I had put on without forgetting.

I wondered if I should skip the picnic entirely.

As classmates offered their opinions one by one, Inseon Oh raised her hand and spoke.

“How about Hongcheon, Gangwon Province?”

Some didn’t know much about Korean geography, but everyone knew Hongcheon.

It was a place the homeroom teacher often went on business trips to, so they couldn’t avoid knowing.

Inseon Oh spoke calmly, like making small talk.

“Lately, Hamgeun Hyung teacher’s been busy on business trips to Hongcheon. It would be good to see him there even for a short time.”

Listening to ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) that, it didn’t sound bad.

Class 0 following the homeroom teacher was common, so the location choice wasn’t strange.

If Inseon Oh’s proposal passed, we could use this picnic as a preliminary survey for the demon world scenario.