Just the fact that Yeom Jun-yeol was breathing at this moment moved me deeply, but seeing him use Hongryunhwa and stand on the stage delivered an overwhelming emotion I could hardly handle.

The fact that he was wielding the Hongryunhwa—the very technique that was the cause of his false accusation of rampaging and being shot dead inside Plumago—was immensely significant.

His vertically slit pupils, the red hair flickering wrapped in flames, the dragon scales covering part of his face, and the fierce aura of his ability wave.

Unlike the usually gentle nobleman appearance of Yeom Jun-yeol, he had a rough look, but no one here was afraid.

Everyone simply cheered for Yeom Jun-yeol, who had grown and become stronger while mastering Maenghwa.

“Hmm, I can use a technique about that level too, but considering my age, that’s pretty good.”

“I can do it too.”

Two mythical-level tigers aged five thousand years or more exchanged a few words about the technique used by the descendant of the dragon race who had lived less than twenty years.

The control ability of the ability wave, the lighting and sound effects tuned accordingly—if the beast clan wanted, all of that was easily achievable.

But the audience here had come to watch Yeom Jun-yeol’s show.

To see his power and growth.

Flare!

Yeom Jun-yeol, who was Hongryunhwa-empowered, flew through the sky, creating petals of flame scattered into the air.

His skilled flying skill, precise control ability that refined the ability wave into detailed shapes, and the sheer volume of petals scattered all stood out.

As the petals of flame scattered into the air, the staff waiting nearby threw transparent capsule-shaped items and caught them inside.

Thanks to that, the audience could take the Hongryun gift that fell near them.

The petals left by the Hongryun inside the round capsules were warm and beautiful to look at, and the audience reached out from their seats, waving their arms to catch those precious items.

Luckily, the spot where the Hongryun had passed was favorable, so I was able to catch the capsule that fell straight above my head.

When I caught the Hongryun gift with both hands, warmth spread through my palms.

“The descendant of the dragon race has enough leisure during the performance to check Jo Yi-shin’s position and scatter petals.”

“That must be a coincidence.”

“He checked your position precisely and made multiple petals. Thanks to that, everyone around here got a gift.”

As Hwang Ji-ho said, many petals fell unusually around me.

Personally, I thought it was coincidence, but if it wasn’t, it would be even more amazing.

That just means Yeom Jun-yeol had grown that much!

“Hwangho, it’s useless.”

“I know. Still, I have to say it.”

While Hwang Ji-ho and White Tiger whispered, the stage content changed.

The Hongryun live show included talk segments interspersed with the performance.

They randomly picked questions collected from the audience before entry, and Yeom Jun-yeol took time to answer them, sometimes playfully, sometimes sincerely, with heartfelt responses.

The audience focused on Yeom Jun-yeol’s words, laughing and sometimes moved.

“The next question. Jun-yeol, what did you think when you succeeded in Hongryunhwa? Since I saw the Hongryunhwa teaser, I could think of nothing else but you... Ah, I’ll stop reading. If I go any further, I might find out who you are and become a target of the dragons and the Red Lions. Better hold back.”

Laughter burst out here and there, but some dragons and Red Lions exchanged serious whispers.

After checking the follow-up to that question later, if it was just silly talk, they would let it slide, but if it showed signs of stalking, they seemed ready to really find out.

Despite the tense atmosphere, Yeom Jun-yeol smiled and answered.

“I thought about shining things. I heard that overcoming rampage and controlling oneself is the only way.”

Some audience members covered their mouths, overly absorbed by the word ‘rampage.’

The brutal fight involving Eun Gwang High’s third-year students during the school trip was already somewhat known.

The parts where I intervened, Eunho’s involvement with the designated target, and the covert operations were somewhat downplayed or unknown, but the acts of other players were highlighted.

The story of Yeom Jun-yeol, in danger, saving his friend with the newly bloomed Hongryunhwa power was dramatic and touching, known to everyone.

But Yeom Jun-yeol’s answer did not end there.

Somehow, it seemed his gaze shifted toward the seat where I sat.

“So, I thought a lot about my master. I want to take this chance to thank my master who taught me. Thank you!”

“...Jun-yeol!”

Yeom Bang-yeol, who had steadfastly watched his son grow, could no longer hold back and let out a loud sigh.

It was well known that Yeom Bang-yeol was both a proud father and Yeom Jun-yeol’s master, so laughter spread around.

Another master, Bangnangyong, Yeom Jun-yeol’s maternal grandmother, was not present, but if she were, she would probably have reacted similarly to Yeom Bang-yeol.

If it weren’t for the situation that I had to hide that I was a master and that there were two tigers beside me, I wouldn’t have held back either.

“Could that be the King of the Crimson Flame he mentioned?”

“It’s probably included.”

Hwang Ji-ho and White Tiger muttered something else.

After watching a few videos of Yeom Jun-yeol’s exploits together, they performed again on stage, and the Hongryun live show ended.

It was going to be filmed and released to the public later, but I was really glad I came to see it in person.

Of course, later I would watch the videos again to revisit parts I missed or was distracted from during the live performance.

I was just so grateful to Yeom Jun-yeol for making such a great show and giving good seats.

“Baekho, is Jo Yi-shin here yet?”

“Still lost in the afterglow.”

“Hurry up and go. If you wait longer, that descendant and the dragons will start flooding this way.”

We were applauding while watching the ending credits, and the tigers started talking again.

Usually, all movies and performances are only complete after watching the full ending credits, but I didn’t know what was so urgent this time.

Eventually, because the tigers kept urging, I had to leave the flowers I wanted to give directly to Yeom Jun-yeol at the place where fans collected their gifts.

“Jo Yi-shin, you have a lot of places to stop by, don’t you? If you get caught here, you won’t see everything. You might even be late for Guseulbi and Ong Gildong’s magic show.”

It was hard to argue with that.

Just finding all the juniors who helped find our class’s tea house was a big deal.

First, I headed to the newspaper club.

The newspaper club was busy covering the festival and had prepared a neglected-style booth.

The booth’s theme was the travel diary of third-year students who won a special award from the Korea Journalists Association for their Jeju Island coverage.

It was difficult to report all the materials gathered on site by the third-year newspaper club members including the chief and deputy chief, so some were not published or didn’t get much attention.

So ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) this festival was used to exhibit those events.

“Let’s write in the guestbook first. If our names aren’t in it, the other newspaper club members will feel left out later.”

After signing the guestbook, I also toured the special exhibition hall set up separately from the main booth.

It was a place exhibiting daily photos of Eun Gwang High students, submitted only with prior consent.

Eun Gwang High had many famous people, so even ordinary daily photos and videos were well received.

Inside the special exhibition hall was Moon Sae-ron.

Maybe some additional submissions were made, because Moon Sae-ron, looking at the photo list, spotted me and widened her eyes.

“Dude, there are way too many photos of you and Joo Suhyuk. I can’t handle it... Why are there so many pictures of you two?”

There were many photos of me and Joo Suhyuk?

Well, I had gotten a lot of help preparing for this festival, and we were in adjacent classes and class officers, so we were often together.

But someone must have taken the photos.

Though I could accept the photos of myself, I really wanted the ones of Joo Suhyuk.

Before even checking the content, I saved them on my device first, but Moon Sae-ron grabbed the back of my neck and whispered very softly.

“No, dude. If someone sees you saving them right away like that, what would they think?”

There was no one around except us, but some spectators a few steps away seemed to be staring at us.

Moon Sae-ron lowered her voice even further.

“Anyway, I tried to balance and adjust the number. Even if I tell you not to, you’re going to go to Class 1-1’s booth anyway, right? Just try to hold back.”

I planned to visit Class 2-1’s booth anyway, no matter who told me not to.

I took it as a warning to be careful about photos and nodded, but Moon Sae-ron still wasn’t relieved.

After that, as I visited several booths where juniors belonging to clubs were arranged along the route, time flew by quickly.

“I have to hurry. If you’re tired, I can carry you—”

“Enough.”

When the time came, I used my ability to quickly return to our class.

Actually, it would have been faster to leave the movement to Hwang Ji-ho or White Tiger, but I just didn’t want to.

White Tiger was still carrying a lot of luggage but ran a few steps ahead of me using his ability.

He purposely didn’t overtake by much, only a little ahead, as if to show ‘I’m carrying luggage and managing my strength, but I’m still faster than you,’ which annoyed me.

When we arrived through the staff-only entrance, we saw the attention-seeking duo dressed in aurora-colored phantom costumes.

They were excited, expecting to get attention and confident, waiting patiently—but reality was different from what I expected.

“I thought you came to Korea, but I never imagined you’d really come here...”

Maybe it was the first time Ong Gildong was so nervous?

I had seen his shameless side when he crashed the demon auction and his attention-seeking power on many occasions, so this was unfamiliar.

It wasn’t a big stage, just a show inside the tea house, so I wondered why he was like that, but the problem seemed to be the audience.

“That’s the guy who did that magic show at the amusement park before, right? He was really good!”

“Yeah, that’s right. That magician player came to see my performance!”

“Ah, I don’t think so? That magician is an acquaintance of senior Kwon Je-in, so he came along and just happened to overlap with this show’s timing...”

“That’s the same thing! The fact he’s going to see my show soon is still true! After hearing about Rena’s introduction, he said he definitely would come!”

I heard Ong Gildong had a magician player he respected in England, and he was visiting with Kwon Je-in for the festival.

By chance, their timings overlapped, and Kwon Rena, who was guiding Kwon Je-in, told him a classmate was doing magic at this time, which caught the magician player’s interest.

That was roughly the story.

“Partner, will you help? If partners join me, I can feel more at ease.”

“Me?”

Ong Gildong suddenly named me.

But it seemed I wasn’t the only one Ong Gildong named.

In Seon-oh smiled faintly and nodded as if sensing what was about to happen.

“You and Seon-oh. I want to ask for your help!” 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Following Ong Gildong’s impromptu request for magic guests, In Seon-oh and I also went on stage.