“Oh, it’s because…. Dae-seok appeared with a very shocking hairstyle today.”

“I could’ve just ignored his weird hair, but he said he’s going to take his ID photo! I wanted to do something about it!”

Min Green and Kwon Lena pointed at Song Dae-seok’s hair.

His odd-looking straight bangs stood out as if he got his hair cut with office scissors.

If I were to compare it, Song Dae-seok had a hairstyle that a comedian would do for a penalty in a variety show.

‘Finally, his eyes are exposed…..!’

Song Dae-seok was sitting there with his eyes fully exposed.

“You look much better with your bangs cut but…..why didn’t you go to the hair salon.”

“Why do I have to go there when I only need to cut my bangs?”

“You can get your bangs cut at the hair salon too!”

“Yea, they don’t even ask you much for the bangs.”

‘They do?’

The male students seemed confused, but all the female students nodded as if they already knew.

“But where did you get that thinning scissor from?”

“This is for urgent use! Bangs grow quicker than you think, and if you don’t cut them regularly, they will poke your eyes. So I keep them in my locker to trim my hair when I don’t have time to go to the salon!”

Kwon Lena held up her aluminum comb and thinning scissors. Look like Kwon Lena is skilled at doing work using her hands. She also seems to like touching other people’s hair.

“Whatever. Cut them fast. Attendance will start soon.”

“Okay!”

Song Dae-seok murmured. Kwon Lena smiled and pulled out a blanket to wrap it around Song Dae-seok’s neck. It was strange to see Song Dae-seok with his eyes exposed, but what was even more surprising was to see him following the words of others other than Min Green.

‘He said he was going to take his ID photo. It must be for his association internship application.’

Song Dae-seok has received good grades in Eungwang High, has a verified identity, and has no history of outside activities. He was also perfect in terms of security. Unless there are any exceptional cases, he will be hired as an intern.

‘Besides, Song Dae-seok is knowledgeable about the Association’s satellite system. He also knows a lot about the association itself. He would be able to answer any questions he gets related to it. In the game, such a side of him could only be seen a few times in his conversations with Min Green, so I’m not sure what level of knowledge he has. 

They won’t assign interns any significant task, but it will still be a good opportunity for a satellite fan.

“Can you lift your head a bit? Wait! Don’t move now!”

“No need to cut it super nicely…..”

“No!”

“Wow, Lena. You’re really skilled at this. The part you just trimmed looks really nice.”

While I was staring at Song Dae-seok, who became silent, a question came to my mind.

“But why are you sitting here?”

I asked Hwang Jiho, who was sitting beside Dae-seok as if he was waiting for his turn.

“I got involved in this just because of what I said without much thought.”

“What did you say?”

“I said that one side of bangs kept poking my eyes. I said I was thinking about cutting them, and they said they’ll help.”

Why is this dude saying needless things and making my kids do extra work? But I decided not to say them out loud since the class seemed to be enjoying seeing what they were doing.

“Is there a way for me to control my hair length?”

“The working principle of our bodily functions is basically similar to that of the human body. If left alone like a human, hair will grow on its own. Well, it would be possible to make it longer arbitrarily. There are ways to promote cell division with syngeneic waves, but they are quite hard to manage.”

While Hwang Jiho explained, Song Dae-seok’s already had his bangs finished. The class exclaimed at Song Dae-seok’s new hair.

“You look so much better.”

“I didn’t realize this before because of his long hair, but Dae-seok….”

“He looks like an actor from a black and white film!”

“Don’t forget to show us your ID photo later!”

Song Dae-seok resembles Song Min-seok, who was once a face that represented the player world. He has a classic handsome appearance with thick lines.

“You look good…!”

“…..Thanks.”

Min Green was more than happy to see Song Dae-seok’s new appearance. Song Dae-seok, who smiled softly at Min Green, turned his head to Kwon Lena to thank her. While the two of them left the class to clean the blanket that got messy with Dae-seok’s hair, Kwon Lena walked towards Jiho.

“It’s your turn Jiho!”

“Hahaha! Should I trust you?”

Hwang Jiho, who was watching Kwon Lena’s cutting skill, smiled and turned to the mirror. Hwang Jiho had a hairstyle with the bangs naturally in 6 to 4 parting. One side of his front hair was slightly longer, poking Hwang Jiho’s eyes.

“Umm…..”

Kwon Lena combed Hwang Jiho’s bangs and said.

“Since your forehead is nice with your eyebrows neat, I think you’ll look good with your hair back.”

When she combed Hwang Jiho’s hair back, Kwon Lena looked at him with a puzzled face.

“Hey Jiho, didn’t your cousin come to see Kwon Jae-in’s performance at the Hoyeon Hall? I think I saw a person who looks very much like you.”

Is she talking about Hwang Ho in his 30-year-old version?

On that day, Hwang Ho had his hair back, so Kwon Lena, who has good sight, seems to have noticed something. Hwang Jiho’s face didn’t change even slightly, and he spoke to Lena with his mischievous face as usual.

“None of my cousins were at school on that day.”

“….Is that so?”

Hwang Jiho didn’t lie.

Since his clone was ultimately not his cousin.

“Then should I have half of my front hair back once in a while? I don’t want to have it all back, though.”

“Okay! Then I will only trim the parts that grew long.”

“Thanks.”

Is he trying to give a different impression by changing his hairstyle for each clone? If there’s someone who recognizes him like Kwon Lena, things will get a bit messed up. When Hwang Jiho had his hair done, Song Dae-seok and Min Green returned to the class.

“It’s the summer holiday soon. What’s your plan for summer?”

“I want to go on a trip with everyone!”

“Since it’s summer, why don’t we go to the beach?”

Hearing that, Kim Yuri slightly straightened her face.

“Didn’t you see the announcement post? We’re going to the beach all together soon.”

“What?”

“It was posted this morning.”

Song Dae-seok displayed a hologram.

‘First Grade Students Retreat Guideline.

The kids exclaimed after reading the announcement post.

“Oh my god! I’m going!”

“I want to go too.”

“I’m going for sure!”

But few seemed to be disappointed after reading the post.

“I don’t think I can go since there are too many people going……”

“The orphanage is short on staff because one of the volunteers who have been helping is quitting from next week. I promised to come to help over the vacation. I can’t go either.”

Min Green and Han Yi spoke with sad faces.

Hearing that Min Green would not be able to go, Song Dae-seok was about to say that he would not go either, but he couldn’t due to Min Green, who spoke before him.

“Since I can’t go, you should take lots of pictures for me and tell me how the trip went, okay??”

“……..Okay.”

Song Dae-seok, whose attitude has recently become soft towards his classmates, had to nod his head since it was a request from Min Green.

“It’s sad that two of you can’t go together. Yuri, you’re going, right?”

Everyone’s attention was towards Yuri, who has remained silent throughout the entire conversation.

“Ah, so I am……”

“Let’s go.”

I spoke to Kim Yuri, who was being hesitant.

“A class president shouldn’t miss such a major event.”

“Yes! Please come, Yuri!”

“Ah, let’s go shopping to buy clothes for the retreat. Although I can’t join you guys on the trip, I at least want to go shopping together.”

Yuri couldn’t finish her words because of her hyped classmates. When Yuri Kim was smiling with an awkward face behind all the others, I added.

“It will be okay. Let’s go together.”

Kim Yuri asked hesitantly, seeing my convinced face.

“Will it be really okay…..?”

“Yes.”

Kim Yuri looked at her friends, who were in excitement, then she looked at me again and nodded.

* * *

After school.

I noticed that I got a message sent by an unexpected person.

[Kim Shin-rok] Hello, Jo Eui-shin.

What made this hot potato contact me?

There was a big gap between his polite greeting message and how he used to behave as a ‘hot potato’.

[Kim Shin-rok] Today, the dragon of the game world suddenly left in the middle of the conversation with a suspicious smile.

[Kim Shin-rok] Before he left, he said, ‘I will come back after talking with your benefactor’.

[Kim Shin-rok] Did that dragon cause any harm to you?

So Yong Je-gun was with Kim Shin-rok before meeting me.

And he calls me Kim Shin-rok’s benefactor?

[Kim Shin-rok] If that dragon seems like he’s going to cause any trouble, please contact me.

I mean, even if Yong Je-gun causes trouble, can Kim Shin-rok stop him? Since I don’t know how close they are, I can’t make any predictions.

The next message was also not sent by a human.

[Baek Ho-kun] We have a guest today.

[Baek Ho-kun) Will it be okay?

I didn’t really mind since I also once brought Hwang Jiho with me. And Baek Ho-kun will not invite some weird guy. Considering the situation and his relationship with his friends, it’s very likely that he will bring Hwang Jiho or Jeok Ho.

[Me] It’s okay.

[Baek Ho-kun] Good.

After sending the reply, I tried to guess who the guest would be, but no particular person came to my mind. Still, it’s not a big deal since I’ll see who that person is once I arrive at the Eunryeon Hall for training.

After passing the mist created from the Blue Lake and the perfect shield of the Byeoksa Temple, I arrived at the Eunryeon Hall.

“So who’s the guest?”

There was only Baek Ho-kun greeting me at the front of the shield.

I followed him to the training hall, but it seemed like there was no one.

Is the guest not coming today?

When I thought so,

Bark!

It’s Olmu!

I could hear cute Olmu barking from across the training hall.

“Olmu….! You came here to see me?”

I lowered my body and reached out to Olmu.

Then, Olmu ran towards me with his tiny paw and jumped on me.

I exclaimed at his cuteness and loveliness. I could feel his soft fur and the warmth while hugging him.

Olmu was cute as usual.

Wait, as usual?

Come to think of it, there was one thing strange about Olmu.

‘It doesn’t seem like he’s growing anymore.’

When I first met Olmu, he used to be small as the size of fist of an adult. When the rehabilitation training got closer to an end, he grew big enough to put him on my lap. Several months have passed ever since that, but he hasn’t been growing at all.

‘I think I head that he’s slowly regaining his divine spirit… but why is he still like this?’

While patting Olmu, who was passionately wiggling his tail, I asked Baek Ho-kun.

“Are you feeding Olumu well? Why is he not growing?”

“……?”

Hmmm…..

Baek Ho-kun and Olmu tilted their head at the same time. Come to think of it, Olmu was always perfect, and there is no way that Baek Ho-kun treats him poorly. I think it was my mistake to say such a thing.

“No, my bad. I’m sorry! Olmu is always cute and perfect!”

Bark!

My good, clever Olmu forgave me for being foolish for a moment.

“Jo Eui-shin, your face just now….”

Baek Ho-kun, who was watching all this happen, finally spoke. I could already hear him saying that I had lost my intelligence, I’d become stupid, or something like that.

“You look very happy.”

Something unexpected came out of this mouth.

He wasn’t wrong, though. Whenever I see Olmu, I became happy.

Baek Ho-kun spoke as he turned around.

“We will start the combat after 10 minutes.”

* * *

10 minutes have passed.

Clang! Clang-!

Grrrrrr…..

While Olmu was watching, fierce combat continued with Baek Ah and Yeong Ho, summoned by Baek Ho-kun’s control. I could not take my eyes off of Baek Ah’s sharp blade and Yeong Ho’s teeth, so it was my side that was losing superiority.

‘If I don’t use my sight skill, I will lose soon. There will be a lot of pressure if it’s activated all the time, so I have to predict Yeong Ho’s movements and choose the right timing to use it!’

I learned to persevere in the combats I’ve been through.

And that wasn’t the only thing I learned.

By watching Baek Ho-kun and Yeong Ho’s eye direction and reading the flow of their power, I could now predict their next move.

‘If I can read the opponent’s move, I can also prepare my follow-up defense.’

Every time I finished the combat with Baek Ho-kun, I ran countless simulations in my head.

‘Now!’

When Yeong Ho lowered his body and stepped backward to not get in the way of Baek Ho-kun,

<Skill, ‘Sight’ is activated.>

I managed to tie the two Yeong Ho together before making contact with Baek Ho-kun’s great sword.

As I wielded the Shangbaoqin Golden Rake towards Baek Ho-kun using all my power, I activated the edge of the weapon.

(*Shangbaoqin Golden Rake – a rake-like weapon used by Zhu Bajie, a pig character in a Chinese story. It has nine teeth attached at its edge. )

Boooom!

When the power burst out of the edge of the Shangbaoqin Golden Rake, I could see Baek Ho-kun, who was effortlessly swinging his greatsword, fixed his posture, and held the sword using his two hands.

‘I made him use two hands….!’

But the happiness did not last for long. Soon, the shock spread all over my body, starting with the hand holding the Shangbaoqin Golden Rake.

Clang!!

The sound of the clash between the Shangbaoqin Golden Rake and the blade of the Mourning Sword shook the Eunryeon Hall. I frowned due to the sudden pressure.

‘They weren’t trying their best until now!’

It was when I was struggling with my tingling hands as if they were burning.

Beep.

I heard the system sound that I heard on the first day I came to this world.

<Weapon proficiency increased to 100%.>