[Chapter 160]
[The Last Cultural Festival (4)]
In the 14th year of the Fairy Era, Noh Eun-ae turned 13 years old.
In other words, it meant the time had come when she had to decide her future path to some extent.
"─Eun-ae, where are you going?"
One day in October.
On this day, the homeroom teacher told students applying to the Player Academy to submit their application forms by next week.
Other students were told to look into which middle school they would attend, or if not that, to decide what kind of work they planned to do.
"Me? Well, I guess I'll go to middle school?"
"Not interested in the Player Academy? Your sister and brother went there. Your brother is graduating next year, right?"
"Yeah, that's right! He's graduating next year."
Seon Mi-ye, a friend she had known since kindergarten.
Eun-ae, who was walking home with her after avoiding the mischievous boys, suddenly received such a question from her.
Where was she thinking of going after graduating elementary school?
"It's not that I haven't thought about becoming a player..."
Noh Eun-ae trailed off as if lost in thought.
Then she laughed sheepishly.
"Mom, dad, oppa, and unni all opposed it. They said it's too dangerous."
"I guess that makes sense."
"And..."
"And?"
"...It's nothing."
"You don't want to tell me? Hmph."
"Sorry."
Seon Mi-ye snorted.
Eun-ae clung to her when she pretended to be upset.
Yet she didn't say what she was about to say earlier.
I was just... scared.
It had been that way for a long time.
Her brother Noh Eun-ha would get injured whenever he had the chance and cause trouble for the family.
The most memorable incident was probably last year.
Her brother was hospitalized.
At that time, when the family heard the news of her brother's injury, they were immersed in very heavy sadness.
Her heart ached too.
I don't want to worry my family.
She realized clearly then.
That when she gets hurt, it doesn't end with just her getting hurt.
The people around her fall into despair too.
That's why Eun-ae didn't harbor vague ideals about players who had to live in danger.
Players are enough with unni and oppa. If I say I'll become a player too, mom and dad will be sad.
She didn't want to become one in the first place anyway.
That's why Noh Eun-ae had no intention of applying to the Player Academy.
On the other hand─.
"─Dad said industry people are paying attention to you, Eun-ae."
"...I heard that too."
"And he said. If strange people try to persuade you in any way, never fall for it."
"I heard that from dad too. Thanks."
Starting last year.
The elixir was revealed to the world.
As silver wolf flower, one of the ingredients of the elixir, gained attention from people.
Noh Eun-ae, who had the ability to cultivate silver wolf flower, the only one in Korea, signed a contract with Sirius Group.
She couldn't cultivate in large quantities, but it was a contract where Sirius Group would buy for a large sum as much as she cultivated.
Because of that, Eun-ae was sitting on a gold mine at the age of 13─.
'─Aren't you Player Bang Yeon-ji? There was a famous person as one of the Twelve Zodiac before. Called
Information that she possessed a gift to empathize with plants and animals' emotions spread through the industry by word of mouth.
Because of that, industry people would suddenly visit her trying to recruit her.
'We are willing to pay all costs necessary for student Noh Eun-ae at the Player Academy. In addition....'
Former Twelve Zodiac
Eun-ae came to be called her reincarnation by industry people.
But Noh Eun-ae could only be bewildered.
She didn't want to be compared to someone and receive unnecessary expectations.
'You guys, which clan are you from? You bastards.... Don't you have any business ethics? This won't do. I'll just have to impose clan sanctions right away.'
Fortunately, there were far fewer incidents of players from unknown clans coming to find her.
Her father had moved.
Eun-ae could 'empathize' with how angry her father was at that time.
At the same time, Noh Eun-ae was able to find stability feeling her father's love.
"Then Eun-ae, you're just going to middle school? Have you thought about where to go? That place where only rich kids go..."
"No, I'm not going there."
"Huh? Why?"
Soon Eun-ae shook her head.
Seon Mi-ye opened her eyes wide.
"Just.... I just want to go to school normally. If I go there, I feel like people will know who I am."
"Since it's a middle school only rich kids attend, you're bound to be known. There will probably be many kids who know you too."
"So it's a bit uncomfortable."
Though Noh Eun-ae herself didn't want to say it.
She had received extremely favorable treatment at school for 6 years of elementary school.
Because her family background became known.
So she couldn't tell her father her true feelings, but she was very uncomfortable with the situation of receiving special treatment.
"So you're going to a middle school where no one knows you?"
"Yeah. If I go to the farthest one from home, no one will know who I am, and I can live just like other kids, right?"
"As if your dad would allow that."
"Of course I have to ask dad to please not tell the school!"
"You're really odd. Why do you want to live difficultly when you can live comfortably?"
"Hehe..."
"But well, it's like you. I'll support you."
"Really? Thank you!"
Though she was far from ordinary.
Noh Eun-ae wanted to live ordinarily and freely.
So she was thinking of attending a middle school far away from home.
"By the way, then I won't be able to go to school with you anymore."
"Mi-ye, are you going to the academy?"
"Yeah. I want to get a job at the Mana Management Organization and support my dad. By the time I get a job, dad will be old and need to be taken care of... Well, I'm taking care of him now too. Plus, the Mana Management Organization is a government job so it's an iron rice bowl."
"Ah... I see."
Seon Mi-ye bringing up difficult topics.
But Eun-ae nodded at her words even though it was hard to understand.
"But we can still meet on weekends! The academy allows going out every weekend."
"But we still can't go to school together anymore. Will you be okay without me? Should you just tell the boys to get lost if they try to mess with you?"
"Yeah! Thanks for worrying."
"I'm really worried..."
Seon Mi-ye sighed.
Eun-ae expressed gratitude to her for worrying about her.
"Ah, that's right."
"What?"
"I heard your brother's school is having a cultural festival."
"Cultural festival? The academy?"
"Yeah! Want to go see oppa together? We can tour the academy too!"
"I'd love to. Let's do that."
☆
Late at night.
Eun-ha snuck out of the academy and visited the Luminous Group mansion.
Knock knock
Since becoming a 3rd year.
Eun-ha would often sneak out of the academy like this to find Yu Jeong when he had time.
Today was the same.
Eun-ha, who had free time after a long while, knocked on the window of her room.
"─Yes, come in."
Not long after knocking.
A voice was heard from inside.
Eun-ha opened the window and entered the room.
"Have you been well?"
"I've been well. How about you? Are you hurting anywhere?"
"Yeah, I'm healthy."
She greeted him in her pajamas.
Yu Jeong now seemed to have no hesitation as she grabbed Eun-ha's hand.
Eun-ha plopped down on the bed led by her hand.
"Didn't you say you'd be busy preparing for the cultural festival for a while?"
"Well, that's true... But I wanted to see your face before getting busier. We haven't seen each other lately."
"Huh? We saw each other the week before last."
"Should I go back then?"
"No. Actually, I missed you too. I'm really glad you came today."
Yu Jeong smiles.
Eun-ha tightly held her hand.
Afterwards, the two exchanged recent news with their shoulders touching.
She mainly talked about things that happened at the mansion and books she read recently.
And Eun-ha brought up stories about cultural festival preparations.
"─Nodongso?"
"Somehow it ended up like that."
"Wow, that sounds fun."
"You think this sounds fun?"
"Everyone must be relying on you, Eun-ha. So they're trying to drag you in saying let's make memories, right?"
"It doesn't seem like they're relying on me, but trying to use me..."
"No. It's because they rely on you. Like how I... rely on you like this."
"Tell me honestly. Are you actually trying to use me too?"
"No. I'm relying on you a lot? I don't think things like that. Rather, if you try to use me..., I'd be okay with that. I don't mind."
"...Why would I use you. Just rely on me."
"Okay, thank you."
Yu Jeong leans on Eun-ha's shoulder.
Eun-ha quietly enjoyed that time.
"Can you tell me more about the cultural festival?"
"You want to hear more?"
"Yeah. I don't go out much. So I really like and enjoy the stories you tell, Eun-ha."
"...Alright. I'll tell you more."
Since she participated in Eun-ha's grandmother's funeral during summer vacation.
Rumors related to Yu Jeong eventually spread in the political and business world.
The story that she was visually impaired became a hot topic.
So it seemed Luminous Group was thoroughly managing Yu Jeong's external activities now.
Of course, even so, it seemed they were having a hard time withstanding pressure from the political and business world to slowly start showing Yu Jeong in official activities now.
"─Fireworks?"
"Yeah. You could say it's the highlight of the academy cultural festival. It's spectacular when fireworks with magic added explode in the night sky."
"That must be pretty..."
Eun-ha continued talking about the cultural festival.
Then the topic reached the cultural festival fireworks.
Yu Jeong exclaimed softly.
But Eun-ha could tell.
That Yu Jeong wasn't just exclaiming.
"What's wrong?"
"No, just.... I've never seen fireworks before.... So I can't really imagine what they look like..."
"..."
Yu Jeong smiling bitterly.
Eun-ha looked at her face and soon closed his mouth.
...I made a mistake.
Even though Han Seo-hyun had warned him before.
While talking about the cultural festival, Eun-ha inadvertently recalled memories from before the regression.
When he was a 1st year high school academy student.
The memory of watching fireworks with Yu Jeong.
Because it remained so clear.
Eun-ha forgot to be considerate of Yu Jeong who couldn't see.
"I'm sorry. Was it boring?"
"No. I should be sorry. It's okay. So I hope you won't feel sorry."
Eun-ha apologized to her.
Then she shook her head.
Then she leaned her head again.
Isn't there some way....
He wanted to show Yu Jeong fireworks.
While feeling Yu Jeong's weight and warmth.
Eun-ha was lost in thought.
☆
She, who became an official instructor at the academy, was in the middle of a meeting with other instructors preparing for the comprehensive division competition.
Just yesterday, the preliminaries ended.
So the meeting they had to have was to create the main tournament bracket.
"There aren't many participants this year? Well, 3rd year students participated a lot to appeal their skills to clans..."
"Only the formidable kids are left. This competition will be quite interesting?"
"The question is how to create the bracket..."
"Let's just decide randomly."
"I don't know how it was until last year, but it won't be like that this year."
"That's right. People visiting this year's cultural festival will be interested in Noh Eun-ha and the Noh Eun-ha squad."
"So we need to create a bracket that can draw people's interest until the last day."
Starting with
Mok Min-ho, Choi Eun-hyuk, Jin Pa-rang, Bae Su-bin, Hoshimiya Kaede, Ariel, Jo A-ra, Kang Si-hyung, Lee Cheon-seo, Bong Gu-rae, etc.
The Noh Eun-ha squad participated heavily in this year's comprehensive division competition.
Of course, people visiting the cultural festival would be paying attention to them.
So they had to create a bracket so they could enjoy the cultural festival for a long time.
They could expect high profitability depending on how many spectators they attract, and as many students as possible could showcase their skills to people.
But there was one more problem.
"─A time attack between
"I heard
"
"We should take measures in advance to prevent casualties. You never know with
"It's better than locking the stable door after the horse is stolen. Let's do that... Let's place the time attack between
"That sounds good. That way people can visit the cultural festival until the last day."
The match between Noh Eun-ha and Kang Hyeon-cheol.
When they first heard this news, all the instructors fainted.
But only for a moment.
The instructors decided not to be interested in the detailed reasons.
They just racked their brains to make the cultural festival successful.
"Now for the bracket..."
"The problem is how to create the bracket for Noh Eun-ha and the Noh Eun-ha squad."
"We need to scatter them all over and make them keep winning."
"So assuming the Noh Eun-ha squad wins, how should we create the bracket for matches between squad members?"
""""..."""""
The instructors knew the skills of the Noh Eun-ha squad members well.
But they couldn't grasp the pure skill differences that existed between Noh Eun-ha squad members.
So they were stuck after roughly creating the bracket.
Just then─.
"─Can I take a look for a moment?"
"Ah,
""""..."""""
Hwang Jin-hee, who had been silent with her arms folded until now, opened her mouth.
The instructors politely yielded their seats to her.
Then Hwang Jin-hee─.
"─Assuming Noh Eun-ha will win, just have them fight sequentially. What's the fun in making those kids fight each other? Their skills are all similar except for that guy anyway..."
""""..."""""
Hwang Jin-hee clicked her tongue.
She wrote out the bracket in one stroke.
Thus, the bracket was completed.
"On the first day, have Hoshimiya Kaede and Bae Su-bin fight, and the winner fights Eun-ha..."
"On the second day, have Jin Pa-rang and Kang Si-hyung fight, and the winner fights Eun-ha, on the third day
, and have Mok Min-ho and On Tae-yang fight and the winner will face Noh Eun-ha?"
"And on the last day, Eunhyuk Choi will fight that guy."
""""… … .""""
It seemed like there was a lot of selfish intention involved.
The instructors did not dare to oppose the opinions of