EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school-Chapter 1040: Injection (10)

The night before the final match of the Korea-China-Japan Exchange Tournament, things took a significant turn.

Kozuka Yashiro called for me, and Di Xiang, the Knight of Earthquake, called for Huang Jiho.

It wasn’t just a simple call; both had laid powerful bait.

‘Is he planning to bring out that troll?’

Before the third match began, Kozuka Yashiro had asked to meet once, but before I could write a reply, he sent another message.

He added that he would bring out the troll, the one he referred to as ‘The Manipulator.’

Though he pretended to be concerned about me being plagued by rumors, I knew this was his attempt to make a move. But I couldn’t ignore it.

I had obtained the Manipulator’s contact information, but getting him out was no easy task.

If I missed this chance, I didn’t know when I’d get another shot.

Right now, the Manipulator seemed to be in cooperation with Kozuka Yashiro. After the exchange ended and they achieved their respective goals, it was likely they would sever ties, and the device code I had obtained might be discarded.

‘The Manipulator is complicated enough to think about, but now Di Xiang is moving as well.’

Not only that, but Huang Jiho had also received a message from Di Xiang.

The hologram that Huang Jiho showed contained only two sentences:

[(Unknown)] The preparations for the transaction are complete. I will wait.

The first person to check that message was Huang Jiho’s secretary, who simply relayed it without any processing.

Although the sender’s contact information wasn’t registered, the secretary added a succinct explanation: “This message was sent by Di Xiang, the Knight of Earthquake from the Three Knights’ Oath.”

Di Xiang seemed confident that anyone from the Hojo family would understand his intent from that short message.

Di Xiang was clearly planning to make a transaction involving the body of Qingho.

‘Did he intentionally reveal the location of Qingho’s body?’

The Three Knights’ Oath had not directly disclosed what transaction Huang Jiho and Di Xiang were making or what they were wagering, leaving no concrete evidence like written or verbal agreements. However, Di Xiang had successfully conveyed his intentions.

If he hadn’t been clever enough to pull this off, he would have been completely crushed by the plague of Seodoh.

Dokgo Miro, who had been silently observing Huang Jiho and me, finally spoke up.

“This doesn’t seem like a regular message. Is it related to Han?”

I wasn’t sure about Kozuka Yashiro’s message, but Di Xiang had certainly sent a message related to Han.

I could lie and say it had nothing to do with Han, or I could tell him it was unrelated to Dokgo Miro, in which case he would leave without much objection.

But doing so would mean that when similar events happened in the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} future, Dokgo Miro would never consult me or Huang Jiho.

Dokgo Miro trusted both of us enough to be here, so I couldn’t lie or pretend I didn’t know.

I reluctantly spoke up.

“It might be dangerous.”

“Of course it would be. You didn’t think it was?”

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Dokgo Miro glanced at Han and Huang Jiho.

Han stared silently at the cooling surface of his hot chocolate, while Huang Jiho, seemingly deep in thought, was moving his clone to check something.

As Dokgo Miro had pointed out, this matter was intertwined with the Hojo family, so it was far from safe.

“How dangerous is it? If it’s a matter of power, I’ll take care of it. I won’t hold you back.”

Dokgo Miro wasn’t just bluffing.

Considering his performance in the first match, it would be hard to say anyone could hold him back.

Dokgo Miro was the one who defeated the boss, Black Tiger, in the ruin-type interdimensional simulation.

Though the boss enemy appeared in a younger form, considering the overall situation, it was no easy task to defeat.

An ordinary player, surrounded by waves of external enemies and supported by intellect, couldn’t defeat Black Tiger, especially with the pressure from Baihu.

‘Moreover, Dokgo Miro values Han so highly that he calls him his Myeonggeonjiwoo. He noticed Han’s anomaly before Huang Jiho did.’

If that’s the case, could Dokgo Miro accomplish something Huang Jiho couldn’t?

I looked at Huang Jiho.

This matter was deeply tied to the Hojo family, so I couldn’t drag Dokgo Miro into it carelessly.

Huang Jiho, who had been looking like he was observing something distant, glanced at me and nodded.

It seemed like he was leaving the matter regarding Dokgo Miro to me.

Since the leader of the Hojo family had given permission, I spoke carefully.

“I don’t know if power is needed, but we’ll have to find out starting now.”

“Really? What’s going on?”

I wasn’t sure where to start.

After carefully choosing my words, I decided to only share the immediate information needed.

“The song Han heard in his dream is the song the new god called during the Myth of the Black Dragon. It’s a song that hasn’t been passed down in modern times. The only ones who would remember it are the Jinjok or higher beings from the era the new god lived.”

“That’s why I couldn’t find anything about that song in the Myth of the Black Dragon-related materials.”

“That’s right. But now the players who heard that song in the simulator have remembered it.”

When Black Tiger used his power, the song’s melody was mixed with other sounds, making it hard to hear. But when it was played normally, it was audible.

Unless the music was being played with force, like when it was accompanied by the ability violin, it wouldn’t create any noise.

That’s why both Dokgo Miro and I were able to hear the song of the new god and Black Tiger’s performance, and the players around us probably heard it too.

“So, only beings who have lived a long time and a few select players know that song.”

“That’s right. Among those players is Yao Ruichi, who’s on the Chinese team.”

“Oh, that sister. We heard that song in the place provided by the Hojo family. Looks like she heard it with us. Her hearing is impressive.”

Dokgo Miro seemed to remember Yao Ruichi perfectly.

That made it easier to speak.

I glanced at Han.

Though Han seemed to be checking our lip movements from time to time, his focus appeared to be elsewhere, and he wasn’t concentrating fully.

Since it was his first time hearing it and it was also a performance, it wasn’t strange for him to not focus on us.

I couldn’t help but feel complicated thoughts, remembering how interested Han had been in the performance, checking class schedule details, and listening to our thoughts.

I slightly turned my head to where Han couldn’t see and spoke.

“Recently, Yao Ruichi played that song in front of Qingho’s body. Han might have heard it through Qingho’s body.”

“What?”

Dokgo Miro’s eyes widened.

It was the first time I had seen the face of the Emperor of the Earth look so surprised and flustered.

He had been calling Huang Jiho ‘the fool’ so openly, so I had expected him to take the mention of Qingho’s body calmly, but he seemed unexpectedly shaken by it.

“If Han’s first time hearing something was my song, I would’ve preferred it to be mine!”

It seemed like Dokgo Miro was surprised for a different reason than I had thought.

Though he was considered one of the more rational members of the 0-Class, Dokgo Miro was still, in essence, a part of that class.

He seemed to care deeply about his Myeonggeonjiwoo, more than the complicated matters of the Hojo family or their secrets.

Seeing this reaction, Huang Jiho, who had likely anticipated it, withdrew his hand from his temple and looked at Dokgo Miro.

As Dokgo Miro expressed his disappointment, he quickly processed the situation.

“Well, it seems that the message I received is related to Qingho’s body. There’s no way the Chinese person would suddenly make Yao Ruichi play in front of it, so the body must be in their hands, right?”

Even while feeling disappointed, Dokgo Miro quickly figured things out.

I already knew from my experiences in the simulator how much Huang Jiho valued Qingho, and based on what I had said, he quickly deduced the body’s location.

“He’s got money and power. He’s probably trying to make a deal. Those crazy bastards. Are those Chinese students in on it too? When we have the tag match, I’ll make sure to take down half of them.”

Dokgo Miro looked like he was about to take down a boss enemy in front of him.

His speculation about the deal was almost accurate, but I still wasn’t sure if the students were involved.

I had heard a simple report about the situation from Hyeonmu and Li Wei, and they mentioned that Yao Ruichi didn’t seem to be going to play for fun.

Before Dokgo Miro got too carried away and started dealing with the Chinese students, I decided to clarify that point.

“I’m not sure how involved they are.”

“Just beat up all the shady ones. Even if we can’t identify the main culprits, we can still deal with them.”

“...I think the students probably just got caught up in it.”

“Really? Sounds like you’ve got an information network.”

I now understood Dokgo Miro’s way of handling things.

It seemed like the method was similar to the one where everyone except the rookie police officer ended up getting beaten up at the Gwangil Police Station.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

If I were in the same position as Dokgo Miro, I would’ve broken everything, even if it wasn’t the most efficient approach, just like in the Dream Auction, but this time, the situation was different.

There were innocent victims, and we had many chess pieces to move.

While I was thinking of my next move, Dokgo Miro spoke again.

“By the way, it seems like you also received a message, didn’t you? You didn’t just show the hologram to that fool.”

I hadn’t seen the content of the hologram, but had Dokgo Miro witnessed me receiving the message from Kozuka Yashiro and showing it to Huang Jiho?

Dokgo Miro’s insight was eerily sharp.

“That’s probably something unrelated to Han.”

Though I couldn’t definitively say it wasn’t related to him, Dokgo Miro dug deeper.

“Since you’re not outright denying it, it’s strange. If it wasn’t related to Han, you wouldn’t have shown that message to that fool. When the fool sends a trivial message, the vice-captain doesn’t even reply, let alone talk about trivial things.”

I was thinking the same thing as Dokgo Miro.

Both the Manipulator and Qingho’s body were tangled in a web of hidden forces, and now both were moving at the same time, so in the grand scheme, these two messages were connected.

Huang Jiho, who had been listening to Dokgo Miro’s deduction, asked:

“Is it really that obvious that I’m being ignored by Jo Yi-shin?”

“Yeah. It’s not just our class that knows about it. Even the others know. You complain about it all the time.”

Why had he been going around talking about it in the first place?

In any case, it was Huang Jiho’s own fault.

While Huang Jiho and Dokgo Miro had a brief conversation, I fell into deep thought.

The message had only just arrived, but I had to respond soon.

‘If I delay too much, it’ll be disadvantageous. They’ll assume we’ve been thinking carefully and preparing something solid.’

That’s when Huang Jiho’s nervous act would finally be exposed.

I had pretended to hesitate in front of Kozuka Yashiro, so it was better that way, but if Huang Jiho didn’t act quickly regarding Qingho’s body, it would raise suspicions.

There were still other things I had to consider.

‘The Manipulator, Kozuka Yashiro, Renzo-in Karen, the song Yao Ruichi heard, the dream, and the previously mentioned gods...’

As I sorted through my thoughts, the surroundings grew quiet.

Huang Jiho, Dokgo Miro, and Han were all looking at me.

The three of them appeared tense or uneasy, but now their expressions showed some relief.

“You have a proposal, don’t you?”

“Looks like you’ve done a lot of shady stuff behind the scenes.”

“Yeah.”

Huang Jiho said it with a sense of pride, and then looked at me.

It was true that he’d done a lot of shady things, so I decided not to argue.

Now, it was time to speak.

“I have a proposal.”