EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school-Chapter 1041: Injection (11)

Late at night, in the mountains on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.

Yao Ruichi stood in front of the cave he had visited countless times before.

Dixian had called several students here under the guise of special training, and after a few attempts, Yao Ruichi became the regular one summoned.

Dixian always stepped away in the middle, but he made the same request through his bodyguard.

— This is the message from Dixian: "Play the same tune you played here before."

Yao Ruichi had played the melody he had heard in the Hojo family's domain, and that had been his mistake.

Dixian had risked suspicion and continued calling Yao Ruichi back.

It seemed that Yao Ruichi's performance had a significant impact on the one in the coffin.

As Dixian’s suspicious and unreasonable demands persisted, Lu Bowon noticed.

— Ruichi, follow me from now on. I’ll go along with whatever training or whatever you do!

— I don't think Dixian-sensei will let you follow me.

— It’s fine. I’m good at forcing my way through.

Knowing how good Lu Bowon was at forcing things, Yao Ruichi felt a little reassured.

However, no matter how confident Lu Bowon acted, the Earthshaking Knight was not the type to fall for shallow tricks.

Dixian had already finished negotiating with the coaching staff regarding the special training, so Lu Bowon’s forceful actions didn’t work, and despite following the special training, he ended up being sidelined.

As a result, Yao Ruichi ended up coming here alone.

— If Dixian-sensei makes the same request again, stall for time.

— What if I can’t stall?

— Refusing might arouse suspicion. Pretend to act in a way that a strange genius might do. Don’t show any signs of suspicion.

Lu Bowon had been used by his genius traits since he was young, often finding himself in dangerous situations.

Though Lu Bowon often did strange things, this kind of advice always hit the mark.

Yao Ruichi grasped his dizi tightly, remembering what Lu Bowon had said, and walked very slowly.

As Yao Ruichi’s slow movement delayed the process, the bodyguard asked.

“Is something uncomfortable? If you’re having trouble walking, I can carry you.”

“No, I don’t like it. If anyone touches me, I won’t feel like playing.”

Of course, that was a lie.

Yao Ruichi’s concentration during his performance was immense.

Whether Lu Bowon clung to him from behind, shadowing in front, getting beaten by Dong Shaodan, or an otherworldly event occurred in front, Yao Ruichi was confident he could play without being distracted by any environment.

He wouldn’t be unable to play just because someone carried him, but to stall for time, he decided to make a fuss.

Yao Ruichi added a little more.

“The night air is nice. /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ I’m getting inspired, and I want to play right away. I’ll play a little before I go.”

Before the bodyguard could stop him, Yao Ruichi placed the dizi to his mouth and played a phrase.

The piece he played was an arrangement he made with his dizi, based on the poem "Pipa Xing" (琵琶行) by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi (白居易).

Suddenly, the sound of a pipa could be heard from across the water’s surface.

The master forgets to return, and the guest cannot leave.

The melody, spreading under the moonlight, caused the bodyguards to momentarily lose focus and stop, but this was brief.

Soon, the bodyguards resumed their serious expressions and stopped Yao Ruichi.

“I heard there’s a match tomorrow. If you return late, it’ll cause inconvenience to the other students.”

Then why call us out here in the first place?

Yao Ruichi thought logically, but since he had already acted mad, he decided to keep up the act.

“The others will be more upset about me missing a tune I just thought of.”

“Is that so? In that case, please finish quickly and share your thoughts with the other students.”

Yao Ruichi continued making crazy comments to stall for time, but he soon ran out of things to say.

There was a limit to how much Yao Ruichi, the rational one, could pretend to be crazy.

Before he appeared to be overtly stalling, he had to stop.

After stalling for as long as he could, Yao Ruichi finally reached the coffin deep inside the cave.

‘Was it a mistake to play what I heard in the Hojo family’s domain? Should I have played something else that day?’

The entity in the coffin, with deep ties to the Hojo family, seemed to really like the piece Yao Ruichi played.

That was probably because Yao Ruichi’s performance was exceptional, but the choice of the piece was likely more important.

However, the more he played that piece, the more he felt something was wrong, like a sense of danger.

Yao Ruichi hid his regret and made one last attempt.

“I feel like playing another piece today.”

“If so, you can play both pieces.”

Trying to play another piece didn’t work either.

Today, once again, Yao Ruichi was going to play the newcomer’s song in the coffin full of tiger traps in the cave.

Without a second thought, Yao Ruichi said “Alright” and began by playing Pipa Xing.

He dragged out the slow tempo, blaming Lu Bowon in his mind.

‘You said you’d stay with me, you told me to stall, why aren’t you here!’

He felt that something ominous would happen if he played the designated piece.

Secretly, subtly, touching the Hojo family's mood with his own performance couldn’t be a good thing.

The fact that it might all start with his performance made Yao Ruichi feel like he was going crazy.

While thinking this, the first piece Yao Ruichi had chosen ended.

“Next, please play the designated piece.”

Yao Ruichi pretended to adjust his dizi, took a deep breath, and moved slowly.

He brought his lips to the dizi’s mouthpiece, covering the holes with his fingertips, and closed his eyes tightly.

Then it happened.

A loud rumble...

The ground shook violently, and a powerful force swirled beneath the earth.

Without skills, it was hard to precisely identify the source of the force, but an answer immediately came to Yao Ruichi’s mind.

It was spiritual energy.

He had heard that the Korean Peninsula had abundant spiritual energy even in places far from the strongholds of the Jin Tribe.

Someone was manipulating spiritual energy.

“Who is it? Is it the Hojo family?”

“It’s not the Hojo. If it were the Hojo, the spiritual energy would be flowing backward by now...”

Yao Ruichi, who had stopped playing and was now on guard, overheard the conversation among the bodyguards.

They seemed to have prepared for the spiritual energy backlash should the Hojo family use their power here.

They were truly well-prepared to face the Hojo family.

If that was the case, who was using the spiritual energy now?

‘Could it be another Jin Tribe allied with the Hojo? Or could it be a human?’

The bodyguards, sensing Yao Ruichi’s keen hearing, exchanged opinions through a device without speaking aloud.

During this time, no one urged Yao Ruichi to continue playing.

Then, a faint sound came.

Squeak, squeak...

A far-off sound, so faint it was hard to hear, but it sounded like a rat.

There was nothing strange about a few rats being in a cave like this, but the bodyguards were startled as though they had seen a plague god.

“Could it be that Jin Tribe...!”

“Put on your masks. No, immediately put on your protective suits!”

“No, no. It’ll be fine. The knights used this trick to introduce the antidote!”

“Let’s leave. We shouldn’t be in an enclosed space.”

The bodyguards hurriedly wrapped themselves in the powered armor, shocked, and scrambled out.

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

Yao Ruichi found it strange that they were so terrified by the sound of a rat.

Regardless, he felt uneasy about being here, so he left a beat behind the bodyguards.

‘Were they scared of the rat?’

Yao Ruichi, being skilled in music, had good hearing, and quickly figured out the true nature of the sound.

He thought back to the squeaking noise.

‘That wasn’t the sound of a live rat. It sounded like a recording being played, but maybe I was confused because of the echo in the cave.’

Of course, Yao Ruichi didn’t tell the bodyguards about the rat sound.

He pretended to know nothing, continuing to imitate the eccentric genius until he safely exited.

Yao Ruichi’s time-wasting tactics didn’t end in vain.

Meanwhile, there were those watching the scene from a distance.

Some seemed to have hurried here, their breaths heavily disheveled, but due to the black and solid barrier, no one noticed them.

Lu Bowon, looking the most exhausted among them, spoke first.

“It seems like they’re using spiritual energy, but the cave isn’t collapsing, right? Ah, it’s Yao Ruichi! Should I go to meet him now?”

“Hyunmoo, is Yao Ruichi okay?”

This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.

After Lu Bowon whined and finally calmed down, Li Wei asked calmly.

Upon Li Wei’s question, Hyunmoo smiled faintly.

“Nothing to worry about. It’s as that child thought.”

With his eyes still covered in the darkness, Hyunmoo couldn’t see anything, but he spoke as though he could see someone far away.

“That child? Did someone else suggest what he did just now?”

“That’s right. It’s lucky that it wasn’t too late and that the child’s plan wasn’t ruined.”

Hyunmoo briefly explained what he had done in a gentle voice.

“I used a little bit of spiritual energy and played the rat sound. It’s funny how they got so startled. They still have a long way to go.”

Jo Yi-shin’s first move was about the newcomer’s song.

Having realized that Yao Ruichi had repeatedly performed in front of Qinghao’s coffin, Jo Yi-shin decided to stop it.

Sending Seodo in would have been the most certain way, but doing so would create more debt with Seodo and could also harm Qinghao’s body and Yao Ruichi, so he decided to try a different approach.

Therefore, he decided to rely on Hyunmoo, who knew the cave's location and had ties with Li Wei.

“By the way, what’s in that place that caused Yao Ruichi to be called out?”

“Lu Bowon, you promised you wouldn’t do anything unnecessary.”

“Is asking about what’s there unnecessary? Is it that dangerous?”

Before Li Wei could respond to the probing Lu Bowon, Hyunmoo spoke in his place.

“That’s right. Right now, it’s not something we should carelessly discuss.”

Hyunmoo’s tone was still gentle, but there was a firmness that silenced Lu Bowon.

After a moment of hesitation, Lu Bowon closed his mouth, and Hyunmoo smiled gently, then changed the topic.

“I would like to report directly to that child, but he must be busy. Let’s wait a little longer and then head back. They’ll be busy, so it’s better if someone keeps watching.”

Lu Bowon was curious about who "they" were, but he endured it.

He knew well that the more he knew, the more dangerous it would be, but his curiosity about Yao Ruichi’s involvement was hard to suppress.

While Lu Bowon suffered in his dilemma, the ‘they’ Hyunmoo mentioned were already moving busily.

One of them was Huang Ho.

Not far from Qinghao’s coffin, in an abandoned house, Huang Ho, looking like a man in his twenties, was facing Dixian.

“I heard you’re ready to accept the deal.”

Dixian fell silent and his expression turned vague.

Through the earring-type device Dixian wore, the report of the bodyguards’ withdrawal came through.

It was like walking into the tiger’s den without bait.