After the 4th quarter student representative meeting ended, I found myself walking alone.

Most of the officers moved on to separate after-parties for each autonomous organization to celebrate the last meeting of the year, and Yu Sanghoon left early due to PlayerZ matters.

I walked partway with a few juniors who weren’t affiliated with any organization but parted ways on the way to the second-year area.

Left alone, I kept recalling the third-year seniors who had been watching the juniors’ efforts with relief and applauding them.

Because of the cold temperature, there were hardly any people outside, making me feel like I was left alone at school for no reason.

‘It’s gotten really cold.’

As December came, the wind became noticeably chillier.

During the festival, the weather had stayed warm, but as soon as the festival ended, frost began to fall and the temperature dropped sharply.

With the cold, the kids in class, led by the tigers, kept nagging me to dress warmly.

Sawol Seyum especially felt disappointed if I didn’t wear the gloves I had received in a previous gift exchange.

So, I always made sure to bring gloves and a scarf when going to school, but since the student representative meeting would be brief, I left both behind.

Actually, the duffle coat provided by the school was also in the classroom.

I thought I could just use my supernatural power if it got too cold, but facing this situation made me realize how harsh this world was, and I hesitated to waste my ability.

Then suddenly, I was enveloped by something warm.

“...!”

I hurriedly turned around and saw my coat, which I had left in the classroom, draped over my shoulders.

Before I could say anything, the other person roughly wrapped the scarf around my neck and handed me gloves.

Only the White Tiger knew exactly where I was to do this.

Sure enough, he was standing in front of me with the corners of his mouth raised in a grin.

“Why do things you weren’t told to do?”

“I’m not interfering.”

I asked curtly, not even thanking him, but he just grinned shamelessly.

Well, delivering clothes and putting them on me without permission can hardly be called interference.

I thought of something to argue back but couldn’t come up with anything, so I quietly put on the coat properly and slipped on the gloves.

Maybe because we had moved instantly from the heated classroom, or because the coat retained warmth, just putting it on made me feel warm immediately.

“You can’t let yourself catch a cold before an important task.”

“I won’t catch a cold.”

“That’s something you can’t know in advance. Just so you know, Hyangrok makes really good cold medicine.”

At the mention of Hyangrok, a chill ran down my spine.

Hyangrok was a competent and kind deer, but the medicine he made wasn’t kind at all.

His cold medicine probably wouldn’t taste as good as the medicinal food he previously made for me and Andain.

Even if I just took regular over-the-counter cold medicine, the tigers would somehow make me take Hyangrok’s medicine anyway.

Thinking about that made me feel colder, so I buttoned up the coat.

But the White Tiger wasn’t wearing his school jacket as usual.

Seeing that, I said, “If you catch a cold, I’ll ask Hyangrok to make cold medicine for you.”

“I don’t catch colds.”

The White Tiger said confidently.

Honestly, it was hard to imagine the greatest prodigy of the tiger clan catching a cold.

I’d heard that although the Jin clan looked human on the outside, their origins were so different that they rarely caught human illnesses.

For the descendants, when human blood mixes in, they become more human-like.

In other words, Chokrin’s body—born of the dragon and sea dragon kings—was very different from a human’s.

However, Chokrin and Yeom Jun-yeol, son of Yeom Bang-yeol, were relatively close to humans.

‘Still, since Yeom Jun-yeol is a fire dragon, he probably won’t catch a cold.’

Gwack Kyung-gu, who had kept his distance from Yeom Jun-yeol all summer and early fall, now voluntarily got closer.

He even asked to summon the Hongryong he’d disliked so much.

Thanks to that, the summoned Hongryong was often seen in the third-year area.

The school would probably get colder once Yeom Jun-yeol graduated.

“Tigers don’t feel cold easily, so don’t worry even if it gets colder. Besides, there are cold-weather measures.”

“I didn’t ask.”

I didn’t know what he wanted to do, nagging like that over something I only thought about.

Come to think of it, Hwang Ji-ho had mentioned cold-weather measures in passing.

They were seriously considering adding cold protection effects to the 12 Zodiac barrier surrounding Eungwang High.

Personally, I thought that was crazy.

The school grounds were about 165 hectares—roughly 500,000 pyeong—and creating the barrier itself was a tremendous achievement.

‘After the interdimensional conflict, the land’s spiritual energy on the Korean Peninsula increased. If it hadn’t, the barrier’s scale would have had to be drastically reduced.’

Thanks also to the tiger clan having settled here for thousands of years, receiving geographical adjustments.

Without enough spiritual energy, forming a barrier of this size would be impossible.

The dragon clan’s Yonggung Palace on the west coast was protected by the power of the Dragon King deity and priestess, and the Jonggak Station Red Lion team building was protected by a 12 Zodiac barrier.

Although the dragon clan reduced their barrier size once when moving for the descendants, they were still famous and powerful.

In contrast, the tiger clan, protecting the entire school grounds, was vastly different from the dragons, who only surrounded a building.

Anyway, adding cold protection to such a barrier was insane.

Wouldn’t it require power on the level that froze Eungwang High’s barrier using low-temperature and freezing interdimensional and supernatural poison techniques on Christmas Eve last year?

“Tell Hwang Ji-ho to save some strength.”

“Your words will be more effective than mine. Also, now that Hwang Ho noticed you get cold easily, he’ll prepare thoroughly. It won’t get cold.”

What was I supposed to do with that?

Ah, was he insisting that it wouldn’t get cold even after Yeom Jun-yeol graduates?

Ding dong.

At that moment, my device alarm sounded.

Since I was outside and wearing gloves, it was inconvenient to operate, so I was going to reply later, but since it was someone I couldn’t delay answering, I checked immediately.

The contact was Ryu Jang, the pâtissier of MITRON and contractor of the Silent and Passive Demon Lord, Sidellentium.

[Ryu Jang] Hello, Jo Yi-shin. I heard about the festival. It was impressive.

[Ryu Jang] The person I serve said they also enjoyed it.

Throughout the festival, the crows excitedly flew around Eungwang High.

Demons and their minions hadn’t been allowed into Eungwang High before.

So even if it was through °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the eyes of the crows, Sidellentium might be the first demon lord to actually see the festival.

‘The priest of the demon god entered Eungwang High during the Christmas Eve charity event, but since it was interrupted, Sidellentium is probably the first to have fully enjoyed the festival.’

Sidellentium released many crows for the festival, so sightings were reported everywhere.

They weren’t noisy, so no one chased them away, but opinions were that the crows quietly watching were either distracting or cute.

Especially, whenever our class’s tea house concept changed, the crows came to the window to watch.

But from what Ryu Jang said, it seemed they didn’t just watch through their minions but also checked articles about the festival.

They also opened a bakery in front of Eungwang High, showing how interested they were.

But did Ryu Jang contact me just to talk about the festival?

[Ryu Jang] I have something to introduce. Please come see me soon.

Hearing that from the pâtissier sounded like he wanted to introduce a new bread or cake.

But the implication was different.

MITRON released seasonal limited edition products every season, but Ryu Jang never messaged me like this to announce one.

‘He wants to introduce a guide.’

While I was replying that I’d come right when MITRON closes today, the White Tiger suddenly spoke.

“Tell them you have company.”

“Company?”

Before I could ask who he meant, the White Tiger said,

“I’m coming too.”

The Eungwang District office of National Assembly member Sung Guk-eon.

Last month, Sung Guk-eon devoted himself to interdimensional conquests.

One of his campaign promises was to “conquer an interdimensional rift once a week,” and since entering politics, he never missed this promise.

But he judged that this winter would be difficult, so he finished this year’s conquests early.

If no interdimensional rift appeared, he sometimes doubled up conquests later, and voters understood this flexibility.

‘The Fomor demons fulfilled all my demands.’

The Fomor demons, specialized in movement and transformation, faithfully executed Sung Guk-eon’s requests.

His request was to make Eungwang District a “no-transfer zone.”

They expended huge amounts of items and supernatural energy so that tricks like transferring someone disguised as Sung Guk-eon or Jeon Mo-young would no longer work in Eungwang District.

Now it was impossible to transfer someone or open garden gates to lure people in, or move rifts of freezing-type interdimensional zones within Eungwang District.

Of course, inside the barrier of Eungwang High, where they couldn’t interfere, the story was different.

Still, the area corresponding to outside the school but within the district was now completely safe.

‘I made excuses about checking the schedule of the assembly member and the fulfillment of their contract conditions, but their patience seems to be reaching its limit.’

December was a very busy month for assembly members.

They had to handle next year’s budget and attend various year-end events.

In reality, Sung Guk-eon’s days were so busy he cut down his sleeping time by two hours or sometimes barely slept.

Especially as the only player assembly member, he belonged to the interdimensional supernatural abilities committee.

With the escalating conflict between the interdimensional department and the association headquarters, the number of extraordinary meetings increased.

Knowing this, the Fomor demons waited patiently, stepping back for now.

But once the adjustment budget passed the plenary session, they would have to meet.

‘Uisin said he would meet them instead of me...’

Sung Guk-eon tested and measured the Fomor demons’ powers by various methods.

Their power, hatred, and obsession toward the Danus tribe were real.

If things went wrong, both Sung Guk-eon and I would be in danger.

Still, he couldn’t accept their contract and destroy the Danus tribe’s divine protection, sowing the seeds of international conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

Nevertheless, Sung Guk-eon trusted me and decided to accept the meeting on his behalf.

“...!”

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the office trembled unnaturally.

Since transfers didn’t work in the Eungwang District office, someone had clearly intruded directly.

Sung Guk-eon immediately identified the visitor and spoke.

“Are you the Sword Saint of Black Forest? The main entrance of the office is over there.”

The visitor was the Sword Saint of Black Forest, team master of Jeolheukpoongrim—one of the world’s top 10 and Korea’s top 4 player teams.

Among Korea’s four representative team masters, the Black Forest Sword Saint was the only one in his twenties and possessed outstanding skills.

Obsessed with fighting the demonic cult, he was a target Sung Guk-eon had to be wary of as someone who had contracted with demons.

Clad entirely in black martial arts attire, the Black Forest Sword Saint stared sternly at Sung Guk-eon before taking the martial salute.

Seeing this, Sung Guk-eon burst into hearty laughter and asked,

“Or did you come as a junior from Class 0?”

The Black Forest Sword Saint was also a quirky junior who graduated from Class 0, just like Sung Guk-eon.