EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school-Chapter 1091: At the end of a long fight (1)

The shadow theater performance involved not only Yao Luchi, who was preparing his performance, but also a large number of the Chinese team, using Ineungpa to create stage effects.

I couldn’t help but admire the scene.

‘They still have plenty of energy left.’

Although Yao Luchi had been taken out due to accumulated damage before fully unleashing his power, Rubowan, who had been participating fiercely for a long time, was consuming a lot of Ineungpa, yet he still demonstrated great resilience.

As the shadow threads shaped a Zhuque (Vermilion Bird), following Yao Luchi's performance, the audience erupted in admiration, "Oooh!"

However, the Zhuque couldn’t fly.

"Ugh, I can’t do it, I’m too tired!"

It seemed like Rubowan's Ineungpa had run out, as he collapsed onto the stage and the shadow threads vanished instantly.

In the end, the impromptu shadow performance ended awkwardly, and the lights in the banquet hall came on.

Having seen the performance, I clapped half-heartedly, while the Japanese team entered through another entrance and joined in with applause.

It seemed like Rubowan was glad to be receiving applause and quickly stood up, shouting, "Thank you! Be sure to come watch the full performance!"

However, it was clear that his energy had drained.

Li Wei, who had been laying the fireworks behind the scenes, withdrew his power and checked on Rubowan's condition.

"I told you from the start we shouldn’t do this. We could have just handed out invitations and played the video."

"Li Wei, they’ve already seen the video. We need to show them how amazing it is in person!"

Rubowan had watched the video many times to study the Ineungpa he was using.

Though he acted thoughtlessly at times, it seemed Rubowan had his own principles.

‘Introducing Zhuque in the shadow theater was part of it. The official sponsor of the Chinese team is the Zhuque concern, a company founded by one of the Gods of the Four Emperors, Zhuque. Even though the performance didn’t meet expectations, if a student voluntarily hosted a performance honoring Zhuque, the sponsor wouldn’t be able to complain.’

Whether Rubowan consciously intended to pay homage to Zhuque is unknown, but in the end, it would be viewed as a noble act.

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Moreover, the design of the Chinese team’s uniform, inspired by Zhuque, and the content of the performance were well-suited together.

Rubowan spoke with a bright voice.

"Our team has never won first place in the exchange competition. We didn’t even produce a single Most Valuable Contributor. But at least for the performance, we’ll make it the best in the Korea-China-Japan Exchange!"

"The top performances in this exchange competition are Dokgo Miro's opening stage and the collaboration between the blue violinist Kwon Je-in and the Eungwang High students at the closing ceremony. To be the best, we need to top that performance."

Li Wei's cold words made Rubowan blink rapidly.

Though I was concerned for Rubowan, it seemed that Li Wei had also been under a lot of pressure from following Rubowan’s relentless schedule.

Li Wei couldn’t assert, "I can do better than that!" without hesitation.

As soon as Yao Luchi's name came up, Kwon Je-in's name was mentioned, and his expression faltered.

"...Everyone, please come in! It’s a rare opportunity for the heroes of each country to gather here after the battles. There’s no way food and drinks should be missing from this feast. Get comfortable!"

Rubowan pretended not to hear anything and led other team players in.

Though I wasn’t sure if it was intentional, Rubowan’s actions made it easier for everyone to talk without worrying about nationality.

Talking about the unsatisfying end to the performance rather than the clear winner of the exchange competition seemed to create more common ground among everyone.

"Ho Yeon Gwan can accommodate up to 2,000 people. If we want to fill it, we’ll have to hurry with promotions."

"I thought it was only 1,000 seats! It’s doubled now!"

"Rubowan, what are we going to do? It looks like it’ll be empty."

"I’ll contact the Eungwang High Newspaper Club for promotion. Our school students love watching battles and performances, so they’ll fill the seats."

When Cheon Dong-ha said that and looked toward me, I nodded.

I had already contacted the Newspaper Club about the Chinese team’s performance at Ho Yeon Gwan before Cheon Dong-ha had even spoken.

Upon hearing this, Rubowan and Yao Luchi grabbed my hands from both sides and repeatedly said, "Good preparation!", "Please write a great article!"

‘Moon Sae-ron will probably write the promotional article, but he seems busy right now.’

Normally, Moon Sae-ron would be the first to check and reply to group messages in the Newspaper Club chat, but this time, he was unusually silent.

Eventually, I decided to ask a different junior to write the article and focus on the exchange at the after-party.

The banquet hall was large enough that we could stand and chat in groups or sit comfortably at tables.

At first, students from the same country sat together, but soon, everyone began mingling, standing and talking without worrying about their nationality, starting with Cheon Dong-ha and Rubowan.

Although the Japanese team had a bad atmosphere upon entering, they soon integrated well.

The atmosphere had been eased by Rubowan, and the Japanese players were also willing to engage with players from other countries.

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"So, when you triggered the explosion with the time delay, you didn’t use Ineungpa to control the timing, right? You used an insulator between the combustibles?"

"Exactly. You caught on quickly."

"Wow, I never thought of using an insulator. If it wasn’t Ineung materials, Arihara-sama’s Ineungpa wouldn’t have been able to handle the heat. Wouldn’t this be almost like a perfect insulator?"

"Not quite. And don’t add ‘sama’ to my name."

Cha Seok-won immediately addressed Arihara Tomoaki.

But was it okay to just call Arihara Tomoaki by his first name if he didn’t like the honorific “sama”?

I wondered if it was his last name he disliked, but maybe it was simply because a childhood friend didn’t address him by his name.

I looked at Arihara Tomoaki and suddenly realized something.

‘Arihara Tomoaki is also isolated.’

Considering his actions so far, the Pro-Ho A-gassi faction would find it hard to accept him, while the Anti-Ho A-gassi faction would now scorn him for suddenly aligning with Renjo-in Karen.

Naturally, the only ones left by ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Arihara Tomoaki’s side were Hirano Seiji and Renjo-in Karen.

Though the situation was complicated, I was relieved to see that Arihara Tomoaki didn’t seem to care and was having fun.

‘Our team seems to be getting along well, which is a relief.’

At first, Maeng Hyo-don had silently eaten without speaking, but since he was a food connoisseur and had performed well in the exchange competition, he quickly began talking once food was involved.

Thanks to the Chinese team selecting a variety of dishes representing the Korea-China-Japan food cultures, conversations over food were lively.

It also helped that everyone was quite hungry after all the fighting.

On the other hand, there were those who couldn’t find time to eat because the crowd was too large.

‘Those two probably haven’t eaten yet.’

Dokgo Miro and Yeom Jun-yeol had a fan meeting-like atmosphere around them.

Perhaps because the Dragon Tribe has a strong symbolic presence in China, there was a long line of people wanting to shake hands with Yeom Jun-yeol.

However, no matter how much they liked dragons, they didn’t approach the dangerous ones.

"Everyone, congratulations on the victory. Thanks to you, I’ve become a famous general without doing anything. Oh, and congratulations to the 2nd and 3rd place teams too!"

"It wasn’t nothing. You were somewhat of a hindrance."

"You know me too well, Gyeong-goo. Yes, I did hinder things, but I still led the Korean team to win the international competition."

Yong Je-gun, the general manager of the Korean team, was also there.

Coaches from each country, who were essentially the guardians of the youth players, had also come.

While everyone else left the kids to have fun, Yong Je-gun wasn’t one to back off easily and was actively moving around, especially showing interest in the Japanese team.

The situation seemed to interest the players from Yuexi District, with Renjo-in Karen at the center, causing some friction with the Pro-Ho A-gassi and Anti-Ho A-gassi factions.

"Yi-shin."

When I finished exchanging device codes with the Chinese players and turned, I heard a familiar voice.

It was Hirano Seiji.

Despite being tired from the long fight, he looked cheerful.

Standing next to Hirano Seiji was Renjo-in Karen.

"Are you well? I wanted to introduce my teammate, but it seems everyone is busy."

The Japanese team had been busy dealing with the sudden Yong Je-gun disaster.

Though she said that, it seemed Renjo-in Karen had waited for the moment when the Anti-Ho A-gassi faction had moved away to approach me.

"Sorry I’m late, but congratulations on becoming the Most Valuable Contributor of the exchange."

"Thank you. I was lucky."

In my brief response, Renjo-in Karen smiled modestly.

"If you had participated fully in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, the outcome might have been different."

Speculating about "what if" didn’t matter.

If a similar situation had occurred, I would’ve poured all my energy into the 1st round and won again.

But did Renjo-in Karen come just to greet me?

It didn’t seem that way.

"One of the Three Emperors of the Great Continent has already appointed an agent here."

Renjo-in Karen lowered her voice and looked at Li Wei, the agent of Shin Nong.

Li Wei was talking seriously with the supporters from various countries, including Park Seung-hyun, Heo Chae-a, and Ma Jin-seung.

It wasn’t a big secret that Li Wei used Shin Nong's powers, so I couldn’t understand why Renjo-in Karen lowered her voice like that.

"Another Three Emperor will appoint an agent soon."

This time, Renjo-in Karen's gaze turned toward Yao Luchi.

Yao Luchi, busy promoting, seemed to be preparing food for the snack exchange and was filling his plate with snacks recommended by students hosting the exchange.

‘With Yao Luchi's level of performance, it wouldn’t be strange if a higher being took notice of him. Is Renjo-in Karen talking about one of the Three Emperors related to the performance?’

A figure suddenly crossed my mind.

Among the Three Emperors, there were two higher beings involved in Plma-go.

One was Ye-wa and the other was Fu-ki.

Fu-ki had a story about teaching humans how to spread music and play instruments.

‘Since the scenario has changed so much, maybe the involvement of the two Three Emperors will change as well.’

It seemed Renjo-in Karen was trying to relay this information to me.

But before she could finish what she wanted to say, she hesitated and then spoke again.

"Yi-shin, you’re close with Ahn Da-in, right?"

It felt like I had been struck unexpectedly.

Though it was an honor to hear that I was close with Ahn Da-in, I didn’t want to hear such sensitive and dangerous words from a third party at this time.

Hirano Seiji seemed to sense something and immediately said, "Ah, that's not what Yi-shin meant!"

But I was too stunned to respond.

After a brief pause, Renjo-in Karen took a deep breath, blushed slightly, and politely said,

"I want to be friends with Ahn Da-in. Could you introduce us?"