EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school-Chapter 942: Night Walk (15)

Baekho-gun granted me his divine protection through his true name.

At first, I couldn’t understand this.

It wasn’t because I didn’t trust his words, but because it didn’t match what I knew and what made sense to me.

The first contradiction that came to mind had two parts.

One was the condition for granting divine protection. Without mutual consent, one cannot receive divine protection.

Divine protection is the act of imbuing one’s presence into the recipient, which requires mutual agreement.

No matter how large the difference in strength, or how weak the other may be, divine protection cannot be established without the agreement of the other party.

A representative case of this is Kim Yuri.

Higher beings associated with water tried to grant Kim Yuri strength and divine protection.

When she received unwanted power and protection, she couldn’t reject the power with the Gwanglim sealing technique, but the divine protection didn’t continue.

As a result, Gwanglim persisted, and Kim Yuri gained the ability to summon water madness, but the higher beings failed to imbue her with their presence.

"But I don’t remember ever agreeing to receive Baekho-gun's protection, but that doesn’t mean I can assert that I don’t have it."

The answer lay in my status window when I first arrived in this world.

My divine protection was in an unreadable state.

Even now, when I check my status window, the description of divine protection reads as follows:

[Divine Protection] (Partially failed to load.)

This was a common bug in Flamagona, so I didn’t pay much attention to it, but there was a possibility that divine protection was engraved behind that message.

However, there was one more thing that bothered me.

"The second thing that bothers me is the timing of Baekho-gun losing his true name."

Baekho-gun lost his true name and incurred the wrath of the Celestial being, which trapped him in the divine realm.

That moment was right after the world collision.

In other words, Baekho-gun had already lost his true name before I arrived in this world.

Hadn’t Baekho-gun always been without his true name even in Flamagona?

After I came to this world, I wouldn’t have received divine protection from his true name without realizing it.

"But if I assume that I received divine protection before I arrived in this world, it wouldn’t be impossible."

Considering both of these points, it seemed that what I knew and what I was thinking didn’t quite add up, but it couldn’t have been a lie.

That meant there was something hidden that I didn’t know.

"It seems like those two things are bothering you."

"...Did you read my mind?"

"The strongest divine protection that the true-blooded beings can bestow is connected to you. It’s hard not to know your thoughts."

Baekho-gun’s tone softened just a little.

Baekho-gun didn’t have the skill to read minds or the Gwanglim ability to look inside others, so this must mean it was linked through divine protection.

Could it be that Baekho-gun had been reading my mind all along?

Thoughts about everything I had been thinking near the tigers swirled in my head.

My harsh thoughts about Hwang Ji-ho, my affection for Olmu, my trust in Baekho-gun, my final playable character, all of it meant he had read them all.

"No, it’s not like that. You have a habit of thinking deeply, so unless I concentrate, I can’t read everything."

He clearly could read my thoughts if he focused on them.

"With that level of divine protection, isn’t there something you can tell without focusing on it?"

"If danger approaches you, I’ll know too."

When I first came to this world, Baekho-gun appeared in front of the gym where the 13th division was testing.

When I passed the test of the former Korean branch leader, Baekho-gun was waiting in front of the student council building.

Just before I fell into the netherworld, he suddenly appeared on Cheoniksan and grabbed me.

Perhaps even when I first fainted in front of Cheondansu, Baekho-gun had noticed the anomaly before the divine guardian, Hwang Ji-ho.

Hwang Ji-ho felt strange power at Cheoniksan, but I noticed the danger faster. There wasn’t much of a gap, so "Hwang Ji-ho’s suspicion didn’t reach Baekho-gun." It seemed like Baekho-gun had focused his consciousness to read my thoughts and responded accurately to my thoughts.

Looking back, there had been a few times when it seemed like Baekho-gun was reading my mind.

Since Hwang Ji-ho had also noticed my thoughts without asking, I didn’t think it was strange that Baekho-gun was doing the same.

When we worked together, Baekho-gun and I perfectly synchronized. I thought it was just because he was the best warrior among the noble families.

And during our chess games, it felt like he was reading all of my moves...

"I taught you martial arts. Even without divine protection, it’s not hard to fight in sync with you. And when we played chess, I never looked inside your head."

Baekho-gun refuted my thoughts.

Thinking about it now, it made sense. Baekho-gun wouldn’t have been unfair in a duel.

His overwhelming chess skills were still frustrating to me.

Thinking about this made the corners of Baekho-gun’s mouth curl up slightly.

Maybe he had read my feelings of frustration.

Baekho-gun must have known that he had granted me divine protection, and he probably wanted to clear up any doubts I had.

"The time I lost my true name and the time I granted you divine protection are different."

"Why?"

"You said that losing my true name and the whereabouts of my true name are different, didn’t you?"

When I asked him to clarify, he continued expanding.

My thoughts became clouded with anxiety, restlessness, and guilt, all induced by the nightmare, as the uncertainty grew.

With the overwhelming feeling that my insides were turning dark, my expression and voice dropped.

"I used the aftermath of the world collision to use my power to go anywhere."

"So, why?"

"I went to find my younger sibling, Eun-ho’s soul."

The name Eun-ho froze my tongue.

Considering Baekho-gun’s feelings toward his younger sibling, whom he had watched over for thousands of years, I couldn’t rush him.

"Hwang-ho’s summoning ceremony failed. If Eun-ho’s soul was in a place that even Hwang-ho couldn’t reach, I decided I had to go find it myself."

I understood what Baekho-gun had attempted during the world collision and his reasoning for doing so.

However, I couldn’t understand how his actions to find Eun-ho related to losing his true name and granting me divine protection.

"But I failed to find Eun-ho. But I did find the world where Eun-ho’s soul might be. I left my true name there to imprint my presence, so I can return to that world anytime."

Baekho-gun expressed it lightly, as if he had just written his name with a pen, but leaving one’s true name behind was akin to leaving half of one’s soul.

Without a powerful presence like that of a true name, it was possible that he could have lost the clues he had found about Eun-ho.

The collision of worlds and such powerful forces wasn’t something that happened often.

He had kept this dangerous act hidden from the Celestials and the noble families, possibly to prevent others from stopping him for his own safety and to keep Eun-ho from learning of it in the future.

Considering Eun-ho’s personality, if he found out that Baekho-gun almost lost his true name while searching for him, he would probably only serve dried persimmons and tea for a hundred years during teatime.

"You know a lot about my younger sibling. Since Eun-ho is like your sibling, it makes sense that you’d know a lot."

"Eun-ho follows me well, but I wouldn’t call him my sibling."

"That would make Eun-ho sad."

Ignoring his meaningless words, I listened to Baekho-gun’s next actions.

Baekho-gun, after failing once during the world collision, had gathered his strength again and was preparing to try again.

When Baekho-gun lost his true name, the angry Celestial being had trapped him in the divine realm, but there was still a plan.

That plan was the dream.

"Even though there are borders between all worlds, dreams continue to connect. Crossing dreams is a dangerous act where the soul and body might separate, but using my true name as a marker, I was able to find the world where Eun-ho’s soul was."

Though dreams and worlds are connected, it was a very dangerous act.

If I were to compare it using my knowledge of world scales and the supernatural, crossing worlds via dreams was more dangerous than crossing the five oceans in a paper boat.

Even the Celestials probably didn’t expect Baekho-gun to make such a crazy move using dreams to escape the divine realm.

"And the world where Eun-ho might be, surely..."

Baekho-gun had found the world where Eun-ho’s traces were, which was the same world I had been in.

Eun-ho was born in that world as a Celestial, and if he had lived there before not being a Celestial, there would have been traces, and Baekho-gun could have tracked it.

"When I arrived in the world, nightmares existed, and those nightmares were connected to your dreams."

"I don’t dream."

"Joid-shin, you’re not without dreams. You simply cannot remember them."

Baekho-gun stated firmly.

"You’re having stronger dreams than anyone else. Back then, when you weren’t even ten years old, your dreams were strong enough to trap the nightmare."

I couldn’t deny Baekho-gun’s words.

There was no standard to judge whether I truly didn’t dream or if I simply couldn’t remember it.

Thinking back, my parents had said that when I was very young, I had talked about dreams.

"In your dreams, you decided to accept my divine protection to gain the strength to face the nightmare."

That explanation made sense.

I didn’t have the awareness that I was dreaming, but if it were for gaining a way to resist the nightmare, I would have done anything.

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Even though it’s said that nightmares are hard to affect humans without supernatural abilities, that’s assuming I’m carrying the nightmare.

If I were to completely release that power, there would be no limits, and it would likely devour dreams indiscriminately. If I understood this, I would have accepted the divine protection without hesitation.

Baekho-gun must have used his true name to bestow divine protection, in order to increase the chances of protecting this world and Eun-ho from the nightmare.

"But something still feels missing..."

Baekho-gun’s explanation didn’t have any contradictions, but there was still a feeling that something was missing.

Baekho-gun had revealed the secrets about the nightmare, his true name, and me, but maybe he was hiding something he didn’t want to reveal.

But with the doubt came the thought that maybe the reason was me.

It was when the Wung tribe attacked on the day I arrived in this world, and I asked Baekho-gun how he knew about it.

Baekho-gun had answered that he found it hard to reply to my question:

—First, I prioritized the promise I made.

—What promise?

—I promised not to interfere in exchange for help.

Could it be that the promise he made was to me?

The me who, while awake, couldn’t remember the dreams, and the one who spoke in those dreams.

"Correct, Joid-shin. The more you become aware of the nightmare’s existence, the stronger it grows. That’s why you don’t try to remember your dreams, and when I speak, giving you clues about the nightmare, it interferes."

Could it be that Baekho-gun had remained silent and restrained his actions all this time because of this?

If the nightmare hadn’t caused harm to those around me, he must have judged that it was better for me to remain unaware of the existence of the nightmare in order to suppress its power.

"Even so, I can’t just let my playable character suffer because of your silence about the nightmare."

But strictly speaking, it couldn’t be called Baekho-gun’s fault, so I swallowed my feelings and continued the conversation.

Since Baekho-gun had always answered before I even opened my mouth, there was little need for me to speak.

During the conversation, Baekho-gun had said a few times that it wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t easily accept that.

By the time the conversation ended, I said the thoughts I had been keeping in my mind.

"Take your true name back."

"No."

He pretended not to know what I was thinking, and I knew he’d refuse, but hearing him say it so decisively made my chest tighten.

Now that my supernatural powers had grown, I wondered if I could carry the nightmare on my own.

I hoped that by retrieving my true name, I could avoid being trapped in the divine realm, but it seemed like Baekho-gun had no intention of doing that.

"As long as it doesn’t interfere with you, I’ll do what I want to do now."

Since I had become aware of the nightmare, Baekho-gun no longer needed to hold back his actions or words.

But that didn’t mean I still needed to hold on to his true name, right?

"So do what you need to do, don’t worry about me."

When I heard something similar to this before, I was purely moved, but now there was a little anger mixed in with the emotion.

How could I not worry when I was receiving divine protection from my final playable character’s true name!?

Since I still couldn’t perceive the events in my dreams, I couldn’t read his mind like Baekho-gun could.

Creak.

Baekho-gun didn’t say anything else and walked out the window.

The white shadow melted instantly into the dark, pouring rain.

I stared at that shadow for a long time, lost in thought.

As I thought about the nightmare for a while...

‘But why did Baekho-gun apologize to me?’

Considering the situation surrounding the granting of divine protection and the series of events, there shouldn’t have been any reason for him to apologize.

Baekho-gun seemed to be hiding something, but I still had no idea what it was or how to point it out.

My dreams.

The nightmares in my dreams.

Maeng Hyo-don and Moon Sae-ron, who had suffered from them.

Baekho-gun’s true name and divine protection.

The thing Baekho-gun didn’t say.

All these thoughts and emotions swirled inside me, darkening my mind.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.