EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school-Chapter 972: Regret (6)

The annex of the Hwangmyeongho Mansion.

Since yesterday, a clone of Hwang Ho, in the form of Eunho and Hwang Yuho, had been staying here.

When Cho I-shin was on his way to his room, Eunho, who had intentionally been hiding his presence until then, appeared and spoke.

“Is I-shin hyung resting well? There must have been a lot of dangerous things today, so he must want to make his next move right away.”

“I sent him to sleep before bringing it up. Baek Ho volunteered to go watch over him, so there's no need to worry.”

“Baek Ho hyung?”

Every time Cho I-shin visited the mansion and stayed overnight, Baek Ho was always waiting nearby.

Hwang Ho knew this well, but he didn't question or find it strange.

The reason Cho I-shin had started staying in the mansion was after saving Eunho's descendant, and since Baek Ho considered Eunho like his own younger brother and felt indebted, it was only natural that he took care of Cho I-shin’s sleeping arrangements.

Moreover, Cho I-shin reacted gently towards the other clan leaders, especially Baek Ho, except for Hwang Ho.

So, Hwang Ho was glad about Baek Ho's actions.

“Right. Cho I-shin listens well to Baek Ho, so it should be fine.”

“That’s right.”

Hwang Ho's words made Eunho smile faintly in agreement.

But when Hwang Ho saw Eunho’s smile, he felt a cold, uncomfortable feeling deep in his chest.

He wondered if Eunho had noticed that he was hiding the truth about his injuries.

While that level of injury wouldn't affect another clone, Eunho was very good at figuring out what Hwang Ho was trying to conceal.

Hwang Ho, trying to hide his thoughts, asked cautiously.

“...What’s going on, Eunho?”

“It’s nothing. I’ve just been thinking a lot with the big event coming up.”

Hwang Ho knew very well that there was more to what Eunho was saying than just ‘nothing.’

The phrase meant that there was ‘nothing to say, yet,’ implying that Eunho's thoughts were still in progress.

Eunho wore his usual gentle expression, but Hwang Ho couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.

Eunho asked.

“You must have had a lot of people to talk to since you stayed here for the funeral. How was it?”

Hwang Ho chose his words carefully to avoid being caught.

He remembered that Eunho had once scolded him about the breakdown in communication between the Twelve Alliance members.

Now, there was something he needed to discuss with Eunho about a conversation he had with the Black Mage.

“I had a lot of talks with the Black Mage. Some of them have already been passed through the clones, but now that I think about it, there’s something I didn’t mention.”

“What is it?”

“There was a time when Maeng Hyo-don received thanks from the Black Mage. He got a few gifts at the time.”

Hwang Ho briefly explained the backstory, mentioning that Maeng Hyo-don had once saved the members of the Ma clan, and then spoke of the Dreamcatcher that had turned black.

“The unicorn feather of the Dreamcatcher turned black, you say?”

“That’s what I heard.”

Eunho seemed concerned about the blackened Dreamcatcher and asked a few questions.

Hwang Ho answered based on his conversation with the Black Mage, but the information was sparse, and he couldn’t come to a satisfying conclusion.

“Considering Maeng Hyo-don's nature, it’s possible he might have forgotten about the Dreamcatcher itself. Someone probably reminded him to use it.”

Hwang Ho agreed with this.

It seemed that Eunho had arrived at the same conclusion.

“By coincidence, a classmate who was walking around the landscaping area at night knew a lot about the Dreamcatcher.”

Baek Ho didn’t speak up immediately, though he seemed to have a lot to say.

He was watching me, and there was an unmistakable hint of concern.

I almost felt moved by the thoughtfulness of my last playable character, but then I remembered that my mind was still connected to Gaho, so I stopped my thoughts.

He probably already knew I wasn’t hurt, so why was he still coming to check on me?

Since I couldn’t read minds like some others, I decided to ask directly.

“I’m fine. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I’m fine, but Hwang Ji-ho might have been hurt.”

“I know that too.”

Well, he would know.

I had indirectly suggested that he check on Hwang Ji-ho to see if he was okay, but Baek Ho didn’t seem inclined to go.

Instead, he explained in a way that sounded like an excuse.

“Just because we’re connected through Gaho doesn’t mean I can fully understand your situation. You fully recognize Gaho’s existence in your dreams, and you know this well, and you’re good at exploiting my weaknesses.”

“You think I use Gaho to exploit your weaknesses?”

“Yeah.”

Come to think of it, I had heard before that even if Gaho were truly bestowed upon me, there would still be limitations.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

I had been told that I would need to concentrate to read someone’s thoughts properly, so if I disrupted Baek Ho’s concentration, I could catch him off guard.

If I layered my thoughts in a complex, multiple-layered manner, making it hard to read everything, could I perhaps deceive Baek Ho in return?

I pondered a few ways I could exploit his weaknesses, using his words as a hint.

Baek Ho, who likely saw right through my plans, smiled and said.

“You’re thinking just like you did when you had memories. I’m not sure if I should’ve told you that, but it was necessary.”

“Necessary?”

“Yeah. If I always thought I could fully read your mind, your plans might get off track. Keep that in mind.”

I got it.

It was helpful information that I could exploit Baek Ho’s weaknesses and that not all thoughts were shared, so I needed to be careful when planning.

But I didn’t feel good about it.

It seemed like Baek Ho had exposed his weakness, but in reality, he must have intended to share this information himself, so it felt like I was playing into his hands.

I knew well that Baek Ho wasn’t just physically strong but also excellent in psychological warfare, yet the frustration remained.

‘But does Baek Ho separate the awake me from the dream me? Right now, I can’t properly perceive the dream, so my actions and thoughts might differ from what I would normally do...’

I felt his gaze on me, sharp and piercing.

He was watching me quietly, and it felt like he had read my thoughts.

I hadn’t expected a response, but Baek Ho answered on his own.

“You think of your dream memories as just another piece on the chessboard. Whether you have one more or one less piece doesn’t change the person placing them. It’s still all you.”

I thought the same.

I wasn’t sure if others would see it the same way, but Baek Ho seemed to agree with my thoughts.

But was that the reason Baek Ho had come here to talk?

“Cho I-shin, do you remember that the leaders of the two factions can sense your presence from afar?”

“Yeah.”

“You must also remember that the strength of the nightmare has grown as you’ve become aware of it.”

He was stating things I already knew, but there seemed to be a reason he was mentioning the nightmares, so I decided to wait for him to continue.

Baek Ho went on.

“The nightmare is pure evil. And the Sa-Hyeong worship evil, which is who you faced today.”

“Do you think the Sa-Hyeong could sense the nightmare’s presence?”

“It’s possible.”

That possibility stirred something in my mind.

Perhaps this could be an opportunity.

If I used the nightmare, I might be able to clear up any suspicions regarding my relations with the aristocracy after today’s incident.

Although Hwang Ji-ho didn’t know and left me here, from the dark forces’ perspective, they would never imagine that Hwang Ho would consider a human tied to the nightmare as a benefactor.

Maybe it would be safer to just reveal the nightmare’s existence to Hwang Ji-ho and maintain our alliance, but at a distance?

“You don’t seem to like that idea.”

I paused my thoughts for a moment and looked at Baek Ho.

Baek Ho didn’t deny it but made a sarcastic remark.

“Now you can read my mind even when I’m awake.”

How wonderful.

His teasing made me feel frustrated.

Baek Ho, as if he still had something to say about the Sa-Hyeong, paused and then spoke.

“Cho I-shin, the Sa-Hyeong is serving that one’s evil because they’re drawn to it. So, my thoughts are...”

Baek Ho stopped at the crucial part.

Was he just testing whether I could read his mind or not?

Since I still couldn’t, I urged him.

“What are your thoughts?”

“You’ll hear them when you wake up from your nap. If you want to hear it, you should sleep.”

His words almost made me pull out my special weapon by reflex.

But it wasn’t a spar, and I couldn’t pull out a weapon against my last playable character, so I hesitated, which made Baek Ho smile again.

In the end, I had to suppress my frustration and try to get some sleep.

I didn’t think I’d fall asleep easily, but perhaps because of the accumulated fatigue, as soon as I closed my eyes, a wave of spiritual energy overwhelmed me.

When I woke up, it was already time for a late lunch.

Outside, I sensed a presence likely belonging to Baek Ho, and as soon as I woke, he moved.

The direction he was heading was toward the dining room.

The fact that he was making his presence so obvious meant that he didn’t intend to talk before the meal.

‘I need to discuss the trolls targeting Hwang Ji-ho and Ahn Da-in, but I’m not going to bring that up at the dining table.’

I had already obtained materials from Gye I-dam to check what was being said about Ahn Da-in on overseas forums.

Gye I-dam had kept all the screenshots of the comments, along with the IDs, IPs, activity times, speech patterns, and frequently used special characters, and the volume of data was considerable.

When I checked a bit during my device contact yesterday, I felt like I had glimpsed into the abyss.

‘Since Jeokho specializes in information warfare, he’ll likely read this and his reaction will be something else.’

If Jeokho saw these comments, Kim Shin-rok would probably burst out with insults that no one could interpret.

But since Jeokho was currently on a mission in China, he wouldn’t be able to check them right away.

“Cho I-shin, are you awake? We have a lot to discuss, so it’d be better to listen while we eat. I’ve got a report from Jeokho.”

As soon as I finished getting dressed and arrived at the dining room, I was surprised to hear Jeokho mentioned.

The white tiger, reading my thoughts, had already taken a seat and was smiling silently with only the corners of his mouth raised.

It seemed like he found this amusing.

Instead of focusing on Baek Ho, I asked Hwang Ji-ho.

“What’s the report about?”

“Well, before hearing Jeokho’s report, let’s start with the information I received from Kwon Je-in. I think it’ll be easier to understand that way.”

Jeokho and Kwon Je-in’s relationship was almost nonexistent.

However, when thinking about Jeokho’s mission and the entities he was opposing that were connected to Kwon Je-in, there was faint overlap.

As expected, the answer came with that connection.

“It looks like the Oath of the Three Knights is going to stir things up at the China-Korea-Japan exchange event at Eungwang High.”

The explosion at the player training center in Chengdu, China, and the discovery of the Oath of the Three Knights' team logo by Seo Dol.

It was said that the Master of the Eternal Lake Sub-Team, Jared Lee, was cloned by the Knight of the Water Shadow.

The Oath of the Three Knights had their eyes on Mok Woo-ram.

At Hwang Ji-ho’s words, incidents and characters associated with the Oath of the Three Knights came to mind.

It felt like the chess pieces placed on the other side of the board were all moving at once.