Ex Rank Supporting Role’s Replay in a Prestigious School

I wondered if the cheers were meant for some other tiger, so I glanced to the side, but those who had been walking right beside me a moment ago had somehow fallen several paces back.

Thanks to the agile movements befitting a tiger aristocrat known for combat prowess and longevity, I ended up receiving the cheers all to myself.

“Everyone who came early was waiting for the vice class president. They kept asking when he’d arrive.”

“Hmm, from the photos posted by the Butler Café everyone understands now. Oh, if you need any pictures with Suhyuk and Dain in them, you’d better ask someone else to send them rather than checking the community.”

After Maeng Hyo-don, Kim Yuri kindly filled me in on the situation.

Hearing the warning not to look at the community, my accumulated experience let me guess roughly what was happening. But even though I knew I shouldn’t, human curiosity got the better of me. I’ll have to think about whether to monitor it or not later.

I went under the Christmas-decorated tree in the center of the tea house and lifted a basket, and someone screamed again. Judging by the sound coming from the group holding star wands they called Supernova cheering sticks, it seemed one of my fans had done it.

“Our Supernova... Uisin... Santa outfit...”

Thanks to the player’s keen hearing, I picked up most of the conversation among the guests. The fans seemed very pleased that I was wearing a Santa outfit. Did they not realize my hearing was this good, or were they deliberately speaking loudly? I felt dizzy from the torrent of praise.

Actually, I too had mentally showered compliments on the well-dressed students at our class’s tea house and Butler Café today, but only silently. Holding back my embarrassment, I smiled at the guests, and their praise only grew more blatant.

“U-Uisin, it suits you so well!”

When I lifted the basket of Supernova chocolates, a fan who displayed astonishing reflexes was the first in line and shouted out. They had also been the first non-player guest to arrive at the tea house last time. They came to the festival then too—why again now? The only change was my Santa outfit and the added Christmas decorations. Had they come just for that? And although they had closed the distance so quickly last time without so much as a labored breath, judging by their movement just now they might be an even more formidable player than I’d assumed.

A thought occurred to me: if they were my fan and an outstanding player, could they belong to that same group?

I recalled the fan who wrote a review after watching the martial arts match at Jeolheukpoongrim in person. Remembering it made me dizzy with memories of their scathing review, but I put that aside. That fan was from White Tempest, one of the world’s top ten pro-player teams. Since we might cross paths again someday, I decided it would be polite to greet them.

“Thank you for coming again. You were here last time, too.”

As I handed over a Supernova chocolate, they suddenly covered their mouth, nodded several times, and quickly departed. Then I heard another “Aaaah!” from afar. It felt familiar, as though I’d seen a similar scene before, but so many buyers were reacting that way that I figured it was just a common response.

After spending hours fielding these strange reactions, it was finally time for a break.

“Let’s go, Jo Uisin. Aren’t there plenty of places we still need to visit?”

There were indeed plenty, but I didn’t understand why Hwang Ji-ho and White Tiger were following me as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Among the tigers, Cheong-ho had volunteered to guard Dokgo Miro, whose fans were swarming around him, and even though the Overlord didn’t really need a guard, he accepted happily. Perhaps bored by Cheong-ho’s refusal to play, the remaining tigers led me outside.

Our first stop was the Special Exhibition Hall of Falling Black Snow. It had been named Daybreak Snow after me.

Embarrassing.

Inside the exhibition hall, holographic black snow drifted down against a recreated dawn sky. Though the hall was quite dark, lights symbolizing the Supernova were installed here and there, and holograms replaying footage from the Christmas Eve incident made it easy to navigate. The atmosphere was even lovely, and people were snapping commemorative photos all around.

“Uisin-sunbae is here!”

“Where?”

My juniors spotted me in an instant and scampered this way. First-year Class 0 was in charge of running this Special Exhibition Hall. Ordinarily such events are handled by the student council, but with this festival’s scale, they were short-staffed. They’d planned to recruit volunteers from among the students and published a call for applicants. I thought they might fail to attract enough people, but instead they were overwhelmed with volunteers, forcing them to select by competition. As a result, only Class 0 ended up running it.

“Uisin-hyung, thank you for coming. Please take your time looking around.”

“I’ve arrived.”

“Me too.”

“Yes, you’re here.”

Eunho at least gave Hwang Ji-ho a nod, but barely acknowledged White Tiger. If he didn’t like that treatment, he should behave himself. In any case, I blamed White Tiger for it.

“So because a whole class is running it, and the first-years who weren’t there that day now operate the hall, it holds symbolic meaning,” Eunho had argued, and it had won over the planners.

I wondered if the first-years had prepared anything on their own. At the exit of the Special Exhibition Hall, they were selling snow domes set against a backdrop of Eun Gwang High, with black snow falling inside. My juniors must have been worried I wouldn’t get to do what I really wanted, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Uisin oppa! The Dragon Clan asked, so we tried adding Osaek Chaewoni and a dragon to the snow dome. But Eunha caught us and scolded us. Instead, we made a separate Dragon Edition!”

“Yoon Yeorang! When did you make that?”

“Uisin-hyung suits tigers more than dragons, though.”

Yoon Yeorang thrust the snow dome she’d made for me into my hands, and Eunho and Eunseo ran over, muttering complaints. Since it was a gift prepared for me, I gratefully accepted the dragon-themed snow dome. But the tigers watching began to chatter.

“Is there a Tiger Edition?”

“Of course. I gave it to Hyungnim White Tiger, so I bet it’ll be up in Uisin-hyung’s dorm faster than this one.”

Eunho’s preparedness was as impressive as ever. To receive two special versions separately... I really had wonderful juniors. Just then, as the juniors who’d been excited calmed down a bit, several small, precious shadows appeared at the exhibition entrance.

“I’m here!”

“Ha ha, don’t run.”

Black Tiger spotted me and started to run over, but Hwang Yuh-o stopped him. Both of them must have struggled to get here on those tiny legs; I was so grateful and proud. Black Tiger had nearly sung at the chance to see the black snow, so I was relieved he’d made it. And they weren’t the only ones who’d come out of kindness.

Woof woof!

“Wait, hold on! I want to take a photo!”

Angel and Eun Jae-ho were here too! As Angel tried to dash toward me, Eun Jae-ho, who’d been leading him, nearly lost his balance—someone next to them grabbed their hands tightly, keeping them steady. It was Ye Beom-yeong, the youngest of my playable characters. Though both were small, holding hands kept them from toppling over.

“All three of you are so kind. Angel probably came both to protect the children and to see the exhibition, right? Angels are angels, but they’re genius warriors too.”

As I was moved by this beautiful scene, White Tiger interjected.

“Jo Uisin, did you forget that among those four is Hwang-ho?”

“He must have forgotten. Hwang Yuh-o is treated like a different being.”

“Ha ha ha ha!”

Hwang Ji-ho and Hwang Yuh-o shared the same space yet behaved as if they were separate individuals, wearing different expressions and acting differently. With stern Hwang Ji-ho and gentle Hwang Yuh-o side by side, you couldn’t help but see them separately. I spoke to the kind Angel and the children.

“You came. Do you need a snow dome? I’ll buy one for you.”

“I want one!”

“Ha ha ha! I could even buy you a real dome.”

“Really? Then let’s take a photo together at the souvenir shop!”

Woof woof!

One child made a strange sound, but they were all kind, so it was fine. However, one child wasn’t responding. Ye Beom-yeong blinked up at me several times. Now that I thought about it, this was my first time meeting this child in person in this world. I’d donated to the orphanage they lived in and heard news through the tiger aristocrats, but I’d never met them. The tigers whispered among themselves at Ye Beom-yeong’s reaction.

“That child has the power to see through essence. Can we let him see Uisin-hyung?”

“We sealed Gwangrim. He won’t see nightmares.”

“We already set up a soundproof barrier just in case. Rest assured.”

They claimed Gwangrim was sealed, but Ye Beom-yeong’s innate insight was extraordinary. I ran through a few possibilities. He might call me a star like Hyunmu, or be shocked to discover the nightmares within me, like the Sleep’s Wave. In either case, I intended to soothe him as best I could and waited for his reaction. But Ye Beom-yeong’s response was unexpected.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

Ye Beom-yeong clutched the lapel of my Santa outfit, looking up at me with concern. I’d considered many possibilities, but nothing prepared me for this, so my reply was slow. The whispering tigers fell silent. I mustered the courage to speak.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Really?”

Even after I said I was fine, Ye Beom-yeong asked again with worry, only releasing his hand afterward. Hwang Yuh-o asked what he’d seen to prompt such concern, but all he said was “Because you didn’t look okay and seemed to be in pain!” which wasn’t much help. The tigers seemed to have many questions, but with a crowd gathering fast, we couldn’t stay long. Some people who spotted me tried to push forward but were stopped by Class 0 students.

“I’ll look into this matter more. For now, please go ahead. There are plenty of places waiting for Uisin-hyung.”

In the end, I gave a snow dome to each of the kind children and Angel, then stepped back. No sooner had I exited the hall than Hwang Ji-ho demanded of White Tiger.

“Baekho, if you know something, speak up. Why did Ye Beom-yeong react that way?”

“You know better than anyone, don’t you?”

“He’s always bragging he knows everything about Jo Uisin, yet he knows nothing.”

They bickered as usual, so I let them be. It weighed on my mind a little, but with the Demon Realm scenario and other critical matters looming, I couldn’t dwell on it. Besides, I had a promise to keep at this charity event.

“This is the PlayerZ club booth, right?”

Though not as crowded as ours, the PlayerZ club booth had quite a gathering. Seeing Yusang-hun grumble that I should come, I wondered if I’d have been better off not showing up. Soon the reason for the crowd became clear.

“Coming up shortly: Shield Soldier versus Earthshadow! A one-on-one duel is about to begin! Everyone please take your seats!”

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