Ex Rank Supporting Role’s Replay in a Prestigious School

After the second event was selected, the players from each team headed to their respective waiting rooms.
In the stadium, Lu Bo-won, who had been greeting people with a grin, now looked like he was about to cry as the audience disappeared.
Until just a moment ago, he had been holding it together, pretending everything was fine because of the cheering crowd, but deep down, his mood had plummeted.

"Such a shame! If only we hadn’t gone after the boss enemy at the end and had just helped catch Baekho, we could’ve won, right?"
At the final showdown with Cheon Ik-san, the remaining three members of the Chinese raid team supported the Korean team.
Lu Bo-won had disrupted Baekho, Yao Ruichi had suppressed the external forces with his performance, and Li Wei had healed Jo Yi-shin before supporting Yao Ruichi.

They had fought, so they earned attack points, but broadly speaking, it was almost like they were helping the Korean team.
Li Wei, who was complaining, sharply interrupted.
"Stop talking nonsense. Didn’t you see how quickly Hundred Seconds fell?"

"Right. If it hadn’t been for the nameless rising star, we would’ve been the ones to die, losing survival points. Our attack points would’ve been lower too."
"But that would’ve meant we couldn’t win!"
"We were already down two. If the Korean team hadn’t helped, we would’ve had to face Baekho with just three of us."

"When I was about to be caught, the Japanese were all fine. If we had messed up, we might not have been second but last."
Even when Li Wei and Yao Ruichi responded with valid points, Lu Bo-won continued to whine.
The students who had been in charge of defense seemed eager to escape the incessant complaints and quickly exited the waiting room.

As a result, only Lu Bo-won, who was still complaining, and Yao Ruichi and Li Wei, who had missed their chance to leave, remained in the room.
"How did he block Baekho? If you level up the all-things-use skill, can you use swordsmanship strong enough to fight Baekho?"
"Maybe there’s something going on with the noble family. This is the domain of the Hojo family, and they say many of them have ascended."

"The nameless rising star stopped a beastman during the entrance exam, so maybe it’s related to the Hojo..."
At that moment, Li Wei raised his hand, signaling Lu Bo-won and Yao Ruichi to stop talking.
In his usual calm tone, Li Wei addressed them.
"Enough. Do you forget where we are?"

Flames imbued with the power of the God of Agriculture, Shen Nong, flickered above Li Wei's hand.
Li Wei's flames, while less deadly compared to Yeom Jun-yeol's, had various special effects that made them very troublesome to deal with.
Usually, the special effects in flames included healing or purification, but when used against enemies, they could inflict status abnormalities and bind them.

Li Wei's intent to make them quiet with a burst of flames was clear.
"If you want to dig into the Hojo family, at least wait until the exchange ends and the team disbands. I’m not getting involved."
"Li Wei..."

"What? This is barely digging...”
"We saw the video the organizers released. Most of the parts about the Hojo family were cut. Not only that, but many of the nameless rising star’s accomplishments were also left out. Who do you think did that?"
At that moment, the words 'Hojo family' immediately came to mind for both Yao Ruichi and Lu Bo-won.

Yao Ruichi took a deep breath, and Lu Bo-won nodded with an "Ah, I see?" look on his face.
"It’s not just about you two getting into trouble. For the team’s sake, keep quiet about what the Hojo family is hiding. The more you know, the more you should stay silent."
Once Li Wei saw that they understood his point, he finished the conversation.

Since he had brought up the team, he didn’t think they would make any more foolish remarks.
Having been aided by the Hojo family, Li Wei had already decided to offer support in unseen ways.
‘Lord Hyeonmu told me to repay the nameless rising star for the favor.’

Li Wei had already met Jo Yi-shin twice.
Once at the night market in Chengdu, and once on the path leading to the Abyss beneath the Hwangmyung Tower.
But each time, Jo Yi-shin had been wearing a crow mask and had changed his physique, so Li Wei hadn’t recognized him.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than .net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.
However, through this simulation, Li Wei had begun to suspect that Jo Yi-shin had some kind of relationship with the Hojo family and decided that it was best to keep it quiet.
‘If the relationship between the Hojo family and Jo Yi-shin were to be openly revealed, I would have known by now. But the fact that it’s being hidden means they want to keep it secret. In that case, I’ll help.’

Li Wei intended to keep Lu Bo-won and Yao Ruichi, who had witnessed it, silent and keep an eye on things.
Changing the subject naturally, Li Wei spoke casually.
"Did you talk to the two who were captured by the external forces? It seems like they had their powers extracted while being restrained. They were unconscious, and their memories were hazy, but they said they had bad dreams while being trapped."

"Really? Ah, maybe I should have just used the simulation end command."
"If we had done that and ended up last, they would’ve hated us. Not only would we have lost attack points, but we would’ve also lost survival points. If something like that happens again, I’ll just leave them."
Lu Bo-won, trying to comfort Yao Ruichi after almost being captured, spoke up.

"Next time, I’ll make sure you don’t get caught! But it was my fault for suggesting we split up and act separately."
"That’s true."
"…Seeing you agree so quickly is kind of sad."

Their casual conversation continued, mostly discussing their experiences in the ruins-type otherworld simulation. They avoided directly bringing up the Hojo family or Jo Yi-shin.
"But why did you play Diz instead of Erhu at the end? If the performance helps, the Korean players might have protected you."
"Since the opponent also played a wind instrument, I used the same one to match them. Diz is also easier to play."

"Matching them? You’re getting competitive in strange ways."
"I’ll just stick to playing Diz for a while. Understand?"
Before Lu Bo-won could ask why, Yao Ruichi abruptly stopped.

His device was ringing.
With a troubled expression, Yao Ruichi looked at the hologram.
"Just take it."

"Uh... okay."
Just before Yao Ruichi minimized the hologram screen, Li Wei glanced at the sender’s name.
The sender’s name was Di Xiang.

He was one of the Grand Cross knights famed for their oath, known as the Earthquake Knight.
In the waiting room of the Japanese team.
Hirano Seiji, who had just entered the room, slumped into the nearest chair with a dark expression.

Hirano Seiji had just apologized several times while bowing deeply to the coaching staff.
He had become the one who dampened the mood in a match where Renjo-in Karen had shone brightly.
‘I wanted to do well too...’

Originally, Renjo-in Karen had been part of the raid team.
Hirano Seiji had planned the raid strategy around her, but in the blink of an eye, the raid team had been reorganized, and he had to reshape the plan while dealing with those who opposed it.
Hirano Seiji had barely managed to stabilize the struggling raid team and successfully entered the beastmen's territory, but they had been caught by the leaders, and he hadn’t responded in time.

‘If we had gone as originally planned, we wouldn’t have been easily caught. Our coordination was messy, and our abilities weren’t that great. If the lady had joined us, we would’ve at least avoided last place.’
The coaching staff had suspected that Hirano Seiji might have deliberately sabotaged the team, but although they spoke kindly, those who were used to subtle criticism had implied that Japan had finished last because of Hirano Seiji.
Fortunately, Kozuka Yashiro wasn’t present. If that fox had been there, it would have been much worse for Hirano Seiji.

Hirano Seiji swallowed his frustration and, swaying slightly, began to get ready to leave.
‘The team bus must have already left, so I’ll have to find a taxi. It’s better to eat out on my way.’
As he finally came to his senses and looked around, the sight of the destroyed waiting room caught his eye.

All the lotus decorations in the waiting room were completely destroyed.
It looked as if someone had dropped a bomb, but the basic facilities, apart from the lotus decorations, were intact.
The culprit was obvious—Arahira Tomoaki.

Seeing the destruction, Hirano Seiji couldn't help but smile.
‘He said he would break over forty. Looks like the ones in the waiting room weren’t enough.’
Seeing the broken decorations made him feel relieved, as if his shoulders had lightened.

Though he felt a bit sorry for Arahira Tomoaki, Hirano Seiji deliberately called out his last name with a smirk.
He decided that the next time he saw him, he would tease him and call him by his last name again.
As he left the waiting room, he was met by Arahira Tomoaki standing by the automatic door.

Of course, Hirano Seiji hadn’t been crying.
He had gone through too much already to cry over something like this. If he had, his physical and mental strength would have been drained.
Before Hirano Seiji could deny it, Arahira Tomoaki spoke.

"Why didn’t you say it was because of us?"
"What do you mean, ‘because of us’?"
"You ignored my advice, and the others got caught while you were fine."

As the simulation dragged on, the influence of Kozuka Yashiro faded, and the team began to grow resentful of Renjo-in Karen.
This led to Hirano Seiji losing his influence and authority as the raid leader.
At the last moment, the raid team had insisted on taking a shortcut they had heard from the beastmen, and Hirano Seiji's objections had been ignored.

‘It’s not really Tomoaki’s or the other raid members' fault. We’ve been played by the enemy from the start.’
Hirano Seiji thought back to the moments when the raid team had been caught.
The shortcut had been ambushed by both the Hojo and beastmen.

Only Hirano Seiji, who had kept his senses, had remained unharmed, while Arahira Tomoaki had sacrificed himself to lead Hirano Seiji safely to Cheon Ik-san.
Thinking about how Arahira Tomoaki had fallen victim to the Hojo's attack, Hirano Seiji's heart grew heavy.
That made his mouth close tight, and even when the coaches scolded him, he had no excuse.

"We needed to be cautious, but we also needed to act quickly. It was also my fault for not stopping it completely."
"Stop talking nonsense."
Arahira Tomoaki continued to grumble, but Hirano Seiji felt better as he listened.

It was as if the frustration of an old friend was comforting him.
Hirano Seiji occasionally called out Tomoaki’s last name, teasing him, and each time, Arahira Tomoaki would count how many decorations had been broken.
After Arahira Tomoaki had vented his frustration, he turned away and said, seemingly done with it.

"While you were whining, do you know where the fox went?"
"Kozuka-sensei was out for work, so he’s temporarily absent."
"He really loves his work. What’s so important about what that fox does?"

Arahira Tomoaki seemed to have investigated Kozuka Yashiro's whereabouts in the meantime.
Perhaps he had used his connections to figure out where Kozuka Yashiro might be headed.
Instead of walking away, Hirano Seiji decided to listen to the information his childhood friend had gathered.

"What’s that fox scheming now? What is he planning to do with the first match results?"
"What do you mean, ‘what is he planning’?"
"It’s obvious."

Arahira Tomoaki spoke without hiding his displeasure.
"He’s probably planning to make the lady a star."