Ex Rank Supporting Role’s Replay in a Prestigious School

After the long first match ended, the Korean national team returned to Jiik Hall to the warm welcome of their fellow students, but they immediately began searching for Gwak Gyeong-gu and Jo Yi-shin.
Gwak Gyeong-gu had finished his check-up and returned, but Jo Yi-shin was nowhere to be found.
“Gyeong-gu, is Yi-shin still getting checked?”
“Gyeong-gu-hyung, you don’t mean Yi-shin is alone in the hospital, right?”
“If he’s at the hospital, Gyeong-gu would have stayed with him. You didn’t leave your junior behind, did you?”

Led by Yeom Jun-yeol, everyone added their comments.
Though Gwak Gyeong-gu wasn’t the type to shrink from being spoken to by many at once, he couldn’t provide a proper answer. His lack of response only fueled suspicions that he had indeed left his junior behind.
Before anyone could directly voice their doubts, Kim Shin-rok stepped in to manage the situation.

“I received a call from the person looking after Yi-shin. He finished his check-up and is resting now.”
“Huh? Who was it?”
“Is it a relative?”
“…I’ve heard Yi-shin doesn’t have any relatives.”
At Maeng Hyo-don’s comment, everyone’s expression darkened.

When Jo Yi-shin was given the title of the ‘Nameless Supernova,’ his personal details had been partially disclosed to the public by reporters. Though the reporters failed to interview Jo Yi-shin directly, they succeeded in conducting a basic background check through his school.
It quickly became known that Jo Yi-shin had lost his entire family in his middle school years.
An article detailing Jo Yi-shin’s tragedy vanished without a trace one day, but the story continued to circulate among people.

“Mr. Kim Shin-rok, who took Yi-shin?”
As Kim Shin-rok hesitated, Ju Su-hyeok bluntly asked.
Kim Shin-rok smiled warmly, but he was clearly avoiding giving a direct answer.

He couldn’t bring himself to say, “The White Tiger of the Mythical Hojo personally came to take Jo Yi-shin.”
Amused by Kim Shin-rok’s discomfort, Yong Je-geon stepped in.
“If Mr. Kim Shin-rok doesn’t feel comfortable saying it, I can give you an answer.”

“How do you know, Mr. Yong Je-geon? Did you take Yi-shin?”
“Well, I would have liked to, but someone beat me to it…”
Before Yong Je-geon could continue making unnecessary remarks, someone more reliable and earnest solved the question.
It was Ahn Da-in.

“Yi-shin’s at Ji-ho’s place.”
Ahn Da-in must have just received a message on her device when she said that.
Those who didn’t know the situation were surprised, thinking, ‘Ji-ho’s place? Are they that close? Well, they must be.’ The raid members, however, who were somewhat aware of the connections involving the Hojo family, nodded without saying anything further.

Some were more curious about how Ahn Da-in knew that Yi-shin was at Ji-ho’s house than about Yi-shin’s whereabouts.
“If Ji-ho’s looking after Yi-shin, that’s a relief, right?”
Since Ahn Da-in expressed such complete trust, no one dared to question it.

Ju Su-hyeok, in particular, fell silent.
“Mr. Je-geon… no, Sir, please hurry up next time.”
“I will. But if I do something like that, I’ll get kicked out of the main responsibility role, so I’ll try to do it after the final match if possible.”

Kim Shin-rok awkwardly watched, but Yong Je-geon and Yeom Jun-yeol went on planning without a care.
Amid the confusion, they all had a simple celebratory dinner and then began planning for the next match.
Usually, Cheon Dong-ha would conduct the meetings, but he had some urgent matters to attend to, leaving only the materials behind and stepping out.

As a result, Yeom Jun-yeol and Heo Chae-a ended up briefing the team.
Flipping through the materials, Dok Go Mi-ro fell into thought.
‘Yi-shin is connected to both the Hojo family and the Yong tribe. And it seems Da-in has become closer to the Hojo family too. It wasn’t like that until last year, but something changed after Christmas.’

In truth, Dok Go Mi-ro didn’t care much about the tribe’s affairs.
He had been paying attention to the suspicious vice-captain because of some debts owed to him, but if the tribe wasn’t attacking Jo Yi-shin, he didn’t really care.
Still, for some reason, Dok Go Mi-ro was paying more attention to the tribe’s affairs than usual.

It was because of Cheong-ho.
‘There must be some connection between Cheong-ho and Han-i. And Teacher Gong Cheong-hwan must also be connected to the Hojo family.’
Bits and pieces of the puzzle that had been scattered in his mind started to fit together.

Dok Go Mi-ro wasn’t sure what exactly the Hojo family had done all this time, but he knew very well what Han-i and Gong Cheong-hwan had gone through.
Gong Cheong-hwan’s teaching career had not been smooth.
Even though he had the skill and qualifications, it seemed far from certain that he would become a full teacher, and when Dok Go Mi-ro had suggested schools other than Eungwang High, Gong Cheong-hwan had stubbornly insisted on Eungwang.

Gong Cheong-hwan was somewhat picky about his work, and he didn’t sing unless the accompaniment met his standards, so it was no surprise that he had a high bar for choosing the school where he worked.
And last year, after Choi Pyeon-deuk had been dismissed and the chairman had regained his senses, Gong Cheong-hwan naturally became a full teacher, and many changes took place.
‘Even when Han-i’s orphanage almost went under… it was still the Hwangmyeong group that helped.’

Dok Go Mi-ro had been visiting Eungwang Hanbit Orphanage since elementary school, volunteering, and once even fought as a warrior to protect the orphanage.
The head of the orphanage, who had always protected the children with complicated pasts, was a person of few words, but sometimes shared trivial stories with Dok Go Mi-ro.
One of those stories was about the four men and women who cried when they saw Han-i for the first time.

Dok Go Mi-ro had seen the four members of the Hwangmyeong Foundation from a distance, and just by looking at them, he had sensed that they were formidable.
He had once run a simulation in his mind, wondering if they had come to the orphanage with ill intentions, and though it wasn’t easy, he had prepared himself to defeat them if needed.
‘The new singer with the voice of Gong Cheong-hwan, and Cheong-ho, who followed that singer best among the Hojo…’

Without a doubt, the Hojo family’s leader, Hwang Ji-ho, who had called Han-i his friend.
Hwang Ji-ho, who insisted on being a nuisance to Han-i.
The singer, who seemed to be singing in Gong Cheong-hwan’s voice.

The formidable people who had tried to protect the orphanage, crying when they saw Han-i.
Then, Dok Go Mi-ro remembered a passage from a textbook.
—Cheong-ho (靑虎) said, "I will always serve the Newborn (Son of God)."

He couldn’t understand exactly why Cheong-ho had become Han-i and was attending Eungwang High, but it seemed that, due to the will left by Cheonshin, there was a Newborn close to Cheong-ho.
And Hwang Ho seemed to have some understanding of the situation.
‘If they knew all this, why didn’t they do anything to protect Gong Cheong-hwan and Han-i until now? Gong Cheong-hwan, especially Han-i, would have been in serious trouble if Senior Seong Guk-eon hadn’t been there...’

As his thoughts returned to Han-i’s elementary school days, Dok Go Mi-ro suddenly became clear-headed.
Now that he thought about it, he had heard that some of his elementary school classmates and the teachers who had been in charge of them had gotten involved in unsavory incidents.
At that time, he had thought it was just karma, so he hadn’t paid much attention, but now he wondered if the Hojo family’s involvement was the reason.

‘It probably wasn’t from the beginning. If it had been, no one would have suffered from the start.’
Dok Go Mi-ro carefully sorted through the timing in his mind.
When did the Hojo family start helping them?

It was clear that they hadn’t known for decades, maybe even centuries, but what caused them to find out?
The only answer that came to his mind was one word.
‘Vice-captain.’

From the context, it seemed like Jo Yi-shin was human, yet the Hojo family treated him like someone special, which meant he must have received a significant favor from them.
One of those favors might have been related to Cheong-ho and the Newborn.
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than .net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

Looking at the actions of Yong Je-geon and Yeom Jun-yeol, it seemed that Jo Yi-shin was also someone favored by the Yong tribe.
Dok Go Mi-ro, despite participating in the heated strategy meeting, came to a conclusion in his mind.
‘Even if Han-i is Cheong-ho, he’s still my friend. And the vice-captain, too, that troublemaker.’

After finishing the meeting late at night, the next day arrived.
Though the day had changed, Jo Yi-shin had not yet returned to Jiik Hall.
And even though it was not directly related to the Korea-China-Japan Exchange, a small topic of conversation arose.

Dok Go Mi-ro’s outstanding performance had caught attention, and as a result, his music began to chart in various album charts, surprising many.
Hwangmyeong Mansion, the Annex where Eun Ho stays.
Despite the day passing, Jo Yi-shin had still not woken up.

Eun Ho, worried about Jo Yi-shin’s absence from the bed, checked on him once more but found nothing wrong.
It was simply concluded that Jo Yi-shin was just sleeping a long time due to accumulated fatigue.
"Where’s Jo Yi-shin?"
"He’s still asleep. He must be really tired."
"We shouldn’t wake him. If we check the time, he’ll probably try to wake up on his own, even if he’s still sleepy."

They briefly discussed Jo Yi-shin, but the room fell quiet soon after.
Once they realized the missing presence of Hwang Ho, the conversation ceased.
What could they possibly talk about with the one person missing?

However, the Hojo family had no intention of leaving Hwang Ho’s disappearance unaddressed.
"Have you completed the task I asked you to do?"
"Done."
"And what about Jeok Ho?"
"Jeok Ho is currently keeping an eye on the Knight of the Earthquake. Until he sees him return to the hotel, Jeok Ho will monitor him personally."
"Then let’s check Hwang Ho’s matters first."
Upon those words, Hwang Ho, disguised as Hwang Yu-ho, moved his hands lightly to bring up a hologram.

The hologram was divided into two layers.
One was the timeline of the Cheon Shin-hwa created by Eun Ho, and the other was information added by Hwang Ho.
It was a long record detailing the important moments in history and the decisions and actions taken by Hwang Ho and Eun Ho.

The timeline stretched out long enough to cover significant periods of history, filling up the wall of the living room.
"Looks like this alone won’t be enough to find Hwang Ho."
"Is it still lacking with this?"
"Yes, we need to narrow the scope down more."
As Eun Ho placed his teacup down, he glanced at Hwang Ho’s empty cup.

Seeing it, Eun Ho filled it again for the first time in a while, and Hwang Ho’s eyes glistened slightly.
"Hwang Ho, do you know that some of the Eight Great Warriors of Jin Woong have gone mad or fallen asleep?"
"Of course."
"Do you know exactly when that happened?"
The expression on Hwang Ho’s face darkened as he held the teacup.

Hwang Ho despised the beastmen, especially the Eight Great Warriors of Jin Woong, and even thinking about them made him uncomfortable.
Eun Ho asked gently.
"Those guys dared to erase the existence of Cheon Shin and the Newborn. They must have paid a hefty price for that."

Hwang Ho, after some reflection, replied.
"Jin Woong’s Eight Warriors are a critical force. So even after they went mad or fell asleep, they pretended to be fine. That's why I can’t pinpoint exactly when they reached that state."
"At least they were fine until I was bedridden. Even when Jeok Ho was getting married. Please tell me the exact timing."

"After the war with the Beastmen ended and Jeok Ho was bound by the Red Shackles, the strength of the Eight Great Warriors of Jin Woong had already been broken."
Eun Ho and Hwang Ho locked that period of time in their minds.
The Eight Great Warriors of Jin Woong had all attended Jeok Ho’s wedding, and at that time, they were still perfectly fine.

It was only before Jeok Ho was bound by the Red Shackles, at the point when the Beastmen betrayed them for the second time, that the Eight Great Warriors paid a heavy price.
At that moment, a presence was felt from down the hall.
"Did Brother Baek Ho arrive?"

"..."
Baek Ho had been guarding Jo Yi-shin all this time, but couldn’t be absent from an important discussion, so he had briefly left the place with a trusted mythical beast to fill his spot.
Eun Ho, with a neutral expression, kindly invited him.

"Please have a seat. I have many questions for you as well, Brother Baek Ho."
Eun Ho smiled as Hwang Ho felt a chill, so he sipped his tea again.