WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Incarnation of the Malevolent Star ◈
Chapter 85: Part 1 - Whispers of the Dark Brother (85)
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#85.
It was not as difficult as Eun-jeong had expected to grant middle-school PE teacher Im Seong-eung's request.
She cautiously contacted an aide to a local council education committee member, one of the people who had left their business cards before. Less than an hour later, a courteous reply arrived.
「I passed your inquiry on to the Office of Education. They said they would look into the circumstances and have the person in charge contact you directly, so you can speak with them from then on.」
“Ah, thank you. It was such a sudden request, yet you handled it so quickly...”
「Not at all. It was not a major request. I merely passed along a message.
If you ever need help with anything, please contact me without hesitation.
Our council member has given special instructions that we should make things as convenient as possible for you.」
It was kindness to the point of being burdensome.
A call from an education supervisor in the Provincial Office of Education's Physical Education and Health Division came the following day.
Eun-jeong thought that was quick, but the supervisor began by apologizing for the delay.
「I'm sorry it took so long to call. This was not a decision made within the Office of Education, so we did not know the reason ourselves.
Why an archery team had to be created at that middle school.」
“You needn't apologize. I'm already very grateful that you accepted an inquiry from someone who isn't even involved.
But, um, what do you mean it wasn't decided within the Office of Education...?”
「Just as I said. The provincial government sent us a work request.」
“The provincial government...?”
「Yes. The call came from a task force directly under the governor. It was not really within their authority to exercise power in this area, but...
Well, there was no need to start a turf war over appointing one coach for a school sports team.
They said it was the governor's intention, so the approval went through easily enough. It's not as though the allowance would cost much.」
“I see... But the governor? Why would the governor...?”
「As you first suspected, it is related to student Jo Onik.」
“Ah.”
「It would have been nice if they had told us that from the beginning.
They said this was being pursued after receiving a petition from someone with a special relationship to Onik. It seems they intend to enter Jo Onik in next year's provincial archery competition.
For that, he needed a coach and a team affiliation.」
Someone with a special relationship to Onik?
‘Who... Ah, that person.’
Onik's grandfather would never have filed such a petition.
The only other person who could be said to have a special relationship with Onik was Jo Cheol-sang, the Hapless Chief. They did have a special business relationship.
Having found the answer, Eun-jeong gave a small nod.
“I understand. It was as Teacher Im Seong-eung, the appointed coach, suspected.
But I heard that nothing has happened since the archery team was created. What is the reason for that?”
「It's a team that was set up merely as a formality, and the competition is still far away.
I watch Onik's broadcasts regularly, so I know. It's not as though Onik needs separate practice to reach that level of skill, is it?」
Eun-jeong was slightly startled.
“Um, you watch regularly? Onik's broadcasts?”
「Haha. Yes. The superintendent has repeatedly singled out Teacher Lee Eun-jeong and student Onik as an excellent educational example, and a story about you and Onik is scheduled to appear in internal training materials...
I looked it up out of curiosity, and it was fun.」
“...”
「I especially enjoy the videos where you and Onik appear together. They're not merely entertaining. Watching them makes my heart feel warm.
I find myself thinking, ah, that is such a rare teacher-student relationship. As a fan, I'm always cheering for you both.」
“...Thank you.”
「In that sense, it's been a little disappointing that you haven't appeared much lately. You must be very busy?」
The education supervisor seemed to feel a considerable sense of familiarity with her. Eun-jeong was briefly at a loss for words.
She had remembered why she had been keeping her distance from Onik.
Before the person on the other end noticed anything strange, she barely managed to make a weak excuse.
“Yes... Um, the number of students has increased a lot. We were also preparing for the sports day.”
「I see. The rural study-abroad program there has certainly become very popular lately.
Thanks to you, many people are catching a glimpse of new possibilities.」
“It isn't thanks to me. It's all thanks to Onik. Onik is amazing, and Onik is someone to be proud of...”
「Of course, Onik is an amazing child. But I believe he was able to grow into someone who shines even more brightly because there was someone like you.
You can see it simply from how Onik treats you.
To Onik, you are surely someone precious whom no one else could ever replace.」
Once again, Eun-jeong could not speak.
The silence stretched on amid her worries.
The PE education supervisor interpreted that complicated silence kindly.
「Oh. Are you embarrassed?」
“...”
「You don't need to be so embarrassed. I only said what I felt after observing you as a third party.
Anyone else would probably say the same thing.」
“Is... that so?”
「Yes. You can be more confident.
And this is a request from one fan. If possible, please appear more often. It truly is lovely to watch.」
The supervisor spoke with complete sincerity.
A student who had learned well and grown up right despite an unfortunate home life.
And a teacher who possessed both kindness and ability.
Whenever the supervisor watched the two of them getting along, they felt professional satisfaction as an education official.
They were working for teachers and students just like those two.
Eun-jeong paused to catch her breath and closed her eyes before answering with difficulty.
“I'll... try.”
「Yes, I'll look forward to it.」
Satisfied with her answer, the supervisor cheerfully wrapped up the call.
「This call has grown rather long. To finish what I was saying earlier, nothing concrete about Onik entering the competition will begin until around the end of the year.
Until then, there's not much for the coach to do. The team may train or not train. It makes no difference.」
“I understand. I'll tell Teacher Im.”
「No, I'll contact him myself. He will probably feel more reassured if this is handled through official channels.」
“Ah, yes.”
「Then I'll let you go. It was a pleasure speaking with someone I had only seen on broadcasts before. Good luck with your work.」
“Yes. Thank you for your hard work as well.”
After ending the call, Eun-jeong let out a long, thin breath without realizing it.
Her gaze slanted downward.
Her hair fell over her shoulders.
Melancholy emotions filled her dark brown eyes.
#
Watching her student's broadcasts was an indispensable part of Eun-jeong's day.
Her most cherished student was a broadcaster who uploaded videos with astonishing frequency.
He also went live just as often. He was a special child who could make his everyday life into content without any problem.
Eun-jeong watched every video uploaded to her student's channel.
She watched while eating breakfast after getting up, while doing the dishes, and while brushing her teeth. While showering, she listened instead.
It was much the same after work.
Even when preparing lessons for the next day, she would play something like an herbal gatherer's vlog as white noise.
Wind. Trees. And birds.
Her student's voice chattering alongside the sounds of nature often gave the teacher a sense of calm.
A gentle calm, like a heater left on during a cold day.
If there were no new videos, she watched old ones again.
She had even made a suggestion to her student because she regretted missing live broadcasts during work hours.
What if he made a separate channel and uploaded the unedited full videos there?
She even played his broadcasts when she could not sleep. It was a method she often used when the police officers' stalking had left her stressed.
That was how large a place Onik occupied in Eun-jeong's daily life.
A far larger place than Onik himself knew.
It had not always been this extreme, but she hated the emptiness of being alone in a vacant house, and little by little, she had developed this habit.
The officers' stalking had only accelerated it.
Today as well, Eun-jeong played Onik's broadcast as she prepared to end her day.
Late-night live broadcasts were usually casual chats with viewers.
A dim room lit only by the warm-colored light of a reading lamp.
The teacher lay quietly facedown over her neatly arranged desk, listening to her student's voice from the small screen.
#
「Um... You want me to tell you how to study well? I'm sorry, but I'm just smart. I don't have any special secret method that makes you go, this is it!」
「You say I'm lying? But it's true. That's unfair.」
「It would be better if you said I was annoying because I'm too impressive. I can accept that much criticism.
I am Jo Onik, Strongest in Town, and I will someday become the strongest in the world.」
「Anyway, that was a joke. I think the important thing is to enjoy studying. People say that those who work hard cannot beat those who enjoy it, right?」
「How do you make studying fun? You say I'm lying again? That's too much...」
「The reason I'm especially better at English than other subjects is because I enjoyed studying English that much. And the reason I enjoyed studying English was...
Because I liked Teacher Lee Eun-jeong, who taught me English. I wanted to see Teacher happy, and I wanted Teacher to praise me.」
「The other subjects are the same. Grandfather is happy when I do well in school. I can receive Grandfather's praise.
I like that so much. It makes me so happy. That's why I study hard... Though I'm basically smart too.」
「You say I was making things heartwarming, then ruined the mood by adding that? Hmm, what can I do? It's objectively true.
As I said, I am Jo Onik, Strongest in Town. Weak city people cannot defeat me.」
「Anyway, I think people are important when it comes to studying. The person who teaches you, the person who watches over you, and the person who sincerely cherishes and cheers for you...
If I didn't have Grandfather and Teacher, there would be no Jo Onik, Strongest in Town. I'm sure of it.」
「If you have someone like that too, studying can become enjoyable for you.」
「I think that's also why the other children taking Teacher Lee Eun-jeong's classes get good grades.
Teacher teaches well too, but the children like Teacher, so they work hard at studying.」
「Onik, there is nobody like Teacher Eun-jeong around me. There is nobody like the elder in your home either. What should I do...?
Oh, first, thank you for the donation. But, well. What should I do? Would it help if I comforted you?」
「If there is another trick, um, it also helps quite a bit to turn dry material into something familiar and friendly.」
「Let me use the Reformation from world history as an example.」
「Originally, the Roman Papacy had exclusive publishing rights for Christianity Online in Europe.
The Orthodox Church in the East did run its own server, but aside from them, the Papacy handled all distribution and operations by itself.」
「But after that monopoly system continued for a long time, the Papacy kept running the game in ways hostile to users.」
「Like a certain big-nosed game developer.」
「The biggest problem was excessive pressure to spend money...
They kept selling holy relic packages and indulgence packages, so people got very angry.
You shouldn't sell either one. It didn't fit Christianity Online's setting, and it broke the game's balance too.」
「Free-to-play Christian users had to spend their entire lives earning experience points through good deeds and faith to log in to Heaven after they died.
And it was hardcore mode, where one big mistake reset all the levels they had built up.」
「But pay-to-win warriors played while making a total mess and hurting other users, then clicked once to spend money and logged into Heaven.」
「How could people who loved Christianity Online not be angry?
Logging into Heaven was the final content for Christianity Online's veteran players.」
「So the first user to cry out was Luther. He said, “Papacy! Is this really a religion? I'll write feedback, so read it and fix it!”
Then he pointed out ninety-five problems in an incredibly long post. This is called the Ninety-Five Theses.」
「These days, it would be like a five-thousand-seven-hundred-character comment on a web novel. He must have been really angry.
Christianity Online was basically this person's whole life. He was a true heavy user.」
「Anyway, after getting hit with five thousand seven hundred characters of feedback, the Papacy got angry too. From the company's point of view, it couldn't let sales drop.」
「So it fired an excommunication beam at Luther. Excommunication in Latin is excommunicatio, and in English it is excommunication. Communication means contact...
So taken literally, it means they'll ban you from contact, right? You think that sounds strange? It's just your imagination.」
「In short, excommunication was a permanent ban from Christianity Online and Heaven. Account deletion was included, of course.」
「Luther refused to accept it, shouted, “What do the official creators know?” and charged at the Papacy. Then he took apart Christianity's Bible client, made it open source, and opened a private server.
That open-source Christianity was the beginning of Protestantism...」
#
「...You say first-year middle school students don't study world history? Ah, you caught me. Jo Onik, Strongest in Town, is actually studying for the college entrance exam ahead of time.
This is fun too. Grandfather and Teacher say I'm admirable for doing it.」
Onik's voice through the broadcast sounded more subdued than usual.
Other viewers would probably take it as the calmness of the late hour.
The boy was as witty as ever, and he even smiled sometimes as he talked with viewers.
But the teacher could see it.
Her student was forcing himself to act as though he was fine.
There was no way the eyes of a teacher who cherished her student could fail to see what had been visible to a twenty-three-year-old veteran rookie idol.
It was difficult for Eun-jeong, too, to remain awkward with Onik.
Even when she watched his broadcasts, worry rose first instead of the comfort she had felt before.
Still, Eun-jeong found it painful to face Onik in person.
She remembered the first moment when her precious student had felt unfamiliar to her.
The black pupils that had shrunk tight.
The savage violence suggested by his clenched fist.
And the chilling face that had been emptied of emotion to a frightening degree.
That was right. After turning it over in her mind for a long time, Eun-jeong realized that she had felt fear, if only for a very brief moment.
It had been instinct, without any thought involved.
She had simply been frightened by the unfamiliar side of her student.
As though she had seen a scene from a horror movie.
It had been the kind of reflexive, spinal fear that any living, breathing creature could not help feeling.
Eun-jeong remembered something Onik had once said.
「When I get angry, I become a bad child. So I don't get angry at my friends.」
When he got angry, he became a bad child...
At the time, she had only considered it the sort of peculiar trait an extraordinary child might have.
It was strange in some way, but nothing especially different from the odd sides children his age often showed.
But now, those words felt quite meaningful.
On top of that, her student had once shown her a level of careful planning that had deeply impressed her.
「Just in case, I had been recording from the beginning. I thought something the police officer said to me might help Teacher...」
The recording Eun-jeong received from Onik contained every vile thing Lieutenant Seo Mun-seok had said to Onik, from beginning to end.
Apart from how that recording had helped bring about a quiet resolution, Eun-jeong could not help being surprised by the meticulous planning of the student she had thought of as only kind and innocent.
It meant that everything had been planned from the moment he first hid in the bushes of the parking lot on that dark night.
It had been another moment when her student seemed unfamiliar.
Those memories combined with other circumstances, making it difficult for Eun-jeong to shake off an ominous suspicion.
That suspicion made it painful to see her student.
Every time she saw him, her heart grew heavy and she felt guilty.
Along with that pain, she had kept her distance because she did not know how she should treat him.
But had Eun-jeong come to dislike Onik because of that?
No.
‘Absolutely not.’
Nor had she come to regard her student as an unsettling child or a frightening being.
Eun-jeong could be certain.
Even if the suspicion she currently possessed only as a feeling eventually proved true...
She would never come to dislike Onik.
Whether he had done something frightening or not, Onik was truly a kind child.
That much could not be doubted.
Eun-jeong also had one firm conviction as a teacher.
‘A child's mistakes can never be the child's mistakes alone.
If children do something wrong, then adults who failed to do their part must bear responsibility as well.’
What if Onik really had killed someone?
Then Eun-jeong herself could not escape responsibility.
Even if the greatest responsibility belonged to the true perpetrators, the truly pathetic adults.
‘...I can't keep putting this off.’
Eun-jeong decided to put an end to the hesitation that had continued for several days.
She believed in the heart of the student who cherished her.
She also had no doubt in the innocence and goodness within him.
If she sat down face-to-face with the student she knew and quietly asked him in earnest, he would not be able to hide the truth.
They could begin talking from there.
Eun-jeong did not even consider the possibility that Onik might harm her.
Such an absurd possibility did not feel as though it existed at all.
「...Teacher must not die.」
At Eun-jeong's ear, her student's voice from a past memory came back to life.
Footnotes:
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