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 [Chapter 131]

[Summer Vacation Under the Lamp (3)]

How long has it been since vacation started?

The daily routine of waking up every morning, going for a run, and attending classes was already starting to be missed.

Back then, there was a sense of fulfillment from living each day diligently.

But these days, after waking up in the morning, she had to think about what to do today.

"What should I do today..."

She didn't know how to use the relatively relaxed time that came as a reaction to living so busily until now.

It was boring and tedious.

Yoon Ibyeol rolled around on the bed playing with her smartphone.

"...Looks like Cheonsu was up until dawn again."

At some point, she started her day by reading the messages that had piled up overnight.

The group chat room seemed to have been on fire last night too.

Yoon Ibyeol skimmed through the conversation between Jin Parang and Lee Cheonsu.

The chat room ended with a message Cheonsu sent at dawn.

Yoon Ibyeol, who was thinking about sending a belated reply, soon read the messages and ignored them like her friends did.

Surely others would bring up new topics in the chat room soon.

"What should I really do... But I don't want to study..."

Yesterday she ended up going to the library to study because there was nothing else to do.

At this rate, summer vacation would end with just studying.

Though the days were boring, since it was vacation she wanted to do something different.

"No contact from Eunha today either..."

Yoon Ibyeol had secretly hoped for a private message from Eunha while she slept, but there was no contact today either.

She thought she'd be able to meet Eunha when vacation started and time became free, but he seemed to be busy running around.

A few days ago, she heard he visited a workshop of an acquaintance to make a new sword.

Not from Eunha personally, but in the group chat.

"Maybe I'll go look at summer clothes today... I didn't care about clothes before since I thought I'd just wear uniforms all the time..."

Yoon Ibyeol got up from bed.

When she opened the closet to find clothes to change into, there were only a few t-shirts she wore comfortably at home.

She pouted while holding up a boxy t-shirt.

She definitely needed to buy new clothes.

At this rate, it was obvious she wouldn't be able to properly show her charm if she happened to meet someone outside.

"I should tell Minji and Riel. Ask them to go clothes shopping together..."

Yoon Ibyeol, who changed into the boxy t-shirt, decided to send messages to friends she was close with.

Then she stopped her fingers while trying to find people to message besides Minji and Ariel.

"Hmm... Let's just invite those two."

It seemed like it would just be uncomfortable if she invited other people too.

Even though they were in the same group chat, there were friends she hadn't properly talked with yet.

Moreover, even though they were said to be close, it was a completely different issue from being 'really close'.

Hayang is a bit awkward so it's hard to invite her...

Seona is unconditionally on Hayang's side...

Eunwoo is...

They're all good people.

But even with good people, there are things that match and don't match between people.

After careful consideration, she typed out a message.

"Phew..."

Replies came quickly.

Minji and Ariel readily agreed.

After setting a meeting time with the two, she flopped down on the bed.

I wonder what Eunha is doing now?

There was nothing to do again until meeting the two.

She blankly stared at the ceiling, then scrolled through her Fine Talk friend list from top to bottom with idle fingers.

She tapped on No Eunha's profile.

"...That's too much."

She glared at the profile picture.

It just felt resentful for no reason.

There had been no contact at all since summer vacation started.

Inwardly, she had been expecting him to ask to meet separately this summer vacation.

But if I ask to meet first, it might seem desperate...

She wanted to meet him, but was worried she might seem like a frivolous person if she made a mistake.

But if she kept waiting, it felt like summer vacation would just pass by like this.

She stared at No Eunha's picture for a long time, then finally gathered courage and decided to try sending him a message.

"Me": What are you doing? (10:21 AM)

☆

Since summer vacation started, Eunha mostly lounged around at home.

He said he met neighborhood friends occasionally, but neighborhood friends meant the friends he always saw at the academy.

A few days ago he also met Yeon Seongjin and Baek Hyeonyul.

"He's really being annoying..."

But he wasn't completely free either.

He had to keep in contact with Choi Ga-in to obtain Moon's Blessing.

Exchanging Fine Talk messages with someone who didn't match his temperament was nothing but torture.

Do I really have to go this far?

Even though it was to lay the groundwork...

Eunha was annoyed by the very situation of exchanging messages with her at regular intervals.

It felt like humoring someone who unconditionally thought they were great.

Moreover, Choi Ga-in's messages strangely had something that irritated people's tempers.

"Ah, should I just not do this?"

Eunha was about to reply to Choi Ga-in but got annoyed and turned off his smartphone.

He wondered if there was really a need to put in this much effort.

Of course, by exchanging messages with her, he was able to get information on where she obtained Moon's Blessing, but.

She said she found it on Mara Island, right?

To think Moon's Blessing was growing in such a place...

Eunha fell into thought.

Then he came to think that perhaps Moon's Blessing might be inhabiting somewhere on Mara Island.

If so, there was no need to grovel to Choi Ga-in like this.

Above all, it would be good for mental health.

"—Ah, hyung. It's me."

[What is it. No brat, why are you calling all of a sudden...]

So Eunha immediately called Jung Geumjeon, Donghae Group's direct descendant, as soon as he thought of it.

Donghae Group's direct descendants had gone down to Jeju Island except for Chairman Jung Jiman's eldest son's family.

He judged that they would surely know the situation on Mara Island inside out.

[Well, for people staying there, Jeju Island and Mara Island are no different from my front yard. They'll have a tight grip on the information network there.]

Sure enough.

Eunha's guess was spot on.

When Eunha explained the general situation, Jung Geumjeon laughed as if pleased and answered.

[Hey... What's so great about that flower that you, No brat, are groveling to a bean paste-faced kid?]

"It's an important flower. And I'm 17 now, so can you stop calling me brat?"

[If you're upset, you should have been born earlier than me. Then I would have called you hyung, hyung.]

"Hah..."

Jung Geumjeon cackled over the phone.

Eunha sighed.

He didn't like the expression "No brat", but that wasn't important right now.

"Anyway... Can you ask your relatives to investigate the Mara Island area?"

[It's not that difficult to ask them to investigate since they have nothing to do anyway. But that doesn't mean they work for free, right?]

"Why? What do you want?"

From the start, Eunha didn't think Jung Geumjeon would grant his request for free.

Even though he was a neighbor living downstairs, he was still a direct descendant of a group ranked within the top 10 in the industry.

He was also currently managing Donghae Clan.

So Eunha was willing to match the conditions Jung Geumjeon demanded as much as possible.

[I hear you're being called <Cutting the Gordian Knot> these days? Rumors are spreading wildly in the industry and your stock is skyrocketing... How about joining Donghae Clan as soon as you graduate from the academy?]

"Are you crazy... Does that seem worth it to you?"

[Tsk...]

But Jung Geumjeon proposed an excessively unreasonable condition.

Eunha couldn't help but openly curse in disbelief.

He wasn't unaware of his current value being called <Cutting the Gordian Knot>.

He couldn't trade his life for just one favor of investigating whether Moon's Blessing was on Mara Island.

[No brat, but this isn't such a bad proposal for you. What I'm saying is just put your name on Donghae Clan. Donghae Clan won't interfere with you at all, and will give you independent authority, I'm telling you.]

"Hmm..."

[What we need is the buzz you'll bring. Buzz that can turn an A-grade clan into S-grade. That's the only thing I want from you. The rest, you can do as you like.]

There would be no obligations.

It was quite a tempting persuasion tactic.

Eunha closed his mouth after hearing Jung Geumjeon's words.

It is an attractive story.

But still...

I'm still too valuable.

The deliberation wasn't very long.

Eunha conveyed his opinion to Jung Geumjeon.

Then over the smartphone—

[—No, why!?]

Jung Geumjeon asked back loudly as if he couldn't understand.

To this, Eunha's answer was simple.

"Because I'm still more valuable."

Eunha, who had already obtained the alias <Cutting the Gordian Knot> without even becoming a player yet, was already like a guaranteed hit ticket.

Whichever clan recruited him would bring in the buzz of <Cutting the Gordian Knot>.

Therefore, there was a possibility that clans considered S-grade would make proposals with almost the same content as Jung Geumjeon's offer.

And Donghae Group doesn't have any businesses specialized for the player market, right?

If I receive offers with the same conditions, it's better to choose an S-grade clan sponsored by a group that influences the player market.

Of course, Eunha had no intention of joining any clan.

Anyway, he coldly conveyed his thoughts to Jung Geumjeon.

[Ugh... This is some harsh truth. But I'm still a manager at Donghae Clan...]

"So that proposal is unreasonable, but I'll give you something else instead."

[...What. What kind of thing?]

"I'll recommend promising talents that will benefit Donghae Clan. You know how good my eye for talent is, right?"

Eunha proposed something that would tempt Jung Geumjeon.

Currently, what Donghae Clan lacked was the absence of players with buzz.

So Eunha decided to recommend players who would become named in the near future.

Those kids would have joined Changhae Clan or Dangoon Clan if the future hadn't changed, but...

The future changed greatly.

Changhae Clan was disbanded, and Dangoon Clan's scale was severely reduced.

So the promising talents who would have joined those two clans in the original future would join other clans.

So Eunha decided to recommend named players with good personalities among them.

Above all, KK Clan's influence has strengthened in this life.

On the other hand, he wanted to weaken KK Clan's influence.

KK Group and Donghae Group, which had been constantly competing in the previous life, had a widened gap in this life.

Therefore, Eunha thought to support Donghae Clan to make the two groups fiercely compete again.

"I or my friends can persuade some of those kids."

[Hmm... But this is just handing over a list and telling me to handle the rest, so it seems like I'm not really gaining anything...]

Jung Geumjeon spoke as if deliberating.

He said Donghae Clan also had investigated data on promising talents, so there was no need to hear Eunha's information.

But he still seemed curious about the promising talents Eunha was hinting at.

In the end, curiosity won.

[Grr... Fine, alright. Then let's do as you say, No brat.]

He accepted Eunha's proposal.

Soon he promised to call his relatives and contact Eunha as soon as they found information.

"Phew... I hope this hyung really finds it for me..."

After some back and forth.

Eunha ended the call while telling him the names of promising talents he thought of.

Now he could only quietly wait for good results.

"It's boring..."

There wasn't really anything to do.

But he didn't want to resume Fine Talk with Choi Ga-in either.

Eunha blankly looked at his smartphone while thinking what to do.

Just then.

"Huh?"

A message came from Yoon Ibyeol.

One message saying 'What are you doing?' and an emoticon peeking its head out from behind a door.

Reading the message, Eunha soon automatically pictured a bored-looking Yoon Ibyeol in his mind.

He couldn't help but smile.

"...Come to think of it, I haven't seen her once since vacation started."

Thinking about it, he seemed to have neglected others lately while keeping in contact with Choi Ga-in.

Eunha reflected on his mistake and continued a conversation with Yoon Ibyeol after a long time.

"—Huh?"

In the middle of chatting.

Eunha paused seeing the message she sent.

"Yoon Ibyeol": Minji said that place is delicious... (11:13 AM)

☆

I was too soft.

Saturday lunch, Sinchon Station.

Eunha, who arrived early before the meeting time, clicked his tongue.

Somehow he ended up making plans to have lunch together with Yoon Ibyeol.

Just the two of them.

I tried to pretend not to know on purpose...

I didn't expect her to be this proactive.

A few days ago, Yoon Ibyeol casually mentioned a restaurant Minji recommended while chatting, as if she just thought of it.

Eunha wasn't unaware.

Specifically mentioning a restaurant, adding an impression that it's delicious, and even putting '...' at the end was no different from a question with a predetermined answer, just without a question mark.

It meant "Let's go eat together".

The meaning was "You make the invitation first, since I brought up the topic".

"Since it's come to this, there's nothing I can do. I'll just eat well, kill some time appropriately, then go home."

Eunha, who wasn't unaware of her intentions then, deliberately changed the topic.

Then Yoon Ibyeol, unlike herself, skillfully turned the topic back and restored the situation.

Eunha, who didn't want to hurt her pride any further, ended up giving the answer she wanted.

"—Hello... You didn't wait long, did you?"

"I just got here too. How's your vacation been?"

Soon Yoon Ibyeol arrived.

She came out of the station on time and flinched when she saw Eunha waiting first.

Eunha softly laughed at her apologetic attitude.

"Yeah... It's been good. How about you...?"

"I've been lazing around at home. I'm hungry, shall we go eat?"

"Yeah! But... You seem to have gotten taller since I last saw you."

"Really?"

"Ah, maybe not..."

"..."

She twirled her hair with her fingers sheepishly.

While glancing at Eunha's expression.

"...What's wrong? Ah... Is there something strange about me...?"

Pink sleeveless tank top.

And a short floral flare skirt.

She tucked her hair behind her ear, wearing clothes that revealed her shoulders and legs.

"...No. Somehow you look different today. It suits you well. You look pretty."

"Ah... Really? I bought these clothes recently with Riel and Minji... It makes me happy to hear that."

 Eunha was not unaware.

Soon he gave her the answer she wanted as she looked up at him.

A smile bloomed on her face.

"Let's go now. We have to walk a bit."

"Okay! But do you know the way?"

"I've been there once before."

"Oh... I see. With Hayang...?"

"Ah, we need to cross the crosswalk here."

To avoid hurting Yoon Ibyeol as much as possible.

Eunha guided her while somehow avoiding sensitive topics.

Inwardly resolving to spend an uneventful day with Yoon Ibyeol.

But Eunha's resolution did not last long—

"—Eunha?"

"...Noona?"

"Ah..."

After eating lunch at the multiplex building and looking around, Eunha unexpectedly ran into someone.

It was someone he knew very well.

"—Who's the person next to you?"

No Eunha was not unaware.

That noona No Eun-a was smiling now, but in fact was not smiling.