Chapter 728: Countdown (9)

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Last week of December last year, the day of the closing ceremony, Goo Seulbi and Ong Gildong made an announcement saying that they’d ‘Steal the identity behind the mask.’

They even drew a crow mask just in case the Red Wall Thief wouldn’t recognize it.

The spectacular announcement had other purposes besides getting attention.

It was a declaration of war against the Red Wall Thief.

“He’s going to come to stop us now that we’ve made such a cool and fancy announcement, right?”

“Hoot, there will be a spectacular confrontation between thieves.”

The thieves planned and executed the operation under the assumption that the Red Wall Thief was disturbed.

However, the Red Wall Thief didn’t appear.

Because Jo Euishin paid them no mind.

Their operation went smoothly, but the thieves felt disappointed and bitter.

“The Red Wall Thief isn’t intervening. How come?”

“I guess he’s waiting for us to find out.”

“I see! He didn’t come to see us because he wanted us to figure it out on our own like real thieves! How come did I realize it so late!”

The attention-seekers tried to regain their spirit, but something bothered them.

Jin Jungmok.

“…Why did the Red Wall Thief not come to us but to the Black Darkness Swordsman?”

“Isn’t it because he’s not thief-like? Jin Jungmok is a swordsman concept.”

“I see. Jin Jungmok… Swordsman… Ugh, the more I hear it, the more I think that “swordsman” is a wonderful addition to a name.”

Ong Gildong was convinced.

He always introduced himself as Luis Perenne instead of his real name since he didn’t like it very much.

He thought it wasn’t “thief-like.”

It was different for Goo Seulbi though.

‘Ong Gildong sounds righteous though, so it’s still fitting for a thief.’

Goo Seulbi thought both names were cool.

Perhaps because of that, even the owner of the name looked cool.

Unaware of what Goo Seulbi was thinking, Ong Gildong spoke cheerfully.

“Anyway, we got what we wanted! Now we’ll reveal the Red Wall Thief’s identity!”

The attention-seekers safely broke through Eungwang High’s security and secured records of Jin Jungmok’s path to the school.

This was because of Hwangho and Jo Euishin’s tacit approval, but oblivious to this, the thieves were still satisfied.

“Do you remember the clues?”

“Of course!”

First, the Red Wall Thief is surely a faculty member or a student at Eungwang High.

Second, he would’ve done something big at the Christmas Eve event.

Third, he would’ve been in contact with Jin Jungmok.

Fourth, he’s someone who’s already seen them.

These were the clues that the attention seekers collected through wisdom and intuition.

In order to find someone who fit these clues, they first secured Jin Jungmok’s school records.

“He hasn’t met with many people before the match. We’ll be able to sort it out quickly.”

There weren’t many people who came into contact with Jin Jungmok other than the members of the Black Forest.

After looking at the records, three potential candidates appeared.

First is Ham Geunhyung, the homeroom teacher of Class 1-9.

Second is Hwang Myeongho, the chairman of Eungwang High.

Third was Jo Euishin, the vice president of Class 1-0.

“I don’t think it’s the chairman.”

“Why?”

“Because his negligence goes against the principle of thieves!”

“The chairman went abroad when the Christmas Eve incident broke out. I don’t think so too.”

“Right, it’s not Red Wall Thief-esque. That leaves us with two options!”

Hwangho was in Eungwang High on Christmas Eve, but they didn’t know because they made it appear like the chairman was overseas.

Ong Gildong and Goo Seulbi eliminated one candidate.

The vacation began, but the investigation on Ham Geunhyung and Jo Euishin continued.

However, while investigating Jo Euishin, the candidate who had been excluded suddenly contacted them.

“That was a great skill. I will let it pass this time. I am generous with my students’ mischief, so don’t worry.”

“Geuhk!”

Hwangho, in the form of Hwang Myeongho, secretly cautioned them about what they did.

Even so, he treated them generously, just as Hwangho said.

If the chairman hadn’t been tolerant of mischief, most of the students in Class Zero would’ve been expelled.

After a word of warning, Hwangho said something else.

“Jo Euishin needs rest, so how about not doing too much?”

Hwangho’s words sounded like a threat.

But the attention-seekers didn’t give up.

They carried out the investigation without being excessive.

[Kim Yuri] October 31st last year? You mean the Halloween?

[Kim Yuri] Our class prepared a birthday party. November 1st was Euishin’s birthday too!

[Kim Yuri] Let’s have a birthday party with Seulbi and Luis next time! ^^ <3

The attention-seekers, who were checking the suspects’ alibi for Halloween, got important information.

Class Zero was together during Halloween for a surprise birthday party.

They went out to meet Jo Euishin before November 1st.

Ham Geunhyung wasn’t there.

They went to England that went to greet Jo Euishin.

With all the information collected, the answer finally came out.

“The Vice President was in England that day…”

“Jo Euishin is the Red Wall Thief…?”

The attention-seekers began to investigate Jo Euishin.

Starting with the event that earned him the title of Nameless Supernova, they examined Jo Euishin’s humanity, ability, and attitude.

Putting everything together, Ong Gildong judged that Jo Euishin fits the description of the Red Wall Thief, and Goo Seulbi thought the same.

“Let’s go meet him right away!”

“Let’s go find and surprise him!”

After finding out who he was, they were more happy than sad that the Red Wall Thief didn’t come to meet them.

However, since the vacation began, Jo Euishin has been staying in Hwang Myeongho’s mansion and it was very difficult to break through the security there.

“…Can’t we just call him through device?”

“That’s not thief-like. It’s not romantic, and it’s not going to stand out. It won’t be memorable!”

Goo Seulbi was shocked by Ong Gildong’s remarks.

It was the worst thing to be invisible and forgotten.

While they were agonizing over whether they should wait until the start of the school year, an opportunity came to them.

Kwon Lena’s birthday party.

***

The record devices stolen by the attention-seekers show me going to see Jin Jungmok, and it was easy to find out that I was in England last Halloween.

Our classmates came together to celebrate, so my whereabouts could easily be confirmed.

Besides that, I knew that the answer would come out quickly with some clues that they could easily collect.

I was prepared, but I felt complicated at the two chanting that word.

“You must be so surprised that you can’t even speak!”

“Even the Red Wall Thief didn’t expect this. Or was he surprised at how much more glamorous we were at the auction?”

“…Yeah.”

The two were satisfied when I finally answered.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

That word set my heart in pain.

‘I need to get it together! I’ve lost my identity to keep those two attention-seekers from danger.’

Those two, who will make me dizzy from using that word too often, are still my playable characters.

For the sake of their safety, they should be close enough to me for us to share information.

I managed to speak while taking care of my facial muscles so that my expression wouldn’t collapse.

“I thought you wouldn’t find out because you came to me so late.”

“Geuhk! We are late!”

“It can’t be helped. We’ve been busy making the others go to school.”

Ong Gildong and Goo Seulbi said so, but they were smiling.

Are they so happy that the number of comrades in their little thief gang has increased?

“We were supposed to say thank you the next time we met. Thank you.”

“We would’ve been in great danger if we hadn’t met the Red Wall Thief at that time. Thank you.”

“Thank you for allowing us to go to school. Eungwang High is not bad. I think it would’ve been regrettable if we didn’t go.”

It was harder to hear the words of thanks with that word

mixed in.

It’s good that the two decided to go to school safely, but I decided to cut them off moderately so that their words wouldn’t get long.

Then, Ong Gildong responded with the nonsense of “Humility is the virtue of a thief!” and turned his words around.

“Since Jin Jungmok came to school, are you going to attend now too?”

“Aren’t there two more people who haven’t gone to school yet? It’s only thief-like to finish what we started.”

“Yes, there are two left. We’re going to leave tomorrow.”

Jin Jungmok seems to be thinking of going to school when the academic year starts, but the attention-seekers don’t seem to want to give up until they pull the other two.

By the way, are the last two in a foreign country too?

“One of the two is in Korea. But I think it’s going to be a little hard to get them to school.”

“That’s right. They earned the approval of thieves.”

“Can I help too?”

Even if I can’t go abroad with them together, I can help with the kid who’s in Korea.

I brought it up to that effect, but the attention-seekers didn’t respond well.

“…I don’t think we can receive help from the Red Wall Thief.”

“…Yeah. The Red Wall Thief might get in the way in the end.”

“…The chairman warned not to exhaust you too much.”

The chairman?

Hwang Jiho must’ve said something to the two.

What do they mean by I would get in the way?

Are they worried that I’m going to take the attention away from them?

I don’t think something is right, but it’s hard to follow the train of thought of the attention seekers, and I decided to stop questioning whenever that word came up.

“Then how do you suggest dealing with the kid abroad?”

“It’s a difficult problem, but I’ve thought about it.”

“It seemed easy enough to send Jin Jungmok to school.”

They found it easy to send a disciple of the Black Forest who trains to kill demons to school?

What on earth are my classmates abroad doing?

Ong Gildong continued with a nervous look.

“The overseas student who refuses to go to school is said to be looking for Nightmare Insomnium. He’s collecting Nightmare Dusts scattered around the world.”

Nightmare is mentioned in an unexpected place.

It’s something that the most influential royal lineages in Korea were reluctant to deal with.

Why does that kid want to search for something so dangerous?

Whenever nightmares are mentioned in the 12-point alliance talks, I remember the nervous heads and Kim Shinrok who tortured bears using Nightmare Dust.

Following Ong Gildong, Goo Seulbi spoke.

“When I dream, I get help from my teacher Merlin because he knows me well. He told me it was dangerous, but I managed to persuade him. I’m going to send that kid to school. We’ll negotiate with some information”

Merlin is half-succubus and half-human, and he knows well about dreams.

I don’t know what information will be put on the line and how the negotiations will turn out, but if I left them alone, they might do something dangerous overseas in search of traces of Nightmare Dust.

‘I might be able to get information about nightmares through that kid. I’d better make contact.’

I decided to put a simple measure based on some information I had.

“There’s a way to call that child to Korea.”

I asked the two thieves to send a message.

“When you meet him, please tell him this; say that the head of the Sheep Clan said that Nightmare is in Korea.”

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