Ex Rank Supporting Role’s Replay in a Prestigious School

Eungwang Global Stadium's stands.
About three hours had passed since the start of the match, yet the cheers in the stands were still fervent.

Especially since three students from the class were participating, and with the leadership of Goo Seul-bi and Ong Gil-dong, the second-year class 0 displayed a dazzling Aurora-themed cheer, they had appeared on the broadcast camera twice.
Though the moments were only a few seconds long, the attention-seeking crowd became highly excited, preparing for a potential third appearance on air, and immediately made a new banner on the spot for those showing them attention.
Kim Yu-ri, seeing this, spoke with a somewhat relieved tone.

"We're lucky our class is getting the most attention among the 0-class. Seul-bi and Louis worked hard to prepare, so I was a little worried they'd be overshadowed."
"It wouldn't be possible for that to happen, right? It seems like everyone was just like that. Plus, I don’t think the first years came to cheer for our team," said Song Dae-seok, glancing over at the cheering section for first-year class 0.
The vice-president of first-year class 0 seemed to be absent, but judging by the numbers, nearly everyone was present.

They cheered earnestly, but it looked more like they were cheering for Jo Yi-shin personally, rather than for the team.
With star-shaped headbands and cheer balloons inspired by the supernova motif, it was obvious from the start whom they were cheering for.
Also, due to the way Jo Yi-shin treated the underclassmen well, students not from class 0, like those in first-year class 0, wore the star-shaped headbands distributed by Eun Yi-ho and Eun Seo-ho.

"Still, don't you think the cheers from the 0-class seniors are kind of cool? Dae-seok, you were surprised earlier, right?" Min Green pointed out.
As Min Green pointed out, the cheers from third-year class 0 were impressive enough to surprise Song Dae-seok.
Led by Geum Chan-sol and Wang Chan-sol, third-year class 0 had prepared a cheer based on the Korean script concept.

Ahead of the Korea-China-Japan exchange, Je-gal Jae-geol had asked not to cheer for him, as he wasn’t even a coach, despite being at the competition where school kids were participating.
In fact, Geum Chan-wang Chan’s group had used Je-gal Jae-geol’s picture at last year’s military academy exchange competition, making it impossible to tell whether they were cheering for Je-gal Jae-geol or Eungwang High.
The result of that was the Korean script concept cheer this time.

Even Jin Jeong-muk, who had been more interested in the match than the cheer, admired Geum Chan-wang Chan’s group’s cheer.
“The writing that looks as though it was written with a brush was quite impressive. As expected, it was the kind of cheer a disciple of Master Nam Ok-shin would give. I think I could use it for my current training.”
"I agree with Lena’s words. The way the names of the participants were rearranged to match the cheer was very impressive," commented Mok Woo-ram, following up on Lena’s remarks about the cheer.

As they exchanged comments about the cheer, the defense team members, who had been resting while standing, began to move.
Videos of the offensive members’ feats were split into multiple holograms, while Sa-wol-se-eum, who had been watching, pointed at one of the screens.
On the screen, Mang Hyo-don was seen adjusting his pads and lowering his stance in preparation.
“Mang Hyo-don is getting ready for battle. Looks like an enemy is about to show up in front of the defense team again! This time, the numbers... Hmm, they look similar to last time? No, it seems like they’ve increased a bit,” Sa-wol-se-eum said, furrowing her brow as she checked the video again.

The rarity of the enemies seemed similar to before, but the numbers had indeed increased.
This was evidence that the momentum of the other world had not died down at all, and also meant there was no progress in the internal assault.
Observing the hologram closely, In Seon-oh spoke.

"It seems like the assault isn't making much progress."
"What? The last update on the video was an hour ago. At that time, our offensive team successfully entered the Hojo territory. There’s no way the team did nothing in the meantime..." Sa-wol-se-eum questioned, her tone filled with unease.
Due to the time difference, it was hard to confirm the situation within the other-world simulator accurately.

Though compressed videos of the offensive team’s status were uploaded every hour, what could be known from them was limited.
Sa-wol-se-eum trusted Jo Yi-shin and Dokgo Mi-ro and was certain they were doing well, but the time difference was much greater than expected, leaving her anxious.
The only things that could be inferred were that the members of the offensive team were in good health, but beyond that, almost nothing else was known.

"Do you think something went wrong inside? I mean, the simulator could’ve malfunctioned or something," Sa-wol-se-eum asked, her worry clear.
"Teacher Ham Geun-hyung confirmed earlier that there were no issues with the simulator. If something had gone wrong, we would’ve been notified," reassured In Seon-oh.
In Seon-oh calmed Sa-wol-se-eum down.

In Seon-oh, seeing the larger time difference than expected, actively analyzed the video frames to observe the offensive members and even consulted with Ham Geun-hyung to check the situation.
In Seon-oh had been especially concerned about the offensive team’s food, clothing, and shelter, and his expression darkened upon seeing a member of the offensive team laying down a sleeping bag in a poor-quality room provided by the Hojo family.
Seeing In Seon-oh so concerned, Sa-wol-se-eum began to regain some composure.

There was another factor that helped calm Sa-wol-se-eum down.
"...Don’t you know anything?" Han I asked, looking at Hwang Ho.
Hwang Ho couldn’t take his eyes off the video footage of the offensive members from the other-world simulator.

Especially when the offensive members met a Hojo member named Cheong-ho, Hwang Ho stared at the screen without blinking, as if watching something nostalgic.
Even when Kim Yu-ri called his name to distribute snacks, he didn’t immediately respond, so deep was his concentration.
Though he was deeply absorbed, he responded instantly when Han I spoke.

"The only thing I know is that the other-world simulator isn't recording all the internal situations," Hwang Ho said.
As Hwang Ho spoke, all the class members turned to look at him.
He had been quiet today, but when he did speak, he always dropped valuable information, so everyone was focused on him.

Trying to reassure them, Hwang Ho spoke calmly.
"It seems that they’re only recording parts of the area that has been implemented, or the number of entities appearing, because the time flow in there is different. It’s unfortunate that we can’t see the full video, but it doesn’t affect the safety of the offensive team, so don’t worry."
Though Hwang Ho said not to worry, he wasn’t entirely calm himself.

Hwang Ho had tried to activate the spectator mode of the other-world simulator to check on Jo Yi-shin’s status, but access was denied.
Although Jo Yi-shin appeared in the transmitted video, the simulator would malfunction whenever Hwang Ho tried to focus solely on him to view all the data.
This was not just with Jo Yi-shin, but similar issues were happening with some of the offensive team members as well.

It seemed as though some strange force was intervening to hide something, and the more they tried to look, the more it seemed like it was deliberately obscuring the truth.
‘It must be related to some power other than intelligence that is acting when the simulator runs. Still, it’s true that Jo Yi-shin is safe. Worrying about it will only make my anxiety spread to the kids.’
Despite feeling uneasy, Hwang Ho acted as if everything was fine.

He was especially steady when dealing with the class 0 kids.
Having been dealing with friends who had caused him trouble for thousands of years, pretending to be calm had become second nature to Hwang Ho.
"I’ll let you know if I learn anything. For now, let’s keep watching the offensive team’s performance," Hwang Ho said.

"Yeah, that’s true. Hyo-don is fighting hard," Kim Yu-ri agreed.
"Oh, Hyo-don just avoided an area attack from behind! Wow, it’s like he has eyes on his back," Sa-wol-se-eum said, impressed.
As Sa-wol-se-eum understood and Kim Yu-ri chimed in, the class's focus shifted slightly.

But still, there were some who couldn’t take their eyes off the offensive team’s video.
"They still seem really worried," said In Seon-oh quietly, turning to look at Hwang Ho.
Holograms summarizing the status of the offensive team were floating nearby, some including players from the Chinese and Japanese teams, but the one closest to In Seon-oh was a profile of Jo Yi-shin and his movements.

Though subtle, In Seon-oh was closely watching Jo Yi-shin’s progress.
He responded smoothly to Hwang Ho's comment.
"I’m just worried if everyone’s getting enough sleep."

The sky was growing darker, and the offensive team’s plan of action shifted.
Up until now, they had been acting passively, gathering information, but they had come to realize that simply doing that wouldn’t be enough to conquer this other world.
‘Even though I know the boss enemy is trying to protect the Shinin and the leader of the Woong tribe, it’s hard to pinpoint it.’

Most of the beings in this era were acting to protect those two.
Especially those within the Hojo and Woong tribes.
‘Maybe the boss enemy is a Hojo from the mythical era. Baek Ho-gun, Huang Ji-ho, Jeok Ho, Cheong Ho… all of them would try to protect Shinin and wouldn’t harm the leader of the Woong tribe who’s trying to maintain a friendly relationship with the Hojo.’

In the mythological tale of Gaechun Shin-hwa, the Woong tribe betrays twice.
Once before the dark force called by an external enemy covers the sky, and again when Woong-nyeo was tricked into having Jeok Ho break her protection gun.
Right now, the first betrayal hadn’t occurred yet.

The first leader of the Woong tribe dies, and the next leader aligns with the Hojo and allies with the enemy.
It was happening right now in this simulation of the ruin-like other world.
‘But since the Woong tribe leader hasn’t died yet, there won’t be any betrayal. If the Woong tribe doesn’t betray the Hojo now, history will be distorted.’

It seemed like it would be a good thing if the Hojo and Woong tribes got along and pushed back the external enemies, but it wasn’t.
This was just a simulation for the game.
Even if it was a real ruin-type other world, the past events in the game couldn’t change actual history.

If the ruin-type other world was not just the land’s memory but a time machine to the past, the true factions and influential players who wanted to change history would have long since monopolized the information and altered history as they wished.
"Yi-shin? The kids who went on the reconnaissance have come back."
At Yeom Jun-yeol’s voice, Jo Yi-shin stood up.

He had been leaning against a pillar to conserve energy, but his legs weren’t working properly today, and he responded carefully to hide that.
"Yeah, I’ll go now."
"You could rest a little longer. You haven’t had much sleep," Yeom Jun-yeol said with concern.

In fact, he hadn’t had any sleep at all.
He was trying to hide it, but the longer the strategy took, the harder it would be to conceal.
Fortunately, before he could come up with an excuse, Dokgo Mi-ro, who had just returned from reconnaissance, got straight to the point.

"We found a reconnaissance device installed by the Japanese team."
"Where?"
For the first time, Dokgo Mi-ro, who had come back with a real achievement, was wearing goggles but smiling brightly enough to recognize.

However, the news wasn’t welcome.
"In the Woong tribe’s territory."