Ex Rank Supporting Role’s Replay in a Prestigious School

The biggest variable for the Japanese team wasn’t the general manager, the cunning fox clan member Kozuka Yashiro, nor the manipulator with whom [N O V E L I G H T] he secretly collaborated.
It was Renjoin Karen, the incarnation of the lotus flower.
From a distance, she appeared to be just another teenage player representing Japan, but a closer look revealed her to be at the heart of complex power struggles and factional disputes as a young lady of the Hōzoku family.

Of course, her position as a member of the Hōzoku family didn’t automatically make her a variable.
‘After reviewing the press releases and reflecting on her actions in the exchange competition, I still couldn’t get a handle on what kind of person Renjoin Karen was.’
Renjoin Karen was one of the most media-exposed players of the Japanese team, but it was nearly impossible to figure out who she truly was.

Thinking back to the time when the media buzzed about me during my chess grandmaster days, I knew that articles and news didn’t help much when it came to understanding a person, but Renjoin Karen was different.
For example, Arihara Tomaaki wasn’t as well-known as Renjoin Karen, and there weren’t many articles or videos about him, but after just seeing him a few times, it was easy to figure out what kind of person he was.
At this moment, I could easily guess why Arihara Tomaaki appeared alongside Hirano Seiji.

It was clear he had stepped in personally to free Hirano Seiji.
But the reason Renjoin Karen was here was still unclear.
Even Kozuka Yashiro, who had been by her side for a long time, seemed to have no idea.

“The trap has been triggered! What is going on?”
The manipulator opened a hologram and started speaking in disbelief.
Having broken through the trap in less than seven minutes, instead of the week it was supposed to take, his disbelief was understandable.

Seeing Arihara Tomaaki’s grimace, it seemed like he didn’t even know such a thing existed when they came in.
“Miss, can you explain why you’re here? Did Hirano or Arihara trick you into bringing these two here?”
Instead of answering Kozuka Yashiro’s question, Renjoin Karen elegantly turned her head and began looking around.

When our eyes met, Renjoin Karen gave me a nod.
While Hirano Seiji and Arihara Tomaaki seemed surprised to see me, Renjoin Karen appeared as if she had expected my presence, acting nonchalant.
“Who could trick me? Kozuka-san couldn’t even manage that. How could Hirano-kun or Arihara-kun have done so?”
Renjoin Karen spoke fluently in Korean.

I sensed that she was trying to involve me in the conversation, but it didn’t seem like there was a place for me to speak at this moment.
In reality, one thing had become clearer.
‘Renjoin Karen possesses exceptional purification abilities. So, I initially thought she might have been either too corrupted to purify or genuinely following the fox clan’s ideology…’

I had considered that Renjoin Karen might have been completely brainwashed or fully aligned with them, but it was clear that neither of these was the case.
There was still another possibility.
That Renjoin Karen had deceived many, sharpening her blade, and was waiting for the right moment.

“So, what is your intention? Do you realize how rude your actions have been?”
“Compared to the impudent acts you and your companion have committed on this land, what I’ve done is trivial.”
Crack, crack.

Cracks began to appear in the building.
Through the cracks in the structure, lotus flowers began to bloom.
Renjoin Karen’s power covered the entire building.

With her title as the incarnation of the lotus, making a lotus bloom on a pond was trivial, but causing flowers to bloom amidst concrete, wires, and otherworldly metals was no ordinary feat.
And this wasn’t the only anomaly happening in the building.
Lotuses of varying sizes opened across the room, devouring both large and small devices.

“No, no! Stop!”
The manipulator, realizing what was happening, reached out toward the lotus flowers in a panic, but with no effect.
Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t do anything to stop the lotus petals, and the signals were blocked, preventing the manipulator from operating the panels.

He seemed ready to self-destruct to erase the evidence, but remotely controlling the devices and recording equipment that had been swallowed by the lotus seemed impossible.
Kozuka Yashiro, who was directly facing Renjoin Karen, still didn’t understand what was going on.
Even if he had figured it out quickly and tried to act against Renjoin Karen, breaking through the guards of Hirano Seiji or Arihara Tomaaki and subduing her in one go would have been impossible.

‘They’re both here, but Renjoin Karen’s power is overwhelming. With that level of power, she probably wouldn’t have needed to keep Ahn Da-in in check like that.’
Even if Joo Su-hyuk and Ahn Da-in were unparalleled geniuses, the power Renjoin Karen was showing now was on a completely different level.
The sight of the manipulator’s lair being overtaken by lotus flowers felt more like a divine miracle than the genius abilities of any player.

While Kozuka Yashiro screamed at Renjoin Karen, observing the overwhelming power she displayed, he asked:
“Why have you been hiding this power? If I had known you had such strength, I wouldn’t have had to make this move!”
“This power is not mine. Since it isn’t mine, there’s no need to hide it.”

Although Renjoin Karen said this, the power to control the lotus was clearly emanating from within her.
Yet, if she claimed the power wasn’t hers, the only explanation was one thing.
The power of a higher being.

Just as Yu Sang-hee harnesses the power of Akea, and Ham Geun-hyung wields the abilities of Ye, Apollo, and others, Renjoin Karen too could borrow the power of a higher being.
Among the numerous articles praising Renjoin Karen from Japan, none mentioned her connection to a higher being, but this situation made it clear.
‘Renjoin Karen can use the power of a higher being. The fact that she can wield such power on the Korean Peninsula means she didn’t receive this from some god that can’t cross the sea.’

Several higher beings associated with lotuses flashed through my mind, but none of them seemed to perfectly fit the situation.
Still, if the higher beings had hidden Renjoin Karen’s power and waited for the right moment, there were a few names that came to mind.
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than .net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

“But you’ve never claimed to be connected to a higher being…”
“Since I was young, they’ve taught me to remain silent. Before this country is completely submerged in mud, they wanted to make the lotus bloom.”
The mention of "them" meant that there wasn’t just one higher being behind Renjoin Karen.

This only strengthened my conviction.
A higher being wanting to extend their hand before Japan sank into the mud.
A god so powerful that they could influence even the Korean Peninsula, not just the sea.

A higher being who could meet these conditions and was connected to the lotus flower.
It seemed like Kozuka Yashiro came to a similar conclusion at the same time.
“Could it be, the Hwangjo Shin that bloomed the lotus…?”

“When Izanagi returned from the Underworld, Yomi-no-Kuni, to cleanse the impurity of the underworld, many higher beings were born, and there, the lotus bloomed.”
The last of the Hwangjo Shin, Izanagi, who returned from the Yellow Springs and performed a purification ritual, created many higher beings during the process of cleansing the impurity, including the sun goddess Amaterasu, the moon god Tsukuyomi, and the storm god Susanoo.
And the pond where Izanagi performed his purification ritual, the Misogi Pond, was said to have been covered with lotus flowers.

“They never once responded to our calls, and now they intend to punish us!”
“After you killed the one they cherished most, how can you expect a response?”
As Renjoin Karen spoke, the air became heavy in an instant.

This wasn’t power that Renjoin Karen had intentionally released to pressure Kozuka Yashiro.
Her expression and tone remained as polite as ever, just like when she would speak for the top contributor interview.
It was simply the anger of whoever stood behind her that had been conveyed.

“Perhaps you don’t remember because so many were killed at that time? Do you remember the youngest prime minister, perhaps?”
Renjoin Karen named a few more people after mentioning the youngest prime minister, who had survived the Chiyoda District Incident and risen to the position.
I, Hirano Seiji, and Arihara Tomaaki all recognized the names.

They were people who had once been well-known in Japan but were removed by political rivals, caught in unfortunate accidents, or suddenly passed away.
It seemed they were all eliminated by Kozuka Yashiro and his group.
“They couldn’t see the big picture. The Hwangjo Shin made the wrong choice! If they had known who we were, they wouldn’t have let us go so easily.”

“Yes, if they had known, they would have spared us. Just like they did for me.”
If I had known that Renjoin Karen had received the power of the Hwangjo Shin, I would have done everything to persuade her, brainwash her, and if necessary, hold her hostage to extract that power.
Thus, Renjoin Karen displayed strength that could easily sway others, but kept her true power hidden, appearing compliant.

While Kozuka Yashiro seemed to have been releasing incense, trying to find an opportunity, he couldn’t use his power, buried beneath the fragrance of the lotus.
The number of lotuses continued to grow, and the longer Kozuka Yashiro delayed, the more likely it was he’d lose.
With a voice full of venom, Kozuka Yashiro shouted:

“Destroying me won’t change the country!”
“Killing just one fox won’t change anything. Someone will replace you. Even a child can figure that out.”
Crack!

The floor where Kozuka Yashiro stood cracked open, and a lotus flower bloomed.
In a panic, Kozuka Yashiro tried to summon the fox flames to burn the petals, but although the wet petals dried out, they didn’t catch fire.
“But the next one won’t be as crafty or talented as you. And when they too are disposed of, there will be more who are easy to handle.”

Renjoin Karen was serious.
It might have sounded ridiculous, but she had already come close to eliminating someone as skilled as Kozuka Yashiro at just a teenager, so it wasn’t entirely impossible.
Kozuka Yashiro struggled to break free from the lotus, but his escape route was blasted by Arihara Tomaaki, and whenever he tried to use his fox flame or illusions, Hirano Seiji threw shurikens and shurikens at him.

The only thing Kozuka Yashiro could do was curse Renjoin Karen.
“Do you think you’ll stay here after touching me? I’ll hunt you the moment you return!”
“That won’t happen. Unfortunately for you, you’ll be eliminated and dealt with by a powerful clan from the Korean Peninsula.”

Renjoin Karen turned to look at me as she spoke.
“A witness with the ‘Eyes of the Stars’ should be enough.”
The “Eyes of the Stars” referred to me.

When Renjoin Karen had mentioned the higher beings, I had suspected it, but it seemed like she knew about my eyes.
Izanagi, the twin of Izanami. She was a goddess of creation and death, ruling over the underworld, one of the higher beings who bestowed the eyes of life and death upon me.