Work Text:
When Eunho’s descendants wanted to do an April Fool’s Day prank on the whole school with him, Jo Euishin was inclined to agree. He already had a hard time refusing them anything. Seeing their eager eyes and hearing their pleading tones, Jo Euishin only softened even more.
Jo Euishin could help Hwang Jiho plan and set up. After that, he could set aside some time to help Eunho’s descendants in whatever they need.
Jo Euishin nodded, intending to do just that.
But then, the next time that they met, Jo Euishin heard exactly what prank Eunho’s descendants wanted to do.
“You want me to play dead with you?” Jo Euishin asked in an entirely neutral tone, face not betraying any of his thoughts.
Eun Seoho nodded excitedly. “I heard from Hwangho-nim that Euishin hyung is great at acting! Even though it’ll be Euishin hyung’s first time, I bet Euishin hyung can master corpse play with us very quickly!”
“And it’ll be even better with Euishin oppa!” Eun Yiho added just as excitedly. “They already know that our talent is corpse play because we wrote it in our application and did it at the interview. They wouldn’t be able to tell right away if it was real if the Unknown Supernova also played dead with us!”
Although Eun Jaeho wouldn’t be able to join them on the school campus, Eun Jaeho also looked excited at the idea of being able to indirectly participate, help teach Jo Euishin something, and give back to the hyung who had always done so much for them.
But Jo Euishin cautiously said, “I don’t know…” And then after some thought, Jo Euishin finally asked a question that he had long since been wondering about. “Why do you three like doing corpse play so much?”
Jo Euishin was certain that the Mountain Spirit had learned more tricks from Woo Gihwan. Playing dead couldn’t have been the only thing that Woo Gihwan and his other seniors had tried on their strong homeroom teacher on the mountain. Even if the Mountain Spirit hadn’t taught them more kinds of pranks and tricks, Eunho’s descendants had access to the Internet which was filled with ideas and examples.
But why was it corpse play that they liked doing the most?
Did they not see any of the faces of those who had found them before their witnesses inevitably tried to cover up their great fear, grief, and trauma at the bright smiles and laughter of the cute descendants of Eunho?
If Jo Euishin had found them playing dead – broken, bloody, gone – Jo Euishin thought that he would stop breathing right then and there. Even after they ‘revived’ and confessed that it was all just a prank, Jo Euishin would still see blood on his hands, visions overlapping their brilliant figures as he tried to force his grimace into a smile.
Jo Euishin couldn’t imagine how exactly the others had reacted – Hwangho who had been alone for five thousand years, Jeokho who had recently almost lost his son, Ok Toyeon who had taken care of them and their mother like a parent guardian for over five thousand years…
Was it actually each of the Jin that were so good at acting that they could hide all of their distraught in an instant and laugh with the kids when the kids said that it was a prank and waited for amused reactions and praise for doing such a good job at it?
But even then, the kids must have heard at least one scream, one sob, one shaky voice and one shaky hand extending out to them.
It wasn’t like the Presence Hiding skill that Jo Euishin was trying to teach Yeom Junyeol. In their corpse play, the kids were too visible. That was the point of the prank, after all. The point was for people to find their fallen bodies, lifeless and covered in ‘blood’.
“Is there a reason why you three like corpse play?” Jo Euishin asked, unable to understand the appeal of such a prank.
But then Jo Euishin understood when they answered with a bright smile.
“It’s our mother’s prank!” Eun Seoho and Eun Yiho said exuberantly like happy twins.
“They said that mom used to always joke that our dad was not of this world.” Eun Jaeho, the youngest, nodded.
They smiled with precious smiles as if happy that they could bond with their parents in one thing.
And Jo Euishin couldn’t help but recall how the Silver Hero had tricked him into thinking that their father was dead when she said that to him when they met in the library basement.
It was their mother’s prank… Although the Silver Hero wasn’t completely gone, Eun Seoho and Eun Yiho must have missed their mother very much. Although Eun Jaeho hadn’t been able to see his mother because the Silver Hero had died giving birth to him, Eun Jaeho must have also longed to connect with his mother just as the child had longed to get more pictures of his father who was in the Cycle of Reincarnation.
Eunho’s descendant siblings couldn’t meet either of their parents now – the Silver Hero’s soul and Watchman being out of their reach in different realms – but they could pretend to be a little closer in their corpse play pranks. They could imagine that they were just like their parents and making their playful mother proud when they managed to fool someone with their prank.
Jo Euishin considered the prank in a new light, especially upon seeing the descendant siblings’ soft smiles and unconscious excitement to share their mother’s prank with him.
Well, Jo Euishin had promised to play a prank with them on April Fool’s Day.
And it wasn’t like anyone would care about his death.
Considering that and how Eunho’s descendants were right in how the Eungwang High School staff at the very least would know that Eun Seoho and Eun Yiho’s corpse play was just a prank because of their interview, it wouldn’t hurt to do it once at school.
Jo Euishin nodded to himself and agreed to the prank to the descendant siblings’ delight.
Surely, because most everyone was planning a prank on April Fool’s Day, April Fools would be their first thought and no one would be that fooled anyways.
.
.
.
It was almost as if the president of Korea had died and the entire nation was in mourning.
Amidst so many crying people – glaring people, screaming people, people reaching out to both shake and hug him – Jo Euishin blanked out.
“Class vice president bastard! How dare you die!” Maeng Hyodon glared at him while letting Kim Yuri take his place to hug Jo Euishin while Maeng Hyodon wiped his angry tears. Jo Euishin knew that Maeng Hyodon was a Small Stone Master, but surely, even Maeng Hyodon could see that Jo Euishin was alive now that he was sitting up…
Never mind that most everyone seemed to be saying the same thing as Maeng Hyodon.
“Mas-” Yeom Junyeol almost said, but he hiccupped as he wiped his tears with one hand and still hugged Jo Euishin with the other. “Euishin-ah, I thought- I thought-”
As expected of his considerate senior to still be thinking of keeping his junior’s secret identity a secret while being distraught.
Jo Euishin was wrong. He should have realized that a kind soul like Yeom Junyeol would have been worried over his junior even if it was an obvious April Fool’s prank. He should have remembered that Eungwang High School was filled with many kind souls that would care this deeply even if Jo Euishin didn’t think that he deserved that much of a response… Rather, shouldn’t they be crying more over Eun Seoho and Eun Yiho who were even younger juniors, or had everyone been desensitized to them, possibly having heard of the two first years’ prank at their entrance interview…
“How dare you make Teacher Jegal-nim scared and cry!” Geun Chansol and Wang Chansol glared at him while crying themselves. Did the Class 0 seniors cry in panic, not knowing what to do when his very kind playable character and their teacher-nim cried?
“There should be a rule against this…” Cheon Dongha said while putting his glasses back on his red-rimmed eyes. His Guideline Club advisor and Jo Euishin’s homeroom teacher, Ham Geunhyeong, looked like he agreed, his face even scarier than usual instead of complicated like it would be when he caught onto parts of Jo Euishin’s secretive behavior.
“It is.” Hwang Jiho said as he held onto Jo Euishin’s sleeve with a firm but trembling hand. “It now is.”
Is Hwang Jiho never going to bother to hide his identity as the chairman? Or is he this bold to say that in front of so many people because it was April Fool’s Day and he was usually such a lunatic?
“Euishin hyung!” “Oppa!” “You’re alive!!” Both Eun Seoho and Eun Yiho cried next to him while still covered in their own fake blood.
Jo Euishin helplessly supported them as they tried to hug him too. Did these two forget that they were playing a prank together because of everyone’s reactions? Jo Euishin was confident in his acting skills, but he hadn’t realized that he was that good at acting.
“Happy-" April Fools?', Jo Euishin tried saying to remind them that it was just a prank, but Jo Euishin shut up when everyone either cried more or glared at him.
"This is somehow worse than 'Merry Christmas'." Eunho muttered.
Jo Euishin wasn't sure what that meant, but it made sense that Eunho was reacting the way he was to his descendants' 'death' even if Eunho must had known that his descendants liked corpse play.
"I can tell that you don't even know why." Eunho narrowed his eyes at him.
But of course Jo Euishin knew that Eunho cared about his descendants even if Eunho didn't want to let them know that he was their grandfather yet.
"Come on. Let's go to the infirmary." Several people said.
But he wasn't hurt?
"You're going to the infirmary." Several people said and Jo Euishin didn't argue about that either.
He did feel bad even if the prank he did for the descendant siblings seemed to have made the descendant siblings cry too.