The match between Eunho and the Stalemate captain went smoothly.

As expected of the captain of the chess club, he had solid basics and seemed to know the styles of moves that were popular in modern times.

However, that did not mean that he played textbook chess.

It seemed that he had trained with Yongjegeon, who was famous for his unconventional style, as if he wanted to try something on the chess board as well.

Eunho occasionally made moves that seemed to be testing something, but Stalemate captain did not panic and countered them.

The ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) match continued with little free time remaining.

‘Eunho is still one step ahead. Stalemate captain must have guessed it, but Eunho is making moves as if he were practicing.’

It was not a move that a first-year student who was participating in a chess competition for the first time would make against a third-year student.

The Stalemate captain was also the opponent that Cheon Dong-ha met in the finals when he became the school chess champion.

Despite being a tough opponent, Eun-ho was relaxed.

Cheon Dong-ha said while watching the match.

“Eun-ha said it’s been a while since she played chess. She said she didn’t have much opportunity to practice, so there must be a lot she wants to try out.”

Listening to Cheon Dong-ha, I understood.

Eun-ho couldn’t control his clone like Hwang Ji-ho, and he didn’t play like a white tiger, so he didn’t have much time to devote to chess.

Eun-ho is living a model student life at school, just like Cheon Dong-ha, in order to increase Cheon Eun-ha’s value and utilize her as a move.

In addition, when he has time, he learns about things that happened between the powerful families and information that he missed while she was in deep sleep, and he also digs into the darkness of the TC Group with Cheon Dong-ha.

In addition, he’s making moves to deal with the dark side, so he probably can’t invest a lot of time in chess.

Even though he’s so busy, he never says anything unpleasant or difficult as a good junior.

That's why it was hard to talk to Eunho.

'The only one who can talk about descendants to Eunho like that is Jeokho.'

Eunseoho, Eunho, Eunjaeho, and their mother, Eunbit Youngwoong.

As time passed, the story that was difficult to talk about became heavier and heavier.

I could guess why the tigers, except for Jeokho, who wanted the family to reunite as soon as possible, were not in a hurry.

It was partly to consider Eunho, but they probably thought that if the dark side disappeared and everything was resolved safely, there would be an opportunity.

Eunho still had many problems that he couldn't solve, but it was hard to bring up my thoughts.

'If Seongheon was a high school student and played chess, would he be like that?'

The way Eunho viewed Cheon Eunha in this world was similar to Cheon Seongheon.

Although Eunho’s body existed separately in this world, it was natural since the universe of portraits had made a place for Cheon Seongheon.

In the case of Gye-dam, it was different from what I remembered, but since it was before his face changed significantly due to a traffic accident, his appearance was practically the same as in the previous world.

Cheon Dong-ha, who was watching Eunho’s match, suddenly looked at me and said.

“Eunha was really looking forward to the match with you.”

“Huh?”

Her eyes behind her glasses looked softer than usual.

Unlike her younger brother Eunho, Cheon Dong-ha was known to have a cold and indifferent impression, but now he felt completely different.

Maybe because it was the place where the chess competition was held, I remembered the conversation we had over a paper cup with traces of mixed coffee left on it.

―My younger brother is an unknown Supernova fan, so I was concerned.

―A fan?

―Yeah. She’ll react well when I show her your article.

‘I wish I had noticed it sooner.’

Even if I thought like this, Cheon Dong-ha didn’t bother to show it, and Eun-ho, who was Cheon Seong-heon at the time, said he had no intention of meeting me until he got over his locked-in syndrome, so it would have been difficult for us to meet.

According to what Cheon Dong-ha later revealed, in addition to articles about me, Cheon Dong-ha showed Eun-ho my records of games I had played.

Even so, there weren’t many, including the ones I played at the Stalemate chess competition and the ones I played against Cheon Dong-ha.

Eun-ho, who could only blink because of his locked-in syndrome, stared at those few records for a long time.

I couldn’t even imagine how Eun-ho, who had only memories of Cheon Seong-heon and no memories of Cheon Dong-ha and Eun-ho, must have felt.

Cheon Dong-ha said with confidence.

“Eun-ha will win this game.”

“......I think so.”

“Yeah, since it’s a match with you, I can’t lose.”

If it were Cheon Seong-heon, it would have been like that.

I remember Cheon Seong-heon talking about chess every once in a while, and I don’t doubt the fact that he stared at my records for a long time while in a state of confinement syndrome.

But what about Eun-ho?

Eun-ho has come to have many precious things, but does he still think the same way?

Eun-ho is currently a first-year student at Eun-gwang High School and also lives in the dormitory.

We were close enough to eat breakfast together often, but Eun-ho never directly requested a chess match.

He said he played chess with Cheon Dong-ha and even that white tiger, but he never asked me to play a match.

So it didn’t seem real that Eun-ho had been looking forward to playing a match with me.

‘Isn’t it because I needed to have the achievement of representing Eun Kwang-go alongside Cheon Dong-ha in this competition? It doesn’t seem to be for the match against me... ... .’

Before I could continue my thoughts, I heard a ‘peek’ and a deflation.

It was the sound of the white tiger, who I thought was quietly watching his younger brother’s match, holding back laughter.

If there were other tigers around me right now, I would tell them to be quiet, but unfortunately, most of them were in the audience.

Before I could tell him to just stop being noisy and just quietly watch his younger brother’s match, the white tiger opened his mouth.

“That must be his purpose. My younger brother knows how to target multiple pieces with one move.”

I know that too.

I had figured out what moves Eun-ho would make while moving with him all this time.

I used all my mind to show that I knew, but the white tiger seemed to still have something to say.

“You’ll know when you try it yourself.”

“What do you know?”

“How much my younger brother has been eagerly awaiting a match with you.”

Eunho is looking forward to a match with me.

I wanted to say something in response to that, but I knew that the white tiger had already read my mind and said something like that, so I couldn’t think of anything new to say in response.

Even Cheon Dongha, who had remained silent since the white tiger intervened, nodded firmly.

Unlike me, those two had recently played a match with Eunho, so I couldn’t think of anything to say in response.

While I was speechless, the match between Eunho and the Stalemate captain ended.

“Check.”

Waaaaah!

As Eunho’s checkmate declaration spread through the speakers, the children in Class 0, Grade 1 cheered, “Waaaaah!”

Aside from Class 0, Grade 1, there were quite a few children cheering.

Eunho seemed to have built up popularity among children in other classes as well as in the newspaper club while also participating in leadership activities.

In fact, aside from the fact that he was in Class 0 and his complicated family circumstances, it was natural for Eunho to be popular.

With his neat appearance, polite and courteous attitude, excellent grades, and even the story of overcoming his confinement syndrome and passing the entrance exam for Eun Kwang High School.

On top of that, his excellent chess skills made it natural for him to receive such cheers.

I also came to my senses late and applauded.

“I wanted to dedicate the victory to Mr. Yong, who is not here!”

The Stalemate club president expressed his regret as he knocked down the king.

However, Yong Je-geon was not here, so I hope he didn’t speak as if he was missing the deceased.

Several members of Stalemate were holding up Yong Je-geon’s photo with tears in their eyes, creating an even more strange atmosphere.

Among the kids in our class who are burdened by Yong Je-geon, there is no one who does such a thing, but Yong Je-geon must have been quite popular in Stalemate.

“I came back after finishing the interview and the match was over.”

I wondered if I was the only one who felt this way, as Yeom Jun-yeol made a complicated expression while looking at the Stalemate members.

Cheon Dong-ha asked after seeing the Stalemate leader shouting, “Teacher Yong, I’m sorry!”

“Jun-yeol, is Mr. Yong Je-geon not feeling well?”

“That’s not true. If he had, I would have stayed by his side instead of coming to the competition. I’ll have to show you the footage later. You’ll be happy to see the Stalemate members’ reactions.”

Of course, they’ll be really happy.

It was obvious that they’d be even happier because Kim Shin-rok was filmed with a sad face behind the Stalemate members who were chanting Yong Je-geon.

Even though I was still worried about Yong Je-geon after hearing from Yeom Jun-yeol that it was okay, it wasn’t something I should be saying, but Kim Shin-rok seemed to be a little less worried about Yong Je-geon.

“Eui-shin, don’t worry too much about Mr. Yong Je-geon.”

“Huh?”

Even though he wasn’t a white tiger, Yeom Jun-yeol seemed to have read my mind.

Instead of reading my mind as if he was someone else, Yeom Jun-yeol was looking at my hands.

I had a lot of thoughts while watching the chess match, and it seemed like my fingertips were getting cold because of it.

“Eui-shin’s hands get cold when he plays chess, but if he worries about Mr. Yong Je-geon, they’ll get even colder.”

Yeom Jun-yeol must have been worried about my hands getting cold, so he reached out and gave me some heat.

After succeeding in Hongryonghwa, Yeom Jun-yeol had become more accustomed to handling heat.

At that moment, Eun-ho, who had finished the match, approached the waiting area where the participants were gathered.

An interview request came in, but Eunho had already expressed his intention to respond after finishing the second round.

“I’m back. The next match will be with Euishin hyung.”

Eunho smiled brightly.

The next match was between Park Seunghyun, a member of Jiikhoe, and Yeon Garam, a third-year, class 0 student.

The match ended with Yeon Garam’s victory by a narrow margin after a close match.

Jegal Jaegeol, who had kept the third-year, class 0 seniors tied up with a soundproof barrier the whole time, released them after the match was over.

Geumchanwangchan’s gang was still noisy, but they must have thought it was cruel that Yeon Garam couldn’t hear their cheers when their student finally won.

‘Then, according to the match table, it’s the second round. There will be two matches.’

As the voices of the third-year class 0, who were calling out the names of Yeon Ga-ram and Jegal Jae-geol, died down, the second round match list came to mind.

When Jegal Jae-geol engraved letters in the air in a straight line, everyone started reading along without anyone telling them to.

The loser’s bracket has not yet been held.

Cheon Dong-ha has already confirmed his advancement to the third round, so he will not be participating in the second round.

So, only four people were left.

Yeon Ga-ram, who had just narrowly defeated Park Seung-hyun.

White Tiger, who had defeated Ong Gil-dong.

‘Next is me, who was exempted from the first round because I have the seed rights.’

I looked at the name being engraved next to ‘Jo Eui-shin.’

Then a new name was written next to me.

My next opponent was Cheon Eun-ha.

It was Eun-ho, who had the appearance of Cheon Seong-heon.