Hong Gyu-bin's family register was destroyed, so he couldn't use the surname Namgung, but he still kept in touch with his younger sister, Namgung Gyu-yeon.

When he talked to me, he usually only talked about Jegal Jae-geol, so I didn't hear much about his younger sister, but I know that the two were quite close.

Thanks to that, the mastermind was able to use Doshi-hu to stop the escape of the person who had been scheming at the military academy exchange last year.

'It was the nursing officer who tampered with Doshi-hu's test results, which were increasingly affected by the curse, and manipulated them to make it seem like there was nothing wrong. The two of them worked together to catch him before he could escape.'

Even if Hong Gyu-bin was the player association's enforcement officer, there was a limit to how much time he could monitor or use force in military areas.

If Namgung Gyu-yeon hadn't cooperated, he would have wasted a lot of time or lost it.

However, in the process, Namgung Gyu-yeon broke several military academy regulations and cadet life rules, and was punished.

However, something strange happened even then.

Jang Nam-wook sent the following message after some time.

―[Jang Nam-wook] The morning after the opening ceremony of the exchange, he was taken to the disciplinary office. The reason was not reported to the cadets, but it seems to be related to the Si-hoo incident.

―[Jang Nam-wook] Gyu-yeon had been at the Ministry of National Defense Research Institute for a long time, and it was ambiguous whether or not he had violated school rules, so he was released even sooner.

When Jang Nam-wook was taken to the disciplinary office as an example of discipline, it took quite a while for him to get out.

If Hong Kyung-bok hadn’t stepped in and helped him, it would have taken even longer. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The accident that Namgung Gyu-yeon had caused was much more serious, but the fact that he was released faster than Jang Nam-wook means that someone at the military academy must have intervened.

As Jang Nam-wook said, there is a high possibility that there were connections related to the Ministry of National Defense Research Institute.

It also means that he had a big role to play within the institute, enough to actively protect Namgung Gyu-yeon.

“At first, Gyu-yeon was reluctant to reveal it. To borrow Team Leader Hong Gyu-bin’s expression, he tried to get away by treating me like a nosy older brother.”

A nosy older brother.

From Namgung Gyu-yeon’s perspective, it wasn’t wrong.

Hong Gyu-bin’s nosy older brother was especially nosy towards Jegal Jae-geol, but even though he was so busy, he often worried about me.

Anyway, Namgung Gyu-yeon didn’t want to tell Hong Gyu-bin the truth, but Hong Gyu-bin was one step ahead.

Hong Gyu-bin was a powerful person in the public relations team and the regulations enforcement department, and he was good at dealing with people and handling information.

The information he had currently obtained was fragmentary, but it wasn’t hard to make inferences based on the fragmented information and make hypotheses and pretend to already know everything.

Hong Gyu-bin pretended as if he ‘knew everything, but he was waiting to hear it directly from his younger brother’ and drew out the answer.

‘Hong Gyu-bin, if you don’t do that much, are you so thoroughly censored that you can’t open your mouth? Even so, it would be difficult to keep your close and powerful family from talking.’

Im Yeon-hwa seemed to have similar thoughts to me, worrying about Namgung Gyu-yeon, a weaker human being than her and her junior at the military academy, with a compassionate expression.

Im Yeon-hwa took advantage of Jegal Jae-geol’s pause to ask a question.

“I’ve been watching Gyu-yeon while walking around the school whenever I had time. She’s a very easygoing person, so I don’t think she’d keep secrets from her older brother. I told Ji-hwa everything when I was treated like a weapon in the military.”

“You’re talking about Team Leader Im Ji-hwa of the Association’s Satellite Management Team. But even if they’re family, they might not be able to talk because they’re afraid of being in danger.”

“From the moment the military treated me as a weapon of interest, my family was in danger. But wouldn’t it be better to know and suffer than not know and suffer? Especially if my family has the power to fight. Gyuyeon is smart, so she would know that much.”

As soon as Im Yeon-hwa realized that the military atmosphere was not normal, she must have consulted with Im Ji-hwa.

As Jegal Jae-geol said, her family could be in danger, but it was also a brave and healthy choice.

It was because it was possible to completely block conflicts due to information discrepancies or sharing in advance.

If Im Ji-hwa, who was skilled enough to rise to a high position in the Players Association, was the opponent, it would have been better to consult with her and find a way to overcome the crisis together.

In particular, Im Yeon-hwa was strong, so she would have the confidence to protect Im Ji-hwa no matter what.

‘It’s still difficult for me.’

Im Yeon-hwa had a really strong spirit.

These days, she’s increasing the number of opponents she can play against, but I don’t know what would happen if it were her family.

If I had my parents or siblings by my side, and even if they were players, I wouldn’t have been able to share information easily.

If my family was as strong as Im Yeon-hwa, I would be able to open my mouth a little more easily... ... .

“Joe-shin, I am strong.”

The white tiger suddenly showed off its strength with a confident expression.

Im Yeon-hwa and Jegal Jae-geol also seemed to doubt their own ears for a moment.

Even if I don’t brag, everyone here knows about that ignorant strength, so what are you talking about?

“I agree! I felt it when I saw you before, but you have strong muscles. Even if my cute disciples try hard, it’s impossible for them to become this strong for the rest of their lives, forever. Even if they live for over 5,000 years, it’ll be impossible for them to perfect their bodies and gain strength like this.”

Im Yeon-hwa joined in the bragging with great honesty.

If those cute disciples heard it, they would collapse in their seats and burst into tears because they didn’t fit their size.

But it was true that the best of the nobles was strong, so there was nothing I could do.

Of course, the white tiger was talking nonsense right now, so ignoring it was the answer.

“Don’t pay attention to what this tiger is saying. Please keep talking.”

“It seems that Yisin is very close to Baekho.”

“They are close.”

Before I could deny Jegal Jaegeol’s words with a “No,” or ask “Huh?”, the white tiger spoke first.

It was frustrating to use formal language that didn’t suit me, but even though I was arrogant, I felt that it was good to show respect for the teacher like a student.

I tried to keep my facial muscles strong so that my complicated feelings wouldn’t show on my face, and the two teachers made expressions that were either convinced or amazed, but then went back to the main topic.

Fortunately, it seemed like they listened to me telling them to ignore the white tiger.

“......The current situation is mostly as Yisin inferred.”

Jegal Jae-geol summarized the information obtained through Namgung Gyu-yeon and the additional information investigated by Hong Gyu-bin in a concise manner.

The Ministry of National Defense and Namgung Group have been in a cooperative relationship for a long time and have been researching ways to use intelligence as a weapon.

However, it was not easy to conduct research on a large scale because if you tamper with intelligence without permission, you would be noticed by higher beings or the Jin clan.

In addition, strictly speaking, it is a defense industry, but the selection of companies and the budget execution process were not transparent, so they were hit hard by the opposition party and civic groups, but it seemed to end with a few people in charge being lightly punished.

And the research is still ongoing.

For the sake of the national interest, they are thoroughly managing the information under the pretext of important military secrets.

“They seem to be trying to do something with that simulator now, but in the past, they even experimented with injecting intelligence into people to see if it could be used.”

“Did they inject intelligence into Professor Im Yeon-hwa?”

“Yisin is quick-witted. The process was long, but if I just talk about the results, I couldn’t handle it. To put it roughly, it’s like when gravity becomes stronger and your body becomes heavier, you can endure it, but you can’t handle the power. There has to be another way. You have to know how to handle the power of the earth from the beginning.”

Judging from the fact that Namgung developed the intellect terminal and the other-world simulator, they already know how to use intellect.

I could roughly guess how much intellect they had poured into Im Yeon-hwa.

Im Yeon-hwa, who was a strong soldier, won, but it didn’t seem easy.

I knew because I had handled intellect that could be used as a weapon.

I still had the seal on my wrist that allowed the use of intellect engraved by Hwang Ji-ho.

‘Hwang Ji-ho doesn’t lightly carve this seal and doesn’t erase it. If that lab found out, they’d go crazy.’

They had conducted reckless experiments on people, but I was able to control intellect with just one seal.

Saying that, Im Yeon-hwa stared at my wrist for a moment through her glasses.

Im Yeon-hwa, who was hunting black tigers at Cheoniksan, must have noticed something since she saw me using my intellect for a moment.

Jegal Jae-geol continued.

“It’s just as Teacher Im Yeon-hwa said. Gyu-yeon has the power to manipulate the earth, and if she’s equipped with a device, she can also use her intellect.”

“The power of the earth, the ability to operate a device. If you have both, even a human can use their intellect, so that’s what Gyu-yeon is.”

Namgung Gyu-yeon knew how to freely drive and control complex devices that even adults have difficulty handling.

He even flew a tiltrotor by himself, and was even the center of the opening ceremony’s celebratory flight show.

So, isn’t Namgung Gyu-yeon going through something similar to what the strong cadet Im Yeon-hwa went through?

In a situation where everyone had reached the same conclusion, Jegal Jae-geol nodded with a dark expression and said.

“Yes, that’s right. But Gyu-yeon said...... she chose to become like this, so she won’t accept help. Of course, she said it would be difficult for her to help.”

The situation was more complicated than she thought.

But who would choose to be a lab rat?

I felt uncomfortable with what Namgung Gyu-yeon said.

‘Considering the situation of the Namgung Group, I can imagine how Namgung Gyu-yeon came to think that way.’

Since Hong Gyu-bin chose to leave the Namgung family, didn’t he limit Namgung Gyu-yeon’s options from the beginning?

There were countless ways to limit options for a child whose ego had not yet been fully formed, induce her to make a choice, and make her take responsibility for the results.

If Namgung Gyu-yeon was already in such a deep-rooted situation, it would take time to convince her.

In that case, he had to change his strategy a little.

“Then let’s watch Lee Yeo-reum ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) today. If things had gone my way, Lee Yeo-reum would have come to this lab today.”

“I visited a while ago, so today Isn’t it hard to come?”

Im Yeon-hwa mentioned the visitor log she saw when she infiltrated.

The unmanned hologram visitor log at the entrance didn’t list who came, but it did list the number of times outsiders visited.

It’s said that the number was often 0 a day, perhaps for security reasons.

However, if I’m right, they’ll call Lee Yeoreum today.

“If I’m right, they’ll definitely call Lee Yeoreum here. Then, the teachers, please follow him.”

The two seemed lost in thought for a moment, but nodded without any doubt.

Jegal Jae-geol asked affectionately.

“Then how will Yi-shin move? Yi-shin has a game today.”

“I... ... .”

When I told the teachers about my schedule, the white tiger standing next to me snickered.

In the end, I couldn’t figure out why that tiger had followed me.