‘If we only consider the victory of the chess game and the success of the moves, it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to be here.’

Since they won all the games in the first and second rounds, Eun-gwang High School’s victory was already certain.

When comparing the capabilities of the chess representatives of each school, Eun-gwang High School was far superior.

Considering my and the Tigers’ real ages, it was unconscionable to say this, but even Cheon Dong-ha, a real high school student, couldn’t win anyway.

If Yeom Jun-yeol, Park Seung-hyun, or Ong Gil-dong, who had been eliminated in the preliminary round, had participated, Eun-gwang High School would have won, even if it wasn’t a complete victory like now.

‘Still, Nam-gil did a good job.’

I looked at the chess board, where most of the major pieces had already fallen, and turned my gaze to the audience.

The other side of the stage was dark as night because the lights were shining on the stadium, but as soon as I turned my head, the light twinkled as if it recognized me.

It was because the kids in my class turned up the output of the cheering hologram and the juniors waved their cheering sticks high.

In addition, there were audience members who moved in response.

Since checkmate was near, I was able to respond to the cheer.

“Check.”

Waaaaaaa!

My voice resonated loudly throughout the stadium, and cheers followed.

When broadcasting, it seemed like the sound team had sharpened their knives and waited to not only convey the sound of the chess pieces being placed on the board, but also the sound of the players calling check at the end.

I felt a little embarrassed that my voice was particularly loud, but I decided to act calm because the audience liked it so much.

“You probably didn’t need to play the third game, but thank you for agreeing!”

As I reached out to shake hands with the chess board, a cadet in a stiff uniform said with a smile.

I guess he agreed to play one more game of chess, even though he thought he would likely lose the last game.

‘Come to think of it, the opponents we fight against change every time.’

In the case of Eun Kwang-go, except for the last game where the White Tiger participated without any conscience, the lineup and the order of the games were the same.

However, the Military Academy mixed up the order of the players for each game.

As a result, all the players ended up playing against different opponents each time.

It seemed that they wanted to experience playing against various players in order to make the most of the friendly match, rather than because of strategy.

So, the Military Academy cadets who were looking forward to playing against Eun-ho today suddenly ended up playing against the White Tiger, but it was a bit disappointing.

They were both tigers anyway, and in terms of chess skills, the White Tiger was a bit better, but wouldn’t it be nice to play against the polite and wise Eun-ho rather than an opponent who was just snickering without knowing why?

“You’ll be proud of playing against me in the future.”

“I didn’t ask.”

The White Tiger, who came up on stage for the next game, answered my thoughts without thinking.

The last game was played in a one-on-one replacement format, and the next one was the white tiger.

Our team had decided to announce the replacement and use the fist bump as a sign of support.

The white tiger was waiting with his big hand clenched into a fist.

I had a brief urge to hit him with all my might to vent all the anger I had accumulated, but I knew that no matter how hard I hit him, there was no way he would get hit, so I held it in.

“Good job.”

Thump.

I won’t lose, but don’t give up.

When I fist bumped him, the white tiger smiled, nodded, and headed toward the stage.

Most of the audience felt awkward seeing the unfamiliar white tiger, but cheered him on because it was a silver advertisement, but some were openly shocked.

“Wow, he really ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) came out! I had a feeling when I saw his name!”

“I wonder what kind of chess Baekho will play. He’s playing against someone much younger than me.”

“Don’t let him get away with it because he’s young. It used to be like that, and it’s still like that now.”

Amid the murmur of the audience, there was also the sound of Mujigi and Jecheon Daeseong talking in the guest seats.

I wondered if it was okay to call him Baekho so openly, but I decided to do so.

Some of the kids in my class these days, even if they didn’t know his true identity, thought it was a nickname derived from his pseudonym ‘Baekho-kun’ and just called him Baekho.

‘Even if he gets caught, he’ll handle it. He’ll win Gyeonggi-do, and right now, I’m worried about the research center.’

Instead of wasting time on the white tiger, I decided to look elsewhere.

After looking around the place where the silver advertisement people were, I felt a sense of discomfort.

‘Moon Sae-ron is gone. He was taking pictures at the press box, where did he go?’

‘Student Baekho-kun’, who was not a member of the Shinhwa world’s elite, was a student that was unheard of compared to Nana and Cheon Dong-ha, so he received relatively less attention.

As a result, it was possible that he left because he felt less importance of the interview.

However, there were other people besides Moon Sae-ron who left.

Kwon Rena, who had been guarding the place until the moment I finished the game, was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

A Ministry of National Defense research institute within the Player Military Academy grounds.

Although it was a place where strict security was maintained, there were quite a few people who knew about the existence of the research institute and its visible size.

There were many non-research personnel who entered the research institute for the purpose of facility maintenance, management, repair, supply delivery, or operational support, and the officers and students on campus also knew about the existence of this research institute.

The research institute seemed to be a typical small to medium-sized three-story building, and its vague but decent purpose was to support the development and research of cadets’ special abilities.

However, the reality was different.

The only ones who carried out the purpose of the research that was revealed to the outside world were the facilities on the ground floor and the researchers working there.

The real research was being done underground.

“There’s a lot of device checking.”

“Someone I know called me. Wait a minute. They’re a bit crazy, so if you don’t reply, there’s going to be chaos.”

An elevator installed in an underground parking lot, a restricted area.

Before heading underground, Namgung Gyu-yeon was manipulating the device.

The researcher accompanying him gave him a hint, but didn’t actively stop him.

Namgung Gyu-yeon was an important target of surveillance, but he was also a member of the Namgung Group.

He was also cooperative in research and had achieved results, so he had built trust, so it was okay to pretend not to know about such deviations.

And among Namgung Gyu-yeon’s blood relatives, there was someone who was a pain to mess with.

‘We should have monitored the contents of the device, but we almost got into trouble once. Namgung’s royal family and the association’s eyes were also annoying.’

At first, the research institute prepared a specially-made device to monitor in real time.

Namgung Gyu-yeon’s parents also agreed, so the procedure proceeded without a hitch.

However, when it was revealed that Namgung Gyu-yeon, who was very sociable, had private conversations with other relatives, his parents were aware of them, the other royal family members began to suspect him.

In addition, Hong Gyu-bin, who was his older brother, felt uncomfortable and tried to check Namgung Gyu-yeon’s device, so he had no choice but to stop talking.

Some people suspected that Namgung Gyu-yeon had intentionally induced all of this, but when they checked the collected conversation records, it seemed that Namgung Gyu-yeon had an ordinary conversation.

Either he was lucky or he was competent enough to escape surveillance.

In either case, it was difficult to touch the device.

Still, it was possible to glance at the screen like this.

‘Since he didn’t cover the screen, it must not have been an important conversation. The other person was... ... Chan-sol? He wasn’t on the list.’

After the military academy was opened to Eun Kwang-go, the higher-ups shared a list of targets to watch out for.

If the existence of this research institute was known, it was assumed that annoying targets were included on the list.

Most of the teachers at Eun Gwang High School were affected, and among the students, the names of those with strong, righteous, and quietly difficult backgrounds like Yeom Jun-yeol, Cheon Dong-ha, Joo Soo-hyeok, and Andain were on the list.

If we were to judge only by their skills and backgrounds, Geum Chan-sol and Wang Chan-sol would have been on the list, but since they were crazy about teachers, it was judged that they would not be interested in the research institute, so they were not on the list.

In fact, there was an unknown English message written, “Sir, Teacher Jegal suddenly disappeared around the gym. Is there a trap there? Please use the sabotage method.”

After seeing Namgung Gyu-yeon reply, “There’s no such thing. There is a shortcut to the restaurant!”, the researcher completely lost interest.

“We have an important guest today, so be careful with your tone.”

“Yes.”

Namgung Gyu-yeon continued to look at the device while moving.

The researcher occasionally glanced around to check what Namgung Gyu-yeon was doing, and she was reading an article about PlayerZ.

She was interested enough to watch the game’s broadcasts, and she had planned to go watch PlayerZ’s match today, but she might have been taken aback by the sudden call to the lab.

In the meantime, she had passed the complicated security verification and was taken down to the underground parking lot, where the elevator went much deeper.

It was time to turn off the device, but since she was about to reach a point where communication signals would be blocked, she decided to leave it alone.

The moment the elevator door opened, Namgung Gyu-yeon greeted her cheerfully.

“Oh, you’re Yeoreum. Is she the important guest?”

“Do you know her?”

“Yes! She’s someone from our company, and she’s in charge of logistics supply.”

Namgung Gyu-yeon, still holding the device, greeted Yeoreum, who was waiting.

This was Lee Yeoreum’s first time in this area, so she looked nervous and wary, but Namgung Gyuyeon was just happy to see her.

“There’s an important guest here, so you should be respectful to him.”

“Oh, Sister Yeoreum wasn’t that guest.”

“......Yeah, I just heard that I had to meet someone.”

Lee Yeoreum said with an awkward smile.

An important guest wasn’t a newbie in society who didn’t know anything.

Even a researcher who had years of experience at this research institute and had access to high-level confidential information was nervous.

While the researcher was adjusting his clothes, Namgung Gyuyeon realized that the important guest was not an easy opponent and let go of the device he had been holding the whole time.

After that, the driver who had escorted Lee Yeoreum returned to the ground, and the researcher walked ahead.

After passing through several doors that made her sense of direction go awry, they finally arrived at their destination.

There is no sign...

Oh, when they saw the door with only a simple security authentication panel in front of them, Lee Yeoreum and Namgung Gyuyeon felt the surroundings become even colder.

Weeeing.

The automatic door opened with a heavy sound, as if it was quite heavy.

The first thing they saw when the door opened was a lump of armor. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The important guest on the other side of the door was so thoroughly covered in armor that not a single fingertip or hair could be seen.

It looked suspicious at first glance, but even a snobby researcher would immediately bow his head to him, so it was clear that he was not an ordinary person.

“Hello, welcome. I called one person, but you brought two?”

“Huh? I heard that the guest had business with two people.......”

“I had to meet one in person, but I just needed to check the other’s skills. Well, I guess there’s nothing I can do since I’ve come all this way.”

Sooooo.

Namgung Gyuyeon’s tension grew as the armored figure walked toward him.

It wasn’t because the armor was strange, but because the friction noise of the full-body armor was not audible at all.

He passed Namgung Gyuyeon and stopped in front of Lee Yeoreum.

“You’re Jared Lee’s relative. I wanted to meet you right away.”

“......Hello. Do you know Uncle Jared?”

“Uncle, so the kinship must be much further than that. Oh, I know Jared very well.”

She felt an eerie gaze from beyond the armor.

Lee Yeoreum felt the urge to scream and run away right now.

Then he spoke.

“Now that you’ve seen this, there’s no need to hide it. I’m the Knight of the Water Shadow, the team master Grand Cross of the Three Knights’ Oath, where Jared used to belong.”