Hes not reading my messages again.

The day before the death anniversary of Jo Euishins family, he failed to check the messages sent by Yellow Tiger.

Its something that happens often and it doesnt fail to frustrate Yellow Tiger every time, but this time it was quite different.

Perhaps this is better.

So you plan on just showing up. He could easily turn away Yellow Tiger if hes alone, but if Jo Euishin sees Shinsoo or the descendants, it would be difficult for him to refuse.

Yellow Tiger frowned as he took a sip from his teacup, but he reluctantly nodded since Red Tiger was right after all.

Lets prepare for it then. First of all, Sinshoo and the descendants will surely come.

My son and I will come. What about you, White Tiger? Its inside Eungwang District so there wont be any issues.

Ill come.

Woof woof!

All those staying at the mansion expressed their intention to go and offer flowers.

In addition, Yellow Tiger exhausted his alter egos and invited all those who knew of Jo Euishin, and most of them pledged that theyd go.

Theres many who want to go. I think we might need to narrow it down. The Rabbit Clan will surely come if we invite them, but we might have to skip them.

We shouldnt be noisy at the memorial. Lets not tell them.

Its obvious that Ok Toyeon and Ok Toyoon would surely jump in anger when they find out later on, but everyone agreed on not inviting them.

They judged that it was better to be bothered by the troublesome rabbits later on than have them make a fuss in their benefactors familys memorial.

If the descendants were here, perhaps theyd want to call the rabbits, but the children were already asleep early to prepare for tomorrow.

Ah, Blue Tigers disciples said they would definitely come. Jo Euishin was the one who found Blue Tiger after all. I think theyve always held deep gratitude in their hearts for that.

Alright. Those four can come.

Everyone except for White Tiger drank a cup of pear persimmon tea prepared by Kim Shinrok as they finalized the list of people who will come tomorrow.

Kim Shinroks face seemed quite down as he looked at his device.

Red Tiger didnt miss it and he asked his son affectionately.

Whats wrong, son?

The lights around Jo Euishins dormitory room are still on. I dont think hes asleep yet.

Kim Shinrok, the advisor to Jiikhoe, seemed to have checked the status of the freshmen dormitory.

Everyone turned silent at Kim Shinroks words.

Yellow Tiger took a few sips of his tea before speaking.

Its been a year since his family was gone. Theres no way that anyone, even if its Jo Euishin, is okay after all that. Time doesnt easily ease the pain of losing a family.

Agreed. Its difficult to just imagine what its like to lose a family.

Yellow Tiger recalled their benefactor.

He doesnt see him as someone whos used to being alone, but its obvious that when he was left on his own, just like today, hed spend the rest of his day in his lonely room.

Jo Euishin seemed to be putting up a lot of walls, protecting his mind or body unnecessarily excessively.

Yellow Tiger is amused at Jo Euishin acting cold toward him even though hes very friendly to others, and he thinks that its a wise choice.

But that doesnt mean hes inclined to that fact.

Hes not someone who would call others to accompany him. That would mean he has to tell whoever hed invite about his familys death anniversary. Its obvious that hed try to put up with it on his own. Jo Euishin, our benefactor, will not inform us either.

The next day.

The Tiger Clan gathered in front of the charnel house thirty minutes before Jo Euishin left the dormitory.

Yellow Tiger predicted that he would probably leave the dormitory just as the flower shop would open, and Jo Euishin arrived at the exact time expected.

We are here to express condolences to our benefactors family. I sent you a message in advance, saying that we would come here, but it seems that you didnt check it. Do you mind?

Jo Euishin carried an armful of chrysanthemum flowers and stared at the tigers silently.

After a long silence, Jo Euishin finally spoke.

Thank you all for coming. Lets go in.

Yellow Tiger and all the others lost their words when they saw the expression on Jo Euishins face.

The 17-year-old boy did not look like his family had died just one year ago.

Beyond the desperately put-up expressionless face, they felt a heavy sadness and a willingness to bear that sadness alone.

Jo Euishin, youre

Are you really alright?

Those were the words that Yellow Tiger meant to say, but he failed to ask them in the end.

Instead, he expressed his intention to come again next year.

Theres not much I can do for our benefactor.

Jo Euishin took great risks of his own to find out where the Son of God and Blue Tiger were.

He did that for the Tiger Clan who missed the two very much.

That same Jo Euishin did not even ask the Tiger Clan to offer flowers for his own family.

All he ever asked of the Tiger Clan is for the purpose of protecting someone else.

Yellow Tiger recalled the image of Jo Euishin vomiting blood and collapsing in front of the Cheondansu.

And the last question he asked that day.

Is Sungheon doing well?

It must be a question that cannot be answered by anything other than the transcendent.

No matter how hard Yellow Tiger and Red Tiger tried, they couldnt find anything about the person named Sungheon.

They wanted to find Sungheon and how he was doing to relieve their benefactors anxiety, but it wasnt easy.

And now, at an unexpected moment, Yellow Tiger heard that name again.

Sungheon-ah

Beneath the Research Institute, together with Jo Euishin.

Jo Euishin called for Cheon Donghas brother with a similar expression to when they offered flowers to his family just a few hours ago.

* * *

Im not Stalemateless in this world.

Although I still have records of some matches, its only at the minimum level to maintain the background of Jo Euishin, a former chess player.

I dont have a single game in this world that ended in a stalemate, but thats not my nickname here.

Theres no case in this world where a commentator or a broadcaster during my chess games called me Stalemateless.

Even reports excited about the existence of a chess prodigy in Korea have never used that word.

If Jo Euishin of this world had that nickname, Yeom Junyeol wouldnt have tried to win the chess tournament by pushing our match to a stalemate.

Stalemateless? What does that mean?

Its not a word listed in the dictionary. I think its a newly coined word, combining stalemate and less.

Hwang Jiho, who has conducted an extensive investigation on me, and Cheon Dongha, someone whos really good at chess, have no idea that the word that the boy blinked was referring to me.

Its obvious why Cheon Donghas brother suddenly said that word.

He said a nickname that doesnt exist in this world so that I wouldnt doubt his identity.

Why is Sungheon here like this!?

My last day in the previous world came back to my mind.

The day I cleared the final chapter of PMH, I received a notice that I would receive a reward.

Cheon Sungheon, the secretary of the gosiwon I was staying at, stopped by my room as he heard my nonstop coughing.

At that time, I heard a system message and doubted if I was hallucinating.

<Information modification, dimension synchronization, and transporting of two-dimensional future transform object Jo Euishin in progress. Ten seconds left before completion.>

My coughs didnt allow me to answer Sungheon, and thats when he opened the door.

Almost as soon as he opened the door, the countdown in the system message was completed, and a white light washed over my vision.

I came up with a terrifying hypothesis.

Dont tell me Sungheon got caught up while I was being transported here?

The system message specifically mentioned transferring information of Jo Euishin.

If he was caught up accidentally and transported to this world, shouldnt he have been on the practical test with Group 13 on the first day?

Cheon Sungheons information wasnt transferred, so perhaps he was manipulated to be Cheon Donghas hidden brother?

I tried my best to keep my cool and objectively analyze the situation, but I couldnt think at all because Cheon Sungheon is right in front of my eyes.

Sungheon-ah

When I called his name in a constrained voice, Cheon Sungheon opened his eyes again and looked at me.

His eyes were the only thing he can move, and so his expression remained the same.

Sungheon?

Huh?

Hwang Jiho and Cheon Dongha looked suspicious of me.

Perhaps Cheon Sungheons name in this world is different.

Cheon Dongha sunbaenim, you mentioned that you only found out about your brother. When was that?

Cheon Dongha seemed confused, perhaps by the name that I mentioned, or the morse code word that his brother blinked.

Perhaps its because of my reaction too.

Or maybe everything about this is confusing to him.

Even so, he answered me gently.

I knew about his existence last December. The exact date was

The exact date mentioned by Cheon Dongha sent a bolt of lightning through my body.

Its the day I came to this world.

Its the day you took the entrance exam, Jo Euishin. But why did you call him Sungheon just now?

Hwang Jiho asked me something, but I wasnt in the right mind to answer.

He didnt push further.

Instead, I observed Cheon Sungheon and myself.

Youve been here all this time? Ever since that day?

Cheon Sungheon blinked as soon as I asked.

I tried to ask again as the response was vague, but Cheon Dongha intervened.

When communicating with the doctors, its been a convention that my brother will blink once if he means yes and twice if he means no. I think he just said yes.

There are records of him being transferred a few times. He wasnt here all this time.

Cheon Dongha and Hwang Jiho added some more things, but its clear that Cheon Sungheon said yes to me.

Cheon Sungheon has been in this world ever since the entrance exam last year.

He was discovered by Cheon Dongha that day.

I have a lot of questions, but I decided to ask the most important thing first.

Do you know where you are?

Cheon Sungheon blinked once.

That means he knows that this world is the one in PMH.

I felt suffocated, but I asked him another important question.

Did you come here with me?

Cheon Sungheon blinked twice.

That means we didnt come to this world together.

Im out of breath.

It doesnt matter whether Cheon Sungheon is in this world because of me or not.

It doesnt change the fact that he has LIS in this world.

But for some twisted reason, I felt a little relief that it wasnt my fault.

The thought made me feel terrible at the same time.

I asked another question.

Did you come here on your own will?

Cheon Sungheon blinked once.

I dont know what happened and how, but it seems like he came here of his own will.

He didnt come with me, but theres a reason why he decided to come to this world on purpose.

Why?

Cheon Sungheon didnt answer.

Instead, he closed his eyes