Due to the typhoon, not only air buses but most of the public transportation systems were unable to operate.
Every homeroom teacher and adviser of Eungwang High gave notice to the students, asking them to refrain from doing activities outside.
It’s not really very difficult for Eungwang High students to go outside even in this kind of weather, but they’re still given the notice as they’re all still teenagers.
And so, the club activities for today were quite limited.
“Your upper body balance is all messed up. Please spread your shoulders and pay more attention to how you distribute your power.”
“Alright.”
The Main Club Hall, Gymnasium 2.
This gym is usually crowded with students even during vacation, but it’s quite empty at the moment due to the typhoon.
Today’s club activities were limitedly allowed for students who lived in the dorms and under the supervision of their advisory teachers.
A small group of students was training Taehokwon with a teacher.
“That’s it for today.”
After observing the stance of the second-year students, Gong Cheonghwon looked at the window before he spoke.
Thanks to the soundproofing technology, the sounds outside were barely audible.
However, they could clearly see the thickening rain and wind from inside.
“The typhoon is getting stronger. I think it’s going to be dangerous to move even inside the campus. Rest up in your rooms for now.”
“Understood!”
The two second-year students, who were also members of the Jiikhoe, left.
On the other hand, Hani decided to stay and continue training.
She has recently been practicing her footwork, especially ‘Tiger’s Footsteps’ which was the basic posture of Taehokwon.
She’s been practicing it more than 300 times a day.
Gong Cheonghwon tried to make the focused Hani wrap up her training for today.
Hani raised her head and looked at the entrance to the gymnasium.
At the entrance stood someone who was not a member of the Taehokwon students.
“Hwang Jiho.”
At the entrance stood the Yellow Tiger who seemed to have just entered the gym.
The rain was surely pouring hard outside, but there was no single drop of rainwater on the Yellow Tiger’s head.
“Why are you here?”
“To practice.”
“…With who? Why?”
“With you.”
What’s wrong with this crazy guy all of a sudden?
Hani almost made her signature facial expression, but she held back as Gong Cheonghwon was with them at the moment.
Instead, she spoke stiffly.
“I don’t want you to do one of your pranks while practicing Taehokwon.”
This Class Zero crazy guy has a good mastery of Taehokwon.
But people rarely saw him fight using Taehokwon.
It’s because he had the ability to block a punch with just his pinky or stop an attack with only two fingers.
Hani indirectly expressed that she had no intention of practicing with him, but the Yellow Tiger smiled rather brightly in return.
It’s contrary to the dark expression that he had when he entered the gym.
It’s as if he’s pleased to hear what Hani said.
“Okay. I won’t do that from now on.”
From Hani’s perspective, the face that Hwang Jiho made when he said those words seemed oddly mature.
As if it wasn’t a teenager speaking.
‘Hwang Jiho speaks like an old man, but did his face usually look this old?’
Even though Hani’s expression didn’t look good, the Yellow Tiger just looked happy.
“Let’s spar.”
As Hani reluctantly nodded, Gong Cheonghwon, who was watching the two, spoke softly.
“Strangely, I don’t feel like stopping you two. Alright. I’ll be the judge. Do you want to change to your Taehokwon uniform?”
Even though Gong Cheonghwon is now aware that Hwang Jiho was of royal lineage, he still spoke to him as if he was a normal student.
Instead of answering, Hwang Jiho took off the jacket of his school gym clothes.
It revealed that he was wearing the Taehokwon robe and pants already.
“There’s no need. Alright. Let’s get into position.”
At a distance, the two faced each other and made their ready stance.
Unlike the first time that this had happened after they entered Eungwang High, the Yellow Tiger’s face looked serious.
Soon, the resonant voice of Gong Cheonghwon was heard in the gym.
“Begin!”
* * *
Under the night sky embodied by energy, the black and white pieces began to intersect.
He threw the commemorative coin that he received at the Stalemate Cup Chess Competition to determine which piece each of us would play.
The tossed coin determined that the White Tiger will play as white, and I will play as black.
‘…The pace is fast!’
Displaying his characteristic as a swordsman, the White Tiger made his moves unhesitatingly.
On the other hand, my hand was slow to move the pieces.
Tik.
Tok.
With every tick of the chess clock, the chess pieces on the board quickly decreased.
With the current flow of the game, even with my rusted thinking circuit, I could feel it clearly.
The White Tiger is a master.
Among those who I played chess with, I felt like I was the best chess player in this world.
Except for this guy.
‘It feels like he’s reading exactly what’s going on in my head…!’
It feels like the White Tiger knows exactly what moves I would take.
Did he study my journal thoroughly?
With the current pace of this game, it’s as if the White Tiger had played hundreds of chess games with me.
‘Is this why he said it was useless to play the game at that time?’
It hasn’t been long since I started playing again when the White Tiger made the suggestion for us to play, and my trauma was much worse back then too.
It made me angry, but I would’ve been beaten pathetically if we did play back then.
I was barely surviving the game, but I can feel the stalemate coming soon.
The middle game went by so quickly and we soon entered the endgame.
And.
“Check.”
It was the White Tiger who declared checkmate.
The black king was surrounded by white pieces.
I was completely defeated.
I had lost a chess game in this world before, but this was the first time I lost by an overwhelming margin.
I laid down the black king on the chess board.
“…I lost.”
Although it was against my main playable character, it was heartbreaking for me to lose the game.
However, losing to a chess player of this caliber, I had no choice but to accept defeat.
“…”
The White Tiger reached out his hand for a handshake.
My hand was cold, but it eventually started to turn warm.
I think the White Tiger felt it, so he spoke to me.
“…I guess this wasn’t the right time yet.”
What does he mean ‘not the right time?’
Is he talking about my trauma?
It made me furious now.
I picked up the black king from the chessboard and made it stand once again.
“One more round…”
“That’s it for today.”
The White Tiger let go of my hand.
“Jo Euishin. Pay attention to your energy wave control during the game.”
Energy wave control…?
What’s he talking about all of a sudden?
Did I even release an energy wave throughout the game?
It is true that sometimes it flows out when a person focuses on something.
“While we were playing, your energy wave was restraining your breathing.”
…Do I have that kind of habit?
Is it similar to a habit of unconsciously biting the tip of my tongue or my lips when I’m nervous?
I thought I didn’t have that kind of thing.
“If it was a habit that greatly affected your life, others would’ve noticed it too. But I think it’s a habit that causes you some discomfort. Maybe pain too. Fix it.”
To be honest, I had no idea at all.
I wasn’t aware that I had that kind of habit.
But there’s no way that my main playable character would be mistaken, nor does he have any reason to lie to me.
When I nodded my head, the White Tiger stood and walked ahead of me as if he was guiding me outside.
As we both walked, the White Tiger brought up a random topic again.
“You used to ask me about nightmares.”
Is he talking about the time when the 12-point alliance talks were recently concluded?
At that time, the head of the Sheep Clan said this;
— Those who are now in this alliance, and those who were around the magic camp, are susceptible to the ‘nightmare’ itself. Be on your guard not to be swallowed up by nightmares.
All the clan heads and Hwang Jiho were aware of the existence of that ‘nightmare’.
“Why?”
Anxiety wrapped my short response.
If I were to give another weakness of mine aside from chess, it would be dreams.
I had never had a dream, and I only understood the concept of it in a dictionary sense.
The realm of dreams is unknown to me, and I have nothing to say whenever the topic comes up.
‘…I think dreams are mentioned a lot these few days.”
Moon Saeron had a nightmare during our trip to China, and Jang Namwook had one last night too.
It also appears in the Player Identity skill and even the explanation to the Replay function.
Something’s not right.
“You don’t have to worry. Keep doing what you want to do and what you need to do.”
The White Tiger remained the same as before.
* * *
In Yoo Sanghoon’s room.
Jang Namwook and Yoo Sanghoon were reading papers and articles related to “intelligence” and “dreams”.
“There is a higher being who gives revelations through dreams… But I don’t think that’s the case with us. Because I already have a connection with one higher being.”
“You do? Oh, it must have something to do with your eye.”
Jang Namwook was wearing his glasses to hide the starlight in his eyes.
Yoo Sanghoon glanced at Namwook’s glasses, but he didn’t try to pry further.
“No matter how I look at it, it really is strange. Dreams are the inner realm of a player. The ability to intervene in another person’s inner mind or thoughts is rare. Besides, the limitations on that kind of skill are that you’d have to meet the person in real life to be able to use that it.”
“It must have something to do with someone we both know.”
Yoo Sanghoon, a student of Eungwang High, lives in the dorms.
And Jang Namwook, studying at the military academy and also staying in his own dorm.
There weren’t a lot of mutual friends between the two.
Jang Namwook suddenly recalled Jo Euishin.
Jo Euishin previously summoned the Sun-Moon Blue Dragon Fan to ward off evil spirits.
Namwook confided in Euishin about the “seed of curse” that was in Do Sihoo.
“Why don’t we talk to Euishin?”
After saying that, Namwook felt guilty and ashamed.
He thought that both in dream and reality, he hasn’t been of much help.
If he was the only one who had this nightmare, he wouldn’t even think about bothering Jo Euishin.
“…Let’s talk to Euishin. Our dreams were about the entrance exam, weren’t they? I’m sure Euishin is related to this too.”
“….”
Yoo Sanghoon didn’t answer right away.
Jang Namwook hesitated before asking something.
“…Sanghoon. Why am I the only one you called over?”
“Jo Euishin wasn’t in our dream.”
Yoo Sanghoon turned off his device.
“He didn’t have the nightmare too, so it’s a bit awkward to pull him into this.”
Jang Namwook was surprised and felt slight joy to know that Sanghoon had similar thoughts.
Eventually, the two still decided to contact Jo Euishin.
* * *
The rain got quite strong while we were playing chess.
Lightning was seen falling outside the boundary of the temple.
‘It’s no use wearing a raincoat at this point.’
I thought about using my light skill to borrow abilities from one of my playable characters, but I decided that it was a waste to do that.
Considering my body’s condition now, there won’t be much problem if I get caught in the rain for a little bit.
“I’ll escort you.”
I was grateful for the kind and considerate suggestion of my main playable character, but I just shook my head in response.
“No, it’s alright. I’m headed to school anyway, and…”
My words were interrupted by my device suddenly receiving a call.
My device was in silent mode, so I only felt the vibrations.
The hologram in front of me showed “Caller: Jang Namwook”.
I wonder why he’s calling all of a sudden.
“Take the call.”
I have decided to pick up the call.
Jang Namwook sent some worrying messages early at dawn after all.
[Hello? Euishin, are you available to talk right now?]
“Yeah, what’s the matter?”
[I have something I want to talk to you about…]
Jang Namwook talked about his dream last night.
I felt a bit uncomfortable at first, but when I heard the details of his dream, I came to my senses.
The dream that Jang Namwook had was something that I know very well.
His dream was exactly the same as what happened in the game, “A Nameless Supporting Role’s Tutorial”.
“I wasn’t in your dream?”
[Yeah.]
“…Who else was there? Was I replaced by anyone?”
[Hmm? Son Minki and the professor were both there… But I don’t think there’s anyone that appeared in your place. Honestly, I don’t know very well. The only thing I’m sure about is that you weren’t there.]
Jang Namwook continued on.
[I met with Sanghoon today. Apparently, he had the same exact dream.]
“Yoo Sanghoon?”
[Yeah. He had the same dream twice.]
Yoo Sanghoon had it twice.
Jang Namwook had it once.
The dream was exactly the same as the scenario inside the game.
I had an ominous guess.
“Yoo Sanghoon had the same nightmare twice? When?”
The day that Yoo Sanghoon had the dream was consistent with the day that I selected his name in the Replay function.
Did I just show the two of them the ending that they faced in the game through the Replay function?
I showed that to them?
[And when I looked at me and Sanghoon with my ‘eye”, I saw a black fog.]
A black fog is seen by the Eye of the Star Maiden.
Hearing that, I could no longer dismiss this as a mere coincidence.
Because the color of my energy wave is black
