Yoo Sanghoon’s name wasn’t even mentioned in the PMH game.
His existence was only hinted as Yoo Sanghee’s dead dongsaeng.
But I know just how much Yoo Sanghee cherished her dongsaeng Yoo Sanghoon.
Yoo Sanghee abandoned her order and her light skill to avenge her brother, and with that, a chance at a future career.
‘There’s no way that revenge was possible for her anyway.’
The goal of Yoo Sanghee was to make the enemy that killed her brother extinct.
It’s dizzying to think that Yoo Sanghee signed a contract with Nemesis, goddess of revenge, in exchange for her life and was reborn as a powerful weapon.
Her goal for revenge sounds ridiculous considering the number of enemies that spawn every time an otherworld appears, or when people of royal lineage summons them.
Yoo Sanghee cherished her brother so much that she willingly attempted a futile revenge.
If the TC Research Institute helped in some way with Yoo Sanghoon’s condition, I can only imagine the pressure they can put on Yoo Sanghee.
‘If Yoo Sanghoon died that day, TC Group wouldn’t have any leverage on Yoo Sanghee. But it’s different now.’
Yoo Sanghoon is now healthy enough to even win an MVP award at the recent sports exchange exhibition between Korea’s top two player-exclusive high schools.
Yoo Sanghee must be keeping that debt close to her heart whenever she sees Yoo Sanghoon.
“The TC Research Institute is using her feeling of debt regarding Yoo Sanghoon’s life to suggest something to her.”
“Correct. It seems that Yoo Sanghee has a lot on her mind.”
The young Hwang Jiho looked as if he knew Yoo Sanghee’s predicament for a while now.
I didn’t notice my playable character’s worries right away, and yet this guy did?
“…You seem to already know about Yoo Sanghee sunbaenim and the TC Research Institute before I even asked. Did you?”
At my question, the young Hwang Jiho nodded his small head.
“Correct.”
Hwang Jiho already knew!
And here I thought she was worried about something as simple as her career.
I realize how short-minded I was.
“When the injured people at the youth retreat were admitted to Hwangmyeong-Eungwang hospital’s player-only hall, I called Yoo Sanghee to help treat the students. At that time, I approached her as the Chairman.”
“…That happened?”
“Yes. I revealed to her that I can help her with the issue with TC. After all, she’s healed Red Tiger before. The Tiger clan do not forget favors.”
Hwang Jiho and Yoo Sanghee had such interaction, but where was I during all that?
Why didn’t he tell me?
Seeing that Yoo Sanghee still looks troubled, I think this issue is yet to be resolved, and that’s more reason that Hwang Jiho should’ve told me.
I almost said something hateful, but seeing young Hwang Jiho’s appearance, I couldn’t say anything.
Instead, I felt guilty.
But I decided to push aside the self-blame for now.
‘If she’s troubled with TC Research Institute’s proposal and she’s not accepting it right away, that means it’s a suggestion she’s unwilling to accept.’
That offer is probably related to the new project that Do Sihoo was talking about.
For now, I should ask Hwang Jiho more about that suggestion or offer that they made to Yoo Sanghee.
“What sort of suggestion was it?”
“They intend to put her in a new project of theirs.”
Hwang Jiho closed all the holograms and replaced it with just one document.
‘Superior Being’s Artificial Descent Project.’
Shock took over me the moment I read the project title.
What shocked me the most was the word ‘artificial’.
‘They can artificially make a superior being descend…?’
The existence of a ‘god’, a superior being, in this world doesn’t interfere much with the human world.
There are two main ways for superior beings to interfere with the human world.
First, they can interfere through humans, descendants, and those of royal lineage.
‘Possession’ where they can temporarily bower the body of a believer.
‘Revelation’ where they can convey their voice through dreams.
‘Order’ formed by a mutual agreement between the god and the human.
‘Light skill’ that can be given unilaterally.
‘But these methods doesn’t mean they’re technically descending to this world.’
Second, the superior beings can interfere in the human world with their own powers.
A ‘miracle’ or a ‘disaster’ occurs by the power of those superior beings.
And so is a ‘descent’ where they directly come down to this world.
‘Hower, miracles, disasters, and especially descent constitute a high risk for those superior beings. There’s no guarantee that their full power can be brought down to this world, and their existence itself could even be erased from the world forever.’
That means no matter how belligerent and curious a god is, he doesn’t try to cause miracles and disasters or descend into the human world recklessly.
Since the conflict between worlds occurred, the descent of superior beings have been observed several times, but there are only a few cases and they tend not to stay for long.
The latest was at the Manchester Arena where Kwon Jein held a solo concert.
The nine Musai sisters, Terposicore, Euterpe, and Calliope, among the muses, danced for a minute and disappeared during Kwon Jein’s encore stage.
It’s very rare for superior beings to descend into this world.
“It’s well known that Akea and Nemesis, those two goddesses are interested in Yoo Sanghee. They plan to use her to bring those two goddesses to this world.”
Yoo Sanghee published a paper titled ‘A Study on the Relationship of Light Skill with Multiple Superior Beings’.
Akea and Nemesis were mentioned purely for the purpose of research.
It wasn’t so the two would descend to this world.
“Yoo Sanghee was reluctant to call Akea, so they suggested to call Nemesis instead. Those bastards at TC have lost their minds.”
“…Why are they doing that?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet. Yoo Sanghee is kind of an ‘experimental subject’. The higher being they really want to call isn’t Akea or Nemesis.”
Those words had me confused.
‘They want to call a superior being to this world…?’
Considering the actions of the Black Screen and what happened recently, there’s a high possibility that the TC Group has a direct relationship with them.
I can’t know for sure yet, but there are many things on my mind aside from this project, the four major groups scenario, and the Black Screen.
‘But how did the Tiger Clan obtain this document? They’re willing to dig this far for Yoo Sanghee?’
The young Hwang Jiho spoke as if the question was evident on my face.
“Are you curious why and how we got this document?”
I didn’t nod my head, but he continued to speak.
“You know the former name of TC Group?”
“I know it’s a name in Korean.”
“I hated that name very much. It was the Tiger Clan who pulled strings so they’d change that name.”
The Tiger Clan did such a thing?
The conflict between the four major groups broke out when Joo Soohyuk was in high school, but it seems the strife between them started from long ago.
“What did you do?”
“When the T and C sides decided to have a divorce, I gave some strength to the C side. The ‘C’ side’s surname is one that’s difficult for foreigners to pronounce, so it wasn’t that difficult to pressure them to change their name.”
I wonder what the name was that Hwang Jiho hated so much.
“Their old name was Docheon Group. It’s an arrogant word that provokes the heavens and the gods.”
The word ‘Docheon’ could be a good thing that means large amounts of water overflowing to the sky, but it also means that it fears no sky or god.
I can see why the Tiger Clan, one who has a close relation to the heavens, would react like so.
‘The T and C were taken from the surnames of the couple. The T is Do-ssi and C is Cheon-ssi.’
The young Hwang Jiho continued with a clear voice.
“The Cheon family owed us a lot during the divorce case. Well, there are other ways to infiltrate their company anyway. It’s not difficult to obtain insider information with our power and CHeon family’s help.”
I knew the TC Group was famous for having a previous name, but I didn’t know the Tiger Clan was deeply involved.
I felt a little odd, knowing that DO Wonwoo, my playable character, belongs to that family.
“You came here because of Yoo Sanghee, right? We have the power to help her as much as we can. There are plenty of ways to thwart this arrogant project.”
Just as he said, there are ways to abolish this project, but if he does so, it’s possible the route of information obtained by Hwangmyeong Group would be blocked.
If this top-secret project fails, TC Group would surely reinforce its information security system…
‘I want to save this for the future 4 major groups scenario.’
I spoke after organizing my thoughts.
“No. Let’s watch closely first.”
“I thought you’d want to act right away. What a surprise.”
As much as I want to dispel Yoo Sanghee’s worries right away, I took consideration of the future.
And this time, aside from Hwangmyeong Foundation, there’s another ally that I have.
“There’s someone I want you to watch instead. He’s a strong one, so we need to be careful. Call me right away if anything happens.”
“Speak. Who is it?”
“Do Wonwoo sunbaenim.”
“…You need to consider who you want to put a trail on.”
Young Hwang Jiho nodded as if he knew Do Wonwoo personally.
We discussed the matter some more for quite a while.
The topic changed only after the young Hwang Jiho emptied another bowl of bingsoo.
“Oh, I won’t let Red Tiger or Kim Shinrok run into you for the time being. I can guess that you or Kim Shinrok would want to push yourselves.”
Come to think of it, I didn’t see the father and son in the mansion today.
