The words that came before “transportation” didn’t quite register to him immediately.
Cheon Sungheon felt that something was wrong.
He unknowingly stood up from his seat, but he stumbled in the process.
Cheon Sungheon was mentally and physically exhausted from playing PMH and clearing the final chapter before the servers closed.
He looked spaced out for a moment before asking.
“What does that mean…?”
No one answered.
In the narrow gosiwon room, Cheon Sungheon stared at the air with a despaired face.
Just before he collapsed, the reason why he played PMH so vigorously came to his mind.
Stalemateless, Jo Euishin.
Didn’t he do it to find him?
‘What would’ve Euishin hyung done?’
A few chess matches of Jo Euishin came to his mind.
Cheon Sungheon thought of the match where Jo Euishin became known as Stalemateless.
The match was neck and neck as it entered the endgame, and Jo Euishin managed to trick his opponent.
‘Euishin hyung was in middle school then, and his opponent was five years older.’
The chess player Jo Euishin played against was an Asian youth chess champion and had a much longer career than him.
The chess player, whose pride was soaring at that time, didn’t hold back in a pre-game interview, saying that he would never lose to an amateur kid.
However, when the match reached a point where his chances of losing and winning were blurred, he tried to go for a stalemate.
He thought it would at least be satisfying to have Jo Euishin be stalemated since the kid was known to hate it.
The Asian Youth Chess champion tried to drive the game to a stalemate as if his chess career and awards had been in vain.
When they reached a point where stalemate is expected within the next ten moves, Jo Euishin suddenly stopped his hand.
‘He’s wasting a lot of time staring at the chessboard.’
While Jo Euishin stopped to analyze the board, the commentator analyzed the situation that his opponent was in.
The commentator simulated a number of cases in which a stalemate would be reached, and reminded everyone of Jo Euishin’s hatred of it.
When the time limit was almost exhausted, Jo Euishin finally moved.
As if he wasn’t immobile for a dozen minutes just now, Jo Euishin moved the chess pieces at a frightening speed.
And when everyone thought that it would surely end in a stalemate, Jo Euishin successfully checkmated his opponent.
That’s how he earned the nickname ‘Stalemateless’.
‘Euishin hyung took the time to turn the tables. I still have time right now.’
Cheon Sungheon looked at the time left before PMH servers would shut down.
There were only about fifty minutes left.
‘Euishin hyung disappearing must be related to that unknown thing that I hallucinated. I have to pursue this unknown thing within fifty minutes.’
Cheon Sungheon analyzed what happened after he cleared the final chapter of PMH and the information he heard in his hallucination.
Reward for clearing the final chapter.
The phone’s screen froze right after winning the reward, and then he heard that strange voice.
— Connection to transcendent universe complete. Reviewing compatibility of the player.
— Review completed. Player ‘Cheon Sungheon’ selected as a candidate for two-dimensional future transform object.
Cheon Sungheon was surprised that the strange voice knew his name.
The in-game name he uses in the game isn’t his real name so he couldn’t imagine how the strange voice knew it.
‘It has enough information to know my real name.’
If it’s possible for it to make a person disappear in defiance of the laws of physics, he guesses that knowing that much will be possible.
Cheon Sungheon was in deep contemplation.
‘Maybe the game itself is kind of a test? There’s a ‘fitness review’ for those who pass it? And I was chosen as a candidate to be a two-dimensional future transformed object.’
There wasn’t any issue up to that point.
It’s clear that Cheon Sungheon passed the test of clearing the final chapter of PMH and is compatible to be whatever that thing was.
And the information modification and dimension synchronization, as well as transportation were also carried out.
The problem was what came after that.
— Information successfully modified, however, a serious error was found during the dimension synchronization process.
— Dimension synchronization and transportation are interrupted for the protection of the two-dimensional future transform object candidate.
Cheon Sungheon, who passed the initial screening, seemed to have gone through three processes.
Information modification.
Dimension synchronization.
Transportation.
‘It said that information modification was a success. But an error was found in the dimension synchronization process, and it failed along with the transportation.’
Could he resolve that serious error?
Cheon Sungheon thought carefully, but he shook his head.
It’s difficult to deal with unknown power and information that transcends common sense.
‘I need to think of another way. Solving that error would be impossible.’
Cheon Sungheon reflected on what the unknown being said.
As he was lost in thought, the timer to the shutdown of PMH servers continued.
He closed his eyes and calmly analyzed the cards he was dealt with.
After a while, finally reached a conclusion.
“It said that dimensional synchronization and transportation were stopped to protect the candidate for a two-dimensional future-transformed object, right? That means the process stopped to protect me.”
After a long pause, Cheon Sungheon’s soft and polite voice filled the silence.
Speaking into the air doesn’t seem so normal, but thanks to Cheon Sungheon’s polite tone, the strange atmosphere was offset.
Cheon Sungheon continued to talk to the air.
“You don’t have to protect me. I’m okay even if there are some problems. Please continue the dimension synchronization and transportation.”
Even after Cheon Sungheon finished speaking, there was no response.
He hid his nervousness.
Thinking that this whole thing was a test, he thought that he had to pretend to be calm.
At that moment, a blue light fluttered for a moment in front of his eyes.
<…>
There was no clear voice, but something rang and stopped, and it seems like the unknown existence responded to Cheon Sungheon.
‘I’m sure it’s hesitating.’
If it didn’t respond, Cheon Sungheon would’ve had to resort to trying to resolve those errors, but this changes the story.
He continued his persuasion against the unknown.
“You tried to take people through this game, didn’t you? But there wouldn’t have been many people who cleared such a long game. And if you were to examine the compatibility of everyone who did, fewer people would’ve passed it.”
<…>
The tumbling light increased slightly and the ringing in his ears became louder.
Cheon Sungheon had a hunch that what he said was true.
“Even if there are serious consequences to that ‘serious error’ you speak of, I will cooperate with Euishin hyung or whatever it is that you want to do.’
At first, it sounded like Cheon Sungheon would gladly cooperate with whatever this unknown being was, but there was a hidden meaning in his words.
‘With Euishin hyung or what it is you want to do.’
He doesn’t know if the unknown existence realized it, but it finally spoke to him.
<Warning, ignoring errors to dimension synchronization, and transportation are expected to have strong side effects.>
“It’s alright.”
The time to server shutdown gradually decreased as they conversed.
There was no further response.
Perhaps the unknown existence was still hesitating or there was another process that he needs to go through.
‘…Should I do something else? No, if I act impulsively, it might make my resolve look weak. I need to wait.’
Cheon Sungheon tried to keep up a relaxed face as he thought of what his next move should be when a voice was finally heard.
<Proceeding with dimension synchronization and transportation of candidate ‘Cheon Sungheon’. 100 seconds to complete.>
After that, the unknown existence started slowly counting down from 100.
Cheon Sungheon calmly cleaned up his surroundings as he hid his relief.
‘Come to think of it, I should prepare an anonymous mail or something.’
In case someone in his family would discover the things he did, he prepared some things.
If Cheon Sungheon doesn’t, all his efforts to provide information would be in vain.
He needs to include evidence of domestic violence he suffered, a transcript of illegal collusions, and a video of the moment that his family bribed a high-ranking government official.
As soon as it would be revealed to the world, it would be seen as concrete evidence.
If Cheon Sungheon disappears like this, the emails that he’d sent may completely destroy what was left of the family company.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
Cheon Sungheon used the remaining 100 seconds to clean Jo Euishin’s room.
<2… 1… 0…>
As soon as the countdown reached zero, a white light covered Cheon Sungheon’s view.
When he opened his eyes again, Cheon Sungheon was in a bed in the hospital.
His body was intact, but he couldn’t move.
The only thing he could move was his eyes.
‘Is this the side effect?’
Cheon Sungheon collected information as best as he could.
As a result, he discovered that something completely changed his status.
His last name was still Cheon, but his name wasn’t “Sungheon”.
He was 15 years old and will turn 16 when the year changes.
He is also an abandoned son of a chaebol family, and after suffering from LIS, someone pays for his hospital bills, but no one is looking for him.
‘Looks like I’m an illegitimate son wherever I go.’
Cheon Sungheon was in a miserable state, but he was sure that being an illegitimate son again even in this world isn’t a part of that “serious side effect”.
Perhaps the unknown existence prepared all of this for him to fit in the world.
‘All the talk about players and energy waves… Maybe this world is inside PMH.’
It was the existence of a half-brother that appeared one day that answered Cheon Sungheon’s question.
“…Hi. I’m your hyung.”
Playable character Cheon Dongha.
He was Cheon Sungheon’s half-brother in this world.
“Communicating would be quite difficult. Shall we decide on some conventions? Blink your eyes once if your answer is yes, and twice if it’s no.”
It was uncanny, but Cheon Sungheon blinked once as he knew that this person was the Cheon Dongha that he’s seen over the screen when he played PMH.
He only blinked, but Cheon Dongha looked visibly happy.
Although he was only a half-brother, Cheon Dongha tried to get close to him.
As part of his efforts to get closer, Cheon Dongha occasionally tells him news from the outside world.
Among which was news of Jo Euishin.
Jo Euishin saved everyone from the Nameless Supporting Role Tutorial and survived.
‘Euishin’s hyung name is the same. The supporting role in that tutorial didn’t have a name, perhaps that’s why.’
Cheon Sungheon was still an illegitimate son, but it seems like he was named randomly.
Considering the situation, Cheon Sungheon made a hypothesis.
‘Euishin hyung is a year older than me in this world too. …Maybe because Euishin hyung came to this world first, everything was decided based on his standards?’
Cheon Sungheon tried to make sense of the situation.
He analyzed all the articles about Jo Euishin that Cheon Dongha showed to him.
He even recognized right away that the Red Wall Thief was Jo Euishin.
‘It’s different from what happened in the game. It’s definitely Euishin hyung. There’s no way that he’d let that auction go through.’
Perhaps there were other candidates that were transported to this world and the changes were because of them.
Still, Cheon Sungheon was sure that the Red Wall Thief was Jo Euishin.
Jo Euishin thoroughly exposed the Hwanmong Auction to the world using his knowledge from the game.
One day, Cheon Dongha showed him some match records.
Stalemateless, Jo Euishin’s chess records.
