Cheon Dongha’s brother, Cheon Eunha.
I noticed first in Cheon Sungheon’s name in this world that his name had “eun” in it.
The word “eun” could mean several things, but based on Hwang Jiho’s explanation, it definitely means Silver.
And the hint that the transcendent universe gave me was Silver Hall.
The name was surely noticeable, but there was another thing that bothered me about the origin of their names.
‘Cheon Dongha is a brilliant kid, but why does his name contain “dong” (bronze)? Is it because he is the firstborn child?’
After some moments of silence, Hwang Jiho spoke again.
“Cheon Dongha came to Hwangmyeong Research Institute shortly after discovering his brother, Cheon Eunha. He had two reasons why he chose Hwangmyeong. First, the symptoms that Cheon Eunha shows are related to the topic of research at the institute, and the Cheon family has relations to the Hwangmyeong Group.”
Hearing that made me recall what Hwang Jiho said in the past.
— In the divorce between T & C, we gave support to the C-side.
— 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 the Cheon family’s help.
The divorce case between T & C, founders of the Docheon group, was not just a divorce suit that involved a chaebol family.
It drew more and more attention every day.
It was quite similar to the “Joo-Oh Rebellion” case, but there’s a clear difference.
The conflict in the Joo-Oh rebellion was who would lead the group in the future, while the main agenda of the T & C divorce was how company assets would be divided.
In other words, even though Joo-Oh Group’s stock prices hit the bottom during the conflict, the group stayed intact.
On the other hand, the divorce lawsuit between T & C was a fight that began on the premise that the group would split.
In a more radical way compared to Joo-Oh Rebellion, the case spread to a head-to-head confrontation between Do family and Cheon family, the two best chaebol clans at that time.
Cases flew out from the original divorce suit, and their names were constantly in the news headlines.
After the divorce suit, the Do family took control of what’s now known as TC Group.
However, although the Cheon family was at a disadvantage, they succeeded in obtaining a significant amount of property, including real estate in major downtown Seoul, and several key affiliates.
‘Hwang Jiho must’ve intervened when he leaned toward the Cheon family’s defeat.’
Hwang Jiho wasn’t happy with TC Group’s previous name, Docheon.
Therefore, while watching the two families wield knives at each other, Hwang Jiho must’ve reached out to the losing side to make them do what he wanted.
That was the Cheon side, Cheon Dongha’s family.
‘I thought it was possible that it was them since the surname Cheon was rare, and it turns out it’s really them.’
Hwang Jiho added something, confirming my prediction.
“I told you that I intervened in the T & C divorce case, right?”
“I remember.”
I nodded and answered, and Hwang Jiho spoke in a powerful tone as if he was trying to convince me.
“In other words, Cheon Eunha is under the protection of Hwangmyeong Research Institute with my approval. You can speak comfortably.”
Hwang Jiho is revealing Cheon Dongha’s background because of that.
This quick-witted old man must’ve guessed that I was worried about Cheon Sungheon, and that the ‘Sungheon’ that I mentioned in the past was the same person as Cheon Eunha.
‘It can’t be helped. I mentioned Sungheon’s name a few times in front of him.’
Even if Hwang Jiho is openly saying that he noticed the relationship between Cheon Sungheon and Cheon Eunha, I still couldn’t speak comfortably.
It’s not because I don’t believe Hwang Jiho.
Cheon Sungheon and I, our nature and identity are very alien to this world.
I’m hesitating because I can’t reveal this big secret without Cheon Sungheon’s consent.
However, the more I thought about it, the more I leaned toward saying it.
Cheon Sungheon fell defenseless in this dangerous world, and his only recourse is his half-brother Cheon Dongha, who is about to die within the next year according to the events in PMH.
Even if I do my best to save my playable character, there’s no guarantee that my actions wouldn’t lead to a bigger consequence.
‘I want to tie Sungheon to the Tiger Clan. In case something happens to me or to Cheon Dongha…”
I thought so, and the hesitation began to subside.
“You’re right.”
I couldn’t say anything further.
Instead of asking what was going on, Red Tiger and Kim Shinrok looked between me and Hwang Jiho, trying to decipher the context of what we were talking about.
White Tiger is still silent as usual.
Hwang Jiho was lost in thought with a complex expression before speaking again.
“…I see.”
I thought he’d ask more questions, but Hwang Jiho didn’t.
Instead, he spoke with eyes that I couldn’t seem to read.
“I’ll tell you about Silver Tiger. The descendants seem to have finished cooking, so we can talk after the mountain spirit samples their dish.”
Mountain spirit freaked out and tried to run away, but he was caught by White Tiger.
“Sorry! There’s only food good for one person after we finished cooking.”
“We did our best since we heard that Euishin oppa was coming but…”
“We prepared enough ingredients but we kept failing so… It’s only one serving left.”
Just in time, the descendants appeared in the living room with discouraged faces.
They made kimchi fried rice, and even though they used plain rice, it looked as if they cooked it with black rice.
Looking at what they presented, I wondered what the “failed” ones looked like.
Hwang Jiho soothed the descendants and passed the bowl over to mountain spirit.
“Do not be discouraged. We are happy that you prepared this with us in mind. Why don’t we let mountain spirit taste it just as you suggested? We’ll have some next time.”
“Okay! Mountain spirit, come over here!”
“Okaay! We want to hear about Silver Tiger-nim too!”
Mountain spirit looked at me and pretended to rub his palms together.
He seemed to be asking for help, but I just ignored it.
Seeing that White Tiger was looking at mountain spirit with such cold eyes, it seemed that something happened that troubled my main playable character.
“I’ll prepare tea that fits the story.”
The tea that Hwang Jiho prepared was called Silver Needle Tea.
It’s the best among white teas, and it had a silver gloss on its surface.
“Among us, it’s White Tiger who knows Silver Tiger the best. They are brothers so there must be a lot of stories between the two. But as you all know, White Tiger isn’t the best speaker. It would be better if I do the story-telling.”
The jab at my playable character bothered me a bit.
Before I could say anything, Olmu already had his ears lowered and tail raised, expressing dissatisfaction.
“Hahaha! Look, even if I provoked him, White Tiger still doesn’t talk. He used to take the fight before he lost his true name, but he became a ‘no-fun’ guy now.”
Hwang Jiho laughed excitedly, but White Tiger only ignored him and took a sip of his tea.
“It was at the training ground where we first met.”
“…I remember that time too. I was with Yellow Tiger.”
“You weren’t such a polite man back then.”
Hwang Jiho smiled, but his eyes seemed longing.
Red Tiger looked at Kim Shinrok with an embarrassed face.
It seems like he’s ashamed of his dark past being mentioned in front of his son.
“I was excited to battle White Tiger, the greatest talent of that generation.”
“Yes, Yellow Tiger has always been a fan of interesting things since before.”
Red Tiger spoke, implying that Hwang Jiho’s personality was unchanging.
Instead of refuting, Hwang Jiho smiled and continued.
“But I couldn’t spar with White Tiger that day.”
“…What happened?”
“Don’t tell me he just skipped Yellow Tiger-nim!”
“Maybe one of the two fell down and couldn’t battle further?”
While the descendants were feeding mountain spirit, they had their eyes wide open and tried to guess what happened next.
Hwang Jiho’s face looked quite subtle.
Seeing that he stopped laughing, perhaps something bad happened.
“Red Tiger fought with White Tiger, and White Tiger won. However, I couldn’t battle him.”
Hwang Jiho’s words were a bit vague, but what he meant was clear.
Before he could fight White Tiger, he lost to someone else.
There was only one person at that time who could beat him.
“The one who beat you was…”
Before I could finish my sentence, Hwang Jiho spoke again.
“Correct. It was Silver Tiger.”
The descendants cheered.
This must be the first time they heard this story.
“Wow! Silver Tiger-nim won against Yellow Tiger-nim?”
“Wait, since it was White Tiger-nim who won overall, that means he won against Silver Tiger-nim?”
“That means the order from strongest to weakest is White Tiger-nim, Silver Tiger-nim, and Yellow Tiger-nim?”
The descendants made a fuss, however, logically, they are correct.
Before Hwang Jiho could rebut or make an excuse, White Tiger and Red Tiger each spoke.
“Silver Tiger wasn’t that strong. He read Yellow Tiger’s moves and won according to the rules set.”
“Yellow Tiger’s expression and what he did that time was quite the sight. He persistently asked Silver Tiger for a rematch, but when White Tiger appeared, he wanted a match with him instead.
Hwang Jiho really remained the same!
It’s the same as him tracking my device, sending me countless messages, recommending this and that…
He’s still the same persistent jerk.
The only thing different is he’s become gentler now, perhaps because he’s old.
“So did Yellow Tiger-nim and White Tiger-nim battle that day?”
“No. Before Yellow Tiger could persist further, Blue Tiger intervened. On that day, Yellow Tiger lost again. He was against Blue Tiger in a Taehokwon match. Although, the art wasn’t that refined yet because it wasn’t long after it was invented.”
It seems that Blue Tiger already knew White Tiger and Silver Tiger before meeting Hwang Jiho and Red Tiger.
‘So when did Blue Tiger and the Son of God meet? Have they already met during that period?’
I was curious, but it was difficult to ask because the flow of conversation would be disrupted, and perhaps my questions would be answered later anyway.
More than anything, it was fun and refreshing that Red Tiger is beating Hwang Jiho with facts.
Hwang Jiho, who listened quietly after a while, refuted Red Tiger’s words.
“I’m not that good at physical attacks. At that time, I was at a disadvantage because of the rules.”
“Yellow Tiger knew that but still confidently stepped up. Physical fights weren’t his forte, but he said he could overpower them.”
“…”
Red Tiger’s retort quickly ended Hwang Jiho.
“…Yes, I lost to Blue Tiger that day and was completely defeated by Silver Tiger too. Silver Tiger’s strategy was amazing.”
There wasn’t a hint of resentment on Hwang Jiho’s face.
Rather, he looked nostalgic.
“It was a perfect victory that made me completely respect Silver Tiger.
