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Cheon Dongha stayed planted in his spot even after the main gate to the mansion opened.
He began to take a deep breath.
It’s his second time visiting the Hwangmyeong Mansion, but he looks pretty nervous still.
‘I don’t think he was this nervous last time though. But maybe he was too confused with his brother’s identity then that he didn’t feel it.’
Anyone would naturally feel intimidated by the magic that permeates Hwang Jiho’s choice of aesthetics.
This is especially true if one knows that a mythical tiger lives in this place.
The day we found out that Cheon Eunha was Eunho, he said this;
— I am Eunho, a member of the Tiger Clan who lived in the age of myth with my friends here. Yet I am also Eunha, Dongha hyung’s younger brother who you took care of for about a year.
The Tiger Clan who lived in a mythical age.
On top of that, Hwang Jiho revealed to Cheon Dongha the secrets of the Hwangmyeong Group.
— Among those in Hwangmyeong Group, those who have the surname ‘Hwang’ are part of the Tiger Clan. For your information, all the Hwang-ssi of Hwangmyeong Group that you met were all Tiger Clan.
Hwangmyeong Group’s influence in modern times is too great to disregard too.
Although it’s not directly revealed that they are mythical tigers, Cheon Dongha must be confident that all of them are based on Eunho and Hwang Jiho’s past remarks.
This mansion houses the mythical Tiger Clan.
It would be more strange if he wasn’t nervous.
‘I got a little nervous when I first came here too.’
On April Fool’s Day, I rescued Eun Seho and visited the Hwangmyeong Mansion for the first time.
The mansion didn’t appear much in the game, and the first impression that its admirable prowess left was still imprinted in my mind
Though my nervousness was quickly relieved when I met the lovely Olmu.
At that time, Olmu had a supporter on his leg, but now I’m relieved that he doesn’t need it anymore.
“I see you’re used to this, Euishin-ah.”
Cheon Dongha looked at me with a surprised face.
I was just thinking of an angel though.
Not knowing how to respond to my silence, Cheon Dongha spoke again as if he was reflecting on himself.
“…I can’t believe I’m nervous to go see my brother. I need to be like you.”
Cheon Dongha must’ve been embarrassed to see me act as if this was no big deal.
But he said “brother”, which caught my mind more than the latter part of what he said.
‘He’s calling him brother naturally.’
Is it because Eunho keeps calling him “Dongha hyung” or maybe because Cheon Dongha is just different?
Cheon Dongha has accepted that the mythical tiger is in fact his younger brother.
Though I don’t think he’s completely used to it since he’s still feeling nervous.
‘…I should get used to calling him Cheon Eunha once he enters Eungwang High.’
I should be careful not to raise suspicions.
I should practice it later.
I organized my thoughts while walking and chatting with Cheon Dongha.
I normally would’ve taken an air shuttle to move across the maze garden, but we’re going on foot today since we’re headed to one of the annexes where Eunho is staying instead of the main house.
Eunho stood in front of the entrance of the most modern-looking annex in the mansion.
“Welcome, Dongha hyung and Euishin hyung. I’m sorry I couldn’t pick you up at the main gate.”
Eunho was wearing a turtleneck shirt and a cardigan.
His clothes reminded me of Cheon Sungheon.
Of course, the only thing similar about them was the clothes and his unique aura.
Eunho had his rich silver hair tied up, a very different look from the dark-haired Cheon Sungheon.
Cheon Sungheon’s fringe comes down to his eyebrows, but his hair was much shorter than Eunho’s.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Thank you for your concern, Dongha hyung. I am well.”
Cheon Dongha spoke right away, much different from the nervous demeanor he had earlier.
I was busy with useless thoughts so I missed the time to ask Eunho if he was okay.
Cheon Dongha is a much better hyung than me.
While Eunho led us inside, Hwang Jiho suddenly appeared.
He seemed to have run directly from the main house to the annex.
“I see you’re all here. Just in time.”
“Hi, Jiho-ah. Did something happen?”
Cheon Dongha was awkward last time when he heard Hwang Jiho use his old man tone, but he seems to have gotten used to it now.
Since Hwang Jiho is in his teenage appearance, it’s easy to treat him as a school hoobae.
“I’m a bit late because I cooked and had a meal with the other tigers earlier.”
Hwang Jiho prepared food for Eunho’s descendants in the main house.
Hearing that the mythical tiger had cooked breakfast, Cheon Dongha looked baffled for a moment.
“I see…”
He answered shortly, but he didn’t seem to know what else to say.
“We have quince tea for warm drinks and orange juice for cold drinks.”
“I’ll have a quince tea, please.”
“Yours truly will have tea as well.”
Eunho offered us drinks when we sat down.
I was going to ask for the orange juice, but I followed everyone else’s choice since the weather was cool and I wanted to try the tea.
“Tea for me too.”
When I asked for tea, Hwang Jiho suddenly added a word.
“Say anytime if you want a different drink.”
“Yeah.”
I answered like so, but I don’t think I’d want a different one since the tea brewed by Eunho himself tasted really good.
More than the drinks, something else caught my mind.
‘I don’t see Baekho-gun.’
Although Baekho-gun is usually silent, he’s always present in these meetings.
He sometimes has to leave first with Jeokho to go on missions, but being a prisoner in this territory, Baekho-gun mostly stays at the mansion.
Seeing that Olmu isn’t here too, maybe they went for a walk together.
No, they normally would’ve put off talking a walk to attend a meeting though.
Seeing that Eunho didn’t take out another teacup, Baekho-gun must really not be coming.
“We’ll listen to Dongha hyung first.”
“How did your task with Jeokho go?”
Are they talking about the arrangements made the day Eunho woke up?
Eunho decided to live as “Cheon Eunha”, but on paper, Cheon Eunha is still believed to be paralyzed and under the care of Hwangmyeong Research Institute.
On top of that, Cheon Eunha is an illegitimate child of the Cheon Family, and that might make it difficult for Eunho to move around.
There are a lot of things to be resolved so there should be a lot to prepare.
‘Still, if it’s Cheon Dongha with the help of the Tiger Clan taking care of things, there would be no problem.’
Prepared for the briefing, my capable playable character put up a few holograms.
They showed graphs recording the vital signs of Cheon Eunha.
But they weren’t real records — they were fabricated.
Looking at the graphs, I could see what Cheon Dongha intended to do.
‘Cheon Eunha will be set to recover before the start of applications of Eungwang High.’
One of the holograms floated by Cheon Dongha showed the admission process for new students at Eungwang High.
The day Cheon Dongha and I played chess and he said he wished his brother could take the exam suddenly came to mind.
He emptied his cup of tea and asked Eunho for another drink.
“Is there mixed coffee here?”
“…Yes! There’s every kind from every brand. Which one would you like?”
I thought there wasn’t one, but Eunho immediately took out some instant coffee packets.
Seeing his happy face reminded me of Cheon Sungheon.
He seemed to want to drink coffee, but perhaps he chose tea today because of Hwang Jiho.
Hwang Jiho doesn’t seem to be a fan of coffee, but Cheon Dongha and Eunho drank it well.
Cheon Dongha continued his briefing with a brighter face.
“If we adjust the figures like this, it won’t be suspicious if Cheon Eunha wakes up a week before the entrance exam for Eungwang High begins.”
“To apply for Eungwang High’s document screening, he’ll need an academic background and data from his middle school. Can you prepare it?”
“I’m thinking of having him take the qualification exam for middle school graduation. Eunha has abilities and energy waves. It takes a short period of time for players and the results are announced quickly.”
Some young players sometimes do not graduate from elementary or middle school.
It could be because of player-related injuries, and there are alternative tests and assignments that could be given to them.
However, those are still given under the discretion of educational institutions.
That’s why prospective players who fail to please their principal or homeroom teachers were often disadvantaged.
‘For Maeng Hyodon, if it weren’t for that math teacher from Tanrae Middle School, he wouldn’t have graduated.’
Players over the age of 17 are backed by the association, but those younger than that age are not.
The qualification exam for elementary and middle school graduation for youth players is frequently held as a relief measure.
There was a limit to protecting them from schools’ power-tripping tendencies, so it takes a lot of consideration for players to graduate and be able to go to high school.
‘Considering Cheon Sungheon’s grades before, we won’t need to worry about that exam.’
Cheon Sungheon once suffered false allegations regarding his admission to college.
Media companies and school personalities who were jealous of the perfect Cheon Sungheon stirred up drama and suspicions about his academic background.
But the truth is, Cheon Sungheon passed a prestigious university and maintained good academic standing using his own power.
‘Maybe he’d become Eungwang High’s top student too.’
I remembered Eunho Seoho and Eun Iho who are aiming to be top students at Eungwang High.
I don’t know about the two descendants’ academic backgrounds, but considering Cheon Sungheon’s past, it sounds difficult for them to beat him.
By the time he finished his mixed coffee, the topic had changed.
“The problem is our family… I think it would be better to have him stay at the research institute under the pretext of undergoing tests.”
“I like that idea too. How about I stay at the institute and then enter Eungwang High’s dormitory?”
Cheon Dongha looked relieved at Eunho’s proposal.
Their house must be in such a mess that even Cheon Dongha cannot fix it.
By the time he emptied another cup of coffee, the subject changed again.
“And regarding TC Research Institute…”
Cheon Dongha explained the incident.
The story is quite complicated, but the summary is as follows;
Within the 3 factions of the TC Group, the Cheon faction was pushed up.
The TC Research Institute’s artificial descent project was led by the faction that opposed the separation of the group, but it remains unchanged that the institute was under the Do Family.
As long as the illegal project was proven to be carried out, the whole group had legal responsibilities to take care of.
“The Do Family side was purging those who committed impure things in the family and then this happened. This made things more complicated.”
In this complex situation, Cheon Dongha was careful to not harm Do Wonwoo or Yoo Sanghee.
Though the group itself seemed to be having a difficult time dealing with the situation.
Cheon Dongha smiled bitterly.
“I tried asking Sanghee noona how things got to that point. Thanks to her, I caught a small fry without any trouble.”
‘I guess it didn’t end with the investigation of the association.’
The association was overturned once the satellite manipulation case was revealed at the time of Choi Pyeondeuk’s crimes being revealed, but something was still wrong.
Also, wasn’t there an association employee who insisted on securing Cadmus’ personal safety against Yeom Bangyeol?
‘We should consider a scenario where problems arise in the association.’
And then, I heard a small sound in the direction of the front door.
Someone came in.
Hwang Jiho immediately sensed the presence.
“Baekho is here.”
Just as Hwang Jiho said, Bakeho-gun soon entered the annex.
I wonder where he’s been.
The answer came soon enough.
Baekho-gun was holding a sagging Sanryeong with one hand.
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