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nKyung-gu Kwak’s eyes turned to the chessboard after hearing Je-gun Yong’s starting signal.

nBeep.

nWhen I, the black, pressed the chess clock, Kyung-gu Kwak moved his pawn right away as if he had thought of his opening move.

nThe ‘King pawn opening’ where the pawn on e2 moves to e4.

nIf the black side moves their pawn on e7, it becomes an ‘open game,’ and if they make another move, it becomes a semi-open game.

n‘Let’s play in a different pattern than my previous games.’

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nI moved my knight from g8 to f6.

nKyung-gu Kwak looked down at the chessboard and was lost in thought.

nThat’s when I knew.

n‘He must have studied me.’

nThe chess opener I had done was the Alekhine’s Defense.

nOne of the hyper-modernist openings in which the center pawn is given up to the opponent, refuting the classic chess theory that the domination of two of the four squares in the center leads to victory.

nIt is a calculation that instead of allowing the white’s pawn to occupy the center, the black will hunt those pawns down first.

n‘Except for scholar’s mate, it’s the most aggressive opening I’ve ever done. You’re hesitating because I’m going in a different pattern than you thought.’

nHe studied me in such a short time.

nLike I saw in the game, he was a character with a good work ethic.

nI could feel the distinctive firmness of a man practicing martial arts, his lips shut in a firm straight line and thinking of the next move.

n‘I can’t believe he was a juvenile delinquent once.’

nIt was before the game started.

nIn this world’s standards, last year.

nKyung-gu Kwak, who turned 17, used his Gwanglim for the first time and became depressed.

nHis Gwanglim, ‘the blessing of 100 seconds,’ literally could only be used 100 seconds per day.

n‘The Gwanglim enhanced physical strength, but in a way far from enhancing attack power. Kyung-gu Kwak was extremely frustrated between his father, the prodigy swordsman, and Suhyuk Joo, both of whom had better skills than him.’

nKyung-gu Kwak’s delinquency was short but strong.

nIt was right before he entered high school, but he used his extra-old-looking face to buy alcohol.

nHe didn’t care if he got condemned or not, he drank soju(Korean traditional rice wine) in front of the training room.

nAs a result, Master Kwak, Kyung-gu’s father, beat his ass off with soju bottles.

nA few bottles of soju exploded, but Kyung-gu Kwak didn’t get hurt.

nA player’s body was very strong, and on top of that, he used his Gwanglim ‘the blessing of 100 seconds,’ which made his body even stronger.

nAh, **. I can’t use this crappy Gwanglim anywhere except when I’m beaten by soju bottles!

nHearing those drunk words, Master Kwak stopped beating his son.

nInstead, he waited for 100 seconds to be over, dragged Kyung-gu inside the training room, threw the gauntlet, and beat him up with double-sword skills for over an hour.

nGyung-gu really got beaten up badly, but he failed to pull himself together until entering Eun-kwang High.

nHowever, in the wake of some incident, Kyung-gu Kwak becomes inspired by Suhyuk Joo somehow, changed his attitude, and started training diligently.

n‘Suhyuk Joo himself may not know it, but he saved lots of people even before the game started.’

nBeep.

nKyung-gu Kwak made the next move then pressed the clock.

nNow it’s my turn.

n‘I hope this chess round with me helps Kyung-gu Kwak’s mental training.’

nNow Kyung-gu Kwak is a new person.

nHe even got a player’s nickname of “Hundred Seconds” from the player SAT-K.

n‘Kyung-gu Kwak is one of the characters with great potential.’

nThe ‘the blessing of 100 seconds’ that was only thought to raise defense status.

nHowever, his Gwanglim later turned out to have the ability to regenerate and heal his body according to his mental strength and became one of the top-tier overpowered characters.

nOf course, now he was still in the process of development.

n‘He was difficult to raise in the beginning, but after that, he was great. He was especially helpful when beating gimmicks in the game.’

nKyung-gu Kwak greatly increases his defense and regeneration ability after all of his training is completed and goes into invincible mode and super recovery mode for 100 seconds a day.

nHe was selected as a recommended character in cases such as when discovering barrier cores in the middle of a burning fire or retrieving an important item inside a trap.

n‘Still, it’s only 100 seconds a day. He needs to make a habit of finding a way out quickly in the midst of dangerous attacks pouring down.’

nBeep.

nI took the next move and pressed the button on the chess clock.

nAfter the opening, I continued to make aggressive moves.

nI still had a bad headache, but I am in great condition today.

nI think I can keep making aggressive moves without making mistakes.

n‘If he keeps defending, Kyung-gu Kwak will be checkmated soon.’

nThe white pawns took over the center, but my chess pieces were closing in on them.

nOne turn after another.

nThe turns continued, but Kyung-gu Kwak didn’t attack back.

nMeanwhile, my chess pieces moved forward, on the brink of getting the king of white.

n“I surrender.”

nKyung-gu raised his hand and declared defeat.

n‘He’s giving up too fast…….’

nThe match ended in my victory with Kwak Kyung-gu’s withdrawal.

nKyung-gu stood up from his seat and asked for a handshake.

nI hesitated for a while, and Kyung-gu Kwak curled his lips slightly upward.

n“You look like you want to ask why.”

nKyung-gu looked down at the chessboard.

n“Because my king will be caught within 4, 8 turns at the most no matter what I do.”

nHe seemed half frustrated and half free, like he had a load off his shoulders.

nFor some reason, I didn’t like the look on his face.

nThat was the face he made when he became a human shield for Suhyuk Joo, but died because 100 seconds passed.

n“Can I move your white pieces?”

n“Yes.”

nAmong the chess pieces in Kyung-gu Kwak’s side, the queen had barely moved.

nI grabbed the queen and placed it in the middle of my black pieces.

n“This is-!”

nIn one move, the tables were turned.

nThe queen of white was in a position where she could get both the queen and king of black.

nNot exactly checkmate, but in a state where I had to play defense for quite a while.

nCertainly not the situation that Kyung-gu Kwak said, losing in at least 8 turns or less.

n“How could I not see this…….”

nKyung-gu Kwak looked shocked, then his expression turned into slight regret.

nI liked this expression a lot more than the face that admitted defeat and looked comfortable.

n* * *

nThe B block waiting room of the 3rd gym.

nThe match between Jun-yeoul Yeom and Seung-hyun park was not over yet, so the staff of stalemate led me to the waiting room.

nLeft alone, I took out a recovery item card and used it.

nWhen the card disappeared, my pain went away for a moment, but it quickly recurred.

n‘This headache doesn’t go away with recovery items.’

nI thought that mental trauma stimulated the brain, causing headaches and tinnitus.

nTherefore, I assumed it was physical problems, so it could be cured with a recovery item, but I was wrong.

n‘Maybe it’s because of psychic waves? My body may be emitting unstable waves and affecting my body.’

nThe control of psychic waves cannot be solved by recovery items.

nYou have to control it yourself, or some other player has to suppress it by force.

nJust like Jiho Hwang did to Jae-in Kwon or Red Tiger.

nKnock knock ―!

nI stopped thinking at the sound of knocking.

nIs Stalemate’s staff here to announce the next game?

n“Yeah, come in.”

nIt was Seung-hyun Park.

nI knew as soon as I saw his face.

n‘He lost.’

nThe look I’ve seen countless times in my life as a professional chess player.

nI could recognize it right away.

n“…sorry, I lost. I don’t think I’ll see you in the final.”

nSeung-hyun looked discouraged.

nBoth of them seemed to have used up the time limit.

nI didn’t watch their game record, but seeing his face and such, I could feel they had a close match.

n“That’s nothing to apologize for. We can play next time”

n“Yeah…….”

nHe was too depressed.

nI was trying to come up with ways to comfort him when,

nBang―!

nSomeone banged the door open without knocking.

nA guy in the school’s gym suit peered in, found Seung-hyun, and called out to him.

n“Bro! What’cha doin here? Let’s go. Get somthin’ to eat. On me.”

n“But I want to watch the finals.”

n“You’re too skinny bro. Stalemate gets it on live anyway. I’m telling you it’s on me.”

nIt turned out that he was the guy I met in the lobby of the dormitory on April Fool’s Day.

nListening to the conversation, it seemed that Seung-hyun Park and he were still getting along well.

n“No, you came here just to cheer for me so I have to buy…….”

n“Nah, man.”

nThe guy in the gym suit started dragging him out without listening.

nConsidering Seung-hyun’s personality, it would not be bad for a guy like him to take care of Seung-hyun Park.

n“Go get’em. You’re the only first-year left, so.”

n“Oh, Ui-shin! I’ll cheer for you!”

nAs they left, Stalemate’s staff came to inform me that the final round will begin.

nMy headache and tinnitus were better due to talking with Seung-hyun for a while.

nChess stadium.

nJun-yeoul Yeom walked out of the waiting room of block A and I walked out of the waiting room of block B.

nThe moment we faced the chess table, the audience erupted in cheers.

nAaaaaahhhhhh!

nDid Je-gun Yong undo the spatial skills?

nI looked around, then all the lights of the gym turned off at once.

nPuff!

nThere were hundreds, thousands of glowing red space blocks.

nThe blocks connected to one another and transformed into a dragon shape.

n‘Like a red dragon!’

nThe red spaces, which turned into red dragons, moved around the sky and illuminated the audience seats.

nStudents exclaimed and began to admire or take pictures of the dragon.

nThe faces of the audience were visible with the light emitted by the red dragon.

n‘Everyone from the student council came!’

nSchool president Won-woo Do, school vice president Myung-soo Jee, clerical staff Sang-hee Yoo, and Kyung-gu Kwak.

nI also saw Dain Ahn.

n‘Oh, eye contact.’

nWhile waving to his acquaintances, Won-woo Do cast dirty looks at me and Jun-yeoul.

nSang-hee Yoo was cheering for me and him both, and Won-woo did not like that.

nSang-hee Yoo scolded him when she saw his glare, and Myung-soo Jee was holding back his laughter at the sight of them

nSame old student council.

n‘There are so many fans of Jun-yeoul.’

nThe red dragon gave a spotlight to all of Jun-yeoul’s fans that were holding signs and holograms, then disappeared.

nAs Jun-yeoul smiled and waved at his fans, the sound of the audience that filled the stadium got much louder.

n‘I hope my classmates don’t get overwhelmed by his fans.’

nAfter the dragon disappeared.

nThis time, white blocks of space floated throughout the gym.

nStar-shaped blocks embroidered the dark gym ceiling like the milky way.

nAmong them, the largest and brightest block began to circulate around the gym.

n‘It’s a representation of the Anonymous Supernova!’

nThe Supernova block first gave the spotlight to second-grade class 0’s students.

nI had no idea why, but they all were cheering for me.

nChan-sol Geum and Wang, Garam Yeon, and the rest were holding up holograms.

nIt said something like, ‘You’re suspicious and we LIKE that.’

n‘Okay, guess I’m now suspicious to everyone I know.’

nThe next was the student guidance department.

nMost of them, like last year’s champion Dong-ha Cheon and my former opponent Hye-hi Oh, were neutral.

nBut Suhyuk Joo alone had a hologram rooting for me.

n‘I’d better send him a thank-you message.’

nThe supernova went around a few laps and finally gave the spotlight to my classmates.

nThe suspicious hologram cheer slogan remained unchanged, but it had become larger and fancier.

nThey must’ve bought new fonts and a hologram app.

nAlso, don’t know when she did it but there was a new portrait of my side profile drawn by Green Min.

n“Go get’em, vice prez!”

n“Let’s eat beef, Ui-shin!”

n“Be! Suspicious!”

nAll the while Je-gun Yong’s festive spatial show continued, I could strangely hear my classmates very clearly.

nThe dragon and supernova circled around the gym one last time.

nJe-gun announced the beginning of the match.

n“Stalemate’s chess tournament, the final round. Let the match begin.”

nI was white, Jun-yeoul Yeom was black.

nWith Jun-yeoul Yeom pressing the chess clock button, the final match began.

n* * *

n“All right, I’ll take the deal. Woong-nyeo of Bitan.”

nA demon, wrapped from head to toe in a robe, answered gladly.

nThe robe bearing the seal of Invidius was turning black with the psychic waves emitted by the demon.

nHe seemed very satisfied with this deal.

n“Hoho, Yes. Good.”

nWoong-nyeo in a red dress replied, leaning forward slightly.

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n“Is there anything else you need? Under the condition of keeping this a secret from the Bears of Ecstasy and Hatred, I’ll do you a favor.”

nThe joyous voice of the demon had Woong-nyeo of Bitan, or “Sorrow,” think for a while.

nShe soon smiled, revealing perfect teeth.

n“There’s something I want you to find with that eyes of yours.”

nWoong-nyeo of Sorrow took her lips to the Demon’s ears.

nShe whispered a name.

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