The sports exchange competition at the military academy was more lenient than the Korea-China-Japan exchange competition.

It was different from the international exchange competition where each country competes with their pride on the line as a representative of their country.

This exchange competition had a tendency to compete as best as they could, but in the end, it was just fun, rather than strictly setting rules to check each other.

That’s why there was a blind spot.

There was no age limit for this exchange competition.

‘International exchange competitions are bigger in scale, have sponsors, and have conflicts between countries. That’s why there was room for Jin to get involved in the students, so there were rules, but this time there was nothing like that.’

There probably weren’t many people who thought that old Jin would carelessly get involved in a sports exchange competition where children were playing, and that was just for the sake of friendship, so there was nothing they could do.

Not only the white tiger, but Hwang Ji-ho, who was watching my reaction and holding back laughter, knew that.

So the white tiger shamelessly and confidently participated in the preliminaries, and the yellow tiger must have been enjoying watching all this.

Hwang Ji-ho, who noticed that I was looking down on him, said.

“Oh, I guess you think I’m shameless too.”

“You should have just participated too.”

“Of course, I thought about it. As you know, my chess skills are pretty good. But since there are already many powerful families participating in the preliminaries, I don’t think I need to get involved.”

Even if there were one more tiger, it would be the same, so I don’t know why he’s saying such things now.

Besides, even though he said that, Hwang Ji-ho lost to the white tiger in chess.

Didn’t he participate because he didn’t have confidence in ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ winning?

I decided to ask him outright.

“Isn’t it because you don’t think you’ll be chosen as a representative even if you participate?”

“You hit a sore spot. It’s not wrong.”

Even though I said something that hurt his pride, Hwang Ji-ho still seemed happy.

I guess it’s because the competition is against tiger friends.

Hwang Ji-ho said as he unfolded the broadcast hologram prepared by Stalemate.

The first thing he unfolded was Cheong-ho’s chessboard.

He seemed to have learned the basics well, but it was obvious that he had little experience playing chess.

“Cheong-ho is a chess beginner, so he can easily win. But Baek-ho is different.”

Next, Hwang Ji-ho unfolded the white tiger’s chessboard.

The broadcast hologram recorded the chess piece movements up to that point, so he could check the flow of the game as it was.

The white tiger didn’t even have a chance to open checkmate.

‘Yeah, who did you learn from? You should do this much.’

As Hwang Ji-ho said, it’s bound to be different.

Even during my prime, he must have looked into my head and learned from me directly, so if I was treated as being poor at chess, I deserve to be scolded in my dreams.

Hwang Ji-ho then displayed another hologram.

“And as expected of someone’s younger sibling, this one is no pushover either.”

The hologram that Hwang Ji-ho displayed additionally showed Eun-ho’s records.

Eun-ho was also there.

I turned my eyes from the area where the kids in our class were to the first-year juniors.

Eun-ho, sitting with his back straight, was moving his chess pieces to declare checkmate.

He declared victory by stacking up moves without any unnecessary details, and it was truly Eun-ho-like chess.

“Jo Ui-shin, why are your reactions to Eun-ho and Baek-ho different?”

Hwang Ji-ho said with a somewhat discontented look.

He must have thought that I would frown when I saw Eun-ho like I did when I saw a white tiger.

I said to the immature tiger.

“You’re my younger sibling.”

“Even if we’re younger siblings, the age difference isn’t that big. As you may remember, Eunho is a tiger from the mythical era who became the leader of a clan before me.”

I turned my head to see if anyone was listening or watching those words.

Fortunately, no one was paying attention.

No, Yongjegeon, who was floating in the air and watching the game, was watching this side with interest, but I decided not to count that dragon.

It was ridiculous that Hwang Jiho was talking nonsense and revealing important secrets in a public place.

‘Even if we’re not that much older, he’s still my younger sibling, so why are you nitpicking like that?’

Hwang Jiho felt wronged, but he laughed briefly because he didn’t know what was funny, but I decided not to care.

Eunho must have come to this chess competition as a younger sibling who respects his older brother.

I could feel Eunho’s feelings thinking about the chess champion Cheon Dongha and the white tiger who came without any sense.

‘I heard that Cheon Dong-ha is busy secretly inspecting TC facilities in Jeju Island these days.’

There are quite a few TC-owned facilities in Jeju Island, such as hotels and training centers.

However, Cheon Dong-ha said that he had never visited or investigated the Jeju Island facilities because he had no opportunity to inspect them.

Before the school trip began, Cheon Dong-ha wanted to check all the information he could.

Even in the midst of his busy schedule, Cheon Dong-ha tried to fulfill his duties as the leader of the chess team and a former chess champion.

Perhaps Eun-ho wanted to relieve his brother’s burden a little by participating in the chess competition.

“Jo Ui-shin, I know you’re not listening to me, but I’ll tell you that Baek-ho is laughing right now. I guess you’re thinking of provoking Baek-ho again.”

Eun-ho was a member of the chess team and the newspaper team, and while he was very active in the club activities, he was still concerned about his brother.

Especially since the general election season is approaching, the workload of the leadership team has increased, and I know that they are also taking care of Cheon Dong-ha’s work, so it was really special that they were preparing for the chess competition.

Following the addition of ‘Cheon Eun-ha’ to the list of finalists, I started to recognize more names.

I let out a hollow laugh when I saw the addition of ‘Baekho-gun’, the alias of the white tiger, and checked the other names.

‘Park Seung-hyun is also participating. And Yeon Ga-ram from Class 0 is also participating.’

Since Yeon Ga-ram was participating, I thought that the 3rd grade 0 class would be excited and come to cheer them on even if it was the preliminaries, but the Geum Chan-wang-chan gang was nowhere to be seen in the audience.

It seemed that they were going to cheer for the preliminaries like our class, but just skip the preliminaries.

Recently, the 3rd grade 0 class had been refraining from group activities.

I knew the reason well.

Geum Chan-wang-chan must have been gathering strength in preparation for the school trip.

Students belonging to the autonomous organization were nervous, thinking that something big was coming because Class 0, Grade 3 had been strangely quiet recently.

“Check!”

Ong Gil-dong’s voice broke the silence.

Among the second-year students, Ong Gil-dong was the last to advance to the main event.

Among those eliminated in the preliminaries, Sa-wol Se-eum, Cheong-ho, and Guseul-bi were included, but most of the list of finalists was filled with familiar names.

After being eliminated early, the children in our class who had been watching Ong Gil-dong with expectant eyes cheered. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

‘Then we’ll meet in the main event.’

I didn’t participate in the preliminaries, but as last year’s champion, I was given a seed for the main event.

I thought Yong Je-geon had inflated the scale of the competition by saying things like “I’ll give you a seed” to liven things up, but it seemed like there were just too many applicants.

And when I saw the names of the finalists who had been added, my eyes widened.

‘There’s also Yeom Jun-yeol!’

There was a match that was held behind a partition at the request of the Grandmaster, and it must have been Yeom Jun-yeol’s.

Yeom Jun-yeol, who had just won, found me and waved.

At the same time, the Red Lion Building.

Recently, the Blue Dragon’s friend, Hyunmu, was staying in the Dragon Tribe’s territory.

The Blue Dragon invited him to the Dragon Palace with the permission of the Dragon King through the female shaman.

The fact that the Blue Dragon invited him directly to the Dragon Palace instead of somewhere else was no different from showing his trust and sincerity toward his friend.

However, Hyunmu, who had a deep conversation with Hwangryong, soon moved his residence.

The Blue Dragon readily accepted Hyunmu’s request, but found it surprising.

“Hyunmu, I thought you would like the Dragon Palace better.”

“The Yonggung is a wonderful place. But I also really like this building, which is proof that you live with humans.”

“Hmm, that’s right. Everyone who stays here, whether they are Jinjok, descendants, or humans, is my family.”

Cheongryong answered strongly and nodded several times, as if he liked Hyunmu’s words.

Hyunmu read a strange tension and anxiety in his attitude.

After Yeom Junyeol’s replay, the Yongjok and Red Lion, who had learned what would happen on the school trip, moved as if they were about to hold an exhibition.

Cheongryong and Yeom Bangyeol clearly saw Yeom Junyeol’s confused appearance right after the replay ended.

Thinking about that scene, the Palbulchul wanted to hide their precious descendants in the safest place until the crazy school trip was over.

Even though they knew that a lot had changed since the replay, they knew how vicious the mastermind was.

The broadcasting station, the silver advertisement on Christmas Eve, the Yonggung Palace, etc. They had already experienced several crises, so they knew well.

“Cheongryong, you seem worried.”

“......I trust my family and my benefactor.”

“Trust doesn’t always erase worries. Even if you worry, I don’t doubt your trust.”

Cheongryong, who had a chance to have a long conversation with Hyunmu after a long time, confessed what had happened.

The things he told him included what his benefactor, Jo Ui-shin, had done for the Yongjok, and various incidents including the replay.

There must have been secrets he didn’t know, but Hyunmu seemed to see through more than what Cheongryong had said.

“Now that I think about it, it’s time for your nephew to come home.”

“Junyeol is scheduled to play the preliminary round of the chess competition today, so he’ll be a little late. Hmm, I told Chookrin, but he seems to have come to meet him in advance.”

Cheongryong said, looking at the end of the hallway.

The place they were currently located was the family-only floor.

Yeom Jun-yeol's mother, Chok-rin, was reluctant to go out, so she usually didn't go to the first floor entrance to greet him, but she often stepped foot here.

Chok-rin paused for a moment when she saw Hyun-moo, who was still a stranger, but she came closer when she saw Cheong-ryong.

"Rin, your complexion has improved a lot. Didn't you have a bad dream today?"

"Yes, after the last dream I had, I didn't really...."

Aside from the one time Hyun-moo greeted her when he visited the Red Lion Building, the two of them had not been together yet.

There was no chance to talk.

Cheongryong tried hard to get the two to talk, hoping that his old friend and the descendants he cared for like real brothers would become close.

Chok-rin was wary, but he soon opened his heart to Hyun-mu, who had a gentle and soft personality, and the two gradually shared more and more things to say.

Chok-rin found the time to smile faintly while talking about Yeom Jun-yeol.

After confirming this, Hyun-mu said.

“By the way, I heard that you had a dream about your son.”

It was a sensitive topic, but since they were talking about Yeom Jun-yeol at the time, the flow of the conversation itself was not awkward.

Cheongryong did not try to change the subject.

Cheongryong also wanted to know more about the dream she had, if only for the sake of Chok-rin and Yeom Jun-yeol.

Hyun-mu nodded slightly in gratitude, knowing that Cheongryong had given his silent permission, and asked Chok-rin.

“If it’s okay, I’d like to hear about your dream.”

“Are you talking about the dream where our Junyeol appeared?”

“Of course I want to hear that too.”

Hyunmu was looking in the direction of Chokrin through the blindfold, but it seemed like he was looking farther away.

Hyunmu asked softly.

“Would you like to tell me about all the dreams you’ve had so far?”