EX-rank’s Replay (336)

Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin

 
55. Stalemateless (6)

Even after he checked a few times, the name written on the top of the game record was ‘Jo Uisin’.

Cheon Dongha knew that Cheon Seong-heon was a fan of Jo Uisin, and he wasn’t a type of person who would play a bad prank on his younger half brother who couldn’t move a finger.

It was obvious that this game record was real.
 

‘Uisin hyung started to play chess again!’
 

As if his brainwaves and superpowers waves reflected that happiness, a small ‘ping’ sound came out of the monitor recording the wavelengths through the electrodes connected to Cheon Seong-heon’s body.

As Cheon Dongha checked the monitor and smiled faintly, it seemed that his state was good.

At first, Cheon Seong-heon’s mind was dominated by happiness, but gradually, doubts crept in.
 

‘Why Uisin hyung try to play chess again? Is it perhaps related to Enemies, who attack the mind?’
 

Cheon Seong-heon, who looked back on the content of the game, guessed Jo Uisin’s intentions.

He had a new acute feeling of how harsh this world was, but he thought it wasn’t the worst.

If considering the situation of Jo Uisin, who received a terminal diagnosis, and prepared a funeral for himself, it was much better that he was overcoming his trauma to face an unknown threat.

So Cheon Seong-heon decided to be purely happy that his idol was standing in front of the chessboard again.
 

‘… But the game record is extremely short. Scholar’s Mate? Was the opponent a beginner?’
 

Cheon Seong-heon, who opened his eyes wide and examined the record, looked at the game record that ended in four moves and was disappointed.

The name Jo Uisin was written on the game record, but its content wasn’t worthy of Jo Uisin’s match.

The opponent, who suffered the Scholar’s Mate was one of PMH’s Playable Characters Ma Jinseung, so considering the personality of PMH’s big fan Jo Uisin, it was somewhat strange.

Instead of giving a thoughtful opportunity and showed moves that would help the chess beginner Playable Character, he ended it in four moves with a Scholar’s Mate.
 

‘… Was there a reason He had to play Scholar’s Mate?’
 

Those doubts deepened even more when he looked at the match time shown beside the game record.

For something that ended in just four moves, the match time was extremely long.

When Cheon Seong-heon blinked repeatedly, unable to even change his expression, Cheon Dong-ha opened a few more holograms as if he read his thoughts.
 

“There was one more game record. Because of scheduling issues, two matches were held in one day. I’ll also show you the coverage video released by the Stalemate. Ah, Stalemate is the name of our school’s chess small group.”
 

Stalemate?

Wasn’t it the thing Stalemateless hated the most?

Why was the school chess small group named like that?

Cheon Seong-heon thought with dissatisfaction about it, but anyways, he decided to be glad that they provided Jo Uisin a stage to overcome his trauma and coverage video.

In the video, Jo Uisin’s opponent was a female student with a school uniform full of nametags, the 2nd year class 0’s Yeon Garam.
 

‘His hands are slow. The moves are shallow, not worthy of hyung. He didn’t completely overcome His trauma, huh?’
 

Jo Uisin, whose hands gradually slowed, at some point stopped moving.

It wasn’t a messy game situation that needed a long thought, but Jo Uisin didn’t move as if his battery ran out.

Then, Jo Uisin abruptly turned his head.

The camera also followed Jo Uisin’s gaze for a moment.

And the students cheering from the box seats were reflected on the screen.

From the hologram with Jo Uisin’s name floating up, they seemed to cheer for Jo Uisin.
 

‘Even in this world, there are many kids, who follow hyung, huh? In the game, there was almost no one attending from the 1st year class 0, but there were quite a few people…. Uh?’
 

Cheon Seong-heon recognized all the children waving their hands towards Jo Uisin as Playable Characters and NPCs.

Among them, there were some people he recalled didn’t attend school at the current point.

If excluding Kim Yuri and Han Yi, they were people who haven’t attended school yet in the game.
 

‘That short male student, is that Maeng Hyodon? I think he was rescued in the 2nd year, and Sawol Seeum, who is floating in the air, was rescued in the 3rd year. Uisin hyung saved them, huh? And the remaining one…’
 

Cheon Seong-heon stared at the male student with pretty eyes, who was smiling meaningfully.
 

‘Why is the Myth category Ho here?’
 

NPC, Myth category Ho tribe member, Hwang-ho.

When the main character was a 1st year, he was only mentioned as the chairman of Eungwang School, and after the main character was promoted to the 2nd year, he was a Jin, who actively appeared, but he didn’t appear from some point.

Because his actions seemed too whimsical, even if he suddenly decided to hide, it wasn’t strange, but Cheon Seong-heon was always bothered by it.

Many characters appeared in PMH and even the narration structure surrounding them was complicated.

And thinking about it, there were trivial elements not dealt with too deeply, and Hwang-ho’s leaving the stage was one of such things.
 

‘Why does it keep bothering me? Is it because I like the Ho tribe characters?’
 

Among the characters that appeared in PMH, Cheon Seong-heon liked the Ho tribe members.

During the Christmas scenario, also called the PMH concrete collapse incident, when Jeok-ho died, he even unknowingly turned off the screen.

Among the Playable Characters, Cheon Seong-heon liked Baek-ho, who had the role of a main character, and among NPCs, he liked the deceased[1] Jeok-ho and Hwang-ho, whose whereabouts were unknown[2].
 

‘If Hwang-ho is in the same class as Uisin hyung, nothing will happen, right?’
 

And on the night of the day he saw Jo Uisin’s match, Cheon Seong-heon had a dream.

As always, it was a dream of someone with covered eyes came.

That someone, as always, was looking at Cheon Seong-heon with a face as if he was looking at something pitiful and poor.

There was one thing that was different from the past.
 

‘After coming to this world, I see him clearer. Each time I dream, it gets better.’
 

Cheon Seong-heon always dreamed the same dream, but he didn’t dream it often.

But in this world, he saw the dream with someone almost every night.

Moreover, that someone’s expression and form were becoming much clearer than before.

Cheon Seong-heon decided to think of that being as someone connected with this world.
 

‘The eyes are covered and someone who appears in the dreams? The beings who match that in this world are…’
 

Gods, or in other words, higher beings.

Usually, their divinity was proven through their eyes, but if faced with that divinity head on, humans with weaker mental power was said to immediately go insane.

As such, there was an unwritten rule that higher beings of this world should covered their eyes and then interfered in the contemporary world.
 

“Are You a higher being?”
 

At Cheon Seong-heon’s question, someone with his eyes covered nodded once.

It was the first reaction they showed after they whispered to him about the sin on the day he left the children’s home.
 

“Why are You coming to my dreams? Is it related to the sin I have committed?”
 

The higher being didn’t respond.

Cheon Seong-heon changed the question.
 

“Is what is currently happening to my body and the sin I have committed related?”
 

The higher being’s lips repeatedly opened a little and closed.

It looked as if he was hesitating.
 

‘Is it a question that is ambiguous to answer?’
 

Even after that, Cheon Seong-heon threw questions at the higher being every time they faced each other, but he wasn’t able to obtain an answer.

As time gradually passed, while he was unable to obtain clue on how to stand up, Jo Uisin advance to the chess competition finals and won against the Playable Character, who attempted a stalemate.

Compared to that, Cheon Seong-heon still couldn’t move, so the match against Jo Uisin, he dreamed of, was far away.

Even so, Cheon Seong-heon wasn’t impatient.
 

‘If there were zero chance to stand up, that unknown existence wouldn’t have called me here. There has to be a way.’
 

While listening to how this world had changed through the news passed by Cheon Dongha, Cheon Seong-heon tried to guess what action Jo Uisin took in the background.

In addition, he simulated how he could help, if he stood up.

His body didn’t move, but Cheon Seong-heon’s mind moved quickly, learning and adapting to this world.
 

‘As my older half brother in this place is a person worthy of trust, and I’m working hard to wake up, my body will be able to move someday. In the meantime, I should train my mind.’
 

After repeatedly moving a few times, he ended up coming to the research institute Cheon Dongha was working in.

The research institute’s atmosphere was a bit different from the hospital’s.

One of the things was that instead of disinfectant, he smelled the smell of coffee after a long time.
 

“… I banned bringing outside drink to the room with you, who the hell was that?”
 

Cheon Dongha looked at the paper cup brought by the member of the research institute member and sighed.

The paper cup was full of cold mixed coffee.
 

‘I wish he would just leave it.’
 

He thought about the mixed coffee he drank with Jo Uisin in the not very spacious gosiwon’s cafeteria before coming to this place.

The memory of that drink felt more comforting and delicious than the tea he drank at the tea parties, which were social meetings of chaebeol families.

He blinked his eyes twice towards Cheon Dongha, who was about to throw out the paper cup.

Cheon Dongha had his back turned, but when he was at the research institute, he always looked at Cheon Seong-heon through his ability Thousand Li Eye, so he noticed his meaning right away.
 

“No? You hate it? Um…”
 

Cheon Dongha looked at the paper cup he held in his hand and said:
 

“Do you like coffee?”
 

He blinked once.

Cheon Seong-heon liked tea.

He liked the taste of tea on its own, and he considered the time spent drinking tea, as valuable.

And the mixed coffee was put in that tea’s range.
 

“Okay. It’s difficult for you to drink coffee in your current state, but it’s possible to put coffee-scented air fresheners. Ah, I’ll also drink it often.”
 

As if Cheon Dongha was happy to know his younger half-brother’s food preference, he often drank mixed coffee after that.

Cheon Seong-heon couldn’t personally drink the content, but it was possible for him to indirectly enjoy the scent.
 

“Today I met Uisin-i and played chess with him. We exchanged device codes not long time ago.”
 

On a certain day, Cheon Dongha talked about the match after meeting Jo Uisin in person.

He, who explained the game record, while showing it, spoke:
 

“I thought his hands would become cold if he played chess for a long time. We played four games, bringing each one two victories, but he tried to play more. So I stopped him while using you as an excuse.”
 

Excuse?

What kind of excuse was he talking about?
 

“I said ‘my dongsaeng is your fan’. And said that if he knew I was trying to play longer, knowing his body condition, he would be angry.”
 

Cheon Dongha speaking to Jo Uisin about him felt a bit subtle, but if it was an excuse that he couldn’t ignore, it didn’t matter.

In any case, as Jo Uisin wouldn’t be able to imagine that he came here, he wouldn’t be able to connect Cheon Dongha’s dongsaeng to him.
 

“Because I talked about you, he said he hopes you would come to Eungwang School.”
 

Cheon Dongha, who stopped talking for a while, carefully asked.
 

“Do you want to meet with Uisin-i? I will call him here.”
 

Cheon Seong-heon was conflicted.

But the conflict didn’t last long.

The result of a cold judgment was that he would only be a burden if he met Jo Uisin now.
 

‘I came because I wanted to be of help, and to apologize for my faults, but I can’t do anything in this state.’
 

He blinked twice.

Cheon Dongha respected Cheon Seong-heon’s opinion.
 

“… Okay. If you perhaps change your mind, blink three time. Or if not, speak using Morse code.”
 

Cheon Seong-heon was certain that the day he would blink to summon Jo Uisin to him would never come.

Because according to his will, he would meet Jo Uisin after he breaks out of this locked-in syndrome.

As such, he planned to find Jo Uisin on his own feet instead of blinking.

But as if something happened, Jo Uisin came to find him.

Looking at Jo Uisin’s expression, which seemed to look at him with a stiff face, it was obvious what he was thinking.
 

‘He is judging the chances of me not being that Cheon Seong-heon.’
 

He declared he wouldn’t meet him, but Cheon Seong-heon couldn’t endure being treated as a fake by Jo Uisin.

So Cheon Seong-heon blinked for a long time.

To call Stalemateless.
 

*~*~*
 
[1] deceased — 사망하다 (samanghada) also means ‘to think and hope’ or ‘to lie/to fabricate’.

[2] unknown — 묘연하다 (myoyeonhada) it also means to be far away/hazy, or for a memory to be hazy. And the exact meaning for unknown would be ‘no way to learn its whereabouts or news’. In this case it’s grammatically ‘to become 묘연하다’. Also, the same word is used later in ‘the match against Jo Uisin, he dreamed of, was far away’.
 

Translator’s note: Sorry everyone, I think I need to go quickly find that person, who left the coffee cup in Cheon Seong-heon’s room. Shout at this idiot without me.
 

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