I thought the atmosphere would be ruined because of my wrong choice of topic, but our conversation was very smooth and comfortable thanks to the social skills of my playable characters who cared for their junior.

We had dinner at a seafood course restaurant.

It was midway between Cheon Dongha and Yeom Junyeol’s tastes.

Their grilled butter abalone had a particularly good reputation, and Yeom Junyeol and Cheon Dongha expressed that they’d want to revisit the restaurant again with their families.

We finished our meal and headed home.

The two aren’t dorm students so they didn’t have to come back to school, but they offered to walk me back.

“Alright, get home safe.”

“I’ll look forward to the article.”

I vowed to myself to write a very good article for the two as I headed back to my dormitory room.

‘It’s still gray.’

In my room.

As soon as I arrived, I checked the Replay function right away.

The second time I used it on Yoo Sanghoon, the function became available to use again after one day.

That wasn’t the case this time.

I tried to think of the reason for that by comparing Yoo Sanghoon and Son Minki, but the two had very few similarities like age and gender.

I felt sorry that Yoo Sanghoon had to deal with that trash of a person.

‘I still don’t know why there’s a difference in the time before the function becomes available again.’

According to Hwang Jiho, Son Minki woke up almost immediately after falling asleep that day.

He said that he screamed and struggled as if he had a terrible dream.

However, Son Minki wasn’t talking to anyone else, so he couldn’t dig into what Son Minki dreamed about.

Son Minki’s maternal grandfather was his guardian, but they don’t seem to have any interaction except for him occasionally taking a bowl of porridge soup with a straw from his grandfather.

Son Minki looks at his device all day, but it doesn’t seem like he’s having a conversation with someone.

Hwang Jiho overlooked Son Minki’s device and saw that he was messaging Yoo Sanghee, to which the latter haven’t responded for weeks now.

‘She did say she wanted to mess with him before.’

I felt unpleasant as I guessed what Son Minki was thinking about Yoo Sanghee and why he keeps messaging her.

I can’t really stop Yoo Sanghee if she finds enjoyment in what she does, but I’m at least glad that she doesn’t respond to him often.

‘Hwang Jiho will send a doctor there. I should wait for that.’

Hwangmyeong Group is planning to send a doctor to the place to investigate further and possibly conduct an energy wave test on Son Minki, but I don’t expect the test to reveal anything about the secrets of the Replay function.

All I want is to improve the function even just by a little bit.

‘If the function’s level doesn’t go up after using it on Son Minki several times, do I need to use it on other characters?’

I checked the gray list again, but there aren’t many people there that I’m interested in using the function too.

I could use it on Byun Sunhwi of the Hwanmong Auction, or perhaps on Choi Pyeondeuk.

‘Let’s wait and see for now.’

I closed the window as I made a mental note to check it every day.

Dingdong.

As soon as I closed the window, a message arrived on my device.

It was from Hong Gyubin, who was still working at this hour.

[Hong Gyubin] Thank you, Euishin. Thanks to you we finished the interrogation with that nursing officer.

Kim Shinrok was sent to the association today, and it seems like he got the results already.

Perhaps it’s because he’s the descendant of the 5,000-year-old tigers, or maybe he got some strength from his father who accompanied him there.

Maybe it was both.

‘Things worked out well, but it’s like I’ve revealed that I’m working closely with the Tiger Clan.’

Hong Gyubin would’ve noticed it the moment he saw me with Hwang JIho at the airport, but this case would confirm his suspicions that I have a close relationship with the Tiger Clan.

[Hong Gyubin] …By the way, that Professor Kim Shinrok seems to have unique ways of torturing.

[Hong Gyubin] I saw him with Professor Jegal a couple of times… Hmm…

Hong Gyubin must’ve seen Kim Shinrok’s brutal methods of torture.

Still, I don’t know why he seems worried about Jegal when the two are good colleagues.

[Hong Gyubin] Anyway, thanks to you, I got a list of people who ordered this work. On top of that, the regulatory department has obtained additional evidence.

[Hong Gyubin] This can destroy one of TC Group’s factions.

Hong Gyubin’s tone was somewhat dubious.

I didn’t get messages after that.

[Me] Team Leader Hong Gyubin?

When I asked him, the reply came a bit delayed.

[Hong Gyubin] Euishin, did you know that TC Group changed its name once before?

It was quite a random question, but I knew the answer to it.

It’s common for large and long-running companies to change their name to English initials.

This is because if the company name is difficult to pronounce in English, they usually change it.

It’s also because Korean characters can translate to one or two letters in English – “D” can also be “T”, “K” can also be “G” and so on.

‘I think the “T” from TC is from the surname “Do”, and the C is derived from a surname that is difficult for foreigners to pronounce.

[Me] Yes. I know that they once used their Korean name like the Joo-Oh Group and the Hwangmyeong Group.

[Hong Gyubin] Then I guess you know that TC Group was once almost the number one group in Korea.

Just as Hong Gyubin said, the TC Group was almost the number one group in Korea before they changed their name.

TC Group was actually the first group to deal with other worlds and the first to hit the jackpot with their own technological developments.

Perhaps because of that, the founder, executives, and major shareholders fought hard over the group’s stake and management rights.

[Me] Are you talking about the case of ‘T&C fallout’?

[Hong Gyubin] Yes.

The ‘T&C fallout’ was a case about the process of splitting of the TC Group.

As a result of the suit, which marked its place as the biggest division and split in history, the company’s structure was reversed several times and the separation of affiliates continued, greatly dampening the group’s momentum.

As a result, the group’s size was greatly reduced, and the “T” side, or the Do family took the lead and led the TC Group to where it is now.

Thinking about it like that, I could guess why Hong Gyubin mentioned it.

Hong Gyubin might know something about the “C” side.

[Me] So the “C” side has something to do with the recent events.

[Hong Gyubin] There’s no conclusive evidence yet. Still, many of the executives involved this time are related to the “C” side.

How could there be no evidence if he already knows that all the executives have a relationship with the C side?

Before I could ask, Hong Gyubin messaged again.

[Hong Gyubin] They often mentioned the C side a long time ago. It’s been a while, so I don’t think my word should be considered enough evidence.

Hong Gyubin must’ve had exchanges with the TC Group executives in the past.

And “often” on top of that.

[Hong Gyubin] I’ll contact you again after I find out more.

After that message, Hong Gyubin went back to work.

‘Ah, I should’ve asked about his sister.’

I decided to ask someone else since Hong Gyubin was already busy with his overtime work.

Just in time, that person was eagerly sending messages to another chat group that I was in.

[Jang Namwook] Sanghoon, I enjoyed today’s game. The cheering squad is usually facing the audience though so I didn’t see the whole thing.

[Yoo Sanghook] Yep.

After that, Jang Namwook sent dozens of messages about what he thought of the game.

Jang Namwook has no ill intention, but I don’t think Yoo Sanghoon would appreciate the long messages about the game where they lost.

Yoo Sanghoon read all the messages, but he stopped responding with a simple “yep” at some point.

Jang Namwook sent a “-_-“ emoticon, saying it was embarrassing to praise Yoo Sanghoon’s play when he’s not responding,

[Jang Namwook] Then I’ll look forward to your performance tomorrow. I’ll cheer on you too.

[Yoo Sanghoon] Lol.

After that, the message room became quiet.

‘It’s kind of weird to ask about his sister here.’

Yoo Sanghoon is completely unaware of the incident with Do Sihoo, and I don’t want to bother him knowing that he has another game tomorrow.

After a short consideration, I decided to send a private message to Jang Namwook.

[Me] I have something I want to ask.

[Me] Do you know a female cadet with the surname “Hong”?

The military academy’s high school has few female cadets, so it’s probably easy for him to know.

[Jang Namwook] There’s none in our section.

Hong Gyubin’s sister isn’t in Jang Namwook’s section?

It would’ve been difficult for Hong Gyubin’s sister to intervene with the nursing officer though.

[Jang Namwook] Euishin, is that related to the incident with Do Sihoo?

I don’t know if it was okay to tell Jang Namwok.

Still, he guessed that there might be a reason why I suddenly asked.

Hong Gyubin’s sister’s safety is related to this, so I decided to answer.

[Me] Yeah.

[Jang Namwook] Do you remember the kid that drove the tilt rotor in Jiri Mountain?

Of course, I remember.

Isn’t that freak from the research institute affiliated with the Ministry of National Defense?

The same kid that broke the otherworld simulator with a field shovel?

[Jang Namwook] Actually, only one cadet didn’t come to the opening ceremony of the sports exchange exhibition. She’s a weird kid so I didn’t think much of it…

[Jang Namwook] The next morning after the opening ceremony, she was taken to the disciplinary room. We don’t know why, but I think it’s related to the incident with Sihoo.

[Jang Namwook] Rumors are she arbitrarily handed over a soldier to the association. Did she hand over the nursing officer who manipulated Do Sihoo’s tests?

The case of the nursing officer is being handled confidentially, but it seems like there’s someone who tipped off Jang Namwook.

‘I’m sure that’s his sister.’

It’s a bit odd that her surname wasn’t Hong, but there’s no doubt that it’s her.

[Me] Yeah.

[Jang Namwook] …I see.

[Me] Is she okay?

Jang Namwook conveyed how Hong Gyubin’s sister was in a quite lengthy manner.

[Jang Namwook] Gyuyeon has been at the Defense Ministry’s research center for a long time. It was unclear if she violated school rules, so she was actually released quite quickly after being called to the disciplinary office.

[Jang Namwook] She’s resting right now from the aftereffects of her energy wave being sealed.

[Jang Namwook] I’ll check again tomorrow to see if she’s alright.

Jang Namwook has been in the disciplinary room before, so he knows very well the aftereffects of the energy wave seal being used in that room.

He knows what the kid must be going through.

Jang Namwook sent more messages expressing his concern for the female cadet.

‘Wait. Namwook just said the name “Gyuyeon” in one of his messages.’

Hong Gyubin

Gyuyeon.

No wonder the names sound similar.

She’s in the same section as Jang Namwok.

But Namwook said they don’t have a female “Hong” cadet in their section.

I decided to ask Jang Namwook to confirm.

[Me] That Gyuyeon cadet’s surname isn’t “Hong”?

[Jang Namwook] Hmm? No, it’s not.

[Jang Namwook] (Link)

Jang Namwook attached a link.

When I clicked on it, it led me to a page containing a press release from the military academy.

There was a picture of the awarding ceremony held at the military academy’s high school.

At the top is the name and picture of the cadet who won the grand prize.

[Grand prize winner Namgung Gyuyeon]

Looking at the name and picture of the female student in the center, I think I’m one step closer to knowing Hong Gyubin’s secrets.