Title: Checkmate
Lee Soohyun’s life has been guided by one thing: his inferiority complex. But this inferiority really only took root when he was in high school. It was then his position as first in academics was shaken by Jung Eunsung. Suddenly, Soohyun goes from first to second, and when this only source of pride he has left is gone, he becomes nothing more than a pariah among his classmates, who incessantly pick on him for being a social outcast and the fallen first place. Soohyun has no choice but to focus all of his hate and sorrow on the source of all of his trouble: Eunsung.
For the remainder of their high school careers, Soohyun is in a one-sided rivalry with Eunsung, never once able to trump him. So, this grand rivalry ends with a whisper as the two graduate, attend different colleges, and presumably move along with their adult lives. But even after all this time, Eunsung is never far from Soohyun’s mind. So, when Eunsung suddenly makes headlines as an art thief, Soohyun drops everything to reconnect with his rival. He quits his job, gets one as a reporter, and starts hunting down Eunsung and how he fell so far. But Soohyun doesn’t plan on stopping there.
Soohyun wants to save Eunsung from all his problems, only so Soohyun can tear Eunsung down into the mud with him. But Soohyun soon finds out that the art world that Eunsung has been sucked into is much darker and more deplorable than Soohyun could have ever imagined. Will Soohyun even be able to keep himself safe?