Chapter 146

[World of Arseria Gallery]

[Concept Article]

[This is reporter Jang Seong-mun from QBS Game Magazine.]

Hello, World of Arseria users.

I am Jang Seong-mun from QBS Game Magazine.

Last weekend, the news about NPC Adella being linked to VR Space has gained immense popularity.

If anyone has photos or videos taken with her, please contact 010-XXXX-XXXX or [email protected].

Additionally, if anyone has any personal information about streamer No Name, I would appreciate the tip.

[Comments]

– How rare for someone humble to come to such a precious place…?

└ LOL

└ (Author): I couldn’t watch the stream because I was working overtimeㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└ LOL, very charmingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ This guy is doing journalism to satisfy his own desiresㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Where is Adella right now?

└ I don’t know; she just seems to have gone into a private room? Judging by the disappearance of the tracking team.

– Is it true that Wearsoft’s stock has doubled even during this?

└ How much is the stock now?

└ It has recovered around the $150 line; luckyㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– They said an employee was arrested; why is the stock going up? What was the reason for the arrest?

└ Yep, the employee was already retired~ No impact at all~

└ It seems like they put ASI in models under 7 years old, which is illegal in most states in the U.S.

└ They even got hit with tax evasion—double whammy, LOL.

[Real-time Best]

[(Long Post, Data) Moments with Adella today, rambling][927]

(Group photo at the amusement park entrance.jpg)

(Adella on the roller coaster.mp4)

(Adella roaming in the haunted house.mp4)

…

(Adella experiencing culture shock from watching Dibok Night.mp4)

The singularity has already arrived!

I’ve been playing in VR Space for years, and Adella felt completely natural as a person.

So, I think those who played with her thought she was a foreigner experiencing virtual reality for the first time and enjoyed it.

+) Adella is just too cute and seems to have a great personalityㅋㅋㅋ Sometimes there were a few who overstepped their bounds, but she generously forgave them.

[Comments]

– Wow… Wow… Is this the future?

– This is artificial intelligence and NPC, right?

– This isn’t just someone in cosplay?

– Why is a Vocaloid song playing in the night?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Seriously, this culture is too dizzying;;

– Why are you all having fun without me!!!!!

└ The party has a maximum of 10 people…

└ ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I also want to see Adella.

– Is Adella still roaming around?

└ No, no, she seems to be done and has gone to a private room.

– Is it really just a bit overstepping to describe the harassment at Harkas? Isn’t the author a crazy person?

└ It seems like the kid who went up in Silve is numb from deleting it repeatedly.

└ Be grateful that Adella hasn’t turned dark like Skynet.

└ It was a Terminator, LOL.

[Streamer Gallery]

[Just this guy being Twish’s owner is a big recommendationㅋㅋ][59]

(No Name main avatar front view.jpg)

[Comments]

– So, it’s not that the minor’s label has been removed for 5 years, but that there are still 5 years left?

└ Thinking of it this way makes them look really youngㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– I’ve played League of Legends for 7 years, so that means the age is specifically between 14-15 years.

– They used material that pedophiles would go crazy over, and the person inside wasn’t normal eitherㅋㅋㅋ

– Damn it.

– Twish’s future looks bright.

– New monster streamer (a real monster).

– Based purely on magical skill, even Korea University might be a free pass.

└ What Korea University? They should be aiming for MIT or Stanford.

└ I feel so inadequate—what were we doing at that age?

– Unlock the video share!!! How long do we have to wait for VTube! Or at least upload the full video!

* * *

I turned on the hologram projector and placed it in the middle of the room.

Click—

The electromagnetic device, with its shell split in half, emitted a gentle blue light and scanned the entire room.

[Scan complete.]

[The hologram will be projected according to the corresponding coordinate system. Please do not move the device.]

And finally, the cat-eared girl appeared in a shimmering burst of light.

She blinked her eyes twice, spotted me, and happily waved her hand.

“Is this really what my older sister looks like? Kyaahh, she’s so cute! Can I hug her?”

“Isn’t she just the same as the main avatar? Why are you acting surprised? And since it’s a hologram, we can’t touch each other anyway.”

“Too bad, that’s a shame.”

“What’s with that tone…?”

“Oh this? My friends taught me this last time!”

Adella began recounting her experiences in the VR world without me even asking about it.

Especially when we passed the amusement park, she mentioned she might have shaken hands hundreds of times.

“Ugh… I almost went blind but…”

“Went blind? Did someone shine a light in your eyes?”

“No, it’s still too soon for you to know… But overall, it was fun!”

The urban legend that an NPC plays with users in the VR world has become so famous that it has appeared on several news broadcasts.

Of course, it was reported in a way that praised Wearsoft’s technology rather than focusing primarily on this.

The company, too, had not expressed any special notes regarding my bringing Adella along so far.

Then again, Adella here isn’t the ASI main body, and she’s a derived entity, so there’s no concern about leaking technology; rather, if they could significantly promote their game, they would benefit rather than lose.

I received a late email asking me to keep quiet about their later announcement, but that’s something to watch for.

They said the stock has almost fully recovered, so the best decision from the upper management might be to just pretend not to know.

“By the way, there’s one inconvenient thing in this world.”

She said as she looked around my room.

“What is it?”

“You know how even when you drink here, you don’t get drunk at all? I mean, it’s nice that you don’t have to go to the bathroom, but it feels empty without alcohol.”

Adella, who was lying on my private room bed, conveyed her complaints with a slightly pouty expression.

Would sharing my situation, where I can’t drink for another 11 years, make her feel better?

I thought that probably wouldn’t help, so I opened my wardrobe and went about changing.

“Are you going out together today? Where are we going?”

“To visit Professor Cheon.”

“Professor Cheon, is that the person living with you?”

“He’s my stepfather.”

“Wow, were you also an orphan like me?”

“That sounds a bit strange…?”

I didn’t want to feel a sense of kinship over something like this.

It was mid-April, yet the weather was sweltering like summer.

However, it felt awkward to only wear a t-shirt and shorts. It was still chilly in the mornings and nights.

Eventually, after compromising, I chose a yellow t-shirt and blue overalls. I quickly changed and packed my things into a bag.

“Puhaha! Wearing that makes you look like a chick!”

“… Are you not coming with me?”

“Ahhhhh! Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! Cancel that! Please forgive me!”

Seeing Adella getting so absorbed in the VR world, I advised her to study a bit for when she eventually steps into the real world.

VR SPACE is, after all, just an extension of the game, not a real world to live in, making it difficult for Adella to grasp people’s general cultural context.

Just then, she insisted on showing her the outside world, and today was the chance.

If she carries the hologram lens, she’d be able to freely move within a 1m radius and gain a 360-degree field of view.

Of course, I also made sure to keep my invisibility activated so as not to cause any inconvenience.

To her, the scenery of the private room must look like it’s constantly changing.

“Shall we go?”

“Yeah!”

April 2051.

The weather is clear, and the temperature is 25 degrees.

Cradling the projector transformed into a blue cube, I walked through the bustling streets of Gangnam-gu.

“Wowww… There are so many people…”

The crowd was countless compared to the VR world.

However, of course, there were more cars than people.

Adella couldn’t take her eyes off the parade of cars swiftly speeding down the avenue.

“Where could all these people be going?”

“Probably going for lunch after work at this time of day.”

“Work? So, do you also work, older sister?”

“I’m still young; how could I work?”

“You can’t work just because you’re young? Why?”

Adella, still mixed up with the values of World of Arseria, tilted her head.

I explained that Korea strictly enforces labor standards, so children go to school instead of working.

“Then why aren’t you going? It’s a weekday.”

“I submitted an absence request.”

Since we were headed to Korea University anyway, it would fit perfectly as a learning experience for a school trip.

I had planned to take a taxi when going alone, but since I was with Adella today, I deliberately took the bus and sat in the backseat.

The scenery zipped by at rapid speed, with crowds coming and going as they boarded and exited the bus.

And by the growing number of university students on the bus, I felt we were getting closer to our destination.

Ding ding—

Suddenly, the ringing bell interrupted my thoughts, and it was Professor Cheon.

“Hello?”

[Ah, Namya. Have you arrived yet?]

“I’m almost there. I’m at the main gate now.”

[I’m really sorry, but could you come to the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute instead of the 3rd Engineering Building? The location suddenly changed, I’m sorry.]

“Oh, yes. Got it.”

[It’s building 131-1, so you should be able to find it easily if you get off the bus before it goes uphill. Just don’t confuse it with the next building.]

[The next stop is New Materials. New Materials Joint Research Institute.]

This is my second visit to Korea University.

The spot where I got off the bus was surprisingly empty and quiet. Maybe because it was a corner of the school.

Breathing in the pleasant air from the dense forest, I searched for the building that Professor Cheon mentioned.

“Adella, I’ll turn the hologram back on later. It seems like I can’t do that inside the building.”

“Ah, really? Got it, then I’ll wait! See you later!”

I carefully turned off the projector and stuffed it into my bag. Since it was quite heavy, my shoulder felt an added weight.

By the way, I realized I can’t enter the building without a card.

Unlike other buildings open to undergraduates, the door didn’t open.

Just as I was about to contact Professor Cheon again, someone patted my shoulder from behind, causing me to turn around instinctively.

The woman wearing a blue lab coat suddenly widened her eyes and asked.

“Are you… No Name?”