Chapter 480

[NoName]

[Just Chatting – 공개훈련]

[방송 시간 – 5:06:52]

[시청자 수 – 115720]

[This isn’t as easy as it looks, you know? You have to move with craftsmanship and dedication, stitch by stitch.]

Familiar sounds echoed from a grilled eel restaurant that only those in the know visited.

In a high-end restaurant with her family, Kim Love was having a blast watching Na-me’s broadcast.

Na-me had just knocked out another participant and was performing her victory ceremony.

Floating in a lotus position, she danced around the male participant chaotically.

The expression of the participant watching her ceremony was priceless.

“Hehe, kuhihihing!”

Love burst into laughter, banging the table in delight.

She accidentally knocked a spoon off the edge, sending dishes tumbling onto the cushion below.

Her mother, unable to watch any longer, finally spoke up.

“Kim Love, didn’t I tell you to turn it down while we’re eating?”

“Nyeh.”

After hearing her mother’s scolding, she dipped her chopsticks deep into the steaming piece of eel.

To lighten the mood, her father tried to smile at her.

Love, with a small act of rebellion, muted the hologram but didn’t entirely lower the volume.

Her mother sighed after glancing at Na-me’s broadcast.

“Sigh, isn’t she supposed to be preparing for the tournament? She’s completely goofing off. She really has no sense…”

“Why? She’s showing us how hard she’s training.”

Her mother shot her father an unimpressed look in response.

“What kind of child’s play is the national exchange tournament? When is she going to train with all her daily nonsense on the broadcasts? Didn’t she invite a bunch of celebrities to play games last time? Ugh…”

“That wasn’t a game; it was a competition. A competition.”

“You’re young. Na-me is still only nine years old.”

“Anyway. Love, you’re not feeling the pressure for next week’s match, are you? Losing to a kid like that would be tough.”

“Why? In life, you can win or lose, right?”

“Hey! Kim Love, don’t you feel all the training you’ve done will go to waste? Losing would be such an embarrassment.”

“Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll definitely win, don’t worry. I wonder what our older sister Ollie thinks?”

“Please, just shut up and eat your food quietly. Please!”

Olivia, who was quietly savoring her eel, finally snapped.

In a household filled with harmony and discord, her father always found himself in a corner.

Kim Love tightened her grip on her chopsticks and popped a bouncy piece of eel into her mouth.

She noticed her mother had been particularly sensitive these days.

‘Does Mom not really believe I’ll win?’

She acknowledged that Na-me’s talent was rare and exceptional on a global scale.

But when it came to talent, she wasn’t falling behind either.

No matter how many times Na-me won against her fans, those amateurish attacks could easily be countered.

In a prolonged match like the national exchange tournament, Black Aura wouldn’t hold much effectiveness.

Na-me surely knew that as well.

Moreover, super-fast casting could be easily countered if there was a physical distance in the stadium.

With the standardization of magical techniques, modern magical dueling tended to prioritize instantaneous power over technique.

“The reason Katsuhata won was ultimately because he discarded foolish swordplay and overwhelmed everyone with his massive amounts of multiple Auras.”

The age gap was something that, once reaching a world-class level, couldn’t be overcome.

This was proven by Emika, who was 14 two years ago, and Cecilia, who was 13 last year.

Kim Love felt that the saying “you see what you know” was quite real.

She smiled broadly at the thought of meeting the cute Na-me soon.

During the meal, their chopsticks from both sides got tangled.

“You need to experience failure and frustration in this opportunity.”

“Huh?”

“There are plenty of geniuses out there besides you.”

Olivia paused in her meal and hurled some unkind words at her sister.

Ever since winning the national competition, the always-compared sister became quite haughty.

Kim Love smirked, set down her chopsticks, and offered up the last piece of eel.

“Feel free to take all that unappetizing stuff, sis.”

The edge of the piece had blackened spots from being scorched with soy sauce.

In Kim Love’s life, she had never experienced failure or frustration, nor did she think she ever would.

* * *

It was a noisy morning filled with cicadas.

Perhaps humans should be thankful to cicadas.

If it had been barking instead of buzzing, she wouldn’t have been able to sleep at all.

She pondered such trivial thoughts while in the shower.

She put on leggings printed with the word SUPREME from her thighs to her calves and chose a loose layered T-shirt decorated with a cat character for her upper wear.

Since she selected touch-level 10 fabrics for both her top and bottom, she intended to give her all in today’s duel.

The sun outside was blazing, so she decided to grab a black bucket hat as well.

“I’m off now.”

“Are you really okay going alone?”

“Of course. I’ve been wanting to ride the train again for a while.”

“Alright. Just don’t forget to take care of yourself.”

“Yep.”

As she was about to leave, Saetbyeol’s door creaked open noisily.

For her, it was practically an early-morning weekend.

She rubbed her eyes and mumbled something.

“I can’t hear you well.”

“Have a good trip.”

“Thanks! Now hurry and go back to sleep.”

“Yawn.”

She still couldn’t properly open her eyes, looking just like a baby cat.

She crawled out sluggishly before diving back into her blanket like lightning.

At the station, she called a taxi and hopped in.

She ended up in a human-driven taxi, which was rare to find in Seoul.

The friendly old man smiled and struck up a conversation.

“My grandson really loves the sorceress’s broadcasts. Meeting Na-me today is such good luck. Maybe I should scratch a lottery ticket later.”

“Ha ha! How old is your grandson?”

“He just entered fifth grade this year.”

“Such a little one.”

“Hmm? Isn’t Na-me ten?”

“She’s about to be ten.”

“…?”

Now that she wasn’t in the completely rural areas anymore, more people were starting to recognize her wherever she went.

The saying often found online that “I’m 60, but all my peers love Na-me” turned out to be half true.

According to the taxi driver, when families gather during the holidays, everyone seems to frequently watch her broadcasts.

“Let’s see. That’ll be 9,600 won—”

Beep—

[100,000 won has been charged.]

“Thank you for keeping me company during the ride.”

“Oh, but 100,000 won is too much…!”

“This is on my bucket list, so please accept it.”

“Ha ha, alright…”

As soon as Kim Love stepped into Suseo Station, she immediately felt all eyes on her.

A group of female middle school students, presumably going on a beach trip, spotted her and squealed.

With the train’s departure time approaching, she quickly waved goodbye and dashed off.

On the escalator, an observant young man called out her name.

“Na-me! Is today the day of the duel match?”

The three-out-of-five match against Kim Love would be conducted in total secrecy regarding location and time.

“How did you know?”

Since it was the day of the event, she felt no need to keep it secret.

“That’s your battle outfit, isn’t it? You said you couldn’t wear it because you were shy.”

“Ah ha ha…”

In fact, she still felt a bit shy, even now.

“Um, could we take a photo together?”

“Sure. But let’s not take it on the escalator; it’s dangerous.”

“Thank you! This will help restore our family honor!”

This isn’t the medieval times, so why talk about restoring family honor?

Usually, if one person asks for a picture, she would feel obligated to take one with everyone, so she wasn’t too keen on it.

However, now she had a good excuse to approach the fan, so she went for it without hesitation.

The young man kneeled almost to the ground to get to her eye level as they took a selfie.

Click—

On a whim, she quickly stuck her tongue out, then tucked it back in.

“Rascal.”

Click—

“Ah!”

“Ah ha, missed it. I won’t do it a second time.”

“I should have recorded it… Should have recorded it…”

Anyone who saw that could think she had been defeated by the country.

After saying goodbye to the funny young man, she boarded the train.

It was nice here; no cicada sounds, just silence.

She unfolded the table and was about to drift back into sweet slumber—

[This stop is Osong. Osong Station.]

But it arrived in less than ten minutes, forcing her to pack up again.

She lamented over the rapid advancement of science and technology that eradicated romance.

At Osong Station, she met with officials from the national team and headed to the training camp.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello. Please take the back seat. Oh no, then what should we do? Isn’t this a bit of a big deal?”

Surprisingly, the national team officials were chattering among themselves, showing no interest in her.

Since she had some time to kill, she decided to browse the fan cafe.

[ 자유게시판 ]

[Just met Na-me at Suseo Station (photos)]

This is the first time I’ve seen her in person; she’s really petite and unbelievably cute!

When taking the photo, she made a silly face for a moment, and it’s a shame it wasn’t captured.

[댓글]

– Wow! Is that really Na-me!

– She’s in her battle outfit today, is it the day of the final battle?

– Even though Na-me is right in front of me, why does her face look much smaller?

└ Now they’re even disregarding perspective, Na-me god!

– Please reveal the duel; does anyone want to see us all in despair?

– No way Na-me is going to lose…?

– 👑 Win!

└ ????

└ Please post some updates!

└ Fighting, fighting!!

└ If Na-me gets caught while browsing the fan cafe, it’ll be hilarious, lol.

└ Don’t tremble, Na-me… Just do it as you always have…!

└ The results will be announced tomorrow? Urgh, my weekend is gone.

Surprisingly, many people didn’t believe in her abilities.

Then again, she hadn’t shown a proper fight since the Academy Exchange Tournament.

As time passed, evaluations of participants would naturally become harsher, but from her perspective, it felt unfair.

[👑 휴방공지) 5/3~5/5. Enjoy the Children’s Day holiday~]

She was about to arrive at the Sejong training camp soon.

Along the way, many welcomed her with warm greetings.

The duel would be held only once a day, considering the players’ health.

She promised to announce the results by tomorrow at 6 PM at the latest.

She wished everyone would forget about her for a moment and enjoy their precious holiday.

[댓글]

– Even if it’s just one match, if I lose, I’ll have to wait until Monday…

└ 👑 That will never happen.

└ Actually, I knew it. So could you do a reprisal broadcast on Monday, please?

└ 👑 (question mark Na-me emoticon)

└ A trap investigation is here, lol!

└ Na-me, do a fill-in broadcast on Monday!!!

└ Lol, are you a genius?

└ For the rescue!

She didn’t expect it would turn out like this.

[👑 휴방공지 수정) 5/3~5/5 → 5/3~5/4]

Monday: Laying down broadcast planned. No content.

[댓글]

– Justice will prevail ㅅㅅㅅㅅ

– No Name! No Name! No Name!

– A break without reason cannot happen!!!

– Na-me not being around during the Farmer’s Day is unacceptableㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

– Compromise call!

– Na-me, your aunts will be cheering for you… Just please don’t get hurt trying too hard…

– No Name is she a deity?

Regrets will be put off for my Monday self.

She basked in the fervent praise from her fans, enjoying this moment.