Chapter 544

After NaeMe’s broadcast ended, the chat remained lively for several minutes.

People expressed their sadness at having to wait several days to watch again, anticipation for the finals of the national exchange competition, and shared touching stories from viewers.

Amid various discussions, a buffering signal reappeared on the black screen.

– ???

– What the…

– Are they broadcasting again?

– Damn, I was counting on it~

– DaNaeMe!!!

When a network error or DDoS attack caused a broadcast to go down, a feature helps maintain broadcasting data and reconnect quickly.

The black screen remained, but the voice turned on.

[Saetbyeol, is something happening outside?]

[I’m hungry. Let’s go have lunch.]

[Broadcast has ended.]

– Huh?

– What was that, a malfunction?

– NaeMe, it’s lunch time~~

– Who’s Sephira?

– What’s the bug?

– Didn’t they say ‘Saetbyeol’?

– Whoa.

– Please refrain from mentioning private citizens.

– I heard it too; they said ‘Saetbyeol.’

Saetbyeol was certainly not a common name.

In South Korea, there were only about 5,000 of them, making it a perfect morsel for time Bill Gates.

And it was only a matter of time before overseas residents, who were not afraid of punishments under privacy laws, sought out Gyuryong High School’s second-year student Saetbyeol.

[On Instagram, isn’t ‘Saetbyeol’ that person, NaeMe’s older sister?][139]

(Saetbyeol Instagram screenshot.jpg)

Same ‘Cheon’ surname as NaeMe’s father.

Currently a second-year student at Gyuryong High School. (NaeMe’s home is in Gangnam.)

Profile background shows a canola flower field in French Champagne.

Her hairstyle is similar, and her facial features definitely seem non-ordinary.

The remaining posts are closed to private accounts, so I can’t see them, but it seems almost certain…?

[Comments]

– Are they doxxing NaeMe’s family? That’s really brave, dude.

└ (Author): I live in Paraguay, let them try to catch me.

– It looks exactly like the canola flower fields in Jeju Island; how do they know it’s France? ㄷㄷ

└ I’m an ASI ranked player; it’s definitely France. The road shape and guardrails are dead giveaways.

– Commenting here is scary, lol.

– Wow, her looks are amazing.

– If you’re from Gyuryong High School, step forward.

[Friend confirmed as a Gyuryong High student, clarifying facts]

Wrote this based on what I asked my friend.

First of all, it’s a fact that NaeMe’s older sister is at the school.

She sometimes shows photos of NaeMe to her classmates to keep them quiet.

Her mixed-race appearance could be because she’s from a refugee background (probably adopted).

She was born in Korea, so of course, she speaks Korean well.

According to my friend, she’s pretty, has great proportions, and is so cool that it’s surprising she hasn’t gained more fame yet.

[Comments]

– How scared must she be to be streaming with Thor? LOL.

– At this point, it seems almost certain, doesn’t it?

– NaeMe’s older sister looks like Adella, a character from Myriad.

If you don’t know, look it up ㄱㄱ.

└ 2222

└ I’m an acquaintance, it’s true.

└ She looks like Adella and she’s pretty? How is that even possible?

└ Looks are inherently nuanced differences.

└ Wow, I can’t even imagine that, LOL.

– Showing NaeMe’s photos to keep them quiet, LOL.

└ This totally reminds me of King Nyang, LOL.

[Collection of NaeMe’s older sister’s private posts.jpg]

(Photo.jpg)

(Photo.jpg)

…

(Photo.jpg)

Why am I following this? LOL.

Self-destruct in 10 seconds.

[Comments]

– Wow, that’s insane.

– She’s super beautiful!

– Looks like a character from a comic.

– How did you see her?

– Is this completely Adella…?

[Did the previous private post really happen?]

[It got deleted as soon as I clicked, ugh.]

[Someone post it again so I can see it.]

[Check the post generation rate, everyone’s gathered here.]

[The semi-finals are in an hour, and this juicy news comes out, LOL.]

[I’m the one who wrote from Paraguay earlier. I’m re-uploading since I can’t post the original.][185]

* * *

“South Korea! Clap clap clap clap clap!”

In the South Korean national team’s accommodation, in the small assembly hall tactical meeting room.

Dad, Saetbyeol, and representatives of the team watched the semi-finals.

[Katsuhata dives hard with Adella! This is quite dangerous since it’s over 20 consecutive hits!]

[Wow…! Love Kim easily counters! She seems really light today. She must maintain that focus until the end of the match.]

[Love Kim’s counterattack is imminent! Love Kim! Love Kim! Will she breach Japan’s impenetrable defense!]

Every second, Love Kim casts a localized barrier, causing powerful explosions.

Emika uses her precise timing to cut through the attack with her sword.

Following her movements, colorful auras danced behind her.

The taut balance created a breathless tension that seeped into the arms.

And a heavy strike was ready to break that balance.

Love Kim jumped into the air.

Collecting ten mana droplets floating in the air, she slams them down.

Boom-!

Emika dodges back to avoid the shockwave.

Meanwhile, Love Kim’s wand completed its transformation.

It resembled Mikhail Balabanov’s battle axe.

With the battle axe transformed, she charges forth, accounting for mass adjustment.

The Japanese sword and battle axe collide, sending sparks flying in all directions.

Even amidst it, Emika maintained minimal contact to reduce recoil.

A truly high-level match worthy of the semi-finals.

But there were limits to that as well.

Crash-!

Love Kim swung the battle axe as if she were wielding a baseball bat, sending Emika flying away.

Emika, while airborne, drove her sword into the ground to regain her balance.

At that moment, Love Kim prepared her ranged attack.

[Realization: Hyperbolic Metamaterial]

[Cast: Thermal Transfer – Radiation]

[Combined Casting: Super Planckian Radiant Heat Transfer]

With a flash-

The cross emanating from both sides intensified and merged into one.

A white beam rushed toward Emika, who had lost her timing to counter.

Ka-boom-!

A massive column of fire blazed, incinerating the path.

The hosts’ voices rose at that moment.

[Direct hit! It’s a hit! Wow, this intense heat! Love Kim goes full power… Huh?]

[Katsuhata Emika is withstanding this? No way, don’t lie! No, no!]

They extruded their agony in moans.

Kiiiiiing—!

A strange sound came from Emika’s sword.

A sound reminiscent of a bell mixed with a typhoon.

A flat mass of mana, shaped like a spiral galaxy, spun rapidly, sweeping across the arena like a boomerang.

The two blades sliced precisely through the tail of the magic circle, sending chills down the spine.

Giselle Fisher’s barrier mana disruption displayed in the quarter-finals.

It was deemed impossible and impractical among technical skills, but Emika showcased it with her sword.

And she did so with two simultaneously, from a distance.

Love Kim’s magic circles shattered, and mana flowed backward.

Emika spawned three acceleration magic circles through triple casting.

Straight ahead.

And then diagonal slash.

A vast amount of aura drawn up from the earth was contained within a thin line.

[Aaaah! That hit her square on! Will the barrier hold up?]

Love Kim collapsed to the ground.

The crimson aura enveloping her began to fade, losing its intense color.

We could foresee the match results through the upper-left barrier status display.

[Semi-finals Match 126]

[Time: 28:15]

[LOSE: Love Isabel Kim (South Korea)] [☠9% (Complete Destruction) / 58%]

[WIN: Katsuhata Emika (Japan)] [66% / ⚠17% (Irrecoverable)]

Beep-beep-beep-!

“Aaaaah! Eva, you have to lose after all this!”

In the small assembly hall, Saetbyeol was the first to tear her hair out.

“Aah…”

“How could this happen? It’s absurd, sigh…”

“Now we have to rely on NaeMe. Love could have won too; it’s such a shame, right?”

The staff sighed one after another.

[Unfortunately, South Korea’s civil war was not realized. Japan wins against Love Kim, leaving a 17% barrier. Thus, defending champion Katsuhata Emika makes it to the finals for the second year in a row.]

[As it was rumored, Katsuhata Emika was indeed strong. There was a moment she almost lost against the defending champion, adding to the regret, but it was still a beautiful match. A big round of applause goes to Love Kim for her stellar performance.]

Highlights of the semi-finals were transmitted.

While Saetbyeol diligently browsed the gallery on her phone, I sat beside Dad, analyzing the players’ advantages and disadvantages.

“Dad, doesn’t it seem like Emika practiced that last move? It doesn’t look easy to come up with that on the spot.”

“From what I see, it seems she also planned to use a counter but quickly switched routes. She’s recycling Adella’s magic.”

“So she was going to use it as a counter to counter Adella. But it matched the situation perfectly.”

“Aaah! What’s this!”

Saetbyeol’s loud shout made me instinctively cover my ears.

“What’s wrong?”

“Check my Instagram account. Why do I have so many follow requests? No, this isn’t a VTuber account; it’s mine!”

At the same time, I checked the multiple notifications ringing on my phone.

I had been so focused on the match that I hadn’t checked it all this time.

[Eborum: Tell Saetbyeol to close her Instagram quickly!]

[Yoonseul: Is it okay that they’re still digging up personal info…?]

* * *

[Streamer Gallery]

[Massive Post) NaeMe’s older sister CheonOO, Adella’s Proxy Broadcasting Suspicion Summed Up]

I’ll try to narrate while minimizing personal information.

(Timeline.jpg)

As you can see, Adella hardly ever started streaming before 6 PM on weekdays. If CheonOO is currently a high school student attending school, this would be a perfectly plausible reason.

(Broadcast Record.jpg)

The claim that Adella was fake from the start lacks credibility.

To manage a non-stop broadcast of 168 hours without showing any signs of fatigue is beyond human capability.

(Asaneko Adella Permanent Residency.jpg)

Then why did NaeMe’s older sister take it upon herself to proxy broadcast for the infinitely running ASI?

Although Adella only exists virtually as an ASI, she is indeed a sentient being.

That’s why NaeMe facilitated the creation of a Japanese permanent residency for Adella, with all financial settlements transferred there.

It’s said the sheer earnings Adella brings in made this tempting.

However, a suspicious point is that CheonOO and Adella’s appearances, voices, and speech patterns are remarkably similar.

If CheonOO had been streaming for quite some time, it seems difficult to judge solely based on personality or speech.

That said, looking at their appearances, one would think they generated the automatic avatar based on real appearances.

Of course, it might just be a coincidence, but some speculate that the agency could have kidnapped a random refugee to collect DNA information for free while creating the avatars. (It’s said that would yield higher quality than automatic generation.)

It’s highly suspicious that Adella suddenly stopped her VTuber activities when everyone’s focus shifted toward the national exchange competition.

Anyway, it would be best for NaeMe to clarify quickly.

[Comments]

– It would be chilling to find a character in the game that looks just like you without your knowledge.

– That doesn’t justify taking Adella’s spot, right?

└ Yeah, it can’t be justified.

└ You again, Criminalsoft?

– Please bring our Adella back! 😭😭😭

“What’s up…”

I examined the community’s response that Saetbyeol had shown me.

Though it felt buried under the news of the national exchange competition semi-finals, the embers had not been completely extinguished.

Tomorrow, it would likely flare up again.

“Then you should have checked the broadcast when it went off.”

“I don’t have anything to say. I’m sorry.”

I never thought I would hear such words from Saetbyeol.

I hugged my knees with both arms, lost in thought.

In particular, current fans of Adella had a deep hostility towards the figure ‘Cheon Saetbyeol.’

I realized this misunderstanding could never be resolved unless they admitted they were the same person.

“Let’s clarify. Until then, I’ll have to go underground for a while.”

“When?”

“Anytime. When do you want it to be?”