[NoName Minor Gallery]
[Today, the Professor is on a business trip to Korea University, so class is canceled! Kimo-ring! LOL]
Adella’s rescue episode, let’s binge-watch it now!
[Comments]
– Before that, make sure to search for ‘Bark’ on V-tube and watch the recently uploaded videos. Na-me’s real face appears!
└ Why do we have to watch our NoName on another V-tube? Upload some videos already, Editor!
– Oh wait, our professor also went on a business trip to Korea University, what a coincidence! LOL
– Wait, what was with Kariri’s special cameo at the end? LOL
Recently, Bark’s channel, which had seen a lull in view counts, regained its vitality.
An 8-year-old child playing the ‘Caprice No. 24’ on a 700 million won violin, a piece so difficult even experts struggle with, spontaneously played at Korea University—it was a thumbnail hard to resist clicking.
[Bark (Babo Crescendo) – 1.53 million views]
[We met the rumored genius child ‘NaName’! But performing Caprice No. 24 on a 700 million won violin?]
[View count 180,000 · 2 days ago]
Even those who had been distant from subjects like math or magic studies peeked in out of curiosity.
Preconceived notions about how outstanding an elementary student could or couldn’t be were shattered in an instant.
Music was that intuitive.
This phenomenon on the internet was evident even in the cringe-worthy comments.
[Best Comment]
– Mozart composed symphonies at 8 years old, could she be reincarnated? Too incredible. [Likes: 1.4k]
└ Life 2.0, LOL
└ I doubt I could do that even in my 2nd life… Maybe in my 200th life?
– I watched such a wonderful performance for free, so I turned on my data! [Likes: 2.2k]
└ No way! LOL
└ Data? LOL
└ The world is so great now, hearing an 8-year-old perform the violin from the comfort of my home.
– I lay down to watch, but I kneeled instead! [Likes: 1.9k]
└ What’s wrong with you? LOL
└ Why kneel? LOL
-(12:41) Isn’t that Kariri’s voice in the preview? Why is she speaking Japanese…? [Likes: 1.1k]
└ It’s a cover song by Kariri, LOL
└ The whole world is Kariri…
└ This was definitely NaName’s choice. That mischievous brat!
Kariri’s dark history resurfaced just when one least expected it.
This news finally reached Yoonseul’s ears.
In a dark room with no sunlight, only the computer screen flickered.
Seated in front of her desk, Yoonseul tightly clenched her fist, her fingertips trembling with anticipation.
“NaName, there’s no way you could imagine where I am right now, right?”
She hurriedly pulled out her phone from her pocket and sent a message.
Her glittery nail polish glinted occasionally.
[Seol Yoonseul: Na-me, I finally moved! Want to come over for my housewarming today?]
As she hit send, a manic smile blossomed on Kariri’s face.
*
“Minwoo, do you know who your sister is?”
“Nope? I don’t know.”
“Aww, you should at least know who treats you to food.”
Yoonseul’s question caused Baek Minwoo, who was busy eating Jajangmyeon, to blink in confusion.
He seemed to wonder why she was asking such a thing all of a sudden.
Meanwhile, Arin, with her mouth full of sweet and sour pork, raised her hand.
“I know! Isn’t she the sister who appears in the Miracle Wings commercial on TV? She sang there! Like, ‘Rise up, Phoenix!’”
“That’s not me…”
“Oh, now that you mention it, you do have a bit of a resemblance. Baek Arin, you have a good eye.”
“No way! How do we look alike!”
Seol Yoonseul, Baek Minwoo, and Baek Arin.
While the three of them were making a skit, I gazed out the window.
Apartment 40 floors up. The height allowed a sweeping view of Seoul’s cityscape.
“Na-me, don’t you want more sweet and sour pork?”
Yoonseul dragged herself over to me, offering her fork.
I shook my head. Lately, I’ve been eating a lot of leftovers and my stomach feels full.
Yoonseul’s eyes curved and suddenly, she performed an acrobatic stunt with the fork.
“Whooooosh! Are you really not going to eat this?”
The sweet and sour pork almost reached my lips.
“Nope, not eating it.”
“Guess there’s nothing I can do then.”
She tossed the fork and the sweet and sour pork onto the plate.
Then she started a mini brawl with Minwoo and Arin over the last piece of meat.
After a moment of happily watching them, I took a good look around the living room and shot a glance at Yoonseul.
“What’s going on here?”
“Huh?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“I have no idea what Na-me is talking about.”
Before I knew it, Yoonseul had returned to her Kariri persona and pretended not to know anything while whistling.
Just hours ago, I had been contemplating what gift to bring for Yoonseul’s housewarming after receiving a text about her move.
She brushed off the idea of needing a gift since we were close, but I was puzzled.
“Why did you move right above our house?”
“Hehe.”
Yoonseul made a nonchalant face and flashed a peace sign.
Right here is Parthenon Apartment, Unit 4003.
It’s only a straight-line distance of 3 meters from where Professor Cheon and I live. Twenty-one steps up the stairs.
I felt a bit burdened transitioning from acquaintances to neighborly friends with Yoonseul so quickly.
“Don’t stress too much about it.”
“After saying that, now I’m not supposed to worry?”
“Why not? Just come over occasionally for dinner, do morning calls, go to the VR theme park, the VR zoo, and the VR aquarium—how great would that be?”
“Why is everything virtual reality? Those are things you can do with or without being neighbors.”
“If you say you won’t do it, then I have no choice. But now that I can just barge in, it’s different!”
She surely held onto the details of the dark history from her last visit to Korea University.
See, she didn’t outright deny it.
“It’s unfair if I’m the only one suffering. I want to latch onto Na-me too.”
“… But we can’t hang out too often. Things have gotten busy again lately.”
“Since you’re allowing it, why do you act like you won’t? So, are we settled then? In that case, do you want to use my lap as a pillow?”
“Why again?”
While starving kids devoured Jajangmyeon, the television blared news.
Lying on Yoonseul’s legs as a pillow, drowsiness soon crept in. The fan’s breeze was particularly nice.
[Next news: Last month, A-ssi, charged with breaking into a Dongok-dong apartment, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempted murder and arson. It has been revealed that the representative of the apartment residents’ association deliberately concealed the incident to prevent a decline in property values. Reporter Lee Hyunguk covered this exclusively.]
Dongok-dong apartment?
The pixelated screen was unmistakably Kariri’s former home.
Straightening my head to look up at Yoonseul, she gave me an awkward smile.
“Did you move because of that?”
“Haha… Anyway, the people there are way too much! They kept shoving secret contracts in my face, so I got frustrated and just moved out. I know better than anyone how dangerous it is to sign those sorts of things casually.”
“Those bad guys.”
“Oh my, NaName, such pretty words!”
“That’s me being polite!”
Yoonseul certainly had her own struggles.
Though it might not seem like it, she possessed an air of maturity, as she was a working adult earning her own money.
I sometimes forgot she was still a minor.
I patted her head, expressing my approval.
“Na-me, you haven’t been streaming lately? I see Wagal is keeping at it.”
“When I stream, I have to deal with haters. I’m just duo-rank grinding with Adella. But the chances of Mephistopheles appearing are super low, making me question if this is even worth it. Not a single one has appeared so far.”
“Mephistopheles? Are you trying to level up your title?”
“Pretty much.”
Catching Mephistopheles, who only shows up as a neutral object in high-tier ranked games, became a long-term goal for battle plans.
Yoonseul bit her lower lip, deep in thought, then leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“What if you did virtual streaming to ease the pressure of showing your real face?”
“No way.”
“Whaaaat? That’s pretty harsh…?”
“Who does that virtual stuff? Oh wait, you do.”
“You… you’re just doing this on purpose! If you keep that up, Kariri will get hurt…?”
“But why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?”
“Ehehe. Curious? Are you that curious? If you’re that curious, then I’’m obligated to tell you.”
I really shouldn’t have asked that.
I had just spent an entire three hours trapped letting her explain until my ears bled.
“Guess what, I’m planning to start a virtual YouTuber company! It will be called ‘Safari Dream’!”
Safari what?
*
There was a 14-year-old girl whose life was a mess.
Chewing on bread soaked in tears, all she could see was a dark future, so she dove recklessly into a red ocean.
In a world of 8 billion people, there are no blue oceans.
Even if one were to carve out a blue ocean market, it would take just a month for a large corporation to swarm in and turn it into a bloodbath.
The virtual YouTuber market was also an ecosystem where the law of survival of the fittest applied, and the ultimate winner could gain immense wealth and fame.
“Virtual YouTubers aren’t that honorable, though…”
“Shhh! Just keep listening!”
Having streamed daily for four years without a break, Kariri had long since fallen into a burnout.
Her passion for streaming remained intact, but she suffered from immense mental fatigue.
Even when I advised her to take a break on hard days, her focus was solely on her fans.
Was it because she was too deeply immersed in roleplay, or was that just Yoonseul’s personality?
I wasn’t sure, but from the day she moved into my house, Yoonseul gained a new goal.
Though still dark, there was now a path she wished to illuminate.
“I had so many lonely moments. I’ve been scammed, faced lots of criticism, and made too many mistakes during collaborations because I wasn’t familiar with streaming. I’m sure there are still streamers who dislike me.”
“What could you have possibly done to be disliked?”
“I got Twish banned for two weeks because of me.”
“Hmmm… I see.”
New games and content continue to be released, but there is only one body.
This inspired Kariri.
She thought about how wonderful it would be to have fellow virtual YouTubers alongside her.
“I can share my knowledge with them, and the virtual YouTubers can collaborate and enjoy themselves…! We’ll create our own pond!”
That way, they wouldn’t need to scramble to set collaboration schedules with others.
I responded with a disinterested tone to Kariri’s grand plan.
“Can’t you just gather people? You have name recognition.”
“Only for the 2nd generation… But the 1st generation is no go…!”
“Why not?”
“The first must succeed without fail.”
It’s already a highly risky field for business failure.
She had thoroughly analyzed that the rise and fall of her virtual YouTuber company depended on the performance of the first group.
“It has to be a perfect gem that would succeed no matter who was present. That’s why I thought you would be perfect, Na-me…!”
“I’ll pass.”
“You’d look so cute streaming with a lion mask on…”
“I said I’ll pass!”
“So, are you not going to help me?”
“I don’t stream with that many people, and I have little experience. I don’t really know.”
“I see…”
Yoonseul’s enthusiasm waned a bit.
I absentmindedly scrolled through various V-tube videos on my phone when I stumbled upon a newly uploaded video from ‘Bark.’
“Oh, just uploaded it, huh?”
“Looks like it. They said two parts would be uploaded, and this seems to be the follow-up.”
“Na-me, you picked the Love Circulation, right? Do you know how much the viewers have teased you because of that?”
“Ah, but what should I do…”
“Why…?”
I quickly skipped ahead through the beginning of the video.
The clip showed Professor Pi Su-jeong’s performance winding down and my turn coming up.
“I didn’t just play the Love Circulation.”
“What!”
[Bark (Babo Crescendo) – 1.53 million views]
[‘NoName’ descends on ‘Maestro’! A medley of Japanese songs echoing through Korea University?!]
[View count 2.4k · 30 minutes ago]
[Best Comment]
– The Honey Badger class turning Korea University into Gyeongseong Imperial University! [Likes: 258]
– A medley of songs for Honey Bees (10:41) (11:42) (12:32) (13:04) (13:29) [Likes: 315]
└ The songs are good, but why the heck is it all Kariri covers? LOL
└ NoName, who bravely played those cringe songs, is a legend too! LOL
– The future of Korea University’s music department looks bright ^^
“You… you…!”
Yoonseul raised her voice.
“Why, it’s fun!”
“1st generation must be saved by you, Na-me! If not, I’ll be sulking forever!”
