After Na-me’s broadcast ended, the chat window buzzed for a few more minutes.
The disappointment of having to wait days to see it again, the anticipation for the finals of the National Exchange Tournament, and the touching stories shared by viewers.
Amidst the various conversations, a buffering signal appeared again on the black screen.
– ???
– What’s this?
– Don’t tell me they’re broadcasting again?
– Damn, I was counting on it~
– Da-na-me!!!
If the broadcast were interrupted due to network errors or DDoS attacks, there was a feature to retain broadcast data and reconnect quickly.
The screen remained black, but the voice turned on.
[Saetbyeol, is something happening outside?]
[I’m hungry again. Let’s go have lunch.]
[The broadcast has ended.]
– Huh?
– What’s this? An error?
– Na-me, it’s lunchtime~~
– Who’s Sephira?
– What’s the bug?
– Didn’t they say ‘Saetbyeol’?
– Oh no!
– Please refrain from mentioning regular people.
– I heard it too: ‘Saetbyeol’ they said.
Saetbyeol wasn’t exactly a common name.
With only 5,000 people sharing it in Korea, it made a perfect snack for time billionaires.
And it was just a matter of time before overseas residents, who weren’t afraid of penalties under the Personal Information Protection Act, found Gu Ryong High School’s 2nd grader Cheon Saetbyeol.
[Isn’t this the NoName Unni?][139]
(Cheon Saetbyeol Instagram screenshot.jpg)
Same ‘Cheon’ as Na-me’s father.
Attending 2nd grade at Gu Ryong High School. (Na-me’s home is in Gangnam District)
The profile picture background is a rapeseed flower garden in France’s Champagne Region.
Her hairstyle is similar, and her features definitely scream non-ordinary person.
The rest of her posts were on a private account, so we couldn’t see them, but it seemed almost certain…?
[Comments]
– Is NoName’s family doxxing? That’s really bold.
└ (Author): I live in Paraguay, yeah, come at me if you can.
– Looks just like the rapeseed flower garden in Jeju Island, how do you know it’s France? ㄷㄷ
└ I’m a ranker on GeoGuessr, and it’s definitely France. The road shape and the guardrail are dead giveaways.
– Commenting here feels a bit scary, haha;;
– Wow, her looks are ㅎㄷㄷ
– If you’re from Gu Ryong High, show yourself!
[My friend attends Gu Ryong, so I’m here to clarify the facts.]
I wrote this based on what I asked my friend.
First off, it’s a fact that NoName Unni is at the school.
She sometimes shows Na-me’s photos to her classmates to keep them quiet, they say.
Her mixed heritage might make her look foreign (she seems to be adopted).
Born in Korea, she obviously speaks Korean well.
My friend says she’s pretty, has great proportions, and is such a social butterfly that it’s surprising no rumors have surfaced yet.
[Comments]
– How scared must she be to be mentioning Thor too? hahaha
– At this point, it feels almost certain, right?
– NoName Unni is said to resemble the character Adella from Wagal. Search it up if you don’t know!
└ 2222
└ A friend of mine, no kidding.
└ She resembles Adella and is pretty? That’s hard to believe!
└ Originally, looks often come from subtle differences.
└ Wow, I can’t imagine that hahaha.
– Showing Na-me’s photos to keep them quiet, hahaha.
└ This totally reminds me of King Nyang hahaha!
[NoName Unni Private Post Collection.jpg]
(Photo.jpg)
(Photo.jpg)
…
Why am I following this? hahaha
10 seconds until explosion.
[Comments]
– Wow, are you kidding?
– So pretty!
– Looks like a manga character.
– How did you even see this?
– Is this really Adella…?
[Was that earlier private post real?]
[Deleted right after I clicked it, ugh!]
[Someone post it again, I wanna see it too.]
[Look at the comment regen rate, everyone’s here.]
[In an hour, the semifinals start, and we get this juicy news, haha.]
[Earlier, I’m the Paraguay author. I’m reposting instead of the original post.][185]
“Republic of Korea! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!”
At the Gu Ryong High School national team accommodations, in the 1st floor small auditorium’s tactical conference room.
Abeoji, Cheon Saetbyeol, and the national team staff watched the semifinals.
[Katsuhata dives in fiercely as Adella! Over 20 consecutive hits, that’s quite dangerous!]
[Oh wow…! Love Kim effortlessly counters! She looks quite light on her feet today; she needs to keep this concentration until the end of the match.]
[Here comes Love Kim’s counterattack! Love Kim! Love Kim! Will she break through Japan’s fortress-like defense?!]
Every second, Love Kim casts localized barriers, creating powerful explosions.
Emika meets the timing perfectly with her precise swordplay, cutting through Mana streams.
Their movements released a multitude of colorful auras, swirling after them.
The tense balance infused the air with a smothering tension that seeped into our arms.
And then came the heavy blow to break that balance.
Love Kim leapt into the air.
Gathering ten floating mana droplets in mid-air, she brings them crashing down onto the floor.
KA-WHAAM!
Emika dodged back to evade the shockwave.
By then, Love Kim’s wand had completed its transformation.
It resembled Mikhail Balabanov’s battle axe.
With the battle axe transformed wand in hand, she charged forward with mass correction.
The Japanese sword and battle axe clashed, spewing sparks everywhere.
Even then, Emika maintained minimal contact, reducing the backlash to the least possible.
Truly, a high-level match fit for the semifinals.
But limits exist even for that.
THUNK!
Love Kim swung her battle axe like a baseball bat and knocked Emika away with her sword.
SCRAAAAASH!
Mid-flight, Emika slammed her sword into the ground, regaining her footing.
And now Love Kim’s long-range attack was ready.
[Creation: Hyperbolic Metamaterial]
[Casting: Thermal Transfer – Radiation]
[Co-Casting: Super Flankian Radiative Transfer]
FLASH!
The flashes from both sides crossed at the center and merged into one.
As Emika lost her timing to counter, a white beam surged towards her.
KA-WHUM!
A gigantic pillar of fire burned its path.
The commentators’ voices rose at that moment.
[Hit! It’s a hit! Wow, this incredible heat! Love Kim with full power… Huh?]
[Katsuhata Emika, are you actually holding up under this? No way, don’t kid me! Oh no!]
They exhaled in agony.
EEEEEENG–!
Strange noises came from Emika’s sword.
An eerie sound, like a blend of a bell and a typhoon.
A spiral, disc-shaped mana mass spun rapidly and swept over the arena like a boomerang.
The two blades cut through only the tails of the magic circles with chilling precision.
Blocking supply Mana from the magic circle as Giselle Fischer showcased in the quarterfinals.
Emika performed this incredibly rare technique, considered impractical.
And she managed to do it with two simultaneously, from a distance.
Love Kim’s magic circles shattered as mana began to backflow.
Emika cast three acceleration magic circles with her triple casting.
It plunged straight ahead.
And slashed diagonally.
A massive amount of aura drawn up from the earth was contained within a single thin line.
AHH! That was a clean hit! Can the barrier withstand this?
Love Kim collapsed onto the floor.
The crimson aura enveloping her faded, losing intensity.
We could anticipate the match results from the upper left barrier status table.
[Semifinal Match 126]
[Time: 28:15]
[LOSE: Love Isabel Kim (Republic of Korea)] [☠9% (Total Destruction) / 58%]
[WIN: Katsuhata Emika (Japan)] [66% / ⚠17% (Irrecoverable)]
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-!
“AAAH! Evah! You mean to say we lose to that!”
In the small auditorium, Cheon Saetbyeol was the first one to rip through her hair.
“Ugh…”
“Did it really end up like this? Unbelievable, sigh…”
“Now we just have to rely on NoName. Love could’ve won, but it’s such a shame, right?”
The related personnel sighed one after another.
[Regrettably, the domestic war for the Republic of Korea did not come to fruition. Japan narrowly defeated Love Kim, leaving 17% on the barrier. This makes it the second consecutive finals appearance for defending champion Katsuhata Emika.]
[As the rumors suggested, Katsuhata Emika was indeed strong. There were moments where she was almost defeated, leading to a greater sense of loss, but it was a beautiful match. A big applause for Love Kim, who fought fiercely as well.]
Highlights of the semifinal matchup were broadcasted.
While Saetbyeol diligently surfed her phone for gallery posts, I was analyzing the players’ strengths and weaknesses next to my father.
“Dad, Emika seems to be practicing that last move, right? It doesn’t seem easy to come up with that on the spot.”
“Seems she was trying to use the counter-magic technique but switched tracks right away. She’s recycling Adella’s magic.”
“So she probably intended to use it as a counter to Adella’s counter. But the situation aligned perfectly.”
“AAARRRGH! What is this?!”
Saetbyeol’s yell made me instinctively cover my ears.
“What’s up?”
“Look at my Instagram account. Why are there so many follow requests? This isn’t from my Vtuber account; it’s definitely my account…!”
At the same time, I checked the multiple alerts ringing on my phone.
I hadn’t had the chance to check while engrossed in the match.
[Ibo-reum: Hurry and tell Saetbyeol to close her Instagram!]
[Seol Yoonseul: Is this okay? They’re digging into new information about me… ?]
—
[Streamer Gallery]
[Analysis) Suspected NoName Unni, Cheon OO, Adella Proxy Broadcast]
I’ll try to narrate while minimizing reference to personal information.
(Timeline.jpg)
As you can see, Adella rarely streamed before 6 PM on weekdays.
If Cheon OO is a current high school student attending school, then that reason makes perfect sense.
(Stream Record.jpg)
The claim that Adella was fake from the start lacks credibility.
Handling a continuous 168-hour broadcast without even showing signs of fatigue is an impossible feat for any human.
(Asaneko Adella Residency.jpg)
So why did NoName Unni choose to proxy broadcast for the infinitively running ASI?
Although Adella exists solely in the virtual world, she is indeed a sentient being.
Thus, NoName got Japanese residency for Adella, and all revenue was funneled there.
The consensus so far is that NoName was likely coveting the vast revenue Adella generates.
However, the suspicious part is how strikingly similar Cheon OO and Adella’s appearances, voices, and speech patterns are.
If Cheon OO had been broadcasting for a long time, it would be hard to judge purely by personality or speech.
But looking at their looks, it seemed as if an automatic avatar was generated based on their real-life looks.
It could certainly be coincidence, but some speculate that Wearsoft might have covertly taken DNA information from a random refugee for free when creating avatars. (It’s said they come out way better quality than automatic generation, of course.)
Furthermore, the sudden cessation of Adella’s Vtuber activities while everyone was focused on the National Exchange Tournament raises suspicions as well.
In any case, NoName should come out and clarify something quickly.
[Comments]
– That’s creepy, having an ASI that looks just like you without knowing.
– That doesn’t mean you can just take Adella’s place, right?
└ Yeah, can’t justify that.
└ Is that you again, CrimeSoft?
– Give us our Adella back! 😭😭😭
– Proxy broadcasting is just a betrayal… Everyone believed the game characters were the ones actually streaming.
“How’s it…?”
I reviewed all the community reactions that Saetbyeol showed me.
Though it was buried beneath the news of the National Exchange Tournament semifinals, the spark wasn’t completely extinguished.
By tomorrow, it would likely flare up again.
“Unni, you should’ve checked better if the broadcast was off.”
“Can’t argue with you. Sorry.”
I never thought I’d hear such a thing from Saetbyeol.
I found myself hugging my knees in a pensive ball mode.
Especially since Adella’s core fans held significant animosity towards the ‘Cheon Saetbyeol’ figure.
I figured it wouldn’t clear up until they admitted they were the same person.
“Let’s admit it. Until then, I’ll have to lay low.”
“When?”
“Anytime. When do you want?”
