SWNOVELXO Chapter 170
[Last week, I saw someone who looked just like NoName at the hospital.]
I know everyone hates it when I write embarrassing stuff here, but this is the only community I have, so please understand.
This person is hospitalized due to leukemia. I’m not here to lament my fate; I’m just here for a quick verification.
(Hb, RBC Count, Platelet Count image.jpg)
Since I’m in long-term hospitalization, there’s not much I can do, and watching streams while giggling is the only joy in life.
Anyway, I was on my way for a blood test when I saw a small kid, around 6 or 7 years old, sitting alone in the examination room.
Honestly, the patients getting tests here all have some part of their body in bad shape, so I just thought, “Aw, poor thing.”
The kid was getting ready for the next test and glanced at me for a moment, and I was like, “WTF?” because he looked exactly like NoName ㄷㄷ.
After watching NoName’s stream for ten hours a day, I thought I was finally losing my sanity, but no matter how much I think about it, it really seems like it was NoName.
Also, I remembered that the nurse sisters kept complimenting the kid on how cute he was, while they wouldn’t even look at me…
[Comments]
– NoName is 14, what are you talking about?
– Didn’t you say you’re in 2nd grade?
└ Yeah, probably in middle school.
– Isn’t he your little brother?
– Oh no, is there really two NoNames? Is this heaven?
– The last line was the key, haha!
– Was he pretty?
└ Eek, pedo!
└ (Author): You idiot, he was like a first-grader; no, he looked exactly like NoName’s main avatar!
└ I’m reporting you, bye now.
└ No, I meant the nurse, the nurse!
– Little kids all look similar, so you may have mistaken him.
└ (Author): I might have face blindness, but I remember his hair was really long.
– Maybe his parents dressed him up as NoName.
└ Imagine being born to parents who are stream addicts, hahaha, that’s already bleak.
[Since the bait is going around, I got a story about seeing NoName too.]
I didn’t see it myself, but it’s my friend’s story—was it at Dogok Station? Anyway, somewhere on the Line 3, he says he saw NoName.
But he says he looked exactly like the avatar, haha!
If he looks just like the avatar, then he should be a blonde, blue-eyed European model who speaks Korean fluently, right? Don’t joke around—I cursed him out.
Then he changed his story and said it was the main avatar?
So I told him to stop messing around. But as this bait about sightings keeps popping up, it seems like there might be someone else who looks like him.
[Comments]
– I’m the one who wrote right below, and I swear I saw him! I feel so wronged; I saw him going to school in an elementary academy uniform!
└ Really? Which one was it?
└ I didn’t ask that.
└ But how did you know he was in elementary?
└ He looked just like an elementary student!
– Isn’t that interesting?
– But NoName already confirmed he’s fourteen!
Rumors don’t spread linearly.
They always lie in wait beneath the surface, like flying fish that suddenly jump out.
And journalists are the fishermen who specialize in catching these fish.
If the fish don’t show up to others first, they won’t make a living; that is the fate of journalists, too.
“Seongmun, the editor wants to see you.”
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t know! Maybe he caught you slacking off playing AR games during work hours?”
“Ugh, how did he know? Am I really getting fired today…?”
QBS Game Magazine reporter Jang Seongmun took a deep breath as he faced his boss.
He rarely had the chance to meet someone at the level of department head, and Jang was quite satisfied with his job overall.
“Oh, Jang. I brought something you can only do after organizing viewer report data from this morning’s meeting.”
So it wasn’t a message to submit a resignation letter, and he inwardly sighed in relief.
“Yes, sir.”
“Investigating people is your specialty, they say.”
“Investigating people…?”
The request to investigate a person only applied to internet personalities.
And he remembered the bad experience from last year when the entertainment department head openly rejected the order to interview Seol Yoonseul, receiving significant disadvantages in his evaluation.
“Sir, actually, investigating people isn’t my main job; I review games…”
Investigating people was always a side task for him.
“Oh really? I heard you investigated that, what was it, ‘NoName’ recently?”
“Oh, NoName?”
“Then why is that?”
The department head explained what had been discussed at the morning meeting.
“Apparently, that kid is fourteen years old.”
“Oh yeah.”
“And he’s a genius.”
“Oh, for sure, a total genius.”
“I heard he posted something amazing on V-tube recently? Have you seen it?”
“No, sir, I’ve been so busy with work. What was it about?”
That was a lie. Jang had been pulling all-nighters doing the Resonance scenario quest.
“You’ll certainly understand! Because I’m from the arts, haha! Anyway, if it’s good quality, I’ll put you on the news talk program. Just check with your department head for details. Work hard, okay?”
“Oh yes…! But sir!”
“Hmm?”
“Isn’t it an unspoken rule in the industry not to feature young kids with talent on TV?”
Since the ‘Ham Cho-rong incident’, all news in the Republic of Korea has been taboo against featuring young children as the main subject.
It wasn’t legally defined, but the public would throw rocks at broadcasting stations each time, forming an unspoken rule.
Only the entertainment program Genius Discovery Team, which had maintained a long legacy since before that incident, possessed the privilege to cover such sanctuaries.
“Ah-ha! Hahaha! That event was from 30 years ago—30 years! Those who were hurling hate back then are now probably too blind to even read the articles! And this time it’s based on reports from tons of viewers, so there’s enough justification. You understand?”
“Ah yes, I’ll work hard!”
“Good attitude! Have a good day!”
Returning to his seat, Jang Seongmun pulled his hair as he watched NoName’s V-tube.
[#1 Brocard’s problem (1876)]
[#2 Erdős–Straus conjecture (1948)]
[#3 Weaire–Phelan structure optimization (1993)]
[#4 Collatz conjecture bound further to n^0.737 (1937)]
[#5 Moving sofa problem upper bound improvement (1966)]
[#6 Twin prime conjecture (1849)]
[#7 Strong Goldbach conjecture (1742)]
“I’m from the arts too, damn it…”
If NoName’s proof were true, it would definitely be a scoop, as her subscribers kept reporting to the broadcasting station.
And Jang Seongmun had to pull all his contacts to find someone to verify this.
*
In contrast to Na-me’s team struggling at Wagal, the team made up of five Challengers in League of Legends was already considered a top contender for victory before the tournament started.
Due to qualifying matches, the LoL collapse tournament began five days earlier than usual.
With the 32 and 16 team preliminaries nearly wrapping up, there was now just one step left to reach the 8-team finals.
“WAAAAAAH! Is this even possible!”
“NoName! NoName! NoName doesn’t stop! NoName is running! NoName is beating up Ornn until he actually dies!”
“Earlier, we were 8000 gold behind! Now it’s down to just 1000! We’ve practically turned around what seemed like an unfavorable game!”
“Are you a tank? What are you going to do? I’m a dealer. In the late game, dealers are the best! Awesome! Who would have guessed that the Ornn who got 10 kills would fall so easily like this!”
The cheers echoed loudly in the stadium.
The audience caught up in excitement and the commentators shouting their throats out were all focused on the match deciding the final entrant…
35 minutes and 50 kills.
As soon as eyes met, neither team could keep their cool and fought head-on, plunging the outcome of the match further into chaos.
One side was a team comprised of three former professionals.
As seasoned pros, they violently pressured the top and mid while cornering Na-me’s team.
However, despite the arms and legs of the top split champion being cut off and the jungler starved for 15 minutes, the other team kept believing in Na-me and focused solely on the ADC’s growth.
In a situation where the team was overwhelmingly losing, only the ADC was barely keeping up in gold.
And with just one team fight, the unfavorable game turned around completely.
“Looking at NoName, I feel like I’m watching a machine. Our top got solo killed three times? It’s fine, RS is getting 12 kills per minute. Our mid was also caught on the side? It’s fine; the support who was trying to check the vision died. I don’t know how many times he’s saved the team in crisis moments with the best judgment!”
“Exactly! It’s really scary. There’s no fear. Compared to them, the ‘Trident’ team is clearly showing signs of fear. Just by NoName making a move, they’re panicking and wasting their flash for no reason.”
“He seems to have an extraordinary ability to gauge the distance between champions. NoName is a master of Asteria, right? A long-range ADC like this is so hard to handle!”
“Yes! He hasn’t played yet due to fill ban, but even if he’s currently a 2-tier champ, we can’t hastily let him go considering how he will change things!”
“It might be too late to say this now, but we should not give long-range ADCs to NoName!”
“Oh! Oh, another team fight is about to begin! As soon as eyes meet, they start growling at each other! Again!”
A battle unfolded with a total of 10 people.
The ground shook, smoke began to rise.
NoName emerged from the flames carrying a cannon on his shoulders.
He waited for the moment when all attacks were focused on him to bait out the skills.
“AAAAAAAAAH! If we can’t catch NoName here!”
“If we mess this up, it’ll be over! We can’t die any more. As soon as I say that, NoName ruthlessly takes the kills! Quadra kill!”
“This team is strong… especially NoName. The teams that will meet them in the finals should prepare well. They returned even stronger recently.”
“We’re going to the quarter-finals! The long and arduous game ends at 41 minutes and 30 seconds!”
“GG!”
An overwhelming sense of tension left no room for the team to even savor the feeling of victory.
With adrenaline surging, Na-me’s teammates, momentarily dazed, stared at the crumbling enemy fortress.
As they felt the shouts of the audience down to their skin, they finally shared in the joy of advancing to the finals.
“YEEEEEES, WE DID IT!”
“Ugh, that was so hard this game… I don’t want to play top again…”
“Hey, Min-jun, you died 8 times! Is that what you have to say? Huh.”
“Thanks for your hard work, Na-me. We really fell behind due to ban/pick.”
“If we won, that’s all that matters.”
The opponent they met even from the preliminaries was a strong contender for victory.
In terms of teamwork alone, they could even be seen as the stronger team.
However, as time passed, Na-me’s team continued to improve their synergy and could achieve a perfect victory in the last team fight.
[Time – 41:34]
[NoName(Kalua) – 16/1/7]
[Total Damage Dealt – 43.8K]
“Get ready for the interview!”
They had to pick someone for the winner’s interview, but Na-me had to duck out early.
“Are you kidding me? Do you have to rush right back to Wagal’s scrim practice?”
“Yeah. The game took longer than I expected, so I should hurry.”
“You really live a busy life.”
“Hey, Na-me, what would you have done if we had to play one more set? What’s with the confidence?”
“It’s just the preliminaries; losing doesn’t make sense. See you later.”
Without a moment to enter a private room, Na-me immediately started Wagal.
[NoName: Sorry for the delay because the tournament took longer; I’ll be right in.]
[NoName: Kariri?]
[Kariri: Oh, yeah! Hurry up; everyone’s waiting!]