A huge eel completely covering the white rice.
As I cut into the flesh with my chopsticks, fragrant steam wafts up.
I shove mouthfuls of the brown sauce-covered pieces into my mouth.
And then a bite of steamed egg, a sip of bonito broth—am I in heaven?
“Delicious…!”
With my one comment, my family bursts into laughter.
Ban So-wool’s father, Bae Il-gwon the Consul General, pushed side dishes of burdock stew and cod roe towards me.
I don’t eat vegetables, but out of goodwill, I guess I should pick up a chopstick-full.
“Burning calories to gain strength? Man, I thought you were a descendant of Genghis Khan! But do you really have calories to burn in that tiny body? Isn’t our So-wool too weak?”
“What do you mean? I’m the strongest in our department.”
“Yeah, the kids probably took it easy on you because you’re a girl.”
“Shall we have a duel here, Dad?”
“Sounds good. Honey, bring my war hammer from my room.”
Ban So-wool also put down her chopsticks and rolled up her sleeves.
Her mother swung a rice-smeared spoon and shouted.
“For crying out loud, both of you need to grow up, would you?”
“That’s why I got into Korea University’s Department of Philosophy!”
“Honey, I also tried to be mature yesterday by eating fresh sturgeon with my subordinates during our get-together.”
“Oh, I should’ve kept my mouth shut! Na-me, if you’re still hungry, I’ll give you more, so eat up!”
It may not be completely normal here, but as long as it’s all harmony, it’s good, right?
While we were having dinner, Bae Il-gwon the uncle was spinning his pen, pondering what to write in the recommendation letter.
“Kim Woong the Wizard wrote ‘A National Unrivaled,’ and Park Tae-seok the Wizard wrote ‘I support your youth,’ but it seems what they wrote doesn’t matter?”
“No. It’s just that being the youngest is a problem because it’s the drawing of straws, you see?”
“The youngest?”
“The one who writes the recommendations is the one with the lowest rank out of five… I may not be outclassed by others in rank, but they only take the veterans! I’ll think about it a bit more and write it by tomorrow. Is that okay?”
“Sure, I’d appreciate it.”
“Since you’ve come all this way, enjoy some delicious food and have fun. If there’s anything uncomfortable, talk to So-wool.”
After finishing dinner, I quickly washed my face, brushed my teeth, and changed into my pajamas.
I put on a headband and moved back to Ban So-wool’s bedroom.
“No bed?”
“Do you prefer a bed, Na-me? If it’s uncomfortable, I can bring you a mattress?”
“No, I don’t mind. I can sleep on the floor.”
I had even slept on rocky ground before, so a fluffy blanket is nothing.
While Ban So-wool brought my pillow and blanket, I called Professor Cheon on video call to check in.
I’m not sure if he was half-defeated or if he calmed down, but the atmosphere seemed fine.
As I hung up, Ban So-wool smeared a cold liquid on my cheek.
“Hmm? What’s this?”
“Aloe moisturizing cream. We have to protect your precious baby skin for a long time.”
While I was getting a facial massage, I realized my soles were tired.
In just 18 hours, I had traveled from home through Gangwon and Busan to arrive in Fukuoka.
“Was there a time when civilization was enjoyed this well, I wonder?”
I lay down to sleep but couldn’t fall asleep immediately.
Considering my usual bedtime, it was still a bit early.
“If you’re bored, do you want to watch V-tube?”
“Huh? Then what about you, sister?”
“I’ll enter virtual reality. Just lie back down while I set the projector on the ceiling.”
I had always been in the position of a creator making V-tube content rather than being a consumer; it was quite rare for me.
Ban So-wool entered the capsule and showed her appearance in virtual reality as a hologram.
“Have you ever seen the National Exchange Tournament?”
“I only watched last year’s finals and the games with Emika. I don’t know anything else except that it’s held as an individual competition.”
“They say this year, 64 people from 41 countries participated. Every match is a single-elimination tournament, so you just have to win 6 times to be the champion. Oh, and here’s the teaser.”
Following the path that the V-tube algorithm led me, I watched various videos.
Famous singers performed a theme song, the aspirations of each athlete, fans’ support, and more.
Apparently, promising players backed by their clans opened personal channels and uploaded documentaries and training videos.
Of course, Emika was no exception.
A video of a girl in a white uniform wielding a lightsaber with horns, casually, had easily surpassed 50 million views in just a week.
“Why is it so popular?”
Moreover, the official channel for the National Exchange Tournament compiled highlights from videos uploaded by the participants and posted an edited version.
It seemed as if they wanted to fuel the competition even before the tournament began.
[#11 Emika Katsuhata. She is a very strong favorite to win this year’s National Exchange Tournament. With the powerful weapon of triple casting and recently successful external manifestation, she has become a contender with no weaknesses. Remember, the moment Katsuhata’s sword turns red, the victory will rapidly tip to one side. And it won’t be yours.]
Emika’s duel scenes burst forth in a dazzling display along with some somewhat cringeworthy lines.
All the comments were unanimously positive.
[Best Comment]
-(07:39) No longer can we find the boring training of meditating under a waterfall in Japan. Katsuhata has absorbed all modern combat theories and has become so versatile that it can no longer discern between magic and aura’s advantage. [Likes: 6.4k]
└ A hardworking genius is terrifying.
└ A mediocre fighter!
└ Emika, who lost to a Hungarian nobody, a favorite to win?
└ Katsuhata was just 14 years old last year. A two-year age difference is massive for kids.
└ Apart from her mentality, she possesses perfect six-sided stats.
-(08:01): This scene is a favorite of my great-grandfather. Was the Last Jedi a Japanese? [Likes: 2.1k]
└ LOL my grandma said the same thing.
└ Wow, you know Star Wars?
-(08:23) A perfect sword technique that could be published in a textbook. I believe she deserves to enter the realm of legends after seeing her perfectly execute opposition through external manifestation. [Likes: 8.7k]
I scrolled through the comments while rewatching the video from the start.
It was the moment when Emika’s sword broke, and she immediately created a lightsaber to evade a crushing blow.
That part received a standing ovation from many.
“Hmm…”
Something doesn’t sit right with me.
As I paused the video, Ban So-wool promptly asked what the problem was.
“Is there a problem?”
“It’s this part. At 8 minutes 24 seconds and 25 seconds. The downward strike is called Shaitel-Hau; there’s no need to shift the center of gravity back here. Ah, it’s hard to explain verbally. Is there something I can grab?”
There was nothing suitable to replace a sword.
I explained in detail why Emika’s stance was problematic.
“Every attack has a corresponding defense, and there’s an attack that can be launched fastest from a defensive position. Looking at Emika’s stance, it seems she slowed the tempo to prepare for the opponent’s second strike; however, since the weight of the sword had changed, the opponent can’t respond that fast.”
That doesn’t mean it’s a bad posture.
It’s like missing a checkmate in four moves in chess.
“Even if the opponent is cautious and doesn’t pour all their strength into the first strike, if they just tilt their sword like this and go straight in, the lightsaber will get to their neck first, right?”
“I don’t quite understand, but okay.”
“If Emika knew she would summon the lightsaber, it’s a dead-end since the sword would have descended beyond that point. She must deliberately aim for the sword to expose the opening…but at that moment, if she correctly times her sword to strike down, the opponent’s upper body would be left vulnerable.”
“Whoa…! I don’t understand at all.”
“Anyway, that’s the theory. If I were to nitpick further, I could find points to improve the localized control of the external manifestation as well.”
“Na-me, you’re so cool, hee…”
If the intention was to just show the sword colliding to produce visuals, I wouldn’t have anything to say.
However, Emika’s responses were too natural, like flowing water.
Telling Emika about this now wouldn’t fix it in a day or two before the tournament.
Rather than agitating my mind just a day or two before the tournament, I quietly left a comment on V-tube.
-Hidden: (08:25) If this movement was unintentional, improvement seems necessary here. Given the shoulder rotation speed and stride length, it was clear it wasn’t a feint, yet Katsuhata Emika made one small mistake… (Read More)
“Hwaam I’m tired… What time is it now?”
After typing in my comment and checking the time, it was already two in the morning.
“Wait, it’s already two?!”
A yawn forced my mouth shut.
Ban So-wool seemed to have already fallen asleep in her capsule.
I switched the capsule to sleep mode and turned off all the internal lights.
I didn’t resist as my eyelids grew heavier.
The calm breeze from the fan, the fluffy blanket, and reflecting on the journey of over 1,000 kilometers from today, I fell into a deeper sleep than ever.
And the next morning.
The comment I wrote received a barrage of downvotes and over 300 replies!
*
[Overseas Magic Gallery]
[Embarrassing Self-Portrait.jpg]
One Korean person left a serious 13-line critique comment on the National Exchange Tournament official teaser directed at Katsuhata Emika, and the reaction is heating up enormously.
It has 300 likes but 5,000 dislikes, and replies are about to exceed 400!
Of all people, to be rapped by someone who has even successfully manifested externally, LOL.
(Question mark Pepe meme)
Some of you might think it’s ridiculous to make such a fuss over a V-tube comment, but already in overseas communities, it’s being labeled as Ugly Korean and spreading rapidly.
This time, Korea isn’t participating in the National Exchange Tournament, and because of this, they’re getting really hammered.
Not to mention this year, I don’t have much juicy content to roll with, it would seriously be an international embarrassment if the commentators for the National Exchange Tournament caught wind of this.
[Comments]
-Did Korea not participate? Couldn’t, really.
└ It’s true they didn’t participate; Costa Rica did, after all. How could Korean Wizards fall behind them?
-Hmm, account hidden… Looks like the big deal always gets the attention!
-He is Chinese.
-Stop it, how can you judge a feint based on stride length? Just looks like a total nerd.
└ It’s unreal to think that external manifestation is some switch you can turn on and off like that, LOL.
└ If you knew how difficult it is to bring aura outside as well… if you truly knew, you wouldn’t say that.
└ 99.999% chance an average person spat out nonsense from their brain.
-What, the official broadcasters of the National Exchange Tournament are gonna discuss the Korean critique?
└ Oh sh*t!
└ Please, that absolutely can’t happen…!
└ Laughter material for a lifetime, LOL.
[What wrong did the critique have for them to criticize him so much?]
Did he mention how to discern feint movement just with shoulders and stride?
Did he say the sword techniques were lacking against the Katsuhata Sect heir?
Did he assert that external manifestation is done wrong?
What exactly did (hidden) do wrong!!! (genuinely don’t know)
[Comments]
-He’s done for, LOL.
-There’s not a bad reply in sight, LOL.
-I think I understand why Japanese people are losing their minds.
└ A Japanese person critiques Na-me? I’d probably lose my cool right away, LOL.
-Respect for holding on without deleting it amidst this chaos.
└ Totally meaningless. Already spread everywhere in all kinds of communities.
-The worst part is he touched the sacred ground that is Katsuhata Emika. While I think he might be right on some points, it just went too far.
└ Where exactly is he right?
└ Sure, it was a bit defensive. I was expecting a more vigorous swing with the lightsaber.
[Finally, season 1’s critique responds!!! (Not fabricated!)]
The true critique finally replied. I’ve attached a screenshot with a link.
[-(Hidden): I’ll film a video and show you.]
Is the chance for a comeback here?
[Comments]
-What’s this confidence? LOL.
-This is kind of likable?
-I recognize that cocky guy.
-Popcorn time! LOL.
-He’s injecting some tension into the National Exchange Tournament!
-Let’s go~ Let’s go~
