NOVEL NEXT Chapter 681
Dramatic BGM blared as I lowered my voice to its lowest.
“Allow me to introduce…”
-?
-Oh
-Drumroll
-Is something big coming?
-Hurry up and come in!!
Eek-
“Duke University Doctor of Theory of Aura Studies…!”
A monk slowly walked in through the door.
“For seven consecutive years, ranked first as the most influential martial artist in the world by Forbes…!”
He fluttered his Shaolin robes and elegantly took a seat.
“And the two-time consecutive winner of the World’s Best Martial Arts Tournament in 1935 and 1936, with only five such winners in nearly a century from China!”
[‘눈도오고그래서’ donated 10,000 won!]
-What?? The room leader is totally crazy, right?
[‘알트탭탭탭’ donated 3,000 won!]
-I just witnessed pure evil.
“Here is Elder Yeondam from Shaolin! Let’s greet him.”
“Greetings. I am Yeondam, assigned as a judge for the World’s Best Magic Duel Tournament. Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to join us.”
Chat channels started popping up like mushrooms.
The chat’s firepower was no less than an army of 100,000.
And at this rate, we’d reach 100,000 viewers in no time.
“It seems everyone recognizes you. The reaction is quite warm, Elder.”
“Is that so? That’s a relief, hmmm…”
“Please call me NoName Wizard. I’ll also call you Elder Yeondam, if that’s okay?”
“Oh! Of course, NoName Wizard.”
Yeondam’s height made it so that the top of his head barely came into the frame.
I adjusted the chair height to the maximum while lowering his to balance it out.
Once the optimum camera setting was complete, I sat cross-legged on my chair.
“It seems no one expected you to come out, Elder Yeondam.”
“Haha. I would have thought so too.”
“Why? You’re quite the authority figure here. When it comes to martial arts factions in China, it’s Shaolin. And with Shaolin, it’s Elder Yeondam.”
“Haha…”
Yeondam smiled but didn’t say anything further.
-HAHAHA
-Just brushing against him is a critical hit!
-The person who should never have come, just showed up, LOL.
-Judge of the Martial Arts Tournament: Elder from Shaolin.
-Live dopamine levels going crazy, this is a must-see, haha!
-Now is the plot where the Heavenly Demon takes off the room leader’s head and enters the World’s Best Martial Arts Tournament?
└ Isn’t that a situation that should never happen, though, LOL?
-You again, Heavenly Demon’s return, Na-me rebirth…
-I was just wondering if a bald would turn red if scratched…
└ That really scratches it right, LOL.
“In our journey to the finals, since we’ll be meeting often, I hope we can clear up any misunderstandings. I don’t dislike Shaolin.”
“Hmmm?”
“If I truly disliked it, I’d just ignore it. I wouldn’t hold onto it in my heart. But if there’s some affection towards someone, sometimes we want to clear away the stains together. To brush them off and extend our hands towards a better path.”
Shaolin energy was a massive tumor residing within Shaolin itself.
And there’s no way Yeondam wouldn’t know about those related to this matter.
“Wow… Honestly, when I first heard that NoName Wizard is only ten years old, I found it hard to believe… Meeting you now, I’m truly amazed at how someone at such a young age can possess this depth and wisdom.”
“Hmm.”
“But the cost of cleaning the stains is incredibly painful. Haha.”
“Ugh.”
[‘바게뜨세일’ donated 10,000 won!]
-???: Give me the laundry fee (2 trillion won).
-It’s not easy today, NoName contestant! The opponent is Tenback’s ironclad defense!
-I only saw them through low-quality ads, but in reality, their skills are amazing.
-Winning the Martial Arts Tournament or getting a doctorate from Duke, achieving just one would be impressive.
Yeah, let’s leave the getting-to-know-each-other for later.
“Elder, there may be candidates you like, but let’s aim to look at at least one new one each day.”
*
As I contemplated the video, I suddenly asked,
“What are some ways we can live happily, Elder?”
“In Buddhism, it is said that not suffering is happiness. So, shouldn’t we lower the high expectations we have of others?”
“Oh, oh.”
I began to listen closely to Yeondam’s long speech.
“I’ve learned statistically that most marital disputes stem from high expectations of a spouse. Similarly, parent-child relationships often sour due to excessive expectations of the child.”
“That makes sense.”
“Don’t concern yourself with others’ lives, and don’t worry too much about how others perceive you. If you’re obsessed with personal relationships, you’ll never be happy. Drop your greed once, set aside your pride twice, and focus on your own life. We are all beings capable of living without suffering.”
“I see. I’ve realized that what I considered suffering wasn’t these trashy videos, but rather my own frustrated feelings towards others. Thank you, Elder Yeondam.”
“Hmm?”
Bowing respectfully, Yeondam followed my lead.
Tap tap…
[Disqualification reason: Understanding of the Aura Cycle is lacking by a lot ×100.]
Not even knowing what a herbivore is, I permanently discarded the video of me showing off my Imperial Palace Swordsmanship.
-Haha, I’m furious, Na-me!!
-Na-me, your head shines!
-Did we really teach our precious one correctly? LOL!
-Na-me is too mad, LOL.
-Nobody can withstand Na-me’s anger.
I reviewed 100 candidate videos that the staff and production team had initially filtered.
And what did I find?
‘Is this what they call herbivores?’
I was shocked to learn that such low-tier martial arts existed in the world.
Though, perhaps they were merely imitating high-tier martial arts.
Noh, the elementary kids’ videos were at least cute.
[Hello! I am! Wangseok Elementary School! 3rd Grade! Class 1! Kim So-yeon!]
“Wow, she’s younger than me! Are people really still being born in 2045?”
A video that looked like it was filmed by a Taekwondo instructor.
WHIP!
One little girl broke a thin board with her knife hand.
As this video played, I couldn’t help but beam and shower her with praises.
“Look at So-yeon’s knife-hand strike! She’s keeping all that wasted aura through her ten toes! I want to highly commend that tenacity! Thumbs up, thumbs up!”
-Double thumbs up!
-No matter how I look at it, she’s just clenching her toes, LOL.
-Stop right there!
-Oh dear, Na-me, are you not passing her?
-If she did well, then pass her!
[Now it’s the instructor’s turn!]
Hyaaa!
Ka-Booom!
Her instructor performed three spins in mid-air and broke ten boards.
“Disqualified. She forced her airtime, which threw off her body’s axis, so her timing is completely off. The balance is in shambles right now. Moreover, here, just the act of jumping counts as one herbivore. So she demonstrated two.”
“I agree with NoName Wizard’s opinion. The starting stance for Taejo Kwon-Do or the beginning of Biyeonggak is exactly the same as her current posture. If the aura flows through the shoulder, it’s Taejo Kwon-Do; if it returns through the knee, it’s Biyeonggak.”
-These kids are so ruthless to adults…
-Haha!
-Stop with the reality check!
-At this rate, will there even be a candidate by today? LOL.
-First-come, first-served 100 people ← it really didn’t matter, LOL.
-It was right to have a system where those who could do it would rise.
The filtered videos reached this level.
At this point, suspicion arose.
What if there had been some mistake and the staff had given us the wrong ones?
What if we truly overlooked a hidden expert?
“Manager, could you send us one of the discarded videos, please?”
Wangseok Elementary 3rd grader Kim So-yeon had also reached us through a 10:1 competition.
Then we had to ask, what on earth could a discarded video be like from the perspective of an average person?
[Manager 8: I’ve sent it to you via email!]
Clicking on the video.
Before us appeared a long-haired old man walking on a calm lake while playing the flute.
Pipi-pi—
-???
-Why is this getting disqualified?
-They should have evaluated this earlier, LOL.
-The hidden expert has appeared!
The old man suddenly dropped the flute into the lake.
Splash…
Out of nowhere, he pulled out a dagger from his sleeve and dashed across the lake.
-What the?!
-Is this possible?
-Woah, no way!
-The skills are insane, wow…
The scorching sunlight reflected off the blade, creating an optical illusion as if the light split in two.
A clean and precise slice.
The split droplets of water formed a double rainbow.
Just when I thought everything seemed like a scene from a movie.
Elder Yeondam and I simultaneously fell deep into thought.
‘Is that even possible…?’
The manager revealed the truth.
[Manager 8: This video has been enhanced by AI~]
“Ah!”
“Haha.”
“Why pull such a trick…? It’s bound to be caught when we run it through the program anyway.”
-Oh my gosh, LOL.
-Has the winner already appeared? LOL.
-Old man Na-me punch, right there!
-Our Na-me doesn’t use such crude language, sob.
Sighing, I returned to the original file I was watching.
Though boosting the broadcast’s tension was a broadcaster’s duty.
The quality of the applicants’ videos was so poor that it was hard to find content.
‘Is it because it’s the first day…? It’ll get better as we go along, right?’
Pouting my lips like a duck, I slumped over the desk.
-Na-me is starting to get bored,ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Someone fill the dopamine quota.
-Duck Na-me.
-Goose-down Na-me.
“Ugh, it’s all falling apart… it’s tanking…”
Right when I felt like my carefully crafted content was bombing completely.
[19748913275.mp4]
Our broadcasting savior appeared.
“This person is…!”
“Do you know Na-me Wizard?”
A middle-aged woman slightly shorter than average stood before a rock as tall as herself, neatly tied back hair with a black scrunchie.
[Mom, go for it! You can do it!]
Encouraged by her daughter’s fervent cheers, the mother assumed a prayer position and took a deep breath.
Thud thud thud…
The ground shook, and small grains of sand bounced around the shadow of her shoes.
She stepped into the vital stance.
Just one foothold was enough.
Her right hand extended forward.
The mana gloves trembled.
Boom!
The rock cracked with a deep sound, and a clear line stretched across to the other side.
“Ahㅠㅠㅠ”
“It didn’t breakㅠㅠㅠ”
“That challenger was kind of cool.”
“Her strength is incredible ㄷㄷ”
For some reason, the rock didn’t shatter.
But the daughter, with her red hair, jumped in joy and ran to hug her mother.
“This is my academy friend, Seo Yu-na. This is her mother.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Until three years ago, she suffered from Multiple Sclerosis.”
“Really?”