NOVEL NEXT Chapter 695
“Hmph, I’m not going to show you anymore. What’s the big deal about some bouncing breasts?”
– So Na-me
– Na-me is sulking, haha!
– Survived another purging today.
– Where’s the witch sister,ㅠㅠㅠ
I wrapped myself in a blanket and moved on to Round 1 of the physical contest.
[‘rororo’ donated 10,000 won!]
– Positive Man and Negative Man combo is hilarious, hahaha!
“What, Positive Man Negative Man?”
While the viewers were laughing and chatting, I couldn’t join in on the conversation.
Turns out it was a term referring to the two judges of the Heavenly Demon Tournament.
[Even if it may seem like an ordinary skill, the sincerity contained in your blistered fists is clearer than anything else. I felt your passion to constantly explore your limits, just like a droplet of water striking a rock. If you continue this effort, surely greater achievements await you. Unfortunately, you have been eliminated.]
[Huh?]
[You have been eliminated.]
Knock, knock, knock, knock—
Positive Man Yeondam gave a harsh elimination after showering me with compliments.
[Everything is fine, but it seems you completely misunderstood the great cycle of aura and harmony of yin and yang.]
[Ah…]
[Every time you swing the sword, the aura keeps splitting at your wrist. This is proof that the flow of the sword and the flow of the aura are not properly synchronized. This minor difference makes your technique clumsy. Explore deeper from now on. It’s about survival.]
[Huh?]
[Survival! Next!]
Without even looking back, Negative Man Koizumi headed off to his next victim.
– Can’t predict the next turn of events, haha!
– I think this duo is the funniest part, haha!
– The monk remixing the Heart Sutra as background music is hilarious!
“Was that really such a special scene? It’s just ordinary skill, everything’s fine. They already provided reasons for evaluation, right?”
– Oh…?
– “Even if it may seem like an ordinary skill” ← The monk doesn’t overlook the ordinary.
– “Everything is fine” ← It really was all fine.
– So this was legit, haha!
– Why didn’t I realize that even after watching it twice? Haha!
Both of them had clearly established their characters since episode 1, resulting in lots of memes floating around.
‘Compared to them, do I have anything special?’
I didn’t make the judging complicated.
I always added friendly explanations for the viewers to consider.
– Show that thing!
– Hurry, bring it here, haha!
– Na-me can’t hold back after being edited to look like a demon, haha!
Ding-!
[Video shared – ‘PictureGiraffe’ shared for 20,000!]
Not knowing what would appear next, I clutched the blanket tightly and gulped.
[Fall from the building!]
[Trapped in a narrow room!]
[Stepped on your foot!]
[The cat does fine, but you’re a loser! Dummy! Nyah!]
“Hey! This isn’t fair. When did I say that…!”
I was so shocked, I lost my words.
The series of defamatory videos continued.
[Wamu-mu was giving everyone a pass.mp4]
[Because she’s short, when a contestant jumps she’s not visible.mp4]
[Shaking her head because she doesn’t want to judge.mp4]
– Fact) This is actual broadcast footage.
– These are all known scenes~
– Cutting it all horizontally is too much, haha!
– It’s too cute how Na-me gets pieced together.
– Oh no, the room leader has hidden under the blanket.
– Na-me, don’t do that!
As I waited for the video to end while hiding under the blanket…
[Hello, participant number 19, Eun-ri-hwa. It’s already your third judgment. Are you prepared?]
I peeked my face out again.
Eun-ri-hwa, recognized by all the judges as the first additional qualifier.
“I was a little moved at that moment.”
She has quite a story, but I didn’t want to spoil anything, so I held my tongue.
– Honestly, isn’t that a great scene from episode 1?
– Eun-ri-hwa is the only one whose four evaluation scenes were shown.
– She seems like a comedy character just by looking at her face.
– Isn’t she the winner, building narrative ahead of time?
– No, no, the tournament is still ongoing, even the production team doesn’t know.
A short stature, her face covered in freckles, a woman in her late 20s.
[What I prepared is the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, a spoof re-enactment.]
[Oh, I see! It’s one of the top martial arts in action action shops right now.]
Since the preliminary rounds, I was already intrigued by Eun-ri-hwa.
The Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms by Stephen Chow is more a comedy than an action genre.
In games, veteran players often use it to defeat bosses in outrageous ways.
But how would she apply that in reality?
Hoo…
Like a dragon rising from a deep pond, she leaped high.
During the ascent, the compression of aura, and during the descent, the rotation of aura.
And then…
Uaaah!
Slide—
She fails to land and skids across the ground.
But that too was intentional.
The materials of ascent and descent generate a whirlpool.
Before long, Eun-ri-hwa, standing on her hands, spins her legs around.
Pop, pop, pop, pow—!
In the blink of an eye, smoke exploded in five directions on the set.
[Eun-ri-hwa, could you freely explain the technique you demonstrated?]
A moment to prove herself before the judges.
Eun-ri-hwa once spoke to me in an urgent voice.
[Stephen Chow’s Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms starts from failure. I really liked that.]
[Failing the landing, falling oddly… But it creates a reversal in another way.]
[It might look entirely comical and clumsy to others, but within it, there’s a struggle to hold on.]
[It’s a technique that fits perfectly with my life, which by society’s standards has completely failed.]
[I live in a tiny three-pyeong room in Hong Kong, so I’m used to small spaces! I practiced hard day and night for several days. It may not catch your eye, but…]
She was genuinely a woman with low self-esteem.
Sometimes she stammered, and she couldn’t meet my gaze properly, which was much younger than her.
So I asked her once again.
[Eun-ri-hwa, is that all for the explanation of your technique?]
[Yes.]
[Honestly, what I felt from your technique is, ah, it’s suffocating, I can’t breathe. It’s cramped.]
[Ah… ]
[Eun-ri-hwa’s hula hoop should be the same size as the other participants. With her smaller stature, she should actually have a slight advantage in utilizing space than others.]
[Yes…]
[Right now, something unknown is imposing limits on you. The philosophical material using mythos? Perfect. The skill of fully opening the Aura Heart and distributing aura to your fingertips and toes is excellent.]
[Then what more, er, what should I do?]
[Don’t think that the space you can move in is too small. Even if you’re trapped in a narrow room, your heart can transcend through those walls. Open the window of your mind and broaden your field of view.]
For her, it must have been frustrating.
Her internalization of imagery was perfect.
I don’t know where she learned it, but she also had modern theoretical knowledge of aura.
But the judges kept pointing out flaws, so she probably didn’t know what to fix.
– This actually hurts my heart at this point.
– Emotional manipulation never works on Na-me,ㅠㅠㅠ
– Na-me is cold…
– It’s creepy how they all catch subtle mistakes for the same reasons.
To align with the other participants for fairness, I carefully selected my last piece of advice.
[You said you raise children alone?]
[Yes, twin boys. They just turned ten.]
[Then you must be all living together in the goshiwon.]
[Exactly. Living together is really overwhelming. We even carry chairs and desks to the rooftop to study.]
[Eun-ri-hwa, my late mother wanted me to go out of the capsule and meet a wider world. Especially the stars. In the battlefield, when the game time exceeds 40 minutes, the sunset occurs, and the stars come out.]
[Ah.]
[Not some data scraps. She wanted her child to see real stars against the sky with her own eyes. I don’t know, but… I think Eun-ri-hwa could sympathize with that. Well then, I’ll take my leave now.]
“At that time, I hoped Eun-ri-hwa would think of the rooftop as a keyword. If the goshiwon is a place that limits dreams, the rooftop is a space to open new dreams. Plus, it aligns with the materials of ascent, making it easier to manipulate with aura.”
Honestly, it’s nearly impossible for someone to change in a short period.
– Huh, so sad…
– In an earlier interview, she said she earns 80 a month and pays 50 for rent,ㅠㅠㅠ
– She was a disciple in some sect for the last three generations but seems she got kicked out for lack of money.
– Yeah, that seems to be it. They said aside from her comedic skills, her stance and everything else is standard.
I stopped hitting the speed-up button.
No more skipping ahead.
I watched the last remaining one-minute video.
Yulisis Murphy, he was the last judge.
He stood with his massive arms crossed in front of Eun-ri-hwa.
How well had she understood my advice? Would she be able to break through the walls of the goshiwon?
As the aura extended from her fingertips, it surged confidently into the sky like a dragon.
Eun-ri-hwa also slipped, standing on her hands and kicking up the five directions with her toes.
The waves of aura pouring from her feet collided with the smoke on the set…
…and the cyclone grew massively, shaking violently.
– This is definitely different. This is way cooler.
– It’s amazing how she stretched her legs so wide without getting tangled in the hula hoop.
– Wow!
– Looks like the power is much stronger too.
– Is it you again, Na-me?
Already the fourth, a heartfelt technique.
While Eun-ri-hwa gasped for breath, Yulisis Murphy maintained a poker face.
Then he lowered his orange sunglasses and spoke.
[This is a disaster. I’ve already handed out all the acceptance medals.]
Eun-ri-hwa, she didn’t make it into the top 20.
Dum dum—
[The World’s Best Magic Duel Tournament]
The screen fades to black.
[The judges shall discuss and select 2 wild cards each.]
[The sky asks of you the final qualifications.]
[Survival condition: Top 4 of Aura Heart volume.]
Soon, the trailer began.
[It’s too cruel until the end.]
[You, Eun-ri-hwa, were part of the Nine File Room, right?]
[The past is just the past.]
[That guy’s aura volume exceeds 2000. He’s not even human.]
[If NoName Wizard were in the same situation as me, wouldn’t he protest against these rules?]
[Then you simply need to prove that.]
[Huh?]
[And if it were me, I wouldn’t even be in that position. Hmph.]
[Are you challenging me now?]
‘Wow, the editing is superb. It’s brutal.’
[‘GaruKim’ donated 10,000 won!]
– Hahaha, is Na-me already fighting?
– Kyaaaaah, Na-me finally couldn’t hold back!
– Judges shouldn’t hit participants,ㅠㅠ
– I knew this would happen, haha!
– So Eun-ri-hwa is going up? So Eun-ri-hwa is going up? So Eun-ri-hwa is going up?
└ Of course. Among the candidates, anyone can see Eun-ri-hwa is number one.
└ If she got eliminated after being the protagonist in episode one, it would really cause a riot.
– Who dared to challenge Na-me? They must have some guts.
– Meanwhile, Uncle Murphy’s sunglasses are sold out, haha!