Ch.176171 – Korea-Praising Tube

In the middle of a dark room, a small light was seeping through.

Yoon-sul lay on the bed, checking news articles on the main pages of various media outlets on her phone.

Her fingers scrolling through the screen carried no strength at all.

She merely stared at the rapidly passing screen with expressionless eyes.

News about France and England participating in an African civil war with tens of thousands of deaths already, news about a Korean politician involved in a 5 trillion won stock manipulation, news about the global economy staggering due to the serial bankruptcies of regional banks in the US.

Each one was a major incident without exception.

She didn’t even need to look globally. Korea alone had plenty of incidents.

When sorted by popularity, at the very last page was an article about an intruder breaking into an apartment in Dogok-dong.

Nobody died, the apartment didn’t catch fire, there were no casualties or injuries, and the culprit was quickly caught.

Good news can’t become news. Only bad news is news.

Ten comments cursing the mentally ill, two comments wishing the victim well.

This was reality after all.

Unable to properly explain the emotion welling up inside her, Yoon-sul pulled the blanket over her head again.

“Going to bed already? It’s only 9 o’clock?”

*Ding*

NoName entered the room and turned on the light switch.

In the suddenly brightened room, Yoon-sul peeked her head out from under the blanket and rubbed her eyes.

“NoNameeeeee…!”

Yoon-sul jumped up and ran to hug NoName, who was still in her outdoor clothes.

Nothing was more effective than this when feeling down.

“Really, I only have you, NoName. *sniff* What did you buy at the convenience store? Something tasty?”

“Beef jerky, dried squid, grape juice… Could you back up a little, sis?”

NoName pushed away Yoon-sul’s face that was pressing against her.

“Wow, all the food names have ‘po’ in them in Korean! Was that intentional?”

“No, that’s not it… Even non-alcoholic beer was prohibited for sale to minors.”

NoName explained how she was prevented from buying beer at the counter.

“I didn’t know it would violate the Special Act on Children’s Dietary Safety Management.”

“Aw, NoName is still too young! You can drink alcohol later when you grow up like your big sis!”

“You’re a minor too. Here you go.”

While NoName changed her clothes, Yoon-sul opened the packages and neatly arranged them on the floor.

Suddenly, NoName paused while undressing and gestured to Yoon-sul.

“Sis, turn around.”

“Come on, are you shy? We’re both girls.”

“For someone saying that, you’re staring way too intensely. It’s disrespectful to the room owner… well, not the homeowner, but still.”

“Okay! I’ll turn around!”

The two girls in pajamas sat facing each other with snacks between them.

Yoon-sul tore off a piece of dried squid and handed it to NoName.

“No, not with your hand. With your mouth.”

“You’re so demanding.”

One bite of dried squid, then one bite of beef jerky.

Watching NoName chewing on the snacks, Yoon-sul burst into laughter.

“Your front teeth fell out? Isn’t that too cute?”

NoName’s mouth looked a bit empty with two growing lower teeth and another one missing right above.

Frowning, NoName stuffed dried squid into Yoon-sul’s mouth.

“Mmm nom. I’m only saying it because NoName is cute, hehe. It doesn’t look weird at all!”

Yoon-sul simply found NoName fascinating.

She knew exactly what NoName had been through and what incredible things she had accomplished.

She was continuously achieving the best performances in LoL tournaments and was the most crucial figure in World of Arsheria.

And what about Story Mode? She ranked first, beating all the top players from around the world?

The swordsmanship and high-dimensional magic NoName displayed kept flashing before her eyes even when she was awake.

Recently, for whatever reason, she had even proven multiple mathematical problems, causing quite a stir in Korea.

NoName, who had been quietly savoring her snack, emptied her mouth and spoke.

“Don’t make fun of kids. And that’s not how people laugh.”

“Huh?”

“You’re just smiling with your mouth right now.”

NoName pointed out with a distorted face.

“No, I’m really amused.”

Yoon-sul belatedly added an eye-smile.

“Look at yourself now. When people laugh, their mouth and eyes move with a time difference. You’re moving them simultaneously.”

“…”

Yoon-sul was left speechless by NoName’s sharp observation.

Suddenly, NoName got up and headed to the kitchen.

What she brought back in her bundle was rather unexpected items.

A large glass container, sugar, a container filled with unidentifiable granules, and paper cups.

“What are you going to do?”

“Just wait a bit.”

NoName responded indifferently to Yoon-sul’s question.

She poured grape juice into the glass container.

Then she tilted the bag of sugar and poured generously.

Yoon-sul was about to stop her, wondering if it was okay to add so much.

‘Does NoName like sweet things?’

She dissolved those granules in a paper cup filled with hot water.

“What’s that?”

“Dried yeast.”

“Yeast?”

Yoon-sul looked blank at the unexpectedly mentioned word.

A smile began to form on NoName’s lips.

She placed the now brown hot water into the container and closed the lid tightly.

“If we drink it this quickly, it’ll taste cheap.”

NoName placed the container on the floor and drew a magic circle with one hand.

In her other hand was Professor Cheon’s portable alchemy circle creator.

[Casting: Ethanol Fermentation]

“But at least we can get in the mood.”

The grape juice in the container briefly absorbed mana and rippled, but that was it.

“Um, NoName. Won’t it be too sweet if you put that much sugar in the juice?”

“It’s fine. More sugar only increases the alcohol content. That’s actually better.”

“Eh?”

When she opened the lid, the distinctive tangy aroma of grapes spread throughout the room.

NoName took out another clean paper cup and poured grape juice for Yoon-sul.

Still looking suspicious, Yoon-sul took a sip.

“…!”

“How is it?”

“*cough* What the hell…! This is wine!”

Yoon-sul protested as she felt the tingling sensation in her throat.

Even without experience drinking alcohol, this was clearly alcoholic.

“I was going to be satisfied with non-alcoholic beer. It’s society that’s wrong.”

“No, stop!”

Yoon-sul barely managed to stop NoName, who was about to pour the entire container into her mouth.

Actually, she couldn’t stop her.

“Since you’ve already had a sip, you’re an accomplice. If you try to stop me, I’ll tell Professor Cheon.”

NoName’s eyes widened.

Yoon-sul’s face darkened at the sight.

Although the entire process of turning grape juice into wine was done by NoName’s hands, age was still the deciding factor.

Yoon-sul felt like she was finally receiving karma for what Kariri had done.

* * *

“That’s it, keep going. Keeeeep going. Look at you drinking so well!”

“*gulp* Surprisingly not bad? I don’t feel like I’m getting drunk though?”

Yoon-sul had no choice but to drink the liquid at NoName’s continued insistence.

The ambiguous taste somewhere between grape juice and wine actually lowered her psychological resistance.

“Alcohol doesn’t make you drunk right away. And I want to give you a tip for when you drink wine later, Yoon-sul. Even though we’re using paper cups now, you should only put your lips on one side of the glass. Otherwise, when you eat seafood, the fishy taste can stick to the cup. If it’s all over, it interferes when you smell the aroma. So you drink from one side and smell from the opposite side to fully enjoy the wine.”

NoName explained, holding up her paper cup high.

Her eyes, looking at the room light, seemed slightly unfocused.

“Um, NoName…?”

“Honestly, our country has a culture that makes alcohol too taboo. Where I used to live before, even seven-year-olds could order at bars. I understand the purpose of regulations, but personally, I can’t hide my gloomy feelings.”

“NoName, stop, stop! You really need to stop drinking now!”

Regardless of telling Professor Cheon or not, Yoon-sul had to desperately stop her for NoName’s health.

NoName’s gaze now turned to Yoon-sul’s phone.

“Sis, look, I’ll show you something fun.”

NoName launched the VTube app with her small hands.

She made several typing mistakes and had to delete and retype, but eventually managed to play the video she wanted.

– The reason Taiwan, which used to look down on and mock Korea, is exploding with inferiority and envy at the appearance of a genius that shocked the world. “All geniuses throughout history have been Koreans! Taiwan isn’t even at a level worth competing with.”

– The statement from a math genius that turned the entire United States upside down! “Your level only goes this far.” Japan’s desperate reaction!

– “We will never disrespect Korea again,” they beg belatedly, but it’s already too late! The French president, who harshly criticized Korean education, regrets it and eventually offers a “national apology.”

– While the world is still in 2051, only Korea is living in 4051? “Korea’s math gap has become too wide.” America is anxious and China has lowered its tail before the power of Koreans!

– The real reason Fields Medal winners are shocked and appalled! “All mathematicians of the past 300 years aren’t even as good as one NoName. Why study math with taxpayer money if this is the result?”

A series of videos with titles too long to read at a glance unfold one after another.

NoName continued watching the videos, giggling.

“Isn’t it funny? I never said any of those things.”

From beginning to end, none of the videos NoName played contained content related to their titles.

Nevertheless, many people wrote comments praising NoName and extolling the greatness of Korea.

“Actually, it’s not wrong. You are amazing…”

Yoon-sul responded in a small voice.

“I wonder why videos like these are popular?”

“Because it’s hard… Everyone’s having a tough time, so I think they want comfort and validation from things like this…”

“You’re right too, sis. That’s probably why these videos get so many views. Honestly, QBS should reflect a bit. They reported it first but only got 1 million views. This one was uploaded a day later but already has 1.5 million.”

NoName stretched widely and lay down on the blanket.

“People seem to only see what they want to see. Don’t you think so too, sis?”

“Is that so…?”

“Yeah. Everyone wastes energy on unnecessary things. Meanwhile, no one pays attention to what really matters. Sis, would you lie down here for a moment?”

NoName sometimes gave off this mysterious vibe.

Whenever that happened, Yoon-sul found herself following her words without knowing why.

When Yoon-sul lay down next to NoName, she closed her eyes and began speaking as if she had been waiting.

“You asked earlier, sis. You were curious about how I could play games before I was seven.”

“Yeah.”

When Yoon-sul shifted slightly, their hands touched.

Since children’s body temperature is slightly higher than average, NoName’s hand felt incredibly warm to Yoon-sul.

NoName interlocked their fingers and held Yoon-sul’s hand.

Then she continued speaking calmly.

“I was trapped in a capsule from birth. One capsule had a newborn, and the capsule next to it probably had a woman a bit older than you.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“Exactly what I said.”

NoName turned her head toward Yoon-sul.

They were so close that they could hear each other’s breathing clearly.

“Like you, Yoon-sul, there were times when I wished people would recognize me. That I’m here. That I’m alive and well.”

In a world where dying was easier than living, NoName had managed to survive.

And the night was still long enough for her to tell Yoon-sul the entire story.