Ch.190185 – What Goes Around Comes Around

# “What’s your earliest memory?”

What age will people watching this video tomorrow recall? Three years old? Four?

A memory of being spanked by parents and crying, or getting lost and wandering crowded streets.

The more shocking the memory, the more likely it becomes your first one.

“My first memory was inside a game world. The game was called Legacy of Legend.”

Seol-ah left me in a private room for almost a year, running the game daily without fail to buy mana potions.

She wouldn’t have started out that way.

Not everyone easily thinks of making money through title farming.

Each capsule had a small loan system using the capsule as collateral, probably not exceeding one million won.

Instead of food and water, she extended her life with mana potions, watching the fuse of the bomb grow shorter. How did Seol-ah feel?

It must have been a terrible experience for a girl that age. Truly.

“To save at least me, my mother never connected to virtual reality again, and I continued playing the game as she taught me.”

Play the game.

Earn titles.

Sell titles.

Make money.

Buy mana.

Play the game again.

That terribly repetitive, awful daily routine continued for a full seven years.

“In 2044, I played 3,917 matches; in 2045, 8,392 matches; in 2046, 8,505 matches; in 2047, 8,469 matches; in 2048, 8,538 matches; in 2049, 8,150 matches; and in 2050, at least 4,000 more. It was my only way to survive.”

[I want to call your name one last time.]

[But I don’t know my name.]

[That’s okay. I’ll give you one now.]

Did I instinctively sense that was our final moment together?

[Name is such a beautiful name.]

Her warm words made me suddenly afraid.

[Our Name, you must live. Survive stubbornly until the end and live for mom’s share too.]

What did it mean to live? Why couldn’t Seol-ah continue together?

The confused child just kept staring at Seol-ah.

[Please remember that you have only one mother, No Seol-ah. My proud daughter, Name.]

“So my name… was given to me by my mother just before she passed away. The nickname came first, then the name.”

Yes, it’s not even a funny melodrama. Afterward, I was lost in emotion and couldn’t continue speaking for a while.

Was there really no way Seol-ah could have survived?

If I had regained my senses a little earlier,

If I had recognized the situation a bit faster,

Seol-ah wouldn’t have had to bear that burden alone…

“Name!”

“…?”

“Fighting!”

Suddenly, beyond the camera tripod, Seol-ah’s figure appeared like a vision.

She clenched both fists and smiled as if encouraging me for tomorrow’s finals.

Yes, I’m so happy to see you, even if only as a hallucination.

I think the brain is one step ahead of magic when it comes to creating wonders.

How can it seem so real?

When I closed my eyes briefly and opened them again, she had vanished as if she’d never been there.

‘I’ll visit you this Sunday.’

I decided to focus on the video recording again.

I apologize, but I minimized mentioning Se-min and Detective Ma Beom-il who helped with the rescue.

This was to avoid causing them any trouble, as I don’t know what consequences might follow.

But there was something I needed to address clearly.

“I thought this country was too cruel. Indifference and rejection. These are the words that immediately come to mind when I hear ‘Republic of Korea.’ I continued my worthless life amid your indifference, and lived as a stateless person until I was adopted by a kind person, amid your rejection.”

Is it true that a child can live as a stateless person in Korea without much disadvantage?

Not at all.

How long did I have to wait when I joined Twissy and applied for monetization to earn potion money on my own?

Knowingly or unknowingly, the view toward stateless people and refugees in Korea wasn’t favorable.

Above all, the orphanage children were so shrewd they knew exactly who had parents and who didn’t, and what everyone’s origins were.

Throughout all that, only A-rin stayed with me until the end, and it was largely thanks to her that I didn’t develop misanthropy.

“I’ve shared my story not to boast about my misfortunes. I hope this opportunity encourages you to pay a little more attention to your neighbors, friends, parents, or children.”

Yu-na was bullied at the academy because no one made the effort to understand her situation.

Kariri received those harsh stares partly because the public deliberately turned away from the truth.

“There was no malice.”

I’ve always hated that phrase.

So what then?

There are only victims and no perpetrators.

Should victims wander alone in their past pain, carrying unhealed wounds for life?

If you don’t want to be a perpetrator, I wish you would at least choose not to be a bystander.

“Everyone watching this video must be intelligent people. You remember all those Legacy of Legend champions and memorize those complex World of Arsheria sword techniques and magic skills. So I think my requests will be really simple.”

Still, I had no choice but to trust people once more.

After all, it’s people who change the world for the better.

This was the end of the video.

[Recording ended 9:32]

Just under 10 minutes.

It’s truly embarrassing to show stories I’ve kept inside to others.

Now I don’t want to think about anything.

The rest, tomorrow’s me will take care of.

I don’t want to do anything.

I’m already doing nothing, but I want to do nothing more intensely and more actively.

But this terrible sense of boredom wouldn’t leave me alone.

I got up from bed, washed my face, changed clothes, and connected to virtual reality.

[Streaming starts: 0:01:31 – NoName]

“The weather was nice this morning, so I recorded a vlog.”

Yes, though it was a bit hot, today’s weather wasn’t too bad.

* * *

The video ended.

Some murmuring and commotion.

But considering the number of people filling the stadium, the decibel level wasn’t very high.

I had anticipated this reaction anyway, and I just needed to do my part.

I took the microphone and stepped a pace or two ahead of the caster.

“Please forget the fact that I’m seven years old for a moment and listen to my request.”

I asked the caster for a brief moment.

Time was running short as the interview time was coming to an end.

So I proceeded as simply and quickly as possible.

“I previously requested a reinvestigation of the Banghwa Bridge bombing incident, but it wasn’t accepted. So this time, I’m trying a different approach. I’ve submitted a public proposal under my real name ‘No Na-me,’ requesting a reinvestigation of the Walpurgis Suppression Operation. The time when my mother and I were trapped in capsules and moved to an isolated abandoned house was definitely before the Banghwa Bridge bombing incident.”

With Persona Pisces, I could clearly witness that chaotic scene.

In Adella’s core memories, there remained two capsules not synchronized with her, one was Seol-ah’s, and the other was definitely mine.

“So first, please clarify the sequence of events. Was the Banghwa Bridge bombing really first, or were hostage rescue operations already underway before that? If the latter is proven true, the reason for concealing the truth and those responsible must be revealed. This requires your continued attention, viewers. So please, I beg you.”

I bowed at a 90-degree angle.

Perhaps because it was my first time making such a gesture, it felt extremely awkward.

If I kept my head bowed a little longer, would even one more person listen to my plea?

But due to time pressure, I couldn’t hold it for more than 10 seconds.

Come on, you’re almost there, No Na-me. Stay strong.

The second request is just really simple and ordinary.

“Second… the treatment of my poor… mom who’s in the columbarium…”

Seol-ah doesn’t belong in that old, crumbling columbarium.

Because she’s greater than anyone I’ve ever met.

“I hope… you can… improve… hng… her…”

The expression “tears blurring my vision” is so cliché I didn’t want to use it.

This defeats the purpose of recording the video in advance…

Well, at least tears didn’t fall, so I wasn’t crying.

That’s what I told myself as I barely finished the interview with a shrinking voice.

“Thank you all for listening…”

“You did so well! Our Name, I’m proud of you!”

“…!”

Startled by the soft voice I faintly heard, I turned around, but no one was there.

Just when I was about to say how much I missed her, Seol-ah quickly disappeared again.

I wish she would appear more often, not just right before my birthday.