Ch.197192 – Surgery

After the Presidential spokesperson’s mention, news of NoName’s admission to Samsung Seoul Hospital spread rapidly.

Once again, society faced a new development when an anonymous source released footage of NoName being urgently transported to the hospital on a stretcher.

[What happened to her?? crying NoName was perfectly healthy during the tournament]

└ Was her streaming just part of a bucket list?

└ Don’t say such ominous things

└ This is seriously messed up…

[If there is a God, I truly resent Him. What sin could this young girl have committed…]

└ Demonic talent but short-lived… wait, this is…

└ Ham Cho-rong…

└ The world is so unfair to NoName

└ Please don’t be sick, I’m begging you crying

[Does anyone know why she was taken there? Please, someone.]

└ It’s a rumor, but I heard even senior professors were called to the hospital

└ Is it really serious enough to require surgery? She looked fine sitting up in the video

└ Samsung Seoul Hospital’s Professor Dong OO’s surgery schedule changed <- He specializes in Aura Heart transplants

└ Are you seriously an insider?

Now most netizens understood how much effort NoName had put into this single exposé.

Especially the news that a child with once-in-a-lifetime talent was ill made people’s hearts sink.

What if the appearance they saw in the interview truly became the child’s final moments?

[Breaking: ‘NoName’ scheduled for Aura Heart surgery with Dr. Dong Jin-soo’s medical team at 8:30 PM]

[Please NoName crying Your aunts and uncles are begging like this crying]

└ Are you going to abandon your 800K subscribers…? You’ll definitely come back, right? crying Please please please please

└ I wish I could be sick instead of NoName, seriously crying

└ An Aura Heart operation is definitely major surgery, how is this happening…

* * *

Meanwhile, Merlin Orphanage was crowded with journalists who had suddenly descended upon it.

The expensive camera equipment being rudely pushed forward was obvious at a glance, and all the adults were dressed in formal attire.

Children raised in this Christian care facility, where silence was considered a virtue, watched this commotion with curious eyes.

They wanted interviews about a child called ‘NoName’ and to visit room 206 where she had lived.

“Bro, isn’t room 206 the haunted room…? Did someone actually live there before?”

The room located at the farthest end of the second floor, now avoided by everyone.

Jae-hwan, who acted as the leader among the middle school students, crossed his arms and reminisced in response to the curious young resident’s question.

“Room 206 was truly a haunted room.”

* * *

I had known about my Aura Heart problem for a long time.

A condition known locally as Restakaya Syndrome.

In my previous life, it was an extremely rare symptom that only manifested when trying to forcibly cast forbidden 9th circle magic with a human body, but surprisingly, in modern society, it could be commonly found in one or two people per ten million.

Fortunately, this wasn’t a world where just anyone could cast 8th circle magic; rather, the mana concentration worldwide was excessively low.

An Aura Heart expanded beyond its elastic limit doesn’t return to its original state but remains deformed.

It was truly a terrifying disease where, like arterial walls thinning, the boundary between aura and mana gradually collapses, and ultimately, death can come from neurogenic shock due to rupture.

So the temporary solution I devised was to split the Aura Heart into seven parts.

Rather than physically splitting it, a more appropriate expression would be blocking the dam’s entrance.

In a drought, opening all the floodgates of a dam would quickly reveal the bottom, but opening just one side allows mana to flow in that direction, maintaining an appropriate water level.

In the end, what mattered was whether mana was properly converted to aura and whether that aura could circulate well within the body, so even if only part of the Aura Heart was used, it didn’t significantly impact daily life.

“This is the last one, A-rin, hold it tight. Don’t let go. And don’t open your eyes.”

“Uuuugh…! My heart has been going thump-thump since earlier, like it’s angry!”

“Just endure a little longer, you can do it. Hey, Baek A-rin, don’t let your hands shake! Focus, focus!”

“Mmm!”

Since the work involved directly inserting aura-woven steel needles into my body, I needed help.

And the assistant responsible for my small surgery at that time was Baek A-rin.

I didn’t expect a first-grade elementary school student who knew nothing to handle aura.

So I just asked her to hold the 15cm long, 0.7mm diameter aura structure with her fingers as much as possible.

*stab*

“Hieeeek!”

A-rin’s ten toes curled up even though I was the one being stabbed. Her face trembled from how tightly she was squeezing her eyes shut.

A child’s excellent imagination seems to have reached the level of empathizing with others’ pain.

“Is… is it done?”

“Almost? I think I need to push it in a bit more. I’ll handle the rest myself.”

“NoName, can I open my eyes now?”

“Yes, open them if you want.”

“Hup…!”

A-rin’s eyes blinked.

Seven needles penetrating my abdomen.

“…!”

After witnessing me adjusting the angles and pushing them in with my fingers, A-rin fainted on the spot, even foaming at the mouth.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the capacity to immediately care for the child who had collapsed on the cold floor.

Because the next task was much more arduous and tedious.

I created chambers in the thin, thorn-like steel needles and sealed unique magic that would serve as focal points in each chamber.

Since it was ultimately inside my body, there was no need to design a precise circuit prison even if it went wild.

Still, I decided to build at least a decent “house” since calculations would become complicated if the coordinate system changed when handling magic later.

Here goes Medusa, next to it Erysichthon, and finally Schadenfreude.

The circuit formulas forming the unique magic transformed into excellent gatekeepers sealing the entrances and exits of the Aura Heart.

A-rin woke up again at that point.

She kept glancing at me as I carefully cut off the protruding thorns from my stomach with nail clippers, apparently finding it fascinating.

“D-doesn’t it… hurt…?”

“No. It’s not really steel wire anyway. Once it roughly takes shape, it will be reabsorbed into the body.”

“Hiing… but it still looks painful… Is there anything else I can help with?”

“Hmm…”

A-rin sent me sparkling eyes, indirectly expressing her desire to help me more.

Reluctantly, I gathered the steel wire pieces I had cut with the nail clippers.

“Here, hold out your palm. Like this, yes.”

A-rin respectfully held out her palms with both hands.

I coated her palms with an aura layer to prevent any pricks and placed the dozen or so steel wire pieces on them.

“There’s a trash can in my room, right? Could you throw these away there?”

“Yes! I can do that much!”

A-rin, who somehow became a trash shuttle, was so happy to be asked that she ran toward the door with light steps.

“Woaah!”

“Hey, Baek A-rin!”

*crash*

As luck would have it, there was an old floor panel sticking up slightly under her feet, and A-rin’s foot caught on it properly, causing her to fall.

The steel wires A-rin was holding flew in all directions, embedding themselves in the walls and floor.

“Huk… Uwaaaaaaaah!”

“I can’t live like this. Are you okay, A-rin?”

“I… I can’t even do this right… huk… I’m sorry hueeeeeng…”

A-rin grabbed the blue bruise on her knee and began crying miserably.

“No, it’s not your fault. I should ask the Sister to replace the floor panels. Right?”

“Hic… huup…”

“It’s okay, I’m telling you it’s okay, alright?”

I wasn’t particularly good at comforting children.

A-rin stopped crying only after 10 minutes had passed.

The child, tired from crying, flopped backward onto the floor, then suddenly flinched and ran to hug me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Gh-ghost!”

“Ghost?”

“I really heard a ghost sound! What was that…? I really heard it!”

“Can you still hear it?”

“No… I can’t hear it… but I really did! I’m not lying, NoName! Really!”

“Ah, okay, I believe you.”

“It’s true… uuuu… huuung…”

A thought suddenly struck me.

The place where A-rin put her hand when she fell backward was the same spot where the steel wire had embedded itself in the floor earlier.

Just in case, I lay flat on the floor and ran my hand over various spots.

A voice that could pierce eardrums came to me.

[Die, you disgusting bastard!]

[Die! Just die already!]

[Don’t even breathe! I’ll kill you!]

I could immediately identify the ghost A-rin had mentioned.

The unique magic ‘Sekhmet’ forged from emotions of rage.

A tiny fragment of it must have flowed out through the steel wire.

I brought a permanent marker and marked an X on the floor.

“What was it…?”

“Something… like a ghost?”

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“It’s okay, it’s not really dangerous.”

I marked X’s on the other six locations where the steel wires had embedded.

“Let’s not touch these for a while.”

“What happens if we touch them?”

“You’ll hear ghost sounds like before.”

“Are ghosts really real?”

“No.”

“…?”

Since the longest Schadenfreude circuit has a half-life of two weeks, such phenomena would naturally disappear after about two months.

Until then, I earnestly asked A-rin not to touch the marked spots.

After all, there’s nothing good about learning swear words at a young age.

Despite such advice, A-rin was adopted by a gentlemanly man not long after.

I still don’t know what happened to room 206, which suddenly became vacant after I also escaped from the suffocating orphanage.

* * *

“The surgery was successful. This MRI image is taken from the side, and the parts you see in the left image are the nerve bundles surrounding the Aura Heart. As you can see here, there’s a large nerve bundle cluster which can be considered the boundary of the Aura Heart.”

“The size…”

“Yes, about the size of an adult’s fist? Looking at it, she has an Aura Heart about ten times larger than children her age. It might have been large originally, but seeing how the surrounding organs are compressed, there’s a possibility it expanded over time. Do you see this bright tube here? This is the main nerve, and fortunately, since the outer wall is thick—”

The attending physician explained in detail to Professor Cheon, the guardian, about the process and results of the major 12-hour surgery.

He explained that they straightened the Aura Heart, which was compressed like it had been stapled, and instead created knots in all pathways except the main nerve to return the amount of mana absorbed to normal levels.

“And the Aura Heart dividing itself into sections is something I’ve never seen in my 30 years of medical practice. If the patient and guardian consent, would it be alright to report this to the academic community?”

Professor Cheon firmly refused.

The doctor didn’t seem particularly disappointed. He appeared satisfied just with the successful major surgery.

After the doctor left the room, Professor Cheon let out a deep sigh.

“NoName, are you awake?”

My eyes opened reflexively at the soft mention of my name.

“How did you know?”

“When your ears perk up like that, it’s not easy to pretend I don’t notice.”

“Ah, was I doing that?”

An IV in my arm, and what do you call the thing in the nose? Nasal cannula?

Anyway, I was currently experiencing the pinnacle of modern medicine with my whole body.

“The surgery went well, I see.”

“Yes… that’s right.”

“Why do you look so down, Professor? This isn’t like you.”

“NoName, are you still in a lot of pain?”

He must think my hospitalization is his fault.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t make such a sad expression.

I raised my left arm and took his hand, which was holding the bed rail.

“If I’m in pain, I’ll definitely tell you.”

“Do you promise?”

“Here’s my promise.”

I extended only my pinky finger from my clenched fist.

With wide eyes, Professor Cheon, with an expression that could be either laughing or crying, held my pinky finger the same way.

“By the way, Professor, what’s that big tree behind you—oh, it’s a flower arrangement, what is it?”

The first thing that caught my eye was a colorful flower arrangement with “Wishing NoName a speedy recovery” written on it.

“President Lee Jo-won stopped by briefly yesterday.”

“Really?”

“He just showed his face at the door and left.”

A person who is the head of a nation came to visit so easily?

Wait, thinking about it again, it wasn’t that special in South Korea.

I keep thinking about the absolute monarchy era, which makes it feel like the king personally visited, but when you consider it, it’s just an ordinary office worker who stopped by out of personal curiosity.

“He… didn’t mention anything about the terrorists, did he?”

“We just exchanged a few greetings and parted ways.”

As expected.

In this case, how can I distinguish whether he came because he was genuinely worried about me, simply curious, or for image-making?

I wished he would just fulfill the requests I had made behind the scenes, rather than coming to see me directly.

“The room is too cramped; shall we put the flower arrangement outside in the hallway?”

“Should we?”

“Or would that inconvenience other patients? I think it would be fine to just put it outside on the first floor.”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to just throw it away?”

“Yes, I appreciate the thought, but it seems to just take up unnecessary space.”

“Alright.”

I personally didn’t like that kind of interior decoration.

And the next day, a truly absurd article appeared on TV.

[Ill-fated genius abandoned by Korea, turns back on President’s belated gesture]

[Flower arrangement sent by President Lee found in hospital’s back garbage area… Hinting at possible emigration?]