Ch.238233 – Tour Performance

“That’s right! The friend famous for violin playing!”

The man said, clapping his hands together.

“What a coincidence! Hey Mackey, you didn’t recognize her until now? She’s a TikTok celebrity!”

The cameraman showed me the TikTok app while making a big fuss.

“The violin girl with 15 million likes who reached #1 weekly video last month! Mackey, you should keep up with other people’s videos. How can you call yourself a TikToker if you can’t even recognize a fellow creator?”

“TikTok doesn’t have ‘fellow creators.’ There are too many people…”

Mackey suddenly stopped mid-sentence, looked at me, and hastily changed his stance.

“Ah yes, fellow creators! Haha… We’re really sorry. We didn’t mean to be so harsh, our security guards were just being overzealous. Let’s go, Felix.”

“Where are you going? You were getting her contact—”

“Stop talking and let’s go! It was unpleasant meeting you, and let’s never see each other again, kid!”

“This guy has been pushing it since earlier!”

“NoName, calm down! It ended peacefully!”

Yoonseul grabbed me under my armpits, leaving me dangling in the air, kicking my legs.

The two insufferable men fled the police station like they were escaping, and the incident came to an anticlimactic end.

This country Germany is really running out of human decency.

I put the last piece of candy in my mouth to calm my anger.

“Kids!”

Not long after, Principal Gu On-yu arrived.

Her entrance was so loud I thought the police station’s glass door might shatter.

“Principal. The incident has been resolved, so we can now—”

Before I could finish, Principal Gu On-yu knelt slightly and hugged me tightly.

I blinked at her sudden action and rolled my eyes sideways.

“Principal?”

“Thank goodness… I’m so relieved… that you’re not hurt…”

Eventually, the elderly woman’s hand gently patted my back, slowly and lightly.

I felt all the prickly emotions I’d been feeling completely subside.

“I’m not hurt. That wouldn’t be fitting for a Cephiron Academy student.”

So she actually shows concern for her students despite being a principal?

I leaned my head against her embrace, feeling human warmth after a long time.

Being in a foreign land makes me miss my mother terribly these days.

* * *

The Römer Square in the center of Frankfurt’s old town is a popular spot for tourists.

Especially on beautiful days like today, everyone carries at least one selfie stick.

However, there were bloodstains on the ground and the wooden buildings surrounding the square.

Japanese tourists who had just arrived asked the locals about the gruesome scene.

“Umm… is this really human blood?”

“Don’t even ask! A tiny kid threw some punches and destroyed four people!”

“Really? In broad daylight in the middle of Germany?”

“It’s true! I even recorded it!”

Before their questions could be answered, police officers wearing vests marked ‘POLIZEI’ arrived with janitors to clean the street.

A few magic circles swept across the floor, and the street was reborn spotlessly clean as if nothing had happened.

The old man who had kindly answered the tourists’ questions pointed to a part of the square where beautiful music was playing and shouted:

“That… that kid over there! See? That little one did it! What is he planning to do now, coming back here…!”

Where he pointed, elderly men in formal attire were busking with violins and cellos.

But because there were so many people gathered around, the Japanese girl couldn’t easily find the child the old man was pointing to.

“Miss Katsuhata. We’re in a hurry. If we don’t leave now, we might miss our next flight.”

For them, Frankfurt was just a layover.

After standing still for a while, staring at the square, the girl reluctantly nodded and rejoined her group.

Meanwhile, at the performance venue, applause erupted as one song ended.

Another girl squeezed through the crowd with her short legs.

It was NoName, sporting her usual low twin-tail hairstyle today as well.

She dropped the coins she was holding into the violin case that the performers had placed upside down on the ground as a tip box.

“Thank you so much, angel!”

It was a heartwarming sight.

Both performers and spectators couldn’t help but smile like proud fathers.

“May I play too?”

“You know how to play the violin, little miss? How old are you?”

“Eight.”

“Haha! Here, want to try holding it?”

“Yes, please.”

Contrary to expectations that she would hold it awkwardly, Name held it very comfortably and skillfully.

“Oh?”

Her finger positioning on the strings and the way she held the bow showed considerable expertise.

“I have a friend with me. Could she play together too?”

“A friend? Oh, wonderful! Do you need another violin?”

“No. One of us will play in virtual reality.”

“Virtual reality?”

* * *

Daniel had already gone to a nearby internet cafe to access virtual reality.

I was initially surprised that there were internet cafes in Germany, but Yoonseul explained it as if it were obvious.

Of course, not every home can afford to buy a bulky capsule.

Besides, some people might not be satisfied with helmet-type old capsules, so the emergence of internet cafes is a natural phenomenon following the principles of capitalism.

An avatar took shape from the floor through a hologram projector.

It was a temporary model that would become the foundation for “YuDex,” the avatar that Niel would use going forward.

“Where are you girls from?”

“We’re from Korea. South Korea.”

“Oh, South Korea! Angels from South Korea are going to play the violin for us! Everyone, give them a big round of applause!”

Daniel’s cheeks turned red at the grand welcome.

Seol Yoonseul and Principal Gu On-yu cheered for us from nearby.

“You’re not that scared of the capsule, Niel?”

“I realized there are scarier things in the world than claustrophobia… But do we really have to do this? It’s so embarrassing…”

“This is just the beginning, Niel.”

Kariri’s American Dream, or rather “Safari Dream” plan, started even before the debut.

Why do agencies run survival programs with trainees who haven’t even debuted yet?

The answer lies in recognition.

[The beginning is half the battle. In other words, if you don’t start with an advantage, you’ve already failed!]

As a former idol trainee, Kariri passionately argued that debut isn’t the beginning but an event that must be successfully executed with great effort.

If there’s a VTuber who has just started activities, people have nothing to watch and enjoy except for livestream replays.

In other words, the plan to build recognition by creating content before debut seemed like a good idea to me too.

[But why do I have to join in?]

[In technical terms, it’s the trickle-down effect!]

[What are you talking about… You’re just using me.]

[Just once, Name! Just join me for this tour, you promised!]

And so, with me in reality and Daniel in virtual reality.

Our journey began, traveling through European cities for violin busking performances.

Starting from Frankfurt, Germany,

To Zurich, Switzerland,

Salzburg, Austria,

And finally Venice, Italy, where our short trip came to an end.

On the flight back to Korea, Yoonseul smiled as she checked the videos capturing our performances.

At every concert, we always started with “Arirang” as the first song.

“What should we title it? ‘What if we play the Korean masterpiece Arirang at foreign busking spots?’ How about that? Or is it too weak?”

She’s truly a monster created by capitalism. She knows what Korean nationalism is all about.

After lightly dismissing her, I decided to put on my sleep mask and try to get some rest.

On the way back, Principal Gu upgraded us to business class, so we could travel much more comfortably.

Now I need to stay holed up at home for a while without moving an inch.

One such exhausting European trip was enough.

* * *

[Hey, would you leave Korea if someone offered you 10 billion won?]

-I’d leave for just 1 million won, this damn country

-Actually I want to leave now but I don’t even have money for a plane ticket lol

-Get 10 billion and leave Korea vs Just stay here

└ Come to think of it, this balance game is way off, isn’t it? lol

└ Acting like Korea is such a great place to live, the framing is ridiculous

-So jealous, someone’s getting money AND Swiss citizenship…

└ Who?

└ Don’t you know NoName? She’s about to immigrate any second now.

└ Why is she suddenly immigrating?

└ Switzerland offered her 10 billion. Imagine what other countries would offer.

[STAR SPOTTED) NoName boards flight to Frankfurt]

[ThesePatch=Reporter Kang Hwa-ryeong] NoName, the sole survivor of Korea’s Walpurgis extermination operation, was spotted departing for Frankfurt, Germany through Incheon International Airport in Jung-gu, Incheon on the afternoon of August 2.

The internet article published a week ago with photos of Name’s departure attracted significant attention.

The reporter who broke the news initially received a lot of criticism in the comments.

People questioned why they needed to know through an article that someone who wasn’t even a celebrity had boarded a plane.

But the situation quickly reversed when news reported that Name had received an offer estimated between 10 billion and 30 billion won from Switzerland.

Stories related to money always attract attention, whether positive or negative.

Naturally, there are people who resent the fact that an 8-year-old child is receiving such treatment worth billions.

[Corporate executives earn 500 million won annually, and even top-level professionals barely make a few billion a year, but 10 billion for an 8-year-old? Are you kidding me? I can’t live with this sense of deprivation.]

-Then you try proving an unsolved problem at age 8.

└ They say it still needs another year to be verified. I bet my neck they’re all scammers working together.

└ Calling Korean university professors scammers lol. Well, what wouldn’t a basement warrior say?

-Separate from whether she deserves it, don’t you feel empty inside? I don’t think I could earn 10 billion even if I worked my entire life…

└ 2222

└ 333 I’m happy for Name but why does my life feel so miserable?

Riding on public interest, channels reporting on her activities also began gaining popularity.

Current affairs VTubers compiled sightings from various communities to create videos, and it wasn’t difficult to learn that she was traveling all over Europe.

[Wasn’t she in Switzerland until the day before yesterday? lol When did she get to Austria?]

-Salzburg was yesterday and now she’s in Venice, dude lol

└ NoName! You finally made it to the homeland of pasta!

-Does she really have something with Italy?

└ Italy is in an economic crisis. Where would they get the money?

Germany? Switzerland? Probably not Austria, and Italy still couldn’t be ruled out.

Some even speculated that she had already completed the immigration process and was traveling Europe with the money she received.

Then, videos were simultaneously uploaded to Kariri and NoName’s VTube channels.

It was Seol Yoonseul’s ambitious video full of Korean pride.

Two girls with violins were playing Arirang and K-pop in the heart of Europe.

The few European fans who were actually present were the first to comment, followed by loyal K-pop fans from America and Southeast Asia who found the video through algorithms, creating an enthusiastic atmosphere.

At the end of the video, a 5-second clip of Name passed out on the flight back to Korea was revealed, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

[Best Comment]

-Why did you come back? [Likes: 6,800]

The same person who previously got the best comment with “Why are you really leaving?” asked.

We’re talking about 10 billion won here.

No one could blame Name if she abandoned Korea.

Yet she boldly went to Europe, played songs promoting Korea, and quietly returned to Korea as if nothing had happened.

Seeing her incomprehensible behavior, some people quietly exclaimed:

-She’s a true patriot.

That exclamation became the first ripple in a calm lake, beginning to spread throughout South Korea.