Ch.246241 – Entertainment God

Professor Cheon Kyu-jin said his fiancée died suddenly in an unfortunate accident.

Along with the baby in her womb.

It had been 27 years since he overcame the pain of losing his family.

“I might have been afraid that my personal desire to regain a family would hurt a child. Or perhaps I was afraid of losing family again. So…”

Professor Cheon couldn’t finish his sentence.

The image of the once tall, handsome young man had disappeared, replaced by wrinkles on his forehead and around his mouth. He was now old enough to have grandchildren.

He couldn’t help but wonder if his fiancée had lived, would they have had a brilliant child like this one who took after both parents.

But the past was the past.

He couldn’t drag NoName into his pain.

“Still, I’ll try my best, teacher.”

If it was for NoName’s sake, he would have to be even more careful going forward.

He listened to and accepted the counselor’s advice.

The production crew, not knowing what words of comfort to offer, fell into a heavy silence.

Only the counselor quietly shared and empathized with his sorrow.

Meanwhile, the director of the psychological counseling education center squeezed between the cameras.

“Ah, Director Park!”

“The atmosphere seems a bit heavy here. NoName just finished her Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory test.”

Following the Wechsler Intelligence Test, NoName had completed the MMPI with its 600 questions in just one day.

Considering the concentration level of an average child, this was remarkable.

Since such a heavy conversation had just taken place between the two, the PDs desperately hoped the director had brought good news.

Once again, the director showed several bar graphs while providing explanations for the results.

“With the MMPI, we typically analyze scores that are significantly higher or lower than average. For example, scale 1 here is hypochondriasis, and you can see the score is lower compared to other items, right?”

“Yes.”

“If this score were high, it would indicate excessive concern about health issues or reporting physical symptoms when under stress. Patients with actual physical illnesses tend to score around 60. But since NoName scored very low, it suggests she tends to ignore pain unless it’s a serious illness.”

“Does that mean she hides when she’s in pain?”

“Yes, that’s entirely possible. That’s why her guardian should pay special attention to her health.”

The start wasn’t good.

The production crew felt the cramped space becoming even more suffocating as they watched Professor Cheon’s expression darken.

Fortunately, the subsequent scales all showed normal ranges.

There were no signs of depression, hysteria, antisocial behavior, or paranoia. It was reported that she had strong aversion to traditional female roles, but since scale 4 (antisocial) was low, the director said it wasn’t a major concern.

The psychology center director hesitated before explaining the next item.

The camera director, who could preview the screen, cleared his throat nervously upon seeing the prominently high scales 7 and 8.

“Scale 7 is Psychasthenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

“It’s extremely high…”

Professor Cheon finally sat up straight, as if the moment he’d been dreading had arrived.

“People with high scale 7 often have obsessive thoughts as a defense against anxiety and tend to pursue perfection. They also tend to have self-deprecating thoughts and feel a lot of guilt. If it rises along with scale 2, it can be accompanied by depression, but as you can see, that’s not the case here. However, when it rises with scale 8, it can be accompanied by thought disorders.”

And scale 8 was also high.

“Then what about scale 8?”

“Scale 8 is schizophrenia. But don’t misunderstand—having a high score doesn’t necessarily mean she has schizophrenia. It encompasses various areas and needs to be interpreted comprehensively. That’s why we also conducted subjective surveys…”

Director Park continued in a serious tone.

“The child reported experiencing depersonalization where she feels her thoughts aren’t her own, delusions of being controlled by someone, and occasional auditory and visual hallucinations.”

“Ah…”

Even a normal person can go mad if confined to solitary, so it was impossible for a child trapped in virtual reality for 7 years to be completely normal.

* * *

Over the past two months, sales of children’s VR capsules had significantly increased.

Additionally, even discontinued virtual reality helmets were being traded secondhand in Korea.

The reason was obvious.

After witnessing NoName’s brilliant talents, public aversion to virtual reality had noticeably decreased.

[We can’t go against the flow of time anyway lol. Weren’t there people who used to complain about writing on tablets? Look now, who even uses paper anymore? lol]

-Haven’t seen anyone except calligraphy artists on VTube.

-They still use it a bit in elementary schools.

-But let’s be honest, you can’t study at all in VR, right? With no one monitoring, you just end up messing around.

-For real lol

However, as parents began advocating for removing daily time limits on children’s capsules, experts voiced concerns.

[Many parents misunderstand this point—there’s no official research proving that studying in virtual reality improves learning efficiency. In fact, if children use capsules for extended periods before their sense of self is established, they may experience a disconnect from reality, which is why clear parental guidance is necessary.]

Not many people took the words of a doctor with 30 years of experience at face value.

Then how would they explain NoName’s case?

The probability that a child accidentally trapped in a capsule by terrorists would happen to be the smartest person in South Korea was extremely low.

Experts couldn’t easily provide an answer.

Because there was no other explanation.

While VR capsule companies were celebrating their marketing success, the first part of the “Genius Hunter: NoName Special” aired.

This immediately caused a huge reaction in online communities.

-Is… is this the same species as me?

The production team seemed determined to showcase NoName’s abilities at 100% through various activities.

Their method was to recreate all the abilities shown by 13-year-old Ham Cho-rong in a previous episode.

Viewership began to soar from the segment where she memorized an entire 100-page novel, reaching its peak during her one-on-one match with Adella.

As viewers felt both amazement and relative deprivation at the little girl’s abilities, attention turned to her painful past.

Though her health had improved significantly thanks to her guardian, NoName was still psychologically unstable.

Professor Cheon eventually shed tears at the psychology center director’s calm report, causing all viewers to let out sighs of empathy.

[She heard her mom’s voice as an auditory hallucination during the interview… that’s so sad…]

[Poor baby… how much emotional suffering she must have gone through…]

[Walpurgis is truly a social evil.]

[I can’t even make fun of NoName for not being able to distinguish between VR and reality anymore…]

[Are these capsules actually problematic when you look into it?]

[My wife, who was begging me to buy our 3rd grader a 2 million won study capsule until last week, finally changed her mind.]

[Why are all geniuses suffering? It’s really sad.]

[Start streaming, NoName! Twissy moms and dads will give you allowance!]

[You don’t have to stream, just please don’t get sick…]

Various online communities were flooded with tears.

NoName’s game interview videos began trending in algorithms again.

As viewers watched the Genius Hunter program with tears in their eyes…

Suddenly, all viewers were filled with shock and anger.

-What’s this Innate Magic shown in the preview? Is this some new trolling?

-These Japanese bastards, what the hell are they doing without any business ethics?

* * *

“Hi NoName.”

“Hello, PD Park Yeo-reum.”

“You remember my name? Today was tough, wasn’t it?”

“Seeing the junior PD coming to see me, I guess today is the last filming day for the first part.”

“Wow, how did you know?”

Like recognizes like.

Usually, the juniors handle the odd jobs, so her coming to see me meant there wouldn’t be much work for a while.

“Actually, I came with a mission. To interview you one last time.”

“Really? Just a moment.”

Since I was lying on the sofa, my hair was a mess.

While the junior PD set up the camera, I carefully fixed my bangs in the mirror.

“NoName, did you enjoy filming this time?”

“It was a different experience. I learned for the first time how many people work behind the scenes to make one broadcast.”

“You originally said you wouldn’t appear on Genius Hunter. What made you change your mind?”

“I had a reason. Do you know? If I had been rescued even a week later from the capsule, I might have died. If that happened, the capsule connection would have been cut first, and in that narrow space with barely any light, I would have trembled alone until I fell asleep, and my heart would have quietly stopped without me knowing.”

Did I start with too serious a topic?

The PD was biting her lip hard as she listened.

“It’s gratitude. I wanted to say thank you. I’m most grateful to my mom, but also to Professor Cheon who helped me grow up without lacking anything, the detective and rescue team members who came to the abandoned house to get me out, and my current cousin who recognized the rescue signal.”

“Rescue signal?”

“Anyway, something like that exists. But I heard those heroes are in a difficult situation. They deserve awards, but instead they’re being sent far away. It seemed like they were being treated unfairly, so I appeared to bring attention to this.”

“Wow… NoName, you’re always thinking about others around you, you’re really like an angel!”

“Not really. It’s just that one of those people is my academy friend’s father. In less flattering terms, you could call it school connections?”

This content will be covered in the second part.

The junior PD and I had a comfortable conversation about the filming schedule and various impressions.

Then suddenly, a question came to mind.

“By the way, I had a question while looking at the writer’s script yesterday.”

“Ah, about the script…!”

Since Genius Hunter is ultimately an entertainment program, scripts written by writers were inevitable.

But most viewers don’t know about this.

“People who know already know anyway. I noticed something missing from what Ham Cho-rong showed in her episode. It was crossed out with strikethrough lines.”

“Was there something like that?”

This was news to the PD as well.

It was such an old broadcast that she had never watched it in full.

“Why didn’t you ask about Innate Magic?”

“Innate Magic? Ah!”

PD Park Yeo-reum nodded as if suddenly remembering something.

“That’s because NoName is still too young—”

“I have it too. My own Innate Magic.”

“Huh? Really…?”

“Yes.”

“Why… why?”

“Because I created it?”

Ham Cho-rong created her Innate Magic at age 13, and the following year, at just 14, she advanced to the semifinals of the National Martial Arts Competition alongside high school seniors.

And her record of winning four consecutive championships from age 15 remains unprecedented in South Korea.

While her genius played a role in this achievement, everyone agreed that her Innate Magic was a significant factor.

Indeed, in competitions where techniques must be kept secret, having Innate Magic provides advantages in casting time and variations.

“Is it registered…?”

“Not yet.”

“If that’s true, you should register it quickly!”

“I’ve already applied. By now, it should be approved—”

Ding-

A message arrived at an eerily perfect timing.

Is this what they call entertainment divine intervention?

I showed the message from the Japanese Magic Copyright Association to the skeptical junior PD’s camera.

“A-grade? The evaluation wasn’t as good as I expected, but it’s not bad.”

“What do all these words mean?”

PD Park Yeo-reum asked me about the notification message written entirely in Japanese.

The filming crew turned the camera angle back to me.

Feeling playful, I pointed my index finger at the screen and said with a straight face:

“Hmm… it will be revealed 60 seconds after the commercial break.”

The PD gaped with a dumbfounded expression.

This is fun. I should use this on my own broadcast sometime.