Ch.362357 – Negative Review Terrorism

A large eel covering the top of white rice.

As I split the flesh with my chopsticks, fragrant steam rises gently.

I stuff my mouth with the brown sauce-coated pieces of meat.

Add a bite of steamed egg custard, a sip of katsuobushi broth—is this heaven?

“This is delicious…!”

My family burst into laughter at my comment.

Ban So-wol’s father, Consul General Ban Il-kwon, pushed dishes of braised burdock root and spicy cod roe toward me.

I don’t usually eat vegetables, but I should at least take a bite out of courtesy.

“You burn calories to gain strength? Wow, I thought you were a descendant of Genghis Khan! But does this tiny body of yours even have calories to burn? Isn’t our So-wol too weak?”

“What are you talking about? I’m the strongest in my department.”

“Come on, they probably went easy on you because you’re a girl.”

“Want to fight right now, Dad?”

“Sure. Honey, bring my hammer from my room.”

Ban So-wol put down her chopsticks and started rolling up her sleeves.

Her mother waved a rice-covered spatula and shouted:

“Please act like adults, both of you!”

“That’s why I got into Korea University’s Philosophy Department.”

“Honey, I tried to mature too—had fresh sturgeon with my subordinates at yesterday’s dinner.”

“Oh my, I should just stop talking! Name, would you like more rice? I’ll give you more if you need it!”

This family might not be entirely normal, but I suppose being harmonious is what matters.

While we ate dinner, Uncle Ban Il-kwon was spinning his pen, contemplating what to write in my recommendation letter.

“Mage Kim Woong wrote ‘Unparalleled in National History,’ and Mage Park Tae-seok just wrote ‘I support your youth’—does the content not matter much?”

“No. It’s just that I got stuck with the junior position.”

“Junior position?”

“The recommendation letter is always… handled by the most junior of the five. I’m not exactly low-ranking myself, but somehow they managed to gather all these ancient fossils. I’ll think about it more and write it by tomorrow. Is that okay?”

“Of course, I’m grateful.”

“Since you’ve come all this way, eat lots of good food and enjoy yourself. If you need anything, just tell So-wol.”

After dinner, I washed up quickly and changed into pajamas.

I put on a cleansing headband and returned to Ban So-wol’s bedroom.

“There’s no bed?”

“Do you prefer beds, Name? If you’re uncomfortable, I can bring a mattress.”

“No, I don’t mind. I’m fine sleeping on the floor.”

I’ve slept on stone floors before, so soft bedding is more than enough.

While Ban So-wol brought my pillow and blanket, I video-called Professor Cheon to check in.

Whether his anger had subsided or he’d just given up, the atmosphere seemed okay.

As I ended the call, Ban So-wol applied something cold to my cheek.

“Huh? What’s this?”

“Aloe moisturizer. We need to protect your precious baby skin for a long time.”

While getting a facial massage, I realized how much fatigue had built up in my feet.

It took only 18 hours to travel from home through Gangwon-do and Busan to reach Fukuoka.

‘I wonder if I’ve ever enjoyed modern conveniences this much before.’

I lay down but couldn’t fall asleep right away.

It was still earlier than my usual bedtime.

“Want to watch some VTube if you’re bored?”

“Huh? What about you, sis?”

“I’ll watch in virtual reality. I’ll set up the projector on the ceiling so you can lie down comfortably.”

I’ve always been on the creator side of VTube content, rarely consuming it.

Ban So-wol entered her capsule and displayed a hologram of herself in virtual reality.

“Have you watched the National Exchange Competition before?”

“I only saw last year’s finals and the matches with Emika. I don’t know anything except that it’s an individual competition.”

“This year they say 64 participants from 41 countries are competing. All matches are single-elimination tournaments, so you only need to win 6 times to become champion. Oh, here’s the teaser.”

We watched various videos guided by the VTube algorithm.

Theme songs performed by famous singers, players’ aspirations, fans’ support, and more.

Promising talents backed by clans even created personal channels with documentaries and training videos.

Emika was no exception.

A video of a white-robed girl with horns simply swinging a lightsaber easily surpassed 50 million views in just one week.

‘Why is this so popular?’

Taking it further, the official National Exchange Competition channel compiled highlights from participants’ videos.

It seemed like they were trying to fuel competition even before the tournament began.

[#11 Emika Katsuhata. She is a very strong contender for this National Exchange Competition. With her powerful weapon of 3-Circle Double Casting, and having recently succeeded in external manifestation, she has become a participant with no weaknesses. Remember, once Katsuhata’s blade turns red, victory will rapidly tilt to one side. And it won’t be yours.]

Emika’s sparring scenes appeared brilliantly alongside these somewhat cringeworthy lines.

The comments were unanimously positive.

[Best Comments]

-(07:39) The old-fashioned training of meditating under waterfalls can no longer be found in Japan. Katsuhata has absorbed all modern combat theories and is versatile enough that you can’t distinguish between her aptitude for magic and aura. [Likes: 6.4K]

└ A hardworking genius is scary.

└ Heavenly talent!

└ Emika who lost to some Hungarian nobody is a contender?

└ Last year Katsuhata was only 14. Two years makes a huge difference for kids.

└ Perfect hexagonal stats except for mental strength.

-(08:01): This is my great-grandfather’s favorite scene. Was the Last Jedi Japanese? [Likes: 2.1K]

└ lol my grandmother said the same thing.

└ Wow, you know Star Wars!

-(08:23) This is perfect swordsmanship worthy of being in textbooks. Watching her perfectly execute opposition (pushing away the opponent’s sword with her own) using only external manifestation, I believe she deserves to be among legends. [Likes: 8.7K]

I carefully rewatched the video from the beginning while browsing the comments.

It showed Emika creating a lightsaber immediately after her sword broke in two, escaping from a critical strike.

Many people applauded this scene.

“Hmm…”

Something bothers me.

When I paused the video, Ban So-wol immediately asked why.

“Is there a problem?”

“This part, at 8:24-25. The vertical downward strike is called Scheitelhaur, but there’s no need to shift the center of gravity backward here. This is hard to explain verbally. Is there anything I can use to demonstrate?”

There was nothing suitable to substitute for a sword.

I tried my best to explain verbally why Emika’s stance was problematic.

“Every attack has a corresponding defense, and there’s an attack that can be launched most quickly from each defensive stance. Looking at Emika’s stance, she seems to be slowing her tempo to prepare for the opponent’s redoubling—a secondary attack… but the opponent’s sword weight is different, so they couldn’t move at that speed.”

This doesn’t mean it’s a bad stance.

In chess terms, it’s like missing an opportunity for checkmate in four moves.

“Even if the opponent is truly cautious and doesn’t put all their strength into the first strike, if you angle the sword like this and move in a straight line, wouldn’t the lightsaber reach the neck first?”

“I don’t really understand, but okay.”

“Even if Emika knew the opponent would summon a lightsaber, once the sword comes down that far, it’s a forced move. It seems like they deliberately targeted the sword to expose an opening… but then if you lower your sword with the right timing, the opponent’s upper body is exposed and they’d defeat themselves.”

“Ohhh…! I don’t understand at all.”

“Anyway, that’s the theory. If I wanted to nitpick further, I could point out improvements in localized control of external manifestation.”

“Name, you’re so cool, whoa…”

If they just wanted to create a visually appealing scene of swords clashing, I wouldn’t have anything to say.

But Emika’s response seemed too natural to be acting.

Even if I told Emika about this now, it wouldn’t be fixed in a day or two.

Rather than unsettling her mind right before the competition, I was content to quietly leave a comment on VTube.

-Private: (08:25) If this movement wasn’t intentional, it seems like an area that needs improvement. Based on shoulder rotation speed and stride length, it was clear this wasn’t a feint attack, and Katsuhata Emika made one minor mistake… (See more)

“Yaaawn… I’m tired… What time is it?”

After writing the comment, I checked the clock and saw it was already 2 AM.

‘What? 2 AM already?’

A yawn involuntarily escaped my lips.

Ban So-wol seemed to have fallen asleep in her capsule.

I switched her capsule to sleep mode and turned off all the internal lights.

I didn’t resist my increasingly heavy eyelids.

With the gentle fan breeze and fluffy blanket, reflecting on today’s journey of over 1000km, I fell into perhaps the deepest sleep I’ve ever had.

And the next morning.

My comment had received numerous downvotes and over 300 replies, causing quite a stir.

* * *

[Overseas Magic Gallery]

[EmbarrassingSelfPortrait.jpg]

A Korean left a 13-line know-it-all comment to Katsuhata Emika on the official National Exchange Competition teaser, and the reaction is INSANELY hot right now.

300 likes but 5000 dislikes and almost 400 replies!

Of all people, they’re giving advice on aura and swordsmanship to a super-talented person who even succeeded with external manifestation lol

(Question mark Pepe image)

Some of you might wonder why all the fuss over a VTube comment, but it’s already spreading rapidly through foreign communities as “Ugly Korean” smh.

Since Korea isn’t participating in the National Exchange Competition this time, we’re getting beaten up ten times worse because of this.

There’s been so little drama this year, and if this reaches the competition commentators’ ears, it’ll be a real international embarrassment.

[Comments]

-Did Korea choose not to participate? No, they couldn’t participate.

└ They chose not to. Even Costa Rica participated—surely Korean mages aren’t worse than them?

-Hmm, private account… As always, anonymous users cause the biggest problems!

-He is Chinese.

-This is bullshit. How can you judge a feint by looking at stride length? Definitely some weeb.

└ External manifestation isn’t a switch you can turn on and off, this is seriously ridiculous lol

└ Do they know how hard it is to externalize an aura heart… If they knew, they’d never talk like that.

└ 99.999% chance it’s just some random person spouting nonsense.

-Will the commentators mention the Korean know-it-all on the official broadcast?

└ Oh shit!

└ No… anything but that…!

└ They’ll be ridiculed for life lol

[What did this know-it-all do wrong to deserve such criticism?]

Did they explain how to distinguish feint motions just by shoulders and stride length?

Did they tell the Katsuhata school heir that her swordsmanship needs work?

Did they say “that’s not how you do external manifestation”?

What exactly did (Private) do wrong!!! (I genuinely don’t know)

[Comments]

-They did all of that lol

-Not a single defensible point lol

-Now I understand why the Japanese collectively lost their minds.

└ A Japanese person getting lectured by NoName? I’d shut them up immediately too lol

-I respect their courage for not deleting the comment despite this uproar.

└ Deleting won’t help. It’s already spread across every community.

-Touching the sacred territory of Katsuhata Emika was the big issue. I think some points might actually be valid.

└ Which part is valid?

└ She is a bit defensive. I expected more fluid swings with a lightsaber.

[Season 1 Know-it-all Finally Replied!!! (Not fake!)]

Not fake, the know-it-all actually replied. Screenshot and link attached.

[-(Private): Wait, I’ll show you with a video.]

Is this about to turn the tables?

[Comments]

-Wow, what confidence lol

-This actually makes me like them a bit?

-Respect for the absolute chad.

-Time for popcorn lol

-Private bringing tension to the relaxed National Exchange Competition!

-Let’s go~ Let’s go~