Chapter 43
[What's up with the Sunglasses Noona??]
Wakya-paㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-She was fucking awesome, for real
-Her expression was all pouty because Seoul lostㅋㅋ
ㄴ This means Seoul has to win
[Seoul Noona just now..gif]
(Seoul Noona staring into the camera with sunglasses on)
Seoul noona is fucking awesomeㅋㅋㅋ
-Why's she wearing sunglasses while watching the game?
ㄴ Who cares when she's prettyㅋㅋ
-Kyaaㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is Seoulㅋㅋ
-Is she a celebrity??
ㄴ Seems like it? There are lots of celebrities at live matches
-What's her Insta ID?
ㄴ How the fuck would I know, idiot
[Wow, these idiots are getting wrecked by Beijingㅋㅋ]
They're fucking terribleㅋㅋ What does that make Busan, losing to a team like this?
-ㅋㅋWhy is Busan coming up??
-But for real, if that had been Busan, they'd have won
ㄴ Here comes the next 3-0 sweep
ㄴ ? They won one set though?
ㄴ You're proud of scraping out one setㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ What the fuck do you want me to do about it;;
[If Beijing < our master, upvoteㅋㅋ]
Behold last year's defending champion..
-They were fucking good, goddamn
-They won a team fight right after this was postedㅋㅋ
ㄴ Top-tier voodooㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Just the fucking greatest team in history]
(Team Seoul logo)
G R E A T S E O U L
Behold the greatest city in Earth's history…
-GOAT
-The GOAT in the history of concrete-based citiesㅇㅇㅇ
-They're just fucking goodㅋㅋ
-They came back from that?
[Wowㅋㅋ]
Anyone else just see that?
-Upvote if this is the scene of the yearㅋㅋ
ㄴ For real..
-Who is that person??
-I almost forgot about the actual gameㅋㅋ
[Today's highlight]
(Seoul Noona lowering her sunglasses and doing the celebration)
Upvote if you agree
-Kyaaㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is seriously it
-Now that's a highlight reelㅋㅋㅋ
[No, but she's fucking gorgeous]
Is she really a civilian?? She doesn't have a civilian vibe
-For real
-Someone run an image search ㅇㅇ
-She's probably a celebrity who came to watch live
[Seoul Noona's expression changes]
(After losing Set 1)
(After winning a full five-set series)
This is itㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Damn, she nailed that celebration
-Wow, but she's fucking pretty; Is she an actress?
ㄴ Doesn't look like it
ㄴ If she looked like that and was an actress, she'd be famousㅋㅋ
[Seoul Noona's identity revealed??]
(Article about model Ahyeon)
Model ㄷㄷㄷ
-Kyaaㅋㅋㅋ
-Models these days are fucking gorgeous;;
-Is she famous?
ㄴ Never heard of her, but there are quite a few articles
[Seoul Noona is world-class?]
(A rundown of model Kim Ahyeon's career)
What the fuck is this?
-??
-No, she's twenty-four—does that career check out?
-What the hellㅋㅋㅋ
-Is this for real?
-Upvote for fake
[No, fuckㅋㅋ Why would someone like her come to a Rell tournament?]
She really doesn't fit inㅋㅋㅋ
-For real
-I'll give Rell that, though
-Do you really take Rell tournament fans for fucking nobodiesㅋㅋ
-But celebrities came too
ㄴ No, an international model feels like a different league
[I went to Seoul Noona's Insta and sent her a DM, how'd I do?]
(Screenshot of the post sent to the gallery's hot-post board)
She left me on read without replying..
-Ah, damn
-Can someone ban this guy;;
-Post your username
**
Back when I was still being taught by Teacher Han Suyeong.
One day, she suddenly grabbed me and said something.
‘Ahyeon, attention is a measure of expectation.’
‘Pardon?’
‘So don't become famous, and make lots of money.’
‘Isn't being expected to do well a good thing?’
‘You little brat, you think expectations are free?’
I had answered without thinking because she'd come out with it so abruptly.
But Teacher Han Suyeong suddenly turned stern, sat me down right there, and started lecturing me.
A person's expectations are basically like an advance payment.
If you fail to meet them, you become a scammer who runs off with the money, and so on….
It had been a little out of left field, honestly, but I could relate to it.
I'd been expected to do a lot as a child super-rookie model, too, hadn't I?
If I fell even a little short of those expectations, I'd hear all sorts of things, starting with, “I knew she'd turn out like that.”
And now that I think about it.
I really made the parents who'd worked so hard to get their sons and daughters into children's magazines resent me.
Well, their resentment was understandable.
Hadn't I taken the spots that should have gone to snot-nosed kids just because I was an adult?
…Now that I think about it, I really was awful, huh? Anyway.
Through those experiences and Teacher Han Suyeong's lecture.
After adopting the mindset that I would make lots of money without being recognized too much, there were some obvious facts I'd overlooked this time.
“What? Did I watch the Rell match? Yeah, I watched it in the living room.”
-You watched it but didn't stream it?
-Fuck, turn on your broadcast and watch it
-Did you see Seoul Noona?
“Huh?”
First of all, I'd underestimated the popularity of Legend of Legends.
I knew the Rell tournament was doing well.
But there turned out to be even more people watching Rell matches than I'd thought.
“Isn't she just a regular person? From what I've seen on your broadcast, she's kind of….”
-Nope, she's a model
-You don't see this??
-She's a public figure, it's fine
And the Rell international tournament held last week.
Was the biggest tournament of them all, famous enough that even I knew about it,
On top of that, it was the tournament where China had taken the trophy for two years after Seoul's win three years ago.
So, in the final set between Seoul and Beijing, it recorded the highest viewership in Rell tournament history.
And when that set ended.
While everyone was still basking in the afterglow along with the players' celebrations, footage of me was broadcast.
And I was doing a really cool celebration, too.
As a result, my popularity exploded.
The viewers were making a fuss now, and more importantly, I was getting contacted from all over the place.
[Unnie, is that really you?]
[Ahyeon, you watch Rell tournaments too??]
[Hey, you never show up to our gatherings….]
The group chat for our model alumni association in particular nearly exploded.
I'd suggested games to them a few times, but they clearly hadn't expected me to go all the way to a tournament.
Well, I probably wouldn't have gone either if not for an opportunity like this.
“What's this ‘Seoul Noona’ nonsense? Let's play LEx.”
-??
-Ah, go take a look before you leave, fuck;;
-I posted it on the café, wait
More importantly, these people kept…
Why did they keep telling me to check? I was right there whenever I looked in the mirror.
“Why don't you all look at Wayo's avatar instead of that 3D woman? It's unrealistically pretty.”
-?
-?
-Fuck off
-Seoul Noona is prettier, though?
“What are you talking about….”
Still, she'd only happened to appear well on the broadcast once.
She'd probably be a brief topic of conversation on the community and then disappear.
All I'd really shown at the tournament was one celebration, after all.
So unless I threw more firewood on the fire, it was bound to flare up briefly and fade.
Everyone would forget in about a week.
Memes get consumed quickly these days, after all.
I figured I'd drift around the online world for about a week as one of the memes infused with tournament hype, then disappear.
“Everyone, I'm a woman too. If you talk about another woman in my room, I start feeling competitive….”
-??
-No, you're not Seoul Noona's rival;;
-Teacher, take your medicine.
Anyway, Seoul Noona was a Seoul woman.
These bastards…. How much have they even seen of Seoul Noona?
Though I was Seoul Noona herself, even I was at a loss.
Was that really a scene worth getting this popular?
Well, I worked in front of cameras, so I had roughly expected how it might look.
But I hadn't expected it to become this much of a hot topic.
They'd even contacted Team Seoul that very day.
They asked if I could appear as a guest in content commemorating the international finals.
Naturally, I turned them down, but it was enough to leave me bewildered.
“Everyone, shut the fuck up and play Rell.”
-Ah..
-Hey, come on…
-Aren't we playing LEx?
“I watched the finals too. I was pretty fired up, you know?”
-Ah, this bastard saw Seoul Noonaㅋㅋ
-Fuck, didn't you say you were going to the Lab?
“I'll go to the Lab later.”
The LEx Lab was somewhere I was looking forward to visiting too.
But I'd just watched the Rell finals yesterday—why would I play LEx? Of course I should play Rell.
Apparently I wasn't the only one thinking that way. As soon as I queued, I found a match.
“Kyaa, I knew I could count on you.”
-You Rell guys are hopelessㅋㅋ
-Let's use the tournament picksㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Actually.
Rell tournaments and solo queue were almost different games.
But there was one thing they had in common.
The meta.
Picks that were popular in tournaments soon appeared in solo queue too.
As proof, our team and the enemy team were mirror images of the final fifth set we'd watched yesterday.
-Kyaaㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-An Emerald scrub tournament is happeningㅋㅋ
-Is this a PC bang tournament??
“The match is on. Focus.”
Anyway.
Still, to be honest, this was just barely within the range of what I'd expected.
No, had it gone a little beyond that…?
…Either way, it was a reaction I could understand.
However, if there was one other fact I'd overlooked.
It was that I was a model with seventeen years in the business.
And that there was a truly enormous amount of cyber material for bored archaeologists to dig up.
[Seoul Noona's old variety-show appearancesㅋㅋ]
[Seoul Noona's Paris feature article ㄷㄷ]
[No, this person really is world-class, huh?]
[Hmm.. Is she really that famous? (Author: Exclamation-Mark Traveler)]
After the broadcast ended that day, the Rell tournament community grew hotter and hotter.
[Hello, Ahyeon. This is the Young Quiz PD team….]
A famous talk show contacted me.
[Ahyeon, how have you been? About this time….]
Even variety-show producers who'd worked with me a few times when I was in school got in touch.
Shout-outs started pouring in until I almost wondered if I'd won the tournament myself.
“Ahyeon, this….”
“I guess this can't be helped.”
Honestly, I'd only intended to live as if nothing had happened.
But if the world wouldn't leave me alone, I couldn't help it.
Okay, I lose.
Thank you for the fame advance payment.
They say popularity is all about momentum.
To think I'd blow up like this from a single photo—I really never~ imagined it.
Well, the photo was the spark, but I think the reason I blew up was my flashy career… anyway.
If people were looking for me and wanting me that badly, what choice did I have?
[Wayo's major announcement]
-???
-?
-What's this?
“I've decided to enter a tournament this time. Tremble, tremble.”
-?
-‘Tremble, tremble,’ my ass
-For real??
-All of a sudden?
After I quickly finished the shoots I had left, I had no choice but to hole up in the cyber world for the time being.