휘이이잉-
“으으 춥다.”
The cold wind from Siberia pierced through my coat.
It seems that there was only one day in the year that can be called autumn—the day the Academy对抗赛 was held.
Perhaps it would be more appropriate to refer to the seasons as “비읍” and “기역” rather than spring and autumn.
“매미소리가 들리는 여름이 그리워. 엣취!”
Yuna said, sniffing her nose beside me.
I seized on the bait Yuna had thrown out like a predator.
“Speaking of cicadas, did you know that the periodical cicadas in America live underground for either 5, 7, or 13 years and then all emerge at once? Especially, the cicadas called Brood IX live as pupae for a whopping 17 years! Isn’t it fascinating why they evolved this way? The answer lies in the relationship between primes and predators, but ugh-!”
“Please, NoName! Don’t talk!”
Iharu covered my mouth thoroughly from behind.
“Puhaha. It’s sad that you guys don’t appreciate the primes, ugh-!”
“Eww, there’s saliva on my hand! Stop sticking out your tongue!”
“Behehe.”
To dismiss a lecture from a prime authority that proved twins’ prime conjecture like this is quite a waste.
I can’t even make enough money for it.
“I wonder what my big brother and sister are feeling right now. They must be super nervous, right?”
I turned my gaze to the street along with Yuna.
In Korea, approximately 300,000 cicadas emerge all at once.
Children who have held their breath for as short as 17 to as long as 19 years finally fly up to the sky starting today.
So, looking at Koreans these days, I feel it would be hard to call those in their 20s adults.
I tightly held the icy palms of my friends while raising a sign high above my head with my other hand.
[You’ve done well so far, and you will do well in the future!]
We were in front of the main gate of a regular high school.
The Academy had ‘forcefully’ set up a spot to cheer on the seniors taking the KGSAT.
Even penguins shield their younger ones by placing them in the center, yet here I was at the edge, unable to escape my pitiful barrier.
And I just realized the reason for this arrangement.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to pass through.
“NoName! What number should I mark?”
“Just hold my hand once! To get some energy!”
“Namé, please! I’m a re-examinee, and I really need to do well today…! What do you think? Can I do well?”
Why are you asking me that?
A tsunami of people filled the campus in an instant.
For some reason, seniors and re-examinees were all eager to hold my hand.
It’s just a test that happens once a year, and yes, today only.
With a cheerful face, I interacted with the blistered palms of the students.
“If you don’t know, mark number 3.”
Because in life, three attempts are enough.
I almost forgot, but I had one more acquaintance who took the KGSAT.
A girl obsessed with content, Kariri.
[설윤슬: 홧팅홧팅 >< I will mark 100 questions and get 99 right, so look forward to it!]
Yoonseul, who is set to have her coming of age ceremony next year, prepared for the exam with the goal of entering a broadcasting arts college.
By now, I imagine she’s finished with the reading comprehension section and is working on the writing and language sections.
When I got home, I took off my coat and collapsed onto my bed.
Everyone is setting out to find their own paths, but I can’t shake the feeling of being stuck.
The accomplishment of proving a tough problem isn’t entirely my achievement.
A significant portion was borrowed from the knowledge of my past life, specifically Maria’s research.
Without my past life, what remains of me?
Am I simply a being meant to soothe the poor soul of my previous life?
It’s fascinating how interpretations can change depending on how one defines themselves.
If I define myself as a being continuously connected to my past life, I inevitably become a male.
Conversely, denying my past life turns me into a little girl with a mental illness pretending to be an adult.
Neither side leaves room for the second life to intervene.
Yet, paradoxically, the biggest part that shapes my current personality is my second life, Esteria.
If only I understood how reincarnation works, all my questions would be resolved at once.
‘Well... that’s difficult, so it’s a tough problem.’
Yeah, I shouldn’t think too complicatedly.
I can’t ponder whether I’m a man or a woman every time I wear a skirt.
Living such an inefficient life is far too short.
If I struggle to define myself, I can seek the eyes of others for help.
I posted a comeback notice on Twish after three weeks.
[No Name]
[Just Chatting – KGSAT Sampling]
[Broadcast Time - 0:05:38]
[Number of Viewers – 10,755]
-As soon as the exam ended, watching No Name’s broadcast makes me a legend, lol.
-You came at exactly 6?
-I almost died without Naméㅠㅠㅠ I really want to see Namé’s broadcastㅠㅠㅠ
-You don’t need to work hard on the broadcast, just stay healthy...
-Virtual reality? I actually like it.
-Adella just finished her broadcast, so she’ll probably do a side gig here, lol.
Kariri’s endless jukebox was slowly coming to an end, and I dialed a number.
Ding ding di ring-
The black screen of the broadcast slowly brightened, revealing the scene inside the room.
-???
-Phone?
-gasp
-Hurry up and show it; I’m getting anxious!
“Hello.”
[Hello! Wow, Namé!]
“Your voice sounds bright! Did you do well on the test?”
[Well, you see, there’s a very sad story here. I’m sure I marked correctly during the reading comprehension, but I accidentally dropped my tumbler, and the water-]
“Ah, okay, hang in there...!”
Click-
I guess she didn’t see it.
I didn’t have the courage to comfort her, so I hung up abruptly before she could burst into tears.
“Hello. Today was the day for the KGSAT, right? If there’s any viewer who took it today from my room...”
-If you’re a complete beginner for grading, that’s commendable, lol.
-‘Aside from the sound, the drum is just leather.’
└ What’s that?
└ Handwriting confirmation phrase.
└ LOL.
-I’m going for a re-examine... Namé, don’t live like this...
“Quickly turn off my broadcast and go thank your parents for raising you.”
-HAHAHAHAHA.
-I really commend myself for watching Namé’s broadcast the moment I got my phone!
-Really, the re-examinees gave up right after the reading comprehension test, lol.
-Ah, mom! Don’t you know I’m in my third year? Get out of my room right now!
-So I decided to watch the broadcast with my parents.
“Ah, please don’t watch it together. If you get scolded, you’ll be the one who loses, right?”
-HAHHAHA.
-Lol, Namé is indeed the ultimate model student.
-I’ve seen bits and pieces on Instagram, but watching it like this at 240fps feels like heaven.
└ This is like drinking Powerade after saving every drop of water in the desert, lol.
[‘Namé랑님이 100,000원 후원!’]
-Namé, I hope you’re feeling better! I really enjoyed seeing you and your father having such a happy time together on Instagram! We are so glad you came back so fast!
“Thank you for the 100,000 won donation, Namé랑. It seems like I’m not that sick, but I feel a bit sorry for only showing a weak side to everyone.”
-What? You’re not that sick?ㅠㅠㅠ
-You can show us your weak side as much as you want!
-It seems like Namé has a too high standard for not being sick; it makes me cry...
-Journalists who insulted my father deserve to be buried even deeper.
-I hope you can share some stories about the isolation room, lol.
“I wasn’t planning on telling a sad story today; I’d like to solve a few KGSAT questions with everyone. This is also a freebie content, right?”
-True, but it’s a freebie, lol.
-There are hardly any people genuinely solving the questions? Most are sharing their exam stories.
-Just chatting = you all talk among yourselves, I’ll be solving questions.
└ Was it this? lol.
-That idea is so cute, lol. This is the NoName I know.
-Adella should recruit Kariri as a second generation NoName!
“Alright, let’s get this started. Shall we proceed with voting on subjects?”
Regulating the mood of the chat is also the broadcaster's job.
If the broadcast atmosphere flows too favorably towards the broadcaster, it could cause discomfort or aversion to specific viewers.
The detailed skills to ensure that the content itself receives attention rather than the person are things I have learned on my own in this life.
Whoa, I guess I have something I can do well too.
I hummed a little tune while creating polling items one after another.
“We’re going to look at about five subjects across roughly three topics, and we’ll proceed in the order the votes come out. Everyone understands, right?”
-Yes, yes, teacher!
-Celebrating NoName as an online course instructor, Day 1...
-To be honest, Namé isn’t that good at teaching.
-Why is the KGSAT math section being solved by a winner of the Wolfe Prize, lol.
└ That’s ridiculous...
-This is definitely a quick math problem.
-I’m curious about magic studies and incantation studies too.
Viewer count shows 15,000 with a 95% voting participation.
[#1. Math]
[#2. Natural Magic Studies]
[#3. Magic Circles Studies]
[#4. Incantation Studies]
[#5. Reading Comprehension]
“Let’s start with math.”
*
My mind is fundamentally optimized for solving math or magic circle problems.
Numbers automatically form in my head, and the multidimensional arrangement of circuit formulas falls into place effortlessly.
If someone asked how I did 9 times 8, I’d simply reply, “Just.”
I was one of the few who had more “just” things happen to me than others.
“Why isn’t number theory covered deeply in the KGSAT? We only get congruences; isn’t it possible to teach quadratic fields, elliptic curves, or Diophantine approximations to high school students? Is the answer 30?”
I posed a question to the viewers while calculating an incredibly simple definite integral problem.
-There are so many topics in math that I’m overwhelmed, and you want me to add more? I’ll curse you!
-Calculating in my head, ridiculous, lol. Are these the people who can finish math in 20 minutes?
-My friend from Daechi-dong is raging live, lol.
-Is there a place where you don’t learn matrices, vectors, geometry, or trigonometric functions?
└ If the exam scope were set like that, it’d be even worse, lol.
-This needs no further discussion. If the hardest problem takes 1 minute, that says it all, right?
The second subject is Natural Magic Studies.
In fact, it’s just basic magic studies, but some theory-based mages with influential clout claim it’s not magic and have even filed lawsuits.
According to their assertions, the ultimate goal of magic is to build circuit formulas constructed solely from human thought, breaking free from nature.
However, with magic below the third circle, it’s not 90% or even 99% based on nature, which is why we have the subject term “Natural.”
The exam for Natural Magic Studies, no matter how difficult it is, never exceeded classical mechanics.
Ultimately, it was all about describing how to optimize a stagnant fluid.
I solved the problems using a virtual reality tablet provided as a product by GigaStudy.
[Record: Center of Pressure Shift]
The dam gate depicted on electronic paper closes.
-Comfortable.
-Ow, I remember that dam problem, it was horrible.
└ Please keep the chat pretty.
-Constructed from the tears of test-takers, lol.
-What’s the significance of that in our real life?
-If it rains heavily and the dam breaks, we have to handle it ourselves, am I right?
Judging by how intricate the problems are now and back then, avoiding criticism seems unavoidable.
However, since the KGSAT evaluates individual reasoning abilities and isn’t a qualification exam for useful magic, I guess that’s fine.
“Isn’t the quality of the problems quite good? How could they implement such interactivity on electronic paper?”
-Did the designer also get abducted to create this?
-I wanted to slap the dalmatian shaking on the dam, lol.
-Magic really is about talent; it’s on another level.
“Designer? Wow.”
I drew a line on the slate circuit and made a slight adjustment to the answer of the problem I just solved.
Then, a dalmatian floated away under the dam.
“Not the dog! No!”
-HAHHAHAHA.
-This is seriously annoying, lol.
-They say in the exam hall, you can even hear the sound effects?
-Laughing while trying to hold it in, lv.100, lol.
After about five seconds, the dog floated back from the sky, but it broke my heart, so I couldn't send it again.
And next.
This KGSAT’s most controversial subject, Incantation Studies.
Generally, it’s easier than Magic Circles Studies, and even students who aren’t from the academy can solve it using academies or online courses, so it’s a popular challenge among general high school students.
-The evaluation director is going to get fired, right?
-100% for sure.
-How can they set a common law school exam topic, lol?
-Here we go~
-You’re not serious, are you...? Are we solving this too?
On the final page of Incantation Studies, I found the “Arabesque” formation I used most in my past life, clearly drawn.
Though there wasn’t a golden bell, I touched the problem, receiving the viewers’ encouragement all at once.
A complex three-dimensional holographic cube popped up right in front of my chest.
“Challenge.”
Today’s broadcast seems to be the most enjoyable ever.
Should I consider becoming a institute instructor too if I run out of things to do later?
