(Edit 2/8/2018) Late Disclaimer (oops): This story is already set after the Chinese animation plot. Will follow light novel plot. Might contain spoilers for those who have not read/up-to-date. And will contain spoiler past the translated work since I do read the original work too; original work has been completed a few years ago already.

Hi! I'm Naomi!

...Eh? What do you mean who am I?

I have been in the story all along. Haven't you noticed? See I was here at the All-Star weekend that year when Tang Rou wouldn't leave the stage when fighting against Du Ming. There I was again stealing wild bosses with Happy. Oh, and here I am cheering for Happy at the Challenger League Finals.

...You still don't know who I am? Well, then let me tell you about my side of story from the beginning.

The plane ride from City C, USA to B City, China was a long one. Even though it was a direct flight, it was still 14 hours long. After an economy class frozen dinner - there was nothing special to note about it - it was time to sleep. Even though it was still midday outside, the flight attendants instructed everyone by the windows to lower plastic blinds. With nothing much to do in the artificial darkness, most people decided to sleep to adjust to for the jet lag that everyone on this flight would eventually suffer.

I was no different from the rest of the passengers on the plane. There was still over 10 hours before the touchdown. Without internet access, there was only so much a person could do while confided in a seat of an aircraft. At least if I had internet, I could entertain myself with Youtube or mobile games hours unend. It was really sad to think how much people were wired to their electronics nowadays.

x

With nothing I could do, I also decided to get some shuteye. I paused the outdated movie playing on the tiny screen, and untangled the headphone wires from my hair. I tried to get comfortable by wrapping my scarf and coat around me tighter to keep me warm in the chilly plane.

For how uncomfortable and cramp the flight was, I fell asleep rather quickly. A memory from a long time ago surfaced into my dream.

x

"Stop it." A young boy with dark hair yelled hopelessly against the three bigger boys that circled him. "Give it back." Tears began to pour out of young child's eyes as he made a grab for his backpack in one of the bigger boy's hands.

"Make us, you sissy!" One of the bullies laughed and pushed the weaker boy back to the ground. The weaker boy sobbed harder from scraping his hands and knees on the rough cement ground. "Look at him cry." The bully smiled in satisfaction.

"This is not a nice thing to do." I grabbed the backpack easily from the boys. Even if the bullies were bigger than my brother (弟), I was still 5 years older and taller than all of them. In my first year of middle school, I towered over the first grade kids.

"If I see you guys picking on my brother again, I will report you to your teachers and parents."

With a cold glare from me, the three bullies scrambled out of sight.

"YiFan (一帆). You can't let those boys keep on picking on you. You have to stand up to them." I helped my brother to his feet, and tried to pat off as much dirt off his shirt and shorts as I could with my hands. I didn't want to make his parents worry. I frowned at his scrapes. They weren't deep, but they would be harder to hide. We should disinfect them when we get home just to be safe .

YiFan and I were not sibling by blood; we were cousins. My mom was his mom's older sister. Due to some family circumstances, my mom and I were staying with his family while my family figured things out. YiFan was super shy when we first met, but he became quickly attached to me like a younger brother. Then, we started address each other as siblings. During our time together, our moms often aww-ed at how cute YiFan was following me around everywhere like a baby duckling.

"Sis (姐)." He sniffled. "I'm not strong like you."

"You can be too. You just have to show them you are not a helpless sheep and they will stop picking on you." I said sternly.

YiFan pouted and looked away.

I sighed after YiFan refused to talk about the subject. I carried his bag and offered a hand for him to hold on our walk home. "Let's go home. Do you have a lot of homework today? We can do homework together and then you can watch me play my game."

"Okay. Yay." He cheered up immediately at the mention of the game. YiFan was so easy to please that it was adorable. Instead of watching cartoons and kids programs on television like most kids his age, his favorite past time was watching me play Glory - a game that recently came out in the last year.

"You can become strong too in the future when you are allowed to play Glory."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. When you are older and get good grades, your parents will let you play too. And then, the other kids won't dare to pick on you anymore!"

x

That scene faded and now I was in an airport.

x

"Don't leave sis. I don't want you to leave." YiFan trapped me in his little arms and refused to let me go at the international airport.

My mom and I only stayed at my aunt's for three short month before my dad worked things out in America and decided to move the rest of the family there.

"YiFan, your sister and Aunty need to go America where uncle Wang is. You want JingChun (静春) to be with her family right?" YiFan's mom reasoned with him.

"But I will miss her." YiFan furrowed his brow.

"There is QQ." My mom offered.

"And Skype." My aunt said.

"It's not the same!" YiFan pouted cutely.

"When you are older, come and find me in Glory. You remember my character's name right?" I ruffled YiFan's hair playfully.

"Yea, it's the White Robed Witch (白衣女巫)." YiFan pouted deeper while trying to smooth out his hair.

"Good, let's meet in the game once you are older okay?"

"Okay."

I made a pinky promised with the young YiFan before leaving China with my mom.

After that dream scene ended, I woke up groggily. The people seated near me already pulled up their blinds and were making loud sounds. I grimaced at the bright light in the plane cabin.

Why were people so inconsiderate, I complained in my head while trying to rub out a knot in my neck. My neck was stiff from sleeping in a weird sitting position. But this is what you get for flying economic on an international flight. I moved neck around in circles and felt a satisfying pop.

x

Those dreams were really old memories of my past. Ten years already passed since those events. I was now an adult returning to China for work.

I work for a medium sized Japanese toy company in the States branch after obtaining a master degree in art. The company sponsored some of the oversea animes and also produced action figures from various cartoons, animes, comics, video games, and movies. As for me, I mainly work on art concept for upcoming toys or figures, or promo artworks. Occasionally, I would given some small figurine project to sculpt. To expand their business overseas, they started a collaboration with the one of the biggest video game titles, Glory. With me being Chinese and had some Glory background, they deemed me one of the few individuals appropriate to send overseas for the collaboration along with a few others.

Under normal circumstances, I would have turned down the opportunity since my immediate family, friends, pets, and life were all in the States. However, I just broke off my engagement to my cheating fiancée. The pain and wound were still too fresh. The whole event made me unable to stand staying in the same country as him, so I used this job opportunity to escape far, far away from the disgusting bastard.

The company had already prepared my own little apartment and work studio in City B, and they would be paying me my American annual salary. Overall, it was not a bad gig at all. Being paid an U.S. salary was a huge advantage; this ensured that I would live fairly very comfortable life in China. In general, the cost of living in China would be much lower than the States.

I opened the plastic window cover and looked out at the plane's massive wing. We were currently flying above some snow clouds, and were about 30 minutes from descending. It was a bit bittersweet to return to China. Shortly after going to America, my family lost touch with my aunt's side of the family due to the time difference and poor Internet services in America.

I never fulfilled my promise to YiFan of meeting him in Glory because when I finally had decent Internet service to play Glory, I had to quit the game due to massive online drama.

After winning a design submission type of contest during the 1st anniversary of the game, I received a set of special equipment from Glory. The equipment was made according to the custom designs and customized special properties that were submitted for the contest entry. Because of the uniqueness properties of the equipment set offered to my character, the White Robed Witch, people started to call me and reported me as a hacker. Also because of me, that was the first and last time Glory held that contest.

Even with an official announcement from Glory saying that my character was a legitimate character that had shown no signs of hacking, people still would only believe what they wanted to believe. I was kicked out of my guild, and shunned by other players. No one wanted to risk of having a possible hacked character in their party because the punishment for hacking and helping an hacker in Glory was account deletion.

There were only few online friends that would play with me in game after that. These friends knew of my special equipment set and didn't mind the god like stats at all. One of them had even helped me designed all of it. Maybe they didn't mind because no matter now good my equipment was, I was still a noob in comparison. All of them could still beat me in PvP easily despite the equipment advantage.

Most of my friend would go easy on me during PvP and win with a small margin so I wouldn't feel as bad about losing, but one guy was ruthless and straight to the point. He was someone I dubbed the living breathing Glory online encyclopedia. If I had any questions, asking him was much easier and more accurate than searching for random guides online.

But due to time difference and rise of professional glory players, I went from rarely able play with them to not able to play with them at all. After enduring the harsh online treatment for over a year after trying to restart playing Glory, I finally decided to bid my online friends goodbye and left the game. Even though I stopped playing the Glory for a long time, I still kept my account card on my person at all times due to all the good memories I associated with it.

x

I wondered if YiFan tried to find me on Glory. Was he sad or disappointed when he couldn't find me in game? How was he right now? Would I run into him during my time working in city B?

Recently, my mom was finally able to get in touch with my aunt's side again. My aunt told us that YiFan was currently trying to make it was a pro Glory player in City B. It seemed like I had left a very deep impression in him when he was younger.

Ever since I left, all YiFan would talk about was wanting to play Glory. After years of asking, Aunty and Uncle finally agreed to let him play 8 years later. That's when YiFan discovered he had a talent for the game, and begged aunty and uncle to send him to a training camp of a pro team he admired in city B. The pro team, Tiny Herb, saw something in him and took him in. Who knew, my tiny shy kid brother did something so amazing all by himself. Even if right now he was only a reserve player for the main team, I was still very proud of him. Even being a reserve player already means he was a better Glory player than the majority of people in China, no the world! I wonder what the bullies that used to pick on YiFan would think of him now when they see him on TV.

x

Glory pro scene was something still new to me. I left China before the Glory Professional Alliance and national competitions were a thing. I only found out about the existence of the pro scene from my friends who were recruited before I quit the game, and a strange email from Glory Co. after I had already quit.

The email had me sign away my right to compete in any pro scene with my elementalist character, White Robed Witch, due to the unfair special equipment advantages she possessed. At the time I didn't care since the only country that had Glory competition was one that I didn't live in anymore. But slowly, I noticed Glory's global presence. Glory popularity wasn't as big in America, but slowly over the years it grew into a titan MMORPG games that a lot of people in the states played too. Small local competition in the states grew into something of a national scale. The intensity of the battles wasn't any worse than China's.

Why my company had decided to send me overseas rather than develop in the states? Well it's simple actually. It was all about the popularity of players and characters. Characters that entered competition in the States were only well known in the States, but those characters in China were known worldwide. One Autumn Leaf (一叶之秋) was a name that everyone around the globe who played Glory knew. If I told you Killer was a top Glory players in the states, have you ever heard of him? Also there were just more fans in China. The company planned to make figures of famous Glory characters and sell them to the masses, thus it makes more sense to start in the Chinese market just to be safe, and then move into a global market if the responses were good.

After the plane touched down to the ground, I grabbed my carry-on and made my way out of the plane along with everyone else. I bypassed the luggage pickup line and made my way quickly to customs. Most of my things had already been moved into the apartment in city B by the company beforehand, so the only things I need on my person are things that are more fragile like my drawing tablet, laptop, and some makeup items.

I made my way through customs with no issue at all. I was already by the airport exit while everyone else was still waiting to collect their baggage. It was great to travel light. I looked around the exit for my translator and ride. Although I could speak conversational mandarin, I had trouble with harder words, idioms, reading, and writing; thus, a translator was a must for me at work. After looking all around, I finally saw the person I was looking for. It wasn't because I knew them at all; it was only because I saw they had a big sign that had "Naomi", my English name, neatly written on it.

x

"Hi~! I'm Naomi." I greeted the tiny female holding the sign in English.

My height and weight was considered pretty average in the States, but I felt like a chubby giant next to this woman. This young woman's overall physique was thin and tiny, and she had a cute and delicate face to match. She reminded me of a fairy. My mom did tell me to probably buy L or XL sized clothing in China versus S or M in the States. I was first confused at the advice, but now I can see why.

"You are Naomi?" The female replied in English with a heavy accent.

"Shi de (是的)." I confirmed in Chinese.

"You can speak Chinese!" The translator exclaimed in surprised.

"Only a little. I still need a translator for meetings and reading memos." I said switching between Chinese and English because my Chinese vocab was limited and needed to say words I didn't know in Chinese, in English.

"Oh okay, no problem." The translator took a little while to process the hybrid language sentence I tossed her way. "My name is YueHua (月华). Nice to meet you."

"JingChun or Naomi. Either is fine." I replied simply and gave her a firm handshake.

"The car, this way." YueHua said in broken English and lead me towards the exit.

x

YueHua explained many living related things to me during the car ride. She told me of a giant shopping mall a block away, work building right across the street, a grocery market right around the corner, and many eateries around my apartment.

Yuehua also gave me a company iPhone with important contacts, like her's and the department head's, already programed in. The phone language setting was set to English for my convenience. Since my personal phone doesn't have service here, I was also told I could use the company phone as a personal phone too during my time in China. She told me to make sure not to watching any adult video on it or the company would know. I wanted to ask if there were people stupid enough to do that, but decided to bite my tongue.

Although everything was interesting and important, there was only one thing I wanted to know right now.

"Where is Tiny Herb? Is it close by?"

"Eh! Already getting immersed into the job. You are really hardworking." She praised.

"Yea, sure." I wasn't sure what YueHua was talking about, but I can assume from her reaction that there was already work lined up for me at Tiny Herb.

"We will wait until the rest of the oversea team to arrive. For now, why don't you take it easy for now?"

"Okay sure." Even if YueHua didn't answer my question, I'm sure the answer is google-able. Oh wait, they blocked google in China didn't they. What was that Chinese search engine again? Oh yea, Baidu.

x

I stared out the company car's tinted window. Snow drifting in the freezing night marked the start of winter in City B. The snow with the night scene of the tall skyscrapers, taller than any I have seen in the States, was a breathtaking sight. This is only the first night. There will be many night to come for me to admire this city scene. I was scared, and excited to be an ocean away from my parents and my friends. But at least YiFan was here in the city too. I decided that I would go and check up on him sometimes before I officially started my job. It was been way too long. I can't wait to see how much my little brother has grown.

I woke up the sleeping iPhone with a push on the home button, and pulled out a slip of paper with a phone number from my coat pocket. This was the phone number I asked Aunty for before getting on the plane, and this was my only way to connect to YiFan, my only family, in City B.

I typed the phone number into the To: field in text messaging and typed the following words in Chinese: I'm back. I hoped he would see my message and respond soon. I just couldn't contain my excited smile as I pressed send.