"Shev! We are here!" Anna waved her hand immediately when she saw Sheva was about to arrive at the restaurant they usually gathered at. "Come here! Let's have dinner first!"

Having been playing for almost four hours and combined with the short interview that gave him a cold sweat, Sheva didn't have any intention to refuse the offer. He was starving right now, and if the boy could, he would devour all the food on the table without hesitation.

"You all look so happy, by the way," Sheva suddenly said, couldn't help but notice the cheerful atmosphere around him. Hell, he could even see a glimpse of a smile on Medina's face, and the woman was the most expressionless person that he had ever known in his life. "What is going on? Is the troll problem on the Internet finally over?" He asked, having a hunch that it was related to this matter.

"You know about that?" Anna raised one of her eyebrows in surprise. "Bagas only told us about this matter five minutes ago, so how could you know that?"

"Just a hunch, I guess." Sheva shrugged, starting to pick up a chopstick and enjoying the food in front of him. The boy didn't even care about the fact that it wasn't his order. He made sure to pick up the food from Bagas's side, and the boy knew that his best friend wouldn't mind his behavior. Hell, if anything, this would only give Bagas an excuse to order more, which the boy wouldn't refuse at all.

"It's… it's not like the problem is gone… mmmph..." Bagas said while his mouth was still full of food. Sheva and the two ladies who shared the same table with the boy could only stare at him in disgust.

"You know what, chew your food first." Sheva cringed a little bit at the greasy oil on the corner of Bagas's mouth. "Fuck, man! That is disgusting! What are you, a pig?"

"Hey, hey, no need to insult me like that!" Bagas replied, sounding dissatisfied with what Sheva said. Nevertheless, he did exactly what his best friend was asking for and also picked up a tissue to clean up the grease on the corner of his mouth. He knew that while Sheva was pretty much used to his disgusting eating behavior, the two ladies next to him couldn't stand his action, so Bagas tried to act like a decent human being here. "Anyway, the troll attack is not over, but I can tell you that a lot of people have already come up and shown their support toward you, so no need to worry about that."

"Oh? Who are they?" Sheva asked, feeling intrigued. "Did you pay someone to whitewash this issue?"

"What whitewash? We are not guilty, and there is no scandal here, so how could you say that it is a whitewash?" This time, it was Medina who answered the question. The small frown on her face told Sheva that the woman didn't like his question. "No, he doesn't pay someone to defend us. He just called out some of the most prominent players like Master Susanto and Sister Irene to talk to the social media. Their names are still big enough in the community, so with their help, it was pretty easy for Bagas to suppress the trolls. Am I right?"

Bagas was stunned for a second before he smiled wryly. "That is my line, Sister Medina…"

"What? You have a problem?" She glared at the boy sharply.

"No, no, I wouldn't dare to think about that!" The boy raised both hands immediately, showing that he surrendered in this situation. "Anyway, that is the case. You also did a good job, by the way, forcing a draw against Yu Yangyi. After Sister Irene and Master Susanto explained the meaning between 400 rating difference between you two, all the neutral viewers also gave their support to us, basically killing all the negative arguments spread about you."

Hearing that, Sheva understood what was going on here. "Still, I didn't expect that Sister Irene and Master Susanto would come out and show their support for us…" He couldn't help but sigh.

"Well, what is there to not expect?" Medina shrugged, enjoying the colorful drink in front of her. "I mean, they have known me for a long time, and you both are the future of our country. There is no reason for them not to show their support here, especially since we have already done a good job in this tournament." Her argument was followed by the nods of agreement from Anna's side.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that…"

"Anyway, what takes you so long?" Bagas suddenly asked. "I mean, your game should've been over thirty minutes ago, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I notice that too." Medina nodded before turning around to Sheva. "Did you chat with someone first? I mean, you have attracted a lot of attention here, so there is no way no one takes interest in you, right?"

Even though it was true, Sheva felt embarrassed at the way Medina phrased her question, somehow feeling that the woman deliberately asked in that way to insinuate something here. He didn't notice, though, that Anna looked at him with a complicated expression, as if wanting to say something yet decided to hold back in the last second.

"Well, there are a few players there, but I was dragged by Mister Sagar for a short interview," Sheva explained.

"Mister Sagar?" Medina frowned for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. "You mean Sagar Shah, the one who runs ChessBase India? The biggest chess media in the world right now?! Are you sure?!"

Sheva was startled by Medina's 'violent' reaction here. Nevertheless, he nodded straight away, saying, "Well, of course, I am sure. This is not the first time I was interviewed by him, you know?"

If anything, this only made Medina's reaction bigger. "Explain." The woman just demanded shortly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Not knowing what the big deal was about this, Sheva just retold his experience meeting with Sagar Shah and the interview that they had earlier, even telling them all the content of the interview as well. During that explanation time, Medina just stayed quiet while listening to him intently, and in the end, she let out a deep sigh while looking at Sheva with an envious gaze.

"How could you have all the nice things in the world like that?!" She whined almost a little bit petulantly. Seeing that Sheva was still confused and not knowing why she made a fuss about this, the woman just huffed with an annoyed glare. "ChessBase India is the biggest chess media on the Internet right now, you idiot! It is not like GothamChess, which is based on the entertainment side! This is a pure journalistic! Getting through that channel would make your name resound throughout the chess community all around the world! Hell, even the best player in the world would watch this channel! This is a one-time ticket to get famous!"

Even though Medina herself didn't yearn for reputation, the woman was old and experienced enough to understand that in order to attract more sponsorship, she needed more exposure, and the interview from ChessBase India was probably the perfect way for her to open that door. Unfortunately, it was Sheva who received that invitation, so she could only watch the boy enviously.

"Still… Are you sure that it is a good idea to say your ambition out loud like that?" Anna couldn't help but feel concerned. "I mean, I know that you always have a big ambition, but would it be better to stay low-key?"

Well, Sheva knew why Anna said that. After all, they had just gotten attacked by the internet trolls, so staying low-key and waiting until the wave disappeared was definitely the best choice here. However, before he could say anything, the boy heard something popping through his ears, and he was startled at the sudden notification inside his head.

[DING!]

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