"Hey, that should be him, right?"

"Yes! That's Adrian Sheva! He is going to win the open section!"

"Shall we ask for his graph too?"

"Well, go on! Ask if he is willing to give one!"

"Why is it always me?"

"Because you are the most outgoing one! Come on, we will support you here!"

Before Sheva entered the venue, he could see four teenagers—probably around Claudia's age—whispering at each other furiously while also taking a glance at him from time to time. It was pretty rude, and Sheva himself felt uncomfortable as he received that treatment. It became much worse when he tried to eavesdrop on the conversation; he didn't know even a single bit of what they were saying there. It seemed that they spoke in German, which only left Sheva in confusion.

Fortunately, this state didn't last that long, as right after they finished their 'little meeting', one of the boys there, the one with thick glasses, walked into Sheva with slight hesitation. Before Sheva could say anything, the young boy asked a question first, "Um... Are you Adrian Sheva, ze one who led ze open section?"

The heavy German accent really tickled Sheva's ears, but he didn't want to be rude and point that out. Instead, he decided to answer the question truthfully. "Yes, I am Adrian Sheva, but I am not the one who leads the open section. It should be Muradli Muhammad, the Azerbaijan GM. What can I do for you?"

Fortunately, the English language that Asian people spoke was always the one with the clearest articulation, so it was pretty easy for the boy to understand what Sheva was saying here.

"No, no, no! You are ze vone ve are looking for! Ze vone who beats Kirill Alekseenko yesterday! It vas a crazy game, and ve vatched it live!" The boy said excitedly, even pointing his fingers at his three friends behind him. "Can ve have an autograph und a photo together?"

Well, Sheva had no reason to refuse that request, so he accepted it quickly. After all, they were just four people, so it would only take five minutes or so to do that. What surprised him, though, was that the four teenagers asked for his autograph on their custom chessboard, and there, Sheva could see that it was filled with so many autographs already, from the most prominent player in this tournament to those who did well even if they were far from being in the top spot. Hell, Sheva could even see a familiar name there, like Gukesh Dommaraju or Yu Yangyi.

'It seems they are not just casual fans here.' Sheva thought inwardly. 'Oh, well, what the hell am I saying here? Of course, they are not casual. Not a single casual fan would go and ask for my autograph, right?'

This small meet-and-greet section lasted for about five minutes before Sheva finally walked away from that group, running hurriedly to follow his three friends. Right at the front gate of the building, he could see them all waiting for him, with Medina crossing her arms in front of her chest with her usual flat expression and Anna smiling playfully at him.

"Oh, it is so good to have fans abroad…" Anna let out a deep sigh. "If only I could receive the same treatment… Are you envious, too, Sister Medina?" She nudged the older woman playfully.

"I don't really get it." Instead of indulging in the teasing that Anna tried to drag her into, Medina just stared at Sheva blankly, enough to make the boy uncomfortable. "How could you interact with your fans so easily, yet the moment the camera is pointed at you, you will crumble like wet paper?"

Sheva choked a little at that question, while Bagas also chackled since he knew his friend's problem very well. "It is not like I crumble like wet paper! You are exaggerating here, Sister! I am just nervous, nothing more and nothing less!" The boy tried to defend himself. Unfortunately, as his best friend, Bagas was ready to backstab him.

"Tell that to our first-ever interview!" The fat boy interrupted. "You still remember that one in Hanoi, Anna? How he would hide behind you and Claudia, just to stand out more like a sore thumb?" He wiggled his eyebrows at Anna, who was giggling furiously.

If anything, this only made Sheva want to strangle his best friend more. Unfortunately, before he could do that, Medina interrupted once again as she noticed that everyone was already inside the building. "Okay, it is time to go inside! Let's talk about Sheva's incompetence in front of the camera later! For now, we still have one final round to play!"

"Sister!" Sheva tried to complain, but his voice was drowned out by the laughter from the other two. In the end, the boy could only grumble silently, yet he still followed the others to enter the building without making a single complaint.

There, the moment they arrived, they could hear the murmurs and feel the gazes from the others. However, the main object was not them all, but Sheva, who was standing at the back. It was clear that his win against Kirill Alekseenko yesterday managed to elevate his name to a new height, and since he was about to enter a decisive game to determine the winner, it was understandable that all the attention was on him.

Unlike before, when they were still out of the building, this time, the playful mood was already gone. Anna, Medina, and even Bagas knew that this was an important moment that needed Sheva to stay focused, and any distraction would be enough to destroy everything that the boy had built since the beginning of the tournament.

No, that was unacceptable.

Seeing the stares directed at Sheva, all three of them surrounded the boy immediately, making sure that he wouldn't get pressured by the whispers surrounding him.

"Don't worry, Shev," Bagas said solemnly. "Just ignore everything around and stay focused on your game. You have our back, and no matter how much you mess up, we are ready to clean the shit up for you. So, just go there without any worry, and try to enjoy every moment of this day!"

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