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Chapter 55: Unexpected Spotlight (2)
Chapter 55: Unexpected Spotlight (2)
Chapter 55: Unexpected Spotlight (2)
Rumble.
Seo Ji-Ah's stomach kept signaling to her that she hadn’t eaten a proper meal yet.
"..."
However, she didn't move and simply stared at her monitor in a dark corner of the room. The feeling of starvation would soon go away like every other pain in this world. It would all disappear as long as she watched the stream, even that bastard who pushed her into hell.
They all disappeared.
"Wow..."
Seo Ji-Ah felt so impressed as she watched Almond on the bright monitor performing superhuman plays.
Yu Sang-Hyeon was quite different in person compared to virtual reality.
Snap—?
She marked his play against the four opponents so she could edit it later into a video. After that, she whipped out her notebook to write a simple synopsis and plan.
Scribble, scribble…?
Her pen moved across the paper as if a robot was writing, but it suddenly stopped.
[PersistentThrower has donated a whopping 1,500,000 won!]
She stopped because of a certain donation notification.
'What?'
Seo Ji-Ah's expression stiffened and she quickly checked the list of Almond's donors in a new tab.
Second place. Seo Ji-Ah had been pushed to second place now.
She suddenly moved her mouse and hovered over the donation button. Her cursor trembled.
'But I'm the editor.'
Ji-Ah froze in place for a while and crouched below the table as if she had crumbled. Her messy hair covered her face and her eyes began to slowly close.
***
Seo Ji-Ah woke up a few moments later.
'I need to work.'
Her mouse frantically moved.
Click, click.
She moved the clips she had previously marked to create more compilations.
'This one turned out well.'
The video had good potential from an editor's perspective. The game had fantastic moments that she didn't even need to edit. There were already slow-motion replays trending in the community, which guaranteed this video's success.
It would become a massive success if she flawlessly put it together.
"I'm going to make sure it succeeds."
She wanted to make the video convenient to watch with replay value. That was her job, not donating.
Seo Ji-Ah worked with such determination until sunrise.
Finally...
[Battle Large EP.2 All this happened in one round?]
That was the video’s title.
Chirp, chirp—?
She could hear the birds chirping and looked outside, fighting to keep her eyes open as the sun greeted her.
Even the lazy winter morning caught up to her.
"Yaaaaawn."
Ji-Ah's small body shuddered as she stretched.
[Uploading Video 43.2%]
Thud.
She threw herself into bed and melted away.
Snore…?
She was knocked out cold.
***
Almond's channel sent out a notification at 9 A.M.
[Battle Large EP.2 All this happened in one round?]
[Revealing for the first time in 5 minutes!]
Viewers rushed in as the video was about to be released.
— Who notified me!!!
— Almond! Almond! Almond!
— Come out!!!
— I'm turning into the Hulk! Hurry up!
— Why are they so angry? LOL
— Who can resist this?
— No one can!
— Mini-me can resist it, but mega-me can't! Rooooar!
— Almond, everyone turned fucking stupid! Just reveal the video now! Please!
They would’ve smashed in if the YouTube channel had a door.
Bang! Bang!
Sang-Hyeon could almost hear the door banging.
'This many?'
It was his channel, but he still felt astonished at how many people wanted to watch him.
[Revealing in 1 minute.]
Ju-Hyeok watched from beside him and they both gulped when only one minute remained.
[Seo Ji-Ah: I uploaded the video. I'm going to sleep now.]
She only left a simple message after uploading the video.
Ju-Hyeok and Sang-Hyeon hadn’t seen the video yet either. They felt nervous because it was their first time watching like everyone else.
[1450 Viewers Currently Watching]
Quite a crowd had tuned in. However, Sang-Hyeon acted calm like usual.
"It should be good, right?"
Ju-Hyeok couldn't hide his worry.
Sang-Hyeon nonchalantly added, "She's probably sleeping because she's satisfied with it."
Du-dun!
The reveal began. The background music sounded bright with a new-age vibe. It felt unexpected for a military game, but went well with Almond's light footsteps. It resembled watching robots fight to classical music. The music transitioned from a light tone to a more exciting one.
[Compound Bow]
The camera zoomed in on Almond's signature weapon when he found it.
Pound! Pound!
Drums began playing in the background.
Dududung—?
Anyone could tell something was about to happen even if they didn't know Almond.
Slam!
He slammed through a door with his shoulder and drew his bow at the same time.
[Huh?!]
The camera zoomed in on the opponent's surprised expression. Then it flashed to Almond's hand as he graciously released an arrow.
Pang—?
The camera closed in on the opponent's face as the arrow flew toward him. It cut to the enemy’s point of view as the arrow seemingly struck the camera. This jump scared the audience when the arrow pierced the opponent’s forehead.
— Ugh...
— Urk!
— Damn, instant kill.
— What the heck!
— Wow, he plays as if he can see everything.
— He's playing better than last time when they reported him?!
The viewers reacted great to his first kill.
"Wow... it's like an action movie."
Ju-Hyeok patted Sang-Hyeon on the shoulder.
"It's definitely fast-paced."
It felt even more exciting than the actual game.
After the first kill, the video quickly skipped to the next super play.
[Almond couldn't find anything while farming…]
Another time skip occurred after the caption.
— LOL
— Almond-style farming...
— Nut-style farming LOL
— So unlucky.
— He doesn't use a gun, so there's probably a limit to how much he can farm.
— His love for bows...
— LOL How much time passed?
Suddenly, the blue zone shrunk for the second time.
Bzzt.
Seven players, including Almond, ran from the blue zone.
"Oh, this?"
Sang-Hyeon could tell right away when this took place. Ju-Hyeok nodded as well.
"It's this part, the feint!"
"Seeing it from a third-person perspective makes it look so foolish."
The seven of them ran like fools away from the blue zone. Some were actual fools. One of them began attacking when they were all supposed to keep running, which risked everyone's lives.
Tudududung!?
A sudden change occurred and Almond had no choice but to fight. The two near Almond quickly died. The other players realized Almond's capabilities because of their deaths. Four of them signaled to each other.
[He's pretty good. Should we kill him first?]
They didn’t necessarily say that, but the edited captions created that illusion. The video wasn't trying to trick the audience because those players really did gang up on Almond.
— These trolls.
— Damn.
— Are they going to fire at each other??
— I can't understand bronze rank...
— This is so frustrating to watch.
— I can't watch this...
Four fools teamed up against Almond. It was a frustrating situation, but it would soon end.
Whiff!
The video went into slow motion as Almond turned. It focused on his body motion and how he would move next. However, Almond was feinting them.
[Eek!]
[What?]
[Sh-shoot him!]
The respective texts appeared above the trolls’ heads as they frantically shot each other.
Tudududududu!!!
Almond hadn’t been hit at all and already crouched as if he expected it. As a result, those four killed each other.
Pang!
— LOL
— This is comedy.
— Wow.
— Wow, he's so cool!
— This is the feint play I heard about!
— Troll party!
— Wow, Almond.
— Damn... he's so fucking cool...
— I want to do that too...
— Wow, that's what you call 4v1!
The reaction to his play was incredible.
Ju-Hyeok patted Sang-Hyeon on the back.
"They seem to like it."
"Yeah... seems that way."
It felt different to read the chat now compared to when he was streaming. These people felt a bit more familiar.
"Oh, it's the grenade scene."
Ju-Hyeok focused again and felt excited to watch it.
As he said, the next scene showed the grenade counter against BubbleSniper.
Almond farmed on one side and BubbleSniper's silhouette could be seen on the other side.
[A mean stream sniper: BubbleSniper]
The following text appeared with a list of atrocities that BubbleSniper had committed.
Sang-Hyeon felt a strange satisfaction from watching it.
— Huh???
— BubbleSniper, that bastard.
— Wow, he met BubbleSniper?
— Going on a losing streak when he's diamond. How is that guy still allowed to play?
— They accused Almond of being a smurf, but this guy is playing just fine?
— What are you doing, developers!
The viewers rained their hatred on BubbleSniper.
BubbleSniper rolled his grenade toward Almond with a mean smile.
Roll...
It was the advanced skill called grenade assassination.
Almond's pupils shrunk when he saw the grenade.
"Wow... was I this surprised?"
A large text appeared in his eyes.
[Run away vs. Kick it]
The video suddenly paused to depict his dilemma. The timing impressed Sang-Hyeon.
— Damn... both are iffy.
— Damn smurf!
— It's not called an assassination grenade for nothing... you have no choice but to die.
— No choice is good...
The first-time watchers couldn't figure out what to do.
Ting!
The video resumed as the following text appeared:
[Move back while shooting the bow!]
— ???
— What's he talking about?
— Huh?
— The bow?
Almond quickly dodged back and simultaneously aimed at the grenade. It seemed like he planned on blowing up the grenade with his arrow.
— He'll get hurt If he blows it up.?
— Yeah...
— What's he doing?
Ting!
The arrow barely struck the grenade and bounced it back to BubbleSniper.
[What?]
BubbleSniper died and uttered a question with his dying breath.
— Wooow
— That was satisfying as hell.
— That's insane.
— I'm glad he killed that smurf.
BubbleSniper had been eliminated.
"Kya, that was satisfying? Right?"
"Uh... yeah."
The video quickly moved on to the great Bubblegum.
Even Sang-Hyeon felt nervous when it got to this part.
[Streamer: Bubblegum]
Bubblegum aimed at Almond with a sniper rifle. His chubby avatar holding the gun was funny to watch. It hadn’t been a big deal during Sang-Hyeon’s live stream, but what about now?
'How will they react this time?'
Sang-Hyeon paid attention to the chat since the YouTube comments might turn out differently.
— Damn... Bubblegum.
— No Bubble! Not there!
— Their skill difference is crazy.
— Did you meet Bubblegum?
— Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
— Wow, Bubblegum...
— Bubblegum!
— You had to meet Almond out of all people...
— Oh shit!
— That's hilarious.
— Fate is playing tricks on him.
'They seem to... like it?'
Sang-Hyeon slowly began to smile. He wondered if this would trend on YouTube.
Then Ju-Hyeok grabbed his attention, "Hey, take a look at this."
Ju-Hyeok showed him Bubblegum's fan page and the Battle31 community page.
[Bubblegum vs. Almond]
[The battle of aims]
[LOL Bubblegum is hilarious]
[Why is this so funny?]
His interaction with Bubblegum finally appeared on those sites. It felt like a secret present Seo Ji-Ah had prepared for Sang-Hyeon.
***
Bubblegum's manager, Park Sung-Tae, saw the same thing as Ju-Hyeok.
He stroked his beard and muttered, "I didn't know this would blow up."