Season 4: Chapter 200. Troublemakers (1)

The

Cheese Craft

embargo lift had caused countless ripple effects. As expected, the flames burned hottest in the streamer community known as Streamer Garden. They split into the Lord faction and the Anti-Lord faction and fought fiercely.

[It’s about time the Lord stepped down.]

[Typical. You people have no sense of awareness.]

[Honestly, what’s fun about the Lord’s dictatorship? I really don’t get it.]

As always, the community loved picking sides and getting into brawls. Once the fire was lit, there was no sign of it dying down.

[What do you mean step down? He already did everything for you, ffs.]

[Fact: If the Lord steps down, it’ll be boring.]

[If he already did everything, then step down already~ lol]

[Didn’t he already cut off even his closest aide, ForeverAlone? Isn’t that the end?? lol]

They even debated whether the Lord stepping down would hurt the entertainment value.

[If he’s eaten this much already, he should come down a bit lol]

[Honestly upvote if you can’t tell whether it’s Almond Village or Cheese Village]

[Breaking: Rigging suspicions <<< Almond’s manager is one of the planners here]

[Isn’t this just pushing for Almond again? Feels like the nationalist crowd is funding this behind the scenes.

The topic grew increasingly dangerous. Of course, these posts were probably nothing more than attempted opinion manipulation by fringe groups that wouldn’t even make it to the issue board.

Still, the fact that such people began emerging meant public opinion could easily be swayed. No matter how level-headed someone was, seeing such posts would eventually make them think,

‘Huh? Maybe?’

at least once.

Then, a single strike flipped the entire narrative.

[LIVE: Knights Shareholders’ Meeting]

Almond’s stream went live.

***

Crash!

Sang-Hyeon came running back, shrugging off his jacket as soon as the shareholders’ meeting ended.

“

Hah...

So? How was it?” he asked Ju-Hyeok urgently.

Ju-Hyeok raised his hands and clapped. “That was insane, Hyeon.”

Smack!

“You too, Hyeok.”

“

Hahahaha!

”

The two burst into idiot-like laughter before quickly returning to their tasks. Sang-Hyeon changed into comfortable clothes and headed for the capsule while Ju-Hyeok sat down to check the community reactions.

‘This is crazy.’

It had made a massive impact.

[Breaking: Almond apology stream in a suit lolololol]

[Holy crap, Almond came out on his main account lol]

[What even is this? Lol]

[“I am not Lord Almond” statement lol]

The board practically became paralyzed, filled almost entirely with talk about Almond’s stream. Before long, posts began to rise in the issue rankings.

[8. Ah-Sung Jutsu]

==== ====

(Photo)

Executive-Level Presentation

==== ====

— lololololol fr

— HAHA

— How is this real?!

— Why is he this serious about Survival Craft? lol

— The horn-rimmed glasses and “I am not Sang-Hyeon” bit was hilarious lol

└ He’s actually not though

└ That’s what makes it funny, he’s really not

— I thought it was just an apology stream and was like, wow apologizing over this is exhausting these days lol... I underestimated him...

└ for real lol

└ It’s the Lord’s grace

└ Not exhausting, so it’s healing, right?

— He’s seriously impressive;

— But listening to it, it was actually really convincing?

Soon after, posts favoring the Knights began dominating the issue board.

[5. Honestly, what did the Lord even do wrong?]

==== ====

He went abroad alone and learned the Fertile Soil Method. He even wiped out the foreign enemies in advance, weakening their forces. He took beggars who were cooking rice in sand and let them live well and eat well with fertile soil.

And now, it’s suddenly “fertile soil is unethical” this and that? If you compare it to a restaurant, it’s like an animal rights group coming to an all-you-can-eat pork belly place for a team dinner, then saying they’re leaving without paying.

==== ====

— Wow, what an analogy

— Damn

— Nice

— For real lol

— Not paying looool

— The restaurant analogy is spot on

— That too must be the Lord’s grace...

— He did everything already, damn it!

— Ah~ if fertile soil is unethical, then puke out everything you ate~

— That restaurant analogy is insane lol

Eventually, it even took first place.

[1. Fake Madness vs Real Madness]

==== ====

Fake madness: The Nonghyup Union trying to cheat in Survival Craft. Making The Farmer Daily next to The Bubble Daily to sway opinion and spread fake news.

Real madness: Almond solving everything in Survival Craft? Shows up in a suit on his main account and does a high-quality presentation lolololol Absolute lunatic lolololol

==== ====

— Lost it when the GDP graph came up

└ for real lololololol

— If this is your first time seeing a GDP graph in Survival Craft, upvote lol

└ lol yeah first time

└ same

— He’s just a straight-up psycho

— I surrender;

— Horn-rimmed glasses, sexy suit fit... it’s over

└ The looks-only crowd all got knocked out right there lol

— Feels like the video thumbnail will be a black background with white text

└ lololololol exactly

└ “We Apologize.” << this lol

Ju-Hyeok smiled as he scrolled down.

‘A huge success.’

Public opinion had largely changed.

[Current Viewers: 319,000]

The viewer count was still insane. They set a new record.

‘And the donations are nuts too.’

With this many viewers, donations poured in like madness. Even with notifications turned off for anything under ten thousand won, one-thousand and two-thousand-won donations came in at intervals of almost 0.2 seconds. Ten-thousand-won donations chimed every few seconds.

Once

Survival Craft

actually started, the amount would probably increase even more fearsomely.

‘It’s a structure where viewers can lend their strength, and the Lord’s words convinced them. Of course, they’d want to help.’

Pulling the viewers directly into the conflict. Ju-Hyeok made a perfect commercial judgment while also piercing straight through the core of Cheese Village’s content.

‘We need to ride this momentum.’

Tap tap tap.

Ju-Hyeok sent a message.

[Ju-Hyeok: We need to urgently edit this first. The shareholders’ meeting live.]

Bzzzt.

[Ji-Ah: Huh? That one first?]

[Ju-Hyeok: Yeah. That seems more urgent.]

[Ji-Ah: Ah ok ok, then I’ll leave the rest to Macaron?]

[Ju-Hyeok: Good. I’ll do the final check myself. As fast as possible!]

[Ji-Ah: Yup]

He asked Ji-Ah to quickly edit the presentation video first. Once it went up on YouTube, the impact would be even bigger. No matter what, YouTube’s firepower was dozens of times stronger than live streaming.

‘Still... he really is good at presentations.’

Click.

Rewatching Sang-Hyeon’s presentation, Ju-Hyeok found himself impressed all over again. It would be hard to say that Yu Sang-Hyeon had been a particularly celebrated talent at the company. However, they often unexpectedly put him in charge of presentations. He always prepared, spoke well, and made few mistakes.

‘And the face helps...’

Looks that boosted persuasiveness couldn’t be ignored.

‘But strictly speaking, it wasn’t just his face.’

His weapon was his expression. The words came from a relaxed and steady face. Sang-Hyeon hardly got nervous. Even if he did, it never affected his performance. Whether it looked like shamelessness or confidence, he delivered exactly what he had prepared. He always hit the same spot when shooting.

‘That was Yu Sang-Hyeon.’

He had always been that kind of person. Because of that, he often shone brightest in situations like this. Maybe, from that moment on, Sang-Hyeon had already been born for streaming.

***

Meanwhile, in

Survival Craft

, the Servant Duo had been summoned to the upper floors of the Paprika Governor-General’s Office.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

“Radish Servant.”

“Oh. You’re here, Potato Servant. Where’s the Lord?”

“The Lord said he’s suddenly doing some kind of broadcast, sir...”

— Not the Lord lol

— Banker Yu?

— ??? I’m not Yu Sang-Hyeon

— Hey now, calling him Lord and all

“Ah, no. It’s not the Lord himself.” Potato Servant corrected himself while glancing at the chat. “They say Banker Yu, who manages the Lord’s finances, is doing a live announcement.”

“Huh?”

It was getting harder and harder to understand.

‘Whatever.’

Radish Servant had long since given up on trying to understand Almond’s antics.

“He must have his reasons.”

— LOL

— Radish Servant has learned how to deal with Almond

— Damn, as expected of the Servant crew, peak survival instincts lol

— LMAO he just lets it go

They only needed to do one thing anyway.

“Until the Lord arrives, defending this place comes first.” Radish Servant looked out the window.

The Governor-General’s district was being utterly destroyed.

“Long live Paprika Independence!”

“Drive out the mold bastards!”

Rioting mobs surged forward, destroying everything in their path.

“By the way... are we the only ones left on the Lord’s side now?”

“I’m not sure, sir.”

Boooom!

A massive crimson hammer swung through, sweeping away countless knights. Lava burst from every direction as the Paprika residents’ momentum intensified.

“Damn it.” Radish Servant’s eyes wavered. “Isn’t that Lackey ForeverAlone over there?”

“Y-Yes, sir.”

Behind the Paprika residents stood Lackey ForeverAlone. It looked like the worst possible scenario.

“So, it’s true... He switched sides.”

Following Lackey ForeverAlone, countless Lackeys joined the rioters.

“I don’t know if it’s even possible to hold this place, sir. We might have to grab just our beds and retreat.”

Honestly, even that was questionable. The enemy forces had already pushed into the plaza right in front of the Governor-General’s building. NPCs who didn’t know what was happening, along with other Lackeys and Scrubs, tried to hold them back. They obviously weren’t enough.

“The Lackeys and Scrubs are gone.”

“The rest are only a matter of time, sir. We should quickly grab the Lord’s bed too and...”

“

Sigh...

” Radish Servant cut him off and looked at the sky. “Potato Servant.”

“Yes?”

“When the Lord logs in... he’ll appear here.”

“Y-Yes, sir.”

“So we cannot abandon this place.”

The sheer value of the Lord’s assets and items... If he died here, it would be a disaster.

— Damn

— Nice

— This is the Knights

— Are they actually going to fight?

Potato Servant’s eyes shook. “Radish Servant...?”

“We buy time until the Lord arrives.”

“Is that even possible, sir!?”

“It might be. We have the weapon the Lord bestowed upon us.”

Shing.

Radish Servant drew his sword, Excalibur. It was a masterpiece forged by the Blacksmith.

“Th-That... that thing...

Gulp.

”

Potato Servant swallowed hard.

He looked down at the enemy forces that included Lackey ForeverAlone. Zelu had a legendary class. The enemies possessed overwhelming combat power with weapons made of unknown Hellsteel. An unknown number of lava sorcerers seemed to be present.

Boooom!

They had already smashed their way into the Governor-General’s building.

Rumble...!

The enemies occupied the first floor and began advancing toward the third.

“Lord Almond! Come out right now! The Governor-General’s Office is ours now!” Zelu shouted.

Potato Servant nodded. “Understood, sir.”

Shing.

Potato Servant drew his spear, another masterpiece crafted by the Blacksmith.

‘Yeah. With this, maybe, just maybe, it’s possible.’

— So brave!

— The Servant Duo!!

— Damn, this is a movie

— This is it lol

Radish Servant stepped forward. “We’re opening it.”

When the office door opened, the enemies would be waiting.

“Yes.”

Bang!

The door burst open, revealing rows of massive heads lined up beyond. In front of all the enemies, the Servant Duo stood tall.

Zelu froze.

‘Two?’

Did they really plan to defend this place with just the two of them?

“What do you think you can do with just the two of you? Hand over the Lord’s head.” Zelu sneered.

Public opinion didn’t agree.

— Damn

— LMAOOOO

— This is insane lol

— Nice!

— \o/\o/\o/

— This is it!

— \o/\o/\o/\o/

— \o/

Support donations poured in.

Ding!

[ \o/ has donated 10,000 won! ]

[This is it! Go Knights!]

Ding!

[RomanticOverdose has donated 10,000 won!]

[The Knight’s final bastion: “the Servant Duo”]

Ding!

[ServantDuo has donated 10,000 won!]

[\o/\o/]

Bzzzzzzzt!!!

Countless buffs layered onto the Servant Duo.

Step.

As the donations poured in, the two raised their chins. They walked forward proudly toward the mass of enemies.

Whirl!

Radish Servant lifted his sword. “I’ll show you why we were given the title of the Servant Duo.”

Potato Servant spun his spear and leveled it forward. “When this is over, it’s three hours of lessons, juniors.”

Ding.

[Poof! has donated 10,000 won!]

[Two troublemakers, but the strongest.]

— LOL

— Nice~

— Damn, that was insane lol

— I never thought I’d want the Servant title...

— Mom, I want to be a Servant when I grow up! Mom, I want to be a Servant when I grow up!

— LOL

— This is terrifying lol

— What the hell?

— Wow

— Let’s gooooo!!

“T-This can’t be...”

“Nine tails-level chakra!?”

“What is this?”

“Is this... the Servants?”

The enemies panicked.

“Huh?” Zelu scoffed in disbelief. “You became Servants because you couldn’t pay your debts, you damn bastards.”

That single line from Zelu was enough.

— LMAOOOO

— LOL

— Zel-freshing!

— Damn lol

— Zelo-style jutsu: Fact Bomb

— \o/\o/\o/

— \o/\o/

— We’re going too

— \o/\o/

Bzzzzzzzzzt!!

A brilliant halo flared up.

“This is true infinite chakra... Zelu!”

“This is insane...”

“How is this possible?”

The rebels regained their morale.

Zelu commanded them. “Kids, I’ll give you a chance to take revenge yourselves. Cut them down.”

“Yes!!!”

Boooom!

A massive force charged toward the Servant Duo.

“Potato Servant. They’re coming.”

“Yes. Let’s not die, sir.”

Tap.

The two Servants stood back-to-back.