Chapter 225. Temporary Measure (1)

Victory followed despite the shop pick. It was obvious, but reactions from the viewers on LIL Pro were truly remarkable. The public reacted even more than the intense battle against ForeverAlone. Inflicting immense humiliation on the opponents suited the taste of stubborn LIL PRO users just right.

[Did you see the way he collected souls?]

[Onion was stabbed about a thousand times, lol.]

[No, I think it's because the opponent was in gold rank, haha.]

[This is the reality of gold players. Don't call them challengers from now on, bitches.]

[Wow, this guy is a real idiot. Onion is almost a bronze level.]

[What kind of spirit only hits an Onion? Onion Spirit?]

[Onion Spirit!]

Almond crushed the opponent even as a Level 1 Spiritmaster. After that, everything flowed as expected, and the game ended.

[Aren't those spirits actually alive?]

[That malicious nut... You ended up bringing back living souls...]

[That was my soul. He took my soul.]

Some posts even made it to Big Pro with the amount of spirits that Almond created.

[Almond's ex-girlfriends.jpg]

There were countless pictures of Almond surrounded by spirits.

— Damn, hahaha

— He was dumped, then turned into a spirit, and now he's back. Lol.

— He must’ve taken 30 years to date all of them.

└ Literally, lol. How many are there?

└ Don't think he'll only date one girl at a time, you idiot. You're not on the same level as Almond.

└ Ahhh, lol. Why are you so serious?

└ LOL, you're right, hahaha. You squid! While Almond is dating, just watch TV with peanuts and drinks.

└ Indeed, it's a NutsPunk universe. It's hard to follow ^^

— Hahaha, Damn, LOL.

— Whoa, I got scared for a second. I really thought Almond's ex-girlfriends showed up!

— By the way, how many relationships do you think Almond has been in with that hot face... Damn!

Almond remained in the top 10 search rankings of LIL Pro for the day. Humor posts related to this incident kept appearing even the next day without a match.

[A good laugh with just one picture.]

The post had a GIF where Onion confidently shouted, “POW-ER!”

— HAHAHA, he boasted so much after landing one skill on Almond, but then he died right after getting hit by 30 skills, LOL.

— Onion-POWER

— The determination of Gold.

└ Just reckless gold.

└ Hahahaha, for real.

— Green Tea Bagging must be paying a lot for their nicknames— literally experts at provocation.

└ And then they fight themselves and blow up the teamwork.

Other posts also appeared.

[Prophecies from the Amazing PICKLE]

Pickle spoke about GreenTea in a video, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."

In another scene, he said, "It's not a mistake. It's a curse."

Pickle also sharply criticized his other teammates in more edited videos.

— Trash Talk montage, hahaha

— I won't ever take a pickle out of the cheeseburger again!

— He's just a loyal follower.. all he did was give sincere advice. But Pickle always gets hit...

— Pickle always says the right things. And then he gets hit because he's right.

— I can only see truths in the post.

— Pickle, my light.

— The only loyal follower who's saving Green Tea Bagging from the bottom... Mr. Pickle.

The public began to reevaluate Pickle's past comments.

Not only that, Almond's YouTube channel subscriber count also significantly increased and reached 480,000.

— Wow, his YouTube is fun too.

— I came to subscribe after watching the tournament.

— Oh, I didn't know him before, but he has a lot of subscribers. OMG.

— Why did I only just find out about Almond's existence... I'm such an idiot.

Some newcomers that weren't noticeable before received a spotlight now. This was the effect of the in-house tournament.

"He should be reaching 500K soon."

Sip.

Ju-Hyeok drank the warm coffee and smiled in a quiet cafe. He seemed to be waiting for someone and glanced at his wristwatch.

"When did you get here, Ju-Hyeok?"

A gentle middle-aged voice came from behind him.

Ju-Hyeok stood and greeted the new visitor, "Oh, I just got here."

"Good. I'll order some coffee and join you."

After a short while, they sat facing each other. The person sitting in front of Ju-Hyeok was Park Hyung-Joon, the CEO of the capsule manufacturer Divers.

Meeting him in this quiet cafe instead of an office with a cold atmosphere gave off a different impression.

Even though it was a day off, Park Hyung-Joon made time for this meeting.

"I got your message. You could've sent it directly to me instead of my secretary."

"Well, it's... you're the CEO, after all. Haha," Ju-Hyeok responded with a friendly laugh.

"So from what I heard, this friend has been experiencing symptoms while using the capsule?"

CEO Park checked the notes he had written to ensure that he wasn't getting confused while asking the question.

"So, because of that, you want to rent the off-the-shelf capsule from us until the custom one is ready... Am I right?"

"Yes."

As CEO Park dryly repeated what he wrote in his notes, Ju-Hyeok swallowed hard and grew nervous.

A sudden silence fell over the cafe. Only the sound of Ju-Hyeok's heartbeat pounding in his ears could be heard. He was nervous that CEO Park would reject his request. Wanting to rent a premium capsule while waiting for the custom one was a significant request.

'Get a hold of yourself, Kim Ju-Hyeok. It's an advertising contract. I've written the agreement too. Don't be scared.'

CEO Park wasn't just his father's friend or Diver's representative right now. He was also a client who wanted to cast Almond for an advertisement.

From that viewpoint, Ju-Hyeok had every right to make these demands. There was no need to feel overwhelmed by CEO Park's aura.

"......?"

Ju-Hyeok and CEO Park looked at each other for a moment.

CEO Park's lips curved into a smooth smile, "Why are you so tense?"

Ju-Hyeok was taken aback and fell silent for a moment.

‘How did he know?’ Ju-Hyeok was quite good at hiding his emotions regarding such matters. He hadn’t shown any signs of nervousness.

"How's your relationship with your father these days?"

CEO Park wanted to ease the tension, so he shifted the conversation to a more personal topic they could talk about.

The topic of Ju-Hyeok’s father wasn't particularly pleasing. Still, Ju-Hyeok responded immediately since he didn't mind changing the tense atmosphere.

"I'm taking some time to think."

CEO Park seemed nice, but he was more connected to Ju-Hyeok's father than Ju-Hyeok. He was one of his father's people. Ju-Hyeok couldn't forget that just because of a brief sense of comfort.

"Oh, I see. As I mentioned before, I also had some disagreements with my father. We get along well now. The relationship between father and son is not as absolute as one might think. It's not easy to completely sever it."

"... Yes."

"Neither our current problems nor future peace can be guaranteed. You both need to make an effort."

"Yes, but I also want to make progress first…"

"For sure. A guy with ambitions like you, of course." CEO Park hesitated momentarily as if he didn't know how to say it.

Ju-Hyeok was truly taken aback. It was unfamiliar to see Park Hyung-Joon making such a face.

"I didn't say anything earlier because I was afraid you might misunderstand. I received a call from your dad."

"......?"

"I didn't want you to think that I offered the advertisement because of your dad. It's not like that. I can’t prove it, but I just want you to believe me."

Park Hyung-Joon's credibility was enough evidence in the business world.

Ju-Hyeok nodded without any doubt.

"About your father... well... he's not as strong as you think... I feel like you already know this more than me. And the reason he talks to me instead of you... I believe you know why."

Ju-Hyeok felt strange once again.

"..."

Ju-Hyeok felt his eyes tearing up. Why though?

CEO Park didn't say much yet. Nothing had happened to his father.

Why did he feel like this when CEO Park said his father wasn't as strong as he thought… Why did those words make Ju-Hyeok feel a certain way?

"I may have been a bit much. Now, let's get back to our topic. I'll have to decline that capsule lease request.

"......?"

Ju-Hyeok immediately snapped back to reality. He didn't expect CEO Park to reject his request so abruptly. He wanted to say something, but his head was still spinning from the strange waves of emotions he just had. Was that a trick? It felt like a trap.

"We can't help with this problem using the capsules we already have."

CEO Park showed Ju-Hyeok something on his tablet and placed it before him.

"Your friend's issues have been conveyed to Dr. Song, the attending physician. We're trying to address these issues with custom solutions. The data includes excessive sweat as one of the side effects…"

Numerous medical terms were thrown at Ju-Hyeok. He couldn't understand anything.

"It doesn't make any sense to you, right? I didn’t understand either."

Click.

Ju-Hyeok finally understood as soon as CEO Park slid to the next screen.

"... Isn't this Aston?

"Yeah. Among the available off-the-shelf capsules, Aston’s products suit your friend's condition the best. Of course, this isn’t a final solution. The real solution hasn't been officially found yet. This option is the alternative."

Long story short, no product could solve Sang-Hyeon's condition among Divers’ products. That was why CEO Park had to reject Ju-Hyeok's request.

"Unfortunately, we can't give out Aston’s products. They're not a Korean company, and we're competitors."

That was true. Lending out their company's superior product for free completely differed from purchasing and renting out a competitor's product.

"The price will be a bit higher, but if you need it immediately, I'll let you know where you can get one for short-term rentals at a reasonable price."

Click.

CEO Park already prepared the rental information on the next slide.

'The price...'

It was expensive.

'It's better than I thought.'

However, the rental price wasn't that expensive compared to the product's original price because they targeted customers purchasing for research purposes.

It wasn't worth it for short-term rentals, but the price was within the range of 2-3 million won.

"If we use Dr. Song's title and our corporate name, this will be the final price."

Ordinary people couldn't get one at the same price.

Ju-Hyeok bowed and expressed his gratitude, "Thank you so much. You really didn't have to go this far for us.."

"Thank your dad," CEO Park admitted his true intentions and smiled.

"... Thank you."

Strangely, Ju-Hyeok wasn't offended.

"I'll go with this plan."

***

The next day, the doorbell cheerfully rang at Sang-Hyeon's house in the morning.

Ding-Dong!

"... Huh? Who is it?"

Sang-Hyeon wasn’t expecting anyone this early in the morning. He peered out the window near the front door while holding a bowl of almonds.

A man dressed in a plain uniform waved, "I’m the installation technician! Is this the residence of Mr. Yu Sang-Hyeon?"

"Oh yes. That's correct, but..."

‘What installation?’

Sang-Hyeon was just about to ask why he was there when Ju-Hyeok suddenly burst out.

"Yes!! I'll go out right now!"

Around 30 minutes later, the installation technician lightly fanned himself and spoke, "It's done. I just need your signature here."

Sang-Hyeon blankly stared at the newly installed capsule.

The installation technician had removed all the components of the old capsule except for the memory chip.

"Wow... What's this? Is this the custom capsule?"

Ju-Hyeok shook his head, "No, that isn't ready yet."

"Huh? Then what is this?"

Ju-Hyeok explained how he rented a short-term capsule to minimize Sang-Hyeon's hyperhidrosis symptoms, but Sang-Hyeon didn't pay for any of this.

"Hey, why did you..."

Ju-Hyeok had paid for the capsule.

Thud.

Ju-Hyeok placed his hand on Sang-Hyeon's shoulder.

"Remember the first paycheck? I used some of what you gave me."

Sang-Hyeon had given Ju-Hyeok part of his portion when he received his first paycheck. It was out of gratitude for enduring the risks and trusting him.

"Well, that's..."

Sang-Hyeon didn’t have any other reasons for giving him that back then.

Ju-Hyeok raised his hand to signal that he didn't want to hear anymore. Then he turned back to the kitchen.

Ju-Hyeok pretended to be cool about it.

"You crazy..."

Sang-Hyeon swore at him trying to play it cool, but this reminded him again of Ju-Hyeok’s kindness.

Ju-Hyeok never accepted anything less than what he had given and vice versa. He never received less either.

If Ju-Hyeok decided to give the money back, then it would only be respectful for Sang-Hyeon to accept.

"Oh right, I'll count this as your birthday present!" Ju-Hyeok quickly added as he leaned over from the kitchen.

Still, Sang-Hyeon couldn't hear anything because he was already inside the capsule.

He couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "Wow..."

Jing.

[Aston]

Even the logo that appeared in the capsule looked luxurious.

[Plato 820s]

This was the best model available for direct purchase from Aston.

'But is it really different?'

Sang-Hyeon found it hard to believe that capsules could change one’s performance. He decided to test it out with the training tutorial he played before.