Chapter 245. The Beginning of the Finals (1)

The circles were painted in various primary colors. Back then, these circles determined their fates.

Sang-Hyeon’s future was certain as all the arrows he shot stretched forward and landed straight in the yellow circle.

Bang!

He could hear the crowd cheering.

Sang-Hyeon momentarily adjusted his hat due to the warm sunlight. That was the only moment he paused.

The first shot successfully verified his accuracy, and the next shots no longer contained any hesitation.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The string trembled as the arrows flew straight to the target.

His skill was overwhelming compared to any other archer.

“Wow, ten points consecutively!”

“Amazing! It’s amazing every time we see it!”

“It's the gold medal! The youngest ever to win the gold medal…”

The video ended there.

— ...? Is that really Almond?

— How can you tell from that shitty quality?

— The quality is so bad.

└ Not Almond?

└ LOL, the quality is so bad~ I thought it was really Almond!

— What? Was he really an archer?

└ It’s on another level when you watch him shoot.

└ Is this the Olympics?

└ No, it's the national championship. If it were the Olympics, everyone would know who he is.

└ Oh… It's a small championship.

— Go and ask Almond. He's streaming right now.

└ Last time we asked him something similar, he said he'd speak about it in the winner’s interview.

— Wait until the winner’s interview, you idiots

— B.S.

"Why are you watching that?"

A voice suddenly came from behind. Ju-Hyeok felt startled and blamed the new capsule that didn't make a sound when it opened.

"What's this? This is somewhat different from what I have."

"... What do you mean different? Isn't this you?"

"Well yeah, it’s me but..."

Ju-Hyeok played the video that Sang-Hyeon had.

'Huh? What’s this? It's completely different.'

It looked completely different, especially when the two videos were compared side by side.

Ju-Hyeok had only seen the original version once from a distance, so he didn't realize the differences until now.

"The one you have is recorded for local broadcasting... while this one was filmed separately."

"Yeah. It seems like someone in the audience filmed it. Thank god my name didn't appear in the video. And the quality is bad too."

There couldn't be another video like Sang-Hyeon’s unless the staff filmed it.

"I'm going to take a shower. Kingdom fanboys really wanna know the truth."

Sang-Hyeon headed to the bathroom.

In the meantime, Ju-Hyeok went back to the community site.

"Hmm..." Ju-Hyeok scratched his chin.

'Why would a KAF user have this video?'

Why would they have a video of a national championship that has nothing to do with streaming LIL?

“They weren't even friends. How could they recognize a face from 10 years ago…” Ju-Hyeok murmured and paused for a second as if he realized something.

'How did they recognize him?'

The weather in the video was a sunny summer, and Sang-Hyeon wore a bucket hat. Moreover, unlike the video that Sang-Hyeon had, there was no mention of 'Yu Sang-Hyeon (17)' in the title. There weren’t any close-ups or award ceremony scenes either.

'... Maybe they already knew who Sang-Hyeon was?'

If the person originally knew Yu Sang-Hyeon, then it was possible for them to say that the athlete in the video was Almond. It could be a staff member from back then who’s also seen Almond's stream.

'What is he thinking?'

It was hard to guess the true purpose of posting this video. Ju-Hyeok couldn't think of how this would negatively impact Sang-Hyeon in any way.

Actually, Sang-Hyeon would only benefit if this post was revealed. They only kept it a secret because Sang-Hyeon wanted it that way. Still, Ju-Hyeok would welcome anything that benefitted Sang-Hyeon.

'We don't know though.'

The true intent of a post on community pages always went beyond Ju-Hyeok's imagination. Countless people thought about how to fabulously screw over Sang-Hyeon twenty-four seven.

'Maybe I'll feel them out.'

Ju-Hyeok saved the video and commented on the post.

— Hey. Where did you get this? LOL. Impressive.

First, he complimented the writer and asked a question.

"…"

No response came even after five minutes.

"Right, I forgot about this."

Every place had its own etiquette, and communities worked the same. No one would reply if one didn't ask properly.

Juhyeok asked as politely as he could.

— This fucking idiot LOL. He brought this baseless video from nowhere! Somebody sue him!

After about three seconds, an angry comment came back.

└ WTF are you talking about? You can't sue me for everything I do, LOL.

They replied with 'LOL,' but Ju-Hyeok could hear their trembling keyboard.

'Looks like a newbie.'

Whoever posted this wasn’t immune to the community yet. Ju-Hyeok mentally noted this detail about the opponent.

'Should I push him and eventually make him delete this?'

It was better to eliminate rumors about Sang-Hyeon, especially if it was a video filmed by a third party. Also, Ju-Hyeok didn’t know the uploader’s exact intention. Then it would be better to delete it.

— What if that's not Almond? Isn't that a violation of portrait rights?

He made up some bullshit. Honestly, it wouldn't be a violation at all since it was difficult to identify the person in the video.

└ Nonsense. We can't even see who’s who. Stop BSing.

Ju-Hyeok threw out some bait for this response.

└ If you can't even identify who's who, then why do you think it's Almond?

Ju-Hyeok smirked. He immediately picked up his phone and logged in with a different ID.

└ Oh, that's true, LOL. Why do you think he's Almond?

└ Other than looking hot and the guy in the video is shooting an arrow, there are no other common points...

└ Unless you know who Almond is, LOL.

Ju-Hyeok had written all three comments. This was the viciousness of an anonymous community. One person could simply clone themselves and troll in the comments.

Ju-Hyeok had also been a victim of this tactic before.

— If the video is clear enough to tell that it's Almond~ then it would be a violation of portrait rights for everyone in the video, and if you're not even sure that guy is Almond~ then why did you tell others that he's Almond?

Ju-Hyeok didn't know how the violation of portrait rights worked exactly, but it was a civil lawsuit. There was nothing Ju-Hyeok could do anyway.

He carefully examined the opponent’s reaction and realized they were the type to get scared over nothing. The goal had been to scare them anyway.

A moment passed.

(The post has been deleted.)

It got deleted.

"Woah. What's with this guy?"

Ju-Hyeok made him back off.

"He didn't seem to be trolling."

The uploader didn't do anything strange and obediently deleted the post before running away. They could’ve accidentally found the video and uploaded it because they found it intriguing.

'It won't end with just this though.'

The original video got deleted, but many people already watched it.

[Huh? What happened to that video? It's gone, LOL. I was going to ask which year it was taken.]

[Was it a troll? He deleted it and ran off...]

[Was it just bait?]

Some people likely recorded the video. These kinds of things would start to appear one by one.

After the tournament, Almond's popularity grew by 2-3 times and his fan base significantly increased too.

Even now, his archery club friends knew that he was a streamer.

"I guess it can’t be helped. The stage is already set."

It had started already whether Sang-Hyeon liked it or not.

To be honest, Ju-Hyeok liked the start of this. It was a great opportunity for Sang-Hyeon to become a bigger streamer.

Ju-Hyeok would leap along with him. He glanced at the document he received yesterday.

[Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]

This was the government department he had to go through to establish an entertainment agency.

[Regarding the pop culture and art development project you inquired about...]

Ju-Hyeok had asked questions about the agency certification.

"One year of related work experience..."

He needed a full year of work experience in a related industry to start an agency. This was an entirely unexpected barrier for Ju-Hyeok.

The requirement had originally been four years. Then it was reduced to two years and recently reduced again to one year.

"It’s been about four months now…"

Ju-Hyeok had only been in the industry for four months, so he had eight more months to go.

That wasn’t the problem. The past four months with Almond had been the best time of his life. There was nothing wrong with doing it for eight more months with Almond.

The real issue was whether or not the government would recognize his experience as a streamer's manager. The streaming market had already been active for a while, but the industry still lacked clear classification.

Generally, public institutions were about ten years behind. There was nothing Ju-Hyeok could do. He had to stick to whatever was in front of him.

'I heard major channels get certified more easily...'

To get easily certified, Sang-Hyeon had to be considered a broadcaster. That meant Sang-Hyeon needed to debut on major channels.

This was a huge opportunity not only for Ju-Hyeok, but also for Sang-Hyeon. Unless Sang-Hyeon didn't want to make more money...

"Let's think about what to say,"

Ju-Hyeok stretched and opened a notepad beside the computer. He wanted to plan out his future.

Sang-Hyeon also said he would answer everyone’s questions in the final interview.

"I'm gonna make Yu Sang-Hyeon shut his mouth if he talks about Korean soccer or something else."

So many things were riding on that guy's unreliable words right now. Fortunately, that post didn’t resurface until the day of the finals.

It didn't become a hot topic until then.

***

Only two days remained until the finals.

Almond turned on his stream for some lighthearted content when he had no practice matches. Even though the finals were coming up, he couldn't only show practice matches to the viewers.

Most practices were private scrims, so viewers couldn't watch them.

Sang-Hyeon couldn't tell if he was a streamer or a professional gamer with such a routine, but he started streaming anyway.

[Current Viewers: 27,000]

This temporary increase was due to everyone’s excitement for the finals. The views had jumped to over 20,000 already.

[Raising the Lazy Soldier]

The stream started lightly with a mobile game he advertised for before.

— Lol, Bubblegum still sucks even in this.

— WTF is this?

— Roll! Roll!

Almond didn't need to enter the capsule because it was a mobile game, which benefited him. The viewers also enjoyed a clearer view of Almond's face.

— He's so cute today!!!

— Almond, support Miho and give up on Bubblegum.

— Let's play with Bubblegum, LOL!

Occasionally, Almond played low-quality games for short periods. He avoided games that required physical effort as much as possible and mostly played games that used brain power.

[Monument Abyss]

This was a 3D puzzle game. Solving 3D puzzles in virtual reality turned out to be another kind of fun. He mostly spent his time moving a large box around and scratching his head... Anyway, Almond had fun.

— Uh, this is spicy

— Almond, torturing walnuts, LOL.

— Almost Bubblegum level spiciness, haha.

— All my teeth would break from almonds...

Puzzle games were the worst that Almond ever played. Nevertheless, most people liked it during the stream.

[SonicPark has donated 10,000 won!]

[Is this nut doing a dental advertisement too?]

'Hm? Dental ad?'

Almond thought that would be a good idea. Maybe that was why he got so distracted. He couldn't solve the puzzle until the end as the viewers tightly clenched their teeth.

The game had to end soon…

"Manager!"

— Gasp, summoning the hazelnut.

— Hazelnut, come out!"

— ?? Is it my turn?

With Ju-Hyeok's help, Almond solved the entire puzzle.

"Mission complete!"

Almond shamelessly pressed the [Complete today's 15 stages] mission and took the 200,000 won.

— Is this money going toward the manager's salary?

— Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!

— This isn't fair!

"I got 200,000 won after all. So…”

Almond made sure to give them a reaction as thanks for the monetary support he received today.

He turned on Battle Large.

"Bye, Treevy~!"

He dived down in familiar fashion. There was no need for a parachute. The purpose was to become an arrow and send some poor soul to heaven.

[Almond → WrongedSquid]

[98/100]

Thunk!

Almond's avatar also died along with the notification.

[Streaming Ended]

The stream for the day ended there. It was still a game even though it was a light one.

Almond needed to rest and mentally prepare for the finals tomorrow. He still felt tired even with the new capsule.

'My custom capsule should be ready by now.'

Today was the last day of using this temporary capsule.

***

The next day, the finals would take place. The doorbell rang early in the morning.

Ding~ Dong~

Sang-Hyeon's eyes snapped open.

'Finally.'

He quickly went out and opened the window.

Two installation technicians looked up and shouted, "You must be Mr. Yu Sang-Hyeon, right? We've come to install the capsule! From Nova!"

The custom capsule that would help him win had arrived.