Chapter 246. The Beginning of the Finals (2)

Ju-Hyeok rushed out after hearing that the installation technicians arrived.

"It's this way."

The CEO had already told him beforehand.

Ju-Hyeok started asking them about the process, which Sang-Hyeon wasn’t familiar with.

"Are you going to check the compatibility as well?"

"No, we’re just installation technicians. The researchers will visit separately for that."

"Oh, then when will they come…?"

Sang-Hyeon moved out of the way and opened the cabinet to look for a distraction.

'Ju-Hyeok will take care of it.'

He opened a cereal box.

Swish.

The sound always made Sang-Hyeon smile. He also took out the roasted almonds next to the cereal.

Whoosh.

He poured both into a bowl and gulped them down with milk. As the chewy texture and nutty flavors spread in his mouth, he felt ready to start and turned on his phone.

[Takoyaki: We got this! Let's win today's final!]

[Miho: Let's go!]

[StrawberryShooter: Almond will take care of it anyway.]

Messages from his team members filled the chat. Almond felt that they had become quite close.

[I still haven't received approval.]

[The manager said to schedule a meeting by 6 o'clock.]

[Those attending the funeral of Manager Oh’s father, please come by 7…]

The chat with his teammates overlapped with his past when only work-related comments were made. Sang-Hyeon used to feel like someone was choking him with numbers and data, but now he received energy from looking at their chat.

[Bubblegum: Almond will take care of everything anyway.]

[Miho: Blah Blah.]

However, his teammates kept repeating a certain phrase like a meme.

[Almond: What is that?]

[Miho: It's a popular meme in LIL these days.]

Another meme appeared in the LIL community.

[Miho: Go check it out. It's really funny.]

They even sent him a link, but Sang-Hyeon wasn’t interested. He simply wanted to enjoy the almond cereal’s texture and flavor in the peaceful morning sunlight. And he wanted to casually chat with his teammates on this seemingly lazy day...

[StrawberryShooter: Speaking of LIL, you should watch this, Almond. Is this really you?]

Sang-Hyeon’s plans for the day seemed to have completely changed.

[Link: A video suspected to be of Almond's past! It’s crazy!]

'This is...'

The thumbnail of the link StrawberryShooter sent featured the familiar video he had seen a few days ago. The video quality seemed worse than before after being copied again, but the title made the same obvious claim. He immediately recognized it.

Sang-Hyeon didn't bother watching it and looked at the reactions in the chat. He expected similar reactions to before, but they were surprisingly different with more praises this time.

— OMG. Crazy.

— That's Almond in high school? He's so hot...

└ Holy shit, I can't say anything... He's so perfect…

└ Thank god you didn't cross the line, lol.

└ Stopped just before crossing!

— What's this?! What are they trying to say?

— Wow, I didn't know Almond used to do archery. Who said Almond used to be a businessman and is now playing LIL with no background knowledge, you're WRONG!

No one doubted whether it was Almond in the video even though his face wasn't visible due to the poor quality.

'Is this the difference between KAF and LIL Pro?'

Then he understood why as he read the other comments.

— He looked better back then.

— He wasn't a plastic surgery beauty... You took my last hope away... I'm gonna fight for revenge.

— Is Almond's real name Yu Sang-Hyeon??

'... My real name?'

His name wasn't mentioned in that video.

'Wait... maybe it's from the video that I have?'

Sang-Hyeon played the video to check if his name was in it.

'OMG.'

The fan's research skills impressed him. His name had been mentioned in the local broadcast video! How in the world did they find this? Sang-Hyeon finally understood why Ju-Hyeok said the community was unstoppable once they started.

Tap.

Just then, Ju-Hyeok came over and tapped him.

"It's done. Go in and check it out."

"..."

"What are you doing? Go test the capsule now."

"Oh... Okay. You hold on to this while I check it out."

Sang-Hyeon handed his phone to Ju-Hyeok and headed toward the capsule.

"That was fast..."

***

The archery video preoccupied his mind until he saw the capsule.

'Hmm...'

It wasn’t like he had been caught doing something wrong. He just felt unsettled. He didn't care much about the video being spread in the community, but the nostalgia from the video felt overwhelming.

Sang-Hyeon sniffled as he entered the room.

"!"

Right at that moment...

"Wow."

Everything about the video instantly disappeared from his mind.

'What is this?'

He had never seen a capsule like this before. It seemed like it came from another dimension.

Sometimes, people referred to super well-made cars as spaceships and said they were made after interrogating aliens. This was just like that. The capsule seemed to have been directly imported from an alien civilization.

Elegance and beauty wasn’t all there was to it. It was entirely designed for the user's convenience and to improve their focus.

It moved like a living organism as if to say: I'm not fashion. I'm a weapon.

And that was a believable claim.

Pat.

Sang-Hyeon brushed the capsule with his hand.

'The texture...'

It felt like a living creature.

Ting!

Just then, the holographic welcome light turned on.

[NOVA]

The new brand name floated on top of the capsule.

An installation technician smiled and started explaining about the capsule when the logo appeared and startled Sang-Hyeon.

"These custom capsules read your biological data and recognize their owners. The welcome light must have activated when it sensed you were near."

Another technician looked at it in awe. When Sang-Hyeon touched the lid, another name popped up.

[ALMOND]

"The company decided to name the entire lineup of mass-produced models the same as this capsule called Almond,” said the installation technician.

This wasn’t just the name for Almond's capsule, but the entire lineup of their models. In American terms, it was like the Shelby line for Mustangs.

"Holy… what if Almond doesn't win?" Ju-Hyeok approached and was also astonished by this creature.

"Then the CEO will rename it SweetRadish."

Sang-Hyeon casually placed his hand on the capsule as the installation technician instructed.

Slide.

The capsule opened piece by piece like a living being opening its mouth and welcomed Sang-Hyeon.

***

The researchers arrived shortly after Sang-Hyeon entered the capsule. They came to do a final check on the capsule’s sync optimization.

"Hello. We’re here to do a final check on the capsule. I hope we didn’t come too late."

Ju-Hyeok shook his head.

"No, don't worry. He just went in. I heard you’ll be checking while the capsule is active.”

"That's right."

The CEO had already explained all the final check details to Ju-Hyeok.

The most important thing after activating the capsule was the external diagnosis. They weren’t checking the outside of the capsule, but re-evaluating its optimization from the outside.

The capsule diagnosed its own state with an algorithm, so there could initially be errors. Skilled researchers checking this once more from the outside could reduce the synchronization gap.

The researchers soon began installing kits and connecting thick lines to the capsule.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Since he’s playing right now, we’ll connect and check. It won't have any effect on Almond."

Ju-Hyeok nodded and looked at their monitor.

'I have no idea what’s going on...'

Ju-Hyeok watched the researchers as if he understood how it worked. He thought his presence would make the researchers work harder, which would make the capsule better. Honestly, he didn't know anything about the capsule or what the researchers were doing.

The silence continued for a while.

Gulp.

Ju-Hyeok swallowed as he grew nervous.

Finally, one of the researchers spoke.

"There seems to be no problem."

However, his tone sounded slightly strange.

"Is there something else?"

The researcher turned and faced Ju-Hyeok with a flustered expression.

"The synchronization rate has become higher than we initially measured."

"...?"

The researcher brought the screen closer to Ju-Hyeok.

Of course, Ju-Hyeok had no idea what anything on the screen meant. The only thing he recognized on it was Almond playing with Flashy Blade.

Almond was playing alone in training mode, but his graceful movements captivated Ju-Hyeok.

Swoosh! Thud! Whish!

He threw his sword, moved, caught it, and threw it again while slashing enemies apart. The sequence of actions happened so quickly that it looked like a single skill.

The way Flashy Blade moved looked so smooth that others would have misunderstood it as one of Almond's original skills.

Almond had no problem using both of his hands without any restrictions.

Ju-Hyeok stood still, amazed by the beauty and aesthetic pleasure of Almond's actions.

The researcher thought that Ju-Hyeok was dissatisfied and quickly added, "Um... you don't have to worry too much. A high synchronization rate is generally good. I was just surprised because it's higher than what I initially measured."

Ju-Hyeok felt somewhat relieved after the explanation. Then, he suddenly recalled something. Hadn't Sang-Hyeon been ejected before because his synchronization rate was too high in Fantasia’s capsule?

"But there have been cases where ejections occurred because the synchronization was too high."

"That was the case with mass-produced capsules. It doesn't apply to a custom capsule for just one person."

"Oh..."

In other words, this capsule could fully utilize Sang-Hyeon's high synchronization rate.

Another researcher next to them added, "We’re just pointing out the fact that it differs from what we measured before. It would be great if we could help Almond today in the finals. I’ll contact the CEO first."

The two researchers would continue monitoring the capsule throughout the finals, which was a good thing.

Ju-Hyeok readily accepted, "Sure."

"Ah, and the user experience is most important. Even if everything is perfectly set, we may have to change something if the user feels uncomfortable. So, when Almond comes out—"

Whoosh.

Right at that moment, the capsule opened as if it was waiting.

Sang-Hyeon just finished his practice as shown on the screen. He raised his upper body as cool air blew.

Both the researchers and even Ju-Hyeok looked at him. Whatever he said would be the most important feedback they could receive.

If there was any problem with the capsule, it could affect the outcome of the match. No matter how quickly they could fix it, today was the finals.

'What is it?'

It was impossible to know what Sang-Hyeon was thinking.

Ju-Hyeok would only know once Sang-Hyeon opened his mouth.

"Um..."

Sang-Hyeon tilted his head.

***

It was finally 6 P.M. A dim darkness covered the stadium. Above it, a lone light shone.

Flash!

A silhouette burned black against the bright light.

He raised his arms and shouted, "Th~~~~~~~"

Bang!

The stadium was filled with light that began to whip around. The audience seats appeared between the beams of light.

At a glance, it looked completely filled with no room to step.

"-ank you for waiting!"

Whoosh...!

The black silhouette gradually grew larger and covered the stadium.

"The long-awaited finals of the tournament!!!"

With a large physique, his arms fiercely swung out.

"Start~~ing~~~ NOW!"

Bang!!!

The whole stadium was filled with white light, and fireworks vigorously exploded.

— Whoaaaaaaaa!

A cheer loud enough to be heard through the fireworks rang out.

The scrolling chat also shot up for a moment.

— Go go~

—Holy shit, I'm so nervous!

— Finally!

— Start~~~!

— Holy shit, holy shit!

They had reached an incredibly high number of viewers even when compared to the entire in-house tournament’s history.

[Current Viewers: 326,000]

The reason for such an explosion in viewership could be found on a certain popular YouTube channel.

[TimeTrouble]

[Subscribers: 3.2 million]

This huge channel dealt with trending issues and had 3.2 million subscribers.

Around two hours ago, a video had prominently appeared.

[Proof that South Korean Archery is the World's Strongest]

It featured such a title. The thumbnail roughly had text that read, 'The world is stunned,' 'World's highest VNS index.'

Next to it was Sang-Hyeon, obscured by a white hat.