“Gulp. Gulp.”

Sang-Hyeon downed the energy drink in one go before replying.

"Nope. We lost."

They lost the scrim.

Ju-Hyeok, without showing much reaction, just shrugged.

"Well, it's just a scrim."

"Phew..."

Thud.

Without fully listening to Ju-Hyeok's words, Sang-Hyeon went and flopped down on the sofa. Rome hadn’t been an easy opponent. In the end, Korea still lost even though they had a more developed gameplan this time compared to the England match.

"Hey, why so down over losing one game?"

"Something..."

"What?"

"Nevermind. It’s nothing."

Sang-Hyeon didn’t like talking after losing, so he swallowed his words. He wouldn't have been so drained simply because of a skill gap. It felt like they almost won and then lost by a small margin.

Ju-Hyeok interjected again, "Hey. What are you spacing out for? You seem really heartbroken, huh?”

"Ah... No."

Sang-Hyeon was about to shake his head, but decided to say something.

"There's good news too."

"What is it?"

"I’m growing a bit closer with my teammates."

"Oh. That's good news."

Gradually, Almond grew more familiar with his teammates. That was definitely good news. Especially among the archers, there wasn't anyone who didn't know Sang-Hyeon.

"But you don't care about that stuff anyway."

"Well..."

Indeed, as Ju-Hyeok said, it wasn't exactly good news for Sang-Hyeon. It was like good news forcibly wrung out.

Ju-Hyeok changed the topic, "Speaking of which, when are you going to hit S+ in solo rank?"

"Ah. That's tomorrow. Not every day has a scrim, so I'll achieve it little by little on days where I don’t play any scrims."

"Is that also a private stream?"

"No, it’s not."

"Oh. The viewers will like that, right?"

"Yeah."

Ju-Hyeok licked his lips a bit and took out his phone.

"While we're at it, let's fix our offline schedule."

"Offline schedule?"

"Yeah, both

The Avatar of LIL

and

Expert Spotlight

are confirmed."

Sang-Hyeon had declared that he would frequently appear on other broadcasts or do collaborations in the new year. Now, that promise was being fulfilled.

Ju-Hyeok looked at the schedule on his phone and added, "Also, there was an invitation inquiry from G-Star."

"G-Star?"

G-Star was a kind of game exhibition. Since Sang-Hyeon was unfamiliar with gaming culture, he didn't exactly know about G-Star. Neither did Ju-Hyeok.

"That... I also found out this time. It's a game exhibition, but you can participate more actively? Something like that. I've sent you reference videos, so take a look."

"Okay..."

Sang-Hyeon’s eyes widened after watching the reference video sent by Ju-Hyeok.

"Ah. So this is G-Star!"

The reference video featured this title.

[My gift depended on the skills of Bubblegum? I'd rather be killed...]

Bubblegum was wagering fan gifts in a battle against someone else. Real fans surrounded him and cheered. Unfortunately, he suffered a total defeat.

Although Bubblegum was supposedly good at the game

Run Guys

, he seemed quite nervous playing on G-Star.

Sang-Hyeon had seen an edited version of this video before.

‘So this was G-Star.’

Typically, they only invited well-known streamers. Now, Sang-Hyeon had the chance to participate too.

"Ah. You can bet on fan gifts and play games, try new games, and even named developers come out to wager on balance patches."

Developers came out to do such things?

“Pfft,”

Sang-Hyeon couldn't help but laugh while imagining what users and developers would say to each other.

"Ah.

Zombie School

,

Jet Pumped

, and

Mana Sword

’s famous developer Kim Yi-Seo is also coming. He's introducing a new RPG he's developing, so there’s a lot of attention right now."

A person with a track record of developing significant games. Sang-Hyeon had also heard the name.

"Ah, even Cookie is coming. Seems like he's going to be the MC for

Civil Empire

."

"Oh."

"OrangeKing is also the MC for

LIL

since famous streamers or rankers usually host it. You'll meet a lot of people. An event match might also be set up there."

Sang-Hyeon was intrigued by an event match. He suddenly imagined beating Cookie in an event match. He had no complaints against him, but he just had such an imagination. It wasn't bad.

"That would be fun. Let's schedule it."

"G-Star isn't something we can schedule. There's a set period. We just need to decide when to go during that time."

"Okay."

While other invitation programs also sounded fun, Sang-Hyeon was quite excited about G-Star.

***

The next day, Sang-Hyeon checked the community like usual after waking up.

"Ah. Right."

He almost read spoilers for the story mode and quickly closed it.

‘I can't look at this until the story mode ends.’

He thought reading his TSB during the stream would be better, so he got up from bed.

Thud.

He opened the window and aired out the room.

Wheeze

.

The winter's biting wind was unavoidable. Ventilation was a must in a house with two men.

"

Ugh.

Cold. It's cold even with clothes on."

Ju-Hyeok, wrapped in a suit and thick padding, came out of his room.

"What's up? Already going somewhere?"

"I’m going to meet some PDs. And... I’m looking for an assistant editor."

"Oh?"

"Ah. It’s not confirmed yet. I’m going to meet them today. Remember the Jessie video I showed you?"

"Ah, so it's that person?"

"Yeah. And... well, I'm busy today. See ya."

Seeing Ju-Hyeok going out this early was rare. It felt like their broadcast expansion was really happening.

"Uh... okay."

Thud!

Sang-Hyeon sent him off lukewarmly while staring at the already closed door.

He went to the kitchen and took out some almonds from the cabinet. Without Ju-Hyeok, his meals naturally revolved around this.

Crunch.

Chewing on almonds like a hamster, his expression seemed slightly uneasy.

‘Ju-Hyeok is too busy these days.’

Sang-Hyeon already knew Ju-Hyeok's workload was getting to be a bit much. It seemed to have intensified lately with the increase in offline schedules.

"Hmm."

Crunch.

Sang-Hyeon chewed on another handful of almonds and stared blankly at the window where the chilly wind gushed in.

The lazy winter sun was slowly rising, and Almond's stream turned on by the time it leisurely passed overhead.

***

"Hi Treevy!" Almond cheerfully greeted his viewers.

— Hi hi~!

— Haha.

— Ring ring~! Aha!

Greetings flooded the chat.

"We stopped in the middle of the story mode last time, right?"

— Yes.

— You recalled your memories and stopped.

— We saw Kill Swift and ended there.

— I think we’re almost finished?

— Oh, we’re continuing the story mode.

Almond roughly reviewed the situation from last time with the chat.

[RubySword has donated 10,000 won.]

[Almond! Almond! Did you get invited to G-Star? haha]

Then, a regular donation came in from RubySword. Up to this point, he had only received normal donation questions.

"Oh. Yes. How did you know?"

He decided to accept G-Star’s invitation today, but how did they already know?

— Famous streamers get invited first, lol.

— Cute, lol!

— Why do you look like you got caught? Haha.

[RubySword has donated 10,000 won]

[It's an automatic invitation if your viewership is in the 30,000s.]

‘Ah ha.’

If streamers grew famous enough, then they all got invited. Almond learned something new.

"Ah. Is that so? How did you know?"

— LOL.

— Lol.

— Is that donation baiting lol

— Wow so mean, haha.

— Self-indulgent.

Almond's donation baiting led to more donations.

[RubyBigAssHead has donated 1,000 won.]

[Wow~ Our princess! Every time you speak, it’s ten thousand won!]

[EggPlant has donated 3,000 won.]

[The principal also needs to do the ten thousand won per sentence rule. Agree with yes and recommend]

— Should I recommend?

— WTF haha.

— What's with that newscaster voice? lol

— Who's RubyBigAssHead

— If that happens, the principal is straight-up gone lol

"Ah. Thanks for the donations."

Almond was about to move on and read the TSB after this.

— Donations, lol.

— Dismissing with donations?

— Ah, all of them together can't match one word from Ruby, lol.

— A tasteless amount, right?

— Almond~ You shouldn't be picky about food~?

"Let's take a look at TSB today..."

[RubySword has donated 10,000 won.]

[See you at G-Star!]

"Ah. RubySword, thanks for the donation. You're coming? How are you getting there?"

— Lol he’s asking again!

— Ruthless nut!

— LOL.

— He's laughing too lol

"Just kidding~"

Feeling too guilty about taking more money from RubySword, Almond wrapped it up like this and went on to read the TSB.

— His last piece of conscience lol.

— I want to go to G-Star too...

— Wow, I want to go to G-Star too.

"Let's read the popular posts on TSB. A kiss scene with Swift...?"

[A deep kiss scene with Swift in story mode]

Almond was momentarily puzzled.

"... Really? This is a prank, right?"

Someone posted a prank to tease Almond, who easily fell for such things.

— Seems like it lol.

— But maybe it was made for female players? Haha.

— Just do it. Will it wear you out?

"No. Even if it was made for female players, I'm a man and Swift is the villain..."

Almond unknowingly blurted out reasons to refuse.

[DoggyMaster has donated 10,000 won.]

[Ah lol it was KISS SWIFT ~~lol]

— Lol.

— Hahahaha.

— Really, it’s true.

— Look at his nickname, haha.

— Lol, what timing.

"Yes. DogMaster, thanks for the donation."

— What’s wrong with your pronunciation?

— I’m honestly envious, lol.

— Doggy lol.

—It's not Dog, it's Doggy, lol.

"Let's read through these."

Almond read through the reasons why he had to kiss Swift. After a while, the poster received a thirty day ban.

"Yes. It's all nonsense."

— Ban lol.

— Became Swift's party member for 30 days.

— ??? I'm banned.

Then, Almond read a few more posts. He didn’t forget to randomly pick and read posts that weren’t popular.

A new post had just appeared.

[Found a way to escape being forever alone thanks to Almond]

"Oh. Here's a post saying they escaped being forever alone thanks to me."

— How exactly?

— Traitor, let's execute him!!

— Met at Amond's fan meeting event??

— Ah, we met during an event, it seems.

Considering Almond's channel naturally had a lot of female viewers, it wouldn't be strange if viewers grew close and started dating. Most viewers probably thought it was a story like that.

If you split a single into two, it becomes a couple.

It splits into a first part and a second part, becoming two. (Video)

The attached video showed a game scene where a monster was split in half.

— LOL.

— LOLOL.

— LMAOOOOOO.

— Then it dies...

— 1 part 2 part lol.

— The will to die rather than live as a single is well noted.

— Split in half? In this channel, that's marriage ^^

"... Ahem."

The post was mocking Almond's stream format.

Almond decided to start the game.

"Let's warm up a bit now and finish the story mode."

— When he’s embarrassed, he always flees.

— Why don't you answer? lol

— Oh, we’re going to see the end today?

"Ah. I'll turn on the mission I saved."

— Ah, lol!

— Of course, he didn't forget, haha.

— Dragon-level memory for missions.

— This was without a time limit

— Even in this situation, he remembered that.

[Clear 3 stars with no deaths]

[200,000 won]

It was Treevy's mission keep feature. If the person who set the mission did not set a time limit, it could be kept indefinitely. Some streamers didn’t necessarily use this feature.

Almond, however, really wanted to complete this mission.

Ding.

[IFailedMath has donated 1,000 won.]

[It was able to be kept...?]

— IFailedMath cries, lol.

— Hey, the name IFailedMath isn't for just anyone to use, okay?

— Chikicha about 3 hours ago, lol.

— LMAO, you discovered something new!

The story mode began.