Click. Click.

Ju-Hyeok smiled as he managed Almond's chat.

‘It looks good now.’

Almond had handled the negative comments in a rather pleasant manner. Today's content was also a success.

Almond continued streaming.

“I actually planned to try a new game today, but let's play

LIL

a bit more since we already started. Then I’ll move on to part two.”

He hadn't forgotten the promise he made to Raina.

“I haven't played in a while, so my rank has dropped quite a bit. Since I promised Raina, shall we try to maintain diamond rank?”

— Ohhh, awesome!!

— Wow, finally, some solo rank~~!

— So sweet, lol!

— A date stream with the girlfriend!?

The viewers cheered for Raina in Almond's stream because it had been some time.

‘He remembered that?’

Ju-Hyeok was surprised that Sang-Hyeon, who he thought would be quite indifferent to Raina, remembered such things.

Sang-Hyeon met Raina at the gathering of champions and her expression immediately brightened.

Ju-Hyeok listened to their conversation for a while.

‘Hmm...’

He was momentarily lost in thought.

‘Is Yu Sang-Hyeon the type to be swayed by emotions? Or not?’

In his mind, two Kim Ju-Hyeoks were fighting over this topic. The battle was intense with Kim Ju-Hyeok fighting against himself. It got so heated that they jumped onto the desk at one point, grabbing each other by the collars and headbutting each other.

‘Huh?’

Something caught his eye in the chat.

— Lol, even Police are watching this.

— Police are monitoring the stream...!

— Jail Jail~!

Police was watching?

Ju-Hyeok opened the viewer list to check. He found no such viewer upon searching for Police and wondered if it was a fake using the name. Then, he checked and found that it was actually the game company’s official account.

‘They were watching because of Sori.’

It was clear how much interest they had in the sales of Sori.

‘Oh... this is...’

This was a very good sign. They naturally took an interest in Sori's sales, but their interest also led to Almond's stream. This meant Almond's stream could now influence Sori's sales.

As soon as Almond started solo ranking with Raina, they left immediately.

‘They really came because of Sori.’

Ju-Hyeok was convinced of their intent and headed to their channel. He boldly initiated a conversation.

[Hello. I'm Kim Ju-Hyeok, Almond's manager.]

He felt that they would respond. Whether they were selling or buying something, gaining their favor was his job. He was sure about his hunch.

They would respond perhaps out of guilt for watching Almond's stream just a few seconds ago. Besides, it wasn't as if they were strangers because Almond also appeared on

The Avatar of LIL

.

They had been communicating through this account at the time. Therefore, it was likely that someone had already exchanged words with Ju-Hyeok.

[Yes ^^ Haha! Mr. Ju-Hyeok! What can I do for you?]

They responded as expected.

[No, haha, I was just curious about Sori's sales. I heard it's doing quite well, but only heard through the grapevine.]

Sori's sales were relevant to Almond as well. Plus, it wouldn't be a big secret if the champion wasn’t selling well.

[It's as the rumors say haha]

He was right. So it was that the initial sales were record-breaking.

Ju-Hyeok clenched his fist.

[That's a relief. Thank you for letting me know.]

[No. We're more grateful for your interest, haha. We appreciate Almond continuing to support us.]

[Yes. We'll be greatly honored if you call us again next time!]

[Yes. Looks like we'll have a lot of reasons to call you back! haha.]

‘Done.’

Ju-Hyeok conveyed what he wanted to say and gained the information he wanted.

‘He really contributed to the sales. This is big.’

If Almond contributed to the sales of

LIL

, which wasn’t just any game, his value as a streamer was immeasurable. This wasn’t just significant for Police, but would likely catch the ears of other game companies as well. No, even if it didn’t, Ju-Hyeok was planning to ensure that it would.

‘This year's G-Star...’

The event where he would meet the most game company representatives was just around the corner.

‘This will be interesting.’

***

Meanwhile, Almond was on a winning streak and rapidly advancing in diamond rank.

"Ah. Raina's banned, right?"

It was around his fifth consecutive win with Raina. Sniping bans started to appear. It was common to encounter the same players while playing games back-to-back.

— Ah...

— That's harsh.

— Boring…

— Cowards, lol!

— I'd ban her too, lol.

Almond stroked his chin.

‘Hmm. Do I really need to play this one?’

The goal was to play solo rank with Raina, but the opponent had banned Raina.

[Hey. I found a post by SnowWhite on LIL Pro.]

Ju-Hyeok sent him a message.

[Really?]

Almond asked Ju-Hyeok through a channel that was only audible to them.

[Yeah, it's him. He even uploaded a video that’s kind of like a guide. He tried to promote his own stream.]

He was promoting his own stream? Was he a streamer?

[He's a streamer and he said that kind of stuff to me. No sense of professional solidarity.]

[Well... he must've been jealous haha]

Almond paused to gather his thoughts for a moment and looked back and forth between Ju-Hyeok's message and the current pick screen.

"Now, everyone…”

Then, Almond dodged the game.

— ?

— Why are you dodging?

— Ah...

— You won't play if it’s not Raina?

"Since I was planning to play solo rank with Raina anyway, there's no reason to play now that she's banned."

— His true love...

— Wow.

— That's a man lol.

Instead of solo ranking, he decided to read the post that Ju-Hyeok sent him.

"I have received interesting news."

Since RubySword had donated 100,000 won to ask, Almond wanted to make it meaningful.

"My manager has finally solved the curiosity of Ms. RubySword. Why exactly is Zen a counter to Sori?"

— Oh?

— 100% because of Meteor Shower lol.

— As expected, the genius nut.

[DooniSony has donated 3,000 won.]

[But how did the genius find out if he's a LIL noob?]

It wasn't a big secret that Ju-Hyeok didn’t play

LIL

, so the viewers could be curious about that.

"Ah. It wasn't our genius manager who figured it out. A post written by SnowWhite himself was discovered on LIL Pro."

— Oh...

— He found it?

— Community master Genius Kim from Ah-Sung, wow~

— Insane investigative skills! lol

— Ruby Princess vs SnowWhite lol!

"Now, let's go see that. I'm heading to LIL Pro. Everyone, please be mentally prepared."

— Ah...

— Agreed.

— It's a perilous place there.

— Let's dive into hell!

Almond followed the link sent by Ju-Hyeok and went to LIL Pro.

— Wow...

— Shit lol!

— Can't filter the big bulletin board, haha.

— Lol~

Various trolls on LIL Pro momentarily diverted the viewers' attention. However, everyone focused once Almond found the relevant post and clicked on it.

[Sori hard counter. Meteor Shower. I've tried it.]

"Sori hard counter. Meteor Shower. I've tried it... This seems to be the one, right?"

— Yes!

— Correct~

— Meteor Shower is Zen’s skill.

"Ah. So that skill was the counter... Why? Let's see."

Almond recalled the meteor he saw when he fought SnowWhite. It seemed like it would do a lot of damage, but how would he land such a thing against Sori who could move so freely?

[Meteor Shower is a trash skill with a 1.5 second casting time. Its only advantage is that someone familiar with handling Zen can cast it without the opponent knowing, but an opponent who couldn’t be hit came up this time…]

"To summarize, Rope Movement's arrival point is so obvious that Meteor Shower can hit. This would stun Sori for two while Zen throws the little bees to win, right?"

— It's stars, not bees.

— Little bees, lol.

— Goddess of bees, Zen, lol.

— He can't win with bees, lol.

— It makes sense, right?

"Uh... but I killed him before I even learned rope movement, right?"

— Yes, lol.

— Correct, lol.

— Everyone has a plan until they get hit.

— Lol, he was supposed to counter rope movement, but died before you learned it, hahaha.

While reading the post again, Almond scratched his chin.

"But is this really a counter?"

Even if Zen's casting couldn’t be properly seen, surely it was hard to dodge Rope Movement. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure about this plan.

"Meteor Shower has a 1.5 second casting time. Rope Movement is..."

Almond decided to check a reference video just in case.

'I was right.'

He confirmed the duration of Sori's rope movement and intuitively knew it didn't last up to 1.5 seconds.

"As you can see here, Sori's rope movement happens within 1.2 to 3 seconds. It only takes close to 1.5 seconds when thrown at maximum range. Even that isn't exactly 1.5 seconds."

— Wow.

— Genius NUT is suddenly spinning super fast.

— Right!

— That would hit.

"There's a difference of at least 0.1 seconds to a maximum of 0.3 seconds, right? This means the counter isn’t one hundred percent guaranteed."

— ?

— What?

— 0.3 seconds

— ???

—...?

If Almond didn’t know the opponent was using Meteor Shower, it would be impossible to dodge with a 0.1 to 2 second difference.

In

LIL

, it was rare for someone to actually see a skill coming and dodge it. Except for very slow projectile skills, most would approach the fight assuming the opponent could use a skill and react immediately if they saw any signs.

[RubySword has donated 10,000 won.]

[Then... what about those videos?!]

"Ah. Thank you, Ruby Sword. What videos... Ah, the ones he uploaded?"

The videos attached by SnowWhite were filled with scenes of him dominating Sori. He posted them for reference.

"Hmm." Almond replied with some annoyance when he recalled SnowWhite’s malicious messages despite also being a streamer, "Isn't that fake?"

— Ah...?

— ?

— Lololol.

— Agreed

— Correct~ If it’s not fake, then "prove" it lol

— Prove it if you're wrong~~ Lololol.

— Lol, this is how it works? Haha.

— ??? You're so bad at LIL~

Almond's comment caused quite a stir on LIL Pro in real time.

[Lol, so funny, why did you even try if you can’t even last 3 minutes, lol]

[SnowWhite = Streamer who fabricates videos]

[I knew it when a Diabitch talks big like a top-tier player...]

[Woah... what's with the sudden firepower?]

It seemed like the Nut squad had invaded and started to take over the board. Public opinion naturally turned against SnowWhite.

— As soon as Almond appears, there’s big turmoil lol

— This winter... the world crumbles!

— Lol, what? The Nut squad? lol

As time passed, some posts began to appear.

[Almond questions the Sori counter]

Since they were users who enjoyed playing

LIL

, they showed interest in whether or not this champion was a true counter.

"Hmm. There's currently a debate on LIL Pro whether Meteor Shower is really a counter or not."

It was rare to see such productive debates on

LIL

, so Almond watched for a bit longer.

— They’re talking about LIL on LIL Pro?

— What's happening? lol

— Almond's little shot has caused such a big bomb...

— Suddenly? lol

"Maybe we'll come to a conclusion here on whether it's a counter or not."

— They really might

— Lol, how will they decide?

— Please be our judge.

As the debate heated up, posts on the board proliferated.

[Why Meteor Shower is truly a counter]

[The damage when Zen's little stars hit for 2 seconds]

[Why Zen isn't a counter, examples]

It was hard for Almond to read them all with so many posts appearing.

[Eggplant has donated 3,000 won.]

[The one who started the fire, please make a judgment. What's correct!?]

They even asked Almond to make a judgment.

"I can't be the judge. Let's say the opinion with the most likes wins. That's LIL Pro..."

— Because that's LIL Pro...

— Romance~

— ??? Got it? Now, start killing each other.

After a short wait, one debate post quickly became more popular on Big Pro.

"Oh."

[Big!: Can Zen really one-combo Sori if all combos hit during Sori's rope movement? Let's calculate.]

A rather scholarly post topped the Big section.

"The first post to become Big is here!"

— Why is Almond so excited? lol so cute

— Why isn't Big bashing the player? lol

— The winner lol.

— How long since a research post became Big? Hahahaha

It had been a long time since research on a champion went Big, so the viewers had quite high expectations.

After reading the content, Almond couldn't help but snicker.

[Is Meteor Shower really a counter? This is a case that needs to be argued for guilt or innocence. It feels like my favorite Sori quiz!

If Zen hits Sori with Meteor Shower once and continues to hit with little star combos for 2 seconds with 12 spheres, how much damage will that deal?!

The answer is...

That's impossible! Because Zen is only diamond. A diamond can’t hit such a skilled Sori played by Almond.

You can't solve the problem just by focusing on the champion! You have to look at the player!]

— Lol insane, lol

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

— Did he go nuts? Haha

— Strange counter Meteor Shower, lol

└ Really lol.

└ Haphazard Meteor Shower, lol

└ Really just shoot it anywhere.

— Wow, what a masterpiece.

— Right, the player matters. Why have we been fighting over this lol?

└ That’s really the core issue, lol