Season 2: Chapter 244: The Winner’s Interview (2)

"What's this? Did the chat explode?"

Almond's stream suddenly went down.

"Ah, this isn't working. What should I do?"

Ju-Hyeok sweated profusely as he fiddled with his phone, which had completely stopped responding.

"It's toasted."

He needed to find another device to connect and explained the situation to BornToB. They scattered to look around. Considering this was G-Star, the mecca of gaming and broadcasting, he thought he could find something else.

"Ah. It's the perfect time for donations to pour in. Really..."

It was harder than expected.

"Just at the perfect time..."

It wasn’t just bad timing. It was precisely because of what happened that the stream cut off. A total newbie appeared and solved a long-standing issue for all the

JetPumped

players. How could their stream not crash?

Not preparing a separate outdoor streaming device had been a miscalculation.

"Manager! It works. It's working!"

BornToB ran over with his phone to his ear while gesturing.

"Oh? Really? Where?"

"Yes!

Civil Empire

! The

Civil Empire

booth!"

They ran to the

Civil Empire

booth. Compared to other game booths, it felt quite deserted.

Cookie and his colleagues were chatting there. Hearing footsteps, Cookie stood up.

"Ah. You've arrived."

He seemed to have already been informed of the situation by BornToB and took out a tablet.

"We have a spare of this at our booth."

"Ah, thank you."

This device could restore the stream in a pinch since it was much more capable than a mobile phone.

"Our phone completely died... I really appreciate this."

"Ah, yes. The phone probably couldn't handle it, especially since it was connected to the camera..."

"Ha. Yeah... I didn't expect so many viewers."

More than 50,000 viewers were watching the livestream with tens of thousands chatting simultaneously. It was as if over 100,000 were watching their stream. There was no way that small phone could handle it.

"You can sit here and set it up."

Cookie offered one side of the table that they were using. The table had chess pieces and maps printed on large sheets.

'They must have been in the middle of a national team strategy meeting.'

It seemed like they were using the booth for strategy meetings given the lack of visitors.

'It’s somewhat bittersweet.'

Feeling Ju-Hyeok's gaze, Kim Chi-Seung responded, "Ah. We're not having a national team meeting right now!"

Chi-Seung explained as if to not be pitied.

"Ah... yes? Really?"

"We were preparing for a challenge starting this evening."

"Challenge? It must be on a huge scale?"

Civil Empire

was a game that properly required up to two hundred people. It would be quite large for a challenge.

"No. The scale isn't that big! It’s kind of a back-to-the-90s vibe. We prepared a commander battle one on one."

"Ah, so only commanders participate like a Starleague feel?"

"Exactly!"

Chi-Seung nodded vigorously.

"The soldiers are just recruited online globally. Only the commanders battle using a keyboard and mouse. The prize for first place is two million won!"

"Oh, that's quite big?"

For an amateur event league, two million won was a significant amount.

"In addition to that, one hundred chickens and one hundred pizzas are included!"

They reduced the number of participants, but increased the prizes.

"Isn't that too much?"

"We received a lot of investment this time."

The excited Chi-Seung began to explain the details.

"As you know, this game is quite popular in other countries. There's a lot of money, but it was ambiguous to invest in the Korean market. Thanks to the Almond effect, we've benefited a lot this time."

After Almond participated, his videos became popular and generated significant traffic. The headquarters began considering investing since the Korean market started showing a response.

"That's great!"

Ju-Hyeok internally thought it would become much easier to receive advertisements.

"It's all thanks to Mr. Almond. Come visit us sometime."

Meanwhile…

"Oh. Manager, it's on!" BornToB pointed at the tablet as he shouted.

Almond's stream had reconnected to the server.

"Oh. Finally."

As soon as it turned on, viewers began to gather.

— Open the door!

— Thump thump thump! Here's a viewer! There's someone here!

— Oh? It opened.

— Entering another world.

On the screen, an interview with Almond was taking place. Almond's face wasn’t shown since it was from his goggle’s perspective. Only the face of the person interviewing him could be seen.

"Shall we go now?"

"No, let's just watch this first."

Ju-Hyeok decided to watch the interview here since there was no immediate need to go there.

The reporter asked Almond a question, “How do you plan to adjust the balance?”

The question likely arose because the challenge winner would be granted a say in the game’s balance patch. Frankly, this authority was why all this happened.

It was a very important question.

“…”

However, Almond knew nothing about the game.

“Ah. It must be a bit overwhelming playing the game for the first time today.”

The reporter realized the situation and corrected herself.

— lol, still can't believe it

— Does that even make sense? lol

— ??? Today I played the game for the first time and now I'm supposed to patch it?

— … Any recommendations for a light novel like this?

“Even if it's just been a day, did you notice anything that might need nerfing or buffing during today's gameplay...?” the reporter slightly rephrased the question even though she was essentially asking the same thing.

“Hmm...”

“Something that seems unexpectedly strong?”

— Reporter, that’s a leading question lol

— Please, not the mecha series ??

— Please not the mecha legs, please not the mecha legs

— You're not barking, are you?

Then, Almond responded.

“Hmm. The baseball?”

With this response, silence suddenly spread.

— ???

— ?

— The baseball?

— lol, all this time we’ve been waiting for... a baseball nerf?

— lol lol lol lol lol lol

— I knew it, those nuts lol

All the spectators murmured in low voices, creating a tense atmosphere.

"Ah... Mr. Almond, are you saying the baseball was too strong? Does it need a nerf?" the reporter urgently asked again.

Almond slowly grasped the situation and added, "Ah. Actually, I don't know much about the game. I'll listen to the viewers' opinions about the balance patch later."

Ju-Hyeok clapped his hands unknowingly upon hearing this.

‘Nice!’

— Going to collect the money now, Mariya.

— lololololol

— Are you going to receive opinions via KakaoTalk? lol

— ??? Eh? I can't hear the one-dollar donations, haha!

— Translation: If you don't pay up, it ends with a baseball nerf.

— This guy knows how to make money lolololol

The reporter nodded and concluded the interview.

"Ah~ Got it. Mr. Almond! Make sure to discuss well before using your balance patch privilege! Congratulations on the victory once again! And now we will catch up with Mr. Kim Yi-Seo for an interview..."

Click.

Ju-Hyeok had been watching the broadcast and now stood up.

"The connection is good. I'll be going now. I'll return the tablet by today."

The

Civil Empire

team saw Ju-Hyeok out.

"Ah, yes. Come visit us again. You can keep the tablet."

"Eh. I should return it. See you later!"

***

After Almond's winner interview, the

JetPumped

booth became incredibly noisy.

"What's with the baseball comment? Crazy."

"Wow. My heart almost dropped."

"Surely, it's not just going to end with a baseball nerf, right?"

The noisy atmosphere showed no signs of subsiding.

"Hello! Mr. Kim Yi-Seo!?"

Now, the interview with the loser, Kim Yi-Seo, began.

"... Yes."

"How do you feel about losing today's match?"

"... Ha."

He seemed unhappy, but all the players watching were beaming.

The reporter provocatively kept asking, "You appeared once today and lost once. You recorded a 0% win rate. That's even worse than your colleague, isn't it? How do you feel?"

“Hahahahaha!”

Derisive laughter erupted from the crowd.

— lolololol

— UnderKim lolol

— ??? You really suck~!

— lololol

— Just 0 percent lol

— Not even a cola, but a zero win rate lololol

"Ha... Hmm." Kim Yi-Seo finally spoke and simply responded, "Well, it doesn't feel good."

“We're having a great time~!” a mischievous user shouted boisterously.

— lololol that’s too much

— lolol right, we're enjoying it

— A one-sided deal lol

"Ah. Do you have any words for Mr. Almond? After all, he is the winner of the challenge."

The reporter quickly threw out another question to change the topic.

"Yes, well. I hope you give out those chicken and jet pumping tickets well and live well."

— As if to say, eat this lolol

— Almond's viewers are so lucky

— I want to eat BBQ chicken too…

All the spectators whispered in low voices, creating a dim atmosphere.

"Ah... Mr. Kim Yi-Seo, how do you plan to adjust the future patches?"

"A baseball nerf."

With those words, Kim Yi-Seo swiftly left.

"Well then."

Loud boos escorted him out.

— ???

— Always about the baseball smh

— I really want to remove those two baseballs stuck on either side of your nose ^^

— Is this real baseball?

— The small baseball Almond shot up lololol

The reporter quickly transitioned to closing remarks.

"Yes! Everyone! It was indeed an exciting and nail-biting match! We'll continue to bring you thrilling and interesting challenges in the future! Goodbye~!”

After somewhat childish and exaggerated gestures, the reporter's screen also turned off.

***

Ju-Hyeok and Sang-Hyeon met on the other side of the

JetPumped

booth.

Sang-Hyeon spotted Ju-Hyeok and waved at him to come over. Actually, that wasn’t necessary. The most crowded place was Sang-Hyeon’s location.

"Bro! Please take a photo with me!"

"I'd love to have a drink with you!"

"You're not really going to nerf the baseball, right?! Right!?"

— Free donation go away

— If you're gonna shout, donate first!

— lololol he’s so popular now

— Wow... I’m jealous of Almond's life…

Ju-Hyeok finally reached Sang-Hyeon after pushing through the crowd.

"

Whew.

It's really crowded."

"Where were you? It seems like I'm back on air?"

"It’s all thanks to someone." Ju-Hyeok waved a large tablet as he spoke. "I borrowed this and got the stream back up."

"Ah..."

After catching his breath, Ju-Hyeok adjusted his glasses and asked, "But are you up for another challenge?"

It would be a pity to end the challenges here. G-Star still had a lot of time left and most viewers hadn't received any gifts yet. It would be nice if they could give out more.

Of course, this was only possible if it didn't put too much strain on Almond.

"Ah. Yeah, I'm still okay. Maybe because I rested at the arcade in between. Let's do more challenges."

Cheers erupted in the chat.

— Ohhhhh!

— Nice!

— I hope it's my turn this time

— Wowowow!!!

— What a generous stream today!

"What would be good?"

"Ah, um... maybe a short one would be nice... Hmm?"

Almond noticed a notification.

[! Unchecked donation notification]

The alert notified him that there was a backlog of donations.

"Ah. Is it because the stream turned off earlier?"

Sometimes, there was a feature that delayed donation notifications when too many came in at once. It seemed this feature had activated when the stream turned off.

"Ju-Hyeok. I have a backlog of donations. Let's start with these."

"Ah. Okay. Let's receive them and just proceed. I'll stay in the back."

Ju-Hyeok joined BornToB as Sang-Hyeon explained the situation to the viewers.

"Ah. Everyone, we have a backlog of donations to go through. After that, we’ll distribute chicken and lottery tickets. Then, I’ll pick the next challenge."

— XD

— Settlement time lol

— Nice

— Mutual settlement lol

— Let’s go~!

Sang-Hyeon briefly paused the donation alarms and reactivated them.

[! Unchecked donation notification]

[157 items]

He finally saw the number of donations.

'One hundred fifty-seven?'

Ding!

Ding!

Bababam!

At that moment, the backlogged donations surged in like a wave. The reward for defeating the notorious Kim Yi-Seo while playing

JetPumped

for the first time was larger than expected.

Yenmazing's Thoughts

Have you guys ever been to game conventions? I've always wanted to go to one, but they're all in bigger cities, so I've never had the chance...