Ju-Hyeok sometimes liked to work while lying on the sofa. Whether this could actually be called work was debatable.

"Puhuh... Puhahaha!"

Ju-Hyeok always thought watching YouTube while lying down was one of his tasks.

"Ah...

Hahaha!

This is hilarious."

He was watching a YouTube gaming stream on his phone while browsing Almond's YouTube channel on another screen.

[Fake National Team ep.1 The Heart is Real.]

[3.28 million views]

A video with an astounding number of views caught his eye. It had three million views in less than a week since it had been uploaded. Almond's videos usually took months to reach such numbers, but this video quickly became one of Almond's most popular.

"Seems like spending money paid off."

Ju-Hyeok felt confident that investing in project content held great potential after seeing the reactions to this video.

"Hmmm..."

The sound from the edited video playing on his phone gradually decreased.

He started to think,

'This might work.'

At first, he felt unsure. However, the response to the Fake National Team had been overwhelmingly positive. The path for Almond's channel to surpass one million subscribers and reach two or three million could be accomplished through big project content like this.

'Of course, there's a lot of risk...'

Such large scale content required an initial investment. They needed to find companies willing to sponsor them. Otherwise, they would have to pay massive penalties if anything went wrong. Some YouTubers definitely failed and went bankrupt after taking on such projects.

'But the impact is definitely different.'

Despite the risks, they needed such content to expand. YouTube had a vast potential audience beyond those who watched individual gaming streams. Some people watched variety shows, some watched cooking shows, and some watched documentaries. These bigger projects borrowed the format of traditional TV variety shows, but updated them with modern sensibilities and attracted the majority of viewers.

'Let's see how it goes. Then, I should talk to Director Jang about it.'

Ju-Hyeok slowly got up from the sofa. It was almost time for today's Fake National Team video to premiere.

[Fake National Team ep.2 Release]

[Premiere now!]

Ju-Hyeok sat back on the sofa, watching the video as if entranced.

"Wow..."

The shooting timeline of this video started after losing the match against Italy. It included scenes hinting at major conflicts right from the beginning.

[Current Viewers: 287,000]

The previous livestream had viewers in the low 200,000 range, but now there were nearly 280,000. Close to 300,000 people were watching the premiere.

It seemed that the first episode had drawn in more people.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

'Nearly 300,000 viewers are watching live.'

This wasn’t a regular stream, but a well-edited high-budget video. Still, it was impressive to see such numbers in real-time. This was comparable to the live viewer numbers of CutiePie, the top streamer in the industry.

“I don't think we need to let go of the arrow just yet. I haven't even properly aimed yet.”

The last part showed Sang-Hyeon and Chi-Seung eating kimchi stew.

“That goes for you too, right?”

And the video ended.

"...!"

Ju-Hyeok felt surprised that it ended there and stared blankly at the countdown to the next recommended video,

[Interview Demon]

.

"Oh, it's over."

After the premiere ended, real comments appeared instead of the live chat.

— Who dubbed Almond at the end?

└ LMAO.

└ Right? Our Almond can't talk that well.

└ Seriously, it's all fake. Anyone can tell that at the end that Almond was complaining about the fire control, and they dubbed over it.

└ Fire control, WTF.

└ What fire control? Is he Prometheus?

Most comments questioned Almond's sudden talking skills and received the most likes. Below those were comments about the next recommended video.

— This next recommended video, lol. Almond's interview with Civil Empire is real?

└ That's another surprise, he talks well when he wants to.

└ That's one of his better interviews. Watch his award ceremony interview if you want to feel like dying.

└ ??? This interview is killing me right now… (it makes viewers want to die)

Of course, many comments delighted in what was called Kim Chi-Seung's confession attack, which cracked Ju-Hyeok up.

— Is Kimchi Warrior crazy??? LMAO. Confession attack, HAHAHA.

— Actually using a confession as an attack in a reality show… Kim Chi-Seung is a real one.

└ God Kimchi, lol.

— I was watching seriously and then cracked up at the confession attack HAHAHA.

— Wow, today's star is totally Chi-Seung. This is so hilarious.

— Successful confession attack followed by a cool pose and “cut.” Is this modern art?

The second Fake National Team video became an even bigger hit than the first.

[Korea vs France]

[Current Viewers: 287,000]

Some of those viewers switched over to the

Civil Empire

stream, keeping the viewer numbers high for that broadcast.

"I have a good feeling about this."

France had the upper hand in the civilization matchup, but Ju-Hyeok didn't think that Korea would lose after watching the Fake National Team video. He recalled Chi-Seung's determined eyes when talking with Sang-Hyeon.

'They'll do well.'

Chi-Seung’s eyes held a strong resolve.

***

“Alright, today’s match between Korea and France…”

France, despite losing once, was still a tough opponent for Korea. They had the most advantageous civilization matchup among the groups in the preliminary round. However, France not only lost to Korea, but did not win a single match in the preliminaries. They needed to win all their remaining matches.

Today, Korea completely defeated them again and extinguished their last hope.

“Push them! Push! Push…

Aaaaah!”

“

Aaaaaah!

G-G-GG!!”

Bang!

OrangeKing stood up from the commentary seat, striking a strange pose with his arms.

“Korea! A dominating victory over France!”

— Dominating! Victory!

— WTF was that!?

— Stop doing weird things, OrangeKing.

“Hey, France! To beat us, you’d better bring Mbappe!!”

OrangeKing felt excited for a reason.

Korea had beaten France even more thoroughly than in the first match.

“France couldn’t withstand Korea’s strong gold containment, right!? That was the end right there!”

“It was a completely dominant match strategically. Korea showed completely different strategies from the Rome match!”

“That’s right. Even if the opponents are different, they’re on edge today! Could it be that Kim Chi-Seung’s awakening from today’s Fake National Team video had an impact!?”

“Oh. Right! It’s hard not to talk about the Fake National Team series! Today’s episode was really impressive!”

Since the

Civil Empire

Korea branch produced those videos, the commentators could mention the Fake National Team without hesitation. In fact, they were encouraged to mention it and happy to do so.

— Fake National Team??

— The God Chi-Seung.

— Did he really awaken? Kim Chi-Seung!!!

— Praying for Kim Chi-Seung to date his part-time girl (Day 1)

— If Chi-Seung is the strategist using confession attacks then France should be nothing…

The caster shifted the conversation back to the game.

“Korea’s victory was due to the think tank team’s awakening. On the other hand, a top contender like France is now out. What do you think was the key factor, OrangeKing?”

“It’s what we call a resource curse.”

“A resource curse? In what way?”

“Their civilization’s strength is very clear. They only depend on that.”

“Oh!”

The resource curse referred to countries rich in resources like oil that relied solely on those resources and eventually collapsed economically. It perfectly described the current French team.

“Speaking of Mbappe, their strategies are always the same even in soccer for five straight years now! Even if the team is weak, the opponents are also national representatives. They will figure it out eventually, right?!”

— So true.

— This is it~!

— What a good example, haha.

— France, just stick to soccer~^^

— Getting roasted hard.

The commentators moved on to discussing the possibility of Korea advancing to the finals, something the viewers anticipated the most.

“Korea now has three wins and is still tied with Italy. It’ll depend on the match between Italy and Spain today. What do you think about Korea’s chances of making it to the finals?”

— Wow!

— Are they really going?

— If Spain loses to Italy, is it confirmed then?

— Niceee~

— Go Rome, show your power!

— Let’s goooo!!

“I’m calculating it right now… Um… To be honest, Spain is a variable. Even if Spain loses to Italy today, if they beat us and then beat France, they’ll have three wins and tie with us.”

“If Italy beats Spain and we beat Spain, then there will be no other variables?”

“Yes. Then Korea would have four wins, which eliminates any other variables.”

Korea was on the verge of directly advancing to the finals. Winning the next match against Spain would secure them a spot.

“What if Spain beats Italy today?”

“Ah… That…”

There were too many scenarios for the commentators to cover.

— Stop with the World Cup style advancement!

— Let’s stop calculating scenarios for now…

— If Spain loses to Italy and Korea beats Spain, is it confirmed?

— If they make it to the finals, I’ll really go to Japan!

The caster read the chat and decided to stop mentioning possible scenarios.

“Ah…

Haha.

Stop with the scenarios! I understand. I feel the same way. I hope we can just secure it in one go~”

“That’s right. Replays and such are exhausting!”

“Shall we talk a bit about the finals themselves? It looks almost certain now, right?”

Since the next match could secure their place in the finals, the commentators provided information about the finals.

“Yes. The finals of this international tournament will be held in Osaka, Japan. Thirty-two teams will compete in a tournament format.”

“Oh… Osaka! Koreans love that place, right?”

“Yes. People even say it’s a reverse Japanese occupation, which means there are a lot of Koreans there! And they love it!”

— Reverse Japanese occupation, lol.

— They say Korean policemen hunt Japanese people there.

— There are so many Koreans there.

— If it’s in Osaka, that’s great. I can do a food tour too, hehe.

“I hope we can go to Osaka for the finals.”

“That’s right. And the most important thing is the team we’ll face if we make it to the finals.”

“Oh! Right! Who will it be?!”

— Big one coming!

— Probably Vikings or Cumans??

— Wow……

— They’re getting ahead of themselves.

The team they would face if they made it to the finals would be the most crucial factor since the finals were a knockout tournament.

“Although the group rankings aren’t finalized, the finals qualifications are almost clear. First, it’ll be the Vikings.”

“Oh…! Denmark’s civilization, right?”

“Yes. Norway can also choose this civilization, but it’s Denmark this time.”

— Wow!

— Vikings are so scary...

— The Vikings are coming?

“The Vikings are the most likely, and who else?”

“Next are the Cumans and the Ottomans.”

“Wow. The Ottomans. They’re very strong. Our team should be scared against them.”

“Yes, but they’re currently trailing the Vikings in their group.”

“Oh. Meanwhile! The MVP has been announced… and I am very surprised with the result!”

[MVP: Almond]

Once again, it was Almond.

“Aa! Mmond!”

Click!

OrangeKing struck another strange pose.

The caster continued smoothly as if unfazed, “Almond has taken the MVP for all winning matches!?”

“People might say it’s biased voting, but this is decided by

Civil Empire

headquarters and mostly international judges who only learned about Almond from the international tournament!”

“That’s right. It’s amazing. Anyway, let’s hear from him in the interview!”

Almond appeared on screen, holding the microphone with a familiar expression.

The viewers sensed what was coming.

— Here comes the main event…

— My smile is already on the side of my cheeks.

— Oh, an Almond interview, lol.

They knew something more exciting than the game was coming.

— Note! If you watched the Fake National Team, you should leave now~

— Bow-wielding Almond vs. mic-wielding Almond, which is stronger??

— He’s pulling out his real weapon…

— Kim Chi-Seung’s confession attack vs. Almond’s interview attack, which is stronger?

— I was moved by the Fake National Team, but now it's about to shatter~