Season 4: Chapter 18. Ace in the Hole (3)

"Everyone, I came up with a strategy."

Tap. Tap.

Almond lightly bounced on the spot as he interacted with his viewers.

— A strategy, he says. LOL

— Watch him say later: The strategy was just to beat it up with raw power.

— Strategic mode ON

— Already cracking me up.

Viewers bombarded the chat with sarcastic takes on Almond’s intelligence, but he didn’t care.

"Like Cookie said, the average mind can’t understand."

— Yeah, you also said Cookie told you to shoot during the murder mystery game, then you became the murderer

— He’s always quoting Cookie, lol

— At this point we need to verify that Cookie actually said these things.

— Cookie’s being used like a punching bag at this rate

Tap. Tap.

Almond jumped lightly again, but with a slightly different posture.

‘Hmm...’

He was testing his character’s physical stats. Every game had different physical limitations.

Take classic games, for example. Mario could jump several times his height and kill monsters by stomping on them, yet he would die from the slightest touch. It didn’t make logical sense, but no gamer questioned it because those were the rules of the game.

Even in full-dive games, these rules applied. In

LIL

, only weapons blessed by the sanctuary could damage enemies while physical abilities were superhero-tier. In

Zombie School

, players started with the athleticism of a regular high schooler but grew to Olympic-level athletes as they progressed. Understanding the character’s body and what limits existed was crucial.

What about this game?

Tap... tap...

Almond got a rough feel for it.

‘Yeah. This could work.’

He could tell even with a quick assessment. This wasn’t normal human strength. Since the game revolved around fighting yokai called thought-forms, the baseline for physical abilities was set higher.

He tested his jump height and grip strength while hanging on the subway pole. He was clearly superhuman and several times stronger than a regular person.

Sure, some gamers would still find it sluggish. However, this was peak performance for a salaryman turned shaman riding the subway. Of course, it all depended on the pilot no matter how good the stats were.

If Bubblegum had an F-16 fighter jet, it would just be a flashy, low-accuracy missile with unnecessary extras.

Almond was the pilot now. And with a Bubblegum-sized sandbag on his back, he was fully locked in.

‘It’s coming.’

His eyes sharpened.

Shhhrrrr!

The monster’s arm shot forward.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Sparks flew violently as its blades shredded the subway car. Even sitting in a seat wasn’t safe. Anyone in the aisle would be minced like a blender.

‘Still, it only has one pattern.’

Maybe because this was the tutorial, the attack looked fierce but followed a single pattern. If one hid behind the doors or behind the seats, they wouldn’t get hit.

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Even with repeated attacks, Almond took no damage. He still wasn’t close enough.

‘I’ll have to zigzag to approach via the subway doors.’

The problem was that this wasn’t flat ground. The train was tilted 90 degrees. He couldn’t just run. He’d have to leap and cling from spot to spot.

‘Now—’

The blade storm paused briefly.

TAK!

Almond launched himself across to the seats on the other side.

— Oooh

— That jump tho

— Nice one

— He’s finally moving in

As expected, the leap was far beyond normal.

‘Got it.’

He found the rhythm. Routes unfolded before his eyes. As soon as his foot touched the opposite seat, he kicked off again.

TAK!

His body soared across the aisle again, faster this time.

TAK!

He leapt forward to another car.

"!?"

Bubblegum gaped. Of course he did. Just a few wall-jumps ago, Almond had seemed stuck. Now, Almond suddenly appeared right in front of the thought-form’s nose.

"W-Wait... Almond?!"

From Bubblegum’s experience, the tutorial’s Grade 1 thought-form wasn’t meant to be taken down in close range. It existed to teach the players how to aim projectiles.

"The pattern changes!"

At long range, the monster had a simple attack pattern. Up close, its patterns became diverse and insanely fast. Sure enough, its blade arcs expanded into a net of steel.

"Whoa."

Almond’s eyes flashed as he smoothly ducked.

KAANG!

The billboard behind him exploded in a shower of sparks. Then, he slipped past the left side and raised his shoulder just a touch.

Shhkk!

The blade missed again.

"Its arms are so long that they’re a disadvantage now. That’s what I call strategy."

— Huh?

— Wait, really?

— LOL what??

He even had time to explain as if doing a lecture. In the

Civil Empire

World Championship, Almond had outplayed the world’s best using units limited to special ops. And yet, he overcame every obstacle. Compared to that, this AI’s patterns were nothing.

KAANG!

KAANG!

He dodged every slash. Jumping between the seats, he got even closer. His movements looked as fluid as a painter brushing a coastline. Finally, with perfect elegance, he stood before the thought-form’s crown.

— He actually did it?

— Whoa.

— Master casting a spell~

— Damn.

— LOL

— This is insane.

— What is this?

— Now that’s a Game Master!

— Unbelievable.

Swish.

‘Got it.’

At the end of it all, Almond pulled out a talisman.

"

Kraaaargh!

"

The thought-form reacted violently to the sight of the talisman with its arms twitching.

"Huh."

Almond’s eyes flicked to the side. He suddenly realized something, and his composure broke for the first time.

***

"Whoa! No way! He actually—?!"

The two developers jolted out of their seats. After all, to their eyes, Almond had reached the tutorial boss in mere seconds. It threw off the game’s intended experience and would shorten their ad runtime. It was a crisis on many fronts.

"I-It’s okay! W-When he pulls out the talisman! That’s it!!"

They had one last failsafe.

***

Almond’s eyes widened.

‘It’s an auto-counter.’

He remembered when the monster had shredded his talisman in mid-air, defying even game physics. The same reaction applied to the talisman in his hand.

Almond frowned while focusing and slowed his breathing to calculate the incoming arm’s trajectory. The timing of when to draw the talisman—it all clicked like puzzle pieces.

‘This is it.’

Whoosh!

Almond threw his talisman in a completely unrelated direction far away from the monster’s vulnerable point. It posed no threat, but the monster reflexively lashed out toward the talisman near its body.

‘Because it counters everything.’

In that moment, Almond instantly pulled out another talisman and slammed it onto the monster’s crown.

Thunk!

— Whoa!

— He landed it!

— Incredible!

— Did that really work??

Crackkkk!

Blue electricity erupted from the talisman. Almond tumbled down, barely catching onto a pole. In the meantime, the blue lightning engulfed the monster completely.

"

Kraaaaaaaagh!

"

With a final shriek of pain, the talisman fully absorbed the creature.

Ding!

[NewbieTip has donated 5,000 won!]

[You cannot defeat a yokai alone! Cooperate with others!]

— LOL

— Why even include that message?

— Almond counts as five players, so that’s 5 man cooperation. GG.

— Where was Bubblegum during all of this?!

— Bubblegum participated as a spectator, so it’s technically still teamwork.

— Dev team: ???

***

"Dude..."

"M-Mr. Manager..."

Their eyes met, one clearly blaming the other. Even in this obvious power dynamic, they shared one emotion.

"Did... did we screw up?"

They both felt fear.

"W-Why did that even happen just now..."

Slapping a talisman onto the monster’s crown while ignoring the auto-counter mechanics looked so natural that players could assume it was intended.

"You said it’d be fine as long as we paired him with Bubblegum!"

"I, I thought—"

"You said one weak link ruins four aces!"

"T-That’s how it worked in

LIL

..."

"This isn’t four aces and one weak link. It’s one ace and one weak link!"

"Oh..."

The assistant finally realized it.

Almond, brought in by Bubblegum, wasn’t just some top-tier player. He was the guy who carried a 200-player team alone. He wasn’t the equivalent of four aces, but more like ten. This duo wasn’t just one ace and one weak link. It was ten aces and one balloon.

"L-Let’s just keep watching?"

Still, it was only the tutorial. As terrifying as that moment was, there was still a lot of game left to be played. The need for cooperation would increase. They didn’t need to panic yet.

"There’s still plenty to go, right? And besides... he wasn’t that fast."

Almond was a little ahead of average. Sure, the fact that he soloed the monster was insane. Sometimes, one just pretended not to see things. That was how corporate life was!

"Fine."

The manager checked the time and relaxed a little.

‘That was world-class.’

Still, anxiety gnawed at him. He saw it with his own eyes. That wasn’t the level of regular streamers who were just good at games.

‘Was he always like this?’

Almond, fresh off the

Civil Empire

tournament

,

was in his best-ever form. Of course, they never saw anything like his playstyle before.

***

The tutorial ended, and a cutscene began.

Screeeeech!

The subway groaned, fell apart, and plunged off the bridge.

"

Aaaaaaaah!

"

"W-What the heck?!"

Screams filled the air as the train crashed into the Han River.

BOOOOM!

Water sprayed into the air, and the title card appeared.

[Ghostwo Busters]

The real game had finally begun.

— Let’s gooooo!

— Now we’re talking!

— It’s been ages since a good exorcism game.

— With a local setting like this, it just hits differently.

[Current Viewers: 139,000]

Maybe it was the collaboration. Maybe it was Almond’s long-awaited game comeback. Despite it being a sponsored stream, Almond had almost reached peak viewership.

Even exorcism requests started rolling in.

Ta-da-da-dam!

[Customer has donated 100,000 won!]

[Exorcist! At this price, can you cast out the demon from that infamous interview clip?]