Season 4: Chapter 30. Angler Rocket (3)

"Of course!"

Mr. Kim clenched his fist tightly. Just as he expected, the Hypnotic Angler was pressuring Almond quite well.

"Keep going! More! More!" Mr. Kim shouted like someone watching a martial arts match, flailing his fists in the air.

He never imagined a day would come when he’d be working overtime at the office and cheering for a yokai. None of that mattered now. The only thing on his mind was seeing that bastard fall, just once.

"Oh!"

"Is he falling?!"

The moment Almond staggered, both men jumped to their feet. They imagined Almond falling straight into the Angler’s gaping mouth, but what they hoped for never came.

"Huh?"

Although Mr. Kim worked in marketing, he knew games fairly well and felt something was off. Gamers often felt this from time to time. It was one of those "Today is not my day" moments. Today was definitely not his day.

"A backflip?"

Almond dodged the Angler’s jaws with a backflip. Somehow, things got tangled, and the Angler ended up leaping further after Almond. If even a part of the Angler’s body remained touching the water, it would still be invincible. However, it would become vulnerable if it left the water.

Normally, the standard strategy was to use one of Almond’s blue talismans to make the Angler leap up. The player could also pour holy water into the water, forcing the Angler to jump out. Then, the player would place a barrier above to hit it as it jumped. That was the basic method for defeating this yokai.

These two didn’t do any of that properly. Almond just backflipped while trying to dodge. Bubblegum, still off-rhythm, accidentally deployed a barrier late while trying to protect Almond. Somehow, a miracle happened.

THUMP!

The Angler failed to return to the water and landed on the barrier. It flopped like a freshly caught fish offering itself up for sashimi.

"This... this is insane?!"

Mr. Kim jumped up in shock.

"What is this?! Why is it working out like this!?"

"I-It’s fine. The barrier will break soon anyway..."

Crash!

Indeed, the barrier quickly shattered. The Angler would’ve normally been able to return to the water.

However, Almond finally used a blue talisman and threw it at the exact right spot. As expected, it perfectly hit the mark.

ZAP!

Things had taken a wild turn.

***

Flop, flop...

Bubblegum and Su-Yeon felt startled when the Angler emerged from the water. At the same time, Almond hurled a different talisman from before.

‘It was the blue one, right?’

POW!

The blue talisman shot out in a straight line. It smacked dead center on the Angler’s body like a perfect bullseye. Anyone could see it was a clean hit, but Almond didn’t feel confident yet.

‘There’s no critical point marker.’

Unlike other yokai that showed a weak point, this one didn’t display any cues. He decided to observe the blue talisman’s effect before doing anything else.

‘Oh?’

The blue talisman’s effect was immediately clear.

WHRRRR!

It lit up and launched the Angler into the air like a rocket. At the same time, Bubblegum’s barrier shattered.

Crash!

Before the barrier broke, the Angler was launched up again without ever touching the water. None of this had been part of Bubblegum’s plan or the devs’.

***

"Whoa!?"

Watching the Angler get launched again, Bubblegum’s eyes widened. He knew the strategy. This was an important moment. He had to get the Angler to crash into a barrier again in mid-air.

‘It’s a bit off-script, but still!’

"Mah~ ha~ ban~ ya~"

Bubblegum began beating the Wooden Fish. Of course, this wasn’t exactly textbook.

‘Normally, you’d attach a blue talisman while the Angler’s head is above water. Then, place a barrier where it’s going to jump...’

Once hit with a blue talisman, the Angler would jump and expose its entire body. The player had to strike then, but Buddhist weapons didn’t have long-range attacks. The player had to set a barrier where the Angler would jump and hit its own head. That was the second phase strategy.

"Almond!"

Bubblegum quickly explained the tactic.

"I’ll create a barrier for it to crash into! You just focus on launching it!"

His explanation wasn’t wrong. He just failed to generate the barrier in the right place at the right time.

"Ah, dammit!"

Tink!?

His Wooden Fish rhythm was off again. The barrier appeared a beat too late instead of right after the Angler jumped. The Angler had already passed.

— LOOOOL

— He missed again!

— Angler launched again, RIP

Instead of hitting its head, the Angler got caught by the barrier while falling back down.

‘Wait a second...’

This time, it didn’t just land above the water. It got stuck floating about 1–2 meters above the ground.

— What is this? LOL

— Angler’s suffering arc

— Just go punch it at this point

— Can’t even damage it like this?

— Why do these barriers break so fast?

— How are we supposed to attack this thing?

The Kim duo burst into laughter.

"

PUAHAHAHAHA!

"

"This is it! This is exactly why Bubblegum is the best!!"

Instead of crashing into a barrier above, the Angler ended up resting gently on the barrier like a platform. The barrier became a floor and not a trap. Everything had gotten messed up because of Bubblegum.

Once the barrier disappeared, the Angler would simply slip back into the water as if nothing had happened. In the end, they wouldn’t have inflicted a single bit of damage.

Crack, crack...!

Bubblegum’s barrier already began to fracture. It seemed like the Angler would finally return to the water. Then, something suddenly flew through the air.

‘He told me to keep launching it.’

It was Almond’s talisman.

From Almond’s perspective, the Angler had already crashed into the barrier. His only job was to keep launching it up. That was the only logical conclusion for him.

‘Keep sending it up!’

Pop!

His talisman struck the Angler’s midsection again.

"

Grahk!?

"

Boom!

With a blue flash, the Angler launched into the air again. Bubblegum’s barrier had shattered, but the Angler was already airborne. Last time, it rose by one to two meters. This time, it went up about two to three meters.

— Again?

— ??

— How high is it going this time? LOL

— What is this??

Given that most school buildings were under three meters tall per floor, the Angler would clearly hit the ceiling.

‘Huh?’

— Is this an open-top car? LOL Where’s the ceiling???

— The graphics glitched like crazy

— Is this a bug? LOL

The ceiling graphics broke. To show the boss properly, the game had rendered the ceiling open. Of course, this wasn’t intended. Any graphical glitch meant something had gone wrong.

‘H-Hit it! This time for sure!’

Bubblegum started pounding his Wooden Fish again, trying to strike the Angler’s head in mid-air. He was already behind the tempo.

"Ma-ha~ Banya~"

Again, the barrier formed beneath the Angler.

Thud.

The Angler landed gently on top once more. It was about five to six meters above the ground this time. The ceiling had completely disappeared, replaced by a bright blue sky.

Around then, Mr. Kim started to feel something ominous.

‘No way...’

Of course, the bad feeling turned out to be true. Almond’s talisman flew out again.

Zap!

Despite the increasing height, his accuracy and speed hadn’t dropped at all.

Vwooom!

The Angler continued rising toward the blue sky.

"Wh-What?!"

Bubblegum was surprised too. Even with the growing distance, his performance wasn’t improving. Once again, he deployed his barrier a moment too late.

Thud.

The Angler now floated ten meters above the ground.

— One more time??

— Wait, we’re still going??

— Is the strategy just to make it fall to its death? LOL

— What are they doing? LMAO

— How are you supposed to damage it like this??

The Angler now hovered at a height equivalent to the third floor, floundering uselessly. Almond’s duty-bound instinct wouldn’t let up.

‘He said to keep launching it.’

Even though it was difficult to aim at this point, he cleanly landed another talisman.

Zap!

"Whaaaat!"

Bubblegum’s eyes went wide again.

‘Another one??’

Unless he chanted while pounding his Wooden Fish at full speed, he’d never catch up with this rhythm. There was no turning back. He had to land one hit.

‘Please, just hit once. Just once on the head!’

Again, the barrier appeared too late. His rhythm had already broken. No matter how hard he tried, it wasn’t syncing anymore. Bubblegum didn’t realize that. He believed that if he just hit harder and faster, he could make it work.

Meanwhile, Almond felt confident that he was on the right track and threw talismans even faster.

Zap!

"Namu Amida Butsu~~~!"

Bubblegum slammed his Wooden Fish like his life depended on it. The Angler kept rising, nearly out of the talisman’s range.

Ding!

[Angler has donated 3,000 won.]

[Please... just kill me...]

— LOL

— What even is this?

— Launching the Angler into the stratosphere to finish him off—please take this post down

— ROFL

— Is this really a valid strategy?

— Is there some secret reward for this...?

The Angler kept ascending more and more, unable to die. Bubblegum couldn’t stop anymore.

‘Crap. I can’t say anything now. I just have to keep going until I hit it!’

With fire in his eyes, Bubblegum pounded away.

"Ma-ha~ BANYAAA!"

Even viewers who enjoyed laughing at Bubblegum’s failures knew there were limits. The backlash would be brutal if he missed all his chances to hit the Angler. It would be comparable to getting zero kills with three full ammo magazines. That was unthinkable.

He had to land one hit on the Angler’s head, so he couldn’t stop chanting and swinging. However, the results stayed the same. Bubblegum could never keep up with Almond’s tempo.

BOOM!

The Angler kept soaring higher.

‘It’s probably out of range now, right?!’

It had almost reached the fourth floor. The talismans could no longer reach it.

‘It’s out of range.’

Sure enough, the talisman Almond threw didn’t connect this time. Finally, maybe the Angler would start coming down.

Both Almond's and Bubblegum’s eyes widened simultaneously.

Fwoooooosh!

The Angler was sucked into the sky, vanishing upward like cartoon villains who became stars in the sky as they flew away.

Twinkle.

It became a speck of light and never came back down.

— Huh??

— Is this a rocket?? LOL

— What was that??

— Gravity BREAK!

— BUG of the year

— It shot through the atmosphere!

— Mars, here we come!

The Angler had died in the most ridiculous way imaginable. Even Bubblegum, who proudly claimed to be world-class at trolling, couldn’t have predicted this.

Before he realized it, he muttered, "This strategy was devised by... Almondoyle."