Season 4: Chapter 52. Cult Leader vs. Shaman (1)

Ghostwo Busters

' promotional campaign was going surprisingly strong despite the Kim Duo’s despair, the modeling team getting in trouble, and the unprecedented chaos unfolding.

[Current Viewers: 189,000]

Nearly 190k viewers were watching the game live. The most basic requirement had been satisfied. It wasn’t just numbers. The bizarre gameplay had sparked a surge in chatter about the game across communities.

[Wait, is this that Angler Rocket game??]

People didn’t know

Ghostwo Busters

, but they knew about the Angler Rocket.

— Yeah

— Search “Ghostwo Busters” or “G2B”

— Angler Rocket, lol

— Wasn’t this a gag game? Is it actually good?

└ I’m playing it now. It’s actually pretty solid. The problem is that the guys advertising it are too chaotic.

Even Su-Yeon’s infamous ugly kick had gone viral in memes and video clips.

[What’s the game where someone screams “Ugly!” mid-kick? I want to get kicked too...]

— That’s Ghostwo Busters

— What’s wrong with you? lol

— It’s an overhead kick.

└ Because Bubblegum’s head is big?

└ Wait, no... never mind lol

└ LMAO “overhead” because of his head??

└ Head’s literally oversized~

— You're insane LOL

— What the hell? lol

Even if the mentions were strange, the most important thing in advertising was name recognition. First, people had to know the game. Second, they had to like it. The concept of noise marketing existed to achieve this. In that sense,

Ghostwo Busters

' campaign was looking highly successful.

Even if Almond cleared a month’s worth of content in just two days, the campaign could be considered a win as long as he completed the game cleanly from here.

For a moment, Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Kim allowed themselves to dream.

“This is it. This is enough.”

“We’ve come a long way...”

Even though things had devolved into madness, they still barely held on to hope.

THUD!

Almond crushed this hope without a second thought. After all, he had reached this point by crawling through a literal bathroom pipe. He was like a flower blooming from mud in more ways than one.

“Uh... what the heck? Where is this?”

Almond stood up, looking dazed.

DOOOM!

[Final Chapter – The Abyss of the Mastermind]

‘Huh?’

He realized that he had reached the game’s final chapter.

***

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!”

Surprisingly, that scream didn’t come from the Kim Duo. It came from another duo.

“OOPPPAAAAAA!!”

Su-Yeon and Bubblegum, the priest and the monk, both shrieked at the top of their lungs.

“Wh-What do we do!? Almond oppa! H-He went into the toilet!”

“Almondduuuuuhhh!”

They clung to the toilet while shouting his name, but no response came.

— LMAOOOOO

— This is comedy gold

— What is this??

— What is happening? lol

As the two frantically searched, nothing but laughter filled the chat. The reactions couldn’t have been more divided.

Ding.

[Newbie has donated 5,000 won.]

[Um... I just got here. What’s going on? Did Almond turn into a toilet?]

— LMAOOOOO legit

— PFFFT

— Uhhh

— Kind of...

— Yeah, that’s pretty much it...

— Bro, I can’t breathe

Some viewers had just tuned into the

Ghostwo Busters

stream. Understanding the situation was like trying to interpret a Picasso painting at first glance. Surprisingly, they weren’t the only ones struggling.

Even Oh Sang-Gi was confused.

“What... are you?”

He kept talking to the toilet, repeatedly asking for its identity, and paid no attention to Su-Yeon or Bubblegum. Apparently, he was still immersed in his fight against Almond.

Ding.

[SeoulArtHS has donated 10,000 won.]

[Title: The Fountain – Marcel Duchamp]

— LMAO nailed it

— Modern art, stand aside!

— Legit Duchamp-tier

— OH MY GOD

— I’m crying LOL

Even viewers started comparing Oh Sang-Gi’s obsession with the toilet to a piece of conceptual art. The situation had become that bizarre.

‘Wait a sec.’

Bubblegum noticed something even more disturbing. His expression turned to one of betrayal.

“You...” He stared at Su-Yeon. “Why are you normal?”

— ?

— Wait, what?

— HUH

— LOL what?

— This is going somewhere...

“Me? I fought Oh Sang-Gi too, you know? Almond oppa just took over halfway through. That’s why I’m in one piece.”

“No, no... that’s not what I mean...”

That wasn’t what Bubblegum wanted to say.

“When I got hit by the Angler, you messed up the coordinates and kicked me while calling me ugly! So why now?! Why are you suddenly calm and tracking everything perfectly!?”

Even though Oh Sang-Gi had glitched out, Su-Yeon was still completely fine and calmly searching for Almond. She even correctly deduced that he had been flushed down the toilet and likely ended up in a new location. To Bubblegum, it felt like a betrayal.

— LMAOOOOOOO

— Hahahaha

— Bro’s holding a grudge!

— Is this really something to argue about??

— He’s gonna go crazy next at this rate lol

At Bubblegum’s words, Su-Yeon’s eyes began to tremble violently. She clearly had no idea what he was talking about.

“

Hmm...

really?” She muttered something vague like a half-loaded joke in her head.

To Bubblegum, it hit with surgical precision.

“You—you're not an NPC, are you!? Huh!?”

— Getting immortalized for the Ugly Kick hits this deep, LOL

— No...

— Let it go already lol

— Matrix moment lol

— You’re gonna get 360-degree kicked again at this rate

— What’s up with Su-Yeon? lol

***

[Final Chapter – The Abyss of the Mastermind]

DOOM!

Manager Kim had a gut feeling the moment that text appeared on the monitor. His own career had reached its final chapter too.

“This is... this is...”

This was the end. He had desperately clung to faint strands of hope up until now, but no more.

“This is the end, isn’t it?”

Truly, it was the end. Almond had literally reached the final boss stage.

“

Hah...

”

Manager Kim didn’t laugh. It was the air leaking out of his drained vocal cords after all the cheering for Bubblegum and Oh Sang-Gi.

He had rejoiced when Almond fell into the toilet and thought they had finally summited the mountain. He thought they had brought down the unkillable Blessed Almond, but ahead of that summit was only a cliff. The fall from such a height was unbearable.

Thud.

Manager Kim collapsed onto the floor instead of a chair.

“M-Mr. Kim!?”

“W-We’re done for. You hear me? Done. Our company is doomed because I gave the ad campaign to Almond...”

Gulp.

Assistant Manager Kim swallowed dryly. Was this really the end?

‘No.’

Actually, he didn’t think so at all. Yes, Almond had entered the final boss stage. But—

“No, sir.”

“What?” Manager Kim weakly raised his head as if asking why he was being told this.

“It’s not over.”

“

Haaah?

”

His eyes practically begged, ‘

Please don’t give me hope again. It’ll only make the despair worse.’

Even so, Assistant Manager Kim had to say it because it was the truth!

“Almond is alone! You can’t beat the boss solo!”

His hopeful tone made Manager Kim’s expression twist painfully.

“

Huhhh!?

”

To him, that sounded like the naive optimism of a child yelling, “My dad is Superman! He can win anything!”

“Come on, Assistant Kim. This whole game, this whole damn game has been saying cooperate! You can’t win without cooperation, right!?”

He’d seen too much to keep believing in fairytale logic.

“B-But didn’t they beat the Angler through teamwork!?”

‘The Angler? Did you just say the Angler with your own mouth!?’

Manager Kim looked like he was about to flip the table. Then, he slumped again.

“Forget it. I’m done.”

“No, I’m serious! He tried fighting Oh Sang-Gi solo and barely held even. In the end, didn’t Almond lose!?”

Manager Kim blinked. Mentioning Oh Sang-Gi made him raise his head again.

‘Come to think of it...’

Even Blessed Almond couldn’t beat Oh Sang-Gi alone. Granted, he fell into a toilet mid-fight. Still, Almond had struggled. The final boss had to be stronger than that. By simple logic, he definitely couldn’t beat the final boss solo if he couldn’t even beat Oh Sang-Gi.

“Plus, Oh Sang-Gi is supposed to be the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings!”

“Really?”

For a brief moment, light returned to Manager Kim’s eyes. Assistant Manager Kim didn’t miss it.

“A-And! If he dies here, you know where the save point is?”

Manager Kim also realized it the moment he heard about the save point. It would really bite them now if the game punished them for their sloppy gameplay.

“I think... they’ll reset if they didn’t manually save when Oh Sang-Gi chose them. Worst case, they’ll return to the start of Act Two.”

“The start of Act Two?”

“Yes. Right after they killed the Angler and started doing interviews at the hospital.”

Manager Kim finally sat back in his chair. “So there’s still... one big comeback left.”

‘Heh.’

He clenched his jaw again with fresh resolve.

“Right. Like in every training arc, the ones who smile last are the true winners. They played like maniacs, so their save point probably got screwed. We still have one shot. A single, huge chance.”

Now it was a proper roguelike videogame. It would be devastating for even the so-called game busters to get reset that far back.

“Almond ended up at the boss unprepared. This is our chance!”

It was a blessing in disguise. Almond hadn’t skipped to the end. He had skipped his own growth. That shortcut came at a cost.

Manager Kim finally smiled as he sank back into his seat. “Now I can look forward to this.”

Clack.

He popped open a fresh can of beer and braced himself. The boss cutscene ended just in time, and the real fight began.

[High Priest of Evil – Jin Myung-Soo]

BOOOOOM!

Dark lightning surged around the boss. Wings of pure shadow unfurled behind him. He looked terrifying. An aura of raw power radiated from his very presence. Even judging by Almond’s aura-reading standards, this one was clearly the strongest yet.

“You see? Never let go of hope too soon!”

“Exactly. It’s not over yet.”

“But...”

Gulp gulp.

Manager Kim took a long swig of beer and asked, “You said Oh Sang-Gi was the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings?”

“Yes.”

“There were four of them? What happened to the other Three Kings?”

“Well, it’s more of a figure of speech... More like two or three ki—”

“So where are those two or three kings, then?”

“Let’s just... watch the game.” Assistant Manager Kim just kept his mouth shut.