Season 4: Chapter 79. The Unknown Participants (1)

Honestly, Sang-Hyeon always had an interest in fishing even before he met Pang. It began way before that. Unlike other sports and leisure activities he had dabbled in, this particular interest dated back even earlier than his days at the Athlete Village.

It went all the way back to when he was no bigger than his

Survival Craft

character. It all started when he was just a kid. A passing comment from a friend still remained in his memories.

“My dad and I are going fishing.”

“Fishing?”

“Yeah. Haven’t you ever gone?”

“

Mmm...

no.”

Of course, he hadn’t. His grandmother, the only family he ever had, was always busy running her shop. She never had any hobbies besides watching her daily dramas, let alone going fishing.

“Then, what do you do for fun?”

“For fun?”

Even the concept of a hobby felt vague to him.

“Okay... then what do you do during summer break?”

“During summer...” Sang-Hyeon couldn't answer that either.

He had never done anything special during summer break. He simply helped out with his grandmother’s work.

“

Uhh

, eat chicken?”

“C’mon, you can do that anytime.”

“

Hmm...

”

At the time, he didn’t understand why he couldn’t answer or why he suddenly felt so small in front of his friend. When that same friend came back a few days later with an offer, Sang-Hyeon hadn’t been able to accept it.

“Uh... hey. Do you wanna come fishing with my family during the break?”

He figured that his friend probably learned that Sang-Hyeon didn’t have parents.

Sang-Hyeon instinctively shook his head. “No.”

It was a knee-jerk response. He knew, deep down, that a family trip like that wasn’t meant for someone like him.

“Oh... okay.” The friend, looking a little awkward, nodded and walked away.

Later on, Sang-Hyeon transferred schools when he started doing archery, and the memory of that friend faded until he couldn’t even recall their name anymore.

==== ====

[Job List]

Farmer

Fisherman

Herbalist

...

==== ====

This long-forgotten memory came flooding back after seeing the Fisherman job title in the list.

‘I want to try fishing.’

In this world disconnected from reality, he finally decided to give it a try.

“I’m going fishing~”

***

Meanwhile, the other streamers had no intention of leaving Almond alone.

‘I need to find a way to team up with him.’

‘Maybe I should challenge him head-on.’

‘How can I get a slice of the Almond pie?’

They all had similar thoughts. The Cheese Village content would directly lead up to the Platform Battle, which was up next. The Platform Battle wasn’t just big. It would be massive since it involved streamers from both platforms. By sheer scale, it would be double the Cheese Village event.

Every streamer had that future tournament on their mind. Therefore, all of them thought of Almond. Regardless of stream size, Almond was the most reliable and skilled player from Treevy. Right now, every streamer frantically tried to find him.

“Miho, do you know where Almond went?”

“Why do you ask?”

Some streamers even hoped others wouldn’t find him.

“Oh, no reason...

haha.

Just... people say he’s really handsome. Figured I’d try and get a glimpse...”

“He’s in chibi mode here. It doesn’t really matter, does it?”

Even Bubblegum joined the fray. “Yeah! I’ll help you look, but why do you want Almond, anyway? My avatar fits my body perfectly here. Honestly, I move way better than he does.”

— LOL

— The tension’s wild lol

— Why tho? lmao

— AHAHA

— Bubblegum legit moves the same IRL

“

Haha...

n-no thanks.”

The other streamers awkwardly backed away at barbed comments from the Balloon Stars members.

‘Dammit, let the Balloon bastards hog everything, huh?’

Shaking their heads, they split up to find Almond on their own. The fastest route would just be to ask their viewers.

“Did Almond log in and log back out?”

“Does anyone know where he went after he died? Just curious,

haha.

”

“Guys, do you know what Almond likes? No reason, just wondering. Seriously.”

At that point, even the viewers could tell that every streamer was scrambling to find Almond.

— LMAO they’re all Almond-holics

— They’re chasing him like he’s a rare nut

— Nothing will get done like this

— Did they all stake their lives on the tournament or what lol

From the moment he appeared, Almond had become the unofficial protagonist of Cheese Village.

***

Naturally, the community had a lot to say.

[Superstar Nut LOL]

[Is “Find Almond” the actual quest now?]

[Nobody in Cheese compares to Almond, fr]

[Meanwhile, Almond is off fishing LMAO]

Finding Almond turned into the village’s de facto objective, which wasn’t exactly ideal from a content perspective. The community began to critique it.

— Wait, are they even progressing the game?

└

I mean, they’re surviving at least, so I guess it’s fine?

— Some of them are way too obvious about it.

— Dragging real life into it ruins the fun, man.

└

So true.

└

Exactly...

The biggest draw of a survival-craft game was the total immersion. Streamers played as if the game world were their real life, and viewers enjoyed that intensity. All the fun would drain away once they started treating the game like prep for the real-life Platform Battle. Even the Cheese platform team and the Jang Production crew grew worried.

“

Hmm.

They’re supposed to immerse themselves in this village, but everyone is running around looking for Platform Battle teammates, specifically Almond.”

They knew exactly what was happening.

“Right? It’s kind of a problem. Almond probably can’t even freely enjoy the game at this point.”

“Good thing he died early and vanished for a while... It would’ve been a mess if he’d stuck around from the start.”

“We might need to add a new rule.”

Eventually, they agreed on some necessary intervention.

“How about... no IRL talk allowed?”

“Yeah, that sounds reasonable.”

***

Meanwhile, completely unaware of all this, Almond had gone fishing.

Ding.

[New Village Law!]

[Mention of Real Life Now Prohibited]

The message popped up for him too.

‘What does that even mean?’

Almond didn’t care much. He was already using every ounce of his brainpower to figure out how the game worked.

“Hunger meter... there’s also thirst... This kinda feels like

Zombie School

.”

He stared at the UI, trying to grasp the mechanics.

— Is this his first time playing??

— Dude really just jumps in with zero practice lol

— Why did he read the wiki if he wasn’t gonna train haha

— At least learn the basics first!

— Yep, it’s a survival game at its core!

— He’s always been a pure soul, that Almond

Sure, he had skimmed the

Survival Craft

wiki, but never actually bothered practicing. The game looked simple enough.

“I mean, they said even elementary schoolers play this, so I just came in.”

Excuses like that didn’t fly anymore, not with the now-seasoned Nut Squad.

Ding.

[EggPlant has donated 3000 won.]

[Says the guy with first-time picks in the LIL Tournament...]

— LOLOLOL

— Fr tho lol

— You mean the tournament that elementary kids enter too, right? Lmao

— AHAHA

— Thank God he didn’t store pick in the Civil Empire tournament lol

— At least he’s trying to explain himself now

“First-time picks are a strategy, though?” Almond tilted his head, genuinely confused.

No amount of viewer teasing would phase him. He truly believed in it as a strategy.

“Tako told me so.”

Tako had simply taught him that way.

— Well, it is technically a strategy

— No damage output though fr

— This is some peak Almond logic

— Always blaming Cookie or Tako lmao

— Bro’s damage trades don’t even register lol

“I’ll start by finding some water. I’m thirsty and I still need to fish.”

Unbothered, Almond ran around on his stubby legs, ears tuned for the sound of water.

Boing, boing, boing!

A few minutes of hopping later, there it was.

Whoooosh...

A rushing upstream current came into view.

“Oh.”

He crouched and leaned forward, taking a drink first.

“

Whoa.

Almost fell in. These short legs, man.”

Slurp.

His oversized head nearly threw off his balance, but he managed to drink just fine.

— LOL

— Those stubby legs just don’t work

— He’s too cute tho lol

— Use an empty bottle to drink

[Thirst: 50 → 0]

His thirst meter dropped to zero.

“But where’s the empty bottle?”

He opened his inventory after reading the comment about collecting water, but found it completely empty.

— LMAO you dropped everything when you died

— Even your starter items, sheesh

— Oof lol

— Wait yeah, he did die, huh?

“Oh... so I lost them when I died?” Almond scratched his head.

‘No way... I didn’t lose anything important, right?’

He debated whether to go back and retrieve his dropped items, but they probably weren’t that valuable anyway. As he hesitated, a different stat bar began to flash red.

[Hunger: 70]

“Oh. Hunger!” He recalled the existence of the hunger stat and blurted it out right before a donation alert popped up.

Ding!

[RubySword has donated 5000 won.]

[Little Almond is huuungry~]

“Thank you, RubySword.”

[As a reward for the 5000 won donation, you’ve received a Cheese Cookie.]

A Cheese Cookie appeared in his inventory.

“Oh! Right.”

He had forgotten about the donation rewards. A 5000-won donation triggered a cookie drop.

Crunch.

He bit into the cookie, and his hunger bar ticked down.

Ding!

[Jay has donated 5000 won.]

[Almond eating a cookie is the cutest thing ever]

Another cookie appeared.

“Thank you, Jay.”

Crunch.

He took a big bite, and the hunger dropped again. Then, things started to get... weird. The sight of a tiny Almond with an oversized head, nibbling at a massive cookie in both hands, seemed to awaken something in the viewers.

Ding!

[Cutie has donated 5000 won.]

[Here you go!]

Ding!

[Infinite has donated 5000 won.]

[Eat just one more cookie, please LOL]

Ding!

[GoldenBell has donated 5000 won.]

[Feeding the hungry Almond with cookies!]

Ding!

[Mom has donated 5000 won.]

[Looks won’t pay the bill! (But it is)]

Cookies began raining down like blessings from the heavens.

Plop. Plop. Plop.

A small pile had gathered in his hands.

— Damn

— Dude’s face is literally feeding him now lol

— Even in chibi form, the good looks bring in the cookies

— This world is unjust... support donations making me sick

— He just says he’s hungry and cookies fall from the sky??

— Is it fair for a chibi model to still get handsome-boy bonuses??

Pop.

Another cookie appeared.

“Wow, thank you so much.”

With his hunger taken care of, Almond turned his attention to fishing.

“Now that I’m full, let’s try making a fishing rod.”

In

Survival Craft

, players could craft anything themselves as long as they had the right materials.

[Crafting Manual]

By following the manual and arranging items in the right shape and quantity, the item would automatically form.

“Looks like I need three branches... and two threads?”

He could just break branches off trees, but where would he even find thread?

“Let’s start with the branches first.”

He tried climbing a tree to grab some branches.

“Huh?”

His short limbs and large head made it impossible to climb.

“Seriously?”

Almond, completely new to this genre, looked utterly lost.

— The fall of an alpha male...

— LOL no way dude

— Went from 8-head ratio to 2-head and can’t cope lmao

— He’s flustered af

Climbing a tree wouldn’t happen here.

‘What now?’

Almond tried to think, but couldn’t find a way. He’d have to chop the tree down with an axe, but where would he get an axe? All he had were cookies. Then, he heard voices.

“Is this where they’ve all gathered?”

“Yeah, probably. Any closer and we might be seen.”

“They probably only just started migrating.”

The conversation came from somewhere nearby.

‘What the...?’

Almond ducked into the bushes and held his breath. Two chibi avatars approached from around the pond, speaking to each other.

‘Can’t see their usernames.’

They looked unfamiliar, and their usernames couldn’t be seen, which meant they had their display options turned off.

‘Why would they do that?’

Were they even Cheese streamers? They wore light gear with small shields and makeshift swords on their belts.

‘This feels... different.’

They gave off a completely different vibe and looked deliberately more prepared.

— Who are those guys?

— Huh?

— NPCs maybe?

— Wait, what??

Almond turned off his game mic and whispered, “Think they might have fishing rods?”

— Gasp

— LOL oh no

— I mean... maybe?

— No way, right?

— And what if they do? Huh?

There were only two ways to get an item from someone else’s inventory. They either gave it away or...

“If they die, they drop everything.”

— LMAO

— He’s already thinking it lol

— Option 4: Shoot them

— Wasn’t he fishing for healing??

— This nutcase again

— Another bang coming

— Fishing... yea right?

— I’m dying!