Season 4: Chapter 83. If This Was the Plan, Why Do It Like That? (2)

Looking back, it had always been this way.

“Do you think those guys might have fishing rods?”

No one had actually confirmed whether Salt and Black Pepper had fishing rods. There had never been any proof. Almond just assumed they did because their gear looked fancy. He kept insisting that he just wanted to fish, and that things just got a little intense along the way.

— Bro, come on. This is insane LOL

— They seriously didn’t have one? You’re joking??

— What an ending lmao

— All that dying... for nothing??

— You better take responsibility! RIGHT NOW!

— Almond, we demand a public apology!

The chat grew heated. Normally, Almond would’ve just ignored them and moved on with his fishing adventure. However, Cheese Village wasn’t just any game server. It was a livestream-driven community. The viewers had power here.

— Hey mommy Ruby, execute him on the spot!

— Hang him! HANG HIM!

— 100K donation and he’s toast LOL

— Doesn’t matter how good he is. 1 million won = instant death

If someone donated one million won, Almond would instantly die. He wouldn’t be able to dodge or defend. The system would just kill him.

Almond’s eyes snapped open.

‘That... would be bad.’

He had just looted all that gear and couldn’t lose it now.

“Everyone, it wasn’t a meaningless death. Look!” He tried to pivot.

Chak!

Almond drew his sword.

— Huh?

— What is this guy on about?

“I’ve got a sword now. That means I can fight monsters. According to the fishing rod crafting guide, you need Spider Silk Balls from giant spiders. I couldn’t have fought them unarmed, right? So really, those two sacrificed themselves for the cause.”

— LMAO

— This nut logic is back again

— It’s wrong... but also kind of makes sense??

— The nut always plays dumb until his life is on the line LOL

— If he catches a fish with that sword, I’ll let it slide

— So now dying for fishing is considered noble?? How does this world work?

It worked. The chat’s anger began to blur into laughter, and the topic drifted. Almond nodded his oversized head in satisfaction.

Bababam~!

He flinched hard at the jingle that played when a donation of over one million won came through.

[BigSon has donated a whopping 1,010,000 won!]

[Oops, my hand slipped. I added an extra ten thousand~]

It wasn’t exactly 1 million. It was 1.01 million, which meant Almond had survived.

“

Whew.

” He clutched his chest.

— LMAOOOO

— His face!!!

— Bro looked like a cartoon character getting jump-scared

— That needs to be a GIF immediately

— Eyes turned into bottle rockets lol

With his giant chibi head, his shock looked hilariously exaggerated.

Almond bowed with sincerity. “Thank you for the donation, BigSon. Let’s continue our fishing adventure.”

He prepared to go hunt a giant spider.

Ding!

[RubySword has donated 20,000 won!]

[So... where do you go for that?]

“Uh...” Almond froze.

He had no idea. No one did. The Cheese Village server had only just launched. Nobody knew where any monsters were.

— He doesn’t know??

— Of course he doesn’t LOL

— Honestly, just give up on fishing at this point

— Watch the NPC in town sell fishing rods anyway

— Just go to the village first, man

Almond scrolled through chat and shook his oversized head. He wouldn’t give up on fishing now.

“No, I have a way.”

— A way??

— Is he finally going to read the chat properly?

— Let’s hear it, genius

“We can summon monsters.”

Thunk.

He pulled out a donation tier placard.

==== ====

Donation Rewards:

5,000 won = Cheese Cookie

10,000 won = Random Buff

100,000 won = Random Status Effect

300,000 won = Random Monster Summon

1,000,000 won = Instant Death

==== ====

He pointed straight at the 300,000-won tier.

— Is this dude asking for money??

— That’s definitely what’s happening right now

— The shamelessness is unreal

— Masterclass in “cash flow”

— How does he know if it’ll summon a spider tho?

— He’s not wrong tho... it is a way

Openly asking for donations was taboo, so Almond quickly tucked the placard away and feigned innocence.

“Ah... I’m just saying there is a way. Of course, I’m heading out to find spiders now. Not sure how long it’ll take, though...”

He went quiet and didn’t move.

— He’s not moving lol

— This is emotional blackmail

— He’s just gonna sit there until someone pays up

— Where’s the streamer union when you need one?

— Somebody donate 1 million again, please lmao

“I-I’m just checking the map,” he added casually.

His eyes clearly weren’t on the map, but on the chat window instead.

— Bro you’re so obvious LOL

— That big head gives it all away

— So cute, I wanna smack him

— The “please feed me” stare

BAM!

A trumpet fanfare echoed.

[RubySword has donated 300,000 won!]

[Summoning Jutsu!]

— Let’s goooo mommy Ruby!

— Queen behavior

— “Main character of the broadcast”

— Uzumaki RubySword has entered the chat

[Random Monster Summoned]

POOF!

White smoke burst as a monster was summoned.

“Thank you, RubySword!”

When the smoke cleared, a massive figure emerged.

“A dragon?”

A literal dragon had appeared.

— Wait what??

— TOO STRONG. TOO STRONG

— She summoned the FINAL BOSS

— Oh my god

— This is karma lmao

The dragon stretched its long neck and roared into the sky. “

SKREEEEEEEEE!!

”

Its reptilian eyes narrowed at Almond, who looked painfully helpless with his stubby legs and oversized head.

“Uh... let’s try fighting it first.”

He swung his sword once.

PANG!

Instead of a clattering noise, a shattering noise echoed out, and his sword instantly broke. It didn’t even scratch the dragon’s scales. In

Survival Craft

, gear tiers were absolute. Touching something far above the player's level would result in broken stuff.

— LMAO

— Well that didn’t last long

— You’re not even close to strong enough lol

Ding!

[Mr.OhNo has donated 20,000 won.]

[That sword is just iron. You’ll need at least Adamantium to fight a dragon LOL]

Even though the chat explained the gap, dragons were near-endgame content and way beyond his reach.

RUMBLE...

Flames gathered in the dragon’s throat. Apparently, it was pissed.

‘Where was it...?’

Almond scrambled through his inventory.

“There!”

[Village Return Scroll]

POP!

The scroll activated instantly, and Almond vanished right as a pillar of fire engulfed the area.

WHOOOOOOM!

The dragon blankly blinked. Nothing but scorched earth remained.

“

KRRRHHH...

” It sniffed the air, trying to locate the pesky human. Then, with a flap of its wings, it took to the skies.

FWWWWOOOOOOOSH!

Just like that, a wild dragon now freely roamed the Cheese Village server.

***

Meanwhile, Almond had respawned in the village. With his return, fishing was clearly out of the question for now.

‘Was I being too greedy?’

Trying to earn three hundred thousand won and catching the spider seemed too much. Maybe this was karma. The viewers seemed to agree and had a field day with it.

Ding!

[EggPlant has donated 3,000 won.]

[Wooo! Princess Ruby has vanquished the Fishing Demon!]

— Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!

— LOL so true

— Man, so satisfying. EggPlant is cooking today

— Fishing Demon lmao

— Finally came back to the village

— Get rid of Almond! Replace him with Ruby!

— The spring of Cheese has come...

They were pushing for a regime change.

‘These little...’

“Anyone who name-drops is getting banned.” Almond glared at the chat and threw down the gauntlet.

‘Oh.’

Ju-Hyeok wasn’t here today since he was off running the Cheese server with the admin team.

— ?

— Wait, Walnut isn’t around today lol

— Oh right! No Walnut!

— This is a no-Walnut zone now lmao

Realizing this, the viewers went even wilder.

Ding!

[EggPlant has donated 3,000 won.]

[Push the impeachment fund! RubySword for Congress!]

— LMAOOO

— Impeachment by donation is a new one

— So they’re saying someone drop a 1 mil bomb?

— EggPlant is on a roll

— Ahahaha

— Can’t even get banned today lmao

Almond briefly considered manually opening the system and banning them himself.

‘Maybe I’ll just let them have fun today.’

With that, the whales began dropping big donations.

Ba-bam!

[Xiaolongbao has donated 200,000 won.]

[Ruby to Congress!]

— Let’s goooo

— This is it

— Registered a party lol

[RubySword has donated 100,000 won.]

[Almond... Attention.]

Ping!

Almond froze on the spot.

[Random Status Effect]

[Frozen]

— He literally followed her command

— Dude lol

— Ice Princess Ruby coming in hot

— This is it~

— Viewer supremacy!

— That felt so good ahahaha

— Deeply satisfying

Even while frozen, Almond couldn’t help but chuckle at how much fun everyone was having. Not because of the massive donations, definitely not that, but because the viewers were genuinely having a good time.

“

Aha...

I-I guess this is a bit of a problem...”

— That smile says otherwise

— Bro’s mouth is climbing into the heavens

— Ten bucks for a freeze and he calls it a “problem” lol

— Still profiting in the end, classic Almond

— Thinks: Coming to Cheese was the right move

While frozen, Almond took a moment to look around.

‘Since I’m in the village anyway, maybe I should talk to the other streamers.’

There was no rush to fish, so he decided to just say hi to other streamers.

‘Huh?’

Something felt off.

‘What... is this place?’

He glanced around. This wasn’t the Cheese Village he remembered. Even if he’d only been there briefly, the vibe in his memory had bright sunshine, a warm atmosphere, and trees all around. This place looked gloomy and charred. The lighting was off, and the air felt heavy.

‘What is this place?’

Pop.

The Frozen status lifted, and Almond cautiously started walking. Even the ground felt off as he took in his surroundings.

[Iron]

The earth was studded with dark, metallic iron ore. He kept walking and tracing the ore veins through the terrain. Buildings had already been constructed, but not the kind one would expect from a player. They looked far too complete and detailed. Some looked like they had taken at least two full days to build.

[Obsidian]

The polished walls with a dark violet sheen gave off a luxurious yet ominous feel. Almond considered mining it, but quickly gave up.

[Interference-Protected Zone]

Even touching it triggered a system warning.

— Wait, interference zones are already here?

— Where is this??

— Did Cheese Village get this developed already?

— Huh?

— Obsidian? Wtf

— Whose place is this???

The chat quickly caught on that something was wrong. Almond carefully followed the obsidian wall with each step.

‘Hmm?’

Posters lined the path.

“Guys... look at this.”

He stopped in front of one.

[WANTED]

There was no mistaking it. The face on the poster looked exactly like Almond’s character.

— ?

— Is that... Almond?

— Yo, what the hell?

Then, it suddenly hit him that he wasn’t in Cheese Village anymore.

— Wait, is this the town where those guys died earlier?

— Aren’t they banned from Cheese Village?

— Omg lmao

— Did Almond use their Return Scroll? LOL

— Bro wandered right into enemy territory ahahaha

‘Oh no.’

He was smack in the middle of Paprika Village, surrounded by wanted posters of himself.