Chapter 117: Just Chatting (2)
Two middle-aged men met at a bar in the middle of the day.
"Ah, long time no see," the man greeted Bubblegum after arriving later than him.
"Oh, hey Tako. Wait, your hair!?"
Bubblegum was shocked as he got up to greet the other man. He figured out why the bar's dim atmosphere was glowing as the man entered. The light brightly reflected off a shiny head.
"Ah... haha,"?the man named Tako awkwardly laughed.
"You said you were going into training. Is that why you shaved?"
"No, it's not because of that."
Bubblegum poured him a cup of water and signaled him to sit down.
"Then? Why did you turn bald again?! You spent so much effort planting your hair!"
"H-Hey! Quiet down, will you..."
Thankfully, the workers and owner were the only people at the bar during this time. Takoyaki was still embarrassed though. He could hear two female employees, who looked like university students giggling.
"Wait, you're embarrassed? Then why did you shave?"
"I'm not embarrassed about shaving it, but the fact that I got my hair transplanted..."
"Ah," Bubblegum understood right away.
Tako started balding in his twenties, which was a traumatic experience for him.
Bubblegum approached closer and whispered, "So, why did you shave?"
"It's a long story... First of all..."
***
Bubble bubble.
Takoyaki finished his explanation as the seafood stew they ordered started boiling. In summary, his victory had been a given in?Battle Large because he was fully farmed. However, Almond took the victory away from him. Since it was an important victory for Almond, it would remain forever on his YouTube channel.
"So since you got wrecked by Almond, you shaved your head to beat him? Are you crazy?"
"What! I'm really embarrassed. There are people in the forums already recognizing me and making fun of me. Getting wrecked by a newbie when I said I'm going into training..."
"Who would think Almond is a newbie... Wait, but… what does that have to do with shaving your head!?"
"You don't know? I'm at my best when I'm..."
Tak. Tak.
He tapped on his shiny head.
"When I'm bald."
Bubblegum was about to tell him that it was just a joke made up by people, but he couldn't bring himself to say it because Tako had already shaved his head.
"B-But, it's going to grow again, right?"
"Of course. As you said, it was a hair transplant. It's better for me because my head temperature has decreased since I shaved, which is good for balding.
“Okay, that's good.”
Since no one knew about balding as well as Takoyaki, Bubblegum moved on. There was one thing he needed to say though.
"Hey, then are you practicing Battle Large right now?" Bubblegum asked as he cut and took the large octopus sitting in the seafood stew.
"Ah, yeah I am. Almond is like Diamond IV right now and I'm almost there. I went on a winning streak as well, so our MMR will probably be similar."
'As expected...'
Takoyaki wasn't aware.
"Hey, you know that Almond and I streamed together recently, right?"
"Ah, right. I was going to ask about that. How was it?"
Bubblegum cut some pieces of octopus and handed them to Takoyaki. Takoyaki was impressed by the texture of the octopus as he ate it. Bubblegum thought the scene was a little gruesome as if Tako was eating his own kind...
"So, how was the stream?"
"Ah, right. Umm..."
Bubblegum recalled his stream with Almond.
"He's better than I thought he'd be."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He looks like a celebrity, but he's interestingly very friendly..."
"Oh, I see."
"And he seemed to be a deep thinker even though he's ten years younger than me."
"Really? Why? How would you know that?"
"What do you mean why! When you become my age, you can feel a person's inner thoughts just by meeting them."
"Sigh..." Tako made a face in disbelief.
Bubblegum quickly added on as if he was making excuses, "I'm not being a boomer. I'm serious. You have better eyes than when you were in your twenties, right?"
"Hm. You're right."
"That's what I'm saying. There's a difference between forties and thirties too. Anyways, the guy seemed solid all the way down to his core."
"Seems difficult."
Bubblegum grabbed some more after he finished his portion of the octopus.
"He has a sort of aura that an expert would have or someone who's gotten through life without the help of anyone else."
"His skills were definitely expert level. I don't know where a monster like that came from. Have you seen how much he's played?"
"Yeah, not that much. I think it’s been just a month now?"
"Isn't the world so unfair?"
Despite the complaint, Takoyaki laughed out loud in his own unique way.
"Well, I guess the world becomes a little more fun to live in thanks to those random geniuses."
He was once a pro gamer for?LIL. He was one of the best in Korea in the most competitive league on the scene. In this league, only geniuses and monsters existed.
Tako was already jaded about these geniuses in this industry.
"Hey, Tako. You're incredible too! You were in the starting lineup for one of the top teams. Look at me. I'm Bronze or Silver every year."
Tako laughed at Bubblegum's joke.
"Ah! Right!"
However, his face turned into stone after hearing Bubblegum's next words.
"I was going to say it earlier, but Almond said he's not going to play?Battle Large anymore."
"What?!"
Tak.
The octopus Tako was cutting splashed into the stew and splattered everywhere.
"Ah! Hot!"
***
"Ah! Almond!"
“Kya!”?Yu Ha-Yeon greeted him as if he was an old friend. It was a different atmosphere than last time.
'She's different from when I saw her in the studio.'
Since this was in This World and not an official interview, was she more carefree?
— Ha-Yeon!!
— Yu Ha-Yeon seems so excited to meet him.
— Anyone can tell by looking at her.
— Noonaaaa!
— What?! Who are you?! Why is Ha-Yeon so glad to see you?! Who are you Almond!?
Fantasia's This World channel was an open field with flowers everywhere. It looked like a scene straight out of a Ghibli animation film. Yu Ha-Yeon looked magical as she waved at him in a white dress. He could understand why his viewers were jealous.
"Hello, it's been a while."
"Yes! Have a seat over here."
A white table was placed in the middle of the flower field. It looked like an outdoor wedding from an American TV show.
'It's a little more awkward than I thought it'd be.'
Almond looked around briefly. There was nothing other than the field of flowers. Almond and Yu Ha-Yeon were the only two in this vast field facing each other. It was overwhelming for an interview.
Yu Ha-Yeon giggled.
"It's a little overwhelming facing each other, right? But this is a better angle for the viewers. Isn’t that right?!" Yu Ha-Yeon asked Almond and came right up to his face because most of Almond's viewers were watching from his perspective.
— That's right!!
— Noona! You're killing me!
— This is for real.
— Almond's an amateur streamer.
— Noona, you're always correct!
'Sigh...'
Judging from the chat, they would agree with her no matter what she said. Yu Ha-Yeon knew that as well. She knew better than anyone else how to utilize her beauty. She was a specialist in getting the audience to listen to her.
"Alright, have a seat."
Yu Ha-Yeon signaled him to sit after she sat down. Almond had no choice but to sit across from her.
"First, let's take a picture."
A soft wind blew over the fields when she said that and some flower petals flew over.
Shaaaa—?
Yu Ha-Yeon raised both hands and made a camera shape with her fingers. In between her awkward thumb and pointer finger was Almond fixing his hair.
He fixed his hair from the wind and looked straight into the camera frame. He was looking at the eyes beyond the frame.
"... That’s how you take it?"
Thump.
She thought her heart would leap out, but Yu Ha-Yeon answered professionally without any nervousness.
"Yep, it came out well."
— She just took a picture?
— Almond wasn't sure if she was joking or not.
In these cases, the viewers knew the answer.
— Almond is a baby. He doesn't know anything about This World.
— It's a feature of this game.
— So confused LOL
It was a feature in This World.
Yu Ha-Yeon caught him reading the chat and asked, "Are there a lot of viewers right now? How many are there?"
"Is that an interview question?"
"Sure, let's say it is."
"It's a lot different from last time."
She smiled and attempted to break the hard wall Almond was putting up.
"There's no need to do it the same way like in an official studio, right?"
"I guess you're right. Hmm..."
Almond checked the viewer count.
[Current Viewers: 15k]
It was still a large amount.
"15,000 people."
"Gasp,"?Yu Ha-Yeon had a shocked look on her face. "That many?"
"It just turned out that way."
"Wow. Is it because the video of you beating JeonJaPa was uploaded today?"
She naturally moved on to the next interview question.
"It definitely played a big part in growing my subscriber count and viewership."
"Wow! That's amazing! Congratulations."
"Thank you."
Clap clap clap.
Yu Ha-Yeon happily clapped by herself.
Almond was amazed. How could she react like that without reading the chat or having clear instructions? Her experience in the industry was impressive.
"So what is your goal moving forward?"
— Noona is asking what we want to know!
— Almond is only going to do ads from now on!!! Different question!
— He asked us what ad would be good!
.
— Ha-Yeon needs to look at this chat.
"Maybe after Diamond, you'll try reaching Master in the shortest time?"
"Hmm.?No."
"Sorry? No?"
"Yes. I'm going to slowly stop playing Battle Large."
"Y-You know that this is Fantasia's This World?channel, right?!" Yu Ha-Yeon asked in confusion.
— LOL
— He's so proud.
— For real
— Why not masters!
— No way! Then maybe Kingdom…
"Of course, I know. But... Fantasia has other games too."
"That's right."
"There's even a game called Raising a Lazy Soldier coming out, right?"
Almond subtly promoted the game himself. He calculated that since he was going to get an advertisement from them and it was Fantasia's channel, there would be no problem.
— ???
— What's that?
— What is that?!
— ?? Am I the only one who doesn't know?
— I think this is an ad!
— Almond! You tricked us again! This is an ad!
"Oh! I know that game too! It's highly anticipated, right?!" Yu Ha-Yeon gladly responded to Almond.
The two chatted about a game that still needed to be released.
— Almond, you're insane!
— Almond's capitalistic smile...
— LOL Ha-Yeon's response time is crazy,
— Highly anticipated? The first time I'm hearing about it.
— I searched it up and the closed beta didn't even start yet.
"Yes, there are games like Raising a Lazy Soldier, so don't be disappointed that I'm leaving Battle Large."
"Then are you going to play Raising a Lazy Soldier?"
"No, I'm not sure."
— What do you mean you're not sure, you liar!
— It's not even released yet!
— LOL
"Then what's the next game? Or your next goal?" Yu Ha-Yeon persisted.
Almond and Ju-Hyeok had a game in mind, but they decided to delay the announcement. However, now seemed like the perfect opportunity to reveal it.
'I think I can say it.'
His intuition told him that this was the perfect timing, so he opened his mouth.
***
In a dark room, a large screen shined on the girl in the wheelchair.
“Yes, there are games like?Raising a Lazy Soldier, so don't be disappointed that I'm leaving Battle Large.”
“Then what's the next game? Or your next goal?”
She was drinking a dark orange-colored whisky. She hadn't drunk it in a while because she previously quit. However, she was feeling great these days.
But suddenly—
“I think I'm going to play LIL this time around.”
Shatter!
The crystal glass fell on the floor and made a loud noise.