Chapter 118: Just Chatting (3)
"LIL…?" Tako asked with a defeated look on his face.
Bubblegum nodded, "Yeah. LIL."
"Life of Legends, right?"
"Yeah, man! The game you played as a pro gamer! That?LIL!"
"Wow! Goddamn, what have I been doing up until now!? Argh! My life is something else!?Life is Legend!"
Was the news that shocking?
Tako screamed and pulled his nonexistent hair.
"Sigh, let's just drink up."
His hands trembled as he lifted his glass.
'I guess I won't be able to understand.'
Bubblegum was naturally terrible at video games. His personality was like his gameplay, carefree.
However, someone like Tako who played on the pro scene was different. They were naturally competitive. Someone like Bubblegum couldn't even imagine.
Tako, an ex-professional gamer at the top of the industry, was no different. He even shaved his head because he lost in a video game. Pro gamers hated losing more than anything. It wasn't about the money or fame. They just hated losing.
Gulp.
Tako chugged a shot of alcohol.
"Sigh."
He let out a deep breath after the alcohol with a defeated look.
"How do you know that Almond is playing LIL?"
"Ah, I heard through his manager."
After Ju-Hyeok and Sang-Hyeon finished their discussion, they passed by Bubblegum's manager since it was Bubblegum who first suggested it.
"Uhh... Actually, I was the one who suggested to play LIL..."
Bubblegum carefully brought it up because it felt like, for some reason, he'd made a mistake.
Tako gave a faint smile and waved his hands, "Ah, don't worry. It isn't a big deal."
"It's important for you."
"Only for me," he said in a bittersweet tone.
"Anyways,?LIL..." Tako recalled his days of the past.
Frankly, there weren't many fond memories. Looking back, all he remembered was going through rigorous training to win every day. Every day was like a rollercoaster. Going back and forth from hell to heaven.
For some reason, seeing the memory from a distance made the rollercoaster look like a beautiful wave.
"... Should I try it again?"
"Being a pro?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
Being a pro again was out of the question. The scene wasn't friendly enough to accept him, who had taken a 3-year break. Tako was talking about taking up?LIL again just for old-time's sake.
"Hey, you took your hands completely off of LIL... Are you really giving it a go again?"
"I'm not sure."
"Do you want to beat Almond that badly?"
"Sigh…"?Tako took another shot of soju and replied slightly tipsy, "You don't know this feeling."
"Yeah, what would I know."
Bubblegum patted him on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
"You would never know! You're Bronze!"
"Hey! I'm Silver!"
"Same thing."
***
Ju-Hyeok woke up from his nap in confusion.
'What is going...'
Sang-Hyeon went inside the capsule without a word.
Ju-Hyeok wasn’t surprised because Sang-Hyeon always streamed daily.
'He didn't even decide what to do?'
The problem was that this was a transitioning period to the next game after Battle Large. The biggest obstacle for variety streamers was when they were changing games. If done wrong, they risked losing multiple viewers all at once.
They already experienced it once with Kingdom Age, but it didn't matter since the scale was smaller. Besides, changing games from minor games to major titles was less risky.
However, this was different. Almond's huge success was thanks to Battle Large, which meant most of the fanbase came from it. Plus, he beat JeonJaPa's record with this game.
Announcing he'd play a different game from this standpoint was a completely new problem. Because of it, they decided to approach the matter delicately. They were still discussing the different options to approach this matter.
But why was he streaming?
'No way...'
Ju-Hyeok imagined the worst possible situation, ‘Almond isn't playing the new game, right?’
Ju-Hyeok turned on his computer, hoping Sang-Hyeon was playing Battle Large. Thankfully, neither of those was the case.
'What's this?'
Yu Ha-Yeon was interviewing Almond. At first, he thought they were on a date seeing how they faced each other in a flower field laughing. Anyone would feel the same. It was likely intentional because it was an excellent way to gain attention.
'Wait, but why an interview so suddenly? Did they donate to him during his livestream?'
Ju-Hyeok put the pieces together as he watched the stream nervously.
"This is..."
As the interview continued, his face glowed up. The viewer count was rising. It was hard to believe this was a chatting stream and not a Battle Large stream.
'This is the perfect time.'
Ju-Hyeok thought now was the chance. The viewers gathered to watch Almond, not Battle Large. This was the perfect time to announce his transition of games.
Just then…
“I think I'm going to play LIL this time around.”
Almond announced as if he read Ju-Hyeok's mind.
Slam!
Ju-Hyeok excitedly slammed on his table.
"This freaking genius!"
The chat went wild.
— Wow! Really?!
— Damn! You're challenging JeonJaPa head-on!?
— Oh! LIL!
— Woaaaaah!
— I'm so excited!
— Kya!
— Scream and shout!
It was successful and so simple as well.
Ju-Hyeok couldn't believe it,?'What happened?'
He had his head wrapped around this problem for days, but Almond solved it easily while he was asleep.
Ju-Hyeok replayed the stream to catch up on what happened.
"... It was a communication stream!"
Almond didn't play any games today. After he turned on the stream, he just started rambling on. This was a large factor in helping the transition of games. The viewers who came to watch today weren't hooked on gameplay, but Almond as a person.
Thanks to Ji-Ah's videos being uploaded, many new audiences came to watch him. It was the perfect time to start communicating with his viewers.
'Wow. I was trying all sorts of things to come up with a reason to stream with Bubblegum...'
All of that was unnecessary.
Almond knew the essence of his stream better than anyone. Ju-Hyeok knew it too, but he was momentarily blinded.
He was blinded by the attractiveness of Bubblegum's influence. The owner of this stream was Almond. Almond needed to have the spotlight. That was the most important factor in transitioning games.
Instead of taking the traditional route, Ju-Hyeok tried to approach it differently. Almond took advantage of this opportunity when he had the most viewers and started chatting with them to form a firm foundation for his channel.
He made it clear that this channel was for watching Almond, not Battle Large. He showed his strengths perfectly.
"Sigh. Wow..." Ju-Hyeok had a bittersweet smile, "What a guy."
The chatroom was full of positivity. More and more viewers came in because the stream title also indicated Yu Ha-Yeon was there. Ju-Hyeok had already changed the title of the stream.
'Let's check the community forums as well.'?
The stream was doing well, but he needed to visit the forums if he wanted to see the reactions from Battle31.
"Phew,"?Ju-Hyeok nervously let out a deep breath and headed to Battle31.
***
[LIVE: Almond announced he's not playing shitty game Battle Large anymore]
That was the first title he saw after entering the forums. It wasn't an easy start.
'I bet they won't like it.'
These were people who liked Battle Large. They would likely be unhappy to hear their streamer was changing to a new game.
— For real
— He said he's going to play LIL now.
— It is a shitty game, but it's still popular.
└ If it's that logic, so is LIL.
— The title is provocative LOL
— When did he say that, you idiot!
└ How did he say it? I didn't see.
└ Almond just said there's nothing more he wants to do in Battle Large. He doesn't like playing a single game for too long.
└ For real? Was he a variety streamer?
└ He used to play Kingdom Age. Of course, he's a variety streamer.
‘I knew this was inevitable.’
The reactions were better than Ju-Hyeok thought. He expected swears and insults to be thrown around. A group of people would usually accuse them of taking advantage of the game, but those people weren't present.
It meant Almond's transition was executed well. Instead, there were reactions like these.
[Wow, he's leaving at his peak.]
[I wanted to see him reach Master, but he already proved himself enough.]
[This makes the Almond haters want to scream, “What about Challenger?!” LOL]
[For real, he's giving the haters a chance to clown on him.]
They were saying Almond left with good timing. Some even said he left at his peak. Of course, there was the other side of opinions too.
[Stfu. He's leaving so his fanboys can revere him even more. If he faced off against pros, he'd be shit on.]
[He's quitting because he doesn't want to get wrecked by pros.]
[Takoyaki is probably out to get him. Of course, he's scared.]
[Do you think he can use a bow like that in Challenger?]
[He's probably quitting because he needs to drop the act and use a gun in Challenger.]
They were stating that Almond was quitting because he was scared of the higher-tier players.
“Pfft,” Ju-Hyeok simply laughed them off. Compared to what he had imagined, their reactions were cute.
[He's a streamer. Why the fuck would he compete with pros, you idiot!]
After Ju-Hyeok commented, he left the community page.
"Phew."
He watched Almond's stream as he stretched. Yu Ha-Yeon was still interviewing Almond about random things.
'Is she into him?'
He felt like Yu Ha-Yeon was dragging on the interview even though they ran out of things to discuss. He knew Almond would end it well on his own, so he opened a new tab and went to the website: gosu.gg.
This website had all the information about Life is Legend or?LIL. Ju-Hyeok was on the website a week ago to research the champions Sang-Hyeon could play as.
In LIL, the avatars based on the user were reincarnated as champions who fought. In Battle Large, weapon mastery was the key to winning. In LIL, mastery lay in how well the user controlled their champion.
[Sana: Light's Melody]
Ju-Hyeok had his eyes on Sana. He liked how she was good with the bow.
[Tier 2]
The problem was that she was currently tier 2 in the meta, but Ju-Hyeok didn't care.
'That's even better.'
It was actually better. When did the trends ever sway Almond?
[Passive: A tiny target appears on the opponent. If the target is hit, the champion and ally's HP will be largely restored.]
This passive was the reason he picked this champion.
'If it's Almond, it'll be different.'
Almond, who could utilize the champion's passive to its fullest, would bring out 100% of this champion’s potential.