Chapter 263. New Leap (2)
Chapter 263. New Leap (2)
A woman with neatly tied flowing black hair was pulling a bow on a high hill.
It was So-Yeon.
Sang-Hyeon, not particularly surprised, mumbled as he approached.
‘What is that?’
So-Yeon was pulling on a blue bow.
Sang-Hyeon approached and curiously asked, 'So-Yeon, what is that?'
A youthful voice, quite different from his present voice, flowed out.
'Hmm?'
So-Yeon momentarily tilted her head and looked down at Sang-Hyeon.
Whoosh…
A mountain breeze swept her hair, shaking her neatly tied hair.
When their eyes met, Sang-Hyeon smiled.
'That blue bow... it's beautiful.'
So-Yeon's face flushed at the word "beautiful," as if she knew he wasn't referring to the bow.
She brushed her hair back and murmured, 'Almond.'
Sang-Hyeon couldn’t hear her well at first. No, he heard what she said, but wanted to hear it again.
'What did you say?'
'It's called Almond. The name of this bow.'
Then, So-Yeon's hair turned golden, and the white uniform she wore became a blue cape.
The young Sang-Hyeon opened his mouth in shock.
'Raina?'
So-Yeon suddenly became Raina. Or was she playing Raina in the game? It was definitely So-Yeon's face.
Unlike Raina's uniquely chilly vibe, it was a youthful and soft face.
Her lips moved as an energy rose.
'Now, look.'
At what? Sang-Hyeon turned to look at where So-Yeon was looking.
There was a plain spread out below the hill.
Surprisingly, Supervisor Park was tied to a cross over there with his head completely shaved. He was so high up that he would surely die if he fell. And beneath him, a bonfire was blazing. His luxury shoes had already melted, and his feet were burning.
'I’m sorry! I’m sorry for everything! Please, someone save me!'
He wailed in a pathetic voice, but Sang-Hyeon strangely felt no sympathy.
Then So-Yeon whispered, 'Almond's liberated arrow.'
A blue spark burst from the bow. It was her ultimate skill. An arrow with incredible firepower accurately struck the supervisor's hefty lower abdomen.
Whoosh!
The arrow directly struck where Sang-Hyeon always thought about shooting during his company days.
Bang!
The blue target burst, Supervisor Park screamed in pain, and So-Yeon laughed out loud.
Sang-Hyeon also laughed with So-Yeon.
'What kind of dream are you having?!'
Suddenly, Ju-Hyeok picked a fight from the sky.
The sun was supposed to be there, but Ju-Hyeok's baby-like face had taken its place instead.
***
"... Damn."
Sang-Hyeon blankly stared at the monitor as the memory of his dream came back. He couldn't remember anything when he woke up, but suddenly recalled it now.
“By the way, what were you dreaming about earlier? You couldn't stop smiling.”
Right, it was all because of Ju-Hyeok's question earlier. Sang-Hyeon couldn't remember then, but now he remembered everything.
He was about to go on air, but his head was cluttered with the dream.
[The stream will soon start.]
Clap clap!
Sang-Hyeon slapped his cheeks, gathered his thoughts, and turned toward the camera.
'Focus.'
No matter how casual the talk show was, he couldn't take it lightly because this was his job now.
[Current Viewers: 2.1k]
The viewers gradually poured in.
[Current Viewers: 13k]
As soon as his stream started, it surpassed ten thousand viewers.
'What is this…?'
The chat crazily scrolled by.
— Wow! Almond!
— Omg! Omg! Omg!
— Open the door, boss!
— Dog! Dog! Dog! Dog!
— Son! You can never become Almond! Son! You can never become Almond! Son! You can never become Almond!
— Mom! There are nuts in the newspaper here! Mom! There are nuts in the newspaper here! Mom! There are nuts in the newspaper here!
Ding!
The camera turned on right at that moment.
Almond appeared, fully recovered from the fatigue of the finals. He already ate Ju-Hyeok's tomato stew and dreamt of a happily ever after dream.
— Huh? Is it a real after-party stream today?
— OHHHHHHH!!
— Wow, he's not in the capsule!
Viewers quickly noticed that the background behind Almond was his house. Today's stream wasn’t in his capsule.
— Congrats on the win, bro.
— Win! Win! Win!
— The winner has arrived!
As soon as he appeared, some viewers congratulated him on his victory.
Then Sang-Hyeon finally remembered they won the finals yesterday. He couldn't focus on being the winner with his mind preoccupied elsewhere.
[Current Viewers: 74k]
His stream had now surpassed seventy thousand viewers.
'This many viewers?'
He hadn't expected the viewers to rise to this level. Even twenty thousand viewers during the tournament was already significant, but the count instantly jumped to seventy thousand as the stream started.
— Wow, the viewer count is crazy, lol.
— It looks like something big happened, lol.
— Did everyone come to see the after-party stream?
— Maybe Almond can tell us more about his past?
— There was a news article that came out on OneYearDaily, lol
— Is this the power of Korean streamers?
Seventy thousand was a number that exerted tremendous pressure. Almond's channel was now in between major and minor broadcasting.
He doubted he could handle it alone.
'Anyway, they're just here for me.'
Almond calmed himself down. Not everyone was a fan. They're just temporarily wondering about the archery boy.
[Current Viewers: 91k]
In the meantime, the view count broke through ninety thousand.
“Ahem.” Almond cleared his throat and greeted them like usual. "Hi, Treevy!"
The chat soared up like crazy in response to his bright greeting.
— Brooo!
— Bro, I'm dying!
— OMG, he's so handsome.
— Did he smile at me?
— Mom! Almond smiled at me! Mom! Almond smiled at me! Mom! Almond smiled at me!
The chat was scrolling so fast that it was hard to respond to each one, even for Almond.
Almond decided to wait until everything cooled down, but the viewers had no intention of waiting.
They started to donate.
Ba-bam!
[RubySword has donated a whopping 200,000 won!]
[I cried watching the video... Congratulations on your final victory! Please keep streaming in the future!]
"Ah. Thank you RubySword for the donation. I always appreciate it. Thank you."
Ba-bam!
[Eggplant has donated 100,000 won!]
[I donated by selling my younger sibling's shoes... Congratulations on winning!]
"Um… Eggplant, you're kidding, right? If your sibling threatens you, I will refund it."
— Lol, poor younger sibling!
— That's so random, lol
— That's a fitting username, lol. One of the world's three most hated foods is eggplant.
— I’m sure your younger sibling would understand if you told them you used that money to fund Almond.
— The younger sibling is wearing shoes when big brother can't even donate Almond? This crazy world!
— Lol!
Following those who usually led the charge in donations to Almond's stream, countless other donations flowed in.
"Thank you Tiny for the 500,000 won. I can't give you any reaction today... haha. Thank you, LalaTaco for the 100,000 won. I'm very nervous too..."
The donation messages started piling up.
[DelayCheck has donated 30,000 won!]
[Current Time: 3:11]
"The current time is 3:25, but... thank you anyway."
— Bro, that's not it. They're checking for donation delays, lol
— Wow, donations have been piling up for 10 minutes?
— That's crazy...
— Almost all donations are more than 10,000 won. This is insane. This is the world-class Almond?!
'Donations are getting delayed.'
It took Almond almost twenty more minutes to read all the donations before he could finally resume streaming.
"Thank you for all the congratulations. Thank you so much. And thank you to those who waited."
— We can do anything for the winner!
— How much is all of that? lol
— Massive donations. As many as the viewers
— When is the after-party?
— We have to wait until my bro gets all the donations!
"Yes. Today's stream is for the after-party, as you all expected in the chat."
— Wow!
— The talk show!
— I think I'm going to ascend. It's an Almond talk show!
It was a casual talk show and quite popular content among Almond's frequent viewers. Not because Almond was talkative, but because he rarely did such content.
'I hope it goes well.'
Almond always slightly worried before a talk show about whether it would flow smoothly or be entertaining. Of course, he never expressed that to his viewers.
'I need to find a natural flow.'
A naturally engaging topic would be a good start. Almond easily thought of such a topic: the viewer count.
[Current Viewers: 102,000]
At some point, it had crossed one hundred thousand.
Almond asked while glancing at the number, "So I can see many of you are here today. Is there a specific reason?"
Almond was genuinely curious. Presumably, everyone else was also curious about the viewer count. They couldn't all possibly be Almond fans. There must be some other reason.
— LOL, there are so many!
— Why did so many come? lol
— Go watch Almond's crazy movie first, newcomers~~
— Bro, you're number 1 on YouTube's real-time trending videos right now.
"Number 1 on YouTube? Is that why?"
Almond went to YouTube for a moment, and his eyes widened.
The video about Sang-Hyeon's past sat at the top of the real-time trending videos.
[View Count: 1,105,000]
The view count had reached 1.1 million even before twenty-four hours had passed. Almond's YouTube channel had produced another record-breaking video.
— Wow, now he's really a world-class!
— Almond has grown so much ㅠㅠ
— Amazing;;
— Won't he go to a major channel at this rate?
— Honestly, he's a star in the making.
— He's a celebrity now!
— He could even be a guest on shows like Evening Wide! Or CutePie too.
The viewers imagined all sorts of scenarios when his video became the top trending video in real time.
Sang-Hyeon also briefly thought about it, but his stream was more important.
He quickly resumed talking, "Ah, so everyone came because of this?"
Ding.
As if to answer his question, a donation came in.
[Qurious! has donated 100,000 won!]
[Are you doing a Q&A? Hehe.]
"Yes, I am. Thank you so much for the 100,000 won donation."
He gave an incredibly quick answer without realizing it.
— Of course, he is. It's 100,000 won! This is a no-brainer capitalistic answer, LOL.
— His face didn't change at all, hahaha.
Another donation followed.
[IdolSamaIsTheBest has donated 1000 won]
[Is it just my imagination, or do you answer faster depending on the donation amount?]
Unfortunately, he didn't get to hear Almond's answer.
"Shall we do a Q&A then?"
— Lol, a natural skip.
— He didn't skip! There's a 10 minute delay for 1000 won donations! ??? Something happened?
Almond's after-party stream switched to a Q&A format thanks to the previous donations.
"Ask me anyth—"
Ding.
Before he could even finish his sentence, a donation came in.
[ForeverAlone has donated 100,000 won!]
[Bro, how do you get a girlfriend?]
The first question wasn’t an easy one.
— Lol, it's so difficult...
— Seriously, just grow up, ForeverAlone
— Why would you ask him that? Lol.
— It's a question you’ll find the answer to by looking in the mirror.
***
[Current Viewers: 115K]