Season 2: Chapter 3. Again (3)
Viewers started commenting in the live chat when Almond appeared on the set.
— Nut! Nut! Nut! Nut!
— Oh, our Almond succeeded!!
— Amazing, he’s so hot even in front of male idols. What is this beauty? Omg!
— Wow, bro, I’m not even kidding, but you are shining.
The chats started to rise.
Ju-Hyeok nervously watched the count. It was a chat counter that he downloaded.
[21]
[59]
[92]
The numbers gradually increased. At first, the numbers themselves weren’t important. The important thing was the picture of the increasing graph.
‘It's similar.’
The graph trend looked similar to In-Ho, the male idol guest who went before Almond.
Of course, In-Ho led with absolute numbers. Almond’s numbers could become the same eventually because of the similar rising curve.
‘It’s going up even more.’
The graph soared even higher than In-Ho's.
— Wow, it’s no joke when Almond is dressed with makeup.
— Is he crazy? Why is he so handsome? What should I do?
— Wow, seeing the nut brother here, lol!
— The outfit and hair are a perfect match!!
— Dad! Why am I not Almond?
The chats constantly scrolled up. The initial boost lasted longer than expected.
‘Simply having this many chats isn’t all good... but it looks decent right now.’
The talk itself had to be interesting to get into the edited version, but it was hard for the PD to ignore the chats.
Almond had succeeded for now with similar reactions to In-Ho, who had the highest fandom firepower among the guests.
‘It's because he’s a new face.’
People seeing Almond for the first time grew interested because they were seeing him for the first time. Those who knew him were already interested in seeing Almond on a talk show. They were excited and had expectations for Almond in this new format.
What stories would come and go? How would celebrities react to Almond?
‘It went over three hundred already?’
The numbers went up to three hundred chat messages per minute.
— Almond sat in front of Han Min-Gu, lol.
— Look at Kim True blankly looking at the script, haha. He’s studying Almond to see if there’s anything he can pick on.
— I feel like Han Min-Gu would say something about his looks since he hates handsome men.
Ju-Hyeok thought the production team would react with this many chat messages and looked at the filming team.
“Wow. The reaction is good, right?”
As Ju-Hyeok expected, the PD was murmuring in the front with the writers.
“He’s better than expected, right?”
“Yes, the numbers are considerable too. He comes out well on the camera.”
“It seems the casting was good.”
“The fans are quite loyal. That many people came to watch the live broadcast and chatted this much.”
The production team also evaluated the chat reactions as good.
‘Now, only Almond has to do well.’
Everything was set. Only the talk show had to properly proceed.
***
Sang-Hyeon swallowed his sense of admiration as he entered the set.
‘Wow.’
First, the hosts welcomed him and made all sorts of fuss.
“The archery prodigy to a regular employee at Ahsung corporation, and now to a game streamer! The genius of transformation! Streamer Almond is here!”
Beyond them stood numerous large cameras. It looked like a betrayal scene in a noir film where all the guns pointed at the protagonist.
‘It’s scary.’
Almond thought it felt fierce as he sat in his seat. He could see the people beyond the camera too: the staff, writers, PD, director, etc.
‘So all these people are on the show while watching such things.’
Now, he realized that the variety shows he had been watching without much thought were made in such environments.
Thump. Thump.
His heart started beating faster, but Almond skillfully regulated his breathing and calmed his nerves. Only then did the other voices start to reach his ears.
“Oh, did the three of you already introduce yourselves in the waiting room?”
Han Min-Gu, the main MC, prompted the guests.
In-Ho spoke as if waiting for this moment, “Yes! We did earlier! I was here first and when Almond entered, I really thought he was an actor when the door opened!”
— As expected, our child is always trying his best, right??
— The first to come and introduce himself, I could imagine him in my head! He’s so cute.
— Don’t be a pushover, baby!
— Why are you answering so earnestly to a simple question, In-Ho?
Almond turned and looked at Lil Grass for a minute.
Lil Grass came late to the waiting room and wouldn’t know the truth that In-Ho's words were a lie.
“In-Ho woo~ I’ll introduce myself as an idol again. Hello! We are Blossom!”
At those words, Han Min-Gu burst into laughter.
“Wait, do you do that even when you’re alone?”
“It’s, it’s a habit...”
— How do you do that alone? Lol.
— Blossom??? Alone???
— Someone, please stick Lulu! This pushover is so pitiful...
— Pushover, don’t wag your tail to everyone!
His fans nicknamed him Pushover and raised their firepower in the chats. The fandom called him that because In-Ho usually acted according to a pushover character concept.
‘Pushover...’
Almond ended up laughing sardonically at the strange nickname.
Even the cast could see the chat in real-time. On the side of the filming team, the chats updated on a large screen in real time.
They weren’t allowed to directly react to the chats, but it was necessary to include some messages while talking on the show.
In this regard, Almond had some advantages as a streamer.
“Really? Mr. Almond?”
Han Min-Gu asked Almond if it was true.
In-Ho’s face stiffened, but Almond had no change in expression.
Han Min-Gu seemed to have asked Almond a question, which didn’t have any particular meaning behind it.
“Ah, yes. It’s my first time seeing an idol. I was very surprised by how polite you were.”
Han Min-Gu clapped his hands in agreement.
“Ah~ Right, the etiquette education idols get these days is very properly done.”
Kim True also nodded from next to him.
“Right. These days in our country, it feels like idols are almost the last guardians of Confucianism, right?”
“Yes~ Later in history books, it’ll be recorded that the job title of a scholar was changed to an idol. It’s gonna happen soon.”
— Last guardians of Confucianism, lol.
— Han Min-Gu is so funny.
— Scholar is going to be an idol soon.
— It’s sort of similar, lol!
— Right. Isn’t writing and reciting poetry the same as dancing and singing? With strict etiquette, hahaha.
Han Min-Gu felt his smooth talk working and laughed. Then he proceeded with the show.
“Well. Since all the guests have arrived, let’s go back to the beginning. Let’s start the questions with Ms. Lil Grass.”
In order of the guests’ arrival, the talk proceeded as each spoke about their reasons for transforming.
Lil Grass took about twenty minutes to promote her new album and spread philosophical enlightenment.
In-Ho mainly promoted his current drama. He chattered about fellow actors and added on a part about a bad acting controversy, which took around forty minutes.
“Now, it’s Almond's turn,” Han Min-Gu spoke and looked closely at Almond again.
Han Min-Gu blinked after observing for a while.
“Wait... this person. He’s not the most famous, but his visuals are the most celebrity-like, aren’t they?”
He sought agreement from the other hosts and sharply asked Seo-Rin among them.
“What do you think, Seo-Rin?”
“Yes?!”
The girl idol host, Seo-Rin, had remained relatively quiet and felt startled.
‘Girl idol group SugarSugar... variety show newbie. In charge of visuals.’
Almond reviewed the information about her and looked back at her.
“How is Mr. Almond? He would immediately take the center position in an idol group, wouldn’t he?”
— For real
— He’s really awesome
— Hahaha, becoming the center of an idol group at 30 hahaha.
— Even though he's thirty, it's possible.
— Info: Almond is not thirty, but 28.
In-Ho’s expression temporarily hardened at the mention of being a center idol, but it wasn’t captured on the main camera.
“Ah, ah. Yes! Right!”
“What do you mean right, Seo-Rin? Is the center position only about the face?”
Han Min-Gu snickered as if he caught her.
“Ah... No!”
“Focus.”
“Okay!”
— Hahaha, why is Seo-Rin being teased?
— She’s so cute, hahaha.
— She's really embarrassed, hahaha. Was she thinking about something else?
Han Min-Gu hit the script on the desk.
“Let’s really focus now. Seo-Rin, why are you so silent today? Did you come after a tough schedule?"
Another host next to them, the variety show personality and former idol Hyeon-Min, interjected.
"She didn’t have any schedule before this show! She just can't focus because she’s here with two handsome guys~!"
“Hey!! What are you talking about!?”
At Seo-Rin’s intense reaction, Han Min-Gu laughed and asked again.
“Wait, really?”
He excitedly set out to find the culprit.
Han Min-Gu’s eyes had never shone this much since the start of the show.
— Han Min-Gu feels alive now, hahaha.
— He found the prey, hahaha.
— Please understand that he’ll die if he can’t tease people.
"Who is it, who? Huh? Is it In-Ho?"
Seo-Rin's eyes followed Han Min-Gu's hand and she turned toward In-Ho. She had an ambiguous expression.
Next, he pointed at Almond.
"Or Almond?"
“Ah, no, really. Why are you doing this!? Please!”
Seo-Rin lightly pushed Han Min-Gu away and averted her gaze.
“This really is an old-fashioned talk show.”
Han Min-Gu, who had PTSD at the word old-fashioned, shot up again.
“Hey. Why are you suddenly pretending to care about old and new talk shows? You don’t know such things!”
— Headshot!
— “Spot on”
— I’m going to explode from laughter, hahaha.
— TBH, Seo-Rin isn’t the type to be interested in talk show trends, lol.
Han Min-Gu found Seo-Rin’s reaction funny and teased her even more.
“Hey~ Seo-Rin, but there’s a possibility. Mr. Almond is not thirty, but twenty-eight. It’s written below in the script. Really, the production team? They’re joking about everything.”
“Oh. That was because Mr. Almond initially said he was thirty.”
“Huh? Really? Anyway, we didn’t let Mr. Almond speak at all. I’m really sorry.”
Almond nodded with a smile and gestured that it was fine.
“Let’s start by knowing your age in detail. Mr. Almond, how did you start as an archer?”
— Finally, talking about Almond
— Why is Seo-Rin looking so focused now? Hahaha.
— Wow, was that person an archer? Why so handsome? I came to see In-Ho, but I’m captivated!!
— ??? Let’s talk about why you became a streamer, LOL!
Almond slowly told a story from the past.
“In middle school, I had to choose a club activity. Our school was a kind of model school for physical education, so everything was free.”
“Ah, it was free? Aren’t club activities normally free?”
“Well, club activities themselves were free. However, you were usually personally responsible if activities cost money.”
“Ah-ha! Yes, and then?”
“Rather than soccer or basketball, archery had cool equipment and it looked expensive in my eyes. I chose something that looked expensive since it was free anyway.”
— Huh?
— Almond always lived in a capitalist world.
— LOL, what a simple reason.
— He only cares about the most efficient things, lol.
— Almond revealed that he started archery to waste our taxes...
“Ah. I see. Well, I like that mindset. It’s hard to think like that at that age. Was there a reason?”
“When I was young, my parents passed away. Being raised by my grandmother made me sensitive to money.”
At this, the hosts and others let out a sigh. Everyone showed a sad expression.
— Oh....
— Of course, the true hero comes from a dark and sad background.
— No...
— Anyone who talked bad about Almond’s parents, I will beat you up!
Han Min-Gu also sighed for a moment before proceeding with the next question.
“Ah, so that’s how you started archery. Did you continue to be an athlete just like that?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. You must have had talent.”
“Yes.”
“???”
The response briefly surprised Han Min-Gu.
— Lol, this is a nut conversation.
— But he can’t say he lacks talent, right?
— Yes, he had endless talent in archery, for sure.
“Wow, you're more interesting than I thought. I like straightforward answers like this. This is a talent, right? A certain craziness. Hahaha.”
Han Min-Gu’s perspective on Almond seemed to have changed from simply watching a guest to watching a fun show. He felt that Almond had a solid concept in his character.
Since Han Min-Gu was the main host who led the show, Almond’s screen time in the edited version would increase significantly if Min-Gu showed interest in Almond.
“If you look at the script here, it says you were immediately the best in the school. Is that true?”
“Yes,” Almond responded without hesitation.
“Wow, are you really a genius?”
“I am really a genius.”
The hosts laughed at Almond’s answer, which came out in 0.001 seconds.
“Hahahaha!” Han Min-Gu laughed especially hard.
It seemed to suit his taste.
“The chat says Almond is responding very fast. He’s really really fast.”
“Ahahaha! Right! He’s half a tempo faster than the others.”
Kim True also laughingly agreed.
— Crazy, hahaha, almond
— He’s even physically crushing the talk, lol.
— He’s the “Real genius”
— Me? I’m the real genius.
— This is “real,” lol.
Afterward, the conversation centered mainly around Almond for almost thirty minutes.
As Almond continuously claimed to be a genius, Han Min-Gu eventually suggested watching the video.
“Uh... There is that video, right? You won a competition. Let’s watch that.”
With this video, Almond grabbed much more screen time than In-Ho.
The chat reactions weren’t bad either.
“Wow. It’s all tens? This is really no joke.”
The hosts couldn’t help but admire his archery skills in the video.
Even In-Ho blankly stared and lost his spirit.
“Wow... Sh...”
“Holy.”
Seo-Rin was also shocked and her eyes widened as big as tennis balls. She cautiously attempted to ask Almond the first question.
“Uhm, you shoot the arrows a bit more quickly than others. I’m seeing this for the first time. Is there a reason?”
“Ah... Just... um... Should I shoot it later...?”
“Puff.”
A hollow laugh burst out from the panel.
— Deliberately? His expression, lol.
— TMI: In fact, he wanted to finish it quickly and just eat almonds.
— Just shoot later? LOL.
Han Min-Gu intervened and sorted it out, “No, Seo-Rin~! He’s just shooting quickly because he can shoot quickly~! When we finish our shoot early, do you ask why we finished so early?”
Again, laughter went around the set.
— Literally, haha.
— Han Min-Gu's expression is full of annoyance, haha.
— Seo-Rin is pitiful..
“Anyway, Mr. Almond. You really shoot fast and accurately.”
Han Min-Gu slowly turned the script.
“Um... But you quit this archery. You didn’t even go to the Olympics and retired at a very young age.”
Anxiety overwhelmed In-Ho’s face as the conversation slowly exceeded his talk time. Unfortunately for him, the talk about Almond was only properly starting from here.
“Is there a reason you retired?”
Almond caught his breath at the question he was expecting to answer since a long time ago.