Season 2: Chapter 14. Wave After Wave (2)
The atmosphere in the chat suddenly changed. The viewers were taken aback.
— ???
— What happened? What's this?
— Just leave?
— He's upset, lol.
— Don't go ??
— ??? Nope~ Can't~ Chikicha~
— Is this a game dialogue? It’s not real, right?
— Why are you leaving so soon?
Ba-bam!
Urgent donations poured in.
[Mr.OpenDoor has donated 10,000 won!]
[Abandon the snack shop lady!? Abandon her!?]
[BestDonator has donated 10,000 won!]
[Bro, are you upset? Please come back!!]
[MissionHunter has donated 10,000 won!]
[Bro, what about the mission you were given?]
"Yes, thank you for the donations. The snack shop lady will be safe since I left them there. I'm not upset. About the mission..."
Come to think of it, he still had a mission left. It was a high-priced one, so it was quite bothersome. The mission was to get rid of those delinquents.
'There's only about an hour left.'
Most of the time had already passed. He didn’t know if he would encounter that gang of students again or if they were even alive. It was hard to gauge from just one day of gameplay.
"If you give me the mission again next time, I'll do it."
Almond made his decision. It was best to end the stream now, so new viewers would wait for the next one with curiosity.
"Well~ Bye!"
[Stream has ended]
***
Meanwhile, the marketing team at HighGames, which distributed Zombie School, was having a discussion.
"But spending a total of 4,000 in advertisement on one person... Aren't we getting carried away? Even if this person is related to a previous game..."
Joo Ji-Young, the team leader of HighGames' marketing team said, "It doesn't seem worth it."
She had always been skeptical about the advertising fee for Almond. It seemed she still felt the same way.
"Why is the game developer getting involved in this? They should leave the marketing to us," one of the employees tried to justify how they felt.
"Kingdom has a loyal fan base. It will undoubtedly be effective if a streamer is popular among them, right? Almond is like a star to them."
"But how many are a part of that fan base? Kingdom lost its popularity due to its quality compared to its hype!"
"Um..."
The male employee couldn't counter her argument.
"It would've been better if it was Bubblegum. He specializes in this type of game... and whatever he plays becomes trendy on Treevy, right?"
"But Bubblegum's rate is... very, very high."
"That's why we should stick to just Bubblegum."
Team Leader Joo always recommended Bubblegum.
However, the advertisement went to Almond with a significant amount of money due to the developer's request.
"We've spent too much on Almond this time, so we can't even approach Bubblegum."
"But ma'am, what can we do about the developer's request?"
Unlike Punk, HighGames had a definite advantage as another game distribution company. Whether the developer supplied the game exclusively or not determined their survival, so they couldn't ignore the developer's influence.
"WePlug did it, right? Schedule a meeting with them today."
"Today? Do you even know who the representative of WePlug is?"
“So should we just let our authority be taken away like this? Are we going to keep being dragged around like this? We’re still a game distributor no matter how much they lagged behind Punk, right?”
"Well, that's..."
"Schedule a meeting for tomorrow at 11 A.M."
"Yes, yes..."
An employee shifted his gaze to the computer. He spoke up again after a moment, "But... Manager. The response seems better than what you feared, no?"
"... Response? Of course, the response would be good. The game is innovative, but isn't the issue whether it has influence or not?"
"No, I mean... the influence is good. There's a clip circulating everywhere right now!"
***
Certainly, Almond's stream had ended. In regret, his viewers didn't leave yet.
— Seriously, is he doing it like this??
— I'll get my revenge.
— The fans won't forgive you!
They were angry about how Almond suddenly ended the stream.
— I'm going to share the clip now, only with female streamers, bye.
People started making video donations to other streamers.
"What's this? A clip from Almond?"
Soon, videos titled [Even Almond has times in games where he messes up] or [Even Almond has crappy moments (literally)] started circulating as donations.
"Did Almond mess up in the game? He plays really well though?"
Streamers clicked on these videos out of curiosity. Who would've imagined that the mess in the title was that kind of mess?
“Why, why are you trying to leave!? Just come in for now!”
“Because... I can.”
Seeing the video, they covered their mouths in shock.
"Oh my, is he really doing that?"
"Is... is this for real?!"
The sight of Almond desperately trying to break through zombies because he needed to go to the bathroom felt pitiful.
Then...
"Isn't that... him trying to do his business after saying that? How, how is that... haha..."
“HAHAHA!”
The pity quickly turned to laughter.
"Heheheheh!"
"HAHAHA!"
"Giggle... Oh my, Almond..."
While some openly laughed, others tried to hold it in and didn’t want Almond to be embarrassed. Ultimately, they couldn't suppress their laughter.
— It's funnier that he got fooled haha. Why did he fall for that? haha
— Such a noob hahaha
— Toilet Issue
— He got fooled? Hahaha
They couldn't resist the scene where Almond came out after relieving himself and saw the chat. His expression instantly changed and he logged out with an extremely serious expression.
"Hehehe, that avatar's expression... hehe..."
"Hahaha... Oh, what to do... hahaha..."
That avatar remained in the bathroom and blankly stood there. With both arms stretched out, he wore a surprised expression that contained both astonishment and silliness. It looked even more shocking because of Almond's handsome face.
— That expression is hilarious hahaha
— He really got fooled hahaha
— Pure 100% newbie hahaha
— Wow haha"
***
The video donations began as revenge for the stream’s abrupt ending. Initially, it was mostly about sending video donations to female streamers to mock Almond.
However, viewers from those channels started sharing the clip with others and it quickly became a meme called [Oops, messed up in this game (literally)]. As this quickly spread, it was only a matter of time before this ridiculous game gained attention.
"What kind of game allows such a situation to happen inside it?"
"What is this? I've never seen it."
"It feels so realistic."
The streamers who received the video donations show interest first. Among them was a very well-known streamer who was always at the forefront of trending minor games on Treevy.
"Hahaha! Gum!"
It was Bubblegum.
"Huh? What's this clip? Almond?"
As soon as he started his stream, he received the clip of Almond rushing to the bathroom. Bubblegum initially laughed a lot and became interested in the game later.
"... But what's this game? It looks kinda fun."
— Really haha, I'm curious
— What's the game that made even Almond desperate like this?
— If Gum bro plays it, it'll be a riot haha
***
People thought about Bubblegum in two ways.
— He somehow always knows about the trending games, lol.
He read the rise and fall of a game very well.
— Or perhaps it’s just that any game Bubblegum plays becomes so fun that it naturally becomes popular.
Or any game he played became a hit.
In any case, everyone concluded that whatever minor game he played would trend among gamers for a while. No matter which opinion one thought, this fact remained unchanged.
As a result, Bubblegum received truly high advertisement fees compared to the amount from his live viewers and YouTube subscribers.
"Oh, this looks fun. You know I love survival games."
Zombie School had piqued his interest. This was a significant event for the developers and marketers. It was like a blessing. If Zombie School had its own stocks, there would’ve been a sharp increase in its price.
If Bubblegum played the game out of pure curiosity, the effect would be much greater than paying for advertising.
"This kind of twisted survival game seems really fun, no?"
— Twisted, lol.
— Lol, get ready to burn your taste buds.
— If Gum plays, that would be amazing...
— Oh, it'll be fun lol.
— Gum is good at survival games, so it might not be that spicy!
— Oh, I've been missing this. Please do it!
The audience's reaction was good. They could finally watch a typical Bubblegum stream after the variety show ended.
"So~ I have a game prepared for today. I'll try it tomorrow."
— Wow!
— Awesome.
— Really? I'm so excited lol
— I'll definitely be there tomorrow for real.
"I should probably download it."
He went to Punk’s site to search for the game and was momentarily surprised.
"... It's not here?"
Bubblegum checked HighGames just in case. Sure enough, they were exclusively selling it there.
"Ah. It's on HighGames."
— Lol.
— Gum has betrayed Punk!
— (suspicious...)
Bubblegum scratched his head, but downloaded the game without hesitation.
"Everyone, a partner is a partner. I always go over the game quota, so it doesn't matter~"
Liking the game was the top priority for Bubblegum, so he started the download.
"I'll give this a try tomorrow."
***
The next day, a male employee at a HighGames department discovered something while searching the web.
'Huh?'
He instinctively turned his head to check the time. It was 11 A.M.
'No way.'
He found out too late and quickly took a screenshot of it to send a message, but the recipient didn't read it. Of course, they were already in a meeting.
"Excuse me, I need to enter the conference room for a moment."
He urgently went to the conference room where Team Leader Joo Ji-Young would be. They would be in big trouble if they didn't know about this information.
“Huff... Puff...”
Panting, he knocked on the conference room door.
Squeak.
A sound from inside the room immediately followed.
"Bubblegum is the best choice, right?"
"Yes, it’s a nearly perfect marketing strategy, especially considering his high preference for survival games..."
‘Ah, this can't be.’ The male employee immediately sensed that he was too late.
Team Leader Joo Ji-Young hadn't been entirely pleased with Almond's performance the day before. They would merely be at the client's beck and call if things continued that way, so she requested a meeting with WePlug's CEO to take the initiative.
However, it seemed they had completely lost that initiative now. As expected, the CEO of WePlug swept back his hair and smirked with the gaze of a predator.
"Hey, Ho-Tae," he called over to the burly employee beside him and gave an order.
A video clip was projected onto the wall. It was a clip from Bubblegum's stream as he downloaded Zombie School.
"Bubblegum is downloading it. He even said he would play it tomorrow."
"... What?"
Team Leader Joo Ji-Young's eyes went blank as she was unprepared for this situation.
"It's not even an advertisement. He just decided to play it, right? Isn't this the best advertisement? We effectively got an advertisement from Bubblegum at Almond's rate."
"But isn't this just a coincidence?"
The man burst into laughter. A coincidence? As if something like that would happen to him.
"Ah, primitive people saw lightning and thought it was a spear from a god. Why?"
"...?"
"Because they didn't know. They didn't know how it formed. Because they were ignorant," he spoke somewhat insulting words.
Descriptors like stubborn, rude, eccentric, and arrogant always accompanied this man. However, one word preceded all other.
'Genius...'
Correct, he was a genius. Anyone who met WePlug's CEO, Kim Yi-Seo, for the first time always used that term.
"If you advertise through Almond, Bubblegum will end up playing it. This is all calculated marketing, Team Leader. It's intricate and grand enough to appear coincidental to you."