Season 2: Chapter 26. Reaction (1)
After Kim Woo-Jung tenaciously survived the zombie attack, the mission from a viewer wished for his quick disappearance.
[If Kim Woo-Jung dies, say "Chikicha"]
Interpreted literally, Almond had indeed cleared the mission.
"Chikicha," Almond exclaimed as Kim Woo-Jung fell.
— Super fast mission clear, lol
— Woo-Jung, cut!
— Seriously, Almond, you just peeked through the door and cleared the mission? Haha
— Wow lol
— Chikicha reaction speed 0.0001 seconds, wow
He still completed the mission even though he simply peeked through the door and said it.
Pa—ba—bam!
[Mission Success!]
[ShyNapoleon has donated 100,000 won!]
— It was you again!
— Now I see why you gave up on math...
— Math-failer, lol
Certainly, the person who set the mission didn’t expect such a scenario. He probably wanted Kim Ju-Hyeok to awaken splendidly, defeat Kim Woo-Jung, and overcome his past before Almond shouted, "Chikicha." Do things always go as planned?
[Freebie has donated 1,000 won.]
[I was expecting a thrilling and desperate struggle with the school bullies, but mission accomplished by spying through a keyhole and shouting "Chikicha!"]
— Lol, seriously
— Free money
— Ban long messages, go
Almond quietly banned the donor with a long message and shared his thoughts.
"I was lucky."
— King of luck, lol
— “What luck.”
— Woo-Jung's luck.
It was a simple, yet apt reflection. He just had good fortune. Almond had stabbed Kim Woo-Jung’s hand, but that was Hyun-Ah's plan.
Everything that followed was a series of countless random possibilities that came together. For instance, the guy fighting in front of Kim Woo-Jung slipped and became a zombie, exposing him to more danger. Even Baek Joon-Soo found Kim Woo-Jung's bite marks. All of it was coincidental.
These numerous coincidences allowed the three inside the snack bar to survive.
"Ha."
"We barely made it."
Thump.
Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun, as if on cue, collapsed to the floor. They had been more tense than they let on.
"Soboro Bread. Pizza Bread. How about that?"
Amid all this, Hyun-Ah pointed at herself with her thumb and smiled.
"Now call me General Hyun-Ah."
Her plan had worked well to her satisfaction.
"The strategy of using zombies was smart."
Hyun-Ah realized the zombies could recover, so she came up with a plan to unleash the zombies in the music room. If the zombies blocked the exit route, the gang would instinctively want to escape. Her plan had succeeded. Instead of breaking through the snack bar, the gang chose to leave and the snack bar team effectively safeguarded their base.
— General Hyun-Ah LOL
— Her plan worked!
— What's with General Hyun-Ah LOL
— General Hyun-Ah! General Hyun-Ah!
The viewers also cheered because of her strategy.
[SchoolViolencePrevention has donated 100,000 won!]
[Please pass this to the lady at the other table.]
[SnackBarSisterGODGOD has donated 10,000 won!]
[Big Brain Hyun-Ah! Big Brain Hyun-Ah! Big Brain Hyun-Ah!]
— What's with Big Brain Hyun-Ah LOL
— Big Brain Hyun-Ah LOL LOL LOL
— Not General Gun but General Hyun-Ah LOL LOL
— Big Brain Hyun-Ah, so in layman's terms, it means the brain is Hyuna."
Donations even came in for Hyun-Ah. Of course, the money was all for Almond, but nominally it was also for Hyun-Ah.
"Thank you for the donations, SchoolViolence and Sister."
— Hyun-Ah does the tricks and the nuts reap the money
— It's the middlemen who are the problem like this
— Does SchoolViolencePrevention become school violence like this LOL
[Can'tHoldCuriosity has donated 1,000 won.]
[But didn't you say you don't accept donations for advertisements... uh-uh!]
"Ah, Curiosity Holder. The mandatory playtime for advertisements actually ended yesterday. Today is not an advertisement."
— It wasn't an ad
— Curiosity Holder LOL, damn these nuts
— So envious
— Wow, it wasn't an ad;
— Must be fun
Yes, Almond already completed the mandatory playtime for the advertisement on the first day. The deal for the advertisement had been very favorable, so the mandatory playtime was very short.
Almond played Zombie School today out of genuine interest and moral purposes.
"Ah, speaking of mandatory playtime, I'll stop here for today."
Almond suddenly decided to end the stream.
— What kind of flow is this?
— ???
— What?!
— No! You should start counterattacking now!
— Oh no ??
"It's too late now. The counterattack against the bully gang will take place the day after tomorrow!"
Almond didn't prolong his farewell and simply said goodbye.
"Bye!"
— Bye bye bye
— :(
— Why the day after tomorrow??
— What, why not tomorrow?!
— Bye
— It was fun~~
— Make sure to do it next time!
Almond said he would play Zombie School the day after tomorrow. Why wasn't it tomorrow, but the day after remained a mystery.
***
The following day, an announcement appeared on the Treevy board.
[Notice of Today's Broadcast Break]
[Today, Almond's edited version of Evening Wide will be aired. Although there are no specific rules, a broadcast break has been decided to avoid Almond appearing on two platforms at the same time in the interest of fairness.]
Almond took a break from streaming because the edited version of Evening Wide would air today. Even though his stream was simply on the internet, it wasn’t a good strategy to have two broadcasts at the same time. After a discussion, Ju-Hyeok and Almond decided to take a break from streaming.
Under the announcement, many comments naturally expressed their disappointment.
— Is this telling us to go watch Evening Wide?
— Boss Almond! Open the door, please!
— Now I think I understand how the zombies feel when they bang on the doors... Wailing...
— Hey! Nut guy! Since when did you care about fairness?! Argh!
Of course, many accepted the reason and purely supported Almond's endeavors.
— Can't help it... Rest well.
— Wow! Today's the day!
— Evening Wide? When did you appear on that?? :O
— I watched that live. Gotta watch it again haha.
— Oh, I'll definitely watch it!
— What time is it on?
People started showing interest in the airing time of Evening Wide. A quick search revealed that it would air at 9 P.M.
***
Despite the official closing time being 6 P.M., many staff members were still present in a certain department of Ahsung Corporation at 9 P.M.
"Damn it. How can we do this now with just two newcomers? This is absurd."
Tap—tap—tap...!
The team leader’s frustrated typing filled the room as the other employees quietly turned their attention to their monitors. The atmosphere was tense. It seemed like they had a backlog of work to do.
"Yu Sang-Hyeon's case is understandable, but why did Kim Ju-Hyeok leave? He chose to leave on his own, didn't he?"
The team leader's irritation seemed to rise again and Deputy Chief Kim tried to calm things down. Amid this, a junior employee suddenly stood up.
"What's up with you?!" the team leader roared.
"Ah, the late-night snack you ordered earlier seems to have arrived. I'll go and get it."
"Ah... Okay. Go ahead."
‘What now...?’ The team leader scratched his head and turned back to the monitor.
Click. Click.
He began closing the haphazardly opened windows on his computer, preparing to take a short break for a meal.
"Damn, Director Park is such a jerk."
As he closed each window, another infuriating matter came to mind.
"He waits until Friday evening without approving and then tells me? Isn't this just messing with us? Why does he hate our team so much? Huh?"
Again, he habitually cursed Yu Sang-Hyeon and Kim Ju-Hyeok. Complaints naturally flowed as if it were his talent. He couldn't believe it and thought it was too much even after everything.
"What? With the restructuring, they even chose to let go of Yu Sang-Hyeon. No matter how unsatisfactory he might have been, how could they do this without saying a word to me?"
Not just that, their ace Kim Ju-Hyeok also left. He cursed in frustration.
"Hmm. Well, Manager Park is... kind of like that. You know it all too well," a junior staff member chuckled and tried to appease him.
Even the new employees knew why Manager Park picked on the team leader. It was a well-known fact. Obviously, the team leader knew too. He just wanted someone to sympathize with him. Knowing this, the junior was keen to keep him pleased.
"Our company needs to change. Is it okay to be this unproductive just because it's not his responsibility?" he complained.
"That's true," the junior sharply agreed.
It was like a table tennis rally going back and forth as the team leader complained and the junior agreed to soothe the situation. The team leader closed the document case with a thud and stood up. He noticed the youngest team member returning from afar.
"Let's all have some late-night snacks. We can eat in the break room," he announced and signaled their snack time.
The employees responded cheerfully, "Yes!"
***
The cool city night view unfolded beyond the window and looked like a watercolor painting thanks to the rain tapping on the glass. Deputy Kim chose a spot with the best view and pulled out a chair.
"Let’s sit here."
"That's a good spot. Eating late-night snacks at the office on a Friday. You are all working hard," he acknowledged.
While the employees busily set up the snacks, the team leader turned on the tablet connected to the table.
"Let's watch something while we eat. I'm too tired to talk."
He casually flipped through the channels, randomly stopping at one. His favorite female idol appeared on it.
"Wow, Seo-Rin looks beautiful," he commented.
Deputy Kim sat next to him and said, "Seo-Rin looks even prettier on talk shows like this than on stage."
The new employees agreed. It wasn't flattery and seemed to be sincere.
"Wow, she's pretty."
"Wow..."
The team leader chuckled and looked back at the new employees.
"What? You guys don't know Seo-Rin?"
They nodded in agreement.
Tsk.
The team leader shook his head and spoke in a youthful tone, "You don’t know our Seo-Rin. Seo-Rin, you see, she shines on camera even on talk shows like this..."
While they discussed, the screen suddenly switched to today's guest.
"Oh, he's handsome too."
"An idol, maybe..."
The new employees chatted ignorantly, but the deputies almost choked on their snacks in shock.
"Cough! Cough!"
Especially Deputy Kim, he nearly spilled his food.
"... Huh?" Even the team leader dropped his chopsticks in surprise.
"What, what's this? I know that guy..."
The main host asked what the team leader wanted to ask.
“Mr. Almond, your real name is Yu Sang-Hyeon, right?”
“Yes, that's correct.”
"Yu Sang-Hyeon?!" the team leader yelled out. His voice echoed in the empty break room.
Regardless, the show went on.
“Wow, nice to meet you, Mr. Yu Sang-Hyeon. You look much better in person. I was really surprised. Right, Seo-Rin?”
“Uh? Ah... Yes! Hahaha...”
“No, Seo-Rin, you seem out of it, right?”
“Not at all!”
“Hey, what do you think, Seo-Rin? He could be the center of an idol group, right?”
Seo-Rin looked flustered and laughter spread from the audience.