Season 2: Chapter 43. The Family (2)
Ju-Hyeok spoke first in the car on their way back, "How was it today?"
Their eyes met in the rearview mirror. Almond pondered whether to talk about it or not. It was certainly good news, but nothing had been decided yet. It could be a false alarm, but it was weird not to tell Ju-Hyeok. Who else could Almond talk to if he didn’t tell Ju-Hyeok and Ji-Ah?
Almond decided to tell them everything.
"What!" Ju-Hyeok was startled. "Isn't that good news? Right?"
He wore the brightest expression. Every time Sang-Hyeon went to the hospital, they only ever heard that they had to reduce his gaming time because of his worsening condition.
Now, for the first time, they received some good news.
"Doesn't it mean you can continue gaming?"
“Yeah.”
“And if the doctor said it's promising...”
Ju-Hyeok wanted to say, 'Your arm might heal,' but stopped himself.
"That means the chances are high!" Ji-Ah added on from the passenger seat.
"That's really great, right? Wow!"
"Yeah, it's good news."
Sang-Hyeon nodded with a smile.
"Wow, Ju-Hyeok! The capsule the CEO made must really be effective!"
Ji-Ah understood that the good news was thanks to the custom capsule, but that was only half true.
'She said she didn't know the exact reason.'
Song Ha-Na was very cautious about discussing the reason. She promised to tell them after the request she sent to an institution in the United States was completed.
"By the way..."
Ju-Hyeok changed the topic.
"Was the person in the Rolls Royce the father of the lady who was also getting treatment with you?"
"Yeah, seems so."
"Wow..."
Ju-Hyeok and Ji-Ah looked at each other. There seemed to be something they both knew.
"Why?"
Sang-Hyeon looked puzzled and Ju-Hyeok looked back at him in shock.
"You don't know who that man is?"
“He’s Sa-Rang’s dad, isn’t he?"
Sang-Hyeon's incredulous eyes met Ju-Hyeok's in the rearview mirror.
"He looked exactly like the chairman of Choi Kang Corporation."
Ji-Ah also nodded.
"I think it is him."
Choi Kang Corporation was a subsidiary of Ah-Sung. Ju-Hyeok was once an employee at Ah-Sung, so he was familiar with the high-level executives. Even ordinary people would recognize Choi Kang Corporation’s chairman, so it was strange that Sang-Hyeon didn’t know.
"There’s nobody as carefree as this guy. He doesn’t even know the face of an affiliated company's chairman."
Ju-Hyeok laughed at Sang-Hyeon's reaction, who simply blinked.
"It's normal not to know."
"Even Ji-Ah knows."
"True."
Sang-Hyeon scratched his head and replied, "Well, I know now. That’s good."
Ji-Ah spoke up after Sang-Hyeon's shocking conclusion, "That lady’s face. She looks so familiar."
"...?"
"Feels like I've seen her a lot somewhere."
Both Ju-Hyeok and Sang-Hyeon became speechless. Ji-Ah had been a fan of JeonJaPa in the past. Sang-Hyeon had never mentioned that Choi Sa-Rang was JeonJaPa to Ji-Ah and Ju-Hyeok. That was a secret.
Of course, Ju-Hyeok already roughly guessed that Choi Sa-Rang could be JeonJaPa, but...
'Shoot...'
Sang-Hyeon didn’t want Ji-Ah to figure it out.
'That woman is a bit dangerous.'
JeonJaPa wanted to hide her identity very much. She even instantly took down a famous YouTuber’s video because it threatened to reveal her identity.
'It wasn’t just because of money.'
She seemed unaffected by issues that even money couldn't solve.
Ju-Hyeok realized where he felt that kind of 'wall' before.
'The Ah-Sung owner family.'
To Ju-Hyeok, the way the owners of Ah-Sung handled things felt like another higher world.
'The reason she could hide her identity was because of her father.'
Ju-Hyeok eventually guessed everything he shouldn't have known. However, it was still just his guess since Sang-Hyeon never mentioned anything.
It would only complicate things if Ji-Ah also ended up finding out. Ju-Hyeok diverted Ji-Ah's questions with other excuses.
"Well, maybe you've seen her in the newspapers somewhere because she must be from a high-ranking family too. It wouldn't be strange for her to be a celebrity."
Ji-Ah nodded, but seemed unconvinced.
"That's odd too. She's so pretty and has a rare style. She’s also from a wealthy family. She should be a celebrity, but I don’t know her."
"Her legs aren’t good. She probably wanted to hide that."
"Right."
Ji-Ah glanced at Sang-Hyeon as she agreed.
Sang-Hyeon also desperately tried to hide his injured arm. Perhaps that lady was the same.
Ji-Ah decided to stop thinking about her.
"You're right. She probably wanted to hide that."
***
After parking the car, the three discussed their upcoming 500,000-subscriber event. They chose to host a fan meeting, but were still discussing how to proceed.
They arrived back home while discussing.
"We'll continue this in the group chat.”
Ji-Ah waved goodbye to them. Only Sang-Hyeon noticed that her gaze lingered a bit longer on Ju-Hyeok.
Ju-Hyeok watched her enter inside and turned to Sang-Hyeon.
"How about an archery café?"
The time Ju-Hyeok spent saying goodbye to Ji-Ah lasted only 0.1 seconds as he immediately started talking about the fan meeting.
"Huh?"
"For the fan meeting venue."
"Oh..."
A fan meeting at an archery café sounded fun. Sang-Hyeon would get to feel the ambiance of an archery range after a long time. He avoided anything related to archery in the past, but not anymore. Perhaps the fan meeting at an archery café would symbolize his new beginning.
"We should ask Dong-Su."
"Dong-Su? Right! The one who runs an archery café?"
They both thought of Dong-Su, Sang-Hyeon’s friend who ran an archery café. He was a former member of the same archery club and quit early to start learning business. Later, he opened the café to reminisce about his old days.
***
They arrived home around 2 P.M. and Sang-Hyeon’s usual stream started at 3 P.M. Normally, he didn't have a fixed start time.
Sang-Hyeon felt tired from his appointment and other things, so he thought of starting later today.
‘Should I start around 6 P.M.?’
However, the comments on his Treevy board kept increasing. Viewers were looking for Almond on his old break announcements.
— Hey, Mr. Al! If you don't stream right now, I won’t vote for the awards!
└ Fact: I already did it.
└ Lol
└ Pretending not to have done it
└ Fact: Almond doesn't give a shit even if he doesn’t get paid.
└ Haha, truee!
— I wonder what excuse he’ll make today. I can't wait!
└ Almond doesn't make excuses. Are you a newbie?
└ Idiot, we just wait for Almond.
└ What kind of excuse are you waiting for from a guy who ends the stream after receiving a 10,000 won donation?
Some viewers threatened Almond regarding his award while others just watched to see why he was late.
— At least tell us when you'll be on, nutty!
— I took a half-day off to watch today's Zombie School. Nooooo...
??— Bro, I dressed up to watch your stream...
└ To watch a stream...?
└ ???
└ Where did you leave your (Brain)?
└ Lol, she must have removed it.
└ Lol, dressing up for Almond's stream...
└ What's the connection between undressing and watching a stream?
└ Why's it assumed she undressed? Lol!
His viewers, each with their reasons, eagerly awaited his stream. The viewer count neared an average of 20,000 and hardcore fans probably numbered around 1,000 to 2,000.
However, Sang-Hyeon was unaware of these discussions because he was too busy listening to the information about a photoshoot scheduled for tomorrow. That information overwhelmed him.
[Almond: It’s a... pool party photoshoot?]
[Bubblegum: Yes, that’s what they said.]
It was going to be a pool party photo shoot.
[Almond: Oh...]
They said it would be shot in This World. Their avatars were practically no different from their actual bodies since This World used 3D scans of its users. The latest version of This World boasted an incredibly high synchronization rate due to improved technology.
[StrawberryShooter: Wow~ Ha wa wa wa~ I’m going to see Almond's abs!!! Hahaha!]
[StrawberryShooter: Almond’s chocolate bar abs~~]
Everyone would now see Sang-Hyeon's body. LIL was better in that it didn’t use real-life graphics.
[Miho: Was it a pool party concept? Sounds fun hahahaha!]
[Miho: Luckily, I'm on a diet!]
Miho seemed familiar with such shoots, so she showed no particular reaction to the news. She even seemed quite confident because she was on a diet.
[Bubblegum: But am I going to be the ball?]
[StrawberryShooter: No! Gum is the water wave!]
[Bubblegum: ?? No, are you crazy? Am I a beach volleyball then??]
[Miho: I'm dying hahahaha]
[Almond: hahahahaha]
Bubblegum strongly opposed for the first time, which made Sang-Hyeon burst out laughing.
[Miho: Bubblegum, you're going to be a beach volleyball probably, haha! Iron Ball hahaha]
[Takoyaki: Ah... but... Strawberry, are you going to be a muscle bikini or something?]
[Almond: ... Holy...]
[Miho: ...?]
The photoshoot would be quite chaotic.
***
Almond's stream went live about three hours later than usual at 6 P.M.
— It’s starting!
— 3 years late!
— Woah, hihi~
— Almond! You’re back!
— Hi Nuts!
Some mentioned how he came on late, but his streams never had a set schedule so that didn’t matter.
"Hi Treevy~!"
Almond quickly started the game after a cheerful greeting.
"We don't have much time. Let's get right into the game."
— Whose fault is it that you have no time?
— Why don’t you have time?! Huh? Huh?? It’s weird!?
— Okie, let’s go!
The chat was quite intense, but Almond only focused on his stream.
'I have to summarize what happened last time.'
Summarizing the previous session was important for story games. At least, Bubblegum always did that.
Almond summarized his progress too, "Yesterday, I chikicha’d Baek Joon-Soo."
— Chikicha lololol
— Mom! My memory came back!
— OK, memory upload completed.
The last time he played, he shot Baek Joon-Soo.
Today, they planned on coming together to attack Baek Joon-Soo’s gang and retake control. That was the goal for today.
"Now, it's time to chikicha again."
— Everyone chikicha lololol.
— Let’s goooo~~~lololololol.
— This is the real chikicha...
— Arrest them all!
— Let’s hit Baek Joon-Soo's gang like dogs, chikicha lololol
***
The game began. The familiar construction site and the surprised faces of the class president and other students greeted him.
"We all have to make twelve arrows here?"
"What are you talking about, Kim Ju-Hyeok? There are twelve of them."
From their perspective, Almond just told them to prepare twelve arrows.
"Ah, we haven't decided to go yet. We were still discussing it."
They agreed to confront Baek Joon-Soo's gang, but the method of attacking was still under discussion.
— Oh, I see
— How can you discuss anything with your nonsense? lol
— 12 men, 12 arrows to kill, lol
However, Almond’s proposal sounded absurd. He simply told them to make twelve arrows for the twelve enemies out there. Moreover, he wanted most of them to stay behind and protect the construction site. Only four, including himself, would attack. It was an absurd plan.
"Ju-Hyeok, you don’t understand the math, do you? There are twelve of them."
The class president tried to reason with him again.
Almond repeated as if he found it ridiculous, "That’s why we need twelve arrows."
He even switched his microphone to the chat and asked, "Why can't they understand? Is there some error?"
He also checked the game settings here and there.
— That’s real madness lololol
— Now I understand why he left Ah-Sung.
— Are you crazy lololololol
— Why are you checking the settings? lololol
— You’re just like a car-ignorant reviewer opening the engine bro.