Season 2: Chapter 45. The Hunt (2)
There existed a concept known as named viewers. They weren’t streamers, but viewers who became well-known. The existence of such famous viewers could be questioned, but donations were driven by the support from such viewers in this industry. Given the industry's nature, those viewers deemed big spenders became renowned.
For example, there was ShyNapoleon. He was also a notable viewer, primarily spending large sums on missions. However, his amounts were smaller compared to the real heavy spenders since his contributions were mission-specific. His ranking was not very high for that reason.
A ranking system existed among these big spenders. Although Treevy never officially disclosed donation details, there were unofficial sites that compiled this data into ranking charts.
These charts held a certain credibility among the community. Being in the top one hundred meant one was a significant donor. ShyNapoleon was in the two hundredth place.
Then, BigSon appeared.
[BigSon has donated a whopping 1 million won!]
[I came after hearing the rumors. You’ve blown me away. Crazy!]
BigSon lived up to the literal meaning of his name as a big spender. Ju-Hyeok, Almond’s manager, searched for his ID and grew startled.
"What the...?"
BigSon was in the top fifty in the donation rankings.
"How many billions does he donate a month?"
This big spender’s identity was shrouded in mystery.
"Even this ranking seems low for BigSon."
When BigSon actively donated, he even reached the top twenty before. His favorite streamer was a sports game player and former soccer player. However, BigSon stopped donating after the streamer got involved in a scandal with a woman. It seemed this incident mentally affected BigSon.
"He likes soccer."
Ju-Hyeok murmured while researching BigSon's history. It was a habit when trying to memorize information quickly.
"So, that’s why his name is BigSon..."
His ID was inspired by the legendary soccer player Son.
Rumors even suggested that he used to own a sports team back in the day.
"Owning a team... that's an entirely different level."
Though it was just a rumor, the amount he spent made it seem plausible.
The only odd thing was why BigSon changed interests from real-world sports to virtual reality. Nobody knew why.
Sports games initially gained popularity with the advent of capsule gaming, offering the benefit of enjoying sports without any physical exhaustion. However, this was only possible when gaming graphics and quality weren’t high yet.
This popularity faded as fantasy games improved in quality, such as LIL. Who would choose soccer when other fantasy games offered flying, teleportation, and dazzling combat?
The streamer’s scandal with a woman also caused this popularity to wane.
“BigSon hasn’t donated much after the soccer streamer.”
BigSon disappeared after the soccer streamer lost popularity. He occasionally donated to other streamers, but it was nothing compared to before.
Then, he appeared again in Almond's stream.
"This is a great opportunity."
Almond was a streamer with a background related to sports too. BigSon could settle here. Streamers being influenced by large donors wasn't ideal, but losing such donors would also be unfortunate.
Ju-Hyeok was very practical about financial matters and believed big spenders should be secured. He didn’t know how, but they had to somehow.
At that moment, Ju-Hyeok heard a pleasing announcement.
“Here goes the reaction,” Sang-Hyeon announced.
"OH?!"
Ju-Hyeok felt thrilled as if Almond had telepathically understood him, but that soon turned into disappointment.
— End of broadcast??! Lol
— Damn, ending like that, lol
— Viewers are doomed just like that, lol
— It turns out we were the doomed ones, lol
— Ah... lol
Sang-Hyeon's reaction to a large donation usually meant the end of his stream.
"Damn it."
Yu Sang-Hyeon obviously didn't know who BigSon was.
***
"Here goes the reaction."
After a brief comment, Almond started running like crazy.
— But didn't he use all the arrows?
— I wonder how creatively you'll die this time, lol
— He’s doing it for real, lol
— Why is he so excited? lol
— Almond is unstoppable! >_<
He had just attacked the three guards from Baek Joon-Soo's gang. The other gang members would soon come out from the infirmary, so Almond and the other two attackers had to escape. However, Almond ran toward the enemies instead.
"BigSon!"
Almond picked up an arrow from the ground and aimed it forward.
Click.
He didn’t place the arrow in the center of the bow, but at an extreme corner. It was a very sharp curve shot.
"Donation...!"
Whoosh!
As Almond released the arrow, it flew and gradually turned to make a 180-degree U-turn. It didn’t head exactly toward Almond's position, but to a spot a few steps to the right.
Almond ran toward the direction of the incoming arrow, leaned forward as if greeting someone, and shouted.
"Thank you so much!"
— ??? What, bro, if you do this here, it resets everything lol.
— If you die here, it resets from the beginning lol GG
— GG...
Almond saw the chat and his eyes widened in shock.
'Right, I don’t have a save point?'
Crack!
His screen went black.
[Almond's stream has ended.]
With his death, his stream ended just like that.
— Lol lol Damn lol
— Almond is doomed just like that, lol
— It seems like he didn't know it starts all over??? lol
A sound rang out even after the stream ended.
Bababam!
[BigSon has donated 100,000 won!]
[Why did you end it...?]
— Lol, stream ending donation, truly a sucker.
— BigSon is confused, lol.
— He’s too late, lol.
— Ah... We apologize on behalf of the walnut...
— Our child is a bit unusual, haha ^^
***
"Oh."
Swish.
That was Sang-Hyeon's first word after the capsule opened.
"Thank goodness."
He felt deeply relieved after he checked something. It was the capsule’s power status. The capsule had turned off except for basic functions like life rhythm maintenance and the opening mechanism.
After he saw the chat saying the game would reset with his death, he pressed the capsule’s emergency power button just before the arrow hit him.
"That was close."
The game wouldn't reset since he abruptly ended it. The power went out instead of him being killed.
"Amazing. You are really amazing."
Clap, clap, clap.
Sang-Hyeon didn’t know Ju-Hyeok was right next to him.
He scratched his head and smiled.
"It’s nothing, hehe..."
“Are you serious?"
Ju-Hyeok seemed genuinely impressed and sarcastically shook his head.
"Why?"
Sang-Hyeon was puzzled too.
"Man. How could you lose that big spender by ending the stream like that?!"
"Big spender? Oh, BigSon? Why? I reacted, didn't I?"
Sang-Hyeon thought he gave the large donation special treatment. It was the perfect timing for a reaction. In his mind, doing more would have been unfair or risky to other donors.
"BigSon just started watching your stream and you just turned it off. Do you call that a reaction?"
"It's my stream's signature reaction."
"Well yeah, but..."
Sang-Hyeon shrugged his shoulders. His reactions on stream had always been like that, so there was nothing more he could do.
Kim Ju-Hyeok’s logic became powerless in front of Sang-Hyeon.
"Well, let's hope BigSon felt the charm of your stream then."
Ju-Hyeok was similar to Sang-Hyeon in that he didn't worry much about what had already passed. This was also the biggest reason why they got along well even though they had very different personalities. They didn't tend to dwell on or regret things that already happened. They just thought about how to deal with what came next.
"I have an important photoshoot tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early."
"Okay."
The stream started late, so it also ended quite late. Sang-Hyeon went to bed afterward and Ju-Hyeok stayed up a little longer to observe the reactions after the game ended.
***
Almond was the top interest on Zom's Garden, the Zombie School community.
— Almond will just kill Baek Joon-Soo without any problems.
— Didn’t he already win? LOL.
— But it got reset LOL.
Viewers talked about how Almond almost cleared the game. That was true. Catching Baek Joon-Soo no longer seemed difficult and defeating zombies like the boss meant zombies were no longer a match for Almond either.
Everyone expected him to clear the game. However...
4. Breaking News! Almond died and started over LOL.
This post came up and rapidly moved up to the top of the hot topics.
Almond died? That was impossible. There was nothing left in that game that could kill Almond, except for Almond himself.
— I thought he died after defeating the boss...
— He can only kill himself, LOL.
Those who thought it was impossible and tuned in immediately understood what happened. Almond had killed himself.
— Crazy nut, you need to save the store lady!
— So, does that mean the Hyun-Ah we knew is gone too?!
— I thought Almond and Hyun-Ah had a thing!
└ ????
└ ...?
— ???: I bet 1 million won that Almond would burn down the entire Zombie School. Bet on my life. What about you?
Some viewers felt angry that Almond seemingly threw away his built-up friendships with the NPCs over a simple reaction. Others argued that it wasn't a big deal. That was how these games were meant to be played.
— But if Almond starts over again, he’ll probably do much better, LOL.
└ For real LOL
— What's wrong with playing again, LOL? It's normal 'there.'
— Bubblegum already had over 30 resets on the first day... This is nothing, LOL.
Other streamers already repeated the game dozens of times. The fact that Almond resetting once made headlines actually angered some of them.
— The world is so unfair, LOL.
└ For real, LOL.
— Bubblegum has to reset 30 times to become a hot topic, LOL. Almond is on a hot topic with one reset. Look at this efficiency.
— It's no different from making the hot topic every time he scores a kill in LIL, LOL.
└ Our Bubblegum can do that.
└ For real, LOL.
Then, someone posted this.
[Almond didn't actually reset the game. Analyzing the reasons]
The post claimed that the reset wasn't even real.
[If you slow down the scene when Almond is hit by the arrow, the screen turns off before he gets hit.
Almond always presses the power button when he does a stream-ending reaction. He always keeps a virtual power button in view.
Apart from the incident when his stream accidentally turned off during his first time streaming, it seems he’s always done it this way.
So Kim Ju-Hyeok didn't die. He just ended the game.]
— Nonsense.
— It seems like he just died, LOL.
— Eh, I don’t know about that.
— Almond indeed uses the power button to end the stream, but he always actually died before. He's never faked being hit.
└ That's correct
└ Yep, he always dies and then turns it off.
└ It looks like he didn’t know the game resets, LOL.
└ Nonsense, Almond would have seen the chat at the last moment and survived, LOL.
└ Nutty delusion LOL
└ Yep~ It's just a reset~
Although the analysis seemed plausible, most people didn’t believe it because Almond always finished his reactions by actually killing his character. There had never been a time when he just ended it without dying. His arrows never missed their mark, even against himself.
Thus, most viewers believed that his Zombie School data had reset and discussed how overpowered he would be the second time around.
Then, the next day arrived.