Season 2: Chapter 49. Schrdingers Almond (2)
After Sang-Hyeon entered the capsule, Ju-Hyeok sat at the computer and browsed the community forums as the manager.
"Wow... it was quite heated today."
Once an opening was shown, the haters pounced and backlash grew tremendously. This was why being a streamer was difficult. Public opinion always fluctuated online.
Praise flooded the forums yesterday, but now they overflowed with such posts and even trended as the top issue.
[The picture that nutty fans want now]
[Just before Almond died, he saw the chat and instantly turned off his stream -> He came back today, caught the arrow in mid-air, and immediately scored a goal on Baek Joon-Soo's head -> This is the true picture. -> The game ends.]
— None of that makes sense, lol
└ True lol
— Baek Joon-Soo’s assassination lol nonsense.
— Even if he ended the stream, the arrow will be right in front of him once he turns it back on. What now?
└ Just Dormammu lol
— Really, the arrow will be right in front of him, lol. Nutty fans have such poor brains!
└ Average intelligence of the nuts, lol
└ This is the Nut average
— Honestly, nutty fans are overrating lol. Better stick to Jeon JaPa, who's already dead.
The post mocked those who believed Almond had survived. They were mocking Almond's fans.
Ju-Hyeok adjusted his glasses while pondering and saved the post. He wasn’t going to sue whoever made the post. Such posts weren't suitable to take legal action against.
Instead, he planned to hand them over to Ji-Ah as editing material and believed that Almond would survive.
***
"I can just avoid it. What’s the big deal?"
That was what Sang-Hyeon said before entering the capsule.
'But.. will it work?'
Before starting the stream, Sang-Hyeon repeatedly watched yesterday's clip.
Swoosh!
The arrow turned and flew back as he raised his head toward the incoming arrow.
‘When did it turn off?’
Sang-Hyeon was curious about one thing. At what distance did the game turn off when the arrow approached? When he turned it on again, where and how should he avoid it?
Just before the arrow struck his head, Kim Ju-Hyeok's eyes moved back and forth in the game. Then, the game turned off.
Thud!
Sang-Hyeon succeeded in pausing the screen just before the game turned off. He observed the screen by moving it around from the first-person to third-person point of view.
‘What is this?’
Sang-Hyeon stroked his chin.
His eyes shone as he intently observed. However, the results of his observation weren’t good.
‘There's no way...’
He couldn’t find a way to avoid the arrow. That was why everyone in the community was certain of his death.
Anyway, it was time to stream. Almond turned on his capsule.
***
— Aha!
— Let’s goooo!
— You're on time today.
Viewers poured in as soon as Almond's stream started. Their number was quite high today.
— Guys, it’s wake-up time!
— Wow, I just woke up, checked my phone in bed without thinking, and bam! It’s time for Almond’s stream! Amazing!"
— 3 P.M. Just waiting to leave work! That's when Almond appears.
It was probably because he started streaming at the usual time.
— Let's see if he died or not, lol.
— How do you feel about the second try today?
— Should you go to the infirmary first this time?
— Let's go see the destruction, nutty fans!
— Nutty fans~!
This was undoubtedly the aftermath of the short video Ji-Ah posted yesterday. The viewers showed a lot of interest in today's stream since the video had a significant number of views and a big fight occurred in the comments.
“Hi, Treevy!”
Almond's face appeared, and he cheerfully greeted them.
— Yayyyy, I'm dying...
— Hi Hi!
— Wow! Wow!
— His eyes are dazzling even today...
— He's so handsome!
The grateful viewers who always started the donations came through.
[RubySword has donated 10,000 won!]
[Hello! How have you been?]
[EggPlant has donated 2,000 won.]
[AlHa! AlHa!]
"Ah. RubySword, EggPlant, thank you. I've been well. It's only been a day, right?"
While Almond awkwardly smiled, a donation came in with the question everyone was curious about.
[QuestionMarkMurderer has donated 1,000 won.]
[Almond! Almond! So you survived yesterday, right?]
— Oh, lol, finally!!
— Direct question!
— The question to end this controversy...
The chat wildly scrolled up. Everyone wanted an answer to the long-awaited question.
"Hmm."
However, Almond didn't answer.
— He doesn’t answer thousand won questions, lol.
— How dare you ask a question with just a thousand won, haha.
— Mmm... cute, haha.
Due to the nature of his stream, he often couldn't respond to thousand won donations and had to move on. The viewers thought he wasn't answering because of that, but Almond was genuinely thinking about how to answer.
"Everyone, it's not that. I really don't know how to answer that. This is like astronomical agony."
— It's not astronomy, but philosophy, isn’t it? Haha.
— Schrodinger's Almond.
— Did you mean to say you need an astronomical amount of donations?
"Ah. Right, philosophy. I meant philosophy."
That was right. Kim Ju-Hyeok was facing an arrow right in front of him. It was hard to say if he was still alive or dead. Such deep contemplation could even lead to philosophical agony. It wasn't easy to answer.
[WhatNext? has donated 100,000 won!]
[Did you survive? Or die?]
"Thank you, WhatNext?. I’m still alive."
— LOL.
— He answered fast enough to survive, LOL.
— At this speed, he’s definitely alive!
"I'll start the game now. Seeing is worth more than hearing."
— True, but I know what I saw...
— Same...
— Lol, he’s going to die right away.
— But it doesn’t seem like he’ll get hit by the arrow from how he’s talking.
— Whatever, let's go!
***
While the game loaded, the gamer was momentarily plunged into complete darkness.
Almond closed his eyes and steadied his breath.
'There must be no escape, but I can minimize the damage.'
There was no way to avoid the arrow, but there seemed to be a way to survive if this game used similar physics to Kingdom.
'Curve shots are less lethal.'
A curve shot that didn’t use the full force from the bow’s center was less deadly. The more it curved, the less lethal it became. Thus, a curve shot bending as much as 180 degrees would be considerably less lethal.
If Almond could just avoid any vital points, he wouldn’t die.
'It's possible.'
The best-case scenario was the arrow grazing his earlobe and avoiding a direct hit to his skull. Even if it didn’t, slightly deflecting it to avoid any head damage would be good enough.
His vision began to slowly brighten.
'Let's pay more attention to the advice from the chat.'
Almond widened his eyes and made sure not to ignore the chat’s advice.
His view gradually cleared and he found himself still in the corridor between the infirmary and the store.
— It’s coming!
— The big moment!
— OMG
— Wowowowowow!
— Did he really survive?
— Can he dodge it?
The viewers also realized that Almond hadn't died yet.
Snap!
The surroundings were fully clear and the game began.
Swoosh!
An incoming arrow could be heard.
Almond didn't even have a moment to look. He twisted his neck with all his might. Or he tried to, but...
‘Huh?’
A familiar sensation startled him. It was the firm, heavy feeling of his feet on the ground.
‘What's this?’
He was supposed to be diving headfirst toward the arrow when the game ended like a soccer player headbutting the ball. That was why there was no angle to dodge then, but now his feet were firmly on the ground.
‘Ah ha!’
Almond had a realization.
‘The save point is different!’
Even the best auto-save systems couldn't save every 0.01 seconds. Moreover, it hadn’t been a normal game exit, but an abrupt shutdown.
Almond started about a second earlier than when he shut down the game. For instance, if the game ended at 10:45:32, it now restarted at 10:45:31.
In this 1-2 second difference, Kim Ju-Hyeok's feet had been on the ground and the arrow was further away than he thought.
‘In this case...’
It was much easier this way.
Whoosh...!
The arrow flew straight at him. His body was already leaning toward the arrow, but his feet were grounded.
Almond extended his left foot forward once more to support his leaning body.
Thud...
His body, which seemed like it was about to fall forward, staggered and stopped. Even then, the angle was still too narrow to completely avoid the arrow. It seemed likely that the arrow would graze his lips.
‘Seems like it's going to hit my mouth at a weird angle...’
Having come to this point, Almond opened his mouth wide.
Whoosh...!
The arrow tore through the air.
Snap!
The sound of it tearing through the air got cut off as if he had bitten it and the arrow suddenly stopped.
— ???
— What?!
— Lol
— ?
— ???????
Question marks flooded the chat.
"Am I alive?" he asked with the arrow still in his mouth.
— Crazy lol
— Wow
— That was sharp
— He survived
— Schrodinger's badass resurrection lol
Almond staggered and lost his balance, but he survived and didn’t fall. He had caught the arrow in his mouth.
"Hey, you crazy! What are you doing!?"
The class president ran up from behind him with a pale face.
— The class president, lol.
— From an NPC's point of view, this must be absurd lol.
— Ah, right. They were there, lol.
From their perspective, an ally archer suddenly rushed forward, grabbed an arrow, and shot a 180-degree curve shot. Then, he caught it in his mouth.
"What kind of circus is this!?"
"Ah... Uh, my and lipped (my hand slipped)."
“...?”
Almond muttered a half-hearted excuse.
The class president twisted his head in confusion as if he was lagging.
Ba-da-bam!
[BigSon has donated a whopping 1 million won!]
[Wow, is this your reaction?]
Another huge donation came in.
— Wow, a million, wow
— Omg, again?
— Are you going to end the stream again? Lol.
— Almond, please. Let me watch your stream... Lol.
— Big spender level....
The performance had apparently been too much for the big spender to resist and another large donation came in. This amount could even be too much for a streamer, but Almond nonchalantly pushed the class president aside and stood up.
He replied while taking the arrow out of his mouth, "Thank you. That was the reaction to yesterday's donation. Now, for today's reaction."
— ???
— Ending the stream as soon as it starts?
— Oh, no.
— Almond!! That's too much.
— Damn...
Almond nocked the arrow back onto the bowstring and aimed at the class president.
"???"
— ?!
— ?
— ??
The class president’s expression wasn’t much different from the viewers.
"Wha... What...?"
The class president stammered as Almond resolutely acted.