Season 2: Chapter 50. Schrdingers Almond (3)
A one million won donation was nearly the highest for Almond’s stream. As soon as BigSon showed up, he donated such an amount not once but twice in a row.
‘I can't just end it like this.’
Almond thought that if he received such an amount, he should show something worth that much. He could’ve brazenly ignored it, but didn’t take it lightly when he thought back to how difficult it was to earn one million won at Ah-Sung.
‘Let's do this.’
Therefore, he decided to take slightly more risk even if it meant dying here and restarting the game.
"Here comes the reaction."
With that in mind, Almond aimed his bow at the class president.
***
— Farewell, class president...
— Is he going to shoot the class president instead?
— LOL, that's too much!
The viewers guessed as they watched Almond aim at the class president.
"Why... why are you doing this to me?" the class president asked back while half crying.
It was reasonable for him to feel aggrieved. The class president had been helpful all this time, but now an arrow was aimed at him.
However, Almond hadn’t released it yet and the words from his mouth had nothing to do with killing the class president.
"Go bring Baek Joon-Soo."
Almond aimed at him to order him.
"Me... me?"
"It's dangerous if I go."
— LOL!
— Crazy, LOL!
— Typical Almond order.
— "Born to be a leader"
— 23rd century leadership.
Ju-Hyeok would suffer from the fear status, so he couldn't personally confront Baek Joon-Soo. That wouldn't be the case for the class president.
"Me, I’m... oh, am I not in danger?"
"No. It's dangerous. You’re in danger right now."
Click.
Almond pulled the bowstring even tighter and replied in a hurry as if he knew this would happen. There was no time to waste.
— LOL!
— Fact: Almond put you in danger
— Crazy, LOL!
— Are you okay, Almond?
— Poor class president...
Without a word, the class president immediately turned and headed to the infirmary.
"How... how am I supposed to get him?"
"Provoke him or something."
"Oh..." The class president shouted as if he had an idea, "Baek Joon-Soo!!! Come out here right now! I'm Kim Ju-Hyeokkkk!"
For a moment, silence fell in the corridor.
— LOL, he suddenly turned into Kim Ju-Hyeok!
— So you dream of being Almond's manager, class president? Hehe...
— Kim Ju-Hyeok? LOL!
Still, no response came from the infirmary.
Almond continued aiming at the back of the class president's head while he tried to find more provocative words.
"I’m here for your bread delivery! Come out! You loser!"
— Crazy, LOL!
— Bread delivery LOL!
— Isn't it dead bread? LOL!
— Knife bread delivery!
— Is it a summoning spell?
Thump.
Some noise could be heard from inside the infirmary.
'Will it work?'
Would this provocation work? Would Baek Joon-Soo come out with this?
Click...
Almond fully drew his bow.
'I'll shoot him right away.'
He now aimed toward the infirmary.
***
The infirmary had been chaotic even before the class president started shouting.
"An arrow!?"
"Crazy. An arrow?!"
The other guards inside didn’t know that three of their members had already died, but they still hesitated to come out. To them, an arrow was an object of fear. It was the weapon that incapacitated Baek Joon-Soo, their boss, in a single shot.
"Get, get that!"
"Okay!"
They fetched something from a corner of the infirmary as soon as they heard about arrows. It was a shield made from a detached chair seat. It wasn’t too sturdy since it was made of wood, but it could block an arrow at least.
A shout came through as they fetched the shield.
"Hey! Baek Joon-Soo! Come out here right now! I'm Kim Ju-Hyeok!"
Suddenly, the atmosphere turned icy cold as if someone poured ice water.
"Kim Ju-Hyeok?"
"What the...?"
Kim Ju-Hyeok, no one among them didn’t know him. Even students from other classes knew him. He was Baek Joon-Soo's bread shuttle and a certified loser. That kid was such a coward that he abandoned the snack bar and fled to the second floor. He was a pathetic wretch.
"Why the hell is that guy... still alive?" Yoon So-Hee growled as she suddenly sat up in bed.
"Didn't he go to the second floor?"
"I-I don't know, but he must have gone to the second floor, right?"
"Did that monster on the second floor move somewhere else?"
"Then was it Kim Ju-Hyeok...? The one who shot the arrow?"
The mysterious arrow that they feared. Could it have come from that loser Kim Ju-Hyeok? That was hard to believe.
"Everybody, shut up."
Baek Joon-Soo stood up. One of his eyes was tightly bound with a bandage that was soaked red.
"First, we need to find out if that's Kim Ju-Hyeok."
"Right, right. We haven't heard Kim Ju-Hyeok shouting, so we don't know if that's really him."
"Let's go out and check."
"Go out...?"
"Yeah. How else are we going to find out?"
As Baek Joon-Soo growled, they nodded fearfully and headed for the door.
Then, Kim Ju-Hyeok’s voice came through clearer this time.
"I’m here for your bread delivery! Come out! You loser Baek Joon-Soo!"
They all looked toward Baek Joon-Soo. The opponent was calling their leader a loser. It was a clear challenge.
If Baek Joon-Soo sent his underlings to handle this, his already shaky leadership position would be completely taken. However, his life would also be in danger if he went out like this.
Yoon So-Hee stepped forward and scowled, "What are you doing? Go out now! Do you want to die here?"
"No, it's just..."
The guards hesitantly opened the infirmary door.
Creak.
One of them stopped opening the door and turned around.
"But..."
He spoke with a sneering smile.
"If he's calling for Baek Joon-Soo, why should we go out?"
"What? Fucking what? Is Joon-Soo his lackey? Do we have to go out just because he calls?" Yoon So-Hee retorted as if she had been waiting for that.
"First of all, scowling like that without eye makeup isn't very scary."
"What?!"
Yoon So-Hee's face twisted with fury.
"You little─"
Thwack!
Before Yoon So-Hee could react, the head of the boy who talked back suddenly exploded. His sneering eyes rolled back and his legs gave out as he collapsed.
"Ha. He’s always been trying to climb up in rank and now look what happens."
Baek Joon-Soo crushed his head with a bat.
The others trembled and backed away at the sight. They swallowed dryly and glanced at the rebel who became a corpse in the blink of an eye.
"Shield. Hand it over." Baek Joon-Soo snatched the shield and yelled, "Kim Ju-Hyeokkkkkkk!"
Bang!
He kicked down the infirmary door.
"Yeah! Let's see the taste of bread!"
— Holy shit.
— Wow, what guts
— What, he's fine!?
— Is this for real?!
— PTSD incoming......
"Kim Ju-Hyeokkkkkk!"
Thud...!
The infirmary door burst open as if it was blown away by a boss monster.
"Yeah! Let's see the taste of bread!"
Baek Joon-Soo, nearly 190 cm tall with one eye bound by a blood-red bandage, was enough to make anyone tremble. If anyone made eye contact with Baek Joon-Soo, they would’ve instantly suffered the [Panic] status and the game would’ve ended right there.
However...
'As expected.'
Almond couldn’t see the opponent’s face. The shield covered his face and upper body. Since Baek Joon-Soo lost an eye to an arrow, Almond thought he would be more cautious of his upper body.
Almond guessed correctly.
'Just like in Tako's video.'
Almond had previously watched a video by Tako showing NPCs arming themselves with shields. They used it to block thrown axes in the video. The same concept was being used now to block arrows.
Baek Joon-Soo grew cautious of the arrows and came prepared, but Almond already expected this.
[Anxiety]
Kim Ju-Hyeok only felt a slight anxiety right now. There was almost no emotional disturbance. Perhaps it was due to the experience points he gained from defeating the boss monster. The main reason was likely because he couldn't see the enemy’s face.
"A... a shield!? What's that on his leg? Kim Ju-Hyeok, let's run. How can we..."
As the class president said in a panic, Baek Joon-Soo had covered his face and upper body with a shield. He also seemed to be wearing some kind of protective gear on his leg. It looked like it was made from the cast materials available in the infirmary.
Almond wasn’t sure if an arrow could penetrate it.
"Uh, quickly. I'll stall for time! Let's run!"
Almond placed the bowstring to his lips and replied, "Shh."
"!?"
The arrow couldn't hit because the enemy had a shield? Only ordinary archers thought like that.
Creak.
Almond released the fully drawn bow without any hesitation.
Whoosh─
The arrow flew upward and almost touched the corridor ceiling. Then, it sharply descended as if gravity had intensified.
Thud!
The sound of flesh being pierced could be heard.
Baek Joon-Soo dropped his spear and his shield slid down too.
Finally, where the arrow had struck was revealed.
"How, how...?" the class president's voice trembled.
He just witnessed an unbelievable feat with his bare eyes.
Thump!
Baek Joon-Soo fell forward as if deeply bowing. The arrow had pierced his head, right in the center of his skull. It was like hitting the ten point bullseye in archery.
— Wowwwww!
The viewer’s cheers seemed to automatically replay in his ears.
Almond spoke into the mic, "Chikicha."
That was his one million won reaction.
***
The chat exploded with reactions the moment Baek Joon-Soo fell.
— Wow
— Niceeeee!
— This is what a donation reaction should be lololol
— So awesome
— Is this, is this Almond who just got paid...?
Mostly, they expressed satisfaction at the revenge against Baek Joon-Soo.
— But is this how it's normally done?
— I don’t think so, lol.
— The producers are crying right now, lol.
Of course, only a few people thought Almond's way of subduing Baek Joon-Soo's gang was normal. The final boss died such an absurd death despite holding a shield.
—He was epic though.
— When Baek Joon-Soo shouted and opened the door, I wanted to go to the bathroom, lol.
— But how did the arrow hit him?
The most baffling thing was the arrow.
Almond had similarly shot a goblin boss holding a shield in a previous game. He hadn’t shot in a straight line, but in a parabolic arc and the arrow came from high above for the kill. The enemy could only die in vain without ever seeing the arrow and didn’t even have a chance to raise his shield toward the sky. At the time, even that boss monster fell in a single hit.
Most viewers had witnessed that boss monster’s death, but the current situation still confused them for a simple reason. The circumstances then and now were completely different. It had been an outdoor battle in the past with no obstructions to shoot into the sky, but Almond did it indoors this time.
The building was old and the floor-to-ceiling height was quite low. Aiming at the opponent's crown with a parabolic trajectory seemed absurd in this place. Such an angle seemed impossible, but Almond did it.
— Isn't that like a curve shot?
— It dropped like a forkball
— I thought it was a wild pitch, not an arrow.
Simply put, Almond had fired a curve shot. Only it curved vertically and not horizontally. To the viewers’ eyes, it appeared as if the arrow suddenly stopped and plunged straight down. The curve shot seemed to curve even more than usual because of its vertical trajectory.
— Can a person do that just by calculating?
— He must be lucky too.
— I thought it was a forkball.
— I've seen this on YouTube before, LOL.
— Does this actually work?
It seemed like a shot beyond the realm of calculations, more like luck or a miracle. Whether it was due to luck or something else, no one knew. The only fact was that Almond succeeded with a single attempt.
Ba-bam!
[BigSon has donated 200,000 won!]
[Amazing... Such a rewarding donation...]
His performance was outstanding enough to garner such reactions.
— The real.
— Agreed.
— Almond's reaction is so on point...
— Where's the top-of-the-head suicide performance? LOL.
— Mind-blowing performance today.
"Thank you, BigSon..."
"Aaaahhhhhhhh!!!!"
Almond suddenly halted while thanking BigSon.
A woman's scream echoed from the direction of the infirmary. He knew there was only one girl among Baek Joon-Soo's gang: Yoon So-Hee.
"It seems it's not all over yet."
Yoon So-Hee was also one of the individuals who induced the [Fear] status.