Season 2: Chapter 60. The Rise and Fall of The Advertisement (1)
Thud!
Almond deeply exhaled after dealing the final blow to the fallen zombie.
"Phew."
He pushed aside his hammer and sat on the corpses of the three mutant zombies that overturned the truck earlier.
"It took a bit longer to reuse the iron arrows. Wooden arrows don’t stick well."
Almond finally took care of the three mutants. It was astonishing that he simultaneously confronted and defeated three mutant zombies, which would have been a deadly challenge for any ordinary person.
The viewers couldn't hide their amazement.
— Wow
— Is this how the game is supposed to be played?
— Wow, that was like a perfect action movie clip.
They were impressed, which was the expected reaction he hoped for.
‘Huh?’
There were also reactions Almond hadn't anticipated.
— What is this? Why is the difficulty like this? I wanted to buy it...
— Shouldn't they balance the game?
— I don't think I can play this game.
— How are you supposed to play this?
Viewers expressed doubts about buying the game, believing they couldn't replicate such astonishing gameplay. Most players would likely die facing these three zombies. No one wanted to play a game where losing was inevitable.
‘What should I do...? This is still a paid-advertisement...’
Almond felt concerned, especially since these types of reactions directly affected the advertisement.
He had no time to dwell on this as the surprised NPCs approached to speak with him.
"... Crazy."
"Is this even possible? Are you from some special forces?"
"Did you get some superpowers? That usually happens to outcasts, right?"
Superpowers sounded like an exaggeration, but the situation warranted such speculation. From their perspective, Almond just single-handedly defeated three monsters. They were probably even more shocked than the viewers.
Almond looked at them and said, "Let's go."
He wanted to progress the game to divert the viewers' attention elsewhere.
'But what if the difficulty increases further?'
He worried that continuing would make the game even more challenging and worsen public opinion, but standing still wasn't an option. He had to move forward.
"... Go?"
"Are we heading back... I mean, to the school?"
The students seemed reluctant to proceed. Their response surprised him.
"What are you talking about? We have to finish the exploration."
— Lol
— Madness...!
— That’s terrifying lol
To Almond, it was a logical statement. After all, he just killed the three zombies. Why couldn’t they proceed?
However, the students just lost two friends right before their eyes. They protested with tearful expressions.
"But... if more of those come out, we can't survive..."
"Right. Yu-Jung and Gil-Soo are already dead. We couldn't do anything."
Almond countered, "So you won’t go because they died?"
— How can we go if we’re dead?
— You obviously can’t go if you’re dead lol
— What do we have to do to avoid going? lol
Viewers joked about Almond's words, but he made a valid point.
"If we don't go, we'll all die."
They had no future if they stopped their mission here. They needed to find food and forge a path to the bunker to obtain immunity.
The students couldn’t object and slowly nodded.
"Ah... Alright."
Almond called Ji Do-Hoon to the front again.
"Let's go."
"... Sob... Yeah."
"Okay."
As they prepared to cross the apartment complex...
Ba-bam!
[ShyNapoleon has donated 500,000 won!]
[Amazing play...! This is as good as completing a mission!]
A large donation came in for something other than a mission. Perhaps it was spurred by a sense of competitiveness with BigSon.
"Oh. Thank you, ShyNapoleon! I really appreciate it!"
— A bit late for a donation lol
— Wow, a big donation... Is he ending the stream here?
— Ending now would be crazy lol
Although 500,000 won was a substantial amount, Almond had no intention of ending the stream. He thought about doing a different reaction after experiencing the negative effects of suddenly ending his streams.
"The reaction should be..." he muttered and walked on.
Thump...!
Ji Do-Hoon suddenly got pushed back and fell.
"What happened?"
"..."
Do-Hoon became speechless with his mouth agape. It wasn't just him. The other students following behind also abruptly stopped.
"...?"
Almond walked toward where Do-Hoon had been and wondered what was there.
Thump.
He bumped into something invisible.
"A wall...?"
Above the invisible wall, this text appeared:
[Zombie School]
Doom...!
Majestic music started playing, followed by credits.
[Planning: RedHat]
[Production: WePlug]
[Head Director: Kim Yi-Seo]
...
"What's this?"
Almond was momentarily bewildered, but soon realized what it was.
'Is this the ending credits?'
Another message that appeared confirmed his guess.
[*This game was released in Early Access. The current content ends here.*]
[Please look forward to the official release with unique mutant zombies, special abilities for players, and multiplayer combat!]
He decided.
"The reaction will be... game cleared!"
— ???
— What a reaction
— Easy win lol
— Ultimate stream ending lol
— Is this his reaction? lol
— Whoa lol
Shortly afterward, a teaser video for the official release played and the game abruptly ended.
Almond also turned off his stream at that moment.
— ???
— He ended the stream too?
— Crazy guy lol, a real joker lol
— Perfect timing lol
— That’s the reaction, right? lol
— Huh lol
***
"Wow."
Swoosh.
Sang-Hyeon sighed as the capsule opened.
"It ended like that."
He felt somewhat hollow after the game he was enjoying suddenly ended. He felt a bit heated and could roughly understand how viewers felt when he abruptly ended his stream.
'I’m looking forward to the official release.'
He felt excited for the official release despite being slightly heated, especially for the multiplayer combat. It seemed like a marketing strategy aimed at creating anticipation, and Sang-Hyeon fell for it.
"Wow, good job."
Ju-Hyeok pushed his chair back and waved.
He was also unaware of how the actual game would progress. Thus, he had a relaxed expression.
"I didn't expect it to end today."
"Right? I thought we'd play for at least three more days."
Sang-Hyeon was about to head for a shower when...
"Hey, we finished a game today. How about a beer?"
"Oh, sounds good."
Ju-Hyeok made a welcomed suggestion.
Sang-Hyeon also felt hungry and somewhat empty.
"How about that place we used to go to?"
Ju-Hyeok was referring to the pub they often visited during their time at Ah-Sung.
"Sure, I'll be quick in the shower."
***
Now that Sang-Hyeon thought about it, was this the first time he visited such a crowded place since the episode of him aired on Evening Wide?
"Hey, you're Yu Sang-Hyeon, right?"
The owner of the pub they frequented in the past now recognized him.
"I was so surprised when I saw that broadcast. You used to come to our place a lot..."
Sang-Hyeon awkwardly bowed his head.
"Ah, yes."
Everyone's attention was suddenly on him, which made him feel a bit uncomfortable. The owner had unintentionally raised his voice too much.
"Ah, I didn't know you had such a story..."
"Can we order?" Ji-Ah interjected with a menu between them.
She was experienced as a fan of many celebrities and knew that they should just change the topic.
"Ah... Yes, of course. What would you like?" the owner replied with an embarrassed smile.
"The new curry chicken and three dark beers, please."
"Got it~!"
They had never collectively agreed on getting dark beers or the curry chicken.
"... I just ordered. Before any more questions came up."
Ji-Ah cleverly ordered the first thing she saw on the menu. These items were all new on the menu.
"Ahem... Why that of all things?" Ju-Hyeok coughed and got the hint.
"Why? We were going to order more chicken anyway."
"Well, I'm a purist when it comes to chicken."
Ju-Hyeok lifted his glasses with a serious tone.
"I only eat fried."
"Eat this. Then order." Ji-Ah decisively responded.
Ju-Hyeok immediately nodded, "Right. That's what I was going to say."
Sang-Hyeon struggled to hold back his laughter. Meanwhile, the waiter quickly brought them the basic side dishes.
"Here you go! Starting with the dark beers!"
Nachos and three glasses of dark beer arrived. The three of them each grabbed a beer and, without being prompted, raised them together.
"To Zombie School."
"Goodbye!"
Clink.
Their glasses collided.
Gulp.
They all took a sip of the dark beer at the same time.
"Wow."
"Hey, not bad?"
Even Ju-Hyeok, who had little faith in the new menu, seemed surprised.
"The curry chicken will be good too."
Ji-Ah teasingly leaned toward Ju-Hyeok.
"Ye-Yeah. The curry chicken will be good too. Definitely... Heh..." Ju-Hyeok stuttered as if he was malfunctioning.
Ji-Ah giggled and Sang-Hyeon observed his reaction with curiosity.
Normally, Ju-Hyeok was quite smooth with the ladies. Now, he seemed flustered like someone caught his weakness.
'Is this his true self?'
While Sang-Hyeon pondered this, Ji-Ah brought up another topic.
"Zombie School was fun. I was shocked to hear it ended today. I was in the middle of editing an earlier part. It ended so suddenly."
"Exactly," Sang-Hyeon nodded.
"Must be because it’s early access."
"What’s the next game?"
Ji-Ah turned to Almond.
"Umm... It’s almost decided, right?"
Almond looked toward Ju-Hyeok.
"Yeah, it's called Civil Empire."
"Sounds funny. Shibal Empire," Ji-Ah laughed.
"No, Civil Empire."
"Shibal Em~~"
"No. It’s called Civilization Empire."
"Shi..."
"Hey!"
Ji-Ah burst into laughter at a peculiar moment. She seemed to laugh at the sight of Ju-Hyeok's face and continuously mumbled that he looked funny.
In any case, the atmosphere was enjoyable. The curry chicken that came next tasted quite delicious. Ju-Hyeok even joked about ordering it first next time, seemingly giving up on his chicken purity.
They barely recalled what they spoke about as they drank. Only light, carefree words poured out and evaporated away with laughter.
Sang-Hyeon enjoyed it.
"So you're saying you shot Director Park in a dream?"
"What an imagination. No wonder you’re the top in VNS."
"Hahaha! But you're right! If you’re going to do it, do it thoroughly. That kind of gene..."
It felt liberating to escape from the complex and heavy matters. It would be nice if he felt this lively while interacting with his fans.
"... Ah." Sang-Hyeon put down his beer glass and suddenly spoke up, "Let's have our fan meeting here."
***
The next day, sunlight crept between his eyelids. Sang-Hyeon slowly opened his eyes, but it wasn't just his eyes that woke up.
"Ugh."
The hangover started too. His head pounded like a little devil was perched on top of it.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"... Is dark beer worse?" he made a baseless speculation.
Sang-Hyeon finally got up and went to the living room.
Was it a habit from their company days? Ju-Hyeok was already making hangover soup.
"Did you wake up?"
"Is Ji-Ah here by any chance?"
Sang-Hyeon peered into another room.
"No!? Wha-What? Why would the editor... be here...?"
Ju-Hyeok jumped in shock
"Just asking," Sang-Hyeon muttered as he sat at the table.
"But what's with the editor thing?"
"Cough, cough. Ah. Why is there so much dust in the house...?"
Ju-Hyeok avoided eye contact and focused on the stove. Sang-Hyeon took out his phone and browsed the usual community site, Zombie School Garden.
'Was the advertisement successful?'
Now that Zombie School was over, so was the advertisement. He needed to check if it was successful since it would affect future advertisement deals.