Season 2: Chapter 115. Smooth Flow (3)
On the day Almond reached A rank, countless posts appeared on the Embul community. If there were usually a hundred posts, that day had two thousand posts.
Kimchi Warrior sighed, "Sigh... It's a mess again."
He could tell the situation just by looking at the number of posts.
"Winning so much has actually become a problem."
He judged that winning led to this problem. Although it seemed odd to say that winning could cause a problem, this was possible on Embul.
[The national team is promoting a cheesy build LOL]
[It's gone too far ffs]
[They really only do the fast archer rush???]
Regardless of the outcome, Embul was notoriously negative toward strategies they considered cheesy.
Moreover, the current victories weren't even real competitive wins in the national competition. They were just practice matches, but using a cheesy build to repeatedly win and directly rush to A rank would definitely draw criticism.
"No, Chi-Seung oppa. Why are they like this? They need to tone it down," Water Dumpling voiced her frustration from nearby.
"From their point of view, I must look like an evil sorcerer. Just let it be."
"What? Are you a sorcerer? Since when..."
Water Dumpling glanced at Kimchi Warrior from top to bottom with a pitiful look.
"... Just shut it, will you?" Kimchi Warrior sounded serious, which made Water Dumpling quickly take out her phone to show him something else.
"But, but! There are also people supporting us!"
Her phone screen displayed the Embul community with comments defending Kimchi Warrior and Almond.
— Regardless of anything else, the first game of the promotion matches was legendary. It just showcases Almond's skills.
└ Exactly
└ 2222 Try doing the fast archer rush yourself. See if you can do it without someone like Almond.
— Hasn’t accuracy for archers been nerfed? Can you do it without Almond?
└ It's not possible and it’s just a cheesy build.
└ What the fuck? Then it's just a skill issue, not because it’s a cheesy build.
"How about that? See?"
'Yeah, they exist...'
Kimchi Warrior nodded noncommittally.
Sure, some supported them like Water Dumpling said. Almost half took Kimchi Warrior's side, but that didn't comfort him.
"Haah. I'm tired. So tired."
For him, the act of fighting itself felt stressful. The community had been divided in half and continued to fiercely fight, resulting in two thousand posts being uploaded. He disliked that and didn't want them to be so divided. He wished they could be united like in the past.
'As if that's possible.'
They had already come too far for that.
"Let's just endure until the start of the national competition. If the results are good... they'll stop fighting."
Kimchi Warrior packed his bag and planned to call it a day.
"Okay. Are you going to the store?"
"Yeah, it's time. I'm leaving!"
The members who gathered at the Strategic Research Hideout bid him farewell.
"Okay, hyung. Good job today."
"See you tomorrow~!"
"Take care, Kimchi!"
The members didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon. They planned on pulling an all-nighter and sleeping there.
For Kimchi Warrior, his day was just beginning. Water Dumpling came out to see him off.
"Will you come back after your part-time job?"
"No, I need to sleep too."
"Come and sleep here."
"It's uncomfortable."
"Okay then... see you tomorrow evening."
The creaking iron gate closed behind him as he left.
"Phew."
It was finally quiet. He looked at the sky, contemplating the words he just said.
"If the results are good..."
He hoped that good results would earn recognition, but he had never seen it happen.
"It only matters if the results are good."
The national competition always ended for them with less than stellar results. What if this time was even worse than before? Would he face criticism even more severe?
"Phew."
All his worries dissipated into the cold air along with his white breath.
***
Kimchi Warrior worked non-stop until 8 A.M. when it was time for him to leave work. He familiarly removed his name tag from his uniform.
[Kim Chi-Seung]
He found the name peculiar no matter how often he saw it.
Chi-Seung slightly tilted his head, neatly packed his hat and T-shirt into the locker, and grabbed a burger as meal compensation.
"Manager, I'm leaving."
"Okay, take care Chi-Seung!"
As he left the store, he saw his bus approaching down the street. He needed to catch that bus.
"Oh?"
Chi-Seung sprinted like his life depended on it.
"Huff, huff."
As always, he barely made it and managed to get the front seat.
"Phew. Lucky."
After catching his breath, he plugged in his earphones and blankly stared at his phone. With no particular intentions, he surfed through various sites like Embul, YouTube, and Treevy. He also checked his own channel as Kimchi Warrior.
Yes, he also streamed. However, it was more like familiar faces gathering and meeting friends than a stream. He cherished it though.
Chi-Seung thought having slightly over 3,000 subscribers was plenty. He imagined it was like having 3,000 friends. That would be overwhelming already.
For him, streaming wasn't a job but a source of vitality. It helped him endure his tough job in a fast-food restaurant at night. This game was precious to him because he had formed many relationships through it.
[The next stop is Hoogye Sangil Elementary School.]
Chi-Seung's expression suddenly stiffened when he was about three stops from his destination.
"...?"
The subscriber count on his channel was supposed to be around 3,000.
[Subscribers: 32,000]
Suddenly, the number of subscribers had increased tenfold.
'Thirty-two thousand? It’s not three thousand?'
Chi-Seung refreshed his YouTube channel several times, but the result was the same.
[Subscribers: 33,000]
The number had increased even more.
'What's going on? Why?'
Was it just because of a collaboration with Almond? That couldn't be it. He didn't even stream the collaboration on his Kimchi Warrior channel. Chi-Seung had declined to do so, saying it would just stir up unnecessary talk.
Moreover, the videos getting comments were unrelated to gaming.
[Part-time Vlog: Tonight's Snack at Burger Shack]
[Comments +12]
[3rd Year Burger Shack Part-timer's Day at Night]
[Comments +36]
[Part-time Vlog: Oven Cleaning Day]
[Comments +23]
Comments mainly appeared on his vlogs, which were actually his least popular videos. He merely used it as a means of communication with friends.
He wasn't a handsome guy like Almond or a wealthy person with luxury. He didn't even know how to shoot nice-looking videos.
Ironically, the new subscribers left the most comments on these videos.
— Even though it's a game... You're an amazing person who uplifts the nation. Working a night shift at Burger Shack and tirelessly pursuing the national competition without much rewards, you're really raising our country's honor. Thank you.
— The feedback was cool. True national team spirit.
— Working at Burger Shack at dawn... I’m really supporting you!!
— Thank you for continuously representing our country.
— This is the real spirit of sports.
Chi-Seung scrolled through the comments one by one. He began trembling, bowed his head, and started to cry. He covered his mouth with his hand to muffle any sounds.
***
At that moment in Sang-Hyeon's house, Ju-Hyeok was brewing coffee as usual and looking at his computer screen. As always, he checked the real-time video charts in the morning.
"Is this the highest ranked one?"
The highest ranked video on Almond's channel had reached number eleven on the gaming chart.
11. Korean commander's scolding brings the Japanese commander to tears
A few others also trended.
23. Commentator from Protoss
27. The arrow... Chikicha?!
28. "That Commentary" Mad Tongue
31. Dog-like Promotion
Overall, they achieved decent results. However, it was slightly disappointing that the highest ranked one didn't make the top ten.
"It's probably difficult to suddenly include OrangeKing in our content as we'd like."
Ju-Hyeok licked his lips in frustration and moved his mouse. He wanted to look at the newly created videos.
"Let's see and think about it."
Ju-Hyeok, the capable analyst, clicked on one of the videos that seemed different from their usual content.
28. "That Commentary" Mad Tongue
Some time passed.
"... Phew."
Ju-Hyeok exhaled with a shallow breath. The video felt draining as a viewer. How did Ji-Ah make this?
— OrangeKing's energy is insane
└ I feel dizzy, LOL
└ Feels like I'm going crazy...
— Wow... what overflowing energy
— Doesn't OrangeKing's throat bleed?
— This is peak performance.
The comments shared the same sentiment as Ju-Hyeok.
He briefly pondered and opened a notepad to start typing.
'OrangeKing's funny moments should be cut and uploaded as shorts.'
Although it was a fun scene, putting it all together in one long video made it chaotic. Above all, the context of the commentary during the game wasn't clear due to too much cramming in a short video.
‘Include as much build-up to the commentary as possible. Aim for one minute per remark.’
He added this note to his memo.
“Let’s check the best performing video now.”
He played the highest ranked video.
11. Korean commander's scolding brings the Japanese commander to tears
This video was about ten minutes long. It was the final game of the promotion matches against a Japanese commander.
The opponent suffered from start to end and eventually surrendered after BornToB's noob insult.
— LOL, mental damage led to a brutal surrender!
— What a brutal surrender LOL
— LOL, he went crazy before surrendering!
— BornToB's mana burn damage is insane!
‘The key to success is... familiarity.’
The video’s main content was Almond and the opponent being Japanese made it feel like a national competition. It achieved respectable success due to the recent popular parody meme.
‘Is this really considered a good performance?’
Ju-Hyeok didn’t know if he was being too greedy or not and scratched his head. He felt ambiguous.
Then, something suddenly occurred to him.
“Wait. This isn’t it.”
The most popular video wasn’t this one.
“That video about the world bowing down before Korea’s archery... Where is it?”
Their most viewed short video was titled: [Why the World Bows Down Before Korea’s Archery]. However, it wasn’t on the chart.
Ju-Hyeok quickly typed and searched for the video.
“Oh. It's here.”
The video still existed. Even the hashtag said it was number one, but it wasn’t number one in the gaming category.
[Politics & Society]
[Real-time Trending Videos]
1. [Why the World Bows Down Before Korea’s Archery]
It proudly ranked first on another chart.
“?”
Perplexed by the situation, Ju-Hyeok messaged Ji-Ah.
[Ju-Hyeok: Hey Ji-Ah. Isn’t the category wrong here??]
A reply quickly came.
[Ji-Ah: Oh... I set that category for the concept... Didn’t know it would be so popular.]
“Huh?” Ju-Hyeok was dumbfounded.
Under Almond's video, numerous content that stirred patriotism or had to do with political events were competing for ranks. Almond's video, which was essentially unrelated to politics or society, had claimed the top spot.
— Fake patriotism beat real patriotic videos LOL
└ Real fake patriotism LOL
└ And it took first place LOL
— Now who's the real patriot?
— This is what politics and society is!
— Mom! This is social studies! Mom! This is social studies! Mom! This is social studies!