Season 2: Chapter 118. Political Warrior (3)
[The tragic archery prodigy Almond ranked first in politics and society. Why?]
Surprisingly, this was a real article from a portal site that wasn’t written by community users. However, it did directly copy a phrase made in jest by community users.
— Wow, the journalistic standards, lol. They even picked this up?
— Can someone please explain the difference between a community user and a journalist lol?
— Lol, an article in the politics and society section?
— Welcome to the crazy world of dogs.
The community saw the article, which inevitably attracted dozens of disparaging comments. The problem wasn't just that the article took content from community posts and called it journalism, but it essentially didn’t say anything.
The article couldn’t explain why Almond’s video ranked first in the Politics and Society category.
— So the journalist also doesn't know why and is asking why?
— Lol, they really asked why in the title?
— I'm dying of laughter. Did they really ask why?
— The title is literally asking why lol.
The article was certainly disappointing for those who expected genuine journalism. However, this was an incredible boon for Almond because the article appeared on a highly visible portal site that targeted a broader audience without discriminating against age or gender.
This directly led to an increase in views on his video.
[Why the World Bows Down Before Korea’s Archery]
[Views: 1,083,000]
The views snowballed and didn't stop there. The article sparked a meme movement, which led to a continual increase in views.
[1,121,000]
[1,200,000]
Eventually, the rankings reversed again.
1. Why the World Bows Down Before Korea’s Archery
[Views: 1,283,000]
2. CutiePie From This World and Muffin, formerly from PartyShare, in a love triangle!?
[Views: 1,140,000]
"... So this is how it turned out," Ju-Hyeok said after returning from the hospital and marveling at this phenomenon.
In the end, Almond beat TimeTrouble. It was just this once though. As frustrating as it was, that channel was in a different league.
"Whew," Ju-Hyeok sighed and felt gratified. He wasn't the only one who noticed.
[TimeTrouble, the cyber junkyard giant has been utterly defeated lol]
[Seeing those kinds of people at the top is really nauseating. Better to have Almond doing anything than that]
[Almond retakes first place lol, it's amazing]
This also became a news story.
[Issue: YouTuber TimeTrouble admits defeat to someone he once covered]
"Whoa!"
Ju-Hyeok clenched his fist.
"Wait a minute... Again?"
He looked puzzled.
"This is strange."
Why would they post every detail as an article, especially from a main portal site?
[Hanhae Daily, Reporter Lee Jeong-Su]
"This is..."
Ju-Hyeok's mind vaguely remembered that name. He searched for articles by reporter Lee Jeong-Su and easily found them due to the search function.
[A dream shattered by injury, but rising from the ashes: The archery boy]
[Hanhae Daily, Reporter Lee Jeong-Su]
Ju-Hyeok precisely recalled a passage from this article.
[... Yu Sang-Hyeon overcame the disappointment of archery, the most analog and traditional sport, by embracing the innovative and digital profession of being a streamer...]
"That's right," Ju-Hyeok nodded after reading the passage again.
This reporter had taken an interest in Almond and frequently wrote related articles about him since then. Besides that, most of their articles had to do with Esports and the gaming industry.
However...
[K-Capsule Divers has announced a record-breaking performance for the year's second half. The birth of a new conglomerate in Korea?]
The reporter also took an interest in capsules as well.
"..."
Ju-Hyeok paused in his scrolling with a perplexed expression.
"This is..."
From Ju-Hyeok's perspective, it was all too clear. The CEO of Divers had made an investment. After all, it was naive to think a reporter would suddenly take an interest and diligently write articles.
"That's not my concern."
Such things commonly occurred. That was how society operated. Companies wanted to advertise and pay money. Journalists serviced these advertisers in their own way.
Something else bothered Ju-Hyeok.
"Could it be because of my father?"
The CEO of Divers and his father had a close senior and junior relationship. This continued to nag at him.
Ju-Hyeok would like to politely decline if it wasn’t just for the benefit of Divers, but out of goodwill toward him. Was there a way to know for sure?
It would be extremely rude if he bluntly called and rejected this help. That man was like a close uncle, but also the CEO of a major corporation. The responsibility he carried, the weight of the lives he managed.
Ju-Hyeok had worked in a large corporation and could fully empathize. He was an entity on a completely different level than Ju-Hyeok.
He could simply and naturally be pitying Ju-Hyeok. Being rude to such a person carried too much risk.
"It's just speculation."
Ju-Hyeok decided to overlook it and closed his eyes on the matter. At times like this, he always repeated a saying like a mantra.
"The world is just made this way. Are you going to leave because you don't like how Earth is made?"
He placed his phone back in his pocket. Sang-Hyeon's stream would start soon.
"Focus only on the work."
Sang-Hyeon opened the door and said, "I'm starting the stream."
"How's your condition?"
"Good," Sang-Hyeon responded with a grin.
Ju-Hyeok thought he seemed overly cheerful today.
‘It feels like he's hiding something bad.’
Ju-Hyeok had a rough idea of what it could be, but he couldn't know for sure without Sang-Hyeon saying anything.
"Take care."
Click.
Instead of responding, Sang-Hyeon gave a thumbs-up and disappeared into the capsule.
***
Kimchi Warrior’s gaze shifted to the clock. It was 5 P.M. and time for Almond to arrive.
Almond said he would be a bit late today due to a hospital visit. As expected, a message arrived.
[Almond: I'm ready now. I'll enter.]
Kimchi Warrior stood up from the conference table.
"Guys, I'll go and join Almond."
"Okay."
"Sure~"
His colleagues didn't react much since they were all aware of the schedule. They turned their attention back to the numerous maps and chess pieces.
Kim Chi-Seung entered one of the capsules placed deep inside the room.
[Biometric information confirmed...]
[Kim Chi-Seung]
[Access granted.]
When he turned on Treevy, Almond's stream already started.
[Kimchi Warrior × Political Warrior Dream Duo]
It had a peculiar title.
"What does this mean?"
It wasn’t the title that caught his attention, but the number of viewers.
[Current Viewers: 10,000]
The stream just started and already reached 10,000 viewers. Everyone rushed in because the stream started a bit later than usual.
— The title is crazy LOL
— What's a Political Warrior, LOL
— Hahaha
— Almond to the parliament! Almond to the parliament!
— LOL
Kim Chi-Seung observed the viewers’ reactions and guessed that the title was related to some meme.
"It seems memes are important too."
He made a mental note. Almond was learning the game from him and he was learning more about streaming from Almond.
Ding.
The camera turned on.
“Hi~!”
Almond greeted everyone in his usual manner with a slightly brighter face than usual.
— Hi hi
— Ahaha! Ahaha!
— Why so handsome today??
— Did you change your hair? So handsome;
— Wow...
Messages flooded the chat.
Kim Chi-Seung realized the core of streaming.
"... Looks seem to matter more."
— Did you meet a girl?
— Where did Almond go? Where did Almond go? Where did Almond go?
— Who is it!? Who is it?!
— Ah, no way!!
The viewers speculated that Almond met someone.
He explained to them, “Ah, I went to the hospital today. I just blow-dried my hair because it was a rare outing...”
— Ah...
— Oops!
— Lock them up!
— Oh, I see hehe
Most viewers knew why he would go to the hospital, so the chat briefly went quiet.
Then, a donation came in.
[Andthen has donated 10,000 won!]
[My plastic surgeon's hair dryer doesn't compare to Almond's. What? What?? What???]
— LOL Plastic surgery outing
— 22222
— Ah... hahaha
— That voice
— LOL
After that, regular donors like RubySword and EggPlant also donated.
“Kimchi Warrior and OrangeKing are here now. I'll join them.”
Almond finally entered the This World channel.
In the meantime, Kimchi Warrior reviewed the day's objectives.
"Looks like we can go for a promotion match today."
Almond's current rate of gaining points was quite good for an A rank.
"The problem is..."
The problem lay elsewhere. Kimchi Warrior turned to look at a window that popped up in one corner.
"It’s this."
It was a group chat from the community site Embul. This group consisted of some of the most extreme members of Embul and they directed their extremism toward eliminating all players using cheesy strategies. Kimchi Warrior naturally wasn't invited to this place, but one of his colleagues had infiltrated undercover to share the screen with him.
[AK47: These bastards are starting. They’re all gonna die!]
[Extroverted_Personality: Going in right away lol. How dare they win so easily in A rank against Nalbil?]
[Brr: But if this is considered stream sniping, wouldn’t that lead to a ban... is that okay?]
[CheesyAttackJudge: One match won't be considered stream sniping, just take turns going in]
[Extroverted_Personality: The detection program doesn’t judge the first game lol]
The chat had around ten members, but only about four were actually willing to participate in this stream sniping.
[SandSpoon: lol, the A rank gatekeepers are solid lol]
[VeryVeryCastle: I'm sorry I can't participate since I’m the highest rank... but I think the Elite Four can handle BornToB's level]
The chat referred to some of themselves as the Elite Four and praised these individuals.
[AK47: Oh, my mom's here, damn]
[AK47: Ah damn, this is bad]
It could be more accurate to call them the Elite Three.
"Sigh."
Kimchi Warrior chuckled to himself. He wanted to expose this on their stream, but doing so wouldn’t stop the stream sniping. It would only complicate their relationship with Embul. Rather, he saw it as an opportunity.
"Almond should experience it too."
It was time for Almond to experience the limit of being an archer.
"He'll probably lose since this will be different from Loop."
These players were on a different level compared to the stream sniper from last time. They were organized and already planned this game in advance. They all possessed skills that reached at least A+ rank. The probability of Almond losing was high. He would likely lose.
That didn’t matter. In practice, defeat was as important as victory.
"This will be an opportunity to see."
How would Almond handle a game where defeat was imminent? How would he react emotionally? These were also crucial aspects in the national competition.
Kimchi Warrior already had an idea of Almond’s resilience, but many of the Civil Empire fans did not know. They would probably get to see it now.
[Almond has entered!]
[OrangeKing has entered!]
[BornToB has entered!]
Unaware of everything that was happening, the three entered This World.
"Hello!" Kimchi Warrior greeted them with a bright face.
After explaining the day's goals and the upcoming training schedule, the game began.
[Match found!]
[AK47]
The opponent was AK47, one of the members from the chat.
"What? I thought his mom came so he couldn’t play."
Kimchi Warrior checked the chat and saw the message.
[AK47: I'll finish this before my back cools down.]
It seems he planned on playing the game even after getting hit by his mom.