Season 2: Chapter 141: Truly Recognized (2)
It kept echoing in Ju-Hyeok's mind. Ji-Ah had said she wouldn’t use her credit card anymore. More importantly...
'Was that a debit card just now?'
That card was a debit card. He only had a glimpse of it, but he remembered it clearly.
The clerk seemed to have misspoken. Usually, it was more common to hear about credit limits being exceeded rather than insufficient funds in department stores. It was actually a lack of funds. Then, Ji-Ah's expression made sense.
'Why... is there no money?'
Ziiing. Ziiing.
The phone rang, but Ju-Hyeok wasn’t aware. After ringing for a while, the phone stopped and Ji-Ah's bag began to vibrate.
“Ah. I'll take this call for a moment.”
Ji-Ah answered the phone.
“Ah, yes. I'm with him. Ah... okay. I'll pass it on.”
She passed her phone over to him.
Sang-Hyeon's voice flowed out and Ju-Hyeok blankly responded.
“Ah, really? Ah…”
What Sang-Hyeon was saying sounded so absurd that Ju-Hyeok quickly snapped back to reality.
“Eh? SandSpoon... what?”
According to Sang-Hyeon, a chat room member named SandSpoon was actually on their side. Ju-Hyeok knew who SandSpoon was. He was someone who had been provoking the stream snipers all along. Now he understood why that person acted that way.
“Ah... Ji-Ah, wait a moment.”
“Okay.”
He stopped on his way to the parking lot and sat on a bench inside the department store to check the community.
'Is SandSpoon also caught up in this?'
1. Almond and BornToB’s last promo match was stream sniped (with evidence)
The post had somehow reached first place. The fire had spread even faster than Ju-Hyeok thought.
It made sense. This post not only contained circumstantial evidence of stream sniping, but also evidence that these people had been systematically sniping for a while. It even rationalized their actions, so the responses were naturally heated.
Even now, insults appeared in real-time.
— Damn, they were actually forming a sniping squad and taking turns sniping???
— Went to catch one Almond and ended up burning the whole house down...
— Crazy cultists biting and sucking each other off, what a mess lol lol lol
A popular streamer like Almond deciding to play Civil Empire drew significant attention. The reactions in the community were understandably intense.
— There's no greater disgrace than this
— ???: Brother, do you use Embul? (Contemptuous look) << 5 seconds before becoming reality
└ lol
└ Ah... it was fun, Embul.
Users thought that this incident had dragged the image of Embul to the ground. After all, the chat room was created by extremists from Embul. When such an event occurred, posts that poured more fuel on the fire always continued to appear.
[I've been in that chat room for a while and it's creepy...]
[To those trying to downplay this as nothing.]
[Just disband them all, damn it, it was fun, Embul!]
As the story spread from mouth to mouth, the incident garnered much more attention. Eventually, public opinion went like this.
— Seems like Embul itself needs to do something, right?
└ Civil Empire should act
└ Let's start with a rank reset ~~! lol
A rank reset was even discussed. At this point, that would be relatively mild compared to the other punishments proposed.
— Even if you reset their ranks, they'll quickly climb back up with their skills. It's just giving them a chance to improve their MMR. A 3 year game ban is better.
└ Just give them a permanent ban
— How about an eye suspension? Create a program that raises the laser temperature when the capsule's iris recognition kicks in and it shoots out a laser
└ That's not a suspension, that's canceling them, LOL
Public opinion grew more heated.
'This has gotten quite big, hasn't it?'
Ju-Hyeok brushed his hair back, seemingly troubled. While the rest deserved punishment, one of them was unfairly implicated.
'SandSpoon... is also here.'
SandSpoon did appear in the post that Ju-Hyeok uploaded. However, he never participated in any sniping activities and only made remarks that irritated the other members. There was nothing particularly suspicious about him in the screenshots.
Ju-Hyeok heaved a sigh and thought this was manageable, but the public intended to burn all members listed in the screenshots.
'Should I tell them he was actually a spy?'
Should he say that SandSpoon was a spy planted by Chi-Seung? Well... how everyone would perceive that was questionable. It would mean Kimchi Warrior had tacitly condoned the stream snipers’ actions for quite some time.
It would have been fine if Kimchi Warrior was the one who blew the whistle, but it would seem odd now since Ju-Hyeok was the one who did that.
'Should I just edit the post?'
The first thought that came to Ju-Hyeok's mind was to edit the post as Chi-Seung suggested. This would involve deleting all parts where SandSpoon appeared.
'No, that won't work.'
He immediately dismissed the idea. With so many having seen the original, how would he explain the edits?
Instead, Ju-Hyeok decided to write a new post. He eventually pulled out a small laptop from his bag.
"Ji-Ah, sorry..."
"Go ahead. See to your work~"
Ji-Ah seemed to have anticipated this and calmly sat next to him while watching YouTube.
"Thanks."
Tap, tap, tap.
Ju-Hyeok titled the new post.
[Additional Information on the Stream Sniping Group Chat]
At face value, it appeared to be just more evidence about the sniping group chat. However, cleverly interspersed were many instances where SandSpoon criticized the rest.
— Wow, there's more.
— Just digging up more horror stories...
— These guys really lol lol lol
Initially, people were amazed that more evidence had surfaced. Gradually, their attention also turned to SandSpoon, who was the only one making sane comments among them.
— SandSpoon is the only sane one there lol
— Is SandSpoon the informant?
└ No, the informant is Ronaldo
— SandSpoon's comments are epic lol lol lol
└ True lol
└ SandSpoon…
People began to think as Ju-Hyeok intended.
— Is SandSpoon's tongue a montage? lol
— lol There was one sane person, after all
— In the chat group, they were just spewing nonsense as the Elite Four
Ju-Hyeok seized the moment and also inserted a few comments. Now, the post just needed to gain more attention, which wasn't difficult. It quickly amassed recommendations and swiftly made its way to the top posts. Naturally, it ended up following the number one post.
Just as everyone would watch the sequel to a hit Marvel series, people were bound to look at Ju-Hyeok's follow-up post. It quickly became another top post.
As a result, another post appeared on Embul.
[Let's officially discuss and proceed with the punishment]
The title was formidable and so was the author's name. It was Faeling, a rather renowned user on Embul who seemed to have acknowledged Almond in his earlier posts and someone who had done many good deeds for Embul. His words held more influence here than Ju-Hyeok posting dozens of top posts.
Ju-Hyeok swallowed dryly as he opened the post.
[It feels like the community must take the lead in administering punishment…]
Upon seeing the mention of punishment, Ju-Hyeok felt a moment of dizziness. What if SandSpoon got dragged into this too? He swallowed dryly and read the next paragraph.
[The chat group itself is not a big problem. It's been a place where a few extremists gathered to hang out since the beginning.
The issue is that a handful of users organized sniping activities there. Those who actually participated in the sniping and those who said they would participate should be punished.]
"Phew," Ju-Hyeok heaved a sigh of relief after reading the post. This meant SandSpoon was off the hook.
— Agree~
— I support this
— Eye suspension, let's go~~~
Faeling's opinion received a lot of support and indeed also became a top post. Embul's management decided to consult with the game company on the extent of the punishment.
The subjects to be punished were confirmed to be Brr, AK47, and BoySchool. The remaining candidates were CheesyAttackJudge and VeryVeryCastle. They only chose to punish the necessary individuals.
"Phew," Ju-Hyeok leaned back and let out a sigh of relief.
Ji-Ah asked, "It's over, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It worked out well."
Things turned out well overall. Due to this incident, stream snipers wouldn't even dream of targeting Almond at S+ rank in the future.
Moreover, another positive outcome naturally emerged.
— Putting aside their punishment, lol, what about BornToB and Almond who survived all these organized sniping attacks and still achieved all those wins?
└ True lol
└ Reevaluation of season 1238...
— Despite the stream sniping in the last game, BornToB dominated with crazy speed lol lol lol It's unbelievable lol lol
└ Oh?? They won against stream sniping lol lol
Initially, people only vented their anger about the snipers' disgraceful actions. Gradually, they began to pay attention to the victims as they came to their senses.
They realized the journey BornToB and Almond had to navigate through was far more treacherous than initially known.
Ju-Hyeok read up to this point and closed his laptop in content before standing up.
"Let's go."
The doubts he had about Ji-Ah naturally also faded away.
***
It was currently around 8:30 P.M. with only thirty minutes left before the national competition scrimmage.
"Yawn."
Sang-Hyeon woke up again after falling back asleep.
"This time I woke up properly."
It was exactly thirty minutes before the start of the scrim.
"By the way, how did it go…?"
He remembered the urgent request from Chi-Seung and checked Embul. Some were concerned that a person named SandSpoon could be unfairly punished. The first post he saw was a list.
1. Execution List for This Incident
Fortunately, SandSpoon's name was not on the list.
"Wow."
What caught Sang-Hyeon's attention was the intriguing public opinion. Embul was talking about BornToB again along with Almond.
[BornToB needs a reevaluation lol]
[They won all of those games?]
[Almond is crazy lol]
It was now revealed that BornToB and Almond won despite all the organized stream sniping. Moreover, people were no longer using BornToB to support their opinions that B and A rank were the same.
[Honestly, BornToB can't be considered B rank]
[Wow, KeepToB]
[Escape from B]
This was no longer fake, but genuine acknowledgment. It was pure praise.
Sang-Hyeon found it miraculous how well things turned out.
Below was another post.
5. We declare today the start of the GodToB era on Embul.
This seemed familiar to Sang-Hyeon and he scrolled down a bit more.
7. We declare our liberation from the JToB era on Embul today!
Just three or four hours ago, they had declared liberation from an era and now these people were declaring the start of another era. Even the name changed from JToB to GodToB.
— Seeing the name change so quickly, it's definitely an era lol
└ lol lol
└ What kind of historical accuracy is this? lol
— How did it turn out like this? lol
— GodToB now has immunity, all naysayers disband!!!
— ToB… come back…
Sang-Hyeon felt good. It felt like the world finally recognized BornToB.
Having slept well, he thought today's scrimmage would go well too and slowly stretched. Shortly afterward, he entered the capsule.
[Kimchi Warrior: Almond, let's go!]
The first scrimmage for the national competition would soon begin.
[Korea vs England]
Their opponent was England.