Season 2: Chapter 205: Execution (1)
[Popcorn appeared on The Avatar of LIL!]
[Popcorn vs Almond, so intense]
[What's this?? When streamers appear, they usually bring on other streamers lol]
The news that Popcorn appeared on The Avatar of LIL spread quickly throughout the community. Like JeonJaPa, Popcorn had not been exposed to the media much since his pro activities.
Of course, he wasn’t intentionally hiding. Rather, he was simply too bothered or busy preparing his new business.
Anyway, he had not shown himself for a long time. The champion everyone remembered had reappeared after a long time, which naturally caused quite a stir.
"No way. How did you manage to invite Popcorn?"
The viewers and even the Police staff felt amazed at Popcorn's unexpected appearance.
"I always tried to invite Mr. Popcorn whenever a new champion was about to appear, but I never got a response," the author tilted her head and answered.
She didn’t fully understand it herself.
"Strangely, he contacted us first this time."
"… Excuse me?"
"I don't know why, but he contacted us after the announcement that this episode's guest would be Mr. Almond," the author whispered as if she was sharing a great secret.
"Perhaps Mr. Almond has some kind of relationship with Mr. JeonJaPa? Maybe that's how Popcorn knows him?"
Indeed, there were rumors that Almond had connections with JeonJaPa. They were mutual followers on Runestagram, after all. Of course, this wasn't a secret.
People even mockingly called it an achievement. Why JeonJaPa followed Almond remained unknown to everyone, including Sang-Hyeon himself. Nonetheless, it was a significant event since JeonJaPa followed very few accounts and had not followed anyone else since.
"Hmm… So Popcorn is also acquainted with him. Who exactly is he?"
The Police staff looked at the capsule containing Almond.
"It's good that Mr. Popcorn appeared, but he’s the opposing guest rather than the main guest playing Sori. Is this okay?" the staff asked his colleague, who folded his arms and nodded.
"Indeed, Sori might seem relatively weak."
"Right. Honestly, they're on different levels."
"But…"
The colleague with folded arms squinted at the screen.
"It seems like Almond won?"
"Excuse me!?"
They blankly watched the screen. A guest of Popcorn's caliber rarely ever lost on this program.
It was absurd to think that a new champion could beat a former or current pro handling familiar champions, especially since OrangeKing would always be on the same team with skills comparable to a clown now compared to his pro days. He was often the cause of defeat, wasn't he?
'Who is Almond really?'
They looked at the capsule containing Almond again.
***
Chiiiiik…!
The capsule opened and Almond came out. Looking a bit tired, he silently wiped off his sweat and chugged a sports drink.
— Are you shooting an ad?
— So handsome, it’s too intense
— Sports drink ad model, so intense
— Bartender, here! One more Gatorade, the one I was drinking! No, not the usual one, the one he was drinking!
— Do you also get sweaty like that if you buy that?
— What about his Adam's apple…?
Viewers chatted about Almond's sweaty appearance.
Chiiiiik!
OrangeKing burst out.
He clenched his fists and screamed before he even fully appeared, "Kraaaaaaah! The monster jungler! OrangeKing!"
— LMAO
— Crazy guy lol
— Did he just say that himself? Lol
— Lol
Laughter erupted even among the staff who were seemingly at a loss for words.
"First of all, congratulations on the victory, OrangeKing and Mr. Almond. Ah, but actually, it should be seen more as Mr. Almond's victory, right?"
"Ah…"
OrangeKing suddenly became dumbfounded at the host's words because it was too accurate.
— For real lol
— Right? What did OrangeKing do to celebrate?
— All he did was talk lol
"The main hero of this victory, Mr. Almond."
"Yes."
"How do you feel about using Sori?"
"Um. The time it takes to reload is indeed long. I didn't know, but that time decreases as you level up. Having a lot of options with skills is a big advantage, I think. In many ways."
"Oh. Is she better than Raina?"
"…?"
— Gasp
— Oh
— She's watching…
— Why provoke the wife?
If he said Raina was better, the sales of Sori could go down. If he said Raina was worse, he feared the backlash from viewers.
OrangeKing interjected, "See! Those who rise by the mouth fall by it, right? Mr. Almond, you should speak carefully!"
"Excuse me? OrangeKing, do you think Mr. Almond also rose by talking? Mr. Almond isn't very talkative for a streamer."
"Oh, I didn’t mean that mouth."
"?"
"Rapping too…"
— LMAO
— Lol
— Damn lol
— That, that mouth…
“Ahem,” Almond cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Ah, yes! Mr. Almond. Please speak."
"Generally, Sori seems better. She has a lot of skill options and variability."
— Dun dun…!
— Really?
— Wow
— Raina is already your girl, is this why?
— The association will not forgive this…
"But if a player can handle Raina well, she indeed has more explosive power. For me, Raina is better."
— Nice
— lol
— A player exceptionally good at handling Raina
— Look at what he did
Almond somehow navigated the tricky question.
"Ah. Right. We understand your opinion, Mr. Almond. What about Mr. Popcorn's opinion?"
Ping.
Popcorn's face appeared quite large on the screen.
"Yes. You were asking about Sori?"
"That's right."
“Gulp.”
The production team and the staff from the game company swallowed dryly.
Popcorn's words would significantly divide the opinions on Sori. Even though his skills had declined, he was a top laner who conquered the world alongside JeonJaPa.
"Honestly, I didn't think she would be like this when I first saw her skill set…"
His words carried a lot of weight. As soon as he spoke, his words would be instantly fossilized in the international community.
Popcorn rolled his eyes for a moment and spoke his mind, "Isn't she just overpowered?"
— Gasp
— Popcorn officially says Sori is an overpowered champion
— Alert for solo queue lol
— We’re doomed
— Damn, the meta's gonna be so messed up
— For real
The chat rapidly scrolled up.
The production team and the staff from the game company didn't even try to hide their rising smiles.
"Why do you feel that way?"
"First of all, Sori has three elemental arrows with three different ultimate abilities. How many things will the opponent have to consider? She's unpredictable."
"Ah, right. Indeed… it will take time to adapt."
"Yes. Moreover, the cooldown of her rope movement resets after a kill or assist. This adds another unexpected variable."
Popcorn continued to speak with a lot on his mind.
"Honestly, I didn’t feel her handicap of only shooting four times. A reload that takes two seconds? Of course, that's fatal for ADCs. However, the movement speed buff is too much. Simply leaving the battlefield for a moment and coming back to fight later is easy."
"Ah. So you're saying you lost because Sori is too overpowered?"
OrangeKing precisely grasped his intention.
— For real lol
— I lost because Sori is freaking overpowered!
— Straight to the point lol
— Oops…
"Ah, no. That's not what I'm saying, OrangeKing? There's a real problem with Sori!"
Popcorn felt wronged and began to speak as fast as OrangeKing.
"She has insane damage, insane speed, and always comes and goes. Will she shoot a wind, water, or fire arrow? Pick and choose. Not today!"
— What's with the rap speed?
— Did they play Popcorn at 2x speed? lol
— LMAO
— What rhythm lol
— Lol
— The hustler ADC, wow
"How are you supposed to deal with this madness!" Popcorn shouted and OrangeKing grinned as if to concede.
'Done.'
By provoking Popcorn, Sori truly seemed like an overpowered champion.
'That should be enough.'
Feeling like they had enough footage to edit, the host thought the same and cut them off there.
"Looks like you really liked Sori, Mr. Popcorn!"
The program was nearing its end.
"With this, we were able to learn various things about the new champion called Sori. I think she’s top tier since she successfully passed the second verification."
"We'll know for sure once we have more data, right?"
"Yes. That's it for The Avatar of LIL. Thank you so much to our main guest Mr. Almond for your hard work today."
"I'm the one who should be thankful."
"And thank you too, Mr. Popcorn!"
"Yes? No, I still have…"
Ping.
Popcorn seemed to have more to say, but the connection was cut.
— That's too harsh lol
— Editing ^^
— Cut!
It seemed like the recording was wrapping up. The host was removing his in-ear and tidying up. However, a writer sitting behind the PD held up a sign.
[It's not over yet! In-ear!]
The program hadn’t finished yet.
The writer gestured to her ear, telling the host to put the in-ear back in. They had more information to convey.
"Ah… Just a moment, everyone? The production team is telling me something."
The host quickly put his in-ear back on and continued the broadcast with practiced ease. It was impossible to know what was being said since no one else was wearing an in-ear. Almond had no choice but to wait silently.
'What's this?'
They hadn’t told the guests anything. He could only look at the host's mouth.
"Ah…! That supporter from earlier! You remember Iron Ball, right?"
"!?"
OrangeKing hesitated. He hadn't expected the topic to come up. It was about the troll they encountered while Almond was playing in the solo queue.
"Are you talking about... that guy? The troll!"
— That guy lol
— Exactly, that guy lol
— Lol
— What?
"Yes! We've found the ID of that troll! Furthermore, the production team will now reveal him!"
— ???
— For real?
— Wow
— Is this even allowed?
— Revealing the personal information of a criminal lol
— Lol for real?
— They must have some plan…
***
Ping.
After the connection was cut off, Popcorn emerged from his capsule.
"Wow… does OrangeKing hyung have some grudge against me?"
Someone responded to his muttering, "Hey. You provoked him first, calling him second place."
A young man sitting on the sofa was peeling a banana. He was the jungler Banana, a former teammate of JeonJaPa. Although he was retired too, he was quite close to Popcorn and practically lived at his house.
Popcorn shrugged his shoulders and wondered what the big deal was.
"It's true that he's second place, isn't it?"
"No, that's exactly the problem."
"???"
Popcorn tilted his head and didn’t understand.
"Top lane lunatics, you guys never get it no matter how much is explained. Tsk."
Banana clicked his tongue and stuffed the rest of the banana into his mouth.
"Really, you’re acting all high and mighty as a jungler, huh?!"
The two continued to argue about their positions even though they didn't even play anymore. As usual, the jungler was the one who usually gave in or lost the argument.
"Anyway, that champion called Sori isn’t that great. You know that, right?"
"Not that great!?"
Popcorn made a face as if his mouth was itching to speak.
"Yeah. You didn't read the passive description properly, did you? She doesn't have any attack speed buff."
"…?"
Popcorn tilted his head.
"What do you mean her attack speed doesn’t increase? Then what was that? You must have read it wrong, right? Of course, I don't really read skill descriptions."
Popcorn was used to playing by instinct. He didn't calculate everything in his head. If a skill description went beyond three lines, he usually skipped over it. Now that he wasn’t even playing anymore, there was no way he would have read through the new champion's skill descriptions line by line.
"I knew it. What are you going to do about the backlash now? Your opinion is already everywhere on social media."
"… No. She’s really overpowered, okay? Are you sure you didn't read it wrong about her attack speed not increasing? You watched the game, didn't you? How could she not have attack speed modifiers?"
"Seriously, it's true. However, her damage is incredibly high in exchange."
"Then what about the attack speed I saw…"
"That's just Almond's pure physical skill."
"?!"
At that moment, it was as if a bell went off in his head.
"That, that's pure physical skill?"