Season 2: Chapter 206: Execution (2)
In the realm of LIL, the attack speed stat was significantly different from typical keyboard and mouse games. The reason was simple. LIL was a virtual reality game played with one's body. Imagine if one could only attack at a predefined speed in virtual reality. How awkward would that be?
Therefore, LIL set the base attack speed to what a player could achieve in the real world. That meant if one could accurately swing a sword at an enemy three times in a second, that would become their base attack speed.
From there, game adjustments would kick in if one applied buffs related to attack speed or wore certain items. The speed at which their body swung or shot a weapon would become much faster due to modifiers. This principle was similar to what Almond experienced in Kingdom with the rapid fire skill.
Knowing all this, Popcorn couldn't help but be shocked.
"… That attack speed is purely physical!?"
His eyes almost popped out of his head.
Even Banana, who was watching, felt surprised.
Popcorn was unmatched in physicality himself and felt shocked.
'It was that serious.'
Banana had never seen Almond play firsthand. Watching from a commentator's perspective from above and experiencing it directly were worlds apart.
If Popcorn felt this way, it meant that Almond's physicality had already reached the top level.
'He’s not even a pro and has hardly practiced. Is this what a real genius is?'
Lost in thought for a moment, Popcorn urged him for an answer.
"Hey. Why aren't you answering? You got something to hide?"
"Ah, yeah. Pure physicality. What else could it be?"
"Ha."
Popcorn scratched his head.
"This guy's totally insane."
At Banana's words, Popcorn finally got a real sense of Almond's skill. He had thought highly of him even without knowing this. That attack speed was his pure physicality.
'JeonJaPa wasn't just watching for no reason…'
Only then did he slightly understand JeonJaPa's feelings. He also understood that he was in a very difficult situation moving forward.
"Damn… How much has been posted in the community?"
He had declared that the champion Sori was quite exceptional, unaware of her attack speed limitations. Even though he was a former pro, his words as a former champion held great influence.
"That's already…"
Banana made a throat-slitting gesture and laughed. It was over already.
"Ha."
"But it seems like it didn't stir up much controversy in the domestic community."
"Why?"
"Some kid named Zucchini is currently being publicly executed as a troll, so everyone's talking about that."
"The public execution of a troll?"
***
Around thirty minutes earlier, Ju-Hyeok overheard some conversations among the production team while the second verification test was underway.
"Will teaching a lesson spice up the broadcast?"
They were worried about the view count.
"Indeed, these days... there are too many videos like this... Do we need something else like that?"
"Yeah. Shorts like teaching a lesson sell well, don't they?"
"Right. Our format has become a bit old. It would be good to attract attention with shorts."
Teaching a troll was their way to alleviate concerns about the view count.
Apart from the solo survival mode, almost all LIL users had plenty of unpleasant memories of trolls. It was clear as day that educating such a troll in real life would exponentially increase their views.
Just like movie YouTubers who put “The end of someone who touched a former whatever,” scene in their thumbnails regardless of the movie.
The producers wanted to spice up the broadcast with such clickbait, at least in their shorts.
'If that's the case...'
Ju-Hyeok thought he could help and made a proposal.
After the second verification ended…
"Wow. It's really as Ju-Hyeok said."
The producers excitedly began to edit the footage based on the information they found. The writers quickly scribbled down rough scripts, outlining how the program would proceed. Then, they conveyed it to the host through their in-ears.
"Ah… Just a moment, everyone? The production team is telling me something right now."
The host was about to end the program, but paused and focused on his in-ear.
A moment later…
"Ah! That supporter earlier! Remember Iron Ball?" the host continued the program according to the new script.
"We've uncovered that person's ID! And we plan to reveal it!"
— ???
— For real?
— Wow
— Revealing the identity of a criminal lol
— Lol for real?
The production team was revealing a troll's ID? This was an uncommon occurrence. It was just a game ID and not their real identity, so there would be no issues.
However, revealing a user's ID was quite rare for a program like The Avatar of LIL, which usually maintained a certain level of decorum.
The controversy could have been much worse. At some point, everyone playing LIL had been a troll to someone else.
— But was it serious enough to do this?
— Honestly, Iron Ball was nothing compared to the trolls I've met.
— Special treatment for Almond?
— The trolls I've met should be properly punished, damn. They immediately start a witch hunt because it disturbed their broadcast lol
Even now, such messages appeared in the chat. It was clear what would happen if this spread to the community. That was why the production team usually hesitated to do such things.
Nonetheless, the production team boldly posted the nickname.
[Zucchini]
The troll's nickname prominently appeared on the full screen. The audience had mixed reactions. Half liked it.
— This is justice
— Give the criminal’s rights to the dogs~
— Revealing personal information lol
Half felt apprehensive.
— This is a bit…
— They're crossing the line trying to be sensational
— What did they do wrong??
At this point, it was impossible not to wonder what the production team was thinking by boldly posting this.
"Wow. Is this some special measure? What exactly happened?!" OrangeKing asked.
He had been advocating for stronger punishment and condemnation, but now he seemed a bit perplexed.
'Isn't this going to backfire?'
His call for punishment was a kind of entertainment act. It was just on behalf of the viewers' desire for vengeance.
'What if they really go through with this?'
He hadn't thought they would actually conduct a witch hunt and burn someone at the stake like this. If the charges were ambiguous, could the production team end up suffering instead? Was this okay?
The host explained, "Everyone must be surprised at suddenly lynching a user like this."
— For real lol
— Lynching lol
— They really went through with it;
"What’s the reason? Did the production team say?" OrangeKing cautiously asked. "Excuse me? Was it because of that troll act earlier?"
The trolling that Almond had experienced earlier didn't warrant such a response. Continuing this way would only harm Almond. OrangeKing, who was closely tied to Almond, would not escape unscathed either.
"Yes? Oh~"
The host dismissively waved. It wasn't because of Almond?
"We wouldn't do this for just that!"
"!"
There was more to the story.
"It’s stated in Police’s game regulations to publicly disclose the nicknames of habitual trolls to prevent further damage…"
"Habitual… troll?"
OrangeKing was puzzled.
"Yes! We checked it already! Would a person crazy enough to throw their own promotion match not have done the same in other games!?"
Ju-Hyeok had suggested this to the producer.
"Zucchini was trolling even in his own master rank promotion match."
The reason they hadn’t punished Zucchini yet was because his crime was ambiguous. He had only attempted to troll.
Harshly punishing an attempt couldn't be seen as significant enough, but then how could they make an educational video out of it?
It was simple upon reflection. They just had to find evidence that he was truly garbage.
"Although he only attempted to troll in the game with Almond, what about other games?"
In Ju-Hyeok's opinion, finding out if that guy was truly garbage wouldn’t be difficult.
"There's a high chance that Zucchini has been acting like this. Looking into his match history would probably reveal it."
Human behavior rarely ever changed, especially with the internet’s anonymity.
"Shall we take a look at Zucchini's match history?"
The host displayed Zucchini's match history on the screen edited by the production team for easier viewing.
Ping.
As the match history appeared on the screen, sighs erupted from various places.
— Lol, so flashy
— He made it to master playing like that? Wow…
— Talent for being a troll;
— Damn troll
The match history showed his KDA (kills, deaths, and assists) ratio, purchased items, and damage dealt to enemies. Even those with minimal gaming experience could immediately identify the troll games.
— Look at the items lol
— 0 kills 32 deaths lol
— There's even one with 100 deaths, why try so hard? lol
— Wow… damn guy
Since the majority of viewers were LIL players, this was enough to provoke public outrage.
"He was trolling this eagerly?" OrangeKing read the room and added on.
"Yes. This is serious. I didn't know he was this kind of person. Now do you understand why we decided that it was okay to reveal his ID?"
"Exactly!"
"Beyond that, the real question is why such a person is still allowed to play!?"
— For real lol
— Should be banned right away damn
— Told you lol
"Or could it be that these were just games that didn't go well? Was it trolling?"
"There are video records of his gameplay. Let's watch one. Then, you'll clearly see the trolling."
As the footage played, the host and OrangeKing were at a loss for words.
There were games where he not only cursed, but also continuously harassed the ADC next to him.
OrangeKing glanced toward the staff from the game company. He had been confused just a moment ago, but now he was lit up with fervor.
"So what is Police’s decision, huh?"
Initially, Police had discussed a rather light punishment due to the lack of concrete evidence for trolling. Now, the situation had changed.
"Well, according to the manual, there should obviously be punishment…"
OrangeKing aggressively pushed them, "What is that punishment!?"
"Ah…"
They became flustered and whispered among themselves before a representative spoke up.
"Ahem. Considering this is a habitual offense and not just trolling, if you look at the chat logs, there's been a lot of... vile language…"
After exchanging glances, they roughly stated the punishment.
"It will be a six month suspension."
— Wow, 6 months lol
— That's basically telling him to quit, damn
— If he was preparing to go pro, that's goodbye lol
— Incredible
A six month suspension in a game where you couldn’t create other accounts?
LIL frequently updated and skills quickly became obsolete in this competitive battle game. For a master rank player, a six month break was practically a death sentence.
Thump!
OrangeKing slammed the desk and stood up to shout, "Name! Zucchini! Charge! Trolling! Sentence…"
His verdict rang out.
"Death!!!"
— lol
— Lmao
— That's the spirit
— Refreshing, that's the OrangeKing we know
— Today is legendary lol. Justice served.
— Needlessly cool lol
— The vibe of a Japanese variety show lol
The chat exploded with praises regarding the decision.
"Ah, that's refreshing! Me too!"
The host also jubilantly threw an uppercut into the air.
The PD, having gotten the sensational educational short he wanted, didn't even have time to celebrate. He was already getting into the editing with a few staff members.
The ones who looked least excited were the somewhat perplexed Police staff.
'How did it come to this?'
Although Almond was smiling along with the atmosphere, he thought something was odd. The player Zucchini was certainly vile enough to deserve such a verdict, but the process leading to his execution felt too smooth.
It was, in fact, a minor incident. However, this unnecessary magically snowballed into something bigger, yet it felt oddly familiar.
'Could it be?'
He looked suspiciously past the camera toward the production team. There, his eyes met with Ju-Hyeok's, who smirked and casually saluted.
'Of course.'
A familiar scent lingered in the air. It was all Ju-Hyeok's doing.
'Damn it.'
“Pfft!” Almond laughed, revealing his white teeth.
He found it funny that Ju-Hyeok took it this far. That guy was always so serious.
Anyway, OrangeKing's death sentence scene was edited into shorts and uploaded to YouTube.
[The end of a troll who messed with a former archer]
The outcome was very successful.
— Is this from The Avatar of LIL??
└ I smell something familiar in the video…
└ lol, this savory scent, I swear... Eh, never mind!
└ Ah, really, that's it
— lol
— The result of a thug messing with a former archer: "Death"
└ Scary lol
└ lol
— Zucchini, what now? lol