Season 2: Chapter 243: The Winner’s Interview (1)
The moment when Kim Yi-Seo revealed his counter, no one in the community believed Almond could win.
[Is this the end, damn...]
[Is he really going to lose??]
[Stacking cold continuously like that was brilliant, LOL.]
[Is that guy right again??]
They knew the game too well, which made them despair even more.
[The mecha engine is useless if it doesn't start working, damn.]
[With that strategy, no matter how big the stage is, it's just a matter of time before the cold keeps stacking.]
[If it were the subway, it would have been over by now, not just the rooftop LOL]
[LOL, the only hope is a newbie playing for the first time today, wowow]
It was far too easy for Kim Yi-Seo to expand the cold area. Given the nature of the rooftop stage and the game mechanics, Kim Yi-Seo would inevitably win.
Inside the cold area, the mecha engine couldn't function. The cold area would keep expanding. Eventually, the stage would get covered and Almond would lose. This was an obvious logical conclusion. The better a player knew about JetPumped, the quicker they reached this conclusion.
Almond had lost. They needed to look for the next player. That was why it was even more shocking when the momentum suddenly changed and Almond started throwing baseballs.
Then...
[What??]
[Almond survived again?? Wow]
[Eh??]
After he threw a couple of baseballs...
“Chikichaaa!”
A familiar shout for Almond fans accompanied the devastating hit.
Kwaaaaang—!!
A tremendous roar erupted. The briefly seated spectators jumped from their seats.
“Is it, is it really…?”
“Did he… did he really win!?”
Everyone murmured incredulously.
The thermal heat from the mecha legs and the ice created by the winter sword obscured Kim Yi-Seo's condition. If they had seen Kim Yi-Seo’s remaining health, anyone would have thought that was the final strike.
The broadcasters also stood up shouting.
“That hit! It looks like it landed properly!!”
“Could it be… is it over!?”
Slowly, the cold receded and a single shadow within it became visible.
[Almond]
The shadow belonged to Almond.
[Kim Yi-Seo]
[HP: 0%]
Kim Yi-Seo’s avatar lay on the ground with a charred health bar.
Yes, Almond had won.
“He, he won…”
Before the commentators could shout anything, a cheer almost indistinguishable from a scream echoed and the challenge venue shook.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
“Almond did ittttt!!!!!!”
“He won!!! Almond! Almond did it! Today's first-timer, Almond, has defeated the game's creator!!”
Boom…!
Some items around shook so much that they fell.
The chat wasn’t much different.
— Wow!
— He won!
— LOL.
— Crazy!!
— Did we win? For real???
— Enough with being good, Yu Sang-Hyeon! Enough with being good, Yu Sang-Hyeon! Enough with being good, Yu Sang-Hyeon!
— Mom, I want to be a baseball when I grow up! Mom, when I grow up I want to be a baseball! Mom, when I grow up I want to be a baseball!
— Mom, when I grow up I want to get smashed by Almond! Mom, when I grow up…
After they confirmed the victory, hundreds of praises poured in for Almond. Naturally, the chat began to slow down from getting overloaded.
— ???
— Lag, damn~
— What's this buffering?
Eventually, the broadcast crashed completely.
[Broadcast ended]
— ???
— What?
— Did the stream crash?
— LOL, the server's gone legendary.
This couldn’t be helped since the stream wasn’t set up through a capsule and was only maintained on mobile devices. It couldn't withstand such traffic.
The 50,000 viewers rushed to the event’s chat.
“Ah… Right now, our channel's chat is slowing down!”
“What an incredible volume!”
While the event’s chat slowed momentarily, it quickly recovered. It was much more stable since it wasn't connected via mobile but through G-Star’s facilities. Unless millions flooded in immediately, it wasn’t likely to go down.
“Wow, I didn't expect to see lag in the event’s chat!”
“Right??”
It was rare to even slightly burden the event’s chatroom. That was how hot Almond's victory was.
“Uh… huh? If they come over here…!”
“And now, the audience is storming into the arena!”
“Waaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Once someone climbed over the fence, everyone followed suit.
“Are they going to beat up Kim Yi-Seo!?”
The commentators and security staff shared the same concern, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.
They didn’t need to beat Kim Yi-Seo. Someone had already done it for them. And now they were running toward that someone.
“Almond! Almond!”
People surrounded Almond's capsule with thunderous cheers.
“Waaaa… I didn’t expect this level of enthusiasm!”
“It was quite dramatic! Who could have guessed that a first-time player today would end up winning the game!?”
“Almond! Almond! It’s like the people are chanting the name of a hero who saved the country!”
“Yes! And they're just waiting for that hero to appear!”
— Hero LOL.
— Seriously a hero at this level.
— Conscript hero Almond.
Then, the pressure in Almond's capsule began to release.
Hiss…
“Oh. He’s coming out.”
“He’s coming out. He’s coming out.”
While everyone had been loudly chanting Almond's name, they all swallowed dryly and silently watched the capsule at that moment.
Creeeeak.
The capsule lid opened.
“Huh?” Sang-Hyeon murmured in confusion for a moment. “Am I not fully out yet…?”
— LOL!
— So cute~
— Hahahaha.
He felt like he was still in virtual reality due to the surreal scene of so many people gathered around looking down at him. It was a lot to take in.
“Almond!”
“Almond!”
It didn’t take long for him to realize this was reality as they repeatedly called out his name.
“Mr. Almond! Please get up!”
“Let’s lift him up!”
The fans approached to hoist him up in celebration. The security had already lost control and people were caught up in the excitement.
“Uh… uh?”
Sang-Hyeon felt briefly startled, but soon, he let himself be carried away by the crowd.
"Almond..."
Buzz—
They instantly lifted him into the air.
"Hooray!"
“Woah.”
He unknowingly dropped his jaw.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The laughter and cheers were so loud that his ears buzzed. The world seemed to slow down and he was reminded of a scene from his childhood.
‘That time…’
All his juniors and seniors came running to lift him when he won first place in a championship. Archery wasn’t usually a team sport, but it was a special occurrence since it was the school's first championship. Above all, it was a memory he had briefly forgotten about, but now it came flooding back.
He looked around at the people hoisting him with beaming smiles. How could people look this happy? Being the cause of their happiness made him feel proud.
"Alright! Alright! That's enough!"
"You need to leave now!"
"Stop it!"
The security finally managed to break through the crowd and began to restrain the rowdy behavior as the commentators chimed in.
"Alright, everyone! Let's give Mr. Almond some rest!"
"Let's move on to our replay analysis! Please return to your seats!"
The crowd's excitement only subsided after a replay of Almond throwing the baseball appeared on the screen.
"So, I understand the part with throwing the baseball," one caster with a relatively lower understanding of JetPumped pointed out.
"The engine doesn't work in the cold area, so he attacked from a distance. Something like that, right?"
"That's right."
"But how did he rush in after the second baseball?"
After throwing the second baseball, Almond suddenly surged forward with maximum engine acceleration to deliver the finishing blow despite the opponent being in a cold fortress layered with frost.
"Ah, you might not know this. Let's go back to the first baseball scene."
The footage slowed down.
Whoom.
The scene showed when Almond first threw a baseball.
"Here, as Almond throws the first baseball. Do you see?"
"What is it?"
"The cold disappears along the path of the baseball."
"Ah...!"
Indeed, the cold vanished along the trajectory of the baseball.
"When the baseball's special move activated, it ignited and instantly pushed away the cold."
"Just for a moment?"
Even though the scene played again in slow motion, the cold quickly filled the space.
"Yes. You wouldn’t be able to do this unless you knew about it in advance. Almond noticed this on his first throw. By the next throw, he had warmed up the engine already in advance."
That was how Almond immediately flew in after the second throw. It was hard to tell who was the baseball due to his speed.
"Wow...!"
Such exclamations didn’t just come from the caster.
— Wow, that's crazy.
— I had no idea.
— Thought he just got lucky with starting up the engine, LOL.
— That's how he flew in so suddenly?? Wow.
— He used that moment perfectly, insane!!
Admiration endlessly filled the chat and the crowd was abuzz.
"Absolutely crazy."
"JetPumped for nothing all this time."
"Wow..."
The commentators brought up dramatic news to heighten the atmosphere before moving on.
"Ah, and here's a scoop from the production team. If he hadn't won with that baseball, there wouldn’t have been another chance."
"Why is that?"
"There were only those two baseballs."
"So Almond found both of them?"
"Yes. They were all on one rooftop!"
— !!
— Wow~
— It seems like heaven has abandoned Kim Yi-Seo LOL.
— Should've lived a better life!
"Ah... we're ready for the interview now!"
Ping.
The screen switched to Almond and a reporter standing together.
— What's with that fashion? LOL
— What's with the towel on his head?
— LOL!
— Even like that, he's still a handsome nut
— Sexy nut available!? The production team went to find out. Nosebleed galore~!
So much sweat covered Sang-Hyeon that he had to wrap a towel around his head. This scene resembled an interview with an athlete after winning.
"Ah."
Having been informed that the screen had switched, the reporter nodded slightly and began the interview.
"Hello, Mr. Almond?"
"Yes, hello."
"You've fulfilled the wishes of all JetPumped players today! How do you feel?"
"Ah, yes. It feels good."
"Great! This is your second challenge win today, right?"
"Yes."
— ??
— Second win??
— Wow.
— Oh, he also breezed through the new Battle Large mode earlier LOL.
The mention of his second challenge win stirred the audience.
Almond's viewers knew, but many JetPumped players either only knew of Almond by name or didn't know him at all. Naturally, they were unaware.
"That’s really impressive. I heard it was for one hundred chickens?"
"That's right."
"Wow~!"
The reporter opened her mouth wide in surprise.
— Why is the reporter so energetic?
— Totally different from interviewing the earlier fodder, LOL
— If you lower your energy after seeing Almond's face, you’ll have severe depression LOL
"Now, it’s not only one hundred chickens but also one thousand golden jet tickets, one thousand golden pump tickets, and even participation in the balance patch. Right?"
— Almond scream~~!!
— Wowooww!
— Wow, with a thousand, I might have a chance~!
— Please, this time, let it be me!
— It was golden??
"Tickets and chicken will be distributed automatically, but the balance patch participation... How do you plan to adjust the balance in this game?"
"?"
Sang-Hyeon's puzzled expression caused the festive atmosphere in the venue to momentarily freeze.
"Ah, right."
"He's playing the game for the first time today, isn't he?"
"Wow. Is he going to balance it?"
Although no one voiced it out loud, everyone thought the same thing.
— We’re screwed LOL
— It’s already ominous
— ??? The balance is fine as it is. Just nerf the baseball a bit.
— LOL!
— His expression LOL!