Season 3: Chapter 38: G-Star Settlement (3)
"Is something wrong?"
He had a reason for this suspicion. It was because of one piece of information he learned as the contestants from tenth place onward were called.
"It's already weird that the number of games was piling up."
It was regarding the number of challenges the other contestants had attempted. Until now, all the revealed players had played at least twelve games and thirty at most.
What about Sang-Hyeon?
"Battle Large Ninja Mode, JetPumped, Zombie School, Run Guys, Hitman Simulator... That’s just five."
If the arcade games were included, it could be a different story. Realistically, it was correct to say he had only played five games. The difference was that he either won all these five games or scored as if he had won.
Initially, Sang-Hyeon couldn't help but feel anxious. Had he been too complacent? Such thoughts did occur to him.
When he didn't know about the challenge point prize money, he took his time leisurely gaming. He would have tried harder had he known earlier.
"Hmm?"
Now, second place had been announced.
"In second place! Surpassing 2,600 points with a margin of over 500 points!"
There was a big difference considering that third place had 2,001 points.
Most reactions in the chat room were full of surprise.
— Wow, how can there be such a difference there too?
— Who is it, really?
— Wow, to do all that and still be 2nd?
It wasn’t just the chat room.
The audience also murmured and buzzed with surprise.
"Wow..."
"Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable."
"Is that really second place?"
"It must be a close second."
Everyone felt the second place score was too high. It was truly unbelievable. For Sang-Hyeon, this created a sense of dissonance.
"Huh..."
Well, the number written on his goggles was higher. Not just higher, but much more so. Enough to make the usually carefree Sang-Hyeon worry about such absurd concerns.
"Could it be wrong?"
He even imagined absurd things like a numerical error misrepresenting the score and that he wasn't even in the top ten. Such things did happen in these one-off events.
Well, in any case, he would soon know the truth.
***
"Please come up! Second place! Participant number nineteen!"
“Ohhhhh!”
The contestant appeared amid the crowd’s cheers. As his identity was revealed, the cheers continued along with questions.
"Ohhhh...?"
"Ah..."
"Wow."
There was cheering, but the reaction was strange.
"I'm a professional gamer and streamer! Pickled Radish!"
The audience felt surprised because this person often finished in second place and appeared in second place yet again.
— Is he 2nd place again?? lol
— The king without a crown lol
— At this point, it must be on purpose lol
— What's with finishing 2nd here too? lol
— Even in this small tournament lol
The funny thing was that this tournament wasn't particularly grand. It was just a form of entertainment at G-Star, yet he ended up placing second in such an event.
"Ah... I'm second, aren't I?"
Pickled Radish looked embarrassed as if he hadn't expected this.
"Ah. Were you aiming for first place?"
"No, not really. I just participated in the challenges for fun."
It seemed he had participated in the challenges purely for entertainment, yet he still ended up in second place. It was certainly an impressive achievement.
"After seeing the third place score, I thought I was first."
He seemed a bit deflated after realizing that he wasn't first despite believing he was far ahead of third place.
— That's understandable lol
— A 500 points difference, damn lol
— What did 1st place even do?
"Really? Looking at the scores, it seemed like you were first. I'm also disappointed."
"No. No. Being second is fun. Actually, after seeing the third place score, I was worried it would be awkward if I was first."
His cheerful handling of the situation spread laughter throughout the audience.
— Pickled Radish is actually made of beans! Pickled Radish is actually made of beans!
— He's funny lol
— Pickled Radish likes being second
— Solid Pickled Radish
"Yes! Pickled Radish, you did well to be second!"
The host sent him additional words of encouragement. Then, the much anticipated first place was announced.
"Ah. This is a bit nerve-racking, isn't it?"
Having checked the data beforehand, he smiled and called out the biggest beneficiary of this G-Star.
"First place!"
Boom boom.
Drums bellowed from the speakers.
"First place is quite special! Starting with the number of games played! Let's see!"
The number of challenges was shocking. Was this really correct? Such a number made one wonder.
[6 games]
The number seemed full of controversy. A challenger had played thirty games and ended up in tenth place, yet someone was first with just six games.
"Six games?"
"Six games? Is that the dinner menu for today?"
"Did he win almost all of them? No... that doesn't make sense?"
Unless he won almost all of them, how could he possibly be first? Merely winning wouldn't have been enough. He had to fill his wins with major games that rewarded a lot of points.
"Now, here’s some interesting data! Generally, if you win, you tend to stay in the game longer and increase your playtime, right? This tends to reduce the number of games you can play... but six games is indeed shocking!"
The gamers started buzzing, mentioning likely candidates who could be first with such a challenge count.
The total challenge points had to exceed 2,600 points and their skills had to match. No one who was called out so far could match this. There were hardly any candidates who fit this profile.
"It's Almond. Almond played only the major games, but swept them."
"Even so, could the score difference be that much?"
"Almond? Wow."
The host moved on to the next information as the gamers' voices grew louder and the venue bustled more.
"Now, the next information! What games were played? Let's reveal those details!"
Following the host's words, the screen changed.
[Battle Large Ninja Mode - First Victory]
[JetPumped 'You Do It, Developer' - Sole Victory]
[Arcade Memories - 0 Wins]
[Zombie School Multiplayer Mode - Victory]
[Run Guys 'Combat Running' - Victory]
[Hitman Simulator - Record Breaker]
"Wow."
"Ah. It's definitely Almond. I saw Almond win 'You Do It, Developer!’"
"Almost all wins. That’s crazy."
"Except for the arcade games, it's basically five games for first place??"
The host revealed the identity of first place.
"Let's see! The long-awaited first place! Participant number thirty-nine! Almond!"
First place was finally announced.
“Ahhhhhh!”
A roar of cheers enveloped the venue.
"Please come forward! Almond!"
As Sang-Hyeon stood up, cheers erupted from his fellow streamers like Bubblegum, Takoyaki, Miho, and Green Tea among others.
He recognized the many familiar faces.
"Woah! Almond!"
"You again! Almond!"
"Hope is not in humanity! It's in nuts!"
He greeted his playful, fellow streamers cheering him on as he walked to the stage.
***
Meanwhile, streamer Pickled Radish was in second place again thanks to Almond. He couldn't help but sigh.
"Wow... How could this happen?"
Beside him was his close streamer friend WhiteChicken subtly agitating him.
"Kya~ Your king without a crown title is well protected by Almond. You should thank him."
"… Shut up. I didn’t even try hard this time."
"Did you really not try hard?"
"Really."
Even though WhiteChicken was openly teasing him, Pickled Radish didn't seem too upset. After all, he had long since given up on finishing first after retiring from professional play.
The statement he made on stage regarding being nervous about possibly finishing first wasn't a lie. He really preferred being the funny guy who finished second.
However...
"What's that?"
He couldn't help but be shocked by the score displayed on the screen. WhiteChicken felt the same as well as all the other streamers.
"Eh?"
"Is that a bug?"
This was because Almond's points were lower than Pickled Radish's.
[1,080pt]
Second place had 2,600 points and first place had 1,080 points?
"… Huh?"
Even the host sensed something was off and fell silent for a moment.
"It seems there might be a display error. Yes, my apologies. I will apologize on behalf of the error."
It was indeed an error.
Pickled Radish nodded and accepted it somewhat relieved.
"Ah. I almost became first."
— Crazy 2nd place guy lol
— Hilariously funny lol
— Funny guy lol
His viewers posted laughing messages as they watched.
"Now, the corrected score will be displayed!"
Amid this, the corrected points were posted.
"Eh?"
"Is that a bug?"
People couldn't help but have the same reaction as before.
[11,080pt]
"Ah... a 1 was missing at the front, right? We apparently only made space for four digits... Hahaha!"
The host appeared incredulous and visibly flustered.
"Anyway, that's really a high score! Isn't this a bug?! I'll check it again!"
Earlier, they had to check because it was too low. Now, humorously, they had to check because it was too high. After a short while, the host returned and confirmed it with accuracy.
"It is correct! I've seen the details! Ah~ It's accurate! This has actually happened! Everyone!"
— lmao, that's correct? lol
— What the heck? lol
— He played six games, right?
"This is because... you earn as well as you play! There was a booth that calculated points based on performance! And he performed so well there! He nearly broke the system!"
Naturally, the venue grew noisy with murmurs at this revelation.
A booth had distributed points like that? It could be considered unfair, but what could be done? It was part of the rules, after all.
Even if it was by a stroke of luck, surpassing ten thousand points was still a testament to his overwhelming skills.
"Woahhhhh! Almond!"
"Insane!"
After a few shouts erupted, applause began to break out. Indeed, this score deserved a round of applause.
Finally, the host could relax and excitedly announced, "Now~ For first place! A modest prize of one million won! And! Drops that will help with streaming! These drops are for the much talked about Legend Tale, right? It's for the closed beta of Legend Tale!"
“Ooooooh.”
The audience gaped in surprise upon hearing about the reward.
Pickled Radish also seemed a bit surprised as he straightened up and leaned forward in anticipation.
"Really?"
"Seems so. They hadn't disclosed what kind of drop it would be."
WhiteChicken nodded with a playful expression drained of jest.
"That's a big deal..."
Drops, in simple terms, were like invitations in the gaming industry. They were invites for a selected group of people to participate in closed beta tests. For a streamer to receive drops meant that they gained the right to distribute these invitations.
If viewers watched the streamer's broadcast, the drops were automatically distributed among them. The nature of these drops drastically affected viewer engagement.
"Legend Tale drops are literally legendary..."
The drops for Legend Tale, the game currently receiving the most attention, were going to Almond today.
"Wow. If I knew this, I would have tried harder. Then, I could have won~" Pickled Radish mumbled to himself in jest.
— Even if you tried harder, a ten thousand point difference is a bit... lol
— Wouldn't you just die?
— lmao, does trying harder even make it possible? lol
"Kidding, folks. I'm jealous."
During this time, Pickled Radish looked up enviously at the reward like all the others.
"Almond! Could you share your thoughts?"
The host extended the microphone to Almond. It was time for the winner's speech.
No one could have predicted what his reaction would be.
"Ah. So this is also a mistake?"
Almond pointed at the number with a relieved smile, which read one million won.
"What? A mistake? Did another error occur?"
Since there had been a significant error before, the host listened intently and sweated nervously.
"This... there's a zero missing, isn't it? It's supposed to be ten million won."
"???"
The host's eyes turned into question marks and silence fell over the noisy venue. Only the chat in Almond's stream was in an uproar.
— lololololololololololol
— lmao
— I can't watch this anymore lol
— Why does it have to be a mistake now? lol
The host checked once more very carefully.
"So... you're saying it should be ten million won...?"
"Yes."
Almond nodded as if it were obvious.
"I will check on that, but... it's definitely supposed to be one million won..."
The host couldn't hide his bewilderment.
That was when it happened.
"Sorry, Almond!" one of Almond's fans shouted out. "It's actually not ten million won. It's one million won!"
Thump.
Almond's pupils shook dramatically.