Season 3: Chapter 50: Strict Verification (3)
After streamers attempted to reach Almond's challenge score, posts like these began to pop up in the community.
[Breaking News: Skill streamer Mr. K verifies Almond's challenge score as a fraud!?]
Clicking on these posts led to the same conclusion.
[... Went to verify, couldn't even start as Elite Agent, just had a Q&A session with the staff and left ^^
(Video)]
The attached video captured a staff member giving robotic responses devoid of a soul.
— LOL, how can you verify it without any skills LOL
— What's up with that staff's tone?
└ If they get any more annoyed, might as well send people off via Amazon Prime
└ How irritating, ppl must have asked many times LOL
— Fact: Verification was BS, just went to ride the algorithm.
Unless one could read their minds, the streamers’ true intentions were unknowable. Certainly, some went to genuinely verify while others just wanted to ride the wave of controversy.
Regardless, the outcome was the same. Many tried the Hitman game and they all failed.
— They’re all sighing as they leave LOL
— These guys went with so much gusto to verify Almond's controversy??
└ A few were right
— Is it true that 99% didn't even reach Elite Agent level??
└ It’s seriously tough
No one among the challengers had yet made a significant mark. Although they hoped to gain some attention through the controversy, Almond ended up receiving all the attention.
— How the hell did Almond do it???
— Nutty guy... really was something...
— At this point, I’m really looking forward to the national competition.
— Almond's consecutive wins LOL
└ Sleeping but still winning…
└ LOL right
└ Breaking News: Almond on a 14 win streak while asleep!
As these challengers failed, Almond's reputation soared even higher.
Eventually, a post gained enough traction to trend.
15. Current Status of Almond
[Currently just drinking coffee at the hotel LOL
Winning streaks over coffee!
Simply... the GOAT!
The Greatest Of All Time!]
Someone uploaded a photo of Almond drinking coffee at the breakfast buffet. When it was taken was unknown.
— Worship the G.O.A.T...
— Just the GOAT...
— His looks alone are GOAT
The goat acronym was commonly used in sports and arts, but became prevalent in esports too. This title was typically reserved for the best players like Messi or Ronaldo in soccer. 𝘙Α
Almond earning this title was humourous and part of the fun. It demonstrated just how superior his skills were.
— Is that a sponsored coffee ad? It really looks like a photoshoot
— That's just a random snap? Wow
— Just drinking coffee and still on a winning streak...
— Isn't he a nut, not a GOAT?
└ LOL
└ Nutty LOL
└ Worship the N.U.T.
They elevated Almond from the greatest to almost a deity.
13. Yu Sang-Hyeon<<< If this guy is a god, then upvote
[Starting with me~]
— For real, LOL
— Woof woof! I agree!
— Sang-Hyeon? No no, it’s God-Hyeon
└ Praise the lord
└ The God gamer
└ Lord Almond
One could wonder why they revered him as a god. Once public opinion flipped, it always tended to be much more extreme and somewhat akin to a counterpunch being much stronger.
Amid this, some news came in.
[Breaking News: A streamer is currently playing as an elite agent!]
Finally, someone among the numerous challengers reached the elite agent level.
— Finally escaped the entry cut LOL
— Just a few hours ago LOL
— Oh, Radish Kimchi? He’s not bad
***
At this point, the booth staff were reaching a critical point. Despite their soulless responses, people were not backing down easily.
“No. Then, can't you let us try the elite agent difficulty just once?”
“Exactly! Can’t we just test it? I’m a journalist from Shinsen Esports Media! Please let us test the elite agent difficulty just once!”
Not only were the streamers also fed up, but what was with these journalists too?
The staff grimaced and responded again with a soulless tone, “The difficulty must be earned by yourself. If you can’t even enter the difficulty, that can’t be helped.”
Putting their tone aside, the staff’s logic was sound. Not being able to enter the difficulty level was already proof of a player’s skills. What more needed to be proved? Wasn’t it just to suck up views with the tag, “Elite agent gameplay like Almond?”
“So please leave now~ Go awaayyyy!?”
Someone grabbed the staff member by the neck from behind and yanked him away.
“Hey, hey! Aren't you stirring the water when it's flowing?”
It was an exaggeration, but the manager still scolded the staff member in the ear. Then, he smiled a business smile and dealt with the challengers directly.
“Ah, my apologies... journalists and streamers.”
“Ahem... well, it's okay.”
“The elite agent difficulty is inherently difficult to achieve, but we will soon implement it with our Almond challenge event. It's getting tuned now.”
“Oh...! You’re implementing it!?”
“Yes, yes. I was just late because I was finishing up a meeting. It will be done soon.”
Indeed, the manager had been in an emergency meeting until now to steer things properly.
“That way, as the journalists suggested, people can really get a spicy taste of this game! Haha!”
The morning’s emergency meeting created a new marketing point for Hitman. The spicy taste referred to the game’s high difficulty level. Why would anyone want to play if it was that hard?
“That's something they clearly don't understand.”
While it seemed odd to casual users, just as restaurants became famous for their spicy taste, games also sold well for their spiciness. Especially if streamers tasted the spiciness on behalf of others, people would grow curious and buy it to try themselves.
Like spicy food, mukbang was once popular and representative of the current market where trends emerged through solo streaming.
Even paying streamers for advertisements made sense.
What about Hitman now? Streamers lined up on their own, wanting to taste the extreme spiciness. Then, it was necessary to show them properly. The spicy taste of an elite agent!
“Starting now! The elite agent difficulty will be made available! From now on, all challenges will be carried out as elite agents!”
“Wowww! Thank you!”
“Wow, it's my turn! Awesome!”
***
The streamer known as a challenge hunter, Radish Kimchi, felt extremely excited.
"Ha. I was incredibly lucky. You heard that right, everyone? This is elite agent level?"
While everyone else had failed before even reaching it, he was fortunately just granted the elite agent difficulty on his turn.
— Yeah, let’s smash it.
— Show them, Radish!
— Let's revive the spirit of these weaklings LOL
Despite ranking within the top ten, yesterday's challenges felt somewhat lacking to him. Probably because he died too easily in the long Zombie School challenge.
'If it hadn’t been for Almond…'
He died at the hands of Almond as a human survivor and again as a zombie. Literally, Radish Kimchi had been killed twice. No, he had been killed three times as a challenge hunter.
"A gentleman's revenge is not too late even after ten years...! I’ll show you!"
As Radish Kimchi entered the capsule, he made such a resolution. He didn't harbor a personal grudge against Almond, but he wanted to make a comeback as a skill streamer. Honestly, mentioning Almond also brought in good viewership…
"Ahem."
Radish Kimchi casually gathered his thoughts while waiting calmly inside the capsule.
He reassured himself, 'I have the advantage. I've seen all of Almond's plays.'
He definitely needed to perform better than Almond.
Almond had started the game without any prior knowledge, whereas he was already familiar with all of Almond's gameplay. He had watched the videos repeatedly, memorizing the key points.
[Mission Start]
The game began and pungent smoke filled his vision.
“Cough! Cough!”
“Screeeeech…”
The ear-piercing radio noise was as irritating as the smoke.
“This is... screeech... here... screeech.”
The operator's voice was mixed with the noise and barely audible.
He could hardly see in front. Even the chat window was barely visible and no UI elements could be found.
'Was it this bad...?'
He knew it was quite chaotic at the start, but experiencing it firsthand felt far more disorienting.
'It's okay. I know this.'
Quickly, Radish put his ear to the ground and focused on the sound of the approaching enemy.
Almond had proceeded unknowingly, but he knew that half a dozen enemies would soon appear.
'As expected.'
Thud. Thud.
He could hear their approaching footsteps and voices.
"There’s a living target. It appears to be an elite agent. Act accordingly."
Radish Kimchi swiftly moved behind a pillar and leaned against it.
"Phew."
After taking a brief breath, he drew his pistol and flexed his fingers to feel out the grip.
"Capture alive? Eliminate? Eliminate. Roger."
The enemy had been ordered to eliminate him.
“Screech... Eliminate all witnesses immediately…”
He also received an order to eliminate the enemy.
'Now, I'm starting to adapt to the visibility.'
His vision, previously hampered by smoke, was beginning to clear. He could see enough to shoot the enemy.
'They’re beyond the door of the executive office.'
Radish Kimchi hid behind a pillar in the executive office and the enemy was beyond the office door.
The moment they peeked their heads in, that would be his opportunity.
"They're entering."
The enemies commenced their group entry.
"Phew!"
Radish Kimchi held his breath and swiftly sprang out from behind the pillar.
'There they are!'
Radish Kimchi instantly located their position and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
The gun’s muzzle lit up with a fierce recoil.
'Hit!'
The bullet struck the heart of the first enemy to enter. Radish Kimchi possessed tremendous reaction speed and aim.
— Wow
— Amazing
— Crazy, as expected
He immediately turned the gun and continued firing at the other agents.
Bang! Bang!
Bullets pierced through their heads and hearts, but then—
"!?"
Bang!
A gunshot rang out from an unlikely direction.
'Was he still alive?'
The enemy he had initially shot in the heart had survived and fired back at him. Had he resurrected? That couldn't be.
'He wasn't dead...!'
Elite agents did not die instantly unless it was a headshot. Conversely, they were also very good at shooting players in the head.
Boom!
Radish’s head burst open from a single shot.
— ???
— Eh?
— ?
Thud...!
His vision tumbled to the ground and gradually blacked out. In the darkening view, only these words brightly appeared.
[Mission Failed]
"He's been killed! Completely eliminated!"
He failed the mission and died.
The vanished chat window also reappeared.
— LOL
— LOL
— Damn LOL 1 second LOL
— Is that really elite agent? (Not the difficulty)
— So funny LOL
— Radish juice splashed everywhere LOL
Ridicule filled the chat.
Radish Kimchi felt it was unfair. Elite agents had appeared from the start. The problem was that the difficulty had already been set. Repeatedly watching Almond’s videos turned out to be a mistake.
"Ah... Ah, no. This was a mistake. A mistake. Ah... I didn't expect elite enemies right from the start... Seriously, don’t clip this. Really, don’t clip this..."
Of course, he knew how futile it was to ask these viewers.
— LOL here come the clips~
— Hey, what’s up?
— Here comes the clip~
Sure enough, within minutes, such clips appeared on Radish Kimchi’s Treevy page.
[??? Seriously, don’t clip this!?]
— LOL Almond winning streak while drinking coffee!
— Almond didn’t even finish his coffee before Radish got clipped LOL
— How did you die so fast Radish…?
— ??? Radish…! (Death)