Season 3: Chapter 51: The Best Partner (1)
Elite agent level enemies boasted incredible reaction speeds and accuracy. Their accuracy even realistically increased after spotting the player due to prolonged observation. The longer combat lasted, the more troublesome it would become for the player.
Radish Kimchi needed to eliminate them immediately within a couple of shots. His mistake was that he assumed his first shot killed the enemy and simply aimed at the next target. By the time he dealt with two or three other targets, the first enemy he had downed already got back up and finished aiming.
Getting shot in the head was almost a predetermined future.
"..."
Having reached that predetermined future, Radish Kimchi looked at the black screen in disbelief.
'Can't I just play one more round?'
When he tried to get revenge on Almond in Zombie School, he died in one slash and became a laughingstock. He tried to redeem himself with Hitman, but became a laughingstock again after dying in the beginning.
Knock, knock.
Knocking kept coming from outside the capsule.
"Come on contestant. You have to come out. You only get one attempt. Just one. Come out. Come out."
— LOL
— Get out Radish Kimchi LOL
— Accept your skill
"Come out. Come out. It's just a game."
The staff remained expressionless for now, but they seemed ready to throw salt at him if he kept resisting.
Screech.
The lid opened and Radish Kimchi clasped his hands together.
"Ah. Can't I just play one more—"
Click.
Seeing the staff really pull out the white crystal powder, Radish Kimchi left the capsule.
"I’ll leave."
— You're already pickled, why fear the salt!? Just play another round!
— Let's get pickled one more time, Radish Kimchi
— Ah LOL so funny
— Isn't that sugar from the pantry, not salt? LOL
The fans also felt that it was a pity. To them, it was too great an opportunity to lose from making such a futile mistake.
"I will line up again and try. Ah, this is really too bad..."
— A pity
— Don’t even know what pity means LOL
— LOL LOL LOL it's kimchi season, so the form is off~
Ignoring the viewers’ ridicule, Radish Kimchi went back outside the booth to line up again. However...
"...?!"
The line had grown much longer than before.
"What in the world…?"
At a glance, waiting in this line would leave him no time for other challenges. This would ultimately push him back in today's challenge point competition. �
— What's with the line?
— Wow, it’s a hot spot now LOL
— Why did the kids come? LOL
— If you need to line up again, please DM us (bow)(bow)
Seeing the line packed with people of all ages, Radish Kimchi shook his head in disbelief.
"Oh well. I guess I'll just let it cool down a bit~"
***
As someone shook their head at the sight of the line, another person nodded very satisfactorily.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
It was Jeong Min-Cheol, the marketing manager in charge of this G-Star event and the protagonist who managed to secure a contract with Almond even though they lost all their challenge points.
"See? Huh? Did you see? Do you see this line!?" he grabbed the soul-drained staff and chattered excitedly.
Every time he did so, the souls of the staff faded even further. Despite this, Manager Jeong didn’t care at all.
He immediately went back to the meeting room and looked for the Almond contract.
"Hey. Get me that Almond contract. A copy is fine. I just need to check something."
He flipped through the contract that the employee brought, checking its contents.
"Promotional materials during the contract period... promotional materials..."
Usually, when they chose someone as an advertising model, the model’s face would appear in video ads and every promotional material. Such content would normally be included in an advertising model contract.
"..."
However, that wasn't included.
"What, what's this?"
It couldn’t be. Now that he checked again, it wasn’t an exclusive model contract but a video advertisement model contract.
That made sense. They had contracted Almond for only one video advertisement to save costs.
"... Ah. Right."
Manager Jeong stroked his chin while thinking.
"Can't we just use it?"
They were planning to make an Almond challenge poster. What would happen if they used Almond’s name?
Suddenly, the image of Ju-Hyeok's sparkling, rimless glasses flashed through Manager Jeong's mind.
'Ugh. It can’t be done. It just can’t.'
It felt like being cut by a knife. Surely there would be trouble. Beyond legal issues, the company's image could plummet in an instant.
They became famous thanks to Almond and would cause controversy over this? It sounded utterly reprehensible even to Manager Jeong himself.
"Sigh. What to do?"
Manager Jeong tore at his hair. Timing was everything in this situation. Who knew when this enthusiasm would disappear?
"Maybe... we should contact the CEO? If you explain the current situation, he might provide additional support," Assistant Manager Park suggested. He had worried about the challenge points when Almond first came.
"Maybe? Yes, let's at least talk about it. The CEO is cool about these things. It might work."
Changing the proposal from a video advertisement model to an exclusive model would inevitably involve a significant cost increase, but what other choice did they have to keep rowing in the water they were in? They could even launch an aircraft carrier.
"But no matter how cool he is... it’s the CEO. Hmm..."
They had to consider the CEO's position. From the position of having to pay the employees, the company’s financial issues were inevitably sensitive. Suddenly pulling out unplanned funds would naturally require much more convincing evidence. It was crucial to prepare in a way that could truly convey the heat of the moment at the scene.
"Assistant Manager Park, send me all the photos and videos on the scene. And clip everything that mentions Almond from the G-Star official channel interviews.
"Yes, but..."
"I'll gather mentions and views from the internet."
"Yes, but..."
"What else is there?"
"Manager, sir?!"
Only now did Manager Jeong hear his words.
"Huh? Why?"
"Someone already organized that."
"… What?"
Assistant Manager Park pushed his phone screen forward. Displayed on it was none other than a video from YouTube.
[Challenge? That's only for the in-crowd!]
The video had been uploaded an hour ago. Upon playing it, it featured not only edited interviews from the official G-Star livestream about the Almond challenge, but also summarized the current situation at the Hitman booth.
However, the editing was a bit… absurd and it was narrated in a bizarre AI voice.
[Gamers flocked in the morning like dogs to break the records of the evil nut! But they couldn't even step on the afterimage of this evil bastard Almond!]
Swoosh!
The scenes transitioned to Almond’s photo moving swiftly, creating afterimages.
[Can only he become an elite agent?! Can the justice loving out-crowd nerd gamers not even chase the afterimage of the evil villain Almond!?]
At the end, a very low quality clip of Almond drinking coffee was inserted.
[This evil villain has been leisurely drinking coffee since morning! And while pleasantly greeting beautiful women! He managed to defeat the normies! Is the challenge really only possible with Almond!?!?]
The video ended with a voice that sounded almost like a scream.
Manager Jeong burst into hollow laughter and asked, "Is this the official channel?"
"No, not at all. None of the videos shot by Almond's side are shown. And Almond's channel doesn't really do cheap edits like this."
"So who did this?"
"Just a fan, I guess. Sometimes they make Almond fan videos."
[Macaroon]
The channel name was Macaroon. Looking at their video list, there was also this.
[Popular Uploads]
[How the city's top beauty fell for a nut, not a human?!]
[1.789 million]
The video depicted Jessie's first encounter with Almond in Civil Empire.
Without much thought, Manager Jeong clicked on the video and became mesmerized by it.
"Jessie... she’s beautiful..."
Without realizing it, his true feelings slipped out.
"... Huh?" Assistant Manager Park tilted his head in confusion.
Manager Jeong's face reddened and he quickly directed more work in an attempt to cover his embarrassment.
"Cough... Anyway! That video should be convincing enough since it includes the official G-Star clips. I’ll contact the CEO and get back. You guys get ready to go."
"Yes!"
Manager Jeong briefly left with his phone.
***
It didn't take long. As the manager said, the CEO was indeed cool with it.
"What?! A line?! At our booth?! Get something moving immediately! I’ll throw money at it!"
Apparently, the video footage wasn't really needed. Having developed several gimmick games before, this was the first time they had received such attention.
The CEO felt extremely excited. Finally, the astronomical figures that other game companies had been touching seemed to unfold before him as well.
Manager Jeong felt the same. As someone who had rolled in sales in this startup since the beginning, his fate wasn't much different from the CEO's.
Unable to contain his pounding heart, Manager Jeong ran to the meeting room and threw an uppercut into the air.
"Yes!"
Whoosh!
"Yes!"
Whoosh!
"Yeaaaah!"
Whoosh whoosh!
He delivered a series of imaginary punches into the air.
"Phew."
Having calmed down, he entered the meeting room and immediately called Almond's manager.
***
In front of Sang-Hyeon stood a pleasant-looking young man who flashed a smile.
"Ah, Mr. Almond. Have you given it any thought?"
Although it was clearly a sales driven smile, the young man's charming demeanor was enough to brighten one's mood despite knowing this. He said he was from Navi Entertainment.
‘Who was he again?’
Sang-Hyeon had already forgotten the name he just heard. He was that disinterested in this.
"Ah. No, I haven’t really thought about it any further. I've been quite busy with various things."
Despite the obvious disinterest, the other party still tried to stick around.
"Ah, I see. That’s understandable. After all, you are one of the top three growing streamers right now. Haha. We keep track of such data, you know."
"Ah..."
"And, excuse me for this, but we inadvertently learned a bit about the recent issue. We've always been keeping an eye on Mr. Almond, after all. Haha," the young man chuckled and touched his hair.
"Issue?"
"Yes, the recent controversy related to challenge points. We believe we could have resolved it more smoothly. In fact, there wouldn't have been any room for misunderstanding in the first place. We have considerable know-how in crisis management."
The young man naturally took a seat at the table while talking.
Did these guys get a big incentive for recruiting? His enthusiasm was excessive. Of course, it was good to see a salaryman being passionate, but he seemed like a pubescent boy over eagerly confessing his feelings.
'Let's give a vague answer and send him on his way.'
Sang-Hyeon pondered how to gently dismiss this person.
"I am aware that the issue is being resolved, but it's better not to shoulder such risks in the first place. It's not a short-term commitment, and there's no guarantee that risks won’t arise at any time."
Sang-Hyeon wiped his mouth with a napkin and responded, "I am a results oriented person. If the outcome is good, that’s what matters."
"Ah, yes. However, we assessed that the risk was greater than the return you received from the outcome. It’s not just about producing results once."
"Return... I'd be satisfied with an advertising model contract."
"More than being an advertising model, an exclusive model would be fitting to compensate for the risk of damaging Mr. Almond's image."
"An exclusive model...?"
"Being the face of the game itself, the pay is completely different."
Sang-Hyeon knew what an exclusive model was. He had just mentioned it out of disbelief. Exclusive models were not just any celebrity, but top-tier ones.
"Ah~ Of course! It's just our assessment. We prioritize streamers’ opinions first, but there's a difference between knowing this data and not knowing it. Haha."
The young man hadn’t said anything particularly wrong. Listening to him, it all made sense and was hard to argue against, especially since Sang-Hyeon wasn't that articulate.
'Still, something doesn’t feel right.'
At this point when few options remained other than to shout, "I just don’t like you!" his phone began to ring.
Jiiiiiiing. Jiiiiiiing.
It was from a strange number. Normally, Sang-Hyeon wouldn’t answer, but he stood up and moved away from his seat.
"It’s an urgent call."
"Ah, yes, of course. Would you like me to bring more coffee?"
With his politeness, Sang-Hyeon just nodded and smiled as he put the phone to his ear.
"Hello."
“Ah. Mr. Yu Sang-Hyeon… so you are Mr. Almond, right? This is Jeong Min-Cheol, the manager of the Hitman promotion department.”
"Ah, yes."
“Your manager isn’t answering the phone and it’s quite urgent, so I took the liberty of contacting you. May I speak with you longer?
"Yes. Speak at length."
“Yes, thank you. It’s about an exclusive model offer.”
Sang-Hyeon's eyes widened. That guy, hadn’t he just been talking about an exclusive model contract?