Season 3: Chapter 69: Plan Meeting (1)
Had Sang-Hyeon's interview touched a sore spot? Some local reactions were frighteningly fierce.
Even the Koreans, second only to the world with their spicy wit, felt taken aback.
— European bros are fierce.
— It's kind of scary
— The French bros' mention of K-meat is crazy~
└ K-meat lol
└ For real lol
— Look at the effect of the interview devil lol
— Breaking: Solomon recruits the 73rd demon
└ lol
└ Oh, could that be...?
— Spain's passion can be felt all the way here lol
— Just enjoy~ We won anyway~
Among the international reactions, many comments aggressively attacked Korea. Fortunately, the Korean fans already won the match against France and weren’t significantly affected.
— France lol stop crying and speak up.
— Hey moron, shut up if you lost.
— Amid all this are comments that he's handsome lol
└ For real
— lol so funny
— It would be fun if other players talked trash too.
└ For real
"Hmm..."
Sang-Hyeon read on and thought, 'If we had lost...'
They could laugh it off since they won. What if they had lost? Certainly, Almond wouldn't have been interviewed after a loss.
‘... Wait, really?’
After a moment of contemplation, Sang-Hyeon realized that he couldn't definitively answer this question.
"Ahem..."
What if they had lost and Almond gave such an interview? Public opinion in Korea wouldn't have been so mild. The reactions had turned out like this because they won. 𝐑
Anyway, it was truly fortunate that they had won. With that thought, Sang-Hyeon put away his phone.
"Right. Did you finish reading the foreign articles?" Ju-Hyeok asked with a mischievous smile.
"They’re better than the domestic reactions."
“Pfft,” Ju-Hyeok barely held back his laughter.
That wasn't exactly the reaction Sang-Hyeon hoped for as evident from his expression.
"Well, that’s enough of the interview reactions for now..."
This time, Ju-Hyeok offered his own phone.
"Look at this."
The main page of Runestagram appeared on the phone screen.
"... Runestagram?"
It had been a while since he last managed his Runestagram. Why did Ju-Hyeok suddenly bring it up?
Due to a lack of management, Almond’s increasing number of followers had stalled at around 130,000.
"You said you were managing this yourself. You haven't done anything."
"... Honestly, it doesn't really help. Not for streamers."
"Yeah, but it seems like you should start again."
"?"
Ju-Hyeok recommended that Sang-Hyeon start managing his Runestagram again.
Click.
Ju-Hyeok pushed the screen toward him, which showed a Runestagram account with 600,000 followers.
“Wait… this is mine?”
It had been around 100,000 at first, but suddenly reached 600,000.
Sang-Hyeon wondered what had happened.
***
Thud.
Chi-Seung casually set down the coffee for everyone to drink and asked, “It seemed like the Spanish players were really upset. This is all part of the strategy, right Cookie?”
Six of them sat at the conference table. Three were commanders from the Korean team and three were core members from the think tank. They had all gathered to discuss the strategy for the next game.
“What? What strategy?”
From the start, the topic seemed off.
“... Ah, no. The interview. It wasn’t meant to provoke them, was it?”
“What… interview?”
Hui-Chul cocked his head in confusion. He had conducted a separate commander interview and immediately left the capsule to prepare more strategies, unaware of anything else.
“Ah…”
Chi-Seung scratched his head.
“Hey, it seems it wasn’t discussed. I thought it was just Almond bro making a joke like usual.”
“?”
Hui-Chul took a sip of his coffee and looked it up.
“What did he say?”
It wasn’t hard to find out. Now that Embul recovered, just entering the community would reveal all the highly recommended posts talking about it.
“Interview devil? What did he say to be called a devil?”
“Haha…” Chi-Seung laughed awkwardly.
If Cookie didn’t know about it, he could have just ignored it. Why go looking?
“France is just like Spain’s Invincible Armada for Korea… Invincible is just a word…?”
Amazement flickered in Hui-Chul’s eyes.
“He actually said this?”
It was just a joke that Almond made. Maybe only those who knew history well would understand the humor. It poked fun at Spain's Invincible Armada, which was famous for just its name and not its power.
“He didn’t just say it. He directly called out Spain.”
“Pff... Hmph...!”
Hui-Chul could not hold back his laughter.
“Hahahahaha!”
“?”
“It’s funny, isn’t it? It’s a hundred times better than the jokes I used to make.”
Chi-Seung heaved a sigh of relief.
“Well... Anyway, if it suits your taste, that’s good. Yeah…”
Chi-Seung couldn’t have dreamed that it was an unplanned interview.
‘He’s really crazy.’
Thump.
Barum quietly set down his coffee cup.
“I know about that interview too.”
“Oh, you do?”
“Yeah. France and Spain are really gearing up for it, especially Spain since our next game is against them. They seemed quite excited.”
“But how did you find out about the international reactions?”
Cookie thought it was a natural question, but Barum’s face turned red.
“... Just browsing the internet…”
Barum quickly turned his head to avoid any gazes.
Chi-Seung immediately understood the situation.
‘He must have been searching his own name a lot.’
It was typical behavior when people received a lot of attention. Barum, being somewhat of an attention-seeker, would have excitedly looked up reactions about himself since he performed well in the recent game.
“Whatever it is, it’s a good sign that the enemy is excited.”
Chi-Seung nodded.
“Yes. Being an all-pro team with sponsors, such provocation makes them sensitive.”
“Oh, right. You really understand well, Chi-Seung.”
Hui-Chul grinned. This was exactly what he wanted to say to his team members.
“Pros seem to always have an advantage, but not necessarily.”
Some team members felt quite intimidated by Spain's all-pro lineup. However, Hui-Chul genuinely thought it was worth trying.
“Does a pro’s spear poke an extra centimeter? No. Meanwhile, they are under tremendous pressure.”
What did being a pro mean? It meant getting paid and being under the influence of sponsors and clubs that paid that money. And who did these sponsors and clubs care about? The fans.
“These players are bound to be sensitive to public opinion. It’s probably not just the anger from Almond’s interview, but also the pressure from fans getting upset.”
“Ah... there might be some confusion in their strategy then. Maybe they’ll overdo it...”
“There’s a good chance of that. Anyway…”
Hui-Chul really wanted to say this last part, so he straightened his posture and spoke neatly.
"People who play games to make money cannot beat those who truly enjoy it."
Everyone quietly nodded.
"Well, that's enough small talk..."
Hui-Chul picked up something resembling a chess piece from the table.
Thump.
He placed it on the virtual map, targeting the Spanish headquarters.
"Now..."
The piece he was pointing at represented siege weapons, which were generally used from the third era onward. This match would emphasize the third era.
"Let’s review that strategy. What did we name it again?"
"Ah, the Destroy Operation?"
Hui-Chul smirked at the clever name.
"Yes, that name. I like it. We’ll begin reviewing the Destroy Operation. We couldn’t proceed with a scrimmage, so we need to simulate thoroughly. This time, Barum will take Spain and Doo-Jun will handle Korea."
"Yes. Yes."
***
Meanwhile, the Spanish command center also held a meeting in This World.
"Korea defeated France with a second era archer rush."
The chief commander Nacho was briefing them about the match against Korea.
"This means we might end the game in the second era even before upgrading to the conqueror faction!"
Conquerors were a third era faction representing Spain, which aggressively expanded its colonies. They increased the production speed of gunpowder weapons by a whopping thirty percent.
Indeed, Spain could start producing guns and other ranged anti-personnel weapons using gunpowder in the third era. The problem would be before reaching the third era.
"What do you all think?" Nacho asked the other members.
"Yes... Nacho. I was a bit shocked,” the assistant commander Uno cautiously replied.
"If they can do that against the French, it might be even easier against us..."
The French civilization was known for its early aggression starting from the second era. The Joseon civilization was known for its strength in the later stages, but successfully executed an all-in rush against such a civilization.
It was more than a headache for those facing Korea as Spain didn't have a faction as strong as the French knights in the second era.
"I recommend we produce more infantry weapons in the second era and fortify our towers while moving into the third era."
The table briefly grew noisy at Uno's suggestion. Spain had never considered facing Korea in the second era before.
"What if we fortify and Korea moves straight to the third era?"
"Then we can use our infantry to check them."
"Yes. Maybe we should consider striking first. Aren't we being too passive?"
"Striking against an archer civilization? I think this opinion makes sense. Even if we go to the third era a bit late, it won’t put us at a disadvantage."
Bang!
Someone aggressively intervened among the murmuring people. It was another assistant commander named Tres.
"You’re wrong."
"...?"
Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to explain why it was wrong.
"The premise is wrong to begin with. This was a mistake France made considering Korea’s tower rush."
"So?" Uno retorted with displeasure and crossed his arms.
Tres growled even more, "Joseon isn’t a civilization capable of a second era rush! That firepower isn’t real! It overlapped with France’s mistake!"
The situation had been caused by France’s mistake. Spain didn’t need to be wary of such a strategy.
Tres wasn't wrong.
However, Uno had been advocating for a more solid approach and countered him.
"So what about us? Can we avoid being deceived? Do we know if Korea is planning a first era tower rush or just scouting? It’s hard to tell with Korea because their soldiers can build towers!"
Among Korea’s first era factions was a labor faction. They could use soldiers to build towers if needed. Although less efficient than workers, this capability was still a problem.
"Building towers with soldiers is slow! If they start, we can stop them. No need to panic!"
"Panic? Who said anything about panicking?"
"No, no! Uno, Tres!"
Bang bang bang!
Nacho slammed the table to calm them down.
"I didn't bring up this topic for us to be swayed by Korea’s tactics."
The room fell silent at Nacho’s words.
"Find a solution. One that prevents them from doing anything strange while we enter the third era at a similar time!"
They had to catch two rabbits at once. The faces around the table became incredulous. How could they do that?
Tres objected, "Honestly, even if we enter the third era a bit late due to being deceived, we’re still at an advantage in terms of power. Nacho, looking for a solution might actually be us getting swayed by them."
"That’s being complacent!"
Nacho glared at him with fiery eyes.
"France thought exactly like that and got beaten! Can you handle losing to Korea!? Do you know what it means to lose to Korea in this round? It’s a death sentence!"
"..."
"And you all saw what that bastard said in the interview, right!?"
Everyone slowly nodded.
"And we’re like this after seeing that!? Do you think our fans would tolerate a defeat? Even if we win, they’ll criticize us if it's a hard-fought victory. Am I wrong?"
Everyone slowly shook their heads.
Having many fans was both a great weapon and a great responsibility. It wouldn’t be surprising if something happened due to their disappointment.
Nacho knew this well and his excitement reflected their attitude. He stood up with bulging veins and shouted, "Crush them!"
Whoom.
Nacho stomped his foot.
"Crush them completely in the next game! Don’t even show a hint of being swayed at the start! From the beginning until the end! Win! Bring me a solution now. There must be one!"
He seemed truly heated from someone’s interview.