Season 3: Chapter 71: WANTED (1)
"Eeeeee-yah!"
Ji-Ah stretched with a peculiar sound.
"Ah. I've finally caught up."
She finally finished editing all the G-Star videos and began uploading them.
"It’s still the Civil Empire tournament, so... I'll have some free time for a while."
The licensed channels primarily held the broadcasting rights for the Civil Empire national competition videos. Almond and other personal channels could only touch off-the-record videos prepared outside of matches. This was the case not just for Civil Empire, but for all sponsored tournaments.
While it seemed disappointing if Ji-Ah only thought about immediate financial gains, she felt a sense of relief now that she didn't have to edit the G-Star videos by herself.
Ding.
The computer signaled that the upload had finished. Ji-Ah picked up her phone from the bed.
"Let's check it out."
Going directly to Almond's channel was the surest way to confirm.
[Developers Shocked by Almond’s First Game Performance]
She checked the JetPumped developer's challenge first.
[Almond Talks About Fighting 40-to-1 in School.]
Then, next came the Zombie School multiplayer mode.
[??? How many? I mean his clones.]
There was also the Battle Large ninja mode.
Ji-Ah checked all of them. Now, she had no more G-Star videos to edit.
The view counts on the videos began to rise and comments started to appear.
— Developers Shocked <<< It's real LOL
└ Why are all these titles so real? LOL
— ??? 38 clones! A skilled ninja craftsman creates 38 clones at once.
└ ??? You're missing a zero?
└ LOL LOL LOL
└ Oops LOL here LOL
└ Correct! Almond!
— Wow finally edited the G-Star videos!!
— AlmondHam 40 vs 1!!
— Wow… I can’t even beat one 40 year old and he fought 40 to 1
└ LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
└ You’ve fought 40 year olds?
└ LOL LOL LOL LOL
While happily reading the comment reactions, her phone rang.
Zing.
[Ju-Hyeok: Check this out.]
[Ju-Hyeok: Almond interview]
[Ju-Hyeok: (Video)]
Ji-Ah tilted her head at the interview that Ju-Hyeok sent. She had been busy editing and was completely unaware of the current situation. Therefore, she felt shocked when she clicked on the interview.
"Ah."
Suddenly, Ji-Ah realized that she wasn’t done working yet.
***
Sang-Hyeon asked blankly, "… How?"
How exactly could they mess with this Spaniard before the game even started?
"He obviously craves attention."
"Attention?"
"Yes. Look at his Runestagram."
Ju-Hyeok pointed out each photo.
"Pictures with various women, luxury items, and cars… he’s thrown in everything that could grab attention on Runestagram."
"Isn’t that just their culture?"
Sang-Hyeon shrugged, but Ju-Hyeok continued.
"He specifically tagged you because your video became popular. He's clout chasing."
Tagging Almond was not only a provocation, but also an act to draw attention.
"He wants to share some of the spotlight that’s on you."
"Ah…" Almond nodded and asked again, "So?"
The question circled back to the beginning.
"How does this relate to screwing him over?"
"Now that we know what he wants, taking that away from him is how we screw him over. What else?"
Ju-Hyeok waved his phone showing the message exchange with Ji-Ah.
[Ji-Ah: Got it]
[Ji-Ah: It should be up soon]
Sang-Hyeon didn’t know what she was posting, but something was progressing.
"He tagged us hoping to get attention faster, but that's his mistake," Ju-Hyeok spoke with a grin, "We saw his video when it had zero views."
"?"
Although it seemed like Ju-Hyeok had revealed some significant secret, Sang-Hyeon still didn't understand what he was planning.
"Just stay still."
At times like this, it was best not to ask any further or interfere. Just staying put usually worked out.
Sure enough, Ju-Hyeok started talking more excitedly.
"We're also going to upload a video that includes his video in its entirety. And our video will get far more clicks than the one he posted. In that video, no one will know whether he's Tres or trash."
This was known as algorithm hopping. Creating a copy that surpassed the original.
If Ju-Hyeok's plan worked, even if it was just in Korea and not in the English-speaking world, Tres's video would only be seen through the video that Ji-Ah would soon upload.
***
The editing didn’t take long because it wasn't complicated. Ji-Ah just attached the Spanish video to Almond’s interview, added subtitles, and slapped on a peculiar title. She didn’t need to do any cut edits, so it was quick.
[National Competition Trash Talking Korea vs Spain]
The video featured this title and she immediately uploaded it to Almond's Runestagram account and YouTube. This happened less than an hour after Tres’s video had been uploaded.
[Views: 15,000]
[Views: 50,000]
[Views: 108,000]
The YouTube video would soon break 100,000 views in just an hour. The one on Runestagram also started to exceed 50,000 views.
However, Sang-Hyeon tilted his head.
"But… why are our views lagging?"
They were too far behind to catch up to the opponent’s views. In Spain, the national competition had firepower similar to the domestic LIL Cup.
Since an assistant commander like Tres had uploaded a video provoking his opponent, it was garnering quite the views. The gap between his and Almond’s videos was about 100,000 to 200,000 views.
"Ah, this? We’re holding the bomb, so it’s okay."
"… The bomb?"
Ju-Hyeok picked up Sang-Hyeon's phone as if it was the start button for a bomb.
"See, there's this feature with the tag function. It was created because of people terrorizing celebrities."
On Runestagram, a tagged post would ideally require one’s permission. In reality, the notification came after the post was already up. This was because getting permission each time would clog up the traffic. This often resulted in people being tagged without consent and facing inconveniences, especially celebrities.
A feature was created to combat this and it was called tag rejection.
[Tag Rejection]
Rejecting a tag would deactivate the post.
[Request to Make Private]
"…!"
Sang-Hyeon's eyes widened.
Tres's post had disappeared. Not just his Runestagram post, but also the post linked to his YouTube account. To be more accurate, it forcefully switched to private instead of public.
"Now, the only interview of Tres in the world is our video."
Ju-Hyeok chuckled delightedly.
***
"What the hell!?"
Curious about how many likes he had gotten, Tres felt shocked when he checked his account.
"Shit!"
Bang!
He slammed the table in agitation.
"What's going on!? This post was really gaining momentum, but it’s been made private!"
"…?"
Uno, who was listening nearby, glanced over. He was curious whether Tres' video had truly angered the Koreans.
'Tres certainly looks angry.'
Uno could only see an enraged Tres. What happened?
Uno spoke after a brief examination, "Hmm. Seems like the tag was rejected?"
"Tag? Tag rejection?"
"Yes. Because of stalking issues, if you tag someone, it can get rejected and made private."
"What are you talking about? It was working fine so far! If it was going to get rejected, it would have been done a long time ago!"
"Do you think people just sit around looking at Runestagram like you? They might not have even known they were tagged until some foreigner tagged them. Then, they rejected it."
Even Uno couldn’t imagine that the other side had intentionally timed the rejection. It didn’t matter. Even if the timing wasn’t intentional, Tres felt furious to the tips of his hair.
"Damn it!" Tres cursed into the air and stood up abruptly. "Isn't this just cowardice!? Rejecting a tag? It was legitimate trash talking!"
"Legitimate trash talking... Doesn’t that sound a bit off?"
Although Uno spoke in a provoking tone, he thought it was strange too.
"It is strange indeed. Didn't that Korean guy enjoy this kind of thing himself?"
Considering that Almond had spoken about the Invincible Armada, could the other party not make similar comments? Of course, he could’ve gotten angry. However, it didn't seem like there was any reason to reject the tag. Was he more petty than expected?
"Damn it… I'll just remove the tag and reupload it. There were a lot of comments on it. Damn."
After all, reuploading the video without the tag was a simple solution. It wasn't something worth getting so upset about in the first place. Tres was just being paranoid.
The other party probably didn't even realize what the video tag was about and just rejected it since it was a foreign account tagging them, which was what anyone would likely do.
Uno thought this was the case and was about to let it go.
"Wait a minute…"
He checked his own Runestagram account and felt startled.
"Your video… it’s still on Runestagram?"
"… What?"
Tres hurried over and looked at the screen. Indeed, his video was still there. It appeared as a recommended video on Uno's account.
"This is really your video, right? Who reuploaded it so quickly?"
It was definitely the same video, but there was one striking difference.
"… Why is my face blurred out?"
If the video was still up and spreading, it would be beneficial for Tres to get known more. However, Tres's name and face had been hidden. Why?
"Because it's not your account. It’s Almond's account."
The video belonged to Almond.
"…!?"
Tres was dumbfounded and Uno couldn't help but admire the opposition. Even rejecting a tag was part of the trash talking mind games.
"Hahahaha! The timing of rejecting the tag was perfect!"
Tres was determined not to give even a single view's worth of traffic to his opponent. Indeed, that intention had been effectively reversed. Now, all related views were going to the other side instead of Tres.
Viewers couldn't even tell if the person in the video was Tres or some rando.
"Ahahahaha! Even if you reupload it now, it’s useless. Huh? Huh?"
Even if Tres reuploaded the video excluding the tag, the related algorithms had already changed. It wouldn’t make a difference in English or Korean speaking locations.
The opponent had launched a perfect counterpunch.
Uno laughed so hard he nearly doubled over. It felt too enjoyable seeing Tres, known for seeking attention and easily losing his temper, suffer such a debacle.
"Insane… These guys… Did they do this on purpose?! They did this on purpose, didn’t they!?"
"Do you think they accidentally pressed the reject tag button? Then, accidentally covered your face and re-edited and uploaded the video? You idiot! Think a little! Ahahahaha!"Uno burst out laughing with his mouth wide open.
"Ah, dammit!"
Tres threw something into Uno’s wide-open mouth. It was a cigarette butt.
"Phew!?" The startled Uno jumped and spat it out while cursing loudly, "Hey! Hey! Stop right there!"
***
The butterfly effect continued to spread. It wasn’t just Tres who felt angered by Almond.
Tres had been causing chaos within the team.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
"Why is this madman acting like this?"
"It's because of that video."
Not just Uno, but everyone came to understand the situation.
"Our video is feeding him views?! What kind of nonsense is this!?"
"Does Almond have a special relationship with the Runestagram CEO?! Is he pulling some kind of strings here!"
"Almond's father was from England. That’s what they’re saying! These damn pirates! No wonder they’ve been pirating our videos!"
Rumors spread from mouth to mouth, becoming more sensational and false. Eventually, such a post even appeared in the Spanish Civil Empire community.
[WANTED]
[Almond
DEAD or ALIVE
Reward: Currently Collecting]
It was hard to tell if this was a joke or serious. At least it was clear that all the Spanish users now knew Almond.
The next day arrived.
[Spain vs Korea]
Finally, the day they would play against each other.
One thought was firmly planted in the minds of most Spanish players.
"I'll be the one to take him down."
They wanted to be the hero who struck down the interview devil!