Season 3: Chapter 81: The Time I Got Almond’s Number (2)
Almond's face filled the screen.
[MVP: Almond]
The commentators nodded and chimed in.
"Ah...! The MVP is Almond, of course!?"
"That's right. Actually, up to the mid game, Cookie might have received it! But that last scene!"
With OrangeKing's words, the screen changed.
The scene showed Almond shooting at the enemy while taking arrows from a defense tower.
"This scene is enough to earn him the MVP! Everyone must think so!"
Almond overcame the insufficient range of the defense tower.
"Oh, yes. This strategy was not prepared by Cookie, but was a judgment made on the spot!?"
It hadn’t been prepared beforehand. Naturally, the commentators and viewers who thought Korea prepared that strategy felt surprised.
"Really?"
"Yes. The exact details will probably be confirmed in an interview, but Cookie didn’t give them any orders regarding that according to the observers."
— Damn
— Wow, that's crazy
— This wasn't prepared beforehand??
— Huh??
It was absolutely not easy to perform a strategy improvised on the spot.
"The pressure must have been enormous! Truly impressive!?"
"That's right. If even one thing went wrong, Spain’s defense tower would’ve had enough time to be built and the outcome would have been quite different. However, not one shot missed."
"Even the person shooting from the tower! Carrot shot at a precise angle that wouldn't break the arrows!"
"Right, but to think that was coordinated on the spot. Almond is truly deserving of the MVP. Oh, the interview is coming up now. Let's watch."
Soon, Almond and the reporter appeared on the screen.
***
When Almond and the reporter lined up, the excitement in the chat was palpable.
— Wow
— Here it comes... the main game.
— The reporter's extreme job is starting
— This guy, even just standing quietly at the mic is funny LOL
— OrangeKing is already holding back his laughter
Quite a few people looked forward to Almond’s interview.
The reporter glanced nervously at the chat and resolved herself.
"Let's get through this well."
She briefly exchanged signs with the camera director.
"Are you ready?"
"Really... Can you handle it?"
"Yes...! Someone has to do it!"
They nodded gravely. As the director gave the okay sign, the reporter opened with a bright and resonant voice.
"Hello~! Mr. Almond! Congratulations on being selected as MVP! Two MVPs in a row!"
"Ah, thank you."
‘So far, so good. Alright, let's do this well.’
Then, the first question came.
"I just have to ask this question! You showed an incredible ceremony earlier, didn't you? Could you..."
Here, the reporter felt it.
Chills.
The word ceremony already started to make Almond’s lips twitch ominously.
"Could you tell us what that meant?" the reporter completed her question.
It would have been stranger not to ask about the ceremony after seeing it.
Almond, sensing the expected question, paused briefly.
"Ah. The ceremony? Just a moment..."
"Yes~"
The reporter mentally prepared for various possibilities.
‘Because of a donor? To show off your arrow skills? To intimidate?’
She thought hard, but guessing without knowing that there was a bounty on Almond’s neck was futile. Indeed, her efforts were in vain.
Almond's answer completely missed her expectations.
"One, one, seven, four, eight..."
"???"
He suddenly started spouting numbers.
"What is this…?"
— ???
— Summoning the devil of interviews
— What? LOL
— Hell, this is hilarious
— What's he up to now? lmao
— These are the numbers of girlfriends he's had, you nerds
The viewers watching the broadcast had no time to understand what Almond was talking about. He was clearly reading something from a screen only visible to him.
"Nine... Six..."
It was literally unseen and unknown. However, their curiosity didn't last long.
The final words he added held the answer.
"... is Wish Bank."
"???"
The reporter blinked in disbelief.
To everyone, these numbers were clearly a bank account number.
— LOL
— Hahahaha
— The bounty?!
A few viewers who knew about the bounty already laughed uproariously.
The reporter, unaware, inevitably had to ask again, "Could I ask what this is...?"
She wasn't asking because she didn't know it was a bank account number. She asked because she didn't know why he suddenly mentioned a bank account number.
"Ah, that's because of the bounty on me. It means please deposit the money there."
"Bounty?"
"Yes, Spain placed a bounty on me. On me."
Only then did the reporter remember the question she had asked.
"So that performance of shooting the arrow at your own head was... about collecting your own bounty!?"
Almond smiled slightly and nodded.
— lolololol
— oh wow LOL
— Damn, this guy
— Spain crying!!
— How many times will you kill them!?
— Why are you killing them so much!? Almond!
The reporter's eyes widened.
"Wow!"
It was half in awe and half in absurdity. His method was ridiculous, but it was like killing Spain twice! This interview couldn't be anything but devilish!
"Okay! That account number! I want to transfer money too!"
— ??
— Why you?
— Face ID again...?
— lol
— A guy who gets account numbers, not phone numbers...
The reporter, blushing from the nonsense that slipped out, moved on to the next question.
"Ah, I... this is the first time I've heard that Spain placed a bounty on you! Could you tell me what happened?"
"I don't know the details. I heard that Spanish viewers placed a bounty on me because they were upset with my interview."
"Ah. Something like how much will they give to the person who gets Almond's head first?"
"Yes."
"Wow... and you didn’t die once in such a situation!"
"No, I did die once."
"What?"
What? He said he died?
The reporter slightly shook, trying to recall if she had missed something. A bounty was one thing. It was external to the game, but this was something that happened in the game. Not knowing would be negligence.
Then—
"I was the one who killed myself in the end."
"Ah..."
‘Shoot…’
She felt relieved, yet somewhat played.
— Curveball interview LOL
— He’s actually thinking of receiving it
— This guy, the change-up
— Never says anything that could be caught LOL
— The concept should be pushed heavily! That's Almond!
"Great, great! Mr. Almond! You're really amazing!"
— lol where’s her soul?
— Trying to get by with forced praise? No way!
— Really amazing
"Let's move on to the next question!"
For the reporter, it was a great relief that the subsequent part of the interview consisted of conventional questions.
"You received the MVP for the games against France and now Spain, can you share your thoughts briefly?"
"Thank you for giving it to me. I hope I can receive it again next time."
He gave a straightforward and simple response.
The reporter felt like she had escaped the shackles of a hellish interview with that and threw out the last question.
"Is there anyone else who might have received the MVP if it hadn't been you today?"
"Ah..."
Almond paused for a moment. Who else could he mention? Certainly Cookie in their previous match, but someone else came to mind this time. It had to be...
"Carrot."
It was Carrot. This game showcased her excellent field leadership.
Almond had already prepared an answer for why he would choose Carrot.
The reporter blinked while waiting as if still expecting an answer.
"?"
Almond tilted his head. Why wasn't she asking or saying anything?
Then, the reporter smiled and nodded. She extended the microphone to him as if encouraging him to continue.
"?"
Almond thought for a second if she was bugged. He tilted his head in confusion.
The reporter leaned into her earpiece as if she heard some new information.
"Ah! You were talking about Carrot Cake!"
He meant the player named Carrot Cake.
— Could it be that she misunderstood it as someone else?
— lololol
— lmao
— Carrot! (silence)
"I'm sorry. I didn't know Carrot was that Carrot..."
"Yes? Is there another Carrot?"
"Ah... well..."
— Where do I even begin explaining this?
— A complete mess LOL
‘Another... Carrot...?’
It seemed as if the reporter’s soul had left her body.
— Almond's luck in games is zero lol but it explodes in interviews
— lmaoooo
— Ah lol how can a person's name be Carrot~
— So who threatened him with a carrot to pick that nickname?
— Can someone please end this interview?
She gave up explaining and just continued with the next question.
"Ahem... Anyway! Why did you pick Miss. Carrot as the MVP? Was it because she significantly helped with the defense tower rush?"
"Yes, Carrot gave out almost all the field orders. Even the arrows I shot were part of the strategy suggested by Carrot."
— Oh...
— Ah, so Carrot was the one who did that
— Shout out to Carrot
'It wasn't a pre-planned strategy?'
The reporter couldn't help but be surprised that the arrows Almond had shot weren't part of a prepared strategy considering how cleanly they executed it.
Carrot displayed amazing concentration while shooting the arrows and Almond received them to shoot the workers one by one as if they had practiced such skilled movements.
"Eh? Was that strategy improvised on the spot?"
"Yes."
"Wow! It was so skilled that I thought it was all planned out?!"
"Ah, yes. It wasn't. We had practiced another strategy, but... it ended too quickly in the first era, which is a pity."
— lolololol
— lmao
— Spain crying
— ??? Could have killed more, but it's a pity they died first
— Spanish folks would flip if they saw this LOL
"Ah! It's a pity they died too quickly! What a confident thing to say! As a supporter, I can't help but look forward to the next game against Italy! That's where we'll end the interview!"
The reporter rushed through her words to conclude the interview.
— ??
— Feels like it ended in a rush
— The reporter is running away lolol
— Why didn't you ask about his resolve against Italy
— If the reporter had asked about his resolve against Italy, she might have gotten a lawsuit from the Vatican City, so she ran~
***
After the interview, the team conducted their feedback session.
Sang-Hyeon emerged from the capsule about four hours later. It was around evening now.
Swoosh.
"Whew."
As he came out, Ju-Hyeok inevitably clapped for him.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Hey. Well done. You got MVP again this time."
He was like a coach encouraging a boxer coming down from the ring.
"Thanks to you, our channel has more content to post, which is great."
The national competition was an official event with separate contracted broadcasting rights. Unlike LIL, if individuals wanted to upload their gameplay videos to their channels, they had to wait a while due to an embargo.
This meant that Almond could possibly not have any videos to upload while competing in the national competition.
[Almond reveals his number during interview!? Reporter's pupils dilate]
Now that Almond was selected as MVP and given an interview opportunity again, he had more content to upload.
— No lol was that number actually a bank account number?
— The national competition was fun~ watched it all~
— Wow, classic Almond channel! Only uploads the highlight, ditching the rest of the national competition haha
Already, good reactions poured in. In fact, many people said this interview was the essence of the national competition.
"Wow...."
Almond read through the comments.
‘Huh?’
Among those comments, a Spanish comment caught Almond's eye.
— la re compensa será depositada
A Spanish comment quickly gained likes.
Translated, it meant:
— The bounty will be deposited.