Season 3: Chapter 136: Departure (1)
"Oh…"
Sang-Hyeon nodded in agreement as he listened to the story.
"Merchandise to support us sounds good. Many requested to make them during the LIL tournament."
He agreed with the idea that Ju-Hyeok brought up during breakfast. They would make and sell merch in This World.
"Exactly. We haven’t participated in tournaments frequently, so we didn’t pay attention to it. This tournament is different."
"… We might get eliminated as soon as we get there."
Sang-Hyeon jokingly threw a wrench into the plan.
"Oh…"
Ju-Hyeok looked a bit troubled because he hadn’t considered that possibility. Lots of people had said that just making it to the tournament was a miracle for Korea. Why had he assumed they would keep advancing in the finals?
Ju-Hyeok found it puzzling himself. He was usually strict with probability calculations, but maybe he was getting too greedy after starting a company. Perhaps his desire to support the national team also grew too strong.
For some reason, Ju-Hyeok didn’t think they would get knocked out in the round of thirty-two.
‘Is this confirmation bias or whatever it’s called?’
Ju-Hyeok shook his head and decided to reassess the risks. His mind began to churn with calculations.
"Don’t overthink it," Sang-Hyeon said and swallowed a mouthful of almond cereal. "Even if we get eliminated in the round of thirty-two, the company won’t go bankrupt just because we made some merch in This World."
"Oh…?"
That was true. Even if they incurred some debt, it wouldn’t bankrupt them. They already had some debt anyway.
The issue was that Ju-Hyeok wasn’t planning to just stop at making merchandise in This World.
"Actually… I was also thinking about offline merchandise."
"Then, let’s make them if we pass the round of thirty-two."
"Oh?"
Ju-Hyeok was intrigued by Sang-Hyeon’s seemingly casual suggestion. How did this guy understand it so well?
"And even if we get eliminated in the round of sixteen… honestly, we’d still sell a lot. Just making it to the tournament itself is amazing."
"… That’s good. You mean adjusting production timing based on the risk?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Wow! That’s great! This way, we can minimize the risk. That’s really smart."
Sang-Hyeon found it amusing how Ju-Hyeok had made a simple suggestion sound so complicated.
‘I’ve seen this kind of thing a lot…’
Even though Sang-Hyeon had disappeared for a while, he still heard bits about his colleagues preparing for the Olympics. He only blocked out archery related news due to the emotional pain, but he still heard about athletes from other sports that he was friendly with. ṝáŊộᛒÊs
After making it to the Olympics, they always planned things in stages: the round sixteen, quarterfinals, and semifinals. Their lives would change with each step and plans before that became irrelevant. They planned everything based on these tournament stages.
Sang-Hyeon applied that to the merchandise.
"Alright. Then we can definitely try the merchandise. The issue is with the other members… I’ll talk to Cookie about that."
With that, they had confirmed making Almond merchandise.
"Great. I’ll announce it on the stream."
***
Whether it was for advertising or just communicating, Almond streamed daily before departing for the finals in Japan.
— Wow
— Streaming again today? LOL
— Wow
— Are you streaming every day until the finals?
Not as many viewers gathered compared to when they first qualified for the finals, but his stream was still on the rise.
[Current Viewers: 83,000]
He pulled in over 80,000 viewers with just the advertisements and simply communicating with them.
‘This seems like a good time to mention it.’
He casually mentioned it when enough viewers had gathered, "Ah… it’s not confirmed yet, but it looks like there will be Almond merchandise."
— Oh?
— Wow
— Amazing
— Finally
— Legendary start
— Wow
The viewers reacted quite positively. In fact, they found it surprising that no merchandise had come out sooner for a popular streamer like Almond. It almost felt strange to only come out with merch now.
"Initially, we’ll focus on the necessary cheering items. We’re still discussing how to use them in This World."
— Ohh
— Right, we didn’t have official cheering items…
— Wow, are we getting Almond clapping balloons now? LOL
— Almond drumsticks would be cool LOL Walnut drumsticks LOL
The viewers started imagining various merchandise possibilities even without much information.
Ding.
[CopyrightVillain has donated 5,000 won.]
[How about cracking down on people selling fake Almond hats?]
— LOL how do you crack down on that?
— Seriously, let’s catch them
— Isn’t it just a hat shaped like an almond…?
"Ah, thank you for the donation Copyright. It’s just a hat shaped like an almond… Since I’m not the real Almond, it might be difficult to crack down on that."
[RubySword has donated 10,000 won.]
[What? You’re not the real Almond? Who are you?]
— LOL
— Ruby’s joke is hilarious
— Who are you? LOL
— LOL so cute
"Ah, thank you RubySword. I am Almond, but… not the real nut… no… this is confusing."
— But you’re also a nut LOL
— You’ve become too much like Almond LOL
— There’s no way to explain it LOL
It was confusing to explain since Almond didn’t have a trademark on the almond nut’s design. Even using the term almond for the nut made his head spin.
The viewers didn’t miss this chance to pounce on him.
Ding.
[Descartes has donated 1,000 won.]
[Can you prove that you’re not Almond?]
— LOL
— No… LOL
— LOL
Ding.
[Pseudoscientist has donated 5,000 won.]
[So you’re finally revealing yourself! Nuttilian!]
— Nuttilian LOL
— All sorts of things LOL
— Reptilian? LOL
— LOL
— This Nuttilian thing from the Nuts Punk world is trending, huh?
‘Nuttilian? What’s that?’
Almond felt baffled by all sorts of memes being created without him knowing.
[Jin has donated 3,000 won.]
[Info: Nuttilians are originally nut people pretending to be human and mimicking human forms. They secretly control human society from the shadows.]
— ??
— LOL The world-building is impressive
— How far does Nuts Punk go…?
— … I need a novel recommendation on this!
— Hmm, really?
Almond decided to cut off this topic. The conversation had veered into strange territory.
"Ahem. Anyway! We can’t catch those selling Almond hats nor should we."
— As expected of a Nuttilian, can’t catch them.
— Why can’t you catch them? Are you on their side?
— LOL
— Chat is hilarious LOL
— It’s already spreading
— Almond hat is a clue to the Nuttilians.
Almond thought he would have to make merchandise for Nuttilians too. He wrapped up the merchandise talk, thinking it was enough to just announce it.
"Alright, let’s move on to the next game."
— Next ad, right?
— Next ad LOL
— Fact: Home shopping doesn’t work this hard on ads
— LOL
— But it’s fun LOL
He continued streaming and managed to cover most of the advertisements from G-Star before the finals.
‘Only Zombie School is left.’
The only big ad remaining was Zombie School. That would likely be handled after the tournament.
Time passed and the departure day approached.
***
The official first departure date was two weeks before the start of the finals. Not every player departed at this time. Only those with enough time or those needing to prepare in advance left early.
Around forty to fifty Korean think tank team members, including players, left at this time. According to Pang, only the unemployed fleet had departed. People with jobs mostly traveled only on the weekends when the matches took place.
The main tournament progressed rather quickly. It would only take two weekends even if Korea did reach the finals.
Almond was a full-time streamer, so he joined this unemployed fleet to prepare in advance.
Early in the morning, he struggled down the stairs of the hillside village with his luggage. Luckily, Ju-Hyeok was there to help him. Otherwise, he would have fallen while carrying the suitcase.
Thunk.
Finally, the suitcase reached flat ground and Ju-Hyeok said goodbye to him.
“Have a good trip.”
“Yeah. You take care too.”
Ju-Hyeok had a lot of tasks to handle in Korea.
“All the merchandise goods will be released a week before the match starts. Don’t worry.”
Cookie had entrusted Ju-Hyeok with managing the overall revenue from the national team’s merchandise for this competition. Ju-Hyeok would be busier than ever.
“Okay~ I’m off.”
Sang-Hyeon waved back at Ju-Hyeok, walked to where the charter bus would arrive, and stood there.
“Go Fake National Team! Good luck!”
Ju-Hyeok kept cheering as he climbed back up the stairs.
“Go Nuts!”
“Monster! Roar!”
“King~ You can’t beat me! ~ Come on!”
He shouted quite a lot of cheers.
***
The charter bus arrived precisely on time.
“Hello~”
Many familiar faces appeared on the bus. Everyone looked wide awake despite the early morning, half from excitement and half from nervousness.
Sang-Hyeon found a seat and greeted everyone as he walked down the aisle.
“Almond ham~”
“Oh. Spam~”
“Hi!”
“Yeah.”
As he settled into his seat, the Fake National Team’s cameraman and writer approached him.
“Almond! Isn’t it tough getting up this early?”
They probably wanted to do an interview.
“Ah… it is a bit early.”
“Have you ever been to Japan for a trip?”
Japan… he had been there a couple of times.
“Ah… I’ve been there for work.”
He had visited for work, but never for a vacation. The question made him realize something.
“Oh. You’ve never been there for a vacation?”
“Come to think of it. I’ve never really gone far just for fun.”
He had never traveled far just for leisure. It wasn’t just abroad. He had never traveled long distances just for fun. Maybe when his parents were alive?
“Oh… I see.”
After a bit more conversation, the production team moved on to where Chi-Seung and Water Dumpling sat.
Chi-Seung asked them if opening a plane window would really bring in clouds. Sang-Hyeon thought that would definitely make it into the Fake National Team’s footage and smiled.
Suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind.
‘Huh…’
He always recalled it, but tried to forget it at some point.
Whoosh…
He once went to the beach. The refreshing sound of the waves, the cozy sandy beach, and long flowing black hair blowing in the wind.
She turned around.
“What are you doing? At least dip your feet in.”
A girl shook her head when there was no response.
“Seriously. You’re being so stiff even after coming all the way here. When will you come again?”
She chirped like a morning bird.
“The next Olympics are in Greece, right? I heard the beaches there are beautiful…”
What did she mean by that?
“You’re lucky. I probably won’t make it to the next Olympics.”
What kind of response was she expecting?
***
‘Was it a dream?’
They had already arrived at the airport when he opened his eyes after a short nap.
He couldn’t quite remember the dream. It seemed to involve the ocean.
“Alright~ We’re here! Let’s get off!”
Bread led them like a school teacher and organized everyone.
They all chatted excitedly as they got off and retrieved their luggage.
“Phew. Hyung, we’re finally here!”
Chi-Seung excitedly grabbed Sang-Hyeon’s arm and shook it.
“… We’re still in Korea?”
“No! The airport! The airport!”
“Oh…”
Chi-Seung felt so excited just to be at the airport.
“The airport isn’t that special.”
Sang-Hyeon chuckled and tried to calm Chi-Seung down.
“Oh. Bro, you must come often. Show me around.”
‘I get lost every time I come here.’
Even when Sang-Hyeon came often, he always got lost at the airport. He was determined to follow the lead group.
“I’m going ahead.”
“What? Bro, why are you in such a hurry? Help me out!”
Sang-Hyeon hurried to keep up with the lead group.
At that moment, he didn’t particularly feel excited or nervous. To him, the airport was just a confusing and complicated place. A place of little significance where he greeted important buyers from abroad or sent off related executives…
To him, the airport was just a place for tiresome meetings. That was all.
Today, the airport felt completely different.
“!”
It was still dark outside since they arrived early in the morning.
Suddenly, everything turned a bright white. Sang-Hyeon’s eyes widened as he saw the crowd.
“Waaaaaaah!!!!”
A tremendous cheer erupted.
Flash!
Bang!
Cameras flashed from the reporters and numerous fans. Rows of airport police could be seen…
Sang-Hyeon stood there with his eyes wide open, taking in the scene.
‘This is like…’
It felt very similar to the scene he had always imagined.
‘It’s just like a real national team.’