Chapter 68: Breakdown and Analysis (3)
"W-Wait... that's..." Manager Oh was so impressed that he couldn't stop clapping. "How's that possible? Wow..."
For Koreans, watching archery was a familiar sight around the Olympic season.
Thwack!
However, everyone felt something was different as they watched every arrow hit the bullseye.
'Genius...'
Ju-Hyeok recalled hearing that Sang-Hyeon was a genius archer. It made sense since he was the youngest winner ever.
The youngest winner of a math olympiad would be considered a genius, but how significant was that to ordinary people?
Did the news care about them at all? Often, their names would be mentioned a couple of times at best and they would be remembered as witty. Usually, they lose their skills once they become adults.
The same went for genius athletes. Their talent would disappear one day and they just became regular athletes.
Manager Oh subconsciously categorized Sang-Hyeon with that group. Not because he wanted to be negative, but because anyone who lived long enough would think the same. Experience built up like data.
However, Sang-Hyeon had been a miscalculation.
A variant.
Exception.
Irregular.
He broke the norms.
"That's a real genius."
He was a true genius.
Manager Oh could hear the director complaining about the level of talent.
"Ah... Wait, it's not supposed to go this way. He's supposed to fumble because it's too realistic… that's what we wanted..."
"That was the ad strategy?"
"Yeah, because this environment system completely differs from previous virtual spaces! If we want to reinforce that, someone who's good at video games needs to suck at realistic ones!"
"Oh no. What are we going to do? It's all screwed up."
The director shook his head as Manager Oh jokingly refuted him.
"Damn. What is this..."
However, Manager Oh knew the director well enough and could see it in his eyes.
'It seems he likes it too.'
The director fell for the streamer Almond. He was supposed to assess the entire broadcast, but only focused on Almond. He probably felt excited watching such a genius.
"But we're strangely getting more views... hmm..."
The guest ruined the plan, but they still succeeded.
The director brushed back his long hair as he watched Almond and muttered, "After this is over... think about doing some more shoots."
Manager Oh replied with a wide smile, "Who says we'll do that?"
***
Only Ju-Hyeok looked elsewhere as everyone focused on Almond. He knew Almond would get all ten points after seeing the first shot, so he thought it would be more efficient to read the community reactions as the manager.
"Let's see..." He muttered like an old man and scrolled down.
[LIVE Almond possessed by a professional archer]
[Sure, he can be pretty good at video games, but isn't this insane? This is real archery against the pros]
[That's what I'm saying]
The current reactions went along those lines.
[Why are they making someone good at games shoot some arrows?]
Ju-Hyeok couldn’t help but agree.
Fantasia hadn't told them about this test ahead of time. 'No wonder you can't trust TV networks...'
They lucked out this time.
'This is his specialty.'
This test was like a surprise birthday party for Almond. They basically prepared a grand buffet for him.
Ju-Hyeok had to use all his muscles to prevent himself from smiling when they revealed the archery arena.
Thwack!
Almond's arrows landed on the target one by one.
'I knew it. Now's the time.'
The community pages slowly reacted to the stream.
[What????]
[The fuck? You said that's similar to reality]
[Fantasia marketing failure!]
[Why is someone good at games also good in reality?]
[They wanted to say their virtual reality is realistic! But Almond's skills are the same! LOL]
[Wow... but I heard even the government is discussing this because it's so realistic. Isn't he just insane with the bow?]
[Everything Fantasia says is a lie]
Some viewed this as Fantasia's marketing failure and others believed Almond just possessed incredible archery skills. Whatever the case, both sides brought a lot of attention and the stream peaked.
[Current Viewers: 52k]
The number of viewers far surpassed Fantasia's usual count.
Thwack!
The last arrow struck the bullseye and the virtual space fell apart.
[Fantasia running away LOL]
[What the, is this it?]
[Wow, this is Almond's class]
[How many times is Fantasia getting screwed by Almond]
[I bet Almond shorted Fantasia's stocks]
Yu Ha-Yeon quickly tried to cover it up, "Everyone! You know that it was a test for fun, right?"
She tried to move on to the next test.
Ju-Hyeok quietly giggled, unlike the panicked staff.
'That was nice, Almond.'
Now he just needed to do well on the next test. The next one had nothing to do with the bow and Almond’s skills, but Ju-Hyeok already knew.
'He'll do well.'
He was aware of Almond's tutorial score and repeatedly watched the montages. He knew Almond's skills better than anyone else.
In reality, Yu Sang-Hyeon's talent was his archery skills. However, it was different in video games. He had much more to offer there.
"This test is called, Stay Alive!"
— Wooooooah!
— LOL
— Again? This one is good.
— Ooh, Almond is going to do this?
— Isn't this what JeonJaPa did a long time ago?
— Wow...?
***
Stay Alive! That was the name of the next test. They had notified Sang-Hyeon ahead of time for this one.
'Is this the test JeonJaPa set a record for?'
Sang-Hyeon looked around the new virtual space. It was an empty training field with weapons around him.
'I wanted to shoot more. Darn.'
He felt a bit sad that the archery arena disappeared.
Nevertheless, he began assessing the surroundings since this next test was more important. He could see strange cannon-like objects far away. Not only on the ground, but in the air as well. Most likely, knives and axes would shoot out from the cannons.
Many other traps existed besides that with their own patterns, sound effects, and color changes. The categories were all different, but the attacks would combine into a storm.
His task was to stay alive as long as possible while dodging them.
"Almond! How is it? Can you feel that the realistic setting is over now?" Yu Ha-Yeon asked him about the advertisement. It wasn't a meaningless question.
Sang-Hyeon stared at his right hand and thought, 'It really feels like a video game now.'
The realistic feeling from earlier completely disappeared. It returned to the usual capsule gaming quality. He could clearly feel the difference, which could be considered worse.
"Yes, this just feels like a game compared to earlier."
"Right? The cartoons we watched as kids look so foolish now, right? That's what you feel when you experience Fantasia's hyper-real virtual space!"
The audience lashed out because of her ad-like tone.
— What the, you fooled us! This is an ad!
— Poor noona...
— LOL! Ad, I’m out!
— Just turn on an ad break Fantasia!
— But it seems legit from Almond's face.
— You can tell from the graphics that it's different.
"Alright, a difference is a difference. The notorious test, Stay Alive, will soon begin. Do you have any words for us?"
Almond thought for a moment after she handed him the mic. He was deciding if he should speak truthfully or not.
"Should I speak honestly?"
"Of course!"
"I think it'll be easy."
"!?"
Yu Ha-Yeon's surprised expression was followed by laughter in the chat.
— LOL
— As expected of Almond.
— King of aggro.
— Rank 1 confidence!
— This is Almond!
People would usually say, 'I'll try my best!'?Especially after JeonJaPa, the default was, 'I'm not as good as JeonJaPa, but I'll try my best!'?
An unexpected answer like this got the viewers' blood pumping.
Yu Ha-Yeon licked her dry lips and questioned him further, "Do you know about this test?"
"Yes, of course... you guys told me to watch it ahead of time."
— Yu Ha-Yeon: You're not supposed to say that!
— LOOL
— Stream fail!
— Urk!
— Did you look down on us? Fantasia!
— Almond is intentionally screwing you, Ha-Yeon!
Yu Ha-Yeon had an embarrassed look on her face.
"Ahahaha!" She burst into laughter to move on. "Then Almond, did you watch JeonJaPa's video as well?"
"Yes."
"And you're saying it looks easy after watching that?"
— She's cornering him haha.
— Yu Ha-Yeon is baiting him.
— Fishing him!
— Fishing king, Yu Ha-Yeon.
— What Yu Ha-Yeon wants to hear: JeonJaPa is nothing!
— A TV genius.
— Those two fighting is more fun to watch than the tests haha.
— TV genius vs. Archery genius
Yu Ha-Yeon nervously asked the question. Challenging JeonJaPa was a nervous feat. Would he really say it? She thought Sang-Hyeon would back out for sure.
But?
"Yes, I think I'll get a higher score."
Du-dum!
She could almost hear a sound effect.
— Wow!
— King of trash talk.
— Shit! He really said it!
— Wow...
— ??? I can beat the nobody who only placed into Gold I.
— Damn...
— Yu Ha-Yeon is panicking!
— He gave such a straight answer that she's taken aback haha.
— He took the bait!
— The fish is confident!
"Wow... that is some incredible confidence! Then I'll start the test! Stay Alive, test, ON!!!"
Chaak.
Yu Ha-Yeon's avatar floated away as all the lights turned off.
Only Almond's avatar remained.
The only thing that could be seen in the darkness was this phrase:
[The test will begin in 5 seconds.]
[5]
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]
Flash!
After the lights turned back on…
Swoosh—?
An axe flew at Almond from far away.