Season 4: Chapter 20. The Gatekeeper (2)
Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Kim couldn't take their eyes off the screen.
"W-What the hell?"
"How is he landing those shots?"
Almond was simply standing still and tossing talismans.
Whoosh! Whizz! Whoosh!
The talismans flew toward the thought-forms zipping across the screen. He missed at first, but grew more accurate every time until he landed talismans perfectly on their foreheads every time.
Boom!
Boom!
His speed only increased.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"What the hell is this!!"
Manager Kim finally leapt to his feet in frustration. Assistant Manager Kim looked pale.
"N-No... this isn't right."
It made no sense like slicing a housefly with a kitchen knife in mid-air. One would only expect such a thing in a swordfighting manga, yet it unfolded right before their eyes. Even a game had limitations and mechanical rules, but this went far beyond that.
"We tested this with people who had insanely high VNS scores! This is unfair, sir!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Almond continued throwing talismans like nothing. He had already reached expert-level aim before Bubblegum could fully match the Wooden Fish’s rhythm.
All the enemies had already been wiped out when Bubblegum finally activated the barrier. Bubblegum’s face mirrored the Kim duo’s when he finally looked up.
A donation alert popped up on Almond’s screen.
Ding.
[BeginnerTip has donated 5,000 won!]
[You can’t defeat evil spirits alone! Cooperate with your teammate!]
It felt like the donation was mocking them.
— LOL so true
— Even weightlifting requires cooperation with the barbell
— It's called strategic solo play, okay?
— Cookie said it best, "The average mind won't understand."
— It’s co-op. Almond drew aggro like a boss
— LOL the devs must be crying right now
Watching Manager Kim’s face flush red like autumn leaves, Assistant Manager Kim had a thought.
We're screwed.
***
While flipping over the thought-form corpses, Almond muttered, "Thanks for the five thousand won, BeginnerTip."
He overturned every navy-mold-colored corpse but found nothing of value.
"Seriously? They don’t drop anything? Where are the spirit beads?"
— LMAO
— Spirit beads, really?!
— You think this is Inuyasha??
— LOL
— Grandpa, please...
Usually, in games like this, monsters dropped spirit stones or something similar. Even someone like Almond, who didn’t play many games, expected that. However, these enemies dropped absolutely nothing. They were probably just filler mobs.
"Um... excuse me?"
A young woman approached Almond. She looked like a college student.
He reflexively hopped back and hurled a talisman.
CRACKLE!
"...?"
The talisman stuck right to her forehead, but nothing happened.
"Oh. A human."
"Of course, I’m human!"
— LOL
— Reflexes on point
— To be fair, she did come out of nowhere
— This game lmao
"Are you... exorcists, by any chance?"
"Uh..." Almond hesitated.
It felt like a story beat was about to begin. He glanced at Bubblegum, but Bubblegum always had a no-spoilers policy and just shrugged.
"..."
Almond switched his mic to the audience channel.
"Why is this game suddenly giving me dialogue options? Weren’t the characters handling this earlier?"
— LOL
— Right?
— Why aren’t the characters talking anymore??
— Guess only the intro was scripted
Almond thought the game featured a fully scripted story, but that no longer seemed to be the case.
He cleared his throat. "Yes, we’re exorcists."
"Wow! That’s amazing! Real exorcists!"
The girl bounced with excitement.
"Um... do you happen to know why all this is happening?"
Almond had no clue regarding the cause. According to the setting, he’d been a salaryman heading home from work just hours ago.
"I have no idea."
— LOL! Why so blunt??
— Aren’t you an exorcist??
— LMAO "nope!"
"Oh..."
She looked a bit disappointed.
It seemed like this was a story trigger, so Almond added, "We just started investigating the incident."
"Oh, I see!"
Her eyes lit up again.
"My university is a total mess, so I ran over here... but this place is like this too."
"Everywhere you go?"
"Huh? Yeah! Everywhere I go turns out like this...?"
Tap.
Almond flipped his mic back to the audience.
"Takoyaki once said something."
— Oh boy, here we go again
— Does he ever quote himself?
— All he does is quote others LOL
"If every team you’re on loses, you are the weak link."
— LOL
— Is she the problem??
— Uh-oh
— Suspicious
— Ghost?
— But the talisman didn’t work on her...
"Very suspicious. Let’s proceed."
He turned back to her.
"Did you ride Line 1 today?"
— LMAO
— He’s so suspicious
— This is pure Almondoyle right here
— He’s about to pick option 4: Shoot
— Peak detective moment
"Line 1? No, I took the bus."
"Damn."
"Sorry?"
"Ah, no. Nothing."
— LOL
— Finger was on the trigger
— Missed the cue LOL
— Trigger discipline is important
— Failed the exorcist lmao
"What school do you go to?"
"Seongdeok University nearby. C-Could you help us? A lot of my friends... they’re still trapped there."
— Almond is her guardian angel
— With that face, of course!
Almond glanced at Bubblegum, who nodded and pointed ahead. This seemed like the next story location.
"Alright. Let’s go."
"R-Really!? No way!"
The young woman cheerfully led the way.
"Thank you so much! I-I’ll do whatever I can!"
She pulled a Bible from her bag and looked determined.
"I study exorcism too!"
— She was a priest all along
— LOL
— Theology major?
— She studied exorcism?
— Seongdeok University’s Exorcism Department!
— A Bible LOL
"Uh... sure."
Almond didn’t find her particularly reassuring, but he stepped back and followed. He had no choice since he didn’t know the way.
"What’s your name, Mister Exorcist?" the girl asked and glanced back as she led them.
— ??
— ?
— This is part of the plot, right?
— Wait, is this...
— No way. Raina again??
— ?
It was a typical story progression, but Almond’s viewers felt traumatized by his Face ID. They already threw out their suspicions, and rightly so. Every time an AI character showed the slightest interest, things always went down this route.
"Relax, guys. It’s just a name entry scene." Bubblegum tried to calm his chat.
— Oh...
— Got it
— Haha I thought so
— Whoops!
Meanwhile, Almond was pondering his name.
"My name? Ah, I’m..."
He could’ve just said Almond, but he liked using new names for each game lately. And he had the perfect one for this.
"Blessed Almond."
— LOL
— Following Almondoyle is Blessed Almond!
— Oh no, it’s already spicy
— "My name is Blessed Almond. I’m an exorcist." LOL
"Blessed Almond?"
"Yeah."
"That’s so weird. Pfft."
The girl giggled and introduced herself.
"I’m Su-Yeon."
"...?"
Almond froze for a moment after mishearing her name, but the chat helped him.
"Ah, Su-Yeon?"
"Yeah, Oh Su-Yeon."
— Oh...
— Oh... Su-Yeon
— Oh Su-Yeon?
After exchanging names, they walked in silence for a bit.
Then, Su-Yeon glanced at Almond and asked, "But... how did you become an exorcist?"
Something looked odd about her expression. Worse, it felt like a line had been skipped.
"Huh? She’s not asking me my name?" Bubblegum muttered in bewilderment.
— LOL
— Right?!
— Didn’t you say it was scripted?
— Why skip him though? LOL
— Gum never even picked a name
— Almond should’ve been the monk to balance it out
Almond had noticed that she just breezed past Bubblegum too, but he stayed silent.
"Hey! I asked how you became an exorcist!"
Su-Yeon was quite persistent.
Almond vaguely replied, "It just... kinda happened, I guess."
"Whoa, that’s cool!"
Su-Yeon had a talent for romanticizing even the vaguest answers.
"So you’re like the protagonist who had no idea what he was doing, but then the world fell apart and he had to grow stronger to save it."
— Wow, that line was long as hell
— WTF
— ???
— The cringe is real
"Turns out you had natural talent, right? I knew it!"
— LOL
— If this were a viewer saying that, they’d get roasted
— Bruhhh
— This line made people mad and it’s hilarious
— She’s bugged out
Bubblegum finally jumped in. "Hey, uh... Su-Yeon? I’m Bubblegum."
He didn’t know why, but he felt like the story was about to pass him by entirely.
— Poor Bubblegum
— He was desperate
— He said that like he knew his part would get cut
— Too funny
At that moment, Su-Yeon tilted her head with a noticeably different expression.
— She lagged out??
— Glitched
— Why is she stuttering like that
— Certified bug finder
— Every game he plays ends up bugged
Maybe she was experiencing bugs or lag.
She looked back and forth between Almond and Bubblegum before asking, "Uh... mister, are you... also an exorcist?"
— That skeptical tone LOL
— The vibe shift is insane
— She called him "mister"
— ??? "I am an exorcist... kinda.”
— Bruhh this AI is too much
— The AI era is hard
— PTSD activated
Ding.
[UniBoy has donated 10,000 won!]
[Oh! I know that look! It’s how people look at you when you say ‘We’re going the same way home’ after a group project ends.]
— Ugh
— Oof
— Please stop
— Too real
"Yeah, I’m an exorcist. Not exactly like him, but still."
"Oh, I see."
— LOL
— "Oh~ I see~" LOL
— LMAO
— She’s probably thinking, Who even is this guy?
To the NPC’s credit, she didn’t treat Bubblegum like a complete loser. She even asked how he became one.
"Then... how did you become an exorcist, mister?"
Bubblegum seized the moment and tried to be just as cool as Almond. He even adjusted his breath.
"It just... kinda happened."
— Yikes
— That delivery was peak cringe
— LOL
— Stop it, please
— A shaved head for this???
Su-Yeon smiled brightly and replied, "So you were just... out of options, huh?"
"...?"
— Refund the game
— Uh...
— WTH
— That’s too harsh...
— OMG LOL
— Total reality check
"That’s how it was for me! I just picked theology because it matched my test scores! I don’t even believe in God. Then I got dragged into some exorcism club and... well, here we are!"
So that was why she seemed so happy to meet them.
"???"
Bubblegum felt confused. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
— Then why carry a Bible now?
— She’s wild
— This AI is secretly Raina, isn’t she?
— Bubblegum became a monk based on exam scores
Su-Yeon, delighted to find a fellow wanderer, kept chattering about her friends and experiences.
"Weird, right? But wait—what’s even worse is she said... huh?"
As they listened to her ramble, they arrived at Seongdeok University.
"There it is!"
The campus sat nestled beside a mountain. Even from across the street, an ominous energy radiated from it.
RUMMMBLE...