Season 4: Chapter 29. Angler Rocket (2)
"There are people trapped over there. A strange yokai is walking around and killing anyone who comes out! I can’t do anything... Please help!"
"Yeah. Let’s go. I’ll help save them."
This exchange happened in the blink of an eye while Bubblegum kept an eye on the supposed jiangshi. Almond looked like he was sprinting ahead to save time.
‘Still, I’ve got to do what needs to be done.’
He would never have won the Civil Empire tournament if he were the kind of person who skipped necessary steps just to go faster.
As Almond passed the little girl, he muttered, "Bang."
Tap!
At the same time, Almond placed a talisman on the girl's forehead and pressed his finger against it. The chat would have typically exploded in laughter.
Almond glanced at the chat, expecting a flood of laughter and question marks.
— Wow...
— What the...??
— A monster??
— Whoa, that’s creepy
— Gasp
‘Wait, what?’
Instead of laughing, everyone looked shocked. Why were they acting like that? It didn’t take long to find out. He just had to look at the girl again.
"Grrrr!"
The girl’s mouth split wide open to both sides, stretching to half the size of her body.
‘What the...’
Even Almond, who rarely flinched at jump scares, hesitated.
‘Wait, is this real?’
It was real. The talisman he had slapped on as a joke began glowing blue.
Crackle!
Electricity surged from her forehead.
She let out a shrill scream, "Kyaaaaaaaaaagh!!"
— Great Detective Almond
— What just happened?
— Is this the new trend? Face-reading + reflex deduction?
— Deduction? Almondoyle.
— This one is wild, how did he figure it out?
Everyone was stunned by Almond’s deduction. Even a big donation came in.
[BelieveInYou has donated 100,000 won!]
[Even when people unfairly criticized you, I always believed in Almond’s deduction skills! I can rest in peace now...]
"Thank you for the 100,000 won BelieveInYou."
The viewers thought he had figured something out, but Almond had just guessed. He started thinking fast to justify it with some ideas off the top of his head.
"Well, there’s basically no reason for a little girl to be at a university. And she said a strange yokai was killing people who came out, but she came out and ran into me. Obviously, she’s the yokai."
Knowing the result made it easy to come up with a deduction.
— Daaamn
— Hey now, did you think an Ah-Sung grad wouldn’t be smart? LOL
— Let’s goooo
— Nutshell Holmes crisis incoming
— As expected! We believed in you!
— You figured that out in 0.1 seconds??
— Ah-Sung man in peak form!
Almond smirked at the viewers who bought his explanation.
— Look at that smug face LOL
— We’re doomed. The Era of Smart Almond has begun.
At this rate, his Almondoyle nickname would actually stick, and the Almondoyle dictatorship would truly begin. However, heroes always rose in troubled times. Long-time viewers who had seen through Almond’s act before weren’t fooled.
Ding.
[EggPlant has donated 1,000 won.]
[What if he just slapped the talisman and got lucky? LOL]
Ding.
[RubySword has donated 30,000 won.]
[Is Almondoyle now deducing his own deduction process? Big thumbs-up~]
— LOL
— Ahhhh the ancient ones have gathered
— Come to think of it, he really might’ve guessed LOL
— Even Princess Ruby joined in LOL
Almond puffed out his cheeks in protest. He was close to glory, but they ruined it.
"EggPlant, that’s slander. You’re getting banned."
— Why only Eggplant? LOL
— If you stir the pot for 1,000 won, you get banned LOL
— Died to a thousand-won punch in this cruel world
— Poor EggPlant LOL
— Wait, was it a guess after all? LOL
After EggPlant received a 10-minute timeout, Almond turned to go find the trapped students.
Splash.
‘Huh?’
Something felt off under his feet. The floor was wet. There hadn’t been any water when they first came through. When had it appeared? That suspicion put Almond on high alert.
"Kraaaaaagh!"
The girl he thought was dead suddenly lunged at him with wide-open jaws. To be precise, she wasn’t a girl anymore.
[Hypnotic Angler]
She had no grade attached to her name, but the full-on boss monster had revealed her true form.
***
"That's it? The one you mentioned?"
"... Yes, sir." Assistant Manager Kim swallowed hard and nodded.
Hypnotic Angler was the third-floor boss. She lured in players by appearing as a little girl, disabling one partner early, and tormenting the other player. Because Phase 1 was cut short, they were straight into Phase 2 now. Still, that wasn’t a big problem. The yokai took on its true form in Phase 2 anyway.
"Her gimmick is that she starts as a ghost-type, then transforms into a yokai later. So this is where teamwork... is supposed to shine..."
"Which means Bubblegum needs to step up, right?"
"Exactly."
Manager Kim licked his lips and rubbed his hands together.
"This... this is gonna be good, right?"
It felt reassuring knowing that Bubblegum was the one stepping up. To them, he was no different from a reliable relief pitcher.
"Right. I believe he’ll pull through."
***
Almond felt it too. This monster was definitely different. First off, its ambush speed was incredible. If he hadn’t reacted in advance to the sound of water beneath him, he would have been hit for sure.
‘It’s seriously fast.’
The first attack seemed to be designed as a guaranteed hit.
— What the heck??
— Why so fast?
— What was that just now?
— They really want you dead LOL
Even though Almond had dodged it, the speed still startled viewers. If someone else had been advertising this game, it would’ve seemed too difficult and turned people away.
This Hypnotic Angler was definitely the Kim duo’s ace card. Even its follow-up patterns were absurd.
Splash!
After attacking once, it dove right back into the water.
"Huh, it's going under?"
Almond kicked at the water a few times, but the puddle wasn’t deep at all. Barely enough to count as a puddle, yet the monster ignored all physics and dove into it. Even in this shallow water, its shadow could be seen.
Whoosh...
It gained speed as its shadow grew larger.
‘It’s coming.’
Almond dodged once again. Then, he realized something.
‘Huh?’
The Hypnotic Angler had laid another trap. The wet floor caused him to slip like he was on skates.
Almond lost his balance and slid across the floor.
"GRAAAAH!"
The Angler had already leapt out of the water. Almond couldn’t possibly dodge, but its face suddenly twisted as if it hit an invisible wall.
Boom!
A barrier separated Almond and the monster.
"Whoa! Nailed it!"
Bubblegum had deployed a barrier. It broke after just one attack, but the placement and timing were flawless.
— Whoa...
— Bubblegum wins!
— Finally!
— Clutch play
— All to avoid getting flamed for his lack of game sense LOL
— Nice!
Bubblegum had achieved his first real moment of glory.
‘Finally!’
In truth, he had run countless simulations in his head to counter the Hypnotic Angler.
"Wow, Gum. That was amazing."
Almond even gave him a thumbs-up.
"Told you! I’ve got this!"
Bubblegum’s shoulders rose as he beamed at the praise.
— LOL
— Was that the only thing he prepared??
— Single-target specialist Bubblegum, lol
Just then, Su-Yeon poured cold water on the celebration.
"That didn’t do any damage!"
The Angler’s HP hadn’t dropped at all. It even came charging back with no signs of slowing down.
‘What...’
Almond was confused. The Buddhist-type attack had clearly hit. Why hadn’t it worked?
The monster’s shadow rushed toward Almond again. It probably still held a grudge from its earlier disguise getting discovered.
‘At least it’s fixated on me, which makes it easier to read.’
This time, Almond moved early and calmly. He couldn’t afford to slip again. The Angler’s jaws lunged out of the water but only snapped through air.
CRACK!
A terrifying noise rang out. If this were real, one bite would’ve meant certain death.
Splash!
The Angler disappeared back into the water after a single attack.
‘Once you anticipate it, it’s not that hard to dodge.’
The post-ambush attack wasn’t too difficult to evade, but Almond still had no clue how to defeat it. The barrier hadn’t worked. Of course, talismans wouldn’t either.
Su-Yeon gave him a hint. "Oppa! Don’t you have different talismans!?"
‘Different ones?’
"There are different types?"
"Each talisman has a different effect! The Hypnotic Angler is super strong while it’s in the water! You have to get it out first!"
Almond had no idea about different talismans. He had just stuffed them all in his bag without paying attention.
‘So the color differences weren’t just for show...’
He thought the different colors were just for decoration, but they actually had different functions.
Almond rummaged through his bag.
"Gum! Lay a barrier under my feet, just once!"
The Angler would target him anyway.
"Y-Yeah! But..."
— Do you believe in Bubblegum?
— No way LOL
— Bag inventory chaos incoming
— This is why your mom tells you to organize things ahead of time!
As always, Almond’s first mistake was not reading the descriptions. His second mistake was trusting Bubblegum again.
After one decent play, Almond had placed too much confidence in Bubblegum and paid the price. While digging through his bag, he realized that there was still no barrier beneath him. Finally, he found the right talisman.
"Agh! I-I can’t get the rhythm right!"
‘No way...’
The shadow had already appeared right in front of Almond. He had no room to dodge left, right, or back.
Almond jumped with all his strength.
CRAAASH!
The puddle exploded as the Angler’s enormous jaws burst out. Its mouth opened wide and snapped toward Almond’s feet, but Almond kept rising.
Soon, he was over the Angler’s head. He had performed a backflip.
‘Right, I adjusted my feet when I slipped earlier.’
Almond had noticed that the Angler kept focusing on his feet. In midair, he twisted and rotated backward, redirecting the attack. From the Angler’s perspective, its target had suddenly disappeared over its head.
Chomp!
It bit down on nothing but the air again.
"GRRAAAAAAH!!" the Angler screamed and thrashed its head in frustration.
— Whoa, insane!
— He dodged that?!
— What the heck was that!
— So slick...
— Damn, that was cool as hell
— Peak flashy move
Almond didn’t just dodge with the backflip. It also made the Angler jump too high.
Su-Yeon shouted, "Huh!? It’s out of the water!"
The Angler had jumped too high for Almond. To stay invincible, part of its body had to remain in water. For a moment, it was completely out.
Of course, that brief moment wasn’t enough. Almond had just landed, and Su-Yeon was only an NPC. She could quickly shout helpful tips, but couldn’t take action. Only one person had been doing something.
"Finally! Nailed the rhythm!"
Was it perfect timing? The barrier that was supposed to protect Almond finally activated. Instead, it blocked the Angler.
THUMP!
The Angler couldn’t dive back into the water and got stuck against the barrier.
"GRRAAAAAH?!"
— Got a big one~
— OMG, it’s fully out of the water now?!
— Free damage time LOL
— Wow
— Isn’t this basically a bug? LOL
— As expected of the glitch collector LOL