Season 4: Chapter 31. Math Demon vs. Almondoyle (1)
Manager Kim leaped from his seat and couldn’t stand it any longer. "How high is it going?!"
As the Angler rose higher and higher, the redness in Manager Kim’s face increased as well. The redness had now reached the top of his head like a pot boiling over. It was understandable. After all, the final moments of the yokai he trusted in had ended like this.
"Is it really going to die because of a bug?!"
Beside him, Assistant Manager Kim wore a dazed expression. In that foggy moment, only one word formed in his mind.
‘Glitch.’
Something that blurred the line between bugs and super plays like exploiting a crack to skip entire stages or instantly neutralizing a boss. Normally, glitches were only discovered long after launch due to countless attempts from players.
The damned Bubblegum and Almond duo had found one on launch day and another the very next day. He was certain that this glitch would be far deadlier than any other glitch.
‘Is this even going to progress?’
He hadn’t been this worried when the thought-form died. Its body had stayed in place, and calling it a glitch felt like a stretch. It had been more like an Almond super play, but this time was different.
The graphics completely broke, and the Angler had been launched straight into the sky. After a certain point, it wasn’t intentional anymore. A game error catapulted it all the way into outer space. All of this happened right in front of a huge audience!
Bababa-bam!
[MuskDoge has donated a whopping 100,000 won!]
[Is it going to Mars?!]
Ding.
A mocking donation message popped up as the Angler soared into the heavens.
[ShibaDog has donated 50,000 won.]
[So, uh... this is an ad, right?]
— Hahahahahahaha
— What about the company that paid for the ad? LOL
— I don’t even remember what this ad was for, who knows?
— Who cares
Even donors pretended to worry instead of talking about the Angler, the mid-boss of Ghostwo Busters.
— Gasp
— What the heck
— Oh no
— Holy shit, what is this? LOL
— Hahahaha how far is he going to go?
— How many times has he rocketed up now? LOL
Thud.
At that, Manager Kim smacked his forehead onto the desk. He really thought it was over.
"Haaah!"
"Manager! Please calm down! There’s still the quiz coming up! The real quiz that requires brains!"
"What, what? You said something about using brains before..."
"No, this time it’s real! There’s no way around the math quiz!"
As always, the world had no intention of just letting them die. If one gave their all, a chance always came, no matter how bizarre. Just as Bubblegum had accidentally launched the Angler into oblivion while trying his best, the most unexpected chances sometimes appeared out of nowhere.
Didn’t the faithful always say that even when no one was watching, God was?
Even in that moment of despair, a red light blinked above on the camera mounted to the office ceiling.
***
CEO Jung Sung-Jin was the head of the company that developed Ghostwo Busters. Of course, his CEO title sounded grander than it was. They had only recently started receiving some investments and were just now producing decent games. It was chaos.
"Haaa... where did I leave that again?"
It had almost become a monthly ritual to search for his misplaced belongings by checking the office cameras.
"Let’s see..."
Click.
The live feed flickered on. He rewound the recording and watched his office. Then, something caught his eye.
‘Huh? What’s going on here?’
It was Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Kim from marketing. Jung, an ex-developer himself, never paid marketing much mind. However, the more he ran the company, the more he realized that marketing accounted for at least thirty percent of everything.
Maybe that was why he couldn’t look away. The Kim duo was high-fiving, swigging their beers, and shadow-boxing with their spit flying.
‘Are they watching soccer or something? No, they would do that after work... why at the office?’
He switched to another camera angle and zoomed in. The quality wasn’t great, but he recognized the scene immediately. It was too familiar. To his surprise, the thing that had them glued to the screen even while working late was Ghostwo Busters.
"What... is this?"
He switched on the audio.
“Aaaagh! Please, just die once!”
“I’m gonna get him! Right now!”
“You said the yokai was doable, huh?”
“That’s just the small fry. The real yokai is coming!”
Jung watched the entire video, entranced. Judging by their conversation, the streamer they had paid to advertise the game was playing Ghostwo Busters. They were hoping for the streamer to die and prolong the ad to drive more engagement.
"Wow... they’re really going that far?"
Even as the CEO, he was taken aback by their passion. Of course, Almond and Bubblegum’s absurd play would fan the flames and get anyone’s blood boiling. In Jung’s eyes, that wasn’t what he was seeing.
What he saw was two men in marketing completely possessed, especially Manager Kim. His eyes had practically rolled back in his head. Jung was genuinely moved by his staff’s dedication.
"Unbelievable."
He blankly stared at that scene for a long while. Then, he realized something else. He was enjoying this whole spectacle.
‘Wait, this is actually pretty good.’
Before he knew it, Jung’s hand was on the mouse. As someone who could whip up a game all on his own, simple video editing was child’s play.
Click. Click.
He started editing the footage of the Kim duo himself. He cut out anything that would be problematic and left only the fun parts. He even touched up the video quality so it looked decent enough. Of course, he was watching footage from the day before and had no idea what kind of madness was unfolding in his game right now.
***
[Guidebook has donated 5,000 won.]
[So... is this a walkthrough or what? Hah]
— Well, at least this time they died in sync haha
— Is this really a walkthrough? LOL
— This "guide" is something else
— What is even happening? LOL
A major misunderstanding had just taken root in the Ghostwo Busters co-op stream. It was all Bubblegum’s fault. He had told the viewers that he knew the strategy.
‘I really did, though.’
He hadn’t lied, but things had taken a different turn. None of his plans had worked out, and the Angler went flying in the weirdest way. In other words, the viewers were now convinced that the Angler rocketing into the sky was the intended strategy.
Of course, Bubblegum had insisted that he’d shine in this fight. Then, they saw his performance, which was nothing but repeatedly launching the Angler. To anyone watching, it looked like that was the real plan.
— This game is such crap LOL
— Hahahahahahahaha
— Oh my god LOL
— What a god-tier game haha
No one was surprised to see the chat filled with such comments. It really did look like everything had been part of the original strategy.
‘What do I do?’
Bubblegum didn’t even know where to begin explaining, so he just stood there. More than anything, he was worried sick.
‘Did the Angler actually die? If it didn’t die, we won’t get any XP. Do we have to redo this? Are they going to lose their minds on me?’
Then, a message suddenly popped up.
[Boss Defeated! Achievement Unlocked!]
Dudun!
The water on the floor drained away, and the pitch-black third floor returned to normal.
"Wow! We did it!" Su-Yeon cheered and threw her arms into the air.
‘So it really died?’
It seemed the Angler had died after all, and they properly received the XP.
[By exorcising a powerful soul, your Spiritual Energy has increased.]
At that moment, Bubblegum changed his mind.
‘Maybe I should just come clean.’
Since the Angler had died and the result turned out fine, maybe the viewers would actually appreciate the truth. If the outcome was good, the process could be spun as heroic. Bubblegum decided to reveal the real strategy.
"Actually, it was originally supposed to..."
However, he didn’t get to finish. All the viewers’ attention suddenly shifted in another direction.
Su-Yeon suddenly pointed at Bubblegum and blurted out, "Wow, you’re seriously ugly."
— ?
— ??
— ?
— What’s with the savage attack?
Even viewers who loved teasing Bubblegum felt stunned. No one had expected the sweet Su-Yeon to say something like that out of nowhere. Then, the reason became clear.
"It just wouldn’t die," Su-Yeon muttered while glaring at Bubblegum.
She thought the Angler had died at Bubblegum’s exact spot. This was a bug that sometimes happened when the game registered the xy position, but not the z-axis difference.
— Huh? LOL
— Oh my god, she thinks that’s the Angler’s body LOL
— The z-axis glitch strikes again!
— Insane
— I can’t breathe LOL
— What a legendary stream
Bubblegum, caught completely off guard by the sudden insult, didn’t know how to respond. The barrage didn’t stop there.
"Serves you right!"
Whack!
She kicked Bubblegum’s foot.
— No way hahahahaha
— Legendary moment LOL
— What even is this?
— Of all things?
— The god of streams strikes again
Whack! Whack!
"Ugly little thing! So damn persistent!"
Bubblegum could only chuckle at the absurdity of it all. He couldn’t even bring himself to say anything. He just hoped this would end soon.
— Oh my god, I’m dying LOL
— This needs to be clipped immediately
— What are they even going to do about this? LOL
— This is too funny
— A real legend
"Almond... can you tell Su-Yeon to stop?"
Bubblegum turned to Almond for help.
"Wait, where did he go?"
***
‘No time. No time at all.’
Almond had already reached the door to the lecture hall, where everyone had been trapped. He was still fully focused on speedrunning in his head, so he pressed on without hesitation. However, opening the door wasn’t so easy.
"Hohoho."
Ssss.
As soon as Almond grabbed the handle, a ghostly figure appeared. It didn’t look like an enemy he had to fight.
Thud!
Almond didn’t bother to look. He just slapped a talisman on it.
"I am the Math Demon, protector of these hallowed halls... Oh, ugh!?"
The math demon didn’t vanish despite the talisman.
Clack. Clack.
Of course, the door didn’t budge. The ghost was blocking the way.
"I—I am the Math Demon. In this sacred university, I exist to protect the sanctity of math. For those who would defile it, I present a quiz..."
"Huh. Maybe I used the wrong talisman?"
Almond wasn’t listening. No speedrunner would stick around for this story.
— Hahahaha
— He probably used the wrong talisman LOL
— Can you just listen for a second?
— As soon as math comes up, he pretends he can’t hear anything LOL
— Oh my god, Almond’s natural enemy
"You may pass if you answer correctly!"
"I’ll just try another one."
Unbothered, Almond pulled out his bag full of every type of talisman.
"I—I need to... ask the question..."
Even as he spoke, the Math Demon couldn’t help but stare at the bag overflowing with talismans.
Ding.
[ExorcistAlmond has donated 5,000 won.]
[You’re the one who’s supposed to solve this, right? (As he pulls out talismans of every color)]
— Hahahahahaha
— Oh my god LOL
— He’s not even listening
— As soon as the math ghost showed up, he became deaf LOL
— Holy crap
— Red pill, blue pill? LOL
— This is hilarious
Watching Almond’s reaction, the Kim duo leaned in even closer to their monitors.
"This... this is actually perfect."
"This is so dirty, but it’s genius. You absolutely have to solve it, right?"
"Of course."
“Hehehe.”
Manager Kim rubbed his palms together, grinning like a villain.
"If we can’t beat them physically, we’ll beat them mentally. That’s how it’s done."