Season 4: Chapter 34. As Expected, the Demon of Interviews (1)
"Well done! Outstanding!"
Poof.
With a final compliment, the Math Demon vanished.
"Oh."
Almond didn’t even bother to brag about what he’d just done. Even though he rarely used his brain for real, only a faint smile could be seen at the corners of his lips.
— Hahahaha
— That expression is so annoying, LOL
— What’s up with Almond... was he actually smart?
— I’m so confused...
— Oh my god LOL
— Look at that smug face
— That smug is so infuriating LOL
This one moment of genuine brain power changed everything about how people saw him.
Babam!
[RubySword has donated 30,000 won!]
[Who dares question Almondoyle?]
— Gasp
— Who made that gunshot noise? LOL
— If Ruby says it, it’s true.
— Wow.
Along with RubySword’s donation, a wave of confessions washed over the chat.
[Worship has donated 10,000 won.]
[I’m sorry for doubting you! I didn’t realize! You are the goat of deduction!]
[Flunky has donated 5,000 won.]
[The counterrevolutionaries shall be purged by Bang justice!]
[EggPlant has donated 10,000 won.]
[I’m sorry! I apologize on behalf of my brother—my brother apologizes!]
[Xiaolongbao has donated 10,000 won.]
[A brilliant young man...]
— Flunky LOL
— Eggplant’s brother paid up big, holy crap
— Bang justice LOL
— What does it even mean to apologize on behalf of a brother?
— Everyone pays their price equally, with "Bang"
— Eggplant’s brother went broke, LOL
— So... the brother had to do the atoning? Hahaha
Finally, Almond decided to speak.
"Thank you for the donation, Ruby. And thank you to everyone else. You’ve come to see the truth despite all the distortions and propaganda."
— Hahahaha
— Here we go...
— It’s the start of the Almondoyle golden era~
For now, an air of reverence filled Almond’s chat. Thanks to his math skills, the Math Demon had disappeared, and the kids were finally free.
"W-We’re saved!"
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Su-Yeon was so excited that she jumped right up and threw her arms around them.
"Unnieee!"
"Su-Yeon!?"
***
Bubblegum was stunned when he saw the kids gathered on the third floor.
‘That... that was so fast.’
They had rescued every student in less than an hour after starting the game.
‘Well, the boss never even got to show off any of its real moves. It just vanished.’
The Angler had an entire second phase that was even harder than the first, but that was a story for some alternate universe. The Angler had gone soaring off into space before that ever happened.
‘And he even solved that math problem, just like that...’
The Math Demon had been the only real obstacle. He gave out a different problem with every attempt. It had taken Bubblegum and Takoyaki ages when they did it, but Almond had solved it instantly. In under thirty minutes, they had already rescued everyone.
"Wow. Thank you, exorcists!"
The kids even came over to thank Bubblegum.
"See? At least you guys aren’t like Su-Yeon, who discriminates against me. Wahaha!"
— Hahaha
— No...
— ??? Ugly! Whack!
— That rarely happens LOL
— Ah... haha
— It’s a bug, okay...
Bubblegum continued laughing when someone approached him. The boy looked like the oldest of the group.
"Um... Mr. Exorcist? I’m Lee Jae-Hyeok, the club president."
He had an awkward, worried look.
"Even if we leave now, this place will remain connected to the spirit realm."
They could evacuate the students, but the building itself was still a problem. After all, an exorcist’s real job was to remove the spiritual disturbance completely. They had to see it through to the end.
"You’re saying... we have to finish the job?"
"Yes. That’s why we came here in the first place. Though it didn’t go as planned."
These weren’t just any students. They were part of the school’s exorcism club.
"Ahem. Do you have any idea where to start?"
Bubblegum put on a phony monk-like attitude. Honestly, he had never gotten past the Angler fight with Takoyaki. He had no idea what came next.
"Where to start?"
"Like... did your club ever try to summon anything like a spirit board or something?"
From the start, Bubblegum had suspected that the club had caused all of this. Most players assumed the same.
"No, we’ve never done anything like that. We’re just interested in exorcism. We don’t want to summon spirits at all."
‘Huh?’
So that wasn’t it.
"See? They said no."
Almond piped in from the side.
Bubblegum gave him an incredulous look.
‘What the hell? When had Almond said no?’
Bubblegum turned to the chat, almost begging them to see reason.
— Being a troll, LOL
— What is this?
— If Almondoyle says so, it’s true
— He said no, so it’s no~
— Are you seriously doubting the guy who crushed the Math Demon just now?
Almond’s statement was wild enough, but the chat took it even further. What was this? Some kind of nutty cult taking over the chat?
"Wait, you’re siding with him?!"
— Hahahahaha
— For real LOL
— What can you do?
— Ah. Ah. The Almondoyle golden era is about to begin. Haters, get out of the room!
— The Math Demon left, but an even bigger monster took its place.
For now, Almond’s math skills had earned him what some called a criticism immunity card. Basically, whatever he did at this point would go over well.
— Strategy? Almondoyle! Strategy? Almondoyle! Strategy? Almondoyle!
— Sherlock Holmes was actually written by Almond Conan Doyle! Sherlock Holmes was actually written by Almond Conan Doyle!
— Agatha Christie was an A-class Almond fan! Agatha Christie was an A-class Almond fan!
Absurd slogans filled the chat. Since it was a collab, Bubblegum couldn’t ban these viewers for mentioning another streamer. Besides, the chat would become completely dead if he banned them.
"Hey. Stop spamming."
Babam!
[NutJob has donated 10,000 won.]
[If one person does it, it’s spam! If everyone does it, it’s a revolution!]
— Hahahahaha
— Hahaha
— For real LOL
— Spam revolution, haha
Even Bubblegum had to admit that Almond’s math performance was impressive. He decided to just let it slide for now.
"Alright... alright, calm down. Huh? What did I even say before? Jeez."
Meanwhile, Club President Lee Jae-Hyeok pointed up.
"From what we can tell, it all started on the roof."
"The roof?"
"Yes. One of the last members to arrive said they saw something flapping up there."
The witness said from behind, "That’s right. It looked... like a giant talisman? The kind that shamans use!"
Almondoyle flinched at the mention of shamans.
"Th-That wasn’t me!"
"Of course it wasn’t you, Almond."
"Ah..."
— Hahahahaha
— Like it would be you, LOL
— Oh my god
— Hahaha
— Who would dare doubt Almondoyle? << literally him LOL
Ding.
[Worship has donated 5,000 won.]
[That’s all just an act. The Math Demon Slayer, Bell-Finder Supreme Almondoyle wouldn’t be fooled by that LOL]
— For real LOL
— Of course it’s all an act~
— Haha so true
— Bell-Finder Supreme LOL
Bubblegum didn’t even bother replying to the donation. He just said, "Anyway, looks like we’re headed to the roof to see for ourselves, huh?"
It seemed like the best move.
"Okay. Let’s go."
Tat-tat-tat!
Almond charged ahead first and dashed up the stairs.
Bubblegum called after him, "Hey, Almond! Don’t just—no, no, no. Who would dare doubt Almondoyle?"
He had no choice but to accept it.
— Hahahaha
— Brotherly unity LOL
— Nice.
— He’s a total flunky now, LOL
— The smell of power...
Now, even he sprinted to keep up with Almond. Maybe that was what cooperation really looked like.
***
It was late at night in the quiet office.
Thud.
Manager Kim rested his forehead on the desk, refusing to even look at the stream.
"Haaa... so what’s next, Assistant Manager Kim? Give me a little hope, huh?"
"Well... there’s a bit of deduction involved. We have to figure out the cause of this incident."
"No more boss monsters?"
"There should be. We’ve been running into boss enemies one after another."
"Oh, that’s right! Boss monsters... huh? I forgot because they vanished so fast! I didn’t even get to greet them properly!"
Assistant Manager Kim felt oddly guilty even though he hadn’t worked on this part of the game himself.
"Ugh... ahem, but Manager."
"What?" Manager Kim didn’t even lift his head.
"Still, when it comes to Almond... wouldn’t a deduction sequence take more time than a simple boss fight?"
Hearing it out loud, Manager Kim had to admit it made sense. Normally, bosses took up the most time. However, Bubblegum and Almond had killed the bosses so far in one shot with weird tactics. This actually made the story segments the real pacing bottleneck.
"This deduction part... Is it hard?"
"Hmmm." Assistant Manager Kim paused.
The deduction wasn’t that hard because this wasn’t a mystery game, but it was Almond and Bubblegum.
"It’s moderately challenging. Even that will probably slow them down a bit."
"What?"
Bang!
Suddenly, Manager Kim bolted upright. What the heck was this?
"You still don’t get it after everything that’s happened? Huh? Deduction?"
Thud.
He grabbed Assistant Manager Kim’s shoulders and leaned in.
"Deduction?!"
"Ah... Almondoyle?"
"That’s right! Deduction is Almondoyle! Do you really think even a moderately challenging deduction will slow that guy down?!"
‘Oh my god. Deduction is Almondoyle? He actually believes that?’
Assistant Manager Kim felt dumbfounded.
Almond had crushed the math problem, but that didn’t mean he was some master detective! Then again, Assistant Manager Kim had watched it all from the start.
However, Manager Kim had only just discovered this unstoppable monster. He felt terrified and had no choice but to believe.
"Ugh... ahem. I guess we’ll have to hope that the next boss holds them up, huh?"
"The next boss?"
"It’s a wraith this time. A Christian exorcist is supposed to deal with it."
"Su-Yeon, the NPC?"
"That’s right. Almond and Bubblegum will be supporting, so their role should be much more limited."
"Oh-ho?"
That actually sounded promising. If the NPC had to do most of the work, there would be less room for chaos.
"Still... honestly, I’m kind of looking forward to the deduction part, haha..."
"Huh?"
Then, it happened.
Manager Kim leaned in close to the monitor.
"Hey... why are the viewer numbers spiking all of a sudden?"
“Huh?”
It was true. The numbers were shooting up fast. Was it because of the playthrough stream? Even so, this growth rate was insane. Where were they all coming from?