Season 4: Chapter 35. As Expected, the Demon of Interviews (2)
Ji-Ah was in a full-blown crisis when Almond’s playthrough stream began.
"He’s actually doing it?"
She never imagined Almond would accept the challenge, but now it couldn’t be stopped. His challenge had become the top trending search on Javer, and posts about it flooded every streamer community. It was too late to walk it back, so she knew exactly what she had to do.
She quickly checked the co-op content clauses.
"Let’s see... profits are split fifty-fifty, anyway."
When two streamers collabed, each of their channels’ editors would upload their version of the video. They would split the revenue down the middle.
"Then, I can just go ahead and post this."
Click.
Ji-Ah switched over to Bubblegum’s feed and started editing. In a situation like this, speed was everything.
[Bubblegum getting rejected by a girl for being ugly video, LOL]
Ji-Ah didn’t even have to edit much. She just clipped it clean and uploaded it. Like that, the views started to skyrocket.
— No way, this is real? LOL
— He really got rejected for being ugly? What is this? LOL
— Gum bro isn’t ugly, come on...
— Wait, was she literally kicking him? Haha
— The fact that the title is true is the scariest part.
— What even is this situation??
— He’s clearly blessed by the god of streaming LOL
— Is this some kind of hidden ranking system based on relative looks? Makes sense I guess.
Comments flooded in within just ten or twenty minutes. Ji-Ah pinned a comment at the top.
— Almond and Bubblegum. The GOAT Duo’s Marathon Collab (link) Live Now!
└ Wait, a playthrough stream? LOL that’s crazy
└ What? These two are doing a stream challenge together?
└ It’s live right now??
└ A lot of people didn’t even know, haha
└ God-tier Ji-Ah’s live editing skills are insane
That wasn’t the end. The stream had barely started, but Ji-Ah already found more gold to mine for Shorts. She decided to start with the most attention-grabbing part.
"The Angler rocket? The math quiz?"
The Angler rocket seemed good, but the Math Demon part was even better. Viewers on YouTube didn’t even know about Ghostwo Busters, so watching the Angler die in one shot wouldn’t mean much to them. Besides, it had been so anticlimactic.
Ji-Ah decided to go with the Math Demon first.
Again, she didn’t need to edit much. She simply cut out the fluff, added some crisp captions, and gave it a catchy title. Since the Almondoyle meme had already gone viral on YouTube, she leaned right into it.
[Math? That’s for Almondoyle.]
She uploaded the short with a link to the live marathon.
— Want to see Almondoyle’s math prowess? (link) It’s live now!
└ Oh, it’s live right now? Haha
└ When they said math skills, I thought he was fixing something, LOL
As the views climbed, the comments also increased.
— Almond was hiding his brains this whole time, huh?
— How is he so good at math?? WTF
└ For real, I was shocked
└ Is he actually smart, then?
└ Where’s he been hiding that brain this whole time?
— This is insane. He’s actually amazing.
— Is it real though? LOL
— If this title wasn’t true, I’d have bet money on it, LOL
└ For real haha
└ Me first, then!
As time passed, the number of clicks on the links shot up. Almond and Bubblegum’s high viewer count just kept climbing, rising back to the heights of the international Civil Empire tournament.
***
Meanwhile, in a different office at Paprika, the biggest streaming platform in Korea.
"We have to get Almond."
Unlike Cheese, Paprika had been targeting Almond from the start. Team Leader Song Gu-Hye, known as "The Calculator" of Paprika, was determined.
The department head raised an eyebrow.
"What about Zelo?"
Zelo was the undisputed number one, so why Almond? It was a fair question.
"Zelo will never come here. He doesn’t fit our platform’s vibe."
Platform culture couldn’t be ignored. Paprika was known for its competitive, skill-based content featuring ex-pros and top-ranked amateurs. Treevy was more about personality than skill.
"Almond, though... he’s skilled, and he’s got the looks. He’s exactly what we’re after."
On Treevy, his looks never did him any real favors. Paprika, on the other hand, placed a huge premium on looks. Their big donors and big spenders loved streamers who looked like idols.
"Almond? He’s practically an idol, isn’t he? Tell him the income he’ll make here under the same terms as Cheese, and it’ll blow him away."
"Ugh..."
The department head rubbed his temples.
"Still... don’t you think he’s the type to not care about that stuff, Song? If he did, he’d already be on Paprika."
"Rumor has it, he’s a money-hungry freak."
"You really think so, though?"
The department head didn’t buy it. Almond had never acted like someone obsessed with money, especially in the international competition. He had been driven by conviction, not cash.
"My guess is... he only started streaming because Treevy made it so easy to get going. Anyone could just flip it on. That’s probably why Almond joined them in the first place."
"So you think he just liked how easy it was?"
"That’s my guess. If we sign him, he won’t have to worry about that anymore. Our new UI makes it just as easy. He’ll be happy here."
"What about revenue share?"
"Let’s push it to eighty-twenty."
The department head deeply sighed and shook his head.
"Haaa... if we aim too high and he doesn’t come, it could ruin everything with the other streamers."
An eighty-twenty split was insane. They’d never even consider it if it wasn’t for the Treevy exodus and the streamer recruitment wars. If word got out, they’d have to offer the same to everyone else too.
"Alright."
Tap.
Team Leader Song pulled something out.
"Look at this."
The tablet showed the ongoing stream. She lightly tapped the viewer count indicator. Almond and Bubblegum had just broken the highest viewer peak for Ghostwo Busters.
[Current Viewers: 151,000]
"One hundred fifty-one thousand. Another new peak. And this isn’t because of the international competition hype. Imagine all of that coming to Paprika instead."
"Hmm... but it’s a collab..."
The department head felt torn about it.
Paprika was in a much easier position compared to Cheese. It didn’t matter even if Paprika didn’t get a single one of Treevy’s former streamers. Paprika already had much higher revenue.
Meanwhile, Cheese could gather every last Treevy streamer and still only scrape by with Treevy-level revenue.
‘We just need to target a few giants and win.’
Paprika didn’t need everyone. They just needed to lock down a few prime targets, and they would overwhelmingly win. Right now, Almond was clearly the first target.
"Let me explain the other advantage of an eighty-twenty split. You said earlier that it might make it harder to sign other streamers, right?"
"Right."
"That’s the point."
"What?"
"It’s not just us who’d be stuck."
Team Leader Song showed a rare smile, and the department head shivered.
‘Ah... I get it.’
Even just floating that offer would throw Cheese into total chaos. The department head glanced out the dark window. Only one office across the street still had the lights on—Cheese’s conference room. They were probably burning the midnight oil and fighting for their lives.
"Alright. Let’s do it before Cheese can."
"Yes!"
If Paprika made the first move, Cheese wouldn’t be able to stop them.
***
Meanwhile, in the theology building of Seongdeok University.
"Almond! Wait up! Let’s stick together!"
Almond, Bubblegum, and Su-Yeon sprinted toward the roof. All of them ran at breakneck speed.
— Who’s chasing them? LOL
— Speedrun style, LOL
— I’ve never seen anyone treat a horror mission like a footrace before, haha
They encountered a few random ghosts along the way, but it didn’t matter. Each one quickly had a talisman placed on its forehead and harmlessly lay there.
Buzz-buzz!
— What even popped out just now?
— Nice.
— Bubblegum doesn’t even flinch anymore, LOL
— (Bubblegum watching calmly, arms folded) Work together, guys!
It had stopped being a co-op game long ago. Except for the Angler, they’d done everything else separately.
"All here!"
Bang!
They burst through the door to the roof.
"Huh?"
Bubblegum was startled. The place felt much creepier than he’d expected. A thick, dark purple cloud hung low over the roof, and papers floated up into it. Large white talismans glowed bright red.
"What the hell is that?"
"That’s Hail," Su-Yeon explained.
Almond turned to her.
"Hail?"
"Yes. It’s basically a giant talisman meant to trap spirits, but..."
She got closer to it and gasped.
"It’s been flipped upside down."
Instead of trapping spirits, it was letting them out.
"Ugh, ack! Let’s clear out this smoke first!"
Bubblegum looked around for the source of the purple mist. It was impossible to see anything clearly.
"Over here, I think."
Clang!
Bubblegum kicked over an incense burner on an altar.
Whoosh!
The smoke cleared, finally revealing a clear view of the rooftop.
"How about that?! Huh? Another one for the highlight reel, huh?"
— Oh, Bubblegum carry, nice!
— Bubblegum the "Smoke Stopper" award winner, haha
— Haha
— He’s like the god of smoke suppression, LOL
The chat mocked him, but Bubblegum didn’t even look at it. Instead, he was staring at something else and froze in place.
‘What the hell is that?!’
With the smoke gone, they could now see more students who had all turned into black figures. The black figures just stood there, staring blankly at them.
"Kyaaa?! W-What is this?!"
Su-Yeon clung to Almond, terrified.
Even Almond looked visibly unsettled, which rarely happened. It was a horror game, but the game had never truly been scary before. This moment felt genuinely eerie.
— Is Almond scared?
— Does Almond suck at horror games, LOL?
— Why did he go silent all of a sudden?
"Ah, my mic glitched just now. Ahem, uh... what even is this?"
He tried to brush it off.
Su-Yeon whispered, "They’re sacrifices!"
"Sacrifices?"
"Yes. For a ritual this big, you need sacrifices!"
"Then... they’re dead?"
If they had been offered up as sacrifices, that would be obvious.
"No. They’re still alive. They’ve been possessed by other spirits. We have to... we have to stop the ritual!"
Almond scanned the rooftop. He didn’t spot anything that looked like a ritual circle.
"That Hail?"
The only suspicious thing was the giant talisman floating in the sky.
"It could be," Su-Yeon replied.
Hail was normally just a binding spell, but maybe the true spell was hidden on the back of that massive talisman since no visible signs of a ritual could be seen.
"Oh. I see it."
Almond squinted and pointed. At the very top, behind the floating Hail, he could make out some writing. It looked different from the rest. Something was definitely up there.
"How are we supposed to get up there?"
The real problem was the height. It looked to be about four or five stories up. They couldn’t reach it just by jumping.
Bubblegum tried to brainstorm.
"What if I stack my barriers? One of us goes up, then I lay down another barrier to get the next boost. Something like that, right?"
"Oh..."
They had launched the Angler in a similar manner, so it could work again.
— Angler launch flashback, LOL
— Doing that stunt again, haha
— It’s probably the right call, though.
"Amitabha Buddha~"
Bubblegum used his wooden fish to create a barrier platform.
"There! It’s ready! Go, Almond! Uh... Almond?"
Technically, Bubblegum wasn’t wrong.
‘If I mess up, I’ll get launched to my death...’
Almond just didn’t trust him.
"Almond? Can you hear me?"
— Almond isn’t even moving, LOL
— Look at those shifty eyes, haha
— Hahaha
— Pretending he can’t hear Gum, LOL
— Bugged out? He’s just standing there, haha