Season 4: Chapter 36. As Expected, the Demon of Interviews (3)
Though he didn’t show it, Almond was contemplating it.
‘That earlier... it was a fluke, right?’
Almond knew full well that the Angler rocket was nothing but a fluke. He had been a long-time fan of Bubblegum’s streams and knew that Bubblegum would have bragged endlessly if that had been a proper strategy. Instead, Bubblegum had looked totally unimpressed.
The game’s graphics had also glitched out. That would never be intentional.
Therefore, Almond didn’t trust Bubblegum’s current plan.
"What are you doing? I said go up there."
Bubblegum demanded that he go up just to probably fall, which made Almond nervous. The higher he fell, the more HP he’d lose. He could possibly even die. Sure, the others could revive him, but that would waste precious time. This was a full playthrough stream where every minute counted.
Almond shuddered slightly and shook his head.
"Ah, no... I don’t think that’s right."
"Huh? Really?"
Clatter.
The barrier that Bubblegum had created shattered.
He scratched his head. "Then, how the heck are we supposed to do this?"
— Hahahahaha
— "Not right" = Bubblegum’s skills, LOL
— Almond doesn’t trust him at all loool
"I think..." Almond murmured and looked up at the sky.
He had a hunch that the target was right there. It couldn’t be impossible to reach. It felt like he could reach it if he just threw something.
‘Throw something?’
The thought clicked. Almond pulled out a talisman and threw it.
Crackle!
It flew all the way up to the Hail. The accuracy was absurd for something he tossed so absentmindedly.
Flutter.
The talisman brushed the Hail, causing it to ripple like laundry in the wind.
"Hail itself is a warding charm for evil spirits. It probably won’t react to a talisman," Su-Yeon said.
— Why does Su-Yeon seem to know more than you? LOL
— ??? Are you even an exorcist?
— Exorcism club level 999
Almond hadn’t really expected the talisman to do much anyway.
‘But it reached...’
He was just testing if he could physically reach it. Then, he drew something from his waist.
Everyone’s eyes widened.
Shing!
It was the Exorcist Blade. A sword that once required more spiritual power than he had. Now, it glowed brightly in his hand.
[You have become the rightful owner of this weapon.]
A low hum filled the air. He could finally wield it after defeating the Earthbound Spirit and the Angler.
— Whoa.
— Finally?!
— Holy...
— He really brought it out, LOL
— It works!
"W-Why the sword all of a sudden? It’s so far away," Su-Yeon stammered with wide eyes at the sight of the blade.
Almond didn’t answer. He just drew the sword back and hurled it.
"W-Wait! Almond! That’s not disposable, you know!?"
The way it flew looked like it wouldn’t even land back on the roof. Maybe it would fly off entirely, but it soared straight up.
Slash!
The blade struck the top of the Hail, cutting it clean in two.
"Whoa!" Bubblegum gasped in surprise.
— Whoa.
— His physical skill is on another level.
— Damn.
— Bubblegum’s idea of teamwork: cheering, LOL
— How did he even...?
After the Hail was cut, all the other floating charms lost their power and fluttered to the ground. The possessed students crumpled and fell limp too.
Thud!
The only problem was the sword itself. It could be a disaster if it randomly fell back. However, that resolved itself rather easily.
Almond simply reached out.
Whoosh!
The sword flew right back into his hand.
[Even if your weapon is far away, it will always return to its master.]
This was a quality-of-life feature in most VR games, so players wouldn’t lose track of their weapons. It also made the sword a perfect throwing weapon. Finally, the dimensional rift between the roof and the spirit world had closed.
"Wahaha! We did it!"
"Haaa... we should probably call emergency services for these people." Su-Yeon pulled out her phone.
The once-useless device now worked perfectly again.
"Wow. It’s working."
She dialed for an ambulance as the screen slowly darkened, and this long segment of the game came to a close.
[Loading...]
The game shifted into a short cutscene. Meanwhile, donations flooded in.
Ding!
[NewbieTip has donated 10,000 won.]
[You can’t defeat your enemies alone! Work together!]
— LOL
— Is Bubblegum’s support just trash now?
— What happened to the co-op part, huh?
— Ghostwo Busters? More like Ghostone Buster~
— Wasn’t this supposed to be a co-op game?
— You think the Angler rocket teamwork wasn’t vital? That timing was everything!
[BubblegumPR has donated 5,000 won.]
[The original name is Ghost TWO Busters, just so you know~]
— Haha, Busters LOL
— LOL
— If that’s it, then sure, LOL
— Busters, huh, haha
"Thank you, NewbieTip and Bubble..."
— He’s totally skipping that last part on purpose, LOL
— BubblegumPR...
— He didn’t read the PR part lmao
— Poor Gum...
"Still, I think we’re done with... let’s call it Act 1."
Almond checked the time. It had taken around forty minutes.
"It’s been about forty minutes so far. Does anyone know what the average clear time is for this part?"
Usually, the chat would dig up the answer faster than he could. They would probably find out before the cutscene even ended.
— It’s a new game, so does that even matter?
— I’m curious too.
Ding!
[Factos has donated 5,000 won.]
[Well, I doubt anyone else beat it with the Angler rocket, so no way it’s forty minutes, LOL]
— Hahahaha
— For real.
— Only Bubblegum could do that, Almond would never LOL
— Angler rocket, LOL
— You can’t send the Angler to Mars and expect a normal time, LOL
The loading ended, and the screen brightened again.
***
‘Huh?’
White walls and white curtains appeared. It was a hospital. More specifically, a shared ward with several students lying in beds. A television in the corner was playing the news.
“At a university campus in Seoul, an incident occurred where multiple students fell into a group coma on the rooftop.”
It was clearly talking about these very students.
“The hospital has not identified the cause, and suspicions have even been raised about some sort of occult ritual...”
The news cut to footage of the Hail. The scattered talismans and ritual items could be seen all over the campus. Police in gloves held up evidence bags behind a police line.
— Whoa
— They’re on it
— Are they gonna track them down now? LOL
— This is so obviously suspicious, haha
— This is bad, huh
Of course, the police wouldn’t figure it out. Without any spiritual knowledge, they would never know what had truly happened despite all the gathered evidence. That part was up to the players.
Dun-dun!
[Identify the mastermind behind this incident!]
A new mission appeared for Almond and Bubblegum. The cutscene ended, and they regained control.
"Oh. It’s over." Almond glanced at the clock.
‘Two minutes gone.’
The cutscene had taken two minutes.
— Haha, we see him checking his watch
— This isn’t a speedrun, it’s a regular playthrough, LOL
— Why is he tracking cutscene time? haha
"First step, find out who’s behind this..."
Every second counted for this playthrough, but Almond didn’t forget his duty as a streamer. He also had to make content.
"Alright, it’s been a while since we did some deduction."
He started playing classic detective anime music in the background.
Diri-diri-ding! Diri-diri-diri~!
"The culprit is in this very room."
Bubblegum looked around, confused.
"Huh? It’s just a bunch of sick people."
— Hahahaha
— What’s he even saying? LOL
— So he’s just gonna kill everyone here, haha
— What about you?
— (Including himself)
— Bubblegum is asking about himself, right?
"Sick or not, it doesn’t matter. The real culprit could be hiding among them, feigning illness to blend in. You know what they say. If you want to hide a tree, cut down the forest!"
"Wouldn’t that kill the forest?"
— What? haha
— The forest dies, LOL
— It’s "hide a tree in a forest," not "cut it down," Doyle...
— Hahaha, is this guy a comedian?
— His brain only works with numbers, huh...
— Technically, cutting down the forest would hide it...
— The math demon’s immunity didn’t even last an hour, haha
His slip-up unleashed a flurry of donations.
Bam!
[RubySword has donated 20,000 won.]
[Forest? Bang!]
— Ahahaha
— If Ruby says "Bang," you gotta at least play dead
— It’s "Jiiiiiiing," isn’t it?
— Ugh!
— Ack!
— Keh!
Bam-bam-bam!
[Takoyaki has donated 50,000 won.]
[To hide your hair... wait, huh?]
— LOL
— That’s right! Hide your hair, you’ll cry tears, haha
— Poor Takoyaki...
— Your hair has gone into hiding.
— Is he serious?
— Takoyaki’s hair is MIA, so it works, I guess (don’t know why, though).
— How can you hide something that’s not there, Takoyaki...?
"Thank you for the donations, Ruby and Takoyaki. Anyway, I’m convinced the culprit is here. I’ll start by talking to them."
Almond stroked his chin and put on an overly serious face as he approached the beds. No matter how weird his commentary was, he was right. They needed to talk to the students to get more information.
"But they’re all asleep... How do I...?"
Every student was still unconscious in a coma.
"Can we... call out their spirits or something?" Almond asked and rifled through his talismans.
"No! Almond, that’s basically killing them!"
"Ah."
— This guy says "Ah" like he didn’t know, haha
— LOL
— He was about to use a talisman like an acupuncture needle, haha
"Just get close to them. They’ll talk to you."
Bubblegum had already tried it with another student.
"Oh."
Now that Almond’s spiritual power had grown, he could talk to even those in a coma.
"Try this one." Bubblegum pointed to a student.
Almond stepped closer, and a translucent spirit emerged.
"What... what’s happening? How am I even talking right now?"
The spirit looked confused and wanted an explanation, but Almond didn’t have time for that.
"I’m speaking to you because I initiated contact. Do you remember how you ended up on the rooftop?"
— The way he phrased that, haha
— "I’m talking to you because I’m talking to you," LOL
— He’s the player, you’re the NPC, that’s all!
— Technically not wrong, haha
"The rooftop?"
"Yes."
The spirit shook its head.
"I... I don’t remember..."
Bubblegum noticed Almond playing around with a talisman at his waist.
"Hmm... why don’t you remember?"
"B-Because I don’t?"
"Evading the question, huh?"
"No, I’m not!"
The spirit was taken aback by Almond’s accusation.
Almond had spoken into the wrong mic channel, but simply played it up.
"Ah, forgot to switch mics. Ahem. So, you’re evading it, huh? What are you hiding?"
— Bro, haha
— Why is evading an instant guilty verdict?
— Put down the talisman before you keep talking, huh?
— Hey, kid! Ever heard of the Angler rocket?
— Listening to Almond’s "guilty" logic is torture, haha
— So he’s the culprit now, huh? LOL
— Bang! Let’s do it!
"So... is that it?" Almond adjusted his ceremonial hat and reached back to his talisman pouch. "I’ve given you every chance..."
His voice dropped to a low, dramatic rumble as he played the role of a mystic master.
— What chances, huh?
— Master is about to use his dark arts!
— LOL what chance?
He was mostly just messing around, but it surprisingly worked.
"Y-Yes, yes!"
Maybe the spirit picked up on the looming threat.
"I... I don’t remember the rooftop! But...!"
The spirit started talking.
— Damn
— It’s working? Haha
— Why is this working? LOL
Ding!
[BeggarVeggie has donated 3,000 won.]
[Interview? Ah, Almondoyle!]
— LOL that’s so real
— He’s the interview demon, for real
— Interview demon, LOL
— The same power works both ways, huh?
— BeggarVeggie, haha!