Season 4: Chapter 40. Assemble! (1)
"Don’t tell me he’s just going to figure it all out again in one go?" Manager Kim voiced an ominous thought.
It wasn’t an unreasonable suspicion given how abruptly things had been uncovered in the past, but Assistant Manager Kim shook his head.
"It’s just been dumb luck so far."
He declared with certainty that it had all been luck. And he wasn’t wrong. Yes, everything truly had been due to sheer luck. The problem was that, for some reason, that luck kept persisting.
Still, Assistant Manager Kim was a realist. He spoke only of the facts and tried to reassure Manager Kim.
"But that kind of guesswork won’t fly here. There are too many people this time."
The Modeling Club consisted of nearly twenty to thirty members. The previous cases involved choosing the right patient from a pool of seven to eight people or selecting which club to infiltrate from just a few options. The odds were drastically lower now. A random guess had an almost nonexistent chance of being correct.
‘Or so you’d think.’
Despite the logic, Manager Kim couldn’t shake the bad feeling. He kept it to himself since saying it out loud could make it come true.
‘Still, that’s a lot of people.’
Logically speaking, only one conclusion existed. With twenty to thirty students, it would be impossible to narrow it down to one person without solid evidence.
"So how the hell are they supposed to find them?"
By now, Manager Kim felt genuinely curious. How were the players supposed to narrow down the suspect?
"Well, from what we’ve gathered so far, it’s clear something is going on within this club. And someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes."
"Right. They all had the same memories of being introduced to someone."
The victims all recalled the same thing. They had been introduced to a certain someone. That was, in most cases, their final memory.
"Then, you’re saying there’s an informant inside the Modeling Club?"
"Exactly."
"But there were victims from other clubs too, right? What about those?"
"There are people running similar operations in other clubs, but they never actually meet the real mastermind. Only the Modeling Club’s informant has that access," Assistant Manager Kim confidently explained.
It was a trap within a trap within a trap. Even if the players somehow picked the Modeling Club with absurdly good luck, the next trial was already waiting for them.
"Wait a second."
Manager Kim suddenly paused.
"How did they even narrow it down to the Modeling Club in the first place?"
"Huh? Well, that’s..."
It was just dumb luck?
‘Ah, crap...’
Assistant Manager Kim’s face stiffened. He realized he’d made a mistake.
"You just said the other clubs had informants too, but those were nobodies, right?"
"Y-Yeah."
"It would’ve taken way longer if they had started with those losers, right? That was the original plan, wasn’t it?"
"Yes."
"But they went straight for the Modeling Club?"
Up until now, Assistant Manager Kim had been hiding this for the sake of Manager Kim’s sanity. He had framed it as if the Modeling Club had been chosen intentionally in line with the game’s design. It wasn’t exactly a lie. He just hadn’t bothered to mention it.
Still, from Manager Kim’s perspective, it felt like a betrayal.
"Why didn’t you say anything?"
"W-Well... even if they had started with the side clubs, it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference... haha..."
"What? Say that again properly. Huh?"
"N-No, seriously! It wouldn’t have changed much... not by a lot..."
Assistant Manager Kim stumbled over his excuses, but Manager Kim was already fed up.
"Agh."
Pop.
He cracked open another beer in frustration.
"So basically, you didn’t say anything because you were worried I’d lose my mind? You think I’m a joke? Huh? Just tell me everything from now on!"
"Yes, sir."
"I’m trusting you now, got it?"
"Yes, sir."
Assistant Manager Kim obediently straightened up.
"Okay. Let’s move on to this deduction stuff and that informant. Yeah?"
"Yes, sir."
"Who is it?" Manager Kim asked as he pointed to the screen.
"Well... if I told you now, wouldn’t that ruin the fun?"
‘Don’t push it...’
Manager Kim glared at him.
"You think I’m watching this for fun!? The school blew up. I blew up, and the Angler went flying into space. That Earthbound Spirit or developmental delinquent hasn’t even shown their face since they’re dead or whatever!"
"Ugh... th-then..."
Reluctantly, Assistant Manager Kim pointed the informant out.
Tap.
His finger moved toward the monitor, and Manager Kim’s gaze followed.
‘Oh.’
A spark lit up in Manager Kim’s eyes. It was someone completely unexpected with no presence. The forgettable face barely had any distinct features. Even someone like Almondoyle, the master of facial deduction, wouldn’t pick this person out.
***
Meanwhile, Bubblegum was in the middle of a heated argument with his viewers.
"You heard it, right? Huh? You heard it! They said, ‘They’re all handsome,’ didn’t they?"
The spark had come from none other than the NPC who introduced him. The NPC had gestured toward the duo and said, "Aren’t they handsome?" That comment went straight to Bubblegum’s head.
"I’m telling you, my face isn’t that bad! It’s AI-certified! You all saw it!"
Apparently, he had some lingering trauma from collaborating with Almond when the NPCs ruthlessly mocked his appearance. Of course, his long-time viewers, hardened through years of exposure, were far from easy to impress.
Ding.
[Angler has donated 10,000 won!]
[Wow. You’re seriously ugly! <<< What the AI said lol]
— LOL
— Ahahaha
— "AI-certified face," I’ll give you that one ^^
— I’m dying lmao
— Su-Yeon strikes again!
They threw Bubblegum’s own words right back at him.
"That was a bug, okay? Come on, guys~"
This time, Bubblegum wasn’t going to let it go. Backing down now would mean becoming a meme for at least the next three months.
Ding.
[Cherry has donated 3,000 won.]
[Got it, Mr. ‘They’re all’.]
— Ah, because they said ‘they’re all handsome’ lol
— Streamer name: They’re All
— How is someone’s name "They’re All"?
— I’m crying hahaha
It wasn’t just Bubblegum facing three months of teasing that was on the line. The viewers had something at stake too. In their minds, the story had to remain unaltered: the female NPC rejected Bubblegum because he was ugly. This battle was rooted in principle.
"No, listen. When they said, ‘They’re all handsome,’ that meant me and Almond. Got it? It included both of us!"
All it took to stir people up was one catchy phrase. On the other hand, it took a long, pathetic explanation to clarify that phrase. Naturally, people preferred the former.
[They’reAll has donated 3,000 won.]
[Yes, I’m Kim They’re-All. I was told I was handsome, and some weird old dude got way too excited about it. It was surreal.]
— LOLOLOL
— They’re All joins the chat!
— Main character has arrived
— Game over, folks~
Bubblegum was left speechless when a person named They’re All showed up in the chat.
***
Meanwhile, Almond was engaged in a different kind of battle with his viewers. This one was a bit more one-sided.
— Someone stop the streamer~
— LOL what is he even saying?
— This is brutal hahaha
— Wait, is this guy an archer or a face reader?
It was because Almond had started full-on theorizing. And his deductive method was unconventional to say the least.
"Face-reading has some basis to it, you know?"
He was using physiognomy as the core of his deductions. Whether or not this method had any merit had been a hotly debated topic ever since the creation of Almondoyle in the first mystery game he ever played.
"Especially in games, it’s something you have to consider."
— What if we consider that you’re considering that?
— Even nonsense sounds smart if you repeat it enough
— Fact: No one thought Almond had the face of a math genius, look at him now
— There’s no such thing as face-reading... only hot and not
The viewers tried to reason with him using far more grounded logic. As usual, it was pointless.
"In my opinion, it’s not this guy. The modeling is lazy. He’s not someone who will appear later on."
Almond had already started eliminating suspects based on their 3D model quality.
— The models all look the same though lol
— Maybe the NPC is just ugly...
— "Lazy modeling," I can’t—
— You know what, that kinda makes sense
— Polygon-based deduction??
— If face-reading includes model fidelity now, then fine, you win
***
Face-reading, shooting before deducing, and all sorts of half-baked detective methods... The danger didn’t lie in the randomness. It was in the bizarre but convincing logic.
"Wait, wait... is this for real?"
Just like how Manager Kim flinched at Almond’s modeling-based deduction, some people always fell for it, even if only briefly.
"Wait, that guy isn’t the real culprit?"
Sure enough, the person Almond had eliminated wasn’t the culprit. With a one-in-thirty chance, he had a pretty good shot at randomly ruling someone out. However, it suddenly seemed more plausible when he tacked on the 3D modeling argument.
"U-Uh, I’ll double-check just in case!"
Even Assistant Manager Kim flinched and checked multiple times. No matter how many times he looked, the modeling quality seemed about the same.
"I can’t tell..."
“Not this one either.” Almond eliminated another suspect.
"Again!? He eliminated another one!"
"Well..."
It was statistically expected, but Assistant Manager Kim couldn’t say that out loud. He knew exactly how Manager Kim would react if he did.
"Are you telling me these freakin devs really skimped on the modeling? What the hell?"
"Maybe..."
Assistant Manager Kim scratched his head. He didn’t really believe that was the case.
"If I were the CEO, I’d have the entire modeling team called into the office first thing tomorrow! Huh!?"
Manager Kim angrily waved his fist in the air. Of course, he wasn’t the CEO. Even if he were, that sort of thing would never happen. Forget a team meeting, the actual CEO was probably still awake and editing videos of this mess.
‘There’s no way that’s true, Manager Kim.’
“Heh.”
CEO Jung chuckled to himself at the naivety of the marketing team and continued editing.
"Let’s just call a meeting if both Kims end up on YouTube..."
Jung couldn’t upload the videos without staff consent, but he felt confident that they wouldn’t refuse. Not after what was in the contract.
"No way they’d back out now, not with terms like this."
The contract had tied the ad payments to clearing the game. Compared to time limits like "stream for one day" or "stream for three hours," this was way more generous.
Naturally, CEO Jung had thought it was a good deal. However, he had underestimated the opponent.
"That guy has quite the history."
Another monitor displayed Almond’s player history. Users on Wikipedia had compiled Almond’s game-clearing and record-setting runs. It looked like an impressive resume for a genius CEO.
[First perfect shot in Kingdom Age]
[Fastest clear time in Kingdom Age]
[First three-star clear of Raina’s Story Mode on Korean servers]
[Fastest Diamond rank in Battle Large]
Even without his championship titles, Almond was built to beat games quickly. To put such conditions in front of a guy like that?
‘Well, maybe that’s why he accepted it in the first place...’
Either way, only results mattered in the corporate world. Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Kim would pay for this on YouTube. Even now, they still hadn’t realized how bad it was.
"Agh... Manager Kim, come on. The modeling isn’t the problem. Huh? The problem is your damn contract."
CEO Jung sighed as Manager Kim continued yelling at his monitor over Almondoyle’s ridiculous theories. Then, Jung’s eyes widened as he looked at Almond’s stream on his other screen.
"Wait. Is there actually something wrong with the modeling?"
CEO Jung’s eyes twitched. Maybe, just maybe, Manager Kim was right. Maybe the modeling team really did need to be called in.