Season 4: Chapter 42. Assemble! (3)
The ’80s were the good old days. Back then, anyone could just whack someone with a stick and be done with it. It seemed like the world had loosened up since then. How was this possible, letting them get away with lazy modeling that enabled deductions like this?
"Sigh..." Although he was born in 2001, CEO Jung deeply sighed as he recalled the 1980s.
With righteous fury, his thumb moved swiftly over his phone as he sent a short but deadly message.
[Modeling Department. Assemble.]
***
Bzzzz.
Just as they were about to drift off to sleep, phones began vibrating across the modeling department.
"Assemble?"
Rubbing their tired eyes, staff members stared in disbelief at the message.
"What kind of joke is this?"
Assemble in the 2030s? Was this some old war movie? The game had just been released. The devs all reacted the same.
"Sigh... Our boss is so Gen Z."
"This generation, man..."
"Did he send that by mistake?"
They assumed it was either an error or the CEO was being his usual dramatic self. No one took it seriously. It made sense since the studio that developed Ghostwo Busters was famous for its flexible work culture. The dev team, in particular, had always enjoyed the most freedom. This reaction was par for the course.
‘Huh?’
Bzzzz. Bzzz.
A second message dropped. Suddenly, their expressions changed.
[CEO: Looks like the mastermind in the modeling club route can be identified through modeling quality differences.]
Could the villain be identified based on model quality? Forget the scolding. This was humiliating at the highest level for a developer.
[CEO: The game has already launched. Major streamers are broadcasting this in real time as part of a sponsorship.]
Wait, that scene had aired live on a massive sponsored stream?
Slowly, some staff members began sweating under their blankets.
‘No way... Seriously?’
‘I mean... if that’s true...’
They all sprang out of bed.
[CEO: This looks urgent. Please log in, everyone.]
Everyone had the same thought:
‘Assemble...’
‘We have to, right?’
They would have to work an overnight shift, at least digitally if not physically.
***
While the half-asleep developers scrambled to their laptops, Almond and Bubblegum continued streaming and lighting up the internet even in the dead of night.
[Is this real? I can watch Almond at this hour? He’s still streaming??]
[OMG Almond doing a midnight stream!!]
[Almond’s bedtime collab! I can sleep listening to his voice? I’m gonna melt~~ (flop)]
Almond rarely streamed this late. Normally, his schedule started around 3 P.M. and ended at 10 P.M. Ever since his recovery, he’d kept a consistent 7-8 hour streaming window. Tonight, he started late to match Bubblegum’s schedule.
After five hours, it was nearly 1 A.M. This time slot seemed inefficient, but the real peak hours for streaming were surprisingly between 10 P.M. and 4 A.M. Top streamers had dominated this slot for years, Bubblegum included. Almond’s collab stream rode the same wave. Naturally, viewership skyrocketed.
[Current Viewers: 174,000]
They had already surpassed the previous high of 140,000. Then, they reached 150,000. Now, they were pushing past 170,000. With that many viewers watching, all sorts of content leaked into community forums.
[No. 3 Trending Topic: LOL check out this post from a dev forum right now]
One post soared to the third-highest trending.
==== ====
[This came from the dev community DevFoot lololol
"FML, some streamer just broke our game during a sponsored stream, and now our boss called an emergency meeting. Game dev is suffering."
>>> Come on, we all know which company this is, right? Lol]
==== ====
— LMAO this is totally real
— Feels legit tbh
— No way they actually got called in??
— "Broke the game" has me in tears, it’s not a damn arcade machine
— The timing lines up perfectly too...
***
At the same time, the Kim duo was left in shock.
"I-It really was the Bang..."
Almond had actually called out the villain.
"DAMMIT!"
Thud!
Manager Kim shot up from his seat with a guttural roar. "WAAAAAAAARGH!"
Manager Kim flailed in frustration and twisted his body like he was about to explode from rage. Meanwhile, Assistant Manager Kim remained frozen and stared at the monitor in stunned silence.
‘How?’
Did he seriously figure it out through face-reading?
“The polygon count is approximately twenty percent higher.”
That line again. Was it actually true? Didn’t polygon count go up naturally when they made a model rounder or smoother? It made no sense. How could this be happening?
Was this punishment for mocking the one chosen by the God of Streaming? That seemed plausible now. Maybe they got too greedy with the sponsorship terms. This was a corporate world. Everyone bore the consequences.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Alerts rang out from their work computers.
[Jinyong Kim has logged in]
[Taekseong Lee has logged in]
[Jinhyun Oh has logged in]
Staff members were logging into the company network at 1 A.M. Clicking the alert showed a list. Every person involved in the modeling department had logged on.
Ding.
[Jung Sung-Jin has logged in.]
Even the CEO had logged in.
Manager Kim, startled by the notification, quickly sat back down in his chair.
"Wh-Why is the CEO logging in? And what is this? Did he actually summon the modeling team??"
"Seems like it."
What had started as a joke about calling the modeling team in had actually come true. A shiver ran down Manager Kim’s spine.
"Wait... You think the CEO heard us?"
"No way. I mean... he’s probably watching the stream though."
"The stream... ah. The stream. The stream!?"
Manager Kim’s complexion turned ghostly pale.
"Crap. He... he saw this?"
"Well, yeah... how else would he... oh."
Assistant Manager Kim cut himself off, realizing what that meant.
"W-What do we do?"
The CEO had seen it. The two streamers that they poured their entire budget into weren’t playing the ghost game. They were breaking it.
The Angler had flown into space. The Earthbound Spirit had vanished down a rat hole. The culprit had also been identified, not by genetics or clues, but by polygon count. He’d seen it all.
The Kim duo sat in silence and stared at each other. Their eyes trembled in unison. With better lighting, one could have mistaken this for a romantic movie scene. However, there was nothing romantic about it.
"Hey. Isn’t it true that Almond usually logs off when something crazy happens? I read it on Wikipedia..."
Fear gripped Manager Kim with suffocating intensity. Unlike Assistant Manager Kim, he was the one actually in charge.
"Huh?"
"They say if you pay him enough, he ends the stream."
"Th-The current clear mission is worth two million won. How much do you have to pay to make him quit now?! He hasn’t done that in ages!"
"They say back in the day, even ten thousand won was enough."
"That was in the early days."
"Dammit. He’s lost his roots!"
"Sir, your salary has lost its roots too."
"My salary?"
Manager Kim’s eyes lit up dangerously. Assistant Manager Kim felt chills crawl up his spine.
‘No way...’
He hoped he was wrong, but of course, Manager Kim never let him down.
"If we just pretend we didn’t get a salary this month... Maybe like 300K..."
"I thought you said you were getting married this year!"
"W-Well, can’t we use the company card? This is still for the company, right?"
"Have you lost your mind!?"
Manager Kim had clearly snapped.
***
Another person was about to snap.
‘What is this?’
Almond was bewildered. He’d completed his deduction and was about to deliver the final strike, but Bubblegum frantically stopped him.
"I’m telling you. He’s not that kind of guy!"
"And I’m asking why."
Throwing out ridiculous reasons, Bubblegum actively interfered with the execution.
"His... His face is kind! That’s why!"
"That’s seriously your argument?"
— ??
— Is this... hypocrisy? Lol
— Bubblegum is pulling a classic double standard
— What am I even hearing right now?
— Almond... do you realize how ridiculous your own arguments are?
"Step aside. I’ll make it quick. No pain."
Almond placed a hand on his sword.
"N-No! I said no!"
"Yes, I can. I learned this from Bread. One clean—"
"That’s not the issue!"
— LOL
— Gum bro... just give up on being handsome in this life
— The Bread Slice strikes again
— "I can" he says it like it’s that simple hahaha
— Hot vs. not, the ultimate battle begins
Bubblegum stood in front of his only ally. The one person who had called him handsome, but he couldn’t stop the finals MVP of a global championship.
Shiiing!
Almond drew the sword in a flash, the ceiling lights reflecting off the blade. He dashed forward.
"KYAAAAAAH!"
"W-What’s going on!? Why does he have a sword!?"
Panic erupted in the clubroom.
"Nooo!"
Bubblegum quickly struck the wooden fish and cast a barrier. Maybe it was his sheer willpower.
"Ma-ha-banya~"
He got the rhythm down perfectly, and the barrier instantly formed. It blocked the senior’s escape route.
"Guys! R-Run! Get out of—ugh!"
Thunk!
The senior slammed into an invisible wall. He stumbled back, stunned, and began feeling along the surface in panic.
"W-Why?"
His eyes, filled with betrayal, slowly turned toward Bubblegum.
"Ah..."
— LOLOLOLOL
— WTF LOL
— "Why?" I’m crying
— Bubblegum said no, but his actions scream yes
— He really...
— Ahhh I’m losing it lol
Shwooosh!
Almond’s sword slashed through the air toward the senior. It was a perfect team play. Moments like these came with massive donations.
Ba-ba-bam!
[GumMandment has donated 10,000 won.]
[If Bubblegum stands behind you, wear your shield on your back because that’s where you’ll get attacked.]
— LMAO
— Haven’t heard from GumMandment in forever lol
— Hahaha amazing
[GumSadTales has donated 30,000 won.]
[If you fall off a cliff and Bubblegum grabs your hand... just let go. Your chances of survival are higher.]
— LOLOLOLOL
— God that’s cold...
— This is peak content
— GumSadTales I’m dying
[Factos has donated 5,000 won.]
[Almond declared death. Bubblegum swore to protect him. Result: 200% guaranteed death.]
— LMAO that’s facts
— Double the death flag!
— Somehow the betrayal stings more because it’s Gum...
— I can’t. This is art.
— The answer is clear: always pick "I’d rather die."