Season 4: Chapter 56. Natural Disaster (2)
A glitch run was when players used bugs or unintended mechanics to progress through a game. Speedrunners most commonly used them since one could skip entire grueling stages and leap straight to the final boss with a single well-placed glitch.
In the speedrunning world, glitch usage wasn’t just accepted. It was the norm. Even if players knew a glitch existed, reproducing it consistently was no small feat. It was still considered a form of skill.
This culture dated back to the old console era when Nintendo titles like Sonic and Mega Man were the kings of platforming.
“Okay, now look here. If you rub up against this wall just right...”
Fwip.
Suddenly, the player clipped through a chunk of terrain and free-fell past all the obstacles to the next stage.
“Tada. It’s the final boss.”
For speedrunners, skipping the game with a single bug was a mundane and classic example of glitch behavior.
— ?
— What was that?
— Whoa
— LOL
— Yup, that’s busted
To outsiders, a glitch could seem like divine intervention or pure nonsense. To speedrunners, it was a sacred technique. They didn’t flinch at clipping into a boss room or one-shotting a final boss. They had seen it all, except when someone found a brand new glitch.
“You what? You found a new skip?”
Now that always got their attention. Mastering a glitch was one thing. Discovering one made that person a legend.
“Holy crap.”
And if they repeatedly found new glitches?
“Again? Bubblegum?! What the hell is going on?”
There was a term for people like that in their world.
“Natural disaster.”
A phenomenon beyond reason. Something even talent couldn’t explain. More than a genius—a force of nature. That was Bubblegum.
***
THUD.
Manager Kim’s head slammed into his desk.
THUD. THUD.
He didn’t stop and kept slamming it.
“Sir! Sir!”
“Let go... let me go. It’s over. Time to pack it up.”
He was an utterly crushed man before the power of a natural disaster.
“Don’t say that! It’s not that bad—”
“Not that bad!? You saw what just happened, and you can still say that?!”
Assistant Kim had no words. Just moments ago, he had said that Phase Two couldn’t be cleared solo because of type restrictions. Now, Bubblegum and Su-Yeon had appeared on the final stage too.
“I—I don’t even know how they got there anymore...”
There was no excuse. The last fallback had disappeared. Now it was a fair 3v1 boss fight against the cult leader—the classic final battle format. Aside from Almond’s lower stats, everything was perfectly balanced.
“Assistant Kim. Please. Tell me. What can we possibly count on now?”
Manager Kim looked like a devout man who had lost his god.
“W-Well... It’s time for a true final battle.”
“A what?”
“The... the final fight, sir. A real one. No tricks, no bugs. A fair match.”
“Yeah. Great.”
THUNK.
Manager Kim slammed his forehead down on the desk again.
“Sir!”
“Let me die first. That’s fine, right? Better me than the cult leader.”
“The boss isn’t easy! Our team spent blood, sweat, and tears on that guy! Every part of that boss, every effect and mechanic, we poured everything into him!”
THUMP.
Assistant Kim passionately pounded his chest.
Manager Kim blinked. It had moved him. That did sound familiar.
“You’re right.”
Manager Kim was a salaryman too. He understood how hard game devs worked. Their small company had made Ghostwo Busters together with their heart and soul. This final boss, Jin Myung-Soo, was their masterpiece. He was more than a boss. He was the face of the game. A culmination of every bit of work their staff had put in.
‘He’s right.’
This wasn’t just a boss fight anymore.
“You’re right... This isn’t just our fight anymore. This is a war. A war between us... and those damn streamers!”
The fire returned to his eyes.
“Yes, sir!”
It wasn’t just them. Their CEO, Director Jung, also watched with clenched fists.
‘Assistant Kim... Manager Kim... you fools...’
Moved by his staff’s passion, a tear welled up in one eye. With his other hand, he quietly sent a message on his phone.
[To: Development Team – All hands, report in.]
***
Elsewhere, deep beneath the earth, Bubblegum had arrived in the final boss room in the most ridiculous way possible.
“What the? Final Chapter?”
[Final Chapter – Abyss of the Mastermind]
— Huh?
— What?
— Wait, is this really the boss?
— The cult leader was hiding in the toilet all along??
— Unreal
There was only one way to describe it.
BA-DUM!
[CaptainGumstick has donated a whopping 500,000 won!]
[Natural Disaster]
The phrase always returned when Bubblegum did... well, anything.
— LOL
— Classic
— At this point, you gotta respect it
— LMAOOO
— Guess that toilet really was his destiny
— Bubblegum! Bubblegum! Bubblegum!
Bubblegum scratched his head awkwardly.
‘What the hell just happened?’
Even he didn’t understand. Why did this always happen to him? One thing was certain.
‘Well, I’m used to it.’
These things happened to him a lot. By now, he knew how to handle such situations better than anyone.
“Alright. You saw the skip, right? Boss fight time.”
He rolled with it like a pro. One had to be shameless in moments like this.
“All part of the plan~ Just my skills.”
— LMAOOOOO
— Acting like it was on purpose
— Bro got used to this nonsense
— Can’t beat ‘em, lean into it
Confidence flowed back into his voice.
“Alright, Su-Yeon! Let’s go!”
Su-Yeon, still recovering from the blast, stood up once more.
“Ugh... Wh-Where are we, mister?”
The dazed Su-Yeon slowly opened her eyes.
Bubblegum patted her on the back confidently. “Oh, Su-Yeon! You’re awake? Let’s—”
“Shut up!!”
Bubblegum flinched at her sudden outburst.
‘Again?’
— ??
— What was that lol
— LMAO what??
— Why is she yelling again? LOL
— She's on fire today
“Uh... Su-Yeon...”
“Quit flapping that dumb mouth of yours!”
Bubblegum froze on the spot. His bravado instantly disappeared. Now he just looked like a scolded puppy.
‘Did I... do something wrong?’
— Dev team: “Su-Yeon? There’s no NPC named that...”
— She's definitely not an NPC bro
— LOL
— Dude has been gaslit by a cutscene again
He only realized later that Su-Yeon was acting out a cutscene.
“Cult leader? Don’t make me laugh. Professor Jin Myung-Soo, right? This is all your doing, isn’t it?”
She wasn’t talking to Bubblegum. She was glaring at the boss.
— He was a professor?!
— Ohhh it’s a lore dump
— This must be the final cutscene
— Yo WTF!
— I’m crying this is so dumb and good
Apparently, more backstory existed here. She knew the final boss, but Bubblegum didn’t know this.
“Caught in your own trap, huh? Bet that stings.”
***
Meanwhile, Almond also briefly felt surprised when the boss shifted into his yokai form.
‘Huh?’
Something strange happened. He wasn’t the only one who froze.
“You... you were...” The cult leader muttered cryptically and just stood there. “So that’s how it is?”
The cult leader nodded to himself like he had just figured out the meaning of life.
‘Is this... a cutscene?’
No matter how Almond looked at it, it seemed like the boss was locked into the story mode.
‘What the heck is going on?’
He glanced around.
‘Wait a sec.’
He spotted Su-Yeon and Bubblegum. Their arrival had triggered a cutscene. Almond realized that this was the perfect opportunity.
“Bro! Gum bro!!”
Bubblegum, still shaken by Su-Yeon’s yelling, blinked in confusion. “H-Huh?!”
“Now! Do burst damage now!!”
Bubblegum immediately understood.
‘Ah, the boss is locked in a cutscene too.’
The cult leader stood motionless and continued talking to Su-Yeon. It was now or never. Bubblegum wasn’t good at games, but he understood that bad players had to take advantage of free hits.
Whrrrrr!
An enormous gust of wind gathered around his staff. This wasn’t Wind Bubble, but a new ability.
[Wind Blade]
The high-damage skill compressed wind into a blade and shot it out in one burst.
Tat tat tat tat!
Bubblegum charged forward.
— What’s this skill??
— Dude actually got a new move?
— Looks sick!
— Gum’s redemption arc?!
— Is this from earlier when he cleared the quest?
“Let’s gooooooo!!”
Whap!
He leaped with his staff raised overhead.
‘Wait...’
In that split second, Almond had a bad feeling that something weird would happen again. Like Bubblegum would commit friendly fire and kill himself.
Maybe that was Bubblegum’s true talent: defying expectations in the best way.
BOOOOM!!!
His Wind Blade landed cleanly on the cult leader’s head.
— WOAHHHH
— Let’s GOOOO
— HE DID IT
— Bubblegum when it actually counts!!
— That was hype af
— Finally living up to his class!
The compressed wind burst out as a massive blade and slashed through the cult leader’s body.
WHRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
The boss, now in Phase Two, took serious damage.
[HP: 83%]
It stumbled back in its yokai form, and the cutscene ended.
“Grrrrrrr!”
Staggered by the monk’s strike, the boss switched forms again.
Crackle crackle!
Black aura and hateful resentment surged around him.
[Cult Leader of Evil – Thought-Form]
He transformed into a thought-form, a being of pure malevolent will.
Almond grinned.
— Thought-form lmao
— Bro’s in trouble now
— It’s Almond Time
[Dimensional Step]
Flash!
Almond reappeared right in front of the boss.
“Die, you rat!”
The thought-form boss pounded the ground, and a burst of dark aura exploded from the earth.
BOOOOM!!
The shockwave looked like it swallowed Almond whole, but he vanished once again.
Pop!
[Shadow Clone Technique]
He split into multiple afterimages and dodged the blow by dispersing the damage.
“What in the?”
The boss’s eyes widened as shadows filled his vision. All the clones raised their swords.
Shing!
— Yo the burst window is now
— HIT HIM
— Multiple clones with swords??
— This is going to hurt...
— Game = broken