Season 4: Chapter 58. Ghostwo Busters (1)
Their playtime had surpassed eight hours. It was already well into the early morning hours. While this was considered prime time for online streaming, it wasn’t the case for most people preparing for the day ahead or collapsing into bed from exhaustion.
Office workers, especially those working at large companies, were likely fast asleep unless they were stuck doing overtime. A few remained awake, their eyes wide open and bloodshot.
“See? I told you he’d break the ceiling.”
“Y-You really did.”
Cheese was the newly launched livestream platform in Korea and Paprika was the long-standing giant of the domestic streaming scene.
“Hoo... I’m going to need to raise his value big time.”
They had all been watching Almond’s stream post-shift for various reasons. Thanks to the rapidly rising viewer count, they couldn’t even fall asleep. They stared at their phones with red eyes while tracking the numbers. Tonight’s stream would determine how everyone evaluated Almond.
“If this keeps up, he’ll be right behind Zelo...”
Cheese was assessing Almond’s growth potential and weighing how seriously they needed to invest in him. Meanwhile, Paprika aimed to either poach Almond or inflate his value enough to damage Cheese.
[Current Viewers: 203,000]
Dun dun.
The moment Almond and Bubblegum reached the boss stage, the stream cracked two hundred thousand viewers. From that moment on, everyone shot out of bed and gave up on sleep entirely for the co-op stream with Almond and Bubblegum.
Tadadadadak.
They hastily typed away at their keyboards and joined in on the sleepless night alongside the streaming challenge.
***
Thud!
Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Kim clasped their hands together.
“Please.”
“Oh Wind God... have mercy on us...”
Even the CEO, watching them, clasped his hands in prayer. “Oh... please.”
All of them made the same gesture because they couldn’t do anything else at this point. There was no turning back now that they reached the final stage, the final boss, and the final phase.
Whoosh...
A final spark of hope ignited.
“Su-Yeon! Full Counter!!”
A moment of divine intervention occurred. Bubblegum was attempting something. This was their only hope. Only he could shift this world line. If divine intervention descended just once, then even the great demon Almond would be powerless.
Fweeeeeee!
Bubblegum ran as wind gathered around his staff.
Assistant Manager Kim shouted hastily, “That Wind Bubble won’t work like in the bathroom! The dimensions are totally different! There’s no way it’ll bounce infinitely! It’s just going to get in Almond’s way!”
“A-Are you sure!?”
“Of course! It won’t work like before!”
In other words, it could turn out differently. Honestly, no one knew what effect hitting a Full Counter with Wind Bubble would have. Not even the development team, who had been called in on short notice, could predict the outcome. Everyone simply prayed that this unknown element would favor them.
***
Almond had no idea what had happened in the bathroom. He also didn’t know how Bubblegum and Su-Yeon had defeated Oh Sang-Gi and made it down here.
‘Did they just come through the same toilet?’
He assumed they had simply squeezed through the toilet somehow, but glitches weren’t that simple.
The cult leader hadn’t been hiding beneath the sewage system. This was an entirely different space, completely unrelated to toilets. The toilet functioned more like a dimensional doorway. No one knew how that dimensional crack connected to this place. Only a game could produce this kind of absurdity.
Had Almond known this, he would’ve suspected their sudden appearance much more and understood what was happening now.
“Su-Yeon! Full Counter!!” Bubblegum yelled at the top of his lungs and charged in.
Tadadadadadak!
‘Is he trying to attack?’
Almond knew Bubblegum all too well. He had been watching Bubblegum’s streams for a long time. At the very least, he understood Bubblegum’s intent.
‘He wants to have his moment.’
Bubblegum wanted to make a difference. Honestly, that was a noble intention. Having a moment meant contributing to the boss fight, which would ultimately help them clear it. Even the timing was good. The boss had just transformed into its yokai form, so it was Bubblegum’s time to shine.
‘I should switch to support.’
As a shaman, Almond was supposed to assist Bubblegum with talismans or other support skills. That was the textbook play, but Almond had forgotten one critical truth. Bubblegum’s intent had nothing to do with the outcomes he created.
“Full Counter!” Su-Yeon raised her shield.
A glowing orb pulsed briefly around her.
‘Huh?’
Almond sensed something strange.
‘Why is he running forward?’
Wind Bubble was a long-range projectile skill. It perfectly suited Bubblegum, who was terrified of close-range combat. However, Bubblegum kept charging forward as if to engage at close range. He wasn’t going to use Wind Slash. That kind of grand, slow animation wouldn’t possibly land on the cult leader.
Bubblegum was definitely casting Wind Bubble, but he was casting it while sprinting forward.
[Wind Bubble]
KWAANG!
Bubblegum launched the Wind Bubble at nearly point-blank range, almost crashing into Su-Yeon as he did so.
‘Huh?’
Anyone watching could see that he had aimed right at Su-Yeon.
‘What the hell is he doing?’
It wasn’t an accident. Just looking at Bubblegum’s face made that obvious.
“Ahahahaha! I’ve become a god—!” He laughed and claimed divinity no less.
‘A god of what?’
The answer came immediately.
KWA-KWAAAAANG!
The Wind Bubble suddenly began to spiral out of control. It wasn’t the wind swirling, but the Wind Bubble itself. Even with Almond’s sharp reflexes, he could barely follow what was happening. The Wind Bubble twisted and bounced, moving several times faster than normal as it wildly ricocheted.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Almond couldn’t grasp the complex mechanism behind it at a glance. He simply lacked the imagination.
— ??
— Huh?
— What?
— ?
— Wait, why is it hitting Su-Yeon? lol
The viewers began to realize that something was off. Everything had happened so suddenly in less than two or three seconds. Even now, it took less than a second for the Wind Bubble to ricochet from Su-Yeon to Bubblegum and back again repeatedly. The forceful wind cycling between them looked more like an air blender.
“Uh, uhhh, wha—move!?” Bubblegum flailed helplessly inside the whirlwind, gradually shifting its position as he kicked and paddled.
Rooooaaaaarrrr.
The typhoon-like vortex began to move. Only now did Almond understand why Bubblegum had claimed to be a god. Indeed, this power was tremendous. However, it was completely uncontrollable like divine power housed in a child’s body.
Alarmed, Almond dashed in the opposite direction. To make things worse, amid this chaos, the enemy wasn’t standing still either.
“Graaaaaaaaah!”
The transformed cult leader released something like demonic orbs. Almond had never seen this pattern before.
Fwoooom!
Bubblegum’s wind cyclone swept up the orbs and scattered them unpredictably. They ricocheted erratically. The already hard-to-dodge orbs now spiraled toward Almond from every direction like deranged UFOs.
Almond had no choice but to use his skill.
[Dimensional Step]
Pop—
The orbs slammed down and exploded where he had just been.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
The ground cracked and shattered. Dust clouds and demonic energy swirled into a dark tempest. His field of vision began to blur.
— What the hell? lol
— What is this?
— Whoa
— ???
Su-Yeon’s Full Counter lasted only three seconds, but the entire ordeal felt like an eternity for Almond.
BOOMBOOMBOOM!
Some demonic orbs still hadn’t exploded yet. They whirled around Almond like flower petals, ready to shred him apart.
“Ugh.”
Whoosh.
Almond barely dodged as his robe fluttered, but there were just too many.
“Kraaaaah!”
‘Huh?’
The cyclone even shredded and tossed around the cult leader. As a result, orbs were being fired right in Almond’s face. He had no choice but to rely on another skill.
[Shadow Clone Technique]
Almond split into multiple bodies and briefly became invulnerable. That brief moment gave him enough time to dodge.
Whoooosh!
Before Almond realized it, the whirlwind had reached him again.
‘Huh? When did I...’
Almond got swept up into the air again. Regardless, the Shadow Clone Technique activated.
Pop.
Six Almonds appeared. Because of the wind, they spawned in scattered positions. One of them appeared right next to Su-Yeon, which meant it entered the range of Full Counter.
POP.
BOOM!
Almond, with his sharp eyesight and keen sense for numbers, instantly realized something. Another clone appeared.
‘What?’
It seemed that Su-Yeon had reflected the Shadow Clone Technique. After hitting the Almond clone, Full Counter reflected the technique and created another clone.
‘Oh.’
Luckily, Almond casually tried to control the new clone. He had to do something about the monster right in front of him.
‘What the hell?’
It wouldn’t move. He couldn’t control it. Then, everything began to go wrong. The clone used the Shadow Clone Technique.
POPPOPPOP!
“What the hell!?”
— ??
— Huh?
— Whoa?
— ???
— Is this a bug?
Su-Yeon’s Full Counter had ended. Bubblegum’s wind rampage also ended, but the Shadow Clone Technique hadn’t. The new Almond clone used the Shadow Clone Technique, and each new clone continued the cycle. Every time, six new Almonds appeared. Each of them, in turn, spawned another six.
— What? lololol
— The speed is insane lololol
— My god, the lag lol
— The frame drop is real lololol
— It’s Almond duplication time~ lol
— Crazy lol
— If this were Civil Empire, he’d win for sure lol
— This is nuts lol
Pop. Pop. POPPOPPOP.
The speed kept ramping up.
POPOPOPOPOPOPOP!
It wasn’t just Almond who had lost control. The entire game began to lag and freeze.
***
Thud!
Bubblegum collapsed to the ground and panted heavily, “Haaah... haaah...” Then, he shouted to the viewers, “How was that, everyone? Pretty wild, right? The monster got shredded, right?”
In truth, the cult leader hadn’t taken any actual damage. He had just been juggled endlessly due to the crowd-control effects. Even though he had transformed into a yokai, the reflected Wind Bubble was considered Su-Yeon’s attack and not Bubblegum’s.
[HP: 91%]
The cult leader’s health remained perfectly fine. In other words, Bubblegum hadn’t done a damn thing.
Unaware of that, he kept talking. “I became a god... I told you...”
Only one silver lining existed. No one in chat cared that Bubblegum had done nothing. In fact, none of the viewers even looked at him anymore.
— LOL
— Army of Almonds lol
— WTF lololol
— This is insane lolol
— Sheesh
— Whoa, Almond lol
— ??? I am legion
‘Huh?’
The reason instantly became clear. Bubblegum looked around and took in the scene.
“Ehhhhhh!?”
DUN DUN.
He couldn’t even count all the Almonds filling up the place.
“W-What is this... The Matrix!?”
POP!
POPPOP!
POPOPOPOP!
Even now, the Almond clones kept multiplying without end.