Season 4: Chapter 60. Ghostwo Busters (3)
Most viewers probably thought the game would end when the countless Almonds raised their talismans all at once, but Assistant Manager Kim saw a flicker of hope.
If he throws them all at once like this...!?
Just because Almond threw the talismans simultaneously didn’t mean all the damage would be dealt to the boss at the same time. The front row would land first. The boss would change type the moment one hit, and the rest would all be downgraded to harmless crowd control effects with no damage.
Good. Not yet. Not yet!
If the boss changed type and released a full-area AoE, the entire clone crisis could be cleaned up immediately.
Wait, what?
Fwoooosh!
The talismans flew, and multicolored streaks of light trailed by.
“Chikichaaa!”
Countless Almonds hurled their talismans in unison. Or rather, they didn’t. Only the very last row had thrown them.
No way.
Despair flickered across Assistant Manager Kim’s face.
With a slight delay, the next row of Almonds shouted, “Chikichaaa!”
Then the row after that.
“Chikichaaa!”
Like a cascading wave, each line took turns throwing their talismans.
“Chikichaaa!”
“Chikichaaa!”
“Chikichaaa!”
Assistant Manager Kim became speechless.
He's... controlling all that?
The fact that Almond was controlling all these clones was the real problem. It wasn’t with pinpoint individual precision, but considering their numbers, the very fact that he could organize them in waves like this was already insane.
Any ordinary player wouldn’t have even been able to move, let alone execute something like this. Only now, at the very end of the game, did Assistant Manager Kim realize who they were really up against.
Dammit.
The opponent was Almond. A physical freak. A national competition champion. A player whose electromagnetic and VNS metrics were indistinguishable.
Dammit!!
Almond possessed absurd control. Even someone’s left and right hands couldn’t move this systematically, yet every single clone threw their talisman with perfect rhythm and positioning. The multicolored lines they created were no error. They all overlapped into one.
If it continues like this...
All those talismans would hit the target in the same frame. Was something like that even possible? Assistant Manager Kim couldn’t believe it.
BOOOOM!
The monitor screen flared and turned pure white.
“Ugh.”
The Kim duo turned their heads away at the blinding sight.
***
The origin of all this wasn’t even the advertisement. It had started with a single mission.
[AK47 has submitted a mission.]
[Let’s go for a full playthrough~]
A viewer had posted a huge mission reward. Almond had never attempted such a challenge before.
[Ghostwo Busters full-playthrough in one stream.]
[2,000,000 won.]
Any major variety game streamer had tried a full playthrough at least once, but Almond hadn’t due to personal circumstances. Most viewers were aware of this and had never posted such a request before. Many had reacted negatively when it first appeared.
— Is this even doable??
— Wait?? Almond can’t do full playthroughs, right?
— Why post such an unreasonable mission...?
— He’ll probably stop halfway... just adjust as you see fit, Almond
— Kinda unfair
The reactions to the mission weren’t exactly warm, especially after the expected playtime was revealed. More people expressed concern.
— How’s he supposed to finish that in one sitting?
— Ridiculous. Just cancel it.
— Is this even possible?
However, Almond decided to go for it. Once the game began, concerns about his stamina completely vanished.
— Is he bound to the chair or something?
— Wait??
— Massive bug lol
— LMAO where’s the Angler even going?
He bulldozed through the game utilizing a combination of glitches, creative deduction, and ingenious problem-solving.
— Wind God Bubblegum!
— Almond is duplicating!!
— Ahaha lol
— The game is basically frozen now lol
— ??? Please refund this
Over eight hours, Almond and Bubblegum successfully pushed to the final stage and brought the final boss to the brink. The end was in sight. No, this was the end.
Seated in front of a monitor in a dark room, one man stretched and murmured, “Ahhh. He really did it.”
He wore an ambiguous smirk.
“Almond controlled all of that? Just like the rumors said... he’s no joke.”
He typed into a notepad like someone meticulously documenting Almond’s specs.
==== ====
The note detailed Almond’s gaming ability. After writing a few more points, he opened another tab and typed rapidly.
Tatatata...
[Holy crap! He really cleared it!]
Click.
He pressed a button on the screen. Then, he got up and stepped into a capsule.
Hiss...
Shortly afterward, a channel went live on the Paprika platform.
— yo yo
— You’re late again lol
— What’s going on?
— Orange switched to Paprika and got lazy huh?
— Pay your tardiness fine ㅡㅡ
— I almost died waiting lol
***
Even something as simple as throwing talismans required transcendental focus when controlling this many clones. Almond had summoned exactly the amount of concentration needed when he briefly closed his eyes earlier. As always, the result was a success.
BOOOOM!!
All the damage landed in a single frame. Whether due to processing overload or a bug, a brilliant light burst out and swallowed the entire field of view.
— Whoa
— What the...
— Can’t see anything
— Huh
— ??
— What just happened?
— Holy crap
“Cough... cough...!”
Moments later, Bubblegum began coughing as the dust settled. The view slowly returned.
“Oh...” A short breath of awe came from Almond when he saw the message.
Dun-dun.
[Quest: Defeat the Cult Leader of Evil – COMPLETE!]
The cult leader had died. It felt a little anticlimactic, but he had been a formidable boss. Almond didn’t completely let his guard down. Who knew what else would pop up after Jin Myung-Soo?
Ding.
A small system message popped up at the bottom.
[Ghostwo Busters Cleared]
[Feel free to enjoy the game freely from here on.]
Ghostwo Busters had officially ended.
— Whoa lol
— Huh
— Insane lol
— Full playthrough success!
— That was nuts lol
— Chikichaaa
— He did it!!
— He actually did it
— Bubblegum wins!
The chat scrolled endlessly. Sure enough, an alert sounded.
Bam-bam!
[Mission Complete!]
Another notification popped up.
[AK47 has donated a whopping 2,000,000 won!]
[Holy crap! He actually cleared it!]
“Thank you, Ack Four Seven.”
— LOLOLOLOL
— ACK lmao
— He really did it
— Starting now, I’m going to scream 47 times. Go.
— For real lol
— He made it happen
— He pulled that off in just 9 hours???
From that moment on, massive donations continued to pour in.
Babababam!
[RubySword has donated a whopping 500,000 won!]
[Advertisement... Chikichaa!]
— LOL
— Fr fr LOL
— Advertisers, stand at attention
— LMAO this is brutal
— No way lol
— Seriously, what happens to the ad now? lol
Only then did Almond’s eyes finally light up. He had been so focused on completing the full playthrough.
Come to think of it... the ad...
Now that he thought about it, the sponsored stream had technically ended in just two days. Time wasn’t the issue, though.
I skipped the whole thing, didn’t I?
Most of the content had been skipped.
Scratching his head, Almond tried to justify it. “Uh... you know how trailers don’t show the full content either? Please think of it like that. Thank you, RubySword.”
— ?
— Trailers are separate, though?
— LOL “like a trailer” lmao
Bababam!
[GhostBusterDevs has donated 300,000 won.]
[Ah, so this is a trailer that teases an upcoming trailer shoot?]
“Haha...”
Almond couldn’t tell if this person was being serious or not, so he kept his response brief.
— LOL
— Is that guy for real?
— No way he’s real lol
— An ad trailer for the ad trailer lol
After that, waves of viewers continued to flood in with congratulatory donations for the full clear.
Bam!
[NAME has donated 100,000 won.]
[Game Busters! Full Clear Complete]
Bam!
[MeowMeowPunch has donated 100,000 won.]
[Chikichaa~ for the full clear~]
“Kyaaaaaaah!” Su-Yeon suddenly screamed amid the flurry of donation alerts. “We did it! We exorcised him! The exorcism club did it!”
— ?
— Weren’t they the Modeling Club?
— Exorcism club lmao
— LOL
— One person from the Exorcism Club, two people from the Modeling Club lol
She started taking pictures of the cult leader’s fallen corpse with her camera.
Click. Click.
“Oppa, we’ll get more people to join if I turn this into a promo flyer, right?”
No. You’ll get even fewer.
Apparently, Su-Yeon still had no clue why no one ever joined her club.
— LOL
— Make it make sense lol
— Why would anyone join because of that? lol
— She really did the exorcism~
— LMAO
— Just apply to the Vatican already, Su-Yeon
Su-Yeon happily snapped photos here and there, selfies included.
“Huh?” Someone blinked and looked around in confusion. “What the—? It’s over? We beat it? Why are people donating? It really ended? This isn’t bait?”
It was Bubblegum.
— LOLOLOL
— He’s slower than the NPCs
— LOL
— LMAO
He still couldn’t grasp that the game had actually ended.
“No seriously, all those talismans actually hit!?”
To him, that level of accuracy was simply unthinkable.
“Wow, for real? Oh? Huh?”
Su-Yeon ran over and grabbed Bubblegum by the arm.
Thunk.
“Ugh! Old man! Stop mumbling and come here already!”
“Huh?”
“Almond oppa~! Come over here and take a photo with us!”
For a brief moment, a gust of wind seemed to gather at the tip of Bubblegum’s staff, but he held it in.
— LOL
— What kind of discrimination is this? lol
— Tbh it’s fair if it’s based on damage dealt
— It’s not discrimination, it’s distinction
“Uh, yeah. Sure.”
Almond stood beside the fallen Jin Myung-Soo, and Su-Yeon also dragged Bubblegum over to the designated spot.
“Old man, can you raise a barrier for the photo?”
She wanted him to use his skill instead of a tripod.
“Uh... okay. Let’s see—”
“Ah, never mind. What am I doing?”
— Don’t you trust him? lol
— Still can’t trust him even now lol
— He can at least manage that much, come on!
Su-Yeon lightly smacked her own head and walked forward. She planted her cross-spear in the ground and balanced her phone diagonally on the hilt.
“All set. Okay, strike a pose~!”
Su-Yeon dashed back in, turned around, and threw up a peace sign. The three of them each took up their weapons and struck a pose.
“Exorcism club~ Fighting~!”
“Fighting~”
Click!
Su-Yeon checked the photo on her phone.
— LOLOL
— Oh wow
— Almond, as expected lol
— Almond the exorcist!
— Bubblegum is kinda adorable lol
— Classic lol
Soon, the photo appeared on social media with the following hashtags.
#RealExorcism #SeongdeokUni #ExorcismClub #GhostwoBusters
“Oh? A typo. It’s supposed to just be Ghost...”
The final tag had a typo, but she laughed it off. Instead, she turned around and thanked them.
“Great work, both of you.”
The three of them left the area and arrived at a wide corridor. There, the path split into three directions. One led back to school, and the other two to different regions.
“I’m heading back to school.”
At her words, Almond and Bubblegum exchanged a glance. Somehow, they had ended up back in their original office attire.
“Thank you for your help, but... You won’t be exorcising anymore, right?”
Indeed, they had no more reason to exorcise monsters together. Both characters shook their heads.
“Hehe. Got it. I won’t bother you anymore. Go ahead. Take care.”
The characters turned and began walking their separate paths.
“Well then. Bye~!”
Su-Yeon tilted her head in a lingering farewell. Then, she quickly turned around and left on her own route.
“Take care!”
“Let’s not meet again~!”
— Noooo
— It’s really over...
— What was that last line, Bubblegum? lol
— Sigh...
— Thanks for the ride~
Doo-doo-doong~
The music began as the end credits began to roll. With a crisp electric guitar accompaniment, the screen split into three. Each of them walked off in their own direction, each in their own panel.
[Art Directing Team]
[Jung Si-Woo]
[Yoo Hae-Won]
...
[Ghostwo Busters]
[The End]
After the final title faded out, the photo Su-Yeon had taken appeared once more.
#RealExorcism #SeongdeokUni #ExorcismClub #GhostwoBusters