Season 4: Chapter 61: Almond Soup (1)
The ending credits rolled, and the game came to a close.
— Noooo
— Goodbye...
— The photo...
— Wait, it really ended?!
— Su-Yeon, nooooo
— So the typo Su-Yeon made was Ghostwo Busters...
Judging by the emotional ending, it would’ve been quite touching if one played the game properly and followed the story. Around half the viewers felt moved, but what about the other half?
— So everyone whose name appears here is pulling an all-nighter, right?
— LOL okay, stop pretending you're touched~
— This game is insane! It’s like a death note is rolling up the screen
— It would’ve hit harder if you didn’t glitch everything...
— So it’s Ghostwo Busters excluding Bubblegum, right? Just two of the three
The other half flooded the chat with jokes, worrying about the dev team or roasting Bubblegum for not being counted among the Ghostwo Busters. Still, it didn’t really matter. The content was a massive success.
[Current Viewers: 221,000]
Where did all these people even come from? A total of 221K viewers had tuned in for Almond’s comeback stream, the first full playthrough stream, and the prestige of winning the international tournament.
Many reasons existed. Ultimately, the revolutionary gameplay itself attracted them.
“I had a lot of fun~”
Satisfied with how things went, Almond prepared to wrap up the stream. He felt exhausted after playing for so many hours straight. Of course, he couldn’t leave immediately.
— Where do you think you’re going?
— Yo! Pickpocket-level looting here
— Hey! Director Almond! Come back for the rest of the cash!
Whenever Almond did extreme content like this, whales would always show up in full force. The donations kept coming even after the credits finished rolling.
Bababam!
[BigSon has donated a whopping 1,000,000 won!]
[Congrats on the full clear!]
— A million AGAIN lol
— Damn
— Wait, again?!
— Woooow lol
— This is nuts lol
Bam!
[Xiaolongbao has donated a whopping 500,000 won!]
[Wooo! Full clear!]
— Xiaolongbao too?!
— This guy always goes big
— Poor viewers can’t keep up...
— Respect
Regular big spenders like BigSon and Xiaolongbao showed up as usual. Even some new names joined in with huge donations.
Bababam!
[Constellation has donated a whopping 1,000,000 won!]
[Fascinating clear.]
— Living up to the username
— Whoa lol
— Absolutely insane
— Full clears rake in serious cash
— The donation haul is unreal lol
Bam!
[YOLO has donated a whopping 500,000 won!]
[Advertisers? Whatever. He cleared it. Let’s drink!]
— LOLOL
— Advertisers crying in the corner...
— This is crazy lmao
— Oops...
— So wait, the ad is just over??
— Damn... was this even an ad?? lol
Even for Almond, he couldn’t just end the stream with a casual arrow-to-the-head gag as million-won donations poured in.
“BigSon, thank you so much for the big donation. Xiaolongbao, Constellation, YOLO—thank you all so much...”
Even after the game ended, the stream continued for another hour just to acknowledge and collect donations.
***
Swoosh.
“Whew...”
After nine hours of play, including the time spent receiving donations, Sang-Hyeon finally emerged from his capsule.
“Dude, are you okay?” Ju-Hyeok walked up to check on him.
Even with a premium capsule, Sang-Hyeon couldn’t go against time and fatigue. His face looked flushed like he was running a slight fever.
“Dude, why didn’t you just get out and switch to a webcam for the donation part?”
“Wait, I could’ve done that?”
“I thought you were being professional, but you just didn’t think of it?”
“Yup.”
“Damn.”
Tch.
Ju-Hyeok pinched his brow and pointed toward the bathroom. “Go shower. Now.”
This was Almond’s old capsule procedure to cool off immediately afterward.
“It’s not that bad...”
“Nope. I’m not having it.” Ju-Hyeok nearly shoved Sang-Hyeon into the bathroom, acting like he would undress him himself.
“Wha—What are you doing?!”
“Get in there, man!”
“OKAY, OKAY! I’ll go myself!”
Ju-Hyeok was acting dramatic for a reason. It wasn’t just that nine hours was a long time. That was long, but not out of the ordinary compared to the nail-biting five-set matches of the international tournament. Those didn’t even have proper capsules.
Sang-Hyeon had survived worse. He’d be fine with nine hours in a custom capsule, but Ju-Hyeok sensed something off.
Something feels shady.
He didn’t believe this full playthrough mission was just for fun.
That guy, AK47, we’ve never seen him before.
The guy who had set the mission used a name that would stand out immediately if he’d donated regularly, but this was the first time.
Usernames could be changed on a whim, so the name itself didn’t prove anything. However, Ju-Hyeok’s instincts screamed that something wasn’t right.
During the stream, he had looked specifically into AK47’s past donation history.
[AK47 has donated 50,000 won.]
[They’re saying there will be a platform battle once Cheese launches. Interested?”]
[AK47 has donated 3,000 won.]
[Basically, it's a showdown between platforms. Don’t know much yet—just rumors.]
[AK47 has submitted a mission.]
[Full playthrough mission incoming~]
After that, he made the two-million-won donation. Before the mission, he had only made two donations that both mentioned the platform battle. He had never even donated a hundred thousand won, but suddenly jumped to two million won?
And he only started chatting the day he posted the mission.
The few messages he did send were just typical memes in Almond’s stream.
— Oh...
— Please play Kingdom~
— Kiiing~ You guys can’t beat me ~come on
He mostly talked about Kingdom Age. Was this person just another toxic viewer obsessed with Kingdom? Ju-Hyeok thought that was unlikely.
[Only topics about Kingdom Age]
Ju-Hyeok could always find discussions about Almond whenever he checked in on the Kingdom Age community.
[Who the hell submitted that full playthrough mission?? Almond doesn’t do those, right?]
[This mission went too far~]
[Wait, he actually accepted the full playthrough?? LOL what is this??]
[Almond full-cleared it, dang]
[Is Almond okay physically?]
Unlike the aggressive and cynical tone of communities like LIL Pro, the Kingdom Age community tended to show genuine concern for Almond—no, for Yu Sang-Hyeon himself.
[Congratulations to Kingdom Age’s archer Almond for winning the International Tournament!]
This message was still pinned to the community’s main page, and users still commented on it.
— Grats grats grats
— Amen...
— Congratulations
— He’s the GOAT... We worship you...
It was borderline sacred like modern-day Jerusalem. They revered Almond. Sure, they begged him to play Kingdom Age again, but they never tried to force him with huge donation baits.
[#1 trending post: "Don’t pressure Almond. He’ll play Kingdom again someday, idiots."]
Even a post that made it to #1 told people not to throw money at Almond to make him play Kingdom Age. With that in mind, would someone from this community really drop two million just to get Almond to quickly finish a game and maybe play Kingdom?
There’s no guarantee he’ll even play Kingdom afterward.
No, it wasn’t just unlikely. It was close to impossible. Almond’s schedule was stacked with ad campaigns, high-profile events, and major commitments. Unfortunately, Kingdom Age sat at the very bottom of his priority list. The folks on this forum knew that too.
Then...
Ju-Hyeok reached a conclusion. AK47 was not a real Kingdom fan. That was just a mask.
Pretending to be a Kingdom Age fanboy, huh? This bastard.
This kind of false-flag operation was common in online communities. For example, an anti-Almond troll would act like a hardcore fan while doing shady things to smear his reputation. These kinds of psychological games happened dozens, no, hundreds of times a day online.
Veterans took it even further. An anti-fan could pretend to be an anti-fan pretending to be a fan. They would write posts laced with subtle praise that seemed critical of Almond. People would see this and get angry, thinking actual fans were disguising propaganda as criticism.
It was messy, intricate warfare. Ju-Hyeok had spent so much time analyzing public opinion since becoming Almond’s manager that this was all second nature by now.
His instincts were screaming. AK47’s intentions are definitely shady.
This wasn’t just about a fun little mission. Something still didn’t add up.
Why?
Why go through all that trouble? He went back to examine the donations.
[AK47 has donated 50,000 won.]
[They say there’s gonna be a platform showdown once Cheese launches. Are you interested?]
[AK47 has donated 3,000 won.]
[It’s basically a battle between platforms. Lots of rumors, but nothing concrete.]
Ju-Hyeok’s eyes widened. Maybe the answer was right there.
A platform showdown.
Is that what the guy was after? It didn’t hit with enough clarity. Was he trying to figure out which platform Almond would move to next? How did that involve a full playthrough mission?
Too many loose threads still existed.
What does a full playthrough have to do with... Wait.
Could it be? Ju-Hyeok flinched. Was the mission part of a more sinister plot? He glanced toward the bathroom where Sang-Hyeon was showering. His suspicion was growing.
No way...
He right-clicked on AK47’s chat logs, checked the login ID, copied it, and plugged it into a search engine.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
***
Shhhhhhhh...
Under the shower, Sang-Hyeon reflected for a moment.
Wait a second...
He had a conscience, after all.
Did I... do the ad properly?
Technically, he had followed the terms and played until the end. Then, the promotion would end. In truth, the game company had designed the campaign to slightly exploit the creators. They even accepted Ju-Hyeok’s absurd proposal of a per-sale commission. Even then, the cut was only 1–2%.
Hmm.
Still, Sang-Hyeon felt uneasy. After all, a per-sale system wasn’t a common deal in this space. Nor was completing the game an ad condition.
Even so...
Contract or not, even if the company tried to profit and failed, he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. He had blasted through the game in two days using absurd speedrun tactics. Would that actually help sales?
Hmm...
He mulled it over for a bit.
“Man... I’m sleepy.”
He felt tired from thinking too hard lately. After his shower, he wandered over to Ju-Hyeok, furiously digging up info.
They exchanged some thoughts.
What’s the deal with this AK47 guy anyway?
He vaguely recalled wondering about that. Then, his memory faded.
Thud.
He collapsed onto the bed like a rock. Sang-Hyeon’s day ended just like that. He never knew what conversations took place online after he passed out. What kind of buzz had spread?
[#1 Trending Real-Time Video]
He didn’t even know which video had just hit number one.