Season 4: Chapter 64. General Fame (1)
The Kim duo’s video was uploaded to the official channel of Ghostwo Busters’ developer, TMC. The channel only had a few thousand subscribers and mainly hosted game ads and teaser videos. The typical small-to-mid-sized game company channel quietly ran in the background.
No one knew what kind of exposure the Kim duo’s video would get.
[Mr. Almond! Please Just Die Once!]
The provocative title was designed to draw attention, but it didn’t attract much notice at first since it came from such a small channel. They had to start over, hoping the algorithm would choose them purely on merit. A short while later, the view count suddenly spiked.
“Oh—it’s going up!”
The reason was simple.
[South Korea’s birth rate EXPLODES!]
[#1 on Trending Videos]
Another video still held the top spot, and the Kim duo’s video showed up as a related video. At that point, the size of the original channel no longer mattered.
“It’s been marked as a related video!”
“Oh—oh, oh!”
Having stayed at the office the previous night, the Kim duo remained there again to monitor the views. The numbers slowly crept up.
“Let’s go... let’s go...”
“Phew...”
They felt extremely anxious for good reason. This was essentially their last shot. They would be done for if the video didn’t blow up. All they could do now was clasp their hands and pray like they did in the video.
“Please!”
“Let’s gooooo!”
Clap!
“Please!”
“Just once!”
‘We’re literally doing the same thing again...’
‘Why does this feel like deja vu?’
***
The Kim duo desperately tried to avoid going down as nobodies, but with more viewers came criticism.
— That clause is insane
— Seriously? They wrote a contract like that?
— That contract is trash
The video revealed some key terms of the ad contract. Specifically, the ad would only end once the streamers beat the game. They added this clause assuming that the game couldn’t possibly be cleared in a short time, possibly taking up to a month. In hindsight, it came off as exploitative.
Worse yet, the deal seemed one-sided with no mention of Almond’s additional appearance fee or guarantee. To top it off, the Kim duo joked about suffering through the whole month and getting a promotion. Naturally, it left a bad impression.
— Tried to milk the guy and got destroyed lol
— Wait, they tried to make him stream it for 2 weeks? That’s insane
— This one is on them lol
— Trash-tier
Viewers now saw the Kim duo as villains. Greedy fools who tried to drain their favorite streamer dry. Also, these villains were already doomed.
— He beat it in 2 days lol
— They expected a month and got a speedrun in two days lol
— Ultimate karma, damn
The villains got punished. That became the video’s entire premise. The first act of justice was the infamous Angler Rocket.
“What the hell?!”
As the Angler soared into the sky, Manager Kim leaped up from his chair in the video.
— LOL
— He’s ascending with it
— Is he going to heaven?
“How high is it going?!” His voice cracked, and his eyes trembled.
Not even streamers could fake such intensity. It was real rage from someone who actually worked on the game.
— LMAO
— Iconic moment
— That’s genuine anger LOL
The rage soon turned to despair and confusion.
“You’re telling me that bug KILLS you?!” Manager Kim just sat there, slack-jawed and silent.
Then came the edits of donations from Almond’s stream.
[Muskturd has donated 100,000 won.]
[I can go to Mars now??]
[ShibaDog has donated 50,000 won.]
[So this is... an ad, right?]
[Knocking has donated 10,000 won.]
[Crypto pump-and-dump ad vibes]
Manager Kim’s knees buckled.
Thud.
He slumped like a jellyfish and face-planted into the desk.
“Haaaaaugh!” he roared like a beast.
The villain collapsed for the first time, and the viewers loved it.
— YES
— LMAOOOO
— Omg LOL
— So satisfying
— Poor guy got wrecked
— He turned an ad into a scam lmaoo
— That donation timing tho
— If this were my ad campaign, I’d lose my mind lol
— Justice served
The chat exploded as the livestream of the video’s premiere continued. The more the villain got punished, the better the reactions.
“Sir! Please calm down! The next part is a quiz! A REAL quiz—you HAVE to use your brain!” Assistant Manager Kim tried to rally him.
“What, again? You said that before, and look what happened!”
“No, this time it’s a real logic puzzle! You can’t skip it!”
Manager Kim’s hope sparked again, and he slowly raised his head. However, the audience already knew the ending.
— Oh no...
— They think this math puzzle is their saving grace LMAO
— Pffft
— Here it comes
— Math puzzle, oh boy
They laughed because the villain’s despair was just beginning. Still, the villains burned with hope.
“A math quiz?”
“Yup. No avoiding it. You HAVE to use your brain.”
The Math Demon appeared.
“I am the demon of mathematics. On this sacred campus of learning...”
The players couldn’t pass unless they solved the puzzle. The Kim duo leaned closer to the screen for this forced-brainpower segment.
“Wow~! This is dirty—but I love it! You have to solve it, huh?”
“Absolutely.”
“Heheheh.” Manager Kim chuckled and rubbed his palms like a cartoon villain. “If we can’t beat him with brute force, we’ll beat him with brains. Hell yeah.”
Then, he froze.
Thud.
The screen went black and white as a somber tune played.
[Cause you are my girl~]
A cafe brand logo appeared at the bottom of the screen as the video ended.
— That ending song WTF LOL
— That’s a funeral LMAO
— Wait, it’s over??
— Hold up—there’s a part 2??
— Manager Kim’s face LOL total B-list villain
— Can’t believe Almond of all people was a math genius
— The math demon didn’t even show up?
— What the hell? LOL
The views kept rising once the premiere ended. It started slowly, but the algorithm picked up related links and kept feeding the traffic. It was only a matter of time before it spread across communities.
[The dev team’s genuine reaction video is freaking hilarious LOL]
— ?? There’s a video like that?
└ Yup, just got uploaded. It’s not even polished—just actual security cam footage they released LOL
└ No way LOL
— WTF LOL “Mr. Almond, please just die once” hahahah what a title
└ That’s seriously the title? LOL
└ Yup, for real
└ They’re really squeezing Almond out!
More people flocked to the video as mentions in communities increased. In a way, this was inevitable. Anyone who watched the Ghostwo Busters gameplay would naturally be curious about the developers’ response. After all, it was impossible not to worry about the devs after seeing what Almond and Bubblegum did to the game.
—Wait, this really was made by the devs? LOL
— They uploaded a real-time reaction video of their own game breaking apart with bugs... this company is insane LOL
└ Agreed LOL
└ At least the marketing team seems barely sane LOL
— LMAO so the whole point was that the game wasn’t supposed to be cleared so fast?! I just learned that LOL
└ Poor Marketing Villains LOL
└ Marketing villains I’m dead LOL
Now, people called the Kim duo the Marketing Villains. At first, everyone definitely treated them as actual villains. After watching the entire video, most people began reacting differently.
— They were totally villains for the contract alone... but why do I feel bad for them...
└ So true LOL
└ Same... LOL
└ It reminds me of my own job... not that I’m as passionate as them LOL
└ Honestly? They’re pretty solid employees
Some even praised them as competent employees. One of the top community posts agreed.
[Guys who just genuinely wanted to help their company...]
==== ====
The photo showed them screaming passionately about the bugs.
— LOL
— I’m crying hahahaha
— This is way too real
— “Deal with the devil” LOL
— They became villains by being outplayed by a real demon LOL
***
Around two days passed while the Kim duo’s reaction videos bought the Ghostwo Busters dev team some time.
“Hmmm...” Sang-Hyeon sat at a table with Ju-Hyeok and contemplated something.
They had reached a critical point for a decision.
“Hmm...”
Two documents sat in front of them.
[Cheese]
One was a contract with Cheese, the newly launched platform.
[Paprika]
The other was with Paprika, the rival of the now-defunct Treevy.
“So... Cheese’s offer is better, right?” Sang-Hyeon asked Ju-Hyeok, assuming it was common sense.
“Hmm...” Ju-Hyeok shook his head. “Not necessarily.”
Surprisingly, Paprika offered almost the same terms regarding the advance payment and profit split. Actually, their terms were even better in some ways with a larger upfront advance.
“Huh?”
Sang-Hyeon was puzzled. He thought the newer platform, Cheese, would try harder.
“There’s a limit to how much they can push. They’re not just trying to get one or two streamers.”
Cheese needed to poach practically all the streamers from Treevy to match Paprika. They spread out their offers broadly.
“Paprika only needs to focus on stealing a few top streamers from Treevy to win big.”
Meanwhile, Paprika was already on par with Treevy. Just poaching a few big names would tip the balance.
“Oh...” Sang-Hyeon nodded, impressed.
“Wait, do you like that you're considered one of those big names now?”
“Huh? No—I was just impressed with your analysis.”
“Oh... y-yeah, of course.”
It seemed like Ju-Hyeok was the only one getting excited.
‘This guy is really just... clueless, huh.’
Ju-Hyeok felt relieved, but also slightly worried.
‘This is actually a really important decision...’
Choosing a platform was more important than switching jobs. It was practically emigrating as a streamer. It would be hard to switch back once they chose a platform. Viewers would grow used to the new place and wouldn’t easily follow to another.
‘Still... I can’t choose for him.’
Ju-Hyeok believed that the streamer had to choose their own platform. If a streamer didn’t like the platform, it would inevitably show in their work. Even if he felt nervous about it, he had to leave it up to Sang-Hyeon.
Skrk.
Sang-Hyeon flipped through the contracts.
“Honestly, both offers are great. With all the recent buzz, we basically got the best terms possible.”
Ju-Hyeok felt confident that they had received premium deals too.
“Whoa. Wait—what? The revenue split is 90/10?”
The streamer would receive 90% while the platform received 10%.
“Why are you surprised? Treevy was 100% for streamers, remember.”
It was still shocking despite Treevy’s unique model. Paprika’s standard was 70/30.
“Yeah, but Treevy was a special case.”
“We’re a special case now, too. Lots of streamers are watching where we’ll go.” Ju-Hyeok shrugged proudly.
Who knew how Sang-Hyeon had pulled this off, but he had to decide.
“Alright, we’ve seen the contracts. Let’s hear your thoughts. So Paprika... they like skilled gamers, have a lot of pro-level streamers, and—”
Thud.
Ju-Hyeok stared in confusion.
Sang-Hyeon had already picked Cheese without any hesitation.
“W-What? You already chose?”
“Yup.”
“You’re not even gonna discuss?”
“Oh, right—go ahead.”
However, Sang-Hyeon’s finger still rested on Cheese.
“You’re doing this out of order, man!!” Ju-Hyeok shouted, baffled.
Thud.
Still, that was when it clicked.
‘Wait... is this about Orange?’
Sang-Hyeon deliberately chose the opposite platform to Orange, which meant only one thing. They would soon face off in the upcoming platform battle.
Ju-Hyeok looked at Sang-Hyeon again, who looked clueless while scratching his head as usual.
However, a fire burned in Sang-Hyeon’s eyes. Something was blazing inside him.
‘This can’t be stopped.’