Chapter 94: Two Rabbits (1)
The first promotion match was the most important one because winning first place made a significant difference. If a player won first place in the first match, then it would be fine if they only reached the top ten in the next match. However, if they finished in the top 90 or lower, they would have to play another match even if they won the next game.
Was that the reason?
[Ah, we'll never send Almond to diamond]
[True, I’ll snipe him too.]
[I can't let him as a 5 year diamond veteran!]
[Stream sniper squad Die-almond recruiting!!!]
The community had twenty-three posts related to stream sniping Almond. They either envied him or wanted to defend JeonJaPa's record. Some of them just wanted to bother him for fun. Regardless, many aimed for Almond.
Skilled players would inevitably be among them because the minimum rank to target Almond was high Platinum or low Diamond.
— Can Almond complete the challenge with all these people?
└ For real...
└ JeonJaPa had this many as well. It's the life of a streamer.
— Poor Almond...
— There's nothing we can do for him...
└ Because we're bronze...
└ For real
└ Hit platinum or diamond if you want to help Almond!
Even the community users began worrying about Almond. He would soon encounter a challenging fight.
***
Almond looked below as he waited in the cold wind. He could see the bountiful green forest through the clouds. They would be playing in the jungle map again.
'Let's jump right away.'
He prepared to jump and wanted to quickly end this match because he already used too much energy today. He would eventually tire out no matter how great his condition was. He had to finish this fast.
'Time for a curveball.'
Almond only threw straight all this time. His opponents assumed he would throw straight again because he always stuck with the same strategy no matter the conditions.
He didn’t keep throwing straight because he was stubborn. He had been waiting to use this curveball all this time. Every straight throw led to this.
'Now.'
The curveball would prove itself in the most important match.
Tak!
Sang-Hyeon jumped off without a thought.
Swooosh—?
However, he didn’t head towards the Arsenal this time.
— ???
— Why there?
— Huh?
— What's going on?
— Did he screw up because he's nervous?
The viewers saw his landing destination and couldn't hide their surprise.
[Jensen has donated 1000 won.]
[Boss, that isn't the Arsenal.]
Someone even donated to send a message. It was understandable because Almond never landed anywhere else other than the Arsenal. He never stopped heading towards the Arsenal no matter how many stream snipers gathered to kill him.
"Yes, I'm aware. It's a curveball," Almond smirked.
As expected, he saw countless parachutes opening towards the Arsenal. It was a popular place, but it was unusual for that many people to head there. Most likely, they wanted to target Almond.
***
“Yes, I'm aware. It's a curveball.”
As soon as Almond said that, her hands clenched the arms of the wheelchair and her eyebrows turned into a frown.
'Curveball?'
She almost seemed angry. It wasn't because she didn't like the strategy, but she hadn’t expected it. It upset her because he devised a strategy that she hadn’t thought of.
'No way.'
She found it hard to believe. It seemed like he always went to the Arsenal out of stubbornness, but it had all been a buildup for this one curveball? How did that make sense?
If he hid this curveball strategy, didn't that mean he was even more confident? How was that possible?
Almond's strategy was always near-perfect and even beautiful. It was hard to believe he had a different strategy that he felt more confident in.
He faced adversity before, but decided to save this curve ball. Was that possible?
No, that man, up until now...
'He had that much confidence all along?'
Was the road to Diamond not a difficult challenge for him?
“We're starting from here today.”
Flap.
Almond's parachute unfolded and he landed in an abandoned hospital.
***
"He's finally doing it," Ju-Hyeok smiled as he watched Almond's avatar land at the hospital.
Everything was going according to plan. Now was the perfect time to throw the curveball.
"There's no one following him either."
Even the annoying stream snipers were nowhere near. A handful of snipers wanted to interrupt his promotion matches, but Ju-Hyeok and Almond already knew that. They knew this would be the most important and dangerous game.
That's why they discussed several strategies beforehand. Ju-Hyeok studied and organized different strategies by watching famous streamers and Almond embedded them into his head.
He practiced his gameplay during the day and studied these strategies at night. Now, it was time to combine the two.
Almond already decided which strategy to use. The Abandoned Hospital Start was a generic strategy from long-time players.
— What the? A hospital start?
— Wow!
— He's suddenly switching strategies?
— That's crazy. Was the past all a setup for this?
— Damn!
— Boss, I'm scared.
— Imagine if he just dies right away. LOL
— What if you lose!?
The viewers couldn’t help but doubt because Almond had never played with any other strategy. He simply crushed the other players with pure skill. Some viewers in the chat even predicted his loss.
However, Ju-Hyeok didn’t worry.
'He’s practiced this.'
Ju-Hyeok trusted him. He trusted that Almond practiced in his head. Almond was a genius who also put in the effort.
***
Sang-Hyeon studied the strategy by watching famous streamers like JeonJaPa and DuDuDu. He never tried it in a real match, but he memorized it.
Sang-Hyeon went over it countless times with Ju-Hyeok and incorporated it into his image training. Enough imagination and practice would prove useful even in real games.
Almond believed in the work he had done.
— Woah, what the? He's actually pretty good.
— He must've practiced.
— Who would've thought Almond would play it slow…
Almond entered the hospital and memorized all the blind spots. He stuck to a planned path and slowly farmed.
Chuk.
He hid behind a pillar on the third floor and continuously checked the map for the blue zone.
Almond usually didn’t do this. Normally, he would ignore the blue zone and focus on wiping out the nearby players. However, he was playing differently this time.
'I'm almost in the center of the zone.'
Almond kept checking the blue zone and confirmed he was in the center of the safe zone. The center would usually be safe even in the next phase.
"If it's like this, the next blue zone should be safe too. I'll just camp on the roof for now."
He explained to the viewers despite using this strategy for the first time. He felt familiar with it.
— Wow, he must've practiced a lot.
— So cool!
— How can he look so cool doing nothing...
— Sexy nerd!
— Sexy nerd Almond.
[ForbesVoted! has donated a whopping 100,000 won!]
[The coolest peaceful play!]
[BrainOfficial has donated 50,000 won!]
[Officially the coolest peaceful play!]
The viewers felt moved by his play and donated large amounts. Unfortunately, Almond couldn't respond to them. He focused more than usual because he had never been in the hospital.
He couldn't read the chat and only explained as he walked. A lot of things were on his mind.
'Next...'
Almond stuck his ear to the floor and listened. Then he checked the window with the largest view and checked the stairs for any enemies.
'No one.'
There didn’t seem to be any other players in the hospital. Almond was alone. This normally wouldn’t happen because the hospital had plenty of medical equipment, which made it a popular location.
It wouldn't hurt to stock up on medical equipment early in the game.
"There's no one."
A simple reason existed for that.
"They must all be at the Arsenal."
More than half of the players went to the Arsenal for Almond. As a result, Almond owned the entire hospital and used this opportunity to gain an advantage over the stream snipers.
— LOL Fuck them!
— Almond: Alright, listen to me. Kill each other, okay?
— Let the enemies fight each other.
— Ah, no wonder there’s no one.
— Can't believe there's no one in the hospital.
Around thirty players would die while he quietly camped on the roof. He didn't even need to go to the top.
'I can probably slowly farm on the third floor before going.'
Almond walked around the halls and farmed. During that time, sixteen players already died.
***
Meanwhile, regular players and streamed snipers filled the Arsenal.
"Wait, where the fuck is Almond?!"
"Fuck! Hey! Don't throw the knife! Don't throw it!"
"Hey! This is ranked! Do you want us to just die?!"
"Where the hell is Almond?"
The stream snipers all gathered in the Arsenal and eventually pointed their knives at each other since no one could reach the basement.
The players who didn't know Almond’s location began throwing their knives.
Thud!
Thwack!
Some stream snipers died and others fought back.
"Whatever!"
"Just die!!!"
Kang! Kang!
It made for a rare sight as an army of people clashed with knives near the basement.
"Where is Almond!?"
The same shout could be heard over and over.