Season 4: Chapter 73. Poster Boy (1)
"Victory or fun?"
"Uh, but... why am I the one choosing?" Sang-Hyeon stepped back in surprise.
Just picking his own team already felt overwhelming, but they basically wanted him to decide Cheese’s future.
"Because!"
The streamers each chimed in and offered their reasons.
"You’ve accomplished both victory and fun!"
They naturally directed the question at Almond because he had achieved both. He had provided immense entertainment alongside Bubblegum and also led the entire nation to a frenzy win at the Civil Empire tournament.
"You even won the international tournament!"
Above all, the most skilled players at Cheese were Black Tea, Sweet Radish, and Almond. Without question, Almond was the best among them. Even though his rank was ridiculously low compared to the other two, he had won two championships.
Not even Sweet Radish, a former pro in the LIL league, had ever achieved such a feat. He had also endured grueling schedules similar to the international tournament.
"And he’s good-looking too," Black Tea added.
"Oh, right!" Miho subconsciously nodded in agreement, then quickly covered her mouth.
The male streamers immediately started protesting.
"Wait, seriously? That’s the reason?" Green Tea, in particular, spoke up because he was Black Tea’s boyfriend.
"So what?" Black Tea shrugged him off.
"There’s a reason they call someone a poster boy, right? It means the person with the face should be the face of the group."
"Uh... that’s literally the opposite of what that phrase means..."
That was just Black Tea’s interpretation.
"Hehe! I agree with unnie! Totally agree!" Lemon chimed in enthusiastically.
Of course, no one really paid attention to what she said.
"But... I never actually thought about what I’d do." What Sang-Hyeon said was only half true.
He had never seriously considered this kind of dilemma. Throughout his life, he had never chosen fun over winning. He was an athlete. Victory always came first.
‘But this isn’t the same.’
The streaming world was different. Fun could surpass victory and had been the top priority. It didn’t make any sense for Sang-Hyeon to decide alone. Whatever the viewers felt defined reality.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, someone raised a hand to speak. The long arm obviously belonged to Miho.
"Um... then maybe we could narrow it down with hypothetical match-ups first?"
"Hypothetical match-ups?"
"Once we start picking who we think will win among ourselves, it’ll probably help us figure out what we should do." Miho looked at Black Tea.
After all, the biggest conflict was between Black Tea and Balloon Stars.
"Alright. I’ll go first."
No one expected Black Tea to start. True to her role as a Challenger ADC, the fastest reacting position, she immediately posed a question.
"Challenger Bubblegum vs. Bronze Almond."
"Why me?!"
Black Tea pointed her chin at Miho, signaling her to answer.
"Br-Bronze Almond." Miho quickly turned her head and told the truth.
"Hey! That means being bad at games wasn’t the problem!?" Bubblegum looked like his life had betrayed him.
Everyone else was too busy holding back their laughter to speak, especially Ji-Ah and Ju-Hyeok.
"T-Then, okay. Um..." Miho tried to come up with a question.
Black Tea jumped in without letting her catch a breath. "Thirty billion won in debt Almond vs. CEO of Ah-Sung Bubblegum."
"A... Almond," Miho answered again.
"Hey! Miho, you don’t even know what Ah-Sung is, do you? Huh?" Bubblegum burst out in frustration.
Everyone began covering their mouths.
‘Wait, what does any of this have to do with the topic?’
‘Where did that even come from?’
Even as they thought that, they couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous exchange.
"Game-illiterate Almond vs. U.S. President Bubblegum."
"T-This one is obviously Almond, right?"
At some point, Miho completely forgot what her original question had been.
"Miho, one snap from the U.S. and an entire country disappears. You’re calling that obvious?" This time, Bubblegum calmly explained without even raising his voice.
What was Black Tea even trying to prove with all these questions? Just as everyone began to seriously wonder, she gave them her conclusion.
"See? Miho, just like you, we should all be choosing Almond too. The fact that you guys are monopolizing him just because you happened to meet him first is way too unfair."
"Ah... I... I get it now." Miho’s eyes wavered.
She genuinely understood and sympathized with them. The Balloon Stars members sighed in unison.
"Ugh... because of Gum..." Tako blamed Bubblegum.
"Wh-Why is it my fault!? Again?!"
"Ah... Almond, help... save us..." StrawberryShooter pleaded.
Even Sang-Hyeon, the person in question, couldn’t interject because Black Tea was completely right.
"E-Everyone!"
Clap.
Ju-Hyeok clapped to grab their attention. He had been waiting for the right moment to cut in and finally did.
"Almond can’t make that decision right now."
As soon as he spoke, the noisy streamers fell silent.
"We haven’t even properly talked about what kind of team we want to build. How could we decide something as serious as Cheese’s direction after only one hour of knowing each other?"
His steady tone, sharp logic, and confident demeanor all struck a chord.
Sang-Hyeon couldn’t help but think, ‘Was this why people used spokespeople?’
Even Black Tea, who had been pushing for a decision, averted her eyes and admitted it. "W-Well... that’s true."
"Exactly. Of course, it is."
Ju-Hyeok, as if declaring victory, repeated her words and calmly adjusted his glasses.
“We’ll decide after we’ve all given it careful thought and everyone gathers again. I can’t promise we’ll have everything settled by then, but we’ll at least figure out how to move forward.”
“When would that be?” Miho raised her hand and asked.
“That is...”
At that moment, Sang-Hyeon and Ju-Hyeok’s eyes met. Sang-Hyeon had a bad feeling. Why had Ju-Hyeok taken so long to speak up? That level of counterargument was nothing, but Ju-Hyeok wanted to tie it into the bigger picture. Sang-Hyeon knew he was incredibly good at steering situations into his own grand schemes.
“The Treevy funeral.”
The streamers all nodded with a collective, “Oh...”
However, Sang-Hyeon had a different reaction.
‘Huh?’
Ju-Hyeok really planned on sending him there. Through his rimless glasses, Ju-Hyeok’s eyes seemed to say, ‘You need to meet more people, hear more things, and then make your choice. I’ll set the stage for you.’
Sang-Hyeon’s lips pouted. He didn’t absolutely hate social gatherings, but he had already secured an amazing coach in JeonJaPa without such an event.
‘Wait. Ah, I never told them.’
Sang-Hyeon suddenly realized that he hadn’t said a word about JeonJaPa yet. Meanwhile, the conversation had already moved toward everyone agreeing to make the final decision at Treevy’s funeral.
“That sounds good.”
“Fair... enough.”
“Haah... I mean, personal connections are a kind of skill, but... alright, fine.”
The key point was that Sang-Hyeon didn’t know the streamers well enough yet. Especially after participating in the international tournament, he had grown even more distant from the streamer scene. He needed more time and chances to get to know them.
Clap.
“Great. Very good.” Ju-Hyeok nodded in satisfaction.
The team discussion came to a close, but they didn’t part ways right away. Since they had all gathered, they slipped into casual industry chatter. They talked about how Cheese felt more unstable than Paprika, who was probably dating whom lately, and how everyone’s break times overlapped.
Sang-Hyeon joined in on the conversations too. Before he knew it, hours had passed.
“Ah. I, I should get going.”
“Gasp. What time is it?”
“I... haven’t even slept yet.”
They all left in a rush around 3 P.M. Before long, only Sang-Hyeon, Ji-Ah, and Ju-Hyeok remained in the Blue Boat cafe.
“Whew~” Ju-Hyeok leaned back with a sigh and wiped away his sweat.
“It feels like the storm has passed...” Ji-Ah slumped over the desk, completely drained.
“Hey.”
Meanwhile, Sang-Hyeon’s eyes gleamed with excitement. He finally had a chance to speak.
“What is it? What’s with you?” Ju-Hyeok instantly sensed that Sang-Hyeon had something important to say.
‘Come to think of it... even earlier...’
Before everyone barged in, Sang-Hyeon had tried to say something.
“Actually, about the team... I already found us a coach.”
Ju-Hyeok blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected that at all.
“Where did you find one out of the blue? You’ve only been to the hospital...”
‘No way.’ Ju-Hyeok momentarily became speechless.
Sang-Hyeon widely grinned. “Yep, JeonJaPa is our coach.”
“Pffft!” Ji-Ah, who had been quietly sipping coffee, suddenly spat it all out.
***
Meanwhile, one of Cheese’s few Challenger ranked players, Jung Gi-Chan (aka ForeverAlone), had been scratching his head in front of his computer for quite some time.
“Ah, crap...”
His monitor displayed a notepad file.
==== ====
Hello, Sir Almond,
My name is Jung Gi-Chan. You might not remember me, but I feel like you should since you always say chikicha...
Even if you don’t, there’s nothing I can really do about that...
==== ====
“No, no, that’s not it.”
Tap tap tap tap tap...
He furiously backspaced and deleted the whole thing.
Yes, he did want to suggest something to Almond. However, meeting in person or calling felt way too intimidating. Why?
‘Because I’m a loser!’
He knew that about himself. He wasn’t good at this kind of stuff. Still, he felt confident.
‘I might not be able to meet in person, but no one works as hard as I do. Right?’
Sure, he was a loser, but he was the hardest-working loser around.
“Hehe.” Gi-Chan smiled to himself as he cleared the letter. “Alright... this time... I’ll pour my heart into it...”
Tap tap tap.
He began typing the message again from scratch. Little did he know, countless others worked much harder than him and were also more aggressive. It never even occurred to him. Why? Because he was a loser!
“Dear Sir Almond, I wonder if you remember me... I’d be sad if you didn’t... but it’s okay if you don’t...”
Tap tap tap.
Gi-Chan slowly continued typing his heartfelt message.