Season 4: Chapter 75. Poster Boy (3)
“No, it’s not like that.” Almond flatly denied it in response to the viewers accusing him of manipulating the vote. “I’m not rigging it, so please vote. That’s an... order, no, a request.”
— LOL
— He just called it an order?!
— This is definitely voter coercion lmao
— Isn’t this the moment when “Voting is a crime” applies?
— 1111111
Although the viewers joked about not voting, Almond knew the truth well by now as a seasoned streamer.
‘They won’t be able to resist.’
Even just a few votes could drastically swing the percentage. If they didn’t vote, their preferences would be completely ignored.
[1. Kingdom Age (73%)]
[2. Zombie School (11%)]
[3. LIL: Story Mode (4%)]
[4. Survival Craft (2%)]
Thanks to a few dedicated Kingdom stans, it suddenly looked like the most popular game Almond had ever played. This, of course, drove the other fans crazy.
— Kingdom again??
— These Kingdom fanboys are disgusting
— Let’s vote, people!
— Come on, please vote!!!
[1. Kingdom Age (53%)]
[2. LIL: Story Mode (24%)]
[3. Zombie School (11%)]
[4. Survival Craft (2%)]
LIL: Story Mode instantly increased. As the rankings shifted, the chat exploded in a frenzy.
— LIL demons going wild lol
— 333333
— Don’t forget Zombie School! Save the cafeteria lady!
— Play the Rosenita route while we’re still being nice
— #free_pizzabread
— Save Rosenita, who couldn't move on!
— No one cares about Survival Craft LMAO
— The cafeteria lady and pizzabread are still trapped in that zombie world, shouldn’t we save them first??
— Don’t forget Kim Ju-Hyeok of Zombie School!
“A-Alright, everyone. Please calm down. You don’t have to vote, you know~”
Almond tried to reverse course, saying the vote wasn’t necessary anymore.
— ??
— Didn’t you say it was an order?!
— What’s with this guy? lol
— You already lit the fire, no going back now
— Yeah, too late, we’re voting anyway
Of course, Almond knew full well that it had reached a boiling point now. No one would just stop voting. Then, why did he suddenly discourage voting? A long-time viewer figured it out instantly.
Ding!
[EggPlant has donated 2,000 won.]
[This nutjob lit the voting fire and is now setting it up so he can ignore the results without getting blamed lol]
— LOL
— Eggplant is about to get banned again!!
— Only 2,000 won for such a hot take??
— This is dangerous truth-telling for a discount price lmao
EggPlant’s analysis was too on-point, especially given how low the donation was for such a scorching take. Sure enough...
“EggPlant, 30-second ban.”
Almond promptly banned him.
— Oh no!
— LMAO
— Poor Eggplant LOL
— Since ancient times, truth-tellers have had short lifespans
— He was just chilling and got clapped
— How many times has this guy been banned now? lol!
— Punished for being right... a righteous beating
— Legendary Eggplant banned again!
— He’s the pick-ban analyst of this chatroom
After all the chaos, the voting finally concluded.
“Ahem. Everyone, I told you there was no need to vote to this extent.”
Then came the results.
[Voting turnout: 82%]
An astonishing 82% of viewers had participated.
— This is peak democracy lol
— Is this the Greek Senate??
— Higher attendance than the National Assembly
— LOL
— Is this North Korea?
The final results came in. To some, it was acceptable. To others, it was completely unacceptable.
[1. Kingdom Age (48%)]
[2. Zombie School (32%)]
[3. LIL: Story Mode (17%)]
[4. Survival Craft (3%)]
— Oof
— Rosenita supremacy!
— Now this is it~
— Do you even know Kingdom, newbies?
— These Kingdom stans are insane
— LOL
— This was rigged!
— Kingdom fan manipulation skills are unreal
— Let’s audit the ballots!
— Why is it always #1? We need a special investigation!
So many accusations flew around, but veteran viewers knew the results weren’t the real issue.
Ding!
[Jensen has donated 30,000 won.]
[Now I’m curious how Almond will justify picking #4 after all this~~~?!]
“Ahem.” Almond simply smiled without answering.
— Desperately trying not to laugh lol
— LOL
— Is this really happening??
— LMAO
— Spoilers = Ban
— Newbies have no idea what's coming
Since over half the current viewers had joined after the Civil Empire tournament, many didn’t know of the infamous New Year’s Poll Incident.
[KingdomFanboy has donated 10,000 won.]
[Do the newbies even know what Kingdom is? Viewership was only 5k back then lol]
— So true
— LOL yeah, just trying to look cool now
— Is today Hot Take Day?
— How many people voted again? Tens of thousands?
— LMAO
— “You don’t know Kingdom? Oh... I see...”
After the chat calmed down a bit, Almond finally opened his mouth after silently soaking in the results.
“Looks like...” He moved to number four with his mouse and ended it all with one click. “We should go with the game that ranked in the top 3%.”
— ?
— ??
— ???????????
— !?
— What the heck?!
— Huh??
— Excuse me?
A wave of question marks flooded the chat. It took a few seconds before viewers realized what just happened.
[1. Kingdom Age (48%)]
[2. Zombie School (32%)]
[3. LIL: Story Mode (17%)]
[4. Survival Craft (3%)]
Since Survival Craft had received 3% of the votes, Almond claimed that it ranked in the top 3%.
— LMAO
— “Top 3%” my ass! You already decided!!
— This was the plan all along...
— How can you ignore Rosenita like this??
— This is NutPunk-style democracy. Take notes, citizens of Nut Town.
— Resign! Resign!
— This is fraud!
Despite all the backlash, Almond just shook his head. “I told you guys not to vote.”
— Vote > Don’t vote > You shouldn’t have voted!
— LOL is it a rule that the least votes win?
— How many times did he change the rules? lol
— So that’s what he meant
— Now we understand, O Father of Nuts...
Yes, the game with the fewest votes would win. Maybe it wasn’t even that. One longtime viewer already figured it out.
Ding!
[RubySword has donated 30,000 won.]
[Translation: The rule of this vote was that #4 wins. You don’t have to vote, hehe.]
— LMAO
— Even Ruby is spitting facts now
— 4. BANG!
— Baaang~
— Princess Ruby, please restrain yourself!
“RubySword, you’re wrong, but thanks for the donation anyway.”
— Admit it already lol
— Still says she’s wrong even now!
— So much favoritism!! Why didn’t Eggplant get this treatment?
— Ruby is the only one who never gets banned!
Either way, Almond had finally settled on Survival Craft as his first official stream after moving to Cheese.
***
The truth behind the game-picking chaos had already spread across other streamers’ channels. Anyone could see it in the streamer communities.
[Bubblegum said he's playing Survival Craft once he joins Cheese]
[Why is Sweet Radish playing Survival Craft out of nowhere? That hardcore game??]
[What’s SC? Isn’t that a kids’ game? Why is Acorn Jelly suddenly playing it?]
[I don’t even know how to watch SC]
[Why Survival Craft, Black Tea? Just play LIL]
Suddenly, streamer after streamer moving to Cheese had declared that they would be playing Survival Craft. Yes, RubySword had been right. From the start, the answer had always been #4.
— Nut Gang got tricked again lol
— Almond is the only psycho who ran a fake vote to pretend he decided it democratically!!
— Vote? What if it didn’t land on #4? That’s a real gamble
— He’s a fraud but also a born gambler lmao
— Wait, huh??
— LOL
— He trolled us
Among streamers, Almond had been the only one who didn’t post a notice ahead of time. Instead, he went through an entire performance of a public vote. Holding a vote for a game already agreed upon with the Cheese staff was absurd. After the dust settled from Almond’s voting fiasco, one question remained in viewers’ minds.
[So what even is Survival Craft, you weebs?]
— Seriously tho
— It’s popular among younger players these days
— Hard to explain. It’s a sandbox game
— It’s basically a different game depending on who plays
— Just think of it like an old-school playground. You set your own rules and do whatever.
Survival Craft was a bizarre and unfamiliar game to the majority of mainstream viewers. Most had seen it in passing, but had no clue what it actually was. Naturally, everyone grew curious because all their favorite streamers would now play it.
“Ah, Survival Craft? One moment.” Almond gave a signal, and Ju-Hyeok tapped away at the keyboard to change the stream’s title.
[Survival Craft Info Session]
“Dun dun!” He even made the sound effect himself as a PowerPoint presentation popped up.
— ?
— Wait, he made a whole presentation?
— This is straight-up rigged lol
— He’s not even pretending to lie anymore
— I’m dying! He really said dun dun
Ding!
[SquidPeanut has donated 3,000 won.]
[How the heck did you prep this beforehand? Mmff! Who are you really?!]
“Thank you, Squid.” Almond sent them off with a polite farewell and began explaining. “Survival Craft is a sandbox game where...”
However, Almond was terrible at explaining. No, he wasn’t just bad. He had a reverse talent for it.
— I’m falling asleep, professor
— ...
— Chat's gone dead silent lol
— Is this a principal’s speech??
— Oh no...
One by one, viewers dozed off while clutching their phones. Ironically, this led to extremely high viewership retention for the stream.
— People typing in their sleep lmao
— Why are there so many “SleepCraft” kids in here
— This stream knocks you out before you can close the tab!
— LOL
The next day, all the streamers posted announcements that they’d be streaming at the same time.
[Bubblegum]
[Notice: Everyone! First Cheese stream today at 7:30 P.M.~!]
[Miho]
[Notice: First stream at 7:30 P.M.! Please look forward to it! Thank you!]
[Black Tea]
[Notice: First stream at 7:30 P.M. That’s just how it ended up.]