Season 4: Chapter 94. Radish Servant (1)
“Oh, you’re awake?”
Sang-Hyeon stepped out to find Ju-Hyeok already eating a simple sandwich at the table.
“Yo~ Walnut.” Sang-Hyeon chuckled as he recalled the massive walnut head he had seen yesterday in Survival Craft.
“Yo, Pirate King. You caused quite the stir yesterday, huh?” Ju-Hyeok waved him off and flipped his phone around to show Sang-Hyeon.
“Pirate King?”
The screen showed a video uploaded to Almond’s channel.
[All Black? Take a good look. I’ve left everything there!]
The video began with the opening theme of a famous anime. Almond stood in an unfamiliar village as the camera spun around him and scanned the surroundings. Around twenty enemies charged at him. Then, he drew his sword and cut through all of them.
The music continued, and the Cheese Village residents flashed a grin as they passed by. Against the backdrop of the setting sun, a dragon soared into the sky. As the music reached its climax, the dragon breathed out fire and turned everything into blocks of black soil. Of course, everything was edited and hadn’t actually happened like that.
‘Huh?’
This wasn’t Ji-Ah’s usual style of editing videos.
‘It’s like an opening theme for a cartoon.’
Sang-Hyeon read the details at the bottom.
[Creator: Macaron]
So, Macaron had made the video. That guy had made several parody videos like this in the past.
— What’s this? LOL
— Like Gol D. Roger, whoa
— This is insane! It’s like watching an anime haha
— Acorn Jelly: Mom, I want to be Pirate King when I grow up! Mom, I want to be Pirate King when I grow up! Mom, I want to be Pirate King when I grow up!
└ Hahaha
└ All Black doesn’t exist...
— What’s with the soil blocks changing? Haha
— Haha, the Cheese streamers showing up is so funny, it’s like they’re really friends
└ Bubblegum’s serious face is hilarious haha
└ There’s always a character like that in anime haha, the responsible one
— But pirates probably aren’t this brutal though haha
└ Hahahahaha
└ True...
“The reactions are great. Macaron made this.”
“Ah.” Sang-Hyeon nodded and sat across from him at the table.
“Macaron finally hit a big one, huh?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t easy at first. You wouldn’t know, but I made another channel before shutting it down.”
“Ah...”
Sang-Hyeon had probably been too busy with the Civil Empire tournament to notice.
“But why are you looking at your phone so much?”
Sang-Hyeon had been glancing at his phone repeatedly. It seemed strange since he usually didn’t check his phone often.
“Ah... I set a notification.”
“A notification?”
“Yeah... that...”
Sang-Hyeon briefly explained that he needed to sell something to Sweet Radish. Upon hearing this, Ju-Hyeok burst out laughing.
‘Looks like he’s really immersed in Survival Craft.’
Sang-Hyeon was practically a resident of Cheese Village now.
“Why are you laughing? This is exactly what Director Lee always said.”
Crunch. Crunch.
“Start with the buyer in sales,” Sang-Hyeon muttered while chewing on his almond cereal.
He recalled what he’d heard back in their Ah-Sung days and tried to bond with Ju-Hyeok over it.
Ju-Hyeok simply shook his head. “First of all, it’s Director Kim.”
It all started going wrong from there.
“Uh, whatever.”
“Finding a buyer is good, but what if they refuse to buy?”
Sang-Hyeon had quickly and accurately priced the soil, but applying sales theory to it was another matter. Even if the buyer desperately wanted the soil, they would hesitate if the product’s price defied the market value.
“Then, I’ll go to Black Tea.”
“Black Tea doesn’t really have that kind of money.”
“That’s true. I would have to threaten that I’ll go to Black Tea.”
“No.” Ju-Hyeok shook his head. “You don’t think Sweet Radish would try to sell something he couldn’t afford to Black Tea, do you? The price you’re asking for is pretty high.”
Unlike Almond, Sweet Radish was more strategic like most professional players. It wouldn’t be easy to threaten him.
“I’m the only one with an Iron Sword. Can’t I make it work with this?”
Chug...!
Ju-Hyeok almost spat out his drink.
“No, no, that’s basically plunder!” Then, something flashed through Ju-Hyeok’s mind. “Hey. That... that could work.”
He suddenly realized that Sang-Hyeon’s advantage of having an Iron Sword could be used in a different way.
Ding.
Just then, Sang-Hyeon’s phone buzzed, and a notification popped up.
[Sweet Radish has started streaming.]
“Whoa. I’m going.”
“Uh... huh? Are you leaving without hearing my explanation?”
“I just have to keep the Iron Sword to myself, right? I’m going.” Sang-Hyeon grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.
His smile felt ominous like he had misunderstood something.
***
[Almond has started streaming!]
Notifications from both Cheese and Treevy echoed simultaneously.
— ??
— What’s this?
— I was shocked when I sat down at work, lol
— Is this real?
— What’s going on? Is there some major announcement?
— Did a controversy break out?
No one had expected Almond to start streaming at such an absurd hour. Everyone began speculating wildly.
“Ah. Ah. Can you hear me?”
Ping.
Almond appeared on screen as usual. His cheeks looked slightly flushed as if he had rushed over.
“Hello, I started so quickly because of something urgent.”
— ??
— Why?
— Lol, you really started in a rush, didn’t you?
— What’s going on? Haha
Viewers couldn’t imagine why he suddenly started streaming.
“It’s because of the soil.”
Clack clack clack.
Almond wrapped up his explanation and launched the game.
[Survival Craft]
[Loading...]
— ?
— Is this really Almond? Lol
— He didn’t do what we asked for in Kingdom, but now he’s doing this for Cheese Village? Haha
— He’s really serious about Cheese Village, huh? Haha
— Looks like he likes this stuff, haha
— So cute, lol
In the blink of an eye, Almond transformed into a child-like figure. He appeared right at the village square entrance, where he had disappeared before.
‘Phew.’
Fortunately, no villagers passed by. Well, even if they did, they wouldn’t see him well since the village was still quite dark.
‘Why is it so dark?’
Almond looked up and saw a blue moon. Its design looked weird and hastily made, but the moon was clearly up.
‘It’s night.’
Almond walked around as quietly as possible while using the torches scattered throughout the village for light.
‘Just need to find Sweet Radish.’
Then, he realized something.
‘Ah.’
He didn’t know where Sweet Radish was in the village. Even the mini-map didn’t show player IDs.
‘I should’ve checked that before.’
Almond sighed and tapped his head in frustration. Well, he would find him eventually. The village wasn’t that big, and he already knew that Sweet Radish owned the biggest farm.
Squeak. Squeak.
Almond moved through the darkness.
— What’s he doing?
— Is he trying to make people nervous at night?
— Why’s he moving like an assassin? Lol
— What’s with a stream at this time? Is this real?
No one expected that this was all for a soil transaction. Normally, something expensive would be publicly auctioned instead of sneaking around to make a secret deal.
‘Can’t have too many people around.’
Almond had his reasons. It had to do with Cheese Village’s current economy. Aside from Sweet Radish, no one else could afford the Fertile Soil. The others were too poor.
If he auctioned it off, Sweet Radish would just buy it at a higher price than the others. Almond couldn’t settle for that. To truly price the soil, he needed to charge at least fifty times more than the standard dry soil found in Cheese Village.
‘Is that it?’
Almond spotted a large fenced-off area. In the distance, a torch illuminated a house. The stone house seemed to have two floors. The first floor had a gable roof while the second floor had a protruding dome-shaped roof. It reminded him of Roman architecture.
Considering that nearly all the villagers lived in huts, this house was a sign of wealth. It looked like Sweet Radish had laid out this house exactly the way he wanted, especially with the yellow dome roof. Even a large sign could be seen in front.
[Sweet Radishouse]
— Sweet Radishouse, lol
— Whoa
— What is that?
— Is this like the movie Parasite? Haha
— Whoa, that dome roof is insane, lol
Almond, who didn’t even have a single coin, stood before the house. His only asset was his body. The contrast was striking. Some would even feel a sense of relative deprivation, but Almond just smiled.
‘I can definitely sell it here.’
He had been worried that Sweet Radish’s house would look too shabby. Now, Sweet Radish couldn’t make any excuses if he could afford such a house. If Almond couldn’t get the right price, he could always use the thing at his waist.
‘No, wait.’
Almond shook his head. He couldn’t do that. Ju-Hyeok had said that wasn’t a trade, but extortion.
‘That’s a last resort.’
He couldn’t use violence from the start. Anyway, he stepped onto Sweet Radish’s vast property.
Just then, a notification pinged.
Ding!
[RubySword has donated 30,000 won!]
[What... are you trying to do? Assassinate Sweet Radish?]
The sudden donation came through as Almond was sneaking.
“Ah, no. It’s not an assassination. I’m just going to make a deal,” Almond explained into his microphone, which only the viewers could hear.
— Still explaining for donations, haha
— Does he only explain to RubySword?
— If it were anyone else, he probably would’ve ignored it, right?
— Lol, a deal?
— What kind of deal? Is he selling his country or something? Haha
“No, there’s a reason I’m doing this.” He couldn’t explain everything yet. “I’m going in now.”
He couldn’t see the entire farm because of the dark.
[Movement Speed -50%]
Even worse, Almond still had the overweight debuff. The distance remained far no matter how much he walked.
Bam!
[MeowMeowPunch has donated 90,000 won!]
[Wow, a morning stream, lol. But how much are you selling it for? It has to be expensive.]
— 90,000 won, lol
— Almond seems like he’ll sell it for cheap, huh?
— Lol, just about to give him a debuff
— The numbers are so close, lol
A 100,000-won donation would trigger a random status effect. Right now, no status effect would benefit him.
Almond quickly answered, “I’ve already calculated it. It’s thirty times the price of regular soil and fifty times for rough soil.”
— ?
— Thirty??? Not three times? Lol
— Insane, lol
— We were worried for nothing
— it’s beyond imagination, lol
— Haha, I bet it’s thirty times
Almond quickly explained why it was thirty times. Not only because of the yield, but also because it saved money on land price and time for the farmer.
— Woah
— Wow, as expected of Almondoyle
— Haha
— Almond did the math
Pop. Pop.
He kept walking toward Sweet Radish’s house as he explained. Just how far did this land stretch?
“Thirty times... No, it looks like it could be forty times.”
Almond revised his calculations.
— ?
— Suddenly ten times more, lol
— Why is the number changing as he sees the property size? Haha
“Normally, when wages go up, prices go up too...”
— Haha
— Economics, Almondoyle
— That’s why it’s rising, lol
— Haha, wow
Pop. Pop.
The number kept rising as he walked.
“No, fifty times. Let’s make it fifty times. I need to account for distribution costs too.”
— ?
— Distribution, lol
— Hahaha, right, he’s walking so slow because it’s heavy lol
— So it’s 70 times the base soil, haha
— Yeah, distribution costs make sense
The distribution cost skyrocketed as Almond approached Sweet Radish’s house.
‘Hmm?’
The timing for using what was at his waist came sooner than Almond had expected.