Season 4: Chapter 102. Feudal Society (1)
Ding.
[Nutz has donated 20,000 won.]
[Chikicha~]
Thud.
Donuts collapsed to the ground without even realizing it. “N-No...”
Bang, bang, bang...!
Corn crates kept appearing, too many to count.
“If we hadn’t been hit by the raid, this would’ve been twice as much. It’s a real shame.” Potato Servant sighed beside him.
The truth was, it wouldn’t have been double, but the bluff alone made everyone in the market tremble.
‘Twice that?’
‘Fertile Soil... is insane.’
‘Wow...’
Fertile soil’s advantage wasn’t just quantity. It was on a level far beyond their imagination.
[Grade: A+]
At minimum, it produced A+ grade produce. This was freshly harvested corn still at peak quality. Naturally, it would fetch the best price.
“Ohhh, top grade, huh?” Emmental, the market operator, whistled in admiration.
“Another... another top grade? So the rumors about you getting Fertile Soil were true?!”
Whether anyone believed it or not, Almond stacked the last of his crates on the counter. “I’ll sell all of this!”
— Kya
— All in
— Let’s goooo
— He’s about to be rich lol
— Is he finally going fishing after this? lol
“W-Wow!” Emmental’s eyes went wide, clearly overwhelmed. “At a time like this, with this quantity... and this quality! Incredible! Sir Almond! Sweet Radish! Potato Servant!”
— Why is Sweet Potato just Potato Servant here lol
— Potato Servant will always be a servant, no matter what
— Lmao he’s a servant everywhere he goes
“All top grade, and so uniform! The product value is unmatched. With this, chefs could make dishes that erase both boredom and depression stats for a while!”
With Emmental’s nonstop praise, everyone around could only enviously look on.
“Wow... I’m jealous.”
“Lucky bastards.”
“Crazy.”
“They’ll pay off all their debt in one shot.”
Radish Servant and Potato Servant’s shoulders straightened with pride.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“It’s all thanks to Lord Almond!”
“See? That’s why they say if you’re gonna be a servant, be one for a noble house.”
“Right!”
— LMAO did they just call themselves servants?
— Wasn’t Sweet Radish the noble before?? Lol
— What kind of kingdom changes nobles this often? No wonder it’s ruined
— Kya
— Almond was a noble’s servant too, to be fair
— They’re high off the glory lol
“Wow...”
“I... I wanna be a servant too.”
The admiration and envy from everyone around became intoxicating. Then came the final nail.
“Here it is!”
Bang!
Emmental dropped a massive stuffed pouch onto the counter.
Rustle.
They opened it and found the dazzling gold inside.
“Whoa. I need sunglasses for this.” Sweet Radish cracked a joke as he looked inside.
— Sweet Radish acting cocky lol
— Can’t stop tea-bagging
— You gotta brag a little in moments like this
Gold coins, the highest currency in Cheese Village, filled the entire pouch, and it wasn’t the only one.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
More pouches kept coming.
“Here, and here... Oh boy, you three are single-handedly about to cause inflation!”
— Damn
— Currently 90% of Cheese Village’s GDP lol
— Kya
— Solo inflation run lol
The whole market buzzed.
“Wow. You can get all that from one harvest?”
“The birth of a conglomerate...”
“Corn is practically a cryptocurrency now...”
Almond, Sweet Radish, and Sweet Potato all waved it off.
“That’s not it.”
“Heh, we’re no conglomerate.”
“Me? I’m just Potato Servant.”
— Lmao Sweet Potato
— Your smile is reaching the ceiling, stop lying lol
— Potato Servant hahaha
— Potato Servant is just happy...
— He can’t stop grinning lol
Even as they denied it, the three exchanged proud smiles.
‘We did it.’
‘Finally, our sunny days are here.’
‘Indeed.’
After all, they had fought through their own hardships to harvest this crop. How could they not be happy?
“Hhhugh...”
Thud.
Meanwhile, Donuts dropped to his knees.
‘I got utterly destroyed.’
It was a flawless defeat.
***
Over on the streamer community, Streamer Garden, the live post turnover rate increased dramatically with so many joint and indirect collabs happening.
[Zelo x ChocoShroom forever!]
[lol just get married already]
[Zelo, when’s the confession?]
The first big trending topic was the Zelo x ChocoShroom ship.
— These delulu shippers are relentless
— Zelo just can’t talk to women normally, what ship lol
— They do look good together tho
└ LMAO
— ChocoShroom seems to like him though? “Zelo oppa” wasn’t bait??
└ This guy is either a troll or a simp lol
└ LOL
└ It’s fun tho
Even with all the ship talk, the number-one trending post was about the incident.
[#1 Korea PE High School Grad vs US Ivy League Economics Major – Crop Sale Showdown]
==== ====
(Photo)
Ivy League got wrecked lol
==== ====
The picture showed Donuts collapsed on the ground.
— Kya
— Almond the “Uchiha Ninja of Ah-Sung” crushing him with Potato Illusion Form!
└ Fr, that’s the face of a man caught in a genjutsu
— This is why Korea’s private education >>> a US Ivy degree
— LOL this is it
— What? Ivy League? Let’s see them survive 5 years in Ah-Sung~
└ LOL
└ They’d run in a week
— Lmao
— Anyone who bought Donuts’s “recommendations” knew the ending already
└ Pfft lol
└ Donuts doesn’t even give stock tips wtf
└ People just pick up whatever he mentions and pretend it’s a tip lol
Donuts had lost in his own specialty. It became the talk of the town and left a stain on his reputation that wouldn’t fade. Several more posts about it already made the top ten.
[#4 ???: Nonghyup? Do they even have fishing rods?]
==== ====
(Photo)
“If not, then become fertilizer.”
==== ====
The photo showed Almond in Paprika Village, fighting one vs twenty.
— Kya
— LOL
— "Got a fishing rod?" lol
— "If not, straight to fertilizer"
— "From now on, you’re Donuts Servant"
└ Donuts Servant lol
— Donuts acting like he’d rule the world with his ragtag Nonghyup, only to get beaten by three people
└ For real lol
└ LMAO
└ Basically one person anyway
The buzz about Donuts’s loss didn’t end with the online community. The story spread quickly among the Cheese villagers.
[Bubblegum: What the heck? I heard Almond completely stomped Nonghyup?]
[Miho: OMG, Oppa Almond is good at stocks too? Crazy lol]
[Takoyaki: Nonghyup really took a hit]
[BlackTea: Anti-Nonghyup folks, tone it down in party chat ^^]
Even Black Tea’s threats didn’t slow the tide.
[Pickle: What, did you rent out the server chat?]
[WhiteChicken: Farming cartel is disgusting]
[CreamPuff: Ooooh~ Nonghyup lost, step down~]
It seemed the villagers sensed the Nonghyup cartel’s power slipping.
***
Meanwhile, in the meeting room of Nonghyup’s shared cold storage...
Clunk.
The door shut, and Donuts walked in. The Nonghyup members lined the long table. The atmosphere felt grim like an interrogation room.
— LOL
— What are they even doing?
— Trying so hard to act serious, hilarious
— Is this a shareholder meeting or something lol
Donuts stepped up to the podium and looked over the gathered members.
“Ah... hello, everyone. It’s Donuts.”
The moment he greeted them, someone shouted, “Donuts! Voluntarily hand over your corn!”
“Excuse me?”
— LOOOL
— Who the hell?
— It’s Horn Ramen lol
Horn Ramen, a fellow streamer of similar age, stirred up the crowd. He had heavily invested in Nonghyup too. With his influence, others followed suit.
“You’ve made Nonghyup’s stock price plummet by several times! Huh?!”
Of course, Cheese Village didn’t actually have corporations or stock prices, but the accusations stuck.
“That’s right! Throw him out!”
“You let one Almond take you down and cost us all!”
“You forced us to dump potatoes. What was that about!?”
Donuts tried to calm them down. “Everyone, we have to maintain our cooperation. Without that, we’ll really have no way to stand against Sweet Radish and Almond!”
“And whose fault is that?!”
Logic no longer worked on the audience.
— LOL
— This is so funny
— Total chaos
Nonghyup’s cohesion began crumbling until someone raised her hand.
“If we split here, it’s really over.”
The red-haired female avatar belonged to Black Tea.
“Sweet Radish’s group has insane productivity right now. They can practically set the prices for all produce, but... we still have a chance.”
“A... chance?”
“Tonight, monsters are coming.”
“Oh, true.” Donuts nodded.
“They always target the biggest farm, and Sweet Radish will definitely reinvest to grow bigger. That’ll make them the target again.”
“Won’t Almond just defend it?”
“Not alone, not as the monsters get stronger.”
“So? What’s your point?”
“Right now, before they can afford cold storage, we have one shot. During the monster chaos, sneak in and dig up the fields to see what seeds they’ve planted.”
Without cold storage, Almond’s trio couldn’t control the prices indefinitely. Eventually, they’d have to sell.
“Then we crash that crop prices again. This time, no falling for that damned potato illusion!”
“Pffft...!”
The potato illusion phrase had the whole table barely holding in their laughter.
“Fine.”
Donuts’s pride was in tatters as an Ivy Leaguer, but he agreed to Black Tea’s plan. No one else had suggested a better idea.
“Find out for sure, and then we strike back.”
“Exactly.”
***
At the same time, while Nonghyup held its gloomy shareholder meeting, cheers erupted in Sweet Radish’s house.
“Wooo!”
They had just finished counting their gold at home.
“This... this is as much as we’ve made in total until now, all in one go, Sir Almond!”
“Seventy-thirty split.”
“Huh?” The delighted Radish Servant blinked.
“I’m seventy until the Fertile Soil is fully paid off.”
“Oh... right! Of course...”
Radish Servant’s cut dropped sharply to 30%.
‘That’s... steep.’
Still, maybe it was fine until he recouped the costs.
“And me...?” Potato Servant looked at Radish Servant pitifully.
‘What?’
Whap!
Radish Servant smacked Potato Servant with a bundle of coins.
“You rascal!!”
— LOL
— What the hell? lol
— Sudden outburst lmao
“Wh-What’s wrong?!”
“You?! You get nothing until your debt’s paid! Three-zero split!”
“What?! Then what am I supposed to live on?!”
“You’ll get food, don’t worry.”
“Ah... then what’s my share after I pay it off?”
Radish Servant glanced at Almond. If Almond received his full 70% once the Fertile Soil was paid off, then Sweet Radish could set Potato Servant’s pay.
However, Almond just shook his head like an old executive. “Must you bring that up now on such a good day?”
“N-No, sir!”
Radish Servant turned and punted Potato Servant in frustration. “Potato Servant! You think you’re in any position to talk shares?! Huh? What’s next, you wanna debate philosophy with me?!”
— Food chain hierarchy lol
— Philosophy lol
— LMAO
— Poor Potato Servant
“N-No, sir! Sorry, sir!”
“I’ll take care of you. Just keep your mouth shut.”
“Y-Yes, sir...”
The split remained at 70:30:0 for now.
Sweet Radish immediately raised his glass to Almond. “Almond, my lord! On such a fine day, won’t you share a drink with this humble Radish Servant?”
— Radish Servant sucking up is insane lol
— Kya
— Is this... Almond’s feudal society?
While Nonghyup fell apart, their own hierarchy and power only grew more secure.