Season 4: Chapter 129. Bubble Daily (3)
Shhhk.
The capsule opened, and Sang-Hyeon sat up. He had just logged out and escaped the salary negotiation.
“Phew. That was long.”
Sang-Hyeon instinctively checked his arm and saw no noticeable tremor. Even long sessions in Cheese Village weren’t too taxing. The game didn’t require fast reflexes, apart from the frantic digging earlier to scoop up all the Fertile Soil. Compared to the games he usually played, that was nothing.
“Don’t you think you’re streaming too long these days?” Ju-Hyeok poked his head in and frowned.
It was already dinner time. Sang-Hyeon realized he’d skipped meals again.
“It’s fine. I keep going because I can.” He stretched his aching muscles. “Urgh... What should I eat for dinner?”
He had stuffed himself at lunch, but eight hours had passed. Hunger gnawed at him again.
“Eh, too late to cook now.” Ju-Hyeok checked the clock and licked his lips.
“Chicken?”
“Chicken.”
Clap.
They high-fived each other in rare, but perfect agreement.
“Let’s head out. The stream is doing well anyway... How about some beer too?”
“Of course.”
They weren’t talking about delivery chicken. They meant the old-fashioned fried chicken joint in the neighborhood. The same kind of food that Sang-Hyeon’s grandmother used to bring home.
“Heh.” Ju-Hyeok smiled with childlike glee.
‘He’s a rich kid, but obsessed with this greasy stuff...’
Sang-Hyeon smirked and slipped on his shoes. The contrast never failed to amuse him.
***
While Sang-Hyeon and Ju-Hyeok enjoyed their long-awaited chicken-and-beer night, Cheese Village was buzzing.
Bubblegum had just returned home.
“This is it. A scoop. No, the scoop.”
Excited beyond words, he rushed to see an NPC vendor known as Selly.
“Hey! Got any paper? I need something for wall posters.”
“Paper? We’re not that advanced... but I’ve got some cloth. It works the same. Images print on it fine. Why, though? You’re the herb guy, aren’t you?”
“I need a new career. I applied to the Knights, but let’s be real... I won’t get in.”
“Oh? What career?” Selly tilted his head.
He remembered Bubblegum and had been buying herbs from him since the beginning.
“I want to be this village’s first journalist.”
Selly frowned. “Journalist? That’s not a class.”
— LOL
— NPC broke immersion
— DIY job path incoming
— no class? Then MAKE it
“Exactly! I’m making it. Hahaha!”
A journalist class didn’t exist. Bubblegum just wanted to roleplay it.
“There is something similar.”
“What?”
“A related path. Want to hear about it?”
Bubblegum blinked. He hadn’t expected anything like this.
Ding!
[You have discovered the hidden class: Storyteller.]
— HOLY SHIT
— Hidden??
— WTF lol
— This man’s luck is insane
In this world, hidden classes could appear if one interacted enough with NPCs, like when Big Farm received a Patron Coin through land deals.
“What... what?! Is this for real?”
Ding!
[You have received a Storyteller Coin.]
“The Storyteller class only requires one coin to advance. Try it if you’re interested.” Selly bowed like a wandering swordsman and ended the conversation.
“Thank you!”
Bubblegum instantly used the coin.
[Bubblegum has advanced to 1st-class Storyteller.]
The entire server found out about his class advancement.
***
“Storyteller?”
“What the hell is that?”
“Never heard of it.”
“A hidden class?”
The chat buzzed about it. Hidden classes were rare, secretive, and powerful.
“Nah, not Bubblegum.”
“Yeah, as if.”
People laughed it off.
— Hidden = OP. This ain’t it
— Bubblegum getting a hidden class is pretty unbelievable
They dismissed it because of Bubblegum. To them, a hidden class had to be strong. The Storyteller class didn’t seem to boost combat at all, but strength didn’t only have to do with swords. Sometimes, words cut deeper.
***
Meanwhile, at Sweet Radish’s house, only the servant duo remained frowning after Almond logged off,.
“Requests for interviews keep getting canceled.”
“Canceled?”
“Yeah. I sent whispers after reviewing resumes, and they just... don’t show up.”
Radish Servant’s face hardened. Recruitment was vital, but suddenly, nobody wanted in.
“Where are they going? The Nonghyup Union?”
“No clue.”
“Those bastards...”
“Could it be... our reputation?”
Radish Servant rubbed his chin. “Probably. The Union played the propaganda game hard. When Donuts drove out the invaders, we sat idle...”
“Come on! We just went for lunch, that’s all. Since when is that a crime?”
“Hmm.”
Radish Servant knew a lot about combat, farming, and war, but not public opinion.
“I don’t know. What do we do?”
“I bet the Union is already spinning a story about the fire and saying they put it out.” Potato Servant had nailed it. “They’ll spin it like this. Sure, they died in the fire, but they’ll still act like heroes. As if they came to save us, when really, they were there to bury us.”
Radish Servant lowered his head. “Dammit. What do we do?”
Politics was beyond him. He only knew how to farm, fight, and lead raids. Manipulating opinions was a battle of words, not swords.
“Half the interviews are canceled already. Some don’t even bother saying anything, just no-shows.”
— Oh no...
— Man, this is rough
— Can’t the fertile soil balance it out?
— Not if people won’t join
“The truth is, they tried to kill us, but people still see them as heroes... How do we prove otherwise? We can’t grab every villager and explain it to them.”
“It wouldn’t matter. We have no evidence.”
“Politics is brutal.”
“Damn it all.”
Ding.
A whisper arrived.
[(Whisper) BlackTea: Sir Radish Servant, we picked up something strange.]
***
It was midnight in reality, but the sun was just rising in Cheese Village. Bubblegum chose this very moment for his debut. At the center of the village square, where history had unfolded and the Pyromancer’s lava still smoldered, he stood tall and declared the birth of Cheese’s first press.
Thump.
[The Bubble Daily]
He hammered the name onto a giant noticeboard.
— LOOOOL The Bubble Daily
— Newspaper meta incoming
— The Cheese Times can’t compete
— The People’s Press!
“They laughed when I discovered the Storyteller class.”
He recalled Miho and Takoyaki cracking up, saying what was the use even if he got a hidden class.
“Today, I’ll prove it. The pen is mightier than the sword!”
— Woooooo
— REVOLUTION
— Long live the resistance
— LOL
He formed a hand seal with his fingers.
[Extra Edition]
Shhhhhhk!
Dozens of cloth sheets burst into the air, scattering like cherry blossoms in the wind.
— WTF ninja photocopier
— Copy-jutsu IRL
— This is actually dope
— ??? Making newspapers in a world without paper
“Extraaa! Extraaa!!” he shouted like a town crier.
Heads turned.
“What the hell?”
“Holy, look at that!”
Fliers rained down, each with the same headline.
[Great Fire of Cheese Village: Only the Knights Ran Into the Flames]
[Great Fire of Cheese Village: Only the Knights Ran Into the Flames]
[Great Fire of Cheese Village: Only the Knights Ran Into the Flames]
Everywhere, hundreds of copies all screamed the same words.
‘The Storyteller class is... insane.’
Why scatter so many? Was it out of conviction, truth-telling, or civic duty? Only partly, his real reason was much bolder.
[The Bubble Daily]
For the sake of brand recognition, he had stamped his name on every sheet.
“What’s The Bubble Daily?”
“Check the article.”
They read it aloud.
[Great Fire of Cheese Village: Only the Knights Ran Into the Flames]
“The Knights?”
“Where’s the Union?”
“Look at that shot. They charged straight into the blaze. That’s insane.”
“All three of them?”
The photo told the story better than any amount of words. Three armored backs, heroes incarnate, strode into the scarlet flames. When people saw heroes, they forgave everything else.
“Wait, so the Knights hadn’t been absent when the invaders came? They were just eating lunch?”
“Exactly. You can’t fight on an empty stomach.”
“And the protection fees? That was just a rumor. They never even confirmed it.”
“So, it was all a misunderstanding?”
The rumors dissolved, and opinions shifted.
“Damn... I was going to skip my interview. I’m going now.”
“Interview? Today?”
“Yeah. I gotta DM them quick.”
Even those who canceled started reconsidering.
Thud.
A flyer landed at Donuts’s feet. He froze and stared at the headline.
‘What the...?’
His face instantly reddened. “This, this is media collusion!!”
— LMFAOOOOO
— The Bubble Daily got him
— From arsonists to heroes in one edition
— This is society, baby
— Politics 101
The villagers gathered and whispered.
“Wait... what were the Nonghyup Union doing during the fire?”
“Why did they show up late, all at once?”
“Didn’t they tank potato prices too?”
“Feels shady...”
The tide of opinions was turning.