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Chapter 6: Who’s Almond? (1)

They still sold older games like Kingdom Age by the disc. These older games tended to grow a loyal player base over time, but Kingdom Age had an unusually strong fanbase. Most likely because its realism and difficulty always felt refreshing even after multiple playthroughs.

Of course, the game discouraged many players in the beginning. Actually, the majority gave up since this game targeted hardcore gamers as its audience. It didn’t have a large player base, but the players left remained extremely loyal.

Likewise, not many users existed on the Kingdom Age forums. However, the number of posts and traffic rivaled other popular games. These forum users passionately studied the game, found tips and tricks to improve, and always shared relevant information. As a result, the forum posts became quite repetitive and everyone knew each other.

Hence, a new post like this quickly gained traction.

[Watched a weird stream today. Roman complimented a beginner.]

A beginner with a compliment from Roman?

These magical words together guaranteed attention on the forum. Any Kingdom Age player would click on such a title.

— Watch this clip.

— I’m serious. His capsule profile is in the description.

— Roman complimented him and left. Also, the cutscene where the boss is supposed to run away didn’t appear because he died wtf LOL

The forum post could be summed up quite simply. Sang-Hyeon killed the boss, forced the game to skip a cutscene, and the notorious Roman complimented him.

The post came attached with a video clip as well. The user recorded the stream and even included Sang-Hyeon’s capsule profile in the description. It wasn’t just clickbait and had evidence to back it up.

— Wow, I thought for sure this post was just fishing for attention.

— The fuck, I thought it was a fake clip or something. How is this possible??

— What the…?

The majority either reacted with disbelief or refused to believe it entirely.

— The account was made yesterday?!

└ Is this staged?

└ Of course it is. Is this your first time seeing someone fishing for attention? A new user?

└ The user above clearly didn’t watch the clip…

— Isn’t it an expert doing the bow challenge? It has to be a smurf!

└ Yeah, sure. Smurfing on a capsule. Good one.

└ Yeah, of course it’s a smurf. You just need to get an entirely new body. It’s not that hard LOL

└ LOL yeah, you’re right.?

Many users didn’t believe it because they’d invested their fair share of hours into the game and took pride in their gameplay. However, the video didn’t lie.

Fake accounts couldn’t be made in the age of capsule gaming which required fingerprints, retina scans, body scans, and various biological assessments to verify players. The public could also view when the streamer created their profile.

— Almond? I googled him and nothing came up. What the heck?

— For real, where does he stream? Doesn’t everyone stream on Treevy these days?

└ Treevy, you moron.

— He’s on Treevy judging from the clip. Why’s there no information on him?

— Hey, I’m the OP. He was just a complete beginner when I watched him. Even the stream title was auto-generated. It was like some code or something lmao. I left the link to his stream. Take a look. (LINK)

└ Wow, he didn’t even have a stream title?

└ It seems like he doesn’t know what he’s doing LOL

‘Oops.’

Sang-Hyeon paused while reading the forum.

“Oh, crap…”

He just discovered that he streamed without a streamer name.

“Thank goodness they added a link too.”

Thankfully, the post included a link to his stream. That would do for now. He read more of their reactions after calming himself.

— But that means he’s like hella new to the game… How the fuck did he do it…

— Killing the boss. Even JeonJaPa couldn’t do it on his bow challenge, no?

└ Oh yeah, I remember JeonJaPa saying you have to use the bow to kill the boss because he can parry every other attack.?

└ Apparently, you have to shoot with perfect timing too.?

└ How can someone who made their account yesterday do something even JeonJaPa couldn’t?

└ JeonJaPa… that guy used to do the bow challenge, but now he quit.

└ This game isn’t worthy enough for JeonJaPa to play… he’s too famous now…

They kept comparing somebody named JeonJaPa to Sang-Hyeon.

‘JeonJaPa?’

Sang-Hyeon didn’t know any streamer by that name because he only watched BubbleGum.

‘I think I’ve seen the name before though.’

He vaguely remembered seeing it when he searched for top player streams. JeonJaPa must’ve been one of those pro gamers. Sang-Hyeon recalled one particular comment.

— Faker, Dopa, next is JeonJaPa.

Twenty years ago, Faker and Dopa dominated their generation. Everyone knew them, even Sang-Hyeon who had no interest in games. He even learned about them in school where their achievements were described as a textbook battle of the century.

Faker and Dopa, the legends of battle. Many users compared JeonJaPa to the greatest players of all time.

“Wow.”

And now, they compared JeonJaPa to him. Granted, lots of people held strong opinions about it.

— Don’t use JeonJaPa’s name in vain!

— You think you can just throw JeonJaPa’s name around like that?

— Sigh, not even worth replying.

— But it’s true, no? JeonJaPa couldn’t do that?

— Don’t you know? JeonJaPa isn’t interested in older games.

└ Doesn’t matter whether he likes it or not. He couldn’t do it and that’s a fact.

└ No one like you and that’s a fact.

— Ah, the JeonJaFans are swarming again.

— It’s like Beetlejuice. You’re fucked if you say his name.?

Sang-Hyeon closed the forum.

“Woah…”

They already compared him to the best in the industry. He honestly felt overwhelmed, but Sang-Hyeon had been an athlete all his life. He enjoyed the pressure.

“Hell yeah.”

Sang-Hyeon innocently smiled like a child.

Ring! Ring!

His phone suddenly rang.

[Kim Ju-Hyeok]

It came from Ju-Hyeok. Sang-Hyeon didn’t have a chance to thank Joo-Hyeok yet and eagerly answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, how did the stream go?”

“Yeah, it went well. Thanks to you.”

“Really? That’s a relief. The owner was a bit worried too.”

“It’s all good. I think everything is working properly.”

“Are you getting any viewers?”

“Uh… I think there were around twenty viewers by the end of the stream.”

“Two… twenty!? On your first day?”

Ju-Hyeok spoke so loud that it surprised Sang-Hyeon.

“Uh… yeah. I picked a good game.”

“Damn, you’re cut out for this. Why’d you ever work here?”

“Easy entry to a big corporate job. Who wouldn’t?”

“Fucker…”

“Anyways, I’ll buy you a drink sometime. I have to stream now.”

“Huh? It’s lunch right now. Don’t you normally stream in the evenings?”

“There’s no lunch or dinner time. This is my job now.”

“You used to never lift a finger at work even during lunch and dinner. Alright then.”

Beep.

Ju-Hyeok hung up while shaking his head.

“Haha…”

His tone sounded mocking, but he wore a smile.

‘Thank goodness he’s trying.’

Ju-Hyeok scolded him, but he always knew Sang-Hyeon was diligent. It felt good to see Sang-Hyeon showing that off while streaming too.

“Ah.”

Ju-Hyeok scratched his head while smiling.

“I had something to tell him. Damn it, I forgot.”

He called because the capsule cafe boss wanted to tell Sang-Hyeon something.

‘What was it?’

Ju-Hyeok tried to remember, but it kept eluding him. Something to do with getting the best physical connection or something. Ju-Hyeok didn’t know much about capsule gaming, so the vocabulary confused him.

“Associate Kim!”

The manager shouted and interrupted his thoughts.

“Yes!”

“Look at this. How can you eat right now? Look at what your assistant did…”

‘This motherfucker…’

***

Crunch. Crunch.

Sang-Hyeon turned on the capsule while snacking on the almonds he’d been saving for emergencies. He wanted to eat a proper meal, but didn’t have time. His heart raced from the community’s recent reactions and he felt full of energy. He didn’t need to eat because all their attention fueled him.

Gulp. Gulp.

Still, he needed to quench his thirst by drinking some milk. The milk and almond combination expanded in his stomach and filled him. They contained all the proteins, carbs, and fat for a surprisingly healthy diet. He often ate this substitute meal when he had no money.

“Shall we start?”

Sang-Hyeon wiped the milk off his face and entered the capsule.

[STREAM IS STARTING]

He began streaming like yesterday, but a bizarre number appeared.

[CURRENT VIEWERS: 189]

“What?!”

Sang-Hyeon’s jaws dropped.

— Oh hey, Almond’s here.

— What the… Wasn’t he supposed to stream in the evening?

— Lucky us.

— Oh wow, he started streaming right when I turned on notifications.

— Now we can see and judge for ourselves.

— Hi Almond!

— Hi hi!

The number of viewers and chat messages obviously increased.

‘This much?’

He couldn’t have imagined how that small forum would impact his stream.

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