Chapter 47 of Season 1 of The Genius Archer's Streaming

16. Turning Adversity into Advantage (5)

Creak.

As he came out of the manager's office, closing the glass door, the section chief glared at Kim Gi-yeol with a deep sigh.

"Last time, I told you to write up a report in advance. Submit it right away."

"......"

Kim Gi-yeol did not respond.

"Surely you didn't write it?"

"......"

"Damn brat. You......"

The section chief glanced around for a moment and then said, "Forget it," before going back to his desk.

Kim Gi-yeol, watching his back, quietly muttered,

"......F*ck."

Now his life at the company had hit rock bottom.

* * *

Sanghyun had finished his breakfast with cereal and was brushing his teeth.

Creak.

At that moment, Joo-hyuk entered the bathroom.

"Hey? Yo. How did it go yesterday? I fell asleep waiting for you."

"Ah......"

When he came back last night, Joo-hyuk was already asleep, due to drinking with Manager Han Tae-ho until late.

After rinsing his mouth, Sanghyun replied,

"It went well."

"Huh? What do you mean, how well?!"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. Well......"

Joo-hyuk was almost dying of frustration but waited for him to speak.

"He seems to like me."

"Based on what?"

"He asked me to teach him some archery later. We also made another appointment. The section chief."

"!"

Joo-hyuk's expression twisted in a rather amusing way.

"That's amazing?!"

"Is it?"

"Of course it is!"

Sanghyun nodded.

'It's a good thing.'

Sanghyun knew it was good, but he didn't want to show too much enthusiasm to Joo-hyuk.

"Wow. Archery is your hobby? If you give him private lessons later, that's really...... This is really good? Wow......"

Even after saying this much, Joo-hyuk was still drinking the kimchi soup in one go.

If he had shown more enthusiasm, it would have been a disaster.

Joo-hyuk asked with high expectations,

"Hey...... But there was something more important, right?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean the Battle Large thing."

"Oh...... that."

"Did you talk about it? Huh?"

"They said they would contact the other manager."

"......!"

Joo-hyuk's eyes widened.

"R-really?"

"Why would I lie to you about this?"

"No, no, I know it's real. Just a figure of speech."

"Don't get your hopes up. It might just have been a casual remark."

"Don't tell me not to get my hopes up! That's completely fine, isn't it?!"

Joo-hyuk immediately sat in front of the computer.

"Ooh! It's here! It's really here!"

About a minute later, Joo-hyuk jumped up.

The screen he pointed to was Almond's email inbox.

There was an email with this subject:

"Your suspension has been lifted, and we will provide a certain compensation...... We apologize for the inconvenience......"

The content was, of course, that the suspension had been lifted, and a certain compensation had been provided.

"Hey. It seems real?"

Joo-hyuk turned around with a smile. Sanghyun tilted his head.

What does he mean by 'real'?

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, they like you. Given how quickly it was resolved, they must really like you."

Sanghyun then checked the time.

'It's 9 AM now......'

If they called the other company's manager's office so early in the morning, they must have really cared about Sanghyun.

"I'll make him a real archery master?"

Joo-hyuk chuckled and headed to the kitchen.

Seeing Joo-hyuk rummaging through the cabinets in the kitchen,

Sanghyun chuckled.

'What is this rich kid doing here?'

Sanghyun never thought Joo-hyuk would end up like this. He always seemed to be the perfect elite, didn't he?

"Hey. What are you doing this early in the morning?"

"You might think I'm done with just some snacks and milk, but I prefer a proper breakfast."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes, it is."

Joo-hyuk seemed to be preparing breakfast for himself.

'In that case, I'll stretch a bit.'

Sanghyun's body was stiff from drinking a lot last night. After a brief stretch, he planned to go for a workout.

"Oh."

But there was something he needed to do first.

'I need to post on the board.'

He needed to inform his fans on his personal community that the issue was resolved.

Sanghyun put on his sneakers for convenience and wrote a post on his phone while heading out for a workout.

* * *

A post on Almond's board.

Due to the incident where Almond was reported as a cheater and received a suspension, the viewers were already on edge, waiting for new news.

The reaction was quick.

-Oh. lolol

-lolol

-That's how it should be.

-Is that all the compensation they're giving?

-lolol Oh man...... So spicy lol

-It seems they finally admitted they were wrong?

-They admitted it, so we'll let it slide.

-Give me back the broadcast I missed yesterday!!!

Most viewers congratulated or expressed anger towards the Battle Large staff.

They were angry because the compensation they offered was too insignificant.

-Wow, they're just giving a skin as compensation?

-lolol

-It was only a one-day suspension, so......

-That's still a gain, but it's really too much. It's not just a matter of profit and loss, right?

-It's more about the system's flaws being exposed......

-This was possible because we sent hot topics and complained. If it were just a regular person, they would have been screwed.

This post spread to various other communities, and ultimately, Almond's innocence was revealed.

This interesting incident caught the attention of journalists who were already preparing to criticize Battle Large's operations.

Articles with titles like:

-And so on.

These articles themselves did not receive much attention, but when issue-focused YouTubers started picking them up, the major public finally became aware of the incident.

-And so on. A few issue-focused YouTubers started driving the so-called 'traffic' with similar titles.

There were already many issues with Battle Large before this, and they had all been building up.

The day the Battle Large staff admitted their mistake:

"Hello, everyone. This is Small Long."

A YouTuber with his face hidden made a passionate speech with confident gestures.

"Battle Large. How many times have the staff acted like dogs? This is the first game! The first game! How can they ban a user for being a cheater in the first game? How messed up is this?"

He added:

"Punk Co. called Battle Large. On the manager's line. So it was fixed two days later. Originally, they just threw Almond's email in the trash. They didn't know Almond was a Punk partner because Almond had few viewers."

-Wow lol

-This is legendary.

-They tried to apologize after two days, but it's really annoying.

-lolol Wow. This is K management!

-They must have tried to cover it up.

The video received 100,000 views in just 3 hours.

Many people were angry about Battle Large's management practices.

Or so they thought.

Later, it turned out the reason was completely different.

-How good do you have to be to be reported as a cheater in the first game?

-I'm really curious about his skills.

-Is Almond not a Kingdom expert? And he hit the peak right from the start?

-Is that even possible?

-There's an Almond video. Let's watch it.

The variable was the casual user base.

Casual users who played Battle Large lightly were not that angry about the management.

They were just interested in Almond's identity, who was reported as a cheater in the first game.

-Show me the Almond video.

-Small Long has lost his初心. Did he edit the video like this?

-How good do you have to be in the first game to be seen as a cheater?

-lolol I want to see it too.

Many people wanted to see Almond's skills.

Eventually, Small Long added a link in the "More" section.

-Hello, everyone. This is Small Long. The video of Almond's play that many of you were curious about is linked in the "More" section.

* * *

It was around the time Sanghyun was about to have dinner.

"Hmm......?"

Sanghyun, who was eating soup, looked at his phone with a strange expression.

Joo-hyuk asked,

"Why...... Is it not good? I made it based on 'Seung-woo's mom' YouTube......"

"No, it's not that. Our YouTube views...... Are they usually...... around 400,000?"

"......What?"

That's impossible. The average is around 50,000.

Joo-hyuk muttered this while looking at his phone.

Since he was in charge of Seo Ji-a's YouTube, he hadn't noticed.

"!"

Joo-hyuk's eyes almost popped out from behind his glasses.

"Is this really 400,000? 40,000...... no?"

"What...... Sometimes other YouTubers' videos get a sudden spike like this."

Sanghyun said this and continued eating.

Sanghyun was deliberately controlling his emotions.

Not to get too excited or too disappointed easily.

Basic mental management as an archer.

"Hey! What's your reaction? Even if it's not usual, 400,000 is a lot...... There must be a reason, right?"

"Hmm......"

Sanghyun had only one guess.

"Is it because of the suspension incident?"

Upon further investigation, several videos related to Almond appeared.

Joo-hyuk was amazed after watching the videos.

"Wow...... How many views does this have? They really drew a lot of attention."

"Turning adversity into advantage. Just as you said."

Phew.

Joo-hyuk laughed.

I never thought the words he said when the suspension happened would come true.

"Ha-ha-ha! I told you──"

"Well, YouTube views don't have much to do with live streams. Let's work hard."

Sanghyun shut Joo-hyuk up.

He shouldn't get too excited or too disappointed.

Even the popularity of celebrities can be fleeting, and such a video is like a candle in the wind.

* * *

After finishing dinner.

Sanghyun did some stretching to aid digestion and entered the capsule.

The broadcast started on time.

This was now a familiar routine.

As the intro music played, the chat window appeared.

-Hello!

-Is this Almond?

-Hello!

-Almond, hi!

-Wow, so many viewers today lol

-I came after watching Small Long's video lol

-Really, he started at 7 PM!?

The chat was unusually fast today.

Sanghyun, seeing the number of viewers at the bottom of the chat window,

"!"

Th