Chapter 51 of Genius Archer's Streaming Season 1

18. Unexpected Audience (1)

Five thousand viewers.

Achieving such results in a short period could be considered a marketing success.

His experience at the company proved valuable.

'This is the vibe that comes from experience.'

Although Juhyeok was not in the marketing department,

he had always been interested in marketing.

That's why he always got along well with the senior managers in that department.

-Noise marketing is a double-edged sword. But for those who have nothing to lose, there's nothing better.

This was one of the things he often said.

-Look at the hip-hop diss battles. It always favors the less famous side.

So, the incident where Almond and the staff had a dispute was bound to favor Almond.

The effects of that are now showing in these results.

It wasn't intentional noise, but it was a huge success in noise marketing.

From Juhyeok's analysis, most of today's viewers were first-time viewers, and they came through a specific link.

In other words, the broadcast's scale had significantly increased.

'Now, the key is how to maintain this.'

Juhyeok's mouse pointer moved toward Almond, who was running hard in the virtual desert.

'It's up to you.'

Just because 5,000 people came today doesn't mean it will continue.

In fact, it might be a bubble that will burst soon.

Interest driven by a temporary issue is always like that.

Turning that bubble into real assets depends on Almond's performance.

'You can do it, I'm sure.'

As always.

Almond will handle it effortlessly.

* * *

Did Juhyeok's wish come true?

After winning the 4-on-1 fight, Almond's momentum was unstoppable.

Pew!

Almond's arrow, flying swiftly, pierced the enemy's head.

- Wow, another kill!?

- Another one!

- How many kills already?

The users in the Stones rating, who could barely kill Almond, were now helpless.

"Alright, I'll start farming bodies now."

Moreover, Almond had mastered how to play in this rating.

Instead of focusing on farming, he just went ahead and killed everyone.

There was a significant skill gap.

Not only in aiming, but also in game sense, he had no rivals in this rating.

Swish, swish.

With his now quite skilled hand movements, he searched the bodies for items.

The first aid kit was a pretty good item, but Almond's expression wasn't good.

"I need to find a helmet, but there's none."

He already had two first aid kits.

Currently, he lacked a helmet. If he had one, he could fully farm.

But it wasn't appearing.

- This rating is so bad, everyone just runs around without farming.

- Everyone lacks a helmet, lol. Is that good or bad?

- Without a helmet in front of Almond, you're dead.

- 12 kills.

Whether it was good luck or bad, he hadn't encountered anyone with a helmet.

Thanks to that, he had already recorded 12 kills with headshots.

"I want to find a helmet..."

He thought it would be better to find a helmet. After all, it's a survival game, and the number of kills isn't that important.

- lol

- Haha, that's true.

- You say it so casually, lol.

- Ah, helmet seller... Lord Imma, thank you for 5,000 won. I decided not to farm. It just doesn't appear. I'll just kill people who have it.

- lol Body farming

- Almond-style farming

- Almond-class farming technique

- Nut-class farming technique

- lol Helmet killer

Almond's confident (or overconfident) statement made the chat scroll up rapidly.

This was the mindset they expected from a genius.

The pleasure of ignoring basic rules with overwhelming skill.

"Anyway, I'll target people with helmets. I'll let those without go if nothing happens."

Almond declared his farming strategy, checked the blue zone again, and started moving.

- Not a prisoner, lol

- Beginners have dilemmas, lol

- The biggest life dilemma, lol

- Doc2222

- Avoid Almond's hunt! You noobs!

"Thank you for the support, Lord Hae-soo. Hmm? There's someone over there."

Pew!

He killed them as if swatting a fly.

Bang!

The suddenly fallen enemy fired a few shots into the air before collapsing.

The sudden shock made his finger pull the trigger automatically.

"Making noise as you go... No helmet, either."

Almond walked away, indifferent to the noise.

- Crazy, lol

- What just happened?

- Fly life, lol?

- Killing and complaining about noise, lol

- lol Too much

Almond scratched his head at the continuous teasing.

"Ah... Was it like that?"

Ha ha.

Almond, laughing while farming.

The chat was flooded with 'lol'.

'But there are unusually many supporters today.'

Almond thought while taking a few energy drinks from the enemy's bag.

Almond's stream wasn't one that received a lot of support.

The same went for Dotorimuk's stream. Compared to the number of viewers, the support rate was very low, a characteristic of game streams.

'?!'

Almond's eyes widened as he glanced at the bottom of the chat.

'What... What is this?'

It was an absurd number, making him wonder how he would manage his expression.

Over 5,500 viewers.

'If you have over 5,000, you can become a full-time streamer... Even with a monthly income of 7-800,000 won...'

Juhyeok's words echoed in his ears.

The moments of his salary, overtime, and entertainment at the company flashed by.

'Wow...'

Almond's lips twitched like a roller coaster.

Almond, trying to manage his expression, and Almond, dying to laugh.

'Checking was a mistake.'

Indeed, it's better not to check the number of viewers during a stream.

Almond thought this and tried to focus on the game again, pretending to be calm.

Was it a slight lapse?

Rattle.

A strange sound came, and suddenly a grenade was staring at him from right next to him.

'Hello?'

It looked like it was greeting him.

Almond's pupils shrank to the size of peas.

'?!'

He had to make a decision.

In a very short moment.

When was it thrown?

When was the pin pulled?

Can I dodge it by running?

Should I kick it?

It was an ambiguous distance.

Would I die if I tried to kick it?

Or──

'That's it.'

Almond, making a quick decision, took out his bow and rolled backward.

* * *

Balloon Gum Sniper.

This term floats around Trivia like a meme.

It refers to people who snipe and continuously harass Balloon Gum, a popular streamer who isn't very good at the game.

Some of them deliberately sabotage to lower the rating and wait.

"Ah, where is Balloon Gum... According to the stream, he was around here."

A user with the ominous ID 'BalloonSniper' muttered with a bored voice.

He was a notorious sniper who pretended to help Balloon Gum but tortured him until the end and then killed him.

He was skilled enough to do that, being in the upper Diamond rating.

Slightly better than the team 'MondayIsGreat' Almond met before. They were generally mid-Diamond users.

'Is that him?'

He sensed something and hid his body.

His senses and reaction speed were on a different level from the typical users in this rating.

Bang!

As expected, gunshots rang out soon.

'What?'

But the gunshots were short.

Is he already dead?

He scanned the area with sharp eyes and found Almond farming.

'It's not Balloon Gum. I should take care of him.'

He checked Almond's items.

A compound bow, a bulletproof vest, but no helmet.

'One grenade should do it.'

BalloonSniper quietly took out a grenade and carefully pulled the pin with his teeth.

Click.

A very subtle metallic sound.

Silently rolling the grenade to assassinate the enemy was one of his specialties.

'Everyone except Balloon Gum must die.'

He held the grenade like an egg, carefully letting go of the safety handle.

It would explode in 10 seconds.

'1... 2... 3...'

Expertly overcoming the anxiety that it might explode in his hand, he rolled it at 4 seconds.

'4!'

Rattle.

It started rolling with much less noise than a typical grenade.

'About 2 seconds left.'

The enemy had only 2 seconds to react.

That's if they noticed the grenade in time.

The grenade landed at a distance where kicking it was awkward and running back was too late.

Thud.

Even if they noticed it with 2 seconds left, what could a user in this rating do?

'It's over...'

Just as he thought it was over,

No, even faster, the enemy turned and threw himself backward.

'What?'

An unexpected reaction speed.

To Almond, it seemed like he was thinking about something else and reacted late, but to BalloonSniper, it looked almost like a prediction.

'Even if he dodges, he can't avoid the damage. I just need to finish him off.'

Of course, it was impossible to completely avoid the grenade.

That was BalloonSniper's experience.

But──

"!?"

Click!

The grenade bounced once more.

And it flew back in the opposite direction.

'Crazy, with an arrow...?!'

He shot the arrow at a clever angle, knocking the grenade up.

If he hit the grenade directly, it would explode, and if he missed slightly, it would have no effect.

He penetrated the countless probabilities and hit the exact 45-degree point on the bottom of the grenade with the arrow.

Even while rolling backward.

Whoosh.

The grenade, like a soccer ball, flew back to BalloonSniper.

He had only 0.2 seconds to react.

"Damn. This is a bug..."

Boom!

Before he could finish his curse, BalloonSniper was thrown back and hit the wall.

Thud!

"Ugh!"

Amid the blurred vision from the shock, a voice was heard.

"Oh, this one has a helmet."

"What??"

Pew!

An arrow pierced his throat like a nail.