Chapter 43 of "The Genius Archer's Streaming Season 1"

16. Turning Adversity into Advantage (1)

- It's 3 against 1. Is this possible?

- Of course! 😂

- They won't even help in the Blue Zone.

At first, the viewers were skeptical.

Or perhaps, they were certain.

They thought it was impossible for Almond to come in first.

- Wow, one person fainted?

- The second one just died instantly?!

- Wow, that parabolic shot is amazing!

- 😱😱😱😱😱😱

- It became 1 against 1 in an instant?

Their certainty quickly wavered.

After two were eliminated, the atmosphere changed.

It suddenly became 1 against 1 from 3 against 1.

Even though the opponent had a sniper rifle, 1 against 1 was unpredictable.

- No way, really? First place?

- Oh my god, please...

- The chances are slim since the opponent is a sniper.

- But if you spot them first, you might win...

- Can't you chase the crawling enemy?

- Why aren't you chasing them?

- Chase them, Almond!!

- What? They're somewhere else?

- Wow, what a trick! 😂😂😂😂

- Wow... insane!

- Oh!!! You got a hit!

- What's next?

- Next...!

- What?!

- Wowwwwwww!!!

- He dodged...

[1st Place]

The moment this text appeared on the screen,

it felt like a virtual cheer could be heard.

- Wowwwwwww!

- Impressive!

- Almond! Almond! Almond! Almond! Almond! Almond!

- Wow, you did it.

- Really first place?!

- Are you cheating, Almond~~

Who would have thought that Almond would secure first place in a solo squad, and with a bow on his first match!

When Almond rolled off the parachute at the beginning, no one expected such an outcome.

['Solo Squad 1st Place' Mission Completed!]

[250,000 won has been donated.]

['1st Place with a Bow' Mission Completed!]

[210,000 won has been donated.]

The mission rewards, which had increased slightly, were deposited.

'460,000 won...!'

460,000 won earned in just one match.

To the current Almond, it was a significant amount of money.

"Thank you!"

He bowed his head in gratitude.

The donations didn't stop there.

[Omega has donated '10,000 won'.]

[Wow, bro, you were totally on fire today.]

[Hororuru has donated '5,000 won'.]

[This guy must have been Robin Hood in his past life.]

...

[Miho has donated '50,000 won'.]

[Almond, you did so well! 😄]

Among the many donations, one particularly stood out.

- What?

- Miho?

- It's real. Let's go.

- What are you going to post, lol? It's already a donation.

- 😂😂😂

- Miho!

The reaction to a 50,000 won donation wasn't the reason.

'Is she famous?'

It seemed a fairly well-known streamer had donated.

"Thank you, Miho. And thank you, Hororuru, Omega, and Doraemon for your donations."

Still, Almond didn't know who they were. He couldn't pretend to know, so he greeted them equally.

It seemed like it would just pass by.

[Miho has donated '50,000 won'.]

[Do you need a clan? 😄]

Until Miho donated again.

Another 50,000 won. Now it was 100,000 won in total. It couldn't just pass by.

The question was quite direct.

'Clan?'

A clan? Almond hadn't even considered it.

'I'm just a beginner.'

He was puzzled. No matter how impressive his play was, he was just a beginner.

A clan invitation? Was she mistaken?

- No way, Miho made such a proposal?

- Wow, really?

- Finally living up to your nickname?

- 😂😂😂 Feeding time 😂

- 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

- Are you becoming a CEO player?

- 😂😂😂fuck

- Ah~ If it's Miho, even exploitation is a thank you~

Looking at the chat, it seemed she was a female streamer. She rarely made such offers.

So why did she make one to Almond?

Because he showed exceptional talent?

"Ah, I'm still a beginner... I need to practice more. Thank you for the donation, Miho."

Almond politely declined. The reason was as he said: he was still a beginner.

It wasn't just to avoid being a nuisance.

If he joined a clan and played at a higher rating, his skills would naturally seem lacking.

This would damage his image as a skilled player.

So, this was a business rejection.

[Miho has donated '50,000 won'.]

[Ah, that's a shame 😄 If you change your mind, let me know!]

"Wow, thank you for the donation again. I'll definitely think about it."

Sanghyun thanked her again for the donation and ended the broadcast for the day.

"That's it for today. See you later!"

* * *

Squeak──

When he opened the capsule, Kim Joo-hyuk greeted him with this.

"Hey."

From his expression, it was clear he had already looked up who 'Miho' was.

"No joke, right?"

He showed Sanghyun the images on the screen, grinning widely.

"Wow..."

Sanghyun, being a man of few words, was momentarily stunned by Miho's photos.

Especially the photoshoots based on the nickname's motif of a fox.

"Ahem. Let's keep business separate."

Regaining his composure, Sanghyun turned his monitor away.

"Hmph. Of course."

Kim Joo-hyuk also turned his head, though his eyes still lingered on Miho's photos.

"How's the reaction?"

"Ah, right. The reaction."

Kim Joo-hyuk, who had been momentarily dazed, shook his head and showed the reactions from 'Kingchiman,' which could be considered Almond's home base.

[Almond, well done...]

[Is he going to make it? He's good at Battle Royale.]

[We should be grateful that we got to see Kingdom...]

[Almond's Kingdom was so good ㅠㅠ]

[The knight ending was really good 😂]

"Overall, it's very positive. Of course, there's more talk about Kingdom. It's natural, since it's Kingchiman."

"What about Battle Royale?"

"Ah, the biggest place is Battle31..."

Kim Joo-hyuk's expression was a bit sour.

The reactions he showed were like this:

[Almond, a cheater, reported.]

[That guy. He got a donation from Miho ㅅㅂ]

[How dare he get a donation from Miho? I'll report him.]

[1st place in solo squad 😂😂😂 Really a nasty cheater.]

Sanghyun's expression was calm.

"Here it is."

"Did you know?"

"Yeah, I saw the chat."

"Always so calm. Or should I say, shameless?"

"Well... it's not a big deal, is it?"

"Are you not going to address this?"

Sanghyun thought for a moment. The reason he was labeled as a cheater was probably because he was too good for his rating.

"Hmm... I guess. Since I'm hiding my body code, this situation arose. Should I reveal it again?"

At first, when he didn't know anything, he broadcasted with his body code exposed.

It was good for promoting Almond's character, but the body code was personal information, so it was risky.

He had received several texts about some verification attempts from China a while ago.

Since then, he had hidden his body code, like other streamers.

"Hey, that's not a good idea. Want to share your income with Chinese people?"

"Hmm... Then what can I do? This is attention, after all."

"True."

Kim Joo-hyuk nodded, not thinking it was a big deal.

"This level of noise is nothing. I actually see it as an opportunity."

"An opportunity?"

"If a big incident happens and you handle it successfully, your recognition will skyrocket. It's literally turning adversity into advantage."

* * *

The next day.

The grand turning of adversity into advantage that Joo-hyuk mentioned didn't happen.

In fact, the opposite occurred.

[Your account has been suspended.]

This was the email that arrived in Almond's inbox.

Sent by the Battle Royale management team.

"Hmm?"

Sanghyun, who was drinking coffee, was momentarily stunned.

'No fortune, just more trouble...'

In the midst of turning adversity into advantage, the trouble had only grown.

Whether it would turn into fortune later was unknown.

"Hey, Joo-hyuk. Come and look at this."

When he showed it to Joo-hyuk, he jumped up and adjusted his glasses.

"What? What's going on..."

Joo-hyuk was speechless as he read the text through his foggy glasses.

"Damn. These people really know how to cause trouble?"

He soon burst into a hollow laugh, with deep wrinkles on his forehead, clearly very angry.

"How could they suspend an account without verifying the facts?"

"Hmm..."

"Are you not bothered at all?"

Sanghyun's calm expression, as always. Joo-hyuk was flabbergasted.

"I didn't do anything wrong. It will work out. Let's respond to the site first."

Tap tap tap.

Sanghyun sent a response to the Battle Royale management team with a blank expression.

Of course, his response was not going to be properly received.

No answer came even after waiting for hours.

"Hmm... I didn't expect much, but their handling is really poor."

Joo-hyuk, who had finished breakfast, snorted.

"Those people who work like that, why would they listen to you?"

Muttering, Joo-hyuk typed on the keyboard and connected to Kingchiman.

"Actually, it's for the best."

"For the best?"

"Yeah. Let's turn this trouble into fortune."

"Is that possible?"

"Of course. You said it yourself. This is all attention."

"That's right."

"Let's try to get more attention."

"Ah...!"

Sanghyun understood what Joo-hyuk meant.

He immediately went to his channel's personal bulletin board.

"Should I post it?"

"You should post it first."

"Okay."

Sanghyun posted his grievances on the personal bulletin board, calmly and without whining.

[Hello, it's Almond. I have some bad news.]

The content of his post was about the suspension of his Battle Royale account.

Not long after it was posted, a few comments started to appear.

- What is this? 😂😂😂😂

- No way, they suspended a new account for cheating?

- First match cheater 😂😂😂😂😂

- Wow, that must be frustrating.

Given the absurdity of the situation, comments of sympathy and ridicule of the management team's incompetence started to appear.

Meanwhile, Joo-hyuk posted a thread on Kingchiman, pretending to be a viewer.

[Breaking News: Almond was a cheater!]

He wrote a provocative title.

The content of the post was a screenshot of Almond's bulletin board post.

And at the end...

'Official Management: If you're good, you're a cheater.'

This sentence was added.

Comments started to appear.

- First match cheater 😂😂😂😂

- There are people who openly cheat on live streams. Are the management team blind?

- They just applied the suspension because of many reports.

- This is because Almond is good. That's the reason.

- Still, he's a partner streamer. That's too much.

- The Battle Royale community is really nasty. Did they do this on purpose?

- Are they blinded by jealousy ㅅㅂ

The reaction on Kingchiman was quite harsh.

As a fanatical game community, they tend to stick with their favorite streamers until the end.

When they heard that Almond had been treated unfairly, they were all outraged.

[Current Issue: Almond, a cheater...]

Thanks to this, the post became a hot topic in the community.

The post, titled "First match, and already a cheater," started to spread to other game communities.

- 😂😂😂 Look at how the management team handles things.

- I knew they would do this.

- First match cheater 😂😂😂 So funny.

The management of Battle Royale had been criticized a lot before.

This incident was a perfect fuel.

The community was burning hot.

Even other game communities, unrelated to Battle Royale or Kingdom, had reactions.

However, they all had a common question.

- But how good could he be? They didn't even check his record and called him a cheater?

It was Almond's skill.

How good could he