Chapter 6 of Season 1 of The Genius Archer

3. Who is Almond? (1)

An old packaged game.

As with this type of game, over time, it tends to develop a significant number of hardcore fans.

Kingdom Age is particularly known for its thick layer of fans.

No matter how many times you play, the game's unique realism and difficulty prevent it from getting old.

Of course, many players, or rather, almost all, drop out early, feeling thoroughly disgusted from the start. Thus, it is a game for the die-hards.

The community also had a similar nature.

There weren't many users, but they were a select few.

Though few in number, the traffic of posts was on par with that of other moderately successful game communities.

Most of them were passionate gamers who exchanged information and studied to excel at this Kingdom Age.

Given this situation, the pattern of posts was always the same, and the posters were all known to each other.

So, it was natural that a fresh post like this would catch everyone's attention.

[Today I saw a strange broadcast. A complete newbie got praised by Roman.]

Complete newbie. Roman's praise.

These two words alone were magical in increasing the view count.

There would be no Kingdom Age player who wouldn't come in after seeing such a provocative post title.

====

Check this video.

It's real. Below is the capsule body information of that person.

Roman praised him to the skies. Plus, the boss escape cutscene didn't even appear; he just died. Haha.

====

The content of the post was simple.

Sanghyun killed the bandit leader in one go, making the cutscene disappear.

Moreover, he received praise from the newbie killer and critic, Roman.

There were also attached materials.

Sanghyun's video was uploaded, and below it was his body information from the broadcast details section.

In other words, it wasn't just a rumor; there was evidence.

- I thought it was a scam at first.

- What? I thought it was a scam too. Why is it real?

- What the...?

Most reactions were of great surprise, or outright disbelief.

- Isn't the account created yesterday?!

└ Is it fake?

└ It's fake. Damn, he's just stirring up trouble. It's a new user.

└ The guy above hasn't even watched the video...

- Isn't he a veteran doing the bow challenge? Isn't it a secondary account?!

└ Secondary account hahaha. Capsule hahaha.

└ Yeah, it's a secondary account. Just create a new body. What's so hard about that? Haha.

└ Haha.

Most people had played the game for a long time and were confident in their skills, so many didn't believe it.

However, the video didn't lie.

In the capsule era, you couldn't fake an account. Your fingerprints, iris, and bone structure were all proof of identity.

Moreover, for streamers, the creation date of the body account was displayed, and anyone could check it.

- Almond? Can't find it. What is it?

- Where is he broadcasting? Isn't everyone on Trevi these days?

└ Trevi is a carbonated drink, you idiot.

- It looks like Trevi from the screen. Where is it really?

- I'm the OP. He's a complete newbie, and his broadcast name was just auto-generated. It was like a code number. Haha. Here's the link. Follow it. (Link)

└ Haha. He didn't even set a broadcast name? Haha.

└ He's a fool, I guess. Haha.

Sanghyun, who was browsing the community, paused.

"Oh... This can't be."

He finally realized he had started the broadcast without setting a name.

"Thank goodness. He left a link."

Fortunately, the OP added a link in the comments. This would be enough for promotion.

He wiped his chest and checked the next reactions.

- But, if he's that much of a newbie... How did he do it... Damn.

- Capturing the boss. Wasn't it something even Electra couldn't do in the bow challenge?

└ Oh, now that I think about it, Electra said the boss had to be captured with a bow. This guy got a perfect parry.

└ You had to hit the bow at the perfect timing.

└ Even with Electra's skills, it couldn't be done. Damn, he just created an account yesterday.

└ Electra... She stopped playing this game after the bow challenge.

└ Electra is too overpowered... For a game like this.

Electra was being compared to Sanghyun.

'Electra...?'

Sanghyun didn't know the streamer with that strange name. He only watched balloon gum broadcasts.

'Sounds familiar, though.'

When he once looked for a skilled broadcaster, he vaguely remembered a name in the top rankings. She seemed to be a former pro-gamer.

And he remembered someone saying this:

- Classic, Dopa, then Electra.

About 20 years ago, Classic and Dopa were famous. Even Sanghyun, who wasn't interested in games, knew them well.

He even learned in school that the origin of the first pure Korean four-character idiom, "Jagangducheon," was their grand battle.

Jagangducheon's Classic and Dopa.

Electra, who was now being compared to those two, who had dominated an era.

"Wow."

And he was being compared to that Electra.

Of course, there were many who disagreed with the comparison.

- Is Electra a dog's name?

- Now they put Electra everywhere. Haha.

- Just... Haha.

- But it's real, right? That's something Electra couldn't do.

- Hey, didn't Electra dislike packaged games?

└ Whether she likes it or not, the fact is he did what she couldn't.

└ Fact: No one likes your life.

- Oh, a lot of trolls are coming.

- Almost like Voldemort. Mention his name and you're dead.

Sanghyun closed the community window.

"Wow..."

To be compared to the top-tier in the industry already.

It was a bit overwhelming, but he was a sportsman by nature.

He enjoyed such pressure.

"Amazing."

Sanghyun laughed purely, finding it interesting.

Then,

Ding.

He received a call.

[Kim Joo-hyuk]

It was Joo-hyuk. Thinking it was a good thing to finally thank him, Sanghyun answered the call.

"Hello."

"Hey. How was the broadcast?"

"Thanks to you, it went well."

"Good? That's a relief. The boss was a bit worried."

"It's fine. It seems to be working well."

"Did you get any viewers?"

"Um... About 20 by the end."

"Twenty!? On the first day?"

Joo-hyuk's loud voice made Sanghyun flinch.

"Um... I chose a good game."

"Man, you're talented. Why did you come here?"

"They say they'll place me in a big company. Who wouldn't go?"

"Damn..."

"Anyway, I'll buy you a drink next time. I have to go broadcast."

"Huh? It's lunchtime, isn't it? You do evening broadcasts."

"Who cares about lunch or dinner? This is my job now."

"They don't work during lunch or dinner at the company. Got it."

Click.

Joo-hyuk hung up, finding it ridiculous.

"Damn..."

His mouth, which seemed to be grumbling, was actually smiling.

'Good to see him working hard.'

Though he scolded him, Joo-hyuk was satisfied that Yoo Sanghyun, who was very diligent, was doing well in the game broadcasting industry.

"Ah."

Smiling contentedly, he scratched his head.

"There was something I should have said... Forgot it."

The capsule room owner definitely asked him to pass on something. It turned into a casual check-in call.

'What was it...?'

Joo-hyuk tried to remember but couldn't.

Something about body optimization or something. Joo-hyuk, who was far from capsule games, didn't understand the terms.

"Kim Daeri!"

At the section chief's shout, Joo-hyuk forgot everything and ran over.

"Yes!"

"Look at this. Is your lunch going down? Your deputy is like this..."

'Damn...'

* * *

Crunch. Crunch.

Sanghyun poured almonds, which he kept as snacks and emergency rations, into his mouth and started the capsule.

He wanted to eat a proper meal, but it was too precious a time. Or rather, he couldn't eat because of today's community reaction.

His heart was pounding, and energy kept surging.

He didn't need food. Attention was his meal.

Gulp. Gulp.

Still, he had to quell his hunger, so he drank milk.

Eating almonds and drinking milk made his stomach slowly expand, eventually making him quite full.

It was a balanced meal, providing protein, carbohydrates, and fat. It was a method he often used when he had no money.

"Should I go in?"

Wiping the white marks from the corners of his mouth, Sanghyun entered the capsule.

[Starting the stream.]

He started streaming as he did yesterday.

And an astonishing number appeared before his eyes.

[Current viewers: 189]

"Wh-What?!"

Sanghyun's mouth dropped open.

- Oh, Almond's here.

- What? Isn't he supposed to broadcast in the evening?

- What a steal.

- Haha, I got here right after setting the notification.

- You'll see when you watch it.

- Almond, hi.

- Hi, hi.

The sudden increase in viewers and chat.

'Just this much?'

He didn't expect the small community to have this much power.