Season 5: Chapter 53: Almond Oppression (3) |
Ju-Hyeok adjusted his glasses and blinked in disbelief. “Wow… what is going on?”
He honestly couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Even BornToB…?”
Bubblegum and Choco Shroom already felt like a lost cause, but now BornToB was in the mix too.
“No, seriously… if that guy messes with our business, what are we supposed to do?”
He’d told them to test the office capsules today. BornToB had gotten excited and started streaming on his own. Of all people, he ran into Almond and caused this kind of disaster.
Ju-Hyeok’s eyes drifted to the mission tracker. “The mission money right now is, what, 1.4 million won…?”
[Mission]
[Five consecutive 1st-place finishes in placements]
[1.88 million won]
The moment BornToB’s identity was revealed, the mission pool had exploded.
“This is ridiculous.”
Ju-Hyeok had never seen it spike like this before. Apparently, Bubblegum and Choco Shroom were already strong draws. Adding BornToB had pushed viewers over the edge.
“So… does this count as helping us?”
Ju-Hyeok glanced at the Survival board on LIL Pro.
[Big: Now’s the perfect time to go viral with Survival lol]
The post had been about raising the mission prize to draw attention to Survival. The logic was simple: they would fail anyway, so just jack the prize up.
Ju-Hyeok’s lips curled into a grin.
‘Nice. That one landed.’
This had been his idea. He’d figured that if he nudged things just a little, viewers would come pouring in with money.
‘Whether they clear it or not, might as well raise the stakes.’
Of course, when he’d written the post, he had no idea BornToB would end up in the game.
— I added to the mission too lol
— BornToB?? Yeah this is nuts now
— This went BIG on LIL Pro already
— Free viral marketing, why wouldn’t you take it~
Almond alone could probably cover for Bubblegum and Choco Shroom.
“Sigh... Raina got stolen, and now BornToB too… Does this even work?”
Instead of being the strongest carry in Survival as a ranged DPS, Almond had gone with a melee assassin like Flashy Blade. Tanks didn’t surround him while he dealt free damage this time.
From Ju-Hyeok’s perspective, it looked bleak.
“This kind of thing has happened before.”
He thought back to when Almond wasn’t famous at all. Almond had gone around saying he’d hit Diamond in Battle Large in just a few days. Ju-Hyeok had spread those words across the forums, aggressively stirring up attention.
People couldn’t ignore a newbie making such arrogant claims. Love it or hate it, they watched. If Almond had been afraid of failing back then, if he hadn’t had the guts to provoke people like that, no one would’ve noticed even if he had reached Diamond in a few days.
“This is how we do things.”
They were the best partners. Their way had always been the same. Just like back then, Almond crushed Zelo’s team in the very first major fight.
“Nice!”
Ju-Hyeok threw an uppercut into the air, hyped. He surprised himself because he hadn’t been this excited since the early days of streaming.
‘Damn… this is…’
He adjusted his glasses again, conceding the truth.
‘The bigger the pot, the crazier the dopamine.’
He sat back down at his computer.
‘Alright. If it’s come to this… let’s blow it up even more.’
Ju-Hyeok moved to spread the post to another community: Streamer Garden.
***
Streamer Garden had been waiting desperately for the Smart Young Man era to end. Now, they were in despair.
[1. Zelo’s Five Sins Renewed the Title]
The arrows of blame flew straight at poor Zelo, who had pulled this crap back in Cheese Village too. Now, he had caused another resurgence.
— Is this really Zelo’s fault? LOL
— Almond with Bubblegum, BornToB, and Choco Shroom was never losing
— “Zelo’s Five Sins” LMAOO
— That’s actually five people though LOL
— Still, his Raina wasn’t that bad…
└ He got flamed for like ten pages worth of A4 paper by Raina though
└ True LOL
└ Wait, seriously??
└ Why does Zelo only do damage after the match ends?!
└ You guys clearly never played Raina; she’s insanely hard
└ Everyone here has only seen Raina through Almond
Streamer Garden wasn’t LIL Pro. Most users there didn’t actually play LIL. They watched streams. LIL had too many champions, too many mechanics, and too much skill variance to understand purely through streams.
‘Which makes them easier to convince.’
To Ju-Hyeok, they all looked like money. If he gave them even a sliver of hope, some of them would raise the mission prize.
First, he posted an update about the current pool.
[Breaking News! Almond’s mission prize right now LOL]
[This is the cheapest it’ll ever be!]
He framed it as low cost, high entertainment.
— Damn
— Wow
— LOOLL
— Might break 2 million won!
— BornToB blew the ceiling off lol
It still wasn’t quite enough, but Ju-Hyeok had a trump card. BornToB was his employee and technically under his umbrella. They were close. Ju-Hyeok even had old footage from when BornToB wasn’t famous yet.
Tap tap tap tap.
[BornToB’s old LIL skills are worth a watch lmao]
[(Video)]
— LMAOOOO
— Holy…
— He really is Little Bubblegum
— Bubblegum’s got competition now
— This is insane
— When a fool gains conviction, you get BornToB
— This is basically free money with entertainment wtf
The response was explosive. Then, a sound Ju-Hyeok had never heard before rang out from his monitor.
[The Abyss Kraken is awakening.]
“Huh?”
Ju-Hyeok wasn’t very good at games, which was a problem. Even so, if it was a game Almond was playing, he made a point of watching a few other streamers to get the lay of the land. Most of the time, it was to learn which memes were dangerous or which topics were off-limits. Along the way, he’d also pick up the general rules.
‘This one’s new.’
He had no idea what this was.
***
Naturally, the same notification appeared on Almond’s screen as well.
[The Abyss Kraken is awakening.]
“Uh…”
He had never seen this alert before in all his Survival runs.
“Huh? What’s that?”
“Kraken? Was that even a thing?”
Not just Almond, no one around him really knew either. Bubblegum, Choco Shroom, and even BornToB, who had played a few more Survival matches than the rest, didn’t know.
“This is… what exactly?”
If one hadn’t gone out of their way to study it, not knowing was only natural. After all, with just a dozen or so Survival matches under their belt, they had never even attempted a Vault raid.
— This means someone started cracking the Vault
— Vault route is insane lol
— Whoa, you actually get to see this?
— If the Kraken woke up, they must’ve looted a ton already
— Holy crap, Vault route incoming?
“Vault?” Almond pieced things together from the chat’s explanations.
‘You can get legendary runes… so that’s a thing.’
The Vault route meant explosive growth at the cost of significant sacrifice. Unless a ridiculously skilled player was smurfing, it wasn’t a route that players used lightly.
Almond nodded once. “Ah, okay. I get it.” He pointed at the rune box they’d just gotten from the fight and said to Bubblegum, “Since the Kraken is awake… let’s go Iron Ball.”
It was Bubblegum’s turn to contract.
— LMAOOOO
— Straight to “tank” again LOL
— Gotta do what you gotta do~
— LMAO
— What does that have to do with the Kraken LOL
— Did you really understand it?
Bubblegum nodded. “Alright.”
He’d actually been planning to go Iron Ball this match no matter what.
“Bro.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t slip.”
“Ah, right. I know, I know.”
— LOL
— “Don’t slip” LOL
— At this rate, he’s gonna die by that guy’s hand fr
— LMAO
Bubblegum absorbed the rune and began the contract.
Almond shifted his gaze to Choco Shroom. “Choco.”
“Y-Yes? D-Don’t tell me I’m tanking too? Then we won’t have a single ranged…”
— LOL
— He didn’t even say anything yet hahaha
— Already in panic mode
— No way he’d do that lool
— We actually have zero ranged dps right now
— Gotta go demolition at least
“No. Go Demolitionist.”
“Phew…”
BornToB asked from the side, “Uh? Then, when do I contract? Aren’t I supposed to be the ADC?”
“Oh. BornToB, you’re our most important ADC. You’ll contract last with the best rune.”
BornToB nodded in understanding. “Ah…”
Almond said to the stream, “We’ll wait until we find one more shield.”
— ?
— ??
— Wait a second…
— You’re not contracting him yet? LOL
— This guy changed tactics now LMAO
After forcing people into tank roles so many times, Almond’s methods had evolved. Instead of brute force, he now mixed in persuasion, deception, and outright misdirection. He used every dirty trick in the book.
KWAANG!
A loud explosion rang out from Bubblegum’s side.
“Time to roll!”
“Iron Ball is here!”
“Wooo~”
The team clapped.
Clap clap clap.
“Wow, great job!”
LetMeTank even gave him a seal clap. “Awesome Gum!”
Almond boosted their morale. “He’s our village hero! Iron Ball!”
Choco Shroom treated him like a legend. “You really pulled off the contract. Impressive.”
Bubblegum scratched his head, embarrassed by all the praise. “W-Wahaha!? R-Really?”
— LMAO
— All that praise just for clicking the contract button??
— What the hell LOL
— Where is the bar set anymore LMAO
“Alright. Our priority is hitting level six before going for the Abyss Shark.”
Almond was just about to reach the end of level five. He needed to hit level six before the Abyss Shark. Of course, every other team thought the same.
“Move out~.”
Almond’s team moved in formation.
Kwa-dudududud…!
An ice wall suddenly rose, splitting the team in two.
“Ah!?”
“Huh…?”
“Frost Archer! They’re already level six!?”
A Frost Archer who had already reached level six suddenly appeared. This was dangerous, but Almond’s eyes lit up instead of panicking.
“A shield?”
Among the enemies, someone held a shield.
— Oooh?
— Still using a shield at this point?
— Damn…
— Found one!
— BornToB’s future secured~
— LOL
— A shield user? A rare breed these days
Almond’s expression hardened after spotting the shield user.
‘What luck.’
Tanks with shields usually contracted within the first one or two picks. They were hard to find late-game. One had practically walked up to them. If they won this fight, the shield would be theirs.
‘My level is still…’
The biggest issue was Flashy Blade’s level. The difference between level five and six was night and day. Almond was still only level five.
‘Teamwork won’t fix this either.’
Flashy Blade wasn’t exactly a champion that paired well with teamwork. The Frost Archer’s ice wall had also changed the terrain and split up their team.
“Y-You guys!? Can you hear me!?”
Choco Shroom and LetMeTank tried to communicate.
“It’s BornToB and LetMeTank here! Just the two of us!”
They couldn’t fight together. The ice wall couldn’t be crossed. Going around it as Flashy Blade was a death sentence.
‘Then…’
Almond felt it was time to use a strategy he’d only ever thought about.
‘Let’s split up.’
***
[Beginner’s Tip]
[Did you know? When contractors first arrive on the battlefield, they usually learn and follow strategies passed down by veterans. Some refuse to copy old methods, carving out legends of their own instead. Those individuals tend to generate frequent reports on the Administrator’s desk.]