Chapter 33: Knight (1)
Emilia’s sudden act rattled the viewers and the chat quickly rose.
Click clack.
Sang-Hyeon could almost hear them typing on their keyboards through the screen.
— Oooooh!
— Emilia! So bold!
— Dammit.
— Kya!!
— Hahaha
— I’m dead.
— What the!!
— What’s going on!
— Daaaang!
— Woaaaaah.
Sang-Hyeon thought the same as his audience.
‘This is crazy!’
Almond and Emilia had spent three days together, but Sang-Hyeon didn’t share the same experience. He only saw a black screen that said, Three days later.
“Emilia,” Almond’s mouth moved again without Sang-Hyeon’s will.
“I came back victorious,” he said in a soft and loving voice.
— You were literally just in a dilemma bro.
— What the heck is that voice?!
— It’s suddenly true love?
— This is what you call acting.
— If you’re caught… you’re dead!
The viewers poked fun at him, but Almond only focused on Emilia and was caught in the whirlpool of her eyes.
“You did great. I mean it,” Emilia replied and stared into his eyes. Her face drew closer to his as the other knights cheered.
— Kyaaa!
— Dang!
— I’m dead!
— Dammit…
Emilia’s beautiful face came closer and the entire screen turned black. The following cutscene began.
— Damn! Show me! Show me now!!
— Noooo!
— This is the worst when the first pov is too realistic!
— Oh noooo!
The viewers cried out as the next scene appeared.
Almond and Emilia returned to the carriage and rode back to their land. Unlike the previous carriage ride, Almond followed his duties this time and sat apart from Emilia. He rode a horse and escorted the carriage.
The knights also treated him differently. The ones who ignored him for being a mercenary acted friendly with him now.
“I hear you’re the archer who killed over a hundred? Nice job, friend.”
“Ah… Yes…”
Roman snorted from behind them, “Hmph.”
Just a while ago, the knights refused to acknowledge their accomplishments.
“The enemy recognized our accomplishments instead. I mean, your accomplishments.”
“How could I possibly kill a hundred if you all weren’t fighting on the frontlines?” Almond replied in standard fashion, but Roman felt quite touched by his words.
Roman brought his horse next to Almond and placed a hand on his shoulder while leaning over.
“Thank you, Almond. Saying that gives the mercenaries strength.”
“You speak as if I’m not a mercenary myself. I am one as well.”
“I don’t know. I think you might not be one anymore,” Roman smiled while looking towards Emilia’s carriage. “Well, it’s up to you.”
“Hmm?”
Up until then, Almond hadn’t known what Roman was getting at.
“Regardless, I want to thank you. We received over four months of payment thanks to you.”
Roman gave him a friendly smile and marched forward on his horse.
— Roman… you even seem friendly now.
— You’re not this kind of person, you devil!
— Shed your human skin, you evil!
— Hahahaha.
— You guys are hilarious.
— Roman is too much sometimes.
***
The Jeanneret arrived in their territory after some time. Almond and Emilia walked into the castle together. They proceeded deeper into the castle halls where only rulers were allowed.
“Emilia, this place is….”
“Wait over here.”
It felt awkward since they officially invited Almond for the first time. Almond firmly clasped his hands together and wandered off for a moment.
Shortly afterward, Emilia returned with her father.
“!”
Almond looked unquestionably nervous.
“Is it you? I’ve heard lots about you.”
Her father approached him quite softly and didn’t seem bothered by him being a mercenary or even a peasant.
“You did well. Very well. Haha,”?Emilia’s father laughed as he pounded Almond’s back and complimented him.
Almond’s nervousness didn’t go away despite the hospitality.
‘What is this.’
He didn’t know any meal etiquette as a mercenary and getting through the meal felt like a mini-game. It featured some puzzles and actions to do. The climatic meal played out like a small action sequence.
Thankfully, Sang-Hyeon cleared all the obstacles and successfully finished the meal. He expressed his nervousness to his audience after the cutscene.
“Wow… I feel like it would be like this if I ever meet my father-in-law in person,” he said after a long silence.
The viewers laughed at his remark.
— LOL
— Marriage simulator.
— Father-in-law simulator…
— Why play this kind of game lol
— Even this is realistic.
— It’s like meeting the weird uncle on Thanksgiving.
— Thanksgiving simulator haha?
Almond smirked from the chat when a voice caught him off-guard.
“What do you think about becoming a knight?”
Two choices followed the sudden question.
[1. Of course, I would be honored.]
[2. I am more suited to a mercenary life.]
Sang-Hyeon paused the game for a moment at the two choices that popped up.
“What’s this?”
The chat log fired up at his question.
— WOW.
— It was possible to become a knight?!
— Damn!
— I heard there was a way, but not this quickly…
— This is my first time seeing it…
— Yeah for real, I heard it was never streamed because it comes out super late in the game.
— And no one plays that far into the game…
— Isn’t this basically the ending?
— Now even the mercenary boss has to bow to him.
Almond carefully read each chat message.
‘Does the game end here if I become a knight?’
That seemed like the case since the game was based on running around as a mercenary and completing missions. It couldn’t continue if he was no longer a mercenary. It wouldn’t be the same as the original at the very least.
Therefore, this choice would determine the game’s outcome.
‘Is it time…’
He assumed choosing Emilia would result in a faster ending, but not this soon.
— I wish he’d stay as a mercenary.
— But isn’t it better to see the knight ending? Then play again?
— Curious about the knight ending +1
— 2222
— 1 for sure.
— The second choice no question about it.
The audience also became divided.
Sang-Hyeon couldn’t make up his mind, but already had a tactic for such situations.
“I’m going to stop streaming here for today. Bye, Treevy!”
His tactic was to end the stream.
— ????
— Crazy timing.
— Kugh. For real?
— Is this guy a psychopath?
— Hahahahaha.
— Are you serious?
— Almond’s a man of his word…
— He’s never gone back when he says he’s ending the stream LOL
— Damn, I’m gonna stay dead until tomorrow's stream.
[The Stream Has Ended]
***
Sheek.
Almond opened the capsule lid and walked out. He wasn’t covered in sweat like usual due to the lack of battles. Also, he didn’t stream for very long today.
‘I think I ended it well.’
However, Sang-Hyeon felt satisfied with today’s stream. Even he thought his timing to cut off the stream was splendid.
“Hey, good job. You did well today,” Ju-Hyeok greeted him when he came out.
Sang-Hyeon thought Ju-Hyeok had fallen asleep midway, but it seemed he was still awake.
“You think so? There weren’t any fights though, phew.”
“You can’t fight every day.”
Ju-Hyeok checked the community’s reactions and showed them to Sang-Hyeon.
[Did you see the timing of how Almond’s stream ended?]
[I can’t believe he’s ending it there.]
[This guy, Almond.]
[The worst streamer, Almond.]
Quite a few made mean jokes about him, but they all seemed light-hearted.
[A summary of what happened before accepting Emilia’s knight proposal.txt]
Some posts were already trending about Almond accepting Emilia’s proposal.
“I always speak with data to back it up, okay?” Ju-Hyeok bragged while bringing up the data he made from analyzing the audience.
“Do you know how I analyze?”
“No, I don’t. I wouldn’t even know if I saw it.”
Sang-Hyeon grew dizzy just from looking at numbers, so he wasn’t interested in looking at the data.
“No, listen,” Ju-Hyeok rambled on about mathematical formulas for over an hour. Only one thing caught Sang-Hyeon’s attention.
“Oh, right. The manager contacted me.”
“Manager?”
“Manager Oh, he’s the one who wanted you as Punk’s partner streamer.”
“Oh!”
“He said sure. He’ll match the editor’s wage and pay.”
“!”
Sang-Hyeon didn’t have enough earnings to match Seo Ji-Ah’s wage yet. He had to rely solely on his partner company, Punk, but they resolved it well.
“They already offered that, so it only makes sense.”
The duo knew it would happen, but officially resolving the problem felt different. Sang-Hyeon could finally relax a bit now.
“I’m going to see them tomorrow and shoot a couple of things as well.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go to bed early today.”
They went to sleep in their respective rooms.
A huge article appeared on the first page of a video game website the next morning. The headline read:
[(Breaking) Almond, Punk’s new partner streamer, revealed!]
***
Punk was undoubtedly the biggest video game distributor in the country. The company also had its own gaming platform. They never strategized to grow any bigger since they had a monopoly in the industry.
However, another game company called Hi Games quickly caught up and forced Punk to invest in marketing, PR, and exclusive titles.
[(Breaking) Almond, Punk’s new partner streamer, revealed!]
One of their strategies was to partner with streamers. They would recruit and partner with popular streamers. Then push them to play Punk games and promote themselves.
— Wow, world class.
— Damn, now he’s on Bubblegum’s level?
— Kya, partnering through Kingdom Age alone.
— Now he’s gotta do his homework.
— Is this real? Damn, Almond’s big now.
— Now Almond is a Punkster too LOL
└ Punkster LOL
└ Hahaha. Combining Punk and jester, Punkster means he’s now a jester for Punk. Is that what you call a punchline?
└ The top trend!
└ What a cool guy.
└ Hall monitor.
└ A loser pretending to be a loser.
└ I think this guy is for real LOL
Being a Punk partner streamer was more than a PR stunt as the comments clearly showed.
— It’s possible to be a partnered streamer with only a thousand viewers?
└ He’s gonna reach two thousand soon.
└ Getting a thousand with Kingdom Age is crazy. He’d easily get more if he played a major title.
— They’re definitely looking at his potential.
— Seems like a stretch…
— Almond’s doing well.
The partnership felt overwhelming for Almond, who barely had over a thousand viewers. Manager Oh advocated for Almond despite that and turned their contract into a reality.
‘He breathed life into a failing game like Kingdom Age, so what else could he do in the future?’?Manager Oh said this in his meeting and the other directors couldn’t agree with him more.
They all watched Almond’s videos, assessed his skills, and grew even more curious. What would happen if Almond played a major title?
— I wonder if he’ll start his homework in today’s stream.
└ On the first day?
└ They made an article about him, so probably?
— He’s not going to play Kingdom Age now? :(?
└ He should decide it he wants to be a knight or not and finish it first!
People wondered if he would play different games now after becoming a partnered streamer. They all wanted to know what games he would play next.
He already played a minor title like Kingdom Age,?so would he go with another minor title? Or would he play a major title?
[What game will Almond play next? Prediction list]
[He’ll do really well if he ditches Kingdom Age.]
[How about a fighting game?]
[Get rid of this minor title and go up!]
[He has a thousand viewers already. He’ll really trend if he ditches Kingdom Age.]
[No! Don’t go! You’re going to get rid of Emilia!? Live happily ever after with her!]
KAF became Almond’s home ground and they also mentioned other video games.
— When will Almond turn on his stream today?
— No one knows…
— I’m going crazy.
— Almond, let’s settle things with Emilia first…
Viewers already began chatting in Almond’s stream despite him being offline. However, the message they waited for didn’t appear on Treevy.
[Hello, this is Almond.]
Instead, a YouTube video with that title came up on Almond’s new channel.
Seo Ji-Ah officially began working after her check cleared.
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