Chapter 62: Placement Finished (2)
Platinum? That word confused everyone watching, including Almond.
— What.
— ???
— Is it a bug?
— No way
— LOL
— Huh?
— Is this possible!?
— What the?
— What is going on!?
— You again, Almond!!!
An unwritten rule existed that platinum was impossible to achieve through placement matches alone, but Almond just disproved that.
Not only did he place in platinum, but he was a tier above Platinum IV at Platinum III.
"Oooh..."
It surprised Almond as well. However, the viewers felt dissatisfied with his reaction because they thought reaching platinum in one go was impossible.
— Oooh? Is that it?
— LOL! Oh...
— Oh... hahaha
—- Oh… hohoho!
— HAHA ooh...
Almond's oh reaction became a meme for a while.
"Then I'll also get the platinum mission reward. Haha."
Almond gave them a big smile and claimed his platinum mission reward. The gold and platinum mission rewards totaled 1,180,000 won.
— Oh... NO!
— My money!
— Ahhhhh!
— Why did he get platinum?!
— Haha, justice to those who tried to bait him!
— No way...
— I thought it was just supposed to be bait!
— How much did he earn in one day?!
— ??? Son! Turn into Almond!
— Mom! I want to be Almond's son! Mom! I want to be Almond's son! Mom! I want to be Almond's son! Mom! I want to be Almond's son!
Almond became not only a role model for kids, but for parents too. Most likely due to seeing his earnings from today.
'I earned a lot today.'
Almond knew he earned quite a bit today and estimated the amount in his head.
'1,180,000 won... 800,000 won... and Miho's 500,000 won...'
He had earned 2,480,000 won in an instant. It would total around 3,000,000 won if he added the donations he received throughout the games. However, he still had to subtract the streaming fees and taxes. He wouldn't earn as much as they thought.
'It's still a lot of money...'
Regardless, he made much more than when he worked at AhSung Corporation. He had worked at the company for five years, but made more as a streamer with only three weeks of experience.
Sang-Hyeon felt first-hand what it was like to be in a hot market.
— Why are you standing still?
— Is he lagging?
— Buffering?
— Next round, gogo.
— Almond's dumbfounded by his earnings.
— Let's get to diamond today!!!
The chat pestered Almond as he blanked out.
"Ah..."
Almond unconsciously checked the time. It was 5:30 P.M. Two and a half hours had passed since he started streaming.
'Streaming for a long time sure is tiring.'
His streaming time was below average compared to other streamers, but he already felt exhausted. It was strange considering he used to be an athlete.
His mind continued to blank out.
— Are you planning to end the stream?
— I saw it! Almond's eyes looked at the time!
— Oppa, you're leaving already?
— Start streaming later if you're going to do this! You nut!
— Nooo! Don't end it!
— Aren't you going to reach diamond!? Aren't you going to reach diamond!? Aren't you going to reach diamond?! Aren't you going to reach diamond?!
— Ohhh... he checked the time.
The viewers realized Almond would end the stream. They grew aware of his timing after he ended the stream on them so many times.
"I'm going to reach diamond. Also, the person who just spammed is going to be momentarily banished to an island."
Ding—?
After he said that, Ju-Hyeok suspended the user who spammed the chat for three days.
— Hahahaha
— LOL! Suddenly banned.
— Everyone shush! If you move, we're done for!
— Ooof!
— Almond banned him because he kept asking to continue the stream!
— Almond, explain yourself!
The viewers retaliated and thought his stream would end after the ban. However, what Almond said next shut them up.
"I'll end the stream at 8 P.M."
— ???
— What's the occasion?!
— Is this really the Almond I know? I'm touched.
— Kyaaaa!
— It's a festival!
— Thank you, Miho! Thank you, Miho!
— Hey everyone! Be careful of spamming!
— Hahaha
— Say thank you to Miho! Say thank you to Miho! Say thank you to Miho!
Almond smirked as he watched their mood quickly change.
The occasional nasty viewer popped up, but most of them acted cute and innocent. At least compared to the people he met working as a salaryman.
Above all, these people watched him because they loved Almond, no? Almond only felt thankful to them.
'I've got to reach diamond.'
He wanted to keep his promise. He wanted to give back to the viewers who believed in a nobody challenging JeonJaPa.
***
One placement match equaled ten ranked matches. That meant every regular match he would play from now on only amounted to 1/10th of his recent matches.
"Phew."
Thankfully, that also meant Ju-Hyeok could relax while spectating. He didn't have to focus 100% on every game.
Sang-Hyeon reached platinum, so he had more time to reach diamond now.
'Should I take a look at what people are saying?'
Ju-Hyeok determined that it would be best to check the community reactions.
[LIVE Almond's placement result]
As expected, posts about Almond's new rank already appeared in the Battle31 community. It trended in the top 5 posts.
— Huh?
— Stop lying.
— Is this staged?
— This guy actually needs to get reported now LOL
— JeonJaPa was only Gold I. This is a little strange.
No one knew how to react. Some even wanted to report him.
[Almond platinum III reaction LOL]
A post like that also appeared. It showed a picture of Almond's emotionless expression as he said, “Oh…”
— Oh... LOL
— Hahaha
— Oh... hahaha
— The world is ending! Oh...
— Hahaha, he doesn't have a care in the world.
— He has no emotions whatsoever.
— That makes sense. He probably has no idea what being plat means.
These comments were the positive ones. A majority seemed to be jealous of Almond’s results.
— He must've known. This has to be staged.
— Wow, I'm going to report him.
People started to come up with conspiracy theories too.
'Is it that bad?'
Ju-Hyeok also played Battle Large?and scratched his head.
The resistance to Almond’s achievement seemed stronger than he expected. Couldn't they pass it off as a possibility? They treated it as if something impossible had occurred.
'There’s some controversy since it's a competitive online game.'
Unlike Kingdom Age,?which was only a single player game.
Battle Large?was different and difficult to understand. Some people's careers depended on it since it was a popular game. Technically speaking, some devoted their lives to the game. From their perspective, Almond's dominance was troublesome.
'Should I pry into it a little more.'?
Ju-Hyeok began typing and hoped to briefly silence them.
— Isn't it because he got first in all the placement matches? That's no easy feat. I don't see why platinum isn't possible.
└ But he's not the only one who got first place in all placement matches.
└ You're right. There's literally only one other player who did it.
└ There is one more... I guess...
└ Anyways, no one got plat out of those players so far.
‘I see.’?Ju-Hyeok scratched his head in defeat. ‘I guess there are a few who also got first in all their placement matches.’?
In Ju-Hyeok's eyes, he thought no other player could match Sang-Hyeon's abilities. However, they did exist and didn’t immediately reach platinum.
'Then what is it?'
Ju-Hyeok searched the internet for an explanation. He wanted to find out how the game calculated ranks. He grew curious about the algorithms and how the previous players only reached gold. He also wondered what ranks the previous players specifically got after their placement matches.
Sang-Hyeon getting platinum wasn't too far fetched if the others reached either gold three or gold one.
'Wow, it's all different?'
As Ju-Hyeok predicted, JeonJaPa and other foreign players all placed into different ranks after their placement matches. The ranks ranged from gold one to gold four.
'Wow, there really is no plat three."
He hadn't searched the entire database, but no case of a player reaching platinum on their first try existed.
The promotional games that took place in the gold and platinum ranks were a bloodbath. The difference between the two ranks was also huge. Advancing to the next rank was no easy feat.
Ju-Hyeok looked at the reactions on Battle31 again.
[A one of a kind monster genius. The legendary Almond!!!]
[Disgusting...]
[Did they give him a good rank to apologize for banning him?]
[These idiots are coming up with bullshit because they're mad at Almond.]
[It's obvious they're mad because Almond is handsome and doing well.]
[If you can't admit new records, how is anyone supposed to beat them? JeonJaPa fanboys?]
[It's like a JeonJaPa cult...]
[Facts, it's better than a fake plat cult]
The forum became disastrous as the two sides fought.
Ju-Hyeok wanted to dive in and fight back with logic too.
'Whatever, I have things to do.'
He was Almond's manager, not a Battle31 user.
'It's better if I plan ahead.'
Ju-Hyeok opened up his email and Almond’s email at the same time. One of them had an email from Battle31's?admin team.
[Reply]
Ju-Hyeok began to type out a reply. Specifically, he wanted to ask them a question about what happened to Almond and how it was possible. The hostile crowd would shut up if they found out that Almond's manager contacted the admins first.
Almond hadn’t done anything wrong. He simply gave it his all while playing.
Ju-Hyeok planned on personally asking the video game company. Who could blame Almond after knowing all of this? If anything, their anger would be directed at the company.
From another perspective, Ju-Hyeok was using the admin team as a shield.
'So what?'
From various experiences in his social life, he realized that being kind only harmed his close friends and family. He had to act harshly when the time to be a bad guy came. Besides, didn't they ban Almond for no reason? He was just getting back at the company with this.
'You guys can clean up after yourselves.'
***
Ding—?
An email directly reached the admin team at Battle Large.
"Huh? A mail?"
This used to be Kim Ki-Yeol's position, but not anymore. He had been fired after the Almond incident.
The person who used to be Kim Ki-Yeol’s assistant thought back to the incident and still got chills because they received a direct complaint from the higher-ups.
"Oh fuck, Almond's manager?!"
The assistant's PTSD returned as he saw Almond's name. He got up after seeing the email from Almond's manager.
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