Acorn Jelly greeted Ju-Hyeok and Sang-Hyeon the next day and guided them to his studio.
“You can take a seat over there.”
Acorn Jelly pointed at where Sang-Hyeon would wait on standby.
No one else except the manager they saw last time accompanied them in the studio.
After a light greeting, the manager pressed her hat and returned to her seat.
The studio had large monitors, capsule machines, and expensive cameras that all impressed Sang-Hyeon.
‘I guess he makes a lot of money…’
Acorn Jelly ranked pretty high, but more popular game streamers existed. Even then, he seemed to be making good money.
‘Then how much does BubbleGum make?’
Sang-Hyeon remained deep in thought while Acorn Jelly prepared the camera equipment.
“Is it okay to start the stream and turn on the face cam to say hi?”
“Alright, I’m turning it on. There are usually three to four thousand people right off the bat, so be ready.”
Jae-Muk put his hand out for a high five to make Sang-Hyeon more comfortable.
The monitor turned on and the stream began.
[Current viewers: 10,000]
They had 10,000 viewers from the start.
‘Holy shit, this is an all-time high.’
The viewer count doubled from the usual. Everyone had been excited about today’s stream.
— Can’t miss out on this!
As expected of a big-time streamer, the chat became bombarded when the stream began.
Jae-Muk’s stream always began with intro music. This gave the viewers time to come in one by one. He glanced at the camera and tested his mic.
“Ah ah. Mic check. No echoes, right?”
Na-Yeon gave him the ok sign from across the room and Jae-Muk transformed into Acorn Jelly.
He naturally greeted the viewers and read the chat.
— Stop stalling and show us Almond!
— We’re not here to see you.
— Almond! Almond! Almond!
Most viewers didn’t know a small-time streamer like Almond with only 200 viewers. However, the YouTube teaser did a great job of putting his name out. That video’s views already surpassed 100k and their current LIVE viewership broke records by the minute.
[Current viewers: 33k]
Only ten minutes had passed and they already reached 33k viewers.
‘Goddamn, I didn’t expect this much.’
All this attention made even Acorn Jelly nervous.
“Ahem, the hype is pretty insane,” Acorn Jelly said with a smile.
The viewers kept asking him to reveal Almond. He decided to make his move when the viewer count struck 40k.
“Alright, you can come in now.”
Jae-Muk pointed at Sang-Hyeon, who slowly came from behind.
— Almond! Almond! Almond!
— Is that really Almond?
Sang-Hyeon had never revealed his face, so no one could confirm his identity. Everyone only made predictions after hearing about the collab. Furthermore, they could hardly see his face yet because the light didn’t shine on him.
“Let me introduce, Almond!”
The light turned to Sang-Hyeon and the camera fully captured his face.
— Kya! He’s so good-looking! Why?
— I’m so disappointed.
— World’s worst streamer, Almond…
— Shit… He’s got it all…
— Oh shit… he’s super good-looking.
The boys felt disappointed while the women celebrated.
“Kya, he’s good-looking, right? I was shocked too when I first saw him!”
The countless compliments didn’t faze Sang-Hyeon. He had grown used to it since a young age whether it had to do with archery or his looks.
“Should we start with an interview? Or play first?”
— Show us that perfect shot LOL
— Acorn Jelly’s judgment day.
— I’m fine with just staring at his face…
Acorn Jelly nodded with a polite expression.
“Sure, sure. Everyone, please relax and don’t forget your manners in the chat. Almond, what’s your optimization code.”
Sang-Hyeon didn’t know how to respond.
He didn’t know what that referred to.
“Ah… it’s just… what’s an optimization code?”
“Sorry? Capsule optimization. The thing that optimizes your brain wavelength and body together…”
Jae-Muk made the most confused expression possible.
‘What the fuck? He was playing without optimizing himself for the game?’
Jae-Muk couldn’t believe it. You could play without doing so, but only casual gamers did that.
— He doesn’t know about optimization?
— Stop pretending LOL
— That’s like playing in someone else’s body.
— You’ll get disconnected pretty often if you don’t optimize.?
— Oh? He did disconnect every time he died.
— Oh shit, then he really played without optimizing?
Playing the game without optimizing would feel like dragging around a thirty kilogram sandbag. Only a monster could play with such handicaps.
“You really don’t have one?”
Sang-Hyeon shyly nodded.
Ju-Hyeok slapped his forehead and the sound could be heard in the distance.
Ju-Hyeok recalled something as he listened to their conversation.
“What’s wrong?” Acorn Jelly’s manager, Na-Yeon, asked.
Ju-Hyeok didn’t even hear Na-Yeon’s question. He pulled at his hair and felt guilty.
‘The cafe owner told me something about body optimization… I completely forgot.’
He remembered something about optimization being super important, but forgot to tell Sang-Hyeon. He quickly rushed to Jae-Muk.
“Sang-Hyeon really doesn’t know. I was supposed to tell him…”
Jae-Muk became dumbfounded after hearing what happened. He looked at the camera with a blank expression.
“Sigh… Everyone, I feel so small right now…”
The chat also expressed their disbelief.
“Sang-Hyeon over here purchased a used capsule and… started playing without learning about optimization.”
New capsules could optimize automatically, but Sang-Hyeon’s used capsule didn’t have such a feature.
— Is that why he disconnected?
One message in the chat caught Acorn Jelly’s eye.
“Disconnected?” Acorn Jelly asked Sang-Hyeon.
“Ah… yes. I disconnected every time I died.”
Acorn Jelly became dumbfounded again.
“How did you continue playing if you disconnect every time?”
Acorn Jelly asked on behalf of all the viewers.
— It’s so common to die in Kingdom Age.
— Isn’t your brain gonna melt if you disconnect that much LOL
However, Sang-Hyeon’s viewers knew that no enemies had ever killed him.
— It’s simple. Just don’t die.
— He technically never got killed. He just kills himself every time.
“You truly are a genius among genius.”
Sang-Hyeon had grown used to being called a genius.
— He’s so calm about it lol.
— This guy’s the Joker, playing around with us.
— He really thinks it’s nothing much.
The viewers felt excited seeing a textbook genius like Sang-Hyeon.
‘He really is something.’
Acorn Jelly felt elated too.
Surprisingly, Sang-Hyeon perfectly suited streaming. He possessed incredible gaming skills, a shining personality, and the necessary social skills to interact with people despite being young.
“Now then, everyone. Aren’t you curious? How will Almond be like once he optimizes!?”
— Is it even possible to be better than he is now?
— Are you gonna shoot two arrows at once or something?
The viewers couldn’t wait to find out. Sang-Hyeon excelled without optimization and now his full potential would be unlocked.
“Then, follow me. I’ll help you make an optimization code.”
Acorn Jelly dragged Sang-Hyeon into the capsule behind them.
The optimization process didn’t take long.
[Optimization Code Z-102938]
Sang-Hyeon emailed the code to himself and entered the game.
Acorn Jelly appeared in the virtual world with him.
“I see you’re finished.”
“How’s the optimization?”
Sang-Hyeon moved his body around.
‘It definitely feels different. Was it supposed to be this easy to move?’
It felt quite close to reality even before the optimization.
However, he entered a completely different dimension now. His body felt lighter than in real life. It almost felt as if his body didn’t exist.
‘I feel like my body isn’t there…’
He could control himself by just thinking.
“I guess virtual reality is supposed to be . It feels like my body isn’t there.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s supposed to be a world where you can move with just your thoughts. I think the optimization worked?”
Acorn Jelly smiled and continued the stream.
“What do you think, everyone? We should see if there’s a perfect shot, right?”
His remark heated up the viewers.
— Kya, let’s go to the graveyard!
— There’s no way such a thing exists!!!
— He’s on about that again…
— It’s the Spanish Inquisition!
Most viewers denied the existence of a perfect shot and made fun of him.
‘Does it even exist?’
Sang-Hyeon, who had to prove it, didn’t know either.
“Okay, let’s goooooo!”
Funnily enough, only Acorn Jelly believed in the perfect shot. He thought Sang-Hyeon had no doubts about it and overflowed with confidence.
[Starting Kingdom Age.]