Season 5: Chapter 96. Into the Room of Truth (3)
Almond's microphone and screen went dark. The stream itself hadn’t ended yet. It simply switched to a waiting screen.
— Wow
— What the
— Secret summit
— He actually turned it off?? LOL
— Two people serious about the tournament
— Hey the tournament is fine but what about the stream?!
Many viewers felt bewildered.
Ba-bam!
[NewbieStirFry has donated 10,000 won.]
[So many babies who never watched the world championship!]
— NewbieStirFry lmaooo
— 10k so not a fake stirfry
— Novices lmaooo
— Fr so many people who didn't watch the world championship
— Newbies taste better stir-fried
— Wait, Survival Craft viewers actually entering was real??
— Fr this was standard during the world championship lmaooo
— So new viewers are being born from Survival Craft too...
At the world championship, many things couldn't be broadcast. Streaming was basically an afterthought. The core Almond viewer base had waited through that too. An incident like this was barely a blip. The flexing was understandable, and the atmosphere was accepting.
— Veterans really are something else
— They did this every day?
— Some days the stream just didn't exist at all but practice happened
— They were basically the devoted partner who waited through military service...
— But does Almond appreciate any of it? Of course not!
While the viewers waited, the four streamers left behind in
This World
stared blankly at each other.
Black Tea put forward a paddle theory. "A fiery feedback session? Sounds like someone is getting the paddle."
— lmaooooo
— The paddle LOL
Sweet Potato put forward the mid-lane showdown theory. "From where I'm standing, it's 'Come with me to mid lane,’ isn't it?!"
— LMAO
— lmao fr
— LOL
— Then Almond would win?
— If that's what it is they should keep the stream on lmaooo that'd be great content
Lemon put forward the most shocking theory. "This?
Hehe...
Isn't it an office romance?" — ? — ??
— Wow lmao
— What
— One-on-one flirting
"Their faces just work so well together..."
Thwack!
Black Tea smacked the back of her head. "Hey. Lay off the dramas. That's all fake, you know."
Mmpf.
— LOL
— She watches that many dramas?? lmao
— Advice from someone currently in a real relationship
— lmaooo she thought of Green Tea and got mad
"Still..."
Only Sweet Radish hadn't offered an opinion. He just stood there and quietly exhaled sigh after sigh.
"Oppa, why are you sighing so much?"
"It's nothing... I'm just anxious."
"You’re worried that they'll come out after fighting?"
"No, I'm worried they'll come out not having fought." "...?"
— HAHA
— Not having fought lol
— Sweet Radish just doesn't like the Smart Young Man...
— lmaooooo
— He wants them to fight!!
"I've always thought a coach has to say what the players can't say to each other. That's really important for a team."
"That's true..."
With pro experience, Sweet Radish understood the importance of a coach better than most. It wasn't all about tactics and strategy. Ultimately, people were involved. Mediating between team members was practically a core coaching responsibility.
"Which is why someone has to say it. The Smart Young Man isn't it. I can't be the one to say it."
— Sweet Radish is being serious...
— This guy isn’t playing it for laughs, he's genuinely saying it LOL
— Fr he means it
"But oppa, you literally just said it?" "...!"
Right, the stream was on!
Sweet Radish scratched his head.
— Woooow
— Oops!
— lmaooo
— Words slipping out without thinking!
— Insane
— That just came out so naturally
— what exactly is hard to say??
Black Tea shrugged. "Anyway, the coach will handle it. What's there to be anxious about?"
A good beating solved everything.
"I told you. They could come out not having fought because..." Sweet Radish grimaced like he didn't even want to bring it up. "We went and got first in one of those games!"
— LMAO
— That's the anxiety trigger
— Fr
— That does make it ambiguous lol
— The ceiling is insanely high lmaooo
Hm?
Just one game? That's nothing. That was just luck," Black Tea said it like it was nothing.
Sweet Radish, whose calling ability would be directly compared, felt it differently.
'Honestly... he's something else.'
In some ways, he'd felt a wall. Even in the pro scene, some people felt like a different species entirely. This was exactly one of those cases. People like this always caused an incident at some point. It could be a championship win or a sudden, explosive problem followed by retirement. Sweet Radish had seen both outcomes far too many times.
Hah.
That was why he was sighing.
'What's right here...'
Honestly, even he couldn't confidently say who was more correct. The first-place game wasn't just luck like Black Tea said.
Almond's strategy had been remarkably unpredictable, which made victory possible. They had eliminated enemies as naturally as water flowing and claimed first place as expected.
'Competitively speaking... that kind of judgment is clearly necessary. You could convince yourself of that.'
Therefore, he grew anxious about the coach's decision. Almond's playcalling had its own mitigating factors. Choi Sa-Rang had also worked alongside Almond before. She probably saw it differently from Sweet Radish.
Whoosh!
After some time had passed, Almond and Choi Sa-Rang reappeared.
— Finally!
— Stream is back!
— What did they do in there?
— What was that?!
Their expressions looked better than expected.
'Damn.'
Sweet Radish saw their expressions and felt dread.
'If the feedback had been harsh, they wouldn't come out looking like that.'
How many sessions of feedback had he witnessed during his pro years? Being pulled into a private room with a coach like this was actually quite common.
Players coming back out often looked wrecked after being analyzed one-on-one with full precision. Who could possibly feel good with all their mistakes laid out in front of them from an outside perspective?
Almond looked completely fine.
'This is... Something's wrong.'
This seemed to be moving toward the picture that had been making Sweet Radish anxious.
Meanwhile, at the Mixed Nuts conference room...
"The Smart Young Man phase is going to end?" Ji-Ah asked back in surprise.
What Ju-Hyeok had just said shocked her.
'Knowing that person, it won't end that easily.'
How long had the Almondoyle thing been milked? Once he got attached to something, he didn't let go easily. Suddenly, it was ending? From just today's first game alone, he kept joking about the calls. Thinking about that, Ju-Hyeok’s statement seemed absurd.
Ju-Hyeok nodded confidently. "Yes, it’ll end. Our editing direction needs to keep that in mind even when pulling posts from the community."
Ju-Hyeok looked at Macaron and BornToBe.
Their supporting role was gathering editing material for Ji-Ah.
"So... running the Smart Young Man as the main playmaker for three games was actually meant to end the Smart Young Man phase? Why? How does that logic work?"
"She's setting up a mountain of vulnerabilities now to use as grounds for pressure later. It's a method managers often use when training subordinates."
Hmm...
Ji-Ah didn't quite understand it at first, but then she saw them go into a private room. "What's the community mood like right now?"
"Oh, you know, Choi Sa-Rang is installing a parachute. The two went to privately coordinate their scheme, etc."
Ju-Hyeok shrugged and pulled it up on the screen.
''The second trending post is that those two went to plan together?''
Genuinely unbelievable
Almond is everywhere you look!
Even after granting a hundred times the benefit of the doubt that his playmaking ability is real, does it have to be obtained this way?? Lmaooo
Naturally, the comments blazed with arguments for and against this.
— The toxic haters really swarmed in
— What exactly did Almond do to you? lmaooo other than being good-looking
— lmaooo this is right
— It's blatant favoritism and they don't even see it?
— Everyone becomes wallpaper because of Almond
— They left for a date, what? Someone who's never dated wouldn't understand lmao
└ Get lost, why would they date in the middle of a stream, you delusional idiot. A streamer turns off the stream mid-broadcast to date? What are you, in middle school?
└└ lmaooooo why are you so mad at the joke
└└ Insane. You reacting like this makes it feel real...
└└ lmaooooo getting this pressed
└└ Gi-Chan... log in.
— Look I don't care, our Almond is the main character and everyone else is just supporting cast!
└lmaooo fr that's the nut fans for you
— Write a novel, seriously lmaooo ...
Ahem.
Seems like they're expecting the two to come out and push the Smart Young Man as the main caller, but my guess is that won't happen."
Ju-Hyeok pointed at the screen.
"The video will be great if you capture this moment as a focal point and spin it, right?"
"That's true... as long as the Smart Young Man doesn't actually end up as the main caller."
Ji-Ah still looked half-convinced.
'Working together is... refreshing, I guess.'
Even deciding on the editing direction together was a little surprising to her.
'Though... It's not bad.'
She'd need to get used to this eventually. Doing everything alone forever wasn’t sustainable. The pace was already getting to be more than she could handle.
"Macaron?"
"Oh, yes!?"
Macaron felt startled at being called.
"Any thoughts on your end?"
Um...
no. I, I'm...
um...
"If there's nothing, just say there's nothing."
"Oh, nothing. I... sorry."
"It's fine. I said there doesn't have to be anything."
Macaron sweated profusely.
'Director Ji-Ah, your expression really says otherwise!'
Ju-Hyeok seemed to have absolutely no idea what his own face looked like.
"Macaron, you have something you're working on separately anyway. Keep developing the ideas for that. Any ideas come to you so far? Even rough ones."
Ah...
Macaron actually did have something to say about this. A promotional concept to spread the word about Mixed Nuts wouldn't work through conventional channels. They would need to cross a certain line, which happened to be his specialty.
"The fake office sitcom style..." Macaron started to say something.
"Oh? Hold on."
Ji-Ah suddenly pointed to another screen in the conference room. Mixed Nuts had Almond's stream visible in every room. The conference room was no exception.
"They're out. They came out, and she's saying something!"
On the screen, Sa-Rang was speaking. Ju-Hyeok turned the volume up.
“Alright, then let's just do three more games.”
There was no feedback whatsoever, just a push for three more games. This instruction seemed a little puzzling to Sweet Radish.
“We're doing it again?”
“Yes.”
“Then... the calls?”
“How many times do I have to say it? Just figure it out.”
“Oh... sorry...”
What was this? Everyone in the conference room felt puzzled. Only Choi Sa-Rang was smiling faintly. Everyone reconnected to LIL. A shocking change awaited them.
Ji-Ah's mouth dropped open.
Pfft... hahahaha!?
Ju-Hyeok burst out laughing with delight because of Almond's nickname.
[DumbYoungMan]
It wasn’t LazySoldier, the Smart Young Man, or even Almondoyle.
"DUMB YOUNG MAN?!"
It had changed to Dumb Young Man. How had this happened?
— LOOOL
— What kind of deal was made in there
— What is this lmaooooooo
— Almond got some hardcore feedback apparently??
— The LazySoldier brand had a good run
— There was clearly a firestorm in there
— Black Tea's discipline theory was correct...
— lmaooooo
— That's why she was confident going in LOL
Ju-Hyeok clapped his hands and wrapped up the meeting. "See, good thing we talked through this in advance. Let's get right to it."
"Yes!"
Rumble rumble!
Everyone scattered back to their seats and started capturing the right editing moments in real time for the new situation.

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