Genius Archer's Streaming Season 1 Episode 7
3. Who's Almond? (2)
189 viewers are watching me.
Sanghyeon swallowed dry. He rarely ever got nervous, but this situation was a first, so he couldn't help trembling for a moment.
Huu……
Sanghyeon let out a small breath without making it obvious. It was a kind of tension relief method he used before grabbing his bow.
Exhale briefly, close his eyes, and distance himself from the world for a moment.
He imagined that this wasn't the world he lived in, but a game played in third person.
He imagined he was playing an avatar named Yoo Sanghyeon.
Finally, his dry lips moved.
"Alright. I'll continue from where I left off yesterday."
He deliberately didn't mention the viewer count. He avoided the most common mistake beginner streamers make.
Sanghyeon didn't go straight to sleep after turning off the game last night. He studied viewer management methods and controversy control cases of all major streamers.
He memorized the taboos that major streamers commonly shared and wrote notes on a screen he could glance at.
One of them was mentioning the viewer count.
This prevents other viewers from immersing themselves purely in the game and makes them watch the stream as a stream. It makes them compete with other streams.
That shouldn't happen. Viewers must immerse themselves purely in this content. They shouldn't think of this as a broadcast. They shouldn't think of Sanghyeon as a streamer.
They should think of Sanghyeon as a friend.
He had to make them feel like they were watching a friend play games while chatting away.
Streaming was ultimately an extension of watching yut-nori games in the Joseon Dynasty, watching arcade battles in the 1990s, and watching PC bang team matches in the 2000s.
Rather than the tension that makes palms sweaty, warmth from a friendly hand reaching out was important.
So the best commentary he could offer here was this:
"RubySword, FriedEggplant, StupidFish and many others who came yesterday have returned. Thank you."
Gladly calling out the names of viewers who came back.
-Hello haha
-You remembered lol
-Kiya. Calling out the 0-gun! lmaooo
-0-gun, atten-shun!
-0-gun created on the second day of streaming.
-Is Almond actually a streaming genius?
The reaction was good.
They teased about 0-gun and being chat trolls, but those who weren't called out seemed envious, and those who were called out were delighted.
The viewers who were called out were the ones who typed particularly much in chat yesterday.
They would now feel much closer to Sanghyeon.
"I played a bit more after turning off the stream yesterday. I got introduced to the mercenary company boss through Roman and received another mission."
This is the second know-how of major streamers.
They don't always progress through all games with the stream on. They skip potentially boring parts on their own and give brief explanations.
-Ooh.
-Mercenary company boss lmaooo
-Contract work company 'Mercenary' lol
-He is a boss lol
And they reinterpret the game using terms that are easy for viewers to approach. Just because it's a medieval game doesn't mean you have to use medieval language as is.
"This mission isn't anything too impressive either. I thought being a mercenary meant going to the battlefield and dying, but it seems closer to being a bodyguard."
The mission Sanghyeon took on with Roman this time was similar to what they did in the tutorial.
Back then it was escorting a carriage, but this time the difference was protecting a person.
-That's just what lowly mercenaries are lol
-This game is originally insanely realistic so that's why
-Most mercenaries, excluding the great ones, just had that kind of mission.
-It's just a security company lol
If there was one more difference, it was that Sanghyeon was also riding a horse this time.
Clack clack. Clack clack.
The horse's back swaying roughly. There was a saddle, but the sensation of riding a horse wasn't easy to get used to.
Roman, riding ahead, looked back at him.
"Is this your first time on a horse? Almond?"
Almond's head shook involuntarily.
"No. But…… I haven't had many opportunities."
"I see. You'd better get used to it quickly. You'll be riding a lot from now on."
While Almond was getting used to the horse, the viewers had questions.
-But what kind of mission is this exactly?
-The mission is different.
-Right. But isn't this that thing? The one with the horse-riding bandits?
-Already?
Bandits?
Just as Sanghyeon was about to ask what that was—
"Yohoohooooo!"
A raucous shout came from over the ridge.
Ratatatatatatata!!
The sound of horse hooves rang out noisily along with bizarre screams.
The viewers cheered just like they were bandits themselves.
-Yohohohoho!
-Yohoooooo!
-Did that Burka bastard come?
-lol No way the first mission is bandits?
-Let's go~!!
They were the type who purely enjoyed this game, while those who came to doubt Sanghyeon's skills showed different reactions.
-Tch, finally shooting the bow?
-Oh……!
-Now we can tell if the video was faked or not.
Some were filled with expectation.
-Now he's gonna get exposed.
-It's all hype.
-lol How do you shoot a bow in horseback combat?
There were also those who already predicted his failure.
Of course, Sanghyeon didn't pay much attention to such opinions. Sports were fundamentally about competition, so jealous people always existed.
It was something genius types like Sanghyeon had always experienced. He had already fully internalized how to deal with such people.
'I just need to show them with results.'
Sanghyeon quickly rolled his eyes to count the enemies.
But these enemies moved too fast.
'Why are they so fast.'
He couldn't properly count their numbers.
'About 50 roughly.'
After making a rough estimate, he checked his arrow count. Unlike during the tutorial, it was displayed on one side of the screen.
[Arrows×40]
Not enough arrows. But he didn't need to kill them all himself. There were mercenary allies too.
"Bandits!"
The other mercenary comrades began to move.
Spearmen stepped forward against the bandits, raising their spears and standing by.
"Heeya!"
"Yohoohooooo!"
The bandit group formed like a single arrowhead, attempting a breakthrough at one point.
Ratatatatata……!
The bloody sound of horse hooves made even the earth tremble.
With their bloodshot eyes glaring, they seemed to fear nothing.
"Kahahahahaha!"
The terrifying bandit at the front swung a massive sword with a whoosh.
[Assault Captain Burka]
He was the infamous villain named Burka who had been mentioned in the chat.
Combat power befitting a named enemy.
Sshlak!
The head of the spearman blocking at the very front flew high into the sky, creating a cloud of blood.
"The front line has been breached!"
"Damn it!"
The mercenary company's front was already breached. It was a bit absurd to Sanghyeon.
It wasn't even an ambush this time.
"No really, why does this mercenary company always lose?"
Sanghyeon grumbled as he nocked his bow.
At the same time, he casually let loose a single shot with a twang.
Piung!
The arrow struck dead center in the head of the bandit at the very front.
The result was, naturally, instant death.
"……Keuheok!"
Neiiigh……!
The riderless horse whinnied and collapsed, and the other bandits charging behind panicked and fell like dominoes.
Crash!
Nearly a third of the bandits went down, and the formation shifted in the mercenary company's favor.
Above all, their morale was completely shattered.
Their morale was shattered to an almost strange degree. Some of the dumbfounded bandits just stared blankly at the spot where that bandit had died.
"B-Brother?!"
"Already?!"
Those bandits' words were exactly what the viewers wanted to say.
-?!!?
-What. That Burka bastard died?
-???
-Is it an optical illusion? Is that really Burka?
-No, you can't even see well from here.
-Isn't that just luck?
-Insisting it's luck lmaooo
The one Sanghyeon had casually shot earlier was Burka.
"Why are they acting like that."
Sanghyeon had simply aimed for the guy at the very front.
The reactions were strange.
-I'd do the same.
-lmaoooo
-Shot the boss dead, and "why are they acting like that?"
-Fuck lol
Burka was the assault captain of the bandit group, the most troublesome—or rather, the enemy who should have been the most troublesome—in the current mission.
But he was suddenly intercepted and fell pathetically.
-That video was real lol
-The game company must be so dumbfounded. They put in all those features like sword slashing, parrying, deflecting…… and then plop!
-Plop… urk! Plop… urk! Repeating lol
-If you draw at maximum range with full power and hit the head, you can kill it……
-Theoretically possible……
The current viewer count had increased to 230. 230 was by no means a large number, but the chat firepower alone was nothing to envy even from 5,000 viewers.
Everyone was excited after witnessing another named mob dying in one hit.
'Everyone's having fun.'
Sanghyeon was simply pleased. Without getting swept up in it, he aimed his bow again.
The battle wasn't over yet.
Champagne could be popped after victory.
"Avenge our Brother!!!"
"We'll kill them allaaaah!"
The bandits converted their despair into a desire for revenge and fury, attacking even more ferociously like monsters.
'Next one.'
Sanghyeon focused only on the tip of his arrow.
His mind was solely on killing the next enemy.
His eyes were only chasing the backs of fleeing enemies.
-Wow, watching it in person is breathtaking.
-So cool…….
-But his posture is seriously different, isn't it?
His appearance fiercely targeting his prey made even the viewers tense.
Sanghyeon's shooting at high concentration was a series of astonishments.
Piung! Piung!
Wherever Sanghyeon's sharp gaze landed, bandits dropped one after another. Every one of them had arrows stuck in their heads or necks.
It seemed as if the arrows had been embedded in the bandits' heads from the start, as countless bandits were intercepted in an instant.
"Keugh……!"
"Ugh!"
With the captain and numerous veterans fallen, the confident bandits who had charged in were nowhere to be seen.
"A g-ghost!"
"Uwaaaah!"
Eventually, they fell into panic. Literally terrified out of their wits. They began to flee in panic, turning tail.
From this point on, it wasn't a battle—it was a hunt.
"The enemies are running!"
Roman shouted, raising his blood-stained sword.
"Kill them all!!!"
Flutter!
The mercenary company's flags shot up high from all directions.
[Pursue the bandit group and annihilate them.]
And a new mission was assigned.
This was a new route that had never been discovered in this game before.
-Annihilation route? What…… so this exists.
-He's seriously playing a different game from us.
-Let's praise the game company for creating these various routes.
* * *
The viewers went wild over yet another new development created by Almond, and that excitement spread to community sites.
[Almond was for real]
[Almond or Peanut fuck this is insane]
[He's streaming right now. Come watch.]
[Burka one-shot cut lolol]
[Burka couldn't even say his lines lol His lines were so epic too…….]
[Almond live. Discovered another weird route!]
And at that moment.
There was one famous streamer looking at that site.
"……Almond? What is this."