Season 5: Chapter 128. A Benefactor (1)

After Almond's consecutive correct answers, a certain type of people had appeared from the den of LIL demons, LIL Pro.

[LIL Pro]

Since the Platform War was a LIL competition, mentions naturally surfaced in LIL Pro. LIL Pro had a high proportion of extreme meritocrats, so they were quite interested in Almond as a world champion. This time, that interest was slightly bent sideways.

Almond, synonymous with brainless play, was suddenly using his head. They found that suspicious. Beyond merely finding it suspicious, a fabrication conspiracy began to spread.

[Big: Honestly, Sa-Rang must have already fed Almond all the answers beforehand lmaooooo]

— Obviously LOL

— People leak exam answers, this is nothing...

— A bit too obvious

— It's staged, Almond brought her too lol

— Almond is puffing up a nobody and they mutually benefit

They claimed Sa-Rang had pre-taught Almond everything behind the scenes, and this was all just a performance. The fact that Sa-Rang had prepared a lecture in advance was actually used to further drive that narrative.

— Probably already shared the lecture file too?

└ The color bug line was for sure prepared

— Ugh idiots, why do they exist... they're not even conspiracy theorists. What do they gain from staging this?

└ What do they gain? Naive people like you worship them without knowing anything LOL

└ So what does a permanent LIL Pro resident without a job gain from the worship

└└ lmaooooo

└└ That's money for a streamer?

└└ Truly pathetic fr

Bang!

Ju-Hyeok slammed the keyboard in frustration. "Wow. These people are something else. Their footwork is different."

BornToB, watching beside him, clicked his tongue. He was still holding a documentary camera.

"Your keystroke style is different too, director. You didn't even take 0.2 seconds to counter with permanent LIL Pro resident without a job."

Ju-Hyeok raised his chin. "Well... this is a seasoned educator's demonstration. Ahem."

"Should I put this in the documentary too?"

"Oh. Do that, and you can quit today."

"... I won't put it in."

"Edit that part out. Just watch with your eyes. You need to learn too. How do I play these people like an instrument?"

"Ohhh..."

Ju-Hyeok was supposedly showing BornToB how to control community opinions. In reality, he'd been infected by LIL Pro's dark energy and was furious.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Bang bang bang!

He wasn’t playing an instrument, but performing opera.

"LIL Pro is a bit rough," Ju-Hyeok muttered, cracking his neck like it was a shame. "Streamer Garden is completely my domain."

“Pfft!” BornToB barely held in a laugh.

He'd actually seen Ju-Hyeok smash the desk after getting into keyboard battles on Streamer Garden too.

BornToB naturally changed the topic. "Director, but this is tiring. Isn't this kind of unfair attack hard to shake off? Saying it's staged."

"Well... right. It'll be hard to break out of if Sa-Rang gets trapped in the nobody frame. The fact that they have a close relationship is true, and Almond originally being dumb is also true..."

"The nobody frame?"

"Right. It's fine if that gets broken, but that... will be difficult for various reasons."

"Is she actually not a nobody?"

"Oh." Ju-Hyeok realized he'd misspoken. "Oh, no. She is a nobody. That's why... she needs to prove it! Prove!"

Ju-Hyeok's voice suddenly grew louder.

"PROOOOOVE IT!"

BornToB dutifully captured the scene on camera.

'Wow... he's literally an old-school director type.'

Ju-Hyeok was shaking his fist at the camera, demanding proof. It was a perfect concept.

"Phew... anyway, as you said BornToB, this framing is hard to break. This will continue throughout the whole tournament. Hmm..."

Ju-Hyeok thought about how to neutralize this kind of unfair attack. There seemed to be no way around it without Sa-Rang revealing her identity.

[Big: The staged-content verifier Fakejin examined Almond and Sa-Rang lmaooo. He’s currently investigating]

Even someone calling themselves a staged-content verifier got involved.

"Fakejin...? Good grief." Ju-Hyeok adjusted his glasses.

The situation was growing. The Platform War had so many crumbs falling that all kinds of people were gathering.

"Reminds me of the world championship."

Back then, there were YouTubers who dug into Sang-Hyeon's past to spread malicious rumors.

"Wh-what do we do about this? That person has a name. How did you resolve it during the world championship?"

"Oh, then? Well, it was simple..."

Come to think of it, how had it been resolved?

"Director?"

'... It wasn't something I did.'

Ju-Hyeok remembered now. He hadn't done anything. The videos had all just come down.

'There was a phone call.'

A call had come from an unknown number.

'Just tell Sang-Hyeon to focus only on the competition.'

It was Choi Sa-Rang.

"Hmm..."

Ju-Hyeok scratched his head.

"I think I just happened to encounter a benefactor."

He'd never actually resolved it himself. These things required a benefactor.

***

Right at this moment, Orange King happened to turn his stream on.

"Ah, everyone~ I have another piece of good news to share with you today."

He looked to be in a good mood.

— Hey hey

— Hi Orange

— What is it

— Are you finally retiring?

— Hi hi~

"No, it's been confirmed that I'll be commentating the Platform War~! Oh~ applause~!"

He'd been confirmed to commentate on the Platform War, but this was far too obvious.

— Wow~

— Congrats congrats

— Was there a chance it might not be?

— Who would watch LIL without Orange King lmaooo

— Congrats congrats

— Expected result...

"Come on. It's not a given. They invited me for an event match. Anyway, everyone involved, thank you~!"

Since everyone had expected it, the response was lukewarm.

"In celebration of that, briefly... I'd like to take a look at the participating teams with you all."

— Oh

— Good

— Good content lmaooo

— You need to study if you're commentating

— 20 teams combined from both sides lmaooo

Ten Cheese teams would compete against ten Paprika teams. A total of twenty teams would participate in the Platform War.

"Alright, let's start with Paprika first. You're all more familiar with the Cheese side through Cheese Village."

Rather than actually entering their streams, he just scrolled through thumbnails and titles. Going into someone else's stream while broadcasting wasn't really good manners.

"Everyone has picked their names. There's quite a variety. Pretty much all of them are practicing... Wow, this will be fierce?"

— Yeah

— True lmaooo

— I heard some made team posters

"Posters too? They’re really getting serious. Well, this is a huge opportunity, right? A Platform War is... not an event that happens often. Historically, there might have been only one before?

— That's right

— Uh

— Fr

— I think so?

— And Treevy got demolished by Paprika that time lmaooo

— Oh I remember that LOL

"It doesn't come around often, so everyone is working hard."

For mid-tier streamers and below, it was a chance to blow up. Team participation was high, and each team was trying to showcase their concept as entertainingly as possible to make an impression.

Ding.

[Yeah has donated 3,000 won.]

[Do streamers often blow up from this? I have a small streamer I'm rooting for, and I hope they do well...!]

"Oh. Well... blowing up isn't that common. It's at least a competition based on game skills. Small streamers have more of a chance than something like Cheese Village."

— Ah... I think I know what you mean

— fr that's true

— Cheese Village is actually more of a graveyard for small streamers LOL

— Agreed agreed

Content like Cheese Village was so heavily dictated by stream presence that participants with bigger and better performing streams had dominated. In that sense, it was highly unusual that Almond had held the spotlight alongside Zelo at the time and even monopolized attention during Cheese Village.

Orange King mentioned him. "Someone did blow up during Cheese Village. Lord Almond was quite famous, right?"

— fr fr

— lmaooo

— You just need to be good

— Talent

"Oh, of course, without showing that kind of madness like the Lord, competing with game skills is better for small streamers."

That way, even if one’s stream presence was a bit lacking, they’d have some chance of getting noticed.

— fr fr

— Why though??

— Does winning the tournament increase viewers???

— Agreed agreed

— True

Many viewers knew, and just as many didn't know. Orange King, being a commentator by trade, wasn't particularly interested in the streaming scene.

He explained to those who didn't know, "For example, a streamer like Bubblegum does really well at streaming, but is truly terrible at games. Right?"

— ?

— Someone like Bubblegum isn't just Bubblegum LOL

— Too much lmaooo

— Is this revenge for the troll twin spirits?

"Now, imagine a streamer right beside them is really good at games, but their stream isn't doing well. Then, they carry Bubblegum to victory. Bubblegum's fans would love it, right? And through that, they gain favor. Even the opposing side would say they're impressive..."

Orange King paused for a moment.

"Wait. Isn’t this Almond?"

— lmaooooooo fr

— Right?

— Wow

— lmaooooo

— Almond again?!

While trying to give an example of blowing up, it turned out to be Almond again. Almond had essentially hit every jackpot a new streamer could hit. His explosive growth was only natural.

"Wait, hold on. How much did he blow up?"

Orange King searched, and an article came up. Under the title of fastest-growing streamer in a short period was Almond's growth graph.

"Almond really is remarkable."

Being a commentator was his main profession. Orange King hadn't paid much attention to the streaming scene. He appreciated Almond's achievement anew.

— Massive growth

— He went to Mars fr

"Should I look at mine?"

Orange King suddenly checked his own YouTube subscriber growth and view counts. He was doing it just for laughs.

"..."

The laughing feeling evaporated somewhat.

— lmaooooooooooo

— Standing still...

— lmaooooo

— Horizon...

— lmaooooo

— Variable: zero

"No wait, I think I was the one who needed to attend the lecture..."

It wasn't Almond who had to learn about Survival mode. Orange King had to learn about streaming.

Ba-bam!

[RubySword has donated 100,000 won.]

[He grew so fast. There are a lot of unfair attacks too. Even now, he's being accused of staging the thinking part...]

"Oh. RubySword, a whopping 100,000 won! Thank you for the donation! But... what do you mean the thinking part was staged?"

Orange King couldn't imagine what this meant until he saw what people were saying in the chat and clicked on a link.

"This? Is this the one?"

Someone had posted a video titled: “Almond has finally lost his mind.”

“It's a split. I think the strategy that suits our team is a split.”

“Wow... you finally figured it out?”

Hearing this, Orange King's eyes went wide. "Hm?"

He didn't explain why he was surprised.

"J-just let me watch it all first, and then I'll say something."

Next came Sa-Rang's question.

“A split requires defining two things before you can execute it. One is the number distribution and... what else?”

“Timing.”

“Hm? Correct.”

Almond had answered immediately.

"Hmm. As expected..." Orange King muttered as if he'd realized something.

— ?

— It is staged then?

— What lmaooo

— I heard the staged content verifier Fakejin examined this

— But does that person actually know anything?

— That does look a bit staged...

Ding.

[Suspicious has donated 1,000 won.]

[How does it feel having personally taught him? Could he have gotten that right?]

Viewers grew curious about Orange King's take.

"Goodness..."

Orange King first shared his feelings on the whole situation.

"Setting aside it being staged or not, this is also Almond's star quality. He answered a few quiz questions correctly. And what? Staged content verifier? Someone like that got attached? What is this, a killer exam question? Hm? Even if it were staged, it's just a stream. So what?"

— lmaooooooooooooo

— LOL

— Fair enough

— It's a comedy fr

— What does it matter lmaooo

— Seems like jealousy over growing fast

— Killer question lmaooo

— From the way they talk, you'd think he got into med school lmaooo

— That's fair...

— Same as a controversy if Bubblegum suddenly hit Challenger

— So what do you think, does it seem real or not?

"Alright, I'll give you my opinion. This is..."