Season 5: Chapter 134. Scrimmage Prelude (1)

Gyuri and Cha-Young went to a small cafe in the residential neighborhood where they lived. They always came here on days off to eat sweet desserts, chat, and decompress.

Jingle~.

The door opened again today with a familiar chime.

Gyuri, walking ahead, widened her eyes. "What!?"

Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato were sitting at a table together, heads together, as if holding a secret strategy meeting. However, Sweet Radish's hairstyle was too distinctive. They were spotted immediately.

"Hm? What are you doing here?"

Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato didn’t live far away, but this wasn't their usual territory.

'What the?'

'Damn, they're already here.'

They looked as if they'd planned to meet Black Tea and Lemon, but just hadn't wanted to meet them yet.

"Hm?"

Cha-Young tilted her head and grinned. "You two, isn't that the proposal?"

"Uh..."

They were holding and reading the business proposal that Walnut, Kim Ju-Hyeok, had sent. It was a distinctly businesslike and cold proposal, quite unfamiliar to streamers. They were clinging to it and reading it regardless.

"Wow~ what conspiracy are you hatching here?"

Sweet Potato, pricked by the word conspiracy, snapped back for no real reason. "Wh-why! What's wrong with us... thinking about some MCN benefits!?"

The startled Sweet Radish smacked Sweet Potato. "Why would you just say that, idiot!"

MCN was a creator management and entertainment company. Simply put, it was like Mixed Nuts.

"Oh, so you're already part of Mixed Nuts?"

Cha-Young sat beside them, not finding this the least bit funny. Actually, among the Knight Order members, anyone would want to be affiliated with Almond. Without saying it out loud, it was unspoken common knowledge.

"Almond oppa's scale really isn't a joke."

Gyuri came with her coffee and agreed. "Exactly~."

"Hm? You already ordered?"

"Yeah. Unnie likes warm Americano, right?"

"Oh."

Sweet Potato stretched his jaw long at the words, “Warm Americano.”

"We could use some air conditioning because it's so hot. Why would anyone drink a hot Americano?"

"Drinking cold stuff hurts my stomach, loser."

"Hey, is that any way to talk to your elder!"

Cha-Young's hand pressed firmly down on Sweet Potato's head. "Now, now. What were you two doing? Just the two of you sneaking in here?"

"Oh, no! Then why would we be here?"

"Want to try a hot Americano?"

"..."

In the end, Sweet Potato and Sweet Radish confessed everything.

"We were going to have a meeting between us first... Then meet you for another meeting."

"Why?"

"W-we actually received a formal MCN proposal... They said they hadn't reached out to you yet."

"Oh, they haven't, but you actually received a proper proposal? You didn’t just want to join?"

Many streamers vaguely knew about Mixed Nuts even if they didn’t explicitly discuss it. Normal-sized streamers wanted to join. It probably had less to do with trust in the MCN and more to do with wanting to be with Almond, who was a rising star the likes of which had barely been seen historically. He was still putting up good showings.

"Don't misunderstand. This is originally because we expressed interest first..." Sweet Radish was now practically speaking on behalf of Mixed Nuts.

"Sigh." Cha-Young waved as if to drop it.

"Whatever. Are you going to do it?"

"MCN?"

“Pfft!”

Sweet Potato's reply made Gyuri spit out what she was drinking.

"O-oppa, is that seriously all that's in your head?"

"Ugh. That's your own business!"

Cha-Young wasn’t asking about that.

"This. This is like the Fake National Team, right? This."

Tap.

What Cha-Young pointed to on the proposal didn't actually say the Fake National Team.

[Knight Order Joint Content Proposal]

It was about different content, but she understood it as that. The examples in the actual proposal all used the Fake National Team.

Four pairs of eyes met in mid-air.

Sweet Potato said, "Th-that's what we came to discuss with you. Actually, it would be better if everyone did it together, right?"

Sweet Radish nodded. "This seems like it'd be a big help for the Platform War too."

The Platform War took on a sports format, but was ultimately a popularity contest. The core of gaining that popularity was immersion in the individual players. The Fake National Team series had done that brilliantly and been a revolution for unpopular sports.

"The same production team is involved this time."

Cha-Young nodded. "I know."

"But?"

"What do you mean but? Personal stories might come out. We're thinking about it. You might not be worried, but we just heard about this for the first time just now."

At this, Sweet Radish gave a coldly sardonic remark. "Haha. Maid Black Tea, getting a bit big for your boots?"

"?"

"What is your personal story compared to being alongside Lord Almond?"

Cha-Young instantly looked around for a hidden camera. "What are you doing?"

"Ahem. I’m just saying we should accept the Lord's grace."

"... But even with different channels, would it be that significant? You have to arrange all the filming schedules too, and it's more work than you'd think."

Gyuri nodded from beside her. "That's right~ right~. Your privacy disappears completely."

"Hmm..."

That was their concern.

Sweet Radish himself didn't have much of a private life to speak of, but this kind of content significantly stressed streamers.

The national team athletes actually resisted considerably at first too. It only went through because Cookie strongly believed their esport needed publicity.

Right now, they didn’t have much motivation. They could end up just dancing to the Mixed Nuts director's greed.

"... Wait." Sweet Potato, fiddling with his phone while reading something, looked stunned. "Th-that makes no sense!"

Everyone looked over, asking what was wrong.

Sweet Potato, nearly in tears, held out his phone.

[Why Almond is Genuinely a Smart Young Man]

"Almond hyung... didn’t stage that."

"?"

Sweet Potato had been hoping it was staged.

"I-I'm the only useless one! I'm the only dumb one!"

While Sweet Potato panicked, Sweet Radish focused on something else entirely.

'Hm?'

It was the video’s real-time ranking and the comment from a YouTuber.

[Pinned: For the first time in a while, I've made it into the top 10 of the Society and Politics category. This too is the Lord’s grace...]

Sweet Radish's eyes grew large. Of course, nobody but him noticed.

"Look!"

Click!

He held out his phone and called out, "Even other channels get the Lord's grace buff!"

The other three stared blankly at the comment and the video's view count trajectory.

Gulp.

Among them, Gyuri accidentally drooled a little. Sweet Potato started imagining becoming a popular YouTuber with over 100K listeners for his songs. Cha-Young thought that if she blew up through this opportunity, maybe her marriage to Green Tea would go more smoothly.

Sweet Radish...

'I want to...'

He wanted to experience the kind of popularity he'd never gotten as a player. Everyone was silent for a moment, but it seemed like everyone had been persuaded regardless.

***

At the same time, Sang-Hyeon woke up and jogged a lap around the neighborhood.

"Hah...! Hah...!"

It was starting to get warm. Summer was coming.

'Better than winter.'

Sang-Hyeon liked summer more than winter. It was the season when archery was possible. In the winter, his grandmother also often hurt herself on the stairs.

'I could’ve met you a little early.'

Sang-Hyeon looked at the sky and let the thought turn over. Even when he'd cut ties with archery or when a great sorrow had bloomed in summer, summer was still the season he preferred.

Sang-Hyeon wiped off his sweat and sat on a nearby bench. He always sat at a bench like this for a short rest after reaching his destination.

'Come to think of it... It's already time for the Platform War.'

The world championship felt like just yesterday. Time had gone so fast. With summer coming, he somehow missed his friends from those days. He wondered if Dongsu was still trying to open an archery cafe.

'For the anniversary... should I go? Would I be able to face you this anniversary? We'd only ever met on birthdays.'

Thinking these thoughts, Sang-Hyeon muttered without realizing.

"Time goes so fast~."

"Huhh...! Oh, Almond! Almond is faster!" BornToB came panting and collapsed beside him.

Did he want to build stamina too? No.

Click.

He raised the camera.

"Oh, c-camera. Damn... almost wasted all that running."

He'd been filming the content that Ju-Hyeok had proposed to the entire Knight Order. Whether or not the other members would agree to the contract was unclear, but Sang-Hyeon had agreed to start filming first.

"Oh... right. We were filming that."

"Yes... Slow down a little, Almond."

"But the Fake National Team all matched my pace too."

"Those people are S-rank and... I'm B-rank."

A brief silence followed.

Sang-Hyeon slightly reduced his speed. "By the way, what was the name of it?"

"What?"

"The thing we're filming right now."

"Oh. That... um..." BornToB tilted his head and checked his phone notes. "Oh."

He adjusted his grip on the camera.

"I Am a Streamer."

Sang-Hyeon stared at him for a while. BornToB blinked back. Was the title bad?

Then, Sang-Hyeon opened his mouth. "I know you're a streamer. I'm asking what the title is."

BornToB opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say.

***

All the other teams also had no practice today, but were effectively preparing for the Platform War. Bubblegum, Zelo, ForeverAlone, Acorn Jelly, and Choco Shroom had gathered inside Balloon Entertainment’s building.

"Now, everyone... put these on." Bubblegum, with a solemn expression, handed out items one by one.

They were headbands worn by the cheering crowds, but cheerful messages weren’t written on them.

Zelo put the headband on. "This is a concept born from the fan votes, so... everyone please try not to take it too hard."

Written on it was:

[The Rotten One]

The manager's camera directly captured this.

— lmaooooooooooo

— LOL

— The Rotten One lmaooo

— (A person) who is rotten

The camera moved to Bubblegum.

"Hmm... Does it really have to be this? I'm turning 40!"

Nobody even replied.

Bubblegum had no choice but to put the headband on.

[The Bad One]

— lmaooooo

— LOL

— On par with Dumb Young Man

— Such truth, it honestly does zero damage

"Next...!" Zelo called out deliberately loudly.

The person about to wear theirs was the most embarrassed right now. Jung Gi-Chan, with a beet red face, put the headband on.

[The Never-Done-It One]

— LOL

— Hahahaha

— lmaooooooo

— Oh no...

— Too much...

— (kill kill kill)

— lmaooooooo

— His expression makes it perfect