Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 261

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 1 Episode 261
92. Memories (2)
A traffic accident.
Soyeon’s death.
About five years had passed since then.
“…It seems rehabilitation to the level of professional play won’t be possible.”
At the doctor’s words, I nod with a face that no longer shows great disturbance.
Despite five years of intensive rehabilitation, it simply wasn’t working.
What doesn’t work, doesn’t work.
“Yes. There’s nothing to be done about it.”
Time had already passed as it would.
I’d been living for quite a while now focused on survival in reality without archery. For about a year now, I simply stopped by the hospital out of habit for checkups.
Hoping that at least daily life would pose no problems.
“You can receive a disability rating assessment and various benefits…that come with it. The administrator will explain those details.”
“Yes.”
Declaration of abandoning rehabilitation.
This brought considerable benefits.
First, I received certification as a person with a disability from the doctor, and through that, I could receive government subsidies and various benefits.
From university tuition fees that meant little to me, to special recruitment pathways for major corporations and public enterprises.
Naturally, I wanted the latter.
I had discussed this with Coach.
“Grandmother’s health has declined as well… and I need to start earning soon. I think this worked out well.”
The doctor quietly gazed at me.
A patient he’d seen for five years.
The boy he’d seen back then had grown into a young man. Now he was taking on the role of a young person living in this society.
“Yes. You’ve worked hard. Sanghyeon.”
He extended his hand for a handshake.
“Come by if anything seems wrong.”
“Yes.”
I politely shook his hand and greeted him, then left the hospital.
I resolved to begin a new life from this point forward.
I deliberately avoided looking at anything related to archery.
Now I had to adapt to a new society, and I couldn’t afford to be distracted by such things.
From that point on, I balanced part-time work with studying for corporations.
No matter how much the special recruitment pathway for disability ratings was a given, I couldn’t become a useless person once inside an organization.
I read more books during this time than I’d ever properly read in my life, and I desperately learned English, which I’d never been interested in.
Since I was starting later than others, it was terribly difficult to pick up.
It was almost like starting over from middle school… or rather, high school.
The fortunate thing was that having a new goal gave me strength to push forward.
I threw myself into studying with the single determination to adapt somehow within the company.
But….
“Hey, newbie. What’s this career record? Is there some kind of error?”
Corporate life was a field that couldn’t be learned through study.
“Are you a handicapped quota hire?”
It seemed the information wasn’t being conveyed accurately to the Department Manager. Perhaps it was a privacy issue.
It would be discovered immediately anyway, so I might as well just write it down.
I had to say it myself.
“Well… if it’s awkward to explain, let’s just call it nepotism. It’s basically the same thing anyway.”
“…Yes.”
This might have been the Department Manager’s way of showing consideration, but in reality, it was nothing of the sort.
Regardless of his intentions.
The five years after joining the company were unremarkable times.
Not because I was mistaken for a nepotism hire.
It was because of my practical work abilities that warranted being mistaken for one.
No matter how hard Sanghyeon worked and pushed himself, it was difficult to stand out among those monstrous new employees who seemed trained for corporate life since elementary school.
I had to accept it.
Five years of corporate life were a succession of bitter tastes for me. A banquet of defeats.
But I had to accept this as well.
That the experience was worthwhile.
That those years created the me standing before this microphone now.

* * *
‘There were days like that too.’
Sanghyeon swallowed the memories suddenly flooding back along with bitter saliva.
“So the Sang-hyun Yu in the video is indeed player Almond! Wow~! Thank you so much for the answer! Player Almond!”
Applause swept through the audience.
“But… why did you retire? You had such incredible results!”
If I were to explain, there would be no end to the story.
The trials and waves of emotion that swept through those days.
How could I explain it all? How could I capture everything? I didn’t know.
“Of course, you don’t have to answer.”
I could feel it in his carefully added gaze.
That I truly didn’t have to answer here.
But I chose this stage myself. No matter how much I tried to block it out, this was the only place where the ghosts of my past, which would continue to emerge from everywhere, could be shaken off.
I condensed all those memories into a single sentence and conveyed it.
“I retired due to a right arm injury.”
Silence fell over the audience.
But it wasn’t a particularly heavy silence. They don’t know the full story.
Just that I retired due to injury… that’s all.
A gap of understanding that cannot be filled exists.
They couldn’t fully understand the trials I had endured.
But that was fine.
If I could use this moment to provide a clear answer to the questions my fans had sent over the years, that would be enough.
I didn’t believe everyone needed to completely understand my pain.
That would be greedy.
“I started archery in middle school, retired due to injury, worked at a company, and after restructuring, I became a streamer.”
A sentence that compressed my ten years very simply.
Yes, this was sufficient for an interview.
If I could also express my gratitude to my benefactor here, that would be perfect.
“…So your right arm has been problematic all this time?”
The question I had been waiting for came.
“Yes. It can’t move precisely enough to do archery.”
“And here as well?”
“No. I’m free within the virtual world, but there’s an issue with runtime. If I use my right arm too much, I can’t play for long.”
“So that’s why the one-handed playstyle came about?”
“Yes.”
The quiet audience murmured.
-Wow… it’s because of the injury?
-Seriously…
-I didn’t know that.
-It’s still there?
“But you were fine in the finals? It seemed like you never played with one hand.”
“I was playing on a fairly old secondhand Capsule….”
“A Capsule?”
“Yes. But recently I received great help and got a new Capsule. Since then, I’ve been fine.”
“Ah! Is it Aston’s Platon?!”
-Wow, of course it’s Aston
-The Capsule affects that too?
-No class difference there
I chuckled without realizing it.
Now that I thought about it, they would naturally mistake it for Aston’s Platon model. The broadcast team had only noticed my Capsule change at that exact moment.
“No. Divers gifted me a custom Capsule.”
Ting.
I displayed my current connection information.
The cameras zoomed in.
King Gul, who was next to me, spoke.
“Huh? I’ve never seen that Capsule code before. Is it really Divers? Divers is budget-friendly, so I know all their models….”
I nodded.
“That’s right. It’s a brand called Nova that Divers just launched. The CEO heard my story and sponsored it for free. They said they needed a tester anyway.”
The broadcast team was astonished.
“F-for free?”
“Wow. Custom ones are usually expensive….”
The Caster asked Sanghyeon again.
“Did your running time increase because you switched to this Capsule?”
“Yes. If the Capsule hadn’t been replaced, I wouldn’t have been able to compete through five matches due to physical limitations. I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude.”
Sanghyeon ended the interview there.
“I’ll upload the details of my personal story separately on my personal channel.”
He didn’t want to take too much time away from the championship interview meant for everyone.
The interview naturally moved on to the next person.
And Sanghyeon’s past faded naturally from the audience’s memory.
Naturally, as if he’d been talking about his school days….
It was over.
‘Well done.’
Sanghyeon was satisfied.
‘Well done. Sang-hyun Yu.’

* * *
“Wow!”
Thud.
Juhyeok moved his body so dramatically that he banged his knee against the desk, but he didn’t care and shouted.
“Well done! Sang-hyun Yu!”
In some ways, it was an even more nerve-wracking interview than the finals match itself.
It could have seemed overly detailed, or like he was exploiting emotions unnecessarily.
But Sanghyeon said only what was necessary and ended the interview.
That alone was enough to draw a reaction.
No way. Did he retire because of an injury?
How can you be so perfect ㅠㅠ
-He shoots so well even now, what a shame…
-The way he said it so calmly makes it even sadder somehow
Without needing to add anything extra, Sanghyeon’s story had an inherent power that captivated the public.
In cases like this, no matter how much Sanghyeon abbreviated his words, people would take it upon themselves to dig deeper into his story and spread it.
Moreover, once the Nant Tournament ended completely, Jia would upload the video right away.
An interview video that covered Sanghyeon’s story in much greater detail.
The interview included not just Sanghyeon, but his archery club friends, the Archery Association, and even his former Coach.
Jia and Yeonju had gone through quite a bit of trouble collecting all these interviews.
[Well~! Everyone, the fun Nant Tournament has come to an end!]
The words Juhyeok had been waiting for flowed out.
[We’ll be back next time with even more fun and exciting content! See you!]
A roar of cheers and fireworks flooded the screen as the broadcast ended.
Gulp.
Juhyeok swallowed dryly and entered the Ollytube channel.
Sanghyeon still hadn’t left the Capsule.
He was probably going to come back after chatting with his teammates a bit longer at the after-party.
Ding.
[Jia: Juhyeok! I uploaded it!]
Less than a minute had passed since the Nant match ended.
Jia had sent a message.
I checked and there was indeed a video uploaded to Ollytube.
[From Archery Prospect to Almond]
The title was provocative enough, and I liked it.
The view count began climbing one by one.
[Views: 2]
[Views: 10]
[Views: 32]
[Views: 183]
I wanted to rush into the community right then and there, drop the link, and make a fuss about it.
But Juhyeok waited.
‘I have to hold back.’
[Views: 1.3K]
Finally, when it broke through the 1K mark.
Only then did I copy and paste the link I had prepared and post it across every community.
[Almond’s Story Actually Got Uploaded to Ollytube]
Since most communities already had discussions about Sanghyeon’s archery career dominating the top issue threads, my post was able to attract significant attention immediately.
[Kingdom’s Archer Almond. Turns Out He Almost Became a National Representative?]
Not only in Kingchiman, but even in Baera31, the Battle Large community, there were posts about Sanghyeon’s story.
Do you remember Almond who set a new record for Bella Dia back then? I heard they won a gold medal at the Archery National Championships lol
Reel Pro was naturally the same.
[Almond Finally Acknowledged It in the Nant Match!]
There were three or four posts like this buried in Big Pro.
Given the situation, reactions to my post came quickly.
-Oh, a video uploaded to a personal channel separately?
-Looks like it was prepared in advance
-The embargo was lifted? That’s insane
└Isn’t this Almond’s story though? Why would there be an embargo?
└They said they’d talk about it during the Nant interview… maybe that’s it?
The interview with -wa was so short that I was breathless lol, I’m going right now.
Nuts hyung, you’ve had such a hard life ㅠㅠ…
and it hasn’t even reached 10,000 views yet lol but they’re already asking about it
The fact that Almond had uploaded a video began slowly spreading through the community.
What he said in the interview with [name] was complete nonsense lolol
So he was one of the victims in the almond autonomous taxi incident ㄷㄷ
Almond was incredibly poor but tried her best with archery no matter what ㅠㅠ I’m so glad she’s doing so well now ㅠㅠ
[Wow did you watch the video?? He got a lot of interviews in there]
The video contained stories about Sanghyeon’s financial struggles, his joining Asung, and his grandmother.
Everything was included except for Soyeon’s story.
Even those who had no interest in Almond would find themselves curious about these things.
[What are you kids talking about? Let me watch too]
[What is that, you nerds]
The video’s view count began to skyrocket accordingly.
[View count: 108,000]
The video, uploaded less than an hour ago, had already surpassed 100,000 views.
According to Juhyeok’s calculations, at this rate of growth, the video would definitely enter the ‘Trending Videos’ section.
#Trending 58th Place
As expected.
It entered the trending chart in just one hour.
‘Something….’
Juhyeok had a premonition at that moment.
That something was different from before.
‘The tide seems to be turning.’
Perhaps streamer Almond’s golden age was only just beginning.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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