Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 3

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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 3
1. I Still Want to Shoot (3)
“It’s exactly the same….”
Sanghyeon found myself marveling anew at the realism of this virtual reality world that recreated the Olympics.
-Woooooaaaa…!
-Sang-hyun Yu! Sang-hyun Yu!
-Ah. Archer Sang-hyun Yu is now stepping up with his bow. What do you think!?
-Archer Sang-hyun Yu has possessed natural talent since childhood….
The roar of the crowd, and mixed in like an auditory hallucination, the commentator’s voice from those championship tournament broadcasts of the past.
I was engulfed in the tension of actually competing in the Olympics.
Thump-thump.
My heartbeat, which shouldn’t have been audible, echoed in my ears, and my virtual lips—which should have been moist—had gone dry.
At the 70-meter mark within my field of vision, I saw the familiar target.
Red, yellow, blue.
A target drawn with multiple overlapping circles.
Something I’d only seen in dreams now stood before my eyes. How long had it been since I last stood in this place?
“Hoo.”
I immediately drew the bowstring to test how it felt.
Criiiiick.
The familiar sensation and sound of the string being drawn. At that vivid sensation, my heart began to race faster.
‘Is, is this actually working?’
The moment I drew the string and held it in position.
There was always one problem at this point. My right hand.
I shifted my gaze to my right hand.
‘!’
My right hand, which should have been trembling by now, was drawing the bowstring as if nothing was wrong. Very steadily.
I remained in that posture for a long moment, unable to do anything.
Something hot welled up inside me.
‘….’
I struggled to swallow down the complicated emotions—whether sadness or joy, I couldn’t tell—and examined the feel of the bow more carefully.
‘It’s slightly different.’
The tension of the string depending on how much force I applied, the texture of the grip…. If I were to nitpick every detail, there was definitely a discrepancy from reality. But such things no longer mattered to me.
As long as I could draw the bow with a functioning arm….
Even if it felt like a toy bow, I could adapt to it.
‘Let’s do this.’
I drew an arrow and nocked it. Now I was about to begin actual shooting.
My usually vacant eyes now fixed sharply on the target.
Now I was entering into war between myself and the bow.
Archery was always a fierce and silent war between archer and bow.
An athlete must always transform the bow into their own through that bloodless struggle in silence.
It all begins with the full draw.
This is a kind of preliminary skirmish—positioning the arrow at the most optimal location for oneself.
The full draw stage demanded precision and firmness in my right hand, so it had been an eternity since I’d attempted it.
Twang!
As if I’d done this draw yesterday, the bowstring settled perfectly against my nose and upper lip. My right hand found its original position, snapping firmly beneath my chin.
It was flawless form—a perfect holding position.
Undoubtedly, the sequence was perfect.
Yet…
‘The bow’s weight and the string’s tension are far lighter than I expected. Did they design this for beginners to use easily?’
There was a problem.
That lightness felt awkward to me instead.
Without the familiar weight, unnecessary tension crept into my muscles.
My aim began to waver slightly, drifting side to side.
“Again.”
I ultimately couldn’t release the arrow and lowered the bow once more.

* * *
At the moment I nocked the arrow, my expression shifted so dramatically that both Juhyeok and the CEO swallowed hard.
“Wow, wow. Pros really are different. The form alone is incredible?”
“Y-yeah. I’d only heard about it, but this is my first time actually seeing it…”
Juhyeok had never realized I could make such an expression.
‘Is that really Sang-hyun Yu?’
Simply drawing a bow in a game, yet the onlookers felt as though they were being hunted.
A stillness descended like mist, and even the wind seemed to pause and hold its breath.
“Huh…? But why aren’t you shooting?”
“…?”
Then I suddenly released the bowstring and lowered the bow again.
“Could the right hand issue be affecting me mentally too?”
Juhyeok pressed his lips together firmly. The CEO added a comment from beside him.
“I’ve seen scenes like that at the Olympics. It happens sometimes. Of course, it’s not a good sight. But it’s not unusual.”
“…Ah. Right.”
“He must be too nervous.”
Juhyeok remembered too. Once during the Olympics, an archery athlete had nocked an arrow and then briefly lowered the bow to rest.
The tension and pressure of competition were difficult even for professionals to endure.
‘Him? Nervous?’
Sang-hyun Yu getting nervous over a mere virtual reality game. For Juhyeok, who’d observed his corporate life, it was hard to imagine.
He was the type to remain unflappable about everything.
‘He really does love it.’
Only then did I truly feel it.
How much I loved archery, and how much I’d missed it.
His love for archery was evident in every gesture, every expression, even in the rhythm of his breathing.
I couldn’t help but feel tense.
After all these years, it must feel like seeing your first love again.
‘Is money really just an excuse?’
Sanghyeon didn’t seem to want to earn money through gaming. He seemed to be using it as a pretext to shoot arrows again.
He wanted to escape the tedious corporate grind and shoot arrows across vast, open plains.
‘His grandmother passed away not too long ago….’
Sanghyeon had worked at the Company solely because of his grandmother, and her funeral had been about a year ago. Now he was free of that burden and pursuing what he truly wanted to do.
‘Pursuing what he truly wants….’
My heart raced, even though this wasn’t my own affair. What must it feel like to do something you’ve always wanted to do? And to become the best in that field.
It was something that had never happened in my life.
“Oh. He’s drawing again.”
The CEO tapped my shoulder and spoke.
“Oh….”
I only had time to utter “Oh….”
Whoosh!
Sanghyeon released the arrow with such fluid grace that I wanted to complain about how unfair it was.
!
Even to my untrained eye, his shot was different from the others.
“This, this is insane!?”
The CEO watching beside me let out an exclamation.
Before the arrow even arrived, the moment Sanghyeon released it, everyone could tell.
Thunk!
The arrow would strike dead center in the target.
“Wow!”
“What is that? It’s, it’s different from the archery I knew?”
The archery that ordinary people know is the best of the best. After all, most people only see archery at the Olympics.
But Sang-hyun Yu was a tier above even that. I knew nothing, but it was unmistakably clear.
Just as Kim Yuna’s double axel was far more elegant than other skaters’ ambiguous triple axels.
Sang-hyun Yu’s archery had an extra layer to it.
Whoosh!
Another arrow was released.
As if it were only natural, the arrow struck dead center once more.
As if it were tethered to that very spot, it rode the wind and was drawn in.
Thunk!
Three consecutive shots scored perfect tens.
Even then, Sanghyeon didn’t stop. He fired two more shots in rapid succession.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
After that, I almost felt sorry for the target.
[10 points!]
[Perfect Score!]
The resounding cry proclaiming a perfect score somehow drained all tension from the moment. There was no nervousness whatsoever.
I nocked my bow and released. The arrow flew straight into the dead center of the target.
The saying about turning your palm over as easily as flipping a hand—perhaps it was coined after watching me shoot. I was having such absurd thoughts.
“…Brother, didn’t you say there’s a gap between this and reality?”
“Ah, yeah…. There are usually quite a few players who struggle to adapt, but this one is different. Normally they struggle at first and get better later. And this guy….”
The CEO scratched his head.
“I don’t know anything about archery, but isn’t this guy different? There’s just something off about him. Is that really the archery we know…?”
Only then did Juhyeok reveal that I was actually the youngest domestic champion medalist in our country’s national archery championship.
“…Youngest?”
“Yes. He mentioned it while drinking.”
“If it’s the domestic championship, isn’t that practically the youngest world champion?”
“That’s what was supposed to happen.”
“This is serious…. When you reach that level of mastery, even ordinary people can sense something different about it….”
Just then, a roaring cheer erupted from the monitor.
-Ohhhhhhhhh!
-All perfect scores! Every single arrow hits dead center! What is this!?
-This, this can’t be, it’s unbelievable!
-And the shooting time sets a new record! This shouldn’t be possible!
I fired all the provided arrows into the dead center of the target and finished the game.
Hisssss….
The capsule lid rose slowly with a deflating sound.
I thought I would step out coolly and smile. But I didn’t come out.
“Why aren’t you coming out?”
Juhyeok thought, ‘Is he being stupid again and doesn’t know how to exit?’ and approached the capsule.
When Juhyeok peered inside, he couldn’t help but freeze.
“Hey. You don’t know how to come out….”
I was crying.
Tears streaming down my face, I was sobbing uncontrollably.
As if pouring out ten years’ worth of tears from not being able to hold a bow.

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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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