Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 356
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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 2 Episode 76
28. Proof (1)
-OMG Hawk Eye just lost his job lol
└he already did years ago…
└rofl
“Hawk Eye just lost his job. He lost it ages ago… This is killing me.”
Juhyeok translated the comment in a flat tone.
Sanghyeon had bolted upright from his bed, asking what on earth was happening.
Though Sanghyeon understood most of this English, he preferred to hear the confirmed version through Juhyeok.
-whaaat??
-what kinda program is that? any guess?
└nothing…
└I havent seen anything can perform like that
“What kind of program is that anyway? Any ideas? Nothing… I’ve never seen anything perform like that….”
Juhyeok adjusted his glasses and added his assessment.
“It seems like the general reaction is that it’s almost certainly hacking. Can’t blame them—we titled it this way….”
“Ah….”
Sanghyeon’s expression went blank.
Everyone thought it was hacking.
“There’s praise too.”
“Praise?”
Could there actually be people who didn’t think it was hacking?
Juhyeok scrolled down and translated as much as he could.
-Since when Chinese guy look so cute?
└I think he is Korean….
“When did this Chinese guy become so cute? He’s Korean… stuff like that.”
“….”
It wasn’t particularly helpful feedback at the moment.
‘Getting attention is nice, but….’
Being mistaken for a hacker was actually a great honor for a player.
Assuming his innocence could be proven.
Sanghyeon exhaled in frustration.
‘Will it work out? That?’
The unfair account suspension from the Battle Large incident came to mind.
And back then, during the era when hacking ran rampant, there were several streamers who claimed they’d been wronged.
Sanghyeon, who hadn’t thought much of it then, now realized those streamers might have genuinely suffered injustice.
“Why that expression? If we handle this well, our channel could make another big leap. We haven’t had major growth since the Riel Nante match.”
Juhyeok clearly saw this as an opportunity. He looked pleased.
“But if my account suddenly gets suspended again like with Battle Large, it’s going to be exhausting.”
Juhyeok waved his hand dismissively at Sanghyeon’s concern.
“Ah. The Battle Large incident was an accident, and one report shouldn’t get me suspended. But…”
Juhyeok scrolled through the comment reactions.
“I haven’t read the harsh comments, but it seems hackers were quite the issue for a while, so there are a lot of people cursing them out. Of course, in this video’s comments, that’s not really the case.”
“I see.”
Well, insults didn’t really bother me. People from the opposite side of the world I’d never met cursing me out in English rather than Korean didn’t hit very hard.
I just hoped I wouldn’t get suspended.
“But I heard modern games are immune to hacking programs these days. Guess this one isn’t.”
To my question, Juhyeok recited a passage he found on Namu Wiki.
“Since it’s a PvP game where a maximum of 1,200 people must clash in inter-nation team battles, almost all performance has been poured into optimization. As a result, it can’t catch various trivial bugs or illegal programs. Actually, considering the scale, it’s remarkable that they manage to prevent critical bugs at all…”
That’s right.
Even Rilman, which could be called a high-performance game, only had a maximum of 10 people fighting.
Civil Empire, when it became a team battle, could theoretically have 1,200 people fighting on a single battlefield.
They had to deploy all their personnel just to optimize and manage bugs for this massive amount of data.
Asking them to catch illegal programs on top of that was, in a way, greedy.
“Well… still, they do catch and deal with them whenever they’re discovered. There’s never been a hack so massive it would destroy the game. Capsule-based games are just that difficult to create hacks for.”
Juhyeok read me several other miscellaneous stories.
Things like rumors that one country’s corporate sponsorships were so prevalent that civilization balance was adjusted in their favor…
“Wow. In countries where Civil Empire is popular, apparently companies from those countries start advertising a few months before the inter-nation tournament, subtly putting pressure on things.”
Interesting. It felt novel.
‘But that’s not really related to me right now.’
No matter what happened, from my perspective playing only ‘Basic Battles,’ civilization balance or inter-nation tournaments were stories from a distant land.
“Yeah. Thanks. Let’s get some sleep now.”
Since I’d woken up to talk, I was quite drowsy.
I cleared my mind of thoughts and drifted off to sleep for tomorrow.
* * *
The next day.
Juhyeok, Sanghyeon, and Jia headed to a large warehouse-style mart.
They needed to prepare various things in advance for the fan meeting.
Naturally, Juhyeok was behind the wheel.
Jia sat in the passenger seat while Sanghyeon took the back.
“Oh. By the way, Almond.”
Jia in the passenger seat spoke while looking at the rearview mirror.
“I checked the video I uploaded on the way here, and someone left a strange comment.”
“A comment?”
What kind of comment could it be?
Ding.
She sent me a link via message.
[Jia: (link)]
[Jia: This one]
When I checked it, it was one of Almond’s OlTube videos.
It was uploaded about two hours ago.
[Ah, this cool and heavy sensation….]
It was a video with such an enigmatic title.
It showed me drawing my bow and then slaughtering cavalry units.
“It’s a short, right?”
A video under a minute long.
“Yeah. It’s the process I’m doing these days. First, I release everything as a one-minute short, and if the reaction is good here, I edit it and make 20 or 30-minute versions focused on that.”
“Ah….”
I wondered why the Civil Empire video was already uploaded, but it made sense since it was only a minute long.
“Anyway. That’s not the important part. Look at the comment.”
I could tell which comment she meant without even asking.
It was the top comment.
-Aamond. We are the administrators of Civil Empire. Your gameplay is incredibly impressive. Perhaps that’s why so many people are raising questions….
It was a comment with awkward phrasing.
Already, countless replies were starting to pile up below it.
└Is this real?
└It’s real, upload more
Lol almond is so funny ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ it’s hilarious ㅋㅋㅋ
“Why did you get reported again lol”
└Aamond doesn’t know about that stuff! Goo goo! Just let me play the game!
.
.
.
“I should reach out to them, shouldn’t I?”
I turn my gaze toward Juhyeok, who’s driving.
“Yeah, that’s true. But… let’s think about it after we finish today.”
A short while later, we arrive at the parking lot of a warehouse-style supermarket.
* * *
On the path from the parking lot up to the supermarket.
Someone approaches and asks.
“Hello. You’re Almond, right?”
At first, I think one of my fans has recognized my face. But then Juhyeok rushes forward and says this:
“Ah, yes. You must have been waiting long. Traffic was a bit heavy… I’m Juhyeok Kim, the manager.”
“No, I just arrived too. I’m Hoyun Jeong, the event planner.”
Event planner?
Jia and I just stare blankly at each other.
The man who introduced himself as a planner hands business cards to both Jia and me.
“I’m Hoyun Jeong, a party planner and spatial designer. I came here on the recommendation of Department Manager Jang.”
Department Manager Jang?
I pause for a moment trying to figure out who that is, then it clicks and I’m startled.
Wasn’t he the main PD for Evening Wide?
“Ah, I asked him. I was wondering who might know someone like this, and Department Manager Jang said to contact him anytime if I needed help.”
“Ah…”
Only then do I take a closer look at the person before me.
Hoyun Jeong has a gentle, somewhat refined appearance. He seems like the type who’d be easy to work with.
“Shall we go?”
Hoyun Jeong and Juhyeok lead the way.
Once we enter the supermarket, Jia and I don’t have much to do.
The two of them load items needed for the party into the cart one by one on their own.
“We can draw stripes on these balloons to make them into the almond shape you mentioned. These days, balloons come in this rugby ball shape.”
“Oh! That looks good. Do you have brown ones?”
“Yes. If the four of us draw with thick markers, we should be able to finish quickly. A party like this needs that handmade touch to look warm.”
“Aha, that’s right.”
Jia and I just need to pick out food in the back.
It’s like we’re children who followed along while our parents went shopping.
“Let’s just pick out some snacks. Almond.”
“Yeah. I want that one.”
“Wow… Scotch candy almonds…”
“What?”
“Nothing…”
Jia lets out a helpless laugh and picks it up.
* * *
2 PM.
I was alone in Juhyeok’s apartment in Hugyae-dong.
The grocery shopping had finished before noon, but Juhyeok and Jia were still in a café meeting with the planner about further preparations, so I’d come home early for the broadcast.
I sat down in the computer chair where Juhyeok usually sat, then tilted my head back and began spinning around.
“It’s been a while… being alone like this…”
The empty apartment felt oddly hollow.
“They have so much to prepare… ah.”
I stopped spinning as something came to mind.
Was I going to start the broadcast first?
“Hmm.”
I went to the kitchen, opened the cupboard, and pulled out some almonds.
Right—I wasn’t planning to start the broadcast at all. I just wanted to eat almonds.
After grabbing a handful of almonds as I pleased.
I poured myself a glass of milk and brought both back to the computer.
“This brings back memories.”
Back when Juhyeok wasn’t around, I’d often skip meals like this while watching Balloon Gum’s broadcasts alone.
“Let me try to solve this instead.”
Rather than watching or streaming, I decided to tackle the problem I’d discovered today.
-Aamond. We are administrators of Civil Empire. Your gameplay is incredibly impressive. Perhaps that’s why so many people have questions…
This comment right here.
“But why did they leave a comment on my OlTube of all places?”
Normally they’d send a private message. It was strange that they’d tracked down my OlTube to leave a comment. Whether to call it good work or bad work…
I checked my email just in case.
“Ah. They did send one.”
The administrators had already sent an email.
But since Koreans generally don’t check emails, they seemed to have tried to contact me through other means beforehand.
“There was an in-game message too.”
Without needing to follow the comment link, I clicked [Contact Support] in the in-game messages and got an immediate response.
[Hello. I’m Hyewon Yu, your assigned representative. You’re the user ‘Aamond’ who currently has a report filed against you for hacking, correct?]
It seemed to be real-time.
[Yes. That’s correct. But I haven’t used any hacks. I don’t even know how to use them.]
I asserted my innocence first.
[Yes, user. However, when our headquarters monitored your movements, they were determined to be at an ‘incomprehensible’ level.]
What was this supposed to mean? I was flustered.
I never expected them to take hacking accusations this seriously.
“I am skilled, though…”
Even as I panicked, I couldn’t help but admire my own exceptional abilities.
But no matter how skilled I was, a suspended account would be useless.
I asserted my innocence once more.
[If you check, you’ll see I’ve never used any such program. I’m just really good at the game.]
Up to this point, I honestly wasn’t worried. I was certain there was no way I’d be banned.
It wasn’t naive thinking. It was logical thinking.
After all, I hadn’t used any hacks!
[Ah, yes^^ We’re not doubting you, but we’ve received a total of 23 reports accusing you of using illegal programs. We must conduct a verification process, and we appreciate your understanding.]
23 reports?
What on earth…
‘Is it because of that video?’
Would a sane person really report a complete stranger just because of one video? It was rather absurd.
[Ah, yes. How will you verify this?]
[Our observer will share your screen one-on-one during your login time and watch your gameplay. You’ll need to consent to this.]
‘They’re going to spectate?’
Put kindly, it was analog; put harshly, it was crude.
It wasn’t the sort of method a company making cutting-edge games would use.
That’s when I recalled what Juhyeok had told me earlier today.
「…They poured all their resources into optimization. As a result, they couldn’t catch various bugs or illegal programs…」
It seemed these people truly lacked the technological capability to detect hacks remotely.
I had no choice but to consent.
[Thank you for your consent. Our observer will spectate 3 matches going forward. Your capsule and screen will be shared during this time. The final judgment will be made after that, so please note this.]
I felt quite wronged.
But then again, I’m a streamer now.
Click.
[Screenshot saved.]
Even as I felt wronged, I caught myself capturing the entire conversation.
[Sanghyeon: Jia, look at this.]
And I was already sending it to my editor.
This would probably draw quite a bit of attention.
[Jia: Thrilling~]
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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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