Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 396

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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 116
41. Political Warrior (1)
A category dominated by thumbnails designed to provoke and sensationalize—filled with videos that stoke patriotic fervor, extreme political discourse, and so-called “scandal” content that spreads like wildfire across the platform.
Beneath the top comments, battles erupt in over a hundred replies, videos get deleted after lawsuits, and monetization bans are handed out like candy.
[Politics · Society]
This was the Politics and Society category.
Juhyeok stared blankly at the category text.
“Huh….”
This place was truly the jungle of OlTube.
At the same time, it was one of the hottest places on OlTube.
And yet, right now, in that very jungle, this video had claimed the top spot.
1st) Why the World Bows Before Joseon’s Bow
It wasn’t actual political content. It didn’t even carry a social message. It wasn’t even satirical comedy.
“It’s just pure gameplay footage with a hint of patriotic flavor added.”
As Juhyeok said, it was essentially nothing but raw gameplay footage.
Yet it was number one.
In the Politics and Society category!
-What’s with the politics category 1st place lolololol
-Lmaooooo
-Wait, is this the Nutspunk world? Why is this politics and society 1st???
└lololololol
└Ah, over there this IS politics and this IS society lololol
└Me, a gamer, but in this world I’m a politician?!
-That patriotic coin flavor is so sweet lol
Juhyeok felt it.
‘Wow. I have no idea what’s happening here.’
The reason Juhyeok had started watching these videos in the first place.
It was to establish a direction for new content.
In other words, to understand why certain videos succeeded and why others failed.
But Juhyeok couldn’t figure it out.
‘…What is this.’
He simply couldn’t comprehend it.
After commanding foreign mercenaries to lie down, stepping over them, and standing atop the castle wall.
He couldn’t understand why this video—finished with a third-rate composite of blue sky and the Taegeuk flag alongside the national anthem—had garnered such massive views.
-The national anthem lol so ridiculous lololol
-Wow that Saemaul Movement vibe hits different;
-Is this a restoration video from the Korean War?
└What are you talking about. This was filmed during the Battle of Haengju!
└High-tech Joseon lol
└A symphony of nonsense lololol
└Beep beep! That’s possible at Nuts Punk.
‘Is that it?’
Could it be because of that absurdist humor the comments mentioned?
There are videos like that sometimes.
Videos that create massive resonance without any special tricks, purely by chance.
Those become memes and circulate through the internet for quite a long time.
‘Or maybe it’s traffic from the politics and society category chart?’
Juhyeok continued tilting his head, unable to reach a conclusion.
“Huh?”
Then, Juhyeok discovers something.
Not exactly a solution to his earlier concern.
But something better.
“This….”
The mouse pointer hovers around the second-place spot on the chart.
2nd) Cutie Pie Discord? Muffin, formerly of Patisserie! The reason: love triangle!?
It was a video with that kind of title.
But the title wasn’t the most important part.
[Time Trouble]
The channel name.
“So it was this bastard?”
That was the one who tried to expose Almond’s past without permission back then.
This time too, he was ranking high with similar content.
But….
“We beat him?”
Almond won.
The situation where his video defeated that of an authority figure in the cyber exposé genre, in his own native politics and society category.
Almond had shattered the massive attention-grabbing drama of idol love triangles and discord by climbing the castle wall in a human pyramid.
“Serves him right. This asshole.”
Juhyeok felt quite satisfied. It was already in the past, but he really hadn’t felt good about it back then.
But─
1st) Cutie Pie Discord? Muffin, formerly of Patisserie! The reason: love triangle!?
The rankings had switched.
“…?”
Looking closely, the view count difference wasn’t that large to begin with.
[713,000 views]
[712,000 views]
They were competing for first and second place by an extremely narrow margin.
And just now, it had reversed.
“…Damn.”
Juhyeok’s expression crumpled.
In truth, there’s barely any difference between first and second place, but given who the opponent is….
I’m quite irritated.
While I clenched my fists and trembled.
“What are you doing?”
Sanghyeon emerged. His hair was tousled and his eyes were half-closed.
“…Just checking the charts. We got first… no, we had first.”
“?”
“We’re second now.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Sanghyeon simply moved past it. While he had a competitive spirit, this was Jia’s domain of activity. Juhyeok also turned his gaze from the monitor and asked Sanghyeon.
“Hey. You know we’re going to the hospital today, right?”
“Yeah~ I was about to shower now. What about you?”
“I already showered.”
“Okay.”
Sanghyeon went back into the bathroom. Juhyeok’s gaze fixed back on the monitor.
‘What am I going to do about this.’
It’s not as if Juhyeok could do anything about view counts going up and down.
But backing down when there’s no way forward isn’t Juhyeok Kim’s style.
Right now, his sentiment was to win by any means necessary, even if it meant resorting to unsavory methods.
As I stared intently at the monitor like that.
Zing. Zing.
My phone rang.
‘What is this. At this hour. Is it the awards ceremony manager?’
Lately, I’d been getting frequent calls from those coordinators regarding the awards ceremony.
Since it was now just around the corner, I thought they might call at any time to confirm details….
[Chiseung Kim – Kim Chi Warrior]
The caller was none other than Kim Chi Warrior.
“Hm?”
It was an unexpected call.
If he had business with Sanghyeon, he would call him directly….
‘What is this? Maybe Sang-hyun Yu didn’t answer.’
Juhyeok tilted his head and answered anyway.
“Hello?”
-Ah, yes. This is Chiseung Kim. Kim Chi Warrior.
“Yes. I have your number.”
-Ah… I see. You’re the manager, right?
“Yes.”
-Actually… I called to express my gratitude.
“Ah. Should I put Sanghyeon on?”
-No. I’ll speak to him separately about that.
Then why did he call? Juhyeok wondered.
-I called to express my gratitude to you and the editor.
“To us?”
-Yes. Thanks to the videos you uploaded, my subscriber count has grown quite a bit… More than that… I just felt good. Thank you. This is my first time doing something like this.
In Chiseung Kim’s trembling voice. In that awkward silence where words couldn’t quite come together.
A warm, indescribable tenderness washed over him.
“…Ah, yes. I’m glad it’s going well. We’re really happy too because we got a great opportunity thanks to you. The video even ranked first.”
-Yes. Thank you… Huh? First place?
“Yes. That… it’s in the politics and society category, but it’s first place nonetheless.”
-Politics and society… Ah… so that’s why so many of those people came….
“What kind of people?”
-Ah, it’s nothing. I’ll tell you when we meet next time.
“Ah, yes. I’ll treat you to a meal next time.”
-Ah, no. Actually, I should be the one treating you… haha. Thank you so much.
He ended the call after a brief greeting.
So this kind of thing happens too.
Looking at the phone screen with the disconnected call, Juhyeok felt it anew.
Just how much influence the videos they made and Almond’s broadcast had.
Through this video, someone would laugh heartily, cry, or soothe their loneliness in some corner of their life.
Juhyeok looked at the OlTube chart again, this time with a slightly different perspective.
1st) Cutie Pie Discord? Muffin, who was formerly part of Pastry Chef! The reason is a love triangle!?
Still holding onto first place.
[920,000 views]
The gap had even widened. It soared from the early 700,000s to 900,000. It had been completely overtaken. That video would probably hit a million soon.
Meanwhile, Almond’s video was still at 800,000.
Was the scale really that different?
First place ultimately belonged to Time Trouble.
Juhyeok felt irritated. But in the midst of this, a thought occurred to him.
Had Time Trouble ever received a call like this in his life?
Well, at least not one related to videos.
Even if he’d gotten a call, it would’ve mostly been from the police station.
‘That’s right. No matter how many views and money you suck up, a wreck is still a wreck.’
With that, Juhyeok abandoned whatever scheme he was plotting and simply closed the window.
“Forget it.”
Creak.
Just then, Sanghyeon emerged from the bathroom. He’d already finished washing up.
“Forget what?”
“Nothing. Never mind.”
Sanghyeon just tilted his head and stood in front of the vanity. He picked up the hair dryer and began drying his hair diligently.
He gazed into the mirror, thinking.
‘I think I’ve lost a bit of muscle.’
My upper body had become noticeably softer.
Ever since I started streaming, my muscle mass had visibly decreased.
There was no real reason to maintain my physique, but watching my muscles gradually diminish felt bittersweet.
‘Is it because I’m entering my thirties?’
They say things change dramatically when you hit a new decade, and it seemed I wasn’t an exception.
‘The awards ceremony is in two days….’
The ceremony was coming up soon, and I worried whether I’d look too gaunt on stage.
‘Time really does fly.’
My gaze shifted to the wall clock reflected in the mirror.
It was almost time to head to the hospital.
“I’m getting dressed now. You get ready too.”
“Yeah, got it.”
Juhyeok and I each headed to our rooms and finished preparing to leave.
In one corner of the computer Juhyeok had left on, the Ril Pro community forum was open.
A single post there had been steadily gaining views and recommendations.
It was rising to become a Big Pro post.

* * *
Inside the car with Juhyeok, Jia, and me.
As usual, I sat in the back seat while Jia took the passenger seat.
The group’s purpose was to take Sang-hyun Yu to the hospital.
There was no real need for Jia to come along, but these two had clearly developed a taste for dating at the park near the hospital.
At least, that’s what I thought.
“By the way, what are you wearing to the awards ceremony?”
Jia turned around to ask me.
“Can’t I just wear a suit?”
“But it’s an awards ceremony.”
“…Hmm.”
Juhyeok chimed in from the side.
“I know a place. Let’s go there today and get something for you and Jia. It won’t take long.”
Jia looked at him with confusion.
“…Why me?”
“You need to get something too, Jia.”
Juhyeok chuckled and spoke to Jia.
“These days, streamers don’t work solo anymore, so there are team-based awards too. Even editors get awards.”
“…I’m hearing this for the first time. The ceremony is in two days.”
“Yeah, I just found out yesterday.”
“?!”
“I mean, they suddenly called and told me. They didn’t even let us know who the candidates were. They just said to stick around with the streamer and wait.”
“….”
When I turned around at the lack of response, Jia’s face was flushed red.
That was right. She felt embarrassed standing in front of the camera.
Quite a bit, actually.
“I, I don’t think I’ll win an award… Honestly, to win an Editor’s Award… I’m just riding on Almond’s coattails. There are so many talented people. Oh, and today’s video didn’t even hit first place….”
Her usually confident demeanor had vanished, replaced by rambling words.
“Second place is still impressive. The closer you are to the awards ceremony in terms of performance, the better the effect, right? Wouldn’t you at least get a Rookie Editor Award? Or maybe a Commendation Award.”
I wasn’t even sure if a Commendation Award existed, but Juhyeok just spoke whatever came to mind.
“Ah… Commendation Award….”
Then, Almond in the back seat spoke in a somewhat serious tone.
“Hey.”
“?”
Both of their eyes in the front seats turned toward the rearview mirror.
Almond held his phone up close to the rearview mirror.
“It says I’ve entered politics?”
Surprisingly, there really was such a post on the screen.
[Breaking News) Almond Enters Politics]
With considerable recommendations and views, it was exposed at the top of Reel Pro.
Whether it had become a kind of meme, numerous related posts were being generated.
[Congressman Almond Runs!]
[Prime Minister Almond, Enters the Blue House Like a Dog!]
[Breaking News) King Yeongjo Appoints Almond as Successor Instead of Crown Prince Sado]
[Breaking News) Almond Establishes Shanghai Provisional Government. Hope of Joseon]
[Kimchi Warrior & Politics Warrior – the dream duo lol]
“What on earth is this about?”
Sanghyeon asked with a bewildered expression.
Because he had woken up late today, he still didn’t know what category his video had been classified under.
Pft!
Juhyeok and Jia, knowing the cause of the problem, burst out laughing.
Especially Sanghyeon’s dumbfounded expression was priceless.
Puhahaha!
After laughing for a while, they explained the situation to Sanghyeon, and he too found it absurd and laughed.
“No. What… so that’s what it was.”
It was just a happening. A funny meme had been born, that’s all. At this moment, that’s what they thought.
They had no idea.
That this would have a real impact.
1st) Why the World Bows Flat Before Joseon’s Bow
[Views: 1,283,000]
2nd) Cutie Pie Discord? Muffin, Who Was Previously Part of Pastry! The Reason is a Love Triangle!?
[Views: 1,140,000]

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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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