Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 437

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

The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 2 Episode 157
55. The Awards Ceremony (2)
During the Rookie of the Year award presentation.
Posts in the Streamer Garden began exploding in number.
In a bad way.
[Hounds, come out and bark]
[This Year’s Top Rookie Almond: “0”]
“He was talking big about some overwhelming vote difference, but it turned out to be ‘0’ lol”
Hahaha, is “0” still real?
Almond’s graph had remained frozen at zero. In fact, throughout this entire graph battle, it had stayed at zero roughly eighty percent of the time.
Their argument that if it was going to stay at zero, why had he been so arrogant about it before seemed convincing.
Even many of Almond’s fans didn’t know exactly when he’d started streaming.
What is this ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Why isn’t it moving??]
[What’s this? A bug?]
Some of the more naive fans actually believed what these troublemakers were saying.
The more they believed, the more these people ran wild.
“When is that amazing almond substitute finally going to go up lol”
[000000000]
[Almond only knows binary 000]
However… if you thought about it even a little, the agitation was full of holes.
These guys were just complaining that there wasn’t enough almond mixed rice, and now they’re suddenly pretending they don’t know when the broadcast started??ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The posts about “0” that were currently plastered everywhere.
These reactions actually made no sense when you considered the mainstream opinion of the Streamer Garden.
The agitators actually knew when Almond had started streaming.
They’d even argued that since he started around winter this year, he didn’t qualify for Rookie of the Year due to his short career.
But now they were pretending not to know, emphasizing only the number “0” to tear him down.
A form of muddying the waters of public opinion.
Repeatedly pulling out just a few powerful phrases to obscure the true nature of what actually happened.
In a community where countless people come and go, it’s an extremely effective method.
No, Almond hasn’t even started broadcasting yet lol
Wow, what is this? Is it a bug? ㅠㅠㅠ
[You need to start streaming to get viewers, idiots]
[You bastards, do something about it]
[But Almond, why is it really 0???]
Evidence that this agitation was working began appearing between the rising posts.
The fact that the number continued to stay at zero was much “simpler” information than the fact that he’d start broadcasting from September of year 35 and would go up, so this is what happened.
The side telling the truth looks like they’re making excuses, and the side telling lies looks like they’re stating precise numbers. That number alone: “0”.
With just that, the positions of truth and falsehood were reversed.
It certainly seemed like it would happen that way…
Conversely, this meant that if there was clear and easy evidence visible to the eye, uncovering the truth became simple.
The graph race that Trivia had prepared was precisely that.
A race between graphs that even elementary school children could understand.
No one would be able to raise objections to this.
So─
[September 2035]
As the graph moved into September of year 35, the story took a different turn.
-Something big is coming
-Magical autumn
-“winter is coming”
-Almond hatching like crazy!

* * *
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…!
The graphs surged forward alongside grand background music.
Sanghyeon watched with a dazed expression.
‘September of year 35….’
Trivia had probably created this presentation to showcase a clean and fair awards ceremony.
‘…I remember it all.’
Unintentionally, it had become a lantern show of memories for me.
[September 2035]
The time when Almond first began his activities.
The day he had first tried to stand before the public as Almond.
Rather than a major game, I had chosen Kingdom, which had a niche following and allowed bows as weapons.
Back then, my viewer count probably reached four people at its peak?
I still remember the IDs of those four viewers.
“Ooh….”
“Yeah, yeah. Something big is coming.”
“Wow.”
My current fans cheer saying ‘something big is coming’, but.
How could they have known back then?
That things would turn out like this.
-Wow it’s shooting up
lol
-A comet itself
-This body has arrived!
Whoooosh!
A growth trajectory far more dramatic than any other candidate I’d seen so far was displayed in the graph.
From mid-September onwards.
This was probably around the time I had showcased a perfect shot during a collaboration with Dotorimuk, drawing viewers in powerfully.
At this point, I had nearly caught up to Goguma’s candidacy.
That momentum continued.
Into October.
[October 2035]
In October, I started streaming Battle Large.
In my first match with Battle Large, I won the championship in solo queue.
While other participants formed teams of four, I had accidentally registered as an individual since it was my first time.
Yet I still took first place.
After that, due to the incident where my first game was suspended from a hacker report, the intense competition with Takoyaki, and other events, I gained notoriety.
My viewer count surpassed the others.
[Pepperoni]
[Mosol]
[Lemon]
[Almond]
[Goguma]
Now I was ahead of Goguma.
And then—
“…Wow!”
“Gasp.”
“I’m… insane.”
November.
I switched games to Ril.
[November 2035]
Right after switching to Ril, my viewer count dropped.
It was the risk of changing games.
The decline recovered slowly.
At some point, my numbers surged sharply—the moment I was brought in mid-match when one of the Balloon Stars team members didn’t show up.
My viewer count kept climbing. My stream was entering a new golden age, surpassing even the Battle Large era.
And then, the Nanteu match.
[Almond]
[Mosol]
[Pepperoni]
[Lemon]
[Goguma]
“Wow!”
“Gasp….”
“Yesss!”
I instantly became first among all the nominees.
-Kyaa
-Can’t miss the Nanteu match
-This guy’s insane
-First place going wild
-Hwaseong let’s goooo!
The viewership of the Nanteu match surged explosively.
That momentum, which seemed to continue indefinitely, finally dipped once the Nanteu match concluded.
[December 2035]
December.
Arriving in December while hovering in a sideways trend.
The sideways movement didn’t last long.
“Ohhhhh…!”
“Wow!”
“It’s going up again!?”
Breaking into major channels through the Archery Boy story.
Zombie School gameplay that diverged completely from the creator’s intentions.
Videos linking Civil Empire’s various exploits to patriotic themes, and more.
Through all of this, Almond began climbing once more.
[Almond]
.
.
.
[Mosol]
[Pepperoni]
[Lemon]
[Goguma]
Beyond first place, the gap with second place widened even further.
It was an overwhelmingly dominant first-place indicator.
Thump…!
Finally, the graph’s growth stopped.
From this moment onward.
[And, today]
This text was plastered large across the screen.
Why was that?
I couldn’t understand the reason. Yet a single tear rolled down from my eyes.
It wasn’t sadness. The emotion of summarizing an entire life of ups and downs in a single moment was difficult to put into words.
Going up was hard in its own way, and going down was hard in its own way.
Looking back, all those countless twists and turns were beautiful waves….
They were only good times.
‘I’ve done well.’
My heart swelled with emotion.

* * *
Department Manager Jang, watching this unfold on the broadcast monitor, dropped his jaw in astonishment.
‘…Was the gap really this wide?’
He knew Almond was famous among the rookie streamers.
But since he wasn’t deeply versed in the streamer world, he hadn’t truly grasped the magnitude of that disparity.
In truth, situations where you could visually witness such growth gaps between streamers were rare. It was only possible during the Trivia Awards ceremony, a statistical anomaly.
‘This is serious. At that level… if we’re talking about the music industry, it’d be like debuting and simultaneously hitting number one on the charts and music show rankings, then touring the entire nation.’
He tried to understand it by applying the standards of his own field.
Number one from debut. National recognition. Artists who shine from the very start like this are rarer than you’d think.
Most stars endure extraordinarily long periods of obscurity, hidden years of hardship and perseverance.
‘That person must have had their own years of hardship too… surely.’
Even if Almond had no period of suffering as a streamer, no one could claim his life had been smooth sailing.
Even if someone offered to trade lives with him right now, who could honestly raise their hand?
At least Department Manager Jang had no desire to endure such years.
To that extent, this reward was entirely justified.
At that moment, Hong-cha and Lemon, who were presenting the award, opened their mouths.
“Um… well….”
Having seen the graph, they seemed momentarily at a loss for words.
Murmur, murmur.
The streamers were all chattering about this staggering gap.
“The mid difference is insane.”
“Gichan… let’s just be reborn.”
“Almond was really at that level?”
“I never expected such a gap….”
Now that they could see it clearly with their own eyes, the shock hit them.
As mentioned, opportunities to see the difference so clearly were exceedingly rare.
Hong-cha took a deep breath and spoke again.
“The… award isn’t decided by viewer count alone! Viewer votes and their participation rates are equally important indicators.”
“That’s right! Let’s take a quick look!”
There was apparently another prepared graph race.
But this one was no different from before.
In some cases, the gap actually widened further.
“Then!”
Hong-cha flipped the card and gave the signal to announce the award.
“We’ll now announce the Rookie Award.”
Boom boom boom boom…!
Music played, layering the background sound.
In the meantime, Juhyeok casually asked Sanghyeon.
“Hey. Did you prepare… an acceptance speech?”
“Yeah.”
Sanghyeon didn’t bother responding, remaining composed instead.
“Ah… you didn’t? What do we do?”
“It’s fine. I’ll just say something. It’s not like it’s a major announcement.”
Juhyeok was the planner; I was the improviser.
It had always been that way.
“Sigh. Should I have written this myself?”
“What am I, a kid?”
Sanghyeon chuckled softly as if telling me not to worry.
“2035. End of Year Trivia Awards. Rookie of the Year. Congratulations. Almond!”
Almond’s name was called.
Waaaaaaa!
Cheers erupted as if everyone had been waiting for this moment.
I can’t translate this as it’s just a repeated consonant (ㅊ) without vowels, which doesn’t form a valid Korean word or meaningful expression.
Oh my god ㅠㅠ I’m dying laughing at that smirk ㅠㅠ
-Love you! Love you!
That’s a huge plot twist lol
I’m receiving it ㅠㅠㅠ
I thought almonds would work out ㅠㅠㅠ
Sanghyeon slowly rose from his seat.
All the cameras zoomed in on him.
“Congratulations! Almond!”
“Nice work!”
“Almond! Let’s go to Mars!”
He responded with a warm smile to his fellow streamers’ cheers and walked toward the podium.
Lemon picked up the trophy and handed it to him.
“Ehehe! Congratulations!”
Hong-cha points the microphone toward him.
“Now, come here and give us your acceptance speech.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Sanghyeon stood at the center microphone of the podium, holding the trophy.
His eyes briefly met Juhyeok’s.
Juhyeok let out an exasperated sigh as if to say, “Of course.”
‘Sigh. What’s he going to do?’
As if he knew better than anyone that I wasn’t good with words.
Seeing his expression, Sanghyeon began speaking with a smile.
“Though this is an award given to rookies.”
In truth, I had been thinking about my acceptance speech for a long time.
“I don’t think I’ve proven myself worthy of this award yet. Thank you for the overwhelming love and support.”
To express gratitude to those who stood by me.
“I’d like to dedicate the honor of this award to those who brought me to this stage, so I’ll mention them briefly.”
That was the acceptance speech Sanghyeon wanted to give. If he couldn’t speak his mind in a moment like this, he’d probably be too embarrassed to say it face-to-face.
And then time would pass, perhaps an entire lifetime.
So this was an opportunity.
To express his gratitude properly to the people around him.
“If I don’t say it now, I feel like I’ll never be able to.”
Aha ha.
After the laughter from the audience subsided.
Sanghyeon pointed toward Juhyeok.
“My manager who came with me today. Juhyeok.”
Sanghyeon said, gesturing toward Juhyeok.
Juhyeok, unprepared for this, looked up in surprise.
Sanghyeon’s story began.
“Unlike me, Juhyeok was a highly respected employee at Asung. I’m sure everyone tried to stop him when he said he was quitting.”
Behind his cold-framed glasses, Juhyeok’s eyes trembled with warmth.

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