Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 509

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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 229
79. Nostalgic Arcade (2)
Sarang reflected on the experience.
‘Not bad at all.’
She’d stopped by on Popcorn’s recommendation.
At first, she wasn’t particularly interested, but once she started indiscriminately defeating her fifth opponent, her mood lifted considerably.
“Wooooow!”
“Ohhhhh!”
“Insane!”
“Wow… so cheap. So cheap.”
Hearing the cheers of fighting game fans wasn’t as bad as she’d expected.
“Ugh! You’re playing the game like garbage!”
And hearing the praises of the defeated felt surprisingly good.
No, “good” wasn’t quite the right word.
Something was coming back to life within her.
It felt like dormant memories were stirring awake.
Scientists said it, after all.
That memories are stored in a specific part of the brain.
Well, I’m not sure about that.
Sarang rolled her neck and shook her head.
[A new challenger has appeared!]
[Accept]
Tap.
A tingling sensation shot through her finger as she pressed the button.
In this very moment, I couldn’t believe memories were stored in the brain.
This tingling sensation running through my fingertips caused my hidden legs beneath the blanket to twitch involuntarily.
Countless scenes from the past flashed through my mind. As if searching for old memories. Gradually, both my hands slipped beyond my control, moving of their own accord.
Perhaps memories are personal recollections held by every cell in the body.
Hidden away in every corner of the physical form.
Perhaps… if I search diligently through those corners and find them, my legs might recover the memories.
‘That might be possible.’
Boom!
“Wooooow!”
“Consecutive combos are connecting!? So you weren’t unable to use combos!?”
Tap-tap-tap-tap.
Look at the fingers pressing the joystick and buttons. They’re not moving through conscious thought.
They each possess their own judgment and live separately.
Of course, this is all delusion.
It will end eventually.
It wasn’t that long.
By the time my delusion ended, the result had already been decided.
“Kay! Ooooooh!”
“Victory! In the blink of an eye!?”
I exhaled.
A faint smile lingered at the corner of my mouth as I released the breath I’d been holding.
“Wow! Incredible! Another perfect game! Six consecutive wins! Can’t even a single punch reach her!?”
“Next opponent!? Is there no one else!?”
The challenger who lost to her scratched his head awkwardly and fled as if escaping.
The next challenger didn’t come forward easily.
‘Hmm?’
Then someone caught her eye.

* * *
I looked up at the worn, outdated sign.
‘Memories Arcade… I wonder if it’ll be fun.’
It was called Memories Arcade, but
I didn’t have any particular memories of arcades.
I’d been a few times following friends, but I’d never gone on my own initiative.
I felt a lack of leisure. It wasn’t that I was so poor I feared the cost of a few arcade games. Compared to the pay-to-win mobile games people commonly played, there was hardly a cheaper hobby.
The problem was not my wallet, but my heart.
Back then, I had no peace of mind.
To me, the arcade was merely a pathetic place where carefree thugs wasted their time.
In fact, I still agree with that opinion now, but…
-Whoa
-The vibes hit different lol
-Pure nostalgia itself
-Those clean days before five-player games existed… I miss them…
It brings back memories ㅠㅠ
The viewers were different.
They thought of the arcade not as wasting time, but as building memories.
‘How distant.’
At times like this, I feel a vast distance between myself and the lives of ordinary people.
Whoosh.
This ringing echoes in my mind.
Momentarily, everything zooms out and I’m left alone.
What kind of life have I lived, and what kind of life should I live going forward?
Shake, shake.
I shake my head to dispel the stray thoughts.
‘It’s not like I haven’t tried.’
Once again, I muster all my strength and claw my way back toward the distant world.
“Let me give it a try.”
-gggggg
-good
-I wonder what this guy is like outside the capsule?
-Without VNS stats, isn’t he just uncoordinated? lol
-This is so fun lol

* * *
Just as the viewers worried, Sanghyeon was an ordinary(?) archery athlete once he stepped out of the capsule.
His ability to concentrate in an instant remained remarkably sharp, and his composure unchanged.
But his right hand—the one he’d use to press buttons—had a defect, and his agility wouldn’t benefit from VNS stat corrections either.
Yet there was only one reason he wanted to attempt this challenge.
In fact, the answer was already hidden in what Popcorn had said when persuading him.
「You lose stamina just playing virtual reality games all the time, right? There are some pretty fun challenges here too, so why not give it a shot!」
This was because it wasn’t a capsule-based game.
That’s right. Those disadvantages I mentioned earlier were actually advantages for the exhausted Sanghyeon.
‘Since it’s not a customized capsule, maybe I need some time to rest.’
With that thought, he stepped into the arcade.
“Wooooooow!”
The roar of excitement hit his ears.
“Incredible! Another perfect game! Six wins in a row! Can’t even land a punch on her!?”
The atmosphere was more heated than expected.
The fighting game—the crown jewel of the arcade—was naturally drawing the most attention.
“Woooow!”
“That’s insane…”
“How is she so good?”
Someone was on an unstoppable winning streak, and crowds of people had gathered around.
-??What is this?
-lol looks like UFC
-Wow the set design is crazy lol
What caught his eye most was the arcade’s interior design. The fighting game machines were enclosed in hexagonal iron cages, creating an atmosphere that looked exactly like an actual fighting arena, and all the other games were placed in spaces that matched their respective concepts.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Watching people enthusiastically pound on the iron cage made it feel like he’d come to watch an actual fighting match.
There was even a large screen overhead, so you didn’t have to stand behind the player to watch—you could enjoy it comfortably.
-This is ancient streaming, children.
-Watching over someone’s shoulder is the real romance, but they compromised with the times lol
-lol the origin of streaming lol
As the chat mentioned, this arcade viewing culture might actually be the genesis of game streaming itself.
People gathering to watch, cheering on skilled players when they showed up, challenging them—that culture had simply moved online as-is.
“Do we have a new challenger!? The challenge fee is just 500 won!”
Listening to the host’s words, I couldn’t help but laugh.
It was like watching someone being publicly executed while shouting “Only 500 won~!”
‘I should do something else.’
I concluded that I couldn’t defeat the mysterious champion currently on a six-win streak in the arcade fighting game.
It wasn’t even my specialty to begin with, and it wasn’t a game I had in mind when I entered the arcade.
Why not just enjoy a peaceful fighter jet game and leave?
Besides, these people….
-Scared? Scared?
-Come on and challenge!
-Someone give him a mission lol
-In another world I one-shot boss monsters, but in reality I’m scared?!
-Why are you sneaking away lol
It was hard to shake the feeling that these viewers were only waiting for me to lose.
If I lost here, the chat would be flooded with all sorts of mockery.
So I definitely had to pass on the fighting game.
“Is there no one else?! If so, we’ll consider the current player to have achieved a 10-win streak and claim the challenge championship!”
The fighting game win streak challenge doesn’t stop until someone achieves 10 consecutive wins. Once someone reaches 10 wins, it seems to disappear.
“…Ugh. Should I go?”
“Someone go extend our lives a bit.”
The gamers hoping the challenge would continue pushed each other’s backs, but
just as not everyone could participate in independence movements during the colonial period,
no one stepped forward.
Then─
“You there.”
A clear voice cut through the murmuring crowd.
“Hey. Almond.”
It came again.
She was calling out to Almond specifically.
“…?”
I looked inside the cage, and simultaneously, countless spectators’ gazes fixed on me.
“Almond? Did she say Almond?”
“Almond’s here?”
“Huh? Really?”
The woman inside the cage had called out my name.
Everyone had noticed my presence.
They even figured out where I was.
Her long index finger was pointing directly at me.
‘What?’
Following that finger with my gaze, I was shocked.
‘Choi Sa-rang….’
I recognized the familiar voice. It was Choi Sa-rang.
What is she doing here?
Well, it makes sense. This is G-Star after all. And Popcorn, who was on the same team, is here too…
“Almond, shall we play together?”
Tap tap.
She tapped the arcade machine across from me with her finger as she spoke.
I hesitated for a moment.
“Don’t you want to? Afraid you’ll lose?”
She didn’t hesitate to provoke me.
She really is a professional gamer.
-Ooooh snap
-Max level provocation lol
-Haha lol
-Big sis I’m dead! (for real)
What’s with that woman’s pose lol
-Is she an Almond fan?
I bit my lip for a moment. But what choice did I have?
I’m a streamer.
When a situation like this unfolds, it’s my inescapable fate to participate.
Still, I tried to resist once.
“I’m actually not very good at this game.”
Snicker.
Sarang laughed as if she knew everything, still tapping the arcade machine across from me.
“Ah, I know. It’s just boring if you get 10 wins straight. Can you make it 7 wins instead?”
“?”
What? She wants me to give her 7 wins?
My expression stiffened for a moment.
“Ooooooh~”
The crowd cheered, noticing that I was starting to react.
The viewers did the same.
-Lololol
-I’m already satisfied seeing the arrogant Nut Fans get a proper lesson lol
-I was the strongest apex predator in another world, but in reality I’m an arcade loser!?
-This is the romance of the arcade, you bastard~
-???: Hey! You! Follow me in the capsule machine!
‘Follow in the capsule machine, yeah right.’
The viewers are misunderstanding.
Even if I went to the capsule machine, there wouldn’t be much I could do.
Because that woman is Jeon-ja-pa.
“Come on~”
“Who else would do it if not you, Almond!”
“Challenge! Challenge!”
Not just the viewers, but people from all around began clamoring for me to accept the challenge.
Likely because if this challenge ended here, Choi Sa-rang would achieve a ten-win streak and this entire challenge would conclude.
The decision didn’t take long.
“I’ll challenge.”
After saying that, I took a seat in front of the arcade machine.

* * *
“Just place your card on top here, and the payment will be deducted automatically!”
There was no need for the inconvenience of exchanging cash for coins—simply tapping the card on the arcade machine once was all it took.
“Have you had any experience with this game before?”
I gazed intently at the famous arcade machine.
It was “Pokkwon 14,” the fourteenth installment in the renowned fighting game series.
“Ah… I think the last one I played was around Pokkwon 8.”
“Yes, you played quite a long time ago, didn’t you? Actually, not much has changed. The graphics improved, the impact feels better, the maps changed, and new characters were added.”
-Everything changed though?
-What do you mean nothing changed lol
-lmaooo
-New characters kill the nostalgia~
As if reading my thought—that new characters make it harder to adapt—the host added an explanation.
“However, this arcade machine is set to classic mode today, so you won’t have trouble because you don’t know the new character combos!”
“Ah…”
This was a feature increasingly used by nostalgia-driven games these days.
They upgraded the game’s graphics and basic performance while capturing elements that could evoke memories for old players.
‘Thanks to that, I won’t die from some weird combo.’
With that thought, I pressed a button.
As soon as I pressed any button, a famous phrase appeared.
“New~ Challenger~~!”
[A new challenger has appeared!]
Click.
Choi Sa-rang’s character took a fighting stance, then the screen transitioned to character selection.
‘Since Choi Sa-rang uses Heihatchi…’
Heihatchi.
The representative character of this game—an elderly man famous for his hairstyle featuring extreme male pattern baldness.
Even those unfamiliar with this game often know this character.
‘What should I pick?’
The Pokkwon series doesn’t actually have matchups as extreme as Ril does between characters.
Even if matchups existed, they varied so much depending on skill level that they were meaningless.
There was no way I could know all those matchups.
He simply chose the character he used to play back in the day.
[Blue]
A Korean-themed character whose specialty is wielding taekwondo.

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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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