Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 56

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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 56
20. A Bombshell Statement (1)
Seong-tae Park stroked his distinguished beard thoughtfully, tilting his head.
Five years as Balloon Gum’s manager.
He’d encountered a situation that rarely occurred in all that time, so some bewilderment was natural.
‘Usually, a single encounter like this doesn’t become an issue….’
Though Seong-tae Park had five years of experience, Balloon Gum was a streamer with over a decade of career behind him.
Throughout those ten years, he’d never missed a single broadcast except on designated days off.
He was the type who’d play games for nearly eight hours straight whenever he sat down. Naturally, his frequency of encountering other streamers was quite high.
He crossed paths with them so often it was impossible to count. So meeting someone once or twice wouldn’t become an issue.
‘But why just this person….’
Yet meeting this person called Almond just once had somehow become such an issue?
Was there some special circumstance involved?
“The appeal of this job is never knowing where the next explosion will come from.”
Seong-tae Park began searching for Almond on the Community.
He was able to obtain the basic profile quickly.
‘Thirties…. Handsome, skilled. And….’
Huh?
Below those impressive credentials, there was one item that naturally prompted a question mark.
‘Started virtual reality gaming… only three weeks ago?’
And Battle Rage was supposedly only his second match.
‘Wait. Didn’t this person… deflect bullets with arrows?’
Seong-tae Park replayed the problematic video from his encounter with Balloon Gum.
There happened to be a video that had just been uploaded to Oltube.
It was a video with appropriate and refined editing applied.
“The editing is insane.”
The editing made the video look far more impressive, but regardless, it was made from what actually happened.
Clang.
Arrows and bullets colliding mid-air. What Seong-tae Park had seen was definitely correct.
Deflecting bullets with arrows.
Remarkable instincts, and audacity.
Who could pull off such a play with victory within reach?
The comment reactions weren’t much different in opinion.
-???
-What just happened?
-Is that even possible?
-This is fake. How does that even make sense lol
-If it’s fake… but the opponent is Balloon Gum?
-Balloon Gum wouldn’t fake it.
-The guy just doesn’t do that… he’s just not capable of it….
-Not fake!? Or is it CGI? This is an edited version anyway.
-Impossible, lol
-Doing that three times in a row is impossible. I wouldn’t believe it even in a movie~~
Everyone was harboring suspicions that it was staged or that CGI had been used.
‘That can’t be it.’
Seong-tae Park slowly shook his head.
That wasn’t it at all.
First of all, as long as Balloon Gum was the opponent, there was no way it was staged. If someone harbored such suspicions, they were simply disrespecting a streamer who hadn’t caused any problems in ten years.
Then was it CGI? Well….
That wasn’t it either.
There was no reason for the editor to deliberately render such a play as CGI.
If someone went to the Tribby platform and rewatched the broadcast, the deception would be exposed immediately. That was an express ticket to ruin.
It wasn’t staged, and it wasn’t CGI.
Yet it was still hard to believe.
‘That’s… only his second match?’
The fact that Almond was only on his second match of Battle Rage was what made it unbelievable.
“Huh….”
Seong-tae Park let out a whistle.
He wanted to deny it. Comparing it to the skill level of Balloon Gum, whom he managed, made his head spin.
The gap between those born within the same category of human beings was this vast.
Even heaven seemed indifferent.
“This is something special.”
Tap. Tap.
Seong-tae Park tapped his own head with a gleaming luxury fountain pen.
It was a habit that emerged when he was thinking.
‘I can already picture the content.’
He didn’t want to miss an opportunity like this. Besides, the premise was solid.
The broadcast format was already forming in his mind.
‘Who exactly is this “Archer Man”?’ would be a natural starting point.
But while it felt natural, something was lacking….
It wasn’t even a question of wanting to know more.
It just felt a bit flat.
“Kick. There’s no kick to it.”
There was no sense of that perfect click.
Seong-tae Park began stroking his well-groomed beard as if wringing it out.
“Ah…!”
A moment later, as if something had occurred to him, he began rapidly jotting notes.

* * *
Ah, bubble gum is so funny lol
The expression when all three balls bounced away lol
Bubble gum is originally just hilarious and ridiculous just standing there doing nothing lol
[Balloon Gum’s sniper rifle style.gif]
[Balloon Gum VS Almond—the gap in talent makes me cry….]
Scrolling through the community reactions, Sanghyeon smiled.
‘The responses are really coming in.’
Not just on Balloon Gum’s fan page, but other communities were starting to take notice too.
‘I’m being mentioned alongside Balloon Gum.’
Balloon Gum—a streamer with ten years of experience.
Now the top streamer on Tribby and earning some of the highest advertising rates in the country.
But he hadn’t always been successful. Like everyone else.
Actually, he’d been worse off than most at the start.
He wasn’t good at anything.
He had no games he excelled at. Despite there being so many games to choose from.
All he had was a bit of humor sense and a friendly image—things anyone could have.
Even that wasn’t particularly unique.
If there was one thing that set him apart, it was ‘perseverance.’
The only reason he survived in this market without skill or any other outstanding talents was perseverance, sincerity, and a sense of responsibility.
The neighborhood hyung who never let me down.
The kind of hyung who might seem foolish normally, but would come running the moment something happened to me.
That was the true nature of Balloon Gum.
What if he wasn’t great at games?
After school, when I went to the playground, he was always there waiting—that good-natured neighborhood hyung.
The one who made me feel the warmth of childhood days spent happily with my Grandmother.
That’s what kind of hyung he was.
If such a hyung stood beside me when times were hard, shouting together, and laughed with me when I was happy.
That alone is happiness.
Or perhaps that’s the true joy of life.
That’s why Sanghyeon respected Balloon Gum. (Though not his skill level, of course.) And he loved his streams.
Being mentioned alongside him meant something significant to Sanghyeon.
“Wow. That’s interesting. So you have celebrities you like too.”
Juhyeok, eating beside me, said casually.
“A celebrity? Well, not exactly. Honestly.”
“At that level, he’s a celebrity. Fifty thousand concurrent viewers—what are you talking about? Man, how much must he be making?”
“He actually lives pretty frugally. He has two kids, and he seems to invest a lot in them.”
….
Juhyeok was momentarily taken aback by the information flowing so naturally.
“Anyway, the video was really well made. That’s probably why it became an issue again.”
Seojia’s Oltube video seemed to be to my liking as well. I kept replaying one particular scene over and over.
It was the moment I encountered Balloon Gum.
“Seojia’s skill is top-tier, no question about it!”
Juhyeok nodded vigorously.
He immediately shifted the conversation to view counts. There was no better time to bring it up than now.
“The view count already exceeded 80,000. It’s only been about five hours, and at this rate, we’re going to break our record.”
“What’s the record?”
“Over 200,000 views in a 24-hour period is our channel record. At this pace, we’ll easily hit 300,000.”
“Really?”
I gave a half-hearted response and turned my attention back to the community reactions. But as I stared at the screen, my expression gradually hardened.
The smile that had been spreading across my face slowly faded away.
Of course, like all communities, this wasn’t a place where only positive comments appeared.
Just because you popped some bubble gum, you think you’re talented? lol Everyone in this country of 40 million people would be talented then!
“What’s with the almond lol such a talented person lol making a fuss after just two games”
[Never thought I’d see the day Stones gets hyped X]
[Seriously, these fanatics creating religions is absolutely disgusting]
Lol almond vs electromagnetic waves? ㅋㅋㅋ
[Stop hyping him up, you bastards. Almond is still just Stones]
[Jeon-ja-pa hit Diamond within a month of starting. How could Almond possibly do that?]
.
.
.
Whoosh.
Juhyeok’s hand suddenly appeared on the screen.
“Hey. Why are you reading all that? They’re just trying to tear you down.”
Juhyeok had already seen all the comments about Almond long ago. He had a rough idea of what kind of posts were being made.
“I know.”
“Then why are you reading it?”
“This is all my combat power.”
“…?”
“Besides, I don’t have a family anyway, so even if they insult my family, it doesn’t really affect me.”
Only then did Juhyeok truly grasp the mental fortitude of someone who had once been a professional archer.
It was honestly terrifying.
Now I understood why Department Manager Park disliked Sang-hyun Yu so much.
Simple criticism and hostility had no impact on this man whatsoever.
Perhaps Department Manager Park was actually afraid of Sang-hyun Yu!
“Anyway, I think the problem is that I still don’t have a rank.”
“Of course you don’t. You’ve only played two matches.”
“I think I need to extend my streaming hours a bit. No matter how much of a teasing concept it is.”
“How many matches per day are you thinking?”
Virtual reality games consume an enormous amount of stamina. In Sanghyeon’s case, it was particularly severe. Because of this issue, Juhyeok had actually looked into hospitals.
He didn’t really want to recommend it.
“You’re not overexerting yourself, are you?”
“The real overexertion is Stones maintaining his genius concept.”
“Hmm… Fair point.”
I finished off the remaining kimchi stew by mixing it thoroughly with rice, then stood up from my seat.
Right after, I sat down at the computer and immediately watched strategy videos.
“Let’s increase the number of matches at least until I reach Diamond rank.”
Though I appeared unbothered, I was burning inside.
Quietly, intensely burning.
All those insults and dismissals had ignited my competitive spirit.
And then an event occurred that poured fuel on that fire.
“Huh? Hey. I got an email on my account!”
Juhyeok shouted as he checked his mail like he always did.
“What email?”
“It’s from Balloon Gum’s manager.”
“!”
Clatter──
My chair spun around abruptly and wobbled.
“What, what did they say?”
“They’re proposing some kind of content.”
[Hello. I’m Seong-tae Park, manager of streamer Balloon Gum.]
The email starting with this subject line contained the following proposal.
“Extreme talent showdown… Balloon Gum rescue project….”
An extreme difference in talent.
A collaboration between one favored by the gods and one despised by them.
Content where one teaches and saves the other.
In simple terms, a ‘tutoring content.’
“So, it’s content where you teach Balloon Gum, huh?”
“Is that so?”
Color returned to my face.
But Juhyeok held up his palm in front of me. Not yet, his gesture seemed to say.
“Ah. But there’s a condition. If you’re okay with it, they want to proceed after you reach Diamond rank.”
“Diamond?”
I paused for a moment.
Diamond rank was no easy feat, after all.
“Of course, if you don’t want to….”
“No! I’ll do it.”
I quickly made up my mind.
Would I back down just because it’s not easy?
Absolutely not.
If anything, I felt a burning fire ignite within me for the first time in a while.
“I’m going to Diamond anyway, so why hold back?”

* * *
3 PM.
It was around the time Seojia’s uploaded video had just surpassed 130,000 views.
Suddenly, a Tribby live stream notification rang out.
[Almond has started streaming!]
Ding!
A notification that anyone who had enabled alerts for Almond’s channel would receive.
-??
-3 PM though?
-Coming at this time is really rare.
-Is something up?
Most viewers entered in confusion.
The influx was naturally under 1,000 people.
His viewer base consisted mostly of people occupied with work or studies.
The only ones who could spare time at such an awkward hour were the so-called “night owls.”
[Current Viewers: 891]
Still, the fact that nearly 1,000 people rushed in meant that Almond had a solid core fanbase.
-Wait, is this a broadcast accident?
Haha, if it’s almonds, that could actually be true.
-Please change your Capsule, man.
-I’ll donate
While everyone was chatting, wondering if it was a broadcast accident.
Crackle.
Static filled the entire screen, and then the intro music began to play.
-Huh? For real?
I can’t provide a meaningful translation for “-ㄷㄱㄷㄱ” as it appears to be Korean consonants without vowels, which doesn’t form a recognizable word or phrase in Korean.
I can’t even imagine what time it is!
-Oh, so good.
I didn’t quit my job for this shit lol
Ping!
Almond’s face appeared in the corner of the screen with a grin.
“Yo!”
As he greeted warmly, the chat scrolled upward rapidly.
I can’t translate this as it’s not a valid Korean word or phrase. The characters “ㅇㅎㅇㅎ” are individual consonants and vowels without meaning when arranged this way.
-Yay!
I can’t translate this as it’s not a standard Korean word or phrase. The characters “-ㅎㅇㅎㅇ” appear to be individual consonants and vowels rather than a meaningful expression.
-Why did you come on so early!
I’m so happy to see you ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Lol I’m skipping school right now and watching the broadcast ㅋㅋ
-What? Anyway, got it!
-Wow, absolute steal.
-Zero loss in life.
-Forbes’ Most Valuable 3 PM.
Why did you come so early? Do you have something going on today? haha
Beneath the greetings lay barely concealed curiosity.
Why had the broadcast gone live at such an unusually early hour?
The answer came immediately, accompanied by something of a bombshell announcement.
“I’m going for Diamond rank starting today.”
-????
-Excuse me?
Hahahahaha! Bomb announcement!
A goal beyond imagination!
-Almond’s dying?
-Finally going down?!
“Diamond rank, not Almond. I’m going for Diamond tier. I’m thinking… about two weeks.”
Two weeks.
The record held by Jeon-ja-pa, hailed as the greatest player, was one month.
I had just declared I would break it by a factor of two.
A complete novice streamer who had only played two matches.

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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
—————