Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 631

—————
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 3 Episode 101
35. Release (2)
The shock of defeat against Rome hit harder than I’d anticipated.
Especially for the members of Sync Tank who formulated the strategies.
Knock. Knock.
“Oppa. Aren’t you going to eat?”
Mool Mandu tapped on the door and asked.
Chiseung was still holed up alone in his room.
“…Ah, yeah. You all eat without me.”
Chiseung replied in a hollow voice, then stretched out on the makeshift cot set up in the corner of the room.
Creak… Creak….
Every time he shifted his body, the bed emitted the sound of rusted metal grinding.
Yet Chiseung found this bed comfortable. Whenever new strategies came to mind, he’d excitedly discuss them with his friends here all night long, then lie down on this bed to catch some sleep.
When he woke in the morning, he never felt particularly refreshed. Pang-eo Ajae would look at Chiseung and complain that age was a thug, that if he slept on this bed for even one more day, his lower back would give out.
But for Chiseung, it was a comfortable sanctuary. Whenever he felt anxious, lying on this bed brought him a sense of stability.
He lay on the bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and turned on his phone.
Out of habit, he opened M-bul.
‘Oh.’
He immediately realized this was a mistake and closed it.
Checking the community after a crushing defeat today was practically mental suicide.
Since this wasn’t his first international tournament, Chiseung knew this well.
But….
‘Huh?’
From the fleeting afterimage, Chiseung thought he’d seen something unexpected.
It was just a feeling, but something was definitely….
‘Different.’
The community atmosphere seemed different from what he’d expected.
He opened M-bul again.
Yeah, harsh comments—if I just steel myself, I can handle them anyway.
After bracing himself, Chiseung scrolled down to find the afterimage he’d glimpsed earlier.
‘A misunderstanding….’
The more he scrolled, the more he understood.
1st Place) Still, they fought well!
2nd Place) It’s unfortunate, but… I don’t think anyone can deny that this match’s performance was legendary
3rd Place) Anto played well; it’s not that Cookie played poorly
.
.
.
It wasn’t a misunderstanding.
This wasn’t the community atmosphere of a defeated nation.
No matter how genteel M-bul’s tone might be, it was fundamentally an internet community.
These people knew how to spew all manner of vicious insults with a laugh if things went wrong.
Especially since they knew so much about Chiseung, they were the type who could land truly cutting blows with their words….
‘Isn’t this different from last time?’
When Joseon suffered repeated defeats in last year’s national tournament and was eliminated in the preliminaries.
Chiseung remembered the posts that had appeared back then.
Even if I tried to avoid it, I couldn’t go three months without seeing M-bul while using Sync Tank, could I?
That’s right. A full three months.
I endured three whole months of insults on M-bul!
‘Why is it different now?’
But this time around, everyone’s reaction was completely different.
Chiseung couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact reason.
Because I performed relatively well earlier?
Last year, Joseon didn’t lose every match either.
We simply failed to advance past the preliminaries.
This time too, Joseon could potentially fail to advance past the preliminaries.
Especially since Spain is now hot on our heels again after winning against France.
‘In any case….’
Chiseung quietly scrolled down and read through the posts people had written one by one.
I thought maybe it was a bait post where if I clicked in, a green frog would appear in first-person and beat me down while saying “Did you really think that?!” and commit fact violence.
‘Thank goodness.’
There was nothing like that.
Even the comments were mostly supportive.
-Let’s really do this this time
-Everyone’s skills have improved, I could tell. Amazing even while doing their main jobs
Go kimchi warrior, fighting~!
I feel bad for the fake national team player, so I can’t go all out on them lol
I’m crying.
Me too haha
-Chiseung, let’s just do one part-time job next year~
└Let’s go film a part-time job hell commercial~!
Chiseung lay there for a while, browsing the community.
Then he finally got up from the bed.
He wiped his eyes and shook off the emotions from before.
“I was wrong….”
He approached the camera that was set up and spoke.
“There were so many people who thought we could win. This many.”
He held his phone screen up to the camera to show them.
“Thank you.”
To the camera he’d wanted to put away just moments ago, he bowed respectfully.

* * *
The day of the defeat.
Hee-cheol postponed the strategy meeting with Sync Tank to the following day.
It was rare for Hee-cheol to delay a strategy meeting due to a loss, so everyone found it strange.
Hee-cheol brushed it off by saying everyone should take care of their own hearts.
But he had to head straight to the hospital that day.
When you live with an illness, there were days like this from time to time.
By now, having experienced it so often, he’d become quite skilled at making excuses.
The next day came, and Hee-cheol returned to his usual self and left the hospital.
Only his girlfriend, who was supporting him now, knew this truth.
She no longer told him not to push himself.
She loved what he loved.
Because helping him achieve what he wanted might be the only way to cure this illness.
“I saw it in some drama. A high school chemistry teacher who had a terminal illness thought, ‘That’s it! This is my last chance!’ and wanted to make all the money he could, so he got into drug manufacturing.”
“…Drugs?”
“Listen. That teacher wanted to provide money for his family to live on for the rest of their lives. Because no one knew what would happen without him.”
“Ah.”
“And since he was going to die soon anyway, it didn’t matter if he became a criminal.”
“That’s… true.”
“But you know what’s funny? It turned out that person… it was his true calling. He was so good at it.”
“Wh…? At making drugs?”
“Yeah. He became so dominant in that industry that he eventually challenged the top position… and surprisingly, his illness completely healed in the meantime.”
“…?”
Hee-cheol chuckled and shook his head, saying it didn’t make sense.
She nodded as well.
But her words were completely different.
“It’s because it’s a drama, but apparently there are actually people like that in real life. They say illnesses of the mind are that terrifying.”
Hee-cheol couldn’t say anything.
She didn’t push him to speak either.
After arriving at their destination.
She dropped him off in front of the hideout and offered this parting.
“Have a good time and come back. Maybe cure that illness of the mind. You never know.”
“…Yeah.”
Hee-cheol couldn’t speak easily.
It was always like this whenever he came back from the hospital.
No matter what he said to her, it didn’t seem like it would be comforting.
“Ah… um….”
Still, wanting to see her a bit longer, he changed the subject.
“I know. The manager at the 1st location isn’t coming today, right? I remember.”
“That’s not it.”
“?”
“We have a camera in our car. Just in case.”
“I remember that. How’s the documentary coming along?”
“Well, I haven’t actually watched the footage yet. But I heard the view count is doing pretty well.”
“Huh? You didn’t even show it to me. So you haven’t watched it either?”
“I’m just… embarrassed.”
Pfft.
She laughed at Hee-cheol’s characteristic Hee-cheol-ness.
“Then I’ll watch it later too.”
The door closed, and the steering wheel began to turn on its own as she drove away.
‘Later…?’
Hee-cheol suddenly realized something.
There was a meaning to filming this documentary that he hadn’t considered.
‘Later, you’ll be able to see me.’
Even when I’m not here.

* * *
It was late winter now.
The frozen air was gradually beginning to thaw.
Even in this elevated hillside village, warm breezes occasionally drifted through.
As if spring were peeking its head out to greet us early.
—Click.
Sanghyeon finished descending all the stairs of the hillside village and stretched his arms.
It was his first morning workout in a while.
He’d paused this routine during winter, but as the season began to end, his body grew restless again.
“Uuuuuh…!”
He stretched quite loudly.
A few passersby glanced at him, but Sanghyeon paid them no mind, accustomed to it.
Running in this weather without warming up first would be dangerous.
Running from here to the park wasn’t easy, even for someone athletic.
Especially not at Sanghyeon’s pace.
‘I should pace myself today.’
Since it had been a while since his last run and the weather was still chilly, he decided to run at a moderate pace.
There was actually another decisive reason.
“Ugh… hey, if you run now, won’t you just freeze solid?”
A man appeared, his back to the sunlight that was just beginning to peek through.
He rubbed his hands together and shivered.
“My breath isn’t even visible. Why are you being so dramatic?”
Sanghyeon didn’t humor him at all and turned away.
“If you run while your breath is visible, who’s to say whether that’s breath or your very soul escaping? Why keep harping on about breath?”
“You said you’d come out, Mister.”
He was Pang-eo Ajae.
A man who seemed utterly out of place doing morning exercise.
After playing a betting basketball game with Sanghyeon before, he’d said he wanted to work out together.
Something about wanting to improve his stamina.
“Good morning.”
Following that, the Writer and Cameraman made their appearance.
“We heard you were doing morning exercise, so we thought it would be great to film it.”
The two climbed onto a scooter, ready to film them.
“You really think you can do this?”
Sanghyeon asked Pang-eo Ajae, his expression ready to mock him if he said he couldn’t run.
His face was already prepared to laugh if the man backed out.
“Of course I can! Let’s go.”
“You’re not watching me.”
“What, what?! Who asked you to watch! Run like your life depends on it! You bastard! Unless you want to get beaten by me!”
Pfft.
Sanghyeon knew.
He knew why Pang-eo Ajae wanted to work out together.
「How do you shoot so well? Huh?」
Ever since he acknowledged Sanghyeon’s skill, Pang-eo Ajae kept asking him how he could shoot arrows so well.
If archery could be learned simply through explanation, everyone would shoot as well as Sanghyeon did.
Of course, there was no straightforward method.
‘I just started shooting all day long since middle school, and I got good at it.’
Sanghyeon simply shot.
He loved this path, and it happened to be the only way out for his entire life.
He had never questioned archery.
He simply woke up every day and shot, shot after school, shot after eating, and shot before bed.
Now, even if he tried to explain that to Pang-eo Ajae, it wouldn’t help.
Age was also a factor he couldn’t ignore.
After explaining it that way, Pang-eo Ajae suddenly suggested they work out together.
It seemed he was planning to mimic everything Sanghyeon did.
It was a crude method, but Sanghyeon had also copied his skilled senior’s sitting posture down to the finest detail.
He understood that feeling.
“Huff…! Gasp! Ugh! Ugh!”
Of course, understanding didn’t mean he’d slow down to match his pace.
Pang-eo Ajae, falling far behind, was making sounds like he was dying.
“I’m, I’m thirty-five years old, damn it! Take it easy!”
“Messi won the World Cup at thirty-five too~”
“Messi, that crazy… I, I was rooting for Mbappé, you bastard… Haaaa…!”
Whoooosh.
The cameraman riding on a scooter pushes the camera closer.
“Are you struggling right now!? Pang-eo!?”
“C-crazy, asking that… Gasp…! Look… Do you get it!?”
“Why are you running!? Do you want to become like Almond? You can’t just do it by running!”
“D-damn… Ughhhh….”
A few days later.
The day came when Joseon and France faced each other again.
[Fake National Team ep2. Release.]
It was also the day the second video of Fake National Team was uploaded to Almond’s channel.

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