Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 727

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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 3 Episode 197
65. The Rebound (2)
Joseon’s first defeat in the main tournament.
When matches don’t go well, there are always plenty of people mocking you.
But now that we’d actually lost, the rate of new posts on the boards had slowed to a laughably crawl.
[The sudden board cleanup is legendary]
What, were you guys dark nationalism fanboys?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
When it actually comes down to it, having nothing to say is so damn funny lol
Did those who mocked Joseon actually want us to win all along?
“The community really is impossible to understand. Truly impossible.”
Juhyeok clicked his tongue and shoved the window aside.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled heavily and leaned back in my chair.
Actually, what worried me more than the community users was Juhyeok himself.
“What do we do? We need to reach the quarterfinals just to break even.”
He was talking about the merchandise.
Since this was his first time manufacturing and selling merchandise like this, he hadn’t anticipated the reality—barely any profit margin at all.
Especially in rounds like the Round of 32 and Round of 16, there were so few Korean offline spectators that the total sales volume was predetermined from the start.
The market itself was too small.
“Since expectations for making the main tournament were so low… we didn’t even pre-order anything.”
I buy when others’ expectations are low.
In stock market terms, Juhyeok thought of this as “buying the dip,” and theoretically it was sound strategy.
But practice was different. Because expectations were so low, even when the actual value of “the national team’s advancement variable” rose, it ended up being “delayed in reflection” instead.
Juhyeok had to hold on until the team’s actual value translated into purchases from people.
That minimum threshold was the quarterfinals.
Please, let’s just go to lecture 8 ㅠㅠ
Lesson 8 is where your intuition really goes crazy lol
Already waiting in the ticketing queue lol
Even a cheering squad was formed lol this is gonna be fun
Looking at public sentiment now, the quarterfinals was the surge zone where all previously unreflected expectations would materialize at once.
If we could just reach that point, “Mix Nuts” could get a solid start as a business.
This is what’s called a rebound.
‘If we can’t sell merchandise properly here….’
What if we fail to reach the quarterfinals and the day’s offline sales fall through?
That’s not a rebound—that’s a crash.
“Ugh.”
Juhyeok shook his head as if he didn’t want to imagine it.
When he first made the plan, he hadn’t imagined this scenario.
He’d thought that even if we didn’t make the quarterfinals, we could just sell merchandise through the Round of 16.
He’d overlooked cash flow—the sequence and timing of when money actually comes in.
Creating and selling cheering merchandise offline was an extremely backward business model for cash flow.
You paid the factory upfront, then received money from customers later when selling the goods.
This time gap created major problems.
“We need to pre-order the quarterfinals merchandise to have it ready.”
To handle the overwhelming demand from the crowds pouring in for the quarterfinals, pre-orders had to be placed.
In other words, upfront payment was necessary.
So Juhyeok had already placed the quarterfinals merchandise with the factory.
The money had already gone out.
There was a saying that came to mind at times like this.
「The simpler the sales structure, the greater the profit and fewer the variables. That’s what the online market is.」
It was something I heard when riding in my father’s car. It was a time when everything in the era was being converted to online.
Right, if Juhyeok had focused on the online market instead, he would have been less likely to face losses.
He could have slowly made and sold merchandise for Almond and the national team members one by one.
There was no reason to pre-manufacture everything just to display and sell it.
When it sold out, he could take pre-orders again, and when it sold out again, he could take pre-orders again.
But there was a problem.
First, unlike back then, online platforms were increasingly taking excessive profits.
Merchandise sold on Disworld had over 50% in commissions.
Second—
‘It’s cheering merchandise. Of course it has to be sold at the stadium.’
It was a tool for cheering.
It had to be sold where people could cheer. Each product had a designated space where it could be sold.
「But online also has fierce competition. If you’re not careful, you won’t sell a single item. So you need to judge carefully. Where does your product have competitive advantage? Are you listening?」
「Honey, just focus on driving.」
I pretended to sleep, but I was listening.
So Juhyeok made his judgment.
Right now, the merchandise he could most easily sell was cheering tools, and when considering commissions and everything else, where did this cheering merchandise have the strongest market competitiveness?
Right at the stadium entrance.
Expected demand was high, and there were no costs besides booth rental fees.
Offline was inevitable.
Of course, on the premise that they made it to the quarterfinals.
“Sigh.”
Tap.
In the end, all he could do was clasp his hands in prayer.
Literally a matter left to heaven.
“Oh Kuber in heaven… no, Father. Please let Cookie make it.”
He didn’t know, viewing things purely from an audience member’s perspective, that this was a futile prayer from the start.
“…Ah.”
The third match was being prepared. The roster showed no signs of changing.
In the end, what he could do was already determined.
Clap!
I pressed my hands together more firmly, praying with greater intensity.
“Not the one in heaven—just Father! Please let us win! I’ll go home!”
Though it seemed the target of my prayer had shifted slightly.
“No, actually I won’t go home! Just let us win!”
It was a desperate prayer, one that yearned for a comeback.
“Father! Tell me the answer!”

* * *
「Then tell me.」
On the way to the waiting room.
Sarang closed her eyes for a moment and recalled.
「Should I leave the team? Is that what you want? What do I need to do for you to sign again!?」
‘No. There’s nothing like that. You figure it out yourself.’
「Why are you leaving in the first place?」

‘I’m only going this far.’
「Retirement? Does that even make sense? You’re in your prime right now? You have complaints about me!? That’s why you’re stubbornly refusing to sign now, isn’t it? Isn’t it!?」
‘Sigh. If you have so little confidence in yourself, then leave the team. That would be right. ADC careers don’t last that long anyway. Why don’t you take the big money now and transfer?’
「…You heartless bastard. The team never mattered to you. Not from the beginning.」
Boom!
The door to the player waiting room opened.
In that instant, all the lingering images of the past vanished, and instead of four teammates, two hundred players suddenly filled my vision.
“….”
She gestured that she would go alone, then maneuvered her wheelchair toward the platform where all the players could see her.
Ziiiiing….
During the long, slow entrance, no one uttered a single word.
Finally, from the wheelchair atop the platform, she looked down at the players.
Or rather, she couldn’t look down—sitting as she was, her eye level finally matched theirs.
Four hundred eyes stared at her from the same height.
That alone created a suffocating pressure that squeezed at her heart.
The atmosphere felt frozen solid.
Would my voice even carry in a place like this?
Yet her voice broke through the tightly compressed layer of air and flowed out.
“It seems like everyone’s been waiting for Cookie to come back.”
Her quiet voice reached clearly into four hundred ears.
The players, who thought she was about to give feedback, froze at the unexpected words.
“Cookie can’t come.”
Continued silence.
An aura of defeat marked by silence.
She clenched her fists─
“That’s why!”
──Crash!
She spoke while striking the side of the podium.
“!?”
This time, everyone flinched in surprise.
Sarang’s voice grew louder.
“This match, you’re coming with me. And if we lose? You’re going home with me too. There’s no choice in this matter.”
Everyone seemed startled by her sudden raise in tone.
“I was never part of this team to begin with, and I didn’t work myself to death for this tournament. Losing the next match? Going home? It doesn’t concern me at all!”
Haah.
She steadied her rough, agitated breathing and spoke.
Something she’d hardly wanted to say, something she’d actually wanted to refuse.
“But still, I want to win. I will try to win. Because….”
None of these players knew yet.
However, having heard the story from him, Sarang instinctively felt this was the moment she had to speak.
「You’re reserve personnel this year… but I’d like you to be the commander next year.」
He had wanted to plan for the future, but Sarang couldn’t align with that sentiment.
If something was to be achieved, it had to be achieved while he was watching. If Cookie disappeared, this team could truly disappear as well.
No one knows what the distant future holds. Just like her legs. Just like Sanghyeon’s arm.
So achieving it now was the right choice, and she had rejected that proposal.
But she accepts that proposal now.
Only now did Sarang understand why Hee-cheol had planned for the distant future.
“Because starting next year, I’ll be the commander. Now… it’s my team.”
Humans cannot look only at the present.
Their minds always held the future. The reason Daisunsin Choi’s command hadn’t been properly heard was ultimately because of the future─that Cookie would return if they could synchronize with this person.
But that was a wrong thought.
Now Sarang had said it.
The future comes with me too.
“…!?”
“What, what?”
“What….”
The players were naturally shaken.
“Even if you all lose this match and go home, you have to come back to me next year. So stop waiting for Cookie.”
Sarang drove the point home once more.
“Everyone, win this match. I’ll win too.”
That was the extent of what she said.
Ziiiiing.
The wheelchair moved and turned away.
“I’ll need time to enter, so I’ll go ahead.”
Chiseung nodded and swallowed hard.
‘Is… is this enough?’
She didn’t say a single word questioning why he hadn’t followed her orders. There wasn’t even a line of feedback about the match itself.
Yet among all the locker room feedback Chiseung had witnessed so far, this was the most…
‘Something changed.’
The feedback with the most shifted atmosphere.
Anyway, Chiseung had information he needed to relay to the Commander.
“Wait, wait! Sarang! Sister! Just a moment! Let’s——.”

* * *
Waaaaaaa.
The stadium awaiting the final three matches was indeed bustling with noise.
The Persia audience rode the momentum, while Joseon held hope of rising again.
“Now then, everyone’s been waiting for the third match against Persia! Ah. Both teams are struggling today! What do you think? King Gul.”
“Yes! For Joseon’s perspective, just reaching this point is already a miracle. However, I believe they can go further!? And if Persia loses to Joseon and returns home, it could be truly difficult to bear!? This will also act as psychological pressure!”
-Can’t handle it lol~
Hahahahaha
-About to become honorable lol
ㅋㅋㅋㅋ (lol/haha)
“Players are entering!”
The players filed out in a line, and the audience roared with cheers.
The Persia audience’s cheers were overwhelming, likely due to their victory in the previous match.
It felt as though only their cheering song filled the entire stadium.
“Waaaaaaaaaa!”
-Phew
The number difference is crazy.
When is episode 8 coming out lol
I’m crying / T_T
Please, let us win ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
“So, no roster changes for the players?”
“Correct. Daisunsin Choi remains as Commander, and Cookie is currently not on the team.”
-Huh?
-What
Damn it.
I can’t translate “-ㅁㅊ” as it’s not a complete word or recognizable Korean text. It appears to be only consonants without vowels, which doesn’t form meaningful Korean.
What the hell???
-Cookie’s relentless…
-What is this
-The second match was just a test??
I’m not sure what you’re asking me to translate. The characters “-ㅡㅡ” appear to be Korean consonants or dashes, but they don’t form a meaningful word or phrase in Korean.
-Ah…
The uninformed audience members showed reactions that appeared almost frustrated.
“Yes. Joseon definitely has something they want to showcase. I can say that much with confidence.”
“That’s right. Daisunsin Choi was such a famous Commander in ranked matches. I genuinely believe there was much they couldn’t display in the second match, you know? And if Joseon pulls through this time, another card emerges! I think it would be great to look at it that way!”
Though a Commander who had lost once before was returning, and that Commander supposedly had no proper match records.
The audience at the venue refused to abandon hope.
“Quarterfinals, let’s goooooo!!”
Someone who looked like a Cheerleader Leader burst forward and began shouting at the top of their lungs.
Wooooooo.
The audience’s response was enthusiastic.
“Ah. Excellent! Even with small numbers! With spirit! We can win!”
-??
Isn’t that a bubble gum? lol
What’s up with the bubble gum lol
I’m fired up lol
-They’re really gonna burst like a balloon;
-What’s Strawberry Shooter’s fashion lol I momentarily confused it with Dis World
There were viewers who recognized the faces of the Cheerleader Leaders.
Balloon Stars are all here lol
You bought tickets for this in advance?ㅋㅋㅋ
friendship and loyalty ㅠㅠ
-Miho’s here too, everyone’s here, crazy
Did you expect to make it to the finals after playing against Almond? ㅋㅋㅋ
How did you even get here lol
“Ah. Passionate support. Excellent indeed. The moment I speak, all the players have entered their capsules. If no abnormalities are detected, the match will begin shortly.”
Now the final third match began, and whichever side won would be the last.

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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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