Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 75

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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 75
27. Toward Diamond (1)
At Punk, drinking had started since lunch.
Today, an entire department had decided to skip evening work and play from lunch onwards. This was a proposal from the executives.
It was a truly rare reward. And the greatest contributor was none other than Department Manager Oh.
That pot-bellied Department Manager Oh, now speaking the loudest.
“How about it? Right? I brought Almond! Ahahaha!”
Thump! Thump!
He patted his increasingly swollen belly and burst into his characteristic cheerful laughter.
“Come on, take it! Take it! I’ll pour!”
He stood up as if conducting a festival and began pouring drinks for everyone.
Each person receiving a drink added their own comment.
“Man, Department Manager Oh sure has good luck.”
“I mean, at first I was like, why bring in such a nobody? He’s supposed to be a Punk partner streamer, after all.”
“I heard all the production companies are now flocking to us? They’re lining up just to get one Almond advertisement.”
“A guy with that kind of star power is our partner, so he basically gives us free advertising. Damn. Department Manager Oh’s getting promoted this time.”
“Yeah. If he’s a streamer who’s rubbing shoulders with Jeon-ja-pa right from his debut, then… what more is there to say?”
“It was really tough at first. Recruiting that guy.”
Recruiting Almond was far from an easy process. Everyone thought he was crazy. Rumors even spread that Almond was Department Manager Oh’s hidden nephew.
But now that evaluation had completely reversed.
The star quality Almond displayed in the Decomposition Analyzer was unmistakable. Clear enough for anyone’s eyes to see.
Almond wasn’t simply good at games.
He was a natural broadcaster.
Even while conducting that notoriously difficult “Survive!” test, the image of Almond reading chat as if continuing a broadcast is etched in every employee’s mind.
“And he was reading chat the whole time—I thought, this bastard’s got it in him. Ahahaha!”
“Between us, isn’t Jeon-ja-pa basically done for? Huh? No, our Almond just started, right? And he was reading chat while doing it?!”
“Since when is he ‘our’ Almond! Puhaha!”
The employees at Punk had a tendency to subtly keep Jeon-ja-pa in check.
Because he was a major streamer not affiliated with their company.
That’s why Almond felt like an even greater treasure to them.
“Move over, Jeon-ja-pa! Almond’s coming through!”
Because Almond seemed like he might actually surpass Jeon-ja-pa’s dominance.
“Haha!”
“These people are too drunk. Huh? Ahahaha.”
Department Manager Oh looked at them with satisfaction and smiled.
‘It’s worth it.’
When a rough gem he spotted at first glance finally shines.
His work had never felt more rewarding than this moment.
“Ah, Department Manager Oh. You’ve worked so hard…”
A subordinate employee, already drunk, pushes a glass toward him.
“We were honestly suspicious too… When we heard that Department Manager Oh was going all the way to that filming location because of Almond… We were like, wow, that’s definitely his nephew! Or maybe his son with his first love after some scandal! And….”
The entire department erupted in laughter at those words.
Department Manager Oh in particular burst out laughing raucously.
“Hey! I had to be right there! Otherwise those Fantasia bastards would pull something shady. So what are the results now?”
“Yes, sir! W… Yes, absolutely!”
A subordinate employee shouted while raising his soju glass high.
“Ohhh… Ah! Ah! For Almond!”
“For Almond!”
Clink!
The glasses collided hard enough to spill the overflowing liquor, and the festive midday atmosphere continued.
After that, it soon became 3 PM.
“Let’s just keep going all day today! The director said tomorrow’s completely off too!”
“Huh…? W, wait a moment.”
Department Manager Oh, who had been swaying, suddenly jumped up from his chair.
[Almond’s stream has started.]
A broadcast notification at an unusually early hour.
It was Almond.
“Hey, hey. I’m gonna go smoke a quick cigarette?”
“Huh? No, decide where we’re going for the second round! But why are you going to smoke alone?!”
“Bathroom! Number two!”
“Ugh! We’re eating!”
Department Manager Oh said only that to his colleague and quickly went outside to enter the broadcast.
‘If we all watch this together……’
In truth, this drinking session was created because of Almond, so watching the broadcast together made sense. But the mood was going so well, and I didn’t want to throw cold water on it.
There was a chance the viewer count hadn’t increased much, or might have even dropped.
It was a very small probability, but with so many variables, it wasn’t impossible.
In times like these, fame was truly fleeting.
There was no guarantee that one successful filming would immediately translate into viewer numbers.
Department Manager Oh took a long drag from his cigarette.
“Phew. Let’s see. Whether that star quality we saw was real.”
After exhaling white smoke, he waited anxiously for Almond’s intro song to end.
The broadcast had to properly start before he could see the viewer count.
‘How many. How much….’
Previously, Almond’s broadcast had gotten pumped once and secured about 4-5 thousand viewers.
In truth, even that wasn’t much, so there was no telling when the bubble would burst. Realistically, the average viewer count was estimated at 2-3 thousand.
‘Just break 6 thousand. 6 thousand.’
Exactly double the increase.
If the live broadcast started and broke 6 thousand viewers, that would be a respectable number for a Punk partner.
Considering he was barely a month into streaming, it would be more than respectable—it would be impressive.
‘No. Break 7 thousand. 7 thousand….’
Department Manager Oh pushed his luck further.
‘I really want to get promoted this time. Sanghyeon, please!’
The moment he squeezed his eyes shut.
Ting!
The intro song ended, and Sanghyeon’s face appeared on screen.
-Tra-ha!
Along with his bright voice, the chat window displayed on screen.
And the viewer count.
[Current Viewers: 8.3K]
“…!”
Boom!
He flicked his cigarette away and quickly kicked back through the door.
“Hey! Watch the live stream now! Live!”
At his sudden shout, the employees stared blankly, and he cried out once more.
“Almond’s live stream! It just started!”

* * *
Gulp.
Juhyeok, watching the screen, swallowed hard.
“Wow… damn. This is incredibly fast?”
The steadily climbing viewer count was extraordinary. From the very beginning.
And the moment the 8K threshold was breached.
“!”
He shot up from his seat.
Then he roared like a beast.
“Kraaaaaaaaah!”
An odd sound escaped, but what did it matter? Only Sanghyeon and Juhyeok were here.
Sanghyeon was inside a Capsule with near-perfect noise cancellation.
Besides, Juhyeok had no time to register what sound he’d just made.
“Oh, 8K at 3 PM? Insane.”
Because of yesterday’s incident, these could be ‘journalist-type’ viewers who only flooded in at the start.
But that was still interest, regardless.
Whether they came to watch the game or just to see the face of the record-breaker.
As long as he maintained these numbers, Almond would be laying the foundation to advance as a mid-tier streamer.
‘Good. Very good….’
Juhyeok felt elated.
He was on the verge of reaching a position that aspiring streamers could only dream of.
For him, who started as a manager, this was naturally a wonderful moment.
But as always, at the peak of such moments, worry creeps through the cracks.
「Not the Black Flame Dragon. Trauma.」
His past connected to archery, and his right hand.
Sanghyeon’s rejection of these two things was far from ordinary. It was the same when we had that brief argument before….
And that awkward display of anger when I came out from consulting with the doctor last time….
At least regarding that issue, he seemed far too unstable.
‘It seems to be imprinted deeper than I thought.’
The wound appeared to run much deeper than Juhyeok had anticipated.
He couldn’t dare imagine what it actually felt like, but if I had to draw a comparison, it must have been like losing a lover you’d spent your entire life with.
‘Does he really hate it being revealed?’
If this were the old Juhyeok, I would have thought Sanghyeon’s past record was a ‘selling point’ and that it should eventually be made public.
But not now.
Sanghyeon was genuinely rejecting those memories, and Juhyeok felt that sincerity.
‘If you’re not ready yet….’
If Sanghyeon wasn’t ready, there seemed to be no need to reveal that fact.
Things were already going so well that a ‘selling point’ didn’t seem necessary anyway.
In fact, it looked more likely to become poison.
‘That’s right. Everyone has memories they can’t sell to just anyone.’
He made a phone call.
It was to the contact person among the production staff of the Fantasia channel.
“Ah. Yes. This is Almond’s manager, Juhyeok Kim. The reason I’m calling is about the edited version production.”
“Pardon? Why the edited version?”
“Please cut out the archery shooting part at the beginning.”
“…Yes?”
“It’s entertaining without it anyway.”
“Ah… Is this Almond’s opinion?”
“Of course. I just don’t want to upset the professional athletes unnecessarily, so I’d like it removed.”
“That… The participant’s opinion is certainly most important, but… there are contractual matters… and we’ve already filmed….”
“Contract? Ah! You made a good point! We discussed it back then, didn’t we? That we can remove any parts we want to remove. It’s not even an important scene.”
“Ah, I understand. I’ll pass it along.”
Click.
The call ended.
“Those broadcast station bastards….”
There was nothing I could do about what went out live, but since the edited version had more than twenty times the viewership, blocking this much would make a significant difference.
Zzzzzzzing.
Immediately, another call came through.
[Balloon Gum’s Manager – Seong-tae Park]
This was a somewhat different call.

* * *
Eight thousand viewers.
Sanghyeon stood frozen before that number, simply staring blankly at the chat window.
Wow, it’s an almond wall-eye lol
So Nachos Almonds are disappearing now? ㅠㅠ
Wow. The number of people is insane lol
The broadcast effect from yesterday seems to be working for sure lol
lol
-Hahaha!
Even without me mentioning the eight thousand figure, the viewers were already talking about it themselves.
No matter how hard I tried to avoid mentioning the viewer count, ignoring it would only feel more unnatural.
It was like a thirty-car pileup happening on the street right next to me, and I just whistled and walked past it.
This was a situation where ignoring it would actually feel more awkward.
“It’s been a while, everyone. But… wow, so many people have come!”
Almond spoke with a bright expression.
-Yo, world-class!
-Hi from Indonesia!
There are actually real foreigners here too lol
Literally world-class lol
-Well, we beat Jeon-ja-pa anyway
I can’t translate this as it’s not a standard Korean word or phrase – it appears to be random consonants without vowels, which doesn’t form meaningful text in Korean.
-Became a fan after watching the match!
-Tons of new viewers flooding in;;
At Sanghyeon’s greeting, countless new viewers flooded the chat with their own greetings. At a glance, there were so many unfamiliar usernames.
Today really felt like I was broadcasting on a completely different channel.
‘This is actually kind of nerve-wracking.’
It was definitely my own broadcast, in a familiar environment.
Yet it felt like I was streaming from somewhere completely different. The chat really did matter this much.
‘What should I say?’
Almond’s words caught in his throat.
[Rubisword donated ‘5,000 won’.]
[S-suddenly so world-class…]
Then, a donation came from a familiar username.
Almond’s mouth moved on its own.
“Ah. Rubisword, thank you as always. World-class? I’m still economy class.”
-Economy lol
I’m dying laughing
That’s not the class lol
[Gaji-bokkeun donated ‘5,000 won’.]
[The viewers are copying each other…! Huh?!]
Another familiar name appeared on the screen.
“Gaji-bokkeun, thank you for supporting from the start. My viewers have literally become copies of me. Haha.”
Natural laughter flowed from my lips.
It felt like something that had been blocked suddenly broke free. It was like coming home again.
It was thanks to the old users—those who had been with Almond since the very first broadcast.
Just thinking of their presence made everything that had frozen melt away without a trace.
“The flow is good from the start.”
My words flowed naturally too.
When streaming, there’s a certain flow, a current of sorts.
Right now, that current was perfectly stable.
“Should we start gaming now?”
As if facing an audience of a thousand, Almond felt at ease.
-What are we doing today?
-Game game game!
-Battle Large!
“So, what game are we playing today??”
[King Chiman Association President donated 1,000 won]
[It’s Kingdom Age! Please T_T]
“Battle Large!”
-Lolololololololol
-King Chiman Association lololol
-Kingdom fans are really persistent lolol
-Lol tears are blocking my vision
-Do it someday, hyung!
“Didn’t we decide to go Diamond in Battle Large? Of course I’m playing Battle Large.”
-Oh, so you’re keeping that promise lolol
-Wow! Amazing!
-Are you really doing it?
-Holy cow.
And so the journey toward Diamond began anew.
With eight thousand viewers, and with those who had been there from the very beginning.

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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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