Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 814

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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 284
92. The Advancing Fortress Wall (3)
There’s a saying in soccer.
“The ball is round.”
Because the ball is round, it bounces in any direction.
The most important thing about soccer is that the ball—that object—ultimately isn’t biased toward anyone.
In other words, no matter how weak a team is considered, a strong team can lose in an instant if they let their guard down.
This applies not just to soccer, but to all sports.
Even a fighter with a body of steel can be knocked down by a single lucky counter punch from a reckless newcomer.
Sports are an unavoidable realm of instinct.
That’s what a one-on-one duel fundamentally is.
It’s a domain of psychological warfare. Whether you need to think twice or three times.
No one knows the answer.
As experience accumulates, you perform better. But if unnecessary thoughts pile up, you miss something crucial in the most important moment.
‘…I fell for it.’
You could feel it in Youbi’s trembling eyes as he looked down at the battlefield.
Throughout this match, he had missed something important.
He had tried to execute a guaranteed winning strategy with 100% win rate. In this game, even a 90% win rate—no, even 60%—should be acted upon.
But he wanted 100%.
That’s why he built the Great Wall of China.
Meanwhile, Cookie bet on a 51% win rate.
He wagered everything on just a 1% difference.
The person who wanted 100% became 0%, and the person who wanted 1% became 100%.
[Surrender]
Youbi judged there were no more countermeasures available here.
Thud.
The surrender button was pressed.
His hand trembled violently.
‘I didn’t even get to fight properly….’
He lost absurdly easily.

* * *
The moment the surrender was declared, an enormous roar erupted throughout the stadium.
“Waaaaaaaaaaa!!”
-Shocking
-Wow, Korea ate two-thirds of this lolol
-Audio blew out lolol
-Audio shutdown wtf lol
-Shutdown!
-Kyaa
-Insane
-Did we actually win????
The roar was so deafening that the stadium’s audio system actually cut out momentarily.
Of course, the system recovered quickly, and the commentators’ voices came back on air.
“Gee gee gee gee!!”
They were shouting “gg.”
King Gul, trembling with excitement, gripped the microphone and spattered saliva.
“Everyone! China has declared surrender! Chinese players rarely surrender, you know!? They usually just hold out until the end to drain their opponent’s stamina!?”
“Ah, that’s right!? Why did they surrender!?”
“They realized that holding out would drain their own stamina instead! Their mental fortitude cracked! This is very significant!”
He was right.
China rarely surrenders.
Part of it is because the Chinese civilization is so late-game oriented that they must see games through to the end.
But Chinese players themselves are famous for not surrendering in other games too.
Their entire approach to gaming was simply ‘play until the end, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll lose on our own terms.’
They viewed giving up midway as shameful.
This is an admirable culture, though some impatient domestic gamers occasionally spoke of it negatively.
Regardless, the Chinese players paid no mind and simply continued playing through.
Yet they declared surrender.
Moreover, it wasn’t just any player—the Supreme Commander of the Civil M China Team, representing the entire nation, declared the surrender.
This was different from other teams’ surrenders.
“King Gul, it seems like you already knew China would surrender! Didn’t you!?”
As Caster perceived it, King Gul had sensed the surrender coming from China.
“Yes. I only realized at the very end that they weren’t gathering soldiers in the back. For Civil M to pull off a late-game reversal, they need to keep gathering soldiers in the back while giving up the front, right? But they weren’t gathering any at all!”
-Shocking
-Guess they really cracked lolol
-Wow lolol their mental state completely broke
-Cookie read through everything and they lost it
“Ah….”
“No matter how strong China is, I had to interpret this as a declaration of surrender. Most importantly! The situation was objectively far too dire!”
“Exactly! They have no siege weapons, and now the fortress walls are advancing right into their territory!?”
“That’s right. If he’d kept advancing through that wall, China would’ve ended up building a fortress right in the middle of their own territory—it would’ve been absolute chaos!”
“Really… to that extent?”
“If they’d planted that Gwanghwamun gate there and then just had everyone doing hype boy dances in front of it, they’d literally lose their minds!?”
“Imagining such a thing, surrender would be the better option!”
“Exactly!”
hahaha
-They almost got humiliated
King penguin brain-dead lol
-Hype boy is real
-Surrender would be better at that point
tea bagging lol
-Hype boy is insane
TikTok vibes lol
By the time they’d abandoned any rear defense preparations.
For China, it was simply a choice between dying or dying while enduring humiliation until the very end.
In truth, if the outcome of death was the same either way, anyone would choose the former.

* * *
While Youbi trembled with barely contained fury.
“…!”
On the complete opposite side, someone else was trembling for an entirely different reason.
It was Hee-cheol.
“I won….”
He’d been gaming in a state of complete immersion, so he only realized he’d won a beat too late.
It was only when the soldiers stopped moving that he checked the message.
[Surrender]
He’d never even considered that China would declare surrender.
His mind had been filled solely with thoughts of seizing the village hall.
But the enemy had surrendered.
‘What?’
Hee-cheol couldn’t easily believe it.
Aside from the current Chinese team, he knew them better than anyone.
From the hospital bed until now, he’d analyzed everything about them without missing a single moment.
The responsibility of having left his post as Supreme Commander, the burden of having to succeed upon his return, the hope of being able to play again.
He’d converted all of this into training time to defeat China.
Like a madman, he’d charged forward with only one singular destination in mind.
“Haa… haa….”
His heartbeat surged, and his breathing came in rough gasps.
Thump. Thump.
The thought of defeating China’s undefeated streak sent waves of extreme exhilaration crashing through him.
Or perhaps it was the overwhelming sense of relief that all the preparation time hadn’t gone to waste.
Thump.
He struck his chest and shook his head.
“I can’t.”
Whatever emotion this was, it couldn’t happen now.
Out of a maximum of five matches, this was only the first.
China must have been completely off guard, while Joseon must have been razor-sharp.
If I was going to win, the first match had the highest probability of victory, and I simply won it.
Joy, sorrow, despair—they’re all the same emotional fluctuations.
If Youbi was wavering right now, I couldn’t afford to do the same.
I held my head in my hands and cooled off for a while.
A moment later—
The capsule lid opened, and I stood up.
Hisssss.
“Waaaaaaaaaaa!!”
The roar of the audience struck my ears.
It was clearly a shout intense enough to make one stagger, but Hee-cheol simply walked toward the waiting room with his back straight.
I moved only my eyes to check the situation on the Chinese side.
Youbi also showed no signs of wavering.
However, I noticed.
Though I could only see his back, as a fellow Commander, I knew.
And I had watched Youbi exit countless times.
Just as you can recognize a friend you’ve met dozens or hundreds of times by their silhouette alone on the street.
That’s what Youbi was to me.
His posture was subtly different.
Different from his usual self.
Because every Youbi I had ever seen was Youbi after victory.
This time was different.
When our eyes briefly met, I felt it for certain.
‘He’s wavering.’
Youbi was shaken.
My eyes trembled subtly.
Click.
The go stone the old man had placed flashed through my mind.
「Sometimes maintaining my own current becomes a counter-current for my enemy.」
That realization was perhaps proving accurate.
Both within and outside the game.
That was when it happened.
Tap.
Pangeo approached and touched my shoulder, giving a thumbs up.
Maratang came over to the side and gave me a pat on the back before moving on.
Since the match wasn’t over yet, no one said anything, but the message came through loud and clear.
‘Well done.’
‘Good to have you back.’
The three of us walked toward the waiting room without looking at each other, keeping our distance.
Yet to anyone watching, we were walking together.
Just like when we first started this game.

* * *
Even though the match wasn’t completely over yet, the community and several news outlets had already dropped their articles.
While we hadn’t beaten China outright, the fact that their undefeated streak had been snapped in a single game was definitely a major issue.
[Cookie Returns with Spectacular Victory]
[Undefeated Streak “Shut Down” – China’s Gaming Ability Rated Under 18 in Korea?]
[Korea: “Shutdown System Revival” Applied Only to Chinese Players]
Since these were mostly articles from internet-based gaming news outlets, the wording was quite… humorous.
Haha, damn it lol
That’s hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ It only applies to Chinese people ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Looks like I’ve been holding back quite a bit all this time lol
China’s gaming ability is 18 and under? lol that’s ridiculous hahahaha
Of course, since these were domestic articles, the comment reactions were quite positive.
The reporters unlocked their watches, damn it. Article (link)
[???: Guess they forgot what my personality is like]
Unleashed game company journalists lol
Even in the community, people were just reposting the articles rather than writing their own commentary.
There was nothing more to add.
In fact, there was a reason why journalists, relatively more restrained than community users, had become like this.
Chinese kids are scratching away at it gently, and here’s how the reporters who exploded are doing lol
[Chinese gaming outlets were constantly starting fights]
Even the news is a Korea-China war ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Is this that information warfare thing?]
[The loudspeaker style is insane]
Articles unfavorable to Joseon had already been pouring out from the Chinese side.
In fact, rather than outright hostile pieces, they were mostly analytical articles about Joseon’s gaming ability or the lack of market formation.
But facts hurt even more when they’re true!
Since Korea’s Civil Empire professional market had actually been quite poor, several journalists had been grinding their teeth over it.
Of course, in addition to hostile reactions toward China, many positive articles about Joseon had also been posted.
[Cookie’s style when he’s rested is insane]
[This dual commander system actually seems worth trying]
The players’ skills have all gotten insanely good, they must be crazy, for real.
[Were they always this good??]
[How is this the cleanest match they’ve shown in history?]
[Game 1 was seriously a huge difference in commander skill]
Cookie reading all of the opponent’s moves this time, all the players’ abilities rising at an average level, and so on.
Joseon’s growth was mentioned in a way that even casual viewers could clearly see.
Perhaps Cookie was right—adversity truly had made them stronger.
[It’s actually not good to advance undefeated in these big tournaments]
Looking at one user’s analysis post, Cookie’s words certainly held merit.
==== ====
It was the same with the Rild Cup back then. All the favored teams started from the main bracket, while the ambiguous teams started from the preliminaries.
Depending on patches, there’s a meta for that season, and as players from around the world clash and fight, new metas are discovered endlessly.
It’s competition, sure, but it’s also a proving ground for new innovations.
If our country had never been hit by firearms, would we have invented them?
We invented them because getting hit by firearms hurt like hell.
Games are actually the same.
You get hit by this meta and think, “Damn, this hurts?” and then you absorb it.
For teams with short undefeated runs to the finals, they never learn the new meta, just keep doing what they’ve always done and win everything, so when they meet the real deal in the semifinals or finals, they lose pathetically.
==== ====
-That’s true
-Stuff like that happens all the time, finals 3-0
└Yeah, that happens a lot
-Oh lol, that makes sense
-But hasn’t a preliminary bracket team won only once? lol
└That’s because they were originally a weak team…
└Joseon too…
└Oh…
hahahahahaha
-Let’s just believe it, damn it
hahahaha lol
-But that’s actually true. If the skill levels are roughly equal, yeah
-Even experts say that
Adversity had made Joseon strong.
An undefeated run had made China weak.
Of course, opinions on this were still divided, but Game 2 had begun.
“Alright, Joseon versus China! China versus Joseon! Game 2! It’s starting!”
This map was a plains.
[The Mongolian Steppe]

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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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