Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 938
—————
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 4 Episode 069
23. Cheese vs Paprika (3)
A channel in Discworld.
Two men enter.
“Hey, Orange.”
A stocky man waves his hand.
The streamer Orange appears before him.
“Oh, Sausage.”
“What’s up? Trying to form a team?”
Sausage immediately grasped Orange’s intention.
‘This guy’s always quick with these kinds of moves.’
He was trying to pre-assemble a team for the inter-platform tournament that was being discussed.
There was a significant difference between giving a heads-up beforehand and not.
“Yeah. Among amateur tanks, you’re the most reliable.”
Sausage.
He was a streamer who had reached Challenger rank 3 as an amateur.
It was during a season when the pros were resting, but there was no doubt his skill level was vastly different from ordinary players.
“Hmm. What about the other members? Who are you thinking of?”
“Not someone from Paprika originally, but a new recruit this time.”
Orange flashes a meaningful smile and gives a thumbs up.
“A new recruit?”
“Yeah. Almond.”
Smirk.
He says it expecting a certain reaction.
But Sausage’s expression turns bewildered.
“What? What kind of joke is this? That person is….”
Orange waves his hand as if he already knows.
“Ah, ah. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. I’ve checked this guy’s playtime thoroughly. Just like during the international tournament, this level is definitely championship material….”
“No, you blockhead. That’s not it!”
Sausage flails his chubby arms.
“Stop just taking notes all gloomy by yourself and read the news once in a while!”
“…What?”
“Almond’s not joining Paprika. He’s going to Cheese.”
“….”
This can’t be happening.
Orange’s face went blank as if his soul had left his body.
“Why… Why? He’s so skilled!? Paprika would’ve been huge if he joined!?”
“That’s just what you think… Please, just understand that other people have different opinions….”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Orange screamed as if he’d stepped on a landmine and collapsed.
“D-dammit!”
“Could you say ‘ham failed’ instead? I have a lot of young viewers.”
“Ugh, nooooo!”
Sausage’s request didn’t penetrate Orange’s mind.
“I heard from Paprika’s side that things are almost settled!?”
“Contracts can change even a second before the seal is stamped, you know.”
“Tch… damn. He’s the best talent.”
He probably didn’t know.
Or rather, it was better that he didn’t know.
That Almond going to Cheese was due to none other than his own carelessness.
* * *
“Pardon?”
It was something Sanghyeon hadn’t expected to hear.
“A team?”
“Yes. I heard about the platform inter-league tournament too.”
Could I really play the game again?
“Ah… a team. I haven’t found one yet. But I don’t even know how a team would be formed at this point.”
“My friends are leaving Paprika.”
Huh?
Sanghyeon struggled to follow the conversation flow.
Regardless, she continued speaking as if she had something she wanted to say.
“Do you know Cosmic?”
“Um….”
I don’t know.
“He was our team’s ADC.”
“Ah.”
“Not just Cosmic, but Popcorn too. They’re all leaving.”
“All… everyone?”
“Yes. Everyone.”
That’s right.
The legendary members who once swept every tournament in Ril alongside Jeon-ja-pa.
As time passed, they retired one by one.
And now they were starting to work as streamers.
At Paprika, no less!
‘So that’s why Paprika accepted the inter-league tournament.’
The reason Paprika—who had more to lose—accepted such an inter-league tournament, and why the tournament’s biggest sponsor was Pollis, the developer of Ril.
Everything fell into place.
The most popular members from Ril were returning as streamers.
Their debut stage was probably this platform inter-league tournament.
So that’s how Choi Sa-rang knew about the platform tournament in advance.
“Ah, of course. Everyone’s going except me.”
In the group chat she showed me, members were discussing the platform tournament.
[Popcorn: Hey, Gao’s there, right? Shouldn’t we change positions before going out?]
[Banana: Haha. It’s a survival match, what position?]
[Popcorn: Ah… It’s a survival match??? WTF why are we playing a game with no fundamentals?]
“Idiot: Lol, you don’t know anything.”
[Marshmallow: You guys… But we still need to win, right???]
[Idiot: We’re gonna be 1st anyway~]
.
.
.
That person who lost their name seems to be Cosmic.
Even though their relationship had recovered enough to create a new group chat, Cosmic seemed to be a love-hate relationship for Choi Sa-rang.
And soon, the other members also seem to be on the verge of losing their names.
The way they’re chattering about a tournament everyone except her is entering.
[Marshmallow: Hey guys, let’s stop talking about that ㅠ You’re gonna do it half-heartedly anyway ㅠㅠ]
When Supporter Marshmallow cautiously tried to stop them, only then did people fall silent.
That’s when they seemed to realize.
Popcorn: Huh? Okay okay lol yeah okay okay
Popcorn hurriedly wrapped up his message in a clumsy way, and after that, Banana brought up some random topic and scrolled the chat upward.
In a way, they did their best.
So to some people’s eyes, Choi Sa-rang might seem oversensitive. They’re trying too, right? they’d say.
But regardless of what others thought, Sanghyeon understood.
‘I can’t watch archery competitions either.’
Sanghyeon couldn’t watch archery competitions for similar reasons.
Hyeonju and several of his classmates were active as professionals, and the contemporaries he’d admired or been mentioned alongside as prospects were in the same boat.
Everyone except Sanghyeon went out to competitions, built their careers, and even got selected for the national team.
The archery industry moved forward so normally without him, as if nothing had happened.
I knew that was natural, but I couldn’t help myself even seeing it with my own eyes. Not watching was the best option.
That’s how desperately I fled from archery.
But this person couldn’t even flee.
She’s still always circling around gaming.
Like a child hovering around a neighborhood playground, wanting to fit in with her friends.
But she can never fit in.
Sanghyeon felt like he understood what that must feel like.
“They think they’ll get 1st place even if they go out now. And who’s to thank for that?”
The complaint she was voicing with her lips pouted seemed less like resentment toward them and more like dissatisfaction with the current situation.
A white cigarette was already hanging from her pouting lips.
Her gaze lifted upward as she asked Sanghyeon.
“Do you smoke, by any chance?”
* * *
Hisss.
She exhaled smoke in front of the vending machine.
Sanghyeon simply grabbed a can of coffee and drank it.
“Popcorn usually came to the hospital with me often. But she’s not here today.”
“….”
Probably because of that tournament preparation.
Sanghyeon had nothing to say, so he just replied like this.
“Juhyeok isn’t here either because he’s busy.”
Actually, he’s not busy—the two of them are working.
“With that Editor?”
“Yes, that’s right. You noticed.”
“I saw them when they came together before.”
“Ah.”
Whoosh. She turned her head and blew smoke into the distance, changing the subject.
“Did you hear that I was the first to undergo the clinical trial this time?”
Thump.
Sanghyeon swallowed hard.
‘I heard something about it.’
The Doctor hadn’t recommended it to him, so he spoke as if brushing past it.
But Sanghyeon had already anticipated it to some degree.
That she would be the first to try it, given how serious her condition was.
“How was it?”
“It wasn’t without progress.”
Just hearing up to this point, it was hard for Sanghyeon to hide the disappointment on his face.
It was already felt in her tone.
That she hadn’t discovered any tremendous hope.
Sarang, as if she already knew it, deliberately avoids meeting his eyes and gazes at the distant mountains.
“As expected, it only stops the deterioration. Like the Zombie School engine before. Are you disappointed?”
“No, no. It’s an experiment, after all.”
“Don’t be disappointed.”
Sarang speaks as if she already knows.
“If it’s a wave-modification method where many people connect and participate together, it would be different. That theory is still alive. We have to believe in it. Legend Tale.”
A brief silence fell.
Sanghyeon didn’t know what to say. The disappointment was rising regardless, but he couldn’t even sigh.
She was the one who conducted the experiment, and her situation is worse.
She can’t even walk. Daily life is inconvenient. It’s not just inconvenience—it’s in the realm of ‘impossible.’ If wealth and resources hadn’t supported her, she would have suffered through everything.
It’s not pain that can be compared to merely having slightly trembling arms.
“But why haven’t you recruited a team? You’re so popular.”
“I just found out what the sport even is.”
“Ah.”
Sarang nodded as if that made sense.
Another brief silence fell between us.
‘Is she bringing up the team again?’
From the looks of it, she seemed to want to join a team.
But how?
I’d heard I couldn’t play games again.
Around this point, a thought struck me.
‘Oh right, there’s a Coach.’
It was written in one of the messages I’d received from Juhyeok. They were forming a team including a Coach.
When I thought of a Coach, I’d been considering someone like Takoyaki.
‘But….’
Takoyaki exists, but I can’t stop thinking like this.
‘The sport is Ril too….’
What if this person became the Coach?
But Sanghyeon couldn’t bring it up easily.
Not knowing what the situation was, it wasn’t simple to make the suggestion.
Just as Sanghyeon had with archery, couldn’t Sarang also despise gaming?
However, unfortunately, Sarang was thinking this.
‘He said he hadn’t recruited a team… Does he already have someone in mind for Coach?’
She too was considering the Coach position.
They were thinking exactly the same thing.
Yet in reality, all that could be heard was the sound of cigarettes burning down.
‘It’s hard to bring up being a Coach first.’
‘I can’t ask him to let me be the Coach.’
Neither of them was the type to speak first.
Nearly ten minutes passed in silence like this.
A terrible conversational match.
Sizzle.
The cigarette burned down completely and was discarded in the ashtray.
The winner of this silent standoff turned out to be this.
“Sigh.”
She exhaled a deep breath as if making a major decision and asked.
“Do you have a Coach in mind?”
My hand in my pocket clenched into a fist.
‘No way.’
That bastard Juhyeok kept nagging me about not being able to recruit a team, pushing me to participate in networking events.
‘I’ve got to brag about this.’
Before I could even attend the networking event, I’d already secured one of the highest-caliber members.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————