<h4>Season 2: Chapter 62. The Best Among The Wanderers(1)</h4>
The post that Ju-Hyeok uploaded swiftly climbed to the top of themunity.
<i>1. Breaking News: Zombie School''s hrious revival LOL</i>
The startling truth initially confused themunity users.
<i>— ? The original ending is dying to zombies?</i>
<i>— Why is this happening...?</i>
<i>— ?? I don''t get it...</i>
However, that was the undeniable truth and public opinion gradually shifted.
<i>— NO way, it’s seriously revived</i>
<i>— If that’s true, then I’ve got nothing to say</i>
<i>— Those who were bashing have vanished lol</i>
As opinions shifted, those who originally attacked started denying reality.
<i>— Don''t talk nonsense lmao</i>
<i>└ Check Almond’s manager''s official post. They uploaded an email from the devs.</i>
<i>└ So if the manager says something, it''s true? Following the leader''s tiny brain~~~ Just like their master~~~</i>
<i>└ ...? What are you saying, man? The manager received an email from Red Hat, you brainwashed idiot</i>
<i>└ ??? Oh, it doesn’t matter if it''s an official email or what, the famedmunity LiarUser said Zombie School is trash!!!</i>
<i>└ HAHA</i>
As usual in any argument, the momentum shifted once one side stubbornly denied the facts.
<i>— The guy above is pitiful lol</i>
<i>— That dude in denial is hrious</i>
<i>— ??? Stop liking Almond! Don''t let Almond make money! Don''t let Almond be handsome! (Crying)</i>
<i>└ LOL</i>
Public opinion swung back around. Gradually, the top posts started changing too.
<i>2. Those who were stupidly influenced to give 1 star reviews are disgusting, upvote if you agree</i>
<i>6. List of people who unjustly attacked Almond so far</i>
<i>8. In awe of Red Hat''s craftsmanship</i>
<i>10. Why Almond is genuinely insane</i>
The game''s review ratings began to rise. Some who gave one star reviews revised their scores and new yers who bought the game after this incident gave it high ratings.
"It''s actually good. Is this the time to use that phrase?"
Kim Yi-Seo scratched his head in WePlug''s office and murmured, "It turned into something like noise marketing unintentionally."
"Exactly. Red Hat really chose the right advertising model."
<i>"Ugh."</i>
Kim Yi-Seo had been against Almond''s advertisement and doubted if it would be worth it. Now, watching the live sales graph...
"It''s true."
Almond had indeed been the best fit for advertising Red Hat''s games.
"This guy didn’t just get lucky when he revived games like <i>Kingdom</i>."
Kim Yi-Seo was a pragmatist even though he was somewhat skeptical whether this sess was genuinely due to Almond''s advertising. Almond''s actions often exceeded his expectations.
He didn’t bother with the criticisms or doubts if the results were good and nced at his monitor disying another tab.
<i>[The current uproar over the new zombie game]</i>
A video from the YouTube channel Sonald was ying and the audio came through the speakers.
<i>[... The public was greatly shaken. I can''t help but praise thistest work by Red Hat! A game with this much freedom is rare these days! Remember Head Punk 3017? That was just empty words that promised an open world and freedom. That crap... Ugh...]</i>
***
"What''s this? When did this videoe out?"
Ju-Hyeok yed the video that was trending at the top in real time.
<i>[The current uproar over the new zombie game]</i>
<i>[Views: 389K]</i>
It had nearly 400K views and ranked first in just three hours since its upload.
<i>[... Almond and Bubblegum''s ystyles are starkly different. Other streamers are entirely unique too and NPC reactions are changing ordingly! This is the freedom we desired...]</i>
The channel owner, Sonald, wasn’t paid by WePlug and genuinely praised the game throughout the video.
<i>[... Disregard the nonsense inmunity gardens. We shouldn’t fall for such provocations. The final zombie was a lethal weapon the developers created to kill the yer. Red Hat should be admired for introducing such a deus ex machina element...]</i>
Sonald, with over a million subscribers, defended <i>Zombie School</i> with articte words.
<i>''They either got paid or really loved it.''</i>
For Ju-Hyeok who was new to gaming, Sonald’s defense seemed too good to be purely genuine.
Regardless, thement section was favorable.
<i>— Damn, I seriously hate the toxicity ofmunity gardens lol</i>
<i>— You pointed out the ending well :( The devs could have made the mutant zombies invincible, but they left some leeway. Isn''t that a sign of theirmitment to freedom?</i>
<i>└ Red Hat folks have true craftsmanship</i>
<i>└ Exactly my thoughts.</i>
They praised Red Hat for leaving a weakness in the zombies intended for the ending.
<i>— This game is super immersive. You really lose track of time. It''s not that hard if you follow Bubblegum’s route.</i>
<i>└ Different difficulty levels too?</i>
<i>└ Yeah, going head-on like Almond makes it progressively harder lol</i>
<i>— As someone who watched both Bubblegum and Almond, Zombie School’s freedom is insane. They’re ying entirely different games.</i>
yer testimonials on the game’s freedom and immersion poured in. Perhaps because of this, sales surged the next day. It even caught some media attention.
<i>[Zombie School. Despite being in Early ess, it ranks high among foreign games]</i>
<i>[Can WePlug make single yer games sessful in Korea?]</i>
<i>[Red Hat''s stock rises continuously after the sess of Zombie School]</i>
Articles like these flooded in. Ignoring the media''s penchant for sensational wording, the game’s outstanding performance among foreign games was undeniable.
Even themunity garden, the source of all these events, now took apletely different stance as the situation unfolded.
<i>— “Ifmunity gardens bash it, it thrives”</i>
<i>— This is Red Hat lol</i>
<i>— Wow, look at these records</i>
<i>— Wow, this feels magnificent.</i>
<i>— It''s really blowing up LOL</i>
<i>— People in our country secretly love zombies</i>
Sang-Hyeon read the somewhat peaceful reactions in themunity garden.
<i>Crunch. Crunch.</i>
He popped a few almonds into his mouth and suddenly asked Ju-Hyeok, "<i>Ah.</i> Did we book the chicken ce?"
"Yeah. It''s this weekend."
Ju-Hyeok adjusted his sses and praised Sang-Hyeon’s choice of venue for the fan meeting.
"It’s definitely a good choice. Chicken and beer are universally loved. The casual atmosphere like hanging out with friends will feel more approachable. And..."
He pointed to a game logo on one side of his monitor.
"... Now we move on to this?"
<i>[Civil Empire]</i>
They had decided on the next game. Sang-Hyeon took a day off following the end of <i>Zombie School</i> and picked this game after consulting with Ju-Hyeok. They nned to start ying it today.
"Right."
<i>Crunch.</i>
Sang-Hyeon munched on almonds as he responded, “I liked that one.”
<i>Zombie School</i> was inherently a minor game, but<i> Civil Empire</i> was on arger scale and still gaining poprity. However, it wasn''t very popr in Korea with its main markets being China and the USA. Most users attributed itsck of poprity in Korea to the unbnced Korean civilization in the game.
“It''s a bit unfortunate that the Korean civilization is weak.”
“It doesn''t matter unless it''s a nationalpetition. You can choose any civilization you like. There''s no need to stick to one.”
Indeed, it didn’t matter unless someone was a hardcore yer participating in nationalpetitions like Ju-Hyeok said. There was no rule saying that Koreans had to y the Korean civilization.
“No. Shouldn’t I y the Korean civilization? Aren''t we going to participate in nationalpetitions?”
<i>Crunch.</i>
Sang-Hyeon felt determined as he chewed on almonds.
“Nationalpetitions? That takes up a lot of time.”
Only hardcore yers could endure those nationalpetitions due to the brutal schedule.
The game’sck of poprity in Korea wasn’t just because the Korean civilization was weak. It was also due to the poor work-life bnce in Korea, where few had time to invest in gaming.
Ju-Hyeok objected, but Sang-Hyeon spoke as if it were obvious.
“Korea is losing terribly. As a Korean, I should participate!”
“Sounds like the Korean War has broken out...” Ju-Hyeok jokingly said, but stopped mid-sentence.
<i>‘Ah... right. This guy dreamed of being a national representative.’</i>
Strangely, Sang-Hyeon had a strong attachment to his country. It was probably due to his aspiration to be a national representative in archery.
“Alright. Let''s see about the nationalpetitions when the timees. It’s still far off.”
Ju-Hyeok simply let it go, knowing it was impossible to change Sang-Hyeon’s mind. He had known this about Sang-Hyeon since that guy poured all his money into the capsule.
Most importantly, Ju-Hyeok didn''t want to say it wouldn’t work or that it would be too much for his physical condition.
He didn''t want to define or limit Sang-Hyeon like that.
***
Almond''s stream went live at 3 P.M.
<i>— Hi hi</i>
<i>— Wow, he started streaming!</i>
<i>— What game today, bro?</i>
After he took a day off, the viewers seemed even more excited.
<i>— :( It''s been a year</i>
<i>— You left us zombie gangsters?!</i>
<i>— Huh? Look at the stream title LOL</i>
Quick-witted viewers already noticed the title.
<i>[Zombie School... Cut! Next!]</i>
The title reflected his intention to finish <i>Zombie School</i> and move on to the next game.
<i>— Next!</i>
<i>— Lately, he’s been great at making titles</i>
<i>— Remember when he used to just use the default titles... haha</i>
<i>— Next! Agreed!</i>
<i>— Cut!</i>
“Today’s game is...”
Almond changed the stream category as he began his opening speech.
<i>[ying Civil Empire]</i>
“Civil Empire!”
<i>— Shibal Empire? </i>[1]
<i>— Shi...bal... Em...? omg</i>
<i>— Too harsh with words!</i>
<i>— What''s this?</i>
Viewers greeted him with donations.
<i>[RubySword has donated 10,000 won.]</i>
<i>[This game is hardly yed in Korea. Exin a bit lol]</i>
<i>[Snake has donated 1,000 won.]</i>
<i>[Wow! Shiba... Em, uh...!]</i>
<i>— The voice, LOL</i>
<i>— You, ban. What a fitting nickname</i>
“Thanks, RubySword. Everyone might not know much about it. A temporary ban for you, Snake.”
<i>[ActuallyGood has donated 5,000 won.]</i>
<i>[That guy will be happy about the ban~]</i>
<i>[Haha has donated 10,000 won.]</i>
<i>[Almond~ Almond~ Today''s my birthday!]</i>
“Thank you, ActuallyGood. Happy birthday, Haha!”
<i>— Wow, Almond is wishing you a happy birthday...</i>
<i>— Jealous...</i>
<i>— ActuallyGood, LOL</i>
After the casual chit-chat donations, Almond delved into exining the game.
“First, let me exin as a viewer suggested. Everyone, do you know RTS?”
<i>— Yes</i>
<i>— Yeah</i>
<i>— Like StarCraft?</i>
<i>— Real-time strategy</i>
<i>— RTS means using a mouse, right?</i>
“Yes. The one with the mouse.”
RTS (Real Time Strategy) was a game genre that was once dominant in Korea. yers often oversaw battles and production from above in RTS games. These games required high-level strategies and psychological warfare. RTS games would be at the top if there were difficulty ratings since they took ce in real-time and weren’t turn-based.
<i>— An RTS game??</i>
<i>— Suddenly a spicy broadcast</i>
<i>— Almond can’t handle RTS games ?</i>
<i>— Almond ying a strategy game...? I’m drooling.</i>
<i>— Epic. My mouth''s on fire</i>
At first nce, the RTS genre seemedpletely unsuitable for Almond. He wasn’t known for intellectual ys and the RTS genre was the epitome of strategy games.
He would likely struggle terribly in his attempt.
“<i>Ah</i>, but... there are different units in RTS games, right?”
Would Ju-Hyeok have chosen a game that was unsuitable for Almond?
“I''m notmanding in this game. Rather, I’ll y as one of those units. At least in the beginning.”
<i>— Eh</i>
<i>— tremble</i>
<i>— OMG</i>
<i>— What?</i>
<i>— Then whomands?</i>
<i>— Sounds fun</i>
“It''s like being a soldier in a huge war.”
<i>[RubySword has donated 10,000 won.]</i>
<i>[One day I became a Marine!?]</i>
“Thanks, RubySword. Marine... Yes,pared to something like <i>StarCraft</i>.”
<i>[Eggnt has donated 1,000 won.]</i>
<i>[Then who''smanding?]</i>
“<i>Ah. </i>That''s another special point... <i>um... </i>let’s see in the game.”
<i>— Fact: He doesn’t know</i>
<i>— He’s just reciting what Walnut told him</i>
<i>— Let’s go!</i>
“Let’s dive into <i>Civil Empire</i>!”
Thus, Almond began a new genre and entered a new realm of gaming.
1. Sshibal is a curse word equivalent to the f word in korean. ?