The day after the festive funeral, a hangover smashed Sang-Hyeon in the morning.

“Ugh.”

What happened again? Somehow, he’d drunk himself senseless.

“I feel nauseous.”

Sang-Hyeon pushed himself up in bed. Of course, he wasn’t nauseous because Treevy was gone. It was just from overdrinking, overeating, and going wild.

His feelings about Treevy’s departure had already been settled. Probably because he’d shared that sadness with so many colleagues. Being together gave everyone strength beyond imagination. He wondered why he hadn’t realized this before.

Bzzz.

A message buzzed on his phone.

[Sweet Potato: Lord. Group photo, sir.]

[Sweet Potato: (Photo)]

Sang-Hyeon checked the picture of him wedged among countless streamers. He held the screen up to the framed photos lined along one corner of his desk.

Exactly three could be called group photos. One was from the archery club. One was a Fake National Team photoshoot from the world championship. The last was a group photo from Survival Craft.

‘It’s similar to the Survival Craft photo.’

He layered the funeral photo over the Survival Craft one.

‘Almost everyone is here.’

Surprisingly, the members overlapped a lot. If the two photos were combined, every participant from Survival Craft would be there. Of course, one person was missing from both.

‘Treeana should’ve taken a photo too.’

Sang-Hyeon lay back down on the bed, a little regretful, and replied to Sweet Potato.

[Almond: Oh. It turned out well lol]

[Sweet Potato: I ruined it by standing next to you, boss.]

[Sweet Radish: And Miho was also right there, so I just look like a full-on sweet potato...]

[Sweet Potato: D:]

It seemed Sweet Potato didn’t like where he’d been standing. It couldn’t be helped. Sweet Potato had gotten drunk pretty fast, so Sang-Hyeon had practically been holding him up.

‘Heh.’

Sang-Hyeon smiled as a faint memory surfaced.

‘Come to think of it, Gi-Chan threw up, didn’t he?’

Despite buying hangover drinks and marching back all determined, Gi-Chan had downed a glass of champagne in one go and promptly vomited. Thanks to that, he’d received a massive amount of donations that night. It had basically become a puke reaction.

‘Ugh.’

The memory made Sang-Hyeon shudder as he sat up.

‘Today’s stream... The video donations are gonna come up, aren’t they?’

At this rate, he’d probably see that scene a few times on stream today. He braced himself mentally.

***

When he went out, Ju-Hyeok was cooking soft tofu clam stew. He sometimes made this after drinking. Honestly, it didn’t really help with hangovers. It just tasted good.

“You went pretty hard yesterday, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Ju-Hyeok set the earthenware pot on the table and started nagging. “You’re streaming today. What were you thinking, going that hard?”

“It was just the vibe...”

“No, then if you were gonna go that hard, you should’ve at least made a legendary clip. Like drunken Iron Ball or something.”

Ju-Hyeok picked up his tablet and showed Bubblegum’s insane reaction to a donation. The man had turned into a rolling sphere, tumbling across the floor. It was still funny even now.

“How am I supposed to do something like that...?”

“That’s true. You just fall asleep when you drink too much.” Ju-Hyeok nodded and sat down across from him. “That’s why you need to drink in moderation. Ahem. You remember what we decided before this comeback, right?”

“Yeah. Case studies on Bubblegum and Zelo.”

Internet streaming looked like one could just wing it, but that wasn’t true. Trends could be found in streaming styles. During the break, Sang-Hyeon had gone back and watched Bubblegum’s streams. They felt completely different from when he’d watched them while working at a company. Now, he could see it from a business perspective.

“Gum is really... good at streaming. He’s terrible at games, but there’s a reason he’s fun.”

It sounded like an insult and a compliment at the same time as Sang-Hyeon ate his stew.

“Right. And what’s the reason?”

“A positive mindset.”

This was the core of Bubblegum.

“He doesn’t waver and always keeps a positive stance.”

Ju-Hyeok summarized it again. “We don’t stream to vent our emotions. We stream to entertain viewers. You can’t just act on your feelings.”

Sang-Hyeon nodded vaguely as he ate. “Uh...”

“And Zelo?”

“Uh... Zelo’s pretty good at games, and he’s insanely funny. The sharp-tongued type...”

“Right. You can’t imitate that, but he rides the line well and manages his viewers tightly. He spots toxic bait fast and cuts it off. He clearly stays above his viewers.”

“That’s what I was getting at.”

Ju-Hyeok nodded, satisfied. “Yeah, that’s enough. You studied well.”

‘Sang-Hyeon’s stream will keep improving.’

In truth, Almond already managed his stream quite well. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have pulled viewership numbers that rivaled Zelo’s during Cheese Village. He was a supernova, but supernovas shared a trait.

‘They burn out fast.’

They shone brilliantly, rocketed up on pure talent, and then collapsed in the long run due to a lack of foundation. Ju-Hyeok wanted Almond to be loved for a long time.

‘At least ten years.’

The ten years Sang-Hyeon had lost to an accident. Ju-Hyeok wanted Sang-Hyeon to work happily as a streamer for at least that long.

‘To do that, no matter how much your head hurts, you have to analyze things and play it smart.’

***

After eating, Sang-Hyeon prepared to stream. Since it was a chatting stream, he fiddled with his hair in front of the mirror.

“Done.”

He barely touched it before declaring it finished.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah. I’m going live.”

“Well, alright. Let’s go. Do your best.”

Ju-Hyeok held out his palm.

Smack!

They high-fived each other.

“Good.”

Ding.

[Platform War Briefing]

Almond’s stream went live.

“Hello. This is Almond.”

The viewers grew excited as the computer cam turned on instead of the capsule feed.

— Oh, chatting?

— Just chatting?

— Hi hi

— Almond is finally streaming!!

— Wow, it’s been a while since he’s done this!

Some viewers felt excited for a different reason.

— Finally

— Almond, that bastard is dead! We clipped all his drunk antics from the funeral~

— LOL here it comes

— Something big is coming...

— Funeral montage, let’s go~

Almond had drunk quite a bit at the Treevy funeral. Some clips showed him wobbling around too. This wasn’t much compared to other streamers, but it was rare. Fans had spread them everywhere.

“Hello, everyone... Honestly, turning on Cheese without Treevy feels like... the first time again, mentally. I’ll test some features...”

Before he could finish, a video donation fired off.

[Ow has donated 10,000 won.]

[Almond drunk antics (video)]

— LOL

— Hahahaha

— Lmaooo

— Has it begun?

A few more videos followed. Almond just propped his chin on his hand and watched. He was fairly seasoned as a streamer now. Almond was mostly half-lidded, swaying, and mumbling in the clips. One could hardly call it drunk antics, but his thrilled viewers cherished those precious moments.

“Honestly, this is nothing compared to drunken Iron Ball.”

He couldn’t compare himself to the real thing.

— How do you beat that

— For real

— Instantly tossing aggro to Bubblegum LOL

[Bartender has donated 5000 won.]

[You ordered Iron Ball. On the rocks. (video)]

“Aaaaagh!”

A clip of Bubblegum rolling across the floor played. The other streamers screamed as he slammed into them.

— For real

— Legendary

— LOL

— Too bad Almond didn’t get hit

— They fall like bowling pins, holy shit

Then, a peculiar message popped up.

[AlmondDatingRumor has donated 30,000 won.]

[Sir Almond, care to explain? (video)]

A dating rumor? Had something happened with Miho again? With that naive thought, he watched the video and froze.

“Al-Almond...”

“I actually prefer that...”

“Ssslp! Sip!”

Someone had bizarrely edited the mukbang of Almond and ForeverAlone eating tteokbokki.

— Holy shit

— LOL

— Ugh!!!

— EW

— The vibe is awful

— Argh...

At that moment, Almond thought, ‘Zelo jutsu: toxic viewer elimination!’

He decided to apply this skill to his stream.

“Oh. Found it. The block function.”

With that, Almond slapped the donor with a thirty-day ban.

— Already going to jail? LOL

— First inmate secured

— Honestly, nothing to say about this

— Who the hell edited this? LMAO

The viewers loved it.

‘Phew.’

Almond sighed in relief.

Ba-ba-bam~!

[RubySword has donated a whopping 500,000 won!]

[One person still hasn’t let go of Lord Almond (video)]

As expected, his very first and biggest fan went big for his return stream.

“Wow, RubySword, thank you so much for the five-hundred-thousand won donation!”

Almond lowered his head in gratitude. Then, the video began to play. The title read:

[Almond the Lord We Loved Back Then]

— What’s this?

— That title, holy shit

— This is hilarious

It compiled the Lord’s exploits over the years.

“Should I call you... Radish Servant?”

— LOL

— Right from the first line!

— Hahaha

— The birth of the Lord!

Fwoooosh!

Houses burned.

“Knight Order! Knight Order! Knight Order! Knight Order~!”

“Wooooah!”

The Knight Order’s five members cheered.

“But Mr. Donuts... weren’t you part of the Nonghyup Union?”

They were referring to the potato illusion. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“Do I press this button to trigger the warning?”

“Ah, no...”

BOOOOM!

A flashy explosion synced with the music. Iron ore rained down on Zelo and Choco Shroom.

— LOOOL

— That’s hilarious

— Still funny as hell

The next scene showed Almond entering Ah-Sung.

Bang!

The doors burst open as his cloak billowed. The Lord’s reign had reached its absolute peak. His retainers parted to either side and sang in chorus.

“Ohhhhh~! My looooord~!”

— Nice

— Is this a choir or what

— Wow...

— This hits hard, holy shit

Just as the hype peaked, the mood suddenly darkened.

Doo-doom!

“I just... wanted to go fishing.”

The Lord only had a very modest wish, but what it caused grew far too great. Then, the Lord’s fall and the duel against ForeverAlone took place.

Forever Alone screamed as he charged at Almond, “Why are you pretending you don’t know me...!? I even sent you l-letters asking to be on the same team!”

— You again, ForeverAlone?!

— Why is it always you!!

— This guy is the true heroine

Slash!

Their blades cut into each other.

“You couldn’t even kill me from the start?”

However, only the Lord fell.

“What are you, anyway! My loooooord!!”

As ForeverAlone wailed, text scrolled across the screen.

[Is he a villain?]

[Or humanity’s savior?]

BAAAAM!

The music surged, and scenes played of Almond and Radish Servant kicking people into fires.

Potato Servant furiously shouted, “Do you wish to become fertile?!”

— LOOL

— Omg

— Is this the “bad boy” that girls supposedly like?

— Potato Servant lmao

Text overlaid the scene.

[A Spicy Reality]

Purple lights flared as Cutie Pie sang above Treevy City.

[Sweet Memories]

Everyone sang along to Patissier’s song. A giant Almond and Zelo danced together.

[A Bitter Farewell]

Potato Servant played guitar by the campfire as everyone counted down.

[Ten! Nine! Eight!]

...

[Goodbye]

Treeana waved as she left. Lord Almond watched her go.

Thump!

[Almond the Lord We Loved Back Then]

The title appeared again, and the screen faded to black.

“Oh...”

Up to this point, it had been genuinely moving.

— Nice

— This is a masterpiece!

— Fan-made?!

— Sweet and spicy!

— Wow... this is fun!

— Even rewatching it, Lord Almond was really awful

— The quality is insane!

— Man... I miss it...

One more scene remained.

Bzzzt.

A donation message appeared over the black screen.

[JungGi-Chan has donated 10,000 won.]

[I loved you, you bastard...]

Almond hadn’t even processed it.

Ba-baaam~!

A trumpet blared as the video truly ended.

— LOOL

— You again!? Jung Gi-Chan!?

— He’s getting banned again LMAO

— Come on, leave Lackey ForeverAlone alone...

— It was going so well until the end

— Insane drift

Sang-Hyeon’s face, reflected in the dark screen, stiffened. “It can’t be helped. Rules are rules.”

Click.

‘Zelo jutsu.’

Almond ultimately rewarded RubySword with a thirty-second ban.

— Is it thirty seconds because the bail is expensive?

— Thirty days vs thirty seconds

— LOOOL

— Even Ruby got hit LOL

— That last second twist though hahaha

— Thirty seconds because it’s Queen Ruby

Only after banning a few more viewers could he finally get to the point.

“Now, let’s move on to the Platform War briefing.”