A notice about the Platform War had actually been sent a few days ago, but it had been under embargo. The Platform War was set to be the biggest event yet since Cheese’s launch. Naturally, information about it had been kept private, but all embargos had lifted today after the funeral.

[Platform War Briefing]

Almond resumed streaming with that title. On top of that, he’d already sat through the clip parade of drunken antics and all kinds of parody videos. The warm-up had ended. Now it was time for the real game.

— Almond explaining things himself?!

— Is there even anything to explain? Isn’t it just a scrim against Paprika?

— How are the teams decided? Same as what showed up in the mirror back then?

The viewers who had only been waiting for his drunken blackmail clips finally grew curious. More than anything, fans expected Almond to directly explain it on his stream.

— Is Professor Yu coming back?

— Bring out the whiteboard

— Where are the horn-rimmed glasses?

Almond had held a “shareholders” meeting back when he explained why he killed ForeverAlone. The reaction back then had been great, so viewers assumed he’d do something similar again.

“The Platform War explanation video is already up. Let’s watch it together.”

Almond simply searched for the video on YouTube and played the official explanation prepared by the organizers.

— ?

— ???

— So what are you doing then?

— Watching a video??

— Isn’t this a viewing session, not a briefing?

The video began with cute, polished graphics.

— This is actually how it’s supposed to be

— Watching together and talking about it is a briefing

— Makes sense

The viewers didn’t really mind as long as they watched it together.

“Keep watching. I’ll just...”

Almond left his seat.

— Excuse me?

— ?

— What is this guy doing?!

— Holy shit

— Legendary

Crash! Bang!

He hurried to the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboard.

‘I set it aside to eat while watching.’

Almond had forgotten something since his last chat stream had been a long time ago. He had planned to do a mukbang while watching the video.

Ju-Hyeok, startled, walked over. “What’s wrong? Why are you like that?”

“No, um... Where did I put the almonds?”

“The ones you always eat are right here.”

“No, not those. The special mala-flavored almonds I bought before...”

Had there been something like that? Ju-Hyeok had never heard of it.

“Can’t you just eat the original ones?”

“I was gonna eat these while watching the video.”

Ju-Hyeok had absolutely no idea. “When did you even buy those?”

“Yesterday.”

Ju-Hyeok’s mouth fell open. “Huh...?”

Meanwhile, Almond finally found the mala-flavored almonds.

“Here they are.”

Crash crash crash!

He rushed back to his computer.

[Please look forward to it!]

The video had already ended.

— Holy shit

— Where did you go?

— You’re doing this on purpose, right??

Ba-bam.

[RubyShield has donated 10,000 won.]

[You’re trying to piss us off to bait donations, right?]

— Who even is RubyShield?

— LOL

— Maybe

— He’s not that smart...

— Discount Ruby...

“RubySword, thank you for the donation. I mean, no, I always try to encourage donations... but I wasn’t trying to make you mad...”

In the middle of it all, Almond honestly confessed.

—That’s not RubySword!

— LOL “always”

— He does always do it

— RubySword getting free shout-outs

— True! How else is a streamer supposed to live if they don’t encourage donations

— Damn

“I brought this to eat while watching.” Almond shook the special edition mala-flavored almonds. “You know Green Diamond doesn’t usually make stuff like this, right? This one just came out as a limited thing, so I grabbed it right away at the mart.”

— Is this an ad?

— So this was Almond’s almond briefing

— He must’ve gotten sponsored

— This was a Spicy Almond explanation session

— What is this ad?!

Naturally, viewers assumed it was an ad. Anyone would. The timing was weird, his explanation too sudden, the whole thing felt awkward. Even Green Diamond headquarters would’ve wondered if they had sponsored him, but it wasn’t an ad.

“An ad? This isn’t an ad.”

— ?

— ...?

— Huh?

— Then what are you doing??

— Not an ad?

The fact that it wasn’t an ad shocked them even more.

“The ads I did were all a long time ago. This has nothing to do with that. I just bought it because something interesting came out, and I wanted to share this.”

This was Almond’s idea of communicating with them. He thought that viewers would like it if he showed off something he found interesting and fun.

— Holy shit

— So it’s not even about an advertiser?!

— Huh?

— Just something to share??

“I’ll try one.”

Crunch.

Almond popped a mala-flavored almond into his mouth.

“Mm. It’s nutty and spicy. There’s a bit of that numbing kick.”

Crunch. Crunch.

He grabbed a few more. It seemed tasty.

— Gasp... sweet and spicy? This reminds me of a certain video

— Almond committing cannibalism

— What is this hamster?

— Cute!

Ding.

[LackeyForeverAlone has donated 5,000 won.]

[Bro... spicy, you say? Is it the same kind of spicy as the tteokbokki we ate together?]

— LMAO

— Persistent as hell

— Beep. StrawberryShooter subscriber detected

— Ugh...

This time, Sang-Hyeon didn’t even have to act. Ju-Hyeok banned them immediately.

[LackeyForeverAlone has been banned for 24 hours.]

— LOL instant ban

— 24 hours!!

— Paid to be banned lmao

“Now that I’ve got the mala-flavored almonds, I’ll start the explanation.”

The viewers focused. They had already watched the video once. What kind of explanation would Almond give?

— ?

— ...?

— What are you doing?

Click.

He simply played the video again.

“Let’s watch together.”

— Holy shit, again?

— Live rerun

— What is this guy doing?

— LMAO

— What a crazy guy?

— I surrender...

Viewer complaints exploded.

‘Bubblegum jutsu: positive mindset.’

Almond applied what he’d learned during his break.

“Everyone, think positively. If you watch something fun twice, it’ll be twice as fun.”

— ?

— ??

— What kind of logic is that?!

— LOL

— Crystal clear!

— Barbarian tier positivity

Regardless, Sang-Hyeon remained positive.

‘Think positively.’

Crunch. Crunch.

Leaning back against his chair, he munched on mala-flavored almonds while watching the video. The content just explained the tournament rules. The participating teams appeared as well. As expected, the same lineups had been shown at the end of Cheese Village.

[Almond]

[Sweet Radish]

[Sweet Potato]

[Black Tea]

[Lemon]

Unsurprisingly, the team consisted of the Knight Order members. Only one catch existed.

[Coaches must be contacted individually]

They had to find their own coach. Content would probably start there. Still, that wasn’t the video’s main point. The real hook was at the end.

Boom!

Five black silhouettes appeared, and text flashed across the screen.

[Hidden Team]

Paprika had prepared a surprise invite with a so-called hidden team. Their identities hadn’t been revealed yet.

— Oh, wow, that’s interesting

— Dang, I’ve never seen this before

— Whoa, I didn’t know about this at all~~ I didn’t watch the video earlier~~ haha

— But seriously, who’s in that hidden team?

— Wow, seeing it for the first time is kinda wild ^^

The viewers grew increasingly curious.

‘Huh...?’

Almond suddenly felt like he knew who would be in the hidden team.

‘I’m screwed.’

He wished he hadn’t realized it, but what could he do when his annoyingly sharp memory kicked in at a moment like this? He recalled Choi Sa-Rang blowing out cigarette smoke.

“Everyone except me will be participating on Paprika.”

Every single member of CK ENTUS, the once legendary team, would appear as the hidden team under Paprika. Anyone could tell that the hidden team was them.

‘Hmm... What do I do?’

Almond wasn’t good at acting. If they were the Hidden Team, there was obviously an embargo.

‘Hmm...’

He chose silence as he chewed on the mala-flavored almonds.

Crunch...

‘Think.’

How could he gloss over this naturally?

***

The video ended.

— Watching it again and again!

— Knight Order, let’s go

— What’s with the hidden team?

— Why did you mute yourself??

— Say something, at least

— This Platform War is basically a survival match, huh

— Hidden team?? What is that?

Viewers asked for explanations about the parts they still didn’t understand. Wasn’t that what streamers were for? However, Almond remained quiet the whole time.

Ding.

[MalaSword has donated 10,000 won.]

[Hey, can you say something?]

Only then did Almond finally open his mouth. “Ah, yeah. Uh... Thanks for another donation, RubySword. I was just... thinking about strategy.”

— RubySword again??

— Wow

— It’s MalaSword...

— Strategy my ass

— Strategy? Are we supposed to laugh here? Hahahaha!

Almond was being sincere. Not about game strategy, but getting through the briefing.

“So... we learned one important thing. They said it was LIL, but turns out it’s actually a survival match, right?”

— ??

— ?

— That’s still a LIL mode though

— You didn’t know that until now?

— Holy shit

— This is legendary

— Don’t fall for the bait, guys

Ding.

[PoorFriedRice has donated 10,000 won.]

[Hey! Survival is literally a LIL mode! You nut brain!]

[Xiaolongbao has donated 30,000 won.]

[It’s in LIL!!]

Ding! Ding!

More donations poured in. The corner of Almond’s mouth rose slightly.

‘The aggro is shifting.’

Donation bait and aggro redirection, he killed two birds with one stone.

‘Whew. Thank god.’

It had just been dumb luck, but he found a useful tool.

— LOL easy money

— Bro... he’s smiling

— Almond is smiling...

— Holy shit, was this really donation bait?

“Ahem. What does survival have to do with LIL? It’s literally survival.”

Almond pushed a little further, poking the bear. Right on cue, more donations rolled in.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

As they did, the viewers’ focus fully shifted to whether survival counted as LIL or not.

[Deadpan has donated 10,000 won.]

[Survival doesn’t count as LIL, honestly. A real man plays Siege.]

[Certified has donated 3,000 won.]

[LIL’s Siege mode is the only REAL mode. If anything, Escort is closer to LIL.]

[BullshitGuy has donated 4,000 won.]

[Everything aside, Escort being included is disgusting.]

Now, even the Siege loyalists jumped in. The chat descended into even greater chaos.

‘Was this even a debate?’

Almond had no idea. Apparently, serious posturing existed within LIL modes all along. He had unknowingly kicked a hornet’s nest.

— Fucking disgusting

— Escort can get lost

— That mode doesn’t belong...

— The Lord has discovered the art of collection...

— Survival still counts as LIL, deal with it

— Money flavored Almond

— Holy shit, this again

— Siege is the root though

— God, this is so tilting! Double, triple tilt

For nearly thirty minutes, Almond let the viewers and donors argue among themselves about whether Survival mode was truly part of LIL. After finishing the mala-flavored almonds, he wrapped it up.

“All right, everyone. We’ve now gone over the Platform War explanation. Any questions?”

— ???

— ?

— ...?

— What

— You explain, then take questions

— No...

— You’re the one with questions, aren’t you?

— When did you explain anything??

— Platform War explanation (did not explain) session

“If there are no questions, then we’ll just...”

He tried to slide past it.

Ding.

[Hermione has donated 5,000 won.]

[On Paprika’s side, one team is completely blacked out. It says Hidden Team. Do you know anything about that?]

“For now!” He shot up to his feet. “One look is worth a hundred explanations! Let’s go try Survival mode!”

— ?

— What?

— Does he know something??

— Huh?

— What the hell?

— Holy shit?! Does he actually know something???

— Why is he like this?

His sudden shift in energy left viewers baffled.

Crash!

Almond immediately dove into the capsule and switched the stream to capsule mode.

[Life is Legend]

He launched the LIL client.

“Today’s game~~ We’re going with Survival mode. I’ve never played it before, so we’ll learn it together.”

His awkward, prerecorded style intro earned him a barrage of question marks.

— ?

— ??

— What is this?

It wasn’t just because of the awkward intro.

— Didn’t you just say it wasn’t LIL??

— You bastard! You open LIL immediately?!

— So it was donation bait after all...

— You said survival wasn’t LIL just now!

Almond shamelessly pointed at the screen in mock surprise. “Oh. There really is a Survival mode.”

[Siege]

[Survival]

[Escort]

The mode selection appeared when entering LIL. He chose Survival.

Thump!

[Survival]

Just like that, Almond’s first-ever LIL Survival match began.