Season 5: Chapter 154. Family-Style Business (1)

"Sigh." Ju-Hyeok continued scrolling. "Mixed Nuts has a lot of work to do."

Sweet Potato's fans were all of one opinion that contracting with Mixed Nuts was a mistake.

Ji-Ah had offered some consolation, but with reality being what it was, Ju-Hyeok quickly felt deflated again.

"I hope this doesn't migrate to other communities or anything."

He worriedly checked Streamer Garden. Fortunately, there was nothing about Sweet Potato. Instead, he saw something else.

[#1. Almond's donation explosion video yesterday]

"Ah..." Ju-Hyeok groaned. "Money... money is always the top attention-getter."

Journalists often used a cheat code when they wanted meaningless click counts: a celebrity's 15 billion won building with 9 billion won profit... and so on. Clicking it usually didn’t show much, or it was nothing compared to that celebrity's usual income.

Despite knowing, people still clicked the article and found strangely angry comments. Money was the supreme topic for gathering human attention.

Streamer Garden was no exception.

[#4. Almond has truly become a lord, donation rankings update.jpg]

[#7. Yesterday's Jet-Pumped big spender brothers carpet bombing lmaooo]

At a place covering all streamers, three posts about Almond's donation income had settled into the top ten at first, fourth, and seventh place.

— What the

— That can actually happen??

— A genius at making money fr

— Thought he'd just nerf the baseball bat and be provocative... so this is why I can't make money

— The Lord

— So envious

— Thousands per day right? What

— Wow

— Wait Almond was at this level???

— Wow...

— Heard about it but this much

— Smart Young Man is right

└ lmaooo fr

"It's not great when things like this get too much traction."

Money was a quick attention-gatherer, but also quick to invite jealousy. Checking donation rankings was unavoidable, but having fans focus on it too much was a burden.

'Weird people might start appearing.'

While scrolling through the comments for anyone acting strangely out of jealousy, Ju-Hyeok spotted an unusual comment.

"Hm?"

— Sweet Potato joined a good company LOL

└ lmaooo fr

└ Was worried but it seems fine if the leader is at this level

└ With a conscience, shouldn't you be worried about Almond for taking in Sweet Potato?

└ lmaooo true

└ lmaooooo

— Sweet Potato landed the jackpot!

What was this? Ju-Hyeok felt baffled.

'Suddenly?'

Just about ten minutes ago, Sweet Potato's fan board had been saying the Mixed Nuts contract was a mistake, that he got played, and that joining a buddy's company was the worst. Now, they were saying the contract with Mixed Nuts was a good call.

'Is it just the community?'

Ju-Hyeok figured the fan board and community boards had different characters. He went back to Sweet Potato's Cheese fan board. In that brief interval, new posts had taken over the top.

[Sweet Potato excited because Almond reached 1st in donation rankings apparently]

[Almond’s legendary donation explosion yesterday]

[Lord Almond donation explosion Shorts just went up]

Posts about Almond's donation ranking had spread here too.

'Hm?'

Shockingly, the perception had changed.

[Almond has my back <<< that was actually genuinely epic. Upvote]

— Fr!

— Let me first~

— True!

— Makes sense Sweet Potato was so excited lmaooo

— Honestly at this level “got my bag” would also be upvote

└ lmaooooooo

└ Why would you let the Lord take your bag...

└ The Lord taking the bag lmaooo

These people had clearly been negative about the contract just a few minutes ago.

"What? Does it change like this?"

[This is why elders say even if you're serving a lord, serve at a lord's house~]

[Sweet Potato actually made a good choice for once fr]

[You just receive the Lord's grace. That's all there is to it]

"What?"

Ju-Hyeok felt hollow. He'd been brooding alone, trying to work out how to practically improve Mixed Nuts' perception.

"If Almond earns a lot, it just... works out?"

To think the problem could be solved like this. Nothing about Mixed Nuts had changed, yet their perception was shifting.

"Ha! It was always like this."

Back when he first started as a manager, how did his colleagues view him? They laughed about how he could be a manager through connections. After the world championship and going to various places for interviews as a successful planner, how was it? The way people looked at him completely changed.

"Honestly..." Ju-Hyeok breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back. "Guess it was nothing."

Having Mixed Nuts directly on the lips of other fans was a first. Perhaps Ju-Hyeok had been overly tense. Looking back, it seemed like nothing.

'Still... I have to show something.'

Through this opportunity, he had clearly felt firsthand how ordinary people could feel about Mixed Nuts. What they'd said was definitely a weakness for Mixed Nuts.

'We have to make this content succeed.'

He wanted to prove it. This company was sufficiently worth other streamers joining.

***

'Getting first place continuously from now?'

Ever since then, Sweet Radish hadn’t quite been registering other conversations. The coach's words kept hovering in his mind.

'But telling me to figure it out myself?'

He didn’t need to drain this much energy for an event tournament, especially just a scrimmage for it.

'She's talking about first place like it's obvious...'

The coach's words kept jabbing somewhere at Sweet Radish. First place was something that had never been obvious to him. To her, it seemed completely obvious. Sweet Radish was overly sensitive when it came to winning first place, but he wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"No, but how does that unnie say first place like it's a given..." Black Tea looked at Sweet Radish.

'Why are you looking at me!?'

Black Tea also thought Sweet Radish needed to do something for them to win first place.

'I don't know either.'

Sweet Radish couldn't figure it out. What exactly had Sa-Rang taught him that she was leaving it to him? He'd carefully listened to all the feedback.

"Radish!"

He couldn’t figure it out. Was he not remembering something?

"Sweet Radish!!"

"Oh, yes!?!"

Flash.

Snapping out of it, he was already inside the airship.

"Not looking at the route? Check the map!" Almond shouted.

The Lord rarely raised his voice.

"Oh, oh...! Yes!" Sweet Radish had really been in another world.

— What are you doing?!

— What's wrong with him

— Thought he was lagging

— Hm?

— Sweet Radish snap out of it~

The chat was pouring in too.

'Damn.'

Sweet Radish ran toward the map. He still had some mental control thanks to his pro days. Even while catching his breath, he could read the map clearly.

'Too late.'

The conclusion wasn't good. Their airship had veered off the optimal path. This happened occasionally.

Almond stared intently. "What's wrong? Your eyes got bigger."

— What

— How does he know?

— Dynamic vision

— You'd have to be at Almond's level to notice Sweet Radish's eyes getting bigger;

— ????? how does he know?

— As expected, face reading is Almond's specialty

— Even his mother probably wouldn't know

"Oh... well... we've already passed the good spots. It's fine. We can find the next one..."

"We're doing a split."

Sweet Radish roughly nodded at that topic again and stared at the map intently.

'Damn, missing the optimal spot means... first place is gone, isn't it?'

Having a bad start made victory much more difficult.

Almond interrupted him again. "Forgot? We can't go optimal to begin with."

Right, that was true. Coming back rested, Sweet Radish had forgotten how they'd played the last game. The split team was supposed to explore terrain other teams would find inconvenient while hedging risks. In return, the rewards for a split would be larger anyway.

"Choose. Quickly."

— Why does he not choose himself and just rush others lmaooo

— Please stay still

— Nutboy lmaooo

Viewers thought Almond was rushing him.

'It cleared up.'

Sweet Radish didn't feel that way. He'd been unable to figure out what Sa-Rang was ordering of him.

'She said the split was good.'

Almond kept talking about it for a reason. The one thing Sa-Rang had praised was the split.

Why had Sweet Radish been trying to go around this simple issue?

'She's saying, do it like the last game! You idiot!?'

First place was always something special. This was Sweet Radish's default mental formula.

For some reason, Almond didn't seem to think that way. He just read the obviously presented path and continued saying it.

Sweet Radish's hand moved.

Tap...

"Here."

He identified a spot on the map.

"The two-person team will go here."

"Okay. Lemon, get ready. The timing is perfect to jump now."

"Roger~!"

Almond and Lemon ran to the airship door and jumped.

"We go here."

Tap.

Sweet Radish designated the three-person team's landing spot.

"Sweet Potato, you listening?"

"Uh, uh-huh... listening. I may be trash, but I have ears..."

"Then respond, you!"Sweet Radish kicked Sweet Potato's backside.

Sweet Potato fell out. "AHHHHHHHHH~!"

— lmaooooooooooo

— LOL

— Sweet Radish is back lmaooo

— Sweet Potato is the vitamins~

Sweet Radish and Black Tea jumped together.

Whoooooosh...!

They cut through the air on the way down.

Black Tea gave Sweet Radish a thumbs up. "Oppa, first place. Let's go."

She had noticed Sweet Radish's anxiety.

Sweet Radish grinned and nodded. "Okay!"

Thud!

They landed at the planned spot.

"Phew. I'm trash, but I can land. Any complaints?"

"Shut up a bit."

— lmaooooooooo Sweet Potato

— Sweet Potato locked in as trash now

— lmaooooooo cheerful

— Though actually being trash is the problem...

— Is Sweet Potato going to steal Iron Ball again? Then he's genuinely trash

Sweet Radish naturally took the lead and opened an artifact box first.

Creak.

Various artifacts appeared.

This time, Black Tea correctly picked up a gun from the weapon box. "What's our route roughly, captain?"

"We go from the lower Vault first."

"Oh. Why?"

Sweet Radish looked at Sweet Potato. "Call yourself trash one more time."

"Hm?"

"Let's get Iron Ball before them."

— LOL

— lmaooooo

— Again????

— Wow

— Better watch out for serpent eyes...

"Oh. Right, that was good for a split. Might as well be extra trash if you're already trash, oppa." Black Tea cackled and pushed him along.

"I-I'm trash, but that kind of..."

"Call." Sweet Radish grabbed the spear and tossed the shield to Sweet Potato.

"No, let someone finish speaking..."

"Let's go. He says he'll be trash today."

"Roger~!"