Season 5: Chapter 77. The Masked Coach (1)

It had been about a week since the Platform War rules introduction video dropped. Teams started to come forward one by one.

[Gum-Zel-Choco-Alone-Acorn Five Man Hell Pot]

[Zelo]

[I Will Overcome]

[ForeverAlone]

The team of Bubblegum, Zelo, Choco Shroom, ForeverAlone, and Acorn Jelly had gotten started.

[Training Days Were the Golden Days]

[CutiePie]

[ALL-Women Team: Magical Girls Please Love Us]

[StrawberryShooter]

The Magical Girls team: Miho, CutiePie, CreamPuff, StrawberryShooter, and Churros had thrown their hat in as well. Real team practice was beginning.

Five people gathered in a This World channel called the Knight Order.

Dun dun.

Sweet Radish posed coolly on top of a crate. "Shall we get started too?"

Sweet Potato stood beside him with arms crossed. "We're number one anyway. Let's take our time."

The other three members struck poses around them.

Click!

[Knight Order Departure Ceremony Commemorative Photo]

— lmaooooooo

— What are they doing lmao

— Taking a photo

— Living the concept lmao

***

They had named themselves the Knight Order and took a team commemorative photo. This World's drone photography feature automatically captured them from several angles. A drone descended and printed the result out like a Polaroid.

"Let me see. Let me see~." Black Tea checked the photo. "This one's the best."

Lemon agreed. "Looks like the Demon Lord and his Four Heavenly Kings."

— Demon Lord and Four Heavenly Kings lmaooo

— Fr lmao

— lmaooooo

— The team aesthetic is established

Sweet Potato came over to weigh in. "Oh. Sweet Radish looks the most intimidating."

"Why?"

"The sleepy eyes."

"That's because I was smiling."

"Are you smiling now?"

"..."

— lmaooooooo

— lmaooooo

— lmaooo

— He's not smiling in that photo either...

— lmaooo

— He doesn't have sleepy eyes, just small eyes!

— He's grinding his teeth to smile, apparently lmao

Ahem.

Sweet Radish quickly changed the subject. "Should we go with this one? Give it careful consideration, everyone. If we win, this gets displayed on both platforms' main pages."

— Right, you have to choose carefully lmao

— Fr

— lmaooo like they're winning

— But this photo being used is...

— Getting displayed on both platforms is genuinely such a rush lmao

— If the Knight Order photo goes up on Paprika, everyone will be too scared to stream lmaooo

Some viewers thought winning was a stretch. Others believed they could. News that the photo would be posted if they won reached everyone.

"Oh, is that right?"

This was news to Almond.

"...?"

Everyone looked at him, confused.

Almond elaborated. "I didn't know the photo would get posted if we won."

— Then why did you take the photo lmaooo

— ?

— What is happening lmao

— lmaooo

— Wait does he know survival mode is the main format

Almond's expression turned noticeably more serious because something had just come back to him.

‘That's right...’

The reason he hadn't been able to focus.

‘The hidden team!’

It was because of Paprika's hidden team. JeonJaPa’s old teammates were participating. Among all the Platform War participants, Almond was the only one who knew this.

‘Should I... tell the team or not?’

His head grew complicated again. Keeping secrets and hiding things genuinely weren’t in his nature. The only secret he'd ever worked hard to keep in his life was the one about his arm.

‘Hmm.’

This information would clearly give them an advantage if the team knew about it.

‘It doesn't feel like fair play...’

He couldn't share information that hadn't been made public, even if he happened to learn it by chance.

‘Why is he doing that?’

Sweet Radish tilted his head at Almond, who'd been staring blankly into space for a while.

"Since we've taken the photo, should we talk about the coaching situation?" Sweet Radish raised the topic.

The others probably missed it, but the mention of a coach made Almond's eyes snap open.

***

Inside Mixed Nuts’ office, Ju-Hyeok was monitoring Almond's live stream in the director’s room.

‘He's doing fine.’

Ju-Hyeok had been mildly worried about leaving him home alone, but Almond was streaming like always.

"Maybe this time, some of what was missing from the Civil Empire tournament will get filled in."

Usually, with big streamer competitions, the real content was the practice. Most people said that. The Civil Empire tournament had been a win, but Almond had joined mid-tournament. This had effectively cut the content in half.

Starting from a clean slate, putting together a team, finding a coach, and analyzing each other's strengths and weaknesses... That was the real essence of a competition like this.

‘Viewers who like this process even more.’

If the practice period lasted a month and the actual tournament only lasted about two days, the practice was the true core.

‘This is where everyone's masks start coming off.’

Survival mode would be somewhat less intense than Siege mode. Still, LIL was a game that brought out the ugly sides of people. Dedicated LIL players were called LIL demons for a reason. A five-person team game was essentially a stress test for human social capacity.

Of course, Almond had already won a tournament with Bubblegum. He had also survived five years at Ah-Sung. Someone like that wouldn’t run into trouble in this competition.

‘It'll still be smoother than last time with Bubblegum, but... this has its own challenges.’

New problems would surface. Ju-Hyeok could already more or less see what shape those problems would take. He just wasn't going to tell Sang-Hyeon. Letting Sang-Hyeon work through them in his own way was the entertainment for viewers.

‘The coach recommendation will be the hardest part first. Pfft.’

Ju-Hyeok had been genuinely startled when Sang-Hyeon first told him he was bringing Choi Sa-Rang in as coach. Not because her qualifications were too impressive, but because he'd had absolutely no plan for how to actually convince the team.

‘Even assuming she shows up, how will he get everyone on board?’

Sweet Radish had a pro gaming background, and Black Tea had even trained as a pro. Would they just listen? If opinions differed, who would mediate? This was a completely different set of problems from the Bubblegum situation.

“Bwahaha! My~ Loooord~!”

“Demon Lord and Four Heavenly Kings~! Woo-hoo~!”

Right now, everyone was having a great time joking around. Based on Ju-Hyeok's research into similar cases, the dynamic would definitely shift after a week. That was the nature of competition.

Hadn't it been the same for the Civil Empire tournament? Teams didn’t always get along. Commanders often fight, yet still guided their team through cooperation to win. That was teamwork.

‘What he learned at Ah-Sung, and what he learned at the Civil Empire tournament... Let's see how much more he's got.’

Sang-Hyeon had already accumulated the necessary experience. He just hadn't had the occasion to show it yet.

Ju-Hyeok was curious. For Almond to expand further from here as a streamer, he'd ultimately need to lead an entire crew. Just as Ju-Hyeok led Mixed Nuts as its director, Almond was now being put to the test in his own right.

“Now that we have the photo, should we talk about the coach?”

The first barrier had arrived.

***

Black Tea said, "Sweet Radish knows people, doesn't he? Coaches."

She naturally assumed that Sweet Radish would bring in a coach. Everyone else nodded and confirmed the same. It made sense since Sweet Radish was a former pro.

"But all those people are still active..." Sweet Radish scratched his head.

Coaches and analysts outlasted players in terms of career longevity. Even after Sweet Radish had retired, they were all still working.

"Ah... so a retired teammate then?"

"Yeah, right. The way I see it, ADC is actually pretty important in Survival mode?"

"True."

"Then..."

Almond noticed something.

‘They haven't thought about this yet.’

His instincts told him that this was the moment to cut in.

"Um... I want to strongly recommend someone!"

Dun dun.

"?"

"...?"

Everyone looked startled.

‘He doesn't even play LIL.’

‘What? Does Almond know people in LIL?’

‘Please don't say it's his archery coach.’

‘Wait, the voice he's using... Is he bringing JeonJaPa?’

Nobody had expected Almond to make a recommendation. His usual approach was to wait quietly rather than insert himself into things like this. Here he was, loudly announcing he had someone. Who on earth could it be?

Gulp.

Everyone stared at him in tense anticipation.

"Who... who is it exactly?"

However, Almond suddenly went silent with his hand still raised.

‘Right... what do I say?’

Almond knew he absolutely had to recommend the coach. He just hadn't thought through how to actually do it in a way that worked because he couldn't reveal that it was JeonJaPa!

"Go ahead. As long as they have the skills, anyone..."

‘They have the skills.’

Almond still didn’t say anything.

"Mr. Almond?"

"My lord?"

— ?

— ??

— Is he frozen?

— Almond is fishing for donations again

— He wants donations right?

— Five thousand if you want to know~lmao

Ba-bam!

[RubySword has donated 50,000 won!]

[JUST TELL US WHO IT IS lmao]

A donation actually came in.

— lmaooooooo

— lmaooo

— Legendary Ruby

— lmaooo

— He's actually fishing for donations again??? lmao

— Relentless

— ??? Donation fishing is just what you do.

— lmaooo

— King God Sword

Now he had to say who it was. Everyone was staring at him.

Almond opened his mouth. "A, a mysterious master?"

— ?

— ??

— A hidden master??

— A mysterious master lmaooooooo

— Definitely a hidden master lmao

— A reclusive sage

— What martial arts novel did you walk out of?? lmao

"A hidden master, you mean?"

"Ah, yeah."

"..."

Everyone looked thrown off.

Then, Sweet Radish followed up. "What's this hidden master's username? I can look them up."

Only a tiny number of players, other than genuinely exceptional ones, operated while keeping their identity concealed.

"Ah... that's..." Almond turned his head sharply. "I’m not telling."

"?"

— ?

— ???

— ?

— What lmaooo

— The pouty expression lmaooo

— Is he a little messed up right now?

— lmaooooooo

— Oh he wants more donations lmao

Hidden master or reclusive sage aside...

‘But it's just a game. You're not telling us their username?’

At minimum, they’d need a username to know they existed. The Knight Order members exchanged looks.

‘What is this?’

‘Is this a bit for the stream?’

‘The Lord is the best at reading livestream moments. Should we just go with it?’

They assumed Almond was doing something deliberately weird for the stream. The Knight Order hadn't forgotten the thrill of how Almond acted during the Lord Almond days.

"So, it's like... a masked coach thing?"

— lmaooooooo

— lmao fr?

— A coach audition?? lmao

— lmaooo

— First-ever coach decided by audition lmaooo

Black Tea jumped in enthusiastically. "Oh then, should we all bring whoever we're recommending and have a skills showdown?"

"Oh. That works. Honestly, a one-on-one tells you everything you need to know."

"That sounds so fun~!"\