Genius Archer's Streaming

Season 3: Chapter 69: Plan Meeting (1)

Had Sang-Hyeon's interview touched a sore spot? Some local reactions were frighteningly fierce.

Even the Koreans, second only to the world with their spicy wit, felt taken aback.

— European bros are fierce.

— It's kind of scary

— The French bros' mention of K-meat is crazy~

└ K-meat lol

└ For real lol

— Look at the effect of the interview devil lol

— Breaking: Solomon recruits the 73rd demon

└ lol

└ Oh, could that be...?

— Spain's passion can be felt all the way here lol

— Just enjoy~ We won anyway~

Among the international reactions, many comments aggressively attacked Korea. Fortunately, the Korean fans already won the match against France and weren’t significantly affected.

— France lol stop crying and speak up.

— Hey moron, shut up if you lost.

— Amid all this are comments that he's handsome lol

└ For real

— lol so funny

— It would be fun if other players talked trash too.

└ For real

"Hmm..."

Sang-Hyeon read on and thought, 'If we had lost...'

They could laugh it off since they won. What if they had lost? Certainly, Almond wouldn't have been interviewed after a loss.

‘... Wait, really?’

After a moment of contemplation, Sang-Hyeon realized that he couldn't definitively answer this question.

"Ahem..."

What if they had lost and Almond gave such an interview? Public opinion in Korea wouldn't have been so mild. The reactions had turned out like this because they won. R

Anyway, it was truly fortunate that they had won. With that thought, Sang-Hyeon put away his phone.

"Right. Did you finish reading the foreign articles?" Ju-Hyeok asked with a mischievous smile.

"They’re better than the domestic reactions."

“Pfft,” Ju-Hyeok barely held back his laughter.

That wasn't exactly the reaction Sang-Hyeon hoped for as evident from his expression.

"Well, that’s enough of the interview reactions for now..."

This time, Ju-Hyeok offered his own phone.

"Look at this."

The main page of Runestagram appeared on the phone screen.

"... Runestagram?"

It had been a while since he last managed his Runestagram. Why did Ju-Hyeok suddenly bring it up?

Due to a lack of management, Almond’s increasing number of followers had stalled at around 130,000.

"You said you were managing this yourself. You haven't done anything."

"... Honestly, it doesn't really help. Not for streamers."

"Yeah, but it seems like you should start again."

"?"

Ju-Hyeok recommended that Sang-Hyeon start managing his Runestagram again.

Click.

Ju-Hyeok pushed the screen toward him, which showed a Runestagram account with 600,000 followers.

“Wait... this is mine?”

It had been around 100,000 at first, but suddenly reached 600,000.

Sang-Hyeon wondered what had happened.

***

Thud.

Chi-Seung casually set down the coffee for everyone to drink and asked, “It seemed like the Spanish players were really upset. This is all part of the strategy, right Cookie?”

Six of them sat at the conference table. Three were commanders from the Korean team and three were core members from the think tank. They had all gathered to discuss the strategy for the next game.

“What? What strategy?”

From the start, the topic seemed off.

“... Ah, no. The interview. It wasn’t meant to provoke them, was it?”

“What... interview?”

Hui-Chul cocked his head in confusion. He had conducted a separate commander interview and immediately left the capsule to prepare more strategies, unaware of anything else.

Hui-Chul smirked at the clever name.

"Yes, that name. I like it. We’ll begin reviewing the Destroy Operation. We couldn’t proceed with a scrimmage, so we need to simulate thoroughly. This time, Barum will take Spain and Doo-Jun will handle Korea."

"Yes. Yes."

***

Meanwhile, the Spanish command center also held a meeting in This World.

"Korea defeated France with a second era archer rush."

The chief commander Nacho was briefing them about the match against Korea.

"This means we might end the game in the second era even before upgrading to the conqueror faction!"

Conquerors were a third era faction representing Spain, which aggressively expanded its colonies. They increased the production speed of gunpowder weapons by a whopping thirty percent.

Indeed, Spain could start producing guns and other ranged anti-personnel weapons using gunpowder in the third era. The problem would be before reaching the third era.

"What do you all think?" Nacho asked the other members.

"Yes... Nacho. I was a bit shocked,” the assistant commander Uno cautiously replied.

"If they can do that against the French, it might be even easier against us..."

The French civilization was known for its early aggression starting from the second era. The Joseon civilization was known for its strength in the later stages, but successfully executed an all-in rush against such a civilization.

It was more than a headache for those facing Korea as Spain didn't have a faction as strong as the French knights in the second era.

"I recommend we produce more infantry weapons in the second era and fortify our towers while moving into the third era."

The table briefly grew noisy at Uno's suggestion. Spain had never considered facing Korea in the second era before.

"What if we fortify and Korea moves straight to the third era?"

"Then we can use our infantry to check them."

"Yes. Maybe we should consider striking first. Aren't we being too passive?"

"Striking against an archer civilization? I think this opinion makes sense. Even if we go to the third era a bit late, it won’t put us at a disadvantage."

Bang!

Someone aggressively intervened among the murmuring people. It was another assistant commander named Tres.

"You’re wrong."

"...?"

Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to explain why it was wrong.

"The premise is wrong to begin with. This was a mistake France made considering Korea’s tower rush."

"So?" Uno retorted with displeasure and crossed his arms.

Tres growled even more, "Joseon isn’t a civilization capable of a second era rush! That firepower isn’t real! It overlapped with France’s mistake!"

The situation had been caused by France’s mistake. Spain didn’t need to be wary of such a strategy.

Tres wasn't wrong.

However, Uno had been advocating for a more solid approach and countered him.

"So what about us? Can we avoid being deceived? Do we know if Korea is planning a first era tower rush or just scouting? It’s hard to tell with Korea because their soldiers can build towers!"

Among Korea’s first era factions was a labor faction. They could use soldiers to build towers if needed. Although less efficient than workers, this capability was still a problem.

"Building towers with soldiers is slow! If they start, we can stop them. No need to panic!"

"Panic? Who said anything about panicking?"

"No, no! Uno, Tres!"

Bang bang bang!

Nacho slammed the table to calm them down.

"I didn't bring up this topic for us to be swayed by Korea’s tactics."

The room fell silent at Nacho’s words.

"Find a solution. One that prevents them from doing anything strange while we enter the third era at a similar time!"

They had to catch two rabbits at once. The faces around the table became incredulous. How could they do that?

Tres objected, "Honestly, even if we enter the third era a bit late due to being deceived, we’re still at an advantage in terms of power. Nacho, looking for a solution might actually be us getting swayed by them."

"That’s being complacent!"

Nacho glared at him with fiery eyes.

"France thought exactly like that and got beaten! Can you handle losing to Korea!? Do you know what it means to lose to Korea in this round? It’s a death sentence!"

"..."

"And you all saw what that bastard said in the interview, right!?"

Everyone slowly nodded.

"And we’re like this after seeing that!? Do you think our fans would tolerate a defeat? Even if we win, they’ll criticize us if it's a hard-fought victory. Am I wrong?"

Everyone slowly shook their heads.

Having many fans was both a great weapon and a great responsibility. It wouldn’t be surprising if something happened due to their disappointment.

Nacho knew this well and his excitement reflected their attitude. He stood up with bulging veins and shouted, "Crush them!"

Whoom.

Nacho stomped his foot.

"Crush them completely in the next game! Don’t even show a hint of being swayed at the start! From the beginning until the end! Win! Bring me a solution now. There must be one!"

He seemed truly heated from someone’s interview.