Genius Archer's Streaming

Shorts were brief videos that maximized the benefits of YouTube. They were quite popular due to their low viewing fatigue and were said to be unparalleled for boosting simple view counts.

Of course, there were downsides too. The most significant one was that it required extensive editing. A short had to be kept to within a minute, which meant everything had to be tightly packed into that timeframe. This was the biggest barrier to entry for shorts, but Ji-Ah was an exception.

"It didn't take long anyway."

Was it because of her superior editing skills? That was only half true.

"From catching the arrow with his mouth to killing Baek Joon-Soo..."

The primary reason was that there wasn't much to edit.

"It was about five minutes?"

Almond dodging the arrow and killing Baek Joon-Soo hardly took three minutes without significant editing.

Ji-Ah shortened it to one minute by removing the scene where the class president provoked Baek Joon-Soo and eliminated unnecessary frames to make the movements appear faster. This editing made the already fast sequence seem almost like a martial arts scene.

"Let's see..."

With tired eyes, Ji-Ah leaned on her chin and clicked the mouse.

First, the arrow flew in slow motion.

Then...

Almond caught the arrow in his mouth.

Everything ended in the blink of an eye once he pulled the bowstring and Baek Joon-Soo appeared.

The door flew open and a massive silhouette could be seen through the hazy dust. Once again, this part happened in slow motion.

Baek Joon-Soo looked even more powerful as the door slowly flew open. He lifted his shield and bellowed, “Kim Ju-Hyeok!”

His intensity could make someone tremble, but that didn't last long.

Something flew in from above.

Baek Joon-Soo, the giant figure, lifelessly fell.

Then, the camera zoomed in on Almond's mouth.

“Chikicha.”

The video hit the one-minute mark with this.

Ji-Ah stretched and stood up.

"I'm hungry."

She scurried away to pour water into her cup noodles.

Realizing she had forgotten something, she headed back to the computer.

Ju-Hyeok had sent over some community reactions.

"He definitely has good sense."

Ji-Ah smiled contently and inserted the photo at the beginning of the video.

***

The unexpected video puzzled viewers.

Almond’s channel hadn’t produced many shorts since the tournament incident, so two consecutive uploads surprised everyone.

Secondly, the thumbnail startled them.

The community post Ju-Hyeok sent was used as the thumbnail. This was an uncommon occurrence on Almond’s channel.

Initially, some viewers misunderstood Ji-Ah's intent. As more and more watched the video and started commenting, the reactions changed drastically.

Viewers showed immense admiration at the sequence of Almond catching the flying arrow and shooting Baek Joon-Soo. It felt like a scene from an action movie with the appropriate edits, making it even more unbelievable.

Moreover, the final chikicha felt like a refreshing blow to those who doubted Almond.

Almond's fans went wild and some haters reflected on their past actions.

This was a better case. Most haters neither repented nor disappeared.

“Always the same, huh…”

Ji-Ah ate her cup noodles in front of the monitor and muttered to herself. She quietly scrolled with her mouse, deleting and banning such comments.

She didn't bother to upload the live footage to convince them any further. That would be utterly useless. Even if she showed them everything, they would only retreat temporarily and come back to attack at the slightest weakness.

The video was uploaded to please the fans, not the haters. It wasn’t even to chikicha the haters.

“Anyway, the video was a success.”

She sent a message with a bitter smile.

Ju-Hyeok sent an emoji, pointing to himself with a thumb.

Her lips softly curled into a grin.

***

Almond unlocked an achievement after the cutscene.

"Wow."

Completely taking down the group of bullies unlocked the achievement. Almond checked if he had regained control of his body and flexed his hands.

"Oh, it's moving."

The viewers cheered for the complete annihilation of the bully gang.

Almond felt good about it, although he was reminded of Kim Ju-Hyeok's words.

Kim Ju-Hyeok blamed the bystanders and bullies for what happened. Was he being sincere? Was it to make them feel bad or to make himself feel better?

He opened Kim Ju-Hyeok’s emotional status window.

There was no happiness. Of course, that was expected.

The congratulatory chat messages poured in and Almond thoughtfully gazed at them.

Then, donations started coming in.

As expected, viewers felt happy seeing the bullies punished.

Almond bowed his head in gratitude.

"Thank you for the donations TrueEducation, GreatTeacherAlmond, and Omen. It’s not over yet, so let’s continue."

There was no positive change in Kim Ju-Hyeok’s emotional state, but it was better to complete his revenge than never.

"Let's move on to the next step now that his revenge is done, shall we?"

It was time to progress further and move on from the bullies and Kim Ju-Hyeok's past.

Almond turned to the class president's group.

"Let's go back. To the construction site."

He planned on meeting up with Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun again at the construction site. From Almond's perspective, Kim Ju-Hyeok seemed to be in his best emotional state when he was with them. Almond felt good about it too.

***

Almond heard a loud noise upon arriving at the construction site with the class president.

It sounded like machinery operating at the construction site. Zombies flocked to the entrance because of the noise, flailing their arms in an attempt to get in.

The zombies merely screamed and couldn’t penetrate the sturdy barricade.

Sharp spears protruded through the barricade, piercing the zombies' heads. The construction site's defense force fought back. The defenders became visible through the gaps in the barricade, including Hyun-Ah.

“Hey! You guys made it!” Hyun-Ah warmly greeted Almond and the class president as they returned.

The students pushed the barricade aside to welcome Almond and the class president inside.

Almond immediately explained the situation after entering. He wanted to let them know so they didn’t have to make more arrows in a rush.

“I've dealt with Baek Joon-Soo's gang. You can stop making arrows for now.”

However, their response was quite cold.

“What…?”

Amid the ongoing noise of them making arrows, Hyun-Ah tilted her head at a ninety-degree angle and looked utterly baffled.

“What do you mean? You only took three arrows, right? How did you deal with all of them? There were twelve of them… weren’t there?”

Hyun-Ah looked at the class president for an explanation, but...

The class president's head moved awkwardly as if he was stuck.

The class president always had a strange expression when his brain seemed to malfunction.

Almond felt frustrated.

“No, what I mean is...”

The NPCs didn’t seem to understand despite him telling them that they didn’t need to make more arrows in a rush anymore.

“I've already taken care of all of them.”

Hyun-Ah still looked perplexed.

In fact, it wasn’t that hard to understand. Something seemed off, whether it was the algorithm or some other factor.

At that moment, someone donated in an attempt to help.

The donation didn't seem particularly helpful.