Chapter 13: Perfect Shot (1)

Chapter 13: Perfect Shot (1)

Acorn Jelly didn’t particularly have fond memories of the perfect shot. Others criticized him in the past for even saying it existed.

— This guy is on about that again.

— Do you think the developers are stupid? To make a mechanic like that?

— The requirements are basically impossible.

— Show us if such a thing exists!

Acorn Jelly always felt frustrated.

‘Yeah, I want to show you guys too.’

He couldn’t prove the mechanic with his abilities, but he intuitively knew it existed. Players remembered the perfect shot as a rumor that Acorn Jelly made up and forgot about it when he quit the bow challenge.

Some current players didn’t even know about the perfect shot rumors. The situation confused some of Almond’s viewers.

— Acorn Jelly is on about the perfect shot again.

— What’s a perfect shot? Is it some kind of mechanic?

— Isn’t it just a saying?

— Is it kind of like saying, nice shot!

Some viewers recognized the term, but most never heard of it.

— Does that really exist?

— I thought it was just a rumor.

— Is that really Acorn Jelly?

— Do you think such a mechanic exists? It’s just a made up story by bow one tricks.

— Bow one tricks LOL

Some even thought Acorn Jelly meant it as a joke.

‘Haa... so frustrating.’

Acorn Jelly wanted to prove he was right, but couldn’t do anything on his own.

‘If only Almond would shut them up.’

Sang-Hyeon could resolve everything by telling the viewers he just did a perfect shot. Jae-Muk patiently waited for that moment.

Finally, a gamer who could constantly perform perfect shots appeared. Sang-Hyeon would prove to everyone that Acorn Jelly was right all along.

However...

“What’s a perfect shot?”

Jae-Muk’s jaws dropped in front of his monitor at Sang-Hyeon’s question.

‘What?’

His reaction went beyond shock. Jae-Muk found himself in awe.

‘He’s been shooting perfect shots all this time and didn’t even know? Is he serious?’

Almond seemed serious from the look on his face.

“Is that an important feature?”

The man who proved that perfect shots existed didn’t even know.

Had killing the boss been a coincidence? That wasn’t possible.

A simple headshot still calculated damage while a perfect shot could instantly kill a boss or mob. The arrow instantly killed when it landed.

Damage calculation made no difference for casual gamers, but every second counted for pro gamers. The difference between an arrow instantly killing the enemy and the time it took an enemy to bleed out could change the battlefield. The player could fire another shot or the enemy might hold on while bleeding out.

‘Almond has probably never encountered this problem.’

Jae-Muk had watched Sang-Hyeon’s stream from beginning to end. Every shot had been a perfect shot.

[Acorn Jelly has donated 10,000 won.]

[Do you really not know about the perfect shot?]

Sang-Hyeon nodded because he really didn’t know.

“Yes, what’s that?”

How could he achieve something so difficult without even knowing? Jae-Muk couldn’t believe it.

‘Sigh...’

However, he felt excited at the same time.

‘How much of a genius is he?’

How could he land all those perfect shots without knowing? Only the best of the best could achieve that.

‘He’s the real deal.’

Acorn Jelly couldn’t hide his excitement that he would stream with such a skilled newcomer.

‘This is probably a good time to promote the collaboration.’

It seemed like the perfect opportunity and a good excuse to change the topic.

— LOL

— Give it up Acorn...

— Haha he was still on about the perfect shot.

— How cute.

— It’s been forever since he gave up the bow challenge, yet he’s still on about it.

— This guy’s an actual nerd. He’s serious about it.

Jae-Muk waited for the chat to slow and timed his donation accordingly.

[Acorn Jelly has donated 10,000 won.]

[I’m telling you that a perfect shot exists! I’ll prove it to you, Almond. Should we stream together tomorrow?]

The chat erupted when the offer came up.

— Woah!

— Wow, are the rumors true?

— I think they’re for real! n0Velusb.C0m

— The third day of his stream and he’s already streaming with a big shot. Crazy talent.

— Insane talent for real.

— Damn, he’s really obsessed with this perfect shot.

— Acorn Jelly’s execution date.

— Now it’ll finally be proven that such a thing doesn’t exist...

***

Sang-Hyeon picked up on the situation from reading the chat.

‘Ah, he’s promoting it now.’

Acorn Jelly definitely had experience in this scene. He naturally used the buildup to promote their stream like a genius.

‘Making up something like the perfect shot just to hype our stream. Genius! I need to learn from him.’

Sang-Hyeon thought Jae-Muk made everything up so they could stream together.

Acorn Jelly would’ve gone insane if he heard this. He wanted to prove himself right through Sang-Hyeon, but even Sang-Hyeon doubted its existence.

“Stream together?”

Sang-Hyeon played dumb.

— Decline it. The Jelly boys could stain you.

— HAHA say no.

— Who is Acorn Jelly?? I’m Almond. Leave me alone!

— The squirrels are going to start pouring in.

The viewers worried that Acorn Jelly’s fans, the Jelly boys, would take over. However, they felt excited about the collaboration deep down.

Furthermore...

[RubySword has donated 10,000 won.]

[I’ll donate another 100,000 won if you prove the perfect shot exists in your stream together.]

RubySword gave him another mission and increased the stakes by offering to double the initial reward.

— Wow... what a rich man.

— He’s not an average day 1...

— Insane...

Sang-Hyeon had no reason to decline.

“Thank you RubySword. The honor is mine. Acorn Jelly, let’s stream together.”

Everyone eagerly waited to hear those words.

— Kya.

— Oh shit.

— You wait right there, Acorn Jelly!

— Acorn Jelly’s gonna lose all his viewers to Almond LOL

— Your new food is almonds now, squirrels...

As expected, the viewers went wild. Those who didn’t like Acorn Jelly wanted to see him get crushed by Sang-Hyeon while fans simply felt happy about the collaboration.

[Acorn Jelly has donated 10,000 won.]

[Accepted like a true man, thank you. I’ll be in touch!]

Acorn Jelly left the stream after another donation.

— Wait a minute. He donated over 120,000 won. No reaction?

— Do the reaction!

— 100,000 won reaction will end the stream you guys. Don’t encourage it -.-

— The reaction is turning the stream off LOL

“Oh yeah, I didn’t do a reaction. Acorn Jelly won’t see it, but here we go...”

Sang-Hyeon thought it would be good to end the stream anyways. He already killed the boss and generated enough hype for tomorrow’s stream.

Swoosh!

He shot his arrow straight into the air.

“Bye bye!”

The stream ended with his arms spread out in the air.

Thwack!

[DEAD]

Once again, the capsule forced him to exit and Almond’s character disappeared.

***

Creak...?

Sang-Hyeon exited the capsule covered in sweat and went straight for a cold shower.

Splish Splash—?

“Haa... I wonder if it’s dangerous to keep leaving the game like this.”

The machine technically connected to his brain, so he worried if leaving like that might be troublesome.

His phone buzzed as he came out of the shower.

Bzzt—?

He saw through his towel that the text came from Ju-Hyeok.

[Ju-Hyeok: Hey, I saw the stream. They want to meet tomorrow right away. Where do you wanna meet?]

Sang-Hyeon could barely type with his wet hands.

[Aren’t we meeting online?]

[Ju-Hyeok: Were you even paying attention last time? -.-]

He could picture Ju-Hyeok sighing in front of him.

[Ju-Hyeok: We’re not just playing games. We’re also doing an interview.]

[Ju-Hyeok: We said last time that it’d probably be better if we met in person to stream.]

‘Ah, right.’

Sang-Hyeon barely recalled their plans for an interview. Not an interview through the game, but a face-to-face one. Sang-Hyeon looked at his reflection and felt more confident.

[Ah, ok. Let’s meet at Hoogye station then.]

After responding, he opened up KAF?to look at their reactions.

[Acorn Jelly... this guy and his perfect shot.]

[Acorn Jelly appeared on Almond’s stream again]

[Almond ended the stream with the same reaction...]

Most of the posts talked about Almond’s stream. One particular post had a lot of upvotes.

[Breakdown video of Almond one-shotting the boss.]

The title caught Sang-Hyeon’s attention.

The video showed Sang-Hyeon using the consecutive shooting skill in slow motion. The boss could barely be seen in the distance.

Sang-Hyeon didn’t even recognize the boss and simply shot like usual. The arrow flew like it always did towards the target.

Thud!

The boss had been no different when the arrow perfectly landed on his forehead. He collapsed just like that.

“Is this how you do a perfect shot?”

However, the skill made the arrows too fast. Another arrow landed on the boss as he collapsed.

— I don’t think we can tell from this video.

— But he doesn’t sway a lot with just one shot, no?

— It’s a little iffy.

— It’s iffy because he’s so massive.

— Regardless, Almond is so accurate.

└?For real.

└ He’s landing headshots that you can barely even see.

└ And they’re dead center. I’m getting goosebumps.

└ Actually though. He’s only hitting the center of the vitals.

Sang-Hyeon wondered the same thing as the comments. They didn’t know for sure if the boss died from the first or second shot.

[Relax guys, it’ll all be revealed tomorrow. He’s streaming with Acorn Jelly.]

[The only reason I’m watching.txt]

[Almond’s facecam reaction.jpg]

[Almond probably looks like a fat loser. I’m calling it.]

These types of posts came up as well, but the new ones slowed. Sang-Hyeon stopped refreshing and went to make dinner.

Bzzt—?

His phone vibrated again.

[Ju-Hyeok: Hey, have you seen YouTube? It’s crazy.]

It came from Ju-Hyeok again.

[What are you talking about?]

[Ju-Hyeok: There’s a video about you on YouTube. It was uploaded an hour ago, but it already has 40k views.]

[But we don’t have a YouTube channel...]

[Ju-Hyeok: It’s on Acorn Jelly’s channel. He made a teaser to introduce/promote you. (LINK)]

Sang-Hyeon quickly clicked on the link.

[Tomorrow, I’ll be streaming with Robin Hood]

That was the video’s title.

[46k views]

As Ju-Hyeok said, the video already reached over 40k views after just an hour. Sang-Hyeon’s jaws dropped as he watched it.

“Woah... What is this...”

It was supposed to be an introduction video, but basically showed a montage of Sang-Hyeon. It had been edited with sound effects and different angles, which made Sang-Hyeon’s clips even more exciting.

Thud!

Even Sang-Hyeon found it exhilarating to rewatch the bosses falling in one hit. The clip’s ending showed the bandit boss collapsing with the text:

[Whether this is a perfect shot or not will be revealed tomorrow.]

The video ended with that.

It had 1,200 comments and the views kept increasing by the thousands.

— Woah... I’m going to watch tomorrow’s stream for sure.?

— Jesus Christ, this is a new guy?

— Omg...

— This guest is insane.

— I was worried because it was a nobody, but I’ll shut up.

All the viewers expressed excitement for tomorrow’s stream.

Acorn Jelly turned on his stream the next day.

“Okay, I’m going to stream now.”

His view count reached an all-time high.