The screen turned completely white.

[Server Temporarily Closed]

[The awards ceremony and afterparty will be held in 24 hours. Please come back then!]

Those words floated in the air. A woman sat in her capsule and stared blankly at the message.

‘So... It’s over.’

It didn’t quite feel real yet. She hadn’t joined from the very beginning, but had grown attached in her own way.

Chzzk.

A voice came through. “Ah. Ms. Yi Sun-Shin, you really worked hard.”

“It was nothing.”

“I was worried you might’ve pushed yourself too hard at the end. Why... um, why did you go all out like that? Were you trying to catch us off guard? Haha!”

PD Jang told her how flustered they had been when her dragon control was too good. Her body wasn’t in great shape. Why had she worked so hard?

Sa-Rang answered without much thought, “Because I wanted to.”

“Ah... I see. Figures.” PD Jang paused, as if savoring her response. “Thanks to you, we got some truly great footage. This is exactly the kind of thing I like.”

“What kind of thing...?”

“There are people like that. People who are packed full of something inside. It just spills out through their eyes. Capturing people like that on camera, I like it.”

Sa-Rang nodded, a lot of thoughts surfacing at once. “Ah... yes.”

“We’ll edit it well and upload it, so please be sure to watch it.”

“Alright, but...”

“Yes?”

“This means I qualify for the Platform War... Right?”

“Ah, of course. You’ll see at the afterparty.”

Leaving behind an answer she couldn’t quite grasp, PD Jang said his goodbye.

“I’ll head out now. You must be exhausted. Get some rest.”

Beep.

The connection cut.

‘Afterparty?’

She hadn’t heard anything about an afterparty. What would happen there? How would the teams be formed?

***

‘How much did I stick with Gum bro again?’

Before facing the massive mirror head-on, that thought crossed Almond’s mind. They said the AI analyzed data to decide, but all he could think about was who he’d spent the most time with.

— Oh

— So this is how teams are made

— Of course, it’s AI

— This is why they did it through Cheese Village

Almond took a deep breath and stepped in front of the mirror.

Ba-bam~!

[RubySword has donated 50,000 won!]

[Your teammate is... Bubblegum!]

— LOL

— Ah...

— Is that why the nut bastard looks so tense? LOL

— Whoa...

— Damn

That startled him. Keeping his composure, Almond quietly sighed in relief. He thought the donation voice had come from the mirror.

“Thank you for the donation, RubySword... Ahem.”

Steeling himself, Almond faced the mirror again. Inside it stood Almond’s avatar with a massive head. A moment later, swirling ripples spread across his reflection.

Shiiiiiik.

The image changed. Several figures stood there, but their shapes were indistinct.

The mirror whispered, “The person you felt the greatest closeness to.”

Swish.

One of the wavering figures came into focus. It was a yellow-haired avatar.

[Sweet Radish]

— Ooooh

— Sweet Radish LOL

— Nice

The mirror also said, “The person most loyal to you.”

Swish.

The next figure revealed itself.

[Sweet Potato]

— Potato Servant lmao

— Potato Servant, nice

— Nice

— Looks like it’s forming a Knights-of-Five team

At this rate, Almond realized that his team would just be the five Knights.

“The person whose heart moved the most for you.”

Swish.

Next, a red-haired female avatar appeared.

[Black Tea]

— Maid Black Tea!

— Nice!

— Knights again??

— ??? I’ll... stay with the Knights.

— Nice

— This is it~

It didn’t end there.

Swish.

An avatar with gentle, pretty eyes also appeared.

[Miho]

‘Huh?’

Was the team already decided? That made five members.

— Whoa

— Miho?!

— They barely hung out, and her heart was moved? What?!

— Doesn’t that mean it didn’t move?

— Curse you, Almond!

That wasn’t all. More names appeared in succession.

[Lemon]

Swish.

Lemon, another Knight member, appeared along with several more names.

[Green Tea]

[ForeverAlone]

[Lack]

...

“The person you fear the most.”

[Bubblegum]

Even Bubblegum showed up!

— ?

— ???

— LOL

— What is this lmao

— Inner thoughts exposed

— No way...

— How did it know???

Almond jumped in surprise. “That’s not true!”

However, the mirror couldn’t be argued with.

“No, but... What happens if there are this many?”

— No idea

— Dunno;

— No clue

— Yeah seriously

— What is this...

Too many potential teams existed. It seemed inevitable, given how many roles he’d played.

The mirror whispered, “A bond does not flow in only one direction.”

Shiiiiiik.

The swirling vortex pulled back in all the countless figures.

“Just as the world turns through yin and yang, bonds are the same.”

Pop!

In the end, only four names remained on the mirror.

[Sweet Radish]

[Sweet Potato]

[Black Tea]

[Lemon]

They were the original Knight members.

— Damn

— Nice

— The OGs!

— This is it

— Back to the basics!

— Nice

“These are the people whose paths are tied to yours.”

Shiiik.

The mirror returned to its original state. Now, only Almond’s big-headed avatar stared back at him.

Almond turned away with a satisfied smile. “Ah. That works out nicely. In the end, it turned out like this.”

“Lord.”

He ran into ForeverAlone. Had ForeverAlone really been standing nearby this whole time?

“Congratulations. You ended up... with the people you usually work with...”

“Uh... but wasn’t that kind of inevitable?”

ForeverAlone shook his head and headed toward the exhibition exit.

— Aw...

— So that’s why ForeverAlone was crying... because he couldn’t team up with him LOL

— Gi-Chan, did you even read the letter, you nutcase!?

— Damn it!

— Oh Gi-Chan...

***

Once they exited the exhibition hall, the other Knights regrouped after checking the mirror.

Black Tea said excitedly, “Wow. We’re doing it again, huh?”

Lemon felt happy just to be teamed up with Black Tea again. “Right? Hehe!”

Sweet Potato showed little reaction as if it were obvious. “Everyone probably got the same result.”

“This whole content was built for that.”

Sweet Radish nodded with a grin. “Yeah. Exactly.”

They all looked at Almond and clearly felt most curious about his reaction. No matter what anyone said, he had been the central figure of this content.

Almond didn’t comment much on the team. “So... is the afterparty just this?”

He seemed more curious about the afterparty itself.

Lemon chimed in, “Hmm. Probably? I heard you can walk around the field and revisit the places where things happened.”

“Everyone was going to where they first started and retracing things.”

“Yeah, I already did.”

“Same.”

“Me too.”

Revisiting their beginnings and recounting their history had already become content for most of them.

“Then...”

All eyes turned to Almond again. He blinked.

Black Tea asked, “Our Lord, did you do that already?”

Almond tilted his head. Right, he had planned to retrace things from the beginning. As he thought about it, his thoughts suddenly tangled up.

‘Oh?’

Something crossed his mind. Only then did Almond remember.

“Ah!”

He clapped so hard that all the Knights flinched. After all, Almond didn’t often show such intense emotion.

Startled, Black Tea asked, “What is it?”

“I remember where I started.”

“Oh... R-Really?”

— LOL

— He remembered his starting point and that’s the reaction?

— ??

— That’s it?

— Did he discover a lost civilization or something LOL

— Hahahaha

Almond finally remembered where he first caused trouble, where he had been heading, and why.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Where to?”

Almond answered with a grin, “Fishing.”

— Finally? LOL

— Legendary

— Nice

— Oh...

— Almond’s seasonal destiny: fishing

— Let’s go!

***

When Almond first started Survival Craft, he had wandered around near the water to fish. However, he didn’t even have a fishing rod.

They retraced Almond’s beginning.

The puzzled Sweet Radish asked, “Wait. Why were you walking around without a fishing rod?”

“I was planning to borrow one if I saw someone fishing.”

“Ah...”

They simply nodded and accepted it. Then, they arrived at the spot.

Pop. Pop.

“Oh...”

A sign proudly stood there with footage of the incident playing. Something important had happened here too. In the video, Black Pepper was being beaten to death.

“Argh...!”

Someone clinging to her endlessly pummeled her until she finally collapsed.

Doom.

The figure stood over her fallen body.

[Almond]

— So this was the crime scene

— LOL

— Lie exposed instantly

— Ah...

“That is... ahem. She wouldn’t lend me a fishing rod...” Almond trailed off after seeing his own Lord Almond era again.

— That’s your excuse?!

— LOL

— Lord Almond is legendary no matter how many times you see him

— LMAO

— Still, gotta fish, right?

“Ah, yes. Yes. We know.”

“I saw it on Cheese Craft... Guess I forgot.”

The Knights were surprisingly understanding. After all, it wasn’t the first time. They had committed plenty of crimes together.

Radish Servant grinned and pulled out a fishing rod. “Let’s fulfill our Lord’s wish and go fishing.”

Everyone took one out of their inventory.

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

Trickle...

They all moved toward the stream, except Almond, who floundered a bit behind them.

“Why aren’t you coming?”

“Ah...”

— LOL

— No way...

— Oh no

— Damn...

“I don’t have a fishing rod.”

At those words, they all froze. Behind Almond, the installed footage showed Salt dying on loop.

— You should’ve prepared beforehand

— He has everything but a fishing rod

— You still don’t have one?!

— What even is this?!

— LMAO

— He’s got everything except that

Sweet Radish broke the tense silence first. “I’ll lend you one. Come on.”

Thankfully, he had a spare.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

‘Whoa.’

Almond ran over excitedly.

“Hahaha.”

All the Knights burst out laughing at the sight.

[Please enjoy your free time until today.]

[Once the time is up, the server will shut down and be decommissioned.]

The server granted everyone a final break. Perhaps not as Lord Almond, but Almond’s true adventure was only just beginning.

Plop.

Filled with anticipation, the fishing float sank into the stream.