“Manager?”

Ju-Hyeok didn’t respond.

— Don’t kick him!

— It’s real

— Isn’t it actually him?

— Ah, that’s why...

— He said it’s not him!

— It really is Gi-Chan though?

The chat descended into chaos, arguing back and forth. To make matters worse...

Ding.

[ForeverAlone has donated 10,000 won!]

[It’s really me...]

ForeverAlone insisted it was actually him.

— Yeah it is him!

— “Really” lmfao

— Someone screenshot this

— Why did he suddenly introduce himself?!

Of course, plenty of viewers interpreted the word “really” in a completely different way.

[Ju-Hyeok: Isn’t this actually real?]

Even the manager hesitated, but Almond didn’t waver.

‘Zelo jutsu.’

Almond personally kicked him.

[ForeverAlone has been banned.]

‘Better to cut it off before it muddies the waters.’

— HOLY SHIT

— LOL

— Legendary! Clip this immediately!!

Honestly, Almond wasn’t wrong to suspect it. All day long, people had been donating while pretending to be ForeverAlone. Tons of maliciously edited videos of ForeverAlone x Almond tteokbokki mukbang had been flying around. Given that, his reaction made sense.

— the real ForeverAlone got kicked LMAO

— Ah...

— Gi-Chan...

This time, it really was the real one. Unaware of the injustice, Almond refocused on the game.

“I’ll go clean up that gravestone.”

***

[R.I.P]

[LazySoldier]

A gravestone stood tall on a sunny patch of green grass.

“That’s a real grave...”

— For real

— At least it’s good land

— Buried him in a sunny spot at least...

Almond casually asked Raina, “I can remove this, right? I’m back now.”

“Do whatever you want. What does it matter to a dead man?”

[Affinity: 97]

She was still sharp-tongued, yet the affinity rose.

— What the hell

— Raina’s affinity is climbing steadily

— The sun rises again today

[Affinity: 98]

It went up again.

Ding.

[LILdog has donated 3,000 won.]

[And yet, the Earth still turns...]

— Accurate...

— And yet, affection rises... 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

— Damn it

— Isn’t this a bug?!

— Still handsome though

— Wait, I thought Raina’s affinity changed before?

Almond removed the gravestone without even needing a shovel. When he touched it, a [Dismantle] button appeared. He pressed it, and it vanished.

Raina muttered right next to him, “I’ll build it again if you disappear.”

[Affinity: 99]

Even while threatening him, her affinity increased.

Almond shot back, “Then I’ll dismantle it again.”

— Are you in elementary school?

— What a guy

— Just say you’ll come back!

Raina refused to back down. “Th-then, I’ll... b-build it again!”

“I’ll dismantle it again.”

“Then I’ll b-build it again. Again and again.”

Almond kept responding, his competitive streak kicking in. “Then I’ll come back and dismantle it again. I’ll come back and dismantle it again.”

Raina suddenly lowered her head. “You’ll come back... again...?”

She stopped arguing.

Ding.

[Affinity: 100]

[Relationship restored to a deeper level.]

[Affinity → Trust]

— ?

— ???

— Huh?

— At what point did her affinity even increase??

— Right, it was Trust tier. I forgot

— She was moved by “I’ll come back”

— Goddammit

— Bartender! One bowl of bleach!

Trust, that word made Almond blink.

“Huh. Trust?”

Their relationship had crossed into the Trust tier.

“Wow. We’ve entered a new stage, everyone.”

— Why are you acting like it’s your first time?!

— It was always that...

— “Wow” my ass...

— LOL

In truth, this wasn’t the first time. They had already reached the Trust tier after Almond cleared three stars. He just didn’t remember.

Ba-bam!

[LackeyForeverAlone has donated 50,000 won!]

[Bro, I’ll try this strategy when I confess to my crush. You reject me? I’ll come back and confess again. Again. Again again again... Again & Again & Again... like 2PM]

A greasy male-generated voice blared through the stream. This was a popular choice when viewers wanted to be extra annoying, especially for this kind of situation.

— LOL

— You lunatic

— Straight to jail

— Again & again...

— Sir... your age is showing...

— Is she really your crush?

— That voice is killing me

— Holy...

“Thank you for the 50,000 won, LackeyForeverAlone.”

Almond tried to wrap it up.

Ba-bam!

[LackeyForeverAlone has donated 50,000 won!]

[What do you think of my strategy, bro?!]

“Thank you for the 50,000 won...”

— Wait what

— Evasive strat!

— That’s a total of 100k! Answer!

— 100k gone...

— LOL

Complaints flooded the chat about him dodging the question. Almond hesitated at the heavy question.

‘I don’t know either.’

He didn’t know anything about dating, so he dodged it shamelessly.

“If you want an answer... You can just donate again, right?”

— ?

— ??

— ?

— Wow

— He’s not wrong!

‘Oh. That’s not good.’

Almond sensed danger.

“And if I still don’t answer, then donate again. Nope, I’m going to see Swift.”

Almond hastily wrapped it up and walked away.

Raina shouted after him, “Hey! Where are you going?!”

Almond had already disappeared.

— Kya

— Is this the alpha male?

— LOL

— Pure chad move...

— Bad men don’t come home...

***

Swift, Ran, and the other champions barely reacted at all. Even if their affinity had dropped a little, none of them reacted as dramatically as Raina.

“Summoner? It’s been a while.” Swift, whose three-star clear was relatively recent, showed almost no reaction. “So you’re doing Survival mode this time? It’s similar to the battlefield I once fought on.”

He even noticed that Almond had chosen Survival mode and started giving advice.

“As you know from my past, in Survival mode, empowering yourself through runes is crucial...”

“Yeah. It was good seeing you again, Swift.”

Of course, Almond didn’t listen.

— As expected

— Story skip again~

— Knew he’d skip it

— Skip the Swift

Ran, on the other hand, greeted Almond warmly like always. “Almond, you’ve come? I wondered when you would.” Bright as sunlight, he remained unchanged. “You’re heading into the battlefield of Survival?”

He also mentioned Survival mode.

“Enemies can appear from anywhere there, but I believe you’ll do well. Oh, and look at the sheep I’ve raised.”

“Meeeh~”

The sheep greeted him. There were more than before.

“I’m thinking of shearing them and selling the wool later.”

Almond remembered Ran’s old story mode.

‘I turned into a sheep back then.’

Starting the stage as a sheep had really thrown him off. Ran clearly remembered it too. He loved sheep.

“Good seeing you.”

After greeting the key champions and restoring some affinity, Almond turned to leave.

“Well then, I’ll be off, guys...”

“Almond!” Raina came running and panting. “Y-you’re going to the battlefield of Survival, right?”

“Yeah.”

She hesitated, then blurted out, “I’ll build the gravestone again.”

— ?

— Again?

— Huh?

— Gasp

At first, neither Almond nor the viewers understood.

“Then, come back and dismantle it.”

— Damn it...

— Kya

— Holy shit

— Ah...

— Bartender, bleach with a cyanide topping

— Aw...

The chat fell into despair.

Ding.

[EggPlant has donated 3,000 won.]

[Please leave before it turns into a kiss! Sir Almond! I’m sorry! Please leave before it turns into a kiss! Sir Almond! I was wrong!]

EggPlant’s surrender sealed it.

‘Heh.’

A faint smile tugged at Almond’s lips.

— LOL

— So true

— Hahaha

— Almond smirked...

— EggPlant, that bastard

— Isn’t he already unbanned?

— LOL

— Is that a fake?

— Almond is cracking up

— Why isn’t EggPlant banned for once?

***

At the viewers’ earnest request, Almond left the Hall of Exchange.

“I’ve built up my affinity nice and solid. Now I’ll head to the real battlefield and go straight into ranked.”

He queued up immediately.

Ping!

[You are not eligible to play ranked games.]

— ?

— ??

— Damn

— LOL

— “You are not eligible for ranked” LOL

— Tried to jump straight into ranked first game

— Did you think that’d work?

[You must play at least ten normal matches before participating.]

Almond hadn’t played a single Survival match yet, so normal games were mandatory before ranked.

“Ah... then I guess I’ll start with Normal.”

— Let’s go~

— Kya, how long has it been since a solo game stream...

— The LazySoldier returns...

Viewers genuinely felt excited to watch a rare solo game from Almond.

Ping!

[You must complete the tutorial first.]

“Ah... then I guess I’ll start with the tutorial.”

— That phrasing seems familiar

— Is this deja vu?

— So it’s the tutorial after all

***

The tutorial began. Almond froze, expecting to be summoned straight onto the battlefield.

“Uh...? I’m flying?”

Wooooong!

He found himself aboard some kind of airship.

“Welcome to the ruthless battlefield of Survival, rookie!” Over the roar of the ship, an instructor shouted, “This vessel is a masterpiece forged by Taran’s arcane engineering!”

“Oh...”

The instructor snapped at Almond for reacting. “Do not marvel!”

— LOL

— Why is he marveling

— Why is the instructor yelling lmao

— Cute!

“We now stand on a battlefield where life and death hang by a thread. Below lies the Shadow of the Abyss. The moment you fall into it, the abyssal shadow will slowly tighten its grip on you.”

It was basically the blue zone from battle royale games as the battlefield gradually shrank.

“Your team’s objective is to survive until the very end amid the encroaching shadows!”

‘Your team?’

Looking around, Almond saw four other teammates.

[Hampunch]

[Baegi]

[OstrichEgg]

[Yoyoyo]

The Survival tutorial was practically identical to real matches, especially since they would fight real players rather than bots.

“Hello... haha.”

“Oh. I see you.”

“Nice to meet you~.”

Judging by the greetings, they could finally see each other.

‘What? These aren’t bots?’

Almond assumed that they weren’t bots.

Ba-bam!

[ShyNapoleon has registered a mission!]

[Let’s go easy since it’s just bots. Twenty kills mission~]

The long-absent mission king made an appearance. As if celebrating Almond’s return, he set a challenge.

[Twenty kills since it’s just bots.]

[200,000 won]

That was a hefty mission for a tutorial.

‘10,000 won per kill? And... so they really are bots.’

Killing twenty out of a hundred didn’t sound hard, especially if they were bots.

“Thank you, ShyNapoleon. I’ll try it. Since it’s bots, I think it’s pretty doable.”

— Ohhh, a mission right away!

— Bots? They aren’t bots though...?

— Survival isn’t bot mode...

— The tutorial just gives guidance; the players are real

Almond didn’t have time to read the chat.

“All right! You’ll learn the details once you’re down there!”

Boom!

The instructor kicked him straight out of the ship.

“W-wait?!”

— LOL

— Hahaha

— Ohhh

— That face!

— Survival, finally!

— How long has it been since he played LIL?

— This reminds me of Battle Large, the game Almond abandoned like trash...

Whoooooosh!

The wind slammed into his face.

[Pull the strap behind you to deploy the arcane engineered hang glider.]

Instructions appeared. Almond fumbled around his back, found the strap, and pulled it.

Flap!

The hang glider opened, allowing him to control his direction.

‘But... don’t I choose a champion?’

At this point, Almond felt like he’d forgotten something very important. This wasn’t Battle Large, but LIL. He hadn’t chosen a champion yet.

‘Since it’s bots... I’ll manage somehow.’

***

[Beginner Tip: Survival tutorials are live matches. However, only users with very little experience are matched together. This is the Abyss Overseer’s philosophy: train as if it’s real combat.]