Genius Archer's Streaming

His first impression after visiting Zombie School Garden was positive.

The amount of new posts had significantly increased compared to before. Most notably, the content of the posts had changed.

Initially, Zombie School Garden had been primarily for Almond and Bubblegum fans. It became more of a space for these two streamers' fans than a community for the game itself. Most conversations revolved around those two, which constituted around eighty percent of the content. Now, it had changed.

Content purely about the game had increased and made up about half the posts now. Strategy posts received a lot of likes.

Could this be considered a successful advertisement?

As he thought this…

The top post surprised Sang-Hyeon.

Every game had people who liked or disliked it. Naturally, some gave the game one star and others gave it ten stars. However, it was a different story when such a post ranked at the top with the most likes.

He clicked to read the post's content.

Basically, the game felt too difficult and frustrating.

It seemed the user had never actually reached the mutant zombies from how he talked.

Sang-Hyeon expected others to think like him and checked the comments.

The top comments weren't what he expected.

He looked further down.

Some comments sided with Sang-Hyeon's view. Killing the mutant zombies could just be one of many routes, but the response to that was quite cold.

The rest said similar things.

…

"Right."

Sang-Hyeon realized it was foolish to search for hope in the comments.

"This wouldn't be the top post if public opinion was different, Yu Sang-Hyeon."

The fact that it got so many likes meant the majority resonated with it. Of course, some comments expressed opposing views.

These types of comments were nowhere near enough to influence public opinion.

Community opinions usually became polarized in such a way when a certain atmosphere swept up everyone.

Sang-Hyeon glanced at the other top posts.

Bad publicity could still generate attention. Could this be considered effective advertising? What would the game company think of the effect from Almond's advertising?

Sang-Hyeon couldn't be overly optimistic.

"What's tough?"

Ju-Hyeok set down a steaming pot of pollock soup.

"Wow…"

Sang-Hyeon gulped as he peered into the pot.

The clear, spicy broth looked refreshing, seemingly driving away his hangover just by looking at it.

"Here."

Ju-Hyeok passed him a bowl so he could serve himself.

"Nice."

After scooping up some soup and taking a sip, Ju-Hyeok asked, "But what's tough?"

The difficulty wasn't low, but it hadn’t been high enough to warrant such complaints from Sang-Hyeon's perspective.

"No, not really."

Ju-Hyeok shook his head.

"Whether it's a valid reason for criticism isn't important. Nowadays, people just gather to criticize something if they feel like it. But…"

Ju-Hyeok observed more comments.

"This seems like there's some instigation for such a mood."

"Right?"

"Yeah. There probably aren't many who genuinely mean it."

"But what about the people actually giving it one star?"

Sang-Hyeon pointed to the top post for Ju-Hyeok to see.

Then Ju-Hyeok burst into laughter.

"Man, that's just one person's rating."

Ju-Hyeok went to a game review site and showed him the actual score.

Considering the site's rigor, an 8.7 out of 10 was a high score.

"Isn't it a bit ambiguous to call that a rating attack?"

Ju-Hyeok's words were spot on. Although the rating wasn't extremely high, what happened could hardly be called a targeted rating attack.

"True, but why then…?"

Why would people claim they would give the game a one star rating?

"First, these reviews can only be written by people who bought the game."

That meant people who actually bought and played the game weren't rating it harshly.

"Second, everything on community sites tends to be exaggerated. Users have to sound two to three times more sensational than what they actually think to make the top posts."

Sang-Hyeon kept exclaiming in amazement. Ju-Hyeok had already become an expert in community dynamics.

"But there must be a reason for someone to instigate this."

Ju-Hyeok read through the community posts for a while.

"… Found it."

He showed Sang-Hyeon a particular post. A certain video had started all the commotion.

"This was the spark based on the timing and likes."ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novelenglish.net . Fire(.)nᴇt

This post and the video it contained had ignited the non-controversial topic. It showed Almond defeating the last three additional bosses. The battle had undoubtedly been challenging. Almond had to dodge three razor-sharp tongues almost instantaneously while firing arrows at the enemies’ tiny weak points.

Initially, most comments praised Almond's gameplay. Then…

”… It’s this comment."

This comment implied that Red Hat always made difficult games.

"Red Hat is known for making hard games, but those who are new quickly got swept up from just a few comments. That’s the scary part."

Ju-Hyeok was right.

Many resonated with the hate and expressed frustration in the comments below.

A comment echoed Ju-Hyeok's words.

"Most of them complaining are just people who tried because you played it or Bubblegum did."

These general gamers suddenly encountered a Red Hat game for the first time.

"They don’t know what kind of company Red Hat is. From a few comments, they see it as a company that just makes frustratingly hard games."

"Wow."

Sang-Hyeon was impressed.

Ju-Hyeok was seriously smart and knowledgeable about the communities. He had a different perspective from the common prominent names floating around.

"So, what now?"

"What now?"

"What should we do about this mess?"

Ju-Hyeok shrugged as if to say, ‘What can you do?’

"If you don't like the temple, just leave the monastery."

"What? We can't just leave. It's an advertisement!"

Ju-Hyeok chuckled at Sang-Hyeon’s urgent expression.

"Relax. The fact that there’s such criticism means you did well with the advertising. Even gamers who don’t fit this kind of game are all drawn in."

"Oh."

This interpretation made perfect sense.

"Right. Let’s say that if they contact us."

Ju-Hyeok’s remarks seemed to tease him further as Sang-Hyeon’s expressions changed from moment to moment.

"What? But you just said it was okay."

Ju-Hyeok burst into laughter when Sang-Hyeon looked ready to grab him by the collar.

"?"

Ju-Hyeok decided to stop teasing him and told him the truth.

"Don’t worry. The battle's already won."

Sang-Hyeon’s face turned into a question mark. His expression kept shifting. He knew Ju-Hyeok was messing with him, but what was that guy getting at?

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone thinks you have to kill the mutant zombies to end the game, right? That’s the assumption."

"Right."

"But that assumption is wrong."

"?"

"Being killed by the mutant zombies is the actual route."

"…!?"

What? Dying was the actual ending?

Sang-Hyeon was shocked.

"You’re supposed to die to reach the ending. An email came in this morning."

Ju-Hyeok turned the screen to show him the email.

"Technically, it was sent to you."

The email had been sent to the official address of streamer Almond.

In summary, being killed by the zombies was the actual ending as Ju-Hyeok said.

"Wow."

Sang-Hyeon was amazed.

This surely rendered all their arguments futile. If the game was designed to kill you, how could they complain about its difficulty?

"This should work, right? I'll post it on our official announcement."

"What about the community?"

"If we post it as an announcement, someone else will surely spread it."

Ju-Hyeok didn’t specify who that someone was. He would probably spread it himself at the right time.

Around lunchtime, the top post rankings had been updated.

Public opinion had flipped again.