Season 3: Chapter 278. Triple Down (2)
After the Japan match, Joseon’s team skyrocketed in popularity. The growing interest in the team had been steadily rising and exploded after their close victory over Japan. Thanks to this, they received numerous sponsorship offers. The team’s resources grew abundant and even the players who streamed while competing began to gain attention.
KimchiWarrior, the leader of their think tank, didn’t directly play but still saw his viewership increase significantly. Among them, Almond had already been quite famous and shot up into stardom. There was no better way to describe it.
Articles about Almond flooded the media and he became a national sports hero partly due to his background. He had been a rising star in the archery world, who many expected to save the faltering men's archery team. If it hadn’t been for a certain accident, he would have become a sports hero much earlier.
After losing everything in that accident, he made a comeback in virtual esports and regained what he had lost in real life. People couldn’t help but be captivated by his story. Becoming a star seemed destined. Some rumors even stated that Almond had a year’s worth of advertisements and variety show appearances lined up after the tournament.
Before the competition even finished, he already began participating in some sponsorship shoots and a few interviews. Because of this, some critics claimed that the Joseon team was celebrating too early.
Some harsh articles criticized them for beginning external activities as if they had already won even though the tournament hadn’t ended yet. It could be seen that way. However, this was all part of Hui-Chul’s plan.
"I think it would be better if you engage in external activities during this time."
While doing these activities, Almond skipped several practice sessions. He only participated in key scrimmages, conserving his energy by skipping smaller matches. This wasn’t out of negligence. It was Hui-Chul’s deliberate decision.
While external shoots could be tiring, Almond felt far less exhausted than shooting arrows in virtual reality.
However...
"Just be in charge of training our archery squad."