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After barking his command, Nacho simply left the conference room. Those remaining at the table murmured even though Nacho had left.

“... He seems really furious, doesn’t he?”

“That’s right.”

Nacho did not usually get so riled up. However, he was particularly sensitive to historical comments as someone passionate about the game.

“They just had to mention the Invincible Armada…”

Spain’s Invincible Armada was their biggest pride and also a subject of mockery by other countries. However, these countries were limited to those in nearby Europe. Who would have thought that a country stuck on the fringes of Asia during the time of the Invincible Armada would mock them? Especially when their own Civil Empire performance was not even good!

Nacho hadn’t anticipated this.

“Exactly. It wasn’t even a question about the upcoming match against us.”

No one could have predicted that Almond would bring up the Invincible Armada to trash France out of the blue. The Spanish team would have been more prepared if the interviewer had asked Almond about the next match.

Even Almond’s own team hadn’t expected an interview, so that said it all.

“The fans almost seem like they’ve put up a bounty.”

“Then we definitely need to win.”

In an atmosphere that felt too subdued, the assistant commander Tres snorted and chimed in.

“What’s wrong with boiling over? It’s like stepping into the ring with a fight purse. Right?!”

His point wasn’t wrong. In any sport, setting up a competitive framework stirred up the fans’ emotions even more.

“It’s more thrilling to win this way.”

It provided greater pleasure to the winners and more frustration to the losers, setting the stage for the next encounter. This was how sports drove fans crazy.

Tres assessed that the opponent understood this too.

“Tell me then. How can it become more thrilling?” Uno asked and crossed his arms.

“Guess you need to pour cold water to feel refreshed.”

Tres smirked mischievously and straightened his relaxed posture.

“I think, on the contrary, we need to go in the opposite direction,” Tres spoke quite seriously.

Uno looked skeptical from the start.

Tres wasn’t exactly a wise commander. He had secured his position as commander due to his unique and aggressive combat style.

Nacho had said, “It’s better to give Tres a little bit than having three helmsmen.”

They felt there was no need to take his strategy seriously.

“Let’s take it to the fourth era then.”

“...?”

Wow. The more they heard, the less they needed to.

Tres continued regardless.

“Right? Unexpectedly moving to the fourth era, let’s finish it with musketeers and combat monks!”

No civilization wanted to take Joseon to the fourth era, especially not an all-pro team like Spain.

“Gunpowder weapons become too strong in the fourth era, making the individual combat capabilities of soldiers largely irrelevant.”

Fighting with guns and cannons defined the fourth era of combat. Compared to spears and swords, it was harder for individual combat skills to stand out. Ȑ

For Spain, where each player was a professional, it was not a favorable option. Moreover, a truly formidable military unit existed in Joseon's fourth era.

"There's no need to let Joseon have the era where they can deploy infiltrators."

In old terms, infiltrators were the military units used for espionage. In modern terms, they were spies equipped with abilities to hide and disguise. They could infiltrate enemy bases and move around while clearly observing the situation.

Of course, they would be killed outright if caught by the enemy commander. However, the real terror of these units wasn't just infiltration and reconnaissance.

"If those bastards manage to steal our faction, it's going to be a real headache."

Like industrial spies, infiltrators could steal enemy technological information. For example, if they stole the upgrade for the Spanish musketeers' reloading speed, the reloading speed of Joseon's matchlock soldiers would improve. This was a critical faction for Spain, which had many miscellaneous upgrades.

Moving to the fourth era against Korea was an exceedingly tiresome task.

"Hmph. Scared of mere spies to avoid going to the fourth era."

Tres made more baseless claims and snorted derisively.

"Damn rascal."

Uno's anger boiled over.

'How do I make use of this useless fellow in the strategy?'

He disliked the situation itself where Tres could blurt out strategies. He needed to divert this guy's attention elsewhere.

After some thought, Uno came up with an idea.

'Yes. That's it.'

Uno wanted to put that boisterous tongue to use elsewhere.

"By the way Tres, do you know how many followers that guy has on Runestagram?"

"What? What are you talking about suddenly? You have way fewer than me!"

"Not me. That guy," Uno said and tried to remain patient.

"... That guy? Who are you talking about?"

"The one from the Korean team who was interviewed."

"How many?"

Tres, being quite the attention-seeker, was very sensitive about Runestagram followers.

"600,000."

"... What?"

"He originally wasn't even managing the account and it had 100,000 followers. It surged that much after the interview."

"Half a million in a day?"

"That's right."

From then on, Tres's actions would be predictable without any special directions from Uno.

"Dammit! Shouldn't we be doing pre-interviews or something!?"

***

The next day, Sang-Hyeon checked his Runestagram account and suddenly gained hundreds of thousands of followers.

[Followers: 708,000]

He had gained another 100,000 in just a day.

"Wow..."

The comments also increased like crazy. They mostly came from foreigners.

"There are a lot of foreigners."

His recent surge in popularity was due to Civil Empire.

Of course, his fellow Koreans also left pleasant comments.

— Korean here

— Wow... can't believe this guy made it this big… I'm overwhelmed

— World class Almond!!

— Bong Joon-ho, Son Heung-min, Kim Yuna, Almond let's go~!

— An abandoned account skyrocketed like crazy

Ju-Hyeok was watching and said, "Civil Empire is incredibly popular overseas. That interview attracted a lot of attention."

It seemed the interview after the match against France became a hot topic.

"Just don't look at the translations if you can help it. And don't open your DMs."

"?"

Sang-Hyeon cocked his head with a puzzled expression.

"There are people who like you, but also quite a few who are really pissed off because of that."

"Ah..."

That was true. He noticed comments written in English filled with harsh language.

'Not being good at English is a blessing sometimes.'

Sang-Hyeon wasn’t proficient in English and could barely understand the blurry words. Even if there were explicit swear words, Runestagram had an automatic filtering system. It wasn't something to worry about.

"The Spanish are quite strong in esports. They have a lot of interest."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Not just in Civil Empire, but they've also sent many players to the Little Europe League."

Indeed, Spain not only had many players in the Little Europe League, but also had a league large enough to send all their pro players to national competitions like in Civil Empire.

The interview about the Invincible Armada had caused significant repercussions.

"But how did you come up with such a statement so suddenly?" Ju-Hyeok suddenly asked.

"What?"

"The interview mentioning the Invincible Armada."

"Ah~ That. Cookie bro used to joke about it sometimes, saying it's famous just for its name."

So Almond merely said something Cookie often joked about.

"He's really learning everything."

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Ju-Hyeok clapped incredulously and patted Sang-Hyeon’s back.

"Still, you did well. Didn't you do well? Who could have known your number of followers would blow up like this?"

Ju-Hyeok was being sincere. If he was Almond, he would’ve never managed to gather so many followers.

'Is this his true calling?'

Sang-Hyeon's personality could be quite a headache in society, but it was like alchemy that multiplied his number of followers several times.

"Uh...?"

Ding.

A message arrived on Sang-Hyeon's Runestagram.

[Someone has tagged you]

It wasn’t just a message from fans, but a notification that someone had tagged him in a post. Tagging was a feature that involved mentioning a specific person.

'A fan?'

Fans often tagged celebrities. While DMs were often ignored, tags usually weren't.

The person who tagged Sang-Hyeon wasn’t just any fan. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

"What's this?"

"It's a video?"

[Listen up. Bad Nut @Almond_Arrow

#NationalCompetition #Interview #Spain #Korea]

The video post also had text attached to it. Someone was being interviewed in the video.

"Bad... Nut?"

"Must be a translation. There are subtitles too."

Korean subtitles were available, but they were automatically generated. This video was made for Koreans to watch, especially Almond since they blatantly tagged him in it.

"Turn on the sound."

"Okay."

The man in the video had deeply tanned skin and looked quite arrogant.

“Which is the stronger civilization? Of course, it's Spain. Historically, Spain once roamed the world and even occupied half of the American continent. But Korea? They lost half of their own land, didn’t they?”

The video ended there. It was a very short edited clip. To watch it properly, one had to go through the link in the comments. However, there was no need for that.

"…?"

Sang-Hyeon's expression said it all. Even that short interview was enough to have an effect.

He stared at the paused video and asked, "Who is this guy?"

"I'll look it up."

Ju-Hyeok took Sang-Hyeon’s phone and started searching more seriously.

In the meantime, Ju-Hyeok's eyes caught the time.

'This... was just uploaded 10 seconds ago? Are we the first ones to see it?'

For now, only they in Korea had seen this guy's video.

'Hmm...'

Ju-Hyeok visited the opponent's account.

The young Spaniard seemed like an influencer with 300,000 followers. He had a bit of a rascal vibe, but appeared quite popular due to his decent looks.

Above all...

'Why are there so many posts? He keeps updating even during the season...'

Ju-Hyeok concluded that this guy was an attention-seeker.

"Who is he? What's his name?" Sang-Hyeon growled as if possessed by a ghost.

Ju-Hyeok momentarily calmed him down and explained, "Listen, listen. I'm not sure if it's a name or an ID. He goes by Tres and seems to be an assistant commander..."

"Really? An assistant commander...? That's good. He's out if he dies, right?"

Sang-Hyeon mulled over Ju-Hyeok’s words and considered how to knock Tres out as soon as possible in their future game.

"I think I know how to screw him over."

Although it was a bit different, Ju-Hyeok found another method first.

"Killing him as soon as the game starts?"

"No, man. We might not be able to do that depending on the game situation. I mean before the game even starts!"

Before the game even started? How was that possible?

Sang-Hyeon's eyes widened as if discovering a new world.

"... How?"

Ju-Hyeok’s grin was reflected in Sang-Hyeon’s clear eyes.

"Because I know what he really wants."