Almond tried to put all the pieces together. Someone claiming to be a famous Paprika streamer had donated. It turned out the nickname actually matched someone he had played with, but that game had been a bot match. A bot had donated.

‘Does that even make sense?’

Of course, it didn’t. He thought back to all the messages that kept popping up during the bot match.

— That guy is totally human, lol

— AI are people too!

— Not a bot, but a living human being.

Radical AI rights advocates and a fake Gi-Chan had donated early in the stream. The puzzle pieces clicked together into a single truth.

“Ah...!”

Clack!

Almond realized it. “Another attention seeker.”

They were simply impersonators.

— ?

— ???

— ...?

— Eh?

‘Zelo jutsu: Purge!’

In the end, Almond drew his sword. Just like that, he banned Omelet.

[Omelet has been banned for 1 hour.]

Since the viewer had donated 100,000 won, Almond figured an hour was generous enough.

“That was fun. Come back after an hour.” Almond waved goodbye to Omelet, smiling as if he had just finished a good detective game. “Deduction complete.”

— Looooooooool.

— Holy shit lol he actually banned him.

— Kya!

— Almondoyle! Almondoyle! Almondoyle! Almondoyle!

— This is peak Almondoyle.

— Craaaazy...

[Loyal has donated 10,000 won.]

[Sir Almondoyle, they’re really not bots. He’s a person! The tutorial isn’t a bot match!]

The loyalists cried out desperately.

Almond only tilted his head. “Then how did I win everything by myself if it wasn’t a bot match?” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

— LMAO true

— Then what was that if not bots?

— It’s a tutorial, who brings a human into that lol what kind of game is that?

— Checkmate, lol

[HundredDeaths has donated 10,000 won.]

[Is there any proof they’re bots?]

Honestly, more proof of them being bots existed than not.

“The leader bot explained everything. You could pick champions however you wanted. If they weren’t bots, they would’ve cursed me out when I blocked behind them with a shield, but they didn’t.”

— True, true

— Show proof they’re not bots.

— So you knew they’d curse, huh? Lol

— They did curse though?

— Does that make sense? If it were a person, the chat would already be full of your mom insults.

— So tired of this bot human theory...

The viewers’ united front was impressive.

Eventually, Almond dropped a shocking statement. “No. If they’re not bots, then just prove it. Isn’t that easier?”

— Holy shit loooooool

— He’s right though.

— Why won’t they? I seriously don’t get it.

— Yeah lol come donate and talk to him, then we’ll admit it.

— Ever heard of presumption of innocence?

— Hear, hear!

Now they demanded proof that the other players weren’t bots. On top of that, a conspiracy theorist label was hammered in.

[Snake has donated 30,000 won.]

[It’s just a trending conspiracy meme, like “bots are actually humans.” No rage pls.]

— Lol yeah

— Exactly

— Same vibe as flat earth.

— Raina is alive! Raina is alive! Raina is alive!

Almond nodded deeply in agreement. He didn’t need to feed the trolls.

“I get the meme, but it stops being fun if you keep pushing that kind of aggro. This is a warning.”

No matter how funny something was, the same topic kept flooding the stream ruined things.

— Kya

— Quick and clean.

— Damn...

— This is the good stuff...!

— All hail Almondoyle! All hail Almondoyle! All hail Almondoyle!

— For real, boring aggro lol

— A bot’s a bot, why would it be human? Genuinely confused.

— Omelet? From now on your name is Mid-Tier Bot.

— Looooool

The viewers cheered at his decisive response.

Ba-bam!

[ServantBot has donated 50,000 won.]

[As expected of a lord who once ruled a totalitarian state~ Your handling of affairs is refreshingly brutal~]

— Holy shit lol

— LMAO

— Ahahaha

— Is a bot servant level?

— You guys are cruel lol it wasn’t even a bot to begin with...

“Now I’m going to play with real people. I need ten normal matches to unlock ranked. It’s a long road ahead.”

With that, Almond started another normal game.

‘Huh...?’

His sharp instincts picked something up.

‘These players are way too similar to bots.’

They weren’t that different from the tutorial bots at all.

‘Hmm...’

The doubt didn’t last long as he busily played the game. That day, after finishing seven normal matches in total, Almond ended the stream.

— GG.

— That was fun~

— Bye...

— Today’s stream was insanely worth it lol

The first match had left a huge impression. After playing seven more games, those earlier memories naturally faded. This was the nature of livestreams. Memories were constantly overwritten in real time, and whatever needed to be forgotten simply disappeared.

Of course, that was only true for livestreams. Edited videos were different. Even a fleeting moment could be preserved forever, like Omelet’s uploaded video the next day.

[About That Time I Switched Factions and Turned Out to Be a Bot]

— Holy shit loooooool

— What the hell lol

— Almond lol is he insane? Lol

— Faction switching bot is wild lol

— I reincarnated into Survival Mode... and I’m a bot!?

— Siege Grand Master = Survival Mode Bot

— They call that Grand Silver in Nuts Punk, kid

— So true lol

— Grand Silver holy shit lol

— LMAO I haven’t seen this in forever.

— Honestly, if it’s Silver, I get why they’d think he’s a bot.

— Is this why you betrayed Siege, Omelet?

— Make Silver Great Again.

***

The foundation of a streamer’s job was having a live broadcast presence. Just because someone did well live didn’t mean they would also succeed on YouTube. The two had completely different natures. Some streamers had strong live presences, but only so-so results on YouTube. Omelet was one of them.

[Subscribers: 2.21 million]

It looked like an enormous YouTube presence at a glance.

‘But honestly, my views have been slipping for a while now...’

There was a massive gap between the subscribers he had accumulated during his peak and the views his videos now pulled in.

[Make LIL Great Again]

[251K]

[Skrtl]

[128K]

[Real Talk: Survival Mode Sucks]

[387K]

As a result, his view counts were far lower than his subscriber count.

‘At least Survival mode aggro still works.’

He had tried to expand into Survival mode this time.

‘That’s why today mattered...’

However, it had turned into Almond’s reaction content. He had completely blown it. LIL Pro seized the moment and started beating Omelet into the ground.

[Big: Omelet crying lol]

[Big: Botmelet lol archived video lol]

[Big: Almond nails the coffin and kicks him out]

Former LIL mode demons in their thirties, who had hidden their fangs behind adult life, had finally bared their fangs again.

— Damn, the old guys’ firepower is insane

— Survival mode seniors retirement-center festival holy shit lol

— Omelet picked the wrong day

— But honestly, that first tutorial match was kinda legendary lol

— He was doing fine until Raina deleted him instantly, this is too harsh

For the first time in years, the feeding frenzy of Survival mode demons far surpassed even the active demons of today.

[Big: Why Omelet is actually massively overrated]

[Big: Omelet Challenger boosting suspicion lol]

[Big: The real-time birth of Botmelet]

[Big: Let’s examine the real skill of that “bot” Grandmaster ADC]

[Big: “That bot’s” so-called fundamentals from PC game days lol]

They even began tearing down all the achievements Omelet had built over the years. Like a Jenga tower missing its base, his reputation seemed to collapse all at once.

“Ha... Damn it.”

That same day, after turning off his stream, Omelet scrolled through LIL Pro reactions. Resentment toward Almond boiled up.

“Why, of all things, why! Why did we get matched in the tutorial queue together? Why did you assume everyone was a bot? Why, damn it? You even kicked me out!”

Why did Almond still believe he was a bot even after seeing it with his own eyes?

“Why did you ruin my life?!”

Omelet didn’t know that the lord had ruined his life, but not his stream.

The next day, after waking up and seeing a message from his editor, Omelet blinked in shock.

“Huh?”

[About That Time I Switched Factions and Turned Out to Be a Bot]

“W-w-w-what?!”

Omelet shot upright from his bed like a rocket.

His video sat at the very top of the charts.

“Th-this... what the hell is this?”

At first, all kinds of thoughts flooded his head.

“Am I in some kind of controversy?”

Had something he said in the past come back to bite him?

‘What... what was it?’

Honestly, he had said so many questionable things over the years that he couldn’t pinpoint anything specific. The messages from his editor made the situation clear.

[Edit Otaku: Bro lol our video blew up]

[Edit Otaku: You getting treated like a bot killed everyone lol]

[Edit Otaku: Your first stream luck went nuclear lol]

[Edit Otaku: Views beat the Lil Grass collab]

It hadn’t been a controversy. The video blew up simply because Almond treating him like a bot was hilarious. It was pure, unfiltered success.

“Th-this can’t be real.”

Omelet and Edit Otaku had always worried about YouTube view counts. The editing itself was never the issue, yet Edit Otaku had always felt guilty. Now, even new viewers were showing up.

— I only watched Almond before, but Omelet is cute too lol

— Thought he was just loud lol but he’s funny, subbed lol

— Survival mode really making Omelet pop off lol

“Oh... oh shit...”

Omelet realized he couldn’t just sit there. He went to his YouTube channel and opened the video. As expected, Edit Otaku had nailed the funny points. It was even better because he had contacted Almond and cross-edited both sides. Still, editing wasn’t the core of this situation.

“This... this...” Omelet could only show respect. “This too must be the Lord’s grace...”

Tap tap tap.

He left a pinned comment on his own video.

— This too must be the Lord’s grace...

└ Holy shit “the Lord’s grace” is also here lol

└ God bless the Lord

└ He may destroy bot rights, but he saves streams~

└ LMAOOOOOOOO

└ This guy has insane sense lol

└ What’s a lord?

└ Dude almost fell into the abyss lol but lived because it was funny

└ Bow to the Lord three times a day

└ Nerds laughing at inside jokes again?!

***

Meanwhile, completely unaware, Sang-Hyeon woke up the next morning.

“Yaaawn...”

He had played eight games during yesterday’s stream and fallen asleep immediately. Hadn’t he also been hungover from Treevy’s funeral stream the day before yesterday? He felt exhausted.

‘Ugh... I’m dead.’

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he reached for his phone. Out of habit, he entered the streamer cafe Cheese had set up for him. It worked like Treevy’s old streamer board with a dedicated forum where fans and streamers interacted.

[Yesterday’s stream was legendary. Didn’t realize it until Almond left lol]

[Collection of Baegi looking way too bot-like yesterday.jpg]

[Found a thank-you post by Leader Bot Baegi on the community lol]

Viewers shared things from the stream or stories they wanted to pass around among Almond’s fans.

The more Sang-Hyeon read, the more his eyes trembled.

“Huh?”

His blurry, half-asleep eyes snapped wide open.

“Huh...?”

All the little things that had felt off yesterday suddenly clicked into place like magic.

‘Bots...’

If he accepted just one premise, everyone would make sense.

‘They weren’t bots?’

Boom!

Sang-Hyeon shot up from his bed.

‘Then... Omelet was real too?’

He hurriedly opened LIL Pro.

“Shit.”

The big boards were completely flooded with Omelet posts.

Tap.

Sang-Hyeon pressed his forehead.

‘He’s getting torn apart because of me?’

LIL Pro was viciously chewing Omelet apart, saying his skills were so bad that he got mistaken for a bot.

‘Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if he was a bot or not, but... No.’

Almond’s brain spun at full speed, desperately rationalizing. Then, the true culprit came to mind.

One bastard had known everything and stayed silent. No, he had basically designed this whole thing. His giggling could practically be heard outside right now.

“Ugh...”

Tap tap tap.

Almond stormed out of his room. “Hey, Kim Ju-Hyeok!”

Other purge targets flashed through his mind in succession.

‘And Eggplant and the rest...!’

Today, Almond’s stream would run red with blood.