Genius Chapter 204: Extra- After the Meeting (Part 1)

Extras

Chapter 204: Extra- After the Meeting (Part 1)

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

The result of an all-night party was a pounding hangover. The meticulously planned schedules had to be abandoned. Su Mo stayed curled up in the hotel bed, passively listening to various wails and complaints in the group chat.

Too lazy even to type, everyone simply resorted to sending voice messages.

During last night’s gathering, while still sober, they had agreed to visit Celestial Horizon’s offline store today if they had the time. However, the next morning, only a few people were up and refreshed, while the rest were completely wiped out. ScarletFruit hadn’t gone back to their room last night and ended up squeezing into the same bed with the drunken ClearWind. ZenSlasher and Haitang had to help guide them to their room; otherwise, the two drunken messes would have ended up trying to shove their key card into the neighboring room’s lock.

By early morning, there wasn’t a peep from the two of them in the group chat.

“I’m really done for,” said Apple, weakly. “That idiot Watermelon insisted on chugging bottles with me last night and even drank half of Bittermelon’s prized liquor. Now I can’t get up. You guys go ahead without me.”

FireworksAndLanterns chimed in, “I can vouch for Apple—they really can’t get up. They spent half the night throwing up in the bathroom.”

The cat said, “This stamina is really weak. You all need to work out. Go run a couple of quest dungeons when we get back.”

OldBanana added, “Watermelon’s done for too. Still hasn’t woken up—can’t even budge him.”

FireworksAndLanterns asked, “What about ChatMasterWu?”

HealsFor25000 replied, “He’s useless now—lying in the bathroom.”

Out of the dozen or so people meeting up, over half were incapacitated, leaving only a handful who might have been able to enjoy the day.

FireworksAndLanterns, unusually sober, asked, “Huh? What about Bittermelon Boss?”

Suddenly, a gentle female voice chimed in, “Looking for him? He’s still sleeping.”

The rest of the group collectively exclaimed, “…!”

CloudTraveller said, “…No problem, sister-in-law. Let him sleep. He probably can’t get up anyway.”

“With this many people out of commission, it looks like it’s not happening,” FireworksAndLanterns said. “What about Momo? And Brother Zhen? Why haven’t they said anything?”

Su Mo curled up slightly, trying to slip out of Yu Zhen’s arms, only to be pulled back in again. Yu Zhen’s quiet murmur brushed against Su Mo’s ear, “Sleep a little longer.”

The two of them had stayed up late into the night, and Su Mo, too tired, eventually fell asleep. In a half-dreaming state, he vaguely remembered hearing Yu Zhen’s deliberately hushed voice during a video call, working late into the night.

Yu Zhen had also had a bit to drink the day before. He wasn’t drunk, but he had been thoroughly exhausted from work over the past few days.

Seeing that no one else was up yet, Su Mo didn’t want to disturb Yu Zhen, so he replied in the group chat instead.

• Momo: I haven’t gotten up yet. Unchained Wonderer is still sleeping.

• HealsFor25000: Oh, we get it.

• CloudTraveller: Got it.

• GlobalFirstKawaii: Then let’s go in the afternoon.

• OldBanana: Why are you suddenly typing?

• ZenSlasher: ……

The hangovers effectively ruined the plan to visit the offline store. A group of party-loving drunks ended up sleeping until after 6 p.m., with some nearly missing their return flight to the Capital Planet. Meanwhile, the group chat became flooded with embarrassing photos from the night before. Those who partied hardest woke up to find incriminating evidence—photos of drunken antics—circulating in the group.

• Server-Wide Dealer ScarletFruit: Fuck, who took this photo?

• FireworksAndLanterns: Isn’t it in the chat logs? ClearWind took it for you.

• ChatMasterWu: …Who took this one?

• HealsFor25000: I vaguely remember. You kept insisting on dragging people into selfies. When no one would join, you took it yourself. Didn’t you see the sender in the chat log? ‘ChatMasterWu.’

• WhatAHugeWatermelon: What about my video?

• HealsFor25000: You’re even worse. While others were snapping photos, you went straight for in-your-face video recording.

A group of hungover drunks: …

Everyone tagged CloudTraveller, the group owner who could delete group messages, but CloudTraveller chose to ignore them, claiming bad signal for long-distance communication as an excuse. Amid their wails, the chaotic meet-up ended in disarray.

After the Celestial Horizon game meet-up, a certain buzz emerged online. Most players were focused on the upcoming updates teased by the main developer, with some excited about new breakthroughs in the quest design, while others believed that raising the difficulty would only lead to more player losses. The forum was divided, with players arguing fiercely on both sides. However, in the midst of the heated debates, one street-style photo post stood out, attracting attention with a pink heart emblem added to it.

The street-style post used the official floating camera, which had obtained player consent at the beginning of the meet-up. It captured candid shots from various angles, mostly side profiles, with a significant number of blurred-out mosaics of players who didn’t want to show their faces.

[LOL! Some people really requested to be blurred!]
[I was admiring the handsome guys and pretty girls, but a whole section of the beautiful girl got blurred out.]
[The developer is so honest. Couldn’t they have taken a few photos without the mosaics? So many beautiful shots ruined!]
[How frustrating, street-style mosaics!?]
[Honestly, Celestial Horizon has so many handsome guys and pretty girls.]
[Same here! I’ve been drooling over the screen since I clicked in—so many cute guys and girls.]

At first, the post was filled with real-time comments from players, but even after the meet-up ended, the post’s popularity remained high. It turned out that some netizens had identified some top-ranking players from the street-style shots. For instance, FireworksAndLanterns, who had appeared in an entertainment contest, Zenith, and ExpanseGuild’s master, Midnight Bell… But the most notable image was a street-style shot taken outside the exhibition hall, near the hovercar area.

In the photo, the main subject wore a beige coat and walked alongside a tall man in a deep blue coat. They were both wearing the same couple’s hat, seemingly looking for someone while holding a terminal. Though the photo was a candid shot, it captured the moment perfectly, especially their handsome side profiles.

At first, players were simply admiring the handsome guy in the photo, until someone brought in high-resolution screenshots from the entertainment match and compared them to the image. It was immediately obvious that the top player, Momo, had the same coat and custom-designed hat as the man in the street-style photo.

Suddenly, Masked Momo now had a good-looking side profile to match his mysterious reputation.

[“Holy crap, is this really Momo?!”]

[“That coat and hat… hmm, this kind of custom hat would be hard to duplicate, right?”]

[“It’s definitely him!”]

[“Ahhh, without the mask, he’s a little handsome!”]

[“!!! Look how fair his skin is! It looks amazing. He’s wearing so much, but he doesn’t look bulky at all! That figure is enviable.”]

[“I used to think he was the gentle type, but from the side, he’s kind of dashing!”]

[“Wait! Why is everyone focusing on Momo? Shouldn’t the main point be the guy next to him?!”]

[“My eyes are glued to the handsome guy next to him.”]

In the candid photo, besides the man resembling Momo, the man standing beside him was strikingly remarkable. Although only a small portion of his face was visible, the sharpness of his features and his unique aura were unmistakable.

Momo seemed to feel cold, his cool-toned, fair complexion making his eyes stand out even more. He wore a fleece-lined beige coat, looking a bit slender. In contrast, the man beside him seemed unaffected by the cold, wearing lighter clothing that highlighted his excellent physique. Even with just a side profile caught by chance, his innate aura was apparent, sharp and commanding like a blade.

But the man didn’t seem so sharp because, from the candid angle, it was clear he was looking at Momo—with eyes that held only one person.

[“Is this… is this really what I think it is?”]

[“That height difference, that gaze… it’s hard not to overthink this.”]

[“I’m here for this, folks. I even cropped the backstage corridor photo for comparison.”]

[“The lighting in the corridor was too dim, but judging by the height and angle, there’s an 80% chance it’s ReturnToSimplicity.”]

[“I already used AI to analyze it, and the report says 95% (you’re welcome).”]

[“Thank you, hero above. KDL!”]

[“They match so perfectly!!!”]

[“Help!!! The two big bros are too shippable!!!”]

[“Even though I’ve barely seen them interact, I’m hyped over just this one photo.”]

[“And it’s real! No letdowns here—ArrayMaster senior brother x Summoner senior brother. Who wouldn’t love this pairing?! [Link] [Link] Sharing some food for the shippers—you’re welcome!”]

[“I’m doomed. I need to rewatch Momo’s entertainment match again. Does anyone know how many times I’ve replayed that award ceremony clip? I never imagined the man I couldn’t pinpoint would appear here.”]

[“This photo is enough to make me ignore all the mosaics around it.”]

[“(Puffs cigarette) If only the main dev had been a bit more generous at the time, we could’ve seen so much more.”]

[“So when is ClearWindIsHere going live? I’ve been camping in his stream room for days. He’s been MIA since the meet-up.”]

[“You mean Windy? Forget it. He took a week off.”]

[“What kind of livestreamer slacks off like this? Can’t he try harder? If he put in any effort, he’d be the top streamer on StarNetTV by now.”]

[“Top streamer? ApexWorld would fight you for saying that.”]

[“Oh, right. Why didn’t ApexWorld attend the event? I thought he was on the rankings and also from Capital Planet?”]

[“Don’t even mention it. I heard he went to K-Star to try some ‘Real Man Cuisine,’ ended up in the hospital two days before the meet-up, and also took a week off. (Bitter laugh)”]

ScarletFruit asked, “Didn’t you say you were going to stay for two more days? Why are you already home?”

“My fans are pressuring me to stream,” ClearWind replied while packing his luggage during the voice chat in the terminal group. “They used to call me a fraud every day, but now they’re all gentle and caring. There’s a pinned post in the fan group saying they miss me every day. How could I not come back?”

“To thank my fans, I’ve decided to stream tonight and throw in a giveaway for my merchandise.”

ScarletFruit chimed in, “Can you rig it for me as a favor to a brother?”

“Don’t you already have one?” ClearWind retorted.

“It’s limited edition merch! If you want to buy it, you’ll have to wait until the next meet-up. My shop is next to Capital University, and there are tons of students who play Celestial Horizon,” ScarletFruit said earnestly. “This is a business opportunity.”

ClearWind was speechless.

“A business opportunity you got for free?”

“Oh, right, bro, what have you been up to these past two days? Are you logging in to play tonight? You haven’t cleared your game missions for two days,” ClearWind asked.

Su Mo was also in the voice chat. “Maybe tomorrow. I don’t have time today,” he replied.

ScarletFruit asked suspiciously, “…What are you doing?”

He had even asked his younger brother, who said that Su Mo was on leave and hadn’t gone to the lab.

Standing in the bustling virtual plaza, Su Mo was surrounded by a fully immersive holographic game-like virtual community. As someone who had never touched StarNet since birth, Su Mo had received a new terminal and loader shortly after the game meet-up ended. Once he had some free time, he registered on StarNet.

For two days, he wandered around StarNet, downloaded a bunch of new games, and even visited the mechanical forging virtual network he had long yearned for.

“Nothing much,” Su Mo replied briefly. “Just exploring StarNet.”

ScarletFruit was stunned. “??? Browsing the net?!”

“If you have time to surf StarNet, can you make a forum account? Recently, people have been flooding my trade posts asking if I have a ‘Summoner Quick Start Guide!’”

“My new product announcements are being pushed down the list!”

“I’m a cleric—how would I know how to write a Summoner guide?!”

Su Mo asked, “Why are they asking about Summoners?”

ScarletFruit explained, “Bro, do you know that the number of Summoners in Newbie Village has been doubling recently? Every time I use my alt account to join a party there, I inevitably run into a troll Summoner!”

ClearWind added, “Didn’t you already register? Didn’t you share a StarNet post in the group two days ago about next week’s game update?”

“Two days ago?” Su Mo thought for a moment. “Oh, I think I visited as a guest.”

ClearWind was dumbfounded. “???”

A moment later, ClearWind sent a quick link. When Su Mo clicked on it, the virtual space displayed the text: [Celestial Horizon Forum Quick Registration Window].

“Bro, there’s no downside to registering—it’s easy,” ClearWind said earnestly. “Look? Just move your finger and click!”

“One tap and you’re done! Biometric registration is so simple!” he urged.