Season 5: Chapter 175. No Country for Slaves (2)

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

The stands glowed golden and erupted in cheers.

"Nice!"

Slap!

All the Cheese's players exchanged high-fives and let out battle cries.

"That strategy and commanding were both incredible! Oppa!" Miho called out to Almond in excitement.

She had reason to. He'd been so different from the Almond she'd seen at the last streamer competition.

— Wow

— Don't bring that up!

— lmaooooo

— Commanding? What the, I'm reporting this

— The Smart Young Man faction should have assets seized...

— Back, evil spirit!

— ??? Who makes the calls?

Viewers, who'd been driven neurotic by Almond's constant playmaking during the Smart Young Man era, pleaded desperately with Miho.

"Hm? Oh... wh-why commanding? It was commanding, wasn't it... Is commanding a bad community word? Well, it's a real word, though?" She looked bewildered and let her imagination run wild.

Cream Puff came over to scold her. "Noona... noona doesn't watch Almond oppa's stream..."

"No, I do watch?"

"You just look at his face. With the sound off."

"..."

— lmaooooooooooo

— LOL

— Then just look at the photo book...

— Sound off lmaooo

— Smart consumer

— lmaooooo

— Honestly clever

Miho had been blocking out all of Almond's nonsense and consuming only his maximum advantage, which was why she had no idea about the situation.

At this point, Strawberry Shooter brought up a difficult topic. "Ahem. Winning is great, but so what about our team rankings? The score distribution needs to be sorted out or it'll..."

"Oh, right."

The players exchanging high-fives right now were actually not on the same team. From here on out, with no common enemy, individual survival naturally began.

— They have to do what needs doing

— Will the King team give them 1st?

— Was this secured?

"Wow...? Oh, noona!"

Cream Puff let out a screech. "What?"

"Almond oppa disappeared! And the Knight Order too!"

— lmaooooooooooo

— Instant business mode

— LOL

— High-fived once and vanished?

— Wow lmaooooooo

— So ruthless

"No..."

Miho was dumbfounded.

"Just ask for first place! Why run away!"

Miho thought she was fairly close to Almond, but to be abandoned like this? She seemed a little hurt.

— lmaooooooooooo fr

— You think just saying “Give me first” would work?

— Ran away after seeing Magic Young Man behind him?

— Knight Order Sweet Radish is dead too so they're quite at a disadvantage

"Let's hurry up and do our hunting," CutiePie called out from behind.

"We abandoned our Red Turtle to come here. Let's go back quickly."

"Sigh... okay." Miho was disappointed, unable to share the joy of defeating Paprika together for longer.

Tap tap tap!

Suddenly, someone from the Magical Girls team started running away.

"What? It’s them..."

Miho's eyes went round.

[ChocoShroom]

It was Choco Shroom, who had been a dispatched worker.

Miho barked, "Hey! Where are you going!? Our lunch box is running away! Kill her!!"

— lmaooooooooooooooooo

— LOL

— Instantly a lunch box

— In the end...

— lmaooooo too much

— Legendary

— Systems make people...

— lmaooooooooooo

— Lunch box LOL

— The lunch box has legs!?

***

Meanwhile, Paprika's coaching channel had a very subdued atmosphere, unlike the excited Cheese side. They'd been in such a great mood from the overwhelming Group A victory and had properly crashed in Group B. Falls from a great height hurt. The atmosphere was as dark as the drop.

"Haah... It's over."

The match was still officially underway, but it was as good as over.

"Sh-shouldn't we all start feedback for the next match...?"

"Quiet. For now."

Paprika's match was already over. Starting feedback for the next match was the right call, but it wasn't easy. Only Cheese was left on the field, but nobody could easily take their eyes away. Was it a lingering attachment? They wanted to find even one weakness in their opponents, but it seemed they couldn't find anything.

Silence only flowed among the coaches. The Group B coaches didn't say a word.

Udon, the Team Rocket coach from Group A, finally broke the silence. "Seems they haven't decided the rankings among themselves."

"What?"

"After eliminating all of Paprika, they didn't decide how to distribute points among themselves. On our side, the head gets everything, so who takes first is pretty clearly determined. They don't have that."

"Oh?"

Not having first secured seemed like a big deal since someone from Cheese would get it anyway.

"There's a special advantage for first place in the scoring calculation system."

The Platform War's system ran five matches in total in the same format and assigned points per rank. At the end, this cumulative total determined who advanced to the main round.

"If first isn't secured, they can collapse in the score calculation."

All other ranks had a one point difference. Only first had a two point gap from second. Tenth was zero points, ninth was one, eighth was two, seventh was three... and second was eight points. In the end, first was ten points.

Who got first in each match was quite important. To accurately control this, they needed to pass through with everyone receiving balanced points.

"That's a fatal weakness then. Ultimately, they haven't calculated who actually advances, right?"

Only then did the Group B coaches' expressions brighten.

"If we shake things up in the next match, we have a real chance. Even our Group B."

Variables would definitely pop up in the cumulative total.

"If the math doesn't work out later, the teams will inevitably fight each other."

"Right. Just conceding won’t happen."

Cheese was likely to have internal strife. Then, Group B had hope.

"Right. Let's do well in the next match."

"We'll take what needs to be taken."

"Right. Right. Just need to create one upset, and they'll fight each other when the math doesn't work out."

They didn’t even need to knock all of Cheese out. All they had to do was just create one upset, and Cheese would fight each other when the calculations didn't add up.

***

The commentary desk said similar things as well.

"If they don't secure first, there'll be internal strife later. Will this work?" the caster asked.

Orange King and the analyst both offered opinions that it wouldn't be easy.

"Hmm... if the order of who eats what isn't planned, then it won’t be easy."

"They're probably just doing it for broadcast entertainment without thinking too hard."

The analyst even thought this wasn't a strategy but just maintaining broadcast entertainment.

"Wait a moment?" Orange King suddenly spread his arms and froze.

"Why are you doing that!?"

"That, that..." Orange King had found something. "There's the possibility of internal strife in Cheese. That kind of thing, right?"

"Oh, yes."

"This is really brutal to say... but you need power to have internal strife, right?"

"Well, that's true for Paprika too, isn't it? Power determines first, and the rest quarrel among themselves."

"Right."

"But Cheese is similar."

"What?"

"In a far more brutal way. Oh, the replay is coming out now. There was something I didn't quite understand here."

Right at that moment, the final Cheese vs Paprika teamfight scene was being replayed. As the most decisive moment of this match, it played back slowly.

"Now, look at the Knight Order here. They send ForeverAlone and Zelo ahead first, right?"

"Yes, because they're slaves."

"No! Before this, they had to keep at least one of the slaves alive! Because they were walkie-talkies! Losing them would be a problem."

— lmaooooooooooo

— The whole commentary isn't treating them as people...

— Either slaves or walkie-talkie lmaooo

— Is this actually a conversation about human beings right now???

— Please say players

Slaves, walkie-talkies, shields, meat shields... Among the many words referring to them, Can't Can't Can't players wasn't among them.

"When the walkie-talkies are gone, Cheese's cooperative ability disappears too! This decision to throw these walkie-talkies here, I thought it was a bit... a Dumb Young Man kind of decision? That's what I thought."

"Oh. That's what it looks like?"

The analyst agreed. "It wasn't a good decision. It seemed like they ran out in a rush..."

The rest of the commentary was somewhat lukewarm.

"But if you look closely, a clear order is given! For Zelo and ForeverAlone to go ahead! Why would that be?"

"Is it meaningful to analyze Almond's orders? I ask cautiously, Orange King."

— lmaooooooooooooooooo

— LOL

— What are you doing LOL

— Studying quantum mechanics would be faster

— Why are you trying to find meaning??

"No, player Almond! In this team fight, he was determined to be decisive! Something happened from sacrificing the walkie-talkies! The hierarchy was immediately finalized! Which means...!"

[ChocoShroom has been defeated!]

— ?

— ??

— lmaooooo

— It's starting

— Oh...

"Can't Can't Can't will all die now!"

***

[ChocoShroom has been defeated!]

This notification rang out simultaneously.

Click.

A gun was aimed at Bubblegum.

"Bro, you'll need to go."

Bubblegum looked bewildered and asked, "You, you guys... why? You've been using me well until now!? Hm!?"

— lmaooooooooooo

— Is this a mafia game?

— Wow lmaooo

— What is this? Was this all scripted!?

— Only the slaves didn't know lmaooo

After Paprika was all eliminated or when important leveling was needed, the slaves could be killed at any time. That was the dispatched worker rule. Even the peacefully proceeding Hambugeez was no different.

"Can't you see the restructuring closing in!? Bro!?" Pickle was pleading while looking at the Abyss Shadownotification.

— Restructuring lmaooo

— Kind of similar yeah...

— Well restructuring can't be helped...

"It's the CEO's orders. Send out the dispatched workers first. That's common sense... apparently."

"N-no! Is this a CEO or a king!? Just one more..."

Bang!

By someone's decree, Bubblegum died.

"Permanent staff come first."

— lmaooooooooooo

— LOL

— Permanent staff is first though...

— lmaooooooooo

— If you don't like it, enter through the open recruitment lmaooo

Now, only Acorn Jelly remained. He found himself in the same situation.

"So... it was this."

All of the Nonghyup were aiming at him.

"You..." Donuts said regretfully, "Were an excellent walkie-talkie."

— lmaooooooooooo

— LOL

— Hahahaha

— Oh no...

"A perfect ending."

Crash!

Acorn Jelly went up into the sky too. With this, all of Can't Can't Can't was out and became excellent exp for each team.

Beeeeep!

[Team Can't Can't Can't Out!]

— ?

— ??

— ?

— lmaooooooooooo

— Wow too much

— lmaooooo

— Brutal these Cheese people...

— They've become ruthless LOL

***

"This is it! Almond determined this teamfight was decisive! By sacrificing the walkie-talkies, Can't Can't Can't was also neutralized!"

Almond had sent Can't Can't Can't, thinking the final battle was the decisive blow. That was correct, but he hadn't been thinking any grand thoughts. In his criteria, the first to be expendable were the dispatched workers because that much was agreed upon.

"And? What does that have to do with internal strife!? The point that first place wasn't secured is the same!"

"Cheese! Hasn’t decided on first place! They’ve decided who gets LAST place! The strategy is no risk of falling unless you're last!"

Cheese's system was far more solid than Paprika had thought. Securely setting a floor, the top four teams competed freely.

"If this is how it works! Can't Can't Can't must! Absolutely must eliminate all Paprika! Otherwise, they're automatically out! In exchange, the rest of the teams are guaranteed to pass! They have even more reason to fight with everything they have!"

This strategy made even the slaves fight with their backs against the wall.

— Insane

— Literally Slaves fr

— lmaooooo

— Wow...

— Oh no...

— We're done wow...

— The strategy is incredible?

The caster summarized Cheese's strategy this way. "Sending one team to hell... Everyone else becomes this happy?"

The highest utilitarianism... This was the strategy Cheese had prepared.

— lmaooooooooooo

— lmaooooo fr

— Scary Young Man...

— Wow genuinely...

— What the

— Too much...

A few minutes later, all the rankings were settled.

"Now~! In the end! The Knight Order that most actively participated in combat takes first! Group B is wrapped up!"

The Knights Order won first place.

"Oh, so very fittingly, the king team gets first! And the slave team gets last! Oh, of course, last within Cheese! The true last place is Paprika!"

"Right! From the slaves' perspective, they'd be last place without Paprika. They absolutely must work hard to eliminate Paprika! Ahahahaha!"