Season 5: Chapter 161. The Life of a Slave (3)
What was the Can't Can't Can't team’s biggest appeal? Was it Zelo's thundering, Bubblegum's trolling, or Acorn Jelly's nonsense? None of that. It was the enormous viewer count. Except for ForeverAlone, every one of them boasted considerable weight as streamers.
ForeverAlone's viewers were happy at first.
— Wow is our Gi-Chan finally about to blow up?
— After the Lord's grace, now meeting genuine top-tier people
— This has better trickle-down effect than the Knight Order??
— The weight these guys carry
When someone with a small viewership collaborated with someone with a large viewership, the one with fewer viewers always benefited. In terms of viewer growth, ForeverAlone was in a position to unconditionally gain. As with everything in life, the unconditional part didn't exist.
Every situation had two sides. He'd clearly gain viewers, but streamers were also people.
"That... those older bros... over there..."
"Oh! Quiet! What you're saying is just land hard right here! Hm!? Couldn't you have just stayed quiet and crept around like the Nonghyup!"
"That's not what I..."
Gi-Chan wanted to tell them to shut up, but couldn’t muster the courage to do so.
"Yes."
Of course, he found it difficult to speak up to Zelo. The other streamers were also leagues above ForeverAlone. On top of that, everyone was at least four to five years older than him. A few were even ten years older.
For ForeverAlone, just entering his early twenties, this age gap was a massive pressure. In other words, meeting these heavyweight streamers turned out to be poison.
He couldn’t say anything properly.
— Say something Gi-Chan
— But why isn't anyone asking the Challenger
— lmaooo wow genuinely such an idiot
— Classic...
— Been a while since we saw vintage Gi-Chan spice lmaooo
— The guy who just farmed at home in Survival Craft is still the same
In truth, the human Jung Gi-Chan had always been like this. He was just an idiot who farmed at home before receiving the title, Devoted Follower, in the Knight Order. That original disposition was now being nakedly revealed.
[Overall Rankings]
[10th Place]
Da-da-DUN.
The cost was devastating.
“You have become slaves!
Kyahahahahaha!
Upon receiving the moderator's sentence, Gi-Chan finally had his say.
"Please... if I had just one single person... an actual human instead of these bugs...!"
According to the ancient tradition of idiots, their words only came out after the incident.
Ding!
[Gi-ChanAnalyst has donated 1,000 won.]
[You are currently watching an idiot who got beaten and came home, now kicking his blanket angrily before sleep.]
— lmaooooooooooo fr
— Exactly
— The name does what it says
— lmaooooo
— lmaooo fr
"SHUT UPPPPPPPP!" ForeverAlone tried shouting back at the viewers' mockery, to no effect.
Ding!
[Gi-ChanAnalyst has donated 1,000 won.]
[You are currently watching a pathetic idiot who got beaten by his friends and came home to take it out on his mom, who made him dinner.]
— LOL
— lmaooooooooo
— Too much hahaha
— lmaooo fr
— lmaooooo
— Gi-Chan, status screen! React!
AHHH!
Status screen! Status screen!"
However, the status screen didn't appear. Only another 1,000-won punch donation window popped up.
Ding!
[WooWooWoo has donated 1,000 won.]
[Wow today's idiot concentration is insane lmaooo]
Ding!
[lolol has donated 1,000 won.]
[Oh I love this so much. This is the good stuff]
Ding!
[Auntie has donated 1,000 won.]
[Watching the atmosphere drain away in real time is so funny lmaooo]
Even amid the flood of 1,000-won punches, viewers were leaving. Viewers from Zelo and Bubblegum's side came to watch out of curiosity. After discovering his true self, they fled.
— lmaooooooooooo fr
— Genuinely decreasing lol
— Wow
— lmaooooo
— Atmosphere lmaooo
— Gi-Chan can't fight in the normal atmosphere so he needs to cultivate dark arts
Meanwhile, Can't Can't Can't had too many viewers that ForeverAlone couldn't even spread his wings. Their team had come in last. The day's community topic was basically already decided.
[Big: Imminent flooding by Zelo fans and Bubblegum stickers. Civilians are advised to evacuate...]
Even LIL Pro, which would never yield in firepower during
LIL
discussions, issued an evacuation order.
— Yep get out
— Rumble~
— These LIL hobgoblins are done for lmaooo. The Platform War will wreck all of you, just wait
— lmaooooooooo
— Bubblegum fans being willing to go to war means this is genuinely serious...
└ fr first time seeing this
└ Zelo's people would normally stay still but
└ Weren't Bubblegum fans the kind who liked seeing him get criticized?
└ That's not true, you lunatic lmaooo
This popular evacuation post wasn't mere humor. They just expressed with humor what was actually about to happen. As prophesied, certain people came flooding in like a tidal wave and instantly took over the Big board.
[Big: You didn't know Bubblegum was bad?? lmaooo, why blame Bubblegum now???]
[Big: Why is Zelo a slave in Survival Craft and a slave here too? Science?]
[Big: Zelo claiming military experience when he was exempt from military service?? lmaooo]
[Big: Excavating the old days when Zelo completely dismissed small streamers]
[Big: But like, Bubblegum can just be bad and it's fine? What is he, a Celestial Dragon?]
[Big: Bubblegum: The Bad Movie]
Anyone could tell just from the titles. In the damage exchange, Zelo's side was overwhelmingly losing. Bubblegum was originally known to be bad, so his fans took zero damage no matter how much anyone called him bad.
Zelo had the image of actually being decent at the game, so he was getting badly criticized. His fans weren't the type to back down here. Weren't they famous as the most vicious and tenacious fan base? Had they backed down at mere claims of him being bad, they'd never have earned such a reputation.
[Big: Bubblegum's viewers actually migrated to Almond after the streamer tournament win, right?]
"Wow."
Ju-Hyeok sincerely admired and applauded. "Bringing that all the way here?"
One could call this a genuine narrative spin. The title alone was quite provocative. The content was even more extraordinary.
Bubblegum was originally someone you watch and roast for being bad. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he wins the streamer competition.
Some oblivious newcomer shows up, carries, and wins the whole thing lmaooo
This incident was the starting point of viewer decline. Many watching Bubblegum left to Almond.
Bubblegum absolutely doesn't want to win.
Different purpose entirely lmaooo
— What the...
— Sounds plausible
— fr fr
— Right of course a Zelo fan is absolutely right~
— Genuinely fr
— Your eyes have opened
— What the heck, he has nearly double the viewers now compared to then
— lmaooooooooo
— So much nonsense fr
— Isn't it too obvious though lmaooo? Is this even a pro tournament? They're all streamers
— This is actually fr
People need someone to play the villain. Just being bad at the game wasn't enough.
Then, the accusation of losing on purpose came. This conspiracy spread instantly.
[Big: Reasons why Bubblegum loses on purpose]
[Big: Evidence of Bubblegum intentionally trolling.jpg]
[Big: Bubblegum wins by losing]
Bubblegum's longtime fans knew.
— lmaooooooooooo oh how cute, little 2030s
— Same old moves smh
— Is that all you've got? Zelo fans?
In truth, Bubblegum had already experienced every possible flavor of unfair criticism. It was the same for his fans. They just didn't usually come forward, but the word mountain was apt when they did go on defense.
[Big: Bubblegum loses on purpose? So what?]
There's an old saying in LIL.
"If Bubblegum seeks to win, he shall lose. And if Bubblegum seeks to lose, he shall win."
If Bubblegum tried to lose and still lost, whose fault is that?
— LOOL
— lmaooooooooooo fr
— If you can't beat Bubblegum when he's trying to lose, then your team is the broken one
└ fr fr
└ lmaooooooo
— Watch the streamer tournament smh. Bubblegum tried so hard to lose and ended up carrying anyway
└ lmaooooooooo
└ lmaooooooooo
└ The Iron Ball in the final team fight
— lmaooo the damage exchange isn't even working on these insane old people
Pfft...!
" Ju-Hyeok barely held back laughter. "It’s theoretically invincible, isn't it?"
Now he understood why Bubblegum's fans rarely stepped forward. They didn’t really need to at all. They only reacted because it was Zelo's fan base.
"But..." Even here, Ju-Hyeok found one sad point. "Where are ForeverAlone's fans?"
No matter how much he scrolled, ForeverAlone's fans were nowhere to be seen.
"Well, whatever. Anyway, there's no Knight Order controversy surfacing. That's fortunate."
If LIL Pro were like this, Streamer Garden would go without saying. While every board was essentially running proxy wars between Bubblegum and Zelo, the all-first-place Knight Order passed through quietly. This could actually be bad news for streamers who fed on attention.
"We just need to prepare this one thing properly."
Ju-Hyeok figured it was fine for the Knight Order to stay quiet for now.
[I Am A Streamer Storyboard - Final Actually-Final Actually-Actually-Actually-Final]
Always being in the news was tiring for viewers too. As long as no particular controversies occurred before the promotional video went up, that was enough.
'When... did they get here?'
Sa-Rang realized she'd been typing in the chat and suddenly got called into this channel. She had been set to auto-join. It was embarrassing, but none of the Knight Order members knew what she'd been doing.
'Then, I’ll just establish dominance.'
She acted naturally as if nothing had happened.
"Everyone's here? I had a lot to give feedback on, so I was taking notes."
'Everyone's here.'
It had been the coach who had arrived. Perhaps their discipline was too thorough? No one in the Knight Order questioned it.
"Oh, yes...!"
However, one unusual person existed.
[DumbYoungMan]
Almond looked at her with a content smile.
'Why? What? What?'
Their eyes met, and they stared each other down for a moment. Sa-Rang, having much to feel guilty about, looked away first.
'What’s with that expression? Does he know something?'
Almond's expression looked very much like he knew something and felt pleased about it.
[Marshmallow: Wow Sa-Rang you look happy hahahaha glad you're doing this haha]
Like Marshmallow said, had she shown too much excitement? Almond had sharp intuition in unexpected places. Maybe he picked up on her mood. That couldn’t happen. A coach needed to be cold. She had to maintain the chill.
Sa-Rang tried to settle her mind for a moment.
"Madam coach~!" Sweet Potato raised his hand with gusto. "Excuse me. We got all first place!! Could we get a head-pat of praise!?"
She didn't really need to settle her mind at all. Contempt immediately settled into Sa-Rang's eyes.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
Whoooosh...
For a moment, it felt as if a cold wind had swept through to cool the heat that had run too hot from their all-first-place victory.
"Y-yes, sir!"
Click!
Sweet Potato reflexively saluted and stepped back.
— This lunatic lmaooo
— You actually said that
— Wow I'm telling you this guy is getting 2 hours of solo feedback today lmaooo
— That expression is terrifying
— lmaooo...
— ??? In this industry this counts as a reward?
— Contempt expression is actually a good look
Almond, who'd been smiling, now glared at Sweet Potato as if he'd kill him. He thought the atmosphere had shifted because of that guy, and he wouldn’t get to hear the split being praised.
"Now, let's get to the feedback."
Everyone came to attention and focused on her. Almond, thinking the split praise would finally come, was very much beaming.
"Almond, first, I have a question," the coach suddenly said.
'Oh oh...'
Almond genuinely thought praise was coming, but it was something else.
"Please explain the dispatch strategy in more detail."
Was another one of his strategies, the dispatch strategy, getting recognized?
— Wow
— Interesting...
— What the?!
— We’re done for
— His expression lmaooo
— Now he'll become a dispatch worker again
— Oh... a second split is being born lmaooo
— Smart Young Man promotion about to happen!

Comments

Loading...