Genius Archer's Streaming
Season 5: Chapter 176. No Country for Slaves (3)
A solemn air settled in the channel where Paprika's coaches had gathered.
"So that's what it was."
Of all things, Cheese’s strategy had determined last place rather than first. Could humans be this ruthless?
"Ugh..." Udon, the coach of Team Rocket and the biggest victim of Cheese Village, was trembling. "Wh-why do I have PTSD..."
His hands shook because the ghost stories that had been drummed into his ears about Cheese Village came flooding back.
"Ugh... we were naive. We're still not enough..."
The Group B coaches came over and tried to comfort him instead.
"Yes. We just aren't skilled enough. Don't worry about it too much, hyung."
"Skill?
Ha?
Look here. You're lacking!"
"Yes?"
"You lack hatred...!" He grabbed the Group B coaches by the collar and shook them. "You LACK HATRED! Look at what those people are doing! They're grinding people through a blender to knock you out! Can't you see their hatred!?"
"We're, we're scared... your hatred is very visible though..."
Udon had been infected by Team Rocket's hatred.
"Not a single Cheese person should be left standing! Destroy them all! Hate and hate again!!"
— lmaooooooooo
— S-scary...
— There seems to be more than enough hatred...
— About to awaken the Mangekyo at this rate lmaooo
— No no! What you're lacking is five years at Ah-Sung
— How much more hatred is needed LOL
Watching Udon muttering with eyes nearly bloodshot, the Group B coaches swallowed nervously.
'What on earth happened in Cheese Village?'
'I don't know. Don't want to know.'
'Horrifying.'
While the coaches all chattered like this, one person remained quiet. It was the most trusted coach, Tortilla. Though he was in Group A, he'd been deep in thought while watching the Group B match. The very next match was Group A's, so it wasn't someone else's problem. Would Cheese's Group A suddenly come in with the dispatch strategy too?
'Isn't there a weakness somewhere...'
At that moment, someone's words drifted into his ears.
"No, but with a strategy where just one team is always last... Won’t there be internal strife?"
"Internal strife?"
"One match is fine, but... they're doing this for all five matches, right? If they slip even once..."
"Oh."
Having first decided wasn't a huge stretch. Taking turns for last place distributed the risk somewhat, but if one team was stuck with last place? Everyone else would be too safe, but... what about the last-place team?
"Even one slip and they're in danger of elimination, right?"
They were very vulnerable.
"So... in the next match, they might refuse to be last?"
"There could be some creaking. The dispatched workers actually have more power than you'd think. They monopolize the information."
Tortilla thought there could be a point of attack somewhere here.
Ha...
right."
He looked at the massive whiteboard where he'd drawn the current game's flow.
"Just one. One single crack is all it'll take..."
A few days earlier, Sang-Hyeon had met Sa-Rang over the monitor. This was probably the final meeting about the dispatch strategy. She'd asked a similar question.
"There's a problem with this strategy, you know."
"What..."
Sa-Rang tapped her whiteboard. The rankings were written on it.
"In this plan, who comes last isn't decided."
"Hm? Obviously, the slave team comes last," Sang-Hyeon said as if it were the most obvious thing.
"Dispatched workers get cut first. At Ah-Sung, that's common sense..."
"No."
"It's not?"
"No... that's not the issue. The walkie-talkies' importance is too high."
She pointed at the walkie-talkie drawing. "Like this, Can't Can't Can't's authority will gradually increase. Without Can't Can't Can't, information exchange doesn't work. Asking them to come last every time? That's effectively leaving the fish with the cat."
She was right. Can't Can't Can't would be given far too much authority in exchange for all teams scattering. Given the power structure, a team coming in last every time like that was difficult.
"Sometimes in business, similar things happen. What you thought was the most subordinate position turns out to be the most dominant. Can't Can't Can't could become that."
If they deceived their allies and tried to take first place themselves, the plan could be shaken to its core. She'd even thought about the future.
"How will Can't Can't Can't take being last every time. Some kind of reward needs to come with it."
"Oh. That...! There is a reward."
"How is there a reward when you lose the match?"
Sang-Hyeon knew what she was saying. He would have thought like her in the past. That outside of winning a competition, there was no reward to be received.
If Sang-Hyeon hadn't gone through Cheese Village and hadn't thought about continuing with streaming after the world championship... He would have considered victory to be everything even more firmly than Choi Sa-Rang.
However, the world wasn't like that. More precisely, in this world, there wasn't just one kind of competition.
"Don't worry about that."
Sang-Hyeon's confident attitude slightly flustered Sa-Rang.
"Why?"
"Because..." Sang-Hyeon grinned. "Those people will be rewarded differently."
Beeeeeep!
[Team Can't Can't Can't Out!]
After the entire Can't Can't Can't team was eliminated, they were the only ones among Cheese who entered the waiting room.
AHHHHHH!
How does this even make sense!?"
Zelo was fuming because they'd been the first among Cheese to be eliminated.
"No, aren't these people completely crazy? I never heard it would end like this."
No matter what, nobody had known Can't Can't Can't was locked in for last place from the start. In truth, they'd only thought about killing all of Paprika and never considered what came after. It was a completely slave mindset.
Ding!
[Orochi has donated 100,000 won!]
[Consolation prize]
Ba-ba-ba-bam!
[YoungFun has donated a whopping 300,000 won!]
[Oh dear, poor Zelo, worked so hard lmaooo. Only four more matches to go~]
Ba-ba-ba-ba-bam~!
[GreatAhSung has donated a whopping 1,000,000 won!]
[Upvote if Zelo, who's spent his whole life just gaming and can't get his head around Ah-Sung human-grinding lmaooo~]
"S-stop...!"
A 100,000-won, 300,000-won, and even 1,000,000-won donations rang out in succession. His eyes wavered.
"STOOOOOP! I! I... I'm not! A piece on a chessboard!" he screamed desperately in the face of dirty money and insisted that he wouldn’t submit, even as his mouth smiled.
— How can you say that while smiling LOL
— Beaming lmaooo
— Not a piece, a walkie-talkie.
— ??? I, I'm not a piece! (smiling broadly)
— lmaooooooooooooooooooo
— Smiling so wide lmaooo
— Infinitely weak before money...
"Oh, no! I... I'm angry! I'm very angry! Come console me!"
— lmaooooooooooo
— LOL
— Baby come console me~
— lmaooooo
— So open about it lol
While Zelo was smiling and venting to his viewers, ForeverAlone was also sitting in a corner of the waiting room, talking with his viewers.
"Oh... I was just happy to be Lord Almond's knight, everyone."
— Ugh
— What's wrong with this guy??
— Is he fr?!
— lmaooo...
— Gross Gi-Chan
— I think he’s for real...
New viewers not yet accustomed to ForeverAlone were crying out in pain. Among them were some who got angry and started attacking ForeverAlone through donations.
Ding.
[ThousandPunch has donated 1,000 won.]
[This reminds me of something... When the class loser gets excited all day because the cool kid called their name...]
Ding.
[Okayyy has donated 1,000 won.]
[Feels like the unfunny guy who memorized the one time a gag of his worked and has been repeating it for a month?]
Ding.
[TrainingTank has donated 1,000 won.]
[How heartwarming that the viewers here are sharing their school day stories ^^]
— lmaooooooooooooooooooo
— LOL
— The most efficient thousand-won punches...
— Too much hahaha
— lmaooooo
— Hey this is the room where you roast Gi-Chan...
— Why are you suddenly coming for us?!
While ForeverAlone warmly exchanged post-game anecdotes like this, his total donation amount gently and gracefully climbed.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
— So many thousand-won punches lmaooo
— Compound interest!
— How many hits is he taking lmaooo
— Having grown up as a real class loser, tanking thousand-won punches is legendary LOL
For some reason, the more ForeverAlone got smacked with a thousand won, the slightly brighter his expression became.
"Ah~ stop doing that~."
It wasn't just ForeverAlone and Zelo. Bubblegum, Acorn Jelly, and even Choco Shroom were laughing while angry.
"No, they suddenly aimed guns at me!"
"Perfect! What-the-hell..."
AHHHHH!
I tried to run, but that fox Miho!"
They could laugh while throwing out rough words.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Donations were exploding constantly.
'This...'
Zelo watched the other members' donations exploding too.
'Something's not right. This isn't a coincidence.'
As expected of a top streamer, he was quick to catch on. He figured out the principle in no time.
'Oh, I see!?'
He realized that the Lord had secretly planned to stab Can't Can't Can't in the back, but had also secretly prepared a gift.
'Donation time gap!'
During the competition, the donation function was shut off. Most importantly, the AI filtering was at maximum intensity, so chat and communication were generally difficult. Simple cheering, exclamations, or swear words were about all that was possible. Donations could only be received after being eliminated.
'When the team is winning... our time to receive donations is the longest!'
Who had the longest such time? It was Can't Can't Can't. This was effectively regulating other streamers while only lifting restrictions for Can't Can't Can't.
'Everyone cheering for Cheese will inevitably come to us...!'
Even money that would otherwise go elsewhere was all flowing to Can't Can't Can't. Literally, this gave them a golden moment to shower in money.
Ba-ba-bam!
Ba-bam~!
In the Can't Can't Can't waiting room, donation notifications kept ringing. ForeverAlone, Acorn Jelly, and Choco Shroom were simply excited. The experienced streamers like Bubblegum and Zelo made eye contact.
'Next time... should we die faster, Bubblegum?'
'That's my specialty, Zelo.'

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