Chapter 155
Win-It-Back, with six teams participating, gives each team captain 1,000 points.
The main draw of Win-It-Back is using those 1,000 points to auction off the remaining 30 participants and select their teammates.
Being picked with a high bid means that your skill is being recognized, so everyone hoped they wouldn't go unsold. But as the seasons passed, the streamers came to understand the fundamental structure of the auction system.
Ultimately, what mattered wasn't your individual value, but your team's victory.
The lower the number of points you were bought for, the stronger your teammates would be.
Because of the system's limitation, where you had to undervalue yourself as much as possible to gain an advantage in selecting teammates later, it was difficult to say that everyone was doing their best for the upcoming showcase.
There were several unofficial scrims held over roughly a week to gauge everyone's overall skill before the team auction.
Still, trusting that everyone would do their best as streamers, the third day of the showcase arrived.
“Nice to meet-swallow! Nice to meet-swallow! I'm Kariri...!”
“Welco—badger? Is this how you say it?”
“Yes, yes, hehe. Welcome-badger!”
“Wow, Win-It-Back's first-ever VTuber participant, whom we'd only heard rumors about! This is a truly historic moment.”
“Nice to meet you, Kariri. This Win-It-Back selected quite a lot of new faces.”
“You're quieter than the rumors made you sound. Were you always like this? You seemed completely different in the video donation.”
“Ahaha, yeeeah... I'm kind of an armchair warlord type... You know what I mean, right?”
“Hahaha, I get the feeling.”
Unlike on her stream, Kariri had holed up in a corner of the waiting room, quietly holding up her camera and chatting with her viewers.
-Why is she acting so timid?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-What kind of concept is this supposed to be?
-Is our Kariri an introvert?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Mom believes in you, Kariri~
-She's going to transform again as soon as the game starts. Don't fall for it.
-Kariri is cute
“Because I have to work hard today and change people's opinion of Kariri!”
Despite being in the relatively high tier of Platinum 3, Kariri had been bought for a mere five points in the mock auction held on the first day. She had barely managed to avoid going unsold.
Part of the reason was that the character she had chosen to play used the obscure Wolverine Claw weapon, and her playstyle of communicating with none of her teammates was naturally something people wanted to avoid.
The viewers sent Kariri words of comfort, saying that the result was only to be expected.
“What are you all talking about! That's the whole point of my concept...! I don't play like that in team games, either. I'll listen to the callouts, okay?”
-Kariri, did you say that after looking at your average deaths?
-Kariri, the shamelessㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-An average of 15 deaths? Are you seriously going to die all day long?
-You can do it, fighting!
“I wonder if that person will come today, too?”
“Oh, right. They said they were coming on the third day.”
It was obvious who the streamers who had arrived first were whispering about, even without asking.
The Priest, who had been considered the most unpredictable presence in the mock auction.
Sometimes someone would throw down 800 of the 1,000 points first, while at other times her popularity would suddenly plummet and she would be bought for only 350 points.
Everyone seemed to agree that she was good at the game, but the range of her bids was so extreme that it was difficult to predict.
With everyone's combat power reduced to 50,000, no one could easily decide whether it was worth spending so many points on a single healer.
And that question would be settled in today's showcase.
[NoName has entered DGD#3.]
No sooner had the clock struck the hour than NoName entered the waiting room.
NoName drew so much attention that every streamer's camera view turned toward her.
What drew particular attention was her main avatar.
She was a streamer who had kept using the minimum-age avatar, which had enjoyed a brief burst of popularity early in the capsule rollout but was now avoided by everyone because of its limited field of view.
The fact that she was only fourteen was even an encouraging sign for the streaming industry.
“The protagonist always enters last.”
Several people nodded faintly, as if agreeing with what one man had said.
“Hello.”
The innocent voice of a child echoed strangely, as though it had a built-in echo microphone.
Just like the others, cameras floated around NoName as well, proving that she was a bona fide streamer.
-Middle schooler incoming!!!!!
-Game over! Arrest them all under the Child Youth Sexual Protection Act!
└ What are you arresting them for? Are you not going to play the game?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-NoName! NoName! NoName! NoName! NoName!
-Eighteen-year-old Kariri, fourteen-year-old NoName! My heart is swelling with pride!
└ If we're talking about chests, isn't it the other way around... Ah, that's enough!
└ Ahemㅋㅋㅋ Watch what you say.
-Show them your hard carry, NoName
-Straight to LoL scrims after this? You're insanely busy.
-A day when we can watch NoName's stream all day is a rare thing, too.
It was late Friday afternoon, at the end of an exhausting week.
Even more people had gathered than for the official showcase tournament held on Wednesday, and the streamers were busy raising their energy and stoking the public's excitement.
“You're only playing one game today?”
“Yes, but I'll play two more each on Saturday and Sunday.”
“Oh dear, what happens if the most talked-about person in Win-It-Back has participated in the fewest showcases? This auction won't be easy.”
NoName was barely satisfying the condition that she participate in at least five showcase games before the day of the auction.
But the LoL Fall Tournament scrims were in full swing, so everyone seemed to understand that it couldn't be helped.
“Then let's have the busy people enter the first game!”
Following the unofficial showcase coordinator's instructions, twelve streamers entered the arena one after another.
* * *
“Yo! Nice to meet-swallow!”
“Ah, hello. Nice to see you again, Kariri.”
“NoName!”
“Yes?”
“Why did you ignore every message I sent you! Did you block me?”
“I'll leave that to your imagination.”
“Gasp, what? It was true?”
Somehow, Kariri and I had ended up on the same team in Win-It-Back again.
Unexpectedly, Kariri apologized for her rudeness the previous time and encouraged us to do well in this tournament, referring to the incident where she had bombarded me with messages.
“But I wanted to do a collab with NoName that badly!”
“We're not at the point where we can do that yet. Honestly, it would be uncomfortable.”
“Oh, I'm fine with it!”
“No, I mean I'd be uncomfortable.”
“Aha!”
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-You really can't predict her at allㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Isn't she just fucking crazy?
-That's just her conceptㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Kariri is still offering collabs these days.
-I'm glad she still seems so cheerful.
-Is this team composition right? One tank, and of all things, an Assassin?
└ Kariri's the tank? She's an Assassin—shouldn't she be dealing damage?
└ Yeah, she put all her traits into tanking, so technically she's a tank for now.
-Tank Assassinㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Even the words make it sound completely useless.
-If the tank hides, how are we supposed to team-fight?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Luna Pavillis vs Gizelle Phoenix]
[Map: Remnant Academy]
[Luna Pavillis has joined your team.]
[Capture the objective to secure the advantage.]
“Let's split into groups of three.”
“Yep. Is Kariri going with NoName?”
“Yep, yep! I'll go with NoName!”
“It'd be best to send three damage dealers to capture the objective quickly. You three, stall with one tank, one damage dealer, and one healer until just before they join up.”
“Then I'll follow NoName, since I put out the most burst damage.”
Quick, concise callouts were already flying back and forth before the game had even started.
It was a sight you wouldn't normally see in a normal or ranked game.
Their tiers might not have been particularly high, but they were all people who loved the game and had devoted a great deal of time to it.
We were tasked with securing the side objectives while preventing them from taking the central objective.
I entered the dark castle with Kariri and a streamer who went by Brownie.
[Can everyone who went to point B hear me clearly?]
“Yes, we can hear you loud and clear, Yongcheol.”
“Loud and clear!”
[Oh, Kariri's voice is so spirited! Ah, right, hehe. Brownie, do you know how old Kariri is?]
We exchanged voice comms with the people who had gone to Area A.
Since it wasn't time to encounter the enemy yet, we had a brief moment to relax.
“Come to think of it, how old are you, Kariri? I heard you're a high school student...?”
“Kariri is 3,004 years old!”
“What? 3,004 years old?”
[Wahahahahaha!]
“Who’s laughing over there! Whoever’s laughing!”
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Were you born in BCE?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-3,004 years oldㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is what VTubers are supposed to be likeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is dizzyingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“Hehe, but what's with the detail, Kariri? Why add four years to 3,000?”
“This is just how VTubers are...! If you dig too deep, you'll get hurt! If you laugh, Brownie, I'll scratch you up too!”
Ah, so this was what it was like.
Since this was a virtual-reality world where everyone used avatars, I had wondered whether there was any real point in distinguishing VTubers from everyone else.
And that question had just been answered perfectly.
She was simply a monster who had been devoured by her own concept.
“Do honey badgers really live that long?”
I was curious too, so I asked.
“Uh... Honey badgers have a lifespan of about eight years, but... I'm the king of all honey badgers!”
[Ahahahahahaha]
“So you were a dictator for 3,000 years? Impressive.”
Under Brownie's relentless questioning, Kariri looked increasingly flustered.
“You could say that...!”
“Then why don't you become king again? Is it okay for a king to leave his throne vacant for this long?”
“Ah... I was overthrown! The Great Revolution! The guillotine!”
“The guillotine?”
-The French Revolution, that's fucking crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-What kind of world could that place be...?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is fucking hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Her mask is starting to slip.
-Emergency!!!!!!!!
-It's impressive that she's trying to stick to the concept all the way to the end, at least.
-She's really good at playing alongㅋㅋㅋ
Fwoosh-
While we were laughing and chatting, an archer's deadly shot came flying in.
Ping-
The arrow struck Kariri's shoulder head-on and instantly cut her health in half.
“Eh... Wha! Why did I lose so much health? I'm a tank!”
“You must have been hit from maximum range. But even so, that did way too much damage.”
“You son of a bitch, I'll track you down and make crocodile chow out of you!”
“Wait!”
Kariri launched herself forward before she could even think.
Ignoring even the healing I sent her, she charged toward the enemy lines as though her life depended on it.
“Damn, let's hurry after her, NoName!”
“This really isn't easy.”
Please let us not get matched on the same team again later.