Replay Clips and the Goose Mafia Game
Today's replay game is the one where citizen geese hunt down and kill the mafia ducks. The reverse works too. Basically just a Mafia game. I'm not great at these kinds of games. Since I'm terrible at lying, it always puts me at a disadvantage. The one saving grace is that everyone joining our team for this collab is... pretty much the same level as me. That means I can play a little more comfortably. They tend to be forgiving about "gal-tong" behavior—the catch-all term for stupid deductions, stupid moves, and all that nonsense. If I pulled that kind of thing in a big-company collab, though... I'd be in serious trouble.
"Hello everyone~ Welcome in."
Anyway, I started the stream early because I had something to take care of before the collab. Watching tournament replays. I didn't really do much during the event, so there wasn't a ton to see, but plenty of clips had been uploaded to the cafe, so we decided to watch them together. I greeted my viewers with a smile.
I've come a long way in terms of numbers too. For the first time during the tournament, I hit 500 viewers for three straight days without any help from anyone. Really... not piggybacking off someone's waiting room, not riding anyone's coattails... purely on my own strength.
I was growing so much. Of course, when I compared myself to others... it still felt a little lacking. Some people gained a thousand viewers just by performing well in the tournament... By that standard, my growth was tiny... but if I kept comparing like that, there'd be no end to it. Yeah... I'm doing fine.
"Aja aja!!" I cheered myself on.
As long as I kept this pace, I'd be okay. I was maintaining my momentum well.
"Huh? No, it's not like that! We're doing a collab today... I'll do my best!!"
I hadn't really expected anything from the tournament in the first place. Now that it was over, I could say it honestly. With a dishwashing-tier player, a bottom-tier player, and a tanker making their first tournament appearance... expecting a win? That would've been way too greedy. Honestly... getting first in damage was a realistic dream, wasn't it? I'd thought so. Yeah. But I knew the other stuff was just a dream. Even I could figure that much out... They really thought I was an idiot.
"Anyway, should we watch some clips until the collab starts? There were a ton on the cafe!!"
Being good at reacting was an important skill for a streamer. The channels that reacted deliciously to everything succeeded no matter what. Even the most ordinary things became genuinely entertaining when a reaction master handled them. I was already looking forward to it. Really looking forward to it. Let's see... where should I start?
I clicked on the first video. The title was "Big Ham Seon-a~!!!!!!!" I was already excited.
"Ehehehe. What could it be?"
This reaction gem was from Moddeok. She'd been my opponent... and ended up winning the whole thing. Envious. Anyway, Moddeok had seen me pick Ena and shouted, "Big Ham Seon-a~~~~~~!!!!!!!!! You're here!!" It was a four-second clip. Hilarious. It really was funny!!
"Ehehe. Nice!"
The next video was titled "Seon-a, You T Bastard?" The title was so brutal I had to click it. This one was a minute and twenty seconds long.
"Hic... Hng... I'm sorry. I couldn't do it... I could've done better... Hng... Hic hic."
It was Maem's screen. Ah! Right. That's right. Maem had basically thrown the game, gotten completely wiped, and then cried her eyes out.
"Hic... If I'd just done a little better... Hng hng..."
"No, you did great. We all did well."
Geunja was patting her back.
"Maem, ma'am."
My voice came through.
"Yes? Hic hic... I'm sorry... I'm A-tier but I performed the worst... Hng hng hng..."
"Maem, are you crying in three panels right now? If you cry in three panels, I'll donate."
"Huh? Hic hic..."
"Crying is how your gender makes money in this industry. You have to cry in three panels to earn donations. Do it in three panels right now!"
"Hng hng hng hihihihng hng hng... R-really..."
"Hurry up!! You're already in the negatives. Minus five thousand, minus ten thousand, minus fifty thousand."
"Huh... I said that?"
"Why would I cry? I wasn't sad."
Crying just because we lost would be weird. Maem's situation was special... She threw the game, so she was crying as a form of reflection. I don't cry just because we lost. But watching it like this... I really was a T, huh. If I thought about it again in that situation... First, "Are you okay?" to break the ice, then "Tears are gone" to comfort her, and finally a touching line like "We did great" and "Let's team up again and win next time." Whoa!!! What was I? What was I? What the heck was I?
People are creatures that grow. Creatures that grow!! Now I was Seon-a who could even show empathy. Who could stop me!! Who could stop me, I said!!
"Ehehehehe. Next."
My mood had improved. What's next? "Geun-geun-geun's Overall Review." This was probably from Maru. Last time I dropped into her stream, she was seriously immersed in some weird game that looked like it was made in the 2010s. The graphics were those old-school ones with huge eyes and half-finished art style, but she was really into it. I remembered hearing her say "This trashy bitch" in her own voice and immediately leaving. She really had a talent for finding the strangest games. If someone asked me to pick the person whose on-stream and off-stream personalities were the most different... Maru would take first place. Off-stream she was incredibly kind, feminine, and had an excellent personality, but the moment she started streaming... she turned into someone with rabies. Completely unhinged.
"Let's watch this one!"
I clicked on the forty-five-second video. It was definitely Maru.
"Ah, should I dye my hair blue? I'm feeling like dyeing it. Or maybe red... What do you think? Huh? Oh, the tournament? I watched it. Our Seon-a... I saw her on screen, but she was just staring at the map the whole time. Is that how the game is played? She spent the entire day just looking at the map... That's actually a game, right?"
Urk... She's right. But it was fun. Even if I was just staring at the map, it was fun. Sometimes when my character got a kill, I'd say stuff like "How's that cannon shot taste?" and it felt genuinely thrilling.
"That was fun to watch."
"Fighting with viewers... How would I know!!" Why were they suddenly asking me that!! I don't know either. I was startled. There must've been a reason she fought. It could've been content... Anyway, yeah.
"Let's move on to the next one!"
I'd been genuinely surprised. The next video was titled "My Friend Seon-a Got Wiped lol." I clicked it. This one's main character was Raming.
"My friend can't win even once and keeps losing everything. Augh... Let's win just once. Can I look at the screen? Is it okay if I look? Just once...? Wait, why is this room like this?"
The video showed chat messages flooding in. It really had been no joke back then.
"Big Ham. Big Seon-a. We must worship her. Hahaha. Damage-dealer Seon-a is different. This round is different. Everyone's thinking the same as me. Let's win just one round. Really. I feel bad for her. How can you get wiped without winning even once? Is that right? You have to win at least once."
But contrary to everyone's hopes, we didn't win even a single round—one set—and got completely wiped. Couldn't be helped. This one had two videos. I clicked the next one too.
"Wait, you actually got wiped with zero wins? This isn't right. How are you right now...? Huh... You're laughing? You're smiling? This is what being first-rate looks like?"
Ah, I was smiling? Honestly, I didn't remember. I really had been smiling. Why?
"I really was smiling. Why was I smiling? Guys, why was I smiling?"
"T... You're right. I'm a T. Ehehehe."
"Ehehe. How did you know? Hehe."
Right. That was exactly what I wanted to say. Now... should I watch something else? Next wasn't a video. The title was "What on Earth Does This Person Do?" It was a collection of Pyeongjipja's chat messages, not a video.
No... No way... I was so shocked I couldn't speak. This was what she was like? Where did all those pretty chats go... Why... I needed an explanation. Pyeongjipja needed to explain herself.
"You copy-pasted it... Really? Then why did you copy-paste it?"
"Really? I believe you? I'll believe you this time..."
Because Pyeongjipja was usually so diligent and exemplary, I decided to... yeah, believe her just this once. Right. Pyeongjipja was a good person. She fought for me. That had to be it. It had to be. I scratched my eyebrow and moved on to the next post. There were so many piled up that it really took forever. I hadn't expected it to take three whole hours. Reacting like this was genuinely exhausting work. It really drained all my energy. Drained me dry.
I spent the time until the collab just streaming normally and waiting.
When collab time arrived, I joined the Discord and found nine people already there. I logged in quietly. The moment I connected, my teammates and even people I didn't know greeted me.
"Hello~"
"Welcome."
"Hai~"
"Uh... uh. Hello!"
This was embarrassing. I hadn't expected them to greet me like that.
"Since it looks like everyone's here, shall we get started?"
Huh? I was last...? Oh no. I didn't know. I really didn't. But I came three minutes early...? Wow... I came three minutes early and still came in last? These people were seriously diligent. We started the game right away. First, of course, was the audio test. Everyone gathered to greet each other while testing their audio. This was genuinely important work. I focused with all my sincerity.
"Seon-a."
"Ah! Yes. Hello. This is Seon-a. Hello everyone!"
"Has everyone done it? Anyone who hasn't?"
"All done."
"I'm finished too."
Everyone finished the audio check together. Now it was time to start the game. In the first round... the Sheriff appeared among the citizens. In the goose world, that was basically the police. Mwahahaha! I... was the people's staff. All the ducks (mafia) were dead!
"Here I go. An elite goose who graduated from the police academy is coming through."
I searched my surroundings for suspicious ducks. Every time I looked around, the same thought came to mind... That goose looks suspicious. They all looked suspicious. Suspicious? Ah! Then I could stop them. Why? Because I was the Sheriff. Right. Yeah. I was the Sheriff.
"You there, stop... I'm conducting a search. If you don't listen, I'll send you straight to the chicken factory."