Commander Election on the Grand Server (4)
“Everyone, thank you for coming. I called you all here because of something urgent.” I spoke with complete confidence. I had so much to say, but I had to hold it in. If I sprinted ahead alone, the others wouldn’t be able to keep up. I needed to raise the mood slowly. Yeah.
“Before we start, does anyone have an agenda item?”
“I do!! I have one.” Joseph shot up onto the table.
“Go ahead… speak.”
“Our first agenda item: how much sand has Seon-a mined? I already heard the news.”
“…Tch. Well. I mined a lot.” How did Joseph even know? I really did mine a ton at first… but after that, I stopped. Of course, I had a perfectly good reason. The viewers had been teaching me the virtues of a commander, so… I’d simply been studying what suited me.
“How much exactly?”
“…I think I filled my inventory twice.”
“Hmm. By that standard, I must have done it a hundred times. Holding such a good pickaxe and only doing it twice is a bit much, don’t you think?”
“Ah. Let me be clear. If we’re counting the pickaxe, I only did about half of that!! I focused on mining sand, after all.”
“…Hand over the shovel and pickaxe.” Joseph walked toward me. Pressured, I passed him the pickaxe and shovel Moddeok had lent me.
“We’ll take care of it from here. Seon-a, go play. Run around the world to your heart’s content.”
“Yes…!! Then, is there a second agenda item?”
It was completely silent. No one spoke. In that case, I could finally say it.
“Who’s going to take command of our war effort?”
“Pfft.” Maem suddenly burst out laughing.
“Maem, you’re disqualified.”
“W-why?!”
“You’re not serious enough. A general who isn’t serious will get all her soldiers killed. You fall under the ‘diligent but scatterbrained’ type among the four kinds of generals. Scatterbrain.”
Failing to control your scatterbrained nature in such a serious situation meant you lacked the virtues of a commander.
“Next, Joseph. You’re a good person, but too rigid. Rigid diligence. Rigid-brain. Next, Moddeok. You’re an angel, so you can’t fight. Raming… you’re in charge of supplies. And the two new members… you still haven’t adapted yet…”
“Hold on.” Moddeok cut me off.
“Yes? What is it?”
“You just want to do it yourself, Seon-a. Isn’t that what this is? Looking at how you’re eliminating everyone… hmm.”
“Noo… I was just offering my opinion… We’re a team!! No attacking allowed. I’m flustered, so flustered. Extremely flustered.”
If she cornered me like that, I wouldn’t be able to say anything!! I had only presented a perfectly reasonable opinion. I had no desire for honor… well, maybe a little. Not none at all, but I was also good at yielding. If I was lacking, I was perfectly willing to hand over full command. Our team’s victory came first. My personal greed came second. It absolutely had to be that way!!
Looking at the chat, I realized it was my fault. Right. A lack of communication. That wasn’t what I had meant to say at all. But if this was how they felt… I had to explain myself. There was always a gap between what I wanted to say and how the listener received it. I had learned that clearly while streaming. Especially during collabs. Watching people twist my words and corner me was genuinely maddening. I had built up some resistance by now, but it used to be really hard.
“I’ll accept any genuine opinions. So let’s vote!! Uh, let’s vote for the commander. We’ll vote. Okay.”
“Will the vote be secret? Is there any chance of vote rigging?”
“Raming… my friend Raming. You don’t trust Seon-a?”
“I trust her. But the others don’t know her, do they?”
“Ah… you don’t trust Joseph?”
“I trust him~!!”
“Good. Then what about Moddeok?”
“90%?”
“Good.” I asked everyone. Thankfully, the officers trusted me. Yeah. We were connected by a strong bond of trust!!
So we held the vote. Everyone wrote the candidate’s name and one line explaining their choice on a piece of paper and submitted it to me.
“I’ll read mine first. I recommend Seon-a. When else is Seon-a ever going to get to be commander!! If not now, she never will!!”
Suddenly, everyone burst out laughing. What? What was going on? I was genuinely flustered. Still, I couldn’t let myself get flustered and ask. I had to push forward with dignity.
“Next. Seon-a. That’s two votes!! Reason is just… yep. Next is… Seon-a. Because she’s my friend!! Ooh!! Nice. Next, Joseph… because I think she’ll do well… who wrote this? We never said the vote was secret. Maem?”
“Uh… uh-huh… uh. Well… no. I, I just wanted to stand out…”
“Really? Well, it’s 3 to 1 now, so okay.”
“Pheheheheh. Thank goodness.”
“Continuing. Seon-a. She has the best leadership. Next, Seon-a. She’s funny. 5 to 1… I guess that’s it. Seon-a is elected!! Elected!! Just to be sure, I’ll keep reading. Next, Moddeok. She’s kind. Got it.”
So this was public opinion. I had been elected. Well, I wasn’t going to refuse. When else would I ever get to be commander? I had to try it at least once. Life really was unpredictable. Me, who had always been stuck as a foot soldier… becoming commander!!
“Thank you, everyone. I’m really going to work hard. I’ll study tactics.”
Surrounded by everyone’s warm welcome, I became commander.
“Then I’ll study strategy and tactics like crazy and come back. You all just do the grinding. I’ll do my best as your commander.”
Minecraft was an incredible game. Who would have thought someone would make a capture-the-flag mode in Minecraft? It really felt like a proper siege battle. Unfortunately, as the newly elected commander, I didn’t get to shine much—and there was a reason for that. Since it felt like an FPS, the people who were actually good at FPS ended up giving the orders. I had imagined something like Total War, where I’d draw up grand strategies and soldiers would charge in waves, but that wasn’t how it worked at all. I had watched so many YouTube videos thinking it would be like Total War, and it was a shame I couldn’t use any of it.
“Nice!!”
The war ended in our victory. I did contribute, in my own way. You couldn’t say I didn’t do anything. The team cheered me on a lot. Encouraged me. Praised me. I had clearly demonstrated the most important quality of a general: character. But it still felt incredibly disappointing. The tactics I had studied—winning against 10,000 with only 100. Concentrated firepower tactics. Ambush attacks from mountain cover. Samurai seppuku tactics. Medieval tank… heavy cavalry operation methods. Rapid cavalry tactics to conquer Europe. I had studied so hard, but I couldn’t use a single one. If I had known from the start that the war would be Minecraft capture-the-flag, I wouldn’t have studied at all. I had watched and re-watched so many videos… even made a strategy notebook. And now none of it was useful.
“What a waste.”
“Why?”
“I studied tactics so hard… I even wrote everything down in a notebook… but I couldn’t use any of it.”
“Ahahaha. Ah!! Then how about that war game?”
“I studied while watching that.”
“Ah. Then play that. Go play it there.” Maem gave me some solid advice. Hmm… should I? But that game looked really hard just from watching.
“It’s hard, though.”
“Hmm… I’ve never played it, so I wouldn’t know.”
“Tch…”
In times like this, glancing at the chat was the best move.
Something about reading the chat made the rebellious streak deep in my heart start to rise. But at the same time, the fragile Seon-a also began to surface. It was like being tempted by both a devil and an angel.
“Um… Ah! Maem.”
I was actually… a pretty smart person, maybe…!! How could this be? I was growing too!!
“Yeah?”
“You said you’ve never played it either, right?”
“Yeah… I’ve never tried it.”
“Then let’s play together!! I just had an idea. Want to hear it?”
“Uh… yeah…”
“I’ll be the commander, and you’ll be the vice-commander. We’ll plan strategies and tactics together!!”
War games could naturally be paused. You had to think while playing, after all. Or was there multiplayer? It sounded fun if we did it together.
“Uh… um… heheheh.”
“Why?”
“Just… I laughed…”
“So why did you laugh?”
“Uh… because the laugh came out?”
“Good job. Will you do it?”
“Um… can you give me time to think?”
Time to think. That… that wouldn’t work.
“No. I’m going to do it right after Minecraft ends. I’ll listen to songs tomorrow and install the game right away. I’m too disappointed by this war, so I have to play it.”
“Uh… ah, I don’t think I can… I have a collab scheduled then. So, the day after tomorrow.”
“Right. That’s a shame.”
I was a cool person. If she couldn’t? Okay. That could happen. I was understanding.
“Uh… it’s really okay, right?”
“Yeah. It’s fine. I’ll just find someone else!! It’s really okay. See you later!!”
Since Maem seemed uncomfortable, I left. I might not have much sense, but I was learning. If Maem laughed? Positive situation. If Maem didn’t laugh? Negative situation. I knew everything I needed to know.
In that case… who should I ask?
I wandered around the cathedral.
“Um… I do want to, but…”
I stopped reading the chat. How long was I going to keep looking for Maru and Moddeok? Besides, Maru and Moddeok were busy people. They weren’t streamers I could just call whenever I wanted.
“Seon-a, what are you doing?”
“Raming. It’s Raming!! My friend Raming!!”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Do you know Total War?”
“Of course. I’ve played the whole series.”
“Ooh!! Let’s play together.”
“Ah~ You’re disappointed you couldn’t use your strategies and tactics, huh. When are you playing?”
“Right after Minecraft ends… the day after tomorrow?”
“The day after tomorrow?”
As expected of my friend Raming. She understood instantly.
“Yeah. You’re amazing, as always.”
“What’s with the sudden formal speech?”
“Hmm… let’s do it together.”
I was human too… I couldn’t help it. With Maem, our levels were similar, so I could ask for a collab without any pressure. But Raming was different. She was a mid-tier streamer, so I felt self-conscious. Raming and the viewers might not realize it, but it had taken real courage for me to say that.
“Um… okay. Tell me which one.”
“Really? Really?”
“Yeah. But I’m good at it. You okay with that?”
“Of course!! Then let’s do it then!! I’m really looking forward to it. Hehe.”