A Fool Who Can Only Grow (3)
There are gold-handed geniuses in the world, and benefactors too. I tried it all full of vim and vigor, but I was the fool. I had no clue how to set up a server. I'm no computer whiz, so... it was total gibberish to me. Couldn't open the server... didn't know how to launch a Minecraft server, so I burned a ton of electricity trying. My relief pitcher, the Flat Editor... she'd never set up a Mark server either, so no dice. Burned even more electricity... and then, lo and behold, a benefactor appeared.
Username: Moon Mille Nium Mon. Said they named it 'cause they're a huge Digimon fan. Anyway, they work in the game industry, so they know their stuff. They'd opened a Mark server with friends out of boredom before. No reason to doubt 'em, obviously. Moon Mille set up the server for me. We capped it at 10 players. The max I could handle? The limit of what I could wrangle.
I was gonna do it real random, for real. But since it was a fan meetup, no helping it.
"Thank you so much! Thank you!"
Viewers showered me with donations. It was just one game session together... and the competition hit 35:1. I swear, I wanted pure random, but public opinion wouldn't have it. For real. No guilty conscience here.
"And these are our winners!"
I threw everyone who'd donated 1,000 won or more into a roulette... spun it, picked 10. Once selected... just send 'em the server login info, right? Argh... such a hassle. Dizzying. So dizzy. Someone do this for me...! Doing it myself is making me queasy.
"Anyone wanna be... manager? Special spot for one super-organized viewer! Raise your hand!! Brag about your credentials!!"
Handed it off to a viewer. Copied this straight-up. Saw it on Moteok's fan channel—not her official YouTube. "Letting a Viewer Be Captain and Take the Heat." Moteok's the queen of sneaky tricks. Delegates responsibility to viewers, lets them eat the hate... ultimate loophole master.
So... this wild story I heard from a friend way back. In the old slave days... the way masters efficiently controlled black slaves was by making one black slave the overseer. Blew my mind. Wait... shouldn't they all escape together...? Why's the slave climbing over the others? But later... I got it, the overseer's mindset. Once you're overseer, you only answer to the master, right? Everyone else is beneath you. How superior does that feel? Pure bliss? Basically becoming the slaves' master. Human nature, revealed.
Slave trade's long gone, everyone's got rights in the 21st century, and Moteok pulls off a modern slave system. I was impressed. So I'm trying it too. It's a copy, so if it flops, blame Moteok...!!
"Huh? Who're you?"
Eh? What the...? Never seen this person before. I know all my angelic heavy chatters... my big donors... even the toxic Jjangs, I've got 'em memorized. Not on purpose—they just stuck. But this username? Total stranger.
What gives? When...?
"Who are you? Ssang Gi-sa, who even are you?"
"Long time what?! I got all my chat angels memorized... even anon donations show usernames to me, y'know? Got 'em all down... but... never seen you!!"
Aggro? Oh, it was aggro? Thought it was legit!! Making me paranoid? Infuriating!!
"Ssang Gi-sa gets the captain band. Fail and the Jjangs... cheer 'em on!!"
Crime of startling me. Pay dearly!!
Lotsa jealous angels. Hmm... pity looking at chat. Heart aches. But aching's aching... can't be helped. Can't baby every sad case or I'll crumble. Sad is sad. No is no.
"Alright, let's kick it off. Captain, round up all the viewers."
"Huh? Resign where?!"
Damn... played. Total aggro bait!!
"No... wasn't me, temp ban! Temp banning!!"
So infuriated I temp-banned 'em. Still fuming post-ban... rage boiling. How'd I fall for it...? Ugh. Infuriating... but positive thoughts. Always positive... positive.
"Grew again!! Won't fall for aggro!!"
Yeah, grew again. Never again. No more low-tier aggro. I clenched my fist, vowed it. Right. Resigned is resigned... pick a new one. Annoying, but eyed the chat.
"Me? No way."
Eh? For real? When? Never happened. Why? Never done homework. School days? Only mobile games. Cram school galore... grades trash. Anyway, no studying back then... ah... oh. That's it.
"Never did homework in school. Liar! More aggro? Naughty!!"
Aggro. Think I'd fall twice? Just grew! But... if I hadn't known I skipped homework in HS, might've second-guessed... close call. Aggro runs wild, problem is... now chat's... "Long time!" "Hey Sena!" "Sena, wassup!" "S of C starts with..." Ugh... ugh... tried punishing aggro, overwhelmed.
"Grew... again..."
Won't touch what I can't handle. Aggro's beyond me... hate it, infuriating... ngh.
Aggro too intense, captain spot left vacant, hopped into Mark. Realized my level today. 5's perfect. 10's chaos.
Weirdos everywhere. What do I do? Moteok handled it fine. How? Ugh... didn't expect this. Moteok's viewers were angels. Listened well. Why's mine like this?
"Jjgham. Ignore haters who nitpick during games. We got Zang Partisans, right? Yup yup."
"Ooh!"
That line was cool. Cool angel.
"What's 'ooh'? Snap out of it, Jjanga. Gotta cull those losers to climb higher. Remember, your potential's 10k viewers min."
"Ooh!"
Cool line too. Punchy wisdom. Like a loyal retainer's final advice. While admiring... Jjangs protesting louder.
Dozen or so, nauseating. No choice... wield power.
"From now, weird-talking Jjangs get server-banned. Reroll?"
Protesters finally quiet. How's that? Authoritative? Cool? Epic? Uhuhu. Epic, right? Shocked ya? Uhahaha!
"Finally quiet. Let's start! We're gonna...!"
Ngh. Stop. Got nothing prepped. Stop!!
"Uh... so... um..."
Panicking, words failing. Lips dry. Longer I stall... bigger their hype. But nothing prepped. Really nothing. Just said Mark for bonding. No content plan. Growth attempt. Swear?
"Fan meeting, so..."
What do fan meets do? Hm... no idea. Tilted head right... left, pondering. What'd be good? Ah! Fan meeting!
"Ah! Right!! Gift for first to get diamonds!"
Fan meets do autographs! But VTuber. Can't sign. So gift instead. Thought of that too. I'm the growth god. Hihit.
"Gift time!"
Huh? Where'd they go? What? Whole crowd vanished?
"Hey? Where to?"
Minus a couple, all bolted. Hey. Didn't hear the gift? Wait. Didn't plan what. Was gonna poll Jjangs, but solo decide? Guys?