Burying One Person Is No Big Deal (1)

It was already shocking to hear that a 100,000-subscriber YouTuber was my fan. But that wasn't the end of it. There was a next target. Ronze, a pro gamer from the Night of Legend second team.

“Ah. Yes… Yes? Created it?”

“Nope.” No, I didn’t create any meta. I just played Aegipola. I nagged Komari multiple times that day to actually play the game properly. Why on earth is that something to thank me for? The sudden weight of everyone’s expectations made me want to bolt. I was chewing my lip when another voice popped up without warning.

“Uh. Um.”

I had assumed Maru or Komari would help me out in a situation like this. But it seemed all the times I had cheerfully slammed them with cold hard facts were now returning as karma. Maru shouted at the top of her lungs as if she had been waiting for this exact moment.

Wait, wait, wait. Something has gone very wrong here. Why does everyone act like they already know me? I’m not that famous. I’m just Parallel’s internal-use Mazia proxy. Because I kept standing there speechless, Komari finally spoke up.

So?

In other words, all eleven people here knew exactly who I was. Everyone knew me, and on top of that…

Most of them spoke as if they held rather high expectations for me. I only realized their intentions thanks to the boss, but it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠too complicated to explain right now. The person who had gathered the party was Ronze. The person who had invited me was Maru. Somehow this made it feel like I was the main character. I had not wanted this kind of atmosphere at all.

Thirty minutes earlier.

Ronze was a second-team pro gamer for the ATX organization in the Night of Legend pro league. He had always been moderately interested in VTubers, and the recent proliferation of domestic VTuber agencies including Parallel had been a golden opportunity for him. In any industry, once corporations appear, popularization naturally follows, the user base grows, and the culture itself evolves to capture that audience. As a result, attractive VTubers who didn’t clash too much with Korean sensibilities began to appear or become corporate-backed. Ronze, who had already enjoyed the Japanese VTuber scene but felt frustrated by the language barrier, dove in headfirst once that obstacle disappeared. Among those who debuted, Komari of Parallel’s first generation had been especially captivating. The crazy elf of Night of Legend. Ronze fell for her charm—the way she turned into a battle maniac the moment she saw Night of Legend and unleashed merciless venom—so he naturally became a fan. When Komari went around asking for advice because she wanted to reach Diamond tier, he had been the one to step up and teach her. That was why.

While he was enjoying his fan activities, he happened to see it.

The shocking statement that rivaled even Komari’s venom. Yet it was a statement that could be forgiven because it came from a Diamond player in a different game. That remark, which struck right at the core principles of the game, hit Ronze like a refreshing soda. On top of that, the extreme-push Aegipola build she had demonstrated ignited his curiosity perfectly. He had tested the extreme-push Aegipola in solo queue for over ten games that day alone. Then, during playoffs, when his team was struggling and fell behind 1:2 in the first Bo5 round, facing elimination, Ronze had stepped up. “I’ll do it. Trust me just once.” The Aegipola pick he received in the fifth position caused the opponent, the commentators, and even the live audience to fall into chaos—an unprecedented event. In that situation Ronze created a miracle. With insane split-pushing and backdooring he stole game four, tying the series at 2:2. His team then won game five and advanced. They didn’t make it to the championship, but he had decided that someday he would thank the staff member who had given him the idea. Ronze waited for the right opportunity with that thought in mind.

So when the chance came, he snatched it immediately.

The funny thing was that Ronze wasn’t the only one who had thought that way.

Every single one of the nine collab members except Komari and Maru immediately gave the green light. The root cause was probably the concert from a few days ago and the eve event that preceded it. In any case, for Ronze, who had only wanted to express his gratitude, this was not an entirely welcome development.

Mazia’s popularity was overwhelming. A person who was nothing more than the manager of a VTuber group that had only appeared on stream a handful of times had somehow become the de facto main character of today’s broadcast.

It was all because the first-generation members’ one-year anniversary concert had been a huge success. The four-hour VOD of the pre-concert eve event, which hadn’t even been edited, had reached 150,000 views. Right now the hottest topic in the individual broadcasting scene related to VTubers was undoubtedly Parallel. On top of that, the legendary pocket monster who everyone thought would never appear outside of Parallel streams—Mazia—had suddenly been hooked by Maru’s fishing rod and popped out. Everyone lost their minds. If this were Pocket Monsters, she was a rare monster with completely different coloring from the normal ones, appearing at an absurdly low rate. How could anyone not want to clip her? There was no way to know exactly how many people actually liked Mazia, but thanks to that, only Ronze was in an awkward position. He wanted to convey his sincere gratitude, yet the chat was so full of fake flattery that he worried his own feelings would be taken as insincere too.

Fortunately for Ronze, at least…

A chance had come after all. The mafia role in a mafia game. A game where you win by killing humans and neutrals until your side holds the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠majority of survivors. If they overcame the crisis together, a sense of camaraderie would naturally form. Then he could convey his sincere thanks. The moment the game started, Ronze chased after Mazia, who was running to a corner to avoid the crowd. Several people pursued her, but perhaps because she had been running the entire time, Mazia’s movement was on another level. Eventually only Ronze remained, and he finally managed to catch her.

“Jia-nim, Jia-nim, Jia-nim. Wait, just a second.”

“Oh. Yes?”

“Come over here for a moment.”

If you hide in the sewers, no one except the plumber among the werewolves and humans can hear your voice. Normally he would have worried about the plumber, but on this wide map the only ones who had come all the way to this corner were Mazia and himself. Clank! Ronze entered first, and Mazia followed.

“Whew. We’re both werewolves. Let’s plan ahead. I’m a Predator so I don’t leave corpses. I’ll go around killing everyone. If a trial happens, just side with me. If you give me good covering fire, we can definitely win this round.”

Mazia had been running away nonstop because the attention seemed to overwhelm her. So he thought she might refuse the offer. She might just want to quietly fill a seat and then leave. But…

Contrary to expectation, Mazia’s answer was extremely positive.

“Just leave it to me. If anyone gives Ronze-nim a hard time, I’ll destroy them all.”

In truth, there was a reason Mazia had no choice but to accept Ronze’s proposal. The moment they finished their secret meeting and came out, what happened?

It was understandable for Maru since she often did crazy things to match the mood. The problem was everyone else. Like a horde of zombies, the moment she went anywhere they swarmed her. Mazia-nim this, Mazia-nim that. What about this, what about that. Aaaargh. Please just leave me alone. I just want to stay quiet and slip by. I was planning to watch for the right moment, step up once or twice, and practice leading discussions in front of people. What is this? That was why Ronze’s proposal had felt like a gift from the heavens. He said he would draw all the aggro and only needed backup. How perfect. In reality Ronze openly went around eating people, and before long a trial was called. Because Ronze’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠specific role was Predator and left no corpse, Kamik, who had seen him eat, had reported him.

Because the two had been far apart, the only witness was Kamik.

With no evidence, everyone was half-convinced at best. And in this kind of chaotic situation, I had a talent for burying someone. Not literally burying them in the ground, but on the internet. If there was someone I didn’t like on a forum, I knew how to snipe them using a VPN and the countless alternate accounts and sub-accounts I owned. I had driven out more than a few people who pretended to be fans while spreading anti posts in Momo’s gallery. Therefore helping Ronze was easy. One might think that being unable to use clone techniques in real life made that experience meaningless, but it wasn’t. Clone technique. Through voice imitation.

“By the way, I saw Kamik-nim heading north before Ronze-nim!”

“It’s not a lie!! I was standing on the path. Jia-nim saw it too, right? …Um. I think I vaguely saw you two passing by while we were talking.”

In a situation where both Ronze and Kamik looked suspicious, testimony like this carried enormous weight. The reaction was immediate.

One might wonder why Maru stayed quiet even after hearing my voice imitation, but there was a reason for that too. The werewolf role I had been assigned—Silencer—had the ability to block a designated person’s speech during the trial. It could only be used twice per game, so it was often considered a shame, but for me it became a card that could shake the entire game. Maru’s stream chat, which I had left open earlier, suddenly exploded. I couldn’t hear the sound, but her screen was shaking violently. She was probably screaming her lungs out with her mouth sealed shut.