Season 5: Chapter 162. Not Yet Time (1)

During Can't Can't Can't's coach feedback session, Takoyaki was trying to say something. He had plenty he wanted to give feedback on. His mouth was itching to say it, but he couldn't speak when it came to the actual game. Why?

"No, so... what was this dispatch worker business earlier?"

Can't Can't Can't's future was now unclear. It felt like a contract worker with one month left on their contract.

"He's going to tear us apart and use us separately?"

"Not sure..."

They didn’t even know if they'd get a contract. Even if they did, a position change had already been confirmed. However, they didn't know what position.

ForeverAlone quietly voiced his wishes amid all this. "I, personally... would like to be dispatched to the Knight Order..."

Everyone stared at him.

'This snake.'

'Already picking sides?'

'What?'

— Gi-Chan lmaooo

— Read the room...

— lmaooo already planning to leave??

Zelo, not wanting to lose his ace, waved his hand. "N-no, but is this even possible? Coach, how would dispatching work? What about leveling up and reviving?"

Takoyaki settled everyone down. "No, whatever the details, only the Knight Order... no, only Almond would know. Trying to figure it out is wasted effort."

Nobody except Almond knew Almond's thoughts. With that kind of person as king, nobody could predict when or how the policies would come out.

"Just look at what Almond already said."

Since he rarely took back things he said, analyzing those words could be meaningful.

"He said he'd send dispatches and he'd make them all tanks."

Takoyaki recalled Almond's two claims precisely.

"It’s just as Zelo said. They’ll split us up, attach one to each team, and even turn them into tanks. That's as far as we know."

— What the

— Insane policy lmaooo

— Fr???

— Even splitting the team lmaooo

— lmaooo is this real??

— How does he plan to do that???

Naturally, Acorn Jelly asked, "Cheese has ten teams. The groups are divided into A and B, with five Cheese teams facing five Paprika teams, right?"

Takoyaki nodded. "Right."

"Then... there's one slave team. How does he distribute them? What about the group without slaves?"

"Hmm..."

The group Can't Can't Can't was in would have no problem using the slave dispatch policy, but the other qualifier group would have no slaves to dispatch.

At this, ForeverAlone spoke as if he were Almond's spokesman. "Almond would have thought all of this through."

— The silence lol

— Reverent...

— lmaooooooooo

— There's no way lmaooo

— Gi-Chan Gi-Chan...

— Just send this guy now ??

After a brief moment of collective deadpan, Choco Shroom said something that sounded reasonable. "Isn't it just something he said for laughs? Why is everyone so serious?"

To her, Almond had just tossed out those words to play king. That was actually the normal thought process. Splitting and dispatching other players in a five-person team game, what on earth was that? Those words had clearly been thrown out for entertainment.

"Said for laughs?" Zelo suddenly went serious. "Don't you remember the fate of those who laughed off the Lord's words, Choco Shroom? Don't you remember the day we went to Mars together?"

— lmaooooooooooooooooo

— lmaooooooooooo fr

— We thought the execution was said for laughs too~

— LOL

— Mars lmaooo

— Well...

— Somehow he never just says things randomly...

In Cheese Village, Zelo and Choco Shroom had tried to laugh off Almond's words more than anyone. It all turned out to be true in the end, and the price was devastating.

"He said we'd be executed. We laughed and genuinely got executed! He said he'd burn people and use them as fertilizer! I thought it was some kind of dark comedy! And All Black was all that awaited us!"

Bang!

Zelo stomped for emphasis. "Even if they're words tossed out without thought! You absolutely! Cannot! Laugh them off!"

Everyone stared blankly at Zelo's PTSD reaction. Choco Shroom's expression turned serious.

Only ForeverAlone nodded in agreement. "Yes, His Majesty Almond keeps his word."

— His Majesty Almond lmaooo

— LOL

— Slave mindset...

— This guy just wants to get dispatched lmaooo

— Atmosphere destroyer

Another silence followed ForeverAlone's words.

Eventually, Zelo couldn't hold back his anger. "No, Jung Gi-Chan, everything you've been saying since earlier... you're already lining up for the Knight Order? Hm?"

Zelo seized the opportunity to shove ForeverAlone's head down.

"No, it's not like that..."

"Once Can't Can't Can't! Always Can't Can't Can't till death! If we die, they can't even revive us! You know that!?"

"Oh, I know. We're just cannon fodder..."

"What? Cannon fodder? Ha?" Zelo scoffed. "Over there, you're just a cannonball! Fired like a cannon and killed. That's all! Jung Gi-Chan, cannonball charge!"

— lmaooooooooooo

— lmaooo fr

— Cannonball LOL

— Is he Scourge??

— lmaooooo

— fr fr

— Gi-Chan cannonball charge lmaooo

ForeverAlone nodded enthusiastically, but told his viewers something different. "Better to be the Lord's cannonball than the shovel scooping manure in the slave's outhouse."

— lmaooooooooooooooooo

— ??

— Is this the darkness of an idiot?

— Wow...

— Saying different things behind their back lmaooo

— lmaooooo

— That metaphor is insane LOL

— Even that manure won't spread far;

***

During the Knight Order’s feedback session, the root cause of all this chaos, Coach Choi Sa-Rang showed interest in Almond's strategy.

"Please explain the dispatch strategy in more detail."

'Impossible.'

Almond was surprised. He thought she would praise his strategy. A thought even flashed through his mind.

'Should I have not changed to the Dumb Young Man?'

Would the Smart Young Man have been fine? At this point... was he sufficiently smart enough? Thoughts that would make his viewers explode in mockery swept quickly through Almond's head. Those thoughts couldn't reach his lips and got shoved into some corner with the sound of a broken tape because he witnessed the truth.

"I'm asking because none of it makes sense."

— lmaooooooooooooooooooo

— LOOOL

— So good lol

— lmaooooo

— fr fr

— Expression change is hilarious

"Wh-why not?"

"Just explain it first."

"Oh... yes." Almond calmly summoned a whiteboard and drew on it.

'I'll prove it. That this is right.'

He drew five ugly-faced characters splitting into different teams.

"We split the five slave team members one by one and dispatch them to each other team."

— Split lol

— Just say divide lmaooo

— Split again??

"This way, we have 6 members total."

There were very clean-looking circle characters with one very ugly character, each interspersed.

"There will be one leftover if we split the five of them and distribute one member to each team, right?"

One group had five Cheese teams in total, but this included Can't Can't Can't. Splitting Can't Can't Can't and dispatching them to the other four teams left one person.

"Oh, of course, some teams will have seven members. And that's naturally..."

Swoosh.

He drew a crown above one team.

"The king's team."

"And then?"

"Then we do a four-person and three-person split with more members. All other teams also do a three-person split, and..." Almond scattered multiple circles across the entire map. "We fight with far more territory and information than Paprika."

— Oh oh

— What lmaooo

— So you had a plan?

— Quick thinking handles these well

— Oh...

— Insane

Sa-Rang stared at the map.

'What? This insane idea.'

She had never even considered such a plan. Survival mode wasn't meant to be played this way. Teaming up was never a prerequisite. No pro would play such a nonsensical game. As this was an event tournament, these elements seemed to have been added for entertainment.

It sounded surprisingly plausible, which made it seem even more insane. Then she heard something even more insane.

"But what if the slaves rebel?" Sweet Potato asked.

— Rebellion lmaooo

— Slave POV

— Servant mindset is a bit scary

— Slave rebellion lmaooo

Everyone looked at him in disbelief.

Sweet Potato shrugged. "The system allows slaves to attack us since they’re not really on our team."

"I anticipated that. The rest will manage them."

Almond drew another picture. Two people pointed guns from behind while a slave held a shield in front, running while crying.

"Threaten them from behind and make them scout. Slaves go into all dangerous areas first. If they die, just report it and move on."

— lmaooooooooooooooooo

— LOOOL

— Wow too much

— That picture is quite violent lmaooo

— Is this... Ah-Sung?

— That's just a Starcraft worker lmaooo

Everyone blankly stared at the picture. The shield-user getting chased while crying was somehow pitiful.

"That all makes sense." Choi Sa-Rang posed the final question. "What about the other group?"

"Hm?"

"The other group. There’s only one slave team, but there are two groups, A and B."

Almond was flustered.

'Oh.'

This grand plan had a critical error. Only one slave team existed in this system.

— ?

— ...?

— True???

— Wow lmaooooooo

— lmaooooo

— What do we do fr?

Sa-Rang faintly sighed. "If you're going to devise a strategy like this, the system can't be loose. And it needs to be planned in advance so the other teams can also prepare, especially the slave team."

"Hmm..." Almond thought deeply.

Sa-Rang, as if there was nothing more to hear, moved on to the feedback session. "Anyway, let's get to the previous matches' feedback now. First, Lemon..."

Lemon felt startled at getting called.

'M-me first?'

For the first time, feedback started with her. It didn't seem to have any particular significance. The coach pointed out things to fix and judgments that could have gone badly before moving on.

"That's all for Lemon."

“Phew.” Lemon put a hand to her chest.

It wasn't exactly praise, but there was nothing catastrophically wrong either.

"Oh."

There was one more thing.

"Next time, use Aqua and Leon."

"What!?" Lemon felt even more startled this time.

"What's surprising about it? Aqua and Leon, the two of you try it once."

"Yes, yes, but... I..." Lemon didn't want to play Aqua.

In the Aqua-Leon combination, Aqua's ability had a bigger impact on the outcome than Leon's.

"I know what you're worried about. Just use it."

The coach said she knew, but did she genuinely know? It was impossible to tell.

Almond clapped. "I thought of it."

"Yes?" Lemon expected him to say something about the Aqua-Leon combo.

Maybe Almond would offer not to do it for her sake? Of course, that wasn't it.

"I thought of what to do for the group without slaves."

It was about his own strategy.

"Look..."

Scritch scratch.

He began drawing another picture.

— Stuck on this one fr

— Stop tormenting the dispatched workers, you corpo~

— lmaooooooooo

— Just thinking about slaves

— Ah-Sung is genuinely terrifying fr

***

After that, both Cheese and Paprika went through several private joint scrimmages. These scrimmages were all run in a completely closed format. No viewers knew their strategies. On top of that, teams also practiced separately on their own. Now, nobody knew what the other side had been preparing.

[Platform War]

[D-1]

The Platform War finally arrived. It was just one day away.