Season 5: Chapter 135. Scrimmage Prelude (2)

The Platform War was becoming reality.

[This will be big]

[Haah so excited]

[Looking at the scrimmages. It's clear that Paprika will win.]

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a national festival for streamers. If Cheese Village had been a closing ceremony for former Treevy members only, the Platform War was comparable to the World Cup.

Even the frequency at which it occurred was similar. It required two giant companies to join hands, so it wasn't annual. It was only possible once in a while.

On top of that, viewers from both platforms would essentially all gather in one place. Each side could potentially steal the other’s viewers, which was why those involved were in a state of extreme tension when the Platform War began.

Cheese's employees were no different.

"Paprika is completely centralized. They came ready."

"I heard they're even practicing with 25-person coordinated scrimmages."

"What!? Isn't that insane!? What kind of communism is this?"

One employee was downright fuming because he'd come from Treevy Korea.

"Ah, come on. They wouldn't actually do that."

Someone else remained relaxed.

"No, it's real. Some team said that in private scrimmages, and it even came up on broadcasts. They said tiering isn't actually forbidden anyway."

"Huh... it is true that tiering isn't forbidden..."

At this, Assistant Manager Kim from Treevy Korea angrily added, "They're absolutely the type to do that!"

Assistant Manager Kim had come from Treevy and still had extraordinary affection for former Treevy people, earning him the nickname T-Manager within the company. He harbored considerable hostility toward Paprika.

"Sigh. Still, that's a bit..."

"He's T-Manager... T-Manager."

"Calm down, T-Manager."

The employees collectively shook their heads and drank their coffee.

A man who looked to be about forty came into the break room terrace.

It was Manager Park.

"Everyone, but here's the thing."

It seemed as if he were about to turn the situation around. Then, he picked up his coffee.

"T-Manager is right. Paprika is completely fixated on winning."

The relaxed assistant manager tried to push back. "Manager, but winning the game isn't what matters here, is it? You need to let each team's personality show and get viewers immersed for a good response."

That was a fair point. In name, it was a tournament. In reality, it was a large-scale event for content.

One couldn’t plan purely for victory without considering broadcast entertainment.

Of course, T-Manager would say, “They're absolutely the type to do that.”

No matter how much Paprika sacrificed for victory, it could still end up boring. Then, wouldn't it all be for nothing?

Manager Park shook his head. "That's you not knowing sports."

"Sports...?"

"Right. This is ultimately sports. Teams that make games fun? Of course, they're popular. But the teams that always really grow their fanbase are the ones that win a lot."

"Hm? Aren't there teams that are always last but have big fanbases?"

"That's because that last-place team's fans are very loud. They’re good for whining. That's all. In absolute numbers, it's harsh."

Everyone who had been excitedly chatting grew solemn.

Only T-Manager said, "That's right... Memories of that time... I don't even want to think about it."

Crunch.

He clenched and crumpled his paper cup, trembling.

'Why so extreme?'

'He's really serious about his work.'

'Scary... Treevy Korea... how much did they brainwash him?'

Everyone found his trauma strange. To him, it was the most natural reaction.

"Back then, they massively poached our viewers. Paprika had been dying, but revived from that and made a killing. Our company... spent its own money to hand out viewers to them. We even heard things like, ‘What is this, a bailout?’"

"Th-that bad? People actually crossed over?"

Everyone felt puzzled. Wouldn't viewers stay with their favorite streamer, regardless?

"Of course, some people watch because they love a specific streamer. There is also an enormous amount of casuals who watch streams just for fun."

So-called fanbases were often just a loud minority in reality. If dedicated fans liked someone for no reason, casual users were the opposite.

"Most settled in and watched because they thought Treevy streamers were good at games and wanted to learn from them."

They genuinely believed the streamers they liked were skilled, so they studied and admired them. Those streamers were generally better than the average viewer, except for Bubblegum.

"Then, when they found out that wasn't the case... their world collapsed."

"Well, that's something."

Tsk tsk.

Everyone clicked their tongues. They could understand how that would feel, thinking their favorite streamer was the best. Up against Paprika, that turned out to be false.

Manager Park laughed warmly. "But it's fine even though we got absolutely thrashed then!"

Everyone looked over, wondering what he meant.

"No, now everyone watching already knows, right? That we aren’t actually the best."

The employees exchanged glances.

"Hm? What? Am I wrong?" Manager Park patted his round stomach as if inviting someone to refute him.

T-Manager raised a hand, specifically the phone in his hand. "Th-there's... one person that doesn't apply to at all right now."

"Who?"

***

[#1. Cheese is a country that possesses the famous Almond]

LIL Pro was LIL Pro. The central community for streamer events like the Platform War was, of course, Streamer Garden.

LIL Pro's stance was that streamers were worse at games than pros. Why would anyone watch a tournament full of loud nobodies?

Streamer Garden was dead serious about this Platform War. Like the crowd in a manga that went wild for high school baseball, they were already fighting the prelude to the Platform War by predicting which team would win.

[Paprika will crush them right?]

[In terms of strength, Paprika crushes them OBVIOUSLY]

[Unless the hidden team fields five Bubblegums, Paprika kills them all fr]

[Paprika's winner will just come from their internal scrimmage lmaooo]

The general consensus was that Paprika would win, but Cheese still pinned their hope on Almond.

[Not guaranteed Paprika wins]

[Cheese also has new skilled streamers]

[It's not the same old Treevy!]

A post ended up reaching first.

[#1. Cheese is a country that possesses the famous Almond]

All Cheese users combined their upvotes to push one single post to first. The comment section inevitably boiled over.

— This isn't the same Lazy Soldier from back then

— Even with Almond...

— Does Almond play the game alone?

└ Looking at the world championship, he kind of did

— lmaooooo Cheese mold burning bright ^^

└ lmaooo actually cute

└ Sorry could you call him Dumb Young Man please?

— The nut faction is really something lmaooo

— Nut faction acting up again right on schedule

— What's the Dummy going to do?? lmaooo

— FYI: it's the Dumb Young Man

...

The general opinion was that Almond was different now. Most importantly, the previous streamer tournament had been an internal civil war among Treevy streamers. They'd never gone up against Paprika.

[#5. Almond only massacred people in Treevy lmaooo]

==== ====

Put him against Paprika, and he just gets swept

GG

==== ====

— lmaooo fr

— LOL true

— Yeah~~

— Yeah

— True

— He won a world championship though lmaooo, just being talented is different

└ We're talking about LIL why are you bringing up Civil Empire lmaooo

└ He just shoots arrows there ㅡㅡ

└ Being talented is true but Paprika’s overall level is just too high

— If it were siege, he would get wrecked in laning by KnifeSlash lmaooo

└ fr

└ Should educate the nut faction but that's a shame

└ Just kill him in survival mode then heh

└└ lmaooooo

└└ Has the nut faction gotten younger? Kinda cute

└└ lmaooooooooo

└└ lmaooooo

***

"Bwahaha!"

Meanwhile, in Paprika’s This World scrimmage channel, the gathered coaches laughed thunderously because the topic of Streamer Garden's reactions had come up.

"A country that possesses Almond, they say. Aren't these people too cute?"

A small-framed man in a pressed cap posted a screenshot of the community and laughed.

[Udon]

Coach Udon boasted a total of three wins at PSL, Paprika’s equivalent streamer tournament. With this kind of track record, his words naturally carried weight.

The other coaches chimed in and expressed confidence.

"Almond isn't even a former pro. Seeing them make this much fuss, they must have forgotten what Paprika's like."

"Whaaat~? A world championship? Wow~!"

“Hahahaha.”

The coaches all erupted again. Since they were also streamers, this scene was being broadcast live. Many viewers also laughed along.

— LOL

— lmaooooooooo

— lmaooo fr

— Just cute

— Forgot what Paprika is like lmaooo

— My heart is already pounding at the thought of beating up moldy people

— Haah... time to get serious

If this had been Cheese or Treevy, statements like these would often have been held back. The moment a sports format was adopted, Paprika's viewers completely changed. This was one of the platform's unique cultures.

Their streamers preferred to express confidence and engage in trash talk. That made the sport more stimulating and interesting to watch. Of course, they were laughing because of past memories.

"That time, we really made those Treevy kids cry their eyes out. Aah, I miss it. I miss it~ the age of true players~."

The coaches here, with a fair amount of experience, all remembered the previous Platform War.

Treevy's results back then had been miserable. They generally had more streamers who casually enjoyed games while Paprika valued skills.

Many viewers drifted from place to place based on trends rather than having fixed fan bases. Lately, the influence of streamers coming over from Treevy had somewhat diluted this tendency, but the culture of respecting and valuing skills was still firm.

"It's your first time in a broadcast like this. How are you doing?" Udon, who held strong authority, asked the person sitting beside him.

It was this person’s first Platform War. He was the coach of Paprika's strongest team, which included KnifeSlash. This individual had a considerable career.

[Tortilla]

Though only Tier 2, Tortilla had served as an active professional coach.

"Oh. I'm fine."

"You seem a bit tense."

"Oh, it's not because of the broadcast."

"... Then?"

"Just feels like the opponent might not be as easy as everyone thinks."

Splash!

Like cold water being thrown, everyone who had been chattering loudly looked at Tortilla.

"Do you have some secret information? Why do you... think that?"

"Secret information... no. Nothing like that... there is someone who seems to have a lot of secrets though..."

Tortilla had put in a lot of effort to break free from preconceptions in his work as a professional coach trying to reach the top. Games couldn't be evaluated solely by rank and stats, nor could players. He remained vigilant about the person he'd actually gone up against.

"The coach on that side is no pushover either."

"Hm? Oh. The Knight Order's... that woman? I heard she played Civil Empire?"

"Yes."

"Oh, come on. Don't worry so much. What's one simulation loss?" Udon laughed in disbelief.

Was Tortilla being too humble, or had a former professional coach gotten deflated after losing to a nobody in a simulator?

"Now, let's stop chatting and start practicing. Like we discussed last time, let's also run a 25 versus 25. Take turns, okay?"

"Okay~!"