Chapter 330
Both were puzzled, but Hegemonia said,
-Let's bring some chaos. We can't just play in the same pattern, can we? Even making the doctor mess up will be useful.
Wisdom and Aldin looked at each other, then, trusting Hegemonia, they decided to kill Ovenwave, who was playing the role of the police. After all, Hegemonia was currently the top scorer in this Mafia game, so they trusted her word.
[The day has dawned.]
[The victim of the first night is player Ovenwave.]
In the rules of this Mafia game, a player's role wasn’t revealed even after their death.
When Sung-Woon didn’t die first like he had until now, the players found the twist intriguing.
Krampus, a confidant of Hegemonia, impudently said to Sung-Woon, "You were lucky tonight, huh?"
Sung-Woon laughed and replied, "I guess I’ll actually get to play the game for once."
"Still feeling confident, I see?" Hegemonia asked.
As Hegemonia teased Sung-Woon, he let out a rare sigh. "Well, yeah. I haven't lost yet, have I?"
A conversation took place within Hegemonia's inner circle.
HumanTracker: Are we targeting Nebula right on the first day?
Hegemonia: 'Because he's a mafia, he didn't die on the first night'...sounds like solid reasoning.
Krampus: Tracker, you start.
HumanTracker then said, "It's rare you weren’t targeted on the first day, so perhaps you got a role that’s rare too, huh?."
"Is that what you think?" Sung-Woon leaned toward the round table and said, "Then, like in the seventh game, it's likely that the police immediately checked if I was a mafia or not. Do you agree?"
"Of course."
"And generally, the person who tries to bury someone first is more likely to be a mafia, right?"
"I'll accept that."
It would be fine to kill Sung-Woon, but likewise, it would also benefit Hegemonia, who was currently a mafia, if HumanTracker, a civilian, were to die.
The other mafias also watched the situation to ensure they didn’t draw any unnecessary attention.
Lunda, watching their conversation, said, "Uh, so...who’s the police? Is Nebula the mafia? Even if Nebula isn't, I think it's fine to come out if someone has found a mafia. After all, that method has had good odds of winning until now."
Of course, the police stayed silent. The players thought there were a few possibilities for doing so. Either Sung-Woon wasn't a mafia, they hadn't found another mafia, or perhaps the police had died.
"Of course they won’t come forward."
Among the players pondering, Sung-Woon muttered ahead of them, "Because I'm the police."
Hegemonia almost unintentionally shouted at Sung-Woon because Sung-Woon had confidently declared himself a fake police.
‘Why would you declare yourself as a fake police when it’s unknown if the police is dead or not?’
There was a moment of silence, suggesting that he could have assumed the police was already dead.
‘...But based on what?’
Even if defeat was right in front of Sung-Woon, declaring himself as the police only seemed like a risky bet.
The fake police was a strategy where someone who wasn’t the police, either a civilian or a mafia, declared themselves as the police and quickly started accusing others, leading to the hanging of civilians. However, this strategy was typically a mafia tactic, and if a civilian did it, it was just trolling.
Hegemonia’s inner circle buzzed.
Krampus: Well, this is troublesome.
Ovenwave: W...what's happening?
Hegemonia: You, be quiet.
HumanTracker: Option 1, just let it happen.
Hegemonia: Why?
HumanTracker: The chances of finding the mafias are low anyway, and public opinion is on our side.
That was true. There were two people on Hegemonia's side in her internal network, and two other mafias making five people on her side in total. If Hegemonia declared to hang someone, they would be able to hang them on the first morning without much issue.
HumanTracker: Option 2, someone steps forward as the real police.
This was also a common tactic. If a fake police had emerged, it was entirely possible that a real police was out there somewhere.
Hegemonia quickly pondered. The communication through the internal network and the Constellation’s inner calculations only took about ninety milliseconds.
Hegemonia: Let's go with a real police counter.
Krampus: From us? Or from one of the mafias?
Hegemonia: That’ll bring doubt on the internal network.
Being able to use it didn’t mean there was no risk if they got caught.
Hegemonia: From the mafias.
Krampus: Directly?
Hegemonia: No.
Mafias couldn’t communicate except at night.
"...That’s unfortunate, Nebula."
Therefore, during the thirty second meeting time, they agreed on simple hand signals.
Wisdom said, "Because I’m the real police."
"Interesting, Wisdom. ...Who did you check?"
"HumanTracker. A civilian. And you?"
"I checked...." Sung-Woon raised his head and pointed at Aldin. "Aldin."
"Was she a civilian?"
Sung-Woon laughed. "She was a mafia."
Aldin looked extremely bewildered.
Hegemonia wanted to punch her.
The other players might not have realized, but to Hegemonia, it was too obvious that Aldin's expression wasn't an act, and it wasn’t because Hegemonia knew Aldin was actually a mafia.
Even if Aldin could be good at other games, she was terrible at games that required bluffing with facial expressions.
'But I might play games with her again someday, so I have no intention of revealing her weaknesses.'
Sung-Woon likely wouldn’t have told Aldin anything either for the same reason. Telling her didn't seem like it would easily fix anything, especially after living that way for tens of thousands of years.
‘...Well, it seems no one but Nebula has noticed her expressions yet.’
Aldin defended herself, "What, why? That’s so out of the blue.”
"Why are you so taken aback?"
"Well it’s absurd, isn't it? If you're the real police, why would you point me out first? There are much smarter Constellations."
Sung-Woon replied, "It's luck."
"Luck?"
"Since earlier, the game has been flowing too logically due to standardized patterns. So, I just randomly picked someone. And you were the one who was unlucky."
Wisdom said, "Nebula, you've been making unreasonable claims since earlier. If you were really the police, you would have said so from the moment you were first suspected. But you only declared yourself as the police after facing a crisis. It looks like nothing more than pretending to be the police to survive."
"But I was the first to declare myself as the police." Sung-Woon retorted, "And I have doubts about you too. Why check HumanTracker instead of me and Hegemonia, who have been consistently checked by the police until now? Isn’t that a bit strange? Did you also choose randomly like me?"
The discussion continued almost until the end of the given time for debate, and it was intense.
The internal network buzzed with discussion.
Krampus: Who are we going for? Nebula?
Hegemonia: Who else would we go for? We have five votes on our side, just hang him.
Hegemonia also sent a hand signal to the other mafias. It meant that they would hang the person the mafias had agreed to target during the discussion.
Before night came, the voting completion window appeared.
[The vote has been completed.]
[Result of votes from 11 players:]
[Aldin 6, Nebula 5]
The other players lost their right to speak, and Aldin's defense began. Aldin's defense was somewhat lengthy and lacked any clear strategy.
[Agree 6, Disagree 5]
[Aldin was hanged by the civilians.]
[Night has fallen....]
Hegemonia furrowed her eyebrows.
-This doesn't make sense, does it?
Wisdom said,
-Nebula's argument sounded plausible...but I didn't expect this.
The internal network was also in chaos.
Hegemonia: What happened!?
Krampus: Did someone make a mistake?
HumanTracker: Stay calm, the numbers are correct, aren't they?
Krampus: That's true, but...
HumanTracker: The important part is what comes next. Who are we going to kill tonight?
Wisdom said,
-Hegemonia, in this situation, wouldn't it be better if I die?
-Just wait a second, let's think about this.
With the police revealed, it would be strange for the mafias not to kill the police. If Wisdom died, it could seem like the mafias were trying to kill the real police, but conversely, Sung-Woon could claim that the mafias killed one of their own.
Similarly, killing Sung-Woon was an option, but that presented another issue. There was the possibility of the doctor saving him. Then, the fake police would continue to act freely.
-The vote shows the civilians are favorable toward Nebula. They believe he's the police, and it's likely the doctor will save him.
-But two people seem like they’re doubting him. Couldn't one of them be the doctor?
-...That’s unlikely though.
-If you say so.
After deliberation, Hegemonia said,
-Let's kill someone unrelated.
-Who?
-Someone who won’t result in us being revealed as the mafias.
Hegemonia glanced at Lakrak, Sha-Cha, and Yummy, then shook her head. Targeting them would likely bring up Hegemonia's specificity.
-...Let's go with AR.
Hegemonia's strategy was simple.
Though only four votes remained on her side, maintaining them was enough to win by unanimous vote. It wasn't sufficient to guarantee a win, but it was enough to sway public opinion. Therefore, there was no need to kill Wisdom and reduce those votes.
However, as soon as day dawned, Sung-Woon said, "Hegemonia is a mafia."
Hegemonia felt her head spinning. "Why me? There's no evidence."
"It's the same as with Aldin. I randomly chose someone."
"Shouldn't you have checked Wisdom?"
"From my perspective, Wisdom is already a confirmed mafia, so there's no reason for me to check."
It wasn't a wrong statement.
Hegemonia argued, "As you know, starting a 12-player game and randomly picking two out of three mafias isn't highly probable."
"But each police check is an independent trial. Are you trying to argue that because the likelihood of such coincidence is low, you aren’t a mafia?"
"I’m saying it’s not probable."
"Unfortunately, reality is such that even seemingly absurd things can happen."
Hegemonia looked at Wisdom.
Then Wisdom said, "I checked Nebula. He's a mafia."
Sung-Woon shook his head. "It's time to make a choice. There are two supposed police but you can’t follow both. It's either me or Wisdom. But there's a difference between us. Wisdom has only found me as a mafia, whereas I've found all the remaining mafias.
I wonder if there's any point in continuing the game when it's already over. Is that okay? It'd be bitter to lose despite having the mafias identified by the police right in front of you."
Hegemonia urgently spoke through the internal network.
Hegemonia: What are you guys doing?
HumanTracker: Thinking logically.
Krampus: I'll step up.
However, Krampus's logic, suggesting Sung-Woon randomly chose AR to kill because he was a mafia, was poor. It was a waste of time.
HumanTracker then said, "What if we kill both since we can't trust either?"
"Is that what you really think? Even if both of us being fake police is unlikely?"
Hegemonia thought, They're both fake!
HumanTracker continued, "But after calculating, killing both of you still leaves civilians with an advantage. It's like ensuring one less mafia."
"That's one way to see it. But in this situation, I want to discuss a different possibility."
"A different possibility?"
Sung-Woon continued, "The possibility that there are other insiders, not just civilians or mafias, forming a team."
HumanTracker showed no reaction. "Evidence?"
"It's hard to disclose yet. But remember, we, including the Sanctuary, didn't prohibit the use of security systems during the Mafia game. So, that possibility is always open. I'm not saying we need to actively uncover who they are because using the game's open possibilities to our advantage is more interesting. ...And apart from the game, those insiders are aiming for their victory...."
Then Sung-Woon looked at Hegemonia, and she did not avert her gaze.
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