[Don’t press it, it will be over soon anyway.]

“Over soon? Hah! These people will just keep bickering…”

The clock turned into a stopwatch that heartlessly counted down from 10 minutes. Reina pressured the players to proceed with the next step. [Players, please vote on whether or not to eliminate in the next 10 minutes. Refusing to vote can be a cause for elimination, so don’t delay your vote.]

“What…?!”

The time limit was not unusual. However, it was only supposed to begin after all the players agreed to start the vote. Startled, the players reacted to the unexpected start of the elimination vote.

“Hey, I thought there was no time limit! Weren’t we allowed to have until 10 p.m.?”

[That’s just for “vote to do something or not”… After the selection vote, I cannot give you time once the selection target is decided. Things can get really messy when you don’t have much of an expected value for survival. Didn’t you just see her make an excuse about going to the toilet?] Reina always calculated the expected values. Her ability to figure out humans was advancing at a high pace, and the time limit she had set began running fast. Confined to the head seat, looked fed up. “Oh God! Dammit, just fucking press the ‘no’ button!”

“…….”

Even as urged the players to vote her down as though it was the only option, most people remained silent and still. This made her fret, as she looked anxious about all that was happening. “Wait…! Hey, guys. You’re going to vote ‘no’, right? I’m not the mafia! There’s no proof!”

“…How can we be sure?”

“What!? Oh, what the hell! Turn on my tablet in that drawer there! You’ll see that I am just a citizen!”

[The players are forbidden from looking at any other player’s tablet.]

This was exactly why this rule existed. As if on cue, Reina mentioned Ground Rule Number Three right away, and Junsung understood why it was forbidden to show someone else one’s own tablet. It was to keep the citizens from proving themselves. The rule now began to expose its power.

“But she sounds so sure about the tablet! Maybe she’s really a citizen.”

“Lying is not hard, if you put your mind to it. And she’s a prostitute. Lying is in her nature.”

“Hey! Stop that shit about some stupid nickname given by Artificial Intelligence!”

“Keep your mouth shut, , and stop interrupting! We have limited time left!”

The 10 players took long, deep breaths as they kept thinking and discussing. Not one of them was certain that was a citizen. The timer continued to count down, and desperately looked at . “You, smart young man, tell us. How should we vote?”

“You can’t ask me to decide something that puts a human’s life at risk! Why don’t you ask God?”

“Come on, don’t back off right now of all times! I’m asking you for the expected value! Can’t you calculate this mathematically?”

“…….”

remained silent instead of giving an answer, which rather raised doubts among other players. He didn’t tell them whether or not it was possible to calculate the expected value. Instead, spoke up. He seemed unusually cold-blooded. “Just in terms of mathematical expectation, we should vote ‘yes’ to eliminate her.”

“What? She could be a citizen… I mean, she’s more likely a citizen!”

“It doesn’t matter whether the player put on trial is a citizen or mafia member. It doesn’t matter who we are. Even if we consider all four end conditions, more players are likely to survive if there are fewer ones. That’s all.”

“……!!”

heartless calculation instantly cleared the smokescreen in the players’ heads. If it were citizens versus the mafia, they all needed to deliberate carefully on deciding which candidate to eliminate. However, in a survival game, it is more beneficial for the players to reduce the number of survivors. This game was designed to be much more fit to the latter case.

End Conditions:

The game ends when:

All mafia players are eliminated An equal number of mafia and citizens are left alive There are four players left The players successfully select, identify, and expose Artificial Intelligence with Bingo

Right, it’s not the citizens versus the mafia… Whichever side wins, it’s just over when I die! None of the end conditions mentioned anything about the victory of one side over another. The prize money was supposed to be distributed equally among the survivors. Surviving was everything, both in terms of reality and the game. The moment this became clear, the players began to look around. It seemed as though some kind of a switch had turned on inside their minds at that moment. , sensing the change in the atmosphere, turned pale and her hands began shaking. “W- wait… What are you talking about? I’m a citizen! Y-you can’t kill me. You can’t just tie up someone and kill them like this!”

“Have you not heard these young men here? Your job doesn’t matter, they say!” Even , who had been speaking in a mild and gentle manner all this while, joined in the game’s algorithm, giving in to the mathematical expectation. A long silence followed. No matter what they said from that point onward, it would only be hypocrisy and excuses. had chosen to be silent before as he already knew this. The other players were just joining in right now. Instead of talking, they turned back to their tablets.

“Wait, wait…! I- I’m not mafia! Stop, just stop! I- I’ll give up my prize money and give it all to you!”

The players no longer made eye contact with . They no longer listened to her. It was as if she didn’t exist at all. slammed her hands on the table. She maintained a firm attitude and declared: “I’m going to cast a dissenting vote.”

“…What?”

“This is murder, and there’s no excuse for it.”

had chosen in the selection vote as expected, but that was only for the selection, it seemed. Surprisingly, she began defending , and and stared at her, dumbfounded.

“Didn’t you just hear? Without the trial, all the citizens will die!” cried .

“Or forget about us. How could ya say that after hearin’ all those insultin’ words from that woman?” said .

“I don’t care about the expected value and all that stuff. I don’t care what that shallow woman said to me. We need to use Bingo to find Artificial Intelligence as quickly as possible. All the voting, day or night, is just plain murder.”

“…….”

To everyone’s surprise, the person who was most worried about life at the moment was , who had been in a fierce battle of words with her only recently. Whether hypocrisy or pretense, it was enough to impress everyone. Her firm attitude inspired , who said, “Uh, well, I’m going to vote ‘no’ as well. The trial is unavoidable, but seems like a citizen.”

“Oh, come on!”

That was it. Only two players objected, whereas the others remained dead silent. Reina spoke up from the sidelines. [Two minutes left. Humans always tell such productive and fun stories when there’s a time limit. Anyway, go ahead and vote.]

Ugh, I haven’t decided yet…!

The selection vote was like “pass the bomb,” and forced the players to pick someone anyway. But this elimination vote was a yes-no question that had to be answered by each on their own, after weighing their ethics and expected values. The brutal moment of decision had arrived. looked around desperately. She wriggled to release herself from the metal shackles that locked her and started screaming. “D-don’t. Don’t vote ‘yes’…!”

[One minute left.]

“Guys! If you vote ‘no’, I’ll give each of you a blow job! Please!”

[Fifty seconds, fifty seconds!]

Now they had to make a choice no matter what their intention. Junsung eventually tapped a button on the tablet, and almost instantly, began to gag.

She fell into a fit of violent convulsions and made gagging sounds.

“Uh, uh…!”

The players winced and stepped back, astounded. However, they were clearly far less agitated than they were before, when was eliminated. It was still a terrible sight to see, but it was no longer “unexpected.” was dying, gasping for breath, surrounded by the other selfish but sympathetic players. The moment her convulsions stopped, Reina spoke up dryly. [Okay… So the result of the elimination trial for Day 2 is…]

Yes: Janitor, Intellectual, Old Man, Christian, Schoolgirl, Engineering

No: Muscle Man, Hothead, Social Worker, Humanities

Result: With at least 6 “yes” votes, is eliminated