Preparations for Rena World
Rena World — the legendary Minecraft server that set off a boom on Pangea TV.
But that fame had not shone from the very beginning.
It had started as a modest little server where virtual streamers simply hung out and enjoyed themselves. Overall viewership was nothing special. Two or three thousand at best — and even that owed itself to Decrescendo's arrival and the efforts of Apple-mong, a well-known small-time streamer.
Taking the role of the village mayor, Apple-mong spun out charming little stories day after day. And her influence did not stop there. Park Na-na, who was on the same server, had been close with her since middle school — only one thread in a network of connections that defied imagination. Small streamers, mid-tier names, major talents: it made no difference. She even had considerable ties over on Rabbit TV.
Drawing on that web, Apple-mong invited several heavyweight mid-tier streamers into Rena World. The ones who had been reluctant at first fell one after another to her relentless persuasion and joined up. Their fans flooded in with them, and Rena World's viewership finally broke past ten thousand.
That was the early flow of Rena World.
What came after was something no one could have guessed. A server that had only just begun to stretch its legs would become the eye of a typhoon that swallowed the whole of Pangea TV…
And that, right there, is the blind spot.
No one imagined Rena World would take off that hard. So everyone treated the early days lightly — laughing, chatting, building little things, and bonding among fellow virtual streamers.
But after that, the atmosphere flips completely. Especially once the big-name streamers start pouring in.
Rena World before the major streamers arrived and Rena World after them might as well have been two different servers. Individuals could no longer stand alone. Companies formed around the big names, and the age of endless competition began. You had to raise buildings grander than any other guild's. You had to take first place in the Arena events and singing contests held on the server. That meant gearing up your equipment specs — and that meant enormous amounts of resources. Anyone who had not stockpiled wealth beforehand was forced to grind like a slave.
But if you already know the future, lock down the key resources early, and rake in a fortune beforehand?
Needless to say, everyone would want to get close to you — and you would hold a position of real influence inside the server.
Which was why, from early morning, I had summoned the crew and was putting them through a thorough ideological re-education.
"Repeat after me, one more time. I am a miner."
"I am a miner." ×3
"I prefer the underground to the surface, and I shall not see the light of day until I have filled my daily diamond-mining quota."
"Ugh! That's way too long."
"Intern Mayo. Recite it back!"
"Tsk… I hate you, Seo-a unnie!"
It hurt, but there was no choice. Eyes stinging, I drilled the crew hard. Impulsive freelancing was absolutely not allowed. From today on, we would move as a single body. To that end, I had even made everyone take yesterday off. Revolving-door schedules, whatever — none of it mattered anymore. For the time being, everything went all-in on Rena World.
"Those who believe in my words shall receive the miracle of the loaves and fishes."
"Lucy unnie. Is our crew a cult?"
"I don't really know either."
"Ahem! Ye of little faith — I can hear all of that!"
I could not simply spill my grand plan of monopolizing resources and surging ahead while everyone else was still laughing and goofing around. That would invite questions about why, and I could not answer that I knew the future. For now, even if it felt a little heavy-handed, I had to push through.
The silver lining was that the work I had already put in for the crew had earned me their trust. Rather than pick everything apart, they were willing to take it on faith for the moment.
"Mayo wants to go adventuring first, geosida."
"Fine. Mayo, you stick with me in the early game."
"Yes!"
Lucy and Miho were complete beginners whose only experience was a few days of practice on a private server, but Mayo was a veteran with actual Minecraft hours. Being younger really did put her in the generation that grew up on the game. She had supposedly dropped it after falling into League of Legends, but compared to the other two she was a reliable hand.
"Mayo, you're ender-farming with me. Ever done it?"
"Ender? Never tried that one. But teach me and I'll pick it up fast."
"Good. If you don't pick it up fast, it's straight to the mines. Or I might just ship you to the Nether to dig quartz and nothing else. Clear?"
"…Mayo's reporting you for child abuse, geosida."
"Regrettable news, Intern. We are a crew that is like fa-mily, you see. Kindly fold that complaint neatly and put it in your pocket."
I brushed off Mayo's desperate protest without ceremony and resumed the ideological drill for the rest of the crew.
First: extend everyone's stream hours, myself included. Starting a week ago we had already locked the average at seven hours, and thankfully nothing had gone wrong. From today we would try a baseline of eight — and any labor still short of what we needed for resources would be filled with offline grinding if necessary.
Offline means no mic, so it should be easier on the throat for sure.
On top of that, I checked the missions I had assigned each of them.
First up, Lucy. I had put her on vocal practice. I had her pick two competition-oriented songs and ordered her to grind proficiency even if it got boring — a mission aimed squarely at the singing contests that would be held later in Rena World.
"It's been about two weeks since you started practicing. Play them for me sometime."
"Yes!"
Second, Mayo. While playing League, absolute chat ban, and cut the swearing as much as possible. She had pushed back at first.
"How am I supposed to hold it in when the jungle gap is that bad?! And what if the enemy starts flaming first?"
"You said you want to play in the next Myeolmangjeon, right? Huh? You going to cuss like that in front of tens of thousands of people at Myeolmangjeon too? You know what happens then. It won't just be your problem — the whole crew gets dragged."
"…"
"Keep the promise and I'll help get you into CK matches. And I'll actively back your Myeolmangjeon entry too."
"For real? If you're lying and I catch you…"
Always the cheeky, hyperactive little gremlin. Watching that stubborn, rebellious streak, I could guess her upbringing had not been ordinary. Honestly, even the mangy-dog palate that went feral for mayonnaise was suspicious enough on its own.
"Alright, fearless leader. What mission are you giving me?"
"Unnie, you're on a drinking ban."
"Huh? Th-that's…"
It had come out during the last pocha stream — Miho, it turned out, was an absolute unit of a drinker. In soju terms, three bottles in one sitting was no problem. Move to a second and third place and she could put away even more. And the way she talked about it was something else.
"For real, back in my early twenties I used to put away six bottles."
"…Is that a flex?"
I had seen plenty of men proud of their alcohol tolerance, but hearing it from a woman was oddly refreshing. Still, drinking inevitably hit stream condition, so the ban was non-negotiable.
"No! Alcohol is the only drug the nation has permitted me!"
"Isn't that a song lyric?"
"I don't care! If I don't have a drink after stream, the fatigue never comes off."
"Haa… Then we lock it down for one month after Rena World starts. Okay? You can hold out for a month. It's all for the crew."
Unlike Mayo and her full-volume tantrums, Miho was an adult you could actually reason with. She grumbled, but once I leaned on the crew angle she finally nodded.
Whew. That more or less covered preparations for the three of them.
Now it was my turn. I was not the kind of shameless leader who handed out work and then just watched from the back.
The V-Live crew's Christmas carol video — aimed squarely at the holiday. Recording was finally finished, and the real production work had begun. We still needed to pick a day and shoot the video on a VRChat map, but I planned to time that with Rena World's server maintenance windows. Labor loss that cost us resources was absolutely not happening.
On top of that, Santa outfits for the avatars — Christmas commemoratives — were in the works. I had specially decided to gift the crew their versions myself. They had looked a little awkward about it at first, but once I pointed out that I had won at MCK yesterday, they all said they would wear them gratefully. The effect of forty-eight thousand match Candies was clearly doing a lot of work.
And the last thing I did was put in a word with Oh-ha and Oh Yeong-jun. Two people who always kept a sharp eye on the flow of the streaming scene. Of course they were already watching Pangea TV's first-ever Minecraft streamer server. I had casually mentioned them to the server host and gotten a fairly positive response back — so how good must that have felt for them. For now it was difficult, the host said, but once the server was thriving a bit more, they would try to make invitations possible.
Two people who would put on an incredible showing in Rena World. I had successfully put them in my debt — that would be a considerable help down the line.
Good. Then once the server just opens…
The moment I had been waiting for so long was drawing near.