Diamond CK

The teams were kept simple: V-Live versus the other virtuals.

For future CKs I planned to scatter crew members across different teams to really spike the dopamine, but this was the first one—so an adjustment period was in order.

The opposing team was selected by upvote ranking on the application comments. Honestly, though, I only made that call after checking their nicknames.

It was our crew's first group CK. Having some weird streamer mixed in would just feel off.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Seol Pyo-woo from the Decrescendo crew. Seo-a and I already agreed to be friends last time. Today I'm going to win for sure and avenge my loss from the Body Talk content."

"Waaaaah!"

Seol Pyo-woo, who had claimed the number-one upvote spot. No further introduction needed. Just being a member of the Decrescendo crew made her the most recognizable person here after me.

"Hello, is so. I'm Ami-chan, is so. Today's the first CK and I really want to win, is so. Oppas, please send lots and lots of Candy, is so."

Ami-chan—the one who would later become famous as the virtual streamer "Give Me Money!" At this point she was still just one of the small-time streamers who'd transferred over from Rabbit TV. But after Park Na-na and the other big-agency virtuals made the jump, she would go on to become the third virtual streamer on Pangea TV to officially hit the one-million club.

On top of that, she would end up the single highest earner among every virtual streamer on the entire platform.

No wonder her nickname is "Give Me Money" Virtual. From what I've heard, her collection skills are in a league of their own.

I'd never watched her stream myself, but while browsing the virtual category I'd occasionally spotted her… distinctive titles.

They read more like a regular female cam streamer's titles than a virtual's—but maybe that was just my own prejudice talking. In the end the market ran on supply and demand, and the results Ami-chan had produced were clearly something worth respecting.

Besides, she wasn't only about collecting money. She invested heavily in the virtual side of things too—constantly upgrading her avatar, and even holding those expensive virtual concerts twice.

"Hey, everyone. I'm a little older, but I'd still love it if you treated me casually. I'm Subnitti. Let's have fun with today's Diamond CK."

This streamer was in my pre-regression memories too. If I remembered right, she would join Park Bong-sik's company and put in a solid performance there. After that she'd keep challenging Minecraft servers as well. She never quite recaptured the glory days of Rena World, but she managed a respectable long run.

Ah—one more trait came to mind. She and Miho would get along extremely well. Because she loved drinking. A lot.

"Hm? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing… All right, last person!"

"Yes. Hello, nice to meet you. I'm the streamer Kaang. Seo-a, do you remember me by any chance?"

"Huh? Uh…"

Kaang? Kaang? Who was that?

I racked my brain, but no one came to mind. Kaang's voice drooped as he volunteered the connection himself.

"I appeared in the Wooga-dol concert you planned, Seo-a. That… I'm so sorry!"

"Huh? Wait, no—what are you apologizing for? Aaaaah, I'm the one who messed up. I'm sorry. That was incredibly rude of me."

Honestly, even I was a little embarrassed. How do you invite someone as a concert guest and then completely forget them?

I hurriedly pulled up Kaang's stream and donated a hundred Candy as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an apology, joining his fan club in the process.

"I won't forget you from now on. Aigoo, this is mortifying."

"Ehehe, I didn't bring it up to make you do all that."

My total meltdown seemed to warm the atmosphere a little more. Well… the good vibes ended there. Time to start the match mission.

The teams were split into Seo-a Team and Seol Pyo-woo Team.

"All right, everyone press the accept button on the match mission. It's not a voice-phishing scam or anything, so don't worry—just hit it."

"Yes."

"Waaah! First match mission!"

This was my third match mission. For everyone else, it was the first. Which meant they were confused about everything from screen settings on down. I'd already anticipated the chaos, so I calmly grabbed them one by one and walked them through the setup.

About ten minutes later, the match mission window was finally in order.

Unlike MCK, the atmosphere was surprisingly peaceful. Everyone was still unfamiliar with CK, and in MCK's case Park Bong-sik took the lead as the designated villain—here, no one filled that role.

This kind of vibe isn't bad either.

The 6:4 settlement ratio was definitely shaping the mood. With MCK's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠10:0 split, things could escalate into actual emotional warfare. Here it felt soft and squishy by comparison.

And yet the funding was flowing surprisingly well. No one was baiting with trash talk the way they did in MCK, but viewers in each room were opening their wallets freely—celebrating their streamer's first CK and trying to boost their morale.

"All right, all right—we'll stop accepting here. Once again, thank you so much to every viewer who funded us. Today let's all work hard! And have fun! Let's enjoy this CK."

Split 6:4, the winning team would each take about 17,000 Candy. The losing team would each get around 11,200.

Looking at those numbers alone, Seol Pyo-woo and I would actually lose money even if we won—but that was far too narrow a view. Sure, the funding came from our own streams, but some of it was from floating viewers. More importantly, there were fans who simply wouldn't open their wallets unless a "CK board" like this was laid out.

In other words, donations we might never have received otherwise.

"You all saw how this works in the announcement post, but I'll explain one more time."

"Yeeees!"

"Everyone heads underground carrying only bread, a completely unenchanted diamond pickaxe, and torches. At 8:30 we start mining diamonds simultaneously. It runs for one full hour, and the team with the higher combined diamond count wins. If anyone dies mid-run—falls into lava, whatever—the diamonds you've mined up to that point don't count. You restart from zero."

An extremely simple win condition. Whichever team mined more diamonds in one hour.

If we'd let people bring their own pickaxes, our team—with its well-enchanted gear—would have an overwhelming advantage. So for fairness, everyone used unenchanted diamond pickaxes.

"All right, let's move."

The area around the village portal had already been strip-mined bare over the past ten days—no diamonds left. So we took boats along the waterway and traveled for about fifteen minutes.

"We'll start here. Digging down first."

I took the lead, tunneling down and safely guiding everyone to Y-coordinate -54. We lined up in a single-file formation and waited for 8:30.

Ah—right. Directions first.

"Hmm… which way do you all think looks good?"

"West? Or south?"

"I have a feeling south will be good today, is so. That's how it is, is so."

"Okay. We'll go ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠south."

"Got it."

After some discussion, our team chose west. Looking at the map, the north side had ocean terrain—we'd probably have to change direction halfway through.

"Everyone put your designated gear and items in this chest before we start. You know what happens if you get caught cheating, right?"

Every now and then you ran into a "persimmon tree" type—so for important CKs, double- and triple-checking was the way to go.

Final inspection complete, we scattered into our respective team Discord channels.

Everything was ready.

The thrilling, heart-pounding first CK of the V-Live crew!

"Three, two, one… Let's gooooo!"

"Waaaaah!"

"Diamonds, diamonds, diamonds!"

Deep underground, a roaring chorus of diamond chants echoed through the earth.