The Return of Purge Day
December 24th, Saturday. Christmas Eve.
A day that set fire to the hearts of countless couples, so of course there were endless events.
Ah, a day that has absolutely nothing to do with shut-in otaku virgins?
Don't drag us back into that cruel reality.
Even outsiders have their own ways of enjoying themselves!
First, Decrescendo's Christmas carol video dropped.
I'd been worried our dates might overlap since there had been no word, but it was the day before, so I finally let out a sigh of relief.
These kinds of things cause less mutual damage when the dates don't clash.
Since I needed to stay on good terms with Decrescendo fans, I deliberately mentioned it on stream and watched it together with everyone.
"A Christmas carol video just went up on Decrescendo's YouTube channel, so hit like and leave some supportive comments, everyone."
The Christmas Eve events didn't end there.
After I freed him from the trap, Oh Yeong-jun fled in a frenzy, swearing revenge, and safely reunited with Park Na-na and Muyo.
At last, the story of the Akatsuki members' first meeting began.
The meeting between Muyo—who had been writing stories that rivaled Apple-mong's in the early days of Rena World—and Oh Yeong-jun became quite the hot topic.
While companies were springing up left and right and most people piled into them, they were among the few romantic holdouts still clinging to the stray-cat position.
It felt even more striking because it stood in such sharp contrast to Kim Hak-do's moves, who had moved in on the same day.
Hm? What did Kim Hak-do do to deserve that?
Kim Hak-do snagged the Milk Company that Elsa had been representing.
At the time, Elsa had been nursing ambitions to build the server's first giant structure—a Disney castle—but while she was off at the Poko Server, construction had ground to a halt, and the building materials purchased from Oh Ha Company had turned into debt, leaving her on the brink of bankruptcy.
Yet she talked her way into handing that failing company straight over to Kim Hak-do.
Kim Hak-do became company chairman just two days after entering the server.
The method he used to normalize the company was extremely simple.
He advertised that people could join under a big-corp streamer and collected company joining fees.
Completely the opposite of other companies that paid salaries to their employees.
Even so, plenty of people scraped together large sums and joined just for the chance to sit under a big-corp streamer.
With those joining fees he paid off the outstanding balance to Oh Ha Company and launched into a full-on power-tripping spree.
It couldn't help but stand in complete contrast to Oh Yeong-jun, who was still getting scolded everywhere and wandering around as a loner.
If it ends here, Christmas Eve will completely become a day for Decrescendo.
Stray-cat Park Na-na and Muyo's first meeting with Oh Yeong-jun.
And Elsa, Seol Pyo-woo, and Baiyo—who had been under Milk Company—ending up under big-corp streamer Kim Hak-do.
If you included the Christmas carol video uploaded today, Decrescendo was involved in every single hot topic.
Not just the (old) Rena Universe—Pocotin and V-topia couldn't even hand over their business cards.
But I'm greedy.
I can't just quietly yield the protagonist's seat on a day this important.
Today is Saturday.
It's the day of Rena World's second Purge Day.
Mist realized his position was shaking.
The ambition he had harbored when he first learned of Rena World.
As a former LoL pro gamer he was somewhat nestled in the mainstream of Pangea TV, but in many ways it had been stifling.
Everyone acknowledged his skill, yet internet broadcasting wasn't something you could succeed at just by being good at games.
If that were possible, every big-corp streamer would be a former pro.
What mattered more than game skill was the talent to make viewers feel fun.
Or, failing that, at least having good "luck."
And Mist considered his current situation unlucky.
No matter how attractive the LoL scene was as a market with an enormous pie, two big-corp streamers—Kim Hak-do and Lee Seong-ho—had already planted their flags there.
And that wasn't all.
There were plenty of solid mid-tiers as well: Professor Jeo, Kkul-tang-tang, I-neun-sang-un, Kim Dong-a, Snap, and more.
Trying to grow further in the LoL scene by punching through all those competitors?
Mist judged it was hard.
So what should he do?
While he was turning that over in his mind, the virtual scene opened on Pangea TV, and right after that the Minecraft server called Rena World appeared.
This was "luck."
The "luck" he had been waiting for so long had finally cracked open.
Coincidentally, Mist had considerable expertise in Minecraft.
A game he had dabbled in for fun in the past—who knew it would help like this.
Mist seriously watched the situation in Rena World.
At first it was a server that only drew interest among virtual streamers, but thanks to Apple-mong's brilliant performance it was gradually becoming a topic in the communities as well.
In that moment, Mist decided.
He would walk as a pioneer down a path no one had yet touched.
It was a small pie incomparable to the LoL scene, but in exchange there were no big-corp streamers like Lee Seong-ho or Kim Hak-do.
If Rena World became a big hit later, the return value of having staked out the Minecraft scene even a little earlier would be huge.
With that calculation he began his challenge in Rena World.
At first everything went smoothly.
As the streamer with the biggest weight class on the server there was nothing to hold him back, and since he was familiar with Minecraft he moved without hesitation.
After gauging the atmosphere appropriately he received gear tributes, then took a few of the quick-acting small fries among those following him as employees by creating a company.
Hm? Company name?
Since he happened to have potatoes in his inventory, he named it "Bad Potato" Company.
"There's something called Purge Day this Saturday, boss."
"Purge Day? Sounds fun."
He was formulating strategies on how to seize control of the server going forward, and the server admin was laying out the board for him on her own.
A few hours where PK, looting, and destruction were all allowed.
From what Mist had confirmed so far, there was no one in Rena World who could be a competitor.
There was a streamer named Oh-ha who was a former PUBG pro, but she was such a small fry there was no need to pay attention, and moreover she was a Minecraft beginner.
In the end, Purge Day is a festival for me.
He was already acting like the protagonist of Rena World.
Buoyed by viewer numbers nearly double what he had in the LoL scene, he immersed himself even more.
Perhaps by the time this server ended, an even bigger step-up would be possible.
Who would have known that the Purge Day he had so cheerfully participated in with that mindset would become not a festival but a mess.
Even now, when Mist recalled that memory, his hands and feet still trembled.
Even during his active days as a pro gamer he had never experienced such a humiliating thing.
Losing a 1v1 not to a fellow male former pro gamer, but to a woman.
After going through that, the way he froze up and showed his real feelings got clipped into a video and plastered all over FM Community, so he had to take out his anger by throwing the things on his desk.
From that day on, Mist sharpened his blade.
He would absolutely not let it slide.
Aside from the humiliation and rage from the defeat, because of the virtual streamer "Seo-a" the first footprint of his grand plan had been messed up from the start.
He had planned to act as an overwhelming powerhouse in the Minecraft scene without a single blemish, but he lost from the beginning and countless floating viewers left.
The unstoppable upward trend since entering the server had been broken right there.
There were still many viewers remaining, but human greed knows no bounds, and Mist wanted even greater results.
And there was only one solution for that.
Revenge and victory against "Seo-a," who could be called the root of all this!
That alone would be the one move to untangle the messily knotted thread and restore all cause and effect to their original state.
Today is Christmas Eve, with cheerful carols ringing out. Announcing the start of Purge Day—where PK, looting, and destruction are all permitted—on such a lovely day is no easy task. But this too is the responsibility that weighs on a server admin's two shoulders! I will overcome it without fail.
Once again Rena-ttang opened with every flowery phrase imaginable, floating high above the plaza and promoting the content.
The gazes of the countless streamers gathered to participate in Purge Day all turned toward Rena-ttang, but the direction Mist was looking was different.
"……."
The virtual streamer "Seo-a," chatting leisurely with a crew member beside her.
Mist clenched his teeth.
How much effort had he poured over the past week into finishing every piece of gear with end-game options?
All that patience and suffering had been for today.
Alright then, countdown starts now! 10, 9, 8…… 1! Purge Day is noooow beginning!
"Hraaaaaah!"
The instant the signal dropped, Mist ignored the swarm of streamers around him and charged in a straight line toward Seo-a.
Clang—!
As if she had been waiting, a netherite sword came swinging to meet him.
They each struck the other's armor once and swapped positions.
"That gear…… looks good."
Mist spoke in a threatening voice.
To remind her of the humiliation of having his gear stolen last week.
But his opponent was not the type to be so easily rattled.
"The gear? Ah! The gear…… haha, now that you mention it, I put those stolen pieces to good use. Mist-nim's gear was seriously cracked."
"……!"
Sparks flew between the gazes locked on each other.