The Ladder Game
Donation pledges poured in with explosive force.
Just in case anyone might be baiting for attention with fake promises, I had issued a firm warning in advance: anyone who talked big and then ran would get blacklisted and shared among every V-Live Company streamer.
Back before the duel-mission system existed—when people still wrote missions in a notepad—it was surprisingly common for someone to promise a donation and then vanish. Surely we didn't have any of those types here… right?
Thankfully, even after repeated warnings, the flood of pledges didn't slow down one bit.
Technically I could just collect every donation myself and wire the money to my friends later…
But then I'd be the only one getting hit with a comprehensive income tax bomb in May. And looked at another way, this was also an opportunity. Anyone willing to spend money watching streams clearly had some disposable income. If the girls could charm them or reel them in and lock them onto their own broadcasts, it would be a huge help.
Whether it works or not, this is all experience. Always give it your best.
Once I'd filled the notepad and tallied everything up, the total came to 38,000 Candies—a far bigger number than I'd expected.
As a thank-you, I put on the "fan service" performance I'd prepared in advance. That was exactly why I'd been waiting in full tracking gear today.
A clean performance of simultaneous dance and song! I'd improved a lot since that first show in front of Ssa-yo back in October. Clean vocal delivery, precise choreography. If only this cramped little apartment had more floor space, I could have stretched my arms and legs out properly—but even so, it was a level of performance you almost never saw on other virtual streamers' broadcasts.
It might sound like self-praise, but among virtual streamers, there really weren't many who could dance this well. Plenty of them could sing, but for some reason the supply on the dance side was weirdly thin.
"As a token of gratitude, one more song! Let's get it!"
This time, considering the freeloaders and casual viewers rather than just the virtual-streamer regulars, I pulled out the dance reactions currently trending on Pangea TV: the Cotton Candy Dance and the Cocaine Dance.
The freeloaders who had been typing "?" and tilting their heads during the fan service suddenly lit up and started spamming hip-shaking emotes.
The moment one freeloader opened his wallet again, the casual viewers caught up in the festive mood cheerfully resumed donating as well.
Hell yeah! That right there was the sweet taste of casual traffic and trickle-down money.
Generally speaking, casual viewers had a high chance of being free eyeballs—but if you gave them a reason and a justification, they could play the exact same role as dedicated fans in the short term. Ultimately, creating situations like this was entirely up to the streamer.
After thoroughly expressing my gratitude for today's donations in that lively atmosphere, I switched the screen back to normal. Whew. Exhausting, but just as rewarding.
Now it was time for the most important part: the loyalty game.
"Kids, Daddy just made a killing!"
I'd only given the company staff a rough heads-up before making my move. Honestly, if the results had been mediocre, it would have been mortifying. But since things had gone well, I could stand in front of them with full confidence. The king's triumphant return!
"Waaaaah!"
Judging by my reaction that things had gone well, everyone cheered with pure joy.
"The major-shareholder hyungs who enjoy watching our V-Live Company broadcasts have made a truly generous donation. A whopping 38,000 Candies! Everybody scream!"
"Thirty-eight thousand?"
"For real? Th-that's… how much money is that even?!"
"Waaaaah!"
"Thank you, thank you so much!"
It was still a little early for pure gratitude. The most important moment was still ahead.
"Alright then—starting now, the loyalty game… the ladder draw!"
"Hup!"
"Th-the big one's coming."
"I'm so nervous."
In truth, it wasn't anything grand enough to warrant all that fuss. All I was doing was searching for a ladder-game program on Naver, typing in everyone's names, and ranking them. The key was that those rankings were fused with the loyalty game.
For example: if someone like Mayo—who had zero sense of reading the room—drew first place and immediately shouted, "I'll take all 38,000!", Miho might seriously start considering an IRL beatdown.
"Alright, drawing the ladder now. Everyone look at my screen."
"Yes! Logging in right away."
"Please, God, Lord, Buddha, Allah—please let me get first place. I'm begging you!"
"I-I'd even settle for second!"
"Girls, you know Unnie loves all of you, right? Our loyalty forever and ever!"
"Please, just anything above Mayo!"
The rankings hadn't even come out yet and the staff were already losing their minds.
So then—to whom would the glory of first place fall?
"Here we go. Checking last place first. Tada-da-da-dan~ tada-da-da-dan~"
The moment I clicked sixth place at the bottom, a thick line zigzagged its way upward with the same determined force as a salmon swimming upstream to spawn. And its final destination was—!
"Waaah! I'm doomed."
Han A-yeon—the one with the aegyo and the work ethic who soaked up all the unnies' affection. Tough luck, but a decided result was a decided result.
"Moving right along! Who will take fifth place?!"
"Heheh! A-yeon Unnie, just trust in Mayo. I'll take first and leave a thousand Candies behind, so the five of you can split two hundred each. So be grateful and never forget your deference toward May—"
"Fifth place is Mayo!"
"It's rigged! This is totally rigged-geosida!"
Mayo, who had been swaggering right next to Han A-yeon, swung her Netherite sword and attempted a rebellion as if this were an impossible outcome. But before she knew it, everyone else already had Netherite swords in hand. That's right—V-Live Company, the wealthiest faction in all of Rena World, had already fully outfitted every single member with endgame gear sets.
Reduced to a sulking mess, Mayo shuffled off to a corner and began grumbling and lamenting the state of the world.
"Alright, alright, the noisy one has been dealt with. Now for fourth place!"
"Drumroll!"
"Please let fourth be Miho! I'll yield it to Miho!"
"Subnitti Unnie, really? Just you wait!"
Fourth place went to Subnitti. Third place was me. Now only the grand first and second places remained, narrowed down to Miho and Lucy.
"Lucy, Unnie has to eat too, okay?"
"Unnie, I'm kind of in a rush these days myself."
Wait, what?! Lucy was dropping lines like that? Coming from someone with that pure, scholarly personality, delivered with a completely straight face—I couldn't help but burst out laughing.
As I sat there snickering, everyone stared at me with puzzled looks.
"What? That was hilarious. Lucy Unnie's line just now—wasn't that funny?"
"…Seo-a Unnie plays favorites so hard-geosida. She only ever praises Lucy Unnie and cracks up even at her unfunny jokes-geosida."
Hmph. Ignoring the professional hater's opinion.
Anyway—this was the final one. Under everyone's trembling gazes, the ladder's last thick line began its powerful journey. Who would claim first place?!
"Lucy Unnie, congratulations! I should confess now—honestly, Lucy Unnie is my favorite person in the whole company!"
A last-place survival struggle? Han A-yeon, who had been sniffling, dashed over and latched onto Lucy. Miho, standing right beside her, immediately moved to intervene.
"Ahem! How dare a lowly sixth-place nobody approach Her First-Place Highness. Insolence!"
"U-Unnie…"
Han A-yeon was shocked by the transformation of Miho, who normally doted on her—but Miho, already fretting about retirement at thirty, was the type who turned ruthlessly vicious in the face of Candies.
Realizing this, Subnitti scowled and started egging Lucy on.
"Bah! Miho's second anyway, so anything below her barely gets a scrap. Lucy, just take it all clean. Eat every last one."
"Unnie, what are you even saying?! Lucy, don't listen to that mean talk. You trust Unnie, right? I'll leave plenty so the friends below us can share a decent amount."
"I'd sooner believe a jungler who swears they'll farm RPG and carry than trust Miho Unnie's words-geosida."
"…"
In an instant, the surroundings had descended into pure chaos. Hey—kids? Unnies? Weren't we the harmonious V-Live Company? You all said it yourselves. Share even a single bean, stick together until Rena World's final day…
The atmosphere was heating up fast.