Thick Roots
They say starting is half the battle.
First place in this Loyalty Game went to none other than Lucy.
That meant the broadcast sense she brought to open the show would have a massive impact on how well the whole Loyalty Game performed. There was no question about it.
My heart was pounding for no good reason.
Just how much had Lucy grown in the meantime?
Before the regression, she would still have been stuck doing lonely island streams over on Rabbit TV.
She’s really changed a lot. She already transferred two months ago, went through an audition program, made colleagues who actually approach her proactively through crew activities—completely different from before—and she’s been stacking experience running the daily news broadcast every day.
They say the most important factor in a person’s growth is the “environment” they’re placed in.
The situation was already completely different from the pre-regression days of Ten Scholar, No-Fun, and Lucy.
What kind of sense was she going to show us now?
“Second place was Miho unnie, right?”
“Yep yep. Lucy, I’m right here! It’s Miho unnie, the one Lucy loves most.”
“Booo! Sycophant!”
She kept shamelessly promoting herself without batting an eye at the jeers from everyone else.
The sheer dignity of the 38,000 Candies still fully intact.
With that halo at her back, Lucy looked around at everyone with complete confidence and made her proposal.
“Miho unnie. Pick one.”
“Huh?”
“Acrostic poem, aegyo, roasting, singing, dancing, voice impressions… whatever you’re confident in.”
“Huh? Ah, no, Lucy. Unnie’s still second place, you know.”
“Hmm? Are you telling me to just take all 38,000?”
“No way! Lucy Lucy, what are you even saying. Unnie’ll do it right now. If our Lucy wants to see it, I’ve gotta show her everything.”
“Then let’s start with the acrostic. Once you do it, if it’s mid we go straight to the next course.”
“…….”
Our Lucy has changed!
Ahh, even if I received zero Candies today, I would have no regrets.
The Lucy who used to get called “No-Fun Lucy”—or the nickname “No-Ru” for short—before the regression was creating broadcast moments like this!
“Ahem! Then I’ll start with the acrostic. What’s the prompt?”
“The prompt will be ‘Live’ from V-Live, without the V.”
“Okay. Going right in.”
“Yes. La!”
“I had a dream~♪ Even if abandoned, torn and tattered~♫”
“Ooooh! What’s this? Song lyric sense.”
“This might actually be promising?”
Miho’s stylish start.
Lucy gave a small nod at the impressed reactions around her and delivered the second prompt.
“I!”
“Is everything over now~ Is that really so~ All those many days we promised each other~♬”
“Oh! This actually connects pretty well?”
Alright, last one.
Everyone’s eyes were full of anticipation.
“Ve!”
“Bravo~ Bravooo! My Life, oh my life!”
“Hmm…….”
“Using only song lyrics is kinda clever, but the impact’s a bit lacking.”
“So what’s the decision?”
Even with the murmuring reactions around her, Lucy’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as she spoke calmly.
“Let’s move to the next stage.”
“Ah, Lucy! Pleeease!”
Miho collapsing flat on the ground and wailing was pure comedy gold.
Viewers snickering and enjoying the suffering streamer.
Yeah. You had to show broadcast moments like this so people didn’t feel like their donations were wasted after the fact.
Thinking back to pre-regression memories, there were tons of streamers who just freeloaded off the spillover donations and called it a day with a simple thank-you.
And those people only thrived for the brief moment they were catching scraps before immediately dropping back to their original weight class.
That’s just how the world works.
Viewers are never blind idiots, after all.
The streamers who survive are the ones who can express gratitude through actions, not just words.
“I uploaded some reference aegyo lines to the fan cafe just now. Go check them out and pick one you like.”
“Lucy, this is seriously not it. I’m the sexy type, not the cute type.”
“Then I’ll just take the 38,000…….”
“Aargh! Presenting the cutest Miho in the whole world! Kya-ha-ha-ha.”
“…….”
The terror of a capitalist world.
Miho, struggling through Lucy’s tests, barely managed to succeed at the stage-three roasting lines.
No, but why did she have to use those lines on me while claiming she was immersing herself in the emotion?
No matter how I looked at it, it felt like real feelings were mixed in, which was suspicious.
But…….
“Hmm? So you’ve got a problem with me being second place? Third. Place. Seo-a?”
“No! There’s absolutely no way I’d have a problem, never! I’m Miho unnie’s loyal little hanger-on. Jingle jingle.”
As first place, Lucy decided to take 8,000 and generously left 30,000 behind.
Realizing it was finally her turn, Miho’s momentum soared and she stuck her nose high in the air.
I stuck right up against her side with a bright smile and vigorously rubbed my palms together.
This was the capitalist smile and capitalist social skillset.
Earlier I’d been spouting nonsense about being fine with zero Candies for a moment, but I had to eat too.
On top of that, income earned in January was currently running an automatic 1.5x event thanks to the rise in Pangea TV stock.
A 1.5x event? There was no way I could hold back on that.
Miho smiled right back at me when she saw that.
“Then shall we have our Seo-a slowly proceed starting from stage one, the acrostic? I’d love to see our Seo-a go all the way to the final stage.”
“…….”
No way, even you, Miho unnie!?
Lucy had spread poison through our entire V-Live Company.
Everyone’s little talent show(?) came to an end.
Contrary to expectations that there would be no mercy, Mayo even showed generosity to last-place Han A-yeon, leading to a heartwarming final decision!
In order, they would receive sponsorships of 8,000 / 7,000 / 6,000 / 6,000 / 6,000 / 5,000 Candies.
“Alright alright, let me organize the traffic a bit. First, Seo-a’s Empty Wallet, Seoah Not Streaming, BongsikIsHandsome, and WhatANiceDay can just keep donating on my stream as usual. Next, MinecraftIsFun, GiveMeDopamine, BongsikBronzeSilverGold, and OopsieWhoops, please head over to Lucy unnie’s stream and donate there. And for Miho unnie’s room…….”
Hmph. A classic attention-seeker jealousy provocation strategy? New girl my ass.
Ever since the last Pan-Fall 29 incident I’d been restraining myself from the middle finger, so I answered by forcefully raising my index finger instead.
Surely even the index finger wouldn’t get me scolded… right?
And these Seo-a Corps members—I really needed to set aside a day and do some proper management.
With the recent string of collabs and content schedules I’d been so busy there hadn’t been a chance for deep communication time on solo streams, and there were some people who were quietly sulking and others who were showing it through snippy chats.
Honestly, fully grown men playing cute like this.
Still, I could never take it lightly.
As I’d said over and over, nothing was more important to a streamer than their core fans.
They were the ones you always had to pay attention to and manage carefully.
“A-yeon, Mayo. And unnies. Let’s all give a group thank-you to the people who sponsored us one more time.”
“Good good. Seo-a, give the signal.”
“Yes! Then one, two, three~ Everyone, thank you!”
“Waaaaah!”
If the companies with big-corp streamers appealed to viewers with big-boss play or family play vibes, our company had to go for the cute and bouncy(?) approach.
With the bright energy plus the genuine gratitude everyone was feeling, the viewers who’d donated showed their satisfaction too.
Yeah. This was the perfect opportunity.
Feeling the weight of being the head of the household (leader) once more, I casually dropped a mention.
“Today everyone’s going to team up and do the flattening work, and later we’ll decide through a meeting what kind of large-scale structure to build, okay? The unnies and oppas who donated today, I’d love it if you came back then too to watch together and cheer us on.”
The casuals who’d gotten even more immersed in our company’s story through today’s talent show stepped up first to approve the large-scale building plan.
The atmosphere was that they were happy to support it.
But I couldn’t let my guard down.
Casuals were like reeds that changed the direction they faced depending on which way the wind blew.
I had to keep them hooked to the very end with more immersive stories and charm.
“Alright then, we’ve earned today’s wages, so let’s all work without resting. Move oooout!”
“Go go go!”
“Today I’m wiping out the whole back mountain and then ending stream.”
“Subnitti unnie, I’ll stick with you till the end too.”
Just look at the employees going completely feral once the deposits(?) hit.
As expected, there was no better vitamin in capitalist society than this.
A day where both viewers and streamers laughed, enjoyed themselves, and left satisfied.
Just like that, V-Live Company was slowly extending thick roots through Rena World.