Seeds
Friday, January 6th.
With the third Purge Day just one day away, astonishing news swept through Rena World.
The casino that every streamer had been waiting for had finally opened.
No matter how much they claimed to love the healing server and its long-overdue gentle vibes, they still needed something to feed their dopamine receptors.
The casino was rain in a drought — the light and salt everyone had been desperately craving.
Murmur, murmur—!
For the first time in ages, streamers thronged the Genesis Village. Builders who had spent all day on construction and miners who had been burrowing underground like moles all gathered in one place.
Who in their right mind actually wanted to labor all day long?
Whether in reality or in a game, money made everything possible.
Building? If you had cash, you just paid some other company's builders a fat wage and let them do it for you.
Mining? Did anyone dig for diamonds because they loved diamonds? They spent all day swinging pickaxes underground because diamonds meant money.
In the end, every single action in Rena World led back to money.
And if you could score a massive win at the casino opening today…?
Hardship over, happiness unlocked — at least for a while!
…That was the surface reason, anyway. The real one was simpler: when brand-new content dropped, failing to stick your face in it was practically a disqualification as a streamer.
Casual viewers would check it out, of course, but even the hardcore fans who couldn't contain their curiosity would sneak a multi-view window open just to peek at the new content.
Floating in midair and looking down on the assembled streamers, Rena-ttang wore an expression of deep satisfaction.
And why wouldn't she? Every ounce of her attention was fixed on draining the streamers' wealth so she could squeeze even a little more concurrent viewership out of the server.
She would do anything for the server.
In truth, Rena-ttang had already heard the quiet rumors. Yu Seona had slipped a challenge into the previously uncontested Minecraft scene with Seona Land.
Just because Rena World was riding high right now didn't mean she could afford to get complacent.
In the streaming world, the entire landscape could flip overnight.
She needed to keep rolling out new content at breakneck speed, and she needed to keep a hawk's eye on every major streamer who still hadn't chosen a server.
Rena-ttang: First of all, I would like to thank the many ladies and gentlemen who have joined us today for the grand opening of the Rena World Casino. Currently available inside are Up-Down, Roulette, Slot Machines, and Yacht. After consulting with Pangea TV, please note that you must set your broadcast age rating to 19+ while playing games inside the casino. Additionally, all betting inside uses Gold Rena and Silver Rena, so please exchange your currency in advance…
"Booo! The explanation's way too long. This isn't the principal's morning lecture."
"We don't need the rules — just open the damn casino already! Open it! Open it!"
With two major streamers — Kim Hak-do and Wang-ko — leading the charge like that, even the mighty Rena-ttang had no choice but to fold.
Rena-ttang: Understood. If you have any questions, there are NPCs inside the casino — click them to learn the rules of each game. If you run into any bugs, please call an admin. Now go have fun, everyone.
The moment Rena-ttang finished speaking and the signal dropped, streamers charged toward the casino like madmen.
Only two groups moved differently.
Akatsuki and us — V-Live.
"……"
Our gazes locked, sharp and tangled with rivalry.
Before the regression, Akatsuki had seized the casino opening to whip up a content bit called "Shinwa Money."
It was a parody of the real-life loan company Sanwa Money, swapping in the "Shin" from Oh Yeong-jun's nickname and the "Mu" from Muyo to create Shinwa Money.
The concept was simple.
Lend money to streamers who had just lost their shirts at the casino, rake in interest, and lock down a solid broadcast angle at the same time.
Standing in front of the Akatsuki shrine in loan-shark employee skins, dancing and swaying to upbeat trot music — it was more than enough to suck viewers in.
But there was one problem this time around: a powerful competitor that hadn't existed before the regression.
Us. V-Live Company.
"Welcome. We'll take excellent care of you. V-Money is always by your side."
While Oh Yeong-jun and Muyo came bouncing over, shoulders swinging to a cheerful trot beat, we were already standing in two neat rows at the casino entrance, dressed in full formal suits.
And every time a customer came or went, we bowed politely and delivered our pitch.
Compared to Akatsuki's two-person, half-hearted stroll-up sales pitch, we were operating on an entirely different level.
Capital, recognition — neither category even came close.
V-Live Company's loan-shark history stretched all the way back to the Genesis of Rena World. It was a traditional enterprise.
Any resident of Rena World had heard of our infamous reputation at least once.
The two from Akatsuki tried to hustle around inside the casino making sales, but I assigned Miho and Subnitti to shut them down at the source.
"Hello, we're from Shinwa Money. Oh my, looks like you've lost everything. We just rolled out a very affordable long-term loan product. Why don't we step somewhere quiet and talk it over…"
"We love you, valued customer. This is V-Money, the loan company officially certified by the Rena government. We offer lower interest rates than any other firm in the country — would you trust us with your business?"
"……"
An overwhelming gap in capital rendered competition itself meaningless.
No matter how many times they tried to force a broadcast angle, all they got was a bone-deep lesson in the difference between a major corporation and a two-bit operation.
Eventually Oh Yeong-jun came stomping over, thoroughly sulking.
It was a pretty good picture, actually.
I already had a proposal ready for him.
"Come on, Seo-a. Even so, let's keep some business ethics here, okay? We spoke up first — you can't just snatch our customers like that."
"Shhh. Uncle Yeong-jun. Forget the small stuff. Let's talk about the big business, yeah? How long are you planning to keep playing at that tiny scale? You, the great leader of Akatsuki."
"……"
He clearly never expected to hear something like that from me. His mouth snapped shut.
Still, I couldn't spell everything out too directly here.
Between my stream and Oh Yeong-jun's, we had over six thousand viewers combined.
Sometimes, locking down a good broadcast angle required airtight security — and that damn cuckoo bird had zero sense of timing. No matter how carefully you warned it, it would fly off and spoil everything whenever it felt like it.
So the right move was to drop a simple hint and handle the real conversation somewhere the viewers would never know.
It'd be nice if even this backroom talk could become content… but keeping the cuckoo from flying is more important.
Either way, Oh Yeong-jun had clearly taken the bait on "big business."
Without a word of complaint, he trailed after me out of the casino.
Before long the two of us had reached a place with no one else around.
Under Oh Yeong-jun's intense, urging stare, I spoke in a low voice.
"I don't really know much about it, but I heard that in the anime, Akatsuki is a criminal organization. Is that right?"
Akatsuki — the worst criminal organization from the popular anime Naruto.
In Rena World they were more of a troublemaker crew than the absolute worst of the worst, but there was no denying that the "ultimate, strongest villain" branding was a deeply attractive character concept.
"Yeah, that's right. Akatsuki is a magnificent villain group that shakes the entire world."
"Then shouldn't you live up to the name? Instead of just staying Rena World's resident troublemakers forever."
"……"
Oh Yeong-jun had no idea what I was actually talking about.
But he could probably guess.
The way I was setting the mood right now meant I was about to propose exactly the kind of "big business" I'd mentioned earlier.
"All right. Let's hear it."
"You know the third Purge Day is tomorrow, right? And that O-Wang Company has been swaggering around predicting their own victory."
In the communities, people were basically treating O-Wang Company's win as a foregone conclusion.
We were sitting in second place behind them, but once the gear gap closed, most people thought we didn't stand a chance.
As for Akatsuki — three members total, and only Jisuni had even finished a full endgame set — they weren't even on the candidate list.
"You mean… maybe…"
"How about we talk about the important stuff on Discord?"
"Yeah."
The seed for tomorrow had been planted.