Being a Leader Is Hard
The results were in.
The sky island claimed 31.4 percent while the Roman Colosseum took 25.2 percent, locking in first and second even in the viewer vote.
In the end, the grand overall first place went to Lucy’s idea: the sky island, Skypia.
“V-Live Company’s landmark construction plan has officially adopted Lucy unnie’s idea! We’ve decided to build the sky island Skypia.”
“Waaaaah!”
It was a moment of pure emotion.
To get to witness Lucy shine like this, and with so many of us here together…
“Again! Mayo always gets all choked up whenever only Lucy unnie does well, geosida. Suspicious, geosida.”
“Ugly self-recommendation and eliminated Mayo, cut!”
“…….”
Leaving a fuming Mayo behind, I stepped forward toward the viewers.
The most important part was still left.
“Respected viewers! The vote has chosen the sky island Skypia. But one crucial decision remains—the funding schedule for building Skypia. This construction funding will be the first ever to proceed as a ‘competition mission,’ and as the number-one company, we’re going to prepare with everything we’ve got.”
“Ahem! Viewers, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not just asking for mindless funding. You saw that ultra-high-speed (water) elevator used to enter the sky island in the video earlier, right? When you ride it up to Skypia, the doors open, and the moment you look straight ahead—right there—we’ll take the names of every viewer who donates 1,000 Candy or more, craft them into files, and mount them as image frames for permanent display.”
“Waaaaah!”
“Wait, so if you visit Skypia you’ll always see your nickname enshrined there? I literally have no choice but to fund this!”
Han A-yeon delivered her support line in a tone that sounded like she was reading from a Korean textbook.
Ahem. That might actually be backfiring a little.
But the vanity of the big spenders knew no bounds.
I threw out another line to prod them further.
“The top three highest funders of the day will each get a gold, silver, or bronze statue made and placed somewhere highly visible as a token of our gratitude. And it doesn’t end there.”
“What?! There’s still more?!”
“…… As I said earlier, our entire company will prepare plenty of spectacles for that day. Come, enjoy everything to your heart’s content, and if you like what you see, please drop a small donation with the feeling of ‘you worked hard, good job.’ That’s all we ask.”
“We’ll prepare hard so come watch a ton, geosida.”
“You cowards better show up, you know?”
“All you oppas who used to drink with me at dawn better show up for sure.”
“P-please take good care of us!”
“And the most important part—the landmark construction funding date—will be the 15th.”
Originally I’d wanted to give viewers about two weeks so they could prepare properly, but then I realized that period fell right on the Lunar New Year holiday.
If everyone headed home for the holidays, viewer numbers that day could plummet.
So I had no choice but to pull it forward by a week.
The moment I announced the date, a little chaos rippled through the chat, but there was nothing I could do about it.
I couldn’t micromanage every single viewer’s schedule.
Change the date and someone else would suddenly find it inconvenient.
That was just something we had to accept.
“Then once again, please take good care of us. Lots of love for V-Live Company that day!”
We all bowed our heads together in perfect unison.
How much of that earnestness and effort actually reached the viewers, I couldn’t say.
Only on funding day, through the viewer numbers, would we get a rough measure.
Still, everyone had prepared so hard.
Especially Lucy—you could see how much she had grown.
I gazed at Lucy’s Minecraft character with warm eyes.
While we were busy preparing our big event, plenty of movement was happening elsewhere too.
Had she been heavily stimulated by Yu Seona’s recent moves?
Even though it was already late afternoon, Rena-ttang called me, huffing and puffing with rage.
Have I really become an emotional trash can?
Still, if I could extract useful information, I was willing to play that role all day long!
“That woman is so petty, isn’t she? How can she pull such a dirty trick when her intentions are so obvious!”
“P-please calm down. Calm down, please.”
The target of Rena-ttang’s full-blown fury was painfully obvious.
Yu Seona, who was preparing the opening of Seona Land—the server that stood in direct opposition to Rena World—and was scraping Rena-ttang’s nerves raw in the process.
“She posted a notice right out in the open, you know? Jamst and Ssa-yo have decided to play on Seona Land. Isn’t she just ridiculous?”
“Ahaha…….”
If I agreed too readily and later an excited Rena-ttang started saying “Seo-a said the same thing back then,” it would be a disaster.
So I read the room and mumbled vaguely.
“Come on, though—Rena World still has Kim Hak-do and Wang-ko. Plus NS Namshin and plenty of mid-tier streamers.”
“Right? And the floating viewers are already fully immersed in our server, yet she opens late and starts doing PR like that. Plus according to the rumors, she’s been contacting people left and right behind the scenes, telling them to come to her server.”
She seemed deeply bitter about a recruitment strategy that leveraged long-standing connections she herself couldn’t use.
True, Jamst and Ssa-yo were heavyweights in their own right.
And word was that StarCraft streamers were showing interest too.
That scene might have a “boomer” image stuck to it, but it was packed with streamers who had solid Candy power and respectable weight classes.
If she successfully poached even a few decent names, there was a real chance the board could flip.
Of course, only if Park Bong-sik joins them, that is.
The flow of floating viewers was already locked onto Rena World, so a reversal was nearly impossible under normal circumstances.
It would take a corporate-level streamer of that caliber to warp the entire world view.
But would that even happen? The Muyang guys’ public sentiment is already with Rena World. And even if Yu Seona has some friendship with Park Bong-sik, there are way more people closer to him on this side.
His right and left hands—Dananyang and Rim-ani—had already planted roots deep in Rena World and were anxiously waiting for their boss several times a day.
Park Bong-sik was already on the hook without even realizing it.
I carefully unpacked that point so Rena-ttang could understand.
“Right. We still have Bong-sik. Once his break ends and he returns, he’ll be a huge boost for Rena World. In that case, maybe I should casually tell Nyang and Ani to send him a KakaoTalk message in advance and—”
“Aigoo. If you push him like that it’ll just backfire.”
Why was this woman so impatient?
Yu Seona and Seona Land must have been constantly poking at her mental state.
She had been monopolizing the market, and now a latecomer was suddenly chasing right behind her—of course it would get under her skin.
But this was exactly when she needed to stay calm and judge coldly.
Then again, Rena-ttang and I aren’t exactly close enough for me to babysit her through all this.
At best we were business partners.
So I just kept nodding along with a moderate amount of flattery.
Then I suddenly sensed a shift in the atmosphere.
I cheered inwardly.
Finally, here it comes!
“I think it’s about time I make an announcement. I originally wanted to prepare a bit more, but…”
“What kind of announcement?”
“The casino came out recently, but it only sparkled at the beginning. The rate at which currency is increasing is faster than the rate it’s being spent.”
That was only natural.
No matter how fun a casino might be in its own way, if streamers kept showing the same footage over and over, viewers would inevitably get restless.
Naturally the casino’s usage rate would keep dropping.
And Rena-ttang, who was always obsessed with burning through Rena World’s currency to raise resident login rates, was already planning new content.
Exactly the vehicle auction that had been a hot topic among residents even before my regression.
“Woooow! A vehicle auction? That sounds so exciting and fun!”
“…… Seo-a, isn’t your reaction a little too mechanical?”
I’d tried to act surprised by something I supposedly knew nothing about and overdid it a bit.
Yeah, the vehicle auction content was scheduled to pop up around now.
But I already knew how this content ended.
Rena-ttang had ambitiously planned second and even third vehicle auctions, yet it ultimately fizzled out as a one-off.
Honestly, by now everyone already has at least one set of wings. Sure, the cars look cool, but they’re slower than wings—and people are supposed to dump tens of millions of Rena into them? Money they worked their asses off to earn?
Before the regression, the vehicle auctions had thrived because every company’s pride was on the line, but the moment the practical usefulness of the cars became clear, the companies that had paid huge sums got mocked as suckers.
That was what wrecked Rena-ttang’s long-term strategy.
No more companies were willing to passionately participate in vehicle auctions after that.
But now it’s different. The vehicle auction is a perfect stage for our company, with our superior capital. As long as we don’t get treated like suckers the way they did in the past…
This was genuinely good for both me and Rena-ttang—a classic win-win.
So I carefully offered some advice.
The auction itself was fine, but with everyone already owning wings, vehicles that only offered mobility would lose a lot of their appeal.
They needed some special ability if the auction content was going to succeed long-term.
“Hmm, you think so? They look cool enough to show off, and there’s the scarcity of only a few people owning them.”
“…….”
Her reality-check ability was still lacking; she was about to repeat the same mistake as before.
I didn’t want to miss this opportunity, so I advised more actively than usual.
Rena-ttang nodded and shifted to a more receptive stance.
“Okay. Seo-a’s instincts are solid, so you wouldn’t say something for no reason. I’ll talk it over with the staff again.”
“Then have you decided on a date for the vehicle auction?”
“Not confirmed yet, but I’m thinking the 21st. The 22nd is Lunar New Year’s Day, so that’s a bit awkward.”
“Ahh, I see. Whatever date you settle on, I’ll definitely participate.”
After that it was back to Rena-ttang’s stress-relief hour.
Still, it wasn’t as painful as before.
Thanks to her, I’d gotten good information ahead of everyone else.
Phew! Kids (company staff), this is how hard the leader has to live.
It was a happy ending of sorts.