All According to Plan
"Alright, can you all see it? This strangely charming design. That booming horn. Perfect for drawing aggro. And those annoying crops? Just drive over them and they harvest automatically! Here's your chance to own this magnificent vehicle. We'll start the bidding at a mere ten million Rena!"
Vroom, vroom—!
On Rena-ttang's cue, an operator climbed into the mini tractor and roared past the front of the audience seats in a thunderous racket.
Every company's eyes locked onto it.
At first they'd written it off as a sucker's buy thanks to its pathetic special ability, but seeing it up close, the thing actually looked pretty damn cool.
There was something about a tractor's rough engine growl that stirred a man's romance, no question.
And the opening bid of ten million Rena wasn't exactly a back-breaking price either.
In the end, Wang-ko, who'd been eyeing the room carefully, raised his hand first.
"Ten million Rena!"
"Ah, for reference, bids go up in increments of five million Rena. Please keep that in mind."
"Fifteen million Rena!"
This time Angdu of Seoni Moon raised her hand.
NS Namsin hadn't been able to attend the vehicle auction today thanks to Sunny Group's packed schedule, so company president Angdu had stepped in as temporary representative.
"Twenty million Rena!"
Rim-ani of Partners & Tofu Company flung her hand up and screeched at the top of her lungs.
A voice so booming it lived up to her nickname, General Rim—pure, decisive intimidation.
Wang-ko wasn't about to lose, and he jacked the bid up again.
In a blink the price had climbed to twenty-five million Rena.
"Akatsuki, thirty million!"
That was when Oh Yeong-jun, sitting off in the corner, raised his hand.
Everyone started exchanging strange looks.
The price had reached a range you couldn't just ignore anymore, and people were starting to wonder whether Oh Yeong-jun's pre-auction threat of "a hundred million Rena" had been the real deal.
Nobody wanted to burn themselves out competing over a mini tractor only to miss the real prizes waiting later in the auction.
A brief silence settled over the room.
"Come on, is this excellent vehicle really going to end at a measly thirty million? Anyone willing to go higher?"
Rena-ttang scanned the crowd, hunting for a raised hand.
After a moment of hesitation, Angdu of Seoni Moon listened to a whisper from Tu-nyang-i, nodded, and raised her hand again.
"Seoni Moon, thirty-five million."
Rena-ttang's chat was already a mess, packed with every company's fandoms.
You could already smell a full-blown gold cup war brewing.
Then Oh Yeong-jun announced another bid.
"Akatsuki, forty million Rena."
"……"
This one was big enough to matter.
Wang-ko and the other company heads started to raise their hands, then hesitated.
Ranchu, filling in for the busy Kim Hak-do, just sat there looking miserable and muttering that he only had ten million Rena on him.
Oh right—I forgot to mention. Lethal Company had paid off all their debts.
Even so, they still knew how to act like a proper subsidiary of a big-name streamer!
Thanks to that, I currently had over two hundred million Rena in the bank.
No need to dance along with this kind of petty nonsense.
While Oh Yeong-jun hogged all the spotlight with his early aggro, I quietly raised my hand from the opposite side.
"Raising it five million at a time is boring. V-Live will go fifty million Rena. I wonder if our dear Akatsuki leader, Oh Yeong-jun, has the guts to match that?"
A blatant, open provocation.
Something I could only pull off because I already knew Oh Yeong-jun's strategy from before the regression.
Akatsuki had only brought around twenty-five million Rena. Faced with prices climbing far beyond anything they'd imagined, they were terrified of getting reduced to extras in the vehicle auction—so they'd gone for a desperate gambit.
Even though they were short on cash, they'd deliberately bluffed the bids higher, trying to force the other companies into buying vehicles at inflated prices.
It was pure WWE mixed with broadcast theatrics, the same style he always used on stream.
Fitting behavior for a "villain" crew like Akatsuki, in its own way.
The problem was they didn't have a solid enough justification to sell it to everyone.
And more importantly, this room was full of company heads whose weight class completely outclassed Akatsuki.
They kept jacking the price until people got suspicious. When Angdu of Seoni Moon demanded proof of funds, the whole scheme blew wide open.
The atmosphere had turned ice-cold in an instant.
Everyone was on friendly terms with Oh Yeong-jun, so they didn't dig too deep—but he still got thoroughly roasted and banished to the corner of the auction floor.
Remembering all of that from before the regression, I naturally had every reason to feel confident.
"Fifty million Rena? Hmph. Then Akatsuki bids sixty million."
"Ooh! What the hell? The first vehicle's already this heated?"
"Oh Boss's guts are insane! So clean and decisive."
Once real competition kicked in, comments started flying from every direction.
The more the rival companies spent, the better for everyone else—plenty of reason to egg them on.
But were they the only ones getting worked up?
Unlike usual, I could feel a fierce resolve burning in Oh Yeong-jun's eyes.
Personal feelings, most likely. He's lost to me every single time so far.
Our first collab, the initiation on the day we entered Rena World, the backstab on Purge Day.
Oh Yeong-jun had plenty of grudges piled up.
And he probably thought this was the perfect moment for revenge.
After all, our company was the only one that had publicly declared we'd win the mini tractor.
But does Oh Yeong-jun know I deliberately spread that rumor just to reel him in?
He must have figured that even if it was just pride, our company would never give up the mini tractor.
Wanting to reward that faith of his, I snorted as if that amount was laughable and raised the bid once more.
"V-Live Crew bids seventy million Rena."
"Hmph! Then Akatsuki goes eighty million Rena."
Murmurs, murmurs—!
The moment the price hit eighty million Rena, the whole place erupted in noise.
Nobody had imagined a mini tractor—widely rumored to be complete trash—would climb this high.
And deep down, they were all cheering.
At least one of us—either V-Live or Akatsuki—would be burning a fortune on this thing, which meant they wouldn't be able to bid on the later vehicles.
Alright then. Just how deep did Oh Yeong-jun's pockets really go?
Watching him bluff without a single clue how terrifying the world could be, I flashed a sly smile and delivered the line that would lock his wrist in place.
"Impressive, Akatsuki. Eighty million Rena. Fine. We'll pass."
"Huh?"
"Akatsuki can have the mini tractor. Ah—assuming you actually have eighty million Rena, of course."
"……"
Oh Yeong-jun's face drained of color in an instant.
Given how loudly V-Live Company had declared we'd win it no matter what, he never expected us to give up the mini tractor this easily.
What he didn't know was that this was exactly the trap I'd prepared.
I'd considered several candidates, but I hadn't expected Oh Yeong-jun himself to take the bait.
Well… he brought this on himself.
He'd been trying to get revenge for everything I'd done to him, and now he'd walked straight into a massive face-plant of his own.
Panicking, Oh Yeong-jun frantically scanned the room for any other bidders.
Of course, not a single company was about to drop eighty million Rena or more on a mini tractor everyone said was useless.
Oblivious to Oh Yeong-jun's desperation, Akatsuki's fans were just thrilled that their company had become the first to buy a vehicle.
Meanwhile, Rena-ttang started the countdown.
Five, four, three, two, one…… bang bang!
The first vehicle was finally sold.
Oh Yeong-jun froze solid on the spot, and Rena-ttang, approaching to collect the money, wore a thoroughly bewildered expression.
"Ah, well, the thing is……"
"What? Hey! Are you screwing with me right now?!"
Once she heard the full story, Rena-ttang's fury erupted in full force.
Someone had dumped cold water on the vehicle auction content she'd been so excited about right from the opening act—her reaction was only natural.
"Ugh! You absolute disaster. Grow up already, will you?"
"Yeong-jun oppa's great and all, but he really pulls these stunts sometimes."
The other company heads piled on with their own mockery.
Naturally, Akatsuki's fandom got roasted alive in chat as well.
As the mastermind who'd orchestrated this entire scene, I leisurely crossed my legs and sat back to enjoy the finale.
"Seo-a unnie's mouth is smiling, it is. But her eyes are the same, they are. I am very scared, I am."
"……"
What on earth was she saying that would make people completely misunderstand?!
Once the commotion settled a little later, I slowly raised my hand and spoke.
"So then—what happens to ownership of the mini tractor now? And the winning bid?"
"……"
Watching the conflicted look on Rena-ttang's face, I smiled to myself in secret.
Everything according to plan.