Full-Scale Competition

While Mayo put on a spectacular bizarre-food mukbang the day before, every scrap of buzz in Rena World swung toward Park Bong-sik.

The free-floaters who had been drifting through Rena World during his long hiatus were especially brimming with anticipation. They wanted Park Bong-sik to found a company and write a story even grander than Akatsuki or V-Live Company. The prodigal sons who had left home during that long break began filtering back one after another, and even floaters who still hadn't settled on a proper main base in Rena World latched on. After all, a streamer's first day on a server often produced legendary stories — they had come chasing that dopamine hit.

The viewer count that gathered easily blew past fifty thousand. Even for Park Bong-sik, who had decided to enter Rena World on the strength of public sentiment, the result was enormously encouraging. He might have been called the King of Pangea TV, but cracking fifty thousand viewers — not even forty — was no easy feat without special content prepared. And yet simply logging into the server had made it possible.

That wasn't the only thing that had him so fired up.

"Chairman, why are you so late? We've been waiting almost a whole month."

"Bong-sik oppa. I heard you got completely roasted by the viewers yesterday for trying to play LoL with that garbage skill of yours? See, Minecraft is perfect for you. This is a healing server, and the controls aren't that hard."

"Welcome to the server, Chairman Bong-sik!"

"Bwahahaha! You lot are properly prepared, aren't you?"

The moment he stepped out of Genesis Village, photos of Park Bong-sik papered every surface around the Pokémon Center, along with welcome signboards ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠announcing his arrival. Dananyang and Rim-ani fussed over him as smoothly as the tongue in his own mouth. And trailing behind them came the streamers from Partner & Tofu Company. Looking at that formation, Park Bong-sik was certain. This was a place where he could run the "visible radio" style of broadcast he loved most — and throw in the boss-man roleplay his fans adored on top of it.

"First, take these and put them on. They're good gear."

"And what are you naming the company? Mu-yang Group, right? That one just rolls off the tongue."

The fact that Dananyang and Rim-ani had already handled all the petty, annoying work only satisfied him further. No need to grind through complicated busywork himself. On top of that, even though they had failed to win the recent big content event — the vehicle auction — the company's remaining assets were apparently quite flush as a result.

"Yeah? So what am I supposed to do?"

"What you do, oppa? Just swagger around as chairman like always and hand out the trickle-down. That's it."

"Hey! When have I ever swaggered? And if I wanted to, I could work my ass off just fine."

"Oh yeah? Then you wanna start working right now?"

"Ahem! I'm still a beginner here. Could you go a little easy on me? You know, show me around a bit, introduce me to people."

"Got it. You're our chairman, so of course we'll take good care of you."

"I-it's already decided that firmly?"

Park Bong-sik's first day in Rena World unfolded with a cozy, homey feel. He exchanged greetings with the members of the company now unified under the name Mu-yang Group, and held a short meeting. How would they steer Mu-yang Group going forward? Since they were here, they might as well aim for the number-one company on the server. After pumping each other up, they spent the rest of that first day sightseeing.

O-Wang Company, flying the banner of America and pushing development on a massive scale. Lethal Company, which after building Do-zney Castle had earned the infamous nickname "ARAM ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Company" because its leader kept causing incidents and dragging employees off to play LoL. Seoni Moon, diligently constructing Seoni Mahal in imitation of the Taj Mahal. Bad Potato Company, so thoroughly ghosted that its employees were each fighting their own private wars. Akatsuki, which had been running as a four-person outfit including Kkaenam-i until they hit their limit, then recently recruited Park Na-na and Saerara in one go and graduated from club to full company.

And last of all…

"Huh? What's this place. This isn't the end — there's more? Up in the sky, even?"

"They call it the Sky Island. Apparently it's not finished yet, so they're not taking visitors. V-Live Company is building it."

"Huh? Ahh, Seo-a's the leader over there."

"That's right. Three-time Purge Day champion, plus they put on a show at the vehicle auction — they're doing pretty well."

"No, that's not the issue. Now that I think about it, I've still got eighty thousand from MCK that needs mending."

Thanks to Park Bong-sik, who even after a long hiatus had not forgotten his eighty-thousand-candy grudge, a few extra popular posts about me went up for no good reason.

The very next day after Park Bong-sik moved into Rena World and founded Mu-yang Group, Rena-ttang — who had been seething over Seona Land's advance — rolled out new content. It was custom-tailored to hit the tastes of the leading groups who had already completed their Netherite gear sets and were thrashing about in boredom. And the sheer scale of this update was no joke. At a glance, you'd have to grind yourself to death for at least two months just to see the end of it. There was a pity system, sure, but the fact that probability applied to the draws still radiated bad omens.

According to staff comments, they had set the expected value of a single Mythic-grade equipment piece at roughly fifty million Rena. To complete a full set — sword, chestplate, leggings, boots, and helmet — you could expect an average of two hundred fifty million Rena. An absurd sum.

That's why they called it endgame content. Even the companies were so short on money they could only barely outfit their best-controlled players with Mythic gear.

In terms of immediate cash liquidity, Mu-yang Group was currently in the lead. They had failed to win anything at the vehicle auction, so they hadn't spent a single coin. Conversely, the hardest hit was O-Wang Company. They had poured the company's entire fortune into the vehicle auction and still ended up fifty million Rena in debt to us.

Even so, they'll come charging hard and catch up soon enough.

Considering O-Wang Company's headcount and that terrifying PUBG cartel of theirs, the gap we'd opened wouldn't last long. Which meant we needed to create another opportunity to widen it again.

And that opportunity is the Arena. In the original timeline, the announcement should come around this same period.

It seemed Bad Potato Company turning into a ghost town was creating butterfly effects. Before the regression, Bad Potato Company had been the ones who built the Arena structure. But given their current state, there was no expecting the same performance as before. In a rush, following Rena-ttang's orders, the Rena Government had started construction on the Colosseum for the Arena.

Still, a discrepancy of this size is within acceptable range. The Mythic-grade gear update is set for this weekend, so I'll move carefully.

The arrival of Mythic-grade equipment and the Arena meant Rena World was shifting into a system of endless competition. The newly emerged Mu-yang Group, along with O-Wang, Seoni Moon, Lethal, Akatsuki, Bad Potato — and finally, our own V-Live Company. The time to show off the blades we had been sharpening in the dark was drawing steadily closer.