The Vein on Her Forehead
It was a dark night where even the moonlight had hidden its face.
Once again, a secret organization was holding its assembly.
People who had gathered in secret, their identities concealed beneath black robes. Five of them in total, seated in a circle around a round table.
"It seems the time has finally come, comrades."
The first robe spoke in a heavily suppressed voice, looking around at everyone.
At that, the second robe—the smallest of the lot—slammed a fist down on the table as if she had been waiting for this exact moment, and poured out her rage.
"We've put up with that evil boss for way too long, that is so. Working ten hours a day and having a hundred percent of our income taken as company funds is no longer acceptable, that is so. We must hang the tyrant's head on the guillotine, that is so!"
The third robe, who had been listening, flinched in shock and then scolded the second robe sternly.
"Didn't I tell you not to use language like that, Unnie? Didn't I?"
"Hah, but the real bad one is that rotten boss, that is so. I didn't do anything wrong, that is so."
"Tsk! Are you going to keep talking like that?"
"I was wrong, that is so."
Pat, pat—!
The third robe gave the second's shoulder an approving little pat. Watching that, the fourth robe flinched, only then realizing her turn had come.
"Uh, n-no, um… well. I-it does seem wrong, I guess. But going too extreme might not be the best idea, so…"
"Seize her!"
"Eek!"
The lifeblood of a secret organization was security first, security second—so for the sake of safety, traitors could never be forgiven.
The moment the first robe's icy voice fell, the robes to either side grabbed the fourth robe by both arms.
In the end, she had no choice but to cry out for "unconditional participation" in a pitiful voice.
"Hmph! Be careful, that is so. I will be watching you thoroughly, that is so."
"O-okay."
Now every gaze turned toward the fifth robe.
She sat there without a word. The first robe spoke up.
"Don't tell me you're secretly sleeping without even snoring this ti—"
"I'm not sleeping. I said I'm not sleeping! I was thinking, okay? What's with you?"
The fifth robe reacted extremely sensitively to the snoring remark.
After grumbling for a moment, she realized everyone was waiting for her opinion, carefully organized her thoughts, and then spoke.
"Okay. I'll join in too."
"…"
"There's no one here who's going to betray us first, right? We keep the loyalty to the end. Yeah?"
"When it comes to loyalty, I am the true loyalty girl, that is so. Loyalty to the enemy top laner! Even if my own jungler comes for a gank during a fair 1v1, I refuse to take the assist, that is so."
"I have no idea what that means, but anyway—we execute today. Got it? No betraying first."
Waaaaah—!
The moonlight over Skypia was growing deeper.
The Arena content was not far off now.
For our V-Live Company, it was a truly critical turning point.
Thinking back on what had happened with Blueby yesterday only made my head even more complicated.
As if I didn't already have enough on my plate—now I had to come up with ideas to keep the Mu-yang Group in check as well.
"Hm?"
Current time: 9 a.m.
After the vehicle auction I had given the staff about three days off, but the Mythic-grade gear update had dropped almost immediately, so I had pulled the assembly time way forward again.
If anyone had a special reason, they would normally ask for understanding in the group chat ahead of time, so I had assumed everyone would be gathered without fail.
"…What is this?"
No matter how I looked at it, something was off.
Even one or two people missing would have made me tilt my head—but when I opened the map wide, there was not a single soul visible in V-City.
The mood in the chat was a little strange too.
It felt like they were hiding something.
I let out a short sigh and typed into the group chat, calling the staff.
"…"
But there was no reply—not even a single "read" mark appeared.
Something felt wrong, so I checked who was still in the chat, and strangely enough, Na-ro-si was no longer in the group.
Scrolling up through the remaining logs, I confirmed that Na-ro-si had been forcibly kicked from the group chat about ten minutes earlier.
"No, what on earth is going on here?"
The group chat had been created by Miho, and she held the admin rights as well.
So first I tried to go into Miho's stream to figure out what had happened.
You have been blacklisted and cannot access this broadcast.
"Huh?"
For a second I thought there was a server error on Pangea TV.
I tried again, but the same message still blocked my view.
With a growing sense of dread, I tried accessing Mayo's and Lucy's streams as well—same result.
Only then, putting it together with the viewers' suspicious chat earlier, did I realize something serious was going down.
"…"
The viewers' chat turned my suspicion into certainty.
So that was it—they had secretly coordinated and set up this whole stream angle?
They had even meticulously added me to their blacklists so I couldn't enter their streams directly to check locations or type in chat.
"Hm? But why Na-ro-si…"
Suddenly I remembered Na-ro-si, who had been force-kicked from the group chat.
And the way she treated me almost like a broadcasting savior and offered absolute loyalty.
"Don't tell me!"
I immediately accessed Na-ro-si's stream.
Just as expected, I got in smoothly with no access restriction message at all.
"M-Master! Please save me!"
The scene that greeted me the moment I entered Na-ro-si's stream was absurd.
It was the deep underground bedrock prison I had built long ago to mess with newbies like Oh Yeong-jun and Oh-ha.
Na-ro-si, reduced to a completely naked character with no items, was trapped inside it.
I hurriedly returned to my own stream and rescued her.
"What on earth happened here? Huh?"
"Master, it's a rebellion! A rebellion! Everyone except me was in on it. They said it was an indefinite strike until the vicious working conditions improved. They told me to join, but when I refused they forcibly subdued me, took all my items, and dropped me into that trap…"
Heh heh! So they had really made up their minds.
From the perspective of a planning specialist like me, this was by no means some impulsive strike.
They must have prepared meticulously for quite a long time.
Then they had watched for the optimal moment and opportunity before executing it.
Otherwise they never could have deceived me this cleanly.
"Do you know anything else?"
"I got force-kicked from the group chat and blacklisted from the streams too, so I don't really…"
I patted Na-ro-si on the shoulder as she looked depressed, saying she was of no help.
The simple fact that she had kept her loyalty to me among the traitors already made Na-ro-si a pass in my book.
And I could roughly guess how the situation had unfolded.
Miho Unnie probably stirred up public opinion, and that idiot Mayo got tempted and acted like the field commander. Lucy Unnie joined because it looked fun. Han A-yeon and Subnitti are the types who just go with the flow.
Today was Friday, and with the Arena content on Sunday so close my heart was racing—but on the other hand, I felt a little proud.
Ah, so the crew members have grown this much—now they're even setting up their own stream angles on their own.
Is this what a parent feels watching a child they raised so hard finally grow up?
…That happy thought lasted only a moment.
Suddenly I couldn't help tilting my head.
But of all the countless stream angles they could have chosen, why pick the one that turns me into an evil slave-driving boss?
Why? Why?
Don't tell me it wasn't just a stream angle—maybe things had been building up against me this whole time.
Right at that moment—
"Hello! I'm the Mouse Reporter from the Akatsuki Daily. We received a tip that there's an evil business owner here so hellish even the devil of hell would cry, so I've come to investigate. For the viewers' right to know, please give us your full cooperation with the interview. Squeak squeak!"
"…"
I couldn't hide my bewilderment at Jisuni, who had suddenly appeared from somewhere and shoved a camera in my face.
Jisuni often played the reporter role in Rena World as part of content.
Today she had clearly marked the day on her calendar—she was aggressively popping camera flashes.
"Ah! Master, dodge! Mouse Reporter, please don't do this. Our Master is not the kind of person who would do such things."
"Come on! We already got the tip, so let's just clear the air nice and clean. Squeak squeak!"
"…"
A vein was quietly rising on my forehead.