The Tide of Public Opinion

“Anyway, this is why the sharp-eyed ones...”

I hit dislike on the comment from the guy trying to spoil my plan and started preparing for the stream.

Three days had passed since the Discord raid on Ssa-yo’s stream on Tuesday. Today was Friday, November 4th. A lot had happened in the meantime.

First, as promised to Ssa-yo, I revealed that the bomb’s identity was Kyurings. I also handed over the evidence I’d collected in advance. Kyurings must have ranked pretty high in Ssa-yo’s heart; I could feel the turmoil coming through. I ended the conversation with a short word of comfort. That was as far as I could help. After that, it was up to Ssa-yo.

Maybe with the member lineup changed from before the regression, things will go even better?

Having prevented the bomb from exploding right from the start, Freeca’s future might brighten a bit. Maybe I’ll meet them as a strong competitor later. I’ll leave that curiosity as a small pleasure for a regressor.

Public opinion seems to have cooled down a lot too, at this point.

On the day itself and the next, the community was ablaze over me and Lucy’s withdrawal. But that was it. Communities are basically like pots. The temperature shoots up scarily, but they cool just as fast. When other hot topics appeared, interest shifted right over. Of course, if we hadn’t cleanly apologized and cleaned up, the issue might have lasted longer, but since we prostrated ourselves from the start, that didn’t happen.

Still, I need to be more careful from now on. This incident definitely created some cold public opinion toward me.

I tried my best to make them understand and accept it, but people’s hearts aren’t so easily moved. There are surely people who were greatly disappointed or hurt by this, and that feeling might have even developed into hatred.

You can’t be loved by everyone, I suppose.

I steeled my heart. In the world-conquering famous game LoL, there was this famous saying. The courage to be hated. This was the best I could do.

Next is V-topia, huh?

Yu Seona’s V-topia project, rapidly rising as Ssa-yo’s competitor. This project, meaning Utopia for Virtuals, was sailing more smoothly than expected. First, popular Virtuals who couldn’t apply because of the too-rushed Wooga-dol audition schedule flocked in. Then even the dropouts from the Wooga-dol audition lined up. A talent pool that could be called sufficient. On top of that, support measures no less than Wooga-dol added strength.

Pangea TV’s official sponsorship had already gone to the Wooga-dol audition side, but V-topia had signed a partnership with Melissa, a company strong in virtual equipment and solutions. It’s an unfamiliar name now, but Melissa will gradually gain fame and become a company renowned for its tech in the Pangea TV virtual scene. Especially shining in the virtual concert sector. You could say almost all the famous concerts in ’23-’24 were handled by Melissa.

Rena Universe is still going strong.

It was doing so well it was hard to believe it would fall into ruin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠later. The buzz was mostly taken by the Wooga-dol audition, but they were solidly securing the real gains, you know? The Wooga-dol audition, after all, focused on Ssa-yo’s stream and spotlighted a few popular picks, with a lot of floating viewers overall. Moreover, people couldn’t easily settle on a main. If you bet on just one and that person gets eliminated, you’re done for. So it felt like picking about two or three candidates and multitasking Virtuals.

But in Rena Universe’s case, since it wasn’t an audition where someone gets eliminated, there was no such worry. People settled in comfortably, and fixed fans were steadily increasing.

But the embers are already burning.

In Rena Universe too, the member who stood out uniquely at the start: Yume. In less than a month, she pulled in about 800,000 Candies in donations, and people were making a fuss everywhere about whether she’d become the first Virtual Streamer in the one-million club. One million Candies. Just the face value is a huge hundred million won. Even big-company streamers don’t easily reach that unless they seriously farm donations. Looking up to 2025, through the Candy Calculator site, only three among the thousands of Virtual Streamers officially made it. Considering one of them was a big-company Virtual who transferred from Rabbit TV, you can see how hard joining the one-million club is.

Even among the six big-company Virtuals on Rabbit TV, only one barely achieved it. That’s how high the difficulty is.

It was a title that could gain fame on a different level from the first virtual concert. In the case of Park Na-na, who actually achieved it first, even after she practically quit streaming later, she kept getting mentioned in communities regarding Candy power.

But there’s conflict with the core member who was almost in the one-million club.

Rena Universe was flowing exactly as in the original history. Conflict between one of the core members, Yume, and the head of Rena Universe, Rena-ttang. A fight that started underwater at first spread into an emotional battle, even affecting the streams. Yume, unable to turn on stream with a self-reflection notice. Other members, stomping their feet watching the fight between colleague and leader, unable to do anything. One corner of the Rena ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Universe that had seemed so solid was slowly crumbling.

It’s regrettable, but it can’t be helped. Rena Universe has to fall.

Only then will the heartbroken Rena-ttang give up the leader position and open Rena World with me, as in the original history. It would be troublesome if the biggest branch of history changed at this point. Rena World was the biggest puzzle piece in my future plans, after all.

Other than that, the Park Na-na and Baiyo issue, I guess?

News that Park Na-na and Baiyo had cleared all past grudges and were doing collab content. Compared to the previous topics, it felt quite minor. But knowing the future, I never took this issue lightly. Like a snowball rolling down a steep slope, growing bigger and bigger, even if it looks trivial now, someday it will become a huge incident that shakes the Pangea TV virtual scene.

As Park Na-na and Baiyo get closer, that crew will eventually be born.

Knowing the future isn’t always convenient. You can’t take even the smallest thing lightly. After looking over the issues from the past few days, I logged into Pan-beo-gal for the first time in a while. I’d tried so hard to resist, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. I’d been logging in out of habit for nearly three years; the urge felt even stronger than smoking. Moreover, back then I was just a mere viewer, but now I’m a streamer overflowing with buzz. Mentions of me are happening in real time—how am I supposed to hold back? If I could, I wouldn’t have been called a community addict in the first place.

“......”

Today too, Pan-beo-gal is peaceful.

Might as well just start the stream.