Why Did Professor Je Go on Hiatus?
Wednesday, November 23rd.
The bomb that had been seething and bubbling finally went off.
There was no chance of patching things back together now. Not only Rena-ttang but her husband as well had declared a complete break from the company. In the end, everything had flowed exactly as history dictated.
Still, it's not a hundred percent identical. Originally this should have blown up a little earlier. The fact that it got delayed by a few days…
A butterfly effect caused by my existence, maybe? Even so, the main current remained much the same.
Rena Universe would change its name and continue on, while Rena-ttang announced her ambition to stream exactly the way she wanted, free of any crew or company ties.
From the looks of it, they'll make the official announcement around the weekend.
Originally, Rena-ttang had been preparing a Minecraft server for the members of Rena Universe. Ironically, because of everything that had just unfolded, not a single Rena Universe member would be able to set foot in Rena World. They were still under company contract, and Rena-ttang had cut all ties and turned fully hostile toward that company.
The only ones who lucked out were the other virtual streamers who'd been sitting on the sidelines. Rena World was the single greediest honey pot the Pangea TV virtual scene would ever see — the kind that never comes around twice.
Top-tier virtuals pulled in money by the hundreds of millions of won. Even the rest of them, while not quite at that level, still raked in tens of millions without much trouble. And that wasn't annual salary — that was over the span of a few months.
The legendary server that ignited the Minecraft craze on Pangea TV. The turning point that finally got the old-guard natives to accept virtual streamers. From that moment on, the tinted glasses people wore when looking at virtual streamers had started to fade.
Memories from before the regression suddenly surfaced. How envious I'd been, scrolling through all those popular Rena World posts on FM Community. Every time word got out that Rena-ttang was recruiting extra members for the server, I'd prayed so desperately. Please, let Lucy get in.
But the gods had thoroughly ignored that earnest wish.
This time is different. I'm not sitting around praying, depending on someone else. I'm getting into Rena World on my own strength and my own judgment alone!
From the moment morning hit, my passion was blazing.
"Hwaaah! Chat, chat. Someone recommend content for today."
I'd pushed too hard on that morning fire, and by the time I actually went live, every last drop of energy had drained out of me. Fine. Today was going to be a coasting stream.
The viewers immediately lost their minds. I snorted lightly at their reaction. So what exactly were they going to do about it? Huh? At best, a bunch of losers who could only grumble in chat!
Seo-a-ui-bin-ji-gap has donated 5 Candies
"Aigoo, Mr. President. I was wrong. I shall present quality content at once. Bowing and scraping!"
The brazen approach had failed, so I spun my brain hard to salvage the situation. What quality content could I pull out right this second?
Strictly speaking, I'd written "quality content," but that phrase meant nothing. All that mattered was satisfying the viewers' needs. No need to overthink it — I just hopped into the fan cafe and checked the content recommendation board.
Ahh. This was why you ran a fan cafe. A few clicks, and you could harvest all your fans' hard work.
"Hmm. There's a new indie game out. Should we try that today?"
Reading through the recommendation posts one by one while gauging the chat's mood, I found suggestions spanning games, singing, drawing, VRChat, dance, and more. And among them, one piece of content sat at the top of the preference rankings.
"Hmm? Professor Je Hiatus Notice World Cup? This is actually fun, right? Come to think of it, I feel like someone recommended this before."
I pretended not to know so the viewers could get more excited dumping TMI, but the truth was I already knew who Professor Je was. Anyone who played League of Legends — especially anyone whose main role was jungler — would have a hard time not knowing him.
Professor Je was a popular Pangea TV streamer and YouTuber who'd made his name with jungle guide videos, to the point that "Jungle is JeTube" had become a catchphrase.
I actually watched a lot of his YouTube stuff. Shame he enlisted recently.
I remembered him discharging in the second half of 2024. Even after that he'd stayed locked into LoL, never crossing paths with Lucy, so my knowledge naturally ended there.
"So this is that popular, huh? Alright, should we give it a shot? If it's boring, you all take responsibility, yeah?"
The instant answers flooding back from chat made it clear this really was solid content. Just to be safe, I checked with my manager Je-yuk-sam-kki, got the link, and selected "Professor Je Hiatus Notices" from the Ideal Type World Cup.
"Max is Round of 32. I just pick this, right?"
"……."
Judging purely by the reaction right now, you'd think my fans had vanished and everyone here was a Professor Je stan. If only they got this hyped for my regular content.
Hiding a bitter smile, I hit the start button for the Round of 32. The screen split left and right down the center, and two of Professor Je's old hiatus notices loaded in.
I started with the left side.
Something came up so I'm taking a break
Hmm. Simple title, right from the jump. What kind of something, I wondered? I dropped my eyes a little and checked the body of the notice.
sad stuff happend so im taking a break
"……."
What… was this hiatus notice? There wasn't just one or two things to criticize. First of all, the effort put into the content was nonexistent. Wouldn't fans get angry if you wrote a notice like this? And the real rage-inducing part was that the notice completely ignored every single spelling and grammar rule.
"Is he writing it like this on purpose?"
"……."
I couldn't tell whether the viewers were being sarcastic or completely serious. In the end, the only way to confirm the truth was to look at the comments. I went into Professor Je's channel, searched up the notice, scrolled all the way down, and checked what people had written.
"Uh… so these people are actually his fans, right?"
Just imagining comments like that under one of my own notices made me dizzy already. The viewers answered right away: playing around under Professor Je's notices was just the tradition. Then they started pushing me to check the next one already.
Was I even supposed to keep doing this?
A sudden suspicion hit me. What if the viewers were making me live-vicariously through the vicious comments on Professor Je's notices as a form of intimidation — so I'd never dare write a hiatus notice of my own?
The truth was still out of reach.