Chapter 21 : Persuasion

Rena Universe.

To be honest, I don’t know much about the group.

By the time Lucy transferred, the organization was already falling apart.

I had only heard that there were various incidents, accidents, and controversies.

If you browse the forums often enough, people constantly bring up the past.

It’s a common occurrence.

To be fair, this kind of thing isn’t unique to the streaming scene.

For example, think about this:

What if Goguryeo had unified the Three Kingdoms instead of Silla? How would our country’s territory look now?

What if Korea had led the unification during the Korean War? What would South Korea’s development look like now?

People love to spin hypothetical “what ifs” about history.

In the end, it was just escapism.

Talking about things that could never actually happen…

When I followed Lucy to PangeaTV, Rena Universe gave me that same kind of feeling.

There were some long-time forum users called the “old guard” who always brought up certain recurring topics, like “back in my day,” and Rena Universe was one of them.

So even as a newbie, I had heard a few legendary stories.

Whether those stories were true or not, I had no idea.

I didn’t really care to find out either, since I didn’t think they had anything to do with Lucy.

That was Rena Universe—until now.

“Ugh… I won’t forgive them. I’ll destroy everything!”

October 2nd.

I got up early and cheerfully logged onto the FM community to leave my daily stamp, only to be met with a shocking reality.

I thought my activity yesterday would get me a full page of popular posts.

But I only got about half that. The rest? Completely taken over by Rena Universe issues.

Starting with their history, who the members were,

First-gen members, second-gen, third-gen… the whole thing was plastered everywhere.

From the perspective of someone who used to be addicted to communities, this wasn’t normal.

It was clear that someone had intervened in an organized way.

Almost two full pages were filled with posts about Rena Universe.

“I heard Rena-ttang streamed yesterday. But it’s not like she made a clear announcement about switching platforms. This can’t be happening.”

It was obvious that the Rena Universe fandom had mobilized together.

On top of that, several factors combined to cause such an impact.

Like Rena-ttang’s name value.

PangeaTV had former comedians and girl group members headlining, but none of them were currently active on TV.

Naturally, Rena-ttang, who was still actively appearing on TV, held a high status.

Just look at the data from her stream yesterday.

Peak concurrent viewers: 14,784.

That was even bigger than the stream I had worked so hard on with Ssayo.

“Damn it. Why did the dates have to overlap…”

Opportunities to boost recognition don’t come easily.

Thinking that my results were cut in half left a bitter taste.

Still, nothing I could do about it.

I told myself to let go of what had already passed.

October had a lot of events coming up—there would be more chances.

‘And right now, there’s something more important.’

From the first day after returning, I’d been pouring effort into one top priority.

Finally, I was getting a response.

It was time to talk with Lucy about her transfer.

V-mellodi.

The virtual crew Lucy belonged to before the regression.

The members were five in total: the leader Bluebee, followed by Mayo, Miho, Lucy, and Iruri.

Huh? Why am I suddenly bringing up her pre-regression crew?

If you’re curious, just listen.

“…They said now’s not a good time to transfer. That it’d be better to wait.”

“Bluebee said that? That now isn’t the right time to move?”

I was talking to Lucy over Discord and feeling intense anger.

To be honest, even before the regression, the name Bluebee made me frown.

It might be unfair since they were in the same crew as my favorite, but still, that’s how I felt.

Maybe it’s because I’ve worked in sales and met a lot of people—I’ve developed a sense for these things?

To me, Bluebee seemed like the typical two-faced person.

They claimed to act responsibly as the crew leader, but in reality, they just did what benefited them and avoided anything bothersome.

Lucy, who wasn’t good at asserting herself, was often the main target.

As her fan club president, I got so angry whenever I saw that dynamic.

Still, I never crossed the line. I just held it in and tried to ignore it.

‘And now, even after regressing, I have to hear this crap? Ugh… should I just flip the table?’

Frustration surged, but I held it in.

I still didn’t know the full story of Lucy and Bluebee’s relationship at this time.

I thought they only got to know each other after coming to PangeaTV, but turns out they already knew each other back then.

And judging by how she talked, Lucy seemed to rely on Bluebee a lot.

“Besides, I’m not even prepared. I don’t have an avatar or an RP concept ready. Even if I start now, it’ll take months…”

“No problem.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t need to worry about the avatar or RP. I’ve got it all covered.”

I subtly sent Lucy the illustration file of the avatar I had been preparing alongside mine.

I made her promise not to leak it under any circumstances.

“I have a couple of really close friends—Mama and Papa.”

“Huh? Mama and Papa?”

“Oh, those are terms used in the virtual scene. The person who draws the illustration is called ‘Mama,’ and the person who does the rigging — making the character move by detecting motion — is called ‘Papa.’”

That was the excuse I gave.

I said there was an avatar made by some artist friends I’m close with, but the commission fell through due to some issues.

So they didn’t get paid, and the avatar was just left unused, but the quality was so good that I said I bought it myself.

“But I already have an avatar. The image is too different to use them together. I was just letting it sit, but when I saw you, Lucy, I thought it suited you perfectly. What do you think? Seeing it in person?”

Lucy didn’t answer right away, but I knew.

That she really liked it.

Brown braided hair and large eyes like a lake.

The graceful appearance in hanbok (traditional Korean dress) was captivating from start to finish.

It was a very distinctive avatar.

Why did I make it like that?

The answer is simple.

It was based on the avatar Lucy used before I regressed.

Though technically downgraded compared to 2025, the essence, heavily influenced by Lucy’s tastes, hadn’t changed.

“It’s really nice. Very much so.”

As expected, she can’t lie.

But she couldn’t answer easily.

Because she wasn’t the type to be comfortable receiving things.

That’s why she didn’t get many candy (donation) supports before the regression.

You need to do some “collection moves” to give fans a reason to donate freely, but she didn’t do that.

Knowing her personality well, I made it clear from the start.

“It’s not like I’m giving it to you, so don’t feel pressured. Just think of it as a loan. You can pay me back slowly.”

“But that feels like I’m taking too much advantage…”

“If you call this a favor, I’ll actually feel hurt!”

“I told you I’m a huge fan. And I said I wanted to get closer to you. That’s why I watched your streams every day, reached out on Discord all the time. But you still keep your distance and won’t even speak informally with me. That’s so mean!”

After subtly watching for my reaction, I started whining.

Lucy doesn’t have many close friends, so she’s not used to people clinging to her like this.

Sure enough, the plan worked like a charm.

Trying to console me for acting all sulky, Lucy finally agreed to accept the avatar.

“Then there’s no problem now, right? Let’s try to transfer you over as soon as possible…”

“But I think we still need to talk a bit more about that.”

Not easy.

What kind of relationship does she have with Bluebee that makes her rely on them this much?

I subtly tried to dig into that relationship, and surprisingly, she explained willingly.

“It’s been about a year and a half. We met on a Naver internet broadcasting cafe.”

What followed wasn’t complicated.

Lucy had a lot of worries, and Bluebee gave her advice and helped her start streaming.

And apparently, they’re her only streamer friend.

I was speechless.

She trusts them this much — what more could I say?

But when I dug a bit deeper into the details, there were plenty of suspicious things.

She treats Bluebee like a benefactor who basically made it possible for her to stream, but when asked specifically what kind of help they gave, the answers were vague.

Financial support or equipment?

None of that — just advice and some introductions to people in the field.

Could she have actually been gaslit?

Knowing how shady Bluebee can be, it’s entirely possible.

‘I’ve been saying this on the forums forever — Bluebee has a sketchy personality.’

I got completely flamed back then since I didn’t have solid evidence.

Ah, but that’s not the important part right now.

“Can you introduce me to this Bluebee person? I’ll try to convince them myself.”

It felt like forcing down a sweet potato without water, but I had no choice.

If I wanted to persuade Lucy, I had to go through Bluebee first — that was now clear.

‘Fine, just transfer over this time. Once you do, I’m cutting them off immediately.’

Old grudges are resurfacing.