Treasure? If You Want It, I’ll Give It to You - 1
Late on a Tuesday night.
Choi Ye-seo, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, tapped away at her laptop. Even after finishing her stream as Clara, she couldn’t bring herself to get up for a long while.
Tap-tap-tap—
“....”
She was organizing the event plan for this Friday’s broadcast. After an unexpected increase in budget from a “mysterious investor,” the scale had to be revised upward tenfold.
He really is absurdly generous.
“....”
Once again, a wave of gratitude welled up in her.
But she didn’t want to overdo it like Do-dam did.
- Bigmaaaaan—!
How old am I again?
“Bigman….”
She muttered it under her breath and went back to work.
What repaid trust was diligence.
Tap-tap-tap—
“....”
The goods giveaway event.
To Ye-seo, it felt like a declaration of war.
That was the fate of a latecomer with capital in hand.
...Realistically, this is guaranteed to shake other VTuber fandoms. A group claiming to be a tiny rookie outfit is handing out merchandise of this quality in a launch event.
There would absolutely be backlash and mockery.
Just existing was enough to invite a fight.
At a level that would leave people in the same industry feeling hollow.
The All-Star Box was flashy. T-shirts, cheering towels, light sticks, and photo cards, all neatly packaged by member theme... It was the kind of lineup that flattened industry custom and pride alike.
Unless you were a major idol agency,
there was no way to prepare merchandise of this quality.
“....”
But they had done it.
In their own kingdom.
Ye-seo’s heart thudded with tension.
“....”
It was time to swing the sword that would protect her younger siblings.
Big Plan A Company.
The ecosystem created by a capital behemoth was formidable.
*
At the Big Plan strategy meeting, Ye-seo made a suggestion.
“Would something like this be viable?”
“....”
Mr. Ha, the head of the merchandise distributor, looked over the proposal and nodded. His expression was cautious, but relaxed.
“We can do this right away. The images are already prepared as high-resolution official assets, and since the group theme is clear, we can keep the design minimal and still make it look commercially strong. The box can just be a stock item with printed graphics.”
“How long would it take?”
“If you give us the files, we can show you image samples immediately.”
“!”
Ye-seo sent the files at once.
He promptly poked at his laptop and produced sample images. Since the basic design had already been decided in the planning stage and the style emphasized colors and letters, the composition came together smoothly.
Tap!
“...This is possible.”
“Yes! This is exactly the style I wanted. This one.”
“That’s good. It’s the model we can produce fastest. It’s simple, so durability is good too. We can start making it immediately without mold work.”
“!”
Ye-seo’s face lit up.
Then from here on out, we can just...!
Mr. Ha added, “Though—”
“Yes?”
“We’ll need to adjust depending on the budget scale. From our side, warehouse fees and production costs are a bigger risk than the delivery schedule.”
“If the budget is around one hundred million won, how far can we go?”
“Hmm….”
Mr. Ha tapped on a calculator.
“First, we’d produce 200 sets of the All-Star Box as event goods. Then, in the follow-up run, about 2,000 sets, and for individual products, 1,000 of each. The rest would go to storage and shipping.”
“....”
3,200 sets.
That was less than she’d expected.
Not enough to shake the market,
and not enough to arm the fans.
Still, Ye-seo could accept it.
With a lineup like this, the unit cost already exceeds 20,000 won... There’s nothing we can do. For the official store, I wanted at least ten thousand sets, if not more.
Just as that thought crossed her mind,
10 billion won suddenly flew in from Bigman.
- Use it.
“....”
“....”
“....”
The people in the planning meeting fell silent.
“....”
“....”
“....”
Mr. Ha put away his calculator. Then he looked at Ye-seo and folded his fingers together. With a budget that size, there was no need to calculate anything.
“I’ll make as many as you want.”
“Would twenty thousand sets be possible?”
“Of course. As long as you confirm it, we can do it right away.”
Ye-seo looked at Representative Baek Su-cheol.
She trusted him.
“....”
“....”
He trusted her too.
Baek Su-cheol nodded.
“!”
Ye-seo looked back at Mr. Ha.
“It’s done.”
And just like that, the factory was set in motion.
There was no such thing as delay in a system flooded with capital.
*
Friday afternoon, convenience store.
I grilled pork belly at the outdoor table.
Sizzle—!
Grease popped and splattered everywhere.
At last, I wrapped the meat in lettuce and took a bite.
“Mm, tasty.”
Ping!
“!”
A text came in while I was eating.
It was from Attorney Kim, saying that the merchandise was fully ready. I was impressed by how quickly they had prepared everything.
“Huh.”
I’d thought it would take days.
Right. Taking over an entire distribution network really does matter.
For a normal small company,
this would’ve been the stage where they were desperately groveling around, hunting for subcontractors.
But these people were different.
The partner companies tied into the Big Plan system moved at once. Thanks to that, less than three days had passed before the budget dropped on Monday was actually put to work.
They said Clara was the one who mainly directed it.
“....”
Clara turned out to be far more of a businesswoman than I’d expected.
On stream, she had the image of someone calmly talking about otaku stuff. Behind the scenes, she was a warrior standing at the very front line of the market.
That wasn’t something just anyone could do.
To grip the hilt of a sword made of money,
you had to be unafraid of competition and criticism from others.
Even from the level of detail in the planning document’s analysis, you could tell she had really clenched her teeth and prepared this. Maybe that’s the responsibility of the eldest in a tiny team?
I could feel the anger in the cold row of numbers.
There was enough desperation and crisis awareness in it to sense how fiercely she had burned with the sting of defeat. It was a level of practical realism completely different from the soft, pliant younger members.
Before I knew it, I’d sent over 1 billion won and cheered them on.
Clara seems less like someone who belongs in idols and more like someone born for the planning team or strategy office….
Then, at that moment, another text came in.
Ping!
“!”
A real idol, through and through.
She doesn’t need to apologize for something like this.
After all, the convenience store was just A-yeong’s resting place.
I sent back a reply.
The answer came back immediately.
“...?”
I wasn’t mad, though.
I chewed on my meat wrap and tried to interpret A-yeong’s message.
*
【ABCD Weekly Big Plan Special Broadcast】
《Live now: Special broadcast!! ABCD goods giveaway quiz show~!》
- Live viewers: 31,074
The dignity of an extraordinary tiny-group special broadcast.
Even while it was still on the waiting screen, the viewer count was already packed. The power of free merchandise was indeed great. But because they had coordinated in advance, the server lag was milder than during the showcase.
- Hiya hiya hiya hiya....
- Open the door~
- Berryyyyyyy....
- Something feels off here
- lol no way hahaha
- Scalpers, get the hell out if you have any sense
- This isn’t a market, it’s a total madhouse lol.
- Bigman just tossed in cash and is watching from the sidelines~
- Ah, so that’s Bigman? Whoa.
- What kind of bastard just throws down a million?
- Anyone who doesn’t know Bigman isn’t on our team
- BM
- Stan culture is disgusting as hell lol
- Kick out the spy!!!
- Damn it, keyword filters mean we can’t even worship properly lol
- “ ”
- Holy crap lol
- For a second I thought that was Bigman lol
- First time I’ve seen a bald guy be this generous, whoa
- Don’t make fun of hair loss, you bastards!!!!
- Your heart’s small, but why are your roots so wide? lol
- Time,,, is merciless,,, all I can do is,,, cry,,,
Amid that chaos,
the music finally changed and the broadcast began.
“!”
Lights came on in the dark studio.
The interior looked like a quiz show set brought to life. Around them, each member’s personal-color laser glowed faintly.
- Ooooh, is this the power of studio broadcasting...?
- Wow, lol this is insane
- This is kinda too much
- Somehow, it looks convincing
- Such pointless rich-boy bullshit, lmao
From the entrance far away,
the members of ABCD came in one by one.
Aki clasped her hands politely.
Berry bounced in with little hops.
Then DoDa arrived by suddenly rolling across the floor.
“Hello! Thank you for having us today—!”
“Yay~! Did a lot of our boomrangs come? Hm?”
“The one and only me has arrived.”
The last to enter was Clara, the organizer of this project. She walked in calmly, smiling brightly.
“Hello! It’s nice to meet you—!”
Inside, she was coldly analyzing the chat.
...The live viewer count is higher than expected. There are a lot of comments that don’t recognize Bigman, and a lot of insults. Is this new traffic? Still, this event definitely has impact.
From a marketing standpoint, that was not a bad thing at all.
Still, the kids might get hurt by it, so I’ll have to hope Min-young unnie cuts things off when needed.
The ABCD members lined up in a row.
“I’m Aki-chan, an idol trainee who runs toward the stars in your heart!”
“Ready to roll? I’m Berry, the chatty one who’s happy to play with you!”
“Together for a shining moment! I’m the sparkling girl Clara!”
“Toook-toook, logging into your heart complete. I’m the gamer DoDa.”
[Running toward the light! We are ABCD—!]
- Brrrrrrr
- Berry! Good afternoon~
- Hiyash! Hiyash! Hiyash!
- Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
- Dodadadadada
- Heh heh... Clara-dono... it has been a while...
- Clara, I leave you a single rose @))—
- Are all the Carats out there ancient too?
As soon as the greeting ended,
numbers appeared above each member’s head.
“500”
“500”
“500”
“500”
- ???
- ?
- Gasp...!
- ????
- What are those numbers?
- So embarrassing....
- ?
- N-no way
- Is this an adult broadcast?
- Damn it, you insane bastards lol what are you thinking?
- This is just the right amount of embarrassing for our stream
Clara opened her mouth brightly.
“These numbers, 500, are the remaining counts of the ‘All-Star Boxes’ assigned to each member! Every time you solve a specific member’s quiz and take home a prize, that number will go down bit by bit—!”
- A health bar, whoa
- But there are way more than I expected lol
- lol for real
- Free goods!
- I thought they’d only prepared like 100 sets lol
- Wow, is this what capital looks like lol
- Honestly, I really want one
- I’ve seriously been watching since Live Future, just give it to us already;;
- All-Star Box, whoa
- Goods! Boo! Goods! Boo!
“One rule here! In today’s quiz show, the member who reaches zero first has to perform a penalty. If the questions are too easy, the numbers will drop fast, so you’ll have to make them tough and stay on your toes, right?”
At that, the other members all made startled gestures. They stamped their feet and looked around in exaggerated panic. It was awkward, theatrical acting.
“Ah, no way I could ever...!”
“Uuu, Berry’s so nervous.”
“An unexpected identity...?”
- lololol
- Their acting is so bad lol
- No way lol.
- I’m losing it
- Right, they were a tiny group lol
Clara shouted,
“Then—! Let’s start with Aki-chan first!”
At that moment,
a fairly convincing-looking UI graphic appeared on the screen.
Drip-drrr—
On the chat screen, a notice about the quiz starting soon popped up, and a live-choice countdown began.
The viewers were stunned.
“?!”
How much money did they spend on this...?