It Came True

It was only natural, but right after recording the cover song the next day Maru was summoned to the company. It was the situation the members feared most. Being called in person instead of receiving a phone call to be scolded meant the CEO was truly furious.

“You really went all out this time, didn’t you, Seok Ye-won?”

“I’m sorry….”

On top of that, she was using her real name instead of her activity name. Given the string of leak incidents Maru had caused before, the CEO was telling her in every possible roundabout way that she would not let it slide this time.

So why was I present at the scene of Maru’s scolding? Since the mistake had happened while she was teaching me 64 Cubics, I couldn’t just let her take all the heat alone.

The small motion studio on the ninth floor that also served as a personal streaming booth was the place the CEO used when she wanted to discipline the members. I saw her storming out of the office in a rage and quickly followed after her.

…Since I had followed, I might as well watch the show.

“CEO. Please don’t be too harsh on Maru. I was right beside her and could have stopped it, but I didn’t expect that to happen.”

The CEO cut my words off instantly.

“Stay quiet, Mazia. Unless you’re planning to clean up the mess yourself.”

“….There’s nothing to clean up, yet you’re still getting angry.”

The sharp look she shot back was murderous. It was a warning not to interrupt while she was putting on her strict boss act. I let out a small whimper and shrank my shoulders to preserve her dignity.

Thanks to my interruption, the CEO’s anger didn’t last long.

“Sigh. I can never say anything when you’re around. Why did you follow me instead of staying downstairs like a good girl?”

“Because if the CEO gets wrinkles on her face from being too angry, that would be a problem.”

“Hey. I’m not that old yet?!”

A hint of laughter appeared on Maru’s previously pouting face. She quickly fixed her expression in case more scolding was coming, but her mood had clearly improved.

Ha. After letting out a short sigh, the CEO stroked Maru’s head and said,

“I saw the controversy online about special treatment and all that. You don’t need to worry about it for now. No one can stop someone from being invited with a special invitation ticket anyway. From the start, Jia is someone the server owner Mr. Wicker personally permitted. Starting together with our rival Rapits and pulling early aggro like this is actually good for us.”

When Maru laughed in relief, the CEO’s five fingers suddenly clamped down hard on her head.

“But how do you never deviate from my predictions, Maru? Because I expected this, I’ll let it slide. If I hadn’t, you would have been stuck in a one-hour meeting with me today, you know?”

“I’m sorry……”

“Well, be extra careful with leaks from now on. Since you already said it out loud, you have to pull a special invitation ticket and bring Jia into the server no matter what. This is a matter of trust.”

It was common for a single comment from a streamer to create a butterfly effect. Even a thoughtless remark could become treated as an established fact before anyone realized it.

In fact, even though only a single day had passed, the fandom was already treating my participation as practically confirmed. So if I couldn’t obtain a special invitation ticket and my entry became uncertain, it was obvious there would be an uproar.

“Yes. I’ll somehow invite Jia no matter what. I’m sorry, CEO……”

Old-timers who had adapted well to the server could buy a “regular invitation ticket” if they grinded hard for a day. But the criteria were strict. You needed at least fifteen broadcast days in the past month and over two thousand followers.

Therefore I could not participate without a special invitation ticket. The expected sponsorship amount required to obtain one was ten million won. In the worst case it could cost twice or even three times that.

Even if the CEO or Maru managed to obtain special invitation tickets, they probably wouldn’t be able to use them on me right away. They had to consider the feelings of the other members’ viewers. Everyone had been excited thinking “Wow, special invitation tickets! Dora and Rain are entering the server too!” If Mazia the assistant suddenly popped out instead, the mood would turn awkward and, in technical streaming terms, the broadcast window would break.

In short, Maru needed to safely pull two special invitation tickets. Only then could she invite both her classmate and me. Minimum sponsorship of twenty million won. Since it was a gacha with no ceiling, the maximum cost was impossible to predict.

Thinking back to Season 1, roughly twenty million won in sponsorships would probably come in during the early server period this time too. But if she failed to pull the tickets then, the real headache would begin.

“…….”

The way Maru’s expression darkened as she fell silent was probably because even someone as bad at math as her was beginning to see the future.

The 64 Cubics server created by Wicker was a kind of fantasy paradise packed only with fun elements. It also contained many gacha systems that drove people insane. You chose a desired job and enjoyed role-playing it, decorated your own personal space beautifully, and spent two weeks playing a game of life with all kinds of people. Because the economy was driven by the players’ activities, interesting situational dramas happened constantly.

“No, does this fish price even make sense? What about crop prices? Everyone, the livestock farmers are the only ones making bank right now!”

Above all, the limited two-week period made people anxious. Everyone cut their sleep to enjoy as much content as possible and climb the rankings in that short time.

In that Wicker Town, Maru—who was a complete 64 Cubics maniac—had to pour all her attention into pulling special invitation tickets instead of enjoying the server itself. It was an incredibly harsh punishment for her.

Maru usually maintained her streaming persona well, but in front of her favorite game she became honest. I was worried that her gloom might leak into the broadcast.

So I grabbed my coat and went down to the first floor with her. I wanted to buy her some fish cake from the stall that was open today. In the past I might have just ignored it, but mental care was part of an assistant’s duties.

When I gestured for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her to follow, Maru let out a small laugh despite her depression and trailed after me.

“Ugh. This damn mouth of mine…”

“It’s fine. It’ll work out somehow.”

“I hope so. But… thinking about Season 1, pulling two special tickets is actually impossible… Back then we barely got one and had to use regular tickets later…”

“That we did.”

Depression was depression, but hunger was hunger. After getting scolded she must have been starving, because the fish cake and broth went down her throat in big gulps. Once her stomach was full her mood seemed to improve a little. She smiled as she boarded the bus home.

“Thanks for coming out in the cold. Go back up quickly! Like you said, Jia, it’ll work out somehow.”

If she didn’t want me to worry, she should at least smile properly. Brave behind a keyboard but unable to hide her feelings in reality.

Vroom. The moment the bus carrying Maru drove off, I opened my banking app.

“Hmm.”

Zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven… It was an eight-digit number starting with 1 that had just matured recently. It was originally savings I had planned to sponsor to the CEO. Well, money could always be saved again. Half of the sponsorship money after fees went to the company anyway……

Let’s just consider it as giving her only half. Like an advance payment.

From that day on I kept the kids’ streams open on the side and played 64 Cubics for four hours every single day. It wasn’t just about earning the money to pull the special ticket. If I was going to support the members inside the server, my own skill had to be solid.

One day, two days, and on the third day.

The tech tree that had stopped at the iron age when I first played with Maru—I managed to raise it from bare ground all the way to the diamond tier in just four hours. And it wasn’t just reaching diamond and stopping. I collected four full sets of diamonds from deep underground in the starting Green World, then even toured the Red World, which was filled with lava and far more dangerous monsters, to prepare for the next tech tree.

In between I asked Maru questions and learned the enchantment system. The key was using various enchants such as increased mining yield and increased mining speed to accelerate progress. Going up to the surface every time I needed food and water was annoying, so I learned to survive on the bone broth and zombie meat dropped by monsters. They were rotten, so my health kept dropping, but it only went down to the red and never below. In that state I dodged arrows, blocked attacks, killed enemies, and ate the meat that dropped again, learning how to live underground. It was tense ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠since I never knew when I might die, but the mining yield was enormous. At the very least, I wouldn’t have to hear anyone call me trash at 64 Cubics anymore.

After finishing all that preparation, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long-awaited opening day of the Wicker server finally arrived. I left the monitoring work to Seung-yeon once again and secured a seat in the personal streaming room on the ninth floor in advance.

Perhaps because the number of starting members in Wicker Town was strictly limited to twenty, or perhaps because of the anons who flocked to every server opening, both the CEO and Maru had far more viewers than usual today.

Everyone was waiting for the donations to convert into in-game coins, so the chat was extremely noisy. It was a necessary process in the early stages of the server, but everyone was as excited as Maru, and even her reading the tutorial aloud could barely calm them down. Fortunately Wicker seemed to have worked hard to reduce the early waiting time that had been a problem in Season 1. The preparations were completed in just ten minutes.

Anyway, the sponsorships had begun. I entered 50,000 won into the sponsorship window I had left open earlier. If I suddenly dropped ten million at once the CEO might notice and smack me on the head, so it was better to split it into 50,000 won increments and vary the messages. The first message should be “Let’s go for hidden job and rank 1 in Season 2 too!” That way I would look like a nice viewer who had watched Maru’s streams for a long time…

However, while I was still pondering the sponsorship method and message, a loud fanfare sounded.

Along with the sudden one-million-won sponsorship, Maru’s body was launched high into the sky. She had received the maximum amount the linkage system allowed and immediately experienced a fall to her death. Maru, who had flown beyond the clouds, soon screamed as she plummeted back to the ground.

“Kyaaaaaaaaa——!!”

Up until then everyone had simply thought it was a one-million-won sponsorship at the start of the server—oh, the big sponsor has arrived—and moved on naturally. But once they saw the sponsor’s name late, everyone fell into shock.

The man carrying the title of lolicon on his back. Pino had appeared.

If it had ended there, it might have been a light-hearted incident. But even after reviving from the fall, Maru spent more time in the sky than on the ground.

Maru flew into the sky again and again, screaming as if she were having a seizure.

“No, Pino! Stop, where exactly are you sending me! Kyaaaaaaaaak!!”