The Bread Wars

075. I’d only been focused on hunting. Back when Wicker Town first launched, Parallel and Rapits’ second-generation members had roughly the same average viewer counts. We started side by side at four to five thousand concurrent viewers, climbed to around seven thousand thanks to the starting-member bonus, and everyone assumed the server would continue in friendly competition. The VTubers themselves and their fans all thought so.

But after one day, then two, a noticeable gap suddenly opened up. The cause was Mazia.

On the first day, while everyone else was busy growing, she created a legendary server moment by throwing money around. On the second day, she pulled a hidden class and shamelessly advertised herself in front of the flood of viewers pouring in, steadily pulling in more and more. Even her control-room broadcasts turned out to have decent demand. Viewers chasing dopamine who didn’t want to miss any server events had no better hub than Mazia. Normally they’d have to keep every stream open or scour the community to hunt down incidents one by one, but at least for Parallel members, Mazia would find everything herself and slap it onto the main frame, saving them the trouble.

Anyway, the more days passed, the more Parallel’s viewer count exploded upward. Of course, Parallel’s windfall was Rapits’ headache. The company was inevitably sensitive to viewer numbers, so they kept telling the members to be more proactive. However, because Iona—the first-generation member invited via special ticket—had her server entry delayed by sudden additional original song recordings, Serena and her peer Marysia were left running around like overworked eldest daughters. They alternated between working and socializing, doing their best to keep up…

On the third day, just as people’s money-making was starting to stabilize, big news spread through the server: the Dungeon King MoovGun and the Skeleton Knight Mazia had officially joined forces. That same day, right before the server closed, MoovGun’s stream revealed Mazia’s daily dungeon earnings—380,000 WK. People who had been laughing at the nickname “Mazia” had their heads explode the moment they heard the number. After all, they were barely scraping together 150,000 themselves. 380,000? Everyone reached the same conclusion at once.

This server already had Mazia and MoovGun sitting at the top economically. Rather than compete with those two, it would be smarter to just catch the crumbs falling from their table.

So on the fourth day, other streamers who had been watching the situation began approaching Mazia one after another. Her concurrent viewers rose again, and the new influx spread into her control-room broadcasts. Before long, the per-person average viewer count between Parallel and Rapits had widened to more than 1.5 times.

The company had warned them to be careful in conversations because getting involved with rival-agency VTubers could spark fan fights, but Serena was desperate. No matter how she looked at it, Rapits needed to drink from Mazia’s overflow too. The faster they made money, the sooner they could call in the rest of their members and do more cross-communication and promotion. She didn’t even know how long they’d have to keep struggling like this. As long as she didn’t make any verbal slips, it should be fine.

Conveniently, her peer Marysia had found the server’s strongest armor blueprint in the field and given it to her. For Serena the blacksmith, it was the perfect chance to get involved with Mazia.

“I’ll make the strongest equipment in this server for you, Mazia.”

So she went straight to Mazia and pitched the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠deal, praying the same 20,000 WK mercy Mazia had shown the newbies would be extended to her as well—hoping Mazia wouldn’t discriminate just because she was from Rapits.

“I’ll give you all the materials I get from two hours of hunting. Go make it, and if you need more, just say so.”

Fortunately, Mazia took Serena’s hand.

“Wow… Thank you so much. I won’t forget this favor.”

“It’s not really a favor. It’s mutual benefit. I needed good equipment anyway.”

“…Even just hearing you say that is enough for me to be grateful.”

Serena immediately got to work, pouring every skill and resource she had into crafting the best possible gear. She could have saved up more money to buy another invitation ticket, but in a way, she had chosen to invest in preparation for the future instead. After transferring the enchantments from the equipment MoovGun had given her onto the new set, Mazia became a monster among monsters. All damage reduced by 80%. Attack speed and movement speed increased by 150%. She had already been unmatched in dungeon hunting; now she had reached a level ordinary people could never hope to catch up to.

After watching Mazia hunt for a while, Serena was certain.

This was going to make money. Everyone would want the armor Mazia was wearing.

“It’s the highest-grade equipment added to the Wicker server via mod. If I had to compare it, it’s right after Void, the best vanilla grade?”

“Yep, exactly.”

“It’s not free. You gave me all the materials.”

“If you just wear it around and brag that I made it, that’s more than enough.”

The moment she heard that, 200,000 WK flashed through Serena’s mind—an invitation ticket. Enough to call in one helping hand from Rapits.

“Wow, really? Then could you lend me 200,000 WK? I want to buy an invitation ticket right away…”

Of course, even if Mazia was generous, bringing in more rival-agency colleagues was something she might want to keep in check, so Serena hadn’t held high expectations. In the server she might look like a skeleton head in dazzling equipment, but she was still a loyal Parallel member through and through.

Yet—

Mazia was generous to the end. Her reply was quick, and so was the speed at which she wrote and handed over the check, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“No… aren’t you giving this out too freely? This is money you earned while starving yourself.”

The part that actually annoyed Mazia was the mention of starvation.

The 200,000 check landed with a light thud. Mazia gave a small bow and casually walked away, muttering “Time to hunt, time to hunt.”

Before long, her chat echoed across the entire server.

That Serena’s choice to align herself with Mazia had been the right one became crystal clear the very next day.

Starting with Roofkr, everyone who had followed Mazia into the dungeon to make money began bringing her materials in bulk to commission armor. After Mazia started using Serena’s armor ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and earning 450,000 WK a day, even setting the price slightly lower at 400,000 WK sold them instantly. Even when they deliberately lowered the quality a bit so it couldn’t match Mazia’s top-tier set, demand was so high it became a problem. When Mazia bragged about sweeping money in the dungeon, even people who hadn’t been interested rushed over. Though it wasn’t well known because Mazia always hunted on a small screen, she parried every ranged attack and used headshot stagger to dodge melee ones. Her hunting efficiency was on another level, and combined with the hidden class difference, her earnings were naturally higher. Still, even just chatting mindlessly with viewers while making money, she pulled in around 300,000 a day. Naturally, public opinion formed along the lines of “No black cows still not going to the dungeon?” and the dungeon reached saturation in just one day. There were fights over dungeon spots, but Serena simply smiled.

By the evening of the fifth day—the day after she started selling armor—eight members of Rapits’ first and second generations had gathered together. And at that joyful moment for Rapits, she finally returned.

“Sorry, everyone. Kept you waiting long?”

“Yeah, yeah. How’s everyone been? Keeping up with your tasks? I need to talk with Serena once she gets here.”

Iona, the first-generation member with the largest scale in Rapits—660,000 YouTube subscribers and around 7,000 average concurrent viewers. She had been the first among Rapits members to secure her server entry via special ticket, but an unexpected additional recording schedule had delayed her arrival by three days.

While waiting at the Rapits housing site she was building, Serena soon came running over after using a return scroll and bounced excitedly in front of her.

“Rena, sorry. Made you wait too long, right? But wow, you already built the house? You and Risha must’ve had a hard time earning money together.”

“Really? How did you earn that much? I caught glimpses here and there, but I was too busy recording to follow the full story.”

Serena rattled off everything that had happened from day one to day five. The day-one brawl in the plaza over 10,000 WK. The day-two first hidden class appearance and the Mazia-MoovGun business partnership. The day-three server hierarchy confirmed by Mazia’s earnings reveal. The day-four story of Serena approaching Mazia to make a deal, and so on. And now on day five, the server’s top tier still belonged to Dungeon King MoovGun and Skeleton Knight Mazia. While Rapits had benefited greatly from Mazia’s overflow, they had now grown enough in scale that they wouldn’t be overshadowed by other factions.

After hearing everything, Iona felt strangely bitter. If it hadn’t been for the additional original song recording, she could have been leading the server and drawing attention from the start. Naturally, they wouldn’t have fallen behind Parallel like this either.

“Yeah. You really worked hard. Must’ve been tough earning money.”

“Really? She helped you a lot, then. I should go thank her as the representative.”

“Why?”

According to Serena, there was something called a settlement support fund. Anyone other than the starting members was guaranteed to receive it upon entering the server, and by now there was hardly anyone in the server who didn’t know the names of Parallel and the first-generation Another members. Of course, if you peeled back one layer, the name “Mazia” had become even more famous, but she didn’t seem to care much about that.

As Serena predicted, Mazia soon came to find Iona. The moment she arrived, she immediately held out a check and spoke.

None of Iona’s peers or juniors had difficult personalities, so there probably wouldn’t have been anyone who refused when Mazia offered money like this. But Iona was different. She was the top of the first generation—the pillar and support her juniors relied on.

“You’re doing a good thing. I heard rumors, but you must be earning a lot.”

“Ah, then I’m fine. Please give that money to the others at double the amount instead. We’ve settled in enough now that it’s our turn to help the others.”

Mazia put the check she had been holding back into her inventory. Iona bowed politely.

“I heard from Serena that you helped the kids a lot while I was gone. I’ll thank you on their behalf.”

“Still. Thanks to you, the sudden extra recording didn’t end up making things too hard for the kids. We got through a difficult time because of you, Deputy Manager Mazia.”

“Ah, of course, of course. Go ahead. I kept you too long when you came to deliver the support fund.”

Watching Mazia’s retreating figure as she scurried away, Iona thought:

‘…She’s no ordinary person.’

Quick-witted and sharp. And even shameless on top of that. Even though Iona had openly shown wariness, Mazia responded to the conversation without batting an eye, put the support fund back when she sensed the situation, and even wrapped it up as mutual benefit when thanked. Hunting for an hour straight without rest in a dizzying control room full of constantly flowing viewers, while also personally switching between members’ screens—she felt like a veteran professional wearing a cute character mask at a masquerade ball.

‘She’s definitely not a broadcasting newbie or an ordinary staff member.’

The presence Mazia held in Wicker Town right now was extraordinary. She was practically the center of the server. Part of the viewer flow inevitably followed her. A prime example was Serena’s stream. Up until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠day three she had maintained around 7,000 concurrent viewers, but starting yesterday her numbers began jumping, reaching the 9,000 range today. Even after analyzing from multiple angles, the exact moments her viewer count spiked were clear: whenever Mazia contacted Serena. Three times in total—when they made contact and formed a contract, when Serena crafted the equipment, and when the great dungeon era opened and Serena’s workshop filled with reservations.

So much so that even in the Rapits community, where rival-agency news was usually ignored, Mazia’s name was being mentioned.

Iona couldn’t help but feel a sense of crisis. It would be one thing if it was just noisy talk about Parallel within the server, but the fact that Mazia’s name kept coming up even in the Rapits community was a slightly dangerous signal. After all, no matter how much they called it friendly competition, if they left this trend alone, they’d lose their slice of the pie in an instant.

“Everyone, just a moment. I’ll go get some water.”

Mic off.

Iona immediately contacted the Rapits management team.

“Team Leader, I have a suggestion.”

* * *

The next day, before starting the sixth day of the Wicker server control room, I logged into the Wicker server first and felt a strange sense of dissonance.

“Huh?”

Since I was a Skeleton Knight, I didn’t need to eat, so I hadn’t packed the Wicker Bread that came with donations. But the Wicker Bread the members had given me so I wouldn’t skip meals was still sitting in my inventory like a talisman. Yet the bread that had yesterday still featured Wicker’s iconic mirrorball icon now looked different.

Wasn’t that the Rapits logo?

“Huh?”

When I hovered my mouse over it, the name appeared.

Rapists Bread x52

The bread’s name had changed—to that of Rapits, the group competing with Parallel for the same pie.

I took a screenshot of the screen and immediately went down a floor to show it to the president before she left work.

“Looks like Rapits did something.”

“…Really? Hold on. I’ll ask Wicker.”

The president made a call, exchanged a few words with Wicker, and then… I finally learned how things had come to this.

“Rapits apparently spent ten million won on server operating costs?”