Chapter 49
I have a lot of these...
"Yesterday's official broadcast was actually pretty good..."
One hundred thousand loaves.
Lee Eunbyul, my chief of staff, explained that it was nothing to worry about.
She said it wasn’t even 100,000 of each kind—just 100,000 loaves total across five different breads—so they’d sell out in no time.
But what I felt, staring with my own two eyes at bread coming out of the factory and being stuffed into boxes, was a little different.
And it was 100,000. One hundred thousand.
Even if the food industry thought that was really nothing, wasn’t it still a complete wash if people didn’t buy them?
"What if they don't sell...?"
If push came to shove, was I supposed to buy all the bread myself as a last resort?
Jinsu had probably prepared 100,000 because he’d considered the worst-case scenario.
"Um, Elodie Unni. Is what’s in this box seriously bread?"
"Yes, it’s a box sent over by Hansung Foods."
Inside were loads of beautifully packaged loaves.
Starting with Sere’s pink bread and going all the way to madeleines.
Individually, I’d definitely wolfed them down while clapping and calling them heavenly, but now that I thought of them as a fraction of 100,000, they suddenly felt weirdly burdensome.
"Should I open Pandora’s box..."
While I kept sneaking glances at Elodie, who was busily preparing breakfast, I carefully entered the Galaxy Train gallery.
This wasn’t the whole picture, but if the reaction here was bad, then there was no way I could call it a success!
...Huh?
What, there was more collaboration bread talk than I expected?
No, no, it wasn’t just more than expected—it was on page after page after page, nothing but collaboration bread talk!
Just skimming the posts on the gallery, it seemed this was the concept post that had started everything.
It was total nonsense, straight-up ridiculous bullshit, but somehow it had really landed with people!
There’s no way collecting all 20 stickers would actually make the character pop on the first pull.
But somehow, this had turned into a kind of game.
Thanks to that, I could see people who hadn’t cared about collaboration bread at all starting to take an interest.
"Heh... hahahaha..."
The more I read the newest posts in the gallery, the more laughter bubbled out of me without warning.
Even without Lee Eunbyul briefing me on the situation, I had no choice but to realize this was a smash hit!
Sere’s bread was getting the exact reaction I’d expected.
Yes, yes—after all, these were people who would happily roll around in the grass even if nobody laid out a mat for them!
This was the least I could do!
"Ha... at this rate, the 100,000 will absolutely sell out."
There was no need to look any closer than this—once the gallery was constantly filling with posts saying the bread had sold out everywhere they went, that told me everything!
(A picture of the collaboration bread stickers lined up neatly)
This brain-dead bitch had already done a fake sniper attack before, and when she streams she’s unbelievably unlikeable.
But her emoticons and these collaboration bread stickers are ridiculously cute.
Seriously, she should have her microphone and streaming gear confiscated and be made to draw only, yeah.
At first, the thread was full of talk about bread, but little by little, Heretic’s drawing skills started getting mentioned too.
Especially since the stickers in this collaboration were, after all, official merch, a lot of people wanted to collect all 20 of them.
Come to think of it, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and because the art had never been uploaded online anywhere, it probably triggered their collector instincts like crazy.
For the record, I have all 20 of them.
If you were wondering why I had them even though I hadn’t bought any bread, it was because Hansung Foods had sent them to me as sticker samples.
─ Ding!
Heretic
"Unni!"
"Unni!"
Labellehar
『?』
My phone suddenly rang, and when I checked it, it was a Discord DM from Heretic.
What now?
Don’t tell me you’ve blabbed somewhere again, got caught, and won a 100-million-won gift certificate?
Heretic
"You know about the collaboration bread, right???"
"Why isn’t it being sold?"
"Seriously lol"
"I planned to stream with this today."
"I’ve been walking around for an hour and I can’t find it for sale!!!"
Labellehar
『It’s not that it isn’t being sold. It’s that it’s already sold out.』
Heretic
"Same difference!!!!"
"T_T"
"Unni, do you have any bread left???“
I thought of the bread boxes I’d seen earlier.
No, but I couldn’t send those to her.
Heretic
"I’ll pay you ten times the price!"
"Please sell me some! Unni!"
Labellehar
『You don’t have it, so where would I get any to give you?』
Heretic
"Ah"
"Ah"
"Ah"
"Ah"
Heretic let out a string of dazed little ahs like a broken doll, then stopped messaging me.
Heh heh heh, I had plenty of it on this side—enough bread to play Jenga with!
─ ♬
"I answered. What is it, Chief of Staff Lee Eunbyul?"
After Heretic, as if waiting for her turn, Lee Eunbyul called me.
"Congratulations, young lady. Hansung Foods brought us very good news today."
"Oh... what news? Are you saying the bread is selling too well?"
"Yes. Sales are doing much better than expected, so they’re increasing production."
"Th-then how many are they planning to make and sell? I’d like to know a little."
It had started at 100,000, right?
Honestly, even that seemed like a lot to me!
"They say they’re aiming to produce a total of 1 million units during the collaboration period."
"O-One million?! That’s ten times the original stock?"
"Yes, but because sales are moving at an unexpectedly explosive pace, they say that if momentum builds over time, they may produce more than 1 million."
I’d been thinking they should count themselves lucky if they didn’t fail to sell 100,000, and now they could sell a million?
"I-I see. So the reaction is huge even now?"
"Yes. Orders are flooding in from convenience stores nationwide. If they can handle this volume well, they’ll be able to surpass 1 million in no time."
Holy crap.
However I looked at it, this was a jackpot.
"Also, they say shortages are going to be severe for a few days, so there’s a strong chance they can even use that as a marketing element."
"Ah... you mean if people go to buy it and it isn’t there, that makes them want it even more?"
"Exactly. There are already people who want to make content about this bread on YouTube or Pazik. It’s quite possible they can aim for more than 1 million."
More than 1 million... could 2 million be possible too?
Either way, it was such an unthinkable hit that my chest tingled for no reason at all.
"So right now... there are tons of people who want it but can’t get it, and want to eat it but can’t eat it, right?"
If I thought about Heretic, there was no need to ask for long.
* * *
"Hello~!! Today! I’m going to do something a little different from what I talked about yesterday!"
The collaboration bread had become the sort of thing you couldn’t buy even if you wanted to, and couldn’t eat even if you wanted to, for several days.
There were even people posting that they’d pay more than triple the price just to get some.
Today was indeed the day we were going to pull Regiero, who had an astonishingly voluptuous lower body and huge boobs.
But but but there was something more important!
Because I could pull Miss Regiero anytime!
"Today, we're going to eat the collaboration bread that’s been insanely hot in the community lately and do a review with all of you!"
"No way, right? I have to eat with all of you and have a good time talking, of course I brought everything!"
I turned on the cam Elodie had set up for me and spoke.
Setting this up had been quite the ordeal for Elodie, too.
She’d carefully adjusted the angle so my body couldn’t be seen at all, while my hands and the bread were crystal clear!
"Ta-da!! All five kinds of bread are ready!"
"Now, now! Everyone, don't look at my hands! I'm going to eat the breads one by one and talk as I go, so pay attention!"
Showing off even the hands Elodie had neatly polished for me, I was practically buzzing all over at the thought of boasting about eating the collaboration bread.
Ha...! People were jealous of me just because I had the whole box, which was honestly creepier than I’d expected.