Clearly, when Wicker Town started, the average viewership of Parallel and Lapiz 2nd gen were similar.
Starting side-by-side at an average of 4-5k viewers, hitting around 7k thanks to the starting member bonus, everyone thought they’d compete amicably as the server progressed.
The VTubers themselves, and the fans, thought so.
But after a day, then two, a noticeable gap suddenly emerged.
The cause was Majia.
On the first day, while everyone was busy growing, she created a server highlight by throwing money around.
On the second day, she drew a hidden card and shamelessly promoted it in front of a crowd of viewers, steadily attracting more and more.
Even that situation room broadcast had quite a demand.
For the dopamine-seeking masses who didn’t want to miss any server events, there was no better base than Majia.
Normally, you’d have to turn on all the broadcasts or keep an eye on the community, going to each place where an incident occurred. But at least for the Parallel members, Majia found them herself and plastered them on the mainframe, saving everyone the trouble.
Anyway, as the days passed, Parallel’s viewership exploded.
However, Parallel’s good fortune was Lapiz’s worry.
The company was inevitably sensitive to viewership numbers, so they kept telling the members to be more proactive.
But Iona, the 1st gen member invited with a special early access ticket, was delayed in joining the server due to sudden additional recording for an original song.
In reality, Serena and her peer Merisha were frantically running around like young breadwinners.
They tried their best, taking turns working and communicating…
Until the third day.
As people’s earnings were slowly stabilizing, big news spread throughout the server.
Dungeon King Moogun and Skeleton Knight Majia had joined forces in a dramatic partnership.
Even more, right before the server closed that day, Majia’s daily dungeon income was revealed on Moogun’s broadcast: a whopping 380,000!
People who had laughed at the nickname “Majia” immediately had their minds blown upon hearing the number 380,000.
After all, they were barely scraping together 150,000.
380,000?
Everyone immediately had the same thought.
Majia and Moogun already have an economic advantage in this server.
It’s better to receive their handouts than to compete with these guys.
So, on the fourth day, other streamers who had been watching started visiting Majia.
Majia’s average viewership rose again.
The newcomers spread out to the situation room broadcast.
As a result, the average viewership per person in Parallel and Lapiz started to differ by more than 1.5 times.
The company had warned them to be careful when talking to rival VTubers, as it could lead to fan disputes.
But Serena was desperate.
No matter how you looked at it, Lapiz needed to get some of Majia’s handouts too.
If they made money quickly, they could call all the members and communicate and promote themselves more.
She didn’t know how long they’d have to suffer like this.
She also thought that as long as she didn’t make any slip-ups, it should be fine.
Just then, her peer Merisha luckily found the server’s strongest armor blueprint in the field and gave it to Serena.
For Serena, who was a blacksmith, it was the perfect chance to get involved with Majia.
“I’ll make the strongest equipment in this server for Majia-nim.”
So, she went to Majia and immediately made a deal.
Please.
Hoping that she would extend the same generosity of 20,000 WK given to newbies to her as well.
Hoping that Majia wouldn’t discriminate against Lapiz.
“I’ll give you all the materials I get from hunting for two hours, so go and make it, and tell me if you need more.”
Fortunately, Majia took Serena’s hand.
“Wow… Thank you so much. I won’t forget this kindness.”
“It’s not kindness. It’s a win-win. I needed good equipment too.”
“… I’m just grateful that you said that.”
Serena immediately got to work.
She poured all her skills and capital into making the best equipment.
She could have saved up a little more money and bought another invitation ticket.
But in a way, she was taking time to prepare for the future.
After transferring the enchantments from the equipment Moogun had given her to the new equipment.
Majia became a monster among monsters.
All damage -80%.
Attack speed and movement speed 150%.
Majia was already unrivaled in dungeon hunting.
Now, ordinary people couldn’t even keep up.
Serena watched Majia hunt for a bit and became convinced.
This is money!
Everyone will want the armor Majia is wearing.
[What kind of armor is that? The stats are insane.]
“It’s the highest-grade equipment added to the Wicker server with a mod. If I had to compare it, it’s next to Void, which is the highest grade
in vanilla?”
[Void is better than Obsidian, right? That’s really good?]
“That’s right, that’s right.”
[Ugh, I feel so bad getting this for free.]
“No. It’s not free. You gave me all the materials.”
[Still. If you receive something, you have to give something back.]
“If you just wear it around and brag that I made it, that’s enough for me.”
[Ah, I see what you mean. Then. I’ll go hunting. If you need money, contact me, Serena-nim, I’ll lend it to you interest-free.]
As soon as she heard that, 200,000 WK popped into Serena’s head.
One invitation ticket.
The price to call a Lapiz colleague to lend a hand.
“Wow. Really? Then can you lend me 200,000 WK? I want to buy an invitation ticket right away…”
Of course, even if Majia was generous, she might be wary of a rival company’s colleague joining, so she didn’t expect much.
Inside the server, she may be a skeleton wearing dazzling equipment.
But she was clearly a loyalist of Parallel.
However.
[I will. Here you go.]
Majia was as generous as ever.
Her answer was quick, and the speed at which she made out the check was fast.
As if this was only natural.
“No… Aren’t you giving away too much? This is all money you earned while starving.”
The part that annoyed Majia was actually related to starvation.
[I didn’t starve… And it’s money I’ll get back anyway.]
A 200,000 check dropped with a thud.
Majia bowed and nonchalantly left.
Muttering “Let’s hunt, let’s hunt” under her breath.
Soon, her chat echoed throughout the server.
[Global] Majia: Wearing the armor Serena-nim made, I’m super fast even on the 8th floor
[Global] Majia: If I do well today, I’ll make 450,000
* * *
The next day, it became clear that Serena’s choice to get on Majia’s good side was the best.
[Global] [I’llRepay You] Rupko: Serena-nim, I want you to make me armor too
[Global] [Landlord] Ronze: When are you going to repay SkeletonKnight-nim’s money lol
[Global] [I’llRepayYou] Rupko: Can’t I just earn it and repay it?!!
[Global] [I’llRepay You] Rupko: I’ll earn it and repay it!!
Starting with Rupko, people who had gone to the dungeon to make money following Majia started bringing materials to make armor.
Majia started earning 450,000 WK a day after using Serena’s armor, so even if they set the price slightly lower at 400,000 WK, it sold.
Even though they intentionally lowered the quality a bit to make it impossible to match Majia’s strongest armor, it sold so well that it was a
problem.
Majia boasted that she was sweeping up money in the dungeon, so even people who weren’t interested headed to the dungeon.
However, Majia always hunted on a small screen, so it wasn’t well known.
She parried all ranged attacks and avoided close-range attacks using headshot stuns.
Her hunting efficiency was different, and there was also the difference in hidden classes, so there was naturally a difference in income.
But even so, it was easy to chat with viewers and make money, and they earned about 300,000 a day.
Naturally, a sentiment like “Is there anyone who still isn’t going to the dungeon?” formed, and the dungeon became saturated in just one
day.
There were arguments over dungeon spots, but.
Serena was just smiling.
To the point that by the evening of the 5th day, the day after she started selling armor, all eight members of Lapiz 1st and 2nd gen had
gathered.
And at that happy moment for Lapiz, she finally returned.
“Guys, sorry. Did you wait long?”
[Unnie!]
[Sunbaenim. You worked so hard on the recording.]
“Yeah, yeah. How have you all been? Are you doing your jobs? I need to talk to Serena when she comes.”
[Yes!]
[Yes!]
The largest of the Lapiz 1st gen.
A VTuber with 660,000 YouTube subscribers and an average of 7,000 viewers.
The 1st gen member Iona, who was the first to confirm joining the server among the other members of Lapiz with a special invitation ticket,
but whose joining was delayed by three days due to a sudden additional recording schedule.
[Iona Sunbae!]