[By any chance, is there a possibility that Deputy Manager Majia will be invited to this server as well?]
Dohee had to doubt her own ears.
“Huh. You mean our Deputy Manager Majia, right?”
[Yes, that’s right. If Momo and Maru join, I feel like other first-gen members will come and enjoy the server too… but I was curious about Majia, so I asked.]
There should be a clear distinction between employee Majia and the members, but it felt like that line had disappeared. So, Momo asked Wicker,
“You do know that Jia is our staff, not a streamer, right? Since this is a streamer server, I’m a bit worried that if a non-streamer joins, people might bring up fairness issues.”
Wicker chuckled and replied,
[Of course, I know. But she did a solo stream on the official channel recently. I think that qualifies her as a broadcaster.]
“Well… I mean, technically, yes… but that’s just a monthly stream…”
[The main content is monthly, but she frequently appears on other members’ streams too, right? Plus, she has a properly rigged character.]
“No, no. I just wanted to clarify in case you’re misunderstanding—she’s really just an employee…”
Wicker spoke firmly.
[Honestly, that’s only how it’s seen within Parallel, but other people don’t think that way. I, for one, see Majia as an unusual type of streamer, not as a regular person completely unrelated to broadcasting.]
Hearing that made Dohee’s head spin.
Wicker was right.
Within Parallel, they had firmly established that “Majia is an employee,” and people treated her as a staff member wearing the guise of a VTuber rather than an actual VTuber.
But that was only within the Parallel fandom.
For those who didn’t know her well, the moment they saw Majia’s monthly review content, they’d inevitably ask, “Is she a broadcaster?”
And then, the people who did know her would flood them with clips, all showcasing her presence in streams.
For viewers coming across her through streams and clips, the natural reaction would be, “Wait, so she’s a broadcaster? Was the ‘employee’ thing just a gimmick?”
They had worked hard to cement the idea that Majia was simply an employee.
But no matter what, they couldn’t hide her brilliance.
Of course, beyond these external perceptions, there was another reason why Wicker was pushing this so actively.
[And, actually, I have a reason for asking this.]
“Huh… What is it?”
[Three people have already asked me about it. Whether they could use a special invitation to bring Majia in.]
In the 64 Cubix Collaboration Server, if API integration was enabled, donations received during gameplay would be converted into server coins.
For Season 1, the exchange rate was ₩10,000 per 1 Wicker Coin.
Each Wicker Coin became a gacha token, and through gacha, players could obtain various items to enhance their server experience.
Among those items… there was a 0.1% drop-rate treasure—the Special Invitation Ticket.
In monetary terms, it would take approximately ₩10 million worth of Wicker Coins to obtain this item.
But its value was undeniable.
Unlike the general invitation, which required a day or two of grinding to obtain, the Special Invitation Ticket had no follower count requirement and no restriction to established streamers it was a true wild card.
In other words, if someone used a Special Invitation Ticket, there would be no controversy over Majia joining the server.
That was the exact purpose of this rare item, after all.
However, within Parallel, there hadn’t even been an internal discussion about this.
Yet external figures were already requesting her invitation?
Curious about who had asked, Dohee couldn’t help but ask,
[First, Moogun asked last month, right after being recruited as a starting member. Then, last week, invitations were sent to Ronze and Serena, and they also asked about it a few days ago.]
“Huh? I get Moogun and Ronze, but….Serena?”
[It’s fascinating, isn’t it? I thought about it for a long time, too. But when I heard that Maru was collabing with her today, I figured I’d ask.]
The stubborn hardcore players would still question Majia’s qualifications.
But using a Special Invitation Ticket to bring someone in was a privilege permitted by the server owner.
If someone were a real problem, the server owner would simply cut them off.
And since Wicker, the server owner, had already given permission, there was nothing more to ask.
[Anyhow, I hope you’ll consider it positively. If Majia didn’t know anyone on the server, I would have hesitated, too. But she actually knows quite a few people—she’s connected to Moogun’s crew and Ronze’s multi-game group. I think the synergy for collabs could turn out pretty well.]
Dohee didn’t deliberate for long.
At this point, the decision wasn’t really hers to make—it was up to Jia.
“Alright… I’ll ask Jia and get back to you right away. Is that okay?”
[Of course~ I’m staying up all night preparing the server, so feel free to message me anytime.]
“Ah… You always work so hard. We just enjoy the server, and we never really give back anything proper…”
[Aww, come on. You’re doing a concert at the end again, right?]
“Oh. That, of course. Of course, we’ll do it. It helps promote our members, too, so it’s a win-win.”
[That’s more than enough. Honestly, I owe you guys so much. Alright then, I’ll wait for your reply!]
* * *
As soon as I arrived at work, the boss called me in. The story she told me was nothing short of shocking.
Three people were actually considering using a Special Invitation Ticket on me?
There had to be plenty of smaller streamers dying to get into the server so why me, of all people?
“But…why me?”
“Well, it’s because you’ve done things to earn it. Wait, that made it sound like you did something bad. What I mean is, they’re inviting you because they have a connection with you. But since you’re an employee of our company, they probably wanted to get permission first.”
I tilted my head, struggling to follow the logic.
I wasn’t a VTuber, so it should be natural for me not to be invited to a massive collab server like Wicker Town…
More than that, I could understand Moogun or Ronze inviting me.
But Serena?
Serena was a VTuber who had come running up to greet me the moment she saw me at I’m Wolf.
She was also a second-generation member of Lapitz, a corporate VTuber group that constantly competed with us for second or third place in the industry.
As a latecomer, we’d been working hard to catch up, and lately, our first-gen members had been going back and forth with theirs in terms of average viewership.
Yet, a VTuber from a competing company was trying to invite me?
Now, that was odd.
Back at I’m Wolf, Ronze had been the event host, so it made sense that the game party was filled with people he liked.
But the 64 Cubix server? Anyone who streamed on Bzzzt could join.
And yet, she specifically chose to invite me?
If I had been a VTuber myself, I might have suspected this was some kind of poaching attempt from a rival company.
But since I was just an employee, I could push that thought aside for now.
“Did she pick me as some kind of Oshi?”
That didn’t make much sense either.
I hadn’t really done anything for her.
Well, I could always ask about that later.
“For the first-gen members… would my participation be helpful to them?”
“Well… that’s up to how you handle it.”
“So if I go around promoting the first-gen members on the server, that’s fine?”
“Of course. If anything, huge servers like this are the perfect place for blatant promotion. People on the other side even ask for introductions all the time.”
Indeed, in Season 1 of the “Wicker Town” server, where the CEO and the first-generation members participated, the CEO himself even took the members around in vehicles and introduced them to all his acquaintances.
It must be the era of self-PR.
As long as you can introduce someone properly without making the other person feel burdened, there’s no problem in continuing to promote.
I happen to be someone who doesn’t need to introduce myself.
A true workhorse of the parallel world.
“Try our kids out!” and feed them generously maybe someone will really get hooked.
It’s the same with Moogun.
Even when he went for promotion, the person who had asked, “Why watch VTubers?” now occasionally shows up on Rain’s broadcasts, donates, and quickly climbs to the top of the comment list when a cover song is uploaded.
No one knows who will get hooked when.
The more you promote, the better.
“It would be good if the marketing team could join, but since they can’t.”
Looks like I’ll have to seek out Marketing Team Leader Oh Seok-jae.
How to sell without making the other person uncomfortable.
It would help to hear some tips.
I’d feel bad just asking him to spill all his trade secrets.
Maybe while treating him to a drink.