Chapter 38: If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them – 3
by fnovelpia
Just before the collaboration proposal.
The Investment Strategy Team 2 of Ark Network’s Production Division conducted an independent analysis for the “Big Plan Risk Report.”
One of the team members wore a puzzled expression.
“Emergency response measures…? Considering the size of the VTuber market, isn’t this an overreaction? Besides, this is already the smallest project we’re handling…”
“…”
Seeing Jung Yuri’s expressionless face, he lowered his head.
“Ah, s-sorry, Team Leader.” “Let’s begin, then.”
Team Leader Jung Yuri, along with her team, calculated the projected financial statements for the Big Plan.
What she deduced about the Big Plan was only a rough estimate— based on the activities they had publicly displayed over the past month.
Even so, the scale that emerged was shocking.
‘Showcase food truck promotions, self-produced merchandise, PC bang rental events… On top of that, outsourcing personnel to shorten distribution and broadcast preparation time… Each execution would require a minimum budget of at least 200 million won.’
200 million a week.
Every week, they poured at least 200 million won just into event execution costs.
And the next week, they planned new content and poured in just as much again.
“…”
‘Are they insane…?’
This wasn’t something a sane person would do.
It was outright madness.
The speed at which they burned through money was literally at a “burning” level.
Moreover, judging by the scale of their online store, they had deployed at least 500 million won worth of inventory.
Even with minimal labor and warehouse costs, it still amounted to that much.
Jung Yuri sighed as she watched the numbers steadily grow.
Even though it was someone else’s financial situation, her head ached with guilt just looking at it.
“Phew…”
‘They’re just pouring money in blindly, without even considering ROI…’
The estimated monthly expenditure was 1.2 billion won.
But given the chronic lack of infrastructure typical of small and medium-sized enterprises, additional costs for outsourcing personnel would have to be factored in.
Jung Yuri wrote the final number on the whiteboard.
‘So, in the end…’
“…”
…At least 1.5 billion won.
Silence briefly filled the office.
“…”
“…”
“…”
A team member, staring blankly at the whiteboard, muttered under his breath.
“These people spent 1.5 billion in just a month.” “…”
1.5 billion.
That was more than enough to cover the quarterly budget of a decent-sized project.
But this wasn’t a quarterly budget— it was a monthly budget.
And even that excluded internal corporate expenses like operational costs and facility maintenance fees.
It’s not some decade-long IP strategy or large-scale innovative new business…
It’s just the figures spent to operate VTubers, a niche subculture market.
“15 billion won a month for VTubers…?”
If this financial statement were sent to an executive at Ark Network, they could be demoted to Ulleungdo the next day without a word of complaint.
The team members were horrified.
This wasn’t about the scale of capital.
The speed and purpose of burning money were insane.
These guys spent budgets faster than a daughter stealing from her dad’s wallet.
And the one holding the purse strings at the top wasn’t even sane.
Big Man was a complete lunatic.
-These guys aren’t trying to make money.
They just wanted to create something flashy with VTubers,
and for that single purpose, they were burning cash.
And the public was feverish over it.
“…”
To them,
This situation felt like this:
Compared to 10 billion rationally taken from a vault, what’s more stimulating, is 1 billion scattered in the middle of the market.
And the public was going crazy over that 1 billion.
The market’s balance was starting to distort completely.
These weren’t normal customers or sellers.
It was nothing short of a insane cult,
Wearing the mask of capitalism.
“…This is insane.”
At the unimaginable level of financial recklessness,
Jung Yuri and her team were left speechless.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Even conglomerates with trillions wouldn’t frivolously spend like this.
Budgets are allocated and executed within the limits of ROI and system permissions.
Companies exist to make money,
Not to spend it.
But Big Plan was built to spend.
From birth, it was a market variable.
Just responding to it was a risk in itself.
Jung Yuri bit her lip.
“…”
‘…This is like a suicide squad appearing in the middle of people who came to fight without getting hurt.
Maybe it’s a blessing they’re only playing within the VTuber market.’
Just as she thought that,
one of the team members cautiously suggested:
“Can we take legal action?
If the market is this distorted, we might be able to rally public opinion against them.
Of course, we’d just manipulate the public sentiment from behind.”
“!”
“Once we isolate them in the market with public opinion,
We can slowly approach them with collaboration offers…”
“…”
The other team members looked intrigued.
The guy throwing money around is the bad guy.
Undoubtedly, many in the industry felt that way.
In a capitalist society, there’s nothing more futile than resenting capital itself.
Yet, human emotions undeniably worked that way.
‘Wait… isn’t this the same tactic we use to take down competitors’ projects?’
They exchanged glances.
“Might… might be doable?”
But Jung Yuri immediately shot them down.
“On what basis? There’s no shortage of creators who gain attention by flaunting their money. Just look at that American creator on HighTube who hit 100 million subscribers— his content is exactly that style.”
“…W-well, that’s—”
“And unlike our competitors so far, Big Man has solidified its brand as ‘indiscriminately doing good’— something consumers easily understand. Even if we try to provoke a legal response now, it’ll only amplify Big Man’s sensationalism.”
“….”
Indiscriminateness.
Being ‘indiscriminate’ toward everyone was Big Man’s identity.
Jung Yuri let out another deep sigh.
“And to make things worse, Big Man just randomly donated to Romantic Drive and completely messed up the mood.”
“Ugh…”
They didn’t demand anything in exchange for the large sum.
They just waltzed in,
dropped 1 million won into the streamer’s pocket, and left.
By conventional standards, this was just ‘good fortune.’
So, far from criticizing Big Man, the fandom was now buzzing with people wishing they could be next.
The atmosphere had shifted to where not welcoming it seemed strange.
Any semblance of opposition had vanished.
“Big Man…”
This guy,
Was like some kind of plague.
He stripped away the capitalist intellect from people’s minds and bound them tightly with emotion.
And in that process, there was no need for religious philosophy or complex theories.
‘Just money… He’s a capitalist plague, buying people’s hearts with nothing but money.’
Jung Yuri muttered coldly.
“M&A is off the table. The moment we make a move, we’ll be branded public enemies and sink instantly. Not to mention, Big Plan’s structure is something we can’t even handle in the first place.”
“….”
“….”
“….”
The merger and acquisition strategy was scrapped.
The whiteboard’s heading—
‘Big Man Countermeasures’— was now filled with nothing but grim bullet points.
1. No ROI design
2. No budget execution delays
3. Monopolizing buzz through indiscriminate spending
4. Exerting influence via independent distribution channels
5. Legal action impossible
“….”
“….”
“….”
“It was truly an impregnable fortress.”
“Then, should we just stand by and do nothing?”
Jung Yuri refused to accept that.
“There’s still a way left.”
“What kind of way?”
“…”
Instead of answering,
she wrote on the whiteboard:
– Possibility of internal division?
– Proposal to recruit → Understanding internal structure
“Recruiting Big Man. And bringing him under our control.”
“!”
“For that, we first need internal observation. We have to figure out how he operates, what kind of person he is, and what his purpose is for entering the market.”
“Then that means…”
“There’s no other way but to collaborate with Romantic Drive to understand their structure. We’ll track Big Man’s true nature through what’s revealed during the collaboration process.”
That was Jung Yuri’s resolution.
‘No matter how powerful Big Man is, he wouldn’t shoulder another company’s production costs. If we propose a sudden collaboration, he’ll likely demand our investment. While the contract documents are exchanged, we’ll gather intel from the outside….’
But.
Big Man didn’t need any of that.
The very next day, what landed in Jung Yuri’s hands was a proposal stating that the broadcast was already prepared and she could come anytime.
– Hey, it’s me. I don’t do complicated stuff like that.
To Jung Yuri, the document looked like this:
“…”
In the end…
There was no choice but to go and see for herself.
*
The task was naturally assigned to the entire team of Romantic Drive. However, the members were not thrilled about it.
“Sigh…”
Inside the large van heading toward Aurora Prism Enter for preliminary coordination, a heavy silence lingered.
Excluding Herin, who was currently on a business trip to Japan, the four remaining members had lived together for over a year and were quite close personally. (Of course, part of that closeness was deliberately cultivated to create the “chemistry” the market desired.)
But now, only a tense silence filled the air.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Danhwi—Seo Eunhwa, a former regional news anchor—murmured weakly, her voice thick with skepticism.
“What is this, some kind of noir film? What difference does it make if we go and take a look? We just want to do our broadcasts quietly, and suddenly we’re told to go film some political drama at another company’s office.”
“…”
“…”
The other two members exchanged glances. Meanwhile, the manager driving, the team leader, and the office worker in the van flinched but didn’t reprimand Seo Eunhwa.
They, too, felt uneasy about the directive that had come down from the strategy team:
- Gather as much detail as possible on Big Plan’s internal decision-making structure. If you uncover any connections to Big Man, report them immediately.
What came to mind upon hearing those orders wasn’t a sense of duty—it was exhaustion and dread.
“…”
‘Ugh… There she goes again.’
The higher-ups were the ones obsessed with performance metrics, so the staff on the ground couldn’t muster any real resentment. Weren’t they all in the same industry, anyway? If anything, they found the unconventional rise of that group fascinating.
- Oh, I heard they rented out a PC bang this time?
- Wow… That’s insane. I wish we could do something like that.
- Should we just show up and challenge them to a dance battle? That’d be hilarious.
- The loser has to shout “Big Man!”
- Are you crazy? We’d be writing incident reports for that.
Romantic Drive was already an established group with an average of over 200,000 subscribers on domestic platforms. But that success came with a strange sense of fatigue.
‘At this point, it’s hard to grow much bigger in the domestic subculture market. We’re just maintaining now. Honestly, it’d be better if we all grew together and expanded the market on HiTube…’
But apparently, the higher-ups thought differently.
As the members stewed in their thoughts, the van slowly turned into a narrow alley. The team leader, who had been checking his phone, glanced back and spoke up.
“Arrived. This small building in front of the parking lot is the Aurora Prism Entertainment headquarters.”
“!”
Seo Eun-hwa looked out the car window at the Aurora Prism Entertainment building. And she was utterly shocked.
“Seriously, it’s freaking tiny? There are so many companies like this in Daegu.”
“Eun-hwa unnie…”
“!”
Seo Eun-hwa hastily covered her mouth, flustered.
“No, ah. Sorry. It just slipped out. I’m sorry for swearing.”
But no one could blame her for feeling that way.
Because everyone in the group was thinking the same thing.
‘The company building is seriously small. And from this tiny place, Big Man is holed up, pushing out massive projects like it’s nothing…?’
What kind of person was Big Man?
A pot-bellied middle-aged man?
A smooth-talking grandfather?
Or, unexpectedly, a wealthy ajumma?
With those expectations, they climbed the stairs of the Aurora Entertainment building.
But beyond the worn-out gray staircase, what awaited them wasn’t the shadowy mastermind they had imagined.
Instead, four bright voices greeted them.
“Hello~! I’m Aki! Nice to meet you—!”
“Hello. I’m Clara from ABCD. Thank you for coming all this way.”
“Ah, the famous ‘Romantic Drive,’ right? A special welcome for you. I’m Doda, the strongest gamer on earth.”
“Hey, Doda, stop that…! Ah, hello! I’m Berry! D-Don’t feel too bad! It’s not that she’s mean…!”
And from the corner, a middle-aged man doused in cologne hurried out, clumsily holding a can of coffee.
Why he was preparing it himself instead of having an employee do it was a mystery.
“Oh my! You’re already here. Welcome. I’m Baek Soo-cheol, the CEO of Aurora Prism Entertainment.”
It was shabby,
but undeniably human.
For a moment, the Romantic Drive crew thought:
‘Ah, they really are an interesting bunch.’
But…
Why does this place reek of being so damn small-time…?
‘…And where’s Big Man?’
Yet, even as the pre-broadcast coordination proceeded, Big Man never showed himself.
By the time the two-day coordination wrapped up, the broadcast was set to air that Thursday.
*
Thursday has returned.
The long-awaited joint broadcast of ABCD and Romantic Drive has begun.
The stream wasn’t on a personal channel but on ABCD’s shared channel.
And the moment I turned on the broadcast, I fell silent for a moment.
– Current Viewers: 62,211
“……”
‘This isn’t on HiTube, but on a domestic platform… and yet this number…’
It was close to the monthly peak viewership rankings.
One thought crossed my mind—
The promotional effect was going to be huge.
0 Comments