Chapter 146

First, become famous. Then, money will follow.

It was a famous quote from a game developer I respected.

His masterpiece was *Infinity Zero*, but it was a shame that no one knew about it.

Anyway.

If you become famous, you’ll make money. At face value, it didn’t make sense.

Becoming famous doesn’t magically produce rice, so how exactly does money come into the picture?

Yet, people resonated with that statement.

Because, in the structure of the world, if you’re famous, you’ll inevitably make money.

The process of turning fame into money has only gotten easier over time. In the past, just being famous wasn’t enough—you had to do something with it. But now, just being genuinely famous is enough to make money.

We’re truly in the age of influencers.

One day, at the center of this era, the Super Developer received a message—10 minutes after Bbangbbang won the series MVP.

Jeong Sang-heon: Boss, we got a business email at the company. What should we do?

Jeong Sang-heon. My one and only employee.

By the way, Yoorim Company had grown its staff over time.

They were MTube-related personnel, which led to Jeong Sang-heon taking on the role of main editor and overall manager.

Though, being a manager wasn’t a big deal—it was more like just passing organized stuff to me.

Han Yoorim: Where’s it from?

I received a lot of business emails.

From game companies wanting to collaborate on games to various tech and entertainment companies. Ever since I became famous as a game developer, it had been like this.

And that wasn’t even the end of it.

Ads for the latest devices, energy drinks, food, education, even passport color changes—fields I had no connection to—poured in, all thanks to my unique traits.

Being a game developer and an internet broadcaster with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

Jeong Sang-heon: Well, um.

Han Yoorim: Speak freely. The Super Developer isn’t surprised by anything.

Jeong Sang-heon: A luxury brand from France wants to collaborate.

Han Yoorim: You’ve got jokes. You’re definitely my employee.

Jeong Sang-heon: Boss, I’m serious.

Han Yoorim: Why would they?

What’s going on? Do they even know who I am?

What business does a game developer and internet broadcaster have collaborating with a luxury fashion brand?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out.

Jeong Sang-heon: I’ll just forward you the email.

To address my confusion, Jeong Sang-heon forwarded the email directly to me.

I calmly read the beginning of the email.

It started with, “We admire Han Yoorim’s unique design sense and aesthetic—” and the core of the email was this:

They wanted to sell products I designed.

My first thought was, “Why?”

Let’s take a detour and talk about luxury brands.

There’s an image that luxury brands rake in money. That’s both true and false. They do make a lot of money, but everything is relative. When you hear their profits, you might think, “They’re the top luxury brand in the world, and that’s all they make?”

In modern society, to make big money, you ultimately need economies of scale. Luxury brands, however, are the rebels resisting this trend.

The paradox of the true luxury market is that the more you sell, the more your brand value drops.

The core of luxury is scarcity.

Something that anyone can own isn’t a luxury item. No matter how exceptional the quality or how long the history, the moment it becomes a mass choice, its value as a luxury item disappears.

So, luxury brands guard their scarcity to an extreme degree. They burn excess stock, refuse discounts, and even screen buyers for certain products.

What happens to brands that fail to maintain this? If they give up scarcity and flood the market with inventory?

They fail.

Well, more accurately, they fail in the “luxury” market. Sales might spike in the short term, but that’s the cost of abandoning their value as a luxury brand. The fate of a luxury brand with a ruined image is always the same.

Expulsion from the luxury market.

That’s why luxury brands go to great lengths to protect their image. One of those methods is exclusively hiring top-tier designers. So, why are they suddenly proposing a design collaboration with me?

Well, luxury brands do have different strategies. Some guard their scarcity to the extreme, while others walk a tightrope between scarcity and mass appeal.

But this brand is known for fiercely guarding its scarcity, right?

What’s going on?

I continued reading the email.

“—For this reason, we would like to showcase a watch designed by Han Yoorim through our brand.”

After reading that, I started to understand the situation.

Well, they are classified as a fashion watch in the watch market, which has its limitations. Especially since their watches aren’t managed with the same level of scarcity as their main products.

A watch, huh?

I’m a game developer. I have no interest outside of game development, and I’ve spent most of my life on it.

Due to personal circumstances, I ended up developing various skills while trying to make games alone, but I never thought of using them elsewhere.

I’d rather make another game with that time.

“Unnie, don’t you not have a game you want to make right now anyway?”

“That’s true.”

“You’re not even surprised when I suddenly show up now?”

“Repetitive jokes need variation after a certain point, you know.”

“What are you even talking about?”

I turned my head toward the source of the voice.

There stood Bunny Run, wearing AR gear.

“Bunny Run.”

“Yeah?”

“Using too much AR will make you dumb. Be careful.”

“Since when is it a dumb box?”

The most effective way to counter AR deployment is to deploy AR yourself.

I put on my AR gear.

Then, a middle school-aged…

The Water Spirit was seen floating around.

Finally, seeing the Water Spirit had become an intermediate spirit, Bunny Run was surprised once again.

Just how much did they play the game?

It seems like they raised it more diligently than Pape.

“Except for eating and sleeping, it seems like they only played the game.”

“It was tough.”

“Why? Did someone chase you or something?”

“If I stayed weak, some murderer would come and chop up my Evoker.”

“There’s no murderer system in Evoke Order.”

“There isn’t in Evoke Order, but there is in reality.”

What is this person talking about?

Even if there were, it would be a guide leading the weak, not a murderer, right?

I guess so. They must have fallen into a victim complex.

Feeling sorry for Bunny Run, I left them to rest and started typing on the keyboard.

I was about to send a rejection message to Jeong Sang-heon, but before I could press enter, Bunny Run spoke up.

“Won’t you get another chance like this? Why not give it a try?”

“Bunny Run. I value consistency.”

“You’re always a bit crazy.”

“A game developer suddenly doing fashion design? No one would like that.”

People like things that are consistent.

That’s why people go crazy on Sundays. It’s all because everything is consistent.

No matter how much a game developer tries fashion design, the reactions would be predictable. ‘Stick to what you’re good at, who do you think you are, a world-class designer? The next game is obvious. It’s doomed. I told you your face looked unlucky.’

“That’s a bit too much, isn’t it?”

“Not at all.”

I suddenly worried about Bunny Run, who doesn’t know the ways of the world.

What if someone lures them with a carrot and takes them away?

“Bunny Run. If you like carrots too much, it could be dangerous. Be careful.”

“Sis. Why aren’t there people who like your watch designs? There are plenty.”

“You’re quite skilled at ignoring my words and smoothly continuing the conversation. Your level has really gone up. By the way, who are you talking about when you say ‘people who like’?”

Who are they really talking about?

Are they talking about themselves?

As I tilted my head in confusion, Bunny Run confidently shouted.

“Your viewers like it, don’t they!”

“Those people like anything.”

“Heeing.”

Stream viewers have melted brains and will eat anything. They need to be cherished.

But, hmm.

I recalled a QnA I did before.

Q: Any plans to release merchandise?

A: My game is the merchandise.

Q: How can a VTuber not have personal merchandise?

A: My game is the merchandise.

I was too harsh back then. I must have been too stressed before my game became a big success.

Looking back, the viewers’ demands were valid.

Merchandise is the alpha and omega for a VTuber, how can there be none?

No matter how faint my identity as a VTuber was, I was still a VTuber.

To be a VTuber, I should at least provide merchandise for the viewers.

“Alright.”

“Yay!”

“Then get your passport ready.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just get it ready.”

“Okay…”

And so, I flew to Paris, France on the fastest flight.

With Bunny Run—.

And kidnapping Pape was a bonus.

“Why me?”

“Bbangbbang said they wanted to see you.”

“There’s no way they would… What about the others?”

“Choco Full Bread and the university student are busy with midterms, and Mos said to kill him?”

“They must be busy with corporate tax prepayments and VAT provisional reports.”

That’s the reason I came to Paris, France.

“Really, it’s because of business.”

“Yes.”

“Really.”

Leaving a dazed Bbangbbang with Bunny Run and Pape, I headed to my original destination.

“You must be Han Yoorim.”

“Hello.”

After greeting the welcoming manager, I entered the headquarters building and proceeded with the business meeting.

“So, are you accepting all our proposals?”

“I’ve always wanted to make many watches. But can we make two separate models, a mid-low price and a high price?”

“You can do whatever you want with the watches.”

“Just to clarify, when I say mid-low price, I don’t mean 5 million won, but really low prices, okay?”

“No problem.”

Huh. Strange.

Even if they treat watches as fashion items, there’s a line they usually stick to, but they accepted it so easily?

What’s going on?

Ah. They must have really liked my designs.

Oh dear. Then you should have said so.

“Alright. Shall we go make the watches now?”

“Sorry to interrupt, Han Yoorim. Can I confirm if you’re also accepting the other proposal?”

“Other proposal? Oh. That’s fine too.”

I recalled the proposal written at the end of the email.

What was it again, so.

Ah. Right.

‘—And lastly, we would like to invite Han Yoorim as the muse of our house.’

In the end, this is just an additional offer that came with my design skills.

It wasn’t that important.

“So, when are we making the watches?”

“This way.”