I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work - Chapter 74

Until I went to bed, I bought an invitation ticket with the money I’d pulled together.

Meanwhile, the president teamed up with the others to buy another ticket.

With Maru’s daughter Komari and Dora’s daughter Rain, the five members of Parallel gathered.

From now on, the Command Room would focus solely on hunting while managing members’ sleep schedules, and the promotional strategy would shift from aggressive to subtle.

So starting today, there’s nothing much to watch…

[ (🔴Live) Wicker Town Season 2 – Parallel Command Room Day 3 ] 👪7,942

#64CubicS #Parallel

“… Why 8,000 people?”

Even though the president and members were all in the server and recording about 1.5 times their usual viewers, I still had only 8,000.

There was no difference from when I ended the broadcast yesterday.

What’s up with that? Are they longing to see the Skeleton Knight play more?

Usually, if viewers have expectations for a streamer, their watch time naturally increases and they might end up sending a small donation or following for notifications of regular broadcasts, eventually subscribing.

But my broadcast is only limited to two weeks.

There’s no reason for them to watch further.

I get that the 64 Cubics are infatuated with the Skeleton Knight, but overdosing on it will just make things harder for them later on.

First, I decided to see what kind of people showed up, so I casually greeted everyone now that all the members were broadcasting.

“Since the president and the members are live now, I’ll be getting my gear from Mugun and starting my money-making quest. I’ll be rotating the screen periodically to keep it interesting, so please pay attention!”

— Eh? I came to see Jia though?

— Skeleton Knight Majia

— You’re the hero of the Skeleton Village!

— People who wanted to see the other members have probably already left?

— For real lol

— Are you hunting with g*n today?

— Let’s head into the dungeon!

Scanning the chat, it looked like half the audience came to see the Skeleton Knight play.

About 10% asked if I was hunting with Mugun.

The rest were just my usual viewers.

I knew people were excited about Hidden, but I didn’t expect the hype to last this long.

Maybe it’s because we haven’t really gone into the dungeon yet?

That means half of those 8,000 viewers will probably drop off today.

It made me feel a bit sad that the other members didn’t discover their Hidden classes.

If they had, they could’ve enjoyed at least a week of special influx.

Oh well, it’s too bad.

Anyway, I just need to do what I came here to do.

I’ll first focus on helping the members switch their jobs to the second-tier classes.

Unlike the first class, which focuses on gathering materials, the second class involves staying in town to create various items, leading to way more interactions with people.

And what happens when interactions increase? We get to see more entertaining moments!

The president said he’d buy a house today, so if I made a box there for them to stash their items, the members would handle the rest.

You might be wondering what the subtle promotional strategy is, but I need to earn money first to utilize it, so I need to hit the dungeon for sure.

I need to find out how much I can earn in a day for some rough calculations.

So today, I’ll try to survive in the dungeon.

Soon, I received a whisper from Mugun.

– [Whisper] Movgun: 309, 25, 294

– [Whisper] Movgun: You should come to this coordinate.

Since I was supposed to get my gear at the dungeon entrance, I rushed over.

When I arrived, the above-ground area looked like an ordinary forest, but as I descended the stone stairs Mugun had dug out ahead of time, there was a large portal just sitting there.

“Oh, that’s cool.”

[You were hunting mobs like a pro, but you find this cool?]

“This is my first time seeing it. I’m still a newbie in 64 Cubics after all.”

[What kind of newbie kills 500 mobs with ease…?]

“I’m serious! This playtime added up to barely 50 hours when combined with my recent server play.”

— New?bie

— Honestly, I bet you were a total pro in the back cubes lol

— No way for us to know what you were doing lol

— Everyone’s too naive; it’s obvious this is a broadcast concept, haha

— Were you a master in your past life or something?

— What are you talking about, haha

— Hey hey hey

— If you say you’re a newbie, then you’re one; it’s just suspicious

— Majia-chan must be a child though

Mentioning past lives in VTuber broadcasts is a no-no, so I sent a few people away to not come back forever.

Anyway, I was proudly a newbie having played the game for less than a month.

“I haven’t even been to the Void World, which is after the Red World.”

[Wait, what? Jia, you’ve never fought a Void Dragon?]

“Yeah, I know it exists, but I’ve never fought it.”

[Hmm. You are a newbie. I’ll award you the Movgun certification mark.]

“Thanks.”

— ??

— What’s with that certification mark lol

— What’s a Movgun certification? haha

— Confusing

— The two of them get along awfully well lol

— The codes surprisingly click, haha

— Obviously, Mugun is giving the cert, what’s new…

— Friendship forged while grinding kills in the civil war, lol

“Friendship? What friendship.”

Momo, the evil turret, is just waiting to launch missiles at Mugun the moment he crosses the line.

“Anyway, can I have my gear now?”

[Oops, I should hand it over now. I’ll drop it here, so pick it up.]

Helmet, armor, greaves, gloves, shoulder pads.

All five pieces are wrapped in purple and provide a 40% damage reduction.

Wearing the Void set reportedly boosts the reduction effect up to 60%.

Mugun said it took him two days to get there, so I’m not too keen on hunting that down.

Truth be told, the gear I received was good enough that I didn’t even need higher-tier equipment.

The max enchant level in 64 Cubics is 5, and…

[I’ve absolutely covered the enchantments. How’s that?]

Two pieces had Protection Lv5, granting an additional 20% damage reduction.

Two pieces had Speed Lv5, granting 120% movement and action speed.

One piece had Thorns Lv5, reflecting 10% of damage taken.

I’ve never seen gloves like these.

And the weapon I received—a lovely obsidian sword—was equally impressive.

With an Annihilation Lv5 enchantment, it gave a crazy 120% boost to final damage.

I’ve heard those are extremely rare; where on Earth did he get this?

The diamond sword I’d been using dealt around 20 damage on headshots, but with the obsidian sword reflecting the Annihilation enchantment, I was seeing whopping 36 on living targets.

Talk about a skyrocketing damage!

However, while calculating the damage, I started to worry if I was giving away too much.

… I hope it won’t lead to any debt down the line.

“This gear is amazing. It must have been hard to acquire those enchantments.”

Mugun casually replied.

[Our viewers summoned mobs with donations, so I defeated them all. It just dropped nicely. I already have all of them. Don’t worry about the extra one I made; just focus on hunting and make sure to pay the 20% fee. You know, you need that to negate the debuff from the Skeleton Knight. How do you survive in the dungeon at half health?]

“Well, I could just avoid it.”

[True, but that means having to concentrate for several hours, which is tiring. You sort of end up taking hits in the end.]

“Ah, I see.”

[Want me to guide you through a round while explaining which mobs are around?]

“No, you seem busy, so just give me a brief explanation. I’ll handle the dungeon on my own.”

I politely declined Mugun’s offering to hunt together.

[Okay then, let’s go in, and I’ll give you a brief explanation.]

The dungeon consists of a total of 10 floors.

Each floor spawns different monsters, and the higher you go, the stronger they become.

According to the server guide, you need solid weapons, armor, and upgrades to clear floor 10.

To craft higher-tier weapons and armor, you’ll need to combine ingredients and minerals obtained in the dungeon, and only second-tier blacksmiths can make them.

You can upgrade with enhancement stones earned by killing monsters at the blacksmith in town at noon.

By the way, these enhancement stones are another main source of income from the dungeon.

As the game progresses, they become more expensive, so I need to minimize my usage while collecting as many as I can.

[Well then, happy hunting! And if you’re caught lying about your income, remember—you might just lose a finger!]

“I’m a diligent taxpayer; I wouldn’t dream of doing anything like that.”

[You always act like I’m tax evading…?]

“Are you feeling guilty or something?”

[Certainly not! I’m a diligent taxpayer too. Anyway, take care. I’ll be off exploring, so if you have any questions, just whisper me.]

It seems Mugun was leaving me in charge of the dungeon while he went off searching for Hidden, pocketing his 20% fee.

With his gear properly matched, now was the perfect time for him to find Hidden.

After all, in just a day or two, there would be an influx of players entering through the invitation tickets, and that means the chance of someone snatching Hidden away would rise dramatically.

Anyway, now I finally get around to explaining the subtle promotional method.

The influx of new residents! These will be my target for the next round of promotions.

Do you remember the chaos from the first day when only around 10,000 WK showed up?

New players coming in will surely face some challenges, though; they might struggle against the senior residents for space.

Or they might just feel lost since they aren’t used to this kind of server.

All in all, latecomers encounter a range of difficulties.

I plan to earn money and invest half in our kids and the other half for the newcomers.

What I like to call Parallel’s first generation resident support fund.

That’s why I am checking if I can earn a lot today.

I need to make enough to share with the members and give some to the new folks.

* * *

— What is this person really about?

— How would we know?

— Don’t ask; we don’t even know, lol

— I saw him since yesterday, haha

:: An anonymous sponsor has donated 10,000 cloud! ::

:: Having other broadcasts next to this was a brilliant move… ::

— But seriously, can someone hunt for 12 hours straight…?

— Seems like he doesn’t get hungry or thirsty, just living in the dungeon, haha

— LOL you mean he doesn’t even need Wicker bread!

— The guy trolling Majia has vanished, haha

:: An anonymous sponsor has donated 10,000 cloud! ::

:: But does this guy even eat? ::

— ? That’s true

— Huh

— Now that you mention it, what about meals…?

— Has he really been dungeon crawling without eating? lol

[ (🔴Live) Wicker Town Season 2 – Parallel Command Room Day 3 ] 👪4,332

Half of the 8,000 that arrived couldn’t withstand the grind and dropped out today, after twelve hours of scrapping.

[390,395 WK]

— Wowwwww, that’s a crazy amount lol

— Whoa, but the money,ㅋㅋㅋ

— Insane lol

— This is how you pull in serious cash!

Originally I had 10,000, now I made a whopping 380,000 WK.

Since most of the items I sold were from shops due to not many having switched to the second-tier class yet, this is how much I earned excluding enhancement stones.

Once players start buying dungeon materials, the prices will soar.

It’s a wellspring of money.

Just slicing down monsters is a way to earn money, right?

And my gear is so good that my health barely even drops.

“Thanks to those who told me to head into the dungeon. It’s making it much easier to support Parallel.”

— No, you should be using some for yourself!

— Absolutely not! lol

— Once the enhancing starts in earnest, it’ll be gone in no time; you should think about saving it…

“I’d rather the president and the members use it. I should toss it all into the box at the house.”

— Nooooo!

— Wow, that’s way too wasteful

— 380k? That’s enough for multiple upgrades and appearance draws, oh just give it to me!

— Aghhh!!

While heading toward the house site the president started building for Parallel, a burning bird suddenly swooped down from the sky and gently landed in front of me.

When I saw Mugun earlier that evening walking, I was now looking at him mounted on a phoenix.

I guess he was the one who pulled the Phoenix in the mount gacha thing he was talking about earlier.

[Oh, fancy meeting you here.]

“Perfect timing.”

Today, I earned about 380,000. So 20% of that with rounding comes to 77,000 WK.

I made it into a check and dropped it in front of Mugun.

As soon as he saw the money, his eyes widened in shock.

[Wait, what? You seriously only did dungeon runs today?]

“Yep! Easy money!”

[Wow, I could see from the time you were doing Show No-Mercy that you were insane. Are you okay? Last time I did that, my head exploded, and this time I just stuck with dominating the dungeon.]

“Not at all, it was totally manageable.”

[Did you eat while you played?]

“Eat? Nah.”

[Not just in-game, I mean real-life meals.]

“Ah, yeah. I had like four energy bars. Busy hunting while moving around the stream to adjust the kids’ positions.”

— No way you didn’t eat? lol

— 12 hours fasting?!

— That’s crazy;

— Seriously, is that even enough? lol

Mugun sighed and muttered.

[What about your character’s name? I mean, you’re Jia, right? It’s true you look a bit underfed, but still, energy bars? You’re really gonna risk starving?]

“Wow, your jokes are really as bad as can be.”

[I didn’t intend to joke; it was a slip of the tongue.]

“Couldn’t have been an accident because your second one was a joke.”

[Oh no, you caught me.]

— Hunger, right? haha

— For real, haha

— Hahahaha

— Oh, are you Majia?

— You look like you’ve been starved just by looking at you…

— The assistant looks starved for real.

— Majia, haha!

— Hahahahaha

Of course, Mugun’s wordplay didn’t stop there.

[Ah, is that it? You’re doing a concept play again? Convenient that your Hidden job is the Skeleton Knight, since skeletons are undead and don’t eat. Skeleton Knight Majia; it shortens to Skeleton Gia. Puhaha!]

“Wow………….”

I couldn’t help but sigh at his cheesy sense of humor.

Is this how professional gamers are?

For this reason, I truly disliked it whenever Mugun would stream with the president.

This guy isn’t even worth giving a zero on jokes.

“Take care. Since you got a mount, make sure to come for collection tomorrow.”

[Sure, I’ll do just that. Good job today!]

As I wrapped things up on the Wicker server, I murmured at the end.

“You really need to learn to keep it together with the jokes…”

Though it sounded like a slight, I said it loud enough for Mugun to hear.

* * *

Majia avoided Mugun starting the next day.

He wasn’t the kind of person she found appealing anyway.

She figured if they talked, he’d pull some weird joke or something.

She thought she’d have to move if someone else found a new dungeon later but then…

Somehow, avoiding Mugun led to others slowly showing up in front of Majia over the next few days.

Seeing Majia going around giving out disaster relief funds to the new residents popping into the server, it seemed like she was making quite a bit of money.

However, it seemed the nickname mentioned by Mugun during the broadcasts turned into a meme since whenever they arrived, they always had to say something.

Even Ronze, who later came to ask if she could sell him some enhancement stones for a cheaper price, greeted her with:

[Oh, you’re the Skeleton Gia! Did you have a proper meal today?]

“I haven’t eaten yet.”

[Wait? You’re seriously going to pass out from making money?]

“I’ll eat…”

Kamic, who came to borrow money after losing all his wealth while enhancing, chimed in:

[Gia, if you keep working like this while looking so skeletal, you’re going to faint. I’m just concerned for your health, so you need to listen to my advice.]

“Should I raise the interest rate to 40%?”

[Oh, I better go. 30% is a great deal.]

Lastly, Serena showed up, also starting off with worries about my health.

[Jia, you’re ensuring to have a late snack, right?]

No.

Just because I had some energy bars, they were making a big fuss.

I’d eaten dinner early at four for the Command Room, and I simply nibbled on energy bars during breaks since I couldn’t leave my spot.

Of course, when I got home, I was hungry and had a quick meal before bed.

It was merely a test to see how much I could earn on the first day in the dungeon.

Yet they acted as if I lived off energy bars.

Frustrated, Majia snapped.

“I’m ordering pineapple pizza; do you want a gift card?”

[Uhh, no thanks… I’m good.]

“What a shame. So, are you here to borrow money, Serena?”

[Uh, that’s not why I’m here.]

Serena was a blacksmith.

She said to Majia:

[I’ll craft the strongest gear on this server for you, for free, just provide the dungeon materials.]

“Hmm? If you’re making it for free, you won’t have anything left for yourself, will you?”

[No, I’ll benefit. I’ll have the title of ‘Server Ranking 1st Gear Crafter’. With that title, I can sell gear that’s slightly below the top-quality at a higher price.]

Majia, who thought Serena was an entirely good person since their combined stream with I’m Wolf, began to see hints of the money-making mentality.

“Is it because of the invitation ticket?”

Serena hesitated before speaking.

[Well, our total members are eight. I’m trying to invite all of us. I’m grinding really hard with Marisha right now.]

“Oh dear. And what about the special invitation?”

[I already set my priority on an upperclassman, but then I had to enter the schedule for a new original song recording, and I’m nearly in a submerged state right after stepping in.]

Upon hearing that, Majia, who also couldn’t proceed anymore past the strong mobs on the 5th floor, could empathize with her condition.

Just how desperate must she be to come to someone from a rival group for a favor?

“That’s unfortunate…”

Majia herself also couldn’t progress beyond floor five, which she found extremely tough to move forward.

She felt the need for better gear, and since Serena seemed desperate, perhaps she would indeed bring the best gear in for the money.

Unlike others, she didn’t even mention the keyword “Gia.”

Having made up her mind, Majia cheerfully said.

“I’ll give you all the materials I gather from hunting for two hours, so go on and craft them. If you need more, just let me know.”