I Become a Mafia in the Academy - Chapter 257

~After lunchtime~

In my hand was an elaborate wooden skull carving.

How dare you hold a story-telling competition against me, who won the best story-telling competition in the CS community? In the end, I could see it as a foregone conclusion that I won.

Well, the more I look at it, the more beautiful it looks. Why do you think you have a cute head?

“That…….Eugene. Do you really have to walk around petting skulls in the hallways?”

“Is that weird?”

“Yes. It’s weird.”

“I’m……sorry.”

Se-ah looked at the skull with horror, and I put it back in the cube.

Just walking around was enough to raise her terror…….

“Huh, it’s been a while since I’ve been here, but I’m glad I made it.”

At that moment, Se-ah, who was ahead of me, stopped walking.

We had arrived at the ‘Recipe Development Club’.

She pushed open the door and saw a small kitchen-like studio in front of her.

In front of us, Lee Se-ri and the other members of the club were sweating and filming videos.

“Hello, guys! Everyone! I’m the head chef of the Recipe Development Club, and today’s dish we’ll be cooking is──”

“Cut, cut, cut, Mr. Manager! You need to smile a little more, don’t you think?”

“Ugh…… again! hello. Everyone! I’m the manager of the ──”

“Stop acting.”

At the sound of my voice, all the members of the club who had started recording turned to look over and were surprised.

“Eh, Eugene?”

“Eugene!”

At first, the members were embarrassed, but then they looked over with excitement.

In particular, Se-ri, who was holding a knife to start cooking, immediately plunged it into the cutting board and started crying while covering her mouth.

No, don’t plunge it at a right angle. That’s scary…….

At the same time, I see the kitchen materials around her.

One of the things I felt uncomfortable with from the beginning of the video.

The kitchen, which was full of expensive brand-name materials when she was doing well before the vacation, was now all downgraded.

“Hey, you’re here to save our channel again, aren’t you? You’re here to join us, right?”

Apparently, they thought that just as I had helped the channel in the past when it was struggling, they would do so again today.

But alas, not today.

“I’m here to help, but I’m not here to participate in the video today.”

“What?”

“Well, you’re going to have to explain this to me first.”

I slowly walked into the studio and picked up the oddly named merchandise on the table.

“Sewingham, what the hell is this?”

“Uh……that, it’s an advertising product…….”

“I’ve never heard that name before, have you been getting advertised like this lately?”

“Uh, yeah …….”

“Well, why don’t you stop filming here, and let’s talk for a minute.”

I put down what I was holding in my hand and called them to the table.

Lee Se-ri sits down with her head bowed low, like a child before being scolded by his teacher.

“First of all, most of your videos lately have been mediocre dishes, is there a reason for that?”

In the first place, ‘Slime Sweet and Sour Pork’ played the biggest role in the rise of their channel.

It was a dish that no one has ever seen before and a dish that’s fun to look at, and eat but for some reason, most of the recent dishes have been ordinary and easy to find around.

“We got a lot of requests from advertisers to use their ingredients……. Due to contractual issues, we’ve been using them, so I’ve been cooking a bit ordinary.”

“If you know that, why don’t you cook something special and delicious every once in a while? You’re even making good money, so why do you get advertisements like that, so much so that you can’t cook anything else?”

The chef has no answer.

Then.

“It’s not the manager’s fault!”

One of the members of the club who had been watching us all this time spoke up first.

“It’s just that the advisor…… asked us to help him just once because it’s a company of his acquaintances, so we had no choice but to help him!”

“You mean the advisor?”

“Hmm. Yeah.”

Apparently, it wasn’t just the members.

I immediately pulled out my cell phone and called someone who was an expert in this sort of thing.

-Yes. I got your call, sir.

“Are you busy?”

-No, I just finished lunch and was about to grab a coffee.

I had planned to visit her in person and catch up on my vacation, but I felt a little bad that I had to talk about work first.

“I apologize for jumping right into work after so long, but I’d like you to do some research on the companies I’m telling you about.”

-I’ll make a mental note.

One by one, I recited the names of the companies that I had been asked to advertise by my advisor.

“Okay, that’s it for now. How long will this take?”

-I think it’ll take about half a day, is that okay?

“That’s enough.”

-Yes. I’ll check and get back to you.

When I hung up the phone and locked eyes with Lee Se-ri again, I could see the anxiety in her eyes.

“Of course, that’s not the only problem. Honestly, didn’t you realize that your videos have been boring or uninteresting lately?”

“Yes……ha, but we’ve been trying our best to make them interesting, we’ve been doing gags, and we’ve been working hard on the food──”

“I’m sure you’re doing the best you can, but ‘best’ isn’t going to cut it in the WeTube market right now.”

Bang!

I slammed my fist on the table.

“Moreover, your gags are not funny.”

“!!”

Lee Se-ri was stunned as if a thunderbolt had struck her.

I sighed inwardly as I watched. It wasn’t like the channel was successful with gags in the first place.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.

Could it be that our slime soup was a huge hit?

Other culinary WeTubers followed our lead and began to try their hand at monster-inspired dishes, and it became a staple among WeTubers.

The wind of the trend blew.

“The title of being the first to cook with monsters is something that we’re going to put forward, but people are going to leave because we’re just doing normal cooking, and you have to remember that. There are plenty of alternatives to us.”

“Ah…….”

“Change is needed. We have to reinforce the advantages and add new materials. Also about the mood of the video and the way you talk.”

And that’s why I brought in a new teacher to coach them.

“So, first of all, I brought in the person who I think knows WeTube the best.”

“The person who knows WeTube the best?”

Lee Se-ri’s ears perked up at that, and Se-ah sighed and pressed her forehead together, knowing who it was.

“Well, let’s bring in our ‘self-proclaimed’ WeTubers to coach your WeTube.”

At the same time, the door I came in through opened wide and a man with his hands in the air walked in.

“Howdy there!”

Jin-woo greeted us with an overused greeting that I never get used to hearing.

The other members of the Recipe Development Club are also looking at me, wondering what’s going on, but…….

I can’t help but realize that it’s for the best.

According to him, he had learned something from watching WeTube during his vacation.

After a quick chat, I realized that it wasn’t completely unfounded…….

For once, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“What are you doing, sisters, you should be greeting me?”

“Ba, greetings?”

“Look! What a unique and fun greeting! We have to change the greeting after all!”

The guy walks in front of Lee Se-ri, setting the tone from the start.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, sisters, so why don’t you join me for a new trendy video? Let’s make one, shall we?”

He smiles sinisterly and rubs his hands together.

I know I’m here to stop him from running wild, but I haven’t seen him look that serious in a long time.

“Okay, first the concept and costume. Let’s start by correcting your tone. What do you want for the concept? A dragon? A unicorn? Or a shark? Uhhh…….”

Uh……was it the right choice to bring this guy as a coach……?

I suddenly began to have doubts.

“Why don’t you take it a little slower, don’t you try to change things too much right from the start?”

“You know boss~ I was just messing with them because the atmosphere was so stiff, and I didn’t tell you. I’ve worked as an editor for pocket money, I’ve got this stuff down pat.”

I’m like, “Yeah, he’s so confident, he’s gonna be good.”

Then he clears his throat and starts talking again.

“Now, let me tell you why I said that.”

He picks up a marker, stands in front of the whiteboard in the corner, and writes in big letters.

[Key Audience!]

“Do you know the primary audience of your channel right now?”

“Uh, no.”

“Yes, the answer is teens and twenty-somethings! To be precise, teens and twenty-somethings make up the majority, 70%.”

Jin-woo spread his hands in the air.

“Okay, next question, what do you think is the identity of your channel!”

“Uh……the cooking channel?”

“Wrong!”

Exaggeratingly crossing his hands to form an X, Jin-woo scribbled a new one on the whiteboard.

“The correct answer is ‘fun cooking from a pretty sister’!!”

“Pretty sister? Fun cooking?”

“Yes, what our subscribers want to know is not how to cook, but what kind of wacky dishes you’ll cook this time. So…….”

──The basic way of speaking, sense, and the mindset required for broadcasting. I will change everything.

Jin-woo declared.

The club room fell silent for a moment.

It’s not like Jin-woo to be so uncharacteristically professional. He’s really serious when he’s not playing.

Then, it was my turn.

“Okay, you can let Jin-woo coach you on this part, and…… I’ll give you a new item.”

“A new item?”

“Yes. It’s going to be different.”

“Uh, in what way?”

“Well, let’s try cooking with elixirs instead of monsters.”

“Elixirs? Seriously?”

The reason why other WeTubers have been copying the monster dishes is simple.

It’s new, it’s exciting, and it’s relatively easy to find inexpensive monster ingredients.

But,

“If it’s an elixir, not only can’t others easily copy it, but the ability to increase the potency of the elixir is something only you can do.”

The videos would become a specification that would help her in the future.

The future her was an expert who had reached new heights with her elixir cooking.

“But the elixir dishes aren’t easy for viewers to follow, and some people might want to learn how to cook them, so will we get views?”

“Yes, absolutely,” he said, “because we don’t call it vicarious gratification for nothing. Expensive product reviews and expensive food videos don’t get a lot of views for nothing.”

What we’re trying to get at is this.

“Not everyone can do it and not everyone can try it, so people will find our videos amazing and will look for them.”

“So, where do we get the……elixir? Unfortunately, it’s hard to get a decent elixir on our budget right now…….”

“Oh, that’s right, golden tangerine pie. Didn’t you say you recently succeeded in creating the recipe? You can use that.”

“Yes? But that’s a recipe I made for Eugene, do you think it’s okay…… to open it to the public?”

“Yes. I don’t mind.”

After all, I own the haunted tangerine farm on Jeju Island where the golden tangerines come from.

It didn’t matter if the recipe was cracked, I had the only source of golden tangerines in my hands.

On the contrary, the price of golden tangerines would skyrocket.

It’s an elixir whose recipe is publicly available.

“If you need any additional ingredients, just let me know. You’re cooking for me, after all, and I’ll provide the ingredients.”

“Golden Tangerine Pie, it’s not only visually appealing, but it’s also very appealing to the viewers.

More importantly, it’s an elixir with wood energy, which is what I need now that I need to consume……the Dragon King’s antler. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

No, it was a plan to kill three birds with one stone.

“Okay, let’s get ready to shoot a video, shall we?”

A video that would make us all happy.