NOVEL WEB Chapter 156
“Hey, it’s already 5 o’clock!”
“It’s true! Hurry up, if we don’t go now, we’ll miss the beginning!”
The kids playing in the village square checked the time and began to rush.
The place they were hurrying to wasn’t anywhere but the Yuren Merchant Association branch in the village.
– The battle will start now!
In front of the Yuren Merchant Association, a small crystal orb was set up.
And on the screen installed in front of that crystal orb, an animation was playing.
What the kids—and even the adults—were gathered around, eyes glued to the screen, was the new animation [King of Cards].
“Sir, you didn’t get a ticket, did you?”
“No… well…”
“If you’re not a Yuren Merchant Association member, you’ll need to pay for the ticket.”
“Got it. I’ll pay right now!”
The man, called out by the staff, immediately pulled out a coin from his pocket to pay for the ticket.
“Tsk, tsk, it doesn’t even cost that much for a membership, and members earn points when they buy items from the Yuren Merchant Association. Are you really trying to save that?”
“Plus, showing animations is like digging your own grave!”
People who snuck into watch [King of Cards] clicked their tongues upon seeing someone caught.
The new animation [King of Cards] was unlike any existing animations.
“Unlike [The Kingdom of Ice], although it has a shorter runtime, it’s planned to be released as a 24-episode series.”
People who had heard about the animation plan announced at the previous card tournament were filled with questions.
The amount of manga published so far was too much to make just one episode, and there was naturally curiosity about how they would animate a series still in publication.
But as if anticipating this, Rupert had come up with a new method.
“There’s a project in development in cooperation with the Mage Tower.”
When Rupert was developing the projector, he felt a sense of disappointment.
“The Kingdom of Ice could be premiered in theaters, but it’s tough for what I have in mind like the Iron-Blooded Alchemist or other animations.”
There were various types of animations: feature films, TV shows, OVAs, and so on.
TV shows were impractical to produce, so they had to be excluded.
He didn’t even know how to make it in the first place; even if he did, there was no way to produce the necessary infrastructure or components.
Thus, if they were to animate a long work, it would have to be in OVA format.
OVA stands for Original Video Animation, and while it didn’t gain much popularity in Korea, it was a common method in the animation powerhouse of Japan.
Due to the use of DVD and other playback devices, it didn’t pose a problem to produce multiple longer episodes, making it the most common method to animate serialized manga.
However, the projector that Rupert had made was priced so that it could only be used in the Somerset Theater rather than be supplied to households.
The [Kingdom of Ice] or other fairy tales, or feature film animations could be shown in the Somerset Theater.
But for the other planned works, they would have to screen them continuously for 24 hours to be viable.
Therefore, Rupert began researching a new method in cooperation with the Mage Tower.
“How much can the video playback stone hold?”
“About 30 minutes.”
“That length should be sufficient, but the problem is that it needs to play not just any video but animations.”
When preparing the animation [Kingdom of Ice], the Mage Tower had previously assisted with requests from Somerset regarding the research of the projector.
However, as they actually made it, they were still skeptical.
“Why are we developing this useless thing when we already have a video playback stone?”
But then, as the Somerset Theater opened and the fervor for the first animation [Kingdom of Ice] struck, they were shocked.
The ripple effect of the projector and its utilization power gave the wizards a profound sense of shock and inspiration.
“This is the path for wizards to take!”
Once, there was a time when power-drunk wizards dabbled in dark magic.
Not long ago, a dark wizard organization sought to use people from the empire’s capital as sacrifices to summon a demon.
Public perception of wizards was a mix of the mysterious and the dangerous.
The fact that things had improved this much was thanks to a few wizards, including Yustaf, who dedicated themselves to the world.
Nowadays, more and more wizards were researching magic for people’s convenience rather than for combat.
Rupert had ignited this trend.
“I want to collaborate with Somerset for research!”
Most of Rupert’s requests to the Mage Tower had a significant impact on the entire empire, prompting young wizards eager to make a name for themselves to volunteer to help with the research.
As a result, they developed a new technology that allowed the video playback stone in the existing Mage Tower to store videos of the animation made in film format by Rupert.
– Yuren Merchant Association Membership Launch!
Enjoy various benefits for just 1 Silver a month.
Earn points when you buy items at the Yuren Merchant Association (points can be used like cash once a certain amount is reached).
50 Copper discount for regular subscriptions.
Watch new animations like [King of Cards] and various animations for free every quarter!
And along with the completion of the animation video playback stone, they also proposed a new strategy:
That was the Yuren Merchant Association Membership.
“This may seem like a loss at first glance, but in the long run, it’s a gain structure.”
“That’s right. At first, people might complain about having to pay a subscription fee, but once they realize they’re getting a lot more benefits than the subscription cost, they’ll join in droves.”
As the number of subscribers grew, the initial losses would decrease until, at some point, revenue would start to increase exponentially.
“What a brilliant strategy!”
Even Esteban clapped in admiration at the sophisticated business strategy.
Of course, it wasn’t created by Rupert; he had merely brought an idea from Earth, but in Esteban’s eyes, Rupert was like a walking gold mine.
No, a mere gold mine didn’t suffice.
Esteban thought something like orichalcum or mithril, legendary metals, would be needed for it to be truly valuable.
However, establishing such a subscription system was quite challenging initially.
Even with numerous benefits, people generally have a resistance to spending money on something they don’t have to spend on.
“Membership? Hmph! Why would I pay when I can just buy it?”
No matter how good it was, people needed to experience it to understand, and even if the rumor spread that it was good, it would take time to convince them to spend money on an intangible benefit.
However,
“I really signed up for the membership just to watch [King of Cards], and it turned out to be a goldmine!”
“I switched right over to the Yuren Merchant Association, and to top it off, membership points can be used at the Somerset Goods Store, it’s simply the best!”
The difficult startup of that business was driven by none other than the animation [King of Cards].
They developed the new animation-specific video playback stone in collaboration with the Mage Tower, but it was still priced too high for people to generally purchase.
So, the thought was to broadcast the animation at a fixed time every week.
At branches of the Yuren Merchant Association across the empire, people began signing up for membership just to watch the [King of Cards] animation at the set time every week.
Now, every Friday at 5 PM, the makeshift screening room in front of the Yuren Merchant Association was packed to the brim.
The demand was so high that additional screening rooms had to be set up in crowded areas.
At the main location in the capital, where Esteban and Rupert were conversing, they couldn’t handle the crowd and had to turn a nearby public square into a dedicated screening room.
“The popularity is truly amazing. People are waiting for Fridays to come every week.”
“I totally understand why nobles are reluctant to come to the screening rooms.”
Since there were so many people and numerous children, those who wanted to enjoy quietly often purchased their own animation video playback stones.
Though cheaper than a projector, the price was still high, so most of the demand came from nobles.
“By the way, where have you been today?”
“Oh, do you remember the girl named Joy who faced off against Aida in the finals of the last tournament?”
“Oh, the lady who had an incredible match…”
“Yes, it seems Aida has been keeping in touch with her since then.”
Rupert couldn’t refuse Aida’s request to visit Joy’s home.
So, it was Rupert who visited the territory where Joy lived, bringing his sister along to spend some time with her for the first time in a while.
“However, you don’t seem to be in a good mood.”
Rupert didn’t look like someone who had just enjoyed a good time with his sister.
He had a somewhat dark expression, as if he had some worries, and when Esteban asked, Rupert sighed and replied.
“It seems Joy’s health was originally weak. She pushed herself to participate in the last tournament, so she’s now struggling to even stay in bed.”
“Oh dear…”
Seeing Joy like that made Aida burst into tears, who had expected a fierce card match upon reuniting with her, and Rupert was sweating bullets trying to console her.
‘Joy… Aida seems very sad about this.’
He hated seeing his sister upset, and by chance, knowing of Joy’s condition, he wondered if there was anything he could do to help.
But he wasn’t a doctor, nor could he use divine power like a priest, so there weren’t many options available.
‘My brother can do anything! So don’t worry, Joy! My brother will make you better!’
Rupert recalled his sister confidently introducing him to Joy.
That seemed to lift his spirits a bit.
‘I can’t let Aida think I’m a liar.’
Rupert began to plan a gift for Joy.