A few days later, the profits we verbally agreed upon came in.
Those overpriced goods, the fruits of our sinful venture, were deposited into the account without a hitch.
Looking at the selling price, it felt like we received about several levels above what it was actually worth.
Anyway, it seemed like we made a profit, and there were even whispers of more goods being released, leading me to believe that the merchandise selling fiasco had concluded smoothly.
However, as feared… problems began to arise exactly as I had anticipated.
[Is this really a 2.5 million won figure? (138)]
That would be the quality of the Magical Girl merchandise.
First of all, aside from the exorbitant price, it seemed like nobody cared since it was a government-promoted project…
The Magical Girl gallery, which had been buzzing with issues regarding the merchandise, had turned into complete chaos.
Upon checking posts that received many recommendations and comments, it appeared the author had purchased Mercury’s figure.
From the very first photo, paint was smeared and welcoming those checking it out.
Honestly, if that were all, I probably wouldn’t have cared much, but the author pointed out areas where the paint was incomplete, and parts where the paint had clumped and stuck out.
Even for someone unfamiliar with the figure world, it was clear that the quality didn’t reflect the 2.5 million won price tag.
What’s more outrageous were the explosive comments under such posts.
[This is so ridiculous, I knew this would happen, so I didn’t buy it, lol]
[They probably couldn’t buy it, dumbass]
[Looks like I won’t need to buy from resellers, thanks!]
[Even a cheap knockoff would be better than this!]
[Is this the first official merchandise from the country’s Magical Girls?]
[Custom orders would be better, damn it]
[Thanks to this, I’ll be closing my wallet]
[Is there anyone as foolish as the author who bought this silicone trash for 2.5 million won?]
[You bastard]
[You fucking bitch]
[Hahaha]
[You’re just… honestly, a real piece of shit, lol]
It seemed that due to its limited quantity, even those who seemed totally obsessed with Magical Girls couldn’t buy this figure.
Instead of feeling sorry, most comments expressed relief like “Thanks for saving me from buying this,” or “Good thing I couldn’t buy it.”
[2.5 million won official figure vs. 780,000 won figure from a Japanese company (108)]
The trends in another post were rather similar.
In terms of price or quality, even a lower-priced alternative would crush this one despite it being labeled as official.
Probably because most people couldn’t purchase the merchandise, but…
The anger over the quality of the goods had quickly moved to the back of people’s minds, and it started to become a source of mockery among them.
[The most doomed individuals at the moment… (57)]
A product that had received a lot of expectation from people.
Whether it’s food, concert tickets, or any other items.
With such heavy advertising, how could resellers…
Those self-proclaimed reseller bastards couldn’t help but get mixed up in this situation.
The target of the gallery’s mockery was naturally them.
At this current time, the most fucked up individuals…
Drawn in by that provocative title, clicking to see the post revealed photos of resellers stacking up Magical Girl figures to sell on second-hand trading sites.
Enticed by the thrilling label of first official merchandise, just like always, they hastily wiped out their savings first without much thought.
The figure priced at 2.5 million won, along with various other goods, were now being sold at a boldly marked-up price of an additional 50%.
[Wow that bastard is really screwed]
[Honestly, I wouldn’t buy it even at the price I bought it for]
[375 lol, damn, his mom must be crying]
[Does anyone with such a hobby even have a mom?]
[No lying, I probably wouldn’t buy it for 100 either]
[What’s 100? 40 is the fair price here]
The problem was that the perception of people willing to buy it was just scraping the bottom.
In fact, seeing the figures lined up like that, the reseller was getting sympathy from the gallery about when he would be able to sell those.
[Do ignorant citizens not see the grand scheme the Great Emperor-General Government has to crush resellers?!!! (61)]
[Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
Now that the perception had fallen to such a low, the 2.5 million won figure began to take on a special meaning beyond mockery and ridicule.
It turned out the merchandise business was specifically aimed at causing losses for resellers, or it was like collecting taxes from those who regularly escaped them…
[The lowly commoners fail to grasp the great intentions]
[Ah, only now do I understand]
Anyway, while the buyers were endowed with an unjust product, the fact that most of the inventory went to resellers was a cause for cheers.
‘…Is this right?’
Truly, it prompted a hollow laugh and made one tilt their head in confusion.
How could a product that was so overpriced and low quality bring about cheers?
What an unpredictable world we live in.
The ridiculous reality of the merchandise seemed to have spread quickly among the general public, likely due to the intense advertising from the government, and the horrifying results were beginning to surface…
One day during winter at school.
Dongha, who was a huge fan of Magical Girls, heard the news and let out a sigh of relief.
“Wow, I’m really glad I didn’t buy it since it was too expensive.”
“That’s how it goes with government-promoted projects.”
Upon seeing such reactions, he nonchalantly belittled his own country, expressing a detached feeling that he always thought it would fail.
Just the other day, Dongha lamented about not being able to cover the cost of the figure, despite having received his allowance for next year.
But still, 2.5 million won isn’t even a dog’s name…
It was far from what the average middle-class family would give a middle schooler for three months.
With the goal item remaining out of reach, Dongha’s allowance was now just sitting idle.
With newfound curiosity about how other families manage allowances, I took a sip of my drink and asked Dongha.
“Since you couldn’t buy it anyway, are you returning your allowance?”
“No? I’m going to save it up this month.”
“You sure about that?”
Suhyun, who had been quietly listening, suddenly jumped into our conversation.
The reason he showed that reaction was due to how Dongha ate the most snacks compared to anyone else in our group.
Unless there was something unique related to Magical Girls happening, most of that allowance would be spent on “maintaining” his body.
…In other words, on food.
With the perception of the government-promoted goods having collapsed now.
Dongha was holding a snack bag in hand.
When Suhyun opposed the idea of saving, Dongha hastily stuffed several chips into his mouth as an excuse.
“No, like, I don’t spend a lot on food!”
“There’s someone here attempting to persuade with zero credibility….”
“Let’s talk after you put the snack bag down.”
Of course, that excuse was easily dismissed based on the current actions.
After that nonsensical exchange, the topic of conversation fitting for winter emerged.
“What are you doing during winter break?”
This came from Taehyun, who had been quietly listening beside us.
Winter break, not having any concrete plans at all…
“I’m going to Japan with my family.”
“With my dad to Seoraksan, ah… I really don’t want to go.”
In contrast to my vague contemplation, both Suhyun and Dongha were smoothly throwing out answers.
Once the two had responded, attention naturally shifted towards the one who hadn’t replied.
Since I hadn’t pinned anything down, I shifted to lead Taehyun with my reply.
“What about you?”
“I don’t really have anything in mind.”
In fact, the person who originally asked had no winter break plans at all.
Thanks to how they had just spoken, it felt comfortable to say that I also had nothing planned and I added on.
“Me neither.”
“If the two of you are together, you can hang out since your houses are close.”
Then, Suhyun casually pointed at Taehyun and me, saying that since our houses were close, we could hang out without a care.
Though we were close friends, I wondered if he had forgotten my gender.
Even if that was the case… with the same game console, what would we even gather for?
“What are you talking about? What would we do hanging out together?”
“Um, computer games?”
“Seriously?”
When asked what we would do together, Suhyun answered “computer games” after a brief groan.
I couldn’t help but feel taken aback, letting out a disappointed sound.
After all that thought, the only thing he could come up with was computer games.
That’s something you could just do on your own without needing to gather.
While we were chatting, Siyeon approached us from the back of the classroom.
As I was watching her, she came over and pulled my head comfortably onto her stomach by grabbing my shoulder from behind.
“What are you talking about?”
“We’re asking what you’ll do over winter break, if there’s anywhere you want to go.”
“Hmm…”
Siyeon typically doesn’t openly reveal her wishes.
Usually, if asked, she would say something like “Anywhere is fine” or “I’m fine with whatever.”
If only she could just comfortably say there was somewhere she wanted to go, I would gladly go with her.
Swallowing that regret, …
“I want, I want to go there!”
“Huh?”
Differing from her usual “anywhere is fine” responses, an excited reply came from above my head.
“Seorco! Let’s go together this year!”
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