Chapter 167 - Premium (2)

For merchants selling goods, promotion was a necessity, not a choice. They had to let the public know what they were selling to entice people to buy.

And this world had the forum, a community that spanned not a single country, but the entire world. Not everyone used it, but there was no denying that enormous numbers of people did. That was why merchants worked hard to promote their wares on the forum as well as in the real world.

Title) That thing the anonymous user just advertised

I've tried it, and it's fucking garbage lol. Don't use it.

└ And what do we call claims without proof?

└ Nah, I've used it too. You're better off without it lol.

└ Can't tell whether these bastards are lying or telling the truth lol.

But what sort of place was the forum? A place to encounter every variety of human being, and experience pure human malice. Plenty of people made one wrong move promoting their products, only to suffer serious damage from fabricated accusations.

Occasionally, genuinely outstanding products appeared, but most of those were already selling well. Anyone hoping to advertise on the forum therefore had to prepare thoroughly—by asking a famous adventurer for help, investing in a sports team, and so on.

Title) Didn't the admin used to post ads personally?

I know the admin three admins ago did. Don't see much of that these days.

└ Just a matter of personal preference. That admin got assassinated for scamming people.

└ Holy shit, what kind of scam?

└ Promised to advertise for them, then didn't. Went into hiding and got killed lol.

└ So just took the money and ran lmaooo.

As that showed, the forum did have something of an established framework for official advertising. How effective was it, then? Frankly... its potential wasn't particularly impressive.

A product spreading by word of mouth until its quality was proven and its popularity exploded? That was practically unheard of. As mentioned, the forum was something anyone could use. Whenever a product started attracting interest, people frequently hid behind anonymity to stir up trouble.

Turns out this product is bad for your health. It's deadly to certain races. It's highly addictive. Rumors like those often spread until the advertising was rendered pointless.

Title) So do you have proof?

Do you have proof we did it? Lmaooo.

Show us actual evidence, not your damn suspicions lol.

└ What if it really does have side effects?

└ People can't all be exactly the same, you know~

└ For real lol.

You had to determine whether an advertisement was malicious or genuine, whether a complaint was real or a retaliatory smear. That made the impact of Grylls's product review all the greater.

I tried it, and it was good.

From Grylls's perspective, he had merely stated a fact. But proof that it worked even in the Forest of Four Seasons? He had effectively given it a seal of approval no one else could match.

Title) Whatever else you say

The "Forest of Four Seasons" part alone is insane lmaooo.

You have to use good stuff to survive there. Imagine using a defective product.

Knowing Grylls, he'd have cursed it the fuck out lol. "What is this shit?"

└ Can't argue with that lmao.

└ Lol, don't like it? Go into the Forest of Four Seasons yourself.

└ Still, hasn't he never actually badmouthed a product?

└ Yeah, he praised the insect repellent this time, but he's barely ever trashed anything.

└ There weren't many defective products with good reviews to begin with.

└ Then why don't they ever sell out?

└ Because they're expensive as fuuuuck. And hardly anyone uses repellent unless they're an adventurer.

Title) I'm a farmer, not an adventurer

Watching Grylls's video gave me an idea.

Wouldn't pests stay away if I put that stuff on rocks? It's warm where I live, so there are lots of bugs.

Put them between my crops, and not a single bug comes near them lol.

This is a must-have for farmers. Buy it, no matter what. At least you won't have to struggle with pests.

└ Was repellent always used for that?

└ Thought it was mostly adventurers who used it.

└ Farmers use that kind of stuff too. There's insecticide.

└ Isn't most insecticide bad for the crops?

└ Exactly. That's why this repellent is so fucking OP.

└ What the hell has Icon Merchant Company made...?

For those reasons, the repellent sold out in no time. Not just on the forum, either. Icon Merchant Company's warehouses had been completely emptied as well.

In fact, something like this had happened once before: the saber-toothed tiger attack.

Title) Grylls wears a team jersey, right?

It stood up to a tiger's claws. Any news on that?

└ Maybe because Chae U jerseys were already selling well?

└ Probably because of how famous he was? Back then, he just seemed like a curiosity.

└ His fame exploded with the Undying King thing lol.

└ Bet it'll sell well if people dig that up now.

└ A jersey that can withstand the claws of a tiger from the Forest of Four Seasons!

└ But its teeth still went through, right?

└ Fuck, the fact he survived that at all is a miracle lmao.

└ Besides, jerseys are about design, not performance, so it doesn't mean much.

Since a jersey's main selling point was its design rather than its performance, the effect hadn't been particularly significant. Still, sales had increased, so it wasn't fair to say it had done nothing.

Above all, Grylls had become far more famous since exposing the Undying King. The impact before and after that was bound to be different. If a simple account of his experience could produce such tremendous publicity, how could merchants not salivate over it?

Title) You little bastards

Wild Grylls

Give me back my repellent, f*ck.

└ Since when is it yours, you fucker? Lmao.

└ Lol, we're putting it to good use. Go use something else.

└ You've had it to yourself long enough lol.

└ Buuurp~!

└ Hey, Grylls. Need anything else? I can recommend something amazing.

└ Wild Grylls) What is it?

└ There's something called XXX Repellent in the auction house. Try it.

└ Wild Grylls) Okay, hang on.

└ Wild Grylls) (Video of insects clinging to the repellent) Wanna die? You smeared honey on this, didn't you?

└ Lmaoooo.

└ Talk about backfiring lol.

└ It was actually honey, not repellent lmao.

└ Isn't that basically a scam? lol.

└ Breaking news: the repellent listing just got pulled from the auction house lmao.

There were some demanding conditions to meet. Performance came first. Recommend something that didn't work, and Grylls would very likely curse you out.

└ Does that necessarily mean something's wrong with it? This is the Forest of Four Seasons.

└ Exactly. Honestly, I think Icon Merchant Company's repellent is the abnormal one.

└ Working even in the Forest of Four Seasons is an incredible feat...

└ Now that you mention it, true.

But what was the important part? Even if the results were terrible, you could brush it off by saying it was the Forest of Four Seasons. Working there was extraordinary; failing to work there wasn't strange.

For advertisers, it was truly low risk, high return. Especially for people confident in their products' performance who had yet to find success, this was a golden opportunity.

Title) Grylls, could you try this just once?

(A basic photo of insect screening)

Our merchant company invented it. Figured it'd be good somewhere with lots of bugs.

I'll give it to you for free, so please try it once. I don't mind if you trash it. Just test it for me.

└ Wild Grylls) Okay, hang on. Are you listing this in the auction house, though?

└ Yeah, I'll put it up shortly.

└ Wild Grylls) (Video of the screening installed over a tub of fish) Works great. Could make a mosquito net out of it too lol.

└ Thanks... Going to put it on sale right now.

└ I'm jealous.

└ Hey, Grylls. Let me ask you a favor too.

Grylls received all sorts of products for free, so it was a win-win. Of course, people occasionally sent strange things, but that was just how the forum was. He laughed it off.

Many people were happy sending Grylls these sponsorships(?), but inevitably, some were not.

"We can't just sit by and watch! At this rate, sales of our flagship product will suffer!"

"..."

That was especially true of competing merchant companies. Commerce was, by nature, a game of chicken in which victory came only when the competition vanished entirely. Given the times, there was still almost no concept of a "monopoly." It was a winner-takes-all world, so they had no choice but to worry about a rival company's highly competitive product.

"Fortunately, the repellent isn't Icon Merchant Company's flagship product. Their inventory has been wiped out, so they can't even keep up with sales right now."

"..."

"We need to use this opportunity to find a way—"

"Let me ask you one thing."

The company head quietly cut off his secretary's impassioned proposals. The secretary fell silent and waited for him to continue. After a brief, heavy silence, he spoke.

"What can we do?"

"... Pardon?"

"I asked what we can do."

What came from the company head's mouth was not a solution, but resignation. Who was the head of a merchant company? Its owner, the person who set its course. Those were hardly words one expected from such a person, so the secretary could only be bewildered.

But the company head hadn't said it because he was a fool. On the contrary, he had grasped the reality of the situation faster than anyone.

"Are you going to drag the man out of the Forest of Four Seasons by force? Or spread claims that the product's effects are a lie?"

"Can you guarantee he has no connection to Icon Merchant Company? No, even if he doesn't, we could somehow—"

"Yes, I'm sure a man who can harvest mature mandrakes like corn would bother with that."

"..."

"There's nothing we can do. Go grab some popcorn."

In the end, the secretary could find no fault in what he said and had no choice but to withdraw. That didn't mean the company head had given up, however. He assessed the situation.

'Would our products actually work in the Forest of Four Seasons?'

That was the crux of it. Did they possess the "overwhelming performance" needed to work in the Forest of Four Seasons? Frankly, he could say with certainty that they didn't. If that had been an expected standard, Icon Merchant Company would have made its repellent a flagship product already. This situation had truly arisen through one coincidence after another.

'Unless Icon's head is an idiot, he'll make the repellent a flagship product now. Then our company's products will be seen as inferior by comparison.'

It was already too late to ask Grylls for help. The idea that Icon Merchant Company's insect repellent was the best had already begun to spread. This was the moment the forum's true potential had revealed itself. No single merchant company could stop it.

That meant he would have to find another approach. The company head thought hard.

'I'll have to reach an agreement with Icon Merchant Company.'

The outcome of this battle was as good as decided. The company head sighed. He hated having to bow his head, but he still had to make money. After all, a merchant company existed to make money, not to fight over pride.

While one company head was graciously conceding defeat...

"S-sir! Orders are still skyrocketing!"

"Damn it! I told them to wait! This stuff uses crops grown on my father's land!"

"They still want us to get it somehow! There's a rumor that it's good for the skin...!"

"Good for the skin, my ass! How does insect repellent being good for your skin make any sense?!"

Icon Merchant Company was in chaos from the deluge of work. They had expected the repellent to sell better from now on. But wasn't this going far, far overboard?

"Why the hell is it selling this well?!"

It wasn't as if all these people were living in the Forest of Four Seasons like Grylls.

* * *

Grylls had unwittingly set off an enormous upheaval in the world of commerce. He was still staying inside his cave because of the insect swarm raging outside, checking the items he had received as sponsorships and promotional samples while he was at it.

"Seriously, why did someone send me women's panties?"

He occasionally received something strange, but plenty of the items were useful. He had resolved not to write reviews because anything he praised ended up commanding a premium, but he couldn't just take the freebies and run, either.

He could simply give them a quick test and offer his honest opinion. That was what he was thinking when it happened.

BWOOOOOOO

An unfamiliar sound came from outside the cave. It cut effortlessly through the insects' din, ringing clearly in his ears. Grylls stopped sorting the items and poked his head out of the entrance. He had applied repellent beforehand, so no bugs came near him.

BWOOOOOO

"... What the heck is that?"

Grylls could see it clearly: a "whale" swimming freely through the sky rather than the sea. A creature that looked exactly like a blue whale, known as the largest mammal in the world.

The Forest of Four Seasons had always been a place that casually twisted common sense, but that was just... Common sense be damned, it made no sense whatsoever.

BWOOOOOO

The whale gliding freely through the sky came to a halt directly above Grylls. Then it turned toward the buzzing insect swarm and opened its mouth—an enormous mouth befitting its enormous body.

WHOOOOOOSH!

Soon, that mouth began sucking up insects like a vacuum cleaner. The suction itself wasn't particularly powerful. For the insects, though, it was another story. Numerous but utterly frail, they were drawn into the whale's mouth.

In no time at all, the sky whale had inhaled the entire swarm.

BWOOOOOO

As if satisfied with its feast, the whale swam leisurely away through the sky and disappeared.

"..."

His speechlessness lasted only a moment.

'Hmm... It's a fantasy world, so I guess flying whales exist too?'

They said unicorns existed here. Surely sky whales weren't that strange, either.

Title) Do flying whales exist here too?

Wild Grylls

(Video of a whale flying through the sky)

That whale is flying. Whales here normally fly around and stuff, right?

└ Heavenly Demon) An animal one would expect to find only in legend.