Atelier Tycoon Episode 1
Looking at my phone screen, the corners of my mouth curled up on their own. It was the fourth day since I had broken through the notoriously difficult White Snow Mountain map, and the second day since I had discovered the hidden area only accessible through it. Finally, today, I had managed to clear that hidden area—the ‘Sky Island’ map.
“No one will think it’s a synthetic now, will they?”
The woman lying on her bed smiled as she gazed at the Sky Island scenery beyond the screen. She was practically the first discoverer of this hidden area; she had never seen any posts about Sky Island on the official cafe forum.
She had been the only one to post about it immediately upon discovery two days ago. That post, consisting of just a brief message and a single photo, had been swept up in controversy and accused of being fake.
“This time, I’ll write a detailed post.”
She remembered how unfairly she had been treated during the synthesis debate. She took multiple screenshots of the Sky Island backdrop and was wandering around the map when she discovered a treasure chest.
“Huh?”
She knew it wasn’t a particularly generous game, and getting her hopes up would only lead to disappointment. But having come this far, it would be strange not to feel any anticipation.
With a pounding heart, she tapped the treasure chest, and her in-game character performed the animation of opening it.
“7,777 Gems?!”
Unbelievable. What a jackpot! To find 7,777 Gems inside!
In the game, ways to earn Gems were extremely scarce, forcing most players to reluctantly spend real money. To acquire a whopping 7,777 Gems all at once was a monumental event. For a company often criticized for being stingy to shower this many Gems at once meant that revealing this fact on the official cafe was sure to cause an uproar.
“Hehehehe…”
She recalled the days when she’d poured her salary into the game whenever stress built up. Even the most cost-effective package still took a significant chunk out of her monthly card bill, emptying an ordinary office worker’s bank account in an instant.
The thought that she wouldn’t need to spend real money for a while now made her lips twitch into a smile. The grin plastered on her face showed no signs of fading.
“I knew it! I knew there had to be something here!”
Back when she was just unlocking the White Snow Mountain, no one on the official cafe understood her.
[- Manon♡: I finally broke through the White Snow Mountain T_T
⤷ Jeje: Whoa, amazing. You finally did it Manon♡ T_T Congrats T_T
⤷ Goangianen: Wow. Are you ascending from Hard Mode to Hell Mode? (Respect
⤷Sprinkle some gems: Dorat;; ]
The comments were split half in congratulations and half in negativity. It was already an extremely difficult game, so reactions questioned why she would voluntarily take the harder path upon breaking through the White Snow Mountain.
But seeing these 7,777 Gems obtained from Sky Island, it was clear they wouldn’t be able to react that way anymore.
Eager to post quickly and bask in everyone’s envy, she swiftly moved her fingers. Just as she was about to screenshot the screen filled with glittering Gems, a light flashed from somewhere, brightly illuminating the surroundings.
“Ha… Haha.”
After lying dazedly for hours, she let out a hollow laugh. Her empty purple eyes, devoid of any thought, suddenly gained a spark of life the moment her stomach growled.
“Ah, I’m hungry.”
Sitting up, she held onto the pavilion pillar, then gathered and put on the shoes she had tossed aside. The vast field spread around the pavilion came into view as soon as she raised her head.
“I’m hungry and I can feel pain… If it were a dream, I would have woken up by now.”
She had entered the game Atelier Tycoon. It had been days since she started denying reality, trying to wake from this dream. Nothing had changed. Thanks to that, she had now moved past the stages of denial and anger, reaching acceptance.
She had come to accept that she was possessed by the protagonist’s teacher character, Lilype, and had entered Atelier Tycoon. It had taken her days to come to terms with it.
Lilype, the extra who took in the female protagonist, taught her, and then disappeared after handing over the atelier. An extra among extras, she never appeared again after the prologue.
She didn’t know why she had possessed Lilype instead of the protagonist, but since it was a tycoon game, it didn’t matter much.
“Most users play this game for the protagonist’s love lines, but I’ve always purely focused on the nurturing aspect.”
If another user had possessed Lilype, they might have cursed their fate. Not only being transported into a game, but also losing the very romance elements that were the reason for playing.
Atelier Tycoon.
As the title ‘Tycoon’ suggests, the main genre was management simulation, but most people didn’t enjoy the game for that aspect.
The one reason many people played, even while complaining, was this: The otome-game-level illustrations and story. It was a devilish game that made you hit the restart button even after going bankrupt in the management part.
While posts about bankruptcy flooded the official cafe daily, most users didn’t quit; they just cursed vehemently, searched for guides, and started over.
With multiple male protagonists, there were many ending routes. Thus, users focused more on romancing the male protagonists than on expanding the atelier and playing the management sim.
The ending routes had varying difficulties, but as long as you didn’t go bankrupt, they would progress somehow. Therefore, users like her, who purely enjoyed the tycoon genre, were rare.
She had no interest in romance to begin with and belonged to the category of users who adored the protagonist.
‘My baby should only walk on flower-strewn paths!’
With this mindset, she was aiming for the tycoon ending, so the romance routes with the male protagonists had long been irrecoverably ruined.
“What should I eat today~”
Humming, Lily walked towards the building visible beyond the field to get a meal. The atelier mansion felt unfamiliar at first, but after seeing it for a few days, it was starting to feel like home.
Now that she had accepted the reality of being Lily, there was a lot she needed to figure out.
“But first, let’s eat.”
As the saying goes, even Mount Geumgang is best seen on a full stomach.
Liliphe thought about what she needed to do to return to her original world. Was it as simple as following any route and seeing an ending?
‘But I’m not Manon, I’m Liliffe.’
If she had possessed Manon, the protagonist of Atelier Tycoon, there would have been multiple ending routes. The game world was essentially built for the protagonist. However, the body she possessed was Lilype’s—an extra who handed over the atelier to the protagonist and disappeared.
“Maybe I just need to hand over the atelier to Manong like in the original story.”
Since Liliphe didn’t appear after handing over the atelier in the game’s story, perhaps if she just fulfilled her role, she could return to her original world.
Lilife let out a deep sigh. She didn’t know when the original story would even begin, and the dazzling atelier before her eyes was confusing.
In Atelier Tycoon, the game begins with Manon inheriting a shabby house from Liliffe. Therefore, players must grow the atelier as they progress through the game.
“But the house I see before me is not that dilapidated one.”
The atelier looked hardly different from the state she had last decorated it in. Instead of the novice’s humble shack, it was a dazzling three-story mansion, enhanced with gold and gems, welcoming Lilife.
Why was it the mansion from her playing Atelier Tycoon, and not the beginner’s run-down house?
It was confusing, but she soon decided to think positively. In the long run, it was a fortunate thing.
‘Just think of all the time and money I poured into Atelier Tycoon.’
It would have been so unfair to become a beginner who lost all the money and items she had earned. She might have denied reality for a few more days. For her, someone who spent real money on decor whenever stressed, it was a relief.
Not just the mansion, but the fields around it also contained the interior items she had splurged on with Gems. Just seeing the pavilion bought in a Chuseok package, the pond reflecting the full moon, and the persimmon tree made her feel enriched.
‘What else did I buy again?’
The map of Atelier Tycoon was vast. The area where Lilife stood was the ‘Atelier’ region, the base area in the game. It was the most basic place, with the mansion and fields.
Liliphe hadn’t just decorated this Atelier area; she had splurged on various interior items for all regions except Sky Island.
‘Let me think, hmm… Is there the hot spring I built on the White Snow Mountain?’
She used to fill spaces with pretty accessories, prioritizing aesthetics over practicality. So, the only thing that came to mind as potentially useful in her current situation was the hot spring she’d built on the White Snow Mountain.
Even if the hot spring was the only thing she could recall immediately, it was still good.
“Hot spring~ Hot spring~ What kind of egg is good for the hot spring~? Macbanseok? Half-boiled?”
Now, instead of singing about food, she hummed a hot spring tune as she approached the inventory boxes neatly lined up in the central hall on the first floor.
Among the boxes of various sizes, all seemingly made of wood, she opened the one containing food.
Fortunately, the materials and items she had collected during her playthrough remained intact.
“I worked so hard to gather all these. If the inventory had been empty, I would have truly cried.”
As a veteran of Atelier Tycoon, Liliphe possessed over hundreds of different items and materials. Especially since the game resulted in a game over if satiety hit zero, she had three whole boxes dedicated solely to food items.
The number of inventory slots varied depending on the size of the box. The one she used for food was the largest size of inventory box a player could craft. It was more like a 3-tier dresser, offering a 6×6 grid with 4 pages of storage.
Two of the three boxes categorized for food were filled to the brim across all 4 pages with edible items, and the remaining box had its first 36 slots packed full with food.
“When I was a newbie, I even got a game over because of satiety.”
You could die from bankruptcy, and you could die from zero satiety. It was such an important stat that Atelier Tycoon featured a huge number of cooking recipes. Furthermore, the satiety restored varied by food type.
