I Became a Food Developer in Another World

Chapter 47: Cola Ads (3)

A bottle of cola costs 10 silver. 5 million bottles, converted into money, would be 500,000 gold.

That might seem like a small amount, but it was only for the capital, not the entire Empire.

‘If it’s the entire Empire, then twenty times that.’

The Empire was a huge land mass.

There were twelve large cities ruled by Dukes, and there were also small territories and autonomous regions for the beast people.

Add in the supplies to the military, and it was expected to bring in close to 10 million gold.

‘Sales are higher than expected.’

The hype was partly due to the fact that Bolitur’s “Cola Bear” costume traveled across the Empire in a crystal ball.

The realization that the Coke Bear actually existed sent the people into a cola frenzy.

‘Now we can produce canned Coke’

Building a factory doesn’t mean you can produce canned Coke.

The upfront cost of “automating” the process of extracting aluminum from the mineral and making the cans is prohibitive.

However, the increased sales of Coke more than covered the cost.

So far, so good.

‘The problem is that the other Towers are in a bad mood…….’

My brow furrowed.

The White Tower isn’t the only giant tower on the continent.

There are twelve Towers, monopolizing various magical goods, such as magic tools, spellbooks, and potions, which are much more expensive than processed food, they have built their own strongholds.

The Twelve Towers began to recognize the White Tower as a nuisance.

Some began to call the White Tower the Thirteenth Tower, including it in the Twelve Towers.

The Twelve Towers would not stand for this.

They refuse to recognize a challenger to their supremacy.

They may be quiet now, but there’s no telling when or how they’ll interfere.

I needed to keep some liquid funds on hand, just in case.

Plus, with all the new processed foods I wanted to make-

“Senior, are you there?!”

Aria’s voice interrupted my reverie.

“They said five million, five million!”

“Uh, I heard-”

“What are you doing, hold the coke, we’re supposed to be toasting!”

Aria poured a cold Coke into a glass and held it out to me.

Before I knew it, everyone was staring at me with glasses full of Coke.

“Heh, heh, heh, heh.”

Ranya giggled, holding a beer mug the size of her face.

“Let senior do the toasting.”

Zion looks amused.

“Congratulations, Yuri.”

Ciel congratulates me, smiling broadly.

‘This should be it.’

I smirked and accepted Aria’s coke glass.

Right now, we were celebrating an accomplishment. It was never too late to think about it later.

“Mr. Bolitur, here’s your guarantee.”

I handed Bolitur a check for 200,000 gold, guaranteed by the Imperial Bank.

“With that, you can buy anything anywhere in the Empire.”

“……you mean it’s currency.”

“It is.”

Two hundred thousand gold was certainly a lot of money for a single help, but compared to Bolitur’s worth, it was fresh blood.

He was a living, breathing cola bear.

“And this is a Coke made for a man of Bolitur’s size.”

I pointed to the table.

There was a giant 3,000-cellie (3L) bottle of Coke.

It’s called “Bolicola.”

The “3L Coke” was a specially designed bottle of Coke made to fit the size of Bolitur.

“Crrrrr!”

Bolitur was more excited about the giant Coke bottle than the 200,000 gold.

Only after Bolitur lifted the bottle did I open my mouth.

“Thank you. You guys worked really hard for this. Cheers!”

The sound of clear glasses echoed through the minaret.

*

They say bad things happen with good things.

I was getting ready to start full-scale canned beverage production when it happened.

“Today, a new drink called ‘Cora,’ was just released by the Riden Trading Company.”

“It’s the same.”

“Yes, it tastes the same, but it looks ridiculously identical, isn’t that too much?”

The ‘Cora that Aria brought was identical to Coke, from the color to the packaging.

This was the beginning of the rise of Coke’s ‘imitation’.

The problem was, there were a lot of them.

There were many other similar, but not quite as good, imitations of Coke being mass-produced.

Coke, Collard Green, Colaco, Nola Nuca… … just listing them all gives me a headache.

‘Different worlds, same people.’

The previous Pringles shortage and the current Coke counterfeit scandal also happened in my previous life but these historical events were being replicated in this world.

“You’re not going to leave this alone, are you?”

“I don’t know.”

As I had realized with Pringles, the Otherworld was not well organized around food.

In this world, it was common for the royal family or those in power to inform others about right and wrong.

But…….

“Let’s leave it alone. There’s no point in fussing.”

There have been numerous attempts to stop counterfeiting in my past life world but no matter how hard they try, there will always be counterfeits.

It’s not that I can’t stop them.

‘I don’t want to stop them.’

I don’t see it as a bad thing at all, because more of it means more variety.

“This Cora thing, it doesn’t taste like Coke, but it’s just as good.”

It was a well-made drink, albeit lacking in flavor and carbonation.

Aria gave me an incredulous look.

“Why are you praising an imitation when you brought the best?”

The corners of her eyes lifted, and she looked venomous.

‘For good reason.’

It was Aria who had done more than anyone else to boost Coke’s sales this month.

She’d invited dignitaries to premieres, dressed up Bolitur as a Coke bear, and made sure that…….

‘The Coke on a Snowman event was also Aria’s idea.’

Even now, the snowman in the plaza had a lot of colas. People had put them there for Bolitur to drink.

She had worked so hard to promote the brand and increase sales, only to have counterfeit products come out and put cutlery on it.

If you’re not upset, you’re not human.

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of letting go.”

Aria beamed.

“Do you have any idea how to stop them?”

“No.”

“…….”

The expression vanished from Aria’s face.

If I joked, it looked like my head would be in a Coke bottle before I could get rid of the fake.

I quickly cut to the chase.

“We’ll have to find another way.”

Counterfeits were something that even the advanced world of my previous life couldn’t stop.

So the idea of stopping counterfeits was flawed from the start because the people who make counterfeits do it because they want to.

They don’t make them because they’re told not to.

So,

“Make a bottle that no one else can copy.”

So much so that you could touch it in the dark and know for sure that it’s Coke.

“Is it possible to make a bottle like that?”

“Yes.”

It’s not that it’s possible, it’s that it already exists, because that was Coca-Cola’s famous ‘contour bottle’.

*

There are three main symbols that represent Coca-Cola.

‘The polar bear, Santa Claus, and the contour bottle.’

While the polar bear and Santa Claus put Coca-Cola on the map as a global beverage, the contour bottle made it unique.

The Contour bottle is the Coke bottle that guys talk about when they say they have a ‘Coke bottle body’.

The bottle features a convex curve with a cocoa bean motif and fine vertical lines on the outside.

This unique design is not only difficult to copy, but also patentable.

Whether it was luxury or vanity, the otherworldly aristocracy liked to show off their aesthetic sense.

What would happen if they saw a contour bottle?

They’d be fascinated.

After all, the contour bottle was the first non-human consumer product to grace the cover of Time magazine.

‘There’s no point in wasting gems on this.’

I sketched a rough outline of a contour bottle and showed it to Dorian.

“Interesting shape.”

After some trial and error, Dorian created a bottle that resembled the contour bottle from my previous life.

The prototype was then presented to the nobles of the patent office.

“…And the name of this?”

“The Contour Bottle.”

“Contour bottle…!”

As expected, the reaction was explosive.

“Just look at those graceful curves. It’s like looking at a dragon’s back, isn’t it?”

“I think the grooves on the outside are designed so you can tell what kind of bottle it is even if you hold it in the dark.”

“The thin handle line makes it easier to hold.”

“It somehow makes me want to drink it.”

The older aristocrats added their own reasons for their admiration.

After all, the Contour bottle was what Coca-Cola had been working so hard to create.

No one who appreciates art would pass it up.

“Great, I’ll patent this contour bottle.”

“Thank you.”

The head of the Imperial Society of Arts pounded his gavel and the Coke bottle was patented.

For the first time in the world, a beverage container was recognized for its artistic value.

*

“So this is Coke.”

“Oh, it tastes weird, is it Nuka?”

The development of the ‘contour bottle’ was instrumental in distinguishing the original Coke from its counterfeit counterparts.

The contour bottle was the one that could be distinguished by touch even at night when it was dark.

It didn’t stop counterfeiters, but it did make it possible to distinguish the real thing from the fake but even with that difference, there was still a problem.

“People think that ‘Pure Cola’ is a new product developed by our Tower.”

Pure Cola was a product that was gaining popularity among the people, especially among Coke imitators.

I had heard of it because Aria had mentioned it a few times.

“Blue?”

“When the imitators didn’t work, they started their own line.”

So they highlighted their product with a blue color that contrasted with the red of our cola.

Just like any cola in its past life.

And when I tasted Pure Coke, my jaw dropped.

‘No, this is just Pepsi.’

It was.

Pure Coke tastes almost exactly like the Pepsi I’d had in my previous life.

“…….”

Once the knockoffs were stopped, the competition came.

*

Meanwhile, the capital’s square at that time.

“……crrr.”

Bolitur was happily enjoying the Coke that the people were pouring into his snowman.

“Mr. Coke Bear, drink this one too!”

“Mine too!”

Adults and children surrounded Bolitur, reaching out for their own Coke.

“……line up.”

Bolitur was now confused as to whether he was a White Bear or a Coke Bear.

No, he recognized himself as both a White Bear and a Cola Bear.

He was having a great time rolling around in the snow with the people.

Suddenly, Bolitur’s eye catches sight of an unusual Coke bottle attached to the snowman.

“…….”

It was an unusual blue bottle.