Chapter 12
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: First Members
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Jin-seong got home at 4 a.m.
He only had five hours left until he had to head to work.
Jin-seong lay down on the bed, trying to catch even a little sleep,
but his mind was filled with thoughts on how to recruit members,
and what concept he should use to start his activities on Naland.
A little while later, exhaustion finally overtook him, and he drifted off to sleep naturally.
How long had he slept? The alarm rang almost immediately.
It felt like he had barely closed his eyes, but it was already time for work.
His body was exhausted, but there was no helping it.
There was no guarantee that being a master agent would go well,
and after the mistake he'd made with his parents,
he had to grit his teeth and push through.
'I don't know how long I can keep living like this,
but I have to clench my teeth and succeed no matter what.'
Jin-seong rubbed his tired eyes and dragged his heavy body to the bathroom.
After a refreshing shower with cool water, he felt a bit more awake.
He changed into comfortable clothes and headed down to the restaurant, where his mother asked worriedly,
"Jin-seong, you came home so late last night. Aren't you tired?"
Jin-seong forced a bright smile and replied,
"I'm fine, Mom."
He immediately went into the kitchen and started prepping ingredients with practiced ease.
His mother watched him, her eyes filled with a mix of pity and pride.
'Yeah, at least our Jin-seong is finally getting his act together
and working hard into the early morning to earn his own pocket money.'
She gazed at her son's back for a long time as he moved energetically without showing any signs of fatigue.
The Chinese restaurant where Jin-seong worked had a break time starting at 3 p.m. when there were no customers.
After a hectic lunch rush, 3 p.m. finally arrived, giving Jin-seong two hours of rest.
Normally, he would nap to make up for lost sleep, but today, he couldn't afford to sleep—not when he needed to recruit members.
Jin-seong messaged his acquaintances and friends who usually bet on Toto.
『Do you still play Toto these days?』
The responses were mixed.
Half said they were still playing,
and the other half claimed they'd quit, though Jin-seong suspected they were still doing it on the sly.
He messaged the ones who admitted to playing:
『My younger bro is running a master agent gig. He said he'd give free bonus cash for referrals, so I'm checking it out.
Thinking of switching sites?』
Pretending to be a member himself, he added,
『Might as well do it together and grab some free cash for fun.』
Most asked if he could take responsibility for any scams.
Jin-seong replied confidently,
『Of course I will—I'm the one referring you. Don't worry, come on in.』
Four acquaintances agreed right away.
『OK, send the site link and code.』
Jin-seong sent his code immediately,
and just like that, he successfully registered four members on the site.
He quickly contacted the site center via Telegram.
『Center, four of my acquaintances are joining. Can you skip the registration verification calls?
I'll take responsibility if any issues come up.』
The center replied promptly.
『Got it. We'll skip the signup calls.』
Jin-seong made one more request.
『I'll deposit 80,000 won to the site account. Can you give each of them 20,000 won in bonus cash?』
The center paused briefly before responding kindly.
『We'll give 20,000 won each to your four referrals from headquarters.
No need to deposit separately.
Please keep up the hard work.』
Jin-seong felt warmth at the center's generosity.
He resolved to work even harder.
『Yes, I will. Thank you so much.』
After a moment's hesitation, Jin-seong messaged Seong-gwang for the first time in a while.
『Hey Seong-gwang, what've you been up to?』
Seong-gwang replied right away.
『Ah~ I'm back at work.』
Jin-seong kept it casual.
『Good to hear you're doing well.』
Then, after hesitating, he opened up honestly.
『Truth is, I screwed up bad with gambling.
But now I'm trying to bounce back with it—started doing master agent work on the side.
Know anyone who gambles?』
Seong-gwang replied after a bit.
『Yeah, a few.』
Jin-seong made his request.
『Could you bring a couple over to my site?』
Seong-gwang agreed readily.
『Sure. I'll ask around and help out.』
Jin-seong sent him the site link and signup code right away.
『Thanks. Get them to join here,
and if any issues pop up, give them my KakaoTalk.』
He shouldn't have used his real KakaoTalk, but without a burner phone, he figured it was fine since they were referrals.
As long as there were no problems, no one would contact him anyway.
With that, Jin-seong had taken his first successful steps in member recruitment.
Over the next two hours, Jin-seong messaged everyone—acquaintances and their acquaintances alike—promising unlimited 20,000-won bonuses for referrals.
Back then, the master agent concept wasn't widely known yet,
so with Jin-seong vouching for scam protection,
people naturally started switching from their shaky old sites.
Jin-seong's biggest strengths were his sociability and sharp conversational skills.
He'd always enjoyed social gatherings,
even managing group chats with over 100 members and tending to each person carefully.
He began meticulously noting down the KakaoTalk IDs and site nicknames of everyone referred.
After finishing up at the Chinese restaurant, Jin-seong went home, showered quickly, and headed to the office.
As he opened the door, Yeop-rak and Ant greeted him brightly.
"Hyung, you're here!"
Jin-seong grinned excitedly.
"Guys, I brought in four acquaintances today!"
Yeop-rak and Ant laughed and said,
"Hyung, that's how everyone starts.
Referrals are the easiest—no hassle, pure honey."
Jin-seong chatted a bit, then got up to make an ashtray from a paper cup,
grabbed a cold drink from the fridge,
and settled back in.
Yeop-rak and Ant were already logged into Naland,
fire off picks with practiced ease.
Jin-seong decided today was the day to start working on Naland in earnest.
He finished setting up his computer
and opened the master agent admin page.
The once-empty page now showed member nicknames and deposit amounts.
Two members had each deposited 100,000 won,
with no withdrawals yet.
Jin-seong felt a surge of overwhelming joy.
He hadn't done anything but sit there, and 60,000 won had piled up.
Now he had real motivation.
He figured it was time to use his Naland nickname change ticket.
With a serious expression, Jin-seong slowly typed out options for his new nickname.
After deep thought, he settled on Bayern Hani.
Why this name?
The day before, while observing Naland, he'd noticed most master agents used celebrity names for their nicknames.
Lots of Ronaldo, Messi, Jung Woo-sung types.
Then he recalled a short viral YouTube clip of Lee Ha-nui.
『Hey everyone, what's up? Guess who I am?
It's Lee Ha-nui! Lee Ha-nui!』
The clip stuck with him,
and he thought slapping a trendy name like Lee Ha-nui onto a celebrity vibe would work.
So, with no deeper meaning, he went with Bayern Hani.
Once decided, Jin-seong asked Yeop-rak,
"Yeop-rak, I need a burner phone and new KakaoTalk. Got any spares?"
Yeop-rak replied immediately.
"Hyung, Seung-woo hyung is bringing some soon."
Jin-seong relaxed.
"Cool. Once I get the burner and set up a new KakaoTalk,
I'll start for real."
He then told Yeop-rak and Ant about his new nickname: "Bayern Hani."
They burst out laughing, caught completely off guard.
"Lololol, hyung, you're full of surprises. Why Lee Ha-nui?!"
After laughing for a while, they teased,
"Hyung, you gotta go hard with this. The name's already pulling aggro."
Jin-seong smiled bashfully.
"Today, I'll just manage my referrals and prep slowly."
Yeop-rak and Ant knew burner KakaoTalks were essential for newbie master agents,
so they understood without complaint.
Truth be told, even getting 30 members in a month was tough for rookies.
Veterans swept up most of them.
In the industry, landing even one member a day earned praise.
Yet Jin-seong had snagged four in two days.
Yeop-rak and Ant were impressed inside.
'Whoa, Jin-seong hyung's better than expected?
Four in one day already.'
They didn't say it aloud, but they were already surprised by his quick results.
Thus, Jin-seong's second day as a master agent started off on a high note, proceeding smoothly.
About an hour later, Seung-woo walked into the office.
With a bright smile, he approached Jin-seong warmly.
"Hey~ Jin-seong, you got members already! As expected from an ace—
something special about you~ Let's keep pushing up~?"
He patted Jin-seong's shoulder encouragingly,
then pulled an old used phone from his clutch bag and handed it over.
"This is a burner, use it freely.
It's prepaid, so top up 20,000 won a month,
and if it gets cut off, tell me right away~.
I'll hook you up with a new one."
After encouraging Jin-seong, Seung-woo half-jokingly warned Yeop-rak and Ant.
"Yeop-rak, Ant—if you act cocky to Jin-seong hyung like some seniors, you're done~?"
They laughed and waved it off.
"Nah hyung, we'd never.
He's way older than us anyway. We treat him right."
Seung-woo nodded contentedly and told Jin-seong,
"Jin-seong, keep up the hard work like today,
and if you need bonus cash or whatever, I've told the center already—
just ask freely. No pressure."
From Seung-woo's perspective, nurturing capable, hardworking new master agents was tough these days.
Experienced ones with members were smart, hard to handle,
and you never knew when they'd stab you in the back.
Jin-seong, a sincere newbie focused on work, was a prime prospect.
Recruiting established agents required millions in deposits upfront,
and if their code went negative and blew up,
top-tier Seung-woo ate the loss.
Compared to that risk, minor bonuses were nothing.
Seung-woo had high hopes for Jin-seong.
He patted his back once more.
"Jin-seong, let's really crush it~! Guys, hyung's out~"
Seung-woo headed back to his office,
and Jin-seong, with Yeop-rak's help, set up KakaoTalk on the burner phone.
He used a pre-picked Lee Ha-nui photo for the profile
and put the signup code ww77 in the bio.
With setup complete, Jin-seong entered the family room.
He introduced himself simply as a new pickster, staying low-key.
『Hello~ I'm Bayern Hani, new pickster here. Nice to meet you.』
Soon after, hiding his identity, he threw his first pick in the family room.