Ten Points for Ten Thousand Views
"Which is why, Dohyun, you can look forward to this month's paycheck."
"Ooh~ A man who rakes in the cash~ So cool~"
Maybe it was because we'd wrapped up the work talk, but I couldn't shake the strange feeling that the conversation kept drifting back to me.
And honestly, even if you combined everything Noona and I earned, it still wouldn't come close to what the lawyer made. Or would it? At Noona's level... maybe it was comparable? Her subscriber count had been exploding lately — she was genuinely about to crack a hundred and fifty thousand — and if you factored in how the view counts had climbed across the board, it really might have been in the same neighborhood.
...No. Definitely not. She was still a rising star at a major Gangnam law firm.
"Anyway, Dohyun, will you edit the videos for me? If it's too much, it's perfectly fine to decline. This is more of a personal favor than actual legal compensation, honestly."
"Ah, I don't mind, but... I've only ever edited gaming videos, so I'm a little worried."
My stat covered editing in a general sense, but the only thing I'd actually put my hands on so far was game content. A little anxiety was only natural. I didn't even know what kind of streams she ran.
"It's fine. You'll do better than I have, at least."
"You edit them yourself?"
"I just cut and paste, more or less. This is the channel. Want to take a look?"
She pulled up YouTube and showed us her page. It had such a cute, cozy aesthetic that I never would have guessed it belonged to a lawyer.
"You only do art streams?"
"The livestreams are just me chatting with the handful of viewers I have while I draw. That's all."
She didn't seem to upload vlogs all that often. Most of her content was livestreams of her drawing, which she then edited down and posted. The thumbnails were gorgeous — she was an artist, after all — but once you actually clicked in, calling the videos entertaining would have been a stretch.
Can editing alone even save this?
Well, there were definitely people who enjoyed this kind of stream. And it wasn't like she was doing this to make money anyway, so maybe it was fine?
"So? What's the verdict from a hundred-and-fifty-thousand-subscriber YouTuber?"
"Uh, well... our fields are so different, I'm not really sure I can... say...!"
Noona, who had never been any good at lying, answered with a thoroughly flustered look on her face. The lawyer smiled.
"They're boring, right? I know that, honestly. It's not like I'm particularly gifted with words outside of legal matters."
That conversational skill of hers could command a whole room. Used well, it would absolutely be a huge asset on stream. Besides, the problem with the videos wasn't her speaking ability.
"I think this is less about delivery and more about the direction of the videos themselves."
I started picking the videos apart, voicing my thoughts one by one as I watched.
"Most YouTubers who post drawing videos either upload tutorials on how to draw, do ASMR with those scratchy pencil sounds, or show themselves knocking out a stunning piece at high speed, right?"
Livestreams were a different story. You could do just about anything while chatting with whoever dropped in. People showed up because they liked the topic, or because they liked talking to the streamer.
YouTube videos were another matter entirely. Without a clear subject, viewers clicked in, thought okay, and?, and clicked right back out.
"Your videos don't have a clear theme. For YouTube, it might work better to film separate, dedicated videos rather than just editing down your livestreams."
Or, if she was going to edit the livestreams anyway, strip out the talking entirely, lay down some soothing background music, and lean into the healing-video angle.
"I think the first thing we should do is lock down a direction."
Once I'd laid out everything I'd been thinking, I looked up to find both Noona and the lawyer staring at me, completely blank.
Ah... did I overstep?
"Ahem. Ah... sorry. That's just what I thought would work, but it's not like this is the only right answer or anything."
I put on an awkward smile — and the lawyer suddenly grabbed my hand.
"No! That was amazing! Do editors always just... come up with plans like that, off the top of their heads?!"
Uh... does this even count as planning? I'd just talked about direction.
"Then would you brainstorm the approach with me? Ah — only during hours that absolutely won't interfere with Dayeon's work! I'll pay you separately for this, of course...!"
Taking on a second contract still felt a little off, so I glanced over at Noona.
"Dohyun always finishes his editing ridiculously early anyway, so he can just use the leftover time for the lawyer's stuff. He's the ambitious type, you know."
Noona actually clapped her hands together, looking like this was the best news she'd heard all day.
Well. I'd already been thinking I needed to make more money, and I'd been planning to ask eventually whether I could take on extra work after a settling-in period...
And now it had just... fallen into my lap.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, a system window materialized right in front of my eyes.
What? A quest? Out of nowhere?
Ten points...?! That reward was enormous...!
Ten thousand views. In its current state, her channel looked hard-pressed to crack a thousand, let alone ten. That difficulty was probably exactly why a reward this ridiculous had popped out.
But... planning the videos myself, on top of everything else. The difficulty had definitely jumped.
When I'd tried to plan something for Noona's videos before, nothing had come to me at all. A 1pt daily-quest reward would be coming in soon enough, and once my paycheck landed I'd have money to buy points too...
I figured I should invest in planning for the time being.
"Then would it be all right if I handled everything from the planning through the editing?"
A quest had appeared. There was no way I was letting this opportunity slip. I grabbed it with both hands.
"Of course! I'd love that! We'll have to draft a proper contract first!"
"I have an editing contract template I can give you, if you want. You can just add whatever clauses you need and go from there."
"Thank you, Dayeon."
The contract talk flowed more smoothly than I'd expected.
"It's not that I want to make money off YouTube so much as this is genuinely a hobby for me. It is a hobby — but of course I still want it to do well. So whatever revenue the channel generates, you can just keep it, Dohyun."
"...Sorry?"
What kind of outrageous offer was that? Did she have any idea how much money a YouTube channel could pull in once it actually took off?
"Still, if you're going to stream and edit and all of that with no compensation at all, wouldn't that kill your motivation?"
"Come on, I told you. It's a hobby. I can't even upload that often, honestly, so the revenue isn't going to be anything dramatic."
It was true that the algorithm tended to gut channels that didn't post regularly. But a decent video uploaded on a consistent enough schedule could still pull in respectable money more often than people thought.
"Anyway, think of that as a little extra bonus. I'll pay you separately per video for the planning and the editing... Hmm. I'll take the contract from Dayeon, revise it, and bring it with me next time we meet."
Well. Fine. If she was going to put it like that, I wasn't going to argue.
If the YouTube revenue started rolling in, I could always use it to buy her other talents, or to raise her stats. As long as I made sure she didn't take any real loss from letting me keep it all, that was enough.
"I'll get going for today, then. I already have to meet my next client."
She stood with an apologetic look, and I smiled and said goodbye.
"Sorry — I feel like we kept you too long."
"Oh, come on, Dohyun. I'm the one who came out ahead today~"
I don't think that's true...
"Ah, and 'lawyer' is so stiff. Next time we meet, would you call me Jiyun noona instead?"
"Ah — yes. I will."
"Dayeon, you can just call me unnie, too."
"Ah, me too...? Thank you."
"I've gained two adorable little siblings all at once. Hehe. I might start speaking more casually next time, too?"
I told her she was more than welcome to — and then she hurried out, apparently genuinely pressed for time. I watched the lawyer's... no, Jiyun noona's retreating figure, then sat back down.
"I was surprised how cheerful she is. When we had the consultation she was a total professional."
I'd been just as startled by that, honestly. The fact that she even did YouTube — and that it had nothing whatsoever to do with her actual job — had thrown me even more.
"She draws really well. I wish I could draw like that!"
"You want to try drawing?"
"Yeah. Whenever I see people who are good at art, I always think they're amazing."
Hmm. In that case, Noona's first talent purchase should be drawing.
"Well, I don't have any real complaints for now, since I can draw whatever Eunchae wants well enough."
"Eunchae draws well."
Jiyun noona's drawing stat had been 20. Eunchae's was 27. Of course Eunchae would come across as the much better artist.