Chapter 3, Editor
Chapter 3, Editor
After finishing the meal.
I was lying on the living room sofa, flipping through TV channels.
"Isn't there anything to watch?"
When I was in the military, I used to find those observational variety shows super entertaining.
Now that I'm home, even those aren't fun, so I just keep flipping past them.
Baek Ha-rin tidied up the kitchen a bit and slipped into her room.
Contrary to my expectation that she wouldn't come out for a while, I heard the door open a moment later. Seeing her walk back into the living room, I let out a dry cough in disbelief.
"Are you wearing that again?"
That flowy pajama set she was wearing while dancing in the entryway earlier.
She had changed into a hoodie to eat, but she had already set herself back up in her pajamas.
Baek Ha-rin set up a smartphone tripod in the middle of the living room and turned on the ring light.
"I need to film one more video to upload today."
"Is that pajama set some kind of signature for your channel? Put on something decent to film."
"This gets the best reaction. Samchon, just move aside and watch. You're in the frame."
Baek Ha-rin lightly brushed off my nagging and took her spot in front of the tripod.
She played some music, hit the record button, and immediately changed her expression to start dancing.
Through the camera lens, it might look like a twenty-year-old girl dancing cutely...
But to my eyes, lying on the sofa and watching the live stream in person, it was just a bizarre, cringey, desperate act.
"Ugh, it's a talent to make money doing that, a real talent."
But as I watched her dance, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
'She seems to have been monetizing for quite a while.'
When I looked at her channel earlier, her high school videos probably weren't monetized, but her subscribers exploded and views started hitting the millions around this time last year.
If so?
That means it's been almost a year since she started getting paid.
"Hey. Baek Ha-rin."
Since she didn't answer, buried under the music, I turned down the TV volume with the remote and raised my voice.
"Hey. Princess."
"Ah, damn it! Why do you keep calling me! You ruined the take!"
Baek Ha-rin snapped, stopped the recording, and turned to look at me.
"Are you handling your taxes properly?"
At my question, Baek Ha-rin furrowed her brows and tilted her head.
"Taxes? What taxes?"
"What taxes, you ask. I'm talking about comprehensive income tax."
I sat up on the sofa and said seriously.
It's the end of April right now.
Usually, May is when sole proprietors or freelancers prepare their comprehensive income tax filings after receiving their earnings.
Creators like YouTubers obviously have to file their income tax during this period too.
Even if it's just Shorts, a channel with 300,000 subscribers and millions of views in a row wouldn't have small earnings.
Since she would have received her earnings in foreign currency through AdSense, it's common knowledge that this is all counted as business income and must be taxed.
But looking at Baek Ha-rin's expression...
It seemed like she was hearing the term "comprehensive income tax" for the first time.
"Comprehensive tax? What's that? Why do I have to pay taxes? Don't taxes usually get paid beforehand?"
Oh, my head.
I pressed my forehead and let out a deep sigh.
"Haa... do you really have nothing in your head but dancing? If you made money on YouTube, you have to pay taxes to the country. May is the tax filing period, did you just spend all the money you earned as soon as it hit your account?"
Baek Ha-rin's eyes wavered at my scolding.
"Uh... I exchanged the dollars that came in, bought a bag, bought clothes... and bought food... Wasn't it supposed to come in after taxes were deducted?"
"YouTube earnings aren't subject to withholding tax, so you have to file and pay it yourself, you idiot. It's been almost a year since you started getting paid, if you don't file, you could get hit with a tax penalty bomb and end up on the news as a tax evader."
Baek Ha-rin's expression changed at my exaggerated scare tactic.
"W-what? Tax evader? Me?!"
"Yeah. Did you forget what your Omma's job is? Keun-noona is a tax accountant, does it make sense that her daughter knows absolutely nothing about taxes?"
That's right.
My Keun-noona. In other words, Baek Ha-rin's Omma is a very successful tax accountant who even has a proper private office in Gangnam.
A tax accountant's daughter, of all people, not knowing how to pay taxes on her own business income and being at risk of becoming a tax evader. You couldn't write a better comedy.
"Ugh, so what if Omma is a tax accountant! She never taught me anything like that!"
Baek Ha-rin stomped her feet as if she were aggrieved.
"Wait, Omma knows you're making money, but she didn't handle the taxes for you? That doesn't sound like Keun-noona."
Keun-noona is sharp as a knife when it comes to money. If she knew her daughter was making tens of millions of won, she would have already done all the bookkeeping and nagged her to set aside the tax money.
But Baek Ha-rin's reaction was strange. She avoided my gaze and just fiddled with her fingers.
"That is..."
"What. Why."
"Actually... I never told Omma that I make money filming Shorts..."
"...What?"
I let out a dry laugh in disbelief.
"You didn't tell her? You have over 300,000 subscribers and 8 million views, and Keun-noona doesn't know?"
"Omma's been busy lately, she probably doesn't have time to watch YouTube or anything."
"Then who did you tell?"
Since she said she didn't tell Omma, that means she told someone else. For the record, it wasn't me.
At my questioning, Baek Ha-rin hesitated and answered in a small voice.
"I told... Jae-hee Imo."
Jae-hee Imo.
That's my Jageun-noona.
As for my Jageun-noona, she's someone who's caught the "artistic bug," painting in a basement studio near Hongdae University under the guise of being an artist.
The surprising thing is, she caught the eye of a famous master, and now she's getting all these weird labels like "genius of the academy" attached to her.
"Haa..."
I pressed my palm to my forehead and let out a much deeper, longer sigh than before.
"What's the point of telling Jageun-noona? The most important person, the tax accountant, doesn't know."
Baek Ha-rin must have known my words were facts, so she shut her mouth tight.
I could clearly see that if she had confessed to Jageun-noona, she would have just given useless encouragement like, "Our niece hit the jackpot~ Enjoy your youth~."
Baek Ha-rin started glancing at me nervously.
"Samchon... then what do I really do? If I don't file in May, am I going to the police station?"
"...The police station is a lie. You'll just have to pay back way more money because of the penalties added to the original tax. How much balance is left in your bank account?"
Baek Ha-rin carefully opened her banking app on her phone, checked the balance, and made a crying face.
"About... 50 million won?"
"Crazy. Just how much money did you make? I guess it's a relief that 50 million is left."
"No, I bought some things I wanted, bought my friends meals, paid for dermatology treatments..."
I was so dumbfounded I couldn't speak. To think she still had money left after all that.
"Ugh, you hopeless kid. For this comprehensive income tax, you have to hire a tax accounting firm to handle the bookkeeping. Otherwise, you'll really get hit with a tax bomb."
"U-Uncle! Absolutely not Omma! Can't I just use a different tax accountant?"
"Is the fee free if you use a different tax accountant?"
"Aaaah... I'm ruined. What do I do, seriously."
Seeing her clutching her head and whining, I felt a mix of amusement and pity.
Even though she's a niece only a year younger than me, I am her Samchon, so I couldn't just ignore her being in trouble.
Just then, the whining Baek Ha-rin suddenly lifted her head and crawled toward me on her knees.
"Samchon!"
"What."
"Then can't you just help me?"
Baek Ha-rin's eyes sparkled as if she had met a savior.
Me?
I'm a grunt who was just discharged today?
"Why would I? I just got discharged from the military, my brain is mush, I don't know about complicated stuff like that."
When I shut her down instantly, Baek Ha-rin grabbed onto my pant leg and wouldn't let go.
"No! You're smart, Samchon! You used to run that online shopping mall thing!"
"That was just purchasing agency."
"What's the difference!"
"There's a difference..."
More than that, this girl has a great memory for useless things. But there was no reason for me to step up and take on someone else's annoying tax processing.
"Forget all that. If I help you with your tax filing and keep it a secret from Keun-noona, what's in it for me?"
At my counter-question, Baek Ha-rin bit her lip, and I could practically hear her brain spinning like crazy. It seemed she came up with something, though.
"You're a jobless bum anyway since you just got discharged! Don't you have nothing to do?"
"Who's a jobless bum? I'm going to find a part-time job starting tomorrow and make money!"
"Part-time job? Why do that! I'll pay you a salary!"
Baek Ha-rin threw her trump card.
"Salary?"
"Yeah! Help me with the tax stuff, organize receipts, and as a bonus, the cut editing you mentioned earlier! You help me with that too!"
Look at this kid?
She's thinking fast. Since she needs an editor and a tax agent anyway, her plan was to use me, a trusted family member, as cheap labor.
"Am I crazy to be your lackey? I'd rather go out and do cargo loading."
"Ah, seriously, Samchon! Please help me! And keep it a secret from Omma, for real!"
Baek Ha-rin begged, putting her hands together and pleading.
"Samchon, you kept singing about wanting to change your computer before you went to the military! I'll set you up with a full computer set in your room! With a 5090 Supreme graphics card!"
My ears perked up at that glorious word.
But if I bite immediately, I'm an amateur.
Negotiation is all about push and pull.
"The computer is a given."
As I crossed my arms and looked down at her arrogantly, Baek Ha-rin swallowed hard.
"Hmm... I'm going to waste my youth like this. So. How much are you going to pay me in monthly salary?"
At my question, Baek Ha-rin glanced at me nervously and held up two fingers.
"Two... two hundred?"
"Not doing it."
"Ah! Okay! 250! 2.5 million won! You're just doing cut editing and tax organization, 250 is a lot! Okay?"
2.5 million won.
It's not a bad deal for sitting in a room with air conditioning, doing some cut editing for my niece's videos, and organizing receipts.
It's a world where you have to roll around in the scorching sun outside to earn about 2.5 to 3 million.
Plus, a full computer set.
I suppressed a smile, unfolded my arms, and stuck my hand out toward Baek Ha-rin.
"Deal."
Baek Ha-rin's face lit up. She grabbed my hand with a happy expression.
"For real? No take-backs!"
"Sure thing. My cute niece."
Day 1 of discharge.
I successfully got a job as my niece's editor.