You Like This Kind of Thing?

The phone's vibration tore through my sweet slumber, buzzing right beside my ear.

Sleep was more important to me than anything else in the world, so nothing pissed me off faster than having it interrupted.

I groped around with the full intention of letting out a groan, but the moment I checked the screen, my skyrocketing irritation vanished on the spot.

The reason was simple.

It was Yeoni's morning call!!

"It's okay. I needed to get up anyway. Why'd you call?"

Was I still half-asleep? Yeoni wasn't the type to be this direct. I rubbed my eyes, pinched my cheek, and checked the phone again. Yeah, I was definitely on the phone with Chae-yeon. The sting in my cheek confirmed this was reality, not a dream.

"Of course it's not a no. When do you want to meet?"

"Sounds good. See you then. Love you."

With that, the call ended.

Lately, Chae-yeon's affection and skinship had increased dramatically. It was like she'd taken off a mask and was finally showing her true self. The difference from when we first started dating was night and day.

Not that I minded. I loved it. What boyfriend in his right mind would hate having a girlfriend like this?

-Vrrrriiing!! Vrrrriiing!!

The phone buzzed again immediately. Thinking Yeoni must have had more to say, I checked the screen... only to frown.

What the hell? Why was this guy calling me?

"Hello."

"Describe how I feel after expecting my girlfriend's voice and getting a random dude's instead."

"Why are you calling so early in the morning?"

"Just tell me why you're calling."

"Illust? Sure, no problem."

After taking Yong-ju's request, I washed up and sat down at my computer.

The web novel platform where I serialized, Novelbrary, was far more permissive about AI illustrations than other sites. At some point most authors had started using them, which had definitely lightened the burden of commissioning cover art.

Someone might ask why Yong-ju didn't just make them himself. The answer was specs. Generating AI art required a computer that could handle it. While some tools were light, the one we used was a graphics-card killer.

Yong-ju's rig wasn't up to the task, so I always ended up making his AI illusts for him. I booted up my PC and called him on Discord so I could adjust the prompts according to his requests in real time.

"Yo."

"What do you want? Any specific composition?"

"You trying to fill the whole thing with skin tones?"

Yong-ju was currently serializing an adult novel on Novelbrary. He hadn't started out that way. He'd been writing clean stories at first, but after he said he wanted to try an adult one, he jumped in. The results were on another level compared to his previous work, both in popularity and income, so he'd stayed on that path ever since.

Just for the record, I was the one who taught him how to write those adult chapters. Back then I'd thought he genuinely couldn't do it. Look at him now. I'd raised a tiger cub.

"Hang on, let me close the door first."

Mom was getting ready for work, so I shut the door to avoid any awkwardness. If I got caught I could always sell Yong-ju out, but not getting caught was obviously better.

"I've only been awake thirty minutes and I'm already generating porn. My life is legendary."

"I wonder if the AI will behave today."

"It'd be nice if it finishes before my date."

"Yeah. This afternoon. I've got about three hours."

And so the great cover-generation campaign began.

Since I'd made the previous cover too, the new one had to use the exact same female lead's face. In some ways, reusing an existing character was actually more annoying than creating a brand-new one.

Every AI generation had a unique seed number. Input that seed and you could create something that looked similar to the original character. The problem was...

If you used the exact same prompt, you got the exact same image. So every time I got something I didn't like, I had to keep adding and removing individual prompts, tweaking over and over. It was the most tedious thing in the world. All I could do was pray for a good roll.

"Oh, come on."

"It's bad right from the start. I'm definitely going to be stuck on this for over an hour."

"Has this thing ever been in a good mood? It throws tantrums every single time."

I didn't exactly want to start my morning swearing, but this AI wasn't giving me much choice. It was the one pissing me off first. How was I supposed to stay calm?

After that the insane AI really went wild. Six fingers, three arms, clothes that made no sense. It pulled out every ridiculous failure in the book.

"Didn't I put that in the negative prompt? Why is it doing this?!"

"This isn't 'lots,' this is a bumper crop. At this rate even a farmer couldn't sell the harvest."

"What the... It's nothing but skin again. Want this one?"

At least a few usable ones popped up every now and then, so it wasn't a total loss. The real problem was that none of them quite satisfied Yong-ju.

"Your new series has SM elements, so bondage-themed stuff should be fine."

"No problem. I do."

I immediately pulled up a prompt site for AI illusts. Everything was in English, but that wasn't an issue for me. I'd been learning English since kindergarten for moments like this. At least it was finally being put to good use.

"You're asking for every single one I make. You're gonna get a stomachache if you keep that up."

-Clunk!!

"Jung-woo."

The moment the door opened, Mom's voice floated in. Faster than lightning, I hammered Alt+Tab and looked over at her.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Why is the door closed? You never close it."

"I was on the phone with a friend. You heading to work?"

"Yes. I'll be back later. Are you seeing Chae-yeon today?"

"Yeah, we're meeting up."

"Good. Then..."

-Vrrrriiing!!

I checked the screen. Our magnificent mother had sent me allowance money. Fifteen whole万 won.

"When you're out with Chae-yeon, don't let her pay for anything. Use it all yourself, understand?"

"Thank you, Mother. I live every day with gratitude. I will never forget this favor."

"You certainly have a silver tongue. I'm off now."

"Have a good day."

There were more than one or two advantages to dating. It probably wasn't the act of dating itself that earned me the bonus from Mom, but the fact that I was dating Chae-yeon specifically. To my mother, Chae-yeon was apparently a 100% trustworthy girlfriend.

"Mom gave me allowance money. Said to use it on the date."

"150,000 won. Jackpot. I'm feeling great."

"Now that I'm in a better mood, let's try again."

Thanks to the sudden windfall, my mood had improved dramatically. No matter how disappointing the generations were, not a single curse slipped out. This was the power of capital.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted. I should take a quick break before I head out."

"Yeah, always tha—"

"Jung-woo."

A familiar voice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slipped past my earphones. For a second I thought I was hallucinating and pulled one earbud out.

"Jung Jung-woo."

I really must like Yeoni a lot. To suddenly hear her voice like...

Wait.

"What are you doing?"

"Y-Yeoni? W-why are you at my house?"

"I came to surprise you. I ran into Auntie outside and she let me in."

Hold on a second.

No matter how focused I'd been with my earphones in, how had I missed the sound of the door lock and the door opening? Just how deep in concentration had I been?

Chae-yeon stared down at me, her expression filled with killing intent and utter contempt. I realized it instinctively.

I was screwed.

"You were looking at stuff like this at home?"

"N-no, Yeoni, it's not what it looks like."

"You like this kind of thing? Seems like you do."

"Yeoni, a friend asked me to make a novel cover, so I was working on that. Right, Yong-ju?"

In my panic I yanked out the earphone and switched the call to speaker so Yong-ju's voice would come through. If he just told the truth right now, my 100% death rate might drop to 50%. Yong-ju, please!

He left?

Hey, you son of a bitch!!