Chapter 14
“Mr. Kang. Lunch?”
Manager Kim grinned as he mimed slurping noodles with his chopsticks.
“How about cold noodles for a change? There’s a place nearby that does really good warm cold noodles. Perfect when it’s chilly out.”
“I’m eating separately today. I’ve got some things to do.”
“Oh? So everyone’s eating separately today.”
“Looks that way.”
For a moment it had seemed like the team might actually eat together today and yesterday both, but maybe because Team Leader Han had gone out on external business since this morning, it had been a one-person-at-a-time kind of day from start to finish.
“Enjoy your meal, Manager Kim.”
“Sure. See you later.”
After a polite bow, I left the office.
I took the elevator down with Assistant Manager Park.
“You’re not eating today either?”
“I’ve got to save money...”
The guy was staring at a coin trading screen with bloodshot eyes.
Maybe he still hadn’t recovered from the last loss, because for the past few days he’d been living on convenience-store lunch boxes.
“I’ll buy. Come with me.”
I motioned to him.
“Say what you want. Beef, sushi, whatever. I was going to treat you sometime anyway.”
“...All of a sudden?”
Assistant Manager Park looked at me, startled.
“What happened to the guy who’s usually so stingy?”
Then his eyes lit up and he stepped closer.
“Did you short crypto or something? Made some money?”
“...No.”
This damn coin addict thought about nothing but coins no matter what anyone said.
“I’ve been doing side jobs lately. I wanted to buy you a meal anyway, and now I’ve got a little room to spare.”
“Oh, really?”
At the mention of side jobs, his interest seemed to drain away. He turned back to the coin screen.
“Then buy me one later.”
“You’re not eating today?”
“At this rate, even if I eat something good, I won’t be able to enjoy it.”
“Ah...”
Come to think of it, he probably wouldn’t even know whether the food was going into his nose or his mouth while he ate it right now.
“I’m only going to hold this until I break even. Buy me then. I’ll be able to enjoy it properly that way.”
“Fine. Got it.”
Ding.
The elevator stopped.
“See you later.”
“Yeah.”
Putting lunch off for a little while, I headed to Duri Bank.
That’s right.
The bank.
“I’d like to open an account.”
“Would this be your first one with us?”
“I’ve opened a savings account before.”
“Ah, then this should be simple. May I see your ID?”
“Yes.”
After signing a few forms, I was able to open a new account without any trouble.
“If you check the app, you can give it a nickname. That’ll make it easier to tell apart from your existing savings account.”
“Ah, thanks.”
“Of course. Would you like me to introduce any savings products with good interest rates?”
“No. If I open another one later, I’ll come back to this counter.”
“Oh, thank you for thinking of us. Have a pleasant day.”
Leaving the friendly clerk behind, I stepped back outside.
I’d already decided on the account name before I even came here.
Side Job Account
- Balance: 11,675,320 won.
“Nice. Very nice.”
I’d been thinking it over for the last few days.
I’d decided to keep the money I earned from side jobs separate from the money I’d already saved.
If I separated it from the money I earned through my day job, I’d be able to see just how much value my side jobs actually had.
“It’s already over ten million won.”
Even after replacing the money I’d spent learning Chinese through interpretation and translation, there was still this much left over.
And by the end of this week, I’ll have finished translating another book...
That would add another three million won on top of it.
Man, side jobs really are the best.
My living expenses, rent, and maintenance fees were all covered by my main job.
So the money I made from side jobs could go straight into savings.
No wonder the money was piling up twice as fast.
What kind of talent will come up next?
I wanted to try starting one more side job.
Just thinking about it made me look forward to it.
***
“Welcome back, Team Leader.”
“Ah, yes. Nothing happen this morning?”
“No.”
“That’s a relief.”
Toward the end of lunch hour, Team Leader Han returned to the office after finishing her external meeting.
“Assistant Manager Kang?”
She called to me cautiously.
“Could I talk to you for a moment?”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
What was this?
Had I done something wrong?
Worried, I followed her into the conference room.
But contrary to what I expected, instead of her usual stern, managerial presence, she drew in a quiet breath, looked around to make sure no one was listening, and then asked me in a hesitant voice, “Assistant Manager Kang. I keep telling myself I’m probably just imagining it, but it keeps popping into my head, so I feel like I have to ask.”
“...Yes?”
“This, maybe.”
She showed me a captured image on her phone.
I looked at it uneasily, wondering if some major work error had happened.
And then—
My whole back went cold.
“It looks so much like you. Is this actually you, Assistant Manager Kang? Or do you have a twin?”
“...”
I was completely speechless.
Because the captured image she was holding up was none other than the scene from the drama I’d appeared in the other day, the one where I’d shown up as a Qing dynasty envoy.
“That’s me, yes... Is there some kind of problem?”
“Whoa, really?!”
Team Leader Han Su-a clapped a hand over her mouth, visibly shocked.
“I knew it, you really do look just like him. I kept wondering if I should ask or not because I thought maybe I was wrong!”
As if a dam had broken, she started pouring words out in a rush.
“I really love that drama. I watch every broadcast, and yesterday suddenly I saw you in that scene. I thought, no way, it can’t be you, but it kept bothering me. So I even went looking for it on OTT and rewatched it just to grab a screenshot.”
“...”
“That’s insane. My favorite drama, and one of our company people ended up in it.”
She was nothing like her usual firm, no-nonsense self.
And since she was reacting with that much excitement, my face burned bright red.
“I-I just went to do some extra work as a side job, and the role had suddenly fallen through. Then I ended up taking it by coincidence.”
“Wow, seriously? You do extra acting gigs too?”
Team Leader Han’s eyes sparkled.
“Can I brag to my friends? We’re all huge fans of that drama...”
“No.”
I shook my head hard.
“Absolutely not.”
“Ah, why not? You were really good.”
“...Anyway, no.”
“Still.”
“No.”
I cut her off firmly.
“Aaaah...”
She looked disappointed over and over, but once I made it clear that the answer was absolutely no, she didn’t press further.
“Still, I enjoyed it. You were good at acting.”
Hearing that straight to my face, I couldn’t even lift my head.
“Um, Team Leader...”
“Yes?”
“Could you keep this a secret at the company?”
“Oh, of course. I’ll do that.”
“Thank goodness...”
“But in exchange, sign one thing for me.”
“...Yes?”
Team Leader Han Su-a stood up with a bright smile.
“I’m joking.”
***
I thought I was going to die of embarrassment...
It had been ten minutes since I got back to my desk, and my face still felt like it was on fire.
On set, there were cameras, dozens of crew members, and even a few actors around, but I wasn’t even nervous. I just performed confidently.
And yet now that someone close to me had seen me directly through a TV screen, I felt so mortified I didn’t know what to do with myself.
Really, people like me are better off living quietly.
No need for spotlights. Living steadily and mundanely like a shadow was the best thing in the world.
Work. Work.
Clap, clap.
I slapped my cheeks, pulled myself together, and focused on my work.
But that focus didn’t last even thirty minutes.
Wait, the drama has already aired?
I’d heard the schedule was tight, but I hadn’t expected it to go on air in less than a week.
They must have filmed it on Saturday and started editing immediately on Sunday.
It’s a Wednesday-Thursday drama, so it must have aired yesterday.
Curious for no reason, I looked it up once.
A 10.6% rating? That’s higher than I expected.
These days, if a terrestrial mini-series gets into double digits, it’s considered a hit.
So five million out of fifty million people watched it?
That thought made it feel almost terrifying.
Of course, most of them probably wouldn’t have even paid attention to the Qing envoy.
And even if someone I knew had watched it, unlike Team Leader Han, they’d probably have just thought, That guy looks kind of like him, and moved on.
I am curious what I looked like on camera, though...
But then I pictured that shot of me in costume from the screenshot.
Yeah, no, I can’t do it.
I couldn’t even bring myself to hit play on the drama.
Even so, acting really is the most fun side job I’ve tried so far.
Still, I decided to put it aside for the time being.
I should delete the drama file.
I had a feeling I’d probably never watch it in my lifetime.
***
My ordinary days continued.
Advertising during the day, squeezing in translation work in the evenings, and steadily filling my account.
Doing side jobs really does put some life back into things.
It was only an extra hour or two of work each day, but even that was enough to make me feel like I was living a much fuller life than everyone else.
That said, it wasn’t like I was only working.
“Finally, this week.”
The day of the Jeju Island trip had arrived.
And it’s free, on top of that!
Thanks to my blog, I’d even gotten the flight and hotel stay for free.
The blog really does pay off without you realizing it.
The sushi omakase post I’d done with Team Leader Han not long ago had gotten pretty good reactions too.
Thanks to that, I’d received all kinds of new sponsored offers for supplements, keyboards, shabu-shabu buffets, and more.
I’m glad I rejected all of them.
I’d put a few on hold, but I hadn’t accepted a single one.
To put it bluntly, it was called sponsorship, but if I wrote one post and got paid anything from a few ten-thousand won to several hundred-thousand won, that felt like basically getting away with theft in my book.
But if I let greed blind me, priorities would get reversed.
I need to stick to my principles.
Nothing grand. Just the basics.
Work-life balance has to be nonnegotiable.
That was even more true for side jobs.
This is all supposed to make me happy, so my own happiness comes first, doesn’t it?
So whether it was translation or blogging, I’d decided to do only as much as wouldn’t interfere with my main job or personal life.
Sponsorships were the same.
If I had the time or if an offer really appealed to me personally, then I’d think about accepting it.
Come to think of it, after I get back from Jeju, maybe I should really take a solo trip somewhere.
Not for sponsorship. Not for work.
Just a trip on my own, using my own money.
I’m making decent money from my side jobs, so it would be the perfect reward for myself.
Once I got back from Jeju, I’d have to start planning it.
Ideally, I’d like to try out a new side job before then, too...
As if it had heard my thoughts.
Ding.
A new notification rang out.
The fifth talent has been unlocked.
-This time, you can choose one of the offered keywords.
“Oh, so it can do that?!”
[Talent Keywords]
(1) Musical instruments.
(2) Stocks.
(3) Physical ability.
(4) Animals.
Thump, thump, thump!
“They all look good.”
Which one would be the most fun to choose here?
A pleasant kind of worry began.
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