Chapter 22
“Haaah...”
Because I’d been drinking until late the night before and hadn’t gotten home until dawn, I only managed to get up after the sun was already high overhead.
“Argh, I’m dying.”
The moment I got up, I guzzled a hangover remedy to deal with the burning thirst in my throat.
Even that wasn’t enough, so I took a cold shower before I finally felt halfway human.
“Okay, that’s better.”
My head felt even a little clearer.
It was 12:10 p.m.
When I checked my phone belatedly, I found:
- Missed calls: 6
- Unread messages: 873
“?!”
I was startled.
W-what happened? Did something go wrong?
Maybe the Chinese side had pulled the ad campaign.
Or maybe some celebrity in one of the ads I’d worked on had gotten caught in a scandal.
With a knot of worry in my stomach, I checked my phone.
“······?”
What was this?
[High School Classmates]
- Crazy, what’s up with Kang Seo-jun?
- Why did Lim Yu-jin tag you?
- Wow, I’m insanely jealous.
- Did you drink together?
- Seo-jun works in entertainment?
- I heard it was something in advertising.
- Whoa, looks like Lim Yu-jin shot an ad ㅠㅠ
- I heard he’s a writer.
- Kang Seo-jun became a writer? Wow, and he didn’t even tell us. Nice one, man.
I spent a moment wondering how they’d found out, then it clicked.
“Right, she said she’d tag me on social media.”
When I opened Lim Yu-jin’s SNS, there it was: my account tagged right next to the emoticon I’d made.
- New followers: 366
“······Ah.”
My followers had gone up too.
“That’s pretty overwhelming.”
After a bit of thought, I did the obvious thing.
Activity has been suspended.
For someone like me, living a quiet little life, too much attention only made things inconvenient.
But the problem was that the news had already spread everywhere.
The office chat room, especially, was in complete chaos.
[Planning Team 3 Chat]
- Whoa, Assistant Manager Kang, was the movie you mentioned for the preview screening this one?
- I’d only followed Lim Yu-jin, but I went to check who she tagged and your name, ‘Kang Seo-jun,’ was right there, whoa;;
- That’s your account, right, Assistant Manager?
- Amazing. Looks like you even had dinner with Lim Yu-jin ㅠㅠ
- Choi Kang-san was there too, so maybe······?
- You must’ve been embarrassed lol
- Celebrity connections, seriously ㅠㅠ I’m so jealoussss ㅠㅠ
- Can I follow you back too?
- But Assistant Manager, you’re really multi-talented. You even made emoticons?
- You’ve got so many side hustles. So cool..!
- Can I get those emoticons too?
- Hey, Assistant Kim. Buy them yourself.
(A company worker in a gat flexing with a shopping bag)
- I bought them myself haha
- Ack lol I’ll buy them too lol, but buy me coffee in return.
(A modern-day scholar drinking branded coffee as an emoticon)
“······Ugh, this is dizzying.”
The messages below were more of the same, so I didn’t bother reading further and closed the chat window.
“For now······.”
I turned off the Wi-Fi entirely and didn’t reply to a single message.
If I said even one thing, it would only draw more attention.
If anyone asks later, I’ll just say I didn’t see it.
It wasn’t even an official notice chat room, so there was no problem with not checking it.
But ignoring the chat rooms alone wasn’t enough.
When I go to the office tomorrow, they’re definitely going to swarm me······?
Right. I’d made up my mind.
“I’m taking leave.”
At times like this, avoidance was the safest option.
***
Monday morning.
I woke to the sound of birds chirping outside.
10:35 a.m.
“Rest really is the best.”
I gave the office a suitably vague excuse for my day off.
- Kang Seo-jun: I’m not feeling well. Sorry.
That would be enough for them to understand why I hadn’t replied in the chat room.
And nobody would come looking for me at the office tomorrow to ask about it.
Of course, there might be someone tactless enough to act like they already knew the story, but······ I could just brush them off.
Anyway, if the emoticons got this much publicity, maybe they sold pretty well?
With equal parts expectation and anxiety, I logged on to the site.
[My Emoticon Status]
- Sales: 8,453
- Revenue: 21,132,500 won
- Estimated payout: 5,917,100 won
“······Huh. Holy crap.”
I sucked in a breath the moment I saw it.
“Two thousand already?”
Promotion started late Saturday evening on SNS.
Only about thirty-six hours had passed, and the sales had already blown past the ceiling.
“Two thousand is enormous.”
On top of that, users on subscription plans were only tallied and added at the end of the month.
In other words, this wasn’t even the full picture, just the single-sale numbers.
The effect is insane······?
At this rate, I felt like I should post a movie review on my blog as a thank-you.
“Though, wow, the earnings are pretty small compared to the sales.”
Out of 21 million won in sales, they took more than 15 million.
“Why is the fee so brutal?”
And then tax would be deducted from whatever was left before it reached me.
“What kind of thieves are there in this country······?”
When I watched dramas, I’d thought rich people were just whining.
But now that I was feeling it firsthand, there really were no thieves like them.
I work in advertising, sure, but seeing actual revenue makes it feel different.
I’d expected social media promotion by celebrities to help, but this was beyond what I’d hoped for.
No wonder everybody fought so hard to cast top stars.
So fame and money really do rise together. That saying is dead on.
Still, I wasn’t interested in becoming famous myself.
I’d be happy if nobody knew me and I just had a lot of money······.
But after seeing the power of promotion, I had a feeling that wasn’t going to be easy.
Ding-!
Just then, another message arrived on my phone.
“Willow Publishing?”
The place where I’d been translating Chinese novels.
- Kim Dae-ri: Hello, author-nim. I hope you’ve been well.
- Kim Dae-ri: The thing is, have you still been very busy with your main job lately? ㅠㅠ
- Kim Dae-ri: I’d like to ask for more translation work. I was wondering if your schedule is okay..!
- Kim Dae-ri: It’s urgent, so I can raise the rate a little!
“Ah, right.”
Lately, between the TF team work and the emoticons, I’d put translation aside.
“Since I’m on leave today, should I just do one easy one?”
- Kang Seo-jun: Just give me the most urgent one. I’ll knock it out quickly today.
***
“Sure enough.”
The moment I sent in the translated manuscript, the fee was deposited in less than an hour.
It had gone up by a full 15 percent from the original 3 million won, to 3.45 million won.
That kind of jump was a seriously generous raise.
Besides, there were plenty of readers who liked my translation style, and my speed was unmatched, so they said they’d keep raising the pay in the future, not just for this one job.
I could only be grateful.
[Side Hustle Account]
- Balance: 21,675,320 won.
“Just looking at it makes me feel secure.”
And then the cycle came around again.
“Time really does fly.”
A month had already passed.
Honestly, learning Chinese had already paid for itself and then some.
Not only did I have translation work from the publishing house, but my office performance had also piled up nicely.
Every time the cooldown ends, it’d be best to learn the next one on time.
Still, pretending the price wasn’t burdensome would be a lie.
“······Two million this time.”
That was steep.
And next time it would be 4 million.
Still, I think it’s worth learning.
I’d thought seriously about language skills before.
And aside from the price, I’d come to one conclusion: it was absolutely better to learn major languages.
In advertising, you don’t just work with domestic clients; you end up collaborating with overseas companies quite often too.
And in 99 percent of those cases, even knowing just Chinese, Japanese, or English would be a huge help.
A language wasn’t just a tool for communication.
It was a way to understand another country’s culture, which effectively raised not only my work ability but my instincts too.
Honestly, it’d be the same even if I switched careers.
If you could speak those three languages, there was frankly nothing to be afraid of.
And if you know languages, your quality of life goes up too.
The amount of content you could enjoy while traveling multiplies by dozens of times.
Right. At the very least, let’s learn three foreign languages besides Korean without overthinking it.
Learning a language was, in a sense, an investment in myself.
It was money spent on me, so there was no reason to pinch pennies.
Besides, I had a solid safety net.
“Looks like the emoticons blew up too, right?”
In another month, the payout would come rolling in.
Fine. Let’s spend it freely.
This time, I chose the nearest option: Japanese.
[Duri Bank]
- Withdrawal: 20,000,000 won.
[Side Hustle Account]
- Balance: 1,675,320 won.
“······I feel poor all of a sudden.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I picked up my phone.
- Kang Seo-jun: Do you happen to have any more manuscripts for translation?
***
Three weeks later.
At last, the emoticon payout came in.
“······Whoa!”
That was almost a year’s salary.
“To think I’d make this much just from side hustles······.”
In case there’d been some mistake, I checked the statement again.
About 30 million won had come from single sales.
Another 15 million or so had come from the share of subscription users.
After the 3.3 percent tax was deducted from the combined amount, the math checked out exactly.
[Side Hustle Account]
- Balance: 50,675,320 won.
“Kyaa······!”
I couldn’t help letting out a cry when I saw the balance.
“This is insane, absolutely insane······!”
Was everybody like this?
Or maybe I’d just gotten lucky?
I called the person in charge to ask, and they told me:
It was basically a form of copyright, so revenue would keep coming in, but it wouldn’t be this much every month, so I shouldn’t get my hopes too high.
Fine. Let’s call it passive income. Where else can you get even 500,000 won a month from nothing?
Even that alone was more than enough to satisfy me.
But I was human, after all.
I’m getting greedy······ maybe I should try just one more thing?
I pulled out my tablet PC, thinking I might make a new emoticon.
“Hmm······.”
Thirty minutes passed.
Then an hour.
“I can’t draw it······.”
The pen just wouldn’t move.
Maybe this really is a creative field, so I need inspiration.
Like when I’d thought up the scholar emoticon, it seemed I needed something that struck me right between the eyes.
Let’s put it on hold for now.
I still had the talent, so if new inspiration came to me later, I could always work on it then.
Anyway, it’s about time a new ability showed up······.
Ding-!
As if it had been waiting for me to say that, a new notification rang out.
And, astonishingly, this one was a:
S+ rank?
It was the first time I’d ever seen an S+ rank.