Chapter 25
Udon.
To office workers, udon was a strangely ambiguous meal.
Compared with other lunches, it was cheap and efficient, a no-fuss way to get through a meal when money was tight. But like most noodles, it left you hungry again almost immediately.
In fact, if anything, udon seemed to wear off even faster than ramen or kalguksu.
And yet on a chilly autumn day like this, hot udon broth was exactly what you wanted.
"Auntie, one abura-age udon and one shrimp tempura udon, please."
"Yes, I'll have them ready right away."
I had come to an udon shop in the shopping district near the company with Team Leader Han.
The wind was blowing hard, so the broth was tempting enough on its own.
But the real reason was more important than that.
"You sent me the udon-eating emoticon."
"Ah...!"
Team Leader Han Su-a blushed, looking embarrassed.
"I'm sorry. That was probably too obvious of me. Did I make it too clear?"
"Not at all. I'm grateful you used the emoticon yourself."
The fact that she had sent Scholar-ticon at all was gratifying to me.
"Anyway, how did you find out?"
"I wasn't trying to overhear or anything... but once you work in a company, things just reach your ears naturally."
"Ah, I see."
That was how companies were.
People might not say things right in front of me, but information spread quietly behind my back.
Especially since the emoticons had gone viral through celebrity promotion, there was no way they wouldn't become a topic of conversation.
"And also..."
She added cautiously,
"I saw your blog."
"Oh... really?"
"Yes. But don't misunderstand."
Team Leader Han hurried to explain.
"I wasn't looking for it on purpose. I was just surfing around, and the algorithm happened to show it to me. Then there it was. Especially when I saw the recent post with the movie review and the emoticon, I was pretty sure it was you."
"Ah, that's fine. It's not like there's anything there I need to hide."
"Thanks for understanding."
Less than five minutes after ordering, our two bowls of udon were served.
Slurp-slurp.
As I drew in the noodles with the broth, the cold in my body seemed to melt away.
"So are you completely switching over to the emoticon side job now?"
"No. I'm just trying out a few different things."
"Ooh. Then is there another field you're interested in lately?"
"I'm still working out the details, but this time I want to try making figures."
"Figures?"
"Yes. I don't know if it'll ever be productized, but... I want to make one based on my emoticon."
"You'll make them yourself? Not have a factory produce them?"
"That's right."
"Then it would be hard to make them in large quantities."
"That's what worries me."
Craft work was like that.
Making one or two pieces for display or as gifts was no problem, but the moment you thought about selling them, things got complicated fast.
Low-quality pieces were basically no different from factory goods, so there was no competitive edge there.
And if I thought about my talent and craftsmanship, then of course I had to make them at a high level.
But that meant the labor involved would be enormous.
To produce enough for sale would take more time than my main job, so it wasn't suitable as a side hustle.
Even if I deliberately aimed for high quality, I still lacked name value, so making a profit wouldn't be easy.
But if I made too few, there wouldn't even be enough to sell.
"Just in case, I looked into distribution too, and it really doesn't seem like something an individual can handle."
"Right. Especially with figures, it's an industry where you need licenses for the copyright-minded fans, so that makes sense."
Team Leader Han thought for a moment, then carefully suggested,
"How about doing it by lottery instead?"
"A lottery?"
"Yes. Maybe give them to a selected few among the emoticon buyers."
"Oh...?"
"A few from the people who leave reviews on the blog, a few from the official buyers. If you do it that way, wouldn't it still have impact even if the quantity is small?"
"That's good."
It really was a solid idea.
No matter how much talent and craftsmanship I poured into a high-quality figure, finding immediate buyers would be difficult.
But if I used a lottery to encourage emoticon sales and raise my initial income, then the figure's quality would do the rest. Once word spread, demand would follow when I started producing in earnest.
At that point, people might even come to me with counteroffers, so there wouldn't be any need to worry about licensing.
The direction is becoming clear.
Team Leader Han really did have sharp insight.
Maybe it was because she'd worked in advertising for so long, but it felt like she was opening up a route I hadn't even considered.
"Thanks, Team Leader. I'll buy lunch to show my appreciation."
"You're going to make it even."
"...Excuse me?"
"I'm kidding."
Team Leader Han let out a snort of laughter and stood up from her seat.
"I won't refuse. Thanks, I'll eat well."
***
A small workshop in Nowon-gu, Seoul.
Instead of heading straight home after work, I came here.
"Hello. You're the person who took the one-day class here last time, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
This was the same place I had come to when I first tested my craft ability.
Making a figure at home would mean chemical smells everywhere, and gathering every material one by one was far too troublesome and impractical.
But if I rented a workshop like this, all those problems were solved.
"The room you reserved is Room 3 over there. After registering the materials at the kiosk, feel free to take whatever you need. You can use anything here. We'll total up the material costs every Monday and send you a settlement request."
"Understood."
"If you need anything else, feel free to contact us anytime. We can help with figure production too."
"Yes, thank you."
"Here are the keys... and I've sent the door-lock code by text, so you can come and work anytime, 24 hours a day."
The workshop owner bowed politely and turned away.
"Then good luck."
"Take care."
After the greetings, I went straight into my workspace.
All right, let's get started.
I rolled up my sleeves and dove right into the figure-making work.
There were broadly two ways to make a figure: 3D printing, or sculpting it by hand with clay.
Obviously the second one.
Since this was handcrafted work, making it entirely by hand from start to finish was essential.
I hadn't studied figure making separately, but thanks to my talent, my body moved on its own.
First I built the skeleton out of wire, then shaped the bulk with clay.
I made sure it adhered tightly to the framework so there would be no cracks.
Using carving knives, I brought out the details in the face, the hands, and the folds of the clothing.
Even though I only had the concept in my head, my hands moved without hesitation, sculpting the figure.
Then I baked it in the oven, refined the surface further, and finished the paint job with brushes.
After letting it dry in the workshop for twenty-four hours, the final step was a clear varnish coat.
"Not bad."
Unlike my initial worries, a surprisingly convincing figure had come together.
At this level, it's even more detailed and polished than the figures in the several-hundred-thousand-won range that Assistant Manager Park mentioned.
Still, if there was a problem...
I can see tiny cracks.
No matter how well I handled the clay itself, I couldn't control everything: humidity, temperature, indoor airflow, and so on. Imperfections were inevitable.
Even the subtle temperature changes during baking, removal, and cooling affected the final quality.
I can't accept this.
For a first piece, it was certainly good enough to be called highly finished.
But once I saw the flaw, I couldn't stand it.
I couldn't even accept the idea of hiding it by painting over it or making clothes to cover it.
No good.
In the end, I picked up a rubber mallet.
Crack-!
I smashed the figure I had spent two full days making with my own hands.
Crushhh- clatter!
Only after the fragments scattered everywhere did I startle back to my senses.
"...Huh?"
It felt like some thread that had been cut in my head had finally reconnected.
If this had been any other time, I would have probably been satisfied with it.
Even if it wasn't for sale, as a first piece I should have been able to keep it as a keepsake.
And yet I had destroyed it without a second thought.
Wait, could it be...?
[Craftsmanship: When making handcrafted items, anything less than perfect is discarded.]
So that's what this was...!
It couldn't be helped, though it was a shame.
Since the talent was overwhelmingly high-grade, its standards would naturally be just as extreme.
Damn it. Let's try again.
And so I kept working for a full two more weeks.
I would leave work, go straight from the office to the workshop, and make figures until late.
Then I'd go home, sleep, and repeat the cycle by going back to work.
At last...
"Done...!"
I finally made a figure I could be satisfied with.
It was radiant.
Placed under the glass lamp, the figure had gone beyond the level of a simple toy.
From every angle, the curves were flawless.
Even though the whole thing was only a handspan tall at most,
its smiling expression, with the head tilted just slightly, overflowed with life.
The texture had been rendered in exquisite detail all the way to the fingertips.
The lightly wrinkled sleeves and the reflective sheen on the accessories.
Even the subtle glossy coating shimmered in different colors depending on the angle of the light.
Perfect.
This was not the kind of thing you could dismiss as "just a figure."
I had also made clothing to go with the character, and it fit beautifully as well.
Though honestly, I had no idea how many failures it had taken to reach this one success.
The broken scraps piled beneath the figure caught my eye a moment later.
"...That's how much this all cost."
Since I had pursued such a high level of quality, the materials hadn't been cheap either.
And since I smashed anything that was even slightly lacking, all I could do was endure the shrinking balance in my bank account like I was cutting into my own flesh.
"Even if I sold this for a million won, I'd still be taking a loss."
It didn't seem to add up.
But thanks to that Craftsmanship talent, the quality had improved this much, so I couldn't exactly complain.
If there was one consolation...
Since I successfully made something this finished once, it should be a little easier from here on out.
Even if I didn't get to mass production right away, I should at least be able to reduce the number of pieces lost to mistakes.
I could start the event right away.
Without thinking about it for long, I called Assistant Manager Baek Seong-sik immediately.
"Yes, Sir. Hello. I hope you've been well. The thing is, I made some emoticon goods and was wondering whether we could give them away as an event..."
***
Assistant Manager Baek Seong-sik rubbed his forehead as he thought it over.
An in-house promotion, huh...
As the person in charge, this was not something he could answer casually.
Events and promotions tied to emoticons were happening every day, several at a time.
But unless a company was pushing them openly, it was true that getting attention was not easy.
Still, he's the kind of artist worth putting some effort behind.
Kang Seo-jun's so-called Scholar-ticon had been recording fairly high sales.
In fact, when it first launched, its low visibility had made sales disappointing.
Then, before he even knew it, celebrity promotion kicked in and it started selling like it had grown wings.
He didn't know much else, but he had felt that Seo-jun's connections were impressive, and he had thought it might be worth having him try another project.
But to suddenly give away handmade figures by lottery...
He had a hard time imagining much impact from that.
Of course, in the general merchandise market, secondary products based on emoticons were quite popular.
Especially in their own emoticon shop, there were plenty of success stories from independent creators: Joke Bear, Duck-Dongdong, and many others.
Those emoticons had expanded into every possible area, from plush dolls to mugs, tumblers, and key rings, not to mention everyday goods and fancy items.
They had even spread into fashion apparel, collaboration cafes, and packaging designs for food and drinks.
And since there had even been webtoons and animations based on emoticons, there was nothing more to say.
But figures were one of the very rare success cases.
That bothered him.
And since it wasn't even being sold as a mass-produced product, he also worried how much attention a lottery could really draw.
No idea. I'll just gloss over it and bring up the next project.
With that mindset, he asked to meet in person.
But once he went to the workshop, the story changed completely.
"Y-you made this yourself, sir?"
"Yes. Is there a problem? I was told the copyright belongs to me, so there shouldn't be any issue."
"No, there's absolutely no problem with that..."
Assistant Manager Baek was so stunned he could barely speak.
And for good reason.
Unbelievable... This isn't just a figure.
It was an art piece, shining beautifully.
More intricate than anything he had seen in the emoticon itself.
The character's details felt alive.
"Y-you made this yourself?"
"Yes, that's right."
"...Didn't you say you worked at an advertising company?"
"Yes. This was just a hobby."
"..."
Assistant Manager Baek was left speechless.
How does an ordinary person even make something like this?!
It was beyond the level of anything he had seen even at their own company, where all kinds of goods were constantly being released.
Is Kang Seo-jun really a normal office worker?
The celebrity connections alone are suspicious. He does not seem like an ordinary guy at all.
And when I looked at the blog where Scholar-ticon went up, the writing itself was no joke either.
How can one person be this multitalented?
Assistant Manager Baek could feel it instinctively.
This smells like a big hit.
He was certain this was a completely different level from the promotions he had handled so far.
He hadn't even gotten approval from above, but he couldn't resist his instincts as the person in charge and blurted it out anyway.
"Artist. Shall we scale this up even more?"
"...Pardon?"
"From what I can see, this will absolutely explode. So let's make the whole thing bigger. There's going to be huge demand for this. You could earn more from this than from the emoticon business alone. Let's go all the way and make it official merchandise."
But an unexpected answer came back.
"I-I don't want to..."
"...Pardon?"
"That's a little too much pressure..."
Kang Seo-jun shook his head vigorously.
"How about just doing an event...?"