Chapter 43

I’m translating the chapter into the required HTML form and preserving the in-universe system messages as styled blocks. I’m also normalizing the business terms and the blog/channel names to the glossary so the chapter reads naturally in English.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Scent of an Idea

"Ugh..."

As if the card bill from yesterday's trip to the United States wasn't bad enough, now the talent cost had come out on top of it, and tears blurred my vision before I knew it.

Seeing nearly 100 million won vanish from my balance in one shot made it feel as if my blood were dripping away.

"I need a transfusion..."

Unfortunately, payday was still a long way off.

Is there anywhere else money can come in?

If I really dug around, the only income I could expect for the time being was the royalties from my novel.

And even that was an advance, so the full amount has to earn back before there'll be any settlement.

Not to mention the paid release was still a ways off, so realistically it would be another couple of months before anything actually hit my account.

I'm dry.

Once the income dried up so suddenly, I really couldn't quit my day job after all.

It was like a kind of insurance, I supposed.

Anyway, let me check the talent first.

"Oh..."

It was clearly different from the talents I already had.

The growth talents felt like they kept sending out branch after branch, whereas this auxiliary talent seemed to stay confined to a specific area.

Still, it looks pretty useful.

Especially the active effect, which let me learn how a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scent was made. That was a serious advantage.

And the ways to use it were practically endless.

Now that I think about it, this is like movie perfume.

Still, I would have to test how much of a limit there really was, since the description mentioned one.

I headed over to the workbench, the place where it had been easiest to pick up scents, and stopped by the table first.

Huh...

It was the same smell I'd been breathing in for days, but the sensation in my nose had clearly changed.

Up until yesterday it was just walnut wood, but now I can even smell the dry dust from the wood itself.

That was only the beginning.

Beyond the mild earthiness and dampness, I could faintly detect a tart, prickling note I hadn't noticed yesterday.

There was even a strange oily richness I could feel as a scent.

The oil I had applied myself and then dried was also irritating my nose in subtle ways.

It's more detailed than I expected.

Even if it was only an auxiliary talent, a talent was still a talent.

If I do this well, I might even be able to make perfume with the scents I like.

But right now I had no knowledge of fragrance at all, which only made me feel more frustrated.

Today, I need to study scent properly.

Instead of staying in the workshop, I headed straight home.

On the way back, I bought an e-book and read it, and before I knew it, it was past ten at night.

Since it was a beginner's guide, it was easy to read, but still packed with enough information to absorb.

Perfume is a lot more complicated than I thought.

Until now, I had only thought of perfume in broad themes like jasmine, citrus, or musk.

But apparently even a single fragrance is built in three stages, from the moment you spray it until it disappears.

Even if you sprayed the same perfume, the way the scent came across changed depending on that structure.

Whenever I'd used perfume before, I thought the smell changed as time passed because it was fading, but in the first place the fragrance had been designed and made to unfold in three stages as time went on.

Then maybe I can turn the scent I smelled in the workshop into perfume too?

I closed my eyes and called up the smell of the walnut wood in my head.

To my surprise, words began to appear in my mind one after another.

I wrote down everything that came to me in a notebook.

"What the hell is all this?"

It was a parade of terms I'd never even heard before.

I searched them once.

"So these are the raw materials?"

They were the ingredients used to make the fragrance.

The only thing I regretted was this:

It doesn't tell me the ratios.

That was actually the core of perfume-making, of course.

But since this was only an auxiliary talent, I supposed I should be grateful to get even this much.

Then I want to test other scents too.

After a moment's thought, I looked around the apartment.

What about this smell in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my place?

"......damn."

The moment I saw it, I nearly jumped out of my seat.

"I-it's because of side jobs..."

There was no one to hear me, no one to see me, and yet the excuse came flying out of my mouth on its own.

Lately I'd been spending all my time at the workshop, so at home I'd only been sleeping and hadn't paid proper attention to anything.

Sniff-sniff.

When I smelled my clothes, there really did seem to be a musty odor to them.

Even the bedroom seemed to have a stale moldy smell to it.

This won't do.

With a snap, I opened the windows first.

Whoooooosh-!

Cold winter air poured into the room, but once I saw that damn keyword, "floorboard stale man smell," I didn't care about the cold or anything else. The only thing on my mind was getting rid of the odor.

Shiver, shiver, shiver.

Even while my body was shaking, instead of closing the window, I grabbed a padded coat, put it on, and wrapped myself in a blanket too.

This smells too, I think.

Flap!

I went over to the window and shook out even the blanket that seemed perfectly fine, just to get rid of the damp smell.

Dammit. How did it end up like this?

After thinking about it carefully, I came to one conclusion.

Is it because I haven't been dating?

Maybe that was why no one had visited the house lately.

And because of that, I must have naturally let my guard down and gone numb.

I need to keep my head straight.

In this state, if I ever brought someone home after flirting with them, I'd probably kill the mood instantly instead.

Dammit. This weekend, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instead of going to the workshop, I need to clean the whole place.

Saturday morning.

The moment I woke up, I picked up a dusting cloth before my toothbrush.

Tap-tap-tap.

I beat the dust off the furniture.

Whirrrrr-!

I ran the vacuum cleaner twice on purpose.

Scrape, scrape, scrape.

I even mopped the floor for the first time in ages.

Anything else I can do?

After some thought, I grabbed a scrub brush and headed for the bathroom.

Scrub, scrub, scrub.

I cleaned everything from the sink to the shower stall and the toilet.

Next I headed to the kitchen and threw out every sour side dish in the fridge.

After that, I cleaned the dust clinging to the washing machine.

I brushed off the dirt that had collected in the shoe cabinet.

I organized the desk cluttered with side-job study notes.

And I finished the dishes I'd been putting off.

I usually used the dryer for laundry, but today I even brought out the drying rack for some special sun-drying.

Still not enough.

It still felt like some of the stale odor was hanging around.

I need to wash the comforter too.

Unfortunately, the washing machine at home was too small for it.

Normally I'd have left it for later out of sheer laziness, but not today.

Let's go to the coin laundromat.

My execution power was unusually high today.

The moment I'd made up my mind, I jammed a cap low over my head and left home with the comforter bundled in my arms.

Clatter-clatter, rattle-rattle, rumble-rumble.

The drum of the washer with the comforter inside spun hard.

Watching it come out clean and loaded with foam was enough to make my mind feel calm again.

"I should clean more often from now on..."

I shouldn't have been focused only on the wood dust at the workshop; I should have been blowing out the dust mites at home first.

Lately I'd gotten so absorbed in my side jobs that I'd forgotten everyday life existed at all.

"For now, I should rest."

I'd spent the whole morning cleaning like a lunatic, and it felt like every ounce of energy had been wrung out of me.

I stared blankly at the washing machine and tried to soothe my exhausted mind and body.

How long had it been when another notification rang out?

It looked like the video I'd edited yesterday had finally gone up.

"Oh?"

Somehow, the subscriber count had gone up again.

Of course, it still wasn't even in double digits.

To make money from videos, I need at least 1,000 subscribers...

The more I refreshed it, the slower it seemed to move.

I should turn notifications off too.

Once they started trickling in one by one, there would come a day when the algorithm finally picked me up.

For now, it was enough to focus on stacking videos.

I closed the video app and, for the first time in a while, opened my blog.

Wow, the response is better than I expected, considering I only posted it yesterday.

I knew flights, trains, and travel information were among the most popular blog topics, but the effect was even stronger than I'd hoped.

Maybe that was why I felt such a strange anticipation.

Could a first-class sponsorship come in too...?

Business class had already felt that good.

I couldn't even imagine what first class would be like.

I do want to try it at least once before I die...

But when I thought about the price, it was so brutal I couldn't even bring myself to try.

If a sponsorship comes in, I'd even be willing to burn all my vacation days to go.

Of course, I wasn't a celebrity or anything, so there was no way some company would sponsor first class for a random blog.

Still, you never know, so let me take a look.

I went through the list of sponsorship offers in detail.

Health supplements, hotel stays, exhibition invitations, restaurant vouchers, electric kettles for instant noodles, and more.

Since I'd kept up the blog pretty steadily, there were already quite a few different offers stacked up.

If I were to pick the most expensive one among them...

Wow, a five-star hotel contacted me this time too?

Sure enough, it was a hotel stay voucher.

I did briefly think about going for the weekend, but the more I considered it, the less it appealed to me.

Hotel-cation just isn't fun when you're alone.

And taking Assistant Manager Park or some other guys along to have fun with me?

That would probably just be depressing.

What else would two men do at a hotel besides drink?

If I had a girlfriend, I probably would have gone a lot more.

Then I could have tried the hotel pool, and maybe under my lover's relentless pressure I would've ended up eating SNS-trendy foods like an 80,000-won mango shaved ice or a 100,000-won bowl of jjambbong.

But if I'm eating it alone, it feels too wasteful.

Because I never even tried those things, wondering whether I really needed to spend that much money on them.

Clunk, clunk.

As I scrolled through the list with the mouse wheel, one item caught my eye.

Health checkup?

It was a welcome thing to see.

I get them through work all the time, but...

Suddenly, my mother came to mind.

Even if she does get the routine health checkups the government provides...

Those were limited to the most basic tests.

Honestly, I'd thought about sending her for a proper private checkup before.

But it was too expensive, so I couldn't do it.

To get a real exam at a hospital or screening center, 500,000 won was just the starting point, and if you added a few more detailed tests, the cost easily shot past 700,000 or 800,000 won. Every time I looked into it, I ended up putting it off because of the price.

Now that I've made some money from my side job, I had been thinking I should take her soon anyway... and if I can do it as a sponsorship, that's even better.

I immediately sent an email to the address listed.

Hello, this is Side-Hustling Teddy Bear.

Thank you for the sponsorship offer. I have a few questions, so I'm reaching out.

First, I recently had a health checkup myself, so if possible, could you instead...?

If that doesn't work, I'll pay out of pocket. That's fine.

I was already grown enough to do that much filial duty.

Soon after, I called my mother as well.

If I started with the health checkup, she'd probably feel burdened, so I opened with something else.

"Mom, how have you been? I'm running low on side dishes. Oh, could you come here and make them instead of sending them by mail? I miss your home cooking. But I'm a little busy, so I can't really go down there right now..."

"Oh, my son wants his mother's cooking? Of course I should come and make it for you myself! When should I come up?"

"I'll check the date and let you know. For now..."

***

A few days later.

At a health screening center in Songpa District.

"Oh, honey, I'm fine. I came here to make side dishes, so what do I need a health checkup for?"

My mother waved her hands vigorously.

"Besides, tests at a place like this are expensive. I don't need it."

"No, Mom."

I smiled as I spoke.

"This is free."

"...Free?"

My mother looked surprised, then narrowed her eyes.

"You're not saying that on purpose because you think I'll feel bad, are you?"

"No, really. I've been running a blog lately as a hobby, and this came in as a sponsorship."

"They do things like that?"

"Yeah. So don't worry and just get checked."

"Really...?"

My mother was still unsure, but after I showed her the sponsorship email, she finally looked convinced.

Later, at the reception desk.

"This health screening is provided by the center, so there's nothing for you to pay separately."

Only after the staff member confirmed it did she finally relax and break into a bright smile.

"Hoho, I'm living well thanks to my son."

"I still need to take a few photos from the side, you know? So don't worry about anything and just go through the exams in order. I'll come with you later as your guardian for the sedation endoscopy."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"All right, all right."

"You can change into the exam gown and come upstairs."

"Got it."

Leaving my mother behind, I went up to the screening center first.

Hm...

But the moment the door opened, I felt my shoulders loosen without even realizing it.

It smells nice.

I didn't actually like the sharp hospital smell of alcohol or disinfectant.

Even though this was a health screening center, I had assumed it would be similar since it was attached to a hospital, but unexpectedly a soft chocolate scent filled the entire place.

It wasn't so strong that it stung my nose or felt overwhelming.

And it didn't divide people's tastes the way basil or citrus might.

The gentle sweetness of chocolate spread quietly through the air, and my mood lifted with it.

Sure enough, the moment my mother came in too, she said,

"I've always felt tense when I came for health checkups, but today I feel at ease."

She seemed to feel calm and comfortable.

"Maybe it's because I'm here with Seojun?"

Of course, my mother wasn't especially sensitive to smells, so she probably just thought it was because of her son.

Now that I'm more sensitive to fragrance, I can feel more clearly how much scent affects people's emotions.

Just looking at my mother, I could see that even if she didn't consciously notice it herself, the scent was clearly putting her at ease.

Fragrance might be something I can apply to way more things than I thought.

And with that thought, another idea I'd forgotten suddenly flashed through my head.

Wait a second. If scent can affect people's minds this positively... couldn't I apply it to a pop-up store too?

It looked like I'd just come up with a brilliant idea.