Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Launch (3)
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The morning of the day the Reverse Arcadia Korean server officially launched.
The RA Studio was buzzing from early morning, probably because it was launch day.
Staff from the management support team setting up workstations for the operations crew,
studio employees from each department hustling around for the final pre-launch checks,
and operations team members receiving their last training session in one corner of the conference room.
In the midst of all this, everything meshing together like interlocking gears, I felt an inexplicable unease nagging at me.
Something felt off, like I'd overlooked something...
I couldn't shake the discomfort, so I pulled up a checklist, methodically ruling out items one by one until I pinpointed the issue.
'Right, there's one thing I haven't checked yet.'
The commemorative illustrations.
Not the pre-registration goal achievement ones, but the launch commemorative illustrations—the deadline for those had been this morning, so I hadn't gotten around to reviewing them.
Once I realized that, I understood why I'd been feeling so off.
What if the freelance artist who'd drawn an unchecked illustration pulled something shady?
And what if I released it to the players without knowing?
A day that should be a celebration would turn into a witch hunt—it was obvious.
'Well, at least it's not too late.'
Determined to wrap up the review before it was, I headed to the art team and called for Yerin.
"Senior. What's up?"
"Have all the artists' commemorative illustrations for today's release arrived?"
She paused to think for a moment, then nodded.
"One came in right at the wire on the deadline... but yeah, everything's here."
"Good. You got nothing urgent right now, do you?"
"I do have one thing left with the planning team."
"Finish that up, then grab all the illustration files and the freelance artist lists and bring them to my office. Got it?"
Yerin nodded in response.
"Sure thing."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ About 20 minutes later, Yerin showed up at my office with everything I'd asked for.
"Just like you said—illustration files on the tablet, artist lists printed out. They're loaded in the order listed, so go ahead and check."
"Thanks. You must've been swamped."
"It was nothing."
Yerin shrugged it off like it was no big deal and took a sip of the coffee I'd handed her.
I glanced at her for a second, then turned to the artist list.
"Let's see..."
The list in my hand had info for 11 artists total.
'Let's see...'
First artist... JH?
Ah.
The familiar nickname jogged my memory once I checked the artist's details and illustration.
'This is the one.'
Someone who'd been active in fan creations for Girls Memorial back when it was obscure, and showed up at events often enough to stick in my mind.
Looks like they'd joined the commemorative illustrations this time too.
Trustworthy enough, so I moved on, checking the next ones in sequence.
"Ash, Usamimi, Violence... all solid reputations."
"Right? You kept stressing it, so I double- and triple-checked with people I know before picking them."
"Good work."
"No problem."
We chatted lightly as I continued the review, when one illustration caught my eye.
It was top-tier quality, no complaints there.
The characters' outfits were a tad more modest than usual, which felt a little off, but nothing major.
Still, this art style and the nickname... it rang a bell, just out of reach.
SONYA, SONYA... where have I heard that before?
Noticing my hesitation, Yerin peeked at the tablet.
"Oh, checking out SONYA? She's tough to recruit even if you try. I was shocked when she applied."
"Yeah?"
"Yep. Popularity-wise, she's on par with that first one you looked at, JH."
"Quality's definitely there, but..."
I racked my brain, but nothing came up. Figured I was just being paranoid and was about to move on when a memory flashed by.
Before my regression, a huge controversy with an original artist in a popular mobile game over male-bashing.
The drama itself was the usual fare—some ideologue artist's bad behavior—but one leaked comment made it infamous.
[Our Sonya went to Hawaii~~~ on money from 'those guys']
Dubbed the Hawaii Launcher incident, it spawned endless memes, and the artist at the center... SONYA.
SONYA.
That nagging familiarity? She'd blown up big-time before my regression.
Of course, now that I'd gone back in time, it might not be the same person.
SONYA was a common enough handle.
But my gut screamed it was her.
No hard proof, though... time to dig.
"Yerin."
"Yeah?"
"Did you check SONYA's SNS? Especially Twitter."
"Oh, yeah. Went through everything public. Nothing stood out."
"Really?"
"Yep. Looked like any 20-something girl's feed. Her Twitter's on the list—check it yourself."
"Alright. Hang on."
At her nudge, I paused the review and pulled up SONYA's Twitter page.
Recent posts were innocuous—art and daily life stuff. Totally what Yerin described.
But I knew better.
You can't judge Twitter by its surface.
Deleting posts—cleaning house—is way too easy there.
Fortunately, ways to counter that had evolved too, and I knew one.
After a moment's thought, I entered her account into a site that real-time syncs and archives Twitter DBs.
And Pandora's box flew open.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ In a plain one-room officetel.
She'd just collapsed into bed after an all-nighter when her smartphone started vibrating, jolting her awake.
"Ugh, who the hell at this hour...!"
Scratching her messy hair, she sat up. Her name was Choi Hyeji.
A pro illustrator going by SONYA on Twitter.
"I specifically said no contacts after dark... some trash dude DMing about freelance work?"
Still half-asleep, her bleary eyes focused on Twitter. It was a DM from Reverse Arcadia's official account.
'Official account DM? What's this about?'
She opened it casually, and froze at the unexpected message.
It notified her that her illustration wouldn't be used. Regrettably.
The absurdity snapped her awake.
'What the...?'
Her head wouldn't clear—this was too ridiculous right after waking.
'Call them... there was a contact.'
She frantically scrolled her call log and found Ji Hojin, the director she'd spoken to for the contract.
The call connected after a few rings.
"H-Hello? Is this Ji Hojin, director of Reverse Arcadia...?"
[Yes, that's me.]
"This is Choi Hyeji... we talked about the illustration contract before."
[Ah, Hyeji. I was just about to reach out. What's up?]
"Um... I got this weird message just now."
[What kind?]
"It said you've decided not to use my finished illustration...?"
[Yes, that's correct.]
Hojin responded calmly to her question.
"What? Why? I drew it, you accepted it—shouldn't you release it to the players? Doing this without reason..."
[Hold on. Seems like you're misunderstanding, SONYA. We do have a reason for not using it.]
"Then what reason?! Tell me!"
[We found posts on your Twitter that could spark issues due to specific ideologies. After internal discussion, we decided against using it.]
Hyeji was dumbfounded.
Specific ideologies?
'What did I do wrong?'
Sure, she'd vented about Korean men on Twitter, but that wasn't a problem.
"What ideology? You're trying to pin this on me—explain properly. If you can't, I'll go public on Twitter..."
[Korean men are filthy—it's world-famous. That lowlife at the next lunch table called me a bitch to my face.]
"Wh-what are you even..."
[Today's vibe: Korean male worm? Men should stay home meekly... Want more?]
Hyeji felt her mind go blank at the words from the phone.
They were tweets she'd deleted before submitting, fearing they'd be red flags.
"H-how did you..."
[Go public on Twitter, you said? If you truly think you're innocent, go ahead.]
"N-no, but I didn't straight-up insult anyone... 'Korean male' is just shorthand, and the rest is my personal opinion..."
Hojin cut off her nonsense without a second thought.
[SONYA, pick one. Go public if you think you're clean, or end the contract quietly without excuses. Which is it?]
Tears welled up from the injustice.
She didn't think she'd done anything to deserve this.
But in the end, she had no choice but the second option.
She wanted to go public, but her art career was too precious to risk without backup.
Hating one gender while profiting off art that appealed to them was a contradiction she hadn't grasped yet.
"...Contract terminated. Fine."
[Wise choice. Shame it ended sour this time—hope for better next time.]
What a joke.
He hung up abruptly after that.
Even after the call ended, she sat speechless for a long while.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A few hours later.
The Reverse Arcadia Korean server launched alongside the release of the commemorative illustrations from all artists except Hyeji.