Chapter 27
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Pizza Diplomacy
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Yoo Jin-seong and Jin-guk showed up with pizza. Go Ye-jin didn't join us, probably swamped with work.
'She's feeling shy.'
That expression was plain as day to me. Besides, I'd spent ten years looking at over forty faces, including my missing colleagues, and played the senior role every time one of them walked in.
"Why aren't you eating?"
"I'm on a diet."
Even I struggled with middle-school syndrome in girls, but looking at Team Leader Cha's face, it seemed like he was hoping his daughter would crack even a little smile.
As Team Leader Cha turned away with a smack of his lips at his daughter's curt reply, Yoo Jin-seong spoke up.
"Want this one then?"
There were two pizzas: combination and bulgogi.
"I said I'm on a diet."
"That's why you should eat this. Bulgogi's tastier."
"......Huh?"
"Mom always said good food doesn't make you gain weight. This has gotta be less fattening, right?"
Jin-guk chimed in from the side.
"Of course! Absolutely right!"
Yoo Jin-seong tossed a slice of bulgogi pizza to the girl and then devoured his own like a beast. His face was such a mess you couldn't tell if he was eating with his mouth or his whole head, but he still looked ridiculously handsome.
'Goddamn unfair world.'
That guy could beg on the streets and end up a chaebol heir.
'While some of us rot away writing novels!'
Gulp!
The two flower beggars were wiping out the pizza at a maniacal pace. Maybe that's why the girl, who'd been swallowing hard, picked up the slice Jin-seong gave her.
She took a small nibble, then started munching away.
Once her stomach was somewhat filled, Jin-guk said,
"We gotta unify quick so the folks up top can try this delicious stuff too."
"That's exactly why we're eating—for that day. Don't hold back. Let's power through for their share."
"Sniff, yes, bro! My throat's stuffed now, but I'll give it my all!"
......Just buy it with your own money if you're that hungry.
Munch.
The girl stared at the two, unable to swallow her pizza. Yeah, now you get what kind of guys they are...... Why's your face turning red!
"Thanks to the president, we get to sit around like this and chow down on pizza. No idea how long it's been."
At those words, the girl froze.
Ah, plot flag for backstory. The kind where painful memories flood back and she bolts. I steered the conversation elsewhere.
"On break and bored? Wanna try a part-time gig?"
"Part-time?"
The girl's eyes went wide. Team Leader Cha cleared his throat with a cough.
"A kid like her doing part-time work......"
"I'm not a kid!"
Hey, hey, pizza's innocent. Don't throw it. Someone out there might be shedding tears over a single slice right now, grinding out words.
"It's all people we know. Might even be the safest spot around."
Better than strutting around flashy streets in a short skirt, right? Staying in her dad's line of sight?
"What do I do?"
Though the girl seemed more interested in Yoo Jin-seong's gaze.
"The webtoon team's short-staffed on typesetting. The old-timers refuse, and assistants find it a hassle. Learn it in a few days, and you'll nail it."
"What's typesetting?"
"Stuff like sharpening speech bubble tails or stretching and shrinking sound effects. Not hard."
Creators hate this grunt work most. I'd seen them fight over it even in hell.
"I'll do it! What first?"
"Eat two slices of pizza today."
"......"
"Before it gets cold."
Team Leader Cha wore a complicated expression as his daughter picked up the slice she'd set down.
"Take care of her for a bit, Jin-seong."
"You got it."
With nothing but spies on that flower beggar's mind, the girl would be safe enough.
"Oh, bro."
"Yeah?"
"Yesterday, I beat up two punk kids loitering nearby."
This flower beggar too......
"What'd they do?"
"Tossed cigarette butts in our turf. Wet-behind-the-ears brats spitting everywhere. And you clean up spotless every morning."
"Good job. Have an extra slice."
"Sniff...... I'm at my limit, but I'll push through!"
No need to go that far.
"Tell me if they show up again."
"No need for you, bro. I'll handle it. Kids in the neighborhood can't even meet my eyes anymore. Time to tighten discipline around here."
Suddenly it's a school drama? Going for national domination?
I stood first as the Nowon duo snickered.
"See you tomorrow."
The girl nodded dazedly at me. We'd need parental consent, but......
"President...... Sigh......"
He's right there; he'll figure it out. Better to burst a boil than let it fester.
Another fulfilling day at the office wrapped up, and I headed home. Not even five minutes away, but I felt drained once in my room.
Belly full—time to do some serious searching?
Mmph! Mmph-mmph!
The man with a cloth over his face twisted desperately, but with hands and feet bound, he couldn't even sit up.
'What? Why?'
Why was this happening? No money at our place?
'No way.'
Human trafficking, organ harvesting, shrimp fishing...... Horrible scenarios chained in his mind. Then a foul smell made him black out, and a voice echoed through the room.
"Fuck. Tougher than I thought."
The man wiped his hands with a clean towel, cursing.
He'd thought his plan perfect, but dragging an unconscious body solo was harder than expected.
"Anyway, game's on."
He scanned the room. Bed, desk, computer on top. Checked the corner shower and toilet worked fine, wall speakers too.
"Hope this bastard performs as good as that guy."
No telling how long it'd take, but he knew writers only shone under extreme pressure.
Snip snip.
He cut off the fallen man's clothes with scissors and laid new ones on the bed.
For now, he'd watch police and media reactions to the disappearance. Plan was flawless—no loose ends.
"Memento Mori...... Shame. If I'd known months earlier, I'd have grabbed him."
No choice now. Touching a big name like that would draw unwanted heat.
He eyed the wall.
Office Code of Conduct
1. Collect 100 points to earn freedom.
1. No work, no rights.
1. Insult the Team Leader or office, face penalties.
A system he'd agonized over for four years. Obsessed with perfect money-making, sure, but he hated writers too.
At first, they groveled like idiots—"Heh heh heh, make us sell, teach us anything!"—but sell a bit, and they turned arrogant bullies.
"No more creative, perfect system than this."
Finding talent was easy—his old job. He'd seen how fast people wrote under duress.
He nudged the fallen man with his foot and grinned.
"Looking forward to working with you, Number 1."
Stimulation works like this: taste level one, crave two; get used to it, hunger for more. Novels too.
"......"
"......"
With two writers before me, I felt relief they weren't familiar faces—and a twinge of disappointment I couldn't hide.
"Regression codes are hot now, but it'll shift to new trends soon."
Reincarnation, possession mixed in; past lives, returns, S-ranks rampaging, chaos gates opening.
Hard road alone—more allies, the better.
"What kind of new trends?"
Writer Jeong Yong showed interest.
"Protagonists taking quests, modern hunters battling monsters, genre boundaries blurring."
"Game fantasy?"
"Similar, but different."
Concepts seem obvious once known, nebulous before.
Who starts matters, but it needs mass appeal to birth a genre.
These two had the most potential of recent writers I'd seen.
"Looking forward to working together."
Meeting over, back at the goshiwon, I sorted my thoughts.
How to leverage my abilities and time?
'Ten years.'
Half a year gone, nine and a half left to lead. But pulling out regression-reincarnation would accelerate web novel changes.
'Mass-produce more content.'
TV addicts would flock to YouTube, SNS; OTT launch flips the board again.
'It's gearing up already.'
First to ride that wave dominates content.
'No limits.'
Anyone seeing me predict content's future from a dingy goshiwon would call me mad. But I was buttoning the first one right; web novels and webtoons needed freer habitat to thrive.
-Where?
So I summoned Ye-jin.
-Rooftop.
Rooftop break room construction nearly done. Family could eat in nicer digs soon.
"What's up?"
I rarely sought her first, so she asked warily.
"Good idea popped up. Want your take."
"What idea?"
"What can't conglomerates do?"
"In our field?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm......"
Obvious she wouldn't know. But I knew the massive untapped market. Problem: not my expertise.
"No clue."
"Adult content."
"Pardon?"
"Not harassment—business."
The so-called 19+ adult market was long seen as male-dominated. But in ten years, everything flips.
"Gonna claim the women's 19+ market first."
"......You mean smut for women?"
"Not smut—romance. High heat level."
"Will it sell?"
"It will. So scout talent to build and run a platform. Artists too, for direct webtoon adaptations of women's 19+ novels."
"How far does this 19+ go?"
"You'll figure it out making them."
From year six of captivity, the Team Leader demanded one thing from female writers.
'BL, ropan, hyunpan—all 19+.'
Tons of women opened wallets for those genres. No wonder that demon pushed so hard.
"We just build the environment. Playground ready, players will come."
"Got it. I'll check costs first."
Male and all-ages romance locked by incumbents—tough compete.
But women's 19+ was the sole blue ocean now. Gather the scattered small-timers, and we win.
'Conglomerates too image-conscious to touch.'
Isn't this how you make real money?