Prologue
Office, 10:10 AM.
A vibration rang from my pocket.
I looked around to see if anyone was nearby, then carefully took out my phone and checked it.
【Deposit】
【Megamedia : 100,643,231 Won】
100 million!
I clenched both fists.
An amount tens of times my monthly salary had been deposited into my account.
This day I had waited for so long.
I thought I would just feel happy, but various thoughts came to mind.
4 years ago,
After only reading webnovels as a reader, I started writing a modern fantasy story based on my office life.
It was close to a minor hobby, earning just enough for chicken money each month, but hitting it big happened in an instant.
My 4th work received an overwhelming amount of attention, and I was extremely excited when I first received ten million won in royalties.
The world looked different, and I even wrote a resignation letter, intending to quit this damned company immediately.
A life free from commuting.
Just imagining it felt like I was floating.
However, after some time passed and I calmed down, thinking about it,
Even with ten million won a month, after spending on living expenses, allowance, etc., the amount I could save per month was only about 7 million won.
If I were to get married, it would likely be difficult to save even that much.
And most importantly,
‘Royalties are not a salary.’
Meaning, it's not stable like a salary.
Even if I earned ten million won a month, I could go back to earning just chicken money if I couldn't release a new work.
The more I thought about it, deciding to quit with ten million won a month seemed like a gamble,
‘I’ll quit when I hit 100 million a month.’
With that much, even if the next work didn't do well, I felt I wouldn't be anxious.
I set the goal and continued working both jobs······ but as I started earning an extra ten million won in royalties besides my salary, my company life changed.
‘I brought coffee and donuts~’
‘How about after work? My treat!’
‘What would you like to eat?’
As my spending naturally increased, I gained more close colleagues around me,
‘Deputy Manager Go Min-hyuk! This isn't right!’
‘Is the report still not done?’
‘Hey! You, come here.’
Even when I occasionally heard harsh words from seniors or the team leader, I just took it in stride and wasn't particularly affected.
Words that used to hurt didn't hurt anymore; maybe it was like seeing the same world from a little further back?
Seeing people who considered their slightly higher rank and earning just a few hundred thousand won more as great authority, I wondered why fellow office workers acted like that.
Not getting stressed at work, getting along well with colleagues,
‘Really, would quitting be good?’
As my perspective on company life changed, I started wondering if I would truly be happy if I quit.
Writing one 5,000-character chapter of a webnovel takes about 3 hours, which is enough.
Investing 3 hours a day, what would I do with the remaining time?
Isn't earning money everything?
Most of my relationships are with people from the company.
Moreover, I'm free regarding the dual employment.
I had inquired with the HR team about the relevant employment rules,
and confirmed that as long as I didn't divulge trade secrets or use important technology, the company couldn't force me to stop side jobs done outside of work hours.
Since I never engage in writing activities at the company, there's no issue,
and furthermore, since royalties are classified as business income and taxed separately at year-end, there's almost no chance the company will find out about my earnings.
In the unlikely event the company makes an issue of it, the worst would be dismissal,
Well······ dismissal, if it happens, it happens.
【Megamedia : 100,643,231 Won】
I looked at the balance once again.
After hitting ten million won a month, company life became much more enjoyable; I wonder what it will be like at 100 million a month.
100 million won a month.
I achieved the goal, but…….
‘Maybe······ I should stay at the company a little longer?’
***
“Deputy Manager Go! Team Leader meeting!”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
“What were you doing that made you jump like that?”
I had been lost in thought, looking at the amount deposited in my account.
I blinked, trying to snap out of it, and replied.
“It's nothing.”
I hadn't made up my mind yet, so I was just spacing out,
“You need to go now. You'll be late.”
No matter how I thought about it, leaving the company like this felt regrettable.
Once I leave, I'll probably never work in a company again.
“Alright, let's go.”
I pushed back my chair and stood up,
and left the office with my junior colleague.
While walking down the hallway, the junior colleague kept grumbling.
“This darn meeting, really.”
“······.”
“I don't know why we always do the obvious things. Checking and rechecking.”
He wasn't originally someone who complained a lot, but thanks to someone, he's been changing year by year.
I said with a laugh.
“Isn't that the team leader's only job? Just let it go.”
“It’s best when we complain together, but at some point, Senior, you became too soft.”
“Not soft, just gave up.”
“How can you be so laid-back? Do you meditate or something?”
The royalties from my work had a decisive influence on my change, but I couldn't tell him that.
“Haha, where would I find time to meditate?”
Before long, we arrived in front of the meeting room,
I took a short breath and then spoke.
“I might change again in the future, so don't be too surprised.”
“Who? Our team leader?”
“Let's go in.”
‘GoPlay’
The company name written on the meeting room door caught my eye today.
I work at the largest domestic OTT company competing against Nutflix.
Clack.
When I opened the meeting room door and went inside, a middle-aged man with sunken cheeks glared at me.
“Hurry up and get here.”
“I'm sorry.”
Kim Se-jun, Operations Team Leader.
He's the typical type who's strong against the weak and weak against the strong, and extremely meticulous only about trivial things.
He's quite a tiring style to have as a team leader.
The main task of the Operations Team I belong to is checking incoming content—videos, images, content information, etc.—for issues and encoding it appropriately for the OTT platform.
There are many meetings and a lot of manual work,
and we handle tasks that are busy but don't show much result.
“What happened with the SSB (American Cable Network) content delivery?”
Just as expected, he was checking again what was checked yesterday.
After listening to the person in charge report for a while,
“Regarding the automatic logic development from the Curation Team, they're asking us to do the QA testing, you see?”
The Curation Team handles the task of organizing content within the app.
It's a role called the 'flower' of OTT; simply put, they are content curators.
My junior colleague asked.
“They're implementing development? We weren't informed about this?”
“They said they implemented it because they needed it.”
“…….”
“They said testing isn't their job, so they requested us to do it.”
I dislike the Curation Team wielding absolute power, but Team Leader Kim is even more annoying.
It's always like this.
He doesn't want to clash with collaborating departments, so he brings back tasks that team members don't need to do.
The team members are just pushovers.
Everyone's face turned red with dissatisfied expressions, but they kept their mouths shut.
They can't say a peep to the collaborating departments, but they wield superpower only over the team members, so they don't know what trouble they might face if they say a word.
I, too, had lived my company life like that until now.
I stayed quiet because I didn't want to create troublesome situations.
“That, why should we have to do it?”
Everyone looked at me.
That sound had just popped out of my mouth.
The company I decided to stay at a little longer.
I want to live my company life differently than before.
“Team Leader, do you really think that task is our responsibility?”
Even though Team Leader Kim's rank is higher than mine, my monthly income is much higher.
Because I'm a salaryman + a 100-million-a-month author.
There's no reason to back down.
“Since you check every day, you know very well that the team members are swamped because of the recent increase in content deliveries, don't you?”
It was the first time I had taken the lead and spoken out, so I felt a sense of shrinking back, but,
‘It's okay. I can go all out.’
The ‘Deposit 100,643,231 Won’ flashed through my mind.
“If they pass the buck, should we just accept it? That's not right! You should discuss it fiercely, as befits a Team Leader!”
Silence fell in the meeting room,
Team Leader Kim's eyes and mouth dropped open.