He had an undeniably commanding presence.
It was the classic “I’m the CEO” aura.
Still, it was surprising.
I had assumed the head of a game company like this would be a young woman,
but instead, it was an older man.
It caught me a little off guard, but I quickly extended my hand.
“Ah, nice to meet you.”
“Haha.”
After shaking hands with the CEO, we sat down in the office chairs.
We needed to have a proper discussion about the contract.
“I’ve really enjoyed the illustrations you’ve done for us so far. You captured the characters’ charm perfectly.”
“Haha… I just did my job.”
And I meant that.
With the amount I was being paid, there was no way I wouldn’t put in the effort.
I had to deliver what I was paid for.
“Not at all. These days, there are too many people who don’t put in the work they’re paid for…”
The CEO let out a deep sigh before smiling again.
The conversation had settled into an awkward silence when.
“Alright, I’ll explain the plans now!”
The woman from earlier approached and set up a tablet.
“So, we’ve finalized the event venue. Now, we need additional illustrations for the event. Unfortunately, many of our regular illustrators are unavailable due to illness,
so, Yoddu, we’ll need you to handle most of the work.”
Wait… what?
That was news to me.
I had assumed I’d just be redrawing the characters I had worked on previously,
but now they wanted me to recreate other artists’ designs as well?
“Uh… me?”
“Yes…!”
I had been planning to accept most requests, but this was too much.
With the semester starting soon, there was no way I could take on that many commissions.
I needed to decline.
Just as I opened my mouth to speak…
‘Wait a second.’
A good idea popped into my head.
I couldn’t handle this alone, but if I worked with someone I knew, it might be possible.
So, I carefully spoke up.
“Uh… I don’t think I can do all of it myself, but would it be okay if I worked on it with someone I know? They’re also really skilled at illustration.”
The woman hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Hmm… If that’s what you want, I suppose that’s fine. As long as the final product meets our expectations, we don’t mind.”
She nodded, though she seemed a bit reluctant.
I understood why.
Heart Memorial had specifically wanted me to handle the illustrations.
So, they might not be thrilled about the idea of me bringing in someone else.
But this wasn’t something I could manage alone.
That’s why I planned to work with someone I trusted.
“Then, I’ll send you some illustration samples by tomorrow. I have a few ideas in mind.”
“Oh, alright.”
With that, we settled on a reasonable agreement and continued our discussion.
“Ugh… that was exhausting.”
Meeting people in person and negotiating business deals involving money was draining.
It felt like it completely drained my mental energy.
‘Sitting at home and talking online is definitely easier.’
At least then, I wouldn’t have to deal with face-to-face conversations.
Maybe next time, I should just suggest a video call instead.
As that thought crossed my mind, I pulled out my phone.
I had someone to contact.
Ring.
After a few rings, a familiar voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Yunha noona, are you busy these days?”
“Huh? What’s with the sudden call?”
“I just got a commission, and I thought it’d be great if we worked on it together, so I called right away.”
A brief pause.
“What kind of commission? I actually have plenty of free time right now.”
“Phew, that’s a relief.”
If she had been too busy, this would have been a real problem.
Relieved, I started explaining the commission in more detail.
“Noona, do you know a mobile game called Heart Memorial?”
“Oh, that one? I’ve seen some people in my department playing it.”
“The game company is hosting a big event, and I’ve been tasked with creating illustrations for the event merch.”
“…Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
There was no reason to lie about it.
It was something to be proud of, after all.
“But once I started, I realized it was too much to handle alone. So, I was looking for someone to work with…and I thought you’d be a perfect fit, so I reached out.”
“Ooh, that sounds fun.”
Seo Yunha sounded genuinely interested.
That was a relief.
If she had refused, I would’ve had to do it all myself.
Or maybe reach out to Ryu Arim instead.
Feeling reassured, I continued.
“Alright, noona. I’ll send you high-resolution versions of the game’s characters.
Let’s go over them together and figure out our approach.”
“Sounds good. It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this.”
“Come on, you get big commissions all the time.”
“Yeah, but it’s been a while since I worked on something this big. And I’ve never done anything for a mobile game before.”
That made sense.
Getting illustration work from mobile game companies wasn’t easy.
Most companies preferred to stick with their contracted illustrators.
With that thought, we began our brainstorming session.
“So, I think placing this here would look cool. What do you think?”
“Yeah, I like it. I actually have a few ideas too. I’ll sketch them out real quick so you can take a look.”
As we exchanged ideas and sketched, time passed quickly.
“…Alright, I think we’ve got the basics down. I’ll take this to them and see what they think.”
“Cool. I’m getting tired anyway.”
“Get some rest.”
“Ugh~”
Finally, the meeting was over.
“Ugh… I’m exhausted.”
My whole body felt sore and stiff.
Every joint ached.
Honestly, I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep.
That’s how drained I was.
But.
‘I still have to stream.’
No one was forcing me.
This was entirely my choice.
Even so, I had a reason for streaming.
Soon, I wouldn’t be able to do it whenever I wanted.
Once the semester started, there was no way I could go live freely.
There were just too many variables.
Thinking that, I started my stream.
[Stream has started!]
As soon as the notification popped up, viewers began pouring in.
[+HurryAndLeave: Hihi]
[You’re kinda late today, Yoddu.]
[Next time, be on time, okay?]
[Pepe: I was suffering while waiting, man.]
[You guys are getting spoiled lol.]
[Classes are starting soon anyway, so we gotta enjoy this while we can.]
“Ah… What has everyone been up to?”
[??]
[+HurryAndLeave: Literally nothing.]
[Just working.]
[Been resting at home.]
[Pepe: Were we supposed to be doing something?
Looked like most people were just relaxing.
Made sense.
The weekend was approaching, after all.
But still.
‘Might as well promote the event on stream.’
I decided to talk about the upcoming Heart Memorial event.
Not that I had anything to gain from it.
It wasn’t like my contract had any incentive bonuses tied to sales.
But.
‘It’d be nice if it did well anyway.’
If I was working on it, it wouldn’t hurt for the event to be a success.
With that thought, I spoke up.
“Is anyone here still playing Heart Memorial? I heard the player base has been growing.”
[+HurryAndLeave: Oh yeah, that game’s fun lol.]
[A lot more people are playing these days.]
[Pretty much every anime fan plays it.]
[What’s that?]
[Pepe: If you watch Yoddu’s stream and don’t know Heart Memorial, you’re just pretending lol.]
[Are you playing Heart Memorial today?]
The fact that even the shortened name “HaMe” was widely understood meant a lot of people were actually playing.
That was good.
I didn’t want to promote something only to hear.
“What the hell is that, you idiot?”
Not that I expected many people not to know about it.
“I got another Heart Memorial project recently, so I wanted to share some details.”
[+HurryAndLeave: Oh?]
[What is it?]
[New character illustrations?]
[Now this sounds interesting.]
[Pepe: What is it?]
[Hurry up and tell us!]
I briefly covered my screen and pulled up an image of the event venue from the internet.
“Here, take a look.”
[??]
[What is this place?]
[+HurryAndLeave: What’s happening here?]
[Play Reore! Play Reore! Play Reore! Play Reore!]
User has been temporarily muted!
[Can’t believe how persistent these Reore fans are lol.]
[Pepe: Oh, I’ve been there before.]
[Pepe: Isn’t that an event venue?]
After showing the image, I got to the main point.
“They’re hosting a Heart Memorial event here. And the venue will be decorated with my illustrations.”
[+HurryAndLeave: ???]
[Wait, for real?]
[Wow.]
[That place is huge.]
[Heart Memorial is taking over this entire venue?]
[Pepe: Heart Memorial really leveled up, damn.]
[Now this is peak HaMe.]
[Yoddu.]
[Just how far are you gonna go, Yoddu?]
[So… are you coming too?]
[No way Yoddu’s actually going lol.]
“I’ll probably… sneak in unnoticed? I don’t like drawing too much attention.”
I checked the chat again.
And a moment later.
The chat had completely exploded.