Chapter 28: A Person Who Codes While Guarding a Baby Bag, Part 3

“Wow…”

!!!

Choi Arin, upon realizing the meaning of the strange phrase ‘M4 Kid Bag Guard’, looked at Do Jin-ho as if she were looking at a beast for a moment.

“Anyway… So these are the sources prepared so far? The story is also out up to the demo portion?”

“That’s right.”

To suppress the creeping shame, Do Jin-ho decided to focus on the work discussion with Min Hayoon.

“When is the demo release schedule?”

“For now, I’m thinking around the end of March or the beginning of April. And the goal is to reveal it, not exactly release it.”

“What’s the difference…?”

“We’re not just releasing the demo, we’re planning to reveal the merchandise on a funding site along with the demo.”

“Ah.”

And Min Hayoon.

Every moment, she showed moves that were ahead of Do Jin-ho’s expectations.

Honestly, at this point, the domestic visual novel scene had a strong impression of being ‘indie games’ that often used amateur voice actors and focused on the release itself rather than profit.

Since even teams that actively utilize the funding system were few, it was natural that Do Jin-ho couldn’t quickly think of funding.

“But if you’re going to utilize the funding system, don’t you have to design other merchandise? Is there enough time to complete it by the end of March or the beginning of April…?”

“What’s so difficult about that? There’s nothing to think deeply about. We just need to create illustrations with the same composition as the ones we sold at Surf.”

“You… You have it all planned out…?”

“Of course. Besides, it’s not as tight as you think since we only need to reveal about half of the merchandise designs.”

Actually, no matter how fast you are, if you prioritize fast work, you have to sacrifice some degree of completion.

But what if you’re copying the exact same composition of your own drawing that you’ve already drawn?

You can maintain a fast work speed while also maintaining quality.

Since most of the demo sources are already prepared, it’s not that difficult to plan the merchandise design with the goal of a March/April release.

“Then, let’s exchange contacts. If you send me the sources, I’ll go home and start working right away.”

And when the conversation reached this point, Do Jin-ho naturally prepared to leave.

It was obvious.

Because Choi Arin’s gaze towards him had been strange for a while.

He felt like his dignity as a human being would be lost if he stayed here any longer, and he wanted to hurry home and work comfortably in his own room.

And Min Hayoon…

As if she had noticed Do Jin-ho’s discomfort, she naturally went along with the mood to break up.

Actually, she felt a bit sorry for Do Jin-ho, who had been under Choi Arin’s gaze for a while.

‘We finished our coffee, so we should go home. It’s rude to stay too long.’

Min Hayoon also wanted to go home.

It was a good thing for Do Jin-ho, and that didn’t change.

“Phone number…?”

There was a small commotion as Choi Arin looked at Min Hayoon with an expression that said, ‘Do I have to exchange numbers with this guy?’

“We need to exchange numbers. We need to be able to contact each other.”

“Sigh, I guess so. Alright.”

Min Hayoon managed to smooth things over, and Choi Arin and Do Jin-ho exchanged numbers without any major problems.

Min Hayoon could act as a bridge a few times, but she couldn’t do it forever.

Because of the shocking nickname ‘M4 Kid Bag Guard’, his evaluation as a human being couldn’t be good…

“Send me a text. So I can check.”

“O-okay… Sent it.”

“Confirmed.”

In the end, it’s a process that must be gone through.

Now that Choi Arin and Do Jin-ho had exchanged numbers…

“Now, let’s get back to work.”

It’s time to make money.

The deadline set by the status window was the first day of high school, and Min Hayoon remembered that her first day as a freshman back then had been postponed until May.

There was still some time left until the deadline, but Min Hayoon wanted to be as thorough as possible.

Especially when the status window didn’t specify the exact penalty, as it had this time.

So.

To ensure stable profits from this funding, she will mobilize all possible means.

From now on, she will diligently build up and gather people who will fund the merchandise.

And the tool she will use for this build-up is.

[LIVE] High School Girl Home Shopping Season 2 (51)

-What the hell are you up to this time…

-You already used this once.

-It’s a bit stale.

Viewers quickly flocked to the stream, 50 of them in an instant, and today, Min Hayoon got straight to the point without much delay.

“I’m going to make merchandise, so I’m taking ideas.”

-What merchandise?

-What merchandise can a streamer with a few hundred followers make.

“Not my merchandise, I need to make game merchandise.”

-Ah, that thing from last time?

-You were serious about that.

At first, the viewers were excited, but they quickly changed their attitude when they realized what Min Hayoon was talking about.

[1,000 won donation]

-You’re going to include the holy trinity, right?

“Of course, I have to include the holy trinity. Mouse pad. Acrylic stand, tapestry. I need to think about what to add to this…”

-I prefer an acrylic frame over an acrylic stand.

-Let’s make mochi balls, too. Mochi balls.

“I think mochi balls are a bit too cutesy for a male-oriented dating sim…”

-What the f***?

-That’s true, to be honest.

-Note, too cutesy…

“How about a fragrance that our otaku friends can spray when they go to events? A sweet berry scent?”

-Does that mean we don’t have to wash if we spray that?

-That’s a good idea?

“No, you still have to wash even if you have the fragrance, you guys…”

After that, there was more useless nonsense, but at least some good ideas came out of it.

Min Hayoon took it a step further and divided the merchandise into different tiers.

There are five types: VVIP Edition, VIP Edition, Platinum Edition, Normal Edition, and the game itself.

It might seem a bit few, but Min Hayoon, although knowledgeable in this field, has no experience selling games.

There isn’t much time either, so she thought it was better to keep the product configuration simple and focus on the quality of the work and goods.

After finishing the discussion on the stream, Min Hayoon organized the components and prices for each edition in an Excel file and sent it to the group chat.

Now, the next step is…

“Those who received a request coupon last time, come out.”

-What if we don’t have one?

“If you don’t have one, just watch.”

-No, I mean those who have a request coupon but aren’t here.

-Yeah, what about them.

“Well… too bad…”

-Ah.

[1,000 won donation]

-I have a wish coupon, can I see 2V looking up while holding onto a man’s leg?

“Manager.”

-What is he even saying…

“I got it, but 2V… Is that the one from Nier: Automata? The one with the blindfold?”

-Yeah, that one.

Can you draw her with a desperate feeling, like she’s realized her love and is begging him not to leave?

“I’ll give you two options: use all your coupons to get a high-quality drawing, or use one coupon to get a drawing of the usual quality I do on stream. Choose.”

-Then I’ll use all three.

-Noted.

“Okay, confirmed… Can you give me more details on the composition…?”

She was planning to clear out the pending drawing requests and end the stream.

In the art world, time management is crucial, and Min Hayoon had made quite a few promises to her viewers.

She needed to spend a day resolving these promises to avoid problems with game development or streaming.

#

Time flies.

Min Hayoon focused on drawing streams for viewers on weekends and on writing the art sources and story for Cosplay Holic on weekdays.

Of course, there’s a downside that if you follow such a drastic routine and the project flops, you’ll experience an overwhelming burnout…

But right now, the environment where she can devote herself entirely to work for a week is more important.

If Cosplay Holic’s performance is a disaster and she can’t make money, she might be stuck in burnout for a month, but at least she won’t have to cancel any scheduled events.

So, it had been about fifteen days since Min Hayoon started running like crazy.

It was almost ten days since the second month of 2020 had arrived.

“Wow, the number of confirmed cases is increasing by tens every day.”

“This feels a bit different from the usual flu…”

Min Jungyun and Yoon Suhee were watching the news with serious expressions.

The rate at which confirmed cases were increasing, and the media’s attitude, created a serious atmosphere that had never been seen before and would never be seen again.

“What if the number suddenly increases by hundreds again?”

“No way…”

Min Jungyun was quite accurately reading the future trend of the pandemic.

“Here, take this…”

Min Hayoon handed a box of KF94 masks she had ordered online to Min Jungyun and Yoon Suhee.

“Wear these when you go out. The atmosphere is quite ominous these days.”

“Alright, I’ll keep them in the car.”

“Thank you.”

With this, she had also secured a minimum safety measure for her parents’ health…

“Haaa…”

It’s time to work again.

Min Hayoon turned on the LCD tablet and focused on her art work again…

-Current demo UI production complete.

-Text insertion rate reached 60%.

-Image script will proceed after text insertion is complete.

-Contact me if you want to confirm.

Do Jin-ho too.

did his part and sent a message after a long time.