NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60
It was the morning of the launch day for the Korean server of Reverse Arcadia.
Since it was opening day, the RA Studio was bustling with activity from early morning.
The management support team was busy setting up workspaces for the operations teams.
Studio employees from various teams were hustling for the final inspection before the launch.
Even the operations team members in one corner of the conference room were receiving their last training session.
In this perfectly synchronized situation, I couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.
It felt like I had forgotten something…
Unable to bear the uneasiness, I finally made a checklist and went step-by-step, eventually identifying the issue.
‘Now I remember, there was one thing I hadn’t inspected yet.’
The congratulatory messages.
Not the ones for achieving the pre-registration target, but the launch commemorative messages which had a deadline of this morning – I hadn’t been able to inspect them yet.
Realizing this, it became clear why I had been uneasy.
What if the freelance artist who created the congratulatory message I hadn’t inspected personally had caused some trouble?
But what if I had gone ahead and revealed that problematic congratulatory message to the users without realizing the artist had caused some issue?
It was obvious that the day meant to be a festival would instead turn into something resembling an inquiry hearing.
“Well, it’s not too late yet, though.”
With that thought, I decided I had to finish the inspection before it was even later, so I went to the Art Team to call on Yerin.
“Senior, What is it?”
“Did all the congratulatory messages that are supposed to be revealed today arrive?”
At that question, Yerin paused briefly as if thinking, then nodded.
“One artist sent it just before the deadline, but yes, they’ve all arrived.”
“Good. Do you have anything urgent to do right now?”
“I do have one thing left to do for the planning team.”
“Then after you’re done with that, please bring the congratulatory pictures and the list of freelance artists to my office. Got it?”
With that, Yerin replied with a nod.
“That’s what I’ll do.”
***
About twenty minutes later, Yerin visited the office with everything I had asked for.
“Following Senior’s request, all the congratulatory images are in the tablet, and I’ve printed out the list of the artists. I’ve arranged the congratulatory images in the order of the artists on the list, so please review them.”
“Thanks. You must have been busy.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
Yerin shrugged as if it was no issue and took a sip of the coffee I handed her.
Watching her casually drink the coffee, I turned my eyes to the list of congratulatory artists.
“Let’s see…”
The congratulatory artist list in my hands contained information on a total of eleven artists.
‘Let’s see…’
The first artist was… JH?
Ah.
It was a familiar nickname, so after reviewing the artist’s information and congratulatory drawing, a few memories surfaced.
“This is that person.”
An artist who had actively contributed in secondary creative works since the obscure days of Girls’ Memorial and participated often in events – it seemed they were contributing to the congratulatory messages this time around as well.
This artist was someone I could trust, so with peace of mind, I began checking the next artists one by one.
“Ash artist… UsamiMi artist… Violence artist… All the artists are of good reputation.”
“Yeah, right? Since you emphasized it so much, I made sure to check twice, thrice with people I know to select them.”
“Good job.”
“You’re too kind.”
Like that, while exchanging casual talk with Yerin, my gaze was drawn to a certain congratulatory message.
The congratulatory message itself was an exceptional quality illustration with no defects.
Still, it felt a bit ambiguous because the characters’ exposure was subtly reduced.
However, this distinctive style, combined with the feeling that the nickname triggered some distant memory…
SONYA, SONYA… where had I heard that before?
Seeing me deep in thought, Yerin glanced at the tablet.
“Oh, are you looking at SONYA artist’s work? It’s surprising that she applied to participate since it’s usually difficult to hire her.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Just speaking in terms of popularity, she’s at a similar level to the JH artist you first reviewed.”
“Indeed, the quality is good, but…”
Despite racking my brain, no memory surfaced, and I was about to dismiss it as my own sensitivity when something struck me.
The male-hating controversy surrounding a well-known mobile game artist before the loop.
This particular controversy was one of the extremely common ones caused by the behavior of an artist with certain ideologies.
However, it became famous due to one specific statement that emerged during the controversy.
“Our [SONYA] went to Hawaii with the money from ‘those men’~~~”
Known as the “Hawaii launching pad incident,” this event generated countless nicknames. The nickname of the original artist who was the cause of the incident was…
SONYA
SONYA.
So, that was why the nickname seemed familiar – it belonged to the original artist who caused a major incident before the loop.
Of course, since I had come back in time, it was possible that this wasn’t the same person from back then.
After all, the nickname “SONYA” wasn’t that rare.
However, my instincts told me that the pre-loop SONYA and the current SONYA were the same person.
Still, without any concrete evidence…
I would have to investigate directly.
“Yerin.”
“Yes?”
“Did you check SONYA artist’s social media, especially the Bluebird?”
“Oh, yes. I’ve checked all the available places, but there’s nothing unusual.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It just looks like a regular social media account of a 20-year-old woman. The Bluebird account is also written on the list, so Senior can check it yourself.”
“Is that so? Just a moment.”
Following Yerin’s suggestion, I paused the inspection and accessed SONYA’s Bluebird account page.
Indeed, her recent posts contained nothing but pictures and daily stories – a plain Bluebird account.
Yerin’s assessment that it seemed like a regular 20-something woman’s social media account was fair.
But I knew better.
You should never judge Bluebird solely by its surface appearance.
Bluebird was a social networking service where messages could be easily deleted using what’s commonly known as a ‘cleaner,’ making it very convenient.
However, just as deletion was easy, countermeasures to make it less effective had also developed, and I knew of these.
After a brief contemplation, I finally entered SONYA’s account into the website where the Bluebird database is synchronized and stored in real time.
And Pandora’s box was opened.
***
In some ordinary one-room office apartment,
A woman who had just fallen asleep after pulling an all-nighter was jolted awake by the sudden vibrating of her smartphone.
“Ugh, who on earth would bother at this hour…!”
The woman, still scratching her tousled hair, was named Hye-ji.
She was a professional illustrator who used the nickname “SONYA” on Bluebird.
“Clearly, I said not to contact me until after tonight… Did some ‘Han Nam’ noob ask for freelance work on Bluebird?”
Her vision was still unfocused due to sleep, but upon checking Bluebird, she found an official DM from Reverse Arcadia.
‘Why would I get a DM from the official account? What could it be about?’
Without much thought, she casually opened it, only to find content she had not anticipated at all.
The message stated regretfully that they would not be able to use her congratulatory message.
Upon seeing this unexpected content, Hye-ji’s sleep suddenly vanished.
“This… what is this supposed to mean…?”
Her head wasn’t functioning quite right, likely because she had just woke up after seeing this absurd message.
“Alright, let’s try contacting them… I should have their number somewhere.”
After hurriedly searching through her smartphone’s call history, she managed to find the contact details of Director Jihojin, with whom she had previously communicated for the contract.
After a brief pause, her call was connected.
“Hello? Is this the Reverse Arcadia Director Ji Ho-jin’s number…?”
[Ah, yes, it is.]
“I’m Hye-ji, who contacted you regarding the congratulatory contract last time….”
[Ah, Hye-ji artist. We were actually about to contact you too. Is there something you needed?]
“Ah, um… I just received a strange message earlier….”
[What message did you receive?]
“Um, it said that it was decided not to use the completed congratulatory message…?”
[Ah, yes, that’s correct.]
As Ho-jin calmly responded to Hye-ji’s question,
“That’s not right… I drew the congratulatory message for you, and once received, it should naturally be revealed to the users, right? It’s unfair to do this without any reason….”
[A moment please. It seems SONYA artist is misunderstanding. First of all, our decision not to use SONYA artist’s congratulatory message was not without reason.]
“Then, what exactly is the reason for deciding not to use it…?!”
[We found problematic statements in SONYA’s Bluebird account that could cause issues due to specific ideologies. After internal discussions, we decided not to use SONYA artist’s congratulatory message.]
Upon hearing Ho-jin’s explanation, Hye-ji felt confused.
Problems due to specific ideologies?
‘What did I do wrong?’
Of course, she had indeed mentioned something about Korean men on Bluebird, but that shouldn’t be a problem, right?
“Specific ideologies? It seems like you’re trying to mislead my side. You need to speak clearly. If you can’t explain properly, I’ll bring it up for public discussion on Bluebird…”
[Didn’t I hear that Korean men are infamous for being dirty worldwide? Today’s concept is about ‘Han Nam Chung,’ right? Men really need to focus on their homes… Should I go further?]
“Wait, what are you suddenly talking about…?”
[You mentioned bringing it up for public discussion on Bluebird, right? If you truly believe you have done nothing wrong, feel free to make it public.]
“Ah, but even though I didn’t curse, it’s just a shorthand for Korean men, and everything else is merely my personal thoughts….”
At Hye-ji’s unreasonable argument, Ho-jin dismissed it as unworthy of consideration and cut her off promptly.
[SONYA artist has two choices. If you believe you’ve done nothing wrong, you can bring it up for public discussion. Otherwise, please accept the clean termination of the contract without further excuses. Which would you prefer?]
Hye-ji felt tears welling in her eyes due to the injustice.
Even still, it didn’t feel like she deserved such harsh treatment.
But Hye-ji had no choice but to pick the second option.
Though her heart yearned to choose the first and make it public, she couldn’t act recklessly because her livelihood as an illustrator was far too precious to her.
It was a contradiction that she simultaneously harbored hatred for a certain gender yet profited from illustrations that appealed to that gender, but she had yet to realize it.
“Hmm… I’ll choose to terminate the contract…”
[That’s a good decision. Although this encounter was disappointing, I hope we’ll have a more favorable chance to meet in the future.]
How ironic.
As soon as he finished speaking, Ho-jin ended the call unilaterally.
But even after the call was disconnected, she remained speechless for some time.
***
A few hours later.
The Korean server for Reverse Arcadia launched, along with the unveiling of congratulatory messages from the other artists, excluding Hye-ji.