Chapter 8: It’s Not Salary, Just Pocket Money

The famous takoyaki restaurant that Lee Seongbeom took me to was definitely a gourmet place.

The outside was crispy and the inside was moist, making for an enjoyable texture, and the various sauces and katsuobushi sprinkled on top harmonized to create a rich flavor.

“I can’t believe there was a place like this near our company. Have I been working too much? How did you find a place like this?”

“Well, just…. When I meet hyung, I somehow feel like eating takoyaki… So I often looked it up.”

“Have we ever eaten takoyaki together?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Lee Seongbeom poked a takoyaki with a skewer, put it in his mouth, and expressed his intention to say, ‘I can’t talk about it.’

I somehow felt like I knew the reason, but I didn’t say it out loud.

“Kid, eat a lot. You’re in 6th grade now, but you’re so small.”

“I’m eating a lot. I’m just taking a break because I’m a little full now.”

“You ate three pieces.”

He nagged me as I sipped my cola through a straw.

But it can’t be helped.

The takoyaki here is a bit big, so I can’t eat it in one bite.

Of course, my mouth is small… And my stomach has shrunk…….

I was trying to eat a lot these days because I thought I was eating too little.

Seeing me like that, Director Choi Juntae looked at me with a happy expression.

“It’s like seeing my daughter when she was little. She’s all grown up now and not cute anymore.”

“Hyung’s daughter ate a lot even when she was little. She was a big baby from birth. Thanks to that, whenever I visited your house, I brought food instead of toys.”

“That’s not the point, you punk.”

The two seemed to be really close, talking and bickering with each other.

I took another sip of my cola, and said, looking up at the two of them.

“So, what about the editor you mentioned earlier? Are you going to do YouTube, Mister?”

“Yeah. It was this guy’s idea, but he said it would be good to upload unused footage or NG cuts from the broadcasts.”

“That’s a good idea. And it would be fun if Mister hosted and invited the cast members from the broadcasts to talk about behind-the-scenes stories. Or you could make an original YouTube program.”

“YouTube has fewer regulations than TV broadcasts, so you can air it without filtering out the swearing, which will make the cast seem more approachable, so you can aim for that.”

I poured out various ideas.

Of course, these were not things I came up with, but things that Mister had already done before.

Even so, it was a little later when Mister made a YouTube channel.

Was the timing moved up because of me?

While I was thinking about that, Director Choi Juntae, who was sitting next to me and listening to the story, widened his small eyes.

“…Wow, a kid can see that far?”

“You see why I’m trying to get her?”

Lee Seongbeom chuckled as if he was proud of me.

“I think we can sign her as a writer, not just an editor. Should we revise the contract terms?”

“Ah, I have a question about that.”

“Hmm?”

Seeing Director Choi Juntae take out a paper that looked like a contract from his bag, I raised my hand and asked.

“I know that you can work after you become an adult, and you can have a part-time job from the age of 15… Can I sign a contract?”

I remembered that I had to get permission from the director to get a part-time job in high school.

I wanted to work since middle school, but I was rejected because I was told I couldn’t.

But I’m an elementary school student, so how can I sign a contract?

“Of course, you can’t sign a contract. You can get a work permit if you’re over 13, but you’re not even that age.”

“Then how?”

“Well…, it’s hard to explain…… YouTubers are classified as sole proprietors.”

“Ah.”

YouTube requires one account per channel, so even if many people make videos, it can be registered as a sole proprietorship.

This means that the meaning of employee hiring is completely different from that of a general company.

Especially when the law hasn’t caught up with the times like now, there was a way for sole proprietors to pay less tax by exploiting various loopholes in the law.

A representative method is to hire, but not write a contract and not provide the four major insurances.

This phenomenon often occurred on YouTube, where ordinary people who are not familiar with the law can easily do it.

When I first worked as an editor, I didn’t sign a contract and just received money.

Since it’s illegal, it can lead to a lawsuit if reported, but since it’s a new type of job, the editors are young people who don’t know the law well.

It often just gets passed over.

And Director Choi Juntae was talking about somehow making a hole using that point.

“What if I report it?”

“Then you’ll lose your job that pays you. I thought you needed money, were you lying?”

“The expression ‘salary’ is a bit strange. I’m just helping with work and getting an allowance.”

“Hmm? Hahaha! Yeah, it’s not a salary, it’s an allowance.”

The money I get from editing Mister’s YouTube is not a salary.

It’s just a simple allowance, like the 1,000 won a child gets for running an errand.

Choi Juntae immediately understood the meaning of my words and laughed out loud.

“I told you, didn’t I? She’s a total old soul.”

“Who’s an old soul.”

I stretched my leg under the table and kicked Mister’s shin with all my might.

There was a thud, but it didn’t seem to do any damage, and Mister just kept chuckling.

My foot hurts more.

“Then, what’s the contract about?”

“No matter what, we need permission from your guardian. Think of it as a personal contract to reassure your guardian.”

“My guardian is the director…. Will our director readily agree? He’s quite old-fashioned, to put it mildly.”

“That’s why I brought this hyung with me. This hyung didn’t get to the director’s position just with skill.”

I see, so that’s why he came along.

It seems that the two are really close, as a director of a broadcasting station is directly involved in such a trivial matter.

As I looked at Director Choi Juntae with curious eyes, he smiled kindly and said.

“Just trust this Mister. This Mister has a way with words.”

“My goodness, are you saying our Sua is a genius?”

Back at the orphanage.

There, the adults, including me, sat on the sofa in the director’s office and talked.

The main point was that my talent was outstanding, but I was too young to be employed normally.

Therefore, for now, I would study under Lee Seongbeom and receive an allowance.

Director Choi Juntae persuaded the orphanage director with pleasant words and tone, and by expressing that he was thinking of the child as much as possible.

Contrary to my expectation that it would be difficult to persuade him, the orphanage director’s eyes filled with emotion and he clasped Director Choi Juntae’s hands.

“Oh, God…, thank you. Director, thank you so much….”

“Then the contract…”

“How can I stop a child from spreading her talent? The important thing is the child’s will. If the child wants it, I welcome it.”

The orphanage director, whose eyes were finally wet, held the cross hanging on his chest and prayed.

Seeing that, I felt a strange feeling.

I knew that the director was the person in this orphanage who thought about the children the most.

But seeing his tears, I thought, ‘Is it that much?’

The image of the director, who let me go without any regrets when I became an adult and went out, lingered in my mind.

Maybe he was living for the children of the orphanage more than I thought.

“Then, please take good care of her from now on.”

The director looked at the contract and took out his seal without hesitation and stamped it.

‘It’s simple…….’

I was able to leave the orphanage absurdly easily.

Of course, I still belonged to the orphanage.

But I could sleep in the studio.

And if I earned money, I could get a house and live alone, so there was no problem.

Everything was over.

I really felt that sensation when I stepped outside the orphanage.

Snow was falling from the sky.

We headed straight to Lee Seongbeom’s studio.

It was a normal villa, but there was equipment here and there, probably because they held meetings or did some filming.

As I looked around curiously, Lee Seongbeom had a worried expression.

“When you came out of the orphanage earlier…, are you okay?”

“I won’t see them much anyway. And they can’t touch me anymore. I should be grateful that they didn’t do anything worse.”

“…Is that so.”

Not far from the orphanage, I saw some familiar silhouettes.

The bullies, who were smoking cigarettes even though they had just become middle school students.

They ignored me, but I didn’t.

I went straight up to them and started flaming them.

“Even so, they’re still kids, aren’t those words too harsh…? Even I get goosebumps listening to it, ugh…….”

“I’m one or two years younger than them.”

“Where did you even pick up such swear words….”

If I had to say, it’s probably League of Legends.

It’s a place where there’s an unknown power that can make you creatively and freshly question the existence and personality of the other person.

It’s a place where you can evolve to become more degenerate, so to speak.

The bullies who heard the evolved swear words from the future were shocked and stunned on the spot.

There was even a guy who had tears in his eyes.

Serves them right.

“It’s the internet.”

“The internet is scary.”

“It is.”

The internet is scary.

If I ever have a child, I will definitely not give them a cell phone at least until they are in the lower grades of elementary school.

When I arrived at Lee Seongbeom’s studio, the first thing I did was open the door to the room labeled “Editing Room.”

It was unclear if it hadn’t been cleaned, but the desk was piled with the remains of cup noodles, and crushed energy drinks were rolling around.

But in the midst of it, there was a computer that looked great at first glance.

The scene felt like looking at my room in the past, and I felt a sense of kinship.

Then my heart raced.

Can I make videos here?

“S-should we start editing now? What should we do first? Ah, should I learn your style first? You must have your own style. Or should we make a template for subtitles or basic styles first?”

There are many things to prepare for editing.

I want to edit quickly.

But Lee Seongbeom shook his head and clicked his tongue.

“Tsk tsk, you don’t know anything. You’re still a kid.”

“W-what is it? Then what do we do first.”

“Let’s go out.”

“Yes?”

“What do you mean work when a new employee comes in on their first day! We’re going to have fun, so get ready to go out!”

Lee Seongbeom, who had changed into comfortable clothes at some point, was ready to go out in the blink of an eye.

Some say that dinner parties are part of social life.

Even while drinking and having fun, you have to be mindful of your superiors and try to please them, and you should never show that you don’t like it.

For a new employee who is the only subordinate, a dinner party can be a living hell.

And that hell came to me in a slightly different way.

“This child is our youngest, right? Kya! So cute!”

“Look at her skin, it’s so soft~ She’s totally a baby!”

“Can you say ‘sister’? Sister~“

“Eat some more of this. You’re so pretty~”

Fortunately, I wasn’t asked to pour drinks or grill meat, but since I met Mister’s team members, I had to give up my free will and become a soft, squishy, touchy-feely toy.

This is social life.

Fearful society.

Squishy.