Chapter 30

Ding.

The familiar sound of a bell ringing accompanied the opening of the café door, as a woman with a somewhat familiar appearance stepped inside.

Her name is Park Ji-hye.

She is twenty-six years old and has recently become a freelance voice actress after her exclusive contract with a broadcasting company came to an end.

After diligently preparing since her graduation from a two-year college, she became a voice actress without failing any auditions—a so-called prodigy in the field.

Because of this, she is young, and in this industry, finds herself in the junior position wherever she goes.

Even the juniors who joined the same broadcasting company as her this year are all older than her.

For Park Ji-hye, the voice actress, there could be no one younger in terms of position.

Well, maybe someday there will be, but she could not have dreamed it would happen today.

“Hello?”

“Hello.”

“Um…”

What’s going on with these two?

One looks like a typical middle school girl who has followed fashion trends or makeup methods from YouTube… or perhaps a high school student? In any case, she looks quite young.

The other one is dressed rather neatly, but still looks like a freshman in college at best.

‘How peculiar that I’ve received work at this time…’

She was delighted that work had come in during the drought period following her transition to freelancing, but it seemed like she had been summoned for the recording of a high school club project.

‘This is all so confusing…’

As her expectation plummeted, Park Ji-hye sat across from Hayoon and Arin with a vacant expression.

And then Hayoon spoke.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Park Ji-hye. I’m Min Hae-yun.”

“Yes, nice to meet you. I’m Park Ji-hye.”

“…”

“…”

“Oh, ah! I’m Arin.”

After elbowing the nervous Arin who couldn’t say a word, they began the proper introduction.

“First of all, your expression gives away exactly what you’re thinking…”

“Excuse me?”

“Ah, I’m sorry about that…”

“No, no need to apologize. I just want to evaluate this solely based on the contract terms.”

“I’ll do my best.”

In reality, Park Ji-hye isn’t much older than Hayoon and Arin to criticize their age.

Though having an eight-year age gap with Arin might seem like a significant difference, at twenty-six, she is practically a clueless newcomer to the workforce who just graduated from university.

Just looking at her inability to manage her expressions during this meeting for a contract, Hayoon found a way to appeal directly to her emotions.

‘No, it’s not just about emotional appeal.’

Hayoon’s most potent weapon is money.

A newly turned freelance voice actress cannot suddenly raise her rates just because she became freelance.

After all, they were originally the lowest paid employees through public recruitment, and raising the rates too abruptly would cause many employers to hesitate, finding it troublesome.

But,

Hayoon is different.

She knows that Park Ji-hye will eventually become a monumental figure in the Korean voice acting industry, and she is well aware of the inherent instability and anxieties common among freelancers.

Thus, Hayoon intends to scratch Park Ji-hye’s itch while leading the negotiation.

“First, please look at this. This is the standard contract from the Voice Actor Association.”

“Standard contract?”

“Yes, our side hasn’t tampered with it at all, especially not the mutual protection clause.”

Firstly, by presenting the standard contract, she addresses Park Ji-hye’s biggest potential source of anxiety.

Issues like unpaid wages and various troubles are excluded from this agreement.

“As you can see, all our contact details are listed. In the unlikely event that wage arrears occur, you can use these contact details to immediately get your dues.”

“Uh… Isn’t this normally not mentioned? It’s not like this part is the core issue, right..?”

Of course, Ji-hye Park was rather perplexed by Hayoon’s demeanor.

Typically, a contract negotiation is carried out by discussing conditions beneficial to oneself and concealing any disadvantageous ones.

Even if not that extreme, these sorts of precautionary clauses are merely touched upon briefly.

Discussing unpaid wages so prominently would make the recipient uneasy, leading them to hesitate to sign.

“I thought this kind of emphasis was necessary to alleviate any concerns you might have about money or age differences.”

Hayoon’s judgment was a bit different.

Park Ji-hye was not the type to get swindled and then mistreated—she was someone they would collaborate with for several more projects in the future.

Hence, to establish a solid relationship with her, Hayoon was prepared to take on this level of risk.

“And also, here you’ll notice…”

“Eh?”

Subsequently, Hayoon highlighted various detailed clauses, addressing inevitable sources of Park Ji-hye’s probable concerns.

And finally…

“Primarily, we propose an hourly recording rate of 550,000 won for a 12-hour recording contract.”

“550,000 won? Per hour?”

“Yes, per hour.”

The most crucial conversation—money—began.

Based on Park Ji-hye’s reaction, she seemed quite surprised.

Within less than a year of transitioning to freelance work, she could not have expected to get such a lucrative hourly rate of 550,000 won.

‘This is closer to the hourly wage of freelance voice actors than exclusive ones.’

Given that she had just shifted to freelancing, Park Ji-hye could only be both amazed and understanding.

That’s why there was so much emphasis on ensuring there would be no unpaid wages.

“Additionally, we believe that we should proceed with the recording in sections.”

“In sections?”

“Yes, we will first record a demo version and later proceed with the final recording once the full game is complete.”

“That would…”

Park Ji-hye would find it harder to schedule her time.

Having work concentrated in one period makes it easier to arrange future commitments.

However,

“From our side, we believe that paying an additional hourly rate of around 100,000 won for the three hours needed for demo recording would be appropriate.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s printed in the contract as well. And also, let’s…”

Money solves everything.

Even if her schedule gets messy, a bonus could make her overlook it. Hayoon continued to passionately expound on her vision, mentioning possibilities such as future voice actor signing events.

And Park Ji-hye,

‘I could accept this…’

Her eyes were captivated by the delightful fruit Hayoon was eagerly offering.

‘How much would I earn from working twelve hours…?’

1.95 million won for the demo recording.

4.95 million won for the main recording.

It was equivalent to about three months’ salary for an average employee. Moreover, taking on other jobs during the open periods could lead to even more income.

‘Am I really going to outearn my annual salary from the exclusive contract just in my first year as a freelancer? Wow, this is… Hehehe…’

By the time Park Ji-hye reached this conclusion, she was smirking mischievously. And Hayoon, who saw this expression, was confident.

‘This woman is a money bird.’

Park Ji-hye’s face, similar to what Hayoon sometimes saw in the mirror, clearly had a mischievous look. It was certain that she was greedy for money. Smiling slyly, Hayoon took out the stamp she had brought along in her bag.

“If you’re satisfied with the conditions, it’s about time to sign the contract. Don’t you think?”

“Mmm, yeah… There’s no real reason to reject such a good offer, so I think signing the contract is fine.”

Park Ji-hye consented, and not long after, two seals were placed on the two contracts aligned side by side.

Once seals were also affixed to the last pages of each contract…

“Great. That concludes the contract. We’ll secure a recording studio as soon as possible and contact you as quickly as we can.”

“Yes, then I’ll see you again then.”

Did the prospect of making money excite her?

Park Ji-hye, with a thrilled expression, gathered her remaining coffee and headed towards the counter…

“Me… I didn’t say a word, really…”

“But I told you, you just needed to lend your face for this, right?”

“Yeah…”

“There was no need to do anything else. I brought you here just in case someone like Jin Ho would suddenly rush in. Now that they’re gone, let’s finish drawing our illustrations.”

“Alright, let’s do that…”

Feeling relieved that she didn’t have to do anything, Arin thanked her and calmed her tensed heart before picking up a pen.

Indeed, artists find stability while drawing.

“So, where did I stop last time?”

“Didn’t you say you’d get into the park background work?”

“Oh, right!”

As Hayoon and Arin began drawing while casually chatting, Hayoon briefly checked to see if another voice actor had replied to her and then closed the email.

The response was a bit slow, but she intended to wait anyway.

#

A few days later.

“Phew…”

Arin released the breath she had been holding and ran her hand through her chest again.

It was the exact same scene as a few days ago.

The same situation.

Just like before, Hayoon had convinced another voice actor with Arin at the same café near Seodaemun Station…

“This concludes securing two voice actresses for the heroines… The hardest mountain has been climbed.”

Hayoon took a sip of her iced coffee with a satisfied smile.

“Still, what was the need to pay 150,000 won extra to that person? Is that really necessary?”

Arin expressed her concern, noting that the voice actress they had recently contracted was paid an hourly rate of 700,000 won.

“To be fair, she’s worth that kind of payment.”

Hayoon didn’t worry too much about giving more to the voice actress they had recruited this time.

Since this person was from an earlier generation than Park Ji-hye, and already well-established in the industry, securing her at 700,000 won was actually a good deal.

“You might not know, but all the people I hired this time are acclaimed in the industry.”

“Oh?”

“That’s right. The only thing left is succeeding now. Your art looks like it’s progressing well, and Do Jin-ho seems competent in coding. If we can just get the sound effects right, we’ll be set.”

“Is everything going according to plan?”

Maybe because she had always shown up well-dressed at negotiation venues and simply remained silent?

Arin wondered if things were going her way as planned, despite feeling that it might not be entirely correct.

“Everything is going just fine, and once we secure a recording studio, we’ll be set.”

Hayoon was confident.

“This project is guaranteed to be a big hit.”

Hayoon’s long-standing instinct told her that the quality of the demo, beloved by fans, would be amazing.

Hayoon was quietly looking forward to the responses after revealing the demo.

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