Chapter 11:Manager Kim Jang-bung, if you have something to say, please speak up.

Manager Kim stood at the head of the meeting room.

“As you all know, due to the intensifying competition between platforms, the executives have approved the expedited opening of the contest. If you have any opinions about the contest, please share them.”

Manager Park raised her hand, grinning.

“Manager, double the prize money.”

Manager Kim shook his head.

“Manager Park, the additional prize money will remain the same. Don’t even think about it.”

Manager Park leaned forward.

“Then, how about opening a contest just for women? Belso, if we open it primarily for romance novels, it will remove the stigma of being a contest for men, and I think more writers will participate through selection and focus.”

Manager Kim nodded thoughtfully.

“Hmm~, that sounds good, Manager Kim. Any opinions?”

Jangbung spoke up, his voice steady.

“A lot of men’s novels dropped out this time, and I think excluding them from the contest is a bad move.”

Manager Park scoffed.

“Oh my, Mr. Jang. Men’s novel writers have no patience anyway, so if they don’t hear from the award winners mid-term, they’ll all run away to that platform. If we’re going to hold on to those writers, selection and focus! That’s what’s important, right? Right, Manager Choi.”

Manager Choi nodded.

“That’s right, Chief Kim Jangbung. Those writers go on online communities and badmouth us for abandoning the male-oriented genre, writing stories that aren’t even worthy of awards. In that case, I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just exclude us like Assistant Manager Park said.”

Manager Kim raised a hand.

“Don’t interrupt. Let’s hear what Chief Kim has to say.”

Jangbung nodded.

“Yes.”

He took a deep breath.

“Of course, holding a women’s-oriented contest like Manager and Assistant Manager suggested is one way to do it. It’s not like we haven’t done that before. But please take a look at this data.”

Manager Choi leaned forward.

“What is this, Chief Kim Jangbung?”

Jangbung pointed to the screen.

“This is the decline in our company’s monthly sales of novels paid for per episode.”

Manager Kim frowned.

“It’s dropped considerably.”

Jangbung continued.

“The decline in our main source of income is inevitable due to the rise of competing platforms, but the per-episode payment rate has dropped even more severely. When comparing to the top tier, it’s dropped by almost 60%.”

Manager Park tilted her head.

“Why is that?”

Jangbung explained.

“While female readers pay on their regular platforms, male readers tend to try out per-article novels instead of switching to other platforms because they’ve been reading novels on our company site for a long time. However, the departure of those male readers has led to a significant decline in sales.”

Manager Kim nodded.

“Then, this profit will continue to decline.”

Jangbung’s voice grew firm.

“That’s why I think we shouldn’t abandon the male market. It’s not just a decline in our main source of income, but also a decrease in secondary sources.”

Manager Kim agreed.

“Yes! Manager Kim is right. The executives are very concerned about declining sales these days, so if we focus on female readers, they’ll probably complain.”

Manager Park countered.

“But if we do as Mr. Jang says, won’t it be the same as the last contest? We’ll lose writers, get criticized, and the public will turn against us.”

Jangbung leaned forward.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking about.”

Manager Kim raised an eyebrow.

“What is it, Manager Kim?”

Jangbung’s eyes lit up.

“We can’t increase the prize money like our competitors, but we still have an art team and external artists.”

Manager Kim nodded.

“Well, that’s true.”

Jangbung continued.

“We can’t increase the prize money, but we would like to provide the grand prize winner with a webtoon adaptation and the winning entries with a webtoon for the first episode prologue.”

Manager Kim frowned.

“Webtoon adaptation? Manager Kim! That’s all part of the budget!”

Jangbung pressed on.

“Yes. But contracting a single artist to create a webtoon for just one episode probably won’t cost much. If male-oriented novel writers see their novels being visualized, there will be a lot of influx.”

Manager Choi tilted her head.

“Hmm~, webtoon adaptation. Webtoon adaptation… But webtoon adaptation is still a bit much. What do you think, Manager Choi?”

Manager Choi responded.

“Manager Kim Jangbung, I think we need to supplement your idea a little.”

Jangbung blinked.

“How?”

Manager Choi explained.

“By producing webtoons when we expand to other platforms.”

Jangbung frowned.

“Entering other platforms?”

Manager Choi nodded.

“It’s the same whether we create webtoons on our site or not. Webtoon adaptations are for promotional purposes. We only create works that can be sold on other platforms and generate revenue.”

Manager Kim nodded.

“That’s fine.”

Manager Park interjected.

“Oh, Manager Choi. But male-oriented novels can’t be on other platforms, right?”

Manager Choi smiled.

“That’s right~. When it comes to awards, we’ll mainly select women’s novels that can be featured on the Toppables. We’ll lure in the men’s ones with the promise of webtoon adaptations!”

Manager Park clapped.

“Wow, this is totally awesome!”

Jangbung’s voice grew quiet.

“There must be men’s writers who believe in webtoon adaptations, so I don’t think we can betray their expectations.”

Manager Choi’s tone sharpened.

“Which side is Chief Kim Jangbung on right now? Is he really from our company? Betrayal? Why is Chief Kim Jangbung trying to make us into the bad guys?”

Manager Park nodded.

“That’s right, Mr. Jangbung. What kind of betrayal is that? Men’s writers just need to write interesting and non-racy novels that can be submitted to other platforms. Those embarrassing works are always rejected on other platforms, so it’s a bit strange to promote them as webtoons~.”

She continued.

“Manager Park is good at talking. If you bring a novel that’s not even interesting except for the racy parts and ask us to adapt it into a webtoon, who would do it? Make it interesting. Not racy. If you write it like that, of course it’ll be adapted into a webtoon. Chief Kim Jangbung, if you find a novel like that, you can nominate it for an award~.”

Jangbung nodded slowly.

“Yes. I understand.”

Manager Kim clapped his hands.

“Right. Like Manager Kim said, it’s difficult to just blindly turn it into a webtoon. Like Manager Choi and Assistant Manager Park said, let’s only do it when we enter other platforms where we can generate additional revenue.”

Everyone nodded.

“Yes.”

Manager Park waved at Jangbung.

“Mr. Jangbung!”

Jangbung looked up.

“Yes, Assistant Manager Park.”

She smiled sweetly.

“Can you help me compile the Bellso data for me today?”

Jangbung frowned.

“Isn’t that something the Manager asked you to do?”

Manager Park pouted.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do lately~, Manager Jangbung is free these days.”

Jangbung’s voice was firm.

“I also have documents to submit for approval. It’s going to be difficult.”

Manager Park’s tone turned sharp.

“Yeah, I know you don’t have much to do since the writers are out~, but please stop acting like a brat and do it.”

Jangbung stood his ground.

“No, Assistant Manager Park. You should do your own work. Why do you keep passing the work off to me?”

Manager Park gasped.

“Huh? Mr. Jangbung, are you mad at me?”

Jangbung shook his head.

“No. I’m not mad. I just wanted you to stop putting off your work.”

Manager Park’s eyes narrowed.

“Manager Kim Jangbung. Are you saying I did something wrong? Just now?”

Jangbung hesitated.

“No, that’s not it…”

Manager Park stood up.

“I’ll go out for a bit.”

Jangbung blinked.

“Huh? Huh. Okay.”

Manager Kim stormed in, shouting.

“Manager Kim Jangbung!!!!!!!!! Where is that kid!!”

Jangbung jumped.

“Manager Kim? Why are you doing that?”

Manager Kim’s face was red.

“Why? Whyhhhhhhhhh? Who are you to talk to Manager Park like that and make him cry??? Huh??? You’re the boss!!! Huh???”

Jangbung’s eyes widened.

“Huh??? Manager Park is crying?”

Manager Kim pointed at him.

“Crying? He’s crying because you talk to him like that!! Who are you to make Manager Park, who is good at his job, cry? Why are you harassing him?”

Jangbung tried to explain.

“Manager Kim. I think there’s some misunderstanding. It’s just that Manager Park keeps pushing his work onto me…”

Manager Kim cut him off.

“You should help him out when times are tough!! Are you refusing that? Are you coming to this company just to make things easier for yourself? If you can’t even handle your own work properly, you should at least help others. What do you mean you’re doing this!!”

Manager Choi stepped in.

“Manager Kim, calm down. Manager Kim Jangbung. We should help each other out when times are tough. Hurry up and go apologize to Manager Park.”

Manager Kim glared.

“What did you do to deserve that look!!”

Jangbung nodded.

“Oh, no. I’ll go apologize and come back.”

Manager Choi muttered.

“Oh, because of that guy, I’m only avoiding the kind Assistant Manager Park.”

Manager Kim shook his head.

“That’s because Manager Kim Jangbung is a bit of a cold-hearted person. I told him to go apologize, but the manager said to hold back.”

Jangbung overheard, his voice low.

“I honestly haven’t had a single day of peace lately!!”