Chapter 60
It was the morning of Reverse Arcadia's Korean Server Launch Day.
Because it was Launch Day, RA Studio was bustling since morning.
Management Support Team employees were setting up workstations for the Operations Team, Studio Staff were busily moving around in their respective teams for the Final Review before release, and Operations Team members were receiving their final training in a corner of the Conference Room.
In this current situation, where everything was moving like clockwork, I felt a strange sense of unease.
It felt like I had missed something….
Unable to shake the nagging feeling, I created a checklist and eliminated items one by one until I finally found the problem.
‘Come to think of it, there was one thing I hadn't reviewed yet.’
The Congratulatory Illustrations.
The Launch Commemorative Illustrations, not the Pre-registration Goal Achievement Illustrations, had a Deadline of this morning, so I hadn't been able to conduct the Quality Check.
Thinking about it, I understood why I felt so uneasy.
What if a freelance artist who drew a congratulatory illustration that I hadn't personally reviewed caused an incident?
And what if, unaware of the artist's incident, I released the problematic illustration to the Users?
It was obvious that a day that should have been a festival would turn into an inquisition.
Well, it's not too late yet.
With the thought that I needed to finish the Quality Check before it was too late, I went to the Art Team and called Yerin.
“Senior. What's up?”
“Have all the Artist's Congratulatory Illustrations that are scheduled for release today arrived?”
Yerin thought for a moment about my question, then nodded.
“At the last minute before the deadline, one person sent his or hers, but… they’ve all arrived.”
“Really? You don’t have any urgent matters right now, do you?”
“I still have one thing to do with the Planning Team.”
“Then, after you’re done with that, gather all the Congratulatory Illustrations and the Freelance Artists’ lists and come to my Office. Got it?”
Yerin nodded and replied.
“I will.”
About 20 minutes later, Yerin visited my office with the things I had asked for.
“As Senior requested, the Congratulatory Illustration images are on the tablet, and the artists’ lists are printed out as documents. I’ve arranged the illustration images according to the order of artists on the list, so please check them.”
“Thanks. You must have been busy.”
“It was no trouble at all.”
Yerin shrugged as if it was nothing and took a sip of the coffee I handed her.
I glanced at her, then turned my attention to the List of Congratulatory Artists.
“Let’s see….”
The List of Congratulatory Artists in my hand contained Artist Information for a total of 11 artists.
*‘Let’s see….’*
The first artist was… JH?
Ah.
Since the nickname seemed familiar, I checked the Artist Information and the Congratulatory Illustration, and a few memories came to mind.
‘So it was this person.’
This was an artist I remembered because they actively participated in Fan Creation and frequently attended events even when Girls Memorial was unknown.
This time, they seemed to have participated in the Congratulatory Illustrations as well.
Since this artist was trustworthy, I felt relieved and began checking the next artists one by one.
“Artist Ash, Artist Usamimi, Artist Violence… all artists with decent reputations.”
“Right? Senior gave such a strong admonition that I checked with everyone I knew two, three times before selecting these artists.”
“Good job.”
“Don’t mention it.”
As Yerin and I chatted and continued the Quality Check, one particular Congratulatory Illustration caught my eye.
The illustration itself was of impeccable quality.
Of course, the subtly reduced exposure of the characters felt a little ambiguous, but it was still so.
However, with this unique art style and the nickname, I felt like a memory was on the tip of my tongue….
SONYA, SONYA… where have I heard that before?
Yerin, noticing my hesitation, glanced at the tablet.
“Oh, are you looking at Artist SONYA? This artist is hard to get even if you try to scout her. I was surprised when she submitted a Participation Application.”
“Really?”
“Yes, in terms of popularity, they’re probably on a similar level to Artist JH, who you looked at first.”
“The quality is certainly good, but….”
I racked my brain, but no memory came to mind, so I was about to dismiss it as my being overly sensitive, when suddenly,
A memory flashed through my mind.
Before Regression, there was the Original Artist's Misandry Controversy Incident that erupted in a famous Mobile Game.
Of course, the controversy itself was one of the common ones caused by the actions of an Original Artist with a Specific Ideology,
but it became famous due to a single remark that surfaced during the controversy.
Our <F1>*SONYA*</F1> went to Hawaii with money from *those men*~~~]
The nickname of the Original Artist who caused this incident, commonly known as the Hawaii Launchpad Incident and spawning numerous nicknames, was….
*SONYA*
It was SONYA.
I knew I had heard that familiar nickname somewhere; it was the nickname of an Original Artist who caused a Major Incident Before Regression.
Of course, now that I had returned to the past, it was possible it wasn't the same person.
Because the nickname SONYA itself is common.
But my gut feeling was telling me that the SONYA Before Regression and the current SONYA was the same person.
However, there was no physical evidence… , so I would have to find it myself.
“Yerin.”
“Yes?”
“Did you check Artist SONYA’s SNS? Especially Bluebird?”
“Ah, yes. I checked everywhere I could, but there was nothing unusual.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It looked like an normal SNS account of a woman in her 20s. The Bluebird account is also listed, so Senior can check it directly.”
“Oh? Just a moment.”
At Yerin’s suggestion, I paused my Quality Check and accessed SONYA’s Bluebird Account page.
Recently, it indeed looked like a normal Bluebird Account, with only illustrations and everyday stories, nothing out of the ordinary.
It was exactly the kind of SNS Account Yerin would describe as a normal woman in her 20s.
However, I knew.
You should never judge a Bluebird SNS by its appearance alone.
Bluebird was an SNS where deleting messages, or ‘cleaning’ them with a cleaner, was incredibly easy.
However, just as deleting was easy, methods to circumvent that deletion had also developed, and I knew those methods.
After a moment of deliberation, I eventually entered SONYA’s account into a website that synchronized and saved Bluebird’s database in real time,
and Pandora's Box was opened.
***
Inside a typical Studio Apartment Officetel room.
She had just lain down in bed after an overnight work session when the sudden vibration of her smartphone woke her up.
“Ugh, who the hell is it at this hour…!”
Scratching her messy hair, the woman who got out of bed was named Choi Hyeji.
She was a professional illustrator using the nickname SONYA on Bluebird.
“I clearly wrote not to contact me until night… Did some *hannam* leave a Freelance Inquiry on Bluebird?”
Still half-asleep, her vision blurry, she checked Bluebird and saw a DM from Reverse Arcadia’s Official Account.
*‘A DM from the Official Account? What’s going on?’*
Without much thought, she casually checked the DM, and it contained something she had not expected at all.
It was a notification stating that they regretted not being able to use the Congratulatory Illustration.
Hyeji’s sleep vanished completely at this absurd content.
*‘W-wait, what is this supposed to mean…?’*
The content she saw right after waking up was so preposterous that her mind felt sluggish.
‘I should call first… I must have their contact info.’
Hurriedly sifting through her Smartphone Call Log, she finally found the contact number of Director Ji Hojin, with whom she had spoken for the contract.
After a brief moment, the call connected.
“H-hello? Is this Director Ji Hojin’s contact number for Reverse Arcadia…?”
Ah, yes. It is.
“I-I’m Choi Hyeji, who called you about the Congratulatory Illustration Contract last time….”
[Ah, Artist Hyeji. We were just about to contact you ourselves. What is it?]
“Ah, well… I just received a strange message….”
What message did you receive?
“It said you decided not to use the completed Congratulatory Illustration…?”
Ah, yes. That’s correct.
Hojin replied to Hyeji’s question in a calm tone.
“No, why? I drew the Congratulatory Illustration, and if you received it, shouldn’t it naturally be released to the Users? If you do this without any reason….”
Ah, just a moment. I think Artist SONYA is mistaken, so let me explain. First, our decision not to use Artist SONYA’s Congratulatory Illustration is not without reason.
“Then what exactly is the reason you decided not to use it…?!”
We discovered discussions on Artist SONYA’s Twitter Account that could cause problems due to a specific ideology, and after an internal meeting, we decided not to use Artist SONYA’s congratulatory illustration.
Hyeji was dumbfounded by Hojin’s words.
Problems due to a Specific Ideology?
*‘What did I do wrong?’*
Of course, I did talk a bit about Korean men on Bluebird, but that’s not the problem, is it?
“Specific Ideology, you say. It sounds like you’re trying to pin the blame on me, but you need to speak clearly. If you can’t explain properly, I’ll publicize it on Bluebird….”
It's known worldwide how disgusting <F1>*Korean men*</F1> are. At lunch, the <F1>*old pervert*</F1> at the next table seemed to say I had a bad personality.
“W-wait, what are you suddenly talking about….”
Is today's concept <F1>*hannam-chung*</F1>? Men should just stay home and be demure… How about it, should I give you more?
Hyeji felt her mind go blank at the words coming from the smartphone.
Those things Hojin mentioned were Bluebird messages she had deleted because they might become an obstacle during the Congratulatory Illustration Selection.
“H-how did you….”
You said you’d publicize it on Bluebird, didn’t you? If you truly feel you’ve done nothing wrong, you are free to publicize it.
“A-no, but I didn’t swear, did I? Hannam is just a shortened term for Korean men, after all, and the rest are all just my personal thoughts….”
Hojin cut off Hyeji’s illogical argument, as if it wasn’t worth listening to.
Artist SONYA, you only have to choose one of two options. If you truly believe you are not at fault, then publicize it. Otherwise, stop making excuses and proceed with a clean Contract Termination. Which one will you choose?
Hyeji felt tears welling up from the injustice.
She didn’t feel she had done anything wrong enough to deserve such treatment.
But Hyeji ultimately had no choice but to choose the second option.
She wanted to choose the first and publicize it, but her livelihood as an artist was too precious to act without considering the consequences.
The very act of hating a specific gender while making a living from art that specific gender would appreciate was a contradiction in itself, but she hadn't realized it.
“Hmph… I’ll… go with the Contract Termination.”
You’ve made a good decision. Although this was an unfortunate encounter, I hope we can meet again under better circumstances next time.
What a joke.
The phone call was unilaterally cut off as soon as he finished speaking.
But even after the call ended, she couldn't say anything for a long time.
***
A few hours later.
Along with the Congratulatory Illustration Release drawn by artists other than Hyeji, Reverse Arcadia’s Korean Server was launched.