I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 57
“…”
“It’s… indeed quite good.”
The sudden appearance of the young man and his inexplicable self-introduction left Pipi and Jiang Wei bewildered for quite some time. Eventually, Pipi politely added, “The competition in online novels is tough, and it’s not easy to get signed.”
“That’s right.”
Jiang Wei also chimed in with courtesy, “Just graduating and earning a few hundred bucks is pretty good.”
“Exactly, right? Haha, I’ve been saying this. There are only a few people who can get signed now. My roommates don’t believe it. They think getting signed is easy, and making money is easy.”
The young man, who went by the pen name “Uncle Ben,” turned to Pipi. “Brother, have you tried writing a book? How did it go?”
“I have tried, but the results… weren’t that great.”
Even the fatherly Pipi couldn’t help but look awkward when faced with such a ‘talented individual’. “It was okay.”
The young man turned to Jiang Wei. “What about you? Have you written novels too?”
“Yeah… I have,” Jiang Wei chuckled. “I’m not that great.”
Su Yunjin also nodded repeatedly. “I’ve tried too, and it’s just okay.”
“Okay?!”
The few sentences from the three of them made me almost instinctively shoot them a look that said, “If you guys are just ‘okay,’ there wouldn’t be many ‘outstanding’ authors on the website.”
Divine Pet Pipi, third in sales at Yae-Do, had at least two novels adapted into manga, with one already reaching thirteen animated episodes. Based on the average earnings from the website’s sales ranking, his monthly author fees alone were at least 300,000 yuan. If you added in earnings from the manga, animation, and various channels’ shares, he would easily make around 580,000 yuan to 800,000 yuan a month, and he might even break a million if he gets recommended.
Marisa’s Iron Butt might not be as prolific as Pipi, but he had spent a few months on the bestseller list at some point. Even as the last place on the Yae-Do bestseller list, he made over 100,000 yuan a month.
As for Jituto, he was worth mentioning. Pipi mentioned that he was the young master of the largest video site, Tongmeng Network, and his net worth was in the billions. Even without considering this background, he was the top author on Yae-Do when it came to fanfiction. For several years, he had consistently held the number one spot on the fanfiction bestseller list, and his monthly author fees were in the tens of thousands at a minimum.
These individuals brought to mind a GIF image in my head:
?Bestseller Author: My new book flopped again, I’m going home to farm.?
?Monthly Ranking Number One: Yeah, too poor, hardly anyone reads my book.?
?New Release Ranking Number One: Maybe I should drop the new book, the collection count is too low.?
?Me (Earning 1,800 yuan for my work): …?
“It’s okay, you’ll get used to it. I’ve only been writing for less than a year, and I’ve had a few flops, but look, I still got signed.”
The bespectacled chubby youth seemed to genuinely believe Pipi and their “just okay” comments and consoled me repeatedly. “If you have any questions, you can ask me. After all, I’ve already been signed, though… sigh, the editor didn’t appreciate me and kicked me out of the signing group. Tsk.”
This statement piqued Pipi’s interest. “What did you do to get kicked out by the editor?”
“I didn’t do much, just complained in the group about some male authors using girls’ profile pictures and playing with female characters while gaming.”
The young man looked innocent. “Then, out of nowhere, someone confronted me in the group, and I was inexplicably kicked out by the editor.”
Honestly, didn’t you voluntarily leave the group?
The young man’s words left me puzzled for a moment.
Could it be that there were two authors named “Uncle Ben” on Honeydew?
“No,” Jiang Wei sensed something amiss and asked, “What’s wrong with playing a female character in games?”
“Nothing, I just said it’s best not to play female characters and have a more normal avatar.”
The young man quickly changed his statement, “Mainly, it was that author ‘Uncle Loves Loli’ who joined the group recently. He had a cute girl’s avatar but chose that kind of pen name. I made a few comments about him in the group, and then someone in the group started cursing me. In the end, the editor kicked me out.”
“It’s okay, I just graduated from college, and I have plenty of money-making jobs in the future. I don’t rely on writing books, haha.”
With that, the young man showed me his WeChat QR code, saying, “Can I add you on WeChat, little sister? I’ll use it to brag to that guy, Uncle Loves Loli, and show him what a cute girl really looks like.”
“I…”
I tried to speak in the most “childlike” voice I could muster, “I’m sorry, I’m still young, and I don’t have WeChat.”
“So that’s it. People who post those photos online are all unreliable. The so-called ‘Loli Editor,’ you’re obviously the editor’s little sister or daughter!”
The young man had a somewhat disdainful look, “It’s all just hype.”
I understood what Jiang Wei was getting at and gave him a look that said, “Is this one of your fellow authors?”
In response, I sent him an expression that said, “I don’t know him.”
“Hmm, cough, cough.”
Understanding Jiang Wei’s cue, he pretended to be having a casual conversation and pulled Pipi into his arms, saying loudly, “Pipi, you mentioned earlier that your royalties dropped a bit. How much do you make in a month now?”
With Jiang Wei’s suggestive look, Pipi caught on. “Oh, my royalties, they really dropped quite a bit. I’m only making a little over 500,000 yuan a month now. So poor.”
I saw the young man who called himself “Uncle Ben” freeze for a moment.
“500,000 for one book? What about the income from the comics and animations? Does it reach a million?”
Jiang Wei casually picked up a book from the most prominent spot on the counter, which I recognized as a book written by ” Divine Pet Pipi.”
“Just this one, how much is the royalty? Tell me the number.”
“Hey, this book doesn’t have much. The royalties for April were only 450,000. Let me show you.”
Pipi took out his phone from his pocket and swiped it a few times, seemingly accessing his author dashboard.
The young man couldn’t believe his eyes and leaned closer, staring in disbelief at Pipi’s phone screen.
The next second, his eyes were filled with shock, confusion, and panic.
“No way, you have printed books, and you still make so little every month?”
Jiang Wei playfully raised his head, then picked up another book by Pipi from the stack beside him. “Look at this Yae-Do’s booth, more than half of it is filled with your books. This can’t be right.”
“Haha, printed books don’t make much money these days. My books on the new website are taking off too. I estimate I’ll make over a million yuan in royalties by June, just barely enough for some pocket money.”
Pipi got into the act as well, deliberately speaking casually right under the nose of ‘Uncle Ben’. “And what about you? You made quite a bit from your online store last month, didn’t you?”
Jiang Wei smiled, “It’s decent, around 2 million in revenue, not as much as you.”
“Can we really compare that? When I just graduated from college, I was working for my boss… writing code, and my monthly salary was just a little over 20,000 yuan. I think you left high school early, right? You worked hard for three years and managed to buy a house, right?”
The young man behind Pipi and Jiang Wei was starting to look a bit green around the edges.
“Hehe, back then, property prices weren’t as high. The down payment was only 800,000 yuan.”
Jiang Wei clearly didn’t want to stop the topic and continued in a somewhat taunting manner, “If it weren’t for my buddies pitching in 500,000 yuan, I couldn’t have afforded that house.”
“Having good friends is also a kind of wealth.”
Jiang Wei turned to Jituto and said, “Actually, if we talk about it, Brother Su is the richest among us. With his family assets, not to mention one or two houses, he could probably buy a whole district, right?”
“That’s an exaggeration.”
Su Yunjin, who had been playing with his phone, smiled mildly, “In my family, I’m the one with the least power. The amount of personal funds I can use is just a few hundred thousand.”
Whether it was planned or a coincidence, right after Su Yunjin said that, his phone made a “ding-dong” sound:
*Alipay received 870,000 yuan.*
“…”
This notification on Alipay made “Uncle Ben” go from pale to purple in the face. He was standing behind Pipi and Jiang Wei and felt like he couldn’t continue boasting about his “glorious achievements,” and changing the topic wouldn’t be easy either.
“Ah, sorry.”
Then, Jiang Wei acted as if he had just noticed this person behind them while they were having such an engaging conversation. He turned around and asked, “Bro, what did you just say? I remember you said you just graduated… how much money did you earn?”
“Nothing much, ha, haha…”
It seemed like the young man felt embarrassed after being rejected by me and Pipi and had to awkwardly put away his phone. “I… I have something to do, so I’m going to leave… Haha, leaving.”
Speaking in a way that sounded as uncomfortable as if it would make my toes curl inside my new white shoes, he left the counter.
“What exactly happened?”
After we watched the back of “Uncle Ben” disappearing into the crowd, Jiang Wei turned back to me and asked, “He got kicked out of the group for stirring up trouble with the editors?”
“He left on his own.”
I shrugged my shoulders to show that I was innocent too, “In the Honeydew editor Tuzi’s signing group, he thought I was an old guy because of my author name, so he posted some controversial statements, got into an argument with the people in the group, and then Tuzi banned him for ten minutes. After that, he said some tough words and left the group.”
“Similar to the guy last year in Ai Luodi’s group who started flaming everyone with artillery fire because he didn’t get a recommendation.”
“That kind of kid leaves my group almost every year.”
“He can make fun of anyone, but I can’t stand it when he acts this way in front of our brothers.”
Jiang Wei sneered, “If he continues this way in the real world, someone will teach him what emotional intelligence is.”
“Nuo’er, next time if there’s someone like that who insists on taking photos and asks for your WeChat, just call 911 right in front of them, don’t let them affect your mood.”
“Alright.”
I nodded, “I’ve been an author for so many years, and I’ve encountered similar situations before.”
“Let’s not discuss people like that anymore. We’re about to leave. If you’re looking for a job, you should really consider working at the coffee shop here. With Brother Jituto backing you up, they won’t give you a hard time.”
Pipi handed me two flyers imprinted with “Nanxi District’s Cat Maid Café” and some information.
“Thank you.”
I took the flyers, carefully folded them, and placed them in my pocket.
—
“Because of a small matter, he’s all smug, while the important stuff is pushed aside—”
Just as he was speaking, the speakers around the convention center stage suddenly exploded in volume, and a burst of exhilarating music echoed throughout the entire venue.
“A real man should become strong for someone,”
“Bite down hard and persist until the end. It’s okay to fall, just get up again…”
In the midst of the rousing music, Jiang Wei, in front of the counter, turned almost reflexively and shouted loudly, “Oh my god! Is that Ultraman Nexus?!”
“No, no, that booth… this Cosplay… Young Master? Is this Mugen?”
Subsequently, Jiang Wei, his face full of excitement, waved at me, “Sorry, Nuo’er, it’s really unexpected to have a Mugen booth here today. I won’t hold you up, I’ll leave first. Goodbye!”
Roaring, Jiang Wei headed for the convention center stage like a hungry husky at mealtime.
“Young Master! President! I’m here! Is there Paige here? Wow, there really is Paige! Paige! Let’s have a non-stop brawl!”
Besides playing various games with us, Jiang Wei was also a big fan of Mugen.
This game can be roughly understood as King of Fighters, but Mugen covers a broader range, as it’s an engine that includes characters from King of Fighters and many original or modified characters with unique story backgrounds.
Everyone has their own childhood, and for kids like Jiang Wei, who dropped out of school early to work, perhaps the happiest moments of their childhood were saving breakfast money or discovering a pile of scrap metal somewhere to sell to the junk collectors and make a few bucks, which they would then use to spend an entire day in the arcade.
During that time, the most classic games in the arcades were undoubtedly King of Fighters, Street Fighter, Metal Slug, and Three Kingdoms, among others.
When we played games together, like when we played Apex Legends and had to parachute down, Jiang Wei would give up the parachute instructions and frantically search for Mugen-related videos, headphones on. I’d often hear random phrases from him, such as “I watched TV!” “Grilled lamb by beautiful girls!” “Nothing, what an attitude, what a crappy game!” or “Zi Mama is amazing!”
“You see him, he gets so excited whenever Mugen comes up.”
Seeing Jiang Wei rush to the booth without even finishing his sentence, Pipi could only give me an apologetic smile, “We might have to stay here for an extra half hour to keep him company.”
“No problem, it’s a rare trip to Shenzhen.”
I was amused by the rare sight of “Marisa’s Iron Butt” losing his composure and instinctively covered my mouth, waving a small hand at Pipi and Jituto.
“You guys should go too, have fun!”