A Lewd Sketch Artist in a Gender-Reversed World - Chapter 115

Chapter 115: All of a Sudden?

I am witnessing a miracle right now.

As if Jesus himself were bestowing grace upon me, or as if a cosmic being were gifting me a single tentacle.

It was a freaking mind-blowing miracle.

Yet, contrary to its grandeur, the miracle itself took the simple form of numbers.

[Total Views: 50,000+]

A whopping fifty thousand views.

“Good lord…”

In just one week, the total views had skyrocketed to 50,000.

Of course, some might think:  

(Wait, aren’t top-tier works getting tens of millions of views? Isn’t 50,000 kind of low?)

That’s something you’d say if you didn’t know about episode counts.

Works with 1 million to 10 million views typically have over 100 episodes as a baseline. Naturally, the more episodes pile up, the more cumulative views they rack up.

But my work? It’s only on episode 6, and it’s been out for barely two weeks.  

And yet, fifty thousand?  

That means the views per episode are nearly ten thousand!

For a work that’s only been out for two weeks to hit ten thousand views per episode?  

This was, without a doubt, an absolutely insane situation.

Thanks to that, I was in awe.

(Is this the power of gender…?)

Of course, I can’t ignore the promotion from being featured on the main banner…  

But it’s undeniable that my gender created a ripple effect.

It felt like I was catching a glimpse of the dirty side of the world.

If this is how it works, why the hell did I spend all that time slaving away at my drawings?  

I could’ve just soId my body once during that time.  

I’d probably have made a ton of money. My parents might’ve been a bit sad, though…

“Hehe.”

Anyway, I was in a good mood.

With this initial boost, as long as I keep up the quality, my work could absolutely take off.

I was already looking forward to next week’s payout.

Fueled by this motivation, I immediately sat at my desk.

I was a bit stiff from slacking off earlier, but I could push through that with sheer willpower.

And so, I started drawing.

*Swish, swish.*

With every movement of the tablet pen, smooth lines flowed out.

Those lines would become drawings, which would turn into a manga, and eventually form an entire worldview.

This or that, I loved this job.  

That’s why I’ve kept at it until now.

Anyway, I was in the middle of drawing when—

*Ding!*

A sound interrupted, shattering the focus I’d been immersed in.

It was a notification that a message had arrived on my phone.

I frowned for a moment.

“Ugh…”

Come to think of it, I forgot to put my phone on silent.

Stupid me. Controlling your environment is the basics of working.

“Sigh.”

I was a bit annoyed that my focus was broken, but what could I do?  

There was no way to restore the concentration that had already been disrupted.

It was my fault for not putting it on silent, so I just had to accept it.

“Might as well blow up the chat or something.”

Grumbling, I picked up my phone.

I hadn’t even checked who the message was from, but I was already half-sure of who it was.

This kind of thing had been happening a lot lately.

Sure enough, the message was from the commission chatroom I’d set up.

A channel I’d created long ago for commission communication.  

Since it was the only way people could talk to me, after I revealed my gender, people had been sending messages like this from time to time.

Of course, about 90% of the messages were pointless.

[sxonbeach: Show me your ••••]

Stuff like that.

These little pranksters. To think they’d ruin my focus with such cute antics.

They were so adorable I almost wanted to give them a playful smack.

Still, I couldn’t just ignore a message they’d taken the time to send, so I tapped out a reply.

[hala: I’ll think about it if you send me a pic of your •••• first.]

If you’re gonna demand something from someone, you should show what you’ve got first.

And I didn’t say I’d do it i just said I’d *think* about it.

It was clearly a rejection, so they’d probably back off.

[sxonbeach: Whoa, you’re even gonna look at it? lololol]

[sxonbeach: Hold on, I’m taking my undrwear off rn]

The world really is a fun place.

It never goes the way I expect. Not even once.

It’d be nice if things went as predicted for once, damn it.

[hala: You think I’d look, you idiot?]

With that, I kicked them out of the chat.

The ban function has been shining brightly lately.

With jerks like that showing up all the time, it’s been a lifesaver.

“Phew…”

This was, so to speak, the downside of revealing my gender.

Thanks to attracting a lot of attention, my views had shot up, but on the flip side, these kinds of weirdos kept showing up uninvited.

And they came in all varieties.

[sadalr: How much for a body pic?]

First, the type who thinks I’m some kind of cyber escort.

[hala: What?]

[sadalr: How much would it cost for you to send me a nude?]

[hala: Hmm…]

Honestly, I did hesitate for a moment here.

I’d already painfully realized that my body itself could make money.

So what if I just went crazy for a second and posted a body pic?

I figured about 1 million won would be a fair price.

*No… what am I even thinking?*

But that thought didn’t last long. I quickly shook off the temptation rising within me.

[hala: Get out.]

[You have kicked the user!]

Lately, with everyone hyping me up, I’ve been feeling a bit too good about myself.

Even setting that aside, why would I post nudes online? I’m not crazy.

If I messed up, the whole world could end up seeing my naked body.

Still, those kinds of messages were relatively harmless.

They were a bit mischievous, but you could tell they were just joking.

I could laugh those off and respond playfully.

The problem was the ones who seemed serious.

[amgalbi: Hello, I’m here to request a commission.]

People like this.

At first glance, it looked like a normal commission request.

The issue was that I’d recently announced I wasn’t taking commissions anymore.

[hala: Did you miss the notice? I said I’m too busy to take commissions anymore…]

[amgalbi: Oh, I know. I always read your notices lol]

Then what’s the deal?

Why request a commission when I said I’m not taking them?

As I wondered, the other person said something beyond my imagination.

[amgalbi: You don’t have to do anything, just listen to me lol… That’s enough for me.]

What the hell.

It seemed like they got off on talking about their desires.

The fact that just listening was enough for them gave me chills.

Are they really trying to get off while talking?

*Hmm…*

But then I realized it wasn’t a loss for me, so I decided to just listen.

It’s not like listening costs me anything.

If it’s for someone’s pleasure, I’m willing to lend an ear.

[amgalbi: Thanks. This’ll help me get off lol]

So, I listened to their creepy desires for a bit.

It was pretty creative and detailed… but out of respect for their privacy, I won’t go into it.

Anyway, there were tons of chats like this.

From simple messages saying they enjoyed my manga to these kinds of wild ones.

And their messages were oddly entertaining, so time just flew by.

Before I knew it, 2-3 hours would vanish while I was responding.

As a result, my daily life was getting pretty disrupted.

I should probably restrict the chatroom.

Originally, my open chatroom could hold up to 300 people a massive capacity.

I figured no one would join anyway, so I set it to the max.

But now that things have gotten lively, people keep showing up at all hours, so I need to scale it back.

Maybe around 10 people.

With that in mind, I adjusted the chatroom settings.

From now on, people will have to be quicker to talk to me.

Alright. I’ve had my fun time to get back to work.

I tossed my phone onto the bed and picked up the tablet pen again.

Looking at the drawing I’d been working on, I tried to refocus.

So I could dive back into my work.

As time passed and the objects around me started fading from my vision

*Ding!*

The alarm sounded again.

Cursing, I threw the tablet pen onto the desk.

“Goddamn it!”

Who the hell is it?!

Who’s breaking my hard-earned focus for the second time?!

Fuming with rage, I checked the chat.

If it’s something trivial, I’m going to tear them apart…

[Song Hara: Hello, Author-nim]

[Song Hara: I’m contacting you because I have something to discuss.]

But the sender was none other than my editor.

I had no choice but to calm my anger.

If it’s the editor, I can’t help it.

I tapped out a reply.

[Lee Sewon: Yes, what’s up?]

[Song Hara: It’s not a big deal, just wanted to talk about some upcoming schedules.]

Schedules… What kind of schedules could there be for someone like me, who just draws in a corner of their room?

Curious, I focused on her words.

Contrary to her “not a big deal” comment, it was actually pretty useful information.

[Song Hara: First, since your work is gaining traction faster than expected, we might get additional ads.]

[Lee Sewon: Oh]

This was pretty great news.

The more ads, the better.

More ads mean more exposure for my work, which translates to revenue. I couldn’t be happier.

The next schedule she mentioned was something quite new to me.

[Lee Sewon: That’s great.]

[Song Hara: Yes, and there might be a party coming up soon.]

I tilted my head.

A party? What party?

Why’s a party coming up all of a sudden?

[Lee Sewon: What’s that?]

[Song Hara: Oh, the company occasionally hosts parties. It’s a welfare event where they gather webtoon authors for a party…]

She went on to explain.

In simple terms, it was like a networking event.

They bring authors together to hang out as a reward for their hard work. Since we’re all in the same industry, it’s easy to connect.

For authors who often get stressed from work, it’s a nice event.

For people like me, who rarely meet others while drawing in our rooms, meeting people is a rare occasion.

*Sounds nice.*

From what I heard, our editor would also be attending.

Not as a participant like the authors, but to manage and supervise things on-site.

[Song Hara: It’s still about 3 months away, but I thought I’d let you know so you can prepare.]

[Lee Sewon: Thanks.]

I nodded.

And internally, I was a bit impressed.

She’s definitely a team leader…

When it came to work-related matters, she explained things so clearly and efficiently.

Is it that she’s good at separating work and personal life? Or is she just a bit formal?

Either way, it was hard to reconcile her with the “qwer1” persona I’d seen online.

Where did that frivolous, rude person go?

I thought about that for a moment before moving to exit the chat.

The conversation seemed to be wrapping up, so it was time to focus on work again.

But before I could, she spoke up.

[Song Hara: Oh, by the way, Author-nim]

[Lee Sewon: ?]

She seemed to have something more to say.

I adjusted my posture and waited for her next words.

What is it? The schedule talk seemed done.

[Song Hara: It’s not a big deal]

[Song Hara: Um…]

A brief silence followed.

I waited, staring at the chat window.

Maybe she had a lot to say? Her next message took a while to come.

But when it finally did, it was enough to throw me off.

[Song Hara: By any chance, what’s your ideal type, Author-nim?]

A short, simple message.

I tilted my head.

Out of nowhere…?

Why’s she asking this all of a sudden?

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Translated by Reversalnovel.web.id