How a legendary returner lives

JH Media.

It’s a company that has been in the industry for over 20 years, with annual sales nearing 50 billion KRW.

Although it’s a small to medium-sized enterprise with only about 20 employees, the company manages to generate nearly 50 billion KRW in annual revenue.

The company mainly deals with web novels and webtoons, and it has a general manager, Kwon Hyuk-jae.

He co-founded JH Media 20 years ago with the president, Jeong Jae-hoon, and has helped grow the company ever since.

To be honest, JH Media experienced rapid growth in just 10 years. The reason was simple. A lucky break fell into their laps.

It was more than just a golden goose.

Honestly, the writing that Jeong Si-hoo did? It was awful.

Kwon Hyuk-jae, who had been obsessed with genre fiction since elementary school, thought Jeong Si-hoo’s writing was absolute trash.

But then, that trash combined with Jeong Song, and an incredible synergy was created.

How many people in South Korea and the world have benefited from Jeong Song?

For two years, Jeong Song worked as a Gate rescue worker. During that time, Jeong Song single-handedly saved hundreds of thousands of people. After that, he established the Salvation Guild, traveling to dangerous gates and solidifying his position globally.

And now, the younger sibling of Jeong Song is writing novels?

It might be bad, but it’s Jeong Song’s younger sibling?

Then, the book has to be bought.

It’s published both as a physical book and an e-book. At the very least, tens of thousands of people buy and read it.

Every time a new work was released, the reviews always called it trash, but there were still people who bought it, just in case.

When it was made into a webtoon, it got a rating of 2 out of 10, but even so, the pure revenue in South Korea alone exceeded 30 million KRW by the time the series concluded. And that was daily revenue.

When it went overseas, it was massive.

More than half of the company’s annual revenue was thanks to Jeong Si-hoo.

But now, this guy was hospitalized.

Kwon Hyuk-jae was burning with anxiety.

He can’t let him die now.

Then, out of nowhere, he received a notification that Jeong Si-hoo uploaded a novel titled “Titan” on Kakao Stage.

To be honest, he was surprised.

No, but why Titan?

The last time he spoke with Jeong Si-hoo, Jeong had said:

“I want to try writing zombie fiction, expert fiction, and even sports fiction. I think my next work will be zombie fiction, but I’ll let you know once I’ve got the story figured out, Team Leader.”

He had told him it would be fine, that it would work out.

It was obvious it would work.

Jeong Song’s halo was that powerful. An incompetent younger sibling, an exceedingly talented older sister.

The continued huge sales of Jeong Si-hoo’s novels were likely helped by a lot of sympathy as well.

He sent a message: asking what he was doing, if they could talk, whether he was trying to write fantasy now instead of zombie fiction, and so on.

But this guy completely ignored him.

Almost a whole day passed before any response came.

It wasn’t a reply.

It was the novel.

It was uploaded.

It’s a free serialization site, so you can upload it anytime. Kakao Stage is a serial site. If you post around 4 to 5 volumes here, you can move it to a paid serialization site. That’s how it works.

Honestly.

Maybe it’s okay to say this, but…

Could he have found a ghostwriter?

Such a thought crossed his mind.

And honestly, it was a natural thought to have. The quality of the novel was astonishing.

Typically, the length of the first episode is around 5,000 characters. To be exact, it’s at least 5,000 characters.

For a normal person, it would take at most 10 minutes, or 5 minutes for a fast reader, to read.

But now, five episodes had been uploaded, and it wasn’t a joke—he didn’t even realize time was passing.

He read the first five episodes, then went back to read them again.

‘…What is this?’

He was dumbfounded.

The pacing was incredible.

How can he describe it?

The premise was a typical isekai fantasy.

200 people are stranded on a strange planet called Titan, struggling to survive—that’s the story.

But it’s this fun?

It’s hard to understand.

‘…The writing style has changed. The switching of perspectives is seamless.’

‘There used to be too much unnecessary description, but now, the descriptions are fewer.’

‘It’s fun.’

‘It’s fun. It’s insanely fun.’

The world seemed to quiet down.

Kwon Hyuk-jae, while reading the novel, had become Jeong Si-hoo himself.

A character in the novel, the protagonist.

The author’s pen name was the same as the author’s real name—Jeong Si-hoo.

He was certain now.

‘This time is different.’

This one is going to be a massive hit.

He had read countless genre novels. Now, his eyes and senses were shouting. This kind of novel had never appeared before.

No, it’s not just immersion.

The moment he started reading, everything became quiet, and he felt like he had fully entered the world of the novel, as if he had become one of the characters. He had never even considered that such a thing could be possible. But now, it was happening.

A smile spread across his face.

He immediately picked up the phone. Well, he was about to call. But he wouldn’t have received a call from an unknown number.

He answered the call.

“Yes, this is Kwon Hyuk-jae. I’m sorry, but I have something urgent to attend to, so can I call you back in a bit…?”

Hello. This is Jeong Bin, the legal representative of Jeong Si-hoo from today.

Kwon Hyuk-jae was speechless.

What is this now?

A legal representative?

Did you see the novel uploaded today?

“…Yes, I just saw it.”

Then, let’s talk business. I would like to adjust the revenue share a bit. What do you think?

His eyebrows furrowed. Revenue share, suddenly?

“…I don’t think you’re from this industry, but it’s normal for the manager to take 15%. That’s actually a pretty good deal. Why adjust it…?”

Why are you saying that? Honestly, who is responsible for most of JH Media’s revenue? It’s Jeong Si-hoo. You know that, right?

“…”

His words hit too close to home, and for a moment, Kwon Hyuk-jae couldn’t respond.

If you’ve seen the novel, you should know better. The situation is completely different from before.

“…”

I’m not asking for much. I’d like to adjust the ratio to 95:5. What do you think?

He said he wasn’t asking for much, but wasn’t this a bit much?

This isn’t an exclusive contract, and considering Jeong Si-hoo’s relationship with JH Media, I’m making this offer to you first. You know, right? Jeong Si-hoo has rejected all sorts of offers with better terms from other management agencies. Some of them had a 90:10 split.

“…90:10… Really?”

Of course.

In truth, whether such a contract existed or not didn’t matter.

Jeong Bin didn’t really know the details. The important part was that the relationship between JH Media and Jeong Si-hoo was not an exclusive contract.

That was the most crucial point.

Jeong Si-hoo had always kept his contract with JH Media and maintained loyalty.

And there was no real reason for Jeong Si-hoo to continue honoring that loyalty now.

But he thought it would still be better to work with the people he had been working with, rather than with someone new.

However, I won’t bother you about the print book ratio. Keep it the same as before, but for everything other than the print books, let’s do a 95:5 split. What do you think?

…Of course, Jeong Si-hoo’s books would be published as print books as well.

No matter how bad the quality, just releasing it would make it a bestseller.

Kwon Hyuk-jae let out a sigh.

“This isn’t something to discuss over the phone. Let’s meet and talk. Have you had lunch yet?”

Not yet.

“I know a great beef restaurant. If you send me your address, I’ll come pick you up.”

That day, Jeong Bin was treated to a rare and grand meal, and as Jeong Si-hoo had said, he managed to get the bizarre 95:5 contract.

Kwon Hyuk-jae also smiled as he adjusted the contract.

Both he and Jeong Bin, who had edited the contract, could feel it.

This novel was going to make much more money than any of the previous works.

***

Chapter 2

The Global Awakeners Association is located in Switzerland.

Seven awakened individuals gathered there.

Honestly, it could be said that it was a coincidence. Normally, these people wouldn’t all gather together like this.

After clearing all the gates they had planned to clear and taking some rest, an SSS-level gate appeared.

Curiosity struck, and soon, the president of the Global Awakeners Association, Santiago Munoz, called them.

To be honest, they didn’t have to go. They could say something urgent came up. But Jeong Song had never once refused the president’s call. The summons was always made in urgent situations, and whether the relationship with the president was good or bad, if the call came, it was right to go.

So, he came.

The Global Awakeners Association in Switzerland looked like a fortress or a castle.

Though it wasn’t said aloud, the amount of black money flowing into this place was beyond imagination.

As he followed the guide, Jeong Song saw it.

A massive round table.

It was obvious that it was inspired by the Round Table of the Knights.

At first, he hadn’t noticed, but now that he saw it again, he thought it was incredibly ridiculous.

As he thought this, Santiago Munoz, with his distinctive white mustache, quickly approached and extended his hand for a handshake.

“I thought you would find it hard to come due to recent events, but really… thank you for coming.”

Jeong Song briefly stared at Santiago Munoz, the president of the Global Awakeners Association.

This wasn’t their first meeting, and they had met several times before. But the look in Jeong Song’s eyes was very cold.

Santiago Munoz noticed the change in Jeong Song’s gaze but didn’t show it. He turned and gestured.

“Please come. I’ll show you to your seat,” said Santiago, guiding Jeong Song, who silently walked to the seat he was directed to.

A man spoke to Jeong Song.

He was a handsome man with blonde hair, sitting right next to her.

He was an American Awakened and had a troubled history with Jeong Song—Jamie Wilson.

“I heard you solo-cleared a fluctuating gate in Texas? And that it was an SSS-level gate.”

Jeong Song turned her head.

“Impressive. As expected from Jeong Song. But, was it really you who cleared it?”

Jeong Song smirked as she looked at Jamie Wilson.

“Didn’t the results show that? What are you doubting?”

“What’s there to doubt? It doesn’t make sense that someone like you could solo-clear a gate with a rating of over 90,000. Doesn’t it?”

“What doesn’t make sense about it? And you’re being a little sharp with your words. Are you jealous, by any chance?”

“Wow, look at you. Why would I be jealous of someone like you? I’m just shocked, that’s all. And frankly, if you’re here, shouldn’t we not be? Just like how you cleared the Texas SSS gate, I’m sure you’ll handle the newly appeared SSS gate in the Uyuni Desert just fine on your own, right?”

It was clear that he was intentionally trying to provoke her.