Chapter 73:Money and Talent Pour In

 Chapter 73: Renewal, and Renewal Again

The long-awaited day of the monetization transition had finally arrived. The exact moment the clock struck 10:00 AM, the work—which had been free until now—switched to paid status, and the view counts from Chapter 26 onward reset to 0.

> **[No. 21. Proceed with monetization.]**

> **[Monetization transition successful.]**

> **[You have acquired Good Deed Points (3 points).]**

> **[Special Linked Quest Updated!]**

> **[No. 22. Achieve 1,000 paid purchases on the latest chapter.]**

> 

Thanks to this, his accumulated Good Deed Points reached 41. They were piling up at an incredibly fast pace due to the web novel quests, and looking at Quest No. 22 gave him a familiar hunch.

*I’m probably going to clear a few more of these, aren’t I?*

He couldn't help but look forward to it.

The revenue was one thing, but the points he would gain from the web novel quests were another. The chapters he had scheduled for release were about to be published soon.

As he lay on the living room sofa waiting for time to pass, the demeanor of Ryu Hyun-ah, who was sitting next to him watching TV, seemed rather strange.

"Ahem."

She was nervously glancing at her smartphone while trying to gauge his reaction, making it blindingly obvious what she was doing.

"Just look at it if you want to look."

"I-I'm just worried it'll be embarrassing!"

"What will?"

"What if you just posted it and nobody reads it...?"

"You worry about the strangest things."

"More importantly, when is it going live?"

"In five minutes."

Five minutes passed much quicker than expected.

And now.

A massive batch of ten chapters was uploaded simultaneously.

Perhaps she had been tracking the time, because Ryu Hyun-ah annoyingly nudged closer to him.

"Five minutes passed. It's up, right? How is it?"

"It literally just went up. Wait a second. And could you give me some space?"

"Wow, how stingy can you get, seriously."

Ignoring her, Ryu Sung checked the Moontopia app.

The chapter numbers from 35 to 44 were flashing with a bright "NEW" tag. He had gone far beyond satisfying the expectations of readers who had been begging for a triple-release.

"Whoa, damn. You uploaded ten chapters?"

"Yeah. It's nothing special."

Since he still had 30 backlog chapters left, it wasn’t an issue. Because they had just been uploaded, the purchase counts were all at 0. He decided to play with Lucky's paws and belly for a bit before hitting refresh.

*Huh...?*

The purchase count for Chapter 35 had jumped to 357.

This was genuinely astonishing.

*This fast...?*

He refreshed again. The purchase count for Chapter 35, which had been 357, now changed to 417. Even Chapter 44 had surpassed 150 purchases.

Did they read it in this short span of time?

That didn't seem likely.

It looked like they had gone ahead and bought the chapters first.

"Whoa... is this a good thing?"

Ryu Hyun-ah asked, stealing a glance from beside him.

"Yeah."

"Ohh, really? How good is it?"

"It's absurd."

Without even realizing it, he refreshed the page yet again.

The purchase count hit 651.

"...This is insane."

It was a mega-hit, plain and simple. As he scrolled down a bit, the purchase counts from Chapter 26 onward—which had reset to 0—were also climbing steeply. They had already surpassed an average of 25.

It was an influx of new readers.

Suddenly, curiosity got the better of him.

*Just how much has been sold?*

He walked over to his study to check the settlement details.

### Settlement Details – October

 * **Work:** Management with the Stars

 * **Total Purchases:** 3,217

 * **Cancellations:** 0

 * **Revenue:** 321,700 KRW

 * **Settled Amount:** 202,671 KRW

In less than three minutes, he had made 200,000 KRW.

It was mind-blowing.

While he stood there dazed for a brief moment, the quest was cleared.

> **[No. 22. Achieve 1,000 paid purchases on the latest chapter.]**

> **[Purchase count achieved successfully.]**

> **[You have acquired Good Deed Points (3 points).]**

> **[Special Linked Quest Updated!]**

> **[No. 23. Achieve 2,000 paid purchases on the latest chapter.]**

> 

And that was just the beginning.

> **[No. 23. Achieve 2,000 paid purchases on the latest chapter.]**

> **[Purchase count achieved successfully.]**

> **[You have acquired Good Deed Points (3 points).]**

> **[Special Linked Quest Updated!]**

> **[No. 24. Achieve 3,000 paid purchases on the latest chapter.]**

> **[Purchase count achieved successfully.]**

> **[You have acquired Good Deed Points (3 points).]**

> **[Special Linked Quest Updated.]**

> **[No. 25. Achieve 5,000 paid purchases on the latest chapter.]**

> **[Purchase count achieved successfully.]**

> **[You have acquired Good Deed Points (3 points).]**

> **[Special Linked Quest Updated!]**

> **[No. 26. Achieve 10,000 paid purchases on the latest chapter.]**

> **[Purchase count

 achieved success...]**

> 

The special linked quests just kept continuously renewing.

Here is the English translation of the next part of the story.

By the time quite a few hours had passed and evening rolled around, Ryu Hyun-ah had officially announced the news about the web novel to the family.

"Mom, Dad! I'm telling you, Oppa hit the jackpot!"

"Haha, is that so?"

"Don't just laugh it off like that!"

"Hahaha."

"Oh my, you're being so loud!"

"No, Mom. You really have to see this for yourself! Oppa, Oppaaa!"

Ignoring her, Ryu Sung quietly checked his purchase counts.

**35. Management with the Stars (Chapter 35)**

Purchases: 18,622 | Recommendations: 1,577 | Comments: 351

**44. Management with the Stars (Chapter 44)**

Purchases: 18,031 | Recommendations: 1,617 | Comments: 517

The purchase count for Chapter 35 was incredible, but the number for Chapter 44 was downright astonishing.

It was exactly 18,031.

This meant that the vast majority of readers who transitioned over to the paid chapters had read all the way through to Chapter 44 in one sitting. Or they were still in the middle of reading it right now.

The comment sections were no joke either.

Hundreds of comments were being left on every single chapter. Curious about what they said, he clicked on them to check.

> **Swan:** *Puff, pant... Th-This is way too good...!*

> **Great King:** *Thank you for the 10-chapter release! ^^ But... why... do I still feel so starved for more?*

> **No Il-sung:** *T_T I wait all day just for this.*

> **Go-Osu:** *Haha, deeply satisfied!*

> **Front-line:** *Wow, seriously... Why is this so damn good? It's driving me crazy. ㄷㄷ*

> **Dinner:** *Author, please don't overwork yourself. Fighting!*

> 

Every single reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

"This is really great..."

The breakdown of his settlement details was even more shocking.

Honestly, looking at it made him wonder if he was seeing things right.

### Settlement Details – October

 * **Work:** Management with the Stars

 * **Total Purchases:** 207,899

 * **Cancellations:** 0

 * **Revenue:** 20,789,900 KRW

 * **Settled Amount:** 13,097,637 KRW

The settled amount was a whopping 13 million KRW. Of course, he still had to split this with his agency according to their contract ratio, but even then, he had just raked in a small fortune of nearly 12 million KRW. And this was in less than a single day since going paid. Even considering the massive 10-chapter release, this was an absolutely absurd figure.

And that wasn't the end of it.

Even now, the purchase numbers were continuously climbing.

"...I'd better write my heart out."

He felt a sudden surge of emotion welling up from deep within.

It was a thrill of pure joy.

Was it because he made a lot of money?

Money was important, of course, but the emotion he was feeling right now wasn't just about that. It was definitely an unfamiliar feeling. Because of that, it felt awkward, yet at the same time, he felt like he could completely embrace it. Those numbers were proof that the words he had worked so hard to write were being loved by countless readers.

It was validation, and it was affection.

*I want even more people to read it.*

The thought naturally crossed his mind.

> **[No. 29. Achieve 25,000 paid purchases on the latest chapter.]**

> **[Purchase count achieved successfully.]**

> **[You have acquired Good Deed Points (3 points).]**

> **[Special Linked Quest Updated.]**

> **[No. 30. Serialize on other platforms.]**

> 

In the meantime, his special linked quest had reached number 30.

> **[Good Deed Points: 68]**

> 

Thanks to this, he had accumulated a massive 68 Good Deed Points. It was a high enough number to buy an Information Ticket, but he didn't plan on spending his points right away. For now, utilizing the 'US-China Trade War Log' was more than enough.

 * * * The Moontopia community boards were absolutely on fire. It was a historic moment where a single web novel transitioning to a paid model had shattered Moontopia's existing records.

> **Title: Honestly, it's a given.**

> **Content:** To be frank, I knew *Management with the Stars* (or *Star-Mgmt* for short) would end up like this. Well, I didn't expect the latest paid views to hit 25k... lol.

> But anyway, I totally called it hitting #1.

> The market growing definitely played a part, but this story is just genuinely incredibly fun.

> Hope it hits even bigger!

> └ *Gotta agree with this.*

> └ *Legit getting goosebumps for the first time in a long while.*

> └ *Please just don't let it fall apart halfway through T_T*

> └ *Ah, for real. Please let's get a clean run all the way to the ending.*

> └ *Author, fighting!*

> 

> **Title: He completely bypassed the unwritten rule of the double-release, lol.**

> **Content:** A 10-chapter dump on day one! There’s no way you can't read that! Ah, but now that I've binged it all, I'm getting withdrawal symptoms... Author Nu-Fe? I know for a fact you're lurking on this board ri

ght now. Hurry up and hand over the next chapter, will ya?

Here is the English translation of the next part of the story.

> └ *Give us Chapter 45, hurry...!*

> └ *Puff... This is getting too hard to endure T_T*

> └ *How am I supposed to wait until tomorrow!*

> └ *The plot is seriously so well-structured.*

> 

> **Title: A masterpiece that exquisitely blends revenge and goals.**

> **Content:** Should I say the revenge process itself is very fitting for the protagonist? The character is incredibly cool, and the author uses actions to make the reader accurately perceive that character image. Maybe that's why scenes that would normally feel frustrating actually come across as very fitting for the protagonist instead.

> It really makes you want to root for him.

> The process of expanding his network as a manager is fun, and meeting people and building relationships doesn't feel forced. Now that he's set up his own separate company, his official moves are finally beginning!

> Keep up the great work!

> Looking forward to more in the future!

> └ *Ohh, for real.*

> └ *He really balanced it well!*

> └ *Shoutout to Go-Osu, who was the very first to recommend this...*

> └ *As expected, you can't ignore experience, lol.*

> └ *I'm really enjoying it, but since he seems like a rookie author, I'm a little worried.*

> └ *Ah, for real... T_T*

> └ *Please, just don't go on hiatus!*

> 

An unprecedented level of positive reviews completely filled Moontopia.

 * * * Ryu Sung entered a Korean restaurant alongside the CEO of S-Books.

"Shall we order first, Author?"

"Yes, let's do that."

After ordering a simple set menu, they struck up a conversation.

"Author, how many backlog chapters do you currently have?"

"I have about 30 chapters."

"Oh. That many?"

Heo Hyun-seok couldn't hide his surprise. At that, Ryu Sung scratched his cheek and replied as if it were no big deal.

"I just happen to write a bit on the faster side."

"Ho. How much do you usually write a day?"

"Since I have other things to take care of, I write for about three hours. On slow days, I get about 10,000 characters, and on days I write a lot, it comes out to around 15,000 characters."

"Oh my."

Heo Hyun-seok was genuinely astonished.

"That much volume with that level of quality...?"

"It's not bad, right?"

"It's not just 'not bad.' It's truly amazing. Usually, even writing 5,000 characters a day is more than enough to make a living as a full-time author. In this market, consistently writing over 10,000 characters every single day earns you the reputation of being a machine. Sure, when inspiration strikes, people might write 10,000 or 20,000 characters occasionally, but being able to do that every day is a whole different dimension."

"Ah..."

"Even among the authors signed with us, I can count on one hand those who write 10,000 characters every day. In fact, it's safe to say there are barely any authors in the entire industry who can write like that while maintaining high sales. Yet, you're saying you pull that off in just three hours... haha."

Hearing it directly from the CEO of an agency that formed a major pillar of the industry made it feel incredibly real.

*I really do write fast.*

"Then you truly are. It's almost frightening."

"Haha..."

While they were talking, a sudden curiosity struck him.

Back in high school and college, when he used to read web novels, he had followed many ongoing works. Every single time, he used to regret it, all because only one chapter was uploaded per day. He wanted to see more because it was so entertaining, but that feeling of there being nothing left after—it was truly awful.

While it couldn't be helped during the free serialization, things were different now that it was a paid model. Since every single chapter connected directly to revenue upon release, there was no longer a strict reason to stick to the one-chapter-a-day rule.

If he was curious, all he had to do was ask. Conveniently, the perfect person to answer was right in front of him.

"Um, Mr. CEO."

"Yes, Author."

"Now that it's a paid serialization, do I absolutely have to upload only one chapter a day?"

"Pardon?"

"I'd like to upload two chapters a day. Even if I do that, I think I can still maintain my backlog."

"Hmm. You mentioned your current backlog is 30 chapters, right?"

"Yes."

"In the long run, one chapter a day is actually the best from a revenue standpoint. However, if that's what you want, I think it would be fine to release two chapters a day, provided that your current backlog doesn't get depleted."

"Meaning I keep the 30-chapter backlog intact?"

"Yes, exactly. Even experienced authors often hit a wall once they pass the 100-chapter mark. It's about setting a minimum baseline just in case."

It was a guideline. Thanks to that, he was able to resolve his dilemma easily.

"Sounds good. I'll do as you suggested, Mr. CEO."

"We will also focus on the second-tier platform events. Since you're here, shall we talk about that as well? For the secondary platforms, it's best to prioritize Cocoa Page or Seriesn. There are clear advantages and disadvantages depending on which one you go to first, but..."

"Which one would be better?"

"In the case of this particular work..."

He organized his thoughts while sharing a long conversation with the CEO that day.

"Then please proceed with that option."

"Understood."

Truthfully, he didn't want to stress over things outside of the actual writing. Fortunately, S-Books was highly satisfactory in that regard.

"We will make sure you don't have to worry about any other details at all."

"Yes, thank you.

"

Afterward, he enjoyed a delicious meal and returned home.