Starting as a Manga Editor

Chapter 174: An “Unreliable” Company

Lunar December 25th.Kang Ming trudged home, completely exhausted.His body was drained, and his mind wasn’t doing much better.

The moment he walked through the door,He silently swore to himself:This was the last time in his life he'd ever go shopping with women again!

“What? You didn’t enjoy helping Mom and me buy New Year’s goods?”A girl who looked much younger than him stepped through the door behind him, clearly annoyed. “You should know, you just started your break yesterday. I’ve been out with Mom for three days! Three whole days.”

Kang Ming went silent for a beat before asking quietly, “Then why aren’t you done shopping after three days?”

“We couldn’t carry the big stuff, duh. Just the two of us ‘delicate ladies.’”Kang Yu said confidently, “That’s why we needed you, our workhorse.”

“….”Kang Ming couldn’t even be bothered to respond to his sister.

“Also, you’ve been acting weird for the second half of this year.”Kang Yu paused, then said seriously, “You’ve been going to work with a smile every day… and when you come home, you often lock yourself in your room, tinkering with who knows what. You didn’t even complain about getting your break so late. Mom and I were both getting worried about your mental state. Today was just a way to get you to relax a bit.”

“Huh?”Kang Ming couldn’t stay quiet after hearing that.

“A-Ming, are you working some shady job?”Just then, a middle-aged woman came in carrying a plastic bag and picked up where Kang Yu left off. She closed the door and looked at her son with deep concern. “When you first graduated, you said you couldn’t find a job you liked. I told you to go work for your uncle, but you said no. Then you said you got some job as an editor, but quit after just a few days.

Then you said you were starting a business with friends, but startups aren’t exactly easy. What kind of company is this, exactly? Don’t tell me it’s one of those sketchy operations. You’ve been way too excited lately…” Kang Ming couldn’t help but laugh: “Mom, how did you even come to the conclusion that I’m working for some shady company?”

“You’ve just been too fired up lately. I’ve never seen you this invested in anything.”His mom shook her head. “I know your personality. That last editor job—you even taking it was surprising. But you didn’t last a month. And now you’re saying this new job is about games? I don’t get it. And you’ve never really told us what exactly you’re doing…”

“It’s legit. I’m just excited because I enjoy it.”Kang Ming was speechless at how far her thoughts had gone and explained, “Have you heard of Avalon? The game company that’s making waves in the industry lately?”

His mom and sister looked completely blank.After all, neither of them had anything to do with games.

Kang Ming sighed. “Well, it’s a pretty well-known company in the game industry. Growing super fast.”

“Bro… are you sure you’re not just being fed empty promises?”Kang Yu shot him a skeptical look. “Rapid growth? Sounds like something your boss would say. Are you sure it’s not some sketchy half-pyramid scheme? I heard people like you—kinda gullible—are prime targets. Especially since you just graduated.

Those shady bosses love new grads. They’ll talk a big game about how the company’s just in a rough patch now but has a bright future, and you guys eat it up, busting your *ss while they reap the rewards. By the time you realize you’re not getting paid, it’s already too late…

You’re showing all the signs—like you’ve been brainwashed.And that’s the scariest part. If you were just scammed, all you’d lose is time—and honestly, your time’s not worth that much. But what we’re really worried about is if you’re doing something illegal. You’ve been going on about ‘Dou Pai’ for weeks now. Is that some kind of online gambling platform? If you get arrested, your life is basically over.”

Their mom looked even more anxious after hearing that.

“….”Kang Ming was stunned.He thought about his boss—someone even more intense than he was.That beautiful, driven woman who rewrote two whole pages of revision notes after playing a single round of the new Dou Pai demo.

Reaping the rewards while others worked?Everyone on the team was practically getting crushed by her work ethic!

But maybe because he didn’t respond right away,Kang Yu raised a brow. “So you’re starting to realize something’s fishy?”

“….”Kang Ming came back to his senses and gave a bitter laugh. “You guys are way overthinking this. It’s a real company, seriously. We get paid monthly, and the salary is actually pretty high. Honestly, for a fresh grad with zero experience, I think I’m already earning a lot.

As for Dou Pai, that’s our second game—not a gambling site.”

Though as he said that last part,

He did feel a little guilty—because at first, he had almost made it a gambling platform…If Tang Yao hadn’t pointed it out, he really might’ve crossed a line.He hadn’t told his mom and sister about that part.Most Chinese families are like this—there are things you might pour your heart out about online to strangers, but can’t say to the people closest to you.

After graduating, Kang Ming had taken a long break for health reasons.Deep down, he still felt bad about leeching off his parents during that time, and he didn’t want his little sister to look down on him.

So how could he tell them he almost got himself in trouble with a sketchy platform?

As for joining Avalon—In the early days, it was such a ramshackle setup that no one even knew if the game would succeed. To keep them from worrying, he didn’t go into details.

Then FGO took off, his salary skyrocketed, and he got busier than ever. He also wasn’t the type to go around bragging about his job, so he never really sat down and explained it all to them.

He hadn’t expected it to lead to such a huge misunderstanding.

“High pay? How high?”Kang Yu narrowed her eyes when she saw that guilty look on her brother’s face.

Kang Ming realized he couldn’t dodge this anymore and replied, “About fifty grand… and that’s with our salary structure still unadjusted. I heard the HR and finance departments were just recently formed. They said things should be finalized next year.”

“….”Kang Yu gave him a once-over and said suspiciously, “You? Fifty grand a month? What is this, gacha currency? You have to roll for three months before you can cash it out?”

“？”Seriously?Kang Ming slowly raised a virtual question mark in his mind.This was his sister?

He let out a helpless chuckle and pulled out his phone. “Why would I lie? Want to see the bank text?”

But just as he took it out—

Ding—

A crisp chime.

A new message popped up.

Kang Ming’s eyes widened.He stared at the screen in disbelief, frozen in place.

“Let me see—don’t tell me you deleted it or something?”Kang Yu saw him standing there like a statue and assumed he was bluffing. She quickly leaned over to peek at his phone.

Their mom, also worried, stepped forward to look as well.

Then—They both froze like they’d been hit by a paralyze spell.

Because on Kang Ming’s phone, the screen displayed a bank message:

[Your account ending in 1434 received a deposit at 09:30:45. Amount: RMB 1,140,000.00. Note: “Annual Year-End Bonus.” Current balance: …]

“Wait, one, two, three… One million one hundred and forty thousand!? Bro!? What the h*ll is this!? What did you do?!”Kang Yu looked up at her brother in shock.

His mom gasped, stunned.

“It says right there. Year-end bonus…”Kang Ming muttered. “Before the break, the company mentioned they’d try to get it out before the holidays. Didn’t expect it to hit today…”

“Year-end bonus!? That much!? How many months’ worth of pay is that?”

“Seems like… twenty months…”

“Twenty….”Kang Yu was completely knocked out by the raw force of those simple numbers. Her mind went blank.

She stared at her soon-to-be-bald and not-particularly-handsome brother, and just couldn’t connect him with the words 1.14 million bonus.

“You!? You actually earned this!? What kind of company is this!?”

Wait a sec—Wasn’t this supposed to be a shady company?Wasn’t her brother brainwashed?

But brainwashing someone with a million-yuan bonus—Wasn’t that a little overkill?

Could it actually be… a legit company after all?But what kind of legit company gives out that much bonus money!?