Chapter 148: Chapter 148 – Best of Luck!
Just right after he ended the stream, there were many people messaging him privately through his Strike account.
The notifications that came from that rang repeatedly and made him snap.
"Damn it! Just stop it already!"
He allowed his Strike direct message to open for a few hours while waiting for the winners to contact him, but this was too much. Was this the feeling of being famous? He couldn't get used to it yet.
In the end, he disabled the notification and used the search feature to find the winners' names. Only one had contacted him, and that was SinSanSon.
[SinSanSon: Hello… I am SinSanSon, the one who has won number 2 in your contest with the #EditorBreeze hashtag.]
From his message, it seemed like he was quite reserved and polite. Max smiled when he saw it.
'For once, I got normal people to talk with… Well, save for Nina. She's also quite normal.'
It could be said that his friends were… unique.
Now, he had to deal with the winners.
At first, he wanted only to get one editor. But after seeing both BloodSucker and SinSanSon's edits, he wanted them to deal with different kinds of videos.
BloodSucker was great at storytelling, which was perfect for game editing. On the other hand, SinSanSon's editing style was simple but smooth, giving the viewers a good experience and engrossing them. He would be perfect for editing parkour footage.
'I will make a different offer. I hope they will agree to it. Thankfully, I have made two kinds of different offers already.'
[Breeze: Hello. First of all, congratulations! Your video is really great, and I like it ^_^. I believe by using the #EditorBreeze hashtag, you want to apply for an editor position?]
[SinSanSon: Yes! That would be wonderful! However, my apologies… May I know the pay offer first?]
SinSanSon's question was reasonable, and he understood why he asked that. This was a kind of a job interview. It was reasonable to ask for the offer and the pay before one started.
[Breeze: Please look at this. [AttachedFile] I have already written my offer and the job entailed inside. But if you have any requests or questions, feel free to tell me. Also, I will send your reward for winning second place. Please give me your bank information.]
[SinSanSon: I will look at it. Thank you. Here is my bank information: ********]
That would take time.
While waiting for SinSanSon, Max sent the $500 reward to his account and looked at his message again to see whether BloodSucker or NightyThief had contacted him. And they did already.
"Let's see… BloodSucker can wait. Let's send NightyThief's reward first."
[NightyThief: Good evening. I am NightyThief… I heard that I won the contest?]
[Breeze: Yes! Congratulations. Please provide me with your bank information so I can send the reward.]
[NightyThief: Sure! My bank information is ********. I didn't think that I would win after watching my competitors, hahaha.]
After receiving the information, he transferred $500 to his bank account. Then, he also praised him.
[Breeze: Your editing is cool and great! It's just that BloodSucker is trying too hard to win. Once again, congratulations. I have sent the reward.]
[NightyThief: Thank you. I've received it. And yes, I doubt the winner even sleeps at all. If you need help with editing, feel free to contact me. I am a kind of freelancer, hahaha.]
[Breeze: I'll remember it.]
There was no further conversation after that. He also answered NightyThief's offer out of politeness. He wouldn't need to ask him for editing if either BloodSucker or SinSanSon agreed to make a contract with him.
'SinSanSon hasn't replied yet.' He thought, 'Let's send the offer to BloodSucker.'
Thinking so, he opened BloodSucker's message.
[BloodSucker: Evening! Good day to you, Breeze. Will I be your new editor? Heh! Fear not, for I will help you. But how much will I get paid?
You see, my situation is a bit… hard. So please offer me a job!]
Unlike SinSanSon, BloodSucker was more direct and honest, fitting his personality rather well. Max liked this kind of person more than a reserved one. They would be easy to talk with, like a friend. Thus, both could have a pleasant work together.
"Why did I kind of expect this already?" He laughed while typing for the reply.
[Breeze: Bloody sucker… If you want the job, then I can offer you. [AttachedFile] Take a look at this and tell me what you think.]
[BloodSucker: Sure! I'll get back to you in a minute after reading it.]
He pinned the two conversations with his potential editors and closed his direct message again. He only allowed those two to DM him and activated his notifications to know when they replied.
While he was at it, he decided to look at Midnight Heist's official website to read about the tournament he had heard about from his viewers. Honestly, he was excited to join, especially since he knew that the police chase after the thief got the target would be exciting.
The tournament information was put at the topmost of the website in a banner visible when one visited the site.
Reading it, he realized there was nothing new from what he heard from the chat. The tournament was divided into Tier 1 and Tier 2. Players who had reached the required Tiers could join by registering through the website before 14th May.
"That means I have 22 days… Or maybe just 21 to be safe to reach at least Tier 2…" He mumbled while holding his chin, his eyes narrowed slightly. "It will be hard. Or not?"
As someone who played Midnight Heist casually without watching any videos of other players, Max was ignorant about how hard it was to raise his Tier in a ranked match.
He thought it might be easy, but considering the chat's skepticism earlier… He had to experience it himself to judge.
The details of the tournament were also written below. He read it carefully so as not to miss anything.
When he was midway through his reading, a notification rang. He got a new message in his Strike private message.
Checking it, he found out that SinSanSon had given his reply.
[SinSanSon: My apologies. But the conditions and the pay are not to my satisfaction. Is it possible to change the pay from $150 to $300 for each video, with a video a week? If it's possible, then I hope we can work together.]
Initially, Max only needed SinSanSon to edit his parkour video, which he planned to upload twice a month. He had offered $150 for 5 minutes of video editing for the first to the second month. Of course, he also said the price was negotiable because he only roughly knew the market.
However… it didn't seem to satisfy SinSanSon from his reply. It wasn't like he didn't appreciate his work, but Max currently couldn't really afford to pay above market because he also needed BloodSucker as his main editor.
'Flexy said he paid his editor $100-$200 for each video with simple editing without any effect back then. And if it includes various effects, it's going to be $300-$1,000. The price SinSanSon asked for is too much.'
In fact, he also offered BloodSucker $2,000 monthly pay with a minimum of 3 videos a week. His editing included many effects, and he could stretch the budget to $2,500 if the other party needed more.
'I guess I can't work with SinSanSon.'
[Breeze: My apologies, but I can't stretch the pay for each video anymore. It's a shame, but I hope we can work together next time. Best of luck!]
[SinSanSon: Ah, it's a shame, indeed. I wish you the best of luck in your venture, too.]