Hey Jini's Ex-Employee Says 2 Million Won Pay Rose 5%, Not the 25% Kidsworks Claims

"Who set that schedule, me? No." That is the gist of what Hey Jini says in newly released audio, and it lands in the middle of a fight over whether a pay raise was 25% or 5%.

The kids creator (real name Kang Hye-jin, 4.13 million YouTube subscribers) is accused by a former employee, identified only as A, of working her up to 16 hours a day on a 20 million won salary. The new recordings were aired on the 28th by YouTuber Lee Jin-ho on his channel, and they add a messy chapter to a story that was already running hot.

What Hey Jini says on the tape

In the audio, Hey Jini says her side tried to help A with an industrial accident claim, then lost trust. Her complaint is that A wrote a statement for the claim without telling the company first, and that the statement framed the company as having pressured her. She also says A showed staff a draft and asked them to testify along those lines.

A pushes back on the call. The statement, A argues, left out that she had asked for another hire since early 2018 and had to work late alone to hit the schedule. Hey Jini's reply is the line now circulating: who decided that schedule, her? She adds that she told A repeatedly the channel did not need to upload that often.

The two also disagree over what was said about the claim itself. Hey Jini wanted it discussed with the company first. A says she was only offered a labor attorney and was never asked to work through the claim together.

The pay numbers

Hey Jini's company, Kidsworks, said on the 27th that it paid A under its set wage structure, later raised her salary 25%, and paid a separate bonus during leave. It also said it did not obstruct the claim, and that it introduced an outside labor attorney in late 2018.

A answered the same day with documents, including a withholding tax receipt. Her starting salary was 20 million won and it rose once, to 21 million won. "If 20 million won were raised 25%, it would be 25 million," she wrote. She calls it a 5% raise.

She also disputes the idea that she could work from home (she says she never did) and says the year-end payment received during leave went to every employee. Leave, she says, was unpaid and the company's idea. Her husband-side exit story is stranger still: she says Hey Jini's husband, then a company director, suggested she resign, the company first agreed to treat it as a recommended resignation, then filed it as illness-based, so she got no unemployment benefits. A also concedes the company did allow leave and helped with a rental deposit.

The TV image

According to Lee, the trigger for going public was the gap between private conditions and Hey Jini's 2020 appearance on Boss in the Mirror (Sajangnim Gwi-neun Dangnagwi Gwi), where she came across as an employer who never made staff work late. A's mother, Lee says, was furious watching it. Her message: whatever else, claiming to be a good boss on television was not acceptable.

Lee also relayed A's account of her health, including panic attacks and a self-harm attempt, which are her claims and not established findings. A has said her industrial accident claim was approved.

Kidsworks has offered to hear A directly or through a representative and to discuss what the company should do. Neither side has moved off its numbers.