Chapter 6
In the chairman's office of Enson Korea, the parent company of Enson GT.
Inside the office, with a panoramic view of Seoul through the window, Jo Su-yeon stood with a tense expression.
It was due to her father's summons to headquarters, but the man himself was just sitting on the sofa, reading a newspaper.
Pretending not to care, acting as if he wasn't paying attention.
Even though Su-yeon knew this was a common tactic her father used to pressure others, she couldn't shake off her nervousness.
Her recent actions had been completely contrary to her father's wishes, a unilateral move.
"I hear you recruited a new director from outside?"
At her father's question, Su-yeon bit her lip.
If she didn't, she felt she might not be able to stop her body from trembling.
While she had thrown tantrums before, she had never so blatantly defied her father's orders and acted on her own like this.
"Not listening to me and acting as you please... I suppose that means you're confident in your decision."
Her father's cold voice weighed heavily on Su-yeon's heart.
"You may go."
Recognizing her father's dismissal, implying he'd only look at results from now on, Su-yeon merely bowed her head and left the chairman's office.
I really did it...
Her heart was still pounding fiercely, but surprisingly, her mind felt relieved.
Maybe it was because she felt she had taken a step closer to the liberation from her father she had always dreamed of...
As she entered the elevator to return to the Enson GT building, Su-yeon prayed fervently.
Please, let my choice be the right one...
****
The day after the mobile game development team's first meeting.
As soon as I arrived at work, I called Ye-rin and Seol to the conference room.
"Sen... I mean, Director, you called for us?"
"What's... the matter?"
"Oh, you're both here? Sorry for the early morning call. I have something urgent to tell you both today."
I handed out photocopied sheets to the two as they entered the conference room and sat at the desk.
"In subculture mobile games, planning and art need to be in perfect sync. So for the time being, I'd like you to work together... is that okay?"
"Ah, yes... Well, there's no reason why not."
"If it's the Director's request... it's fine."
"Thanks. I have to go out on field work today, so Ye-rin, please prioritize completing the designs for our three main characters and the mascot character. Seol, I'd like you to work on rough key visual illustrations and background settings."
Watching the two check the sheets I'd handed them, I continued.
"I've uploaded the framework for the key visuals and background settings to the internal network, so you can refer to that while working."
"Ah... yes!"
"There's no need to finish everything today, so focus on quality over speed. Got it?"
"Understood."
"Yes!"
Leaving the two to exchange ideas, their distance seemingly reduced more than I expected, I left the conference room.
Now then...
"Yu-mi?"
"Ah, y-yes...?!"
Yu-mi startled, as if she had been looking at something.
"Were you looking at something?"
"N-no...?"
"Then why are you so surprised?"
"W-well..."
"Anyway, never mind that. We're going on field work, so come with me."
"Field work?"
"Yeah."
Yu-mi, who had been anxious about being caught doing something else, smiled at the mention of field work and followed me out of the office.
"Field work on the first day of the project... What's this about?"
"We need to bring in the final puzzle piece for our project."
"Puzzle piece?"
"Well..."
As I was talking with Yu-mi on our way down to the first floor, the elevator dinged and the doors opened on the 5th floor.
"...Hello?"
"Hello."
Glancing at the employee IDs around their necks, I could tell they were the team leader and a member from the PC game development team on the 5th floor.
I expected this to some degree, but it's more blatant than I thought.
The way they looked us up and down didn't seem to indicate positive feelings towards our team.
"You're the team leader of the 6th floor mobile game development team, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"I heard you arrived yesterday. I'm sorry I couldn't greet you. We were behind schedule..."
"Well, it can't be helped. It's fine."
"I heard you're in charge of the mobile division now?"
"That's right."
"I heard you only handled PC game development at your previous job. Must be disappointing."
Would you look at that...?
I couldn't help but laugh inwardly at their thinly veiled mockery disguised as concern.
Yu-mi, sensing the awkward atmosphere in the elevator, was just glancing nervously between me and the PC Development Team 2 leader.
"How could it be disappointing? Life is full of unexpected turns, after all."
"Excuse me?"
"Who knows, in a few years, the status of PC and mobile might be reversed."
"Well, that's..."
Just as the PC Development Team 2 leader was about to retort with a "what nonsense" expression,
Ding─
The elevator doors opened on the first floor.
"Well then, we'll be going first. We're on a tight schedule."
***
"Did something happen with that team leader?"
"Huh?"
"It's just that you haven't stopped smiling since we left the company."
At my words, Yu-mi hastily composed her expression and said:
"This is just between us, Director... but that team leader is a total fossil. I bet there's more than a few people in the business team who can't stand him."
"Was it that bad?"
"Yes! Even though promotions are the business team's responsibility, he'd always complain about why his game wasn't included, accuse us of favoritism, claim he knew BM better than us... Dealing with him once is enough to drain your soul."
"I-I see..."
Looks like there's more pent-up frustration than I thought...
Seeing Yu-mi, who usually exudes positive energy, pour out her grievances like this, it seemed these issues had been building up for more than just a day or two.
"Anyway, Director, where are we going now?"
"Didn't I mention earlier? We're going to find the last puzzle piece for our project."
"So what is this puzzle piece?!"
"The Sound Director."
"Ah."
"I found out that our company outsources all sound work."
"That's right. Our company rarely handles projects big enough to warrant a dedicated Sound Director."
"That's why we're going to find a Sound Director. Fortunately, I know someone."
Yu-mi tilted her head at my explanation.
"Then couldn't we just recruit them through headhunting, like we did with you, Director?"
"This person is a bit... unique."
"...?"
"It'll be faster for you to understand if you see for yourself rather than hearing a hundred explanations from me."
"I see..."
Sensing that she wouldn't get any more answers even if she asked, Yu-mi fell silent as we arrived at our destination: the SBC broadcasting station, a major network.
"This is...?"
"The person is currently working as a music director at this station."
"If they're a music director at a major network, would they really come to a game company...?"
"Well... We'll have to see when we meet them."
After parking the car, we entered the broadcasting station where a receptionist greeted us.
"How may I help you?"
"We have an appointment... with Music Director Han Chae-young."
"One moment please..."
After checking something briefly, the receptionist handed us two temporary visitor passes.
"Go straight ahead and take the elevator on the right to the 8th floor."
"Thank you."
We put on the temporary visitor passes and headed to the 8th floor as instructed, where we found ourselves in an unfamiliar space.
It was filled with recording studios like those you might see in dramas or movies, but I couldn't figure out where exactly we needed to go.
Maybe I should have asked which specific room we needed to go to...
I looked at Yu-mi hopefully, but she was just looking around in wonder.
As I was pondering what to do,
"Ah, what's wrong with the director today? The recording went well, didn't it?"
"I heard the department head criticized her for not having enough work, but does that justify taking it out on us?"
Lucky break.
"Excuse me."
"Yes? How can we help you?"
"We're here to meet Music Director Han Chae-young. Could you tell us where to go?"
After giving us a once-over, they noticed our temporary visitor passes and became noticeably more friendly, pointing in one direction.
"Go straight down that way, and you'll see a door with the Music Director's nameplate. Enter there."
"Ah, thank you."
After thanking them for their guidance, Yu-mi and I approached the door.
"Shall I knock?"
"No, I've got it."
Stopping Yu-mi from knocking, I rapped on the door myself. A familiar voice came from inside.
"Come in."
As we opened the door and entered, I saw a familiar figure writing something in the back of the recording studio room.
A tall woman, around 170cm, with ash-blue dyed hair tied up in a unique style.
The free-spirited aura typical of those in the arts, and a beautiful face that looked younger than her age.
It was Chae-young, looking exactly the same as when I last saw her.
"Did you forget something? The sheet music is over there, so take it and..."
As we didn't react, she seemed to sense something was off and looked up, our eyes meeting.
"It's been a while, Senior Chae-young."