Chapter 6: Going for the Interview

At the same time, in an office in Seoul.

Two women were talking with a pile of documents next to them.

One was Kang Jiwon, the manager in charge of Wonderland.

The other was the streamer ‘Nata’, Na Yeon-a.

They were supposed to be bound by the relationship of employer and employee.

However, just for now, it seemed their roles were reversed.

The CEO, Yeon-a, was apologizing to the manager, Jiwon.

For some reason, it looked strangely natural.

Was it perhaps because their relationship started as a senior and junior in college?

Any further speculation seemed meaningless.

“I’m sorry, Jiwon. I think you were right.”

“I told you so, unni! I told you to listen to me!”

Even as apologies and reprimands were exchanged, they did not stop reading the documents.

Because it was clear that if they went slowly, they would have to pull an all-nighter.

They could have just skimmed through them.

But they didn’t.

The reason was none other than ‘fairness’.

They had already read some of the documents thoroughly.

If they didn’t read the rest, they thought it would affect their hiring decisions.

As someone who had already spectacularly failed with a VTuber group once, Yeon-a had to pour in her utmost effort.

“Argh, why did I have to do all this unnecessary stuff!”

Jiwon’s anger flared up again.

It would have been somewhat better if the quality of the resumes and cover letters had been high.

But from the perspective of Jiwon, who had years of experience in a related field, it felt like looking at hundreds of pages of child’s play.

It was a natural phenomenon that occurred because this industry was structured in a way that mostly attracted recent graduates.

20 years old, 21 years old, 22 years old… resumes and cover letters submitted almost immediately after graduating high school.

There was no way the quality could be good.

Of course, there were some decent ones mixed in.

But there weren’t many.

“Unni, I told you, right? All the kids applying here are young, so there’s nothing to gain.”

“Yeah, I was wrong… Instead, I’ll treat you to an expensive meal after all this is over.”

They had realized that fact long ago.

However, they couldn’t undo what was already done.

The only way was to get through this pile of documents quickly.

The fortunate thing was that there had been significant progress in the work.

Enough that they would finish if they worked hard for about two more hours.

With much better expressions than before, they continued to read through the documents.

Rustle.

In the midst of it, Jiwon found a strange resume.

“Uh, huh?”

Thinking she might have seen it wrong, she rubbed her eyes once and looked at the resume again.

“What’s wrong?”

Yeon-a approached Jiwon’s side with a curious expression.

Yeon-a read the document together with the astonished Jiwon.

---

[Name] – Jung Yua
[Age] – 22
…
[Education]

• Middle School Graduation Equivalency Exam (2015)

• High School Graduation Equivalency Exam (2016)

• Korea University, B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering (Electrical & Electronic Engineering) (2017~2020)

• Korea University Graduate School, M.S. in Engineering (2020~2022)

• Korea University Graduate School, Ph.D. in Engineering (2022~2025)
  …
  [Experience]

• Samsung Electronics, Electronic Information Research Department 3, Manager (2025~2025)

---

Yeon-a, who was looking at the document with her, also rubbed her eyes.

Because no matter how she looked at it, it was not a normal resume.

“Jiwon… am I seeing things?”

“I don’t think so…”

Their minds began to drift off into the distant yonder.

Only the thought ‘Why would someone like this apply?’ remained.

And it was understandable, because no matter how you looked at it, these qualifications were far too excessive for a VTuber position.

Graduating from the engineering school at Korea University, the top university in the country, and even going on to get a doctorate in engineering.

In addition, the position of manager at Samsung Electronics, which was written as if it were nothing.

Even if they could somehow understand up to this point.

There was one more shocking fact.

The age at which all these achievements were made.

The applicant named Jung Yua was only 22 years old.

According to the documents, she was only 14 when she became a university student.

Moreover, she didn’t just have one major, but two.

Given the nature of Korea University, which only allows for a dual-major system, it meant she had put in twice the effort of others.

And yet she graduated a year early.

Just by looking at the resume, one could easily tell that this person named Jung Yua was a monster beyond all standards.

“Do you think our brains have gone haywire from looking at so many documents?”

“Even so, I don’t think two people would go crazy at the same time.”

They put their bewilderment aside and began to read the rest of the documents.

The cover letter behind the resume also boasted incredible quality.

“Wow… why would someone like this submit an application here?”

“I know, right?”

As they were sharing their astonishment.

Jiwon discovered one more unusual fact.

“But why is this…?”

The photo attached to the resume.

The face of the woman in the photo was that of a little girl.

A very, very cute one at that.

“Huh? You’re right, why is there a picture of a child attached?”

They put their heads together and offered several opinions.

But since there was no proper conclusion, they decided to make the final judgment on the day of the interview.

---

Today, I woke up much earlier than usual.

Why? Because today is the interview day for Wonderland!

In other words, it’s the day that decides whether I become a freeloading bum or a respectable member of society who pulls their own weight.

Hmph, I even thought of a dozen or so potential interview questions for today.

I took a refreshing shower.

I put on some refreshing clothes.

I had a refreshing breakf—

“Pfft! Aw crap, eggplant, you again?”

Breakfast was not refreshing.

I thought I had thrown them all away, but there were still some left!

Cursing ‘Meat Meat Fried Rice’ hundreds of times in my head, I left the house.

When I’m in a bad mood like this, I have to put something sweet in my mouth to keep my sanity.

---

“Ehehehe…”

A laugh escaped my lips the moment I put a sweet glazed donut in my mouth.

Deciding that my mood had improved somewhat, I slowly walked to the interview location.

There were still 30 minutes left until the interview time indicated in the guide.

But I wanted to go early to grasp the atmosphere and such.

Since it’s not a type of interview I have experience with, I have to take advantage of it this way.

I gently placed a hand on my chest.

Please, let me do well in the interview without making any mistakes.

Please, don’t cut me off at the entrance after seeing my physical condition.

After shouting my wishes in my heart, I continued walking.

Well, the distance from here to the interview location was only about a 5-minute walk.

Still, that’s enough time to compose my mind.

Arriving at the building in the blink of an eye, I steeled my resolve and opened the door.

Slide

The central door of the building opened smoothly.

Let’s see… the interview is on the 5th floor, so…

Looking back and forth between the stairs and the elevator, I obediently pressed the elevator button.

Whir

Oh dear, there’s someone in the elevator.

The person who came out was a woman wearing glasses who looked quite intelligent.

The woman inside saw me, tilted her head, and came out.

…Have I been bewitched again?

Ahem, enough with the nonsense.

I made my final resolve and went up.

Whir

As the door opened, an office came into view.

The neon sign that said ‘Studio NT’ was quite impressive.

“Um… little one? What brings you here?”

I expected this, but.

I was treated like a little brat by a woman who seemed to be an employee.

Well, it’s true that I actually look like a little brat…

But hearing it from someone else wasn’t a very pleasant experience.

“I’m here for an interview today.”

“Huh?”

The employee wore a face full of doubt.

“The Wonderland interview…”

“Ye… yes?”

Her exclamation echoed loudly.

She asked me to wait for a moment and entered a certain room.

Is that the interview room?

I naturally sat down on a chair in front of a table.

A table like any other.

That’s what I thought as I sat down, but…

On the table were lumps of temptation.

Sungsimdang Premium White Cookies
(TL Note: Sungsimdang is a very famous and popular bakery from the city of Daejeon. Getting their products in Seoul is considered a treat.)

I know.

I know how pathetic it would look to be snacking on something like this when the interview is just around the corner!

But… but how am I supposed to resist this…

This isn’t a confectionery you can just eat anywhere.

Sungsimdang’s food is something you can only eat if you go all the way to Daejeon to get it…

It’s a food with MAX rarity!

What’s more, this was the cookie I saw on YouTube not long ago, under the title ‘Limited to 300 boxes a day’.

It was a super rare species among rare species.

Please… Yua, move your hand away.

My hand slowly approached the cookie.

I tried to calm my excitement as much as possible by singing the national anthem in my head.

You really can’t, Jung Yua!

“Amnyamnyam…”

I was defeated.

I succumbed to my vile appetite.

Damn it, Jung Yua! Have you really surrendered to a mere lump of sugar like this?

And right before the interview!

My heart felt pathetic at the fact that I had lost to the desire of mere appetite.

Moreover, the fact that the cookie tasted fantastic.

Made my pathetic heart feel doubly pathetic.

It tasted like… a pure white angel dancing on my tongue.

No, that’s not it!

After eating one whole, my right hand was reaching for the second bag.

My last remaining self-control and my left hand slapped it away, preventing the catastrophe of me eating all the cookies that were laid out.

Right, calm down, Jung Yua.

No one has seen yet, so I can still recover…

“E-excuse me…”

Aw sh*t, I’m screwed.

I thought I felt a presence next to me.

It seems I was caught stuffing cookies into my mouth like a fool.

But is it a relief that it wasn’t the interviewer(?) who caught me?

I took a deep breath once and turned my head.

“Is… something the matter?”

The woman was desperately trying to suppress the corners of her lips from rising.

Perhaps having calmed down, she continued to speak.

“The manager stepped out for a moment, so could you please wait a little?”

“Actually, it’s fine since I came early!”

Nothing is going right.

I was so flustered that I bit my tongue at the end.

Her smile bloomed in response.

Now, just letting things be, I bowed my head and waited for time to pass.

Whir

Did my wish come true?

Not long after I started waiting, someone entered the studio.

“Oh, Sun-young, the interviewee is already here?”

The woman who had just entered was holding coffee in both hands.

And when I raised my gaze to her face…

I saw the woman I had encountered in the elevator earlier.