chapter_0040

40 – Who comes for an interview at 2 AM?

40 – Who comes for an interview at 2 AM?

It was truly a hard-fought victory, but memories are easily distorted.

Above all, there were hardly any proper games afterwards – escape, trolling, going AFK, throwing – even if there were, Majiya was also largely a troll in the big picture.

In the end, what remained in the memories of those who watched was the first game, a backdoor victory like a movie that made their hearts race.

… – Komari (VTuber) Gallery – – – – – …

[This is truly an unforgettable backdoor]

(Last_Backdoor.clip)

For a moment I forgot this was an Absil game lol

It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a nail-biting game

[Comments]

— Komari834: For real lol

— Komari021: Separate from that, Jikwon D is really a bug…

–
Komari245: Hey! How dare you call Jikwon D a bug!!!

–
Komari004: Wanjaaang

–
🟦Komari02: Don’t call me for this NN

… – – – – – – – – – – …

… – Komari (VTuber) Gallery – – – – – …

[Revisiting Jikwon D’s quotes]

(Iron_Can’t_Be_Trusted.clip)

(I_Did_Well.clip)

(Team_Sucks_So_Iron.clip)

(Just_Destroy_Base_To_Win.clip)

(300_Gold_Is_1_Kill.clip)

Ah, is this what it means to Apola…

[Comments]

— Komari385: Addicted to simping, becoming Apola itself…

— Komari874: I’m really getting iron poisoning watching this lol

— Komari770: Why not play more Naore? Why not play more Naore? Why not play more Naore? Why not play more Naore? Why not play more Naore? Why not play more Naore? Why not play more Naore? Why not play more Naore? Why not play more Naore?

… – – – – – – – – – – …

… – Komari (VTuber) Gallery – – – – – …

[But Jikwon D would quickly reach diamond in Naore too]

He’s pretty good for a first-time player, right?

From what I know, the stealth when coming out of Dark Cloud only lasts like 0.2 seconds, but he was using it so naturally

And although his item builds are weird, it was interesting how he came up with them on his own without asking questions

I didn’t know all-offensive Apola deals that much damage lol

[Comments]

— Komari030: It’s not worth going for offensive items since you melt anyway, but it doesn’t look bad when used with Clouds

–
Komari385: Don’t play ranked right now FFS

–
Komari385: I meet simp trolls every game, it’s fucked

–
Komari385: Everyone trying to copy is getting AoE damage inside Clouds and dying lol

–
Komari884: Jikwon D has spread the poison

… – – – – – – – – – – …

… – Real-time Best – – – – – …

[Today’s dizzy NaChals]

(What_Apola_Came_Out?!.clip)

(What_Is_All-Offensive_Dark_Cloud_Apola!!!.clip)

(Ahhh_The_Base!_It’s_Exploding!!_Ahhh!!.clip)

FFS Ronje, didn’t you watch Komari’s stream two days ago?

Even for a second-tier tournament, it doesn’t make sense to use it right away lol

OTNXSU9XcTFURXdtd0tweHpoait4akVEQVJoTmMrTm16VjVSWTNEeEJiU0sxYnhjc2d1Q3d1RnVZVWdkd1dSMw

(Source: Komari (VTuber) Gallery [View Original])

[Comments]

— Komari344: Wow why is he so good though lol

— Komari029: It has a different flavor than when Jikwon D did it lol

— Integrated842: This is actually pretty good? lol

–
Integrated842: I tried it in ranked too, if you track enemy positions well you can push outer turrets super fast and pressure with vision

–
Integrated344: What’s your rank?

–
Integrated842: I go back and forth between Emerald-Diamond

–
Integrated511: Didn’t you read the post above? What rank lol It was already used in pro matches

–
Integrated002: But don’t you just die inside the cloud since you’re so squishy?

–
Integrated842: When enemies use skills, you briefly go into stealth as you come out of Smokescreen, using that is really important

–
Integrated842: If you can’t do that tightrope walk you just die and troll lol

–
Integrated002: Oh I see, thanks for the advice. Didn’t know about that

… – – – – – – – – – – …

… – — Knight of Legend Gallery – – — …

[Jikwon D vs Seong Sinjae, honestly Jikwon D wins easily]

(Squirrel_image.jpg)

Oh my dear newbie-kun

I know exactly what you were thinking when you came in here

But be careful from now on

There are a lot of tactical nukes in posts like this at this hour…

This squirrel man will protect you just this once

Don’t thank me too much (wink)

(Likes 1422 / Dislikes 442)

[Comments]

— Naore934: I’m not grateful, fuck…

— Naore841: Please VTuber simps make your own gallery and leave

–
Naore740: lol~

–
Naore454: lolol~

–
Naore358: Hey, accept it. VTubers are the “trend” of the times

— Naore742: Seong Sinjae is getting beaten even by unknown VTubers now…

— Naore002: The state of this gallery lol

… – – – – – – – – – – …

Thanks to this, Naore suffered from measles all week.

Some unknown meta appeared, and it happened to coincide with Apola’s buff and was used in the second-tier pro scene.

Moreover, when people tried to find out who first discovered the meta, they said he doesn’t stream.

So where can we watch it?

Parallel?

Oh, we just have to wait on Komari’s stream? That was the situation.

Thanks to this, Komari maintained 7,000 average viewers the next day even while playing Rubber Duck House.

She opened video donations saying she was bored just staring blankly at ducks, and her cute reactions with toxic speech to all kinds of dizzy video donations seemed to have greatly increased her fan base as well.

The viewer increase continued for several days after, peaking at 9,000 viewers briefly when the all-offensive Apola meta appeared in NaChals the next day.

[Komari: Thank you for that day, unnie]

[Komari: Let’s play together again sometime]

[Komari: Or we’re going on a trip in November after we finish all our busy work]

[Komari: Do you want to come with us and the boss then?]

[Me: If the boss says to go]

[Komari: So you won’t go if I ask…]

[Komari: This is discrimination]

[Me: Well, I’d understand if it was for work, but it seems a bit weird for me to join in on you guys having fun]

[Komari: …]

[Komari: OK fine]

A few days later I was called by the boss.

“Want to go on a group trip with the kids in mid-November for their 1 year anniversary?”

So this is how they use the boss…

Other people would never dare ask because they’d be too conscious, but Parallel is the craftiest of them all.

“Where are they going?”

“Well, from what I heard the kids want to go to the beach. They said they want to eat shrimp or something.”

“Did Dora eat seafood…?”

“She doesn’t eat grilled… no. Crab, lobster, shrimp, she eats those well if you grill them. And since it’s hard to see the first sunrise of the new year, I think they want to see a sunrise in advance.”

I thought about it carefully.

It is shrimp season, but shrimp are only caught in the West Sea.

To see the sunrise, we need to go to the East Sea.

… What is this? Are they planning to eat dinner at the West Sea and then go all the way to the East Sea overnight?

“Is the itinerary perhaps eating dinner at the West Sea and then greeting the morning at the East Sea?”

“No? We have to go to the East Sea to see the sunrise.”

I shook my head and informed the boss of the truth that those picky shrimp don’t even show their faces in the East Sea.

“Ah. Then that won’t work. Okay. I’ll coordinate that with the kids. So what about Jia? Want to go?”

Quiz time.

Why does Majiya know that shrimp season is now and that they can only be eaten in the West Sea?

It’s because there was no one to invite her, and she didn’t have time to go all the way to the West Sea to eat them!

So there was no particular reason to turn down this opportunity.

If the kids are playing and the boss is playing, I don’t really have anything to do that day either.

“Why don’t we bring our team leader too?”

“Ah. Team Leader Kang? Yeah, I’ll ask.”

The reason I mentioned the team leader is because she’s the on-site manager who accompanies all our first generation external events.

When we go to record songs at studios under the label. When we go to the motion capture studio. For all other external event invitations, the team leader always comes along. I thought it would be good for her to come this time too.

Above all, maybe because she used to be an idol manager, she’s good at filming vlogs.

Even if the kids’ faces don’t show, filming with their voices coming out becomes content.

Well, the planning team might request it later, but calling the team leader separately then could mess up the schedule. So it would be helpful to film in advance.

Let’s secretly hide the ulterior motive that it would be good to have one more person to take care of the kids since they’re so free-spirited and do whatever they want.

“Oh and.”

The boss flipped through several freshly printed papers, then tap tap.

He neatly organized them into a file and handed it to me.

“You heard from the team leader about the interview tomorrow, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be going in with the HR manager, so don’t feel too pressured. Look through these documents and get familiar with the candidates in advance. It would be good to prepare some questions to ask the ones you think are good.”

“Hmm. Okay.”

I never thought I’d be an interviewer in my life.

It’s a bit exciting, isn’t it?

It feels strange that someone will be working with me, and even stranger that I’ll be interviewing and selecting that person.

“The HR manager and I will prioritize your decision. So choose the person you really like. Got it? It’s fine even if you reject them all.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll call you Department Head during the interview, so don’t feel too awkward.”

I don’t plan to reject them all.

Because then we’d have to schedule interviews again.

Just think about how busy we were every time we helped with interview support tasks for the first generation and other applicants.

How much effort goes into hiring one person – reviewing documents, preparing for interviews, coordinating schedules, etc.

I can’t make the busy boss do that troublesome thing again.

… I hope there’s someone I like among these four applications.

… – — Parallel Gallery – – — …

[Ugh I can’t sleep, I’m screwed]

I’m going for an interview tomorrow and I’m so nervous

I took a warm bath to try to sleep but it just made me more alert

I thought drinking warm tea might help so I had some corn tea but it made me need to use the bathroom and woke me up

I tried watching Komari’s stream to fall asleep but it was too funny and woke me up

I’m screwed, what do I do lol

[Comments]

— Parallel835: Where are you interviewing?

–
Parallel067(Author): Parallel

–
Parallel835: For real?

–
Parallel067(Author): I applied for the management position they’re hiring for in the operations team

–
Parallel835: I heard a lot of people got rejected at the document stage, you did well to make it;

–
Parallel484: Impressive

–
Parallel067(Author): I sent in a 10-page portfolio packed full lol

–
Parallel994: I’m jealous

–
Parallel994: I applied too but got rejected lol

–
Parallel067(Author): I’ll do well for your share too

–
Parallel994: FIGHTING hurry and go to sleep
.. – – – – – – – – – – …

Same day.

After all the kids’ streams ended, I briefly looked through the Parallel gallery.

I thought someone with enough affection to join our company might have written a post, and sure enough, someone easily fell into the investigation net.

“10-page portfolio, could it be this person…”

There were only four people I was interviewing anyway, and just skimming through today, one candidate immediately came to mind.

It would have been stranger not to remember, given how thick the resume was despite being a new graduate applicant.

[Resume]

Name: Gong Seung-yeon

Age: 23

Education: Bachelor’s (Jungnim University, Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Experience: None

Foreign Languages: Japanese/JLPT – N2, English/TOEIC – 950 points, OPIc – IH

There were two notable things, one being the foreign languages.

Among the four applicants, this person was the only one with good scores in both Japanese and English writing and speaking tests.

The other was the 10-page portfolio.

It was Gong Seung-yeon’s stream viewing history.

You might wonder why this counts as a portfolio, but there’s a reason.

[1st Gen Komari Midori][Subscribed 10 months]

— 1.28 Participated in “Knight of Legend” viewer participation content

— 3.14 Participated in “Knight of Legend” viewer participation content

— 5.7 Participated in “Knight of Legend” viewer participation content

— 7.17 Participated in “Knight of Legend” viewer participation content

…

[1st Gen Nezumi Maru][Subscribed 9 months]

— 2.11 Participated in “Fighting Spirit” viewer participation content

— 4.24 Participated in “Relay Drawing” viewer participation content

— 6.27 Participated in “Fighting Spirit” viewer participation content

…

[1st Gen Aoyagi Rein][Subscribed 5 months]

— 5.22 Participated in “Mini Rider” viewer participation content

— 6.13 Participated in “Battle Colosseum” viewer participation content

…

[1st Gen Akari Dora][Subscribed 5 months]

— 5.29 Participated in “Animal League” viewer participation content

— 8.14 Participated in “64 Cubics” viewer participation content

…

The viewer participation success rate was impressive, their gaming skills were decent, and they even had extensive game knowledge so they didn’t miss any games.

On top of that, the comments written for each stream they participated in were impressive.

This was lacking, that could be improved.

When the stream window crashed, it would have been better if operations had done this and that beforehand, etc.

They had considered things that non-employees wouldn’t usually think about.

So it particularly stood out in my memory.

It wasn’t quite “must hire”, but more like “I could overlook some interview mistakes for this person”.

So I turned back to the first page to remember their face, and…

“Yawn…”

Considering I usually fall asleep around 5 AM, it’s surprising to be yawning at 2 AM already.

Well, maybe it’s because there’s been more to worry about lately with the kids’ stream appearances and such.

Thinking I should go to bed right away, I turned off the monitoring computer, set up the folding bed, and laid out a sleeping bag on top.

Sometimes I end up sleeping at the company when I work late, and today is one of those days.

The interview starts at 10 AM tomorrow, so I didn’t want to waste precious sleep time due to commute times.

I set the alarm for 8 AM, an hour before employees arrive.

The boss said not to worry about electricity bills, but I set the heating to 27 degrees…

Just as I finished preparing to sleep and was about to lie down, ding dong.

A KakaoTalk message arrived.

[Eunha Building Security Guard: Jia]

[Eunha Building Security Guard: Uh,,, there’s someone lingering in front of your company right now]

[Eunha Building Security Guard: Just in case, don’t come out. I’ll go check]

It’s 2 AM right now.

Who would come to the company at this hour?

Unable to contain my curiosity, I quietly made my way through the partitions to the glass door.

There was indeed a shadow lingering by the corner of the corridor over there.

What kind of person is it? A homeless person?

Soon after, ding, the elevator sound rang out and the security guard appeared, followed by a brief argument.

The voices didn’t get raised and it seemed like a calm conversation was continuing, so I quietly unlocked the door and went out to take a look.

As I approached, the security guard gave a slight bow.

I bowed back, and in his flashlight beam was a woman.

The security guard continued what he was saying.

“I know you said you’re here for an interview tomorrow or something. But you can’t just stay here alone. You should get a room somewhere.”

“No, um. I was afraid I really wouldn’t be able to wake up if I slept. So I was planning to wait here…”

Having helped with interviews before, I could tell right away.

The suit and hair tightly pulled back in a ponytail was clearly an interviewee.

Even the face illuminated by the flashlight was familiar.

It was exactly the same as the photo I just saw in the resume.

“Are you perhaps Gong Seung-yeon?”

The woman who had been watching me and the security guard nervously answered very promptly.

“Ah yes. I’m Gong Seung-yeon!”

Author’s Note (Afterword)

6,000 pre-orders reached…!!!!!

Thank you!!!!

Kyaaaa thank you so much everyone!!!