WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Mistaken for an S-Class Employee ◈
Chapter 14: Something That Must Be Done
──────
While Min-hyeok was reviewing a Major League game, Director Yoon was heading to the Content Team.
I’m busy enough as it is, and now I have to deal with this nonsense. Seriously.
“Hello!”
“Welcome!”
When Director Yoon entered the Content Team, the employees greeted them.
“Hello. Yes, yes. You’re all working hard.”
Team Leader Jo rose to greet them.
“Hello, Director.”
“Yes, hello. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Other than running into each other once or twice at meetings, the two had never interacted.
“I’ll show you to the meeting room.”
“Yes.”
“Assistant Manager Seong! Two coffees, please! Coffee is all right with you, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that would be nice.”
Once they were seated across from each other in the meeting room, Team Leader Jo spoke first.
“I should have come to see you. I apologize for making you come all this way.”
Director Yoon waved both hands.
“Not at all. I came because I had business with you. Thank you for making time.”
Was it because Director Han had referred to Team Leader Jo honorifically? Or because of the rumor that Jo was related to the chairman?
This doesn’t feel like a superior-subordinate relationship.
Team Leader Jo was impeccably polite, but there was none of the awkwardness people showed around a superior.
If anything, Director Yoon was being more careful around Team Leader Jo.
“I know you’re busy, so I’ll get right to the point.”
Team Leader Jo immediately replied.
“Director Han told me roughly why you were coming.”
“Ah, yes.”
“With Team Leader Kim’s position vacant, Assistant Manager Go, the senior member of the team, will have a much larger role to play. I don’t think it makes sense for you to suggest transferring him to another team.”
Director Yoon was startled inwardly.
What? Does he know everything going on in the Operations Team?
A person who could see beyond their own domain and understand the company as a whole was said to have depth.
Team Leader Jo was a person with considerable depth.
“I’ll be frank. I believe unusual matters always have something behind them.”
“...”
“Director Yoon and Assistant Manager Go Min-hyeok. Do you have a special relationship?”
Director Yoon furrowed their brow slightly, and Team Leader Jo elaborated.
“‘Special relationship’ may sound strange. I’m asking whether the two of you made some sort of special promise.”
“Well.”
Director Yoon stroked their chin.
“Perhaps promising to grant his wish if he worked hard could be considered special.”
“...”
“I think it’s an ordinary promise a superior might make to a subordinate.”
They hid their true intentions and spoke in vague terms.
Both recognized that the other was not to be underestimated, so they proceeded carefully.
After a brief silence, Team Leader Jo asked, “Would taking on Assistant Manager Go do me any harm?”
“No.”
“I understand.”
Then something happened that Director Yoon had not expected.
“I’ll meet him.”
It was practically an expression of willingness to take Assistant Manager Go.
What?
They had come to arrange a transfer, but they had not expected it to go so smoothly.
Director Yoon hid their confusion and asked as calmly as possible, “Do you know Assistant Manager Go?”
“Well, we have spoken briefly.”
Team Leader Jo smiled faintly, recalling the memorable conversation he had shared with Min-hyeok.
[From the company’s perspective, it’s only natural to have employees focus on what they’re good at rather than what they want to do. You understand that, right?]
[That would be true if the company perfectly understood what each employee was good at, but...]
That was an interesting fellow.
[There are times when that may not be the case.]
* * *
“Did it work?”
I couldn’t believe it had actually worked!
My voice rose with excitement.
[It should. Why would he say he’d meet you if he had no intention of considering it?]
People in high positions did not waste time without reason.
If someone agreed to meet after receiving a personnel recommendation, it meant they were interested.
I clenched my fist.
[You said you went to the Content Team before? Were you flirting instead of working?]
“I went there for work.”
[You have a sneaky side to you.]
I snickered, and Director Yoon continued.
[That’s all I can do for you. The deal is over.]
“Thank you for your efforts.”
Click.
Director Yoon ended the call.
“Senior, what’s going on?”
Assistant Manager Jeon came over as soon as I hung up.
“It’s just work-related.”
“It looks like good news.”
“I’ll tell you later.”
The next morning, the Content Team contacted me, and I set up an appointment with Team Leader Jo.
The Content Team meeting room.
I could see Team Leader Jo seated behind the frosted glass.
Over the past few days, I had been seeing internal power players whom I might have encountered once in four years of work.
You would think I’d be getting used to it, but my heart was pounding again.
Knock, knock.
Hoo.
After taking a deep breath, I went inside.
“Hello.”
“Oh, Assistant Manager Go. So this is how we meet again?”
I greeted him with a broad smile.
“Yes, I’m very glad to see you again.”
Team Leader Jo was alone in the meeting room.
“So, I heard. You really were interested in joining our team?”
“Of course.”
“How did you get all the way to the director and have them recommend you?”
“I suppose my sincerity got through to them.”
I could not tell Team Leader Jo the details.
“If you take me on, I’ll work hard and do well.”
Team Leader Jo stared into my eyes.
It was that strange look I had seen before, one that seemed completely devoid of emotion.
“We’re not hiring a new recruit.”
“...”
“To be honest, we wanted to fill the headcount allocation with an experienced hire. Company policy requires us to give internal employees a chance first, but honestly, it’s a formality.”
“...”
“You know what I mean. We need someone who can start working right away.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Team Leader Jo nodded, then brought up something I had never expected.
“So I’d like to test you.”
Team Leader Jo’s voice was still flat.
“If you don’t meet my standards, I can’t take you.”
* * *
A test?!
I had never imagined I would be tested to transfer teams.
I had never even written a development like this in my own novels.
“Will you take the test?”
“Of course.”
I couldn’t back down now.
All I could do was my best.
“If you’re interested in joining our team, that means you’re interested in content too, right?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me everything you’ve watched recently. Dramas and films.”
What? Was it really this easy?
“I Only Did My Best, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Oshi no Ko, A Clean Sweep, Earth Arcade...”
I kept listing titles until Team Leader Jo told me to stop.
I was an office worker, but I was also a writer.
Since clichés could not be ignored when building a story, taking in material was extremely important.
When I was young, I read a lot of novels. But since I started writing, I had not been able to read books very well.
I had to read so much just to write and revise my own work that I had grown sick of text itself. Novels did not sink into my head anymore.
So I got my input from video content.
“That should be enough. You really watched all of that?”
“Yes. I really enjoy watching content.”
“When do you find the time?”
“I watch some while doing pre-content-intake screening. I also watch during my commute, after work, on weekends, whenever I have time.”
“You watch more than I do, it seems.”
Team Leader Jo tilted his head and said, “Among the works you mentioned.”
“Yes.”
“I Only Did My Best is an Original, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“It has good viewer ratings, but its viewership is far too low.”
<I Only Did My Best> was a GoPlay Original drama based on a Japanese manga. It was a coming-of-age story about a middle-aged man.
I enjoyed it, but it was true that it lacked elements that would make it a hit.
“Why do you think that is?”
“The adaptation.”
As a commercial writer, I was someone who thought about what readers wanted to read.
I started writing for my own satisfaction, but the more readers there were, the greater the joy of writing.
“Most viewers are casual viewers, but the drama focused its target audience on middle-aged men. That would be fine if it were told entertainingly, but the process of reaching the goal was too frustrating.”
“Frustrating?”
“Yes. I think it reflected reality too well. It’s about a protagonist who quits a stable job to become a webtoon artist.”
“That’s right.”
“Then you need to show what makes the protagonist extraordinary and keep producing visible achievements. But it focuses too much on the protagonist failing and becoming discouraged.”
“...”
“I understand the intention was to make that process funny and sad, but the result of the protagonist’s actions is failure either way. What’s worse, the protagonist does not even debut as a webtoon artist by the end.”
I probably enjoyed <I Only Did My Best> because I identified with its protagonist.
But my younger sister often asked why I watched something so boring.
“Readers don’t want to experience the same frustrations in a drama that they already deal with in real life.”
“What? Readers?”
Oh no. I misspoke.
“That was a mistake. Viewers.”
“Hmm...”
Keeping a calm expression, I continued.
“This is what I meant about the problem with the adaptation. If it had only taken the important settings from the original work and told the story more cathartically, I think it could have become a work that more people watched.”
As I spoke, a storyline came to mind, and I kept going.
“For example, give the protagonist a special past, or have a successful webtoon artist possess him. Then he could quickly succeed as a webtoon artist. With the money he accumulates from his work, he could buy out the corrupt company he used to work for, starting by firing the CEO...”
I spun the story out smoothly.
After listening for quite some time, Team Leader Jo said, “Did you study screenwriting before you joined the company?”
“Pardon?”
“I think you would suit the Production Department better than the Content Team.”
Had I gone too far?
Once the subject turned to something I was interested in, I had gotten too talkative.
I forced a smile.
“Haha, no. I want the Content Team.”
For the first time, Team Leader Jo’s previously emotionless gaze changed slightly.
“It’s strange. You seem to know too much.”
“Didn’t I tell you? I was very interested.”
“...”
“That’s all.”
* * *
Two days had passed since my meeting with Team Leader Jo.
Team Leader Jo had called it a test, but they had not told me the result on the spot.
Did I get in? Or not?
People were strange.
Before meeting Team Leader Jo, I had thought I would simply do my best and accept it if things did not work out.
But after taking a “test,” I found myself waiting anxiously.
Click.
I checked my inbox and the company group board, but there was no news.
Had it not worked out?
If it had not, I wished they would at least tell me so.
The next day.
As usual, I arrived at the office twenty minutes before work began.
“...”
Every team member except me was already there, but the atmosphere in the office was strange.
They looked grim and gloomy. No one greeted me.
“Good morning.”
When I greeted them first, everyone only turned to me and gave a slight nod.
I walked over to Assistant Manager Jeon.
“What’s going on? Why is the atmosphere like this?”
“Ha... Director Yoon, that son of a bitch.”
Startled, I looked around before speaking to Assistant Manager Jeon.
“Hey, you should only say things like that when it’s just the two of us.”
“...”
“At least call them Fido in public...”
I did not know what had happened, but I was only trying to lighten things and calm them down.
“What the hell is this? Seriously!”
I looked at Assistant Manager Jeon’s lit monitor.
[Personnel Order]
Assistant Manager Go Min-hyeok: Operations Team member -> Content Team member
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