WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Mistaken for an S-Class Employee ◈
Chapter 18: Specialty
──────
Studio Tiger was close enough to GoPlay to reach on foot.
“Want to grab a coffee on the way? It’s about a ten-minute walk.”
I nodded at Assistant Manager Baek’s question.
“Sounds good.”
We stopped by Vega Coffee near the office.
I took out my card first.
“What would you like?”
Assistant Manager Baek waved both hands.
“Oh, put that away. I’ll get it.”
“It’s fine.”
“Come on. Of course I should pay.”
“...”
I generally preferred not to let the office workers around me spend money, but they were so insistent that I backed down.
“Thank you for the coffee.”
I sipped the coffee they handed me as we walked down the street.
Since rush hour had already passed, the streets were quiet.
“I like how peaceful it is at this time,” Assistant Manager Baek said.
I smiled.
“Yeah. There’s a lonely sort of peace after a gust of wind has swept through. Ha ha.”
They smiled in reply.
“You get it. Ha ha.”
As we walked through the quiet streets, Assistant Manager Baek spoke.
“We usually buy Original content. We hardly ever produce anything ourselves.”
“Most of it comes from Studio Tiger, right? Though I understand they don’t supply content only to us.”
“You know your stuff. They may be a subsidiary, but they’re also an independent business, and they’re such a well-known production company that they distribute to plenty of other places.”
“Right. Nutflix is their main client.”
Assistant Manager Baek smiled.
“That’s right. One of Studio Tiger’s biggest clients. Sometimes it feels like they supply Nutflix with more content than GoPlay.”
“They must pay well. But what does it matter? We’re all one family. The pockets may be different, but the money ends up in the same place.”
They laughed and nodded.
“You really do understand quickly.”
“Ha ha. I’ve worked at a company for years. I should know at least that much.”
Before long, we had walked for about ten minutes.
Maybe because the conversation flowed so well, Assistant Manager Baek told me all sorts of things.
“We normally select Original content after looking at the metadata, or Studio Tiger approaches us with a proposal. Today, it’s the latter.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Getting proposals isn’t unusual, but they’ve been particularly proactive this time.”
They smiled.
“It feels like they have some intention behind it, but I suppose we’ll find out when we meet them.”
We arrived in front of the building that housed Studio Tiger’s offices.
I had passed by it plenty of times, but this was my first time going inside.
“Ah, Assistant Manager Go.”
“Yes?”
As we were about to enter, Assistant Manager Baek called me.
“The person in charge isn’t exactly the friendly type.”
“...”
“Please keep that in mind. They’re not a bad person, but I wanted to warn you in case you find them unpleasant.”
Assistant Manager Baek seemed far more considerate than their first impression suggested.
I had spent four years serving under Team Leader Kim after joining the company. A little bad attitude would barely register with me.
“Sure, don’t worry.”
* * *
“Hello. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Go Min-hyeok, an Assistant Manager in the Content Team’s Original Part.”
After Assistant Manager Baek introduced me, I greeted a female employee who looked around my age.
“Oh, are you a new hire?”
Assistant Manager Baek smiled.
“No. He was in GoPlay’s Operations Team and transferred to our team this time.”
“Ah, I see.”
With an expressionless face, she handed me a business card.
“I’m Manager Chu Hyeon-ju from Studio Tiger’s Distribution Strategy Team. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Manager Chu opened the meeting room door.
“Shall we start the meeting right away?”
“Sure.”
After we took our seats in the meeting room, Assistant Manager Baek opened their laptop.
“I’m curious about the content you’re proposing.”
“Right.”
Manager Chu put a poster up on the screen. It showed a woman and a man facing each other.
<Veteran Intern>
An intern? Was it an office drama?
There had not been many office dramas recently. There were office dramas mixed with chaebols, but calling those office dramas was a stretch. They were really chaebol dramas.
Manager Chu began explaining.
“The protagonist is a woman whose career was interrupted. Her experience before she left the workforce is recognized, so she becomes an intern despite being middle-aged. She struggles through office life among younger employees and a superior who joined the company at the same time as her...”
As I listened to the premise, it felt unfamiliar, yet somehow like a flavor I had tried several times before.
Familiar was not necessarily bad. It might mean it was a proven favorite.
“Middle-aged women are the main audience for dramas, aren’t they? I think this protagonist could really resonate with them.”
Assistant Manager Baek nodded.
“It has potential. There have been recent success stories, too.”
They seemed to mean <Prosecutor Cha Suk-jeong>...
But that had been a professional drama.
The idea was to aim for a similar effect by changing the genre.
Still, the genre and protagonist did not seem to work well together.
My instincts were telling me it would not be interesting.
“Ho ho. Right? Assistant Manager Baek, you really understand what I mean.”
Since it was our first meeting, I decided to wait and see, even if it did not seem right.
Assistant Manager Baek nodded.
“An office drama unlike anything we’ve had recently, a protagonist audiences can empathize with, a slice-of-life story, healing... It doesn’t sound bad.”
“Exactly. There’s been so much provocative content lately that a more everyday atmosphere could actually stand out.”
The two kept talking.
Manager Chu spoke, and Assistant Manager Baek went along with her.
Assistant Manager Baek had said it seemed like they had an intention before the meeting. Perhaps the answer had already been decided, and they simply did not want to make trouble.
I listened quietly before asking a question.
“I’m honestly curious.”
Assistant Manager Baek and Manager Chu looked at me.
“Do you really think it’ll be fun?”
Both of them looked quite startled.
As I debated whether I should interrupt, I thought of Hyeok, who had achieved results by acting sensibly even without work-related knowledge.
In the end, work was done by people.
I did not want to hold back just because this was my first time.
“Then do you think it won’t be fun, Assistant Manager Go?”
Before saying something uncomfortable, I asked for permission first.
“This isn’t a meeting where we only say nice things, right?”
I did not want to live my office life the way I had in the past.
I would burn with passion until I was reduced to white ash, then leave this company.
“Of course. Feel free to share your opinion.”
That was what she said, but Manager Chu’s eyes did not look pleased.
* * *
“Then I’ll say what I think.”
Manager Chu crossed her arms, while Assistant Manager Baek smiled as though they found this interesting.
“Ah, but there’s something I want to confirm first.”
“Yes.”
“Is this the first time you’ve proposed this project to us?”
“...”
“I heard you do a lot of business with Nutflix too. And since there’s already a poster, it doesn’t seem like this is at the very earliest planning stage.”
Seeing how actively she was promoting the project, I wondered if it had been dropped elsewhere and was now being pushed onto an affiliate.
Assistant Manager Baek looked at Manager Chu curiously as well.
“I can’t tell you that.”
Manager Chu answered expressionlessly, but I could sense her discomposure in her face.
Her saying she could not tell us was answer enough.
I let out a quiet laugh, while Assistant Manager Baek nodded with a faint smile.
“All right. Then I’ll only talk about the project itself.”
“Okay.”
“A story about an older employee becoming an intern and navigating office life... It seems unfamiliar, yet it doesn’t feel unfamiliar at all.”
“...”
“As you know, a movie was made with a similar premise, and there was even a broadcast drama about it years ago.”
It should have been either unfamiliar or familiar.
<Veteran Intern> was neither.
Manager Chu bristled.
“I know that too. But there’s one crucial difference. The works you mentioned both had male protagonists, while <Veteran Intern> has a female protagonist.”
“Is that such a major difference?”
“It’s a very major difference. The message it wants to convey is very different too.”
“...”
“If the previous works conveyed that age has nothing to do with ability, this one adds a message about women whose careers have been interrupted.”
I shook my head.
“I think the more mainstream the culture, the more we should consider casual viewers. Would teenagers, men in their twenties, and middle-aged men really want to watch this drama?”
“...”
“We’re not making a drama as a tribute to one particular demographic.”
Manager Chu sharpened her voice.
“Assistant Manager Go, did you not watch <Prosecutor Cha Suk-jeong>? Why do you think this would not appeal to casual viewers?”
Should I be more honest?
That seemed like the only way she would understand clearly.
“Honestly, that drama is the biggest reason.”
“...”
“I don’t think people will want to try the same flavor again just because it was novel the first time.”
I thought of the divorce-fiction trend that had swept the web novel market two years ago.
When a premise became popular, it was only natural for everyone to want to follow it.
But imitation might be enough to do moderately well. It was difficult to expect a massive hit.
Producing a drama did not cost just a little money. Investing based on vague expectations was foolish.
“I understand that it was planned in hopes of a spillover effect, but it’s too obvious. I enjoyed <Prosecutor Cha Suk-jeong>, too. But if I put myself in the shoes of an ordinary viewer, <Veteran Intern>...”
I hesitated over whether to say this.
It was not my usual style, but I had decided not to navigate office life by telling myself that keeping things pleasant was always best.
So I would just be honest.
“I don’t think I’d want to watch it.”
* * *
Manager Chu looked as though she had been punched, while Assistant Manager Baek watched the two of us before laughing.
“Ha ha, Assistant Manager Go, you’re very direct.”
Assistant Manager Baek smiled kindly.
“Manager Chu, thank you for the proposal, but I think we should go with something else instead of this project...”
“GoPlay has to do it.”
Manager Chu began throwing her weight around.
“It’s already entered the planning stage. I want GoPlay to take it on.”
Seeing her dig in her heels made it clear that it had been rejected elsewhere.
Manager Chu fixed us with a hard stare.
“It’s a production request from AJ Entertainment’s Media Business Division because they think now is the time for office dramas. If you reject the project, things will get complicated.”
Being part of the same corporate group had many advantages, but there were just as many disadvantages.
Like now, when you had to accept something because you were family even if it did not seem right.
If we absolutely had to do it, then we would. But not like this.
“Can we change the premise? Does the protagonist have to be an intern?”
Manager Chu answered my question.
“If you have a good idea, we can incorporate it. Original productions have always received your input during the production stage as well. Do you have something in mind?”
“If <Prosecutor Cha Suk-jeong> came from a broadly relatable protagonist, why not take a different approach? Give it more of a hero feel.”
“A hero? Could you explain that in more detail?”
“Hmm... For example.”
I began laying out the story that had just come to mind.
“What if the protagonist were a doctor who saves companies?”
“...”
“Just as a doctor uses a scalpel and cuts flesh to save a patient, this protagonist uses a scalpel on a company to save it.”
At some point, I became so absorbed that the words flowed effortlessly.
“In other words, they would be a ruthless consultant. At first, people resent the protagonist. But as the protagonist cuts out the rot, the villains within the company are naturally dealt with, and people who were never recognized begin to stand out.”
“...”
“To save someone, doctors must make patients endure painful procedures. It can be difficult, and people may criticize them at times, but once they realize there is a good purpose behind the protagonist’s ruthlessness, they begin to root for them.”
“...”
“A protagonist who may lack warmth but cuts out the things making the organization sick and ensures deserving people receive recognition. Doesn’t that sound compelling?”
Carried away, I even gave it a working title.
“How about <The Reinstated Employee with a Scalpel>?”
Manager Chu and Assistant Manager Baek stared at me blankly.
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