WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Mistaken for an S-Class Employee ◈

Chapter 20: Is This Heaven-Sent Luck?

──────

Manager Chu had properly made an official request.

Either way, it was good news, so it did not hurt me. But now even the director knew about it.

I printed out what I had planned to send Manager Chu and approached Part Leader Ryu.

“Here it is, Part Leader.”

I had not written much. After checking the two-page opinion letter, Part Leader Ryu asked,

“Why are they going this far?”

“During yesterday’s meeting, I said I would make a sincere effort if they submitted an official request.”

“What on earth did you discuss for Studio Tiger to make a request like this...?”

I did not yet know the Content Team’s work processes well, so I was having a little trouble figuring out how to explain it.

Then Assistant Manager Baek stepped in.

“Part Leader, may I explain?”

“Someone explain it. I don’t get it.”

“So, what happened was...”

Assistant Manager Baek explained the whole situation. The gist was that we had simply done our best according to procedure, while Studio Tiger was making an excessive request.

“So you did not particularly go out of your way. Things just progressed this far during the meeting?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Part Leader Ryu looked steadily at me.

“Assistant Manager Go, your ideas must be good.”

“I gave them my honest opinion on the content Studio Tiger proposed. I suppose they liked what they heard.”

Looking at the opinion letter in their hand, Part Leader Ryu asked,

“Mind if I read it?”

“Of course not.”

Part Leader Ryu began reading and did not move for quite some time.

Gulp.

Was it because they were my direct superior?

I felt like I was being evaluated, which made me a little nervous. I anxiously waited for them to finish.

“Hmm...”

After reaching the last page, Part Leader Ryu turned their gaze to me.

“Is this all?”

“Yes.”

Their expression had changed. Was it that amateurish?

I had deliberately tried to make it seem rough because I could not show too much expertise.

I had no idea what Part Leader Ryu thought of it.

“What did you do before joining this company?”

I had been getting that question a lot since yesterday.

“I briefly studied screenwriting as a student.”

I gave the same answer again.

“You call this brief?”

“...”

“Honestly.”

Part Leader Ryu gave a short laugh, shook their head, and murmured,

“A fascinating person has joined our team.”

Handing the document back to me, they said,

“If you send this, it could become troublesome. Are you sure?”

“What do you mean...?”

“I mean, it seems like a lot will happen to you, Assistant Manager Go.”

“...”

“You should think it over carefully. It could affect your life at this company from here on out.”

At those meaningful words, Assistant Manager Baek blinked, looking back and forth between Part Leader Ryu and me.

After reading the opinion letter, Part Leader Ryu seemed to have looked far ahead.

I did not know their exact intentions, but I could vaguely guess what they were trying to tell me.

“I’ll send it.”

I had been working here with the attitude that it would not matter if I got fired.

Even if it created troublesome work or a major backlash, I wanted to throw caution to the wind.

“This could really get big.”

“I don’t mind.”

Part Leader Ryu looked steadily into my eyes, then gestured as if telling me to go.

* * *

Studio Tiger, Distribution Strategy Team.

Manager Chu anxiously refreshed her monitor several times.

Kang Beom-gyu, the Distribution Strategy Team Leader, watched her for a moment before asking,

“Are you waiting for an email?”

Manager Chu answered his question.

“Yes. They said they would send it as soon as we made the request, but it has not arrived yet.”

“Ha, honestly. How long has it been since you sent the email? You must have really liked it.”

She had not shown it yesterday, but Manager Chu had completely fallen for what Min-hyeok said.

Until then, she had pushed only for <Veteran Intern>, no matter what anyone said.

But after hearing Min-hyeok’s alternative, she could not even think about that work anymore.

‘The Reinstated Employee with a Scalpel. We have to go with this. If they don’t contact us, I’ll go find them myself.’

“You said you liked it too, Team Leader.”

Manager Chu had told every team member about what had been discussed in the meeting.

“The story does seem decent. But Manager Chu probably added some embellishments.”

“I’m telling you, I just repeated exactly what Assistant Manager Go Min-hyeok said.”

“Come on. If that’s true, he has more than ordinary instincts.”

“That’s why I’m acting like this.”

Team Leader Kang did not fully believe what Manager Chu had told them.

“All right. Let’s talk again after we see what Assistant Manager Go sends.”

Ding!

Just then, a notification sounded, and Manager Chu quickly turned to her laptop screen.

[Re: Request for Written Opinion on Original Content]

Manager Chu clenched her fist in delight, then immediately printed it out.

“Come on, everyone. Read it. See whether I was talking nonsense.”

She handed out a copy to each team member.

A little later.

Team Leader Kang’s eyes widened as though they might pop out.

Watching their reaction, Manager Chu felt pleased even though she had not written it herself.

“What is this guy? This is no joke.”

“It’s good, right? What did I tell you?”

“This feels so good. Wow. I’ve got chills.”

Team Leader Kang smacked their lips in disappointment.

“There isn’t more? That’s all?”

* * *

“Give me the next episode! The next episode!”

Manager Chu laughed at Team Leader Kang’s playful remark.

“There’s no next episode in an opinion letter.”

Team Leader Kang was not the only one reacting passionately. The other team members were in an uproar too.

- Wow... This is insane.

- It pulls you right in.

- It’s fresh, yet familiar.

- An office worker with a scalpel...

- He’s saying he’ll cut out everything that’s a problem.

- If that’s the protagonist, I think I’d look forward to whatever he does.

After thinking for a moment, Team Leader Kang asked,

“What did this guy do before?”

“I had doubts too, so I asked him. He said he had never done anything except briefly study screenwriting as a student.”

With a dazed look, they said,

“It’s too different to have come from hearing about <Veteran Intern>. Other than the protagonist taking a break and returning to work, they have nothing in common.”

Manager Chu nodded.

“Exactly. You would practically have to call it a new story.”

“Was this a gift from heaven? Or did we meet a genius?”

Studio Tiger had not had a hit recently.

Team Leader Kang was a suspicious person, but once convinced, they pressed the accelerator hard.

“Should we change writers?”

“Come on, Team Leader!”

Manager Chu had also fallen for Min-hyeok’s idea, but she thought Team Leader Kang was going too far.

The team members each chimed in.

- I think you’re going too far.

- Just anyone can be a writer? Ha ha.

- What’s with you? They were just joking.

Team Leader Kang opened their eyes wide.

“No, think about it. Which is better, <Veteran Intern> or <The Reinstated Employee with a Scalpel>?”

There was no need to answer Team Leader Kang’s question.

Even without saying it, everyone’s heart was headed in the same direction.

“Of course, I’m not saying we should use Assistant Manager Go Min-hyeok as the writer. But shouldn’t we change the writer?”

“...”

“We can’t hand this opinion letter to the writer of <Veteran Intern> and tell them to write it.”

Manager Chu nodded.

“Yes, the direction Assistant Manager Go has in mind seems far too different from the current writer’s style.”

“...”

“It would be good to look for a writer who can properly take in Assistant Manager Go’s ideas or who is good at writing strong characters, but...”

Manager Chu asked Team Leader Kang,

“How involved should we make Assistant Manager Go?”

Even though they were in the same group, he was an employee of a different company.

She wondered how much cooperation they should ask for and how much they should involve him.

“Don’t overthink it. Just make it happen somehow.”

“...”

“You know this isn’t at the stage where we can just hear an idea and call it done. Be bold. I’ll handle what comes after.”

After considering it for a moment, Manager Chu immediately rose from her seat.

“Yes, understood.”

* * *

<Veteran Intern> had fallen through, and Assistant Manager Baek and I were looking through metadata to source other Original content.

“Productions from JBS companies have been pretty good lately.”

At Assistant Manager Baek’s words, I went through the titles of JBS productions.

I could see there had recently been many works about revenge.

Though their premises differed slightly, the protagonists all had some lack in their lives, then sought out those who had ignored or mistreated them to take revenge.

The reason such works were flooding the market was obvious. They were influenced by recent hits.

“We have to look for a major hit, right?”

Assistant Manager Baek nodded.

“Right. It has to be a hit, no matter what. And Originals should have something a little special on top of that.”

“Something special?”

“Yes. Originals are works you can only see on GoPlay. Paid subscribers want something they can’t see elsewhere, even if it’s a little experimental.”

I nodded and murmured,

“We need to choose a work with an experimental premise that can still become a major hit...”

“Ha ha, difficult, right?”

Combining originality and mass appeal.

It was difficult, but that was the formula for a hit.

It was hard to create a huge success while considering only mass appeal.

That was why lavish blockbusters could fail even after enormous amounts of money were poured into them.

“Since we have to buy all the rights for an Original, we need to be cautious.”

Assistant Manager Baek smiled.

“That’s why we don’t make many of them. Ha ha.”

“The contract structure is flat, right?”

Assistant Manager Baek’s eyes went round as they asked me,

“Oh, you know contract structures too?”

“I was in the Operations Team for four years, was I not? There may be nothing special there, but it covers a wide range.”

I smiled.

“You could call it a general store that has everything except what it doesn’t have.”

“Ha ha, Assistant Manager Go, you’re funny.”

The Operations Team never handled content contracts, but because we worked across so many departments, I had learned about them.

There were several types of content acquisition contracts. One of them, flat, was a structure where you paid a lump sum to buy the content.

Since GoPlay acquired all rights at the time of contracting, Originals mainly used flat contracts.

“When you’re in the Operations Team, there’s almost nothing about the company you don’t know.”

“Ha ha, there must be a lot of hidden talent in that team. You’re proof of that, Assistant Manager Go.”

Assistant Manager Baek gave me a thumbs-up.

“To be honest, I didn’t know much about the Operations Team. Thanks to you, my perception has changed a lot.”

“Thank you for thinking that. We’ve only worked together for a few days.”

“Come on, you’re not a new employee. You can tell right away from the few things you do.”

It was five in the afternoon.

Just as I was about to wrap up work,

“Huh?”

Assistant Manager Baek, sitting beside me, called out.

“Assistant Manager! Another email from Manager Chu came in. She’s sending a lot of emails today.”

I immediately grabbed the mouse and clicked the screen.

[Request to Attend Production Meeting]

It had been sent to the Content Team’s Original Part.

I quickly scanned the contents, and one sentence caught my eye.

‘Assistant Manager Go Min-hyeok’s attendance is mandatory.’

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