“CEO, I want to resign.”
It seemed like I was setting up an unavoidable confrontation with the CEO, but it was merely an outburst of pent-up emotions.
If I were to think about it, it was a careless mistake.
In this current situation where I could be friends with the CEO, why would I resign?
Resigning wouldn’t increase the time I could spend hanging out with the CEO, so why would I do something that would cause me to lose out?
Besides, the CEO had been busy for three years.
With 1.6 million subscribers, it wasn’t a number that could just be achieved without hard work.
She was carefully choosing and rejecting various collaboration and advertisement proposals that came in from all over.
Amid all this, she had to find time to engage with her viewers, and this year, with the addition of the first cohort of “Parallel,” she had become even busier.
So, it was only natural that she had no time to play.
… I guess I’ll just have to work harder on my secondary account.
I barely managed to close my lips that had popped out and muttered,
“I was joking. I just wanted to see what your reaction would be if I said I was resigning.”
After Jiya left the CEO’s office with a gloomy expression, CEO Cheon Dohee had no choice but to stare blankly at the door for a while.
Then, as her mind suddenly cleared, she found herself reciting the famous lines from the “Knight of Legends” broadcast in her head.
Emergency.
Extreme emergency.
“What… what is this all of a sudden? Resigning?”
A girl who had been doing well for two years as a manager and three years in the company suddenly seemed to be completely sulking.
Her disappointed eyes and the corners of her mouth drooping as if she had lost all hope.
No matter how you looked at it, she appeared to be someone who could no longer find a reason to stay at the company.
However, even after reflecting on what she might have done wrong, Dohee realized she hadn’t made any significant mistakes.
True, she had played games with Jiya from time to time, but after starting the company, there was so little time that it had become a rule to inform her schedule in advance.
In other words, what Dohee said was not a rejection, but a promise that they could meet in two months.
However, Jiya was unaware of that fact.
She should have had some moments where they felt like friends.
Reluctantly, Dohee called the head of the operations team, who was part of Jiya’s team.
The team leader, Kang Jiho, who was thirty-two this year, entered the CEO’s office and immediately covered his face with both hands and groaned.
“CEO, is something wrong with Jiya…?”
The way he spoke made it seem as if he were a startled owner whose cat had suddenly stopped eating.
“Did something happen? Jiya’s expression looks completely dead.”
“No, I was actually wondering that, so I called you here.”
“Eh? If you don’t know, how can I?”
“Well, she is a team member under you.”
“Even though she’s technically under the operations team, she’s practically your personal secretary. She only does the tasks you give her.”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
I shouldn’t have called him for no reason.
As Dohee thought this, she gave a commanding look to Team Leader Kang.
In a situation where he would normally have left immediately, Kang Jiho delivered a sharp remark.
“Well, I’m just asking in case, but did you happen to yell, shout, or scold Jiya?”
A moment of silence.
Kang, who had been gauging the situation, fiddled with his glasses and quickly left the CEO’s office.
“It doesn’t seem to be an issue from my department. In the end, I’m just wondering what I might have said wrong earlier.”
Dohee had only made the usual suggestion to set up a meeting.
Could that have been the problem?
Was today a special day?
Jiya’s birthday?
No, that’s still about two months away.
Then Do- birthday?
That was already about two months ago.
“… I really don’t know.”
While Dohee struggled to find an answer,
Kang Jiho, who had returned to his seat, reappeared.
Knock knock.
“CEO?”
“Come in.”
She entered the CEO’s office quietly, adjusting her glasses nervously as she spoke.
Her anxious expression made her look like someone suffering from anxiety, tapping her toes anxiously.
“I think we should put someone else in for the content instead of Jiya later. What do you think?”
“… Is it that serious?”
“Yes. I’ve been worried about the content progress, and every time I try to talk to her, she’s like, um… uh…”
The girl who was always polite and worked hard was suddenly acting like this.
Dohee frowned and rubbed her forehead.
If Jiya’s dazed state continued, she would need to find a replacement for the 8 PM content.
“I’ll go check on her. Don’t worry too much.”
“Thank you, CEO…”
“No. It seems like I made a mistake. I should fix it.”
At least, on her way from the CEO’s office to the operations team, Dohee had a major realization.
Today, Jiya had come in much earlier than usual.
She was supposed to arrive by 3 PM, but today she came in at 2 PM.
She even asked if there was anything she needed before coming.
‘Today is the first time Jiya will be doing content properly with the first cohort, huh…’
Originally, it was supposed to be Dora’s role, but she had to skip due to her grandfather’s memorial service, so the role unexpectedly fell to Jiya.
She had participated in Dohee’s broadcasts a few times as a manager, which is why she was given the role.
But since she had only ever silently carried out the gamer role, she had never communicated with others in front of a microphone before.
“She must have been too nervous to sleep. She probably wanted to ask me something during my free time since she came early.”
Moreover, since she wasn’t good at expressing her thoughts, she might have hoped I’d understand her feelings even if she expressed them clumsily.
The question about whether she needed anything could be interpreted as ‘I need help.’
The invitation to play games together could be read as ‘I really need help, I’ll carry you later.’ (Or maybe not.)
“But why did she suddenly mention resigning?”
Could it be that participating in the content was that burdensome for her?
I thought she was capable and reliable enough to handle anything.
Was it a mistake to give her this responsibility?
“For now, I need to talk her out of it.”
Dohee wanted to avoid the situation where Jiya would resign because of her mistake.
If she resigned, filling the sudden vacancy would be a problem.
Starting now, she would have to monitor all the company-affiliated Youtuber broadcasts from 3 PM to midnight, as if it were a command center, and stay awake until morning if necessary.
Even weekends were not truly weekends; they were practically standby.
Being a Youtuber required immense dedication, keeping a tight lid on things, and occasionally recommending games or animations in response to requests from Youtubers who faced content shortages, along with immediate handling of broadcasting equipment issues when problems arose…
Honestly, there were no substitutes available.
During our first meeting, I thought, “What a terrible person.”
But five years later, I realized no one cared more about the Youtubers than she did.
She said to forget about her resignation as it was just something she said on a whim.
But for Dohee, who had never imagined Jiya quitting, this felt more serious than the pop-up store incident that happened six months after the first cohort debuted.
“Are you feeling a lot of pressure from participating in the content?”
As I sat in my office chair, watching the saved videos of the first cohort’s rain-themed Kirinuki, the CEO asked me.
Since I had long given up on gaming with her as a friend and was just focusing on my work, I was caught off guard.
“Uh… What?”
“If it’s too burdensome, just say so. I can find a replacement.”
“No, no. Today is the day!”
Before I knew it, the CEO, who had stolen Team Leader Kang Jiho’s chair, glided smoothly over to me.
“Then why did you bring up resignation earlier?”
“… You don’t need to know.”
The lingering gaze felt as if she were pressing my face with her palm, so I had no choice but to confess my honest feelings.
“I just wanted to play games together like before. When I mentioned resigning… you rejected me so abruptly that it made me feel down, and I wondered if I should just take a shot at home instead.”
Immediately, the CEO opened her mouth like a fool and then started laughing.
“Puhaha, ahahahahaha!”
She laughed like a crazy person and then began to pat my head.
I thought about protesting against a grown person doing that, but I ended up keeping quiet because I actually enjoyed the feeling of her hand pressing down on my head.
So this is what it feels like to be petted by Oshi.
I never knew because I had never experienced it before.
After catching her breath from laughing, the CEO let out a short sigh.
“I’ve been watching you for five years, yet you still don’t know this.”
“It’s strange to know. You’re not living my life for me.”
“Right. I really don’t know. What should I do?”
Then she grabbed a comb from Team Leader Kang Jiho’s desk and started combing my messy hair, which felt good.
Maybe a person who gets petted like a cat feels this way.
“… Ah.”
No, this isn’t the time to be dazed.
The CEO, feeling good, made the offer again.
Her earlier retreat was meant to gain some momentum.
“Can we play a game for real? Just for a little while. If one hour is too short, then two hours.”
I didn’t know if my desperate gaze was showing, but the CEO spoke in a tone that was quite different from before.
Her lush eyelashes curved gently, and my lips began to curl up too.
“If today’s content ends without any issues, I’ll join you for a Back Call, even if I have to sacrifice sleep.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Until we get first place.”
“Uh. You might want to cancel that statement.”
“Why? Are you trying to mess it up again?”
“How did you know?”
“Just give me a break. I’m dying here.”
Even though I talked as if I would stay up all night, I had no such intention.
As if I didn’t know the CEO was busy.
Just two hours; that’s all I could take.
As a fan, that would be more than enough for me.
“I’ll be watching what you’re doing, CEO.”
“But are you feeling confident today? Is the content preparation going well?”
Feeling better, I showcased the Rain impression I had been preparing all week.
Though my voice tone was quite different from yesterday, surprisingly, there wasn’t much difference in how I tightened and relaxed my vocal cords.
Having learned Korean in a haphazard way gave me a strong foreigner vibe, but if I could keep the occasional English pronunciation crisp, anyone could become Rain.
“Wow, Sibal. You guys really play games like a pot. What? Rain’s fault? Uh. Your pace~.”
The CEO and the team leader were momentarily speechless, not reacting at all.
I thought I had done well.
It seemed I was disappointing them more than I had expected.
Just as I was about to feel a bit down, the CEO asked in a delayed, surprised tone,
“Why have you been hiding this talent until now?”
“… I never really hid it.”
“You’ve never shown it in front of us.”
“You never asked me to.”
For reasons unknown to me, the CEO immediately turned to Team Leader Kang Jiho and said,
“If we do well today, we might hit the jackpot…”