001. This is Hell Job! ~Hope Arc~ (4)
A week passed like that.
"CEO Han, how's the development coming along?"
"Haha, yes, it's going well."
"We're looking forward to the open beta, haha. Angel Ventures is waiting too."
"Y-yes, thank you."
Han Yu-ra paced around like a caged animal, going in circles and making strange grunting noises. As a novice entrepreneur, she was weak to bluffing and threats. And she couldn't handle the stress.
"Oh, and if you miss the open beta, there might be issues with using the investment funds going forward. You remember the contract terms, right?"
Han Yu-ra bit her lip hard. The contract had terrifying penalty clauses.
Article on Breach of Obligations:
If the "Party B" fails to fulfill its obligations and does not adhere to the previously agreed terms, "Party A" may request the return of the investment funds.
"Party B" shall have the following obligations:
"Party B" must develop the "product" in consultation with "Party A" by the agreed deadline...
In simple terms, it meant that if they failed to develop the game by the deadline, the investment money was at risk. Han Yu-ra bit her lip even harder.
I have to make this work.
Returning the investment meant paying back every penny they'd spent so far. She'd go from capable young entrepreneur to debt-ridden president in an instant. The money spent until now—salaries, rent, advertising—added up to roughly 200 million won. If it fell through, she'd be saddled with 200 million in debt...!
Damn... It didn't seem like a problem when we signed.
It wasn't even that harsh a penalty clause. Plenty of game devs pocketed investments without doing real work. A junior staffer from the investment firm asked,
"It's really going well, right?"
"Yes..."
Han Yu-ra hung up. Her mind was a tangled mess. Things weren't looking good.
Did I make the wrong choice?
Her anxious premonition had finally crystallized into regret. Despite the job posting, not a single four-year university grad had applied. Not one. Sure, it was a prejudice that college grads were better workers... but the anxiety was unavoidable. Take Im Seong-u, for example—he'd gotten top grades in college.
No... that can't be.
She figured he'd gotten complacent and slacked on coding. Or maybe he just couldn't adapt to real game dev and wasted nights inefficiently. She had to tell herself that to salvage her pride.
It's fine... I still have capable employees. A-ram writes good docs, and Su-yeon draws great illustrations.
She glanced at her once-outstanding staff. But their attitudes had changed a lot since onboarding. Like a Chinese place that made killer jjajangmyeon at opening but went full "whatever" mode after a year.
"Su-yeon, want some coffee?"
"Sure, unnie."
Was an hour for lunch not enough? They headed out for coffee again, mere minutes after eating. On average, they took about 20 minutes for coffee, but to CEO Han Yu-ra, it was infuriating.
Is life just break time?
Wasn't she paying them for all that smoking and coffee time?
"Hey, A-ram, Su-yeon."
"Yeah?"
They responded with attitudes like why are you calling? Han Yu-ra felt her faith in her subordinates crumbling.
"Aren't you resting too much?"
"Come on, CEO, we're doing our work."
"Just grabbing coffee and we'll be right back!"
Employees always felt fine watching the boss suffer. Kim A-ram chimed in,
"Oh, and about the new hire. Should we take Shin Na-young? Honestly, attitude matters most when hiring, right?"
"..."
Han Yu-ra buried herself in paperwork and stared at her phone. The Kim A-ram crew cackled as they left, leaving only the socially inept Yoon Se-hee and the CEO in the office.
The phone screen showed three letters: Im Seong-u.
Han Yu-ra thought as she looked at it,
You're probably miserable too, huh?
Yeah, you probably are. She prepared for the next interview.
...
...Unemployment benefits, best!
I barely suppressed a tacky exclamation like life's a total win lol. Life on unemployment was easy. The money was meager, but knowing free cash dropped every three weeks gave massive peace of mind. Money without going to work? Unemployment was god.
Best part: time for exercise. I woke early, stretched, and jogged the walking path around my studio. Oxygen filled my lungs to the fingertips. My gloomy personality cleared like a sunny day.
"Hello!"
"Long time no see!"
I exchanged casual greetings with a pretty ajumma walking her brown dog, then headed home sweating. A cool shower left me feeling so light I wanted to bounce around.
What’s Han Yu-ra thinking right now?
Happy? Miserable? Honestly, kinda curious. But whatever... not my problem. I didn't even want to think about that company. I was in peak bliss right now. If earned income was healthy pleasure, unearned income hit the pleasure center directly—electric.
And my body's getting healthy too.
My hairline was filling in, knees didn't creak anymore. Like death solves all life's problems, or divorce is marriage's happiest moment, quitting was the cure-all. I still had PTSD nightmares about going back sometimes, but overall, pretty good shape.
Gazing at the bright sun, I thought,
Mood: Good.
There was a reason I felt this chill. Connections from my college business days. They respected my skills—and I could make decent money freelancing again. I texted them.
No real chit-chat. Just that I'd quit and was freelancing—any dev work, hit me up. They replied positively.
Dev freelancing. Big corps ignored it, but it paid well. Back in college on gov grants, I always needed cash so I freelanced— that experience was paying off now.
If only I'd met Han Yu-ra back then.
Now it felt like a distant memory. We met in college, both gunning for gov startup grants. We bonded doing the pre-launch package together. Drank a lot back then. The way she looked at me, how I treated her—it was different.
Back then, I wanted her to be happy.
*Ring ring!*
No reason for calls now.
I grudgingly picked up. It said: CEO Han Yu-ra.
...What?
Why call me? Exactly a week since I left. Regretting firing me already? Hope not. I wanted her to stay the rude boss in my mind. Easier to hate that way.
I have a guess.
Ignoring the call gave her no lawsuit ammo. Normal move: ghost. But bad habits from business kicked in.
Curious.
Back in pre-launch days, the startup mentors were vicious. Threatening to claw back grants, sue, all kinds. No experience, it stressed me out. Anxiety meds, lawyer consults galore.
Yeah. Even then, I changed a bit.
Not as much as a year of hell-job, but memorable. I became someone who thought dangerously.
How will they threaten me? If I were them, how to gain negotiation edge?
Life like a game, heart racing at their moves. Driven by shitty curiosity, I smirked into the phone.
"Hello~"
"...Seong-u."
Her voice was way more deflated than when she fired me. I didn't usually dig regret/worn-down/obsession stories (absolutely not!), but I got the appeal. Imagining her in a bind made my lips curl.
"New employee's starting, can you train them? They say no comments in the code at all? Haha. Ridiculous, right..."
Oho. Ridiculous? I crunched open some potato chips.
Her tone—like demanding the obvious—was hilarious. Yeah, classic Han Yu-ra. Gentle usually, but money on the line? Knife-sharp emotional manipulation.
Why? You said no handover.
I had recordings already. Nothing to fear.
"Oh, got it. Sorry, can't."
"..."
"..."
*Crunch crunch crunch.*
I chomped aggressively. Salty. Savory. Fried snacks bad for body, but tongue bliss. Just wished for beer.
"This isn't 'oh got it' time, is it? You know how big Sepiros Online is for us, right?"
"Yeah."
"..."
Silence dragged. Waiting for guilt or duty? That'd make her pure, not dumb. "Pure" was an insult for entrepreneurs. Especially startup CEOs.
"Why react like that? You can't..."
"Why not?"
"..."
"You fired me, right? Honestly, that makes it not voluntary quit. CCTV in the office?"
Shared office had CCTV, obviously. Audio might not catch our fight, but sync with my recordings? Solid evidence.
Han Yu-ra pivoted.
"...Developer."
Why that? I'm not your dev anymore.
"Writing code only you understand, no comments, then bailing? Not cool. No manners."
"..."
"We could sue over this."
Ooh, sue. Yeah, that's her.
Nice ring to it. Wasn't always like this, but now fights thrilled my heart. I spat angrily,
"Ever paid my overtime? Was it voluntary?"
"...We said stocks."
"Certificates?"
She shut up. Dozens of OT nights on CCTV. I'd yoinked the footage right after leaving.
I said,
"What you should worry about is open beta in four months."
"You know it."
"So hire devs ASAP and get to work!"
"..."
Sometimes silence speaks loudest. I felt it in my bones. Thrilling.
"Got it, Seong-u. No interest in helping, huh?"
Her tone screamed your chance is gone. Classic shit-company psychology. Didn't work on me.
"Nope. Taking freelance now."
"Oh. How much you make?"
"Seven hundred a month. Like old times?"
I snickered.
"...Liar."
"Not."
"..."
"..."
"Fine. Take care, Seong-u."
"You too~"
Ah.
Company's open beta was June 15th. 99 days to doom.