Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Inside the Tuba University manga club room.
“Ah! Again!”
An Elf girl with short hair closer to lemon-yellow than blond and thick square glasses that contrasted with her delicate facial features was alone, clutching at her hair in frustration. At first glance, she looked to be in her mid-teens, but considering this was a university and Elves aged more slowly due to their long lifespans, she was definitely over twenty.
In front of her lay a reply letter from a manga magazine publisher.
It was a rejection.
Pasentania was an aspiring manga artist. Since childhood, she had been praised for her drawing skills and expected to become a painter, but contrary to everyone’s expectations, what she loved was manga.
In particular, she had witnessed firsthand the emergence of a new trend started by an artist named Sashan, who broke away from traditional hero-centered manga by using androgynous female characters and focusing on delicate emotional interactions between characters. The genre became known as “shoujo manga,” and seeing its birth in real time made her decide that she, too, would draw this new genre.
So she worked tirelessly to improve her art skills, enrolled in an art college, joined a club like this one, and continuously submitted her work to publishers.
But she kept failing.
It had already been five years.
At first, she was not discouraged. She simply tried harder, recognized her shortcomings, and attempted to overcome them.
But in truth, while Pasentania’s artwork was excellent, the other aspects of manga creation were weak. Her storytelling and ability to create characters lacked strength.
She improved somewhat through effort, but she was still far from good enough.
Ah... This was the last one.
It was not that she had given up even now. The problem was her circumstances. Despite how she looked, she was already in her mid-twenties and nearing graduation. Her plan had been to debut as a manga artist before graduating and live off her work, but now even that final opportunity ended like this.
“Damn it... What do I do?”
Her family was not wealthy, and now that she was becoming an adult rather than a student, she needed to find a way to support herself.
But she felt completely lost. Art majors already had limited job opportunities to begin with, and because she devoted herself entirely to manga, her grades were poor, and she never considered any other career path.
Still, she did not want to enter just any company either. At the very least, she wanted a job where she could draw.
So she belatedly began searching for employment opportunities, and during that time, she saw Ras’s flyer on a campus bulletin board.
Computers? And games?
Because she liked the relatively niche medium of manga, she did not feel particularly resistant toward the unfamiliar genre of games. It piqued her interest somewhat, but since she knew almost nothing about them, she never reached out.
Afterward, she visited magazine publishers, newspaper companies, and even movie theaters in search of work. During that process, she steeled herself enough to even consider painting signboards for theaters instead of posters, but she simply could not find a job.
A major reason was that Pasentania, whom her few friends called Pana, searched for work far too late.
Normally, people began job hunting about six months before graduation. Yet despite being rejected repeatedly, she stubbornly bet everything on a competition held only one month before graduation. Even afterward, she shut herself inside her room drawing nonstop while waiting for the results.
In any case, if she failed to find a job within a week, then as someone with no money, she would either starve on the streets or return to her hometown and work like a slave on her parents’ small apple farm while enduring their disappointed looks.
Pana felt as though darkness was closing in around her. So while desperately searching bulletin boards near her home for any sort of job, she once again spotted Ras’s recruitment poster.
Now completely desperate, she decided she had to try anything at least once. She tore off the contact information attached beneath the poster.
After posting the recruitment advertisement, Ras received quite a few inquiries.
Unfortunately, however, it was difficult to find anyone with decent artistic skill.
When he received his first call, he was slightly swayed by hearing that the applicant could not draw well but was hardworking. But after receiving several similar applications afterward, he realized that was simply something job seekers habitually said, which allowed him to become more coldhearted during evaluations.
There were also three applicants who claimed they were fairly good at drawing.
The first two could at least draw, but unfortunately, they failed to meet Ras’s standards.
And the final one simply lied.
“I can learn quickly and do well! Please just hire me!”
“...Do you at least know how to use computers?”
The man had an average height, a round face, and large eyes that did not leave a bad impression. Since he was so confident, Ras decided to talk a bit more before immediately throwing him out.
“I know a little.”
“What exactly can you do?”
“...I’ll do my absolute best at anything.”
But this was hopeless. The lies came out as naturally as breathing. Even if the man was capable, Ras felt he would never be able to deal with someone like that.
In the end, he barely managed to push away the shamelessly persistent applicant.
There was also someone he rejected over the phone who claimed to be a fan of Tetris.
While placing the recruitment advertisement, Ras felt that simply using his own name would seem suspicious and fail to attract talented people, so he included the future company name “Meta Soft” and listed Tetris as its representative game.
But he did not truly believe anyone would recognize it and contact him over it.
At first, he even suspected it might be another lie, but after carefully probing the applicant, it turned out the person really was a fan.
“You’re truly a genius, sir! I absolutely want to work with you.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
Unfortunately, though, the person had passion but no actual ability. If they at least knew drawing, coding, or even music, he might have considered it.
Ultimately, Ras had to gently persuade the applicant to give up.
He realized once again that it was incredibly difficult for an individual with neither a company foundation nor career reputation to recruit talented people.
Because of that, he began considering whether he should establish the company itself first and was looking into the matter.
Ring ring ring!
At first, the loud telephone bell genuinely startled him. Since it was not an electronic sound but the ringing of an actual bell, it somehow felt even more intense.
But thanks to the steady stream of applicants over the past few days, he became somewhat accustomed to it and calmly looked toward the phone.
“Hello.”
“Yes, is this Meta Soft?”
Most applicants had been men, so hearing the voice of a young woman briefly caught his attention. Still, it was only instinctive curiosity, and he quickly regained his composure.
“That’s correct. Are you calling about the recruitment ad?”
“Yes. Yes! That’s right! The position is still open, isn’t it?”
Her hurried tone made Ras slightly doubtful about her reliability, as if she was desperately chasing any job she could find.
“Yes. But you really can draw, right? These aren’t the kind of simple drawings you see in ordinary games. You’ll need to be able to do coloring to some extent as well.”
“I can. I’m good at coloring too!”
At least her answer was immediate. She did not sound like she was lying, and she seemed motivated enough that he felt it was worth meeting her.
“Understood. Then please prepare a portfolio and bring it with you.”
“A portfolio?”
“Yes. Please bring at least five pieces. That way, we can check whether your art style fits our games and evaluate your abilities.”
“Ah! Understood.”
For a moment, Pana blanked on what a portfolio was, but after recalling something from class, she managed to answer. Ras gave her the address of a nearby café he frequently used as an interview location.
The next day, at the agreed time.
Ras was already thinking about what to do if this failed as well. Lowering his standards was not an option. He decided to hire people specifically to raise the quality of his games, so compromising now would defeat the purpose.
But it was proving extremely difficult to find anyone suitable. Perhaps using newspaper ads and flyers simply was not an appropriate method for recruiting specialists.
Still, he had no other options. It was not as if he could hold an employment seminar at a university just to hire a single person.
While pondering other methods, he heard the café door open.
Huh? An Elf?
Turning around, he saw an Elf girl.
She already looked young, but with her short hair and oversized glasses, she resembled a middle school student so much that Ras did not immediately think she was the applicant.
But when she looked around nervously and walked directly toward him, he realized with surprise that she was indeed the one.
“Excuse me... Are you Mr. Ras?”
“Ah. Yes. Ms. Pasentania?”
“Yes. You can call me Pana.”
Ras almost asked her age, but stopped himself. He would see it on her résumé anyway, and even if she truly was young, it would not matter as long as she had the skill.
Besides, Ras himself was only seventeen years old right now.
“Please sit down.”
“Yes. Here’s my résumé and portfolio.”
Perhaps afraid she might forget, she handed them over immediately after sitting down.
As expected, the résumé showed she was twenty-five years old, a full adult. She was far older than his current body. And she was even an art college student.
Filled with anticipation, Ras examined the portfolio behind the résumé.
Unlike the previous applicants, these were actual drawings.
To be honest, he was not knowledgeable enough about art to analyze them in detail, but they undeniably felt like professionally trained work.
The color usage was pleasant and immediately eye-catching without feeling jarring.
What he liked even more was that she was not merely copying things realistically like photographs. One piece appeared to depict outer space, another a historical battlefield, and both used simplification and dynamic effect lines to create a sense of motion.
He did not know if she was top-tier talent, but she was certainly good enough to work with.
“These are pretty good. When can you start working?”
Ras was genuinely pleased, but he tried not to show it too openly. If he praised her too much, this Elf lady might become overly prideful and difficult to manage. Worse, she might gain confidence in herself and leave his shabby company for a better opportunity.
“Huh?! I got accepted?”
But seeing her overwhelmed expression made him wonder if he worried too much.
He did not know for certain, but it seemed that finding employment in the arts was extremely difficult in this world as well.
Ras smiled awkwardly and asked again.
“Yes. I’m glad we’ll be working together. So when can you start?”
“Ah. Sorry! I can start tomorrow!”
She had already completed all the credits required for graduation. The only reason she was counting the days was because she was waiting for the competition results and terrified of being dragged back home.
Now that she found employment, none of that mattered anymore.
For Ras, this was excellent news. He was eager to begin work on the next project.
But when he thought about telling her where to report for work, he belatedly realized that his office was currently just his own apartment.
It was not that he forgot this. He simply heard that the game industry was mostly male, and since most of the applicants who contacted him had been men, he figured it would be fine to just add another computer to his apartment and work there.
Renting an office just to hire one employee felt too expensive.
But bringing a woman, especially one who looked like a middle or high school student, into the home of a man living alone was obviously problematic.
Still, he could not let the employee he struggled so hard to recruit quit either. The only solution was to secure an office as quickly as possible.
Until then, it seemed they would have no choice but to work together at Ras’s apartment.
“By the way, I’m currently looking for office space, so for a while, we’ll probably have to work from my home. Would that be alright?”
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected statement, Pana’s reddish-brown eyes widened behind her glasses.
She quietly studied Ras’s apologetic expression for a moment before nodding.
“Yes. Well... if it’s only temporary. I suppose it can’t be helped.”