Chapter 609
Chapter 609
Rewinding time a bit, to a sunny April.
Tap, tap.
I sat in a company office with the blinds drawn, tapping away at a keyboard.
[Delivery Date for This Quarter
-____________]
I had a random Excel file open in front of me. I hadn't created it, but it was installed on this PC anyway.
In the quiet office, people were tucked into their respective cubicles. One of them, sitting next to me, spoke up.
"Deputy Moon, no, Deputy Manager Park!"
Keun Se-jin, dressed in a navy suit, gave a wide grin and held out the quintessential office worker's beverage.
"How about an Americano? I just brewed it."
"Sounds good."
Anyone watching this on video would likely have one question.
—Is that coffee PPL?
To answer right away: no. It was just breakroom coffee.
It’s been a while since I’ve done this during a shoot.
In this era of massive advertising, with WeTube content overflowing with product placements, seeing such a plain, unbranded tumbler was a rarity.
I downed the iced Americano in one go and handed the tumbler back to him.
"Thanks, Deputy Lee."
"Don't mention it~"
Naturally, we were currently filming self-produced content.
We became office workers to match the suit concept of the new album.
I looked down at my gray suit with faint pinstripes.
The tailored suit, which I’d never even worn back when I was an actual office worker, fit me perfectly.
I’ll explain later how we managed to film self-produced content without PPL while wearing clothes like this… but anyway.
Thanks to that, we aimed to show a realistic office life without indirect advertising, and everyone was excited about it.
"By the way, Section Chief Bae Se-jin, you said you’d show us something at the office today during the company dinner last night~"
"…I did?"
"Yes! Oh, come on, don't tell me you don't remember?"
To Keun Se-jin, who was grinning as if daring him to counter, Bae Se-jin—sitting in the senior seat with his bangs neatly styled back—replied through gritted teeth.
"……Right. I remember. I said I’d show you a resignation interview because Deputy Lee Se-jin got drunk and started screaming that he was quitting."
"…Ah, I did?"
"Yes."
"I think you misheard."
"No, I’m sure."
"I didn't."
And so, the Section Chief and the Deputy Manager with the same name began their battle of agitation and fabrication.
"Good morning! I’m not late! It’s still 9:00!"
Assistant Manager Cha Yu-jin burst in exactly on the hour, sporting a flashy blonde head of hair.
"Assistant Manager Cha is from an elite overseas university. Apparently, in that culture, arriving exactly on time is the standard."
"I-Is that so?"
"Then I guess it can't be helped."
"Which school did he go to? Harvard?"
[Harvard? Those Ivy League schools are for nerds. Real universities are on the West Coast.]
[Yu-jin, please, just stay quiet.]
He certainly had a talent for saying things that would give the production crew a headache during editing.
And then… there was the fact that the most competent person among them was the intern.
"Yeeees! Kim Rae-bin is an intern, so he works for me!"
"……."
"Section Chief, I’m an Assistant Manager!"
Bae Se-jin hesitated before playing along for the sake of the setting.
"…Right! Intern Rae-bin, follow Assistant Manager Cha Yu-jin’s example and work hard."
"Pardon…?"
Kim Rae-bin, who had become the intern because he was the youngest, looked at Bae Se-jin with a look of utter shock.
Bae Se-jin, who was trying to keep the skit going, struggled to ignore that expression before finally…
"No! Just work with me. Follow my example!"
"…! Understood!"
He failed.
Keun Se-jin slammed his head onto his desk, stifling his laughter.
"……."
It was… just a skit.
Is this supposed to be realistic?
It didn't look very promising.
Furthermore, there were a few exceptions that no one could have predicted.
"I’ve brought the printouts."
"Ah. Thank you. Good work."
"Haha. You can speak comfortably to me, Deputy Manager Park."
"……."
The intern was none other than Ryu Cheong-woo.
"The General Manager is here!"
"General Manager!"
And the General Manager, chosen by drawing lots, was Seon A-hyun.
This is chaos.
Several members were starting to break into a cold sweat at the sight of the hierarchy being completely demolished.
I remained silent as I watched Ryu Cheong-woo, dressed in a perfectly neat and formal black suit that suited the 'intern' image, carry out his next moves.
"Rae-bin, let's work hard together."
"Yes, Cheong-woo hyung!"
"Ah, we’re fellow interns, so we agreed to speak casually."
"…I-I will try to do so, no, I will try!"
He had broken Kim Rae-bin.
"General Manager, I look forward to working with you today as well."
"T-Thank you…."
And he broke Seon A-hyun, too.
I inwardly shook my head as I watched Seon A-hyun, whose face was bright red, stammering.
For the record, the reaction when he was the last member to enter the office had been extraordinary.
It was a thunderous cheer, as if the Chairman himself had entered!
"The best General Manager!"
"So cool! He just came back from an executive meeting!"
"Amazing! WOW!"
I thought his face was going to explode.
"Deputy Moon, Deputy Moon, did you know? General Manager Seon A-hyun is actually the Chairman’s hidden grandson…."
"Stop."
"Okay."
I cut off that setting before Seon A-hyun could faint.
Having done that, I inevitably realized one thing.
Am I… the only one here capable of moving the plot forward?
It was a mess where everyone was being dragged around by the setting.
I was the one who had to steer the ship.
It went like this:
"Hmm, I think Intern Cheong-woo hyung is a hard worker!"
"Right~ He’s the pillar of our company."
"…The intern is?"
At Bae Se-jin’s skeptical question, the two of them went wild.
"Section Chief Bae Se-jin just discriminated against an intern!"
"You said he could be converted to a full-time position because it’s a recruitment-track internship! Sob! Poor Intern Ryu, what are we going to do!"
"N-No…!"
While I could already see the "LOL" comments flooding in my head, I rescued Bae Se-jin before he could sink.
"Speaking of pillars, what is our department’s goal for this quarter?"
"Ah…!"
Thinking that we were finally getting into a proper office worker setting, Bae Se-jin’s face brightened slightly, and he quickly moved to the whiteboard.
Of course, he was mistaken.
I saw Keun Se-jin whispering to General Manager Seon A-hyun.
"What a smart question. As expected, Deputy Moon is the pillar of our company. Don't you agree, General Manager?"
"Y-Yeah!"
"……."
The job titles were… meaningless.
A bizarre scene was unfolding that would have been impossible in a real office.
They’re even slipping up and calling me Deputy Moon instead of Deputy Manager Park.
It really was a family business in the truest sense…….
I didn't know what a true superior’s behavior looked like since I’d only ever reached the rank of deputy manager myself, but still.
"We are… right. We’re, uh, a company that develops AI."
What was certain was that Bae Se-jin’s desperate attempt to make it work was hilarious.
I nodded as I watched the mysterious circles he was drawing on the whiteboard.
"But what is that?"
"…It’s an AI assistant device."
"Ah."
"I-I see…!"
I ignored Keun Se-jin, who had buried his head back on his desk, his shoulders shaking.
And the price of ignoring him was steep.
After a nonsensical 'Discussion for Universal AI Development Ideas.'
"Deputy Moon says he’ll take responsibility for the progress."
"Whoa!"
The arrow pointed back at me.
"I will…."
"The pillar of our company!"
"……."
So it ends up like this.
"Ah, right. Deputy Manager Moon was working on Excel at his desk earlier, too."
"……."
I decided to submit to reality.
It’s funny because it’s unrealistic….
Without hiding my reluctant expression, I sat down at my desk with a sigh.
I guess it was my turn to make up a story.
"Is this that Excel file?"
I don't know.
"Yes. Let's set a goal first."
Feeling like a con artist, I opened the Excel file from earlier and began typing.
That’s how skits go.
When I placed the cursor, a date input field appeared.
[Delivery Date for This Quarter
-Year___Month___Day]
"How about June 18th~?"
"I see. It’s a date that feels like… no, like a special anniversary for some reason!"
Fine.
The fans will enjoy this.
I began to type indifferently, just as they suggested.
[Delivery Date for This Quarter
-20XX-06-18]
It was the moment I entered it and the result was calculated.
Flicker.
The monitor blinked for a second.
"Ah."
Drip.
A liquid fell onto the back of my hand.
Feeling the coldness, I looked up and saw a droplet seeping from the ceiling as if there were a leak…….
It was blood.
"…!!"
"Moon-dae, your hand!!"
……I knew it was coming, but I was still startled.
So this is how it starts.
I pulled my arm away from the members who were frantically trying to grab it and wiped it off with a tissue.
"Maybe it’s tomato juice."
"Ooooh… should I taste it?"
"Are you crazy?"
In reality, it was probably food coloring made with corn syrup, but everyone was horrified by the production, which was clearly intended to look like blood.
Ryu Cheong-woo, looking at the ceiling, quickly gave instructions.
"Wait. Assistant Manager Cha Yu-jin. See that pole on the left? Let's use it."
"Yeap."
Cha Yu-jin seemed to have momentarily forgotten the 'Intern to Assistant Manager!' skit as he immediately grabbed the pole from the left corner as Ryu Cheong-woo said.
Thump.
The outdoor unit panel on the blood-stained ceiling opened, and something that had been precariously hanging fell with a few red droplets, dangling in the air…….
"……!"
The object, covered in sticky red scabs, was—
"A calendar?"
Indeed.
And it was an old-fashioned wall calendar, the kind where you tear off one page at a time.
The members swarmed around it, not daring to get too close, but surrounding the calendar nonetheless.
And they shouted in unison.
"July?"
[July]
The calendar showed July, with all the pages for the preceding months torn off….
"But, it’s April right now……."
In an instant, the skit vanished, replaced by a chilling atmosphere.
"…Was our setting supposed to be July?"
"Our clothes aren't for summer, though……."
"Wait a minute."
I looked at the PC.
Only now did I see the time displayed in the bottom left corner.
10:07 AM
20XX-07-07
"July 7th."
"……!"
At that moment, the other members also rushed to their PCs to check the time.
"Mine says July 7th, too."
"Me too…!"
A moment of silence followed.
"Then… is today July 7th?"
"Is it…?"
Instead of joining the conversation, I looked back at the calendar hanging from the ceiling.
At those dates.
"……Moon-dae hyung?"
"It’s still strange."
"Pardon?"
I pointed to July 7th on the calendar.
The leftmost number, marked in red.
"Today is Sunday."
"…!!"
A holiday.
A day when no one comes to the office.
"……."
Bae Se-jin spoke with trembling eyes.
"Then why are we in the office…?"
Where were they?
TeSTAR’s eerie and mysterious office exploration began just like that.
And back to May.
On the screen, the pre-release video ended, and a teaser was playing.
[Next Episode]
[Deputy Manager Lee Se-jin: Section Chief, you went to a meeting this morning. Did anything strange happen there?]
[General Manager Seon A-hyun: Uh… not really.]
[Deputy Manager Park Moon-dae: What exactly did you talk about?]
[General Manager Seon A-hyun: …Well.]
Silence fell on the screen.
[A terrifying silence]
And the real-time reactions were exploding.
"This was actually a bit scary."
"I know, right!"
"Oh, the reaction is good."
"It’s a good start, right?"
[What exactly happened in the TeSTAR department in July?]
The TeSTAR members clapped as they finished watching the final teaser caption.