Not the Fantasy I Expected

Hitting that achievement reminded me of something.

It had shown up that day not long ago — the day I'd gotten a call from Dayeon that I'd mistaken for an interview, only to find out I'd already been hired. The quest had popped into my head while I was still working at the convenience store.

Honestly... so much had happened since then that I'd completely forgotten about it. But no matter how I turned it over, hadn't I already completed this? This wasn't even a one-off gig. I'd signed an actual contract as an editor. So why hadn't the damn thing cleared yet?

Did I have to physically start working before it would count? There was no way of knowing what the completion trigger was, so I figured I'd just go in tomorrow, pick up some work, and start editing. That should tell me. Not that sitting here wondering would help — considering there'd been a tutorial, the system clearly had no intention of spelling anything out. I'd just have to wait until tomorrow.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

I'd tried my best to stop her. She'd thanked me for cooking the ramen and insisted on doing the dishes herself, and no amount of protesting had worked. She couldn't just sit there doing nothing, she'd said, and so Eunchae had ended up at the sink. Now she glanced back over her shoulder at me.

"Huh? Nothing. Just... I start work tomorrow. It's not what I used to do, so I'm a little nervous."

Not quite what I'd actually been thinking about, but I had been thinking about editing, so it wasn't a lie either.

"Hmm. Looking at your portfolio, I think you'll do just fine."

"Wait, you saw that too?"

"Of course. I watched it with unni. You still have a great eye for the funny bits, and now that your actual editing's gotten better, the videos hold up against most of what's out there."

Clink, clink. The sound of dishes knocking together in the sink was strangely peaceful. Someone doing the dishes in my kitchen. In my apartment.

"Don't worry so much. Unni's pretty gentle with her feedback, you know."

"Isn't that a bad thing? Feedback that's too nice?"

I liked that about Dayeon — how kind she was — but when it came to work, shouldn't there be a little more steel in it?

"Well, she does get firm about the things she really can't let go. Ideally you'd find an editor who's so in sync you never need to, but that's not exactly easy."

If the editing styles clicked, there'd be far less you'd have to give up on. The fact that she was saying she wished they could find someone like that probably meant Park Woojin wasn't that person.

"So things with Park Woojin aren't great, huh?"

"That guy barely even watches streams. He was too busy trying to hit on unni to actually watch her broadcasts."

There was no rule that said an editor had to be a hardcore stream-watcher, but knowing the culture definitely made it easier to match someone's style. That much I believed.

"He doesn't even know the memes. She has to send stuff back for revisions like dozens ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of times."

"Isn't that, I don't know, average?"

"Ehh, I don't think so. When you consider that the other editors used to get way fewer revision requests... I think that guy just has zero interest in getting better."

Honestly, at that point they should've just fired him on the spot. Wouldn't it have been way more efficient to hold onto the other editors who'd left?

"I can roughly tell what you're thinking. The thing is, until recently we had no idea why the other editors kept quitting."

"Wait — you didn't know he was harassing them at all?"

"Nope. These days he's... well, you've been pushing back, so he can't keep a lid on it. But the people before you were all pretty timid. We honestly never imagined it was that bad."

That tracked. If they'd known how bad it was — and had the evidence — they wouldn't have let the other editors go. They'd have kicked Park Woojin out first. It wasn't like they were close with him, and apparently their editing styles didn't even mesh.

"Anyway, that's why they're being thorough this time. I heard they're still interviewing other people too."

"Does Dayeon usually meet everyone in person for interviews?"

In my case it hadn't really been an interview so much as a meeting to go over the details after I'd already been hired, but still.

"Mm, no. Mostly phone interviews."

"And coming into the office is just a recommendation?"

"It's optional. You don't have to, but nobody's going to stop you if you want to."

"You never thought about just hiring remote editors?"

If the goal was to keep people from clashing with Park Woojin, hiring remote would've been a much smarter move. Even he couldn't show up at someone's house to harass them.

"We offered the option. Everyone said they'd come in, so that's how it went."

Fair enough. They hadn't known about the harassment at the time, so forcing people who'd volunteered to come in to work from home would've been weird.

But then... why me?

"When you hired me, you already knew about Park Woojin, didn't you?"

"Yeah. That's why I figured unni would obviously explain it as a remote position. Then you suddenly said you were coming in and I was like, wait, what?"

She'd given me the choice between coming in and working from home when she first explained everything.

"If you take Park Woojin out of the equation, Dayeon seems like she prefers having people in the office."

The way she'd led with the advantages of coming in had made that pretty clear. Not that it would've mattered — even if she'd said she preferred remote, I probably would've chosen to come in just to see the studio.

"Yeah. Working together in the same space is more efficient, and unni's a massive extrovert. She loves hanging out with her staff and doing the whole bonding thing."

Even among streamers, Dayeon was an extrovert through and through. Her whole skill set was built around a striking face, attention-grabbing charisma, and a gift for talking. Slapping an introvert personality on top of that would've been the weird part.

"So she got along with Park Woojin at first, then."

"Yeah, well. I had a bad feeling about him from the start, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unni's just... she's too nice. She treated him well, right up until things got like this."

I pulled up my status window while we talked.

I'd pushed my Editing from 26 all the way to 29. Considering how sharply my skills jumped every five points, if I could scrape together just one more point and hit 30, I'd be on par with any other editor out there.

And if I got there... if I bumped my Speed up a bit too, I could even steal Park Woojin's work out from under him. The biggest reason they couldn't fire him right now was that losing an editor meant days with no videos going up. If I could cover that gap myself, they wouldn't even need to find a replacement before cutting him loose.

Personally, I couldn't have cared less how many times I butted heads with that guy. If he threw the first punch, I'd be more than happy to squeeze a fat settlement out of him. But if Dayeon was the one taking the stress from it, that was a different story.

"Hey. So, um."

I was in the middle of wondering where I could even find one more point when Eunchae, who'd been sitting quietly beside me, started poking my arm.

"Hm?"

I closed the status window and turned my attention to her. Come to think of it, I'd been ignoring the person right in front of me for a while now.

"There's something I want to try. Is it okay if I ask?"

"Something you want to try?"

I had absolutely no idea what direction this was coming from. Hmm. Something she wanted to try, in this situation... a date, maybe? Or something sexual, even though we weren't officially a couple?

But we'd done it just last night — well, early this morning. Was she already asking for another round? Women usually weren't that... wait. No. Eunchae wasn't a normal woman. Right. Of course. Her talent even had a libido stat attached to it.

Oops. I'd been selling her way too short.

"Well, it's... umm..."

The way she was dragging it out sealed it. This was definitely about sex.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠achievement earlier had seemed to count how many times we'd done it. So if I slept with Eunchae a few more times, maybe I'd unlock another achievement and get more points?

Have sex, raise my points. Kill two birds with one stone. Hell yeah. Absolute jackpot.

"Whatever it is, just say it. If it's something I can do, I'll do it. Anything."

Even for Eunchae — high libido, freaky streak and all — bringing something like this up first had to be hard. So I put on my kindest smile and told her she could ask for anything, trying to make it as easy as possible.

"You'd really do anything?"

"Of course. If I can do it, anything."

Just how wild was this fantasy that she was taking this long to spit it out? She wasn't about to suggest outdoor sex or something, was she? Not that I didn't have that kind of fantasy myself, but in the middle of the afternoon... that might be a bit much.

"I... want ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to..."

"Want to...?"

My heart was pounding. What kind of fantasy was about to come out of her mouth?

"Watch a horror movie... together? Could we?"

Right, watch a horror movie togeth— wait. Huh?

This wasn't a sex thing?

"Uh. Huh? A horror movie?"

"Yeah. There's one I've been wanting to see, but I'm too scared to watch it alone."

I... why was she saying that like it was something to be embarrassed about?

"Ah. Yeah... that's, uh, not hard at all..."

"Really?! Yes! That's awesome! Thank you!"

Looking at Eunchae's face light up like that, I was starting to suspect I was the only filthy pervert in the room. Yeah...