A Complete Victory

"There's nothing to check. Woojin said he couldn't make the deadline, so I told him to hand the work over to Dohyun. What do you think that means?"

Dayeon cut him off without so much as a glance at Park Woojin's video, and she was clearly furious.

"Wasn't that supposed to mean you hand the work to Dohyun and start editing something else?"

"Well, yeah, that's what it meant, but..."

"Let's upload the video first and pick this conversation back up later..."

Just as Dayeon was about to wrap things up with Park Woojin, I stepped in.

"We should at least take a look, though."

Dayeon, Eunchae, and even Park Woojin all stared at me with stunned expressions.

"We've still got some time before it needs to go up. He put in the work to make it — it'd feel a little wrong to just skip it without watching. For all we know, his quality might even be better than mine."

Of course, that wasn't what I actually thought. The edit I'd received earlier hadn't been a complete disaster, but even I could spot several places that needed another round of revisions. I didn't believe for a second that he'd fixed all of them in one go.

"Hah, stating the obvious. I've been editing for years. You think a rookie can even compare?"

I just figured it'd be pretty entertaining to knock that unfounded confidence right off his smug face. That wasn't the only reason, either. If we were planning to get rid of Park Woojin anyway, stacking up moments like this one by one would only make it easier — and faster — to show him the door.

Well, it's not like we're completely out of time. Having him sit through this and watch himself get outclassed by a rookie might make cutting him loose that much cleaner later on.

Dayeon, who'd been wearing a confused look for a moment, seemed to arrive at a similar conclusion.

"Alright, then. If you're going to insist, Dohyun, we'll take a look."

She opened her email and started downloading Park Woojin's video.

"I genuinely never know what's going on in that head of yours."

Eunchae, standing beside me, jabbed me in the side with her elbow.

"Huh? I meant exactly what I said. What else would I be thinking?"

"Liar."

Park Woojin's face twisted as he watched the two of us giggling and joking around even now, but nobody particularly cared.

Fuck... I just want to flip this whole table over.

His insides were boiling, but he held it in — partly because he still needed to manage his image in front of Dayeon and Eunchae, and partly thanks to that same baseless confidence that once they actually watched his edit, both of them would change their minds.

"Let's all watch together and decide whose video we use."

The download seemed to have finished. Dayeon opened the edit and suggested we all review it together. Everyone lined up beside her and started inspecting Park Woojin's work.

Heh. This is what a skill gap looks like. Watch and learn, kid.

He'd focused on finishing as fast as possible, so he hadn't poured his heart and soul into the video. Even so, the thought that he might lose to a beginner editor hadn't crossed his mind even once.

But as the video neared its end, not a single word of praise came. Nobody pointed anything out, either.

"So? How is it? This bastard... ahem. Mine's way better than Dohyun's, right?"

Unable to stand the silence any longer, Park Woojin spoke up first. Without any particular response, Dayeon simply queued up my edit and hit play.

"...What the hell is this..."

Park Woojin couldn't keep his mouth shut. My edit had started similarly and finished a bit faster than his, so he'd assumed the quality would be wrecked. Instead, anyone with eyes could see it was clearly better than his.

"Wait, this guy made this? That's impossible! Did he just splice together stuff he saw in other videos?! Ah, I get it. The boss or Eunchae helped him, didn't they?"

His face was hollow with disbelief. He clearly couldn't accept that I'd edited the video by myself.

"Dohyun made this video entirely on his own."

Dayeon tossed out a single sentence, as if it wasn't even worth explaining.

"Looks like you thought Dohyun's video was better quality too, Woojin. The first thing out of your mouth was that someone must have helped him."

"Ugh, th-that's...!"

Given what he'd just said, trying to walk it back would only make him look more ridiculous.

"Then we'll upload Dohyun's edit. Anyone have a problem with that?"

Whether Park Woojin was seething or not, Dayeon had made her decision, and of course nobody voiced any complaints.

Apparently crushing Park Woojin outright was enough to trigger an achievement of its own. A notification popped up telling me I'd unlocked one.

Complete Editing Victory, huh. No counter next to it, which meant it was probably a one-time achievement. Not that I was likely to end up in a head-to-head like this again anytime soon. Editing was supposed to be collaborative work, not a competition.

I was still looking over the list with a pretty satisfied expression when another notification appeared.

For the first time in a while, a daily quest notification popped up. Right — these were supposed to be daily, but they'd stopped showing up after I quit the convenience store, and I'd been wondering about that.

Quitting the convenience store had completely overhauled my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠daily schedule, so it must have needed time to adjust. Still, giving me at least a partial payout was pretty nice.

Which meant I had 3pt total now...

Dumping it all into Speed still felt like the right call. If I kept Editing parked around 30 for now and jacked up Speed so I could work faster, I could pull off days like today over and over. Keep snatching Park Woojin's work and delivering better quality every time, and he'd become useless — we could let him go without even needing to hire a replacement.

Alright. Decision made.

I was admiring the status window with no small amount of satisfaction when Dayeon's voice came from beside me.

"You really worked hard today, Dohyun. Thanks to you, we can get the video up on time."

"I'm just glad we made the schedule."

If I'd had to tear the whole thing down and start from scratch, it definitely would have taken a lot longer. Park Woojin's video hadn't been terrible, all things considered. Then again, that was probably why they'd kept him around this long.

"Now you and Eunchae go to that cafe you couldn't visit earlier. Put it on the card I gave you on Saturday."

"Yes! Cafe! Let's go, Dohyun!"

"Eunchae, are you sure you don't have work?"

"Ehh, it's fine~ I already got a decent chunk of today's work done, so I'll wrap it up in no time."

I was dragged outside by Eunchae, who'd linked her arm through mine.

"We'll be back."

I gave Dayeon a light goodbye, and we headed to the cafe. Maybe because it was still a weekday morning, the place was empty and quiet — an atmosphere I rather liked.

"What do you want?"

"Hmm, a yogurt smoothie?"

"A yogurt smoothie? What a cute taste!"

Is a yogurt smoothie... a cute taste...?

"One yogurt smoothie and one milk tea, please."

After ordering, Eunchae and I grabbed a table in a quiet corner.

"But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seriously, you're really good at editing. Were you secretly some kind of hidden genius this whole time?"

"Huh? No, not really."

It was more like I'd had nothing and then suddenly gotten a status window, so calling myself a hidden powerhouse felt a little off.

"This is genuine talent. If you'd started editing earlier, you'd already be in the pro ranks."

"Well, I'm just glad I got to start now."

Thinking back to not long ago — constantly worrying about how long it would take to save up enough money to properly learn editing and make a career of it — this already felt like a different life.

"Watching you land that hit on Park Woojin earlier felt so good."

"Haha, well. Honestly, it felt pretty satisfying for me too."

No point putting on airs in front of Eunchae, so I let my real feelings show. Park Woojin's flustered, stammering face when he watched my video was still vivid.

That was so fucking satisfying...

"From now ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on, all the important videos are going to you."

"I'm planning to snatch the rest of the videos from him soon, too."

"Huh? Snatch them all...? You mean you're going to take Park Woojin's entire workload by yourself?"

I nodded without hesitation. It might be a stretch right now, but my Speed had already broken 25. If I kept grinding daily quests and stacking achievements to push it past 30, I was confident I could handle Park Woojin's share on top of my own.

"That's some ambition you've got."

"It'll happen soon enough. Just watch."

"Ooooh~"

Eunchae probably thought I was joking. But I was genuinely curious what kind of face she'd make when I actually showed her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that in the near future.