Give Me His Work

Lately it felt like the only stat points I could still get were from daily quests. Everywhere else, the supply had just... dried up.

It had already been two weeks since I'd started working with noona.

And the stat points I'd actually earned in all that time? A measly three.

The points that used to drop with every daily quest clear had switched over to a count system at some point — ten completes for a single point. Add the one I'd just scraped together by hitting ten clears, the one from when our sex count passed ten, and the two from logging ten video edits, and I'd gotten four points total.

Three of those were already in Speed, which was how I'd gotten it to twenty-nine. I'd been sitting there turning over how I was going to push it to thirty when I finally knocked out that tenth daily quest.

"Nice."

Speed Stat: thirty. I'd finally hit it. The foundation for what I'd been planning was finally in place.

And what was it I'd been wanting to do?

I'd been raising my Speed Stat for one reason and one reason only.

Steal Park Woojin's work. Get him thrown out.

"Anyway, I don't have that much left this week..."

I was getting my editing jobs as a weekly quota — a certain number of videos per week. Noona streamed every day, but it wasn't like today's broadcast went up as a video tomorrow. We'd batch the edits by series and then upload. If something needed to go up urgently the next day, or if one series had to jump the queue, noona would just tell me to prioritize it. That was how the work flowed.

"Finish everything first. Then I bury him."

Stealing Park Woojin's work while I still had my own on the plate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't make any sense. If I wrapped up everything I had, then — still early in the week — made a point of how I'd already finished and asked for Park Woojin's workload, noona wouldn't have a reason to say no.

"Dohyun! Wanna grab coffee?"

Just as I was about to get back to it, Eunchae poked her head in with the usual cafe ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠invitation.

Eunchae and I had been having sex regularly, going on dates like an actual couple, spending time together in all kinds of ways. Going to the cafe together in the middle of work had settled into the daily routine before I'd even noticed.

"Ah, I should probably knock this work out fast today. Rain check on the cafe."

Normally I would've taken the break and gone with her, but today was the day I'd been waiting for. I didn't feel like burning time at a cafe.

"Aww, fine. Guess I'm going alone today. Want me to bring you something?"

"Iced americano, then."

"Okay~"

The door clicked shut behind her, and I locked in. The difference in speed now that the stat had crossed thirty was immediately, viscerally obvious.

"Mm. This goes here. And this... here."

My hands flew. My brain churned. One edit after another fell into place.

"That's a wrap. Next video."

Most editors worked in upload order — whatever was going up first got edited first. I ranked them by what I actually wanted to cut. Even if something was scheduled to go up sooner, if it sat low on my list, it waited. I could get away with that because I edited an entire week's worth in one go.

Park Woojin, for comparison, was always racing the clock — editing tomorrow's upload today, every single day.

Then again, that bastard was a special case. He knew full well he ate a mountain of revision requests and still never worked ahead. Lately he'd been dragging his feet even more just to keep me in check, and noona was getting seriously fed up.

Which made this the perfect opening, didn't it? Steal his work. Get him cut.

"Mm. Okay. This should do it."

I was trying to get Park Woojin thrown out so noona wouldn't have to stress. I couldn't let that get backwards and start stressing her out with my own videos, so I never half-assed an edit. Ever. I could say this should do it because I had never gotten more than zero revision requests on a single job. That was proof enough I wasn't cutting corners.

"This one's a bit of a pain."

It was footage of noona playing a game she hadn't touched in a while. The stream itself had been a blast to watch, but the moments worth saving were different from her usual content, which made the edit trickier than average.

"Hrm. Drop an emphasis effect here..."

It took more hands-on work than the other videos, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Now that Speed was at thirty, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠figured the next points I earned should go back into the Editing Stat. Push that higher and I could put out even better videos than I was making now.

No reason to stop here and get comfortable.

A knock at the door pulled me out of it.

"Yeah, noona. Come in."

The door creaked open.

"How'd you know it was me?"

Easy question. The only person who knocked before coming into my room was noona. Park Woojin and Eunchae both just barged in.

"Beats me. Call it the power of a devoted fan. I can tell just from the footsteps...!"

"Ugh. Okay, you're amazing. You were concentrating, though — I didn't interrupt, did I?"

If you looked at the situation in isolation, she wasn't wrong. She was also completely wrong.

"Noona could never be an interruption."

There was nothing Dayeon noona could do that would ever get in my way.

"There it is again. The habitual flirting just slips right out, huh?"

"Huh? How is that flirting? I'm just saying exactly what I feel!"

I was genuinely, deeply offended. Everything I said got labeled flirting. I didn't have a shred of that kind of intent. I was just being honest!

"Yes, yes, I understand. Anyway, I watched the video you sent earlier — there's one part I want changed."

"Ah, where? Something that feels off?"

"Not like that. I just... I'd rather this part came out."

I'd leaned into a stretch of her making mistake after mistake as a comedy beat, and apparently it was too embarrassing.

"Come on, that's the funny part. You want me to cut that?"

"It's mortifying, okay...?!"

At first I'd recut anything she asked me to take out. Two weeks in, I'd started pushing back on the ones I really didn't agree with.

"No. This has to stay. The viewers are going to love it. I guarantee it."

"But—!"

"If this video underperforms, or if people talk shit about that scene, I'll cut whatever you want from then on. Deal?"

Technically, if my employer put her foot down, I should just cut it.

"Ugh... ahhh..."

But she knew it too. The scenes I fought to keep as highlights almost always became the parts viewers went crazy for.

"Fine. Whatever. I give up."

I smiled at the sight of noona throwing in the towel. Cute as ever today, my noona.

"Ah, and noona — there's something I wanted to talk to you about. You got a minute?"

"Hm? About what?"

This week's videos would be completely done the second I finished the one I was on. Which meant I was finally in a position to have this conversation.

What does he want to talk about?

She'd come in to pout about a slightly embarrassing scene, and now Dohyun was setting a whole mood. She was starting to get nervous.

...He's not about to quit or something, is he...?

She'd been keeping Park Woojin on as tight a leash as she could, but the thought that he might've been harassing Dohyun behind her back — that Dohyun might walk the same way every previous editor had — wouldn't leave her alone.

"Take a look at this first."

But contrary to everything running through Dayeon's head, Dohyun just waved her over to his computer.

"At what?"

All she could see when she stepped closer was the editing program, still open. She was still trying to figure out what she was supposed to be looking at when Dohyun minimized it and opened a folder.

"From here to here. These are all the videos you assigned me this week."

"Uh... wait. How many is that?"

"The one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'm on right now will take about ten more minutes. Once that's done, every video you gave me this week is finished."

Dayeon was thoroughly, genuinely thrown. It was still the beginning of the week. Tuesday. Barely. And he'd already edited every single video she'd handed him yesterday?

There might be a few spots that needed revision, sure — but given every video of Dohyun's she'd seen so far, there wouldn't be many.

"Wait. You didn't pull an all-nighter or something, did you?"

"Of course not. I slept a full eight hours last night."

"...Is this even a possible speed...?"

Dayeon let out a stunned breath, and Dohyun grinned.

"So I've got a favor to ask."

"Yeah? What is it?"

She figured he wanted more work. She nodded, gesturing for him to go ahead.

And what came out of Dohyun's mouth was even bigger than anything Dayeon had imagined.