Give Me Park Woojin's Work
Dayeon had been in a remarkably good mood lately.
There were a few reasons for it, but the first was that Park Woojin had gotten considerably quieter. He'd spent every day picking fights with Dohyun, but it seemed he'd finally figured out he was up against someone he couldn't beat — these days, he'd gone pretty quiet.
His editing speed had slowed to a crawl at the same time, of course, but that was actually a good sign. It meant the odds of cutting him loose in the near future were looking better and better. Dayeon had already been planning to fire him as soon as possible, even if it meant taking a small hit — there was no telling when he might snap and start causing havoc again. So the slower pace didn't particularly bother her.
But if that first reason was just a matter of one less irritation in her life, the second one was what really mattered.
The influx of new viewers has gone through the roof.
It could have been because they'd been uploading more frequently ever since Dohyun came on board. And Dohyun really is a great editor. I don't think that's unrelated.
She had no way of knowing it, but Dohyun's videos carried both Aggro Correction and Algorithm Correction — which meant they were getting slightly more exposure than Park Woojin's. So it wasn't wrong to say that the growing viewership and the rising influx of new subscribers were thanks to the videos Dohyun had edited.
Subscriber counts had always gone up and down as a matter of course, but this time the climb was so steady you could practically watch the numbers tick upward with your own eyes.
"No matter how I look at it... yeah, I should give Dohyun a pretty generous bonus."
There was already a clause in the contract that awarded an extra bonus to whichever editor had worked on a video if it performed well. But she figured he deserved even more than that. She'd only stepped into his room to tell him as much, and maybe tease him a little while she was at it.
"Oh, and noona — there's something I need to talk to you about. Do you have a minute?"
He'd gone and put her on edge, winding up for something serious, and then—
"Give me all the work you assigned to Park Woojin."
Dayeon couldn't hide the look of utter bewilderment on her face as Dohyun made that bombshell of a request.
His speed really was extraordinary. The videos she'd given him to finish by the end of the week — he was saying he only had one left to edit.
"Uh, so... you need more work? If that's the case, I can check if I have any other videos to send you."
Even setting aside what she'd assigned to Park Woojin, there were bound to be other videos that needed editing if she looked.
"No. I'm trying to take Park Woojin's work."
But Dohyun, wearing a bright, cheerful smile, said it outright — he wanted to steal Park Woojin's assignments.
"Park Woojin's work? Why?"
"Well, you already said you were going to get rid of him. I figured I'd steal his work and move that timeline up a bit. If I can handle his share of the editing on my own, there's honestly no reason not to fire him right now, is there?"
He wasn't wrong about a single thing. If Dohyun could cover both his own workload and Park Woojin's — two people's worth of editing — then there was no reason to keep Park Woojin around.
"Lately that guy's been so busy obsessing over me that his speed keeps dropping. I'm a little worried he's going to blow a deadline one of these days."
Dohyun had noticed it too — Park Woojin's editing pace had been getting slower and slower. On top of that, the number of times Dayeon sent his work back for revisions had gone up compared to before. Dohyun knew she was under a certain amount of stress because of it, even if it wasn't severe, and he continued with a smile.
"You're paying someone to do a job. You shouldn't have to get stressed out over it. And honestly, I don't want to see you looking like that."
Dayeon was incredibly precious to Dohyun. There wasn't a person alive who didn't treasure their favorite streamer — but he could say with complete confidence that he cared about her more than anyone else possibly could. So of course he didn't want to see her stressed.
"What is this? That's actually really sweet."
Faced with that kind of honest feeling, there was no way she couldn't be moved. She could feel herself falling for him more and more — this guy who expressed his feelings so purely, so openly.
"Come on, don't get all moved. I mean, honestly, that bastard just pisses me off too."
The petty harassment had been dying down, but Park Woojin still glared at him whenever they crossed paths, and still picked fights often enough to be a nuisance. Not wanting Dayeon to be stressed was part of it — but hating someone who hated you, and wanting to drive them out if you could, was a perfectly natural feeling.
If he were at least good at his job...
The truth was, no matter how much of a pain someone was, you couldn't easily fire them if they did good work. But Park Woojin was the kind of person who made you wonder why they'd kept him around this long — rotten personality, and he couldn't even do the job.
"Anyway, so give me everything you assigned to Park Woojin too. Then we just compare them head-to-head and upload whichever video is better. How about that?"
Dohyun was completely confident he would win. After two weeks of results, it would have been stranger if he weren't.
"...Are you sure? You're not overdoing it?"
Normally, once you'd finished your week's worth of work, you were supposed to rest. Taking on Park Woojin's share as well would mean doing twice the work. Dayeon asked with a worried look, thinking he'd have no choice but to push himself.
"Please. This is way better than sitting around bored with nothing to do."
Even taking on Park Woojin's share, he'd still be working a five-day week. And if his editing skills and Speed Stat went up further from here, he might eventually handle two people's work at his current pace. It would feel like a heavier load for now, but he knew that given time, he'd settle fully into the role. So he had no hesitation at all.
"Alright, then. I'll review this week's edits first, and we'll decide after that."
Finishing the work quickly was great, but if the quality didn't hold up, it would be better to take more time rather than handing over Park Woojin's work and firing him on the spot.
"Whenever you're ready."
But Dohyun looked so thoroughly confident that Dayeon found a vague sense of anticipation starting to build. Could I actually fire Park Woojin soon?
"I'll review them by lunch and let you know."
Her stream wasn't until the afternoon, so she figured she could wrap up the review before then. After asking him to send the edited videos by email, Dayeon headed back to her room.
"Eunchae, you busy?"
She slipped up behind Eunchae, who for once was hard at work.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm actually focusing for a change. What's up? Need to talk?"
"No, if you're concentrating, it can wait."
"Come on! I can focus later!"
There was something a little absurd about Eunchae declaring, right in front of her employer, that she could just do her work later.
"Well... fair enough. You've never been late or anything."
It was true — Eunchae might put off work and prioritize goofing around, but she had never once missed a deadline or finished something by the skin of her teeth.
"Let's grab a coffee."
"Ooh~ cafe?"
"No, just in my room."
"Yeah? Should I order delivery?"
"Capsule coffee. Let's just do capsule coffee."
The studio had more than three capsule machines sitting around, one for each brand. Dayeon poured a couple of capsules and led Eunchae — who'd followed her into the room — into the soundproof booth.
"This is about Park Woojin, isn't it?"
Eunchae figured out exactly what she wanted to talk about, like she'd read her mind.
"Yeah. If I tell you what just happened, you're going to be shocked."
"What? Did Dohyun do something again?"
"...Wait. Did you eavesdrop on us?"
Dayeon was startled — Eunchae was hitting every beat so accurately she might as well have laid the whole scene out in advance.
"Nah. I just figured that's pretty much the only thing you'd pull me in here to talk about."
These days, the only things the two of them discussed in the soundproof booth were how to fire Park Woojin and how well Dohyun was doing at his job.
"...Ahem. Anyway, this time you're actually going to be shocked."
Feeling her pride sting a little, Dayeon set the mood and pressed on.
"So Dohyun, get this — he already finished this week's entire editing load."
"Huh? Already? It's still Tuesday."
"I know! Isn't that insane?"
"Whoa... okay, yeah. That I did not see coming."
This time, even Eunchae couldn't help being stunned. He'd finished a full week's work in two days.
"There's never been editing this fast...!"
"But there's something even bigger than that."
"Huh? There's more?"
They'd been having the same conversations so often that Eunchae hadn't been expecting much — but this time, she felt her heart start to pick up.
"Well, you see... haah~ how do I even put this~"
Dayeon dragged it out on purpose, and Eunchae exploded.
"Aah! Stop dragging it out and just tell me already!"
"Heheh... oh, that reaction is so good..."
Even when she streamed, she loved reactions like this — the kind that made her want to tease and draw things out. She grinned.
"What should I dooo~ should I tell you, or should I nooot~"
"Oh my god! Unnie, are you serious right now!?"
Dayeon considered teasing the groaning, thoroughly frustrated Eunchae a little more, then chuckled and finally said it. If she dragged it out any further, Eunchae would actually start making a scene.
"Well. Dohyun asked me to give him Park Woojin's share too."
"Huh? Park Woojin's share too? Wait — oh my god. So the Kick Out Park Woojin Project is finally launching?!"
"Mm-hmm. He said they should both edit the same videos, and we'll upload whichever one turns out better."
"Wow... he really is confident."
Dayeon smiled, satisfied with Eunchae's reaction.
"Well, I haven't approved it yet. I'm going to review this week's edits first, and if they look good, I'll go along with it."
The look on Dayeon's face as she said that, though, was the look of someone who was going to say yes any second. Eunchae's heart started racing at the thought that she might really not have to see Park Woojin anymore.
"I'm so excited!"
"Right? Same here."
Neither of them had imagined their long-cherished wish would come true this quickly. They both broke into bright, beaming smiles.