Eve of the Festival
“If that’s what you want, boss, I’ll do whatever you desire.”
Silence stretched between us. For a moment, we simply let our gazes hook into each other’s eyes like fishing lines cast into still water. But after three years with the boss, even five would have been enough to read her like a book. No matter how tightly she kept her mouth shut, deciphering her intentions wasn’t difficult.
When she first brought up helping with the broadcast, there had been tension. When I joked around afterward, genuine disgust flickered across her face. And behind that “I’ll do anything” line, I could sense pure relief.
“Then I’ll take that as a yes and start preparing. Could you send over any materials you have?”
“…I haven’t said anything yet?”
“Your expression kept changing. That was basically an okay.”
“No. Could you please stop reading my mind based on my face?”
“What else am I supposed to do? I’m in the middle of working. If I leave Seung-yeon alone and something goes wrong with the broadcast…”
“That kind of thing isn’t going to happen out of nowhere…”
“There’s always the off chance. By the way, if you have the PPT ready for the eve-of-festival event, could you send it over? I’ll take a look after work today or tomorrow afternoon.”
The boss let out a small laugh and gently ruffled my hair.
“Just come look at it with me tomorrow. Head straight to my office as soon as you clock in.”
Despite all the chaos on her first day, Seung-yeon adapted at an astonishing speed. Even with her 3 p.m. to midnight shift, she didn’t seem particularly burdened. Well, someone who almost never missed a single broadcast from the first generation wouldn’t be the type to wake up early and go to bed before ten anyway. Just look at me—I’d been a full-blown night owl ever since I started managing the boss.
People like us usually hit peak energy around midnight. Sure enough, after the broadcast ended at twelve, while I worked on reports, Seung-yeon sat beside me firing off endless questions, brimming with enthusiasm.
“The wording feels really direct… Is it okay to write it like this?”
“That’s exactly what the boss wants. The agency-level perspective is already covered by the planning team and the boss herself.”
“Ah, got it. I should write that down…”
I couldn’t let her go home alone that late—her parents would worry—so I made sure we shared a taxi and I dropped her off right in front of her house.
The next day, I ran into her again on the way to work. Coincidentally, I was once again carrying a bag of hot fish-shaped pastries. Without thinking, I handed her one of the still-warm ones.
Seung-yeon accepted it with both hands cupped together as if it were some sacred offering. It was almost pitiful watching her struggle not to drop the scalding pastry. Still, she looked far less nervous than yesterday, so I felt comfortable enough to tease her.
“Anyone watching would think that’s made of solid gold.”
“I can’t risk dropping it again… By the way, did you skip lunch?”
I lifted the bag slightly in answer. This was my lunch. My appetite had never been big; three of these pastries were enough to fill me up.
Seung-yeon’s voice filled with concern. “If you keep eating like that, you’ll collapse. You need to have proper meals.”
“If that were going to happen, it would’ve happened already. I’ve been fine so far, so there’s probably no issue.”
I chuckled and pushed open the company’s glass door first. With the bag in one hand, I had to shove it with my shoulder, but Seung-yeon helped from behind and the door swung open smoothly.
“Still… Team Lead, you look so delicate, and after yesterday’s handover, it sounds like you often stay late. I’m worried. Are you getting regular health checkups?”
“I think I’m still a bit young for that.”
“What are you talking about! In this day and age when even young people are getting cancer at higher rates! Regular checkups are the shortcut to living a long, healthy life!”
“If I actually get sick, I’ll go then. I’ve never been sick before.”
“Ugh~ That’s not good enough.”
Our voices were loud enough that a passerby might have thought we were arguing, yet we stepped into the elevator in perfect harmony. Just as the doors were about to close, a voice called from outside.
“Wait!”
Ah, it was the boss. I immediately hit the open button, and sure enough, she slid to a stop, her long black hair swaying. Her light outfit suggested she’d just popped over to the convenience store nearby. Her gaze flicked to me, then to Seung-yeon standing beside me, and finally to the bag of pastries in my hand.
“…It’s Jia.”
“Please don’t react like a kid who got the same toy they already owned for Christmas.”
“Where did that specific comparison even come from?”
“I’m closing the door if you’re not getting in.”
“Hey, hey!”
She practically dove inside. As the elevator rose smoothly, Seung-yeon seized the moment to greet her properly.
“Hello, boss! I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you properly yesterday. I’m Gong Seung-yeon, the new hire in the Operations Team!”
The boss gave a small nod. “You two looked pretty close yesterday. And today you’re commuting together while sharing pastries. You’ve already hit it off, huh?”
“Ah, yes! The team lead has been really helpful. I think I’ll adapt quickly!”
As she spoke, the boss glanced at me. The slight drop at the corner of her mouth seemed to say, Oh? You’re actually good at managing your junior.
…Had I done a good job? I’d be lucky if I didn’t get reported for workplace harassment over fish pastries and pineapple pizza.
“Anyway, keep helping her out. Once Seung-yeon gets the hang of things, we can rotate night shifts later.”
“Yes! I’ll learn quickly and lighten the team lead’s burden!”
I tossed in a realistic estimate. “In my opinion, we’ll need at least six months working together. That way she can handle every type of issue, and once the second-generation auditions are done, she can come with me to set things up and learn on the job. Doing separate night shifts before I’ve taught her everything properly would be ridiculous.”
“That’s too long. Cut it to three months.”
The boss’s demand was oddly picky. But I didn’t want to half-teach Seung-yeon and then abandon her. The work we did directly affected public sentiment and the company’s reputation, so it had to be thorough.
“No.”
“You usually listen to me so well. Why are you being stubborn now?”
I leaned close to the boss’s ear and whispered.
If Seung-yeon makes a mistake while I’m gone and the broadcast crashes with no recovery, what then?
…She’ll figure it out.
Figure it out? You know she’s not me, right? You picked her because she resembles me the most, but she’s still not me.
The boss shot me a glare before reluctantly answering.
“…Fine. Do it your way.”
“As expected, no one’s more understanding than you, boss.”
“Saying that now doesn’t change anything, you know?”
Up until that point, I thought today would be fine. But the real culprit was waiting in the boss’s office.
I’d brought a notebook and pen for taking notes. The boss asked immediately, “Did the fish pastries taste good?”
“Yes. They were especially nice on a cold day like this.”
“I see~”
The single sentence carried the distinct undertone of You ate something delicious by yourself? That’s when I realized.
…Was she upset I hadn’t given her any?
The boss didn’t really like overly sweet foods, so I hadn’t offered. “Should we go out for dinner later and grab some then?”
“You just ate. You’re going to eat again at dinner?”
“They’re good. Or I can just eat less at dinner.”
“Ugh. How can you eat sweets back-to-back like that?”
See? She was clearly showing how much she disliked sweet things, so why was she bringing up the pastries? Or maybe I should have offered her one earlier out of politeness? I’d thought since we were practically friends, such formalities weren’t necessary.
…Ah.
The realization hit me. It wasn’t really about the pastries. She was annoyed that I hadn’t shown her proper respect as the boss while Seung-yeon was standing right there. The newest employee was present, yet I’d treated her like a friend. From the boss’s perspective, that must have been irritating.
I’d have to be more careful inside the company from now on. Spending so much time with her at PC cafes lately must have made me too relaxed without realizing it.
For now, I needed to restore the proper atmosphere. The invisible needles the boss had scattered in the air were pricking my skin.
“Anyway, let’s look at the PPT first. Isn’t it quite long? I asked Team Lead Ra on the side and heard it’s about four hours’ worth.”
“…That’s right. Bring that chair over here and sit.”
“Okay.”
I rolled the swivel stool in front of the boss’s desk over to her side and plopped down. As if she’d been waiting for me, the screen already displayed the Parallel logo and a new group illustration of the first generation.
“Whoa, it’s a Prezi.”
“It’s the one-year anniversary. Team Lead Ra apparently sharpened her teeth for this one.”
Unlike ordinary slide-based PPTs that simply flipped from page to page, Prezi felt like traveling across a vast game board. It let you shift perspectives freely, zoom in to dig deeper, then pull back to the world map, creating an incredible sense of immersion.
She really had spent ten years in a major corporation’s marketing team, consistently earning top evaluations. The material was as sharp as her personality—almost frighteningly well-made.
Since the eve-of-festival event was meant to look back on the first generation’s journey, this kind of structure was undoubtedly the best choice. Every time the scene moved, there were animated GIFs of the kids walking, making it feel like you were truly traveling alongside the first generation.
Next screen. Then the one after that. The background shifted smoothly. The first-generation members walked, ran, or rode on Dora’s back after she transformed into a dragon and flew through the sky.
“Honestly, when I heard it was four hours long, I was a little worried even if you helped me—what exactly we were supposed to talk about. But with material like this, I could easily talk for eight hours, never mind four.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Imagine someone made a fan documentary called ‘Parallel: The Footprints of One Year.’ We’d just be giving commentary while watching the whole thing from start to finish. For example, take this scene. That day I was eating cup ramen I’d brought to the office while watching the broadcast. Maru screamed so loudly that I jumped and spilled the broth all over the floor. I didn’t get home until four in the morning after cleaning it up. I could tell stories like that. Back then, a lot of viewers said they’d woken up from sleep and banged their heads, or slammed their knees into their desks in surprise.”
After listening to my story, the boss smiled and spoke in a slightly brighter host-like tone than usual. “No wonder when I came in that day, the whole office smelled like ramen?”
It felt like she was continuing the rehearsal based on what I’d just said. So I picked up the thread naturally.
“Huh? You could smell it?”
“It would’ve been fine if it was just ramen. But the air freshener you sprayed turned it into some bizarre scent, and I got scolded for ventilating the room.”
“What? I didn’t spray any air freshener.”
“…Then what? There were two culprits?”
We were simply imagining the situation and bouncing lines off each other, but the conversation flowed without a single hitch. Even though we had no script prepared.
The boss looked incredibly refreshed. “The direction isn’t bad. If we keep exchanging lines like this for the other scenes, it should work well.”
“I’m pretty good at talking back to you, aren’t I?”
“That’s nothing to brag about.”
“But if we keep going like this, won’t our conversation never end? We could talk for ten minutes about a single scene.”
“I’ll handle cutting it off at the right moments, so you just keep doing it like this.”
“Okay.”
We didn’t say it out loud, but our expressions said everything. If we continued exactly like this, the eve-of-festival broadcast would turn out great.
And so our rehearsal—using the boss’s office as a makeshift studio—continued without any sense of time passing.
“I’ll cut in there. ‘If you talk to the kids that toxically, they’ll get hurt, you know?’”
“In that case, I’d probably say, ‘If that’s toxic, then your feedback, boss, is on the level of pouring hydrochloric acid on them.’”
“That’s too extreme. In that spot, maybe instead………….”