Mazia Lives on the CEO's Sofa
My vision, which had gone completely white right before I collapsed, had finally returned to normal. But where was this place? Who was I? It was an unfamiliar ceiling. Everything in my sight was white, with gray worms wriggling across the blank canvas. Upon closer look, it was the hospital ceiling. I felt like I was losing my mind.
“Mazia!”
The call that bordered on a scream made me flinch and turn my head. There was the boss, her face on the verge of tears.
“Are you okay? Are you awake now?”
“Just… give me a second. I only just woke up and my head’s still fuzzy.”
My body lay on a sheet that was soft yet somehow not soft enough. A blanket had been draped over me—thin, light, and rustling—but the room itself was warm enough that I didn’t feel cold. The busy rumble of carts, the metallic clatter of medical tools, the calls for nurses and doctors. So this was a hospital. Probably the ER. …It looked like I really had collapsed. Given how badly my body had been tilting, it was only natural. I’d barely protected my head on the way down, but after that I must have lost consciousness and been hauled here.
I subtly moved my left hand and felt the cold IV fluid flowing into my veins. Blinking my half-lidded eyes, I told the boss in a slightly hoarse voice that my mind had cleared.
“I’m fine now. What happened?”
“What do you mean, what happened? You collapsed…!”
“What time is it right now?”
“Eleven.”
Since I’d collapsed around nine, I had been unconscious for a full two hours. The boss’s quitting time had been getting later and later these days, but eleven meant she should have been heading home.
“You can go first. You have to come in tomorrow anyway. Once I feel better I’ll head home slowly.”
“Are you out of your mind? How could I possibly leave you here like this?”
“It’s not a terminal illness…. I only fainted for a little while.”
“…You’re so calm about it that it’s actually making me angry. You know that, Mazia?”
The boss’s hands flew at me and pinched both my cheeks hard.
“Ow, ow! Oww! Doctor! There’s a thug harassing a patient over here! Aaaagh, air-raid siren!”
“You’re cracking jokes even in this situation?!”
But what could I do when I wasn’t in nearly as much pain as the boss feared? I had zero energy and my head was throbbing, but that was the extent of it. It felt like I’d suffered a nasty flu, taken some painkillers and fever reducers, and was now lying down. The mild headache still lingering in my skull and the muscles that refused to obey me—those were the only problems I was facing. So what reason was there for the boss to stand guard at my side?
“If an employee like me collapses and the boss skips work tomorrow because of it, company discipline will fall apart.”
“….If you keep talking nonsense, I’m really going to leave, you know?”
“Yes, please go. I can just take a taxi home.”
“Fine, I’m going. And don’t come to work tomorrow. Have Team Leader Kang report your vacation and I’ll approve it, so keep that in mind.”
“Ah. I only have fifteen days of vacation left.”
“You haven’t used a single day, so of course you still have fifteen!”
The boss huffed and vanished beyond the curtain.
…Phew. She finally left. She really had been determined not to go.
It must have been around this time last year. I had collapsed while working, the boss had brought me to the hospital, and once my condition improved after a few hours she had gone home first for the next day’s broadcast and work. Since I had slept a full day back then and gone to work completely fine the following morning, I vaguely assumed it would be the same this time and closed my eyes….
“Thank you for looking after her, Doctor.”
“Not at all. I’m glad the patient woke up quickly.”
It didn’t take long for the boss to return with the doctor in tow. She glared at me and snorted. It meant she had no intention of leaving until she confirmed I was truly all right. Maybe because this was the second time I’d collapsed instead of the first. The doctor soon checked my pulse, took my temperature, and shone a light into my pupils before speaking.
“It appears you collapsed from accumulated fatigue combined with temporary anemia caused by your period. Are you eating properly?”
“Yes. I make sure to eat at least two meals a day.”
“Two meals…. And your portions haven’t decreased recently, have they?”
My intake had always been consistent. After all, I believed that longer meal times equaled a loss in life—if I was watching a broadcast it was different, but when I was genuinely hungry, even with my smaller mouth these days, I could finish in ten minutes at most.
“Yes.”
“And you’re getting sufficient sleep, I assume.”
“I average about five hours.”
“You need to sleep an average of eight hours.”
I considered answering that I would if she turned my day into forty-eight hours, but even then I’d probably still only sleep five, so I simply kept my mouth shut. It was obvious. The idea of devoting every single hour outside of work entirely to games and virtual streams—how could anyone pass that up? It wasn’t even edited clips; I’d get to watch more live broadcasts!
“I’ll try.”
“Not try—for the time being, you must get sufficient sleep without fail.”
“Did you hear that? Use up all your vacation this week, and no overtime from now on. You are to leave on time, no exceptions.”
“But then Seung-yeon will be left alone at the company late into the night…”
“Mazia.”
The boss gazed at me with heavy eyes. It was a warning that if I talked back again she wouldn’t let it slide. Momo on the verge of exploding in extreme fury was one step away from emerging.
“You get home safely by yourself, so there’s no reason Seung-yeon can’t do the same. The security guard is a man of strong professional ethics and will be monitoring the CCTV around quitting time. So stop worrying and rest.”
In moments like this, all I could do was shut my mouth and stay silent.
“What is it this time? Are you worried Seung-yeon might have an accident working alone? Team Leader Kang and I will cover that somehow, so don’t concern yourself. No thinking about work until the weekend, understood?”
The Great Emperor Do-hee has granted the Just Minister Jia permission to slack off.
“Yes. Understood.”
“Doctor, while we’re at it, would it be possible to admit her for just one day?”
“I’m sorry, but that won’t be possible. There are no available rooms at the moment, so even if she were to be admitted she would have to stay in the ER for several days first.”
Hearing those words, the boss looked at me with an expression like she had chewed on something foul and muttered.
“If I send her home it’s obvious she’ll eat haphazardly and just roll around…”
That stung a little. Even though I lived alone, I actually led quite a fulfilling life.
“I eat on time, clean on time, and live properly.”
“I’m saying it because your nutritional balance is clearly a disaster. You’re not actually eating corn powder or anything, are you?”
Guilty as charged. That’s exactly what I had done when I collapsed last year, but I had hidden it perfectly until the end. I felt wronged about that too—anniversary goods and the like had all launched at once back then, so I had no choice. I didn’t want to owe anyone money, so the solution that occurred to me had been cutting food expenses.
“You gave me a raise, so I can just order a proper lunch set.”
“…In the end it’s still delivery.”
“What’s wrong with delivery? These days every kind of food can be delivered, and the quality is all decent——.”
The doctor cleared his throat loudly, cutting off our conversation. He must have decided that if he left us alone the consultation would never end.
“For now, once the patient finishes the IV currently running, you can call the nurse to remove it and be discharged. However, after discharge please do not forget to get plenty of rest, sleep, and proper meals.”
“…”
“And the guardian should make sure the patient does not overdo it.”
“Yes.”
With those words the doctor closed the curtain, telling me to rest well, and left. In the narrow space created by the curtain, I felt uncomfortable with the boss who refused to go home, but I couldn’t show it. Honestly, this disqualified me as a fan. To think that the person I admired as my oshi was stuck here worrying about her fan and couldn’t leave. Whether she knew that or not, the boss asked.
“Your parents are still overseas, right?”
I nodded slightly.
“Then let’s commute together in my car until Friday. I’ll pick you up around ten, so dress warmly and come out. You don’t have to wear your usual suit.”
“Are you telling me to use vacation but still come to work?”
“I can’t work at your house. I’m telling you to rest where I can see you. That way I’ll feel at ease.”
“Insane black company.”
“……”
“I’m kidding.”
The commands that poured out afterward carried real weight.
“If you’re at home it’s obvious you’ll just eat roughly, watch broadcasts, play games, and not rest at all. So rest on the sofa in my office. It’s as comfortable as a bed. Eat all your meals where I can see you. Sleep enough. That way I’ll be able to relax.”
Most of the Mongmongis were probably wishing for exactly this kind of situation. Collapsing from illness only for Momo to grab them by the hair and feed them. To lie on the CEO’s office sofa and watch the cool sight of the boss working. It was the exact dream-like scenario they had longed for.
But now that I was actually in that situation, it felt uncomfortable. I couldn’t be grateful for receiving friend fees, laughing at jokes, and getting angry on my behalf, only to make the boss—who was already dying from broadcasts and business—take care of me on top of it all.
…I need to get better quickly.
Still, since it had already come to this, the only thing I could do was recover fast. I had to get better quickly and attend the eve festival. The boss had asked for my help and I had prepared so diligently for it. If I flaked out and caused problems, that would be even worse.
And so, starting the next day, my life in the CEO’s office began.
“Stay right there and don’t move a muscle.”
“Can’t I at least watch some broadcasts?”
“Sleep. What broadcasts?”
“I can’t fall asleep.”
“Should I play you a lullaby?”
“If you sing it yourself.”
“Wait, I’ll play it with Maru’s refreshing shouting.”
“We’ve socially agreed to call that not singing for us but inflicting it upon us.”
Actually, I had wondered if resting comfortably on the sofa even made sense. But since I was short, neither my head nor my feet reached the ends. Lying obediently on the low pillow atop the fluffy sofa with two blankets over me, it couldn’t possibly be more comfortable. If I said the advantage of being short is that you can sleep anywhere, would the millions of short people nationwide come to hate me?
A while later the boss set up a phone holder for me, and I began devouring all the VTuber edited clips I had missed due to lack of time. I had saved the videos I couldn’t watch immediately in a neat pile, thinking that if not today, then when?
As I did so, it became an established custom for the team leaders who stopped by the CEO’s office for work reports to burst into laughter and say something.
Even Ra Seung-hyun, leader of the planning team known as the prickliest in Parallel.
“…What a surprise. Why is she lying there like that?”
O Seok-jae, the promotion team leader who had previously praised my promotional work to high heaven.
“Kwahahahat! Ma-pat, look at this—you’ve basically rented out the entire CEO’s office!”
Even the finance team leader, with whom I usually had almost no contact, chuckled and spoke to me.
“It’s been a long time since Employee Mazia got to rest properly.”
“It’s Part Leader Mazia now, Director.”
“Ah yes, that’s right. The positions keep changing so rapidly. Anyway. Part Leader Mazia. Rest up properly now. Don’t push yourself. I always knew you’d collapse again someday since you were filling every single one of those fifty-two hours each week.”
And then he subtly leaned in and whispered in my ear.
“And if you keep reducing the working hours and falsely reporting them in the personnel system, I might get dragged before the labor board, you know? I understand there’s a lot of work, but you need to cut the hours. You know that, right? We have a new junior now too.”
My spine chilled for no reason, and after so long the automatic “Yessir” slipped out.
Still, lying down made sleep come easily. Whether it was because the sofa was comfortable, because I was lying flat, or because I still hadn’t fully shaken off the fatigue. So I would sleep after watching videos. Eat and sleep. Space out and sleep. I cut out caffeine, slept all day long, then went home and slept some more, and my recovery was quick.
Thus, on November 10th. I was finally able to leave the CEO’s office after the 3D showcase of the last member, Aoyagi Rain, had ended.
“Absolutely do not overdo it from now on. Divide the work properly with Seung-yeon. That’s why we hired her. Got it?”
“Yesss.”
“Good. Go home and rest. Don’t go peeking at Seung-yeon’s work for no reason.”
“I was planning to take a quick look. I’m a bit worried after all.”
“The team leader is watching over it, so stop worrying and go home…?”
When my energy had been low I had yielded to the boss. But right now I was full of vigor. So now it was time to talk about the eve festival happening tomorrow.
“But is there nothing I need to prepare separately? It’s tomorrow already.”
“…Prepare? What would you prepare?”
“It’s the eve festival tomorrow.”
The boss smiled brightly and stroked my head.
“No. You don’t come out.”