Chapter 4
Chapter 4
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Job Change
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After recruiting Yerin, one day while preparing to change jobs,
I received an email.
The content itself was a utterly commonplace headhunting email,
but the problem was that the company requesting the headhunt was Enson GT, a direct competitor to my current employer, ND Soft.
Moreover, the position they were headhunting for was Mobile Game Development Director.
Clearly, before my regression, Enson GT diving headfirst into mobile game development was at least four or five years from now...
An utterly unforeseen variable had cropped up.
Of course, if I had to weigh whether this variable was good or bad, it was unambiguously good...
I stared at the screen for a moment, mulling it over, then decided to accept it for now.
If I bombed the interview, that was that.
But if I nailed it, I'd snag the best option among all my choices.
It was pure low-risk, high-reward.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Late into the night.
In the Enson GT headquarters office, long after the employees had clocked out, a woman stared at her monitor.
Her name was Jo Suyeon.
Enson GT's General Producer—and the very person who'd sent Ji Hojin that headhunting email.
"Is this really the right choice...?"
In truth, from Suyeon's perspective, this headhunting venture was a gamble.
A classic high-risk, high-reward bet.
She'd ridden her father's influence to claim the youngest-ever presidency at Enson GT, but Suyeon knew the score.
The real test her father had set for her was just beginning.
She'd defied his advice to build her career slowly at Enson HQ and donned the mantle of General Producer. Now she needed results to keep that hat on her head.
And the man she'd chosen for it? Ji Hojin.
Selecting him now, when she desperately needed achievements, stemmed from the presentation on her monitor—the one he'd given at the conference.
The explosive growth of the mobile gaming market, still a wide-open blue ocean.
Subculture trends that meshed perfectly with the platform's inherent limitations.
An IP expansion strategy built on subculture mobile games.
Hojin's presentation video had hit Suyeon like a thunderbolt.
It transcended her wildest imaginings, laying out a roadmap that went even further.
Drawn in like a moth to flame, she'd fired off that headhunting email—no regrets.
By her sharp eye, landing him wouldn't just deliver solid results. It could propel her beyond that.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ She's tiny.
That was my first thought the moment I stepped into the interview room and took my seat.
No surprise there—the interviewer across from me, peering at her laptop screen, looked downright petite.
Even seated, she couldn't have been much over 150 cm, by my rough guess.
Beyond her height, the other standout trait? Those eyes, gleaming with an intensity that bordered on overwhelming as they fixed on me.
I racked my brain, but we were strangers. This level of rapt attention felt downright burdensome.
"Um, Ji Hojin-ssi?"
"Yes."
"Nice to meet you. To start, I'm Jo Suyeon, Enson GT's General Producer, and I'll be conducting your interview today."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ji Hojin, the applicant here for today's interview."
We exchanged polite nods, and the interview kicked off smoother than I'd anticipated.
Right up until the job-specific questions began.
That's when I started sensing something off.
The questions were bizarrely basic—nothing but fundamentals, looping in circles.
As the baffling queries dragged on, the interviewer across from me suddenly flung her question sheet onto the desk and shot me a look of pure relief.
"Applicant."
"Ah, yes."
"Frankly, these rote job-related basics are just for show. Let me cut to the chase: Are you confident?"
"Confident... in what?"
"If our company hires you—no, Hojin-ssi—can you deliver results?"
"......"
I froze at the abrupt question, but Suyeon didn't seem to be waiting for an answer. She let out a sigh and pressed on.
"Truth is, I pushed for your hire myself—over the objections of the other execs."
"Awkward as it is to say it myself, but... why?"
"I saw it. Your presentation video."
Presentation video... Ah, the one from this year's NDC.
"The video—you mean the NDC...?"
"Exactly, NDC. You presented there on how the subculture mobile game market would boom and IP expansion would be key."
"That's right."
"That presentation, plus the planning doc you sent along—it showed me your potential. So I placed my bet on you."
She took a swig from the water pitcher to wet her parched throat, then continued.
"Whether you take that bet? That's on you, Hojin-ssi."
"And if I turn it down?"
"No fallout for you, naturally. You'd just miss the chance to join Enson GT."
"No fallout for me means... for you, the interviewer...?"
She flashed a surprised smile at the worry in my voice.
"I'll be fine too."
"In that case, I'll take it. Can't pass up an opportunity like this. But..."
"But?"
"Could I bring along one more experienced hire?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Only after stepping out of the interview room could I finally exhale in relief.
Asking them to hire Yerin too? That was damn near a Hail Mary.
If Suyeon hadn't gone all-in on me, I'd have been shown the door without a second thought.
Lately, things felt like they were moving way too fast, but this wasn't the moment to pray for dumb luck...
I let out that relieved breath, pulled out my smartphone, and dialed Yerin.
[Ah, Senior—how'd the interview go?]
"Passed, luckily. They even set the start date for both of us."
[Ah, what a relief. Knew you'd nail it, Senior. But... both?]
"You and me, Yerin. Wasn't that the deal?"
[W-Wait a sec. Wasn't I supposed to wait and see how things shook out after you transferred first?]
"That was the original plan, but things changed."
[T-True, but... You didn't actually ask them to hire me too right there in the interview, did you?]
"I did."
[No way—who asks for another hire mid-interview...! And they said yes?!]
"It just... happened."
[Ugh, ha... Being around you really warps my sense of normal.]
"Result turned out great, though."
[Yeah, that's why I can't stay mad... Good work, anyway.]
"Thanks. I'll hit you up again soon—handle any handover stuff in the meantime and take it easy."
[Got it.]
A few days after hanging up with Yerin, I returned to the office and submitted my resignation.
I'd worried the section chief might've already heard I was jumping to a rival company...
But he showed zero reaction right up until I handed it over, so it looked like Enson GT kept a tight lid on the rumors.
With all the pre-transfer prep wrapped up, the big Monday arrived. I clocked in at Enson GT HQ, and who should greet me but...
"Hojin-ssi, earlier than I expected? Great to see you."
Jo Suyeon, Enson GT's General Producer, decked out in casual wear—a total one-eighty from the interview.
* The new office Suyeon showed me to was bigger and comfier than I'd imagined.
The team wasn't even assembled yet—could they really assign us space like this? I glanced at her, questioning.
"What's up? Too small? Seems just right for a team to me."
"Actually, the opposite..."
"Oh? I figured it wasn't tiny, but not oversized either."
"......"
The gulf between chaebol heir sensibilities and us common folk? Crystal clear.
"Anyway, I'll handle the basic orientation today, so buckle up. Oh, and what's your age?"
"Twenty-nine this year."
"Twenty-nine? I'm thirty-one, so that makes me your noona—casual speech okay? I'm short, so if it bugs you, speak up right away."
Wait—noona?
"Producer-nim, if I may... your age?"
"Thirty-one."
"......"
Beyond anything I'd pictured. I could only clamp my mouth shut.
"Internet hookup, office supplies—that's on the admin team to sort by end of day. Check tomorrow. Employee badge? Little longer."
"When do I get to meet the team?"
"Post-reorg shuffles start tomorrow, so they'll probably report here then. Greet 'em after."
She nodded approvingly at my response, grabbed my hand, and tugged.
"Alright, building tour first. Follow me."