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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: I Can Just Quit, Can't I?
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Time flew by like an arrow after that day.
"This is insane… What is this?"
After Pung Horang streamed my game, a series of truly unbelievable things happened to me one after another.
['Forgotten Andersen's Story' is the greatest masterpiece of the century that a solo developer could create. - 9.5/10 IGN]
[A heart-wrenching game, filled with love for Andersen - 10/10 GameSpot]
[Beautiful, and beautiful again. This game has brought the Andersen's stories that decorated my childhood back into the modern era. - 9/10]
Afterward, many gaming webzines covered my game, and as word of mouth spread, the sales of 'Forgotten Andersen's Story' far exceeded anything I had ever imagined.
70 million won in two weeks… That was the revenue generated in the two weeks since its release.
I'd have to pay about a 30% platform fee from that, but the game would continue to sell. I looked around some indie game developer communities, and some estimated my game's maximum revenue could reach 800 to 900 million won.
When I came home from the office, I had to wrestle with bug fixes and user support every day, but even that felt joyful and happy.
It was the first sense of accomplishment I'd felt since entering the game industry, and I felt a little more confident.
But this success didn't eliminate all my worries.
'Is this enough… to quit my job?'
Until now… I had been under immense stress from work, constantly pressured by the PD, but quitting right away was a huge risk.
'This achievement isn't purely from my own ability.'
A great deal of luck had followed this success.
The ability I gained from a game CD I found on the street and Pung Horang's stream… Without those two things, 'Forgotten Andersen's Story' would have been one of those games that vanished without a trace.
I wanted to quit my job right this second, but what if this ability disappeared like a mirage?
I could end up on the streets.
And so, as I wrestled with these thoughts, commuting to and from the office and working…
Something suddenly happened.
"Hey, Manager Jo Hyunsoo, I need to see you for a moment. I've booked a conference room, so follow me."
"Ah, yes…"
On a day I came to work like any other, a middle-aged man with a sharp mohawk… PD Oh Gwangseok, called me over, snapping his fingers.
As soon as I sat down at the conference room table, he lowered his voice and spoke.
"Manager Jo Hyunsoo… Finding work pretty comfortable these days?"
"Not particularly."
A confrontational tone right from the start.
"Then why… is your work ethic in the gutter?"
"My work ethic… you say?"
I tilted my head and replied, taken aback by the absurd accusation.
Oh Gwangseok furrowed his brow in blatant disapproval, as if I were being insolent, and continued.
"Average work time: 8 hours and 15 minutes… The other team members average over 9 hours and 30 minutes, so why are you the only one in this state? Manager Jo, didn't you used to put in at least 10 hours before?"
It seemed he was displeased that I'd been leaving on the dot ever since I started focusing on 'Forgotten Andersen's Story'.
My contract clearly stated an 8-hour workday, but the game industry, no matter how big or profitable, is a place where overtime is chronic.
Especially with the FGT evaluation having been a complete disaster, Oh Gwangseok must have found me, who vanished like a ghost the moment the workday ended, quite irritating.
'Bullshit.'
Even so, I had never slacked off during my time at the office and had always completed my work on time… no, to be honest, I was far more efficient than the other employees. Hearing this was just ridiculous.
'This guy… Is he trying to take his anger out on me? Or… is he setting me up to take the fall if a problem arises later…?'
I maintained my composure as best as I could and calmly replied.
"But haven't I been completing my tasks even faster than what was set in the milestone? I don't believe there's any issue."
"Issue? An issue? You call that a valid point? If one person like you leaves, what about the morale of the other team members? And if you have spare time, you could be re-checking your work or helping other team members! Do you think you have any room to talk? I even overlooked your sick leave, and this is how you act?"
The same old tired logic that you have to work overtime no matter how hard you work during office hours.
Honestly, let's be frank...
Is there any point to this?
Performative overtime doesn't increase work efficiency; it just drains your stamina and makes you waste time during work hours.
However, the higher-ups at NB Soft, including Oh Gwangseok, are the type who absolutely love that kind of performative overtime.
'Should I… just pretend to be sorry and let this slide? Or… should I confront him properly?'
I felt like I had a million things to say, but in the end… the only choice for a salaried worker is to say, "I'm sorry."
But if I did that, I could end up taking the blame if the Phoenix project goes wrong…
That's why the words didn't come as easily as they usually would.
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- Chapter Clear Condition: 'Launch the Phoenix Project with a B-grade or higher.'
- Reward: ???
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[Main Quest / You Should Speak Your Mind]
- To become a legendary developer, you must always have the courage to speak the truth.
- If there is a problem with the project you are working on, speak about it without reservation and try to fix it.
(1) Clear Condition: Honestly tell PD Oh Gwangseok about the problems with the 'Phoenix' project.
(2) Success Reward: Gain EXP.
(3) Failure Penalty: Lose EXP.
The quest status window, which I hadn't seen in nearly two weeks, appeared before my eyes.
'You want me to stand up to PD Oh Gwangseok right now?'
Even the quest was telling me to confront PD Oh Gwangseok, but I couldn't easily bring myself to do it.
He was a tyrannical type of person, and it was obvious that anything I said, no matter how right, wouldn't get through to him.
Besides, I was a yes-man who never refused anything the company asked of me.
That was a big reason why I had made it to Manager without being passed over for promotion every time in the education-focused NB Soft.
I had lived my whole life that way… The very situation of talking back to a superior was not something I was used to.
'…If I back down here, nothing in my life will change anyway.'
In that moment, I felt a screw in my head come slightly loose.
All those days I had endured, just doing as I was told.
As I thought about the supernatural ability called 'God Game Maker' and the ever-increasing sales of 'Forgotten Andersen's Story,' it felt as if a courage I had never possessed was welling up inside me.
Now that it had come to this, I even felt like I wouldn't be satisfied unless I said something in this situation.
'Anyway… I don't have much to lose by standing up to him here.'
In the grand scheme of my life, Oh Gwangseok wasn't important enough for me to risk losing the power of 'God Game Maker,' which could change my life.
Besides, even if I got fired for defying this guy, I'd only miss a few months of a manager's salary. In the worst-case scenario, I could just find another job.
The choice I had to make was obvious.
'…Since it's come to this, let's give him a piece of my mind.'
The deliberation was not long.
Things had changed, and I had no intention of living like I used to.
"PD-nim, to be honest, I have a lot to say."
"Hmm…?"
Eight years of corporate life, and I had never once uttered a word of defiance.
Once I made up my mind, that one difficult sentence slipped out of my mouth so easily.
"What was that? What did you just say, Manager Jo Hyunsoo?"
Oh Gwangseok's expression twisted in bewilderment.
He seemed particularly surprised, as Hyunsoo had never once talked back before.
"Did I stutter? I said I have a lot to say."
"Ha! I've heard all this talk about millennials and what not acting out, but I never thought it would hit me this hard!"
The planning team leader who told me to finish a month's worth of work in three days and then went on an overseas trip.
The PD who insisted on making a casual game's story like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The damn executive who dropped a project we'd been working on for two years just because it wasn't to his taste…
Was it because I had made up my mind? The shitty things I had experienced while working at the company flashed before my eyes like a panorama.
At this rate, there is no 'tomorrow' in my work.
Making games with interesting stories. To continue chasing my dream, I needed to change. No, I had to.
"PD-nim… It's not like there's a problem with my work ethic, is there? I've never missed a deadline either."
"Huh? Look at this punk."
Oh Gwangseok, flustered, opened and closed his mouth, unable to respond quickly to my words.
I seized the opportunity and continued speaking in a calm, cold tone.
"Shall I say more? You also went on a 4-night, 5-day trip to Da Nang last month right before the FGT. You said you couldn't help it because you booked it in advance? And Team Leader Go Yeongmi also took a 3-day vacation before the FGT."
"Well… that was something I couldn't help…"
"And haven't there been plenty of times when you both left right on time whenever there was a build?"
"…"
"You said you couldn't help it because of family matters. I, and the other team members, all leave for the same personal reasons. Do you think team morale will improve if you grind us down anytime, all the time? I think that kind of overtime is worse than not doing it at all."
"Grrr! You little bastard! Hey! Then… Then if you had written the story well for the FGT so that no one had anything to complain about, do you think I'd be saying this? Do you?!"
As I systematically cut him off, PD Gwangseok let out a scream and shifted the topic to the FGT evaluation.
Having run out of things to say, he was trying to change the battlefield by straying from the point.
"The FGT evaluation… It was certainly not good."
"And you know that, you bastard…"
"The setting is excessively grandiloquent, it uses too many pedantic terms, and all the characters are so serious that it's no fun for the reader. This… was this my idea?"
"Hey, what do you mean by that…"
"Aren't these all the points I told you I was 'concerned about' before I implemented the ideas you gave me, PD-nim?"
To reiterate, a scenario planner in a Korean game company is not someone who can write and insert a story as they please.
Due to the fundamentally vertical organizational structure, they are ghostwriters who write what the PD wants.
I couldn't escape that rule either, and though I tried to express my opinion several times, in the end, I had to work according to PD Oh Gwangseok's wishes.
And the FGT feedback that resulted from it… for him to berate me with that meant that son of a bitch truly had not a single shred of conscience.
"PD-nim, this ridiculous scenario you requested… this clumsy rip-off of Game of Thrones. I was the one who stayed up all night cramming it in. But after all that, am I supposed to be the one taking the blame just because the result was bad? Whose fault is this really?"
"You, you… what's gotten into you all of a sudden? Are you trying to end your career here?"
Oh Gwangseok was now pointing his finger at me, his face beet red.
I continued speaking, resolved to smash that face in.
"The results from the FGT evaluation, those are all issues I repeatedly expressed concern about during every planning meeting. If you don't remember, I can show you the meeting minutes."
I suppressed my excitement as much as possible and spoke calmly, stating nothing but the facts, from one to ten. But because all of it was true, my opponent could only get angrier.
"Jo Hyunsoo. Did you take something before coming here? Why are you talking back when you never do? When a problem arises in your own work, shouldn't apologizing be the first priority? Am I wrong?"
"I'm telling you that you are wrong. You should be the one apologizing to me, PD-nim. If we had done it my way from the beginning, there would have been no problem, but thanks to you, haven't I had to redo my work several times? This is a clear waste of manpower, and I consider it incompetence as a manager. And now you were trying to shift that responsibility onto me. As far as I know, the title of PD exists to take responsibility for one's own words. Isn't that why you receive a larger salary and have more authority than I do?"
I didn't back down an inch.
It wasn't just because of the quest; I couldn't stop talking, thinking that this was my only chance to say what I had always wanted to.
Besides… if I backed down here, the mess the PD made this time would once again be packaged as my incompetence.
"Yaaargh! You call that talking!"
The gorilla finally exploded. A roar loud enough to be heard outside the conference room erupted from his crimson face.
"I was going to cover for you and smooth things over even if the evaluation came out like shit, and this is how you repay me? What, are you saying it's my fault the evaluation turned out this way?"
"Yes, it's a fact that a large part of the fault is yours, PD-nim."
"This bastard, do you know what university I graduated from or not? What does a punk from a community college know to be lecturing me!"
In that instant, Oh Gwangseok slammed his fist on the table, trying to intimidate me. The old me would have trembled, but now, I felt nothing, as if I were watching a crazy drunkard.
I slowly gathered my thoughts, trying to figure out what words would be most effective right now.
"I guess you make games with your diploma, PD-nim?"
"What?"
"Or are you admitting to yourself that you got to your position not because of your ability, but because of your university's name? Or do you think the university name itself is an ability?"
Not a bad counterattack.
In reality, PD Oh was famous for having never produced a single decent hit, only rising to his position because he was a graduate of K University, where the company's real power lay.
The words he had used to attack me were proving that he himself was an empty husk with nothing left once you took away his academic background.
"What, what? You little punk. Have you ever even released a proper game? Huh!? I've released three games! Who does a worthless punk like you think you are, pointing fingers at me when I've been rolling in this industry for so long! When someone points out your mistake, you should know how to reflect! Do you want to get kicked out of the company for insubordination? Do you know how many connections I have? I can make it so you can't even set foot in the game industry again!"
Oh Gwangseok, like a cornered villain, started screaming and spewing whatever words came to mind.
"Yut Nori, Poker, and Alkkagi… I'm not sure if your experience launching those three games is really helpful in making an RPG."
I looked at him with cold eyes and a small smirk played on my lips.
The me of the past and the me of now are different.
Behind me, I have the title of 'Forgotten Andersen's Story,' and thanks to that, I'm not in financial peril even if I get fired right now.
And I don't need to stand by and listen to a lowlife like him ask if I've ever made a proper game.
Because I am someone who has made and released a game all by myself.
"And… I have made and released one. All by myself, at that."
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At my short and simple answer, Oh Gwangseok furrowed his brow.