Chapter 8: Cat mom

The crowded space, the noisy atmosphere. The cafeteria, which I hadn’t visited in quite a while, looked exactly the same as I remembered.

“Oh? Looks like you’re not eating with Cha (Team Leader) today?”

Unlike usual, an employee from another department recognized me in the cafeteria and waved as they approached.

“It’s been a while, Deputy Yoo. You look exhausted.”

He was a mess. Dark circles like a panda’s, chapped lips, and disheveled hair all testified to one thing…

“I haven’t been able to leave the office for days… haha…”

Overtime.

“The game… it blew up big time…”

This poor soul worked in the department responsible for a certain MMORPG game, which was no exaggeration to call the face of this company.

Recently, it had been hit by a series of major incidents and was faltering more than ever. Right now, you couldn’t say it was in good shape, even as a polite fiction.

Not that there were any games in this company that weren’t in a bad state, but the game he was in charge of was in a particularly dire situation.

And usually, when something went wrong, the people working on that project were the first to go. It was always the case.

“Our director… became a ten-million-view singer…”

“Oh, that… it already hit ten million views?”

When a game failed, the person in charge took the blame, and usually, the person in charge of a game meant the director.

Whenever an accident happened in a game, the director’s head was on the chopping block. Should I call it a tradition…?

“They were saying that if things kept going like this, he’d be remembered as a singer, not a director.”

“Come on, no way…”

However, unlike the previous director, who was bombarded with every curse imaginable, the current director was being criticized in a slightly different way.

A little more humorous, a little more mischievous, a little more… artistic, should I say?

“But he seems to be taking it… relatively well.”

“Is that really a good thing? I think he’s just lost his mind…”

A song he never sang and a dance he never danced, all with his name and face plastered on YouTube. Any normal person would have their mental state shattered.

“How can a game director, not to mention as a positive example of AI technology, be summoned to a National Assembly audit? It was funny because it was someone else, but if that were me, I’d be too embarrassed to sleep.”

“Hahaha…”

…I guess it’s still better than being called the source of probability manipulation and user deception.

“Anyway, so what’s up today? You usually eat with Cha (Team Leader) every time.”

Deputy Yoo, who had been complaining about his and his direct superior’s situation for a while, soon changed the subject. In a direction I wasn’t too keen on.

“…Has the rumor already spread that far?”

“There’s probably no one at Comet who hasn’t heard that rumor. The rumor that there’s a poor employee who eats lunch with their boss every day.”

Why, or how, did someone from another department, not even the same department, know that?

“Well, Hanbyeol has a wide circle of acquaintances. Cha (Team Leader)… has a narrow circle, but she’s famous, in a way.”

Originally, Team Leader wasn’t part of Chemical Studio, that is, the (former) Comet Games Project XX development department.

Unlike the core developers who had been operating games at other companies and then moved to Comet, Cha Hyewon, Team Leader, had originally been in charge of other games within Comet before joining through a job change.

I knew that there had been a big trouble in the process, and that Team Leader’s appointment to the Project XX development department was a disciplinary action in response to that trouble, practically being demoted.

“Hanbyeol must be having a hard time, having to eat with someone like that every time.”

“It’s not that hard…”

Deputy Yoo was someone who remembered Team Leader from that time. In a very bad way.

“…But… isn’t it normal to think that an employee is favored by their boss? If they’re called out this often?”

In fact, unless you’re the one being called out, it’s normal to assume that an employee who spends this much time with their boss is favored by them.

“Favored… by that person?”

“Hahaha…”

However, Team Leader’s reputation, which had fallen lower than rock bottom, didn’t evoke jealousy about being favored, but rather sympathy for a poor victim.

“I’ve worked with Cha Hyewon, Team Leader, so I know. The more familiar she gets, the harsher she is with people. I don’t know if she thinks of them as comfortable or if she looks down on them.”

“I don’t think she looks down on them…?”

Soon, Deputy Yoo began to slander Team Leader. With all the old grudges, resentment, and animosity.

“No, she definitely looks down on them. In Cha Hyewon, Team Leader’s eyes, there’s no one more capable than her. So she looks down on her subordinates and talks back to her superiors.”

“Hmm…”

Perhaps that wasn’t just Deputy Yoo’s opinion.

Team Leader’s miserable reputation had created many enemies, regardless of rank. There were countless people within Chemical Studio alone who were at odds with Team Leader.

“Hang in there, Hanbyeol. That’s all I can say.”

“…Yes…”

But from the listener’s point of view, it was…

…not a very pleasant feeling.

“Ugh… it’s cold…”

A chilly air flowed under the dark night sky on the late trip home.

The weather outside after finishing overtime was particularly cold today.

What I’ve realized while working at the company is that even large corporations aren’t completely free from overtime.

Of course, it’s a hundred or a thousand times better than small and medium-sized enterprises that keep people at the company for no reason, but employees of large corporations also suffer from overtime often, or rather, frequently.

Because it’s a large corporation, there’s even more work and big and small incidents happen often. Of course, the company won’t collapse from a few such noises, but the most useful material for firmly solidifying the pillars is the lamentation and screams of the people who have been ground down.

Fortunately, our department hasn’t had any major incidents recently, so we don’t do overtime that often, but Deputy Yoo’s department, whom I met at lunch, is probably still being ground down in real time. Can’t you hear the screams coming from that office with the lights on?

“….Hmm…”

Speaking of Deputy Yoo, the conversation I had with him at lunch suddenly came to mind.

…Could you even call it a conversation? He was the one who did all the talking unilaterally, and I just smiled or nodded.

Well, that probably means that Deputy Yoo has a lot of resentment built up against Team Leader. Not that I don’t understand it at all.

Deputy Yoo is quite outgoing and nice compared to the people I know. For such a person to curse at her, it must mean that Team Leader’s track record is quite impressive.

…But I don’t agree with everything he said.

The Team Leader I think of, the Cha Hyewon I think of, isn’t rotten to the core. She’s always rational and capable, but she has difficulty communicating.

There are often people like that. People who are introverted but not noticeable.

In Cha Hyewon, Team Leader’s case, I think her introverted side is hidden by her abilities, atmosphere, and appearance. If you take away the bluntness, isn’t she just a typical loner who’s always alone and avoids people?

And the reason why Team Leader fights with people regardless of rank isn’t because she looks down on others, in my opinion.

Team Leader is one of the few people who can say things that others don’t want to hear, but need to hear, frankly and confidently, regardless of position.

Right is right, wrong is wrong. She’s always able to assert and enforce her will confidently.

That was why I fell for Team Leader, for Cha Hyewon.

I… I’m the type of person who can never say anything unpleasant to others. Even if it’s the right thing to say, even if it’s necessary.

In order to be a good kid, in order to be a good friend, I’ve always rounded off the edges of myself since I was young.

So that even if I collide with someone, that person won’t be hurt by my sharp edges. So that no one is hurt or in pain because of me.

I was sincere in wanting to be a good kid. I was also sincere in wanting to be a good friend.

I sincerely wanted to be a good person, and all my actions came from sincerity.

But even if I round off my edges, others don’t round off their edges like I do.

Whenever someone stabs me with their edges, all I can do is hurt.

No matter how much I aspire to be a saint, I’m still human after all. There are times when I’m angry, times when I’m sad.

But I didn’t show it. But I didn’t make it obvious. Because that would be an act of re-protruding the edges I had so painstakingly trimmed.

Ignoring what’s wrong, forcing myself to laugh it off…

Actually, that doesn’t seem like a very desirable direction either.

So I admired Team Leader, Cha Hyewon. I envied and admired Cha Hyewon, the person who could confidently say what was right and what was wrong.

Thinking about it now, maybe that’s a bit of a childish feeling.

Mee-yow―

“…Huh?”

A meow that came from somewhere stopped my steps, which had been trudging along lost in thought.

Following the sound of the meow, I lowered my head and saw a cat sitting at my feet, looking up at me.

“…Who are you?”

Mee-yow―

Even at my question, it just scratched its ear and cried.

Gray and white fur. Judging by the fact that it looks like it’s been taken care of, it doesn’t seem like a stray cat. Did a cat that someone was raising run away from home?

“How did you get out of the house… up you go.”

When I picked up the cat, which was acting cute at my feet, it nestled quietly in my arms without any resistance.

…It’s a bit heavy. The owner must have fed it well.

Maru―

It was then. The cat reacted to a faint sound that came from a distance.

“So your name is Maru.”

There was still no answer, but I could guess that this cat’s name was Maru. That the owner had come out to look for the runaway cat.

So I strode towards the sound. With the cat in my arms.

And…

“…Team Leader?”

“…Seo Hanbyeol?”

I was faced with an unexpected face.

…Should I have ignored her?