“Ugh, the pressure. If Pantheon bombs after all this hype, I’m done for…”
“Really, you’ve come this far and you are still whining? Just make it a success. Quit talking weak, it’s disgusting.”
“You think success is easy? I’m going crazy here, I feel like I can’t breathe. I want to go back to being the invisible nerd; those were the good days.”
Choi Jong-hak stared at Taeyeon groaning and sighed.
“Cut the nonsense. So what happened next?”
“What do you mean, what happened?”
“CEO Kang-geon. Didn’t he call you last night, drunk out of his mind?”
“Oh, that…”
Taeyeon let out a short laugh as he recalled the previous night.
“That guy looked cornered.”
Before bed Taeyeon, as always, was reviewing design documents.
Only after wrapping up the day’s tasks did he relax and lie down.
“Time to sleep.”
Just as drowsiness washed over him, the phone rang.
It was CEO Kang-geon.
“Why is he calling again?”
After hesitating a moment Taeyeon answered.
“Director Taeyeon speaking.”
— Hey, Taeyeon?
The slurred voice told him the caller was drunk.
“What is it, sir? It’s late.”
Kang-geon breathed heavily, then suddenly yelled.
— You little punk, you can’t treat me like this!
“What…?”
— You stormed out, wasn’t that enough? Did you have to drag up the past and make everyone trash me?
Puzzled, Taeyeon realized what he meant.
Because of the Reed-Forest uproar, Taeyeon’s history had resurfaced and so had the story of his departure from Bless.
Former Bless employees and outsiders were now exposing CEO Kang-geon’s misdeeds, and his reputation was crumbling.
That was what was happening right then.
Taeyeon sighed.
“It was never my intention. If you read my statement you will see I never mentioned you or Bless at all.”
— Shut up! All of this blew up because you betrayed me and ran off!
Panting, Kang-geon suddenly changed tone and pleaded.
— Forget everything and come back. We can start over, I will treat you right, okay?
“Sorry, but I already signed two titles with Nexple…”
— You pocketed the advance, right? How much was it? A few billion won at most? I’ll pay it back for you. Quit Nexple and work with me again, please?
His voice sounded almost tearful.
Taeyeon steeled himself. Kang-geon was known for office politics; who knew what scheme this was.
“Be realistic. If I walked out now could you handle the fallout? Chairman Yoo, Directors Son and Lee will not let either of us off easily.”
Silence, then a hiss.
— Yoo Taeyeon, you think you can live well after stabbing me in the back?
Cold shivers ran down Taeyeon’s spine.
— I will never leave you alone. You ungrateful brat, do not cross my path again, got it?
Taeyeon considered cursing back, then simply hung up and blocked the number.
He scarcely slept that night.
Jong-hak clicked his tongue.
“What a psycho.”
“Exactly. Sounds like investors are turning him down. He must be desperate.”
Jong-hak called someone, chatted brightly, then turned serious.
“Kang-geon went to PlayFuns and NT-Soft, but things did not go well.”
“Who told you?”
“Director Choi Young-seop of N-Cube Capital, the firm that invested in Cocoa-Talk. He handles game investments, so he knows.”
“Wow, my little brother knows everyone.”
“Stop fooling. Anyway PlayFuns liked the project at first, but after the recent scandal and re-examination of his past they cooled off.”
“Hmm.”
“They wonder whether a man who has been out of hands-on development for so long can keep up with the industry.”
“Hmm…”
“That is why he hid you. He wanted to keep you under wraps until the company IPO1’d or overflowed with talent.”
“If he had treated me properly none of this would have happened.”
“He never imagined you would actually quit. In his head you were a naive lamb he could control.”
“Hey, I’m not that naive…”
Seeing Taeyeon’s sour face Jong-hak said,
“Be careful. No telling what Kang-geon might pull.”
A woman from PR found Taeyeon.
“Producer Yoo, interview requests are pouring in. What should we do?”
“Could you decline them all? I really do not have time…”
She pouted.
“You help Deputy Jo with everything, but leave us hanging?”
Taeyeon flinched.
“You are not someone who judges by looks, right?”
“Of course not!”
Looking relieved, she pleaded.
“Then could you accept just a few? I feel bad turning everyone down.”
“If I accept some I will end up doing them all.”
He knew how the press worked. If he said yes to one, he must say yes to all.
After groaning, Taeyeon sighed.
“Fine. What do you need me to do?”
He soon regretted it.
Several interviews a day, endless editing of designs and art for press kits.
“Nexple’s New Project: Pantheon Revealed!”
“In-Depth with the Undefeated Producer Yoo Taeyeon!”
“From Empire Sword to Breakthrough and now Pantheon!”
He could not tell if he was a developer or a celebrity.
Answering every question politely left him exhausted, yet he still had to run projects and give the constant student lectures that had somehow become his duty.
“None of today’s visitors look like a recruit.”
When he found promising talent he felt good; otherwise he was gloomy. Now that rumors spread that Yoo hired students whose portfolios impressed him, expectations were high. After every lecture piles of resumes hit his inbox, and HR forwarded them straight to him.
He had to reply with comments at least. Many begged for feedback even if there was no job.
“So hard…”
He processed dozens of emails in an hour, then collapsed.
“Just five minutes.”
Taeyeon wanted to forget Kang-geon and Bless, but the world would not let him.
“Hello, PD, you remember me, right? Ex-planning chief Jung Yoo-hwan. I am quitting, do you have an opening…?”
“Hi, I was an animator on Pandemonium…”
As the industry’s top company, Nexple had tough hiring bars, but a producer’s recommendation changed everything. People used any past tie to beg for a job with Yoo’s famed team.
“It will blow over.”
It did, after about a month and fewer press pieces.
“Now I can focus on development.”
Yet he had forgotten something: in spring the world’s biggest Game Festival would open at Baekhyeon-district Convention Center. Nexple was main sponsor. The Korean debut demo of Monster Eater Online, Nexple’s highest-profile upcoming title, was the star event.
“So please prepare thoroughly.”
Taeyeon could only stare in shock.
- An IPO, or initial public offering, is the term for the first time that a private company sells shares of its stock to the public on a stock exchange ↩︎
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