Choi Seongwoo
Choi Seongwoo knew he had to prepare for a long haul.
Cup after cup of extra-strong iced Americano, book after book of marketing data and industry reports. When he got too tired, he'd put on the neural module and go into the cultivation world to find inspiration and blow off steam.
That morning, sitting in his Audi, he thought back to the wild string of trials from the night before.
He'd wanted to try lightness technique a few more times under the guidance of that white-robed sect leader, but right at the crucial moment, a call from Secretary Kim in Seoul had cut him off, forcing him to disconnect.
Just thinking about it made him want to slam the steering wheel.
But he couldn't stop replaying everything that had happened in the game.
That gentle, sharp-minded sect leader…
When it came to training and management, this random gamer was, in his eyes, far more capable and clever than all the MBA educated executives he'd dealt with in real life, especially those who could only spout jargon.
This sect leader was someone who could earn a stranger's total respect in just a few hours, yet not just some normal strangers, but Choi Seongwoo himself.
He wondered where he could find such talent to join his team.
Those thrilling, wild spells, the roaring rain, the enormous creature charging at him. The images kept looping in his head, and they only reinforced one belief.
This neural cultivation game was the future.
It was bound to replace PCs and phones as the new medium in the latter half of the twenty first century, something everyone would eventually own.
And for him, the key thing was to seize control of the marketing narrative in this untapped market before everyone else caught on.
The light turned green. The Audi shot forward and sped off.
Twenty fourth floor, Digital Operations Middle Office.
HR worked super-fast. By the fifth working day after the entire team had been let go, four new hires, fresh out of top schools, had already been brought in to fill the department.
Seongwoo had deployed his grand plan yesterday already. Now it’s time to solidify it even more.
He did have one bad habit though: he could never remember people's names, even right after they'd just introduced themselves.
He knew this about himself, but there wasn't much he could do about it. His brain was so occupied with work that there was simply no room left for names.
The four new hires stood nervously at their desks.
Wearing his new red work badge, Seongwoo took a sip of his iced Americano, his eyes behind glasses sweeping quickly over the group.
One was a woman with long black hair, one a blond man, one an Asian woman, and one wore thick glasses, whom he mentally filed away simply as Glasses Guy.
He gave no thought at all to whether these casual nicknames might make his subordinates uncomfortable or offended.
They were just names in his head, after all.
The four of them stood there, unease clear in their eyes.
Clearly, on their second day, they'd already heard the alarming rumor about how the entire previous team had been mass-fired for offending him.
Seongwoo noticed the tension in the room. To show some generosity, he spoke up to set the record straight:
"If anyone has concerns, feel free to raise them directly. I know some rumors are going around the company about me, but I promise you, those consequences were only for racial discrimination and malicious personal attacks. If it's constructive feedback, there's nothing to worry about."
But all he got back were forced smiles that didn't reach anyone's eyes, and overly enthusiastic applause.
Seongwoo didn't care. Just get the work done, that was all that mattered.
His gaze moved past the four of them and landed on the Chinese intern standing at the back, dressed in a casual suit.
For the one person who'd survived the last purge, Seongwoo didn't even bother giving him a nickname and just called him Intern in his head.
After all, the main reason this guy had survived was simply that he hadn't been there at the time.
And honestly, Seongwoo also felt like this guy had almost no presence at all. He sometimes nearly forgot this Intern was still on the team.
The guy had given him an evil idea once and then vanished. That’s all.
"You, pull the social media ad spend data for the gaming industry over the past three years. You, put together user profiles for the China market and the North American market. You two, work on competitor analysis and legal risk assessment." He gave his instructions while pointing at each person in turn.
Pointing at people wasn't exactly polite, but in his mind, not saying the nicknames out loud was already the most courtesy he could manage at the moment.
After a round of instructions, the four new hires scribbled notes furiously.
His gaze landed once more on the Intern standing off to the side, who straightened his back, a flicker of anticipation in his eyes.
But Seongwoo looked at him coldly. "I have nothing for you now."
"Nothing?" The man blinked, the smile on his face freezing instantly.
"Yeah," Seongwoo said, gesturing with his iced Americano toward the woman with long black hair. "Go work with her. If she has any small tasks or needs materials pulled, you can help her out."
"Ah? Ah... fine."
The Chinese intern in front of him looked deeply unhappy, shooting him a sharp, unmistakable glare.
Seongwoo frowned slightly and glanced at the pale blue badge hanging around the man's neck.
"You have a problem with that? Lin Xiao?"
Hearing his name called out directly, Lin Xiao froze for a second, then grinned, baring his teeth. "No, no. Totally reasonable."
"Good. Get to work then."
Seongwoo didn't even bother looking at him again. He carried his iced Americano and walked straight to his own desk.
As a team lead, he was only entitled to an open office setup. So even though his department head had generously offered him a private office the day before, he'd turned it down.
He wanted to be with his team. It was the best way to show his parents his leadership and resolve.
However, that decision started to feel like a mistake within ten minutes.
As it happened, his desk sat diagonally across from that Chinese intern, Lin Xiao.
The man's back kept shifting and fidgeting, unable to sit still, sticking out awkwardly at the edge of his field of view.
What bothered Seongwoo even more was that with just a slight tilt of his head, he could see Lin Xiao's computer screen perfectly clearly.
From nine thirty in the morning to eleven, a full hour and a half passed.
Lin Xiao spent the entire morning solidly watching funny videos at his desk, occasionally getting up to refill his water or grab snacks from the break room.
Across the whole open office, the four new hires were furiously typing away, researching, keyboards clattering nonstop.
Only Lin Xiao acted like he was on vacation.
Seongwoo took a large gulp of his iced Americano, but the irritation was hard to push down.
He even switched out of his work window and spent some of his precious time asking HR whether he could just get rid of this intern.
The person who answered was someone named Clara, her tone thoroughly professional. "This intern signed a fixed one-year contract. And because of the incident a couple of days ago, the headquarters HR and Legal departments have already flagged the personnel actions concerning your team."
"So that means no?"
"Correct, unless there's an extremely serious violation." Clara asked, "Has he done something? If there's a work attitude issue, I can help pass along feedback."
"Never mind."
Seongwoo ended the call right there. He leaned back in his chair, his long, neat fingers tapping lightly on the desk.
What a dead weight.
He suddenly stood up, deciding to have a word with this intern. He couldn't let the guy drag the whole team down.
He buttoned his suit jacket and walked straight toward Lin Xiao's desk.
"Yes?" The intern turned around, tilting his head up to look at him.
"I notice you've been too relaxed today."
"But you said there's nothing for me to do."
"I don't appreciate your attitude," Seongwoo said. "As long as you want to, there's always something to do. NOT including watching videos."
"OK, OK." Lin Xiao admitted fault immediately. "My bad. If this bothers you, I can turn off the videos."
"Thank you."
"So," Lin Xiao called after him, "should I do anything for you?"
"Not necessary. Just make sure you look like someone who's actually working at your desk."
"Sounds good." He flashed an obviously insincere grin, but Seongwoo didn't bother engaging with it.
Back at his desk, Seongwoo watched as Lin Xiao smoothly pulled up a blank document, dragged it onto his right monitor, and left the cursor blinking on it.
Lin Xiao even turned around and gave him a thumbs up.
Then he pulled out a pillow and propped it up behind his chair, blocking the left monitor from view.
Hopeless.
But fine. As long as I don't have to see it.
I won’t forget his face now, he told himself.
This annoying intern is definitely going to be the first person I cut after one year.
ns216.73.216.248da2
and then Add to home screen.