Genius Archer's Streaming

Team Leader Shin Sang-Hoon had worked with Sang-Hyeon ever since Sang-Hyeon joined the company.

"Why did he do that? I think I know exactly why he did that."

At his words, the employees momentarily closed their mouths.

"It wasn't Director Park's choice. It was Mr. Yu's. I would probably also choose to be seen as getting here through connections over a disabled person quota."

The employees looked down and didn’t say a word.

"But," Team Leader Shin didn't blame the employees. "Did Director Park genuinely ask out of concern for Yu Sang-Hyeon?"

"Huh?"

"Director Park probably knew he would choose the latter. He's got a knack for it. Sang-Hyeon would’ve chosen the same thing 100 out of 100 times. There must be background history for that."

"Well, I suppose so."

"Everybody here probably knows I'm not on good terms with Director Park."

Again, an awkward silence fell over the employees. They wondered what Team Leader Shin Sang-hoon wanted to convey.

"How many of you know that it's not easy for disabled hires to move departments?"

Most of the employees blinked, unaware. It wasn't common knowledge and only known to those with some company experience.

"There are lots of problems with the disabled quota, right? After the hire, the company forces them to move to lesser departments or send them to remote locations."

"That’s true."

"That’s why there's a law made by the country to prevent this. Disabled hires can't change their affiliation for five years."

Employing a disabled person was difficult in many ways from a corporate standpoint, especially giving them significant roles. To benefit from the tax incentives provided by the government, companies would hire and relegate them to roles or departments with minimal responsibilities. To prevent this, the government imposed a restriction of five years. After five years, the restriction was then lifted.

"Wow."

"We thought he was just here through connections, and he had an iron rice bowl..."

Despite making frequent mistakes, Sang-Hyeon continuously worked in a productive and thriving department. People thought that ought to be a reason for it and generally assumed he had strong connections, especially since Director Park hinted so. But no, he was put in that team through the disabled hiring process.

"Exactly. That was the reason, and Director Park placed this nepotism beneficiary image on a person who couldn't change teams and placed him in my team."

"!"

"And if you look at Mr. Yu's resume, it's obvious he wouldn't adapt to the company. Can you see the whole picture Director Park had drawn for us now?"

This was shocking news, and the employees whispered among themselves.

"Who will leave, you or him? I'm good with both. That's how he was watching us."

The employees felt stunned.

"Why was there a restructuring for Mr.Yu?"

"In such times, making an employee leave voluntarily counts as a performance metric. Yu Sang-Hyeon had been working here for almost five years and wasn’t very useful anymore. It was easy to let him go. He was the perfect prey."

"No…no way…I knew Director Park was clever, but... this is too much..."

"What do you mean too much? Nonsense," Team Leader Shin Sang-Hoon said and stood up.

"What a fun show."

With a sly smile, he returned to his desk to continue working over shift.

The employees watched him with an uneasy look before heading back to their seats. It was already 10 P.M., but they still had work. They would probably have to sleep at the company tonight.

***

Sang-Hyeon's phone rung non-stop in the morning.

One of the messages came from a familiar acquaintance, Hyeon-Ju. Most of the rest weren’t worth reading.

The text messages were relatively better. Sang-Hyeon received a red notification with over 412 messages on Runestagram. Just the day before, the number was less than 100. It had reached this number in just half a day.

They said various things, but the main point was that they knew Sang-Hyeon and boasted about working at Ahsung. Of course, Sang-Hyeon wasn’t the type to pay attention to every post.

"It seems the show went well yesterday," he simply remarked and turned his attention to the Balloon Stars group chat.

It was bustling there too.

Miho had shared a link. It was a compilation of clips and YouTube shorts from SCB.

Everyone congratulated him. Amid all this, he received some good news as well.

Almond chimed in just when StrawberryShooter sent a blushing girl emoji.

Almond said as if trying to hold on to any hope.

Apparently, everyone had seen it already.

"Oh, were you up?"

Ju-Hyeok entered the room thinking that Sang-Hyeon was still asleep.

"I think my underwear got mixed in here."

He began searching through the drawers for his underwear. While searching, he suddenly recalled something.

"Oh, right. PD Jang contacted me. He wanted to see us again."

"Why?"

"He wants to treat us to a meal because things went well. He also seems to have a proposal."

"Proposal?"

Sang-Hyeon became curious. He wanted to hear what PD Jang had in mind since he enjoyed the talk show.

"What proposal?"

"I'm not sure..."

Ju-Hyeok seemed uncertain as he continued searching for his underwear. Then, he found it.

"Oh, here it is."

"Isn't that mine?"

"What are you talking about? It's mine."

It turned out that they bought the same one.

"Maybe we should write our names on them."

"The size is different though."

Sang-Hyeon wore large while Ju-Hyeok wore extra-large. He insisted on writing their names out of pride, but Ju-Hyeok ignored him and returned to talking about PD Jang.

"Anyway, PD Jang mentioned something about a new variety show. He didn't provide any details, but sounded quite excited."

"A new variety show?"

"Yeah, he kept saying he has a brilliant idea."

Sang-Hyeon couldn't possibly guess what it was.

"We'll find out when we meet him. You should ask. All the cast members are coming too, right?"

"Oh, is it a team dinner?"

"Yeah, they're treating us since the viewer ratings were good."

The show seemed to have gone well. Sang-Hyeon thought so and slightly smiled.

He felt good thinking that his first major broadcast appearance went smoothly. He expected a decent response, but hadn't predicted it would turn out this good.

"It looks like this show did really well even though they say PD Jang is a cheapskate. Anyway…"

Ju-Hyeok approached and placed a hand on Sang-Hyeon's shoulder with a meaningful expression.

Ju-Hyeok spoke so seriously that Sang-Hyeon thought it was a grave matter, but he simply suggested that they check out an online community.

Sang-Hyeon gladly agreed. The two met each other's gazes and let out a chuckle as they sat down in front of the computer. Nothing was as entertaining as seeing the community reactions when things went well.

***

Almond already became "My baby," and was being simultaneously adopted into numerous households. The growing fandom indicated the live broadcast’s strong impact.

"Huh?"

"What's this about?"

Company workers used it for political reasons while job seekers referenced it to choose between companies.

"That's the app, right?"

"Yes, that app."

"Click it."

Ju-Hyeok's hand trembled.

Ju-Hyeok was so scared to check it out.

"If it's something weird, what'll we do? Do you have something on you?"

Sang-Hyeon blinked and nodded. "Yeah, a lot."

Well, that guy caused so many problems when he was working at Ahsung. He simply didn't fit in such environments.

"But you never harmed anyone..."

"Just click it."

Sang-Hyeon clicked on the top post.

The content differed from their concerns.