1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 64



Only Noblemtl

Episode 64 – Job Change

Manager Choi Han-il confirmed that the person across from him was the head of a rival company’s headquarters and turned his head to his senior.

The senior avoided Manager Choi’s gaze and raised his hand to call the waiter.

“This guy did nothing wrong. I asked him to call me because I wanted to meet Manager Choi. Manager Choi is very popular in the industry these days. So I was curious about what kind of person he was, so I asked him to do it.”

“I was just lucky enough to meet some good clients. I still have a long way to go.”

Choi Han-il felt uncomfortable, but he did not get up from his seat because he was in front of his school seniors and industry seniors.

“No, there are so many humble people in the advertising industry. Usually, they take credit for everything that others do.”

“Hanil is just like that by nature. He doesn’t know how to exaggerate things. He’s been like that since the old days.”

“As expected. I’ve been watching you closely since the Saetbyeoljeom event at the end of last year, and this time the Stars’ Return event was really great.”

“Have you seen it? I didn’t know you were here.”

“I went to Myeongdong to see Saetbyeoljeom, and I also went to Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium this time. I didn’t see the game, though. I think it wasn’t just me, but everyone in the famous agency in Korea saw it. To be honest, I don’t remember much about Myeongseong Planning’s advertisements. I was curious about such a surprising thing, so I looked into it and found out that Manager Choi was at the center of it.”

“I am the person in charge, but I did not come up with the idea. I just designed it to fit the event.”

“That’s why. The boldness of capturing the characteristics of a product and putting bricks in the interior and even installing emergency stairs! I really like this kind of thing. In the art field, if you’re good at drawing, you’re not like 10 years ago, but now you’re a tough guy. In the past, if you could just draw lines, you’d be hired without even looking, but these days, there are a lot of kids who received a good education in college. But if you look closely, they’re just good at drawing and don’t have any thoughts.”

“I think so too. Maybe it’s because there are a lot of kids who memorized plaster sketches and went to college. They definitely improved their drawing skills, but they didn’t have anything they wanted to say. In their drawings.”

Choi Han-il’s senior, who was standing next to him, chimed in.

“I looked at not only the event venue, but also the game case and poster that Manager Choi designed, and even the portfolio he had previously created. You don’t feel bad about me doing some background research, do you?”

“Isn’t it natural for advertisers to look at other people’s work?”

“That’s right, that’s right. When I looked through all of Manager Choi’s work, I got a feeling. Ah, this guy knows what advertising is.”

“Am I like that?”

“Manager Choi, I don’t think that advertisers are the ones who make advertisements. Likewise, I don’t think that the art team is the ones who draw pictures. We are the ones who sell. An advertiser has to sell no matter what. If we can’t sell, even if it was painted by Michelangelo or Picasso, it’s a failure for us.”

“That is···, definitely true.”

“Yes, I thought I could communicate with Manager Choi. In order to sell something, you have to know what it is, right? The insight to see through that essence, the expressive power to express it through pictures, and the boldness to break the existing framework and try something new! In my opinion, our Manager Choi has all the basic qualities of an advertiser.”

“You are too kind. I feel like I am floating because you are giving me so much praise.”

“Hahahahaha! It’s just the beginning, and it’ll be difficult if I just float around like this.”

Choi Han-il didn’t know what to say when he heard the praise from Chief Planning Officer Park Jun-young, whom he was seeing for the first time.

I couldn’t tell whether I should like it or not when I heard such praise from another company’s head of department, something I had never heard before even at my company.

“But is there a special reason why you wanted to see me?”

“Why? I’m just glad to see a new face in our advertising industry. I wanted to get to know you a little better and say hello. And I’d like to hear some of your backstories as well.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t go into more detail about the work I did.”

“Well, I know, I know. I know that Manager Choi is different from those people who talk loosely about their clients’ gossip.”

Park Jun-young wasn’t offended at all. Rather, his liking for Manager Choi’s attitude of trying to refrain from talking grew even more.

“So, how did you end up joining Myeongseong Planning?”

Choi Han-il turned his head towards his senior and said.

“My senior recommended it to me.”

“Oh, really? Hahahaha! Myung-gon’s feet are quite wide. There’s no one in the advertising industry who doesn’t know him. Where’s his hometown? Is it Seoul?”

“No. I grew up in a small mountain village. When I was in middle school, my art teacher insisted that I go to an art school in Seoul, so I had a hard time persuading my parents and came to the city to study starting in high school.”

“It seems like you had a strong will to draw since you were young. It must not have been easy living in a foreign land at such a young age.”

“I never missed a day of delivering newspapers and milk every morning from the time I was in high school until I graduated from college. I also did a lot of other things.”

Chief Park Jun-young nodded his head slowly.

Park Jun-young, who was born and raised in a wealthy family, graduated from college smoothly and quickly rose to the position of headquarters manager, could not immediately understand how difficult it was for Choi Han-il and the hardships he had to endure.

But that is precisely why I am confident that Choi Han-il is a good person who can fill in my shortcomings.

As I was about to drink my coffee, which had already cooled down, Chief Park Jun-young asked.

“So you worked so hard to become an advertiser. How is it? Are you satisfied with your job?”

“When it comes to work, where is there satisfaction and where is there dissatisfaction? If there is work that needs to be done, I just do my best. But these days, I am enjoying my work much more than before.”

“Really? Hehehe, this is a big problem. If Manager Choi is satisfied with his current job, it will be difficult for me to bring him to our top planning position···.”

“yes?”

“Our Manager Choi, you are a waste to be at Myeongseong Planning. I understand better now that we are talking to you face to face like this. Myeongseong Planning is not a place for someone like Manager Choi. The waters are too narrow there.”

“······.”

“As you know, Mr. Choi, in Korea, an advertising agency is not something that can grow just by doing a good job. In the end, how much the parent company grows depends on the fate of the advertising agency. It’s bitter, but that’s the reality.”

Choi Han-il also nodded to those words. Most of the advertising agencies of conglomerates that work on advertising commissions from the parent group had no choice but to go along with the management situation of the parent group.

“Times are changing. The Osung Group, which the CEO is a part of, will expand further into the world as the era of openness approaches. The day when we will be doing overseas advertising ourselves is not far off. That is why I absolutely need someone like Manager Choi Han-il.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Chief. But it was so sudden…”

“Oh, I’m not asking you to answer right now. I’m also impatient and this is a problem. I was planning to just see your face today and get to know you better before I bring it up. But as we talked, I wanted to make you mine even faster and ended up doing something wrong again.”

Park Jun-young laughed out loud to himself.

“I know there are a lot of things to think about. And it’s not easy to move to a different company. But you know, in developed countries like the US or Europe, if an advertiser makes a hit ad, it’s very common for them to raise their salary and move to a bigger company. In Korea, if you leave a company, you’re treated like a traitor.”

In an era where lifetime employment is the norm, the advertising industry is also not free from that perception, as most of it is part of a conglomerate.

“But when a man does something big, he might get cursed at. If he’s afraid of getting cursed at, how can he do his work? Isn’t that right?”

Choi Han-il thought to himself, ‘I’m getting enough hate right now.’

“Mr. Choi, just think about this. What do you want to do in the future? If you come to Top Planning, you can create the best advertisements for companies and products in Korea. In a few years, we will create advertisements that will be displayed in Times Square in New York. People have always played in waters that suit them. Think carefully. Then, let’s meet again soon.”

Park Jun-young handed over his business card and stood up first.

“Think about it carefully. Don’t you realize that this is a really good opportunity?”

The senior tapped Choi An-il on the shoulder and followed the chief.

Choi Han-il waited a little while and then left the hotel and started walking.

The events just now seemed like a dream, but they were definitely not a dream. In his hand was the business card of the Chief Planning Officer.

I knew that the Morning Star and the Return of the Stars were getting a lot of attention in the advertising industry, but I never dreamed that I would receive a job offer from the best planning company.

‘You’re leaving Myeongseong Planning and going to another company? Is that possible?’

Choi Han-il’s head was complicated.

When I quit Myeongseong Planning, I quit. I never thought about going to another advertising company.

But it’s the best plan.

The timing was really strange.

While overseeing the design of the return of the stars, which became a national event, Choi Han-il pushed himself to his limits. He also felt a lot of pressure because it was a groundbreaking event that no one in the company had ever done before.

After successfully completing the work, the chairman even arranged a dinner for all the employees of Myeongseong Planning.

“Thanks to the manager, I get to eat something good.”

But there was a lot of truth in the greetings that people used at company dinners.

When he came out to get some fresh air while grilling meat, Manager Choi overheard people gathered in groups of three or four smoking cigarettes and talking.

“Manager Choi Han-il, aren’t you being too aggressive these days? You’re monopolizing all the important work at the company.”

“What I’m saying is, we work hard to create media advertisements that actually bring in money for the company, but Manager Choi gets all the attention from the chairman.”

“The boss doesn’t do that either. Today, he wrapped Manager Choi in his skirt and walked around. Walked around. He was really doing a ganggangsullae.”

“Ha~, how did Manager Choi seduce the chairman’s son? Didn’t you two even know each other? You have no relationship?”

“I don’t know. Because I kept my mouth shut. But there’s definitely something.”

“They say that the quiet cat is the first one to get on the stool. He’s stiff even with his seniors, and he acts like he doesn’t know anything about standing in line at work. He grabs the thickest line and grabs it himself.”

“We were naive. Fuck, we were all fooled.”

“Hey~, that guy will soon be a deputy manager, a department manager, and then an executive, so how do you see him meddling around?”

“The one who runs up first and farts is the one who ends up talking nonsense.”

“Did you get caught?”

Choi Han-il quietly left the place without making a sound so as not to be noticed by the giggling people.

My chest felt tight and I sighed.

His position in the company has become much stronger than it was a few months ago. Even his superiors can no longer ignore Manager Choi’s words.

But the more this happened, the more the gossip surrounding Choi Han-il at the company grew.

So I tried to avoid relationships with people as much as possible.

Then, the gossip that came back was that he was stiff.

No matter how much Choi Han-il tried not to care, it was no use. In the meantime, the wounds in Choi Han-il’s heart continued to pile up.

Since some time ago, whenever I came to work, I felt heavy-hearted and didn’t want to go to work. After finishing the return of the stars, I took a vacation for over a week with the excuse that I was tired. It was the first time since I joined the company.

Actually, my body was tired, but my mind was even heavier.

It was in that situation that I happened to receive a job offer from the CEO.

What my senior said was definitely right. It was definitely an opportunity to receive a job offer from the best planning company in the advertising industry.

The misunderstandings that had piled up against him in Myeongseong Planning would never be resolved. Rather than continue to hear gossip inside, he felt it would be better to go out and be called a traitor.

But there was just one thing that bothered me.

‘If I go to the top planning department, I won’t be able to do Starbeat work anymore.’

The past few months have been physically tough, but they have been truly fulfilling times for Choi Han-il. Seo Nam-joon was the first client who believed in him and supported him to the end while working.

The gaming industry itself was refreshing, but CEO Seo Nam-joon’s marketing ideas were on a whole other level that he had never seen before.

Although Choi Han-il is older than me, I always felt that I had a lot to learn from Seo Nam-joon.

However, if he goes to the top planning position at Oseong Group, it would be impossible for him to work at Starbeat anymore. There was no way that Seo Nam-joon, the son of Myeongseong Group, would be entrusted with the top planning position.

Throughout the vacation, Choi Han-il’s worries deepened.

But on the day he returned to work after his vacation, Choi Han-il realized that his heart had already tilted to one side.

While he was on vacation, an ad for a computer graphics competition was published in the newspaper. Manager Park told me that it was actually a competition held by Starbeat to find game art talent.

I was thinking that there was no way to do anything normally, when I got a call from CEO Seo Nam-joon.

“Manager Choi, did you have a nice vacation? Then, you have to keep your promise with me, right?”

“A promise? What promise did I make…?”

“You said you’d play baseball with me after you finished your busy schedule. Did you forget about that important promise?”

“Oh, no. I’ll go in the afternoon.”

Choi Han-il quietly wrote his resignation letter at his seat.

I was thinking of submitting it to the boss on my way out, but I was afraid that if I stayed too long I would be late for Starbeat.

“I will go on a business trip and then return to work locally.”

Choi Han-il decided to submit his resignation letter tomorrow and headed to Starbeat.

“Hello, Manager!”

“Are you here?”

As he entered the office through the emergency stairs at the entrance, the programmers gathered near the partition greeted Manager Choi warmly.

It was a sincere greeting that was hard to receive at Myeongseong Planning. The fact that I would not be able to come back here if I moved to another company hit me hard.

“What game is this? I’ve never seen it before.”

“It’s an action game called that is currently being developed for arcades. We’re going to make a 16-bit game with graphics, action, and production that are vastly upgraded beyond imagination. Isn’t it amazing?”

The programmers were excited and talked a lot about the characters, villains, actions, and settings they were creating.

“But the main character is a stylish character who fights in a suit in Gyeongseong in the 30s, but I feel like the outfit is a bit too flashy. I tried changing the suit colors here and there, but there’s nothing that really stands out.”

“Well, then let’s put the coat on. Like this. Like this.”

“Ohhhh, cool. Let’s go draw it right now.”

When Choi Han-il drew a coat on top of a suit on the spot, the programmers shouted in excitement and ran to their computers.

Choi Han-il stared blankly at the sight for a moment.

I was so envious of Starbeat’s unique youthful vibe and creative energy.

This is what advertising companies should be like. Instead of fighting behind the scenes over who gets to the top or who gets the biggest bonus.

“Manager, are you here?”

Choi Han-il entered the conference room where Seo Nam-joon was waiting. All of Starbeat’s conference rooms were equipped with game consoles.

On the table were piles of newspapers and computer magazines advertising computer graphics contests.

“But did you really go on vacation? Why do you look more exhausted than before?”

“I guess you had a lot of fun.”

Han-il Choi started with Nam-joon Seo after making a rough guess. Since Han-il Choi is also quite good at games, he didn’t lose much when he went up against the developer Nam-joon Seo.

“Ah~! Here!”

In the top of the 6th, when Seo Nam-jun, who was leading the team, was caught stealing, he shouted in frustration.

Just looking at his gaming, Seo Nam-joon didn’t seem like someone who would make a splash nationwide with game marketing. In Choi Han-il’s eyes, he was just a fun neighborhood kid.

“Oh, right. Did you hear from Manager Park about the graphic contest?”

“Yes, we’re doing it to recruit art talent. It sounds like a good idea.”

“Yes, but I feel it would be a bit too much for me to judge alone, so could you please join me as a judge?”

“Me? I don’t know much about computer graphics.”

“You know how to look at art, sir. I know a little bit about the technical stuff, but I’m not an art expert. I need someone with a great aesthetic sense like you.”

Seo Nam-joon asked to be a judge while playing a game. The two talked while looking at the screen.

Choi Han-il initially tried to refuse, but then he thought that this might be the last thing he could do at Starbeat.

“I don’t know if I can help, but okay. When I came in earlier, I saw that the game you’re making now looks pretty cool.”

“Oh, did you see? This time, I’m going to try making a game that highlights the characters and action. It’s a genre called belt scrolling…”

Seo Nam-joon continued his explanation without taking his eyes off the game.

Choi Han-il felt strange thinking that he would no longer be able to be with her like this in the future.

If he were to change jobs, he would definitely be leaving Myeongseong Planning. No, it felt like he was leaving Star Beat.

“Oh, right! Like an idiot. Sorry, Manager. I skipped over a word when I asked you a favor.”

“Huh? Skipping what?”

“What I meant was, how about you move to Starbeat? As Starbeat’s art director, I want you to judge the computer graphics competition. What do you think?”

“yes?”

“Please come to our company now. Stop suffering at Myeongseong Planning.”

[ Strike! ]

[ Batter out! ]

The ball thrown by Seo Nam-joon hit the center of the plate as a strike.

Choi Han-il, surprised by the sudden proposal, just stared blankly before being kicked out.

At that moment, he felt the thread that had been tightly binding his heart loosen and loosen.

Choi Han-il didn’t know what he wanted until he heard the proposal just now.

But now I knew for sure.

“I’ve never drawn on a computer before. Are you sure that’s okay?”

“I’ll teach you very hard. In a completely Spartan way. It won’t be easy, but with your skills, you’ll learn quickly.”

“It sounds like fun.”

“It’s just nagging. I guarantee you that making games is much more fun than playing them.”

“It’s just like advertising. It’s a lot more fun to make a great commercial than to watch a great commercial.”

“So, you accepted?”

Choi Han-il nodded with a comfortable smile.

Now it seemed like he had finally found his place.