Conquest Complete, So Why Is the Affection Dropping? - Chapter 33
“Are you crazy? Hey, report them to the Labor Board!”
Before I could finish my story, my friend banged on the table angrily. While I appreciate the outrage on my behalf, I wish they’d leave the innocent table alone.
“If it were that easy, I would have done it already……”
“Don’t you have any evidence? With a recording or something, we could at least file for wrongful termination.”
“We’re not allowed to use phones in the office due to security reasons.”
“Ah. They’re thorough about that.”
“It’s not that there wasn’t a way, but I was too lazy to bother…… and this is how it turned out.”
That’s right. Being new to corporate life, I didn’t know I needed to keep evidence of all work-related matters through emails or recorded calls.
More precisely, I remember seniors warning me about it, but I carelessly dismissed it, thinking nothing would happen to me.
This is the result.
In a world where you can’t even express your grievances without digital evidence. Something like the Blade of Judgment that proved Hexion’s innocence only exists in game settings.
“I’m just going to take this chance to rest and sort out my thoughts.”
“Yeah, good idea. Joo-ah, you’ve been so busy and stressed with work. Just take a good rest.”
“Well, I might end up resting forever if I’m not careful…… I’ll rest for about a month and then start looking for work again.”
“What kind of work are you thinking of?”
“Not sure.”
Quality jobs are becoming scarcer, and with companies wanting new hires with experience, it’s getting harder to find employment, and even harder to keep it once you do.
Sometimes you hear old-timers telling young people to pursue their passions and dreams, or to increase their value through continuous self-development… but if it were that easy, nothing in this world would be difficult.
“Have you thought about going into the gaming industry? You used to love making games.”
“Come on, that was ages ago.”
“During school, I got together with friends who loved games and made an indie game. But after making one, I realized this wasn’t my path.
First, it’s difficult just to complete a game, even harder to survive after release, and making it a steady source of income is even more challenging.
Especially in the female-oriented game sector where the market is small. There aren’t any major game companies, most are small-scale operations making it hard to get investment, and with no long-running titles, if the sequel gets a lukewarm response, companies often disappear.
“Games are better as a hobby. It doesn’t seem stable enough as a career.”
Come to think of it, the security company wasn’t any more stable. I got fired before even completing a year.
“Still, people should live doing what they love.”
“I’ll keep gaming as a hobby. Oh, actually, that new title I was waiting for came out yesterday, so I bought it.”
“I know which one. That harem something, right?”
Perhaps because the previous work left such an infamous legacy before being trashed into oblivion, my friend distanced themselves from the title despite having played it enthusiastically with me in the past.
“Soo-young’s the only one among us pursuing their dreams.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you know? That harem game company. Soo-young got hired there as a planner.”
Won Soo-young. A friend who made games with me in high school. Being naturally humanities-oriented, I wrote scenarios, while that science-minded friend handled engine development.
Without someone to handle graphics, we ended up releasing a text game, which failed spectacularly due to lack of attention.
If we had gone full R-rated, there would have been decent demand for text games since the lack of graphics lets people use their imagination, but we were minors then and couldn’t make adult games.
“No wonder it had such niche appeal, it was their planning.”
“Why? Is the sequel bad too?”
“Haven’t tried it yet. But I heard they toned down the mature content this time.”
I experienced it in a dream, but I can’t compare whether it was just a random dream or premonition since I haven’t actually played it yet.
My friend searched for the game title on their phone and shook their head.
“This is bad. It’s already getting hate.”
“But it’s only been out for a day?”
“There’s a save data bug apparently. They announced they’ll patch it online, but the response isn’t looking good.”
On the phone screen, my friend showed me, there was a stream of typical comments like ‘This is why you shouldn’t buy female-oriented games.’
“Wow……”
Though they’re stubborn with niche tastes and lack business sense, the team behind “Not Just Anyone Can Build a Harem” isn’t lacking in passion for games.
They probably rushed to meet the release date or hastily switched to an all-ages rating without proper review, rather than intentionally releasing a mess thinking female users are pushovers…
Still, as consumers were expressing legitimate complaints, I didn’t bother defending them.
Commercial games need to be well-made to break even. Only free indie games get that kind of leniency from users.
“This will be hard to recover from.”
“Won’t they go bankrupt?”
Given that the previous work was banned from sale, and now the sequel’s caught in controversy on day one, recovering production costs seemed unlikely.
Games don’t get made in just a month or two, and investors aren’t saints. For a small company, closing down wouldn’t be surprising.
“Female-oriented games really should stay just a hobby.”
As I shook my head, my friend put down their phone and sighed with slumped shoulders.
“Well, they say every industry is struggling these days. I don’t know why living has become so hard.”
“Are you having a tough time too?”
“Of course. Nothing in this world is easy.”
“That’s true.”
When we were young, we believed adults who said if we studied hard and got into a good university, life would go smoothly. But that wasn’t true. We shouldn’t have just studied hard – we should have gone into sciences.
“Ah, I wish the world would just end……”
Just when I thought more complaining was coming, my friend suddenly started wishing for the world’s end. The office worker version would be like ‘I hope a meteor hits the company so I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.’
Of course, since I’d been fired, I didn’t need to worry about going to work, meteor or not. Not exactly comforting.
“Don’t you ever think about it, Joo-ah?”
“Think about what?”
“That this world might be fake.”
“……”
“Whether the world ends and starts over, or there’s actually a real world somewhere else. Unless we cross over to a completely different world, my life won’t suddenly get better.”
“Well. I do think about it sometimes.”
I nodded. So that’s why regression, possession, and reincarnation stories never go out of style. I get it now.
“I just want to drop into some world full of handsome men like a romance fantasy novel protagonist and start my life over……”
Possession comes in different forms. If it’s like my dream where affection drops even after conquering targets, and I hear words of dislike from men I’ve slept with, it’s not necessarily better just because it’s another world.
But I had no intention of dampening the mood by saying that out loud, so I just nodded quietly.
My friend probably wasn’t seriously hoping for romance fantasy possession either, as our conversation soon moved to other topics.
***
“Take care, Joo-ah.”
“Let’s go somewhere nicer to eat next time.”
“Sure. I’ll call you!”
It felt like we hadn’t talked much, but the sky was already red. Usually when leaving work, I’d see the night sky, but seeing the sunset made it really sink in that I’d actually quit my job.
‘When I get home, I’ll do laundry… maybe catch up on dramas I’ve missed.’
The uncertain future felt distant while comfortable reality felt close. I guess this is why people escape into fantasy.
‘I should focus on resting for now.’
After getting home, I cleaned my messy room and started the laundry. After taking out the food waste, I checked my mailbox and found quite a pile of mail that had accumulated from neglect. It’s troublesome having to erase addresses for recycling. Can’t just throw them away carelessly because of personal information.
“Huh?”
Since I’d clicked the pre-release link and paid directly by text, I hadn’t noticed, but there was mail from the game company.
Come to think of it, they did say they’d send a guidebook if you provided personal information during pre-order.
Roughly opening the envelope with my finger, I saw the glossy coated cover. I sat on the bed and opened the guidebook. The scenery and characters I’d seen in my dream were drawn as game graphics on the coated paper.
“Knight Hexion, Naval Admiral Kaint, Underworld Boss Marvis… Oh? There’s one more romance option?”
A pretty face with long jet-black hair and blue eyes.
The fourth romance option, seemingly designed to appeal to users who like delicate pretty boys, was named Cedric. A mage.
“A mage……”
In a romance fantasy reverse harem, it made sense to have at least one tower master.
“But this is strange. Why does his face look familiar?”
