“…..”
I sat in silence, staring blankly at my laptop.
‘How many sales exactly do I have?’
The quest never specifically said that I needed to make money. The criteria were for me to hit ten thousand sales. Staring at the number of reviews, I felt that I had hit that number or was close to hitting it.
“If that’s the case, then maybe it shouldn’t matter if I’m currently suspended?”
I checked the app on my laptop, but had yet to see the quest completion notification.
That most likely meant that I had yet to hit ten thousand sales.
“Hm, but if that’s the case, I don’t see why they’d think I was botting.”
While ten thousand was a high number to me, it was still considered a small number within the industry. It wasn’t a number large enough to make Dock suspicious about me ‘botting’.
In that case, could the reason be something else?
Like…
“Someone reported my account?”
I groaned when thinking about this far. It made sense when taking into account the fact that there were a lot of trolls online.
If they really did do something like that, then I needed to do something quick.
And so, after a lot of thought, I came up with one conclusion.
“I’ll open an official account on Robes and send a message there. Hopefully, people see it and do something.”
Robes was the social media platform that people used here. It was also where Zoey posted, and where her account was.
I scrolled through her posts to see how she managed her account, but all I saw were photos of her in weird poses and different clothing.
I read the caption of one of them.
[About to enter a gate! Wish me luck~]
The photo above was a selfie of her with a gate in the distance. Not far, I could even see Kyle, his eyes half-closed mid-yawn.
“That’s funny.”
I chuckled at the sight as I tried to pinch the photo to get a better look.
But just as I did…
“Oh, crap.”
I accidentally scrolled down and liked the next photo. Just her in a dress standing by a café, sunglasses lowered, with a caption that read:”
[Am I pretty?]
“…..”
I sat in silence for a short moment before sighing. Well, whatever. She has a lot of followers, so she won’t notice it… I then shifted my attention back towards my own page.
It was very plain, with my name on the page, Seth Thorne.
‘It’s definitely plain.’
There were also no posts. I wasn’t the type to use social media, so this was nothing to be surprised about.
Another thing about the account was that it didn’t really stand out. There were quite a few other accounts with the same name and surname.
As a result, I changed the name to make it more obvious.
─────
[Horror Game Developer – Seth Thorne]
Posts: 0 Followers: 0 Following: 0
─────
“Yes, this looks much better.”
I nodded in satisfaction when I saw the name.
‘This will definitely make it obvious that I’m a game developer.’
I didn’t waste any more time after that. I quickly got to work and wrote a message detailing my situation and how my account had been suspended before posting it.
“There.”
I didn’t stop there.
In order to truly get the news to spread, I sorted through my contacts and sent a message to Jamie.
[I’ve just created an account on Robes. Would you mind sharing this with your followers? I have an important message there]
I didn’t wait long to receive a message from him.
[I got you]
“Nice.”
With that sorted, I felt a lot more relaxed. While I didn’t know if this would help or not, I knew that creating an account was important.
This was so that when my next game came out, news would spread fast.
I closed the page and went online to check for any updates about my game, but just as the browser loaded, there was a knock at the door.
To Tok—
“Huh?”
I looked at the door in confusion.
Who could it be? It couldn’t be Kyle since he told me he was busy. Then…?
“May I come in?”
An unfamiliar female voice echoed from the other side of the door. I was stunned, but I still replied.
“…Yes.”
“Okay.”
The door opened, and moments later, a woman stepped inside. She dressed in a sharp suit, her hair pulled back into a tight bun, and angular glasses framing her sharp eyes.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
She was the first one to greet me as I stood up and extended my hand in her direction.
For some reason, I felt nervous while looking at her.
“Yes.”
“…I’ll get straight to the point then.”
The woman dropped a file on my desk.
“We would like to offer you a position within the Guild.”
“Eh?”
A sudden job offer? Why? Could it be because of the Section Chief?
If so…
“I’m sorry but—”
“We took your rejection into account. That’s why we’re not offering you an official position.”
“You’re not?”
I was surprised to hear this. But I was also confused. If they weren’t going to offer me an official position, what exactly were they planning on offering me?
“Have a look.”
The lady pointed at the file on the desk, and that was when I finally took a good look at it, opening it and reading the contents.
It took me about ten minutes to read the entire time, and once I was done, I found myself unable to say a single word.
What could I even say…?
“What do you think? If there’s anything that you’re dissatisfied with, we can make adjustments.”
“It’s good…”
The terms were really good. A base salary of 2,500$ for a job as a Trauma Consultant. But despite the job title, I didn’t really have to do anything. It was just a random name thrown in for the job.
‘So, essentially, I get paid for doing nothing?’
This made no sense.
Was this Kyle’s doing?
As if sensing my suspicion, the lady adjusted her glasses.
“Kyle is one of our star performers within the Guild. We do not wish for him to be poached by other Guilds. This is one of the reasons why we’re offering you these terms.”
“Ah…”
So it was because of Kyle.
This made a lot more sense.
But still, surely this wasn’t all, right?
“There’s another reason.”
There it is.
“A gate recently opened in the museum that you previously streamed in. Because of your direct involvement with the situation, you can be considered to have contributed to the finding of the gate. We need you to be our employee to ensure us a spot.”
“So that’s the case…”
I felt a lot more relaxed knowing the real reason behind the sudden job offer. If it had just been because of Kyle, I would’ve still felt a little suspicious.
But this…?
It made a lot of sense.
“Does that satisfy your curiosity?”
“Yes, it does.”
I looked at the file in front of me and nodded.
I was just about to sign it when I stopped. Looking at the lady, a thought crossed my mind, and I hesitated. But as if sensing my hesitation, the lady spoke,
“Is there anything?”
“…Actually, yes.”
“Please let me know.”
I scratched the side of my face, a little embarrassed.
“Is it possible to give me a down payment of 10,000$. You can deduct it from my salary. I just need the money fast.”
With the threat of the conductor looming, as well as the cult, I needed as much money as possible. For that reason, I felt the need to ask for ten thousand directly. This would convert to 1,000 SP, which would help me gain access to more items.
“Ten thousand?”
Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be a difficult request.
“…That can be done. Is there anything else?”
“Hm, n—”
I stopped mid-sentence, laughing awkwardly as I looked at her.
“Actually, there is something else.”
“Yes?”
I hesitated before looking at my phone, and then at her.
Surely they can, right?
“…Is it possible for you guys to reinstate a game?”
