However, it seemed like it would be appropriate to ask his younger brother, Lee Jung-woo, first.
Even though the design department was newly established, he had recently been tasked with creating game characters.
Since Lee Hyun-woo aimed to reduce workload as much as possible, he stopped by Lee Jung-woo’s apartment on his way home from work.
“Oh? Hyung? No, CEO!”
Lee Jung-woo was surprised to see Lee Hyun-woo’s unexpected visit.
Lee Hyun-woo soon realized the reason.
It was clearly past quitting time, but they were still working with the staff.
‘No wonder he called me hyung and then CEO.’
While thinking this, the employees greeted him one after another.
“Hello, CEO.”
“Hello, CEO?”
“Hello.”
Three employees bowed, and Lee Hyun-woo smiled and accepted their greetings.
Then, Lee Jung-woo quickly made a non-apologetic excuse.
“We rotate working from home. One team works from morning to afternoon, another from afternoon to night, and another from night to early morning. There are a total of twelve people, with two teams in the office, and the home-working teams also rotate.”
“So, there are five teams in total.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Are they working on different tasks? Or are they linked to the same work?”
“Three teams are working on a strategy simulation game, and the other two are working on Go and Omok.”
Lee Jung-woo’s voice was filled with tension.
It seemed like he was trying to show that they were strictly adhering to working hours, but there were many loopholes.
Given how much they were working, it was easy to see how Lee Jung-woo was managing his life.
He pointed out the first loophole.
“So, this place is for working from home, rather than a living space?”
“Yes? Ah, yes… something like that.”
“I’m worried. About you living at your workplace, Jung-woo.”
“……”
Lee Jung-woo had nothing to say, even if he had ten mouths.
“Why don’t you just come home?”
“I can’t… At least, I need to finish the game first.”
“What game? Go? Omok? Or the strategy simulation? Even if you finish those, you’ll probably make Go-Stop or Poker next, right?”
Lee Hyun-woo already knew the sequence of games Lee Jung-woo had designed.
So, Jung-woo quickly tried to appease his brother,
“I’ll finish Go and Omok and then come home!”
He surrendered.
Lee Hyun-woo still had no intention of backing down.
“When will that be?”
“Around… the end of the year. It was supposed to be sooner, but the release was delayed because we had to add characters.”
“Ah, characters?”
At this point, Lee Hyun-woo nodded.
It was something he already knew.
It was Jang Kang-hyun’s idea to integrate characters into Go to significantly increase the number of users.
It didn’t seem like a bad idea.
No, at this moment, another thought came to his mind, and he couldn’t help but smile.
‘These characters used in Go could also be used in Altago.’
Furthermore, he remembered the emoticon characters used in his past life.
If the characters were decent, they could be developed as mascots for 【Jungle】 and become a new source of income.
As far as Lee Hyun-woo knew, the portal sites and messenger companies that flourished in his past life made a lot of money just from these emoticon characters.
Indeed, someone who has lived twice can’t help it.
Once he hears something, he immediately envisions new sources of income.
Of course, Lee Hyun-woo usually releases them one by one at the right time, so he nodded silently, thinking now was not the time, and said to his brother,
“Alright, then finish it by then. Don’t overdo it, and don’t push others too hard, got it?”
“Yes, CEO!”
“Okay, then… get back to work. If you feel too overloaded, report directly to me. You can use the company intranet, blog, email, or messages; I’ll accept any means.”
“Yes… CEO…”
“I… I’ll do that…”
After ensuring everything was in order, Lee Hyun-woo turned to leave.
He had already achieved his goal.
‘Working on characters until the end of the year?’
Then, it seemed like he could push for Altago in 【Make Friends】 afterward.
Even so, he still needed to check what kind of characters they were.
Although he could check them now, he wanted to save it.
Because he wanted to meet Jang Kang-hyun in person and understand what kind of person he was.
‘I should meet him around tomorrow.’
The next day, instead of summoning Jang Kang-hyun to his office, Lee Hyun-woo directly visited the personal office of the design department head.
When he knocked on the door, Jang Kang-hyun, who opened it and saw Lee Hyun-woo, stammered in surprise.
“Oh? C… CEO?”
“I hope I’m not interrupting your work.”
“Ah… that…”
He could just say no, but he couldn’t do that.
It was clear he was working.
“Are you busy?”
“Not much. The Go and Omok characters have been created, but I’m doing the final review.”
“That’s good. Can I take a look at them?”
“Ah, of course. Now that I think about it, it would be good for you to review them as well, CEO.”
The review was essentially to determine whether they would be well-received in the market.
The design team needed an outsider’s perspective.
Although Lee Jung-woo had given the okay, Jang Kang-hyun still felt it wasn’t enough and wanted to get Lee Hyun-woo’s opinion.
“That’s very good.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I mean it. But I wish there were more expressions.”
“Ah, yes…”
There were a total of four characters.
And they were all animals: two dogs that seemed male and two cats that seemed female.
Each had three expressions.
A smiling face, a crying face, and a neutral face.
“Are there any other expressions you want to add?”
“Not just one or two. A drowsy face, drooling, an angry face, a sullen face, and so on. But how about we start with what we have and then add the rest?”
“……”
Jang Kang-hyun was silent for a moment.
After taking a deep breath, he spoke.
“Please be honest with me. If you don’t like it, I’ll start over from scratch.”
Lee Hyun-woo could see and hear his effort to change his character.
“I’m being honest. I’m 100% satisfied. To be 120% satisfied, we need more expressions. But that can be done after the game is released, so let’s proceed with the work and then look at adding more.”
“Ah, okay…”
“It would be better if you take my words at face value. I usually speak my mind without embellishment.”
“Ah… I understand.”
Originally, Jang Kang-hyun would never believe a superior who spoke like Lee Hyun-woo.
He had been through situations where people said things like this but then talked behind his back.
But,
‘This is strange. Why do I want to believe him?’
He found himself believing in Lee Hyun-woo’s honesty.
He even tilted his head in confusion.
On the other hand, after Lee Hyun-woo left, the deputy department head Kim Young-hoon entered the room. He had a knack for office politics.
He wasn’t the type to ponder over which side to take or how to stand out, like Hwang Do-hoon, but rather someone who navigated the company’s dynamics well.
He asked, observing Jang Kang-hyun’s expression,
“Did something happen? I saw the CEO leaving just now.”
“Oh? Ah… no…”
“Did he see the characters?”
“He did.”
“What did he say?”
“He complimented them but gave us some homework. He said the expressions were lacking.”
“Expressions?”
“Yes, we only made three. He said it would be better with more. But he was very specific about the expressions, so I’m wondering if we should start preparing them now or later…”
“Hmm… Should I find out more for you?”
“Find out? How?”
“Through the secretarial office. I was chatting with Team Leader Han Se-jin over vending machine coffee recently. She said the CEO has high expectations for the design team and to feel free to ask her if we have any questions.”
“Ah…”
Both Jang Kang-hyun and Kim Young-hoon were experienced, but they hadn’t been working at 【Jungle】 for long, so they relied on each other.
Especially, Jang Kang-hyun sought in Kim Young-hoon what he lacked himself.
“Then can you find out for me?”
He looked at Kim Young-hoon with a voice that had never asked for such a favor before.
Kim Young-hoon nodded with a smile.
“Yes, I’ll find out.”
Around quitting time, Kim Young-hoon stopped by Jang Kang-hyun’s office again.
Seeing him, Jang Kang-hyun spoke in an eager voice.
“Come in.”
It was as if he was asking if he had found anything.
Reading this, Kim Young-hoon began to recount the previous day’s events in a relaxed tone.
“It seems the CEO is thinking of applying the characters to 【Make Friends】 as well.”
“What? To 【Make Friends】?”
“Yes, he asked two high school girls who had just taken the college entrance exam. He asked if they would use 【Make Friends】 more if it had characters with various expressions. The response was very positive. I think this was his way of doing some market research.”
“Market research?”
“Yes, although the sample size is small, he sometimes gathers opinions from his surroundings before making decisions. They say this is why our company progresses quickly, thanks to the CEO’s decisions.”
“What do you think?”
“About adding characters to 【Make Friends】?”
“Yes, with various expressions.”
“I think it would be great. It would make it more colorful.”
At Kim Young-hoon’s answer, Jang Kang-hyun nodded.
They were both design experts.
Naturally, once they heard something, they could visualize it concretely in their minds.
“Alright, let’s release the characters for Go and Omok, add more expressions, and then integrate them into 【Make Friends】.”
“Oh? Aren’t you going to discuss it with the CEO?”
“Huh? Should I?”
“Of course, you should. Go to the CEO’s office and tell him. I think he would be pleased.”
“Hmm… doing that would feel like I’m just catering to his tastes.”
Although he didn’t say it outright, Jang Kang-hyun felt like he would be sucking up to the company’s CEO.
His strong pride made this compromise the best he could offer.
So, he continued,
“Shouldn’t the company’s employees just show their skills?”
“Yes, yes. Then let’s prepare it and bring it up if the CEO asks later. It might even surprise him and be better.”
Kim Young-hoon’s strength was exactly this.
He offered advice to his superiors and, if they didn’t accept it, he would think of a positive alternative.
Jang Kang-hyun and Kim Young-hoon had formed a pretty good combination in the design department.
Of course, it remained to be seen how much synergy they would produce in the future.
