Hearing the notification sound, I checked my phone. It was a text from the company.
The message said they had deposited my severance pay, so I should check and contact them if there were any issues.
*Has it already been two weeks since I left the company?*
Time really flew by.
If things had gone according to my original plan, I would still be taking it easy, but because Yang Bibi, who suddenly jumped out of my phone screen, gave me a completely unexpected quest, I had been working frantically without a moment's rest.
*Well, thanks to that, I'm developing a new title at an absurd speed, so maybe I should call it a blessing in disguise.*
I glanced sideways at Saori sitting in front of the computer saying she wanted to try again, and opened my banking app.
After scanning my fingerprint and checking my account, I saw 20 million won deposited from the company name at the very top of the screen.
And right below that, another amount—30 million won that CEO Lee Hyeoncheol had deposited from his own pocket.
*He deposited it properly. CEO Lee Hyeoncheol.*
On the day I left the company,
inside a thoroughly soundproofed meeting room, I made a proposal to CEO Lee Hyeoncheol, who was putting on a frightened expression.
In exchange for not releasing a recording file that would obviously tank his reputation the moment it went public, I would receive money as mental damage compensation.
Whether he accepted this proposal or not, it wouldn't be a big loss for me either way.
If he refused, I was planning to report the recording containing his dirty laundry to a broadcasting station, and if he accepted, it would basically be a double-severance-pay event, so from my standpoint, it was guaranteed financial relief.
*Besides, even if I sued him waving around fake evidence, there's no guarantee I would definitely win.*
Rather than dragging it out into a pointless, tedious lawsuit, I decided it was better to wrap things up cleanly.
Faced with the two choices thrust before him, CEO Lee Hyeoncheol chose the latter with less risk, and as compensation, I received this 30 million won in mental damage compensation.
*So with this, I now have 100 million won in my account.*
100 million won.
It was a lot if you considered it a lot, and little if you considered it little.
You couldn't buy a single house in Seoul with it, but if you went to the provinces, it was enough to buy a decent apartment.
But I planned to save this money as much as possible.
Until I started generating proper revenue from selling games on platforms like Steam, I had to live off this money for the time being.
*First, I should pay off the jeonse loan completely.*
If I just resolved the housing deposit loan, which took up the largest portion of my monthly fixed expenses, all that remained were utilities, living expenses, and phone bills.
Then I should be able to last a year easily.
As I was reorganizing my plans for the future like that, Yang Bibi spoke.
"Commander."
"Hmm?"
"I'm hungry."
Yang Bibi looked up at me with eyes like a wet cat as she said that.
Now that she mentioned it, it had definitely gotten to be mealtime.
I had woken up at 10 and done nothing but play games for two hours straight.
…But for this girl to make such an expression meant she wanted something, didn't it?
"Ah, should I prepare lunch?"
Saori, who had been completely absorbed in her game, asked that, but I told her it was fine and to stay seated.
"Let's just order delivery for lunch today."
Even though it was money that had merely passed through my account, a huge sum of 50 million won had come into my hands.
I planned to tighten my belt, but surely I could splurge for just one day.
"Is there anything you want to eat?"
At that, Yang Bibi raised her right hand high and said,
"Pizza!"
"Pizza?"
"They're running a 10,000-won discount event right now, so we can eat cheaper than usual."
As she said that, Yang Bibi showed me an advertisement for a famous pizza place on a delivery app.
Did this girl install Android OS on her personal terminal?
I was momentarily taken aback seeing such a familiar app.
Anyway, pizza wasn't a food I disliked either, so I adopted her proposal for lunch.
***
I ordered through the delivery app, and about 30 minutes later, the pizza arrived.
Since I was ordering anyway, I wanted us to eat our fill, so I got one pepperoni and one combination.
"Pizza~ Pizza~"
Seeing Yang Bibi holding the stacked pizza boxes and rejoicing like a child, the words *You lied about your age, didn't you?* rose to the tip of my tongue.
"Saori, um."
Seeing Saori's profile as she was hyper-focused on the game—a late-blooming obsession, as they say—I felt bad interrupting her, so I decided the two of us would eat first for now.
It's not like the pizza would run away somewhere; she'd eat on her own once she finished.
"Now then, shall we dig in?"
Perhaps because it had been delivered immediately after being made, steam rose from the two boxes as I rubbed my hands together and opened the lids.
When I lifted a slice by hand, it felt quite heavy thanks to the generous toppings piled on top.
I placed the pizza, with its cheese stretching long and stringy, onto my plate and sprinkled hot sauce to my taste before taking a big bite.
*Munch, munch.*
Delicious.
The salty pepperoni, tangy hot sauce, and savory cheese met to create an exquisite harmony in my mouth.
Because I had added extra pepperoni topping, the slice I was eating was practically half pepperoni, half cheese.
Having eaten frantically, I had nearly finished the slice in one go, with only the crust left at the end.
*People who hate this just wouldn't understand.*
Dipping it generously in the garlic dipping sauce that came with the order was truly nirvana.
After clearing a slice like that, when I looked to continue with a second slice, Yang Bibi was holding a piece of pizza almost as big as her face and nibbling away.
*Cute.*
If she would just keep her mouth shut, she was just an ordinarily cute beautiful girl.
The problem was that she knew this too, and cunningly took advantage of it.
Anyway, as we were eating pizza in a peaceful atmosphere, Saori belatedly joined us at the table, perhaps having finally finished her game.
"You cleared it?"
When I asked that, Saori nodded with a tone steeped in strange pride.
"Of course."
Seeing her now, it seemed Saori had the makings of a gamer.
Her strong competitive spirit was the proof.
*I showed her someone clearing right in front of her what she couldn't clear herself, so she must have been triggered.*
Then, Yang Bibi, who had been eating pizza diligently, brought up an unexpected topic.
"More importantly, Commander."
"Hmm?"
"Are you planning to sell that game to people?"
"Isn't that obvious? I have to eat too."
"No, I don't mean to criticize or anything, but if you're going to do that, I was thinking you could polish up that prototype a bit and make a demo version."
"Oh… that's a good idea?"
Now that I heard it, it really was.
It seemed like it would take more time until the game was complete, but there was no reason not to use what we had already made.
Moreover, the length was just right.
"Still, we should probably lower the Rune Golem's difficulty in the demo version, right?"
Honestly, it's a bit weird for me to say this since I was the one who made it, but the Rune Golem was brutally difficult, even by my standards.
It was at a level where unless you built your deck from floor one assuming you would fight the Rune Golem, you absolutely couldn't beat it.
A demo version's role is to promote to the public—*This is our game, this is what it's like~*—so I didn't think there was a need to set the difficulty too high.
But contrary to my thoughts,
"No, leave it as is."
"What? Why?"
At that, Yang Bibi answered while chewing pizza with an indifferent face.
"That boss subtly stimulates your desire to challenge it. Honestly, I only survived because I got lucky and hit a full stack; if I hadn't drawn the same card at the end, it would have been game over right there."
And there are plenty of freaks on internet communities who actually love it when games are hard.
"Hmm…."
Since this was the opinion of Yang Bibi, who had perhaps played more games than anyone else on Earth, it didn't seem like a bad idea to listen.
"Alright. Let's do it that way."
"Good thinking."
Saying that, Yang Bibi chewed the pizza in her mouth.
Perhaps envious of Yang Bibi and me chatting like that, Saori, who had been eating quietly, asked,
"Teacher, is there perhaps anything I can help with?"
"You, Saori?"
"Yes."
It seemed like I was already receiving plenty of help from her, but it didn't seem like Saori was saying this because she was unaware of that.
She was probably still a complete outsider when it came to games, and hated being left speechless like a mute with honey in her mouth whenever Yang Bibi and I talked.
Then a good idea came to mind.
"Then how about you become a game tester?"
"Game tester?"
"Yeah. Usually when making a game, you need someone to play it, check if there are any bugs, and give their impressions. Normally you'd have to pay to hire someone, so it would be perfect if you did it."
"I'll do it!"
Saori grabbed my hands with both of hers, overjoyed.
Seeing us like that, Yang Bibi shook her head.
"To think you'd volunteer to be a game tester. Why would you walk the Asura's path?"
"If you're not the one doing it, could you please be quiet?"
At my retort, Yang Bibi answered like that and bit into a new slice of pizza.