The recruitment of Kayak’s supporters was a breeze. Right at their first meeting, they stamped the contract and got a firm commitment.
Of course, there was a need to tweak some details of the contract. Kayak’s demands were completely unexpected, even for the director, Honggyun.
“Who would’ve thought they’d ask for a skin?”
I figured they’d at least want money, or maybe even a share of the company, but just wanting a skin? It’s so ridiculous it’s almost charming.
As I wore a puzzled expression, Kayak continued explaining.
“Camilla is a foundational hero who’s been with the Abyss since the very beginning.”
“Right…?”
“But she only has three skins, including the basic one!”
Camilla was a hero that had existed since the launch of Abyss. If compared to other heroes, she was practically an elder, way above even the newer hero, Stella, who wouldn’t even dare to meet her gaze.
However, unlike her fellow foundational heroes released alongside her, Camilla only had two skins to her name.
One was a low-quality skin that came out when she was first released. It had no changes to skill effects or motions, just a slight cosmetic alteration; calling it a skin in comparison to the newer ones was almost an embarrassment.
The other one was the Snowflake Queen Camilla, which boasted the highest price in Abyss’s history, announced by Honggyun at a conference. No need to elaborate—it was perfect. The design, skill effects, and motions were beyond description.
This skin was even recognized by Kayak, who could be as critical as a cold-blooded film critic when it came to Camilla.
“Two! Just two. The same early heroes, Lennok has eight and Theodora has seven, yet Camilla has only two… and one of them is barely different from the basic skin, while the other is a recent release.”
“Ahem…”
That was a valid point. The reasons like Camilla’s unique design making it hard to produce skins, or her being a bug-prone hero, were merely excuses. Even he felt that having just two skins was too little.
Of course, it wasn’t Honggyun’s job to release skins for the heroes. However, as the overall director, he could apply meaningful pressure to get them produced.
Honggyun readily accepted Kayak’s proposal.
Creating skins is notoriously difficult, and I heard that the art and design teams struggled a lot to make the Snowflake Queen Camilla… but that wasn’t something Honggyun needed to worry about.
*
A few days later, I was at the Eonix headquarters, officially finishing the supporter contract. Today was the very first day of my supporter activities.
It wasn’t my first time coming to Eonix’s headquarters. It’s a long story, but I once held a placard and protested in front of the headquarters due to some mishaps. It was an embarrassing and eventful past.
The Eonix headquarters hadn’t changed much since I returned. Maybe they made a lot of money because the building was slightly taller. Looks like they expanded.
From the way here to the buildings around me, everything felt familiar, yet there were also some unfamiliar sights.
“This is the marketing team, and upstairs are the development and art teams.”
It was my first time entering the building’s interior, especially a part that could be called the depths of the company, so I looked around with curious eyes.
Honggyun, who was in charge of the guide, seemed to notice my interest and continued to enthusiastically explain without needing to be prompted.
Still, it felt a bit excessive to introduce me to the break room.
“Well, you should know what’s here. After all, you’re basically an employee of our company, Kayak.”
“Employee?”
“It’s temporary, but yes. We’ve put you on our team for now. Oh, and take this.”
Honggyun pulled something from his pocket and handed it to me.
It was a necklace-style lanyard, with a small rectangular card hanging from the end.
The card had the words ‘Abyss Official Supporter 4th Term Kayak’ written on it.
“When you need to enter anywhere, just scan that. You can show it to the guards too. Your access level is set to that of a regular employee. You can use the cafeteria at half price, and there’s a gym and a screen baseball room in the basement that you can freely use-.”
“Wait, wait a minute.”
I couldn’t keep up with the flow of Honggyun’s words and interrupted him.
“Why does a mere supporter get all these benefits?”
“Well, these are the benefits our employees enjoy on a daily basis, you know?”
So this is what it’s like in a big company. They say to serve in a noble household, and the welfare benefits seemed anything but ordinary.
The welfare benefits seemed quite unusual.
“But I’m not a formal employee, right? If you give me the same benefits, won’t the other employees get upset?”
“Upset, you say?”
Honggyun replied in a tone that suggested he found it amusing.
“I get what you mean, but Kayak has always had a good image in our company… especially lately.”
Especially lately, huh? What does that mean?
“Thanks to Kayak, the stock price has gone up a lot.”
“Because of me? The stock price is up because of me?”
What on earth is he talking about? Is he referring to Eonix’s stock price? When I looked confused, he picked up his phone and showed me something.
“Huh? You didn’t know? There’s even an article about it.”
– [Notable Stocks] EonixTV sees a 7% rise due to the ‘Kayak’ effect following a large-scale patch.
“Huh.”
The ‘Kayak effect’? They wrote an article about it without the person involved even knowing.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity. What’s more maddening is that they’re saying the stock price went up because of me, yet I haven’t seen any benefits from it.
“You didn’t know? Many employees buy company stocks regularly when they get paid. I’ve been doing it for a while too…”
“But what does my existence have to do with the stock price? Most of the comments here are from people who don’t even know me.”
“Well, I’m not exactly a stock expert either. But if it’s good news, isn’t that a good thing?”
I once read an article online related to stocks.
When a typhoon named Noru approaches, borrow money and buy Noru Paint stocks.
I have no idea how that’s related, but since Noru is coming, Noru Paint stocks soared. I suppose this situation isn’t much different.
Though this article labeled it as the ‘Kayak effect’ due to the hiring of the streamer Kayak, the actual odds of that being true seemed slim.
It was probably just that they hired some supporters to match the large-scale patch and worked hard, leading to an uptick in stock prices. The ‘Kayak effect’? More like a bubble, I thought.
However, it seemed that there were people benefiting from that bubble.
Actually, maybe even more than I expected. As Honggyun said, my popularity within Eonix didn’t seem too bad.
“It’s Kayak!”
“Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak!”
“Could I get just one autograph…?”
I hadn’t actually held a fan meeting, but it felt like something I’d experienced a lot recently. I mean, if I were to actually have a fan meeting, it would probably feel this way.
I’ve never done it before, but it feels like this is what it would be like if I actually held a fan meeting.
Still, compared to the viewers I’ve met at G-Star or on the street, I understand a bit more about why these folks idolize me.
I mean, when your wallet’s fat, your heart gets light, right? They’re cheering for me because they think my rise in stock was due to me.
“Anyway, no one would look at Kayak and say, ‘Who’s that person wandering around without being an employee?’ In fact, if you use the internal facilities, people would like it even more!”
“Yeah, well…”
“Our cafeteria is great, so make sure you eat every time you come here.”
While sharing such trivial chatter and exploring inside a bit more,
we moved on to today’s main venue. The place where I would seriously work as a supporter.
It was a studio. Much like the user briefing last time, and when we needed to put out an emergency patch; this was the place we used to soothe user sentiment during broadcasts.
“It’s bigger than I expected.”
The studio was massive. Comparing it to the broadcasting station I visited when I had my public network debut, it didn’t seem too shabby. Of course, since this place wasn’t aimed at ratings, it didn’t have that professional vibe as much.
I had already heard all about the activities I would be doing while signing the contract.
Here, I was supposed to broadcast with the general director, Honggyun. The topic of the broadcast was the large-scale patch that just happened.
As a supporter and a representative of the users, all I had to do was play the game and share my honest opinions on what I liked and what I didn’t.
It wasn’t a difficult task. Honestly, you could say it’s a no-brainer.
There wasn’t much to struggle with; I just had to play games and broadcast. It felt natural since it was what I did from the start.
Playing some games, reviewing the patch, getting the Camilla skin, and getting paid? You could definitely call that a sweet deal. I’m just lucky like that.
However, this thought of mine was shattered by the employee who was guiding me.
“I’ll change clothes first and then come out before makeup.”
“…Huh?”
Makeup? Change clothes?
That’s when I realized I hadn’t read the contract thoroughly to the last page, and I had totally been fooled by the general director, Honggyun.
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