Chapter 1.

Grand Prize.

She clicked the confirm button, and the words displayed on the monitor made her eyes slowly go wide. The hand resting on the mouse trembled, and her mouth fell open before she even realized it.

She checked the result again, as though she couldn’t believe it, then pressed her hand over her gaping mouth.

Grand prize. A result she had been certain she would never see in her lifetime was right there in front of her.

It was an in-company contest held to commemorate the company’s seventh founding anniversary. Contest was a generous word for it. Really it was an event wearing the costume of one. Anyone could enter by submitting a product name for the first android robot set to be unveiled on the anniversary, along with their employee number.

Beyond the grand prize, excellence award, and merit award that came with cash and gifts, every participant received a coffee gift voucher. Yiseo had been in the middle of preparing to quit, and she had entered with no real expectations. Her thinking was that the best she could hope for was third place, the merit award, and maybe a hundred thousand won.

“But grand prize……”

She had been buying lottery tickets every Monday for three years now, just to get through the week. The plan had always been to quit once she hit the jackpot, but the best she had ever managed was third prize. So she had figured this event would go the same way, if she was lucky.

Five years of carrying her resignation letter close to her heart from the day she joined. It wasn’t the lottery jackpot, but winning first place the moment she handed in her resignation felt like the company itself giving her a shove out the door.

“Oh, Yiseo, you’re at your desk. Did you hear? Jiyeon from Marketing Team 2 won the in-company contest today and is getting a million won. I don’t know what the big deal is, the way she’s been telling absolutely everyone.”

Her supervisor came over grumbling, falling into the familiar rhythm of small talk. Yiseo answered with her professional smile instead of playing along. She had never liked gossip, and the things that had happened recently had taught her there was nothing to gain from agreeing with that kind of talk.

Her supervisor, Park Yunseo, had been a permanent junior staff member for years and liked to say the best way to survive a company was to stay thin and long, yet she was consumed with envy over other people’s good fortune. When drunk, she would complain, “At this point in my career I should at least be a senior, don’t you think, Yiseo?” but she never made any particular effort toward a promotion.

“You’re leaving soon anyway, so I figured you wouldn’t have bothered with the in-company contest. I just dashed something off to get the coffee voucher. Who puts that much effort into something like this. Right?”

“I did enter the contest. Like you said, it seemed like a good opportunity, so I thought I’d give it a shot.”

Park Yunseo’s expression visibly shifted. That was clearly not the answer she had expected.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. I went in with no expectations, but it turned out well. I must have been lucky.”

“Really? Let me see.”

She came around the partition with a skeptical look and checked Yiseo’s monitor. Her expression soured when she spotted the grand prize notice on the screen.

“Oh…… You actually got grand prize. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“You really do work hard, Yiseo. That’s why you burn out. The best way to handle a company is to stay low and last long. In the end, the winner in the working world isn’t the one who does the best job. It’s the one who sticks around.”

“You’re right. I think so too.”

“But can someone who’s quitting still receive the prize?”

“I haven’t officially left yet, so it should be fine. During my meeting with the division head today, we agreed to put things on hold and give me until the end of the month to think it over.”

“Oh…… I see.”

Yiseo gave a hollow reply and turned her gaze back to the event page.

The grand prize came with the considerable sum of ten million won. Even after taxes, it came out to nearly eight million won. On top of that, the gift included a rental voucher for seven sessions with an android modeled after the company’s CEO.

‘The CEO android……’

That robot. The one that supposedly looked exactly like Jeong Taegyeom.

Yiseo closed the prize notification page and let out a shaky breath.

***

Starting a job and leaving one have something in common.

“Yiseo, why are you suddenly leaving?”

“I haven’t been feeling well lately. I’d like to take a break for a while.”

Why did you apply to our company. Why do you want to leave our company.

The meaningless questions they ask.

How many people in the world could answer those questions honestly.

“Good for you. I’ve been counting down the days to my own resignation. Why do you work?”

“For myself.”

“Exactly. You work for yourself. Sure, there’s no such thing as a perfect company or a job you actually enjoy, but that team of yours went way too far. How is it possible that the team lead, the section chief, and your supervisor are all problems, and on top of that they dump everything on you. Why won’t they hire new staff? And then the division head you trusted goes and slots his own nephew into your position? The only reward a hardworking employee has to look forward to is a promotion, and they took that away from you. Looking at your team alone, this company is a complete black company. Not just black. Vantablack.”

“What’s Vantablack?”

“The darkest color in the world. The ultimate black.”

“Spoken like a true designer.”

Yiseo laughed weakly. True to the word black, the dark circles beneath her eyes were deep and heavy.

Lee Heejoo, who had met Yiseo through a job-hunting club and now worked with her in the same company’s design team, let out a sigh.

“Heaven is so unfair. Our Yiseo works so hard. How could they put you in Team 3, the one with nothing but landmines, while Teams 1 and 2 are perfectly fine……”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Can’t you just ask to switch teams?”

“Even if they let me, it’s a problem. Marketing Teams 1, 2, and 3 are all right next to each other. How am I supposed to ask to be moved to the team right next door. Changing companies entirely is better.”

“That’s fair. How did the meeting with the division head go today? You’re good at pitching, so you must have handled it well.”

“What does being good at pitching matter. When he asked why I was quitting, all I could get out was that I wasn’t feeling well and needed to rest.”

Heejoo exhaled deeply.

“When you look at it this way, all office workers are the same. Your reason for joining basically comes down to ‘I need money,’ but you have to write it out in this elaborate essay. And your reason for leaving could fill a full-day PowerPoint presentation, but the only thing you can actually say is ‘I haven’t been feeling well.'”

“It’ll be the same wherever I go, won’t it?”

“You’ve heard what the others say. It’s all the same everywhere. If anything, in terms of benefits and team atmosphere, this place is better than most companies. Except your team, obviously.”

There were countless reasons to quit.

Because my supervisor makes everything exhausting. Because the section chief stole my ideas. Because the team lead picks at me over nothing while making far worse mistakes herself. Because I’m the only one on this team actually doing any work, and the division head who acted like he was going to promote me went and parachuted his nephew into that position instead……

Because I can’t forget the air that morning, the temperature, the humidity, the moment I first heard the news.

It had been a slightly early promotion. But she had worked hard enough to deserve it.

The warm, cheerful atmosphere of the team, which had felt like a promotion might come any day, had settled into a strange quiet one morning for no apparent reason. People began to avoid her, treating her like she was invisible. When she asked if something was wrong, they looked uncomfortable and brushed it off. The moment Park Yunseo, who had been subtly keeping her distance ever since the promotion talk began, came back around and started acting friendly again, Yiseo knew something had gone very wrong.

“Yiseo, did you hear? Apparently a new senior is joining our team.”

Her mind went completely blank, like she had been struck hard on the head.