'What if I just started shooting?' This thought crossed his mind every day at around three in the afternoon.
"You can't even do this properly! Hm? Haaa…" The bald department head, with a big stomach, complained and spat in front of him.
"Hey! Are you listening? Are these conference materials real?" The department head's stomach hid his lower region.
'I could probably hit it from 500 meters away.' Aiden considered how far he could accurately shoot.
"Hey!" Documents flew towards him as the department head shouted.
Swish. Aiden tilted his head, and the papers landed in the waste bin.
"You punk! Are you thinking of something else while I'm speaking to you?" Only then did Aiden snap out of it and bowed.
"I apologize." He politely gathered his hands, his right noticeably shaking.
The department head looked at it. "Haaa… Where did they find such a slacker? Incompetent hands and incompetent brains…" Aiden's shaking momentarily stopped at the word "slacker," but the department head didn't notice.
"Hurry up and leave, punk!" The department head turned away, waving Aiden away.
"Got it, sir." Aiden lazily nodded and stepped outside the department head's office.
"Whew, I endured it well today too." His expression brightened after leaving. He kept his composure like every skilled archer, for the sake of his mental health.
"Hey, you got roasted again?" A colleague asked.
"Well, duh."
"Haa… How unfortunate, you have to suffer through something you weren't even destined for."
"Eh, I have no choice. I live like a slave since I'm a nepo hire." Nepo hire—this nickname always followed Aiden.
He left the archery world without fulfilling his genius potential due to injury. His coach pitied him and got him a job in this company through a friend. Thus, he got in through nepotism.
"Good for you. Looking at yourself objectively." His colleague surprisingly laughed when Aiden admitted to being a nepo hire.
"I should know my place," Aiden nonchalantly replied while massaging his right arm.
'Know the enemy and know yourself… Reminds me of old times.' Aiden reminisced about his athlete days at the words, 'Know your place.' He never understood those words when everyone treated him as the next great archer. Now, they struck his heart as he faced criticism every day.
"I'm leaving first. I have to work overtime if I don't reorganize this report." He stopped daydreaming, collected himself, and quickly returned to his seat.
Aiden stopped by the convenience store after work to purchase four cans of beer and headed home.
"Haaa… I barely avoided overtime," he thought as he looked at the clock striking 9 P.M.
He rushed to the computer and turned on a sports video. 'I suddenly remembered it today.'
Click. Aiden popped open a beer and played the video. Occasionally returning to this video when feeling down, he hadn't watched it recently. The video captured the moment he became the youngest winner at nationals.
An athlete In white clothes took a deep breath, pulling the bowstring, eyes sharply focused. All the days of training led to this moment. Soon, he released the arrow.
Swish. Tak! Bull's eye.
— Wooohoooo! Another bull's eye! Th-The camera lens just cracked! The y-youngest winner…
— It's the birth of an astounding genius! You are all witnessing history…
The camera zoomed in on the young Aiden's face as commentators buzzed with excitement.
"Dang, so good-looking." Gulp. He vainly praised himself and downed the beer.
Interviews, the award ceremony, and celebrations passed. The video ended, and his face faintly reflected in the black screen.
"I got old…" Actually, only 28, with many more years to go. However, he used to brim with youth like in that video.
"I'll just watch a game stream." As usual, he turned on a game broadcast. Not because he liked it but never having played games before.
He only focused on archery since a young age, lacking time to play like his peers. Sports cost a fortune, and he needed scholarships to cover the costs. As a result, he became the youngest winner at nationals. He thought his future would be bright and full of promise.
'But it wasn't.' Gulp. He chugged more beer, swallowing painful memories.
Aiden focused on the stream again, showing a popular virtual reality game called Full Dive.
— Hey! Move! Why doesn't this thing hit accurately?
— Critical! Critical! Got it!
Full Dive allowed total immersion in the game, considered the greatest virtual reality game.
They also called it the capsule game, requiring an expensive capsule machine to play. Just one with basic features cost a ton. Nine-to-fivers like Aiden couldn't afford such luxuries.
He felt satisfied just watching this amazing game while drinking beer.
[Grit Grit has sponsored 50,000 won.]
— Aim-y! Where's Aim-y?
One viewer donated money, lamenting the streamer's aim. The sponsoring program read the message in a silly voice.
— Aimy-yyyy! Aim-yyy! Where are youuu?
Similar donations continually came in.
[Jinsung's Gummies has sponsored 4,000 won.]
[5 minutes later…]
— Today we're going to be playing…
A sponsored message announced the streamer would restart the game as if nothing happened.
[Aim-y has sponsored 30,000 won.]
— Hey! I'm shooting, but why isn't it going forward? What's wrong with this capsule?
The gamer blamed the perfectly fine capsule for his reaction speed. Meanwhile, hefty sponsorships continued pouring in.
Messages that read, [LOLOLOLOL], bombarded the chat window.
"Gosh… It's also a talent to suck. Is it that hard to hit? It looks easy." Aiden suddenly found the way he lived in the past quite pathetic. He threw everything aside to become skilled at one thing.
"Whatever, I'm going to sleep." He turned off the lights, and the curtains blocked out the city.
Time passed, and work arrived again before he knew it. He woke up by habit from his days as an athlete.
Aiden had been summoned to the department head's office the next day when he arrived at work.
'What's going on? The atmosphere seems weird.'
Being called to the office felt normal, but his colleagues looked at him strangely. He possessed keen eyesight and could read their faint expressions from a distance.
'This is weird.'
He concluded that everyone acted a bit strange today and found out why when he entered the office.
Tak. A resignation letter appeared in front of him.
"They say there's going to be restructuring," the department head said without looking at him. "You can leave with something right now if you go quietly, but you won't get much if you're laid off due to the restructuring."
He seemed so Impassive that Aiden wondered if the department head spoke to him.
"You're the only one on our team. You know that, right? Everyone else works hard."
Now, Aiden's colleagues were hanging his job over his head.
'So this is why he exaggerated his criticisms yesterday.'
Aiden's report from yesterday wasn't too bad. He could tell that much, but the department head criticized the smallest details.
As a section chief, he could only apologize when the department head scolded him. The rules always went like that. Now he needed to quit following the same rules.
"Understood, sir."
The department head finally glanced at him after Aiden agreed easier than expected.
"Really?"
"You're saying you can only give me severance pay if I leave now, correct? I'm sure you'll add a bit more."
"You're quick to calculate."
"I recorded this conversation, so please keep that promise."
Obviously, Aiden lied. Nevertheless, the department head nodded. Many people recorded things these days, especially when they had to visit a department head's office.
"Sure, fine. It's not a promise, but something the company guarantees. Don't worry."
"Do I leave today?"
"Will you work if I say so?"
"I'll pack my things."
"Ha."
Aiden turned around with an expressionless face. He heard the department head's voice from behind.
"Hey, don't be too upset. You're a nepo hire anyways, right? Everyone here went through college, earned qualifications, and spent money they didn't have to study abroad. We don't have a choice either."
Of course, Aiden knew that. The reason why the department head reproached him every day and why he never made a friend here. The few friends he had left would soon be nonexistent. All because he only graduated from high school and used to be an athlete.
"I know."
He slowly returned to his desk and organized his belongings into a box. He worked at this company for four years, but his belongings didn't even fill the smallest box from the post office.
***
"What should I do?"
Aiden returned home. He left like it didn't affect him, but now he felt like going mad.
Already 28 years old, high school graduate, jobless, former athlete, specialty: archery… He wouldn't be able to find another 9-5 job in South Korea with these insignificant qualifications.
He couldn't reach out to the coach he already owed.
"Sh-Should I buy some ramyeon in advance? Maybe some water too…"
He thought of things to buy like a war would soon occur.
"Haa, haa…"
Aiden shook himself and took a deep breath. He found it difficult to stand, so he sat and eventually lay in bed.
"Haaa…"
He blankly stared at the ceiling. The round LED fixture looked like the target he always aimed at.
Aiden raised his hands and aimed for the center. His breathing grew steady as if he held a bow, and his arms moved into a perfect textbook position.
Tremble, tremble… However, his right hand began to shake and it grew worse as time went on.
"Kugh…"
Tak. His hand landed on the bed again, and a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead.
Then he burst from bed about 5 minutes later. He moved as if something possessed him and sat in front of his computer.
He thought about grabbing some beer from the fridge but decided against that. Instead, he accessed the game streaming platform he often frequented and began typing with shaky hands.
[Skill streams]
Could he earn money from being good at games?