Season 5: Chapter 73. Remnants of Ah-Sung (2)
If Sang-Hyeon had always dreamed of drawing a bow again, Ju-Hyeok had always wanted a company of his own.
Whoa...!
Of course, he felt excited.
Bwahahahaha!
Someone that smart was walking around the office and laughing dumbly like Bubblegum.
Bwahahahahahaha!
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and white office blinds hung cleanly. The director's office had a properly weighty atmosphere, the glass-walled conference room was open and airy, and the wide workspace would eventually seat many editors.
"This is it. This is what a company looks like!"
Ju-Hyeok had technically been serving as the company's director for a while now, but they never had a real office. For the first time, it actually felt real. They had assembled workstations and partitions throughout the space. Sizable plants sat by the sunlit windows.
"Ji-Ah, can you take a photo of me? Here?"
Click!
Click!
"Here too. And here."
He struck a serious pose like in a business magazine and asked Ji-Ah to take the shots.
"Oh! By the way, did it arrive, BornToB?"
"What?"
"You know, the thing! Our mascot!"
Ah...
you're actually doing that?"
"Obviously."
"Ob-obviously...?" BornToB looked alarmed.
Ju-Hyeok pressed on regardless. "Hurry up!"
A little while later, Ju-Hyeok wore a walnut hat, BornToB wore a macadamia hat, and Ji-Ah was in a peanut suit. The Mixed Nuts staff assembled into an entire nut hat lineup.
Hahaha!
How about this? This is Mixed Nuts."
Ji-Ah's expression didn’t look good.
‘You're way too wound up right now... Kim Ju-Hyeok...’
She'd never seen Kim Ju-Hyeok this charged up. Of all days, Macaron was coming today. In a situation like this, Macaron would probably turn around and flee on the spot.
"Oh! Sang-Hyeon! There's one for you too!"
Sang-Hyeon also looked alarmed at the sight.
‘What is even happening?!’
He'd just finished checking out the dedicated broadcast studio space and capsule installation spot in the office. Suddenly, an almond hat was placed on his head.
Whoosh.
"You wear one too."
"Sure, I'll wear it... but when are we actually setting up for the dinn..."
Ju-Hyeok wasn't listening. "Let's take a commemorative photo!"
‘Right... I get it. Pfft.’
Sang-Hyeon had known Ju-Hyeok since their Ah-Sung days. He knew exactly how long this man had been dreaming of this moment. Even after starting the business, they never had anything real to show off to old Ah-Sung colleagues. Now, they had a physical office. Of course, Ju-Hyeok wanted to take photos.
"Okay, everyone, come here. Come here."
The entire handful of Mixed Nuts staff, every last nut, gathered together.
"Are we, are we really taking this?" BornToB checked Ji-Ah's expression, who was basically the company's second-in-command.
‘Let him enjoy it.’
Ji-Ah just looked away and nodded.
Ahem.
A-alright then~."
They prepared to take the photo.
"Wow, Director Kim~ this place is something else!"
They heard an extremely familiar voice. It was PD Jang from Jang Productions. His staff also came. They used the office on the floor below, and Ju-Hyeok had invited them up.
"Oh! PD Jang! You made it."
A crowd of employees poured in, buzzing with noise.
"Wow, nice place."
"Better than ours."
"Well, we just kind of shoved everything in."
Ju-Hyeok let them wander and take it all in for a bit. Then, he clapped his hands together. "Now then, everyone."
Ju-Hyeok pulled out another set of nut hats.
"To attend today's party, you'll need to wear one of these!"
The Jang Productions staff looked confused, having heard nothing about this.
"Oh?
Whoa~
this is fun?!"
PD Jang and Ju-Hyeok had always gotten along in their own way.
Whoosh.
PD Jang led the charge and put on a pistachio hat himself.
"When did you even get all of these?"
"We're Mixed Nuts. Figured we'd lean into the concept."
BornToB said, "Director, the streamers are going to be here soon!"
"Oh?"
A very peculiar light crossed Ju-Hyeok's eyes.
‘Oh. A perfect chance to make a first impression on the streamers all at once.’
That was how it happened. Even the innocent Jang Productions employees assembled for the elevator welcome ceremony. Funnily enough, the one hat that actually mattered, the almond hat, wasn't there because its wearer had briefly gone to the bathroom.
"Wh... what..."
Pistachios, macadamias, pecans, and cashews could be seen everywhere. From the Knight Order's perspective, they'd suddenly been dropped into some kind of nut-themed nightmare.
"Welcome to Mixed Nuts!" The Jang Productions employees bellowed in perfect chorus.
It rattled something loose in the soul.
Whoa, whoa!
Waah?!
Every single streamer's camera shook, and the feeling transferred directly to their viewers.
— What is this
— What the heck lmaooo
— The camera shaking is so funny lmao
— What did you build you nut maniac lmao
— The Lord... was the Lord in real life too...
— The Fertile Lands exist in reality after all!
This dynamic camera work captured the mass greeting of employees in nut hats.
‘Now that's marketing.’
Ju-Hyeok smiled to himself. Truthfully, eight out of ten people in the room were Jang Productions staff. They helped to leave a completely overwhelming impression of some enormous company.
Ba-bam!
PD Jang's fanfare horns blared over everything. They genuinely looked the part of a real company.
‘This is it.’
A management company where the staff was close, warm, and fun! Ju-Hyeok had been painting such a picture in his mind. However, the dynamic cameras also caught something else.
Thud...!
A man suddenly collapsed in the elevator.
WHOA?!
"Wh-what! Someone's down! A person collapsed!"
The Knight Order members scrambled in a panic. The elevator hung frozen, neither opening fully nor closing.
— ?
— ??
— Huh?
— What?
Their cameras swung to capture the fallen man.
"M... Macaron?!" Ju-Hyeok recognized the face.
He was the only one who'd seen Macaron during the interview video call. This was a relevant detail.
— ...?
— ?
— Wait Macaron?? lmao
— How hard did you work him for him to faint??
"I know emergency first aid!" Ju-Hyeok rushed over, hoisted Macaron onto his back, and carried him inside the office.
‘Hm?’
At that moment, Ju-Hyeok noticed something.
‘Oh no. I didn't actually faint.’
Macaron lay there with his eyes cracked barely open, horrified at what was unfolding around him. He'd just gone briefly weak in the knees for a moment. Then, he just hadn't wanted to open his eyes and kept them shut. Now, he'd somehow become a fainting victim.
‘Okay. I'll just stay like this, wait for an ambulance, and then go home. This place won’t work for me. I'm not going to work here...’
That was what Macaron wanted to do. He wanted to maintain the fainting act until the ambulance came. It was a ridiculous plan, but he couldn't help it. For a shut-in who had barely managed to step outside, let alone commute somewhere, this had been an overwhelming amount of stimulation.
‘What was that back there? Those nuts looked like they came straight out of a nightmare...’
It felt like being kidnapped by bizarre masked figures. Even now, if he opened his eyes, the nut villains would surely still be standing there.
"H-here, this way!"
Thud.
Ju-Hyeok set Macaron down on the largest conference room table. Then, he raised both hands and turned to Ji-Ah. "Give me the scalpel."
SMACK!
Ji-Ah, who had been holding it together, delivered a firm hit to his back. "Stop joking! He actually fainted! He really fainted! Director!"
— lmaooooooo
— This is insane lmao
— lmaooo
— WHAT IS HAPPENING lmaooo
The Knight Order cameras were broadcasting the entire scene in a daze.
"No. He didn't faint, Team Lead Seo Ji-Ah."
"What? Wh-then what is it? Don't tell me... d, dea?! Is he dea..." Ji-Ah looked like she would faint.
At that completely absurd suggestion, the Knight Order members instantly dropped their cameras.
Pop!
‘What? D, dea...?’
‘What?! Insane!’
‘We're done. We're going down.’
— ???
— Camera going down??
— Is he dead?? Lmao
— No way lmao
— Is this real???
— What
"No. Team Lead Seo Ji-Ah, that conclusion is also wrong."
Thud.
Sang-Hyeon appeared from nowhere, leaned against the conference room doorframe, and shook his head.
— Wait that's Yu Sang-Hyeon??
— Lord Almond lmao
— The audio is coming through fine, what's the point of dropping the camera lmaooo
Ji-Ah stared at him in disbelief. "Wha... what! What's wrong?! And where were you this whole time?!"
Sang-Hyeon had been off by himself in the bathroom right when the Knights Order arrived. Now, he finally appeared out of thin air to say she was wrong.
Sang-Hyeon ignored Ji-Ah's question entirely and shook his head. "
Hah.
That's why you can't have a meaningful conversation with someone who hasn't worked at Ah-Sung for at least three years. Right, Ju-Hyeok..."
Why was he calling Ju-Hyeok? Ji-Ah looked back and forth between them, baffled.
"Yeah. Agreed, Sang-Hyeon."
The two of them looked at each other and exchanged a knowing grin.
‘WHAT IS GOING ON?!’
‘What? These people are unhinged.’
‘Someone collapsed! A person! An actual person!’
The Knight Order members and Ji-Ah couldn’t comprehend any of this.
"Now. Allow me to reveal the secret of this scene."
Swoosh.
Sang-Hyeon reached over and suddenly poked Macaron in the side.
Ah, ahahahahaha!
" Macaron burst out laughing from the tickle and immediately woke up.
He'd gone from a fainting victim to being declared dead. Then, he suddenly resurrected.
The Jang Productions staff recoiled in shock.
"What the hell!"
"Wh-what, he's actually alive??"
"He was never dead to begin with!"
The watching Knight Order members muttered as well.
"Th-this too is the Lord's...!?"
"Can he raise the dead now?"
"As expected, the Lord's influence..."
Snap!
The cameras went back up.
— He was never dead lmaooo
— ?
— ???
— What lmao
— He was acting all along lmao
— The Lord's influence lmao
— Why was that guy pretending to faint in the first place lmaooo
— What kind of content IS this lmaooo
"This person was conscious the entire time. He was just pretending to faint," Ju-Hyeok announced to the room like a detective presenting the facts of a case.
Macaron buried his very red face.
Ji-Ah stared at the two of them in complete disbelief. "No, but HOW did you know?! Mr. Kim?!"
Even in front of the other employees and cameras, Ji-Ah talked formally. Ju-Hyeok passed the baton with a look toward Sang-Hyeon.
Sang-Hyeon shrugged and smiled with insufferable confidence. "
Hmph.
Because at Ah-Sung, someone in our department faked collapsing from overwork about once a week. I developed the discernment to tell them apart."
— lmaooooooo
— lmaooooo
— lmaooo
— ??? If I told you it was the Ah-Sung office department... would that explain it?
— Ah-Sung...
— lmaooo
— Is that supposed to make sense lmaooo
— The birth of the Fertile Lands...
— lmaooo
"When Ju-Hyeok carried him, he would have noticed that Macaron was lighter than he looked. People who actually faint are heavier than you'd expect because of dead weight."
— Dead weight lmaooo
— Is this guy for real lmao
— Is this scripted or is this real life lmaooo
— This is a sitcom, right?
It was a perfect deduction from Almondoyle. Everyone in the room became speechless. Even the Jang Productions employees were no strangers to brutal overtime.
‘What a terrifying company.’
‘Of course... the strongest ones always are.’
‘Is this real?’
‘God. Someone cover PD Jang's ears.’
At some point, someone asked a sharp follow-up.
"Wait, hold on." It was BornToB. "If you developed the ability to distinguish real versus fake weight... that means..."
Sang-Hyeon nodded. "Correct. There were also genuine collapses every week, so we had a lot of material for comparison. Plenty of samples."
— lmaooooooooo
— lmaooooo
— Fake sickness detection ability: Almondoyle
— lmaooo
— Samples lmaooo
— You're not joking, this is real?? lmao
— Terrifying company lmao
— True alpha company
— Deduction is Almondoyle's domain
Hmph.
" Ju-Hyeok nodded with an air of satisfaction. "Our time at Ah-Sung wasn't a complete waste after all, Sang-Hyeon."
"Likewise, Ju-Hyeok."
— WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE lmao
— Actually terrifying lmaooo
— "Both troublemakers, but unstoppable together"
— So the Knight Order just walked into a company run by these guys?? lmao
— Stop being proud of this lmao
— This place is hell
— Mixed Nuts more like Crazy Nuts lmao
"Macaron, welcome to Mixed Nuts." Ju-Hyeok reached down and offered his hand to Macaron, who sat there utterly dazed.
"..."
— lmaooooooo
— This is like joining the Scout Corps
— Entering hell~
— Is this Macaron's first time here?
— lmao
— Dedicate your heart, Macaron
Macaron couldn't bring himself to refuse the hand and took it.
‘But isn't anyone going to ask why I was pretending to faint the second I arrived?’
Something important seemed to have been skipped entirely.
Clap!
Ju-Hyeok rolled up his sleeves and threw his arms up. "Alright then, now that Macaron has been revived! Let's get this dinner actually started!"
Everyone erupted.
"YEAAAH!"
"Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!"
"This place actually has wagyu, right?! Right?!"
"The Lord's~ grace is like the sky above~!"
The Knight Order and Jang Productions were in their own worlds. Everyone was in impossibly high spirits. Even Macaron helplessly waved along.
‘I actually did genuinely faint for a second there... Why is nobody asking about that?’
He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had walked into something profoundly wrong.

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