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CHAPTER 35: I JOIN AN UNIMPORTANT GROUP CHAT

Steven: "Currently in China. Taking a leave of absence."

Locust: "Ok." (thumbs up emoji)

Olivia: "STEVEN! GET BACK HERE! I AM NOT ABOUT TO DO YOUR WORK!"

Olivia: • • •

[STEVEN has 'do not disturb' turned on.]

- - -

Ah, it was nice to be able to take a break from his part-time job. Finally...

- 'Ding!'

| NEW: You have been invited to ??? group chat #9 |

<Dieze, what's this?> Steven typed, spotting the notification. (It had somehow popped up, even after he had turned on 'DND'.)

[Dieze: "..." X]

[Dieze: "Idk." X]

Steven tapped the icon for the messaging app 'ThisApp' on his phone, curious to see what this 'NEW' group chat was about. But something felt off: Instead of his usual display name, it now read 'CodingBananaMonkey'.

And the company ID was... strange.

Had Dieze landed him a new online job?

That would be nice. With a shake of his head and a growing curiosity, he dived into the group chat to find out more.

- - -

| ??? group chat #9 |

[CodingBananaMonkey(R) has joined the GC]

SlyDragonFox (SR): "Oh hey, are you new?"

CodingBananaMonkey (R): "Yep. New to the company."

SilverLionEagle (SR): "Great... a newcomer?

- "Who added him to the group chat, smh."

SlyDragonFox (SR): "Hey don't be rude, Silver. Besides, he seems like a decent hire! Welcome."

SilverLionEagle (SR): ('Snorting eagle' sticker!)

SlyDragonFox (SR): "It's nice to meet you. Do you know which department you're in?"

- - -

<Dieze, what do I say?> Steven asked, looking up from his phone.

[Dieze: "Hi, I'm in the marketing department!" X]

Steven held his phone and typed it out...

- - -

| ??? group chat #9 |

CodingBananaMonkey (R): "Hi, I'm in the marketing department. It's nice to meet you. What department are you in?"

SlyDragonFox (SR): "I'm in Field Service/Event Management. I have to travel on-site to coordinate all the beta-testing G@ME's."

CodingBananaMonkey (R): "Cool. Is it fun?"

SlyDragonFox: • • •

SlyDragonFox (SR): "Yeah... I don't know. I'm not a huge fan of field work, but if this works out well, I might get a promotion! My manager's telling me to keep an eye out on this one guy. A pain."

CodingBananaMonkey (R): • • •

CodingBananaMonkey (R): "Who?"

SlyDragonFox (SR): "He's just this one player that has garnered the attention of a couple of the admins/crowdfunders already. It was only the second game..."

"...But he's 'interesting' to them. At least, for now: decent sad backstory, good looks, could be one of the more popular channels later on."

SilverLionEagle (SR): • • •