Hell yeah!
The quirky, seemingly naive Zoey Parker has her own secret weapon—a system!
Zoey's real name is Zoey Parker, a senior at Seattle Tech University, majoring in Financial Engineering. She's crashing in a slick downtown apartment.
Per school rules, seniors ditch classes to hunt for internships.
This should've been a cakewalk for Zoey. Her family's loaded, running a big-shot investment firm with a slew of businesses under their belt.
All her dad, Big Mike Parker, had to do was sign off on an internship certificate, and she could've kicked back as a happy couch potato.
But nope—life threw a curveball.
Big Mike didn't just deny her the easy way out; he tossed her the keys to a whole company!
"Financial engineering, huh? Try being an intern CEO for some real-world experience."
Zoey was floored.
Who does that?
An intern straight to CEO? That's next-level flexing.
And a gaming company? She barely knows games! She can't even beat a casual phone game like Tower Defense!
But just as she was about to bail, her system sparked to life.
[Investment Rebate System]
A cheat code that pays out ten times the cash if her investments tank!
To keep things fair and avoid exploits, there's a catch:
[Condition 1: The host must bind a project manager to invest in during the internship as CEO.]
[Condition 2: The manager must follow standard industry logic and be clueless about this system.]
[Note: Both conditions must be met, or the system goes kaput.]
And that's how today's wild interview happened!
…
Click.
The conference room door shut, leaving only Chief of Staff Chloe Quinn and CEO Zoey Parker inside.
Dead silence.
"Zoey, what were you thinking?" Chloe grabbed Zoey's shoulders, shaking her like she was trying to reboot a glitchy computer.
Zoey's decision was even messier than Gus Shepard's game pitch!
"With that kind of design, I'd tell him to start a GoFundMe!" Chloe ranted. "You don't bet the company's future on a charity case!"
"Ow-ow-ow!" Zoey yelped as she wobbled back and forth. "Chloe, my head's gonna pop off!"
Whoosh.
Chloe finally stopped, sighing with regret. "I should've stopped you. Hiring that clueless director... we're so screwed."
Zoey, though, was secretly thrilled.
Exactly what I want!
She knew Gus was a terrible designer. That's why she picked him!
A dud like him guarantees losses—and those sweet, sweet tenfold rebates.
Her ticket to financial freedom, chilling on a yacht? All riding on this.
But she couldn't spill the beans, so she hid her grin and patted Chloe's shoulder. "Chloe, don't stress. Gus made some good points. Tough levels suck, but nailing them? That's a total high for players. I trust my gut—Cat Leo's gonna be huge…"
Yeah, right, she thought, smirking internally.
It was all BS—she didn't buy it for a second. That game's a dumpster fire. Every dollar sunk into it is a dollar lost.
Which got her scheming: How do I pump more cash into this trainwreck?
…
The next day!
Gus officially clocks in!
Sprawled in a sleek, sunlit corner office, Gus fiddled with a business card reading "WindyPeak Games Director—Gus Shepard." He was still jittery.
This was bananas.
He'd tossed and turned all night in his dorm, racking his brain over why Zoey picked him. Plenty of yesterday's candidates were heavyweights—grads from top Japanese schools, industry vets with a decade of experience, even a deputy director who'd run multimillion-dollar projects.
But Zoey? She zeroed in on him like love at first sight.
Weird as hell.
Knock knock knock—
A rap at the door snapped him out of it. Gus tucked the card away. "Come in."
Click.
The frosted glass door swung open, revealing Zoey Parker, rocking her signature messy bun and a mischievous grin. "Director Shepard? Got a sec?"
Gus bolted upright. "Z-Zoey—uh, I mean, Ms. Parker."
Whoops, almost slipped.
"No worries, chill!" Zoey waved him down, strutting in like she owned the place—which, well, she did. "Just checking if you need anything. Oh, and I wanna chat about... Cat Leo's development."
Gus nodded. Classic boss move—easing into the real talk.
"Thanks, Ms. Parker. The office is awesome already." He poured her a glass of water. "About the project—what's on your mind?"
Zoey sipped the water, flashing a quick "thanks" before cutting to the chase. "I'm curious about the budget. Got a ballpark figure, Director Shepard?"
Budget? Gus almost laughed. That word felt too fancy for his scrappy project.
He held up two fingers. "Two hundred."
Zoey's eyebrows shot up. "Two hundred grand?"
Gus nearly choked on his water. This chick's got dollar signs for eyes!
"Two hundred bucks!" he corrected, half-expecting a SWAT team to bust in for suspected fraud.
But his clarification only made things worse. Zoey's eyes bugged out, like he'd just told her the world was flat.
"Two hundred bucks?!" she gasped. "You serious?"
"Yup…" Gus grinned sheepishly. "Problem?"
Big problem! Zoey's brain screamed.
Two hundred bucks? That's chump change! Even ten times that is only two grand—pocket lint for her big plans.
No way. She had to crank up the investment. Max it out. More spent, more rebated.
She tapped her chin, scheming. "That budget's... too small. Accounting's gonna hate dealing with it. We need to up it."