Chapter 111: A New Company Takes Shape
Asakawa-san greeted me while fiddling with her scarf, looking a bit cold. Well, it makes sense—it\'s snowing, after all.
It\'s early February, and starting today, school is on flexible attendance. I\'ll drop by the school today to sort out some things, but I don\'t plan to come back until graduation. I haven\'t been able to attend school properly ever since I became an EX-rank explorer in my first year, but I do have some attachment to it.
After all, it\'s where I met people important to me, like Asakawa-san, my first real friend.
"So, I heard you already started the company. Is that true?"
"Well... It\'s only a formality for now."
I\'ve handled most of the paperwork, so all that\'s left is for me to graduate and start hiring people. One of the reasons I came to see Asakawa at school today was to talk about that.
We walked to the classroom together, but as expected, there weren\'t many people inside. It\'s the first day of flexible attendance, so this is probably as crowded as it gets. Even so, more than half the students weren\'t there—some are busy with exams, while others got accepted through early admission and don\'t need to attend anymore.
"So, interviews are next?"
"Yeah, especially since I need to find streamers to join the company."
So far, I\'ve got three people lined up to join. The first is, of course, me. The second is Asakawa Nanami—better known as Asagao—who\'s standing right in front of me. And the third is... Miyamoto Kana, also known as Kanakon.
"By the way, how did Kanakon-san agree to join?"
"Well, she used to be an office worker, and when I told her that the job wouldn\'t be much different from what she\'s doing now, she just said okay."
"I see... But we\'ll need to sort out some of the finer details."
"Yeah... Like dealing with income from donations and all that."
Since we\'re setting this up as a proper company, we\'ll need to collect a portion of the revenue our streamers generate. Up until now, I\'ve never enabled donation functions because I wasn\'t interested in the money, but now that we\'re going professional, I\'ll have to set it up. We\'re also planning to hire office staff, so we\'ll need a stable income stream.
"Considering corporate taxes and everything, it might be a good idea to hire an accountant. I guess I could just cover the expenses out of my own pocket, but..."
"Is that really a good idea?"
"You\'re right... I guess I was thinking about it too much like a game."
I recently came into some money, so I\'ve been a bit careless with it. You see, a few months ago, I found a crystal deep inside the Nagoya Dungeon that can absorb magic. It turned out to be so complex that researchers have been stuck on it ever since.
In fact, it was so puzzling that Japanese researchers gave up on it and passed it along to international organizations. So now, researchers worldwide are frantically studying it.
Here\'s the kicker, though: I still technically own that crystal. I don\'t need it back, but since I\'m only loaning it to them, I receive compensation over time. Which means... Yeah, I\'m earning passive income without doing anything. Wonder when that research will wrap up.
"So, how many people do you plan to hire?"
"For streamers? Ideally, I\'d like to grow it into a large company with around 50 people someday. But at the start, I think we\'ll aim for five or six. Plus, I\'d like to hire non-dungeon-related streamers too."
For example, virtual streamers.
Virtual streamers have become incredibly popular recently, so if we can secure some talent, it\'ll generate good revenue. That said, since I want the focus to remain on dungeon streaming, I don\'t plan to hire too many.
"We could try scouting promising talents, but it might be better to advertise and hold open interviews. That way, we can attract people who are just starting out too."
"Yeah... If we only scout people, we\'d end up limited to those already doing dungeon streams."
"Exactly. I\'ll announce the recruitment on my channel to attract applicants."
This is where having a large subscriber base really comes in handy. I doubt we\'ll end up with zero applicants.
"So, here\'s the plan: We\'ll conduct a document screening at the end of February, and the interviews will take place in early March. We\'re recruiting dungeon streamers—and two or three virtual streamers as well."
: You\'re doing virtual streams too?
: Maybe focus on dungeon streams first?
: Are you seriously branching out into virtual streaming?
: I guess dungeon streaming alone isn\'t enough, huh.
"We\'ll give streamers the freedom to stream from anywhere, so they don\'t need to live near Tokyo. Though it\'d be nice if they were based in Japan."
We can always cover travel expenses if needed, so I\'ll hire talented people even if they live in Okinawa or Hokkaido.
: For real? I\'ll apply if you do remote interviews.
: Can\'t you just do remote interviews?
: Will travel expenses be covered?
: I might apply for this.
: Why not give it a shot?
: Honestly, as long as Kisaragi-kun keeps streaming, I\'m happy.
"Remote interviews, huh... Yeah, that sounds good."
There\'s no reason interviews can\'t be fully remote. I\'m planning to rent office space near Shibuya Station since it\'s close to the Shibuya Dungeon, but we probably won\'t need streamers to gather in person that often.
"Alright, we\'re switching to fully remote interviews. For the document screening, just send your resume, the URL to your streaming channel if you have one, and a copy of your explorer license online. I figure mailing documents would be a hassle, so we\'ll handle everything digitally."
: Lol
: That\'s smart.
: I like this approach.
: Yeah, writing stuff by hand is such a pain.
: Paper is better for privacy, though.
: You can always burn paper, after all.
I\'ll also post job listings for office staff while I\'m at it. As for the accountant, I\'ll ask the one I usually rely on to introduce me to someone freelance.
"Anyway, the company will officially launch in April, so if you\'re interested in dungeon streaming, apply! Oh, and the current members are me, Asagao-san, and Kanakon-san."
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: Seriously? I\'m applying.
: Wait, I get to meet Kanakon in real life? I\'m applying for sure.
: Here come the creeps.
: So many people about to get rejected in the document screening.
: Sending thoughts and prayers.
: Stop it, or I\'ll kill you.
: Get a job, dude.
And just like that, the journey toward building a new company begins.