I am the Entertainment Tycoon

Sound Studio Section, Tkyo Animation Studios, Elffire City.

"Time is over guys. Hand over your quiz answers to Amber." Ryoko announced after the ten-minute stipulated time for them to answer the quiz was over.

The candidates put down their pens and handed their answers to Amber after they heard Ryoko's voice.

The quiz was not difficult for them to answer.

It consisted of questions that every job interview asked.

When the studio was hiring the animators last month, the first phase of the process consisted of these same questions.

But this time, Theo chose to do this process in a quiz format.

It was easier and faster.

He did not want to delay the hiring of the employees of his sound studio much further.

After Amber collected all their answers, Ryoko nodded and said, "Now we can start the next test, follow me."

When she said that she started walking toward one of the workplaces by the side.

The candidates followed her promptly when they saw her walking away.

Shortly after, they arrived at one desk equipped with a late-generation computer.

It seemed to be an expensive computer, and the candidates noticed that.

"Do you see this computer here?" Ryoko asked out loud.

They nodded when they heard the question.

"Each one of you will be assigned with a computer like that. Your names are written on desks. For example, this desk belongs to Isaki Kanai. See the name here?" Ryoko asked as she pointed at the name on the desk.

"Yes." They answered.

"In the computers where you were assigned, there is a file. This file contains a one-minute animation that does not have any sound. Your job in this task is to produce the sound effects for these one-minute animations. You have until 7 pm to finish it." Ryoko explained with a smile.

"You have access to our recording rooms that are equipped with all the equipment necessary to record the sounds of the animation."

"Oh, and the animations are different from the others. So, each one of you will receive a different animation to work with." She added when she remembered Theo's specifications.

The candidates had a look of understanding when they heard the first part of Ryoko's explanation.

They were professionals who worked with sound effects for years, they did not think it would be hard to produce the sound effects for a one-minute animation in less than 12 hours.

But when they heard the second part of the explanation, they made bewildered faces.

They couldn't phantom where Ryoko was able to get 30 different animations.

That's right, where did she get that?

Some people may have already guessed the answer.

Theo was using the animations produced by animators in the third phase of their interviews!

On that occasion, 35 teams had the job to produce a one-minute animation in 5 days.

At the end of it, Theo and Ryoko were able to see how talented their future animators were.

But obviously, not all of the 35 projects were fit to be placed in this test.

So, Theo screened the projects and chose 30 of the 35 animations.

He excluded the five worst five animations among them.

And he also adjusted some technical mistakes that some of the 30 chosen animations had.

At the end of it, Theo was in hands with 30 standard animations ready to be added with sound effects.

And the 30 candidates who wanted a job in his studio had to work with these animations.

"There will be some HR employees here. If you have any doubts you can them. Things like where you can have lunch here, they will guide you to our food court. But remember to always bring your Visitor Badge with you, or you can be asked to leave the building." Ryoko warned with a calm face.

It was Theo's policy.

No one was allowed to walk inside the building without a badge.

Neither employees nor visitors.

This was a security measure.

There were trackers in every badge and with them, Sylph could monitor if everyone was where they should be.

And if there was someone walking without a badge, Sylph would know and she would notify the security.

Also, if there was someone with a badge that didn't belong to them, the security would also be warned.

Everything was done to protect against intruders or traitors.

But the badge was only obligatory around the studio workplaces.Â

In the dorm and food court area, the employees were free.

"I wish you all good luck. I will see you at the end of the day." Ryoko said with a smile as she announced the beginning of the task.

As soon as she said that, the candidates hurriedly started to look for their names on the desks.

Ryoko gave them one last look before she left the sound studio with Amber walking behind her.

She had to go back to work.

This was the end of the second week since the studio opened, and the [SAO] anime production was ready to take the next step.

The in-between frames and keyframes of the first episode were already finished.

After these frames were inspected thoroughly and repeatedly.

They could finally start the next phase of production.

Digital coloring, adding background, composing, and so on.

And Ryoko had to inspect every part of the process.

She would not accept lousy jobs.

Theo told her that he would be busy for the next week still, but when he finished what he was doing, he would inspect their work and be more present in the production.

Ryoko did not want to show a lousy job to Theo when he started inspecting the production later.

The blue-haired girl went on with her day, but the candidates who were left in the sound studio had a stressful day ahead of them.

They could not afford to miss the chance to work in such a good studio.

But there were three of them who were much more apprehensive.

Emina, Kanai, and Oichi knew that the stakes were high.

If did not show to the studio that they were good enough, the studio would deem it not worthy to spend 800k dollars to pay their debts for them to work there.

And the three of them needed to pay this debt urgently!

Plus, this was the only chance that they would be able to work with sound effects again in their lives.

Therefore, the pressure they were feeling was much higher than the others.

In situations like these, there are two paths ahead.

Some people cower and are not able to perform well.

And other people rise through the difficulties to become even better in what they do.

Some people say that the eyes are the window of the soul.

If this was true, the eyes of the three of them showed an unyielding and determined soul to prove their worth.

They wanted to show everyone how good they were!

To show everyone that they didn't need to leak episodes!

It was their chance to prove themselves.

That's why they became so focused is what they did, that they forgot where they were.

They forgot to eat.

They forgot about the task.

Their only objective was to produce the best sound effects for their animations before 7 pm.

And this was what they did.

All the candidates worked their asses off to prove that they were should be hired.

But would their effort be enough?