I am the Entertainment Tycoon

Tuesday, November 17th

Kat Street, Elffire City, Sakura Abode Country.

The autumn slowly started to give way to the winter.

The sun rose in the skies, but a cold wind made the weather icy for the citizens of the city.

Inside a cheap hotel, 25 people were having breakfast as they talked with enthusiasm.

They were Ryoko's classmates that arrived in Elffire City for the interviews in the Tokyo Studios.

"I still can't believe that Ryoko-chan managed to get a job as the head director of a studio!"

"I can! It's not like you guys don't know that Ryoko is super talented."

"You can't say that. To get a job like that only talent isn't enough. Experience is also an important part. And Ryoko-chan doesn't have much experience."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"She looked so awesome yesterday!"

"She looked so mature and calm."

"She looked like a boss!"

"Ryoko sent a message saying that she would go out with us after the interviews ended."

"I guess she doesn't want to look like she is favoring us."

"It makes sense. She has to behave like a boss now."

They finished their breakfast and got ready to go to the Tokyo Studios.

Today was the day that the third phase of interviews started.

Therefore, they were anxious and nervous about it.

A little before 8 am, they arrived in the studio and walked into the auditorium.

They could see that most candidates were already there.

At 8 am, the 875 candidates that passed the second phase were seated waiting for instructions.

The 31 candidates which failed the second phase and were hired as interns could also be seen there standing with the Umbrella employees. They would be help with the rest of the interviews.

In the backstage, Theo and Ryoko were talking.

"Do you know how to proceed?" Theo asked.

"Yes, boss. I studied in detail the program for this phase." Ryoko replied with a firm voice.

She wanted to imprint a professional and reliable image on her employees, so she took extra effort into this process.

"Good! Go there and be calm!" Theo said with a smile.

He was satisfied with her work so far.

Theo didn't have to appear in front of the employees anymore, he knew that Ryoko would take care of things for him.

That was exactly why he hired her.

Ryoko nodded and took a deep breath as she walked to the stage.

She appeared to the candidates with a calm face.

She became the boss as she took hold of the microphone and looked at the candidates.

"Good morning, guys!" Ryoko said with a calm voice as she gave a little smile.

Everyone was refreshed as they saw the calm blue-haired woman on the stage.

"Thank you for coming again to our studio."

"Now, I will explain how the third phase of interviews will proceed."

"The 875 of you will divide into 35 groups of 25 people each. Each team member will be chosen randomly."

"Each team will be responsible to create an animation of at least 1 minute of duration. Each team will have the liberty of choosing the theme and story of this animation. So, you all are free to explore your creativity. We want to see all the processes of animation production. Since the character development, storyboard production, layout design, and animating." 

"You will be provided with all equipment necessary for the animation production, so you don't have to worry about that."

"You will have until 2 pm on November 22th, next Sunday, to finish the project. So, you will get a little more than 5 days to finish everything."

"I know that this assignment might sound too demanding, but we want to see you all giving your all to finish this. We want to see all your creativity and ingenuity." Ryoko said as she saw their nervous faces.

The candidates had a reason to be nervous.

The candidates were frozen as they heard what the third phase would be.

They thought it was impossible!

To finish all steps necessary for animation production in just 5  days?

  Even though it was just a short animation of one minute, the task still was enormous!

The 25 members of the team would have to work day and night to finish in time.

Everyone was doubting if they could manage to do a good job.

But they all had hopeful hearts, they wanted to work in this studio so they would give their all!

In the backstage, Theo nodded his head when he saw Ryoko doing a great job.

He was not particularly worried that the task was too demanding.

His studio would experience times like this when the employees would have to work extra hard to finish the projects.

Especially after he decided to launch their first anime in four months.

This first anime would take a lot of effort to be finished in time, so he had to know if these candidates were up for the task.

"Now, we will draw the 35 teams." Ryoko said as she pointed at the screen of the auditorium.

The screen lit up and the candidates saw 35 columns appearing.

Shortly after, they saw each of the 35 columns had 25 names in it.

They immediately started searching for their names.

Some people were lucky to be placed in a team with people they knew.

But most of them got into teams without knowing anyone in it.

"You can gather teams, after you all gather I will finish my explanation." Ryoko said after she saw that everyone managed to find their names.

The candidates were silent for a while until someone said out loud, "Team 4, come here!"

The candidates stood up after the first one said that.

"Team 23 here!"

"Where's the team 16?"

5 minutes later, the 875 candidates were divided into 35 teams of 25 people each.

The team members looked at each other and analyzed their composition.

They wanted to see if their teammates were good enough.

"Great! I see everyone is gathered with your teams." Ryoko said as she saw the teams.

The candidates' attention was on Ryoko again when she said that.

"Each team will be responsible for the division of jobs. So, we won't interfere with your project. You all are free in these 5 days. The only thing we want is the animation ready by the deadline. Our employees will guide each team to their respective working areas. Good luck!" Ryoko said with a gentle smile as she started walking out off the stage.

The candidates were a little lost with what she said, they never thought that the task would have so much liberty.

They had so much liberty that they did not know what to do.

The teams were guided into their working areas by the staff.

Theo looked at their lost faces with amusement.

This was also a test for them.

He wanted to see if they were capable of managing to pass this first hurdle.

He wanted employees who knew how to take the lead.

"Good job!" Theo said with a smile when Ryoko arrived backstage.

"Thank you, boss!" Ryoko said with a relieved smile.

She was happy that she managed to talk with her employees with composure.

"I will leave it to you to supervise this phase. Just be yourself and if you have any doubts don't hesitate to call me or Sam." Theo said with a smile.

Ryoko nodded.

She was nervous, but in the last weeks, she learned the handle this important position she was occupying.

"I will also start looking at the task you assigned yesterday, boss!" Ryoko said with a determined voice.

"Great! I believe in you." Theo replied.

He loved that he could assign lengthy tasks to his employees.

Theo bade goodbye to Ryoko and left the studio.

He drove his car to his house, he had to go back to the production of his album.

He needed to make progress in it before the interviews in his studio ended.

He predicted that after the employees were hired, he would be busy with the production of the anime.

Theo hummed songs as he thought about which songs he should put on his album.