27 Like a Marriage Proposal

** Harper **

The first half of the week was a blur to Harper. She lost track of how many versions of narrative outlines she had drafted, revised, trashed, and started over again. The sheer workload made her wish that she could grow two more heads, and it didn't help either to know all this effort was going down the drain into a project that her boss had no plan to even put into production. Too many times, she found herself daydreaming that some miraculous luck would descend upon her again and save her project the same way Eli had saved her web novel.

Who knew her dream actually came true?

Eli's phone call the night before was like a bell of awakening. She had been too busy following her mandatory tasks to spare the time to think through the situation … But of course he was right! With the investors calling the shots, this presentation wasn't just a chore, but rather a precious second chance that she'd be a fool to let slip by. As long as she pitched it right, the future was still unknown and well within her control.

"Aren't you in a great mood this morning!" Her new marketing partner, Wallace, marveled as he strode into the conference room where she was waiting for him, making her realize belatedly that she was actually humming in excitement. "Came up with a new idea to add to our bullet list today?"

"Oh, many." Harper beamed. Her spirit was indeed high enough today that she felt fully revived on the spot with max HP. "Remember those novel tropes I told you about yesterday?"

Wallace was a new grad just like Harper herself, which made it quite easy for them to work together. Their brainstorming sessions for the past few days had actually been lively despite Harper's overall gloomy mood, and at some point, she had even joked about common tropes in web novels that she felt tempted to use in her game story, such as court intrigues where the dashing and charismatic prince turned out to be the evil big boss, or the rise of the underdog where the weakest fighter picked up the most OP loot and slapped all his bullying opponents in the face.

At the time, Wallace had been fascinated. But the look on his face right now was one of bewilderment. "You're seriously considering adding them to the game?" he asked.

"Well, sort of … with modifications of course," Harper clarified. "I think there are a few ways to fit them nicely into a space themed game. Political intrigues are a good subplot to add to the alien culture exploratory missions. OP loots and resource cultivation work well for colonization campaigns. The gameplay strategies there will also be close enough to the kingdom-building products we've already developed, which makes the integration seamless on the technical side."

"Hmm … And easy to tap into our current fanbase." Wallace considered it thoughtfully. "Interesting. A space odyssey with interstellar civilization, diplomacy, and battle tactics? It's got a bit of everything! Does sound exciting and unique just to think about it."

Harper grinned at the agreement. "Precisely, we'll turn this into an epic adventure game with a big open world. Much more than just the spaceship RPG we started with! Brandon wanted eye-catching features to entice the investors with, and you definitely can't say this isn't eye-catching enough."

"I should write it down." Wallace unfolded his laptop and started typing. "Where did you suddenly get such a cool idea from?"

At that, Harper smiled to herself.

The thought had been on her mind ever since Eli told her to "imagine it's me you're trying to persuade". He hadn't realized how close he had gotten to the truth with that casual remark — in a way, she could say that this project had been made particularly with him in mind. She and Tyler and Eli had always loved space adventure games, and she had always dreamed of making one of her own epic journeys set in a vast world more complex than they'd ever seen. It'd be a homage, a tribute to her favorite teenage memories.

If this game could really be lucky enough to see the light of day … How incredible would it be to try it out with Eli? What would it be like to cozy up next to him on the couch and relive their favorite moments, or maybe even—

Harper caught herself before those thoughts wandered in the wrong direction. "Ah, well … The idea has always been there. I just didn't know if it'd be realistic to implement it. A game that large and complex won't ever fit into our development schedule … But in this particular case, I suppose the situation is different. 'Shiny and catchy' is the priority now, isn't it?"

Wallace flashed her a big smile as he continued typing. "You've got that right. Epic quests and grand odysseys will certainly draw attention and make us memorable to the investors. It's like a clickbait, so whatever you can think of along those lines, just toss it in. As to practicality … Well, we can think about the next step if we're lucky enough to get there first."

That was a completely different suggestion from the one Eli had given her, Harper thought. For her, this was far from a clickbait. More like a marriage proposal, if she had to come up with her own analogy. Maybe dressed up a bit glamorously to catch the eye for a good start … But at the end of the deal, she was ready for a serious commitment, even if it was one with a colossal workload. Even if it was a … blind date of sorts? Because she still had no idea who these investors were or what preferences they'd have for suitable candidates, and she could only hope that "imagining it's Eli" would work out well enough.

She believed in him and his advice though, so she gave Wallace a confident nod. "Let's keep going then," she said. "How many bullet points are we at already?"