Chapter 15
Time flew by quickly.
After the CBT ended, the department staff were busy with feedback work, while I handled external affairs. Before we knew it, several months had passed.
It was now mid-May, with spring in full bloom.
Due to overseas business trips, I'd missed some office days, making the faces of the employees gathered in the conference room seem a bit unfamiliar.
"How have you all been?"
"The local communication in Japan is killing me..."
"We nearly died buried under work, how do you think we've been...?"
Yu-mi and Chae-yeon spoke with exhausted expressions.
Among them, Yu-mi's change was particularly noticeable, given her usually bright demeanor.
Clap!
I clapped my hands.
"Well, I have some news to share, so everyone pay attention!"
All eyes in the room turned to me.
"First, I have some good news and some bad news. Let's start with the good news... The game's launch date has been set."
The conference room buzzed with excitement at this unexpected bombshell.
"The launch date is exactly four months from now, September 27th at 10 AM. Any questions?"
Ye-rin, sitting in front, was the first to raise her hand.
"Senior, isn't a September launch too late? By late September, the summer peak season will be over, right?"
I shook my head at Ye-rin's question.
"It doesn't matter. Mobile games don't have peak seasons like PC games do."
Seeing Ye-rin nod at my explanation, I continued.
"There's another reason for this launch date, and it's this."
I pressed the remote to activate the beam projector.
What appeared on the wall was an information screen for the Tokyo Game Show.
A yellow poster featuring an AI girl that seemed to be a moe-fied version of the game.
At the bottom of the poster was written "Tokyo Game Show 2011."
The room fell silent once again at this second bombshell.
Tokyo Game Show.
One of the world's three major game shows and Japan's largest, hosted by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association.
Being one of the world's top three game shows, it was an event that all major game developers either planned to attend or hoped to attend.
Normally, we'd never be able to participate in such an event, but we got lucky.
The PC game development team's new project, which was scheduled to participate earlier this year, got dropped, and the opportunity passed to us.
Of course, the CEO said it was just good luck, but...
Anyway, it was such a stroke of fortune that I'd be unworthy of being a director if I didn't seize it.
As a result, the glares from the PC development team leaders got even more intense, but well,
It's not like their dislike for our team was anything new.
"I'm sure everyone here knows what the Tokyo Game Show is. Anyone who doesn't?"
Fortunately, my worry was unfounded as no one raised their hand.
"We'll likely get our own Enson GT booth. In other words, the company's expectations for us are enormous."
As I finished speaking, Senior Chae-young raised her hand, looking curious.
"Who are you planning to take for this event? Just a few people like the last overseas trip?"
"Who? Everyone's attending."
"Really?"
Seeing Senior Chae-young's disbelieving look, I nodded.
"We couldn't leave anyone out even if we wanted to, considering the size of the booth we've been given. Even with everyone there, we'll be incredibly busy."
"That big?"
"From what I've heard, the booth size we've been allocated is about twice the size of this conference room."
"That is big..."
"Any other questions?"
This time, Seol raised her hand.
"Um... How much are we planning to reveal at this event...?"
"We've decided to reveal most of the content except for important main features like boss raids. There's only about a week's difference from the planned launch date anyway."
Seol seemed to understand and lowered her hand, nodding.
"Anyway, the good news is the game launch and our participation in the Tokyo Game Show. Now for the bad news... We need someone to do cosplay."
The team members in the conference room looked aghast at my words.
Ye-rin, listening from the front, asked,
"Do we really have to do cosplay?"
"Honestly, I wondered if it was necessary too, but SFLAG seemed keen on it."
Thinking about it, SFLAG's position wasn't incomprehensible.
Even though we got good reactions from the PV and CBT, that was still just news from a few months ago.
They were handling the publishing of a risky new genre, so they wanted to play it as safe as possible.
"Of course, I'd love for me or Myung-hoon to do it, but... that's not what the cosplay-suggesting side wants."
To be honest, what gamer attending the show would want to play a game while looking at cosplaying men with hairy legs?
It was only natural.
"So, any volunteers for cosplay?"
At that moment, everyone in the conference room, including me, turned their gaze to one person.
Ye-rin's lips started to quiver.
"...What? Why is everyone looking at me...?"
Why, indeed.
Yu-mi said what everyone was thinking.
"...Because Ye-rin senior is the prettiest?"
Following Yu-mi, I added,
"Plus, you're the best-known among us to gamers."
"W-what are you talking about...!"
Ye-rin's face turned ghostly pale.
At this rate, she won't need any makeup.
***
I won't bother explaining the process of setting up the booth after arriving in Japan.
No one would want to hear about that anyway.
On the morning of the first day of the Tokyo Game Show, we woke up early at the hotel, finished our preparations, and arrived at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture.
Having set up the booth and done final checks until the day before, everyone was in a half-asleep state.
"Ugh... so sleepy..."
Senior Chae-young, who was already prone to sleeping a lot, looked particularly exhausted.
"Come on, everyone, just hang in there for three days. We've got the CEO's corporate card to treat ourselves to something delicious when it's over."
Leaving the team members cheering at the mention of the corporate card, I looked around Makuhari Messe Stadium where the game show was being held.
It really is huge.
If I remember correctly, this year's total visitors would be around 200,000.
We need to imprint Girls Memorial into the minds of these 200,000 participants.
We absolutely cannot afford any hiccups due to lack of preparation.
With that mindset, I looked at the booth we had spent all of yesterday setting up.
Life-sized standees of the mascot Operator and the three main characters.
Above them, a large sign with "Girls Memorial" written in a blue and white design.
Neatly arranged smartphones for demo play inside the booth.
As we were finishing the demo area check and setting up official merchandise in the booth with the team members, I heard a voice.
"...I never imagined I'd be wearing a school uniform again at this age."
I turned around to see Ye-rin in her completed cosplay.
A black bob cut reaching her neck with some hair extensions.
Realistic-looking ivory devil horns attached to her head.
Color contacts to express red eyes.
A tightened Korean H-beam style school uniform skirt.
It was a perfectly fitting cosplay, but Ye-rin was glaring at me with a bright red face, pressing down on her uniform skirt with her hands.
"Try to relax your expression... Karin isn't such a fierce character."
"What's wrong with my expression?"
"If looks could kill, I'd be dead already."
"I'd love to make that a reality. What do you think?"
"Please spare me that, at least."
Ye-rin's hands trembled on her uniform, but she finally sighed and relaxed her expression.
"If it had at least been a character with a sailor uniform..."
"It suits you well, though."
"What sin did I commit to suffer this humiliation, wearing a high school uniform at this age...?"
Ye-rin said this with a pitiful expression.
She looked so miserable that I had to comfort her.
"Ye-rin."
"...What?"
"I'm sorry for forcing you into cosplay this time. If you really can't do it, you can change back."
"...Then what about the schedule?"
"The cosplay thing isn't part of the contract anyway, so it doesn't really matter. If anyone complains, I'll just bow my head once."
Comforted, Ye-rin looked at me with a gloomy face and then sighed.
"It's fine... The milk's already been spilled. I'll grin and bear it just this once."
"Good thinking. Once the booth opens, we'll have official booth girls anyway, so you just need to stand there and do some simple greetings."
At the mention of official booth girls, Ye-rin asked with an aggrieved expression.
"...Didn't you say there wouldn't be official booth girls? If there are, why use me?"
"Well, from a gamer's perspective, there's a world of difference between a regular person cosplaying and the game's director cosplaying."
"I think I understand, but then again, I don't..."
"So, just bear with it this once. In return, I'll grant you any wish once this game show is over. Now, relax your expression, your makeup is setting."
"You'd better keep that promise."