Chapter 36: Filming the 1st Anniversary Interview

No sooner had we finished conceptualizing the next project than Girls Memorial's 1st anniversary, the biggest event of the second half of the year, loomed just two months away.

As a result, the development team was busy with anniversary-related work.

The art team was managing anniversary event illustrations and congratulatory messages.

The development team was working on the anniversary event and mini-game development.

The planning team was crafting the anniversary event story.

However, we weren't paying much attention to game events like the commemorative broadcast, as that was SFLAG's responsibility as the publisher.

At least, not until a cooperation request for the anniversary video flew in.

Thanks to that, I was currently on the receiving end of dirty looks from everyone gathered in the conference room.

Looks that said, "Why are you only telling us this now?"

Looks that asked, "Do we really have to do this filming?"

And looks that seemed to say, "If you weren't the General Director, we'd give you an earful."

"I know you're all surprised to hear this so suddenly... but we've received a cooperation request. Okay?"

At those words, Ye-rin raised her hand and asked:

"I checked the official document you sent, but when exactly does filming start?"

"The day after tomorrow. That's when the filming schedule is set."

As Ye-rin nodded at the answer, a timid hand rose from behind her.

The person raising their hand was, of course, Seol.

"D-Do we have to film with bare faces? What about wearing masks or something...?"

"Well, about that... I'll go ask and get back to you."

"Th-Thank you..."

To fulfill Seol's request, I stepped out of the conference room and called Tanaka to inquire. 

Fortunately, I received a response that it wouldn't be a problem.

"They said it's fine, so you can prepare any mask you want to wear. But you know not to choose anything with too weird a design, right?"

"Yes...! Thank you..."

"Alright, does anyone else have questions?"

"Um... Director?"

Yu-mi, who had slightly raised her hand from the front, asked:

"Am I excluded from this filming? My name wasn't on the list of participants..."

"Ah, right. Yu-mi, you won't have an individual interview, but you'll be filming with the business team instead."

"Business team filming?"

"Yeah. They decided to include the business team in the filming this time, and they asked for your help then."

"I understand."

"Okay, does anyone else have questions? No?"

I looked around the conference room after saying that, but no one else raised their hand.

"Alright, then I'll notify you separately on the day of filming. That's all for today, dismissed!"

*

Lee Seung-jin, Team Leader of Enson GT PC Game Development Team 3.

With over 10 years of service at Enson GT, he hadn't been enjoying coming to work lately.

The reason, needless to say, was the mobile game development team.

It was bad enough that they were strutting around with the CEO's trust, but lately, their sales had exploded, and the General Director's swagger was visible from a mile away.

It was infuriating to see such an attitude from a young upstart.

Of course, he wasn't unaware that most of the blame for this situation lay with the PC game development team.

First off, they weren't bringing in sales.

What exactly makes the game I'm running inferior to the mobile game development team's game?

Decent graphics.

Excellent optimization.

Well-received content that at least couldn't be criticized for lack of things to do.

Honestly, he couldn't understand how they were pulling in such sales with barely any content and just some weird art scraps.

Why on earth were users pouring so much money into drawing those art scraps?

Am I the one out of touch, or has the world gone mad...?

Inwardly sighing, he went to work as usual.

No matter how dissatisfied he was, it wasn't like he could just up and quit.

After passing through the security gate and arriving on the 5th floor where the team office was located, he noticed the corridor was unusually bustling.

Wondering what was going on, he walked towards the office.

There, he ran into the Team 2 Leader, who was watching the crowd gathered around the business team.

"What's all this commotion about so early in the morning?"

"Just getting in now? They're filming something, apparently."

"Filming? Is there anything at our company worth a TV station coming to film?"

"No, take a closer look over there."

Seung-jin carefully examined where the Team 2 Leader was pointing.

He saw the Enson Korea logo on the camera.

"They're headquarters staff? Then why are they filming the business team like that? Are they making some kind of special video?"

"From what I overheard, it's being filmed at the mobile game development team's request."

"Those guys? Why?"

"I don't know either. I heard their mobile team's game is about to hit its 1st anniversary, so maybe it's for that?"

At the Team 2 Leader's words, Seung-jin chuckled and said:

"What's the big deal about a 1st anniversary? We've run games smoothly for 4-5 years and never got anything special."

"Talk about a new broom sweeping clean. What's going on here?"

"Not only did their first mobile game succeed in Japan, but it's also been topping both app stores in sales for a year straight."

Seung-jin laughed dryly, finding it all absurd even as he said it.

He'd felt it on his way to work, but now he was certain.

The world was changing.

*

At exactly 9 AM on the appointed day, Hye-ri, an Enson Korea studio filming staff member, arrived at the office.

"Hello. I'm Han Hye-ri, assistant manager from the Enson Korea Studio filming team."

"Thank you for coming all this way. I'm Ji Ho-jin, General Director of the Enson GT mobile game development team."

"I heard a rough outline of today's filming schedule, but what's the planned filming route?"

At Hye-ri's question, I handed her a floor plan of the team office.

"We'll start by filming me, then move on to the recording studio, art team, planning team, and development room."

"Alright, sounds good. Then, shall we start filming right away?"

I led Hye-ri, who had picked up her filming equipment from the floor, into the conference room.

The conference room we entered was filled with Girls Memorial merchandise I hadn't seen before, the result of team members bringing in all the merchandise from the office to decorate for the filming.

I heard they'd remove everything and put it back in the office while we filmed in the recording studio...

Well, I'm sure they'll handle it.

Lost in these thoughts, before I knew it, Hye-ri called out to me, apparently finished with preparations.

"We're all set up for filming. Shall we start right away?"

"Let's do it."

Hye-ri immediately guided me to the filming spot.

Following her guidance, I sat in the chair. After she seemed to set up the filming angle, she started the countdown.

"Alright, we're starting the shoot! Three, two, one!"

The red light indicating the start of recording lit up on the front camera.

Seeing that, I bowed slightly and began speaking.

"Hello, Girls Memorial administrators. I'm Ji Ho-jin, the General Director in charge of Girls Memorial."

.

.

.

"We plan to bring you even more exciting stories and beautiful, cute students in the future, so we'd be grateful if you continue to love our Girls Memorial."

The recording ended with one final bow as a closing gesture.

When I asked if the recording went well, just in case, Hye-ri nodded and gave a thumbs up in response.

I was a bit nervous, but I'm glad it went well.

After filming, we moved straight to the recording studio without a break due to our tight schedule.

I sent Chae-young a text message before leaving, just in case, but...

She must have left her smartphone somewhere else, as she didn't seem to have checked it.

If she had seen the message, she wouldn't have been sitting in a chair with her legs crossed, drinking a can of beer while working, right up until we entered the recording studio...

"W-What? You're already starting to film?"

"Didn't you see the text I sent you, Senior?"

"I usually turn off my smartphone when working in the recording studio... Just take the filming person and wait outside for a moment."

Although our schedule was tight, we obligingly left the recording studio at Chae-young's request.

We couldn't exactly film with beer cans on the table.

After a brief moment, the recording studio door opened.

"Come in."

At those words, Hye-ri and I entered to find the once messy recording studio now neatly organized.

Chae-young glared at me as I entered first, her expression suggesting she had a lot to say, but she quickly composed herself and spoke to Hye-ri.

"Are we starting the filming right away?"

"Ah, yes! We'll start as soon as we finish setting up."

Hye-ri began setting up for filming as soon as she finished speaking.

"It's cramped in here, so I'll step out first."

As I turned to leave after saying that, I caught a glimpse of Chae-young's lips moving.

'We'll talk after the filming.'

...I'm sure my future self will handle it.

*

After Chae-young's eventful filming, Ye-rin's shoot went smoothly.

"Thanks to the directors' cooperation, we're finishing up quickly."

"Indeed."

"We only have two more shoots left. Shall we head out?"

"Let's do that."

As we got up from the conference room where we'd been taking a short break and headed to the planning team, we were greeted by Seol wearing a white rabbit mask.

"Ah, h-hello...?"

"..."

"U-Um...?"

"Oh, um... That's quite unique."

"Thank you...?"

"..."

"Seol, are you planning to film the video wearing that...?"

At that question, Seol looked back and forth between Hye-ri and me, seemingly flustered, before carefully speaking up.

"Oh, is it not allowed...? The Director said we could wear anything..."

"Well, it's not that it's not allowed, but..."

"Then I'll do it like this! I feel less nervous wearing this..."

"Alright..."

Hye-ri soon snapped out of our conversation and raised her camera.

"Shall we proceed with filming like this, then?"

"Ah, yes! Please take care of me during the filming..."