Chapter 42
A few days later, in the morning.
Tae-sun visited the Department Head's office early in the morning, carrying the equipment purchase request forms that had been distributed a few days ago.
"Good morning! I've brought the equipment purchase request forms you asked us to submit a few days ago."
"Oh? You brought them quicker than I expected."
"The development team's situation is a bit urgent."
Tae-sun handed me a few sheets of paper.
Wait, just a few?
Tae-sun must have noticed my confusion because he hastily added, "Well, I heard from the team members that when we reorganized into a studio, all the test devices were transferred to the GM Studio."
"Ah, right."
Come to think of it, a few days ago, some members of the development team had come to complain that all the mobile test devices had been moved to the GM Studio.
I'd been too busy and completely forgot about this.
"I'm sorry. I should have paid attention to this, but I forgot due to the tight schedule."
"It's alright. We haven't even finished implementing the prototype yet."
"Thanks for understanding. For now, go back to work."
Tae-sun nodded at my words.
"Yes, I understand."
"Alright."
After Tae-sun left, I opened the equipment purchase report he had handed me.
A list of familiar and nostalgic brands.
Whenever I saw things like this, I was reminded that I had indeed returned to the past.
Galaxy S4 and two of each of its variants, plus Pantech, HTC, LG, Apple... There's quite a lot.
It seems they requested two of each, probably including devices for the art team to test on...
I couldn't help but shake my head at the list of smartphone manufacturers, almost reminiscent of the Warring States period.
No wonder Android version development is so slow.
Clicking my tongue, I signed the equipment purchase request form.
***
Late at night, well past quitting time.
As I tapped away at my keyboard in the office, I let out a deep sigh.
How long has it been since I've had to work overtime like this...?
I ended up stuck working late due to Myung-hoon's sudden request for help.
From what I heard, there seemed to be a minor incident related to the Girls Memorial collaboration, but it didn't seem to be a major problem since there was no talk of "banging heads" like during the initial launch.
While assessing the situation and writing up a report, I finally couldn't take it anymore. I rubbed my tired eyes and stood up.
I really can't bear this anymore.
Thinking I should at least grab a cup of coffee, I left the office and headed for the elevator.
Passing by other employees working overtime, I reached the elevator to find someone already waiting.
It was Ye-rin.
"Ye-rin."
"Oh, Senior..."
Ye-rin turned at my call.
Her expression was uncharacteristically gloomy.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, it's just... work isn't going well."
"By work, do you mean character design?"
Ye-rin let out a deep sigh at my words.
"Haah... Yeah. Well, not just that, but..."
"Why? Did something happen?"
"I don't know. It's not that I can't draw, but when I finish, I'm just not satisfied with it..."
From what I gathered, it seemed she had been in a slump since a few days ago when her expression had been off.
"You have an iPad, right?"
"Huh? Yeah."
"I'll take a look at what the problem is. Bring your pad with all the drawings you've done so far and come down to Starbucks. I'll grab a seat first."
"Okay."
Ye-rin nodded obediently and headed back to the office. I watched her go, then made my way down to the Starbucks on the first floor.
The cafe looked much quieter than during the day, with the rush hour long past.
I sat in a secluded corner where there weren't many people around, ordered coffee, and waited. It wasn't long before Ye-rin entered the cafe.
"Over here."
Ye-rin approached and sat down at my call.
"Did you order drinks?"
"I already ordered two. Just bring them over when the bell rings."
"Okay. I should have been the one to buy..."
"Don't worry about it. More importantly, did you bring your pad?"
"Oh, yes. Here you go."
I took the iPad Ye-rin handed me and immediately went to the gallery containing her drawings.
"Let's see."
The screen filled with dozens of rough sketches.
For reference, here's the character brief I had sent to Ye-rin:
Height around 160cm, average.
Human race.
Appearance of a 17-year-old high school student.
Long black hair with hidden red undertones, a secret two-tone style.
As she leads the resistance in an underground city, aim for a sharp and gloomy feel.
Due to the underground city's geothermal heat, outfit should be a black hoodie (symbolizing the resistance), tank top, and denim hot pants.
It was clear that her claim of being in a slump wasn't a lie, judging by the many rough sketches showing various attempts.
From small changes in appearance, hairstyle, and outfit designs,
To larger attempts at changing tattoos or even the character's race.
Among them, I occasionally spotted rough sketches of revealing outfits like bikinis, bunny girl costumes, and cheongsams.
"This is..."
I discreetly showed it to Ye-rin at an angle only visible to us, wary of others seeing.
Ye-rin panicked and tried to snatch the pad away.
Of course, thanks to the physical difference, she couldn't take it.
"S-Senior... Could you please give me back the pad for a moment...?"
"Why? I haven't finished looking at all the sketches yet."
"Oh, come on, Senior...!"
Ye-rin's voice rose slightly in embarrassment, and I had no choice but to return the pad.
As soon as she got it back, Ye-rin frantically searched through the gallery, deleting the more revealing rough sketches.
"Look, I really don't mind."
Ye-rin bristled at my response.
"That kind of reaction from you is even more annoying, you know."
After flipping through the pad screen this way and that, checking the rough sketches, Ye-rin finally handed the pad back to me.
Despite the small commotion, after looking through all the sketches, I could get a sense of where the problem lay.
First off, there didn't seem to be any issues with her drawing skills when it came to the character's appearance or costume design.
Even in the rough sketches, Ye-rin's signature refined style with its restrained feel came through clearly.
It wasn't for nothing that Ye-rin had said there was no problem with completing the drawings.
The issue, however, was the concept.
Out of the dozens of sketches I flipped through, not a single one captured the feel of a concept suitable for Last Arcadia.
If anything, someone who didn't know better might even believe these were new character designs for Girls Memorial.
The gloomy, apocalyptic feel of Last Arcadia wasn't coming through at all.
If there was any silver lining, it was that Ye-rin's drawing skills weren't the problem.
If she had somehow lost her touch and her drawing ability itself had deteriorated, it would have been a real headache.
But with this kind of issue, it seemed like some advice on conceptual direction would be enough to solve the problem.
"Senior, do you think you know what the problem is?"
At Ye-rin's question, I put down the pad and slowly nodded.
"Before that, let me ask you one thing, Ye-rin. What were you thinking about when you were designing?"
At my question, Ye-rin pondered for a moment before speaking.
"You know, that thing you told me about before."
"The thing I told you?"
"You know, parallel worlds."
"Ah, so you were thinking about that while drawing?"
Ye-rin nodded at my question.
"So, ultimately, the idea of parallel worlds means that there's another world existing parallel to the one you're living in, right?"
"That's right."
"Which means that while the worlds are different, the people existing in those worlds don't change, that's how I interpreted it."
Ye-rin took a sip of her Frappuccino, as if feeling a bit stifled, then continued.
"In the end, even if the worlds are different, the essence of the people existing in the same world is the same, right? So I thought the atmosphere would inevitably be similar too."
"That's exactly it."
"Huh?"
"The reason why you weren't satisfied even after completing your drawings."
"?"
Ye-rin's expression was still puzzled, as if she hadn't quite grasped it yet.
"Isn't that also why you're not happy with the rough sketches you're drawing now? Because they don't convey that post-apocalyptic, oppressed underground city dweller vibe."
"That's right. It's not a gloomy atmosphere, it's more..."
"Like the bright atmosphere of Girls Memorial?"
"...Yes."
After this conversation, I clearly understood what the problem was.
The reason for the slump that had been troubling Ye-rin.
It was a lack of experience.
The concepts of the two games were already quite opposite, making it a challenging task for Ye-rin.
And then to ask her to create a character based on just settings, without any narrative to build the character around—it was bound to be difficult.
In the end, trying to create a character with an opposing concept using only the outer shell of settings made it impossible to capture the desired concept feel.
That seemed to be what had led to Ye-rin's slump.
"Surprisingly, the solution is simple."
"What is it?"
"First, take this."
Ye-rin took the pad I handed her.
Soon, the prologue and main story chapter 1 scenario were transferred via AirDrop.
"Read it once, and you'll understand why you couldn't grasp the concept and were all over the place."
"...Really?"
Ye-rin looked at me with skeptical eyes, unsure about the solution.
But when I urged her again, she finally started reading the main story with a dubious expression.
"How is it? Starting to get a feel for it?"
"No way, there are so many settings here that weren't in the original character brief you gave me."
Ye-rin looked at the scenario on the pad screen with an incredulous expression.
Then, a laugh of disbelief escaped her.
"I can't believe it... I struggled for days because I didn't see this?"
Still finding it hard to believe, Ye-rin continued with words close to a complaint.
"This is all your fault, Senior... If you had shown me these scenarios earlier..."
"...I'm sorry."
"It's fine. What's done is done, and the important thing is that I know how to solve it now..."
After complaining for a while, Ye-rin finally relaxed her expression and gulped down the Frappuccino she had ordered.
"Well then, I'll head out first. I think I've got a sense of how to approach the design now."
"Alright."
It seemed her claim of having grasped the concept wasn't a lie, as Ye-rin left the cafe with hurried steps.
The gloomy look from before was nowhere to be seen on her face.
Come to think of it, I forgot to tell her what the bad story was... Well, I guess it worked out?