WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Game Director that Returned from Hell ◈
Chapter 17
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It was a beach.
Beneath a dark red sky, a gray sea rolled toward a shore of black sand.
The bleak, silent place stirred a strange sense of unease. As if to deepen that feeling, a single figure had been placed on the beach, looking entirely out of place.
“Mmm...”
It was a little girl with snow-white skin and blond hair.
She was so small that she looked no older than five or six, and something about her white dress brought a burial shroud to mind.
Asleep on the beach, she looked almost like a corpse.
What woke her was the sea foam tickling her toes.
Shhhh. The girl opened her eyes to the sound of the waves.
After blinking blankly for a while, she sat up and looked around.
Questions filled her blue eyes, while her tightly pressed lips showed her wariness.
Then it happened.
[Hello.]
A turquoise butterfly flew toward the girl on the sea breeze.
It glowed faintly, the only light in that bleak landscape.
The girl asked in wonder, “Who are you?”
Her clear voice rang like a bell, and the butterfly answered.
[A butterfly, as you can see. I've been waiting for you on this beach.]
The butterfly spoke with the playful tone of a clown.
When the girl held out her hand, it settled gently on it and fluttered its wings as if stretching.
Then the girl asked, “Where am I?”
[Hell.]
“Hell?”
[Yes, the hell where sinners fall.]
The girl tilted her head blankly.
The butterfly continued in a soft voice.
There was something about that voice...
[You've fallen into hell.]
...Yes.
[You were born, and you fell into hell simply because you were born.]
It held a sorrow that even its playful tone couldn't hide.
[Let's go. I'll get you out of here.]
At least, that was how it sounded to me.
* * *
It was a weekend at the office in early May, just after midterms had ended.
Han Seorim was the first to arrive.
“Good morning, Seonbae.”
“Hey.”
“The other two said they're on their way. What about Ayun?”
“She says she's almost here.”
I'd finished most of the planning and concept work.
Today was our first meeting to begin full production.
I felt bad about holding it on a weekend, but with us still being students, there wasn't much choice.
Luckily, the workaholic Han Seorim looked excited.
“We're starting the new project today, right?”
“Not starting, exactly. It's more of a presentation. I'll explain what we're going to make.”
“You're going to put us straight to work, though.”
“Yeah.”
“Then how is that not starting?”
“...”
I had nothing to say to that.
Han Seorim's stare grew sharper.
Fortunately, Jo Ayun arrived just as silence settled over us.
“H-hellooo...”
“Hey.”
Seeing Jo Ayun poke her head through the half-open door still felt strange.
I could still picture her kicking the door open and announcing:
“A strong and mighty morning to you!”
“Good morning. Um...”
Jo Ayun glanced at me, swallowing her next words.
Was she unsure what to call me?
“You can just call me big bro...”
“...Mister.”
“How about Boss?”
“Yes, Boss...”
Wasn't Jo Ayun only five years younger than me?
Sure, even a one-year age gap felt big to students, but wasn't “Mister” a bit much?
“Once you've done your military service, you're a mister. That's just how it is.”
Han Seorim said something she really shouldn't have.
I whipped my head around, but she was already looking elsewhere.
“Ayun, want something to drink?”
“Oh, then coffee...”
“Wait here. I'll make you some.”
Han Seorim disappeared into the break room.
That left Jo Ayun and me alone.
Sitting across the table from each other, we fell into an awkward silence.
That was when Jo Ayun spoke.
“Um, the game...”
“Hm?”
“I tried playing Hellic.”
“Oh.”
Had she played our previous game because she was joining the company?
That was thoughtful of her.
“What did you think?”
“My mom scolded me.”
“...Huh?”
“I stayed up all night playing it...”
Jo Ayun gave a shy smile, her cheeks turning red.
A warm feeling rose inside me.
Having someone appreciate your work really was a pleasure.
“Thanks. I'll take that as a compliment.”
“Okay...”
Jo Ayun lowered her head.
...Well, even the timid Jo Ayun would get used to us, little by little.
Besides, there was what I'd heard.
“Um, sir. Our Ayun was bullied at school. So she has a little trouble making friends...”
“I'll help Ayun grow into a cheerful adult.”
“Oh! Thank you so much. Really!”
If I treated her with warmth, she'd eventually become the Jo Ayun I knew.
Should I start practicing now?
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes, Mis... Boss...!”
“...”
“Have you, Boss?”
“...Yeah, I have.”
Han Seorim returned just then.
“Ayun, here. Drink this.”
“Th-thank you, Sis...”
“...”
Why was I “Mister” while Han Seorim got to be “Sis”?
The thought suddenly flared up, but it didn't last long.
“Yahoo!”
“Yumi's here!”
“Hyeji's here too!”
The two noisy ones, Yumi and Hyeji, had arrived.
Those names made me flinch every time I heard them.
“Yeonho, Yeonho! Long time no see! How were your exams?”
“Seonbae, Seonbae! We haven't eaten! Buy us food!”
“Oh? Is that the high school kid? Oh my! Why is she so cute?”
“H-hell...”
“Ahahaha! Look how soft her cheeks are!”
A brutal slaughter unfolded right from the start.
The shut-in Jo Ayun was being torn apart by two social butterflies!
“U-uaaah...!”
Jo Ayun's eyes spun.
I couldn't leave her like that.
Clap!
I clapped my hands.
“Now that everyone's here, let's start the meeting.”
“What about our food?”
“...We'll eat afterward.”
They really weren't easy to handle.
* * *
We held the meeting at the large table in the middle of the office.
I projected a PowerPoint presentation onto the wall and looked over each team member as they sat watching me.
A sense of déjà vu came over me.
It felt like it had been a long time since I'd stood before a team to explain a project.
It wasn't an entirely pleasant feeling.
“We've decided to go with a mobile RPG this time.”
Developing games at a company meant facing pressure from management right from the planning stage.
It had been even worse for me, since I'd had unusually little authority for a director.
I'd been stripped of almost all control beyond the basic premise and worldbuilding. As a result, my team had always looked at me with disappointment or exhaustion in their eyes.
On project presentation days, those feelings reached their limit.
Without Jo Ayun, those meetings really would have felt like funerals.
“Come on, everyone, focus on the meeting! Why the long faces? Let's give it our all!”
The memory suddenly flashed through my mind.
For a moment, breathing became uncomfortable.
“Seonbae, do you need to poop?”
Han Seorim spoke.
“Want to go before we start?”
“What? What's going on with you two?”
“Gasp...! You two are even open about pooping...”
“Want me to make you poop out of your mouth?”
“...”
Only then was I pulled back to reality.
Ah, had my feelings shown on my face?
I touched my lips for no real reason before finally answering.
“...No, I'm just nervous about standing in front of everyone. I'm fine now.”
“Nervous? That's not like you. Hurry up and start the presentation.”
I felt grateful.
She really was quick to pick up on things.
She was a great help at times like this.
I took a deep breath.
Then I gathered myself and spoke.
“All right, let's begin.”
Beep-beep. The slide changed.
Everyone's eyes turned to the screen.
“...A beach? What's that? An ant person?”
“...It's a little girl.”
“That drawing is seriously awful.”
The harsh criticism hurt.
I pushed my feelings aside and continued.
“She's the main character of our next game. A white girl, six years old. And she's going on an adventure with that butterfly.”
“Fantasy? The kind where you meet fairies and things?”
Han Seorim asked.
What a disappointing question.
I answered, “What do you mean, fantasy? It's an adventure through hell.”
“?”
Everyone froze.
* * *
Hell's standards for sin were different from human laws.
That was the conclusion I'd reached after witnessing countless hells.
From that perspective, there was nothing unusual about a little girl falling into the middle of hell.
After all, hell had no laws to protect children.
Everyone simply received their punishment without exception.
The girl in the white dress was supposed to suffer in the hell assigned to her.
And without the butterfly, that was exactly what would have happened.
[You have no reason to be here. So follow me. I'll get you out.]
The faintly glowing turquoise butterfly had helped the girl get to her feet after she woke on the beach, then led her away.
What I'd witnessed was their long, long escape.
[This is the Hell of Indulgence. The way out is over there. Let's go.]
I'd walked after the girl and the butterfly.
I'd faced the dangers blocking the girl's path and watched her overcome them.
Along the way, one thing had become clear to me.
The girl was numb.
No, she knew nothing.
Like a newborn who'd never experienced anything in the world, or someone who'd forgotten everything, she simply followed the gently fluttering butterfly. And as if that were perfectly natural, the butterfly taught her everything, starting with the most basic facts.
The sight that had stirred my heart was the light of the girl and the butterfly, like a lone firefly glowing on a dark night when even the moon was hidden.
And so, to describe that light and that journey...
“The genre is action-adventure.”
It was a story of adventure, of overcoming danger.
“And drama.”
It was a story about the relationship between the girl and the butterfly.
“There'll be four chapters. We'll build maps around four different concepts. Naturally, each map will have its own mechanics.”
The girl had traveled through four hells.
I would turn each of those four hells into a separate chapter.
And through those four chapters, I would build a single, connected story.
“The focus will be on the story.”
This was different from Hellic.
The coup in the Hell of the Self-Destructive.
Hellic had borrowed only that background and focused on action. This time, the protagonist's story within that setting had to drive the game.
By showing the bond between the girl and the butterfly, their story and their secrets, we would make the game as immersive as possible.
There were already a few games in the industry whose stories made their adventures complete.
End of Us, which had yet to be released, and Lord of War, among others.
Those were the games I needed to learn from.
That made cinematic scenes essential to giving the story more depth.
“We need to insert cinematics at key turning points in the game to bring the story to the fore. We'll need dialogue outside those scenes too.”
“Do we need to make separate cinematic videos?”
A good question.
But that wasn't the plan.
“No. We'll make the cinematics by changing the camera angles and recording in-game footage. I'd love to use motion capture, but we don't have the budget.”
That was the limit of being an indie studio.
We couldn't afford to rent that expensive equipment, let alone apply the captured performances to our character models.
I'd considered using pixel art and scripted sequences instead, but that wouldn't do justice to one of the game's core elements: the scenery of hell.
“Anyway, that's the basic concept for the setting. The key is to make it dreamlike and horrifying.”
The team members' expressions grew serious.
They were probably forming images in their heads.
Should I leave it there for today?
Giving them too much information at once would only mean more time spent sorting it out.
I said, “Our target development period is two years. Longer if the quality isn't good enough. We're not just going to do our best. We're going to make the best.”
I was aiming for Indie GOTY.
I had absolutely no intention of rushing out a sloppy game to meet a deadline.
“So we can't overlook even the smallest detail. We'll go over the specifics at the next meeting. That's all for today.”
I raised the remote.
Beep-beep!
I advanced the slide.
“This is the game's title.”
A name appeared on the screen, one I'd decided on long ago, the moment I'd witnessed the end of the girl and the butterfly's journey.
[Hellic 2 : Hell Of Alice]
This was the story of Alice, who'd fallen into the wonderland called hell.
Direction
Footnotes:
“A strong and mighty morning” echoes a famously awkward Korean translation of a greeting in Might and Magic VI.
“Mister,” “big bro,” and “Sis” reflect Korean forms of address that distinguish an older adult from a close older peer. Ayun's choices make Yeonho feel unfairly old.
End of Us and Lord of War allude to The Last of Us and God of War.
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