WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Potter

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Game Director that Returned from Hell ◈

Chapter 4

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By any reasonable standard, that was how things worked.

“...Not a single one?”

“No.”

“You know those famous racing games and shooting games? You’ve never played any of those either?”

“No. My older brother likes them, but I’ve never been interested enough to try.”

People who entered the game industry usually knew something about games. Even if they didn’t, they had at least enjoyed playing them.

Art was no exception. If anything, that was even more true of art.

Design offered a wide range of career options. Without an interest in games, people in that field wouldn’t even look at this industry.

As a result, art majors who applied for jobs in games usually had some experience of being deeply absorbed in them.

Naturally, a question came to mind.

‘Then why on earth did she become an art director in the future?’

Would she only develop an interest in games later?

As I struggled to hide my confusion, Han Seorim shrugged.

“I was busy studying and preparing for entrance exams. Anyway, if that’s all, I’ll be going.”

Han Seorim turned away.

At that moment, my body moved before I could think.

Thap!

I caught her wrist.

“...What are you doing?”

Her displeasure showed on her face.

I immediately realized my mistake, but I couldn’t back down now.

I had to try something.

“Just thirty minutes.”

It was a gamble.

“Please give me just thirty minutes to explain. That’s how long I need to convince you. If you’re still not interested after that, I’ll never bother you about this again.”

“Hmm...”

Han Seorim rubbed her chin, considering it for a moment.

Then she sighed and answered.

“Twenty minutes, then. I wasn’t just saying that. I really do have a lecture.”

“That’s enough.”

“Good. Follow me. Let’s talk in our department lounge.”

Han Seorim gestured toward the building.

I followed her inside.

* * *

There were two female students in the department lounge.

When I entered with Han Seorim, their eyes went wide as rabbits’. For some reason, they looked like they were going to be trouble.

“I need to talk to this seonbae for a moment. Could you give us the room?”

“Of course! We should! We absolutely should!”

“How long should we stay out? An hour? Two?”

“Hey! Two hours is too lo...”

“Twenty minutes will do, so could you please leave?”

There was a growl in Han Seorim’s voice.

The two of them left the room, squealing with laughter.

Our eyes met for a moment, and a chill ran down my spine.

Click!

The door closed.

Han Seorim let out a deep sigh.

“...Just ignore them. Let’s get started. Sit here.”

“Right.”

For a moment, I wondered if young people were simply full of energy. Then I looked at Han Seorim in front of me and decided that wasn’t it.

It was probably a difference in personality.

Anyway, that wasn’t important.

These twenty minutes I’d secured in a hurry were, in effect, my chance to make a recruitment pitch.

I held out the design document I’d brought.

“Would you take a look at this first?”

“What is it?”

“The design document for the game I’m making.”

Han Seorim took it and skimmed through it.

“There’s no title?”

“It’s still in the planning stage.”

“Hmm. Survival horror action?”

“Yes. That’s the game’s genre.”

I cleared my throat.

It was time to get down to business.

“As the document says, it’s a horror game. I’m going to set it in Hell, so I need designs that leave a unique impression. Visual impact is what completes horror. That’s why I chose you, Han Seorim. Your work has character.”

“Didn’t you consider drawing it yourself?”

“My drawing skills are terrible.”

“You’re honest.”

“Surely, being able to judge your own abilities is important when you’re creating something.”

“I’ll give you that.”

“That’s why I’m asking you.”

I wasn’t foolish enough to simply demand that she do it.

I had to make my project appeal to Han Seorim.

“Since you don’t know much about games, I’ll leave out as much of that side as possible and focus on the art. Your job would be to turn what’s in my head into something real. The main tasks would be illustrations, pixel art, and UI design. The world we create that way will be released for everyone to see, alive and moving.”

“Are you trying to appeal to my need for recognition?”

“If that doesn’t interest you, let’s look at it another way. I’ve heard a portfolio is important when looking for a design job. This will be the best portfolio piece you could ask for. Good enough that everyone will acknowledge your ability when you say you designed this game.”

“That’s not guaranteed yet, though.”

“...You’re right.”

She had hit a weak point.

That was the problem. The promises of a game designer with no experience weren’t enough to inspire trust.

I had to admit what was true.

Silence settled between us.

It was cold, with a slightly sharp edge.

Han Seorim broke it with a sigh.

“I think I understand what you’re trying to say. I can also tell this isn’t some silly scheme. But there’s something I don’t quite understand. Can I ask you a question?”

“As many as you like.”

“What’s so special about games?”

“...Sorry?”

“Well, you went looking through the mini-homepage of someone you’ve never even met to find someone to work with. Then you came here to ask, without even knowing whether I’d agree. I’m wondering what’s so special about games that you’d go this far.”

Han Seorim rested her chin on her hand.

For a moment, my mind went blank.

What was a game?

Her question cut straight to the heart of the matter.

First, I asked her something.

“Does that matter?”

“Hmm. To me, I guess?”

She shrugged casually.

Her poker face was too solid for me to read anything from her expression.

I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

But she didn’t seem to be joking, either.

So I thought it over.

It was an important question.

Perhaps my answer could even change Han Seorim’s mind.

That made it worth some serious thought.

Only after I had more or less organized my thoughts could I answer.

“...A game is a form of play.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“A finished product that fulfills its purpose as a form of play. As a definition, that’s accurate. But that’s not the answer you wanted. Are games really so great that they’re worth going this far for? Is that what you’re asking?”

Han Seorim nodded.

I answered.

“At least to me, they are.”

“...In what way?”

“They can captivate people. And there are endless ways to achieve that.”

An art form that brought all the arts together.

That was how people would describe games in the near future.

Games used visual art, music, sports, literature, and every other means available.

All for one purpose: fun.

To let human beings enjoy themselves as human beings.

There was another concept that followed from that.

“To take it a little further, your question also ties into how we define gameplay. After all, that would be our standard for judging what makes a good game.”

“Then what determines gameplay?”

“You can’t pin it down.”

“...What kind of answer is that?”

“It’s the truth.”

Han Seorim frowned, but unfortunately, this really was a question with no single answer.

Ask a hundred people, and all hundred would have different views on gameplay.

There was a famous story.

A developer of Doom, the legendary game that had dominated the twentieth century, once said:

“Story in a game is like story in a porn movie.”

His success with that philosophy proved it could work. But that didn’t mean games with stories were bad.

On the contrary, there had been games that dominated the industry because their stories made them complete.

In the end, what mattered in a game depended on the game itself.

“But...”

Even so, one thing was clear.

Among all the standards used to judge gameplay, it was the one truth that would never change.

“This is what I believe. Gameplay is determined by how well a game delivers on the fun of playing.”

The form didn’t matter.

The elements it used didn’t matter, either.

The one thing that mattered in a game was the fun of playing.

That was also why I had hated the company I’d worked for in my previous life.

The company had pursued the pleasure of consumption rather than the fun of play.

Of course, I couldn’t say that approach was completely wrong. But at least in my view, that wasn’t what games should be.

It was a difference in direction, you could say.

Well, anyway.

“To bring this back to my original point, that’s why I need you. I need your artistic sensibility to make the game I want. Does that answer your question?”

My throat was a little sore after all that talking.

Han Seorim began staring at me.

Her face was expressionless, and a thought came to mind.

With her naturally sharp features, she looked truly cold when she showed no expression.

Then Han Seorim spoke.

“...All right. I think I have a rough idea of what games are.”

“Then...”

“Let me ask one more thing.”

I froze.

Han Seorim continued at once.

“I understand that you think games are amazing. But what makes you go this far, seonbae? From what I’ve heard, you’re a really good student. Shouldn’t you be focusing on your grades?”

That was a much easier question.

I could answer it more comfortably than the last one.

‘...Why?’

It was almost silly to think about it.

Why was I going this far?

I could live a new life. Why was I following the same path again, after finally getting my youth back?

The answer had been decided from the start.

“It’s just...”

Even after dying the way I had in my previous life, even after achieving my goal, my thirst still hadn’t been quenched.

And I couldn’t get the things I had seen out of my head.

I wanted to do this so badly that it was driving me crazy.

“...I feel like I’ll die if I don’t do this.”

That was my only reason.

* * *

That evening, Seorim lay in bed, thinking back over the day.

More precisely, she was thinking about one thing Cheon Yeonho had said.

- I feel like I’ll die if I don’t do this.

He was a strange person.

He had never met her before, yet he had come to find her simply because he liked the drawings on her mini-homepage. Then he had spoken with such passion.

His manner had been far too businesslike for this to be an attempt to flirt with her.

Seorim knew enough to tell the difference.

She hadn’t given him an answer on the spot.

It had seemed like something she needed to think about.

‘I feel like I’ll die if I don’t do this.’

As she repeated his words to herself, a question suddenly came to mind.

‘Have I ever had anything like that?’

Had she ever wanted something so desperately that she thought she would die if she didn’t do it?

Had there ever been anything she wanted to throw herself into, even at the cost of a secure future?

She turned her head.

Her gaze landed on a display cabinet.

One wall of Seorim’s room was filled with the trophies she had earned throughout her life.

‘...No.’

There had never been anything she desperately wanted.

Her family was wealthy. Her parents were kind, and she got along well enough with her friends.

The same went for her achievements.

Ever since she was little, Seorim had been good at everything.

Whatever she tried, she learned it easily. Whatever she tried, she soon grew bored.

That was why she had chosen art.

If she was going to get bored no matter what she did, she thought something creative might hold her interest longer than something repetitive.

That was why Cheon Yeonho felt so unfamiliar.

And why she was curious about him.

- I’m going to make a game.

What was it about games that made him go so far?

Did they have some kind of magic that drove people crazy if they couldn’t make them?

At that moment, she remembered the design document she had shoved into her bag.

She took it out at once and skimmed through it.

Hell, artistic sensibility, illustrations, pixel art, UI.

Was making things like that fun?

She sank deeper into thought.

Then it happened.

Beep-beep-beep!

The door lock released, and the front door opened.

The uneven pace made it obvious who it was.

Pulled out of her thoughts, Seorim frowned and left her room.

“Have you been drinking again?”

“Ohh, my li’l sis!”

Her older brother, Han Jingyeong, was taking off his shoes, laughing heartily and completely drunk.

Then he fell over with a crash!

“Oof!”

“Ugh, you stink of booze.”

This layabout had been excited about celebrating his fifth year at university. Apparently, he’d gone out and drunk himself senseless again.

What kind of nonsense was celebrating a fifth year, anyway?

Shouldn’t he be reflecting on his life instead of celebrating?

He could at least pretend to feel ashamed. What was wrong with him?

‘...Oh, forget it. Why am I even thinking about this?’

It was his life. He could figure it out himself.

Seorim dragged him by the back of his neck and dumped him on the living room sofa. Then she sat opposite him and rested her chin on her hand.

Looking at Jingyeong’s squashed, toadlike face, she remembered something.

‘...Come to think of it, he’s this idiot’s junior.’

Cheon Yeonho was a junior in Jingyeong’s department.

Smack! Smack!

Seorim slapped Jingyeong’s cheeks hard.

“Hey. Hey, wake up.”

“Uuugh...”

“I have something to ask you.”

“Hmmm...?”

“There’s someone in your department called Cheon Yeonho, right?”

“Ah...”

Han Jingyeong moved his lips for a moment, then answered with a loud laugh.

“The junior who doesn’t know how to have fun!”

“He doesn’t know how to have fun?”

“That’s right! He’s a real model student. Never touches alcohol, studies hard!”

That wasn’t the Cheon Yeonho Seorim had met.

Rather than a model student, he seemed more like an oddball.

That was curious.

Whatever else Han Jingyeong lacked, his ability to read people was exceptional.

“Hmm...”

‘This idiot couldn’t figure him out?’

That settled the doubts that had kept her hesitating.

More precisely, it planted enough curiosity in Seorim to overcome that hesitation.

‘Should I give it a try?’

Honestly, she still wasn’t particularly interested in games themselves.

A portfolio? That was useless unless she planned to enter the game industry.

She was simply curious.

How was someone with something they desperately wanted to do different from her?

If she spent time with someone like that, would she discover something like that for herself?

Seorim stood up and said,

“Go to sleep.”

“You sleep well too, li’l sis...!”

A small smile rested on Seorim’s lips as she returned to her room.

Her interest had been stirred.

Though she didn’t know how long it would last.

Art Director (3)

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