Game Star
“Whoa!” A startled cry escaped me as I suddenly canceled. “Cancel! I’ll cancel!”
Cha Ju-hee regretted it too late, but she had made a fatal mistake. Other characters might have been forgiven, but her biggest blunder was mentioning a mask for the masquerade character—something that could be hidden from view.
The moment the meeting ended, I contacted every costume production company I knew.
“A month?” She sighed. “That might be tough. For Dot Hero’s Nine-Tail, Wolf Lady, Masquerade, and Minotaur… even focusing on one seems difficult. Four is impossible.”
“Then… could you at least take one?”
“That’s a bit…”
“We’ll pay you this much as a retainer fee.”
“Of course! We’ll meet the deadline with full dedication and reliability!”
Most companies turned us down, but a few brave ones accepted. I chose four and entrusted them with the order.
Somehow, we resolved the costume issue. But one more matter remained.
“If we’re cosplaying, have you brought a plan for what to fill the booth with?”
“Yes! Our underground warehouse has all those goods Director ordered long ago for some future use. We’ll use them as mini-game prizes and give them to visitors!”
“Mini-game and prizes? That sounds good, Mr. Seok-ho. Could you explain in more detail?”
“Yes!”
Seok-ho’s plan was simple and easy to prepare, yet it fit our game perfectly.
“We’re preparing a large Dot Hero update before Game Star. We’ll use the Chaos mode that will be released there to score players! On-site, if you play and reach a certain score, you get goods based on your score!”
“Everyone, clap for Mr. Seok-ho.”
Clap. Clap. Clap.
I had no idea, but it seemed Mr. Seok-ho had talent for events rather than coding.
‘He might be better suited for the planning team…’
It was true that the Director oversaw every aspect of the game, but that didn’t mean he designed everything himself.
He listened to the planning team, took advice from the art team, asked the programming team if it was implementable, and received feedback from QA—then completed the game.
Among them, the planning team had a division dedicated to live services and content. That was where they planned events that could save or kill the fate of the game in live service.
“Mr. Seok-ho.”
“Yes, Director!”
“For this project… would you like to try?”
“Me?”
Up to now, I had handled every project at PlayForge. I had come up with the ideas, written the detailed plans, and given the final approvals. But as the company grew, taking on everything was arrogance.
“As long as Mr. Seok-ho is fine with it, I’d like to entrust it to him.”
“Umm… me?”
“It’s your idea. I want you to take full responsibility from start to finish. We’ll prepare the booth entirely with your planning.”
“If you say so, I’ll do it— but—”
“No. I mean, do it if you want to.”
It was simply giving him a chance.
Because he might truly have talent for planning, not coding.
He thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I… I’ll do it? But Director, you could do it better.”
“There won’t be such opportunities anymore. Starting next time, we’ll have a large booth. This is PlayForge’s last participation in the regular booth.”
With more staff now, we planned to release one more title before the next Game Star. By then, our studio’s standing would likely be better than now, perhaps seen as a struggling new company.
But it wasn’t certain.
As long as the will didn’t break, bigger goals were always better. This was just the latest one we had set.
“I’ll do it…!”
Seok-ho declared with a resolute expression.
Too solemn, it seemed someone might think he was risking his life to succeed.
“Oh, by the way, my personal info. I mean, any plans that reveal my face… I’ll exercise veto power as the owner, representative director, and overall director. Also, when I’m Director on-site, please call me Masquerade so visitors can’t tell.”
“What?! What are you talking about, Director! I’d have to wear an extremely revealing costume I’ve never even tried on and show my face! I can’t do it!”
“If Ju-hee can’t, what can I do?”
“…”
If you’re angry, why don’t you buy shares instead?
It probably wouldn’t be easy. I had no intention of selling.
“The project lead for this is Mr. Seok-ho, so please help him a lot. The concepts, mini-games, and prizes are set. The rest—booth interior and event execution—shouldn’t be too difficult.”
After handing over the Game Star project to Mr. Seok-ho, a few days later I found out my judgment was correct.
“The interior concept will match our game’s Dot Hero style—dot form! Ms. Min-ji and Mr. Sung-bae, could you make building models of the city map from the first stage of Dot Hero using easy-to-handle materials like styrofoam?”
“It should be possible. Styrofoam is fine… Instead of finished models, assembling on-site would make transport easy.”
“I took a liberal arts course on objects and installation art in college.”
He enthusiastically finalized the booth interior concept.
“The first-place prize will probably be the most expensive, and since the Nine-Tail figure was well-received by users before, that might be best. Second place: miniature doll and illustration book. Third: illustration book. Participation prize: keyring. What do you think?”
“I checked the warehouse this morning. We didn’t have many illustration books.”
“Director. Can we reprint more?”
I nodded.
“Books aren’t going to run away, so extra stock is fine. Print generously but not excessively.”
“Yes! I surveyed a bit. Average visitors to the regular booth are around 300 to 700 people. So, let’s reprint about 1,500 illustration books!”
After that, we discussed in depth how to keep visitors from giving up by setting leveling for prizes to obtain scores.
“S-Seok-ho. One million points for first place is way too much. Playtime is almost ten minutes, and the difficulty is too high.”
“I see! Good input, Team Leader! Then how about 800,000 points?”
“T-That might be okay… Since it’s first place, there needs to be some difficulty. It should be fine.”
“Then first place 800,000, second 500,000, third 400,000. Participation prize is just for participating!”
Finally, he guided the costume players on how to attract visitors in the booth.
“Um… um… What’s this?”
“That’s not it! Team Leader! More seductive! The Nine-Tail is speaking without any confidence—that’s character collapse!”
“It’s a game with no dialogue! How are users supposed to know?”
“Character settings exist, right? Look. ‘Nine-Tail is a seductive female hero who uses others’ emotions as an energy source. The strongest is love! Be careful not to fall for her and join the many men suffering from heart disease!’ Isn’t that written there? Would a character who toys with men’s hearts speak timidly and shrink like you’re doing right now?”
“Ugh…! Do it properly! Um! What’s this?!”
“I’m really angry right now! Again!”
Cha Ju-hee’s acting was worse than I expected, and the surprising voice was Ms. Min-ji’s.
“Mmm… You smell good! You’re great! *purr*”
“Ms. Min-ji. Excellent…”
“You’re flattering me. I’ve practiced a little in between.”
Her acting was top-tier even from my perspective.
I wondered if it was possible because she felt zero shame.
“Director’s turn.”
“…”
“Director?”
“Masquerade is originally a taciturn character.”
“Huh?”
“I know my own created character best. Any problem?”
“No.”
Masquerade is originally a taciturn character.
Just because it’s a character I created doesn’t mean anyone can deny it. From now on, the official rule is “Masquerade is taciturn.”
Time passed. When the day of Game Star arrived, I received one call.
[Ah-woo is participating in Game Star? This sky must be helping us! I was just finishing my other schedule and heading to you with good news, but I never expected overlapping dates! See you there! PlayForge’s booth… I’m looking forward to it! Tensin employees will come too!]
Before I could beg them to reschedule, the call ended. I was devastated.
My social image was about to be shattered.
Let’s think.
If the company’s owner, representative director, and overall director were cosplaying at the booth, what would ordinary people think?
“Ah~ Looks like the boss is really into game promotion~”
Would they think that? I didn’t think so.
If it were me, I would think,
“Ooh. The company representative must have bad narcissism and wanted to cosplay. What a narcissistic person. Tsk tsk.”
‘I would assume I did it because I wanted to…’
Logically, would an employee force the 100% owner to cosplay?
Then, how would Ma Chenyu-hyung and Tensin employees see me?
Just imagining it made my body shiver.
This was nothing short of social suicide.
“Sorry, but I don’t think I can cosplay at Game Star. There’s an important meeting—”
“You can go out briefly for a moment, right?”
“No, I don’t know how long the meeting will last or when it’s scheduled—”
“You promised. As long as the mask doesn’t come off or Director isn’t revealed, it’s fine. You’re changing your mind just because it’s tomorrow?”
Her eyes burned with anger.
She was fully wearing the costume for rehearsal. Her bare shoulders, crossed arms, and glaring made me feel suppressed.
“It… was a joke.”
“Right? I thought you were the type who says one thing and changes it with one mouth~”
Ms. Min-ji, who was almost in a bikini, didn’t care, but why only Ju-hee? My past karma was so regretful.
‘I shouldn’t have asked for it just because it looked fun…’
Who would have known that Tensin people would visit Korea on this exact day? They were clearly coming to invest in a company they liked at Game Star.
The day passed in regret. On Game Star day,
We showed the booth we had prepared to visitors.
“Mommy~ Handsome self~ Where are you rushing off to?”
“Me? I’m not going anywhere in particular, just looking around…”
“Mommy! Great! Come this way?”
“E-Eh.”
Through the bustle, visitors were drawn to Cha Ju-hee.
“Sniff. Sniff.”
“What are you doing…?”
“You smell good.”
“Huh? I didn’t put on perfume or anything…? But are you cosplaying? What costume is it?”
“Come and see! Follow me! Kang!”
Ms. Min-ji was conducting the booth promotion in perfect style, luring curiosity.
“Mmmhwaaaah!”
“Whoa, damn! It’s insane! It really looks like a cow head!”
“Mmmhwaaaah!”
“The axe isn’t a joke either! Please look just once! Pose like you’re about to swing the axe any second!”
Seok-ho, who had forgotten even to promote the booth, was enjoying cosplay more than anyone on-site.
Everyone was giving their best, so I couldn’t just stand still.
Point.
I stopped one visitor and pointed in a direction with my finger.
“…?”
“…”
“What?”
“…”
“Go that way? Why me?”
I had promoted the booth silently according to the official setting, but even I, who wasn’t very good at it, made sure everyone worked hard.
While I was focused on promotion,
[Vice Manager Ma. The event staff said there’s a PlayForge booth over here. Maybe… Ah! Found it.]
A group approaching while speaking Chinese.
I squeezed my eyes shut, covered by the mask so no one could see my eyes.
‘It’s here.’
Social death was approaching.