Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Direction
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It was a beach.
Under a dark red sky, a gray sea lapped against a shore of black sand.
For some reason, the desolate, silent space evoked a strange sense of unease, and as if to amplify it, a single, incongruous being had been placed on the beach.
“Hmm…”
It was a young girl with snow-white skin and blonde hair.
She was so small she looked to be five or six at most, and her white one-piece dress had a quality reminiscent of a burial shroud.
Lying asleep on the beach, she looked just like a corpse.
What woke the girl was the foam of a wave tickling her toes.
*Swaaa—*
The girl’s eyes opened to the sound of the waves.
Blinking blankly, she soon sat up and looked around.
Her blue eyes held a question, and her tightly sealed lips were tinged with caution.
It was then.
[Hello.]
A turquoise butterfly, riding the sea breeze, flew toward the girl.
It was a butterfly that shimmered faintly, a lone spot of light in the desolate landscape.
The girl, fascinated, asked.
“Who are you?”
Her clear voice rang out like a bell, and the butterfly answered.
[I’m a butterfly, just as you see. I’ve been waiting for you on this beach.]
The butterfly’s tone was playful, like a clown’s.
When the girl held out her hand, the butterfly landed gently upon it and fluttered its wings as if stretching.
At that moment, the girl asked.
“Where am I?”
[Hell.]
“Hell?”
[Yes, the hell where sinners fall.]
The girl tilted her head in a daze.
The butterfly added more in a soft, low voice.
That voice was, how to put it…
[You have fallen into Hell.]
…Yes.
[You were born, and for the crime of being born, you fell into Hell.]
It held a sorrow that even its playful tone couldn’t hide.
[Let’s go. I’ll get you out of this place.]
At least, that’s how it seemed to me.
***
Early May, right after midterms. A weekend at the office.
The first to arrive was Han Seo-rim.
“Good morning, senior.”
“You’re here.”
“Yep, the other two are on their way. What about A-yun?”
“She said she’s almost here.”
We were at a point where the planning and concept were more or less complete.
Today was the first meeting for the start of full-scale production.
I felt bad that it was on a weekend, but considering they were students, it was an unavoidable choice.
Fortunately, the workaholic Han Seo-rim looked excited.
“We’re starting the new project today, right?”
“Not starting, more like an announcement. I’m just explaining what we’ll be making from now on.”
“You’re going to put us to work right away, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Then how is that not starting?”
“…”
I was at a loss for words.
Han Seo-rim’s glare grew sharp.
Just as silence fell, Jo A-yun thankfully arrived.
“Ah, hellooo…”
“You’re here.”
Seeing Jo A-yun peek her head through the half-open door, I felt a sense of awkwardness.
—A mighty and powerful morning to you!
The memory of her kicking the door open was still vivid in my mind.
“Good morning. Uhm…”
Jo A-yun glanced at me and swallowed her words.
Is it about what to call me?
“Feel free to call me opp—”
“…Mister.”
“How about President?”
“Yes, President…”
Was there a five-year age gap between me and A-yun?
I know a one-year difference can feel huge to a student, but ‘mister’ was a bit much.
“Once you’ve done your military service, you’re a mister. It’s just how it is.”
Han Seo-rim said something she shouldn’t have.
I whipped my head around, but she was already looking elsewhere.
“A-yun, want something to drink?”
“Oh, then coffee, please…”
“Wait here. I’ll be right back with it.”
Han Seo-rim disappeared into the break room.
Now it was just me and Jo A-yun.
An awkwardness settled as we sat facing each other across the table.
It was in that moment that Jo A-yun spoke up.
“Um, about the game…”
“Yeah?”
“*Hellic*. I tried playing it.”
“Ah.”
So she played our previous game because she was joining the company.
I felt a surge of pride.
“How was it?”
“My mom scolded me.”
“…Hmm?”
“For staying up all night playing it…”
Jo A-yun smiled shyly, her cheeks flushing.
A feeling of satisfaction washed over me.
There’s nothing quite like having someone acknowledge your work.
“Thanks. I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Yeees…”
Jo A-yun’s head drooped.
…Well, I’m sure even the timid Jo A-yun will get used to things little by little.
Besides, I knew her story.
—*Um, sir. My A-yun was bullied at school. So she has a hard time making friends…*
—*I’ll help A-yun become a bright adult.*
—*Oh! Thank you. Really!*
If I just watched over her with a warm gaze, she would one day become the Jo A-yun I knew.
Maybe I should start practicing now.
“Did you eat?”
“Yes, Mis… President…!”
“…”
“What about you, President?”
“…I ate too.”
Just then, Han Seo-rim returned.
“A-yun, here you go.”
“Th-thank you, Seo-rim…”
“…”
Why am I ‘Mister’ and Han Seo-rim is ‘Seo-rim’?
The thought flared up but didn’t last long.
“Yahoo!”
“Yu-mi’s here!”
“Hye-ji’s here too!”
The two drama queens, Yu-mi and Hye-ji, had arrived.
Their names still made me flinch whenever I heard them.
“Yeon-ho, Yeon-ho! Long time no see? Did you do well on your exams?”
“Senior, senior! We haven’t eaten! Buy us food!”
“Oh? Is that the high schooler? Oh my! Why is she so cute~!”
“Ah, hell…”
“Kyahaha! Look how squishy her cheeks are!”
A gruesome scene of slaughter unfolded from the very start.
The reclusive Jo A-yun was being ravaged by two social butterflies!
“Ugh, ughhh…!”
Jo A-yun’s eyes were spinning.
I couldn’t just leave her like that.
*Clap!*
I made a sharp sound.
“Since everyone’s here, let’s start the meeting.”
“What about our food?”
“…We’ll eat after.”
These people were definitely not easy to handle.
***
The meeting was held at the large table in the center of the office.
I projected a PowerPoint presentation onto the wall and took in the team members one by one as they sat looking up at me.
A sense of déjà vu washed over me.
It felt like it had been a long time since I’d stood before a team and explained a project like this.
The memory wasn’t entirely pleasant.
—*We’ve decided to go with a mobile RPG this time.*
In a corporate development environment, you feel the company’s pressure from the very planning stages.
It was even worse for me, as I had particularly little authority among the directors.
My role was such that I was stripped of nearly all authority beyond the basic concept and world-building. As a result, my team members’ eyes were always filled with disappointment or fatigue.
On project announcement days, it would reach a breaking point.
If it hadn’t been for Jo A-yun, the meetings would have truly felt like a funeral.
—*Come on, everyone, let’s focus on the meeting. Why the long faces? Let’s get fired up!*
A flashback of that time hit me.
For a moment, my breathing became labored.
“Senior, do you need to take a crap?”
Han Seo-rim said.
“Want to go and come back?”
“What? What’s with you two?”
“Gasp…! Even shitting is off-…”
“Want me to beat you stupid?”
“…”
Only then was my mind pulled back to reality.
Ah, my mood must have shown on my face.
I touched my lips 괜히 입술을 매만지다 겨우 답했다.
“…No, I just get nervous standing in front of people. I’m fine now.”
“Nervous? That’s not like you. Just get on with the presentation.”
I felt a sense of gratitude.
Should I say she’s quick on the uptake?
In situations like this, she was a huge help.
I took a moment to breathe deeply.
Then, composing myself, I opened my mouth.
“Alright, I’ll begin the presentation.”
*Beep—*
The screen changed.
The team’s eyes were glued to the screen.
“…A beach? What’s that? An ant-person?”
“…It’s a girl.”
“The art is really grotesque.”
The harsh critique stung.
I set my feelings aside and continued.
“This is the protagonist of our next game. A white girl. Six years old. She’ll be going on an adventure with that butterfly.”
“Fantasy? Is it the kind of genre where you meet fairies and stuff?”
Han Seo-rim asked.
Feeling like she was missing the point, I answered.
“What fantasy? It’s an adventure in Hell.”
“?”
The team froze.
***
Hell’s criteria for sin differ from human laws.
That was the conclusion I reached after witnessing countless hells.
From that perspective, a young girl falling into the middle of Hell was nothing special.
There was no concept of laws to protect children in Hell.
There was only punishment, dealt out impartially.
The girl in the white dress was supposed to have suffered in the hell she was assigned to.
And she would have, if not for the butterfly.
[You have no reason to be here. So follow me. I will get you out.]
The turquoise butterfly, scattering a faint light, helped the girl who had woken up on the beach to her feet and led her away.
What I saw was that long, long process of escape.
[This is the Hell of Hedonism. The exit is over there. Let’s go that way.]
I walked with the girl and the butterfly.
I faced the threats that blocked the girl’s path, and I witnessed the process of her overcoming those threats.
In the midst of it all, I realized something for certain.
The girl was unfeeling.
No, she was ignorant.
Like a newborn who had experienced nothing of the world, or like someone who had forgotten everything, she simply followed the fluttering butterfly. And the butterfly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, taught her the most obvious facts, one by one.
The scene that stirred something deep inside me was the light of the girl and the butterfly, like a firefly shining alone on a dark, moonless night.
And so, I call that light, that journey…
“The genre is action-adventure.”
It was a story of an adventure to overcome crises.
“And drama.”
It was a story about the relationship between the girl and the butterfly.
“There are four chapters. We’ll create four maps, each with a different concept. Naturally, the mechanics will differ significantly depending on the map.”
The girl wandered through four hells.
Those four hells would be represented as four different chapters.
And through those four chapters, a single, overarching narrative would be built.
“The focus will be on the story.”
This was different from *Hellic*.
The coup d’état in the Hell of the Self-Destructors.
Unlike *Hellic*, which only took the background setting and focused on ‘action,’ this time the ‘protagonist’s story’ within that setting had to be the driving force of the game.
By showing the bond between the girl and the butterfly, their story and their secrets, we would push the game’s immersion to its limits.
There are already a few games in the industry where the adventure is perfected by the story.
‘End of Us’ and ‘Lord of War,’ which have yet to appear in this world.
Those are the kinds of games we’ll be benchmarking.
As such, cinematic sequences to increase the density of the story are indispensable.
“We need to insert cinematics at the game’s turning points to present the story head-on. We’ll also need to insert other things, like dialogue.”
“Do we have to create separate cinematic videos?”
Good question.
But wrong.
“No, the cinematics will be done by recording in-game footage with different camera angles. I’d love to go as far as motion capture, but we don’t have the budget.”
The limits of an indie studio.
We have neither the resources to rent such expensive equipment, nor the capacity to overlay models onto actors.
I considered doing it with pixel art and using scripts instead, but then we wouldn’t be able to bring out the hellish background, one of the game’s core elements.
“Anyway, that’s the basic background concept. The key points are ‘dreamlike’ and ‘grotesque.’”
The team members’ expressions turned serious.
They were probably forming images in their own minds.
Maybe I should stop here for today.
If I bombard them with too much information from the start, it will take time to organize.
I said.
“Our target development period is two years. Longer, if the quality isn’t there. We’re not making the best we can; we’re making the absolute best.”
We’re aiming for Indie GOTY.
I have no intention of rushing out a shoddy product because we’re pressed for time.
“So we can’t miss a single small detail. We’ll go over the specifics in the next meeting. That’s all for today.”
I picked up the remote.
*Beep—!*
I changed the slide.
“This is the title of the game.”
The name I had decided on the moment I saw the end of the girl and the butterfly’s story appeared on the screen.
[Hellic 2: Hell Of Alice]
This was the story of an Alice who fell into the strange land of Hell.
Direction