Chapter 22
Chapter 22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Boss Design (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The next day, Seo-rim woke up quite early.
A glance at the clock showed the hour hand pointing to 6:30 AM.
Considering she’d finally fallen asleep around 2 AM after wrestling with her thoughts, it was a disastrous amount of sleep.
She was just frowning and getting out of bed when it hit her.
*I need to get to work… Ah.*
Today was her day off.
The day she had plans to meet Yeon-ho.
There was still plenty of time until lunch.
Seo-rim flopped back onto her bed.
She stared blankly at the ceiling, replaying her conversation with Yeon-ho.
"It's because you're buried in it. If you don't get some air, you can't see the whole picture."
Her pride was wounded.
To hear that from Yeon-ho, when she was supposed to be the expert in this field.
But she couldn't deny his words.
Lately, Seo-rim had been lost.
The pressure of having to design the chapter's core boss all by herself was weighing heavily on her.
Her mind grew complicated again.
At the end of it all, Seo-rim eventually closed her eyes.
*I should just sleep.*
She didn't want to wander around looking haggard.
Fortunately, falling back asleep was easy.
The fatigue must have truly built up, because as soon as she steadied her breathing, her mind went blank.
***
She woke up again at exactly 10:40 AM.
By the time she washed up and got ready, it was noon.
A text came from Yeon-ho.
[where u?]
She replied.
[Leaving now.]
[k see u there. will take me 30 min to get there too.]
Seriously, what was with this guy's weird texting style?
Feeling like she would never get used to it, Seo-rim left her house.
The meeting spot was an intersection near their university.
Seo-rim had no trouble finding Yeon-ho.
"You're here."
He was dressed in uncharacteristically neat clothes.
Seo-rim felt a sense of novelty.
It was, after all, the first time in the past year she had met Yeon-ho for reasons other than work.
A slight awkwardness hung in the air.
"What's with the nice clothes? Was that a real date proposal?"
Yeon-ho replied to her attempt to ease the tension.
"It's not a date proposal. And I dressed nicely because we're going somewhere that requires it."
"Huh?"
"This."
Yeon-ho pulled two tickets from his pocket.
Seo-rim let out a dry laugh.
"An art exhibition? You like this kind of stuff?"
"No, I wouldn't know what I'm looking at. I thought you might like it."
"What makes you say that?"
"...Am I wrong? You study design, don't you?"
"Studying design and liking exhibitions are two different things."
Yeon-ho's lips pressed into a firm line.
It was a little funny.
Still, the fact that he'd gone to the trouble of preparing this didn't feel bad.
Seo-rim swept her hair back and said.
"Sigh, whatever. Let's go."
Right, this is to clear my head.
Whatever it was, she felt the need for a break, so Seo-rim decided to just spend the day without thinking too much.
The exhibition hall wasn't far.
About a 20-minute walk.
Summer was approaching and the sun was hot, but a cool breeze made it feel like a pleasant stroll.
[An Ensemble of Classic and Modern]
The exhibition's pamphlet was visible.
Seo-rim suddenly asked.
"Did you even know what kind of exhibition this was when you bought the tickets?"
"No."
"Right, there's no way you'd know anything about art history."
"You can explain it to me."
"Forget it. It'd be a waste of breath. Let's just go."
Has it been two years?
The last time she'd gone to an exhibition was in her last year of high school, because of her mother's work.
It was more of a reluctant visit for networking than for appreciation, but the memory was still quite vivid in her mind.
A strange feeling of novelty.
Seo-rim pushed it aside and began to walk slowly from the entrance.
Yeon-ho spoke.
"It's quiet."
"It's an exhibition."
Yeon-ho was focused on the sight of the few people appreciating the art.
Seo-rim shifted her gaze to the artwork and added in a soft voice.
"Honestly, very few people who come here actually know how to look at art. Most of them come either to indulge in the idea of being cultured, or for business networking."
"That's cynical."
"What can I do? It's the truth. Artworks themselves are like that, to begin with."
Seo-rim said, looking at an oil painting that mixed classical and modern techniques.
"What determines a piece's value is mostly the artist's name, its rarity, and its history. The actual magic the artwork itself possesses is a much lower priority than you'd think."
"I didn't know that."
"There's a reason paintings are used for tax evasion."
Seo-rim chuckled.
The fact suddenly struck her as funny.
"Anyway, that's how it is. What defines a work of art is, in the end, its evaluation."
Come to think of it, isn't life the same?
From a person's appearance to their inner qualities like beliefs, disposition, and talents, it's public opinion that judges their worth and superiority.
For example, how the standard of beauty was once plumpness, but in the modern era, it changed to thinness.
There were other examples, too.
"You know, like holding chopsticks. It doesn't really matter how you hold them as long as you can use them, but you still have to correct it to the 'proper' way. Just because other people will look down on you."
This was Seo-rim's own story.
As a child, Seo-rim used to grip her chopsticks like a fist, and her mother, worried it would be seen as a flaw, spent a long time correcting her.
It was quite difficult at the time.
Because she couldn't understand why.
Then, an incident occurred that decisively helped her correct it.
She was mercilessly teased for it in elementary school.
"Han Seo-rim can't even hold her chopsticks right!"
The kid who said it was one who had always disliked her.
A kid who would just loiter nearby when she was surrounded by other children.
That was when Seo-rim realized that people were surprisingly indifferent to tearing others down.
And so she came to believe: evaluation makes the person.
The gazes and criticisms of others hurt.
So you must never show them your back.
"You have to consider public perception to live well."
A friend today can be an enemy tomorrow; that's just how people are.
She felt awkward after she finished speaking.
Seo-rim scratched her cheek and laughed awkwardly.
"Um, how did we end up on this topic?"
The moment she spoke and turned her head.
She flinched, her body stiffening.
Because Yeon-ho was looking down at her with a blank expression.
The memory of the previous day came to mind, and Seo-rim narrowed her eyes.
"...What are you staring at?"
"Nothing."
An inscrutable face, impossible to know what he was thinking.
Soon, his gaze withdrew and turned toward a painting.
But his words were still directed at Seo-rim.
"I was just wondering if that's why you're so obsessed with community feedback."
The corner of Seo-rim's eye twitched.
"...Excuse me?"
"You're sensitive to evaluations, aren't you?"
"Of course. It's a product."
"You're more sensitive than just product management."
It was a bewildering statement.
And a little offensive.
Seo-rim tried not to show it, forcing the corners of her mouth up as she spoke.
"What's that supposed to..."
"You're buried in their evaluations. You're trying to erase your own judgment because of it."
She couldn't just let that slide.
And yet, no rebuttal came out.
*Am I?*
Because a thought occurred to her—that maybe, just maybe, Yeon-ho was right.
As she was thinking it over.
Something surprising happened.
In the midst of her deliberation, she discovered a part of herself that was already admitting it.
But her pride wouldn't let her admit it outright, so Seo-rim said.
"...No, I'm not."
"You're not?"
"I'm not. And even if I were, so what? We're making a game to sell it. Of course we have to be mindful of the customers. What's wrong with creating something that caters to them?"
"Nothing's wrong with it. You're right."
But.
Yeon-ho added a condition.
"I believe that even in commercial art, it must be supported by ego. Something made solely to be sold has no allure."
"Of course, it can't become bloated. You have to maintain the line where commerce can be artistic. This is an extension of that. Commercial art is about adding an unconscious allure within a populist package."
"What creates that allure is the ego... your self. It's the combination of your intuition as a designer, your worldview, and your perspective that creates depth."
Yeon-ho's gaze, which had been wandering over the artworks, slowly turned to Seo-rim.
"A creator, you see, isn't someone who frets over the public."
"..."
"They're someone who makes the public fret. They should shake hearts, create thirst, and inspire longing with a single work. And I believe you are someone who can do that."
The last thing Yeon-ho said was this.
"But you're trying to erase that. I think it's because the only thing you can see is their evaluation."
Standing before him, Seo-rim felt as if she were being scolded.
No, am I actually being scolded?
I don't know.
Words just surged up from within her.
Seo-rim clenched her teeth, then spat them out.
"...Then what are you telling me to do?"
"Hmm..."
"What if I do whatever I want and it fails? This game has a nine-figure production cost. You know that, right? The responsibility? I'm not the one taking it. You are."
She held back the words that threatened to follow.
Anything more would just be emotional.
A reasonable amount of logic makes for a conversation.
So Seo-rim just glared fiercely at Yeon-ho, and in response, he said.
"Then I'll take it. The responsibility."
Thump. Seo-rim's body froze.
"That's why I started my own studio. If it fails, it fails."
It didn't register at first.
His words were not something to be said so easily.
Unbelievable.
It was enough to make her laugh in disbelief.
"...You're really telling me to do whatever I want?"
"Yes. Don't worry about the evaluations."
"What if I come up with something terrible?"
"That won't happen. That's why I chose you."
"What..."
"I told you. A few doodles on your personal homepage. That alone was enough to convince me it had to be you, so I sought you out."
She remembered.
Yeon-ho had said something like that when they first met.
As her mind went blank, Yeon-ho spoke.
"You can do it. The work created by your ego will surely be brilliant enough to astonish people."
Seo-rim was suddenly overcome with confusion, not knowing what expression to make.
What's the reason?
Someone's complete acknowledgement? Unwavering trust?
Was I moved by that?
No, it was something different from that.
But one thing was certain.
"I've been rambling. We came here to clear your head, I hope I didn't just make it more complicated. Sorry."
A deep sense of ease washed over her.
With just a few words.
A wave of awkwardness surged.
For some reason, her skin felt itchy, but it wasn't an unpleasant sensation.
Seo-rim's lips twitched as she searched for something to say.
But nothing much came to mind.
That was why she ended up spitting out something prickly.
"...That's so cringey."
"Hmm?"
"What you said. Isn't it just some cliché like, 'If you can't do it, I'll make you into someone who can'?"
But this guy just couldn't let it go, could he?
"Make you? Bullshit. I can't do anything."
Yeon-ho shrugged.
"You're just talented. I just got to you first. That's where my confidence comes from."
Suddenly, her face felt hot.
"...You're gross."
Seo-rim started walking away.
"Hey, wait up."
Yeon-ho followed her.
So she quickened her pace.
*Why is this exhibition so long?!*
She screamed internally, moving quickly and just skimming the artworks for a while.
*Thud—*
Something stopped Seo-rim in her tracks.
Standing there unconsciously, Seo-rim stared intently at the artwork.
It was a single painting, located in a rather secluded corner of the exhibition.
*...Ah.*
The moment she saw it, Seo-rim felt a storm raging in her mind.
Thunder crashed.
Her eyes widened.
She felt like she was onto something.
Just then, Yeon-ho caught up to her.
"Hey, why are you walking so fast?"
"...Yeon-ho."
A dazed sound escaped Seo-rim's lips.
"Yeah?"
"Let's go to the office."
Whap! Seo-rim spun around, grabbed Yeon-ho's arm, and dragged him out of the exhibition hall.
"Hey, wait, let go of..."
She ignored his words.
***
Arriving at the office, Seo-rim immediately turned on her computer.
It was because she had to create a tangible version before this inspiration faded.
"Yeon-ho! Quick, turn on your computer and get the printer working!"
"Uh..."
"Don't just stand there, hurry!"
*Tatatatak!*
Seo-rim went to a portal site and immediately typed in a search term.
[Gods in various religions]
Then she went to the image tab and began saving the pictures one by one.
Just then, Yeon-ho got the printer working.
"Bring me everything that prints out!"
*Whirrrr!*
The moment the printer started, Seo-rim went to the meeting table and spread out all the printouts.
In her mind, she replayed the keyword Yeon-ho had given her.
*'Give the impression of a god, but make it undefinable.'*
Now I get it.
It was something that had to be expressed through 'technique'.
"What are you trying to do?"
"This."
Seo-rim gathered the printed images of gods into a pile,
And *Riiiiip—!*
She tore them.
It wasn't just once.
*Rip! Riiip! Riiip!*
Tearing the sheets in half, then in half again, and again.
Irregularly, so that no single piece could reveal the whole image.
It was right after that she truly began.
Seo-rim started arranging the torn pieces of the printouts one by one on a board.
Adding the most symbolic items, she created a human-like figure.
And thus, something was completed.
"This is..."
"A god."
*Thwack!*
Seo-rim slapped her palm on the desk and smiled confidently.
"You never said which religion, right? So I just have to mix them all. And then lump them together into a human form!"
Mosaic, and collage.
It was a combination of classic and modern art.
Each pasted piece had a different saturation.
The art styles were different, and the textures of their expression varied.
But they all shared one characteristic: the identity of 'god'.
"This is what we process! We keep the differences in texture but unify the saturation and contrast. Making it dark would be good, right? It'd be creepier if it loomed over the flower garden like a shadow! And then... yes!"
Let's add noise to the whole thing.
Like the static on a broken CRT television.
Seo-rim felt a fire ignite within her.
"Just a second. Let me try drawing this."
Seo-rim carefully moved the board.
She went to her desk and started sketching in the program.
The finished product was something that Seo-rim herself was quite satisfied with.
A bright smile of fulfillment spread across her face.
Seo-rim asked Yeon-ho.
"What do you think?"
"..."
She didn't need to hear the answer to know.
Because Yeon-ho's face was filled with astonishment.
Boss Design (2)