The Game Director Who Returned from Hell - Chapter 5 (Part 2):

 

 

 

Seo-rim felt quite good.

 

– Work will start from tomorrow. If you have tools that are good enough for simple sketches, please bring them. If conditions allow, an electronic tablet would be best.

 

Cheon Yeon-ho said as they parted ways.

 

His straightforward personality was appealing.

 

She also had a strong feeling that the upcoming tasks wouldn’t be too boring.

 

Of course, the details would have to be seen to understand, but that’s how it goes.

 

Suddenly, a hollow laugh welled up.

 

‘In the course of life, I’ve experienced quite a variety of things.’

 

Making a game, I never thought I’d be doing something like this in my lifetime. The ways of the world are truly intriguing.

 

‘A tablet, a sketchbook, and a pencil. That should be enough.’

 

With her preparations roughly in place, Seo-rim set out from home with her bag.

 

Upon arriving at school, she found Cheon Yeon-ho waiting at the main gate.

 

“Have you been waiting?”

 

“No, I just got here too.”

 

“Now that we’re going to work together, feel free to speak comfortably. I’m also a senior, so you can call me that.”

 

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

 

He agreed pretty quickly.

 

Usually, people feel a bit awkward saying things like that at first.

 

While she was contemplating, Cheon Yeon-ho asked in a gentle tone.

 

“Why?”

 

“…No reason.”

 

“Is that so? If it’s nothing important, let’s forget about it. Anyway, come along.”

 

Cheon Yeon-ho turned and walked away.

 

She followed him and arrived at a building for a club.

 

“A club?”

 

“Yeah, we need a place to develop.”

 

“You’ve prepared all this?”

 

“I did it yesterday.”

 

As he inserted the key into the lock, the door opened.

 

The room was small.

 

The roughly cleaned room contained two computers side by side, and the bookshelf on the other side of the wall was completely empty.

 

“It’s not an officially funded club. Just a gathering that borrowed this room.”

 

“Well, okay. It doesn’t matter that much.”

 

‘I guess it’ll be nice to drop by when I want some quiet.’ Seo-rim thought as she took a seat.

 

And then she asked.

 

“So, what do we do now?”

 

It might sound naive, but Seo-rim was a complete outsider to game development.

 

No, she was an outsider to the genre of games itself.

 

She had read the proposal that Cheon Yeon-ho had given her, but it was all Greek to her, given that she didn’t even have a basic understanding.

 

She explained the situation, and the answer came promptly.

 

“First, you need to draw illustrations.”

 

“Illustrations?”

 

“Creating the external design of the game. It’s a basic step to visualize the game’s background, characters, and antagonistic figures. Of course, I’m not expecting you to come up with designs from scratch. I’ll provide rough sketches, and you can reinterpret and draw them in your style.”

 

Cheon Yeon-ho handed her a file containing A4 papers.

 

Seo-rim received it and quickly scanned the contents.

 

Immediately, she froze.

 

“It’s a bit graphic, isn’t it? Sorry if you’re not comfortable with it. But it needs to be done.”

 

“It’s quite terrible.”

 

Especially when it came to her drawing skills.

 

Seo-rim felt a mix of shock and disbelief.

 

 

Looking up, she examined Cheon Yeon-ho’s expression, which showed no signs of embarrassment.

 

‘Doesn’t he realize he can’t draw?’

No, that’s his reason for seeking someone out to draw.

 

‘But this is still too much.’

 

She couldn’t even distinguish what was depicted.

 

Seo-rim pondered for a moment.

 

Usually, she wouldn’t be in such a situation.

 

When you see someone who hasn’t properly objectified their drawing skills, you might feel sorry for them and evaluate them harshly, even if you don’t say bad things. Or even if that’s not the case, you’ll probably think, ‘Yeah, they brought me here because they can’t draw’ and silently start your work, groaning and suffering.

 

But Seo-rim couldn’t hold back her comments.

 

“My five-year-old cousin could draw better than this.”

 

“It seems like your cousin has a good sense of aesthetics.”

 

“Senior does not want to say that his drawing is terrible.”

 

“I can’t really argue with that.”

 

How can people be so shameless?

 

Only then did Cheon Yeon-ho add more to his words.

 

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t recognize it through the drawing. I’ve added annotations to everything.”

 

“You had to add annotations. But it’s too abstract. What does ‘skin as blue as if the soul has frozen’ even mean?”

 

“I suggested such abstraction was needed.”

 

“Did I make a mistake in contacting you?”

 

“Come on, you found me correctly.”

 

Cheon Yeon-ho pulled a chair and sat across from Seo-rim.

 

He glanced at the files for a moment, cleared his throat, and then began to speak.

 

“I’ll give you a rough description of the atmosphere. It’s easier to draw when you have background knowledge.”

 

“Let’s hear it.”

 

It was said in an instant.

 

In an instant, Cheon Yeon-ho’s gaze settled.

 

It was a vacant face as if he were reminiscing about a memory at a certain point in the past, rather than imagining something vividly.

 

It was a moment when a strange sentiment came to him.

 

“This is hell. A hell where sinners receive excruciating punishments.”

 

His voice began to resonate softly.

 

“There are various types of suffering. Among them, this place deals only with physical pain.”

 

Seo-rim translated Cheon Yeon-ho’s words into the form of a drawing on the canvas of her mind.

 

“The background is inside a massive organ. It moves slowly and the color is closer to dark brown than pink… Yes, the color of the lungs affected by cancer. That’s the right way to depict it.”

 

This time, it was easy to recall.

 

There was a similar scene in a comic that Han Jin-kyung used to read as a child.

 

It was the story of a protagonist exploring inside a giant snake’s disguise.

 

“The space is precisely divided into cubes. The way to move from space to space is by entering the holes in the room. They look like butts.”

 

“…”

 

Unpleasant, but the image was clear.

 

There’s a similar setting in a classic movie.

 

The story of people trapped in a cube that rearranges itself at regular intervals.

 

“In that hell, there are two categories. The suffering sinners and the guards who constantly show creative ways to make people suffer more.”

 

“What do these people look like?”

 

“The sinners all have the appearance of patients. They have no choice. Those people didn’t take care of their bodies, so they died of diseases. Diseases that could have been prevented. All for a moment of pleasure.”

 

“Like alcohol or cigarettes?”

 

“Even worse, including drugs and self-harm.”

 

“…Okay. Go on.”

 

“The guards have blue skin as if they were described in a memo. No facial expressions. Their eyes and mouths are sewn shut. They see nothing and say nothing. They can’t even hear because nails are driven into their ears. They only torture. Mechanically. They’re almost like machines.”

 

Maybe like a serial killer from a classic movie?

 

The image of a mechanical torture specialist started to become quite clear.

 

What would be good… Yeah, a mummy would be good.

 

Since it’s a horror genre, that would be scarier.

 

With that, Seo-rim could understand the meaning behind Cheon Yeon-ho’s drawing.

 

“It’s somewhat intuitive.”

 

Setting aside the gruesome technique, the intuitiveness was good.

 

Seo-rim opened her eyes, met Cheon Yeon-ho’s gaze, and asked in that state.

 

“Is the guard important?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I thought so.”

 

Seo-rim smiled.

 

From Seo-rim’s perspective, who didn’t fully grasp the contents of the proposal, that was the conclusion she could draw.

 

Cheon Yeon-ho focused more on describing the guards than the sinners.

 

The genre is horror.

 

In a horror where a bizarre serial killer appears, it’s common for the protagonist to run away from the merciless and frightening monster.

 

The same would apply to this game.

 

Come to think of it, this horror game must have been what she saw when her older brother Han Jin-kyung screamed all night.

 

Seo-rim spoke with a slightly embarrassed feeling.

 

“I should draw it as scary as possible. The player needs to run away from this one.”

 

With this level of understanding, she’s pretty talented for game development, isn’t she?

 

That’s what she thought, but Seo-rim’s expectations were completely off the mark.

 

“What are you talking about? The guard is the protagonist.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Seo-rim’s expression became blank.

 

Yeon-ho continued with just one more sentence.

 

“Because it’s an action game. Horror action.”

 

Still, it was an incomprehensible statement.