Game Director from Hell - Chapter 27: G-STAR (2)

What’s the point of explaining the process until we arrive in Busan to manage the booth?

It’s just a story.

Time passed, and we landed at G-STAR.

On the first day of the event, we woke up at the hotel, got ready early in the morning, and came to BEXCO.

Most of our team members were still half-asleep.

But we couldn’t afford to be lenient.

“Ugh… I’m so tired.”

“Let’s endure it for three days. We can eat something delicious after it’s over.”

I remember that this year’s total audience goal is 240,000.

The key is how much pie we can bring in.

We can’t relax for a moment, and we can’t afford any hiccups in preparation.

I looked at the booth.

An illustration of Alice and the Butterfly standing on a dark beach.

Below that, the title “Hellic 2: Hell Of Alice” is written in white letters.

There are eight computers inside the booth.

It’s a relief that they’re all running properly.

We were doing the final check.

“Do we really have to do this?”

Han Seorim, who had finished her makeup, appeared.

She was wearing a golden wig that reached her waist and a pure white dress, her face flushed.

Her gaze was as sharp as if she could kill someone.

“What’s wrong with my expression?”

“It looks pretty fierce. Like a warrior.”

“I thought I should fulfill my role as a warrior, what do you think, sunbae?”

“I hope you can endure it.”

I gently patted Han Seorim’s raised fist, which had reached my chest.

“But we still have to do it. We’re risking our lives for this project.”

“If we’re risking our lives, shouldn’t we hire a professional? Why am I doing this?”

Suddenly, Han Seorim burst into tears.

I understand her feelings and feel sorry, but there’s no room for leniency in this situation.

“Seorim.”

“Why?”

“We spent a lot of money to get here. Transportation, accommodation, food, not to mention the G-STAR participation fee. It adds up to tens of millions. If we hire booth girls here, it will cost too much. We need to save money.”

It’s better not to hire booth girls. Usually hiring them requires a significant fee.

So, it’s an expense we can reduce.

“In fact, our bank account is almost empty. We’ve spent tens of thousands on transportation, tens of thousands on food, hundreds of thousands on accommodation, hundreds of thousands on the participation fee, and a substantial amount on equipment costs. Even with all of this, the expenses are lower than usual. This year, the event unusually reduced the participation fee to half a million won. Without that, participating in G-STAR would have been impossible for a small indie company like us. That alone was a big favour.”

It’s unfortunate for Han Seorim, but that’s the reality.

G-STAR is the largest game exhibition in Korea.

This year, the scale has expanded even more with the inclusion of overseas games, attracting a lot of attention.

The organizers are not lenient enough to accommodate our circumstances.

“Just stand there and do your best. We’ll take care of the rest. Blonde suits you well.”

I teased Han Seorim, whose face turned bright red.

The troublemaking duo stepped forward.

“Seorim! Your makeup is smudging here!”

“Oh, don’t bite your lips! It’ll remove the lipstick!”

In fact, they seem to be the most excited.

I cleared my mind of these thoughts and turned my head.

“Ayoon?”

“Uh…?”

Why is she like that again?

Her face is pale.

“Are you okay? Your complexion doesn’t look good at all.”

“Th-th-that’s because…”

“What’s wrong? Do you want to tell me?”

Jo Ayoon bowed her head deeply and curled up her body.

“Because… it’s too crowded… When there are… too many people…”

“Ah-ha.”

It seems like she has social anxiety.

She still needs more experience to evolve into lively Jo Ayoon.

“Hmm…”

What should I do about this?

We’re already short-staffed, so setting someone aside separately is difficult.

If I had known in advance, I could have prepared, but now it’s too rushed to find extra help.

“We only have two hours left until the start.”

I need a solution… “Ah.”

That should work.

“Ayoon.”

“Yes…?”

“Do you want to cosplay too? If it’s a problem with people’s attention, you can cover your face.”

I recalled that social anxiety often comes from the burden of how others perceive you.

If you cover your face, it might relieve some of that burden.

“Co-cosplay?”

“Yes.”

Jo Ayoon’s eyes started sparkling.

It seems like she’s not in a normal state of mind.

After hesitating for a moment, Jo Ayoon nodded vigorously.

“Yeah, please cover my face!”

“Okay. Hyeji, Yumi.”

“Yes?”

“Yes?”

There happens to be a suitable cosplay.

“Go to a nearby store and buy some aluminium foil and glue. A lot of it. And go to an internet café and print something for me.”

“Print?”

“The reference image we used for the Mosaic God.”

Jo Ayoon’s cosplay would be as the Mosaic God.

Step 1: Wrap the entire body in aluminium foil.

Step 2: Cut holes for breathing and seeing.

Step 3: Paste the torn image of the God of Mosaic on top with glue.

The Mosaic God is complete.

“Hehe…”

Jo Ayoon laughed cheerfully.

I felt relieved seeing her become more comfortable.

In the midst of this, Han Seorim asked, “Senior, is this really okay?”

“As long as she’s happy with it.”

“Well…”

Han Seorim’s lips trembled, then she clenched them shut.

It seemed like she had nothing more to say.

When I checked the time, there were less than 10 minutes left until the start.

Outside, there was already a long line forming at the entrance.

The noise and commotion outside seemed to penetrate into the hall, making it especially noticeable.

“By the way, it’s quite the coincidence.”

Suddenly, Han Seo-rim commented while looking at the booth next to us.

It was the booth for Space Craft 2.

I also glanced at it.

“Yeah, it’s the main event this year.”

The difference in scale between the main event hall and these small booths was more noticeable now.

But instead of feeling discouraged or overwhelmed, a new sensation came to mind.

One that was different from feelings of inadequacy or grandeur.

I had experienced this sight before, after all.

“There are a hundred demonstration computers alone. Considering other events, it must be quite noisy.”

That year was my first time attending G-STAR since my previous life.

The purpose was to participate in the demo of Space Craft 2.

Although my memories from that time were somewhat faded, the emotions were still vivid, and they lingered inside me.

The booth that created a dream for me, an ordinary student, was none other than that one.

Now, from the perspective of a participant, not a tourist, I felt even more insignificant in front of the massive dinosaur.

“These global corporations are something else, aren’t they? What was it they said? There was a big fuss in the news about them causing uproar again, right?”

“Hmm?”

“You know, the sequel to Space Craft. They were saying something about how Blizzard will dominate the next ten years.”

Oh, that conversation.

“I don’t know.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean, you shouldn’t casually predict the future.”

Unfortunately, there won’t be a new ten years dominated by Blizzard.

Did Space Craft 2 fail? Did Blizzard ruin all the upcoming games? Both are wrong.

Space Craft 2 will be a success. Blizzard will create a masterpiece in the hyper FPS genre in the future.

However, there is one reason why they couldn’t lead the era: “They couldn’t surpass the reputation of their previous work.”

The games they created afterward were capable of receiving high scores by universal standards. Especially, Space Craft 2 continued the narrative perspective of its predecessor and became a game that could be considered a masterpiece.

Yet, Blizzard sank like a ship.

It was because they couldn’t surpass the unique peak they had reached in the past.

The competition for them wasn’t external; it was their own past.

They had to surpass their past greatness, which was the only peak they had ever reached.

If they couldn’t do that, they would be labelled as in “stagnation” or even “decline.”

Blizzard was like that.

Of course, there were internal and external issues that brought down the future of Blizzard, but if you had to point out one reason why their reputation faded in my eyes, it would be, “They couldn’t surpass their previous work.”

The results speak for themselves: “You must not stop.”

You must constantly explore, think, and improve.

The future must be even greater than the present.

The market always looks at winners.

I was lost in thought.

Beep!

Suddenly, it was time.

The audience opened the door and started to enter.

Footsteps and voices mixed with each other, resonating throughout the space.

My reverie was broken.

“Everyone, to your positions.”

As I spoke, everyone headed to their designated positions.

Han Seorim and Jo Ayoon moved to the front of the booth to attract visitors.

The lively duo stood at their designated spots inside the booth.

I stood in the center and took charge, as expected.

And, of course,

“Hey! Over here! Space Craft 2!”

The first steps of the visitors were directed towards the protagonist.

***

Regardless of what the future holds, Blizzard was undoubtedly was the winner of this era. The massive crowd proved that.

The booth for Space Craft 2 had a giant screen playing the game’s trailer beyond it.

[Whoooooom―]

A highly developed mechanical city, the camera illuminated the back of a man standing in a workshop somewhere.

His muscular body was covered in scars, marks of the life he had lived.

In his gaze, there were eerie flying creatures roaming the city.

The scene escalated, depicting a war scenario.

And then, it happened.

[Click―]

A blue mechanical exosuit was placed over the man’s body.

In his hand, he held a rifle handed to him by the mechanical arm.

The man stepped forward.

Thud, thud, he made his way outside the building, facing head-on.

There was an invasion of strange life forms in the sky.

It was only then that the man’s face was shown in close-up.

He was a middle-aged man, with a cigar in his mouth, and a wrinkled face that formed a grim smile as he said,

“At last, it has arrived.”

At that moment,

“Wowwwww―!!!”

A shout reverberated through the entire Bexco.

“Whoa! That’s amazing!”

Han Seorim, who was standing in front of the booth, was startled.

The excitement surged once again.

This time, it was a more realistic type of audience.

“That’s the power of IP.”

That’s the power my studio needs.

The ability to captivate the public with just the information they already know and the anticipation from the previous work, even before the game is released.

Hellic needed that.

My head was spinning.

Analysing the trailer, the direction in which the audience’s reactions exploded, and how to integrate that into the game’s IP utilization.

One textbook example of using a game’s IP was right in front of me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

However, I couldn’t just be absorbed in it.

“Yeonho, Yeonho! That person over there seems to be coming this way?”

Jo Yumi said.

I raised my head, and sure enough, one visitor was approaching Han Seorim and Jo Ayoon exactly as she had pointed out.

***

Community nicknames (Past) WaitingforZodiac3, (Current) WaitingforHellic2 Seokhoon, was deeply lost in thought right after arriving at Helic’s booth.

“What’s this?”

Yes, it must be booth girls.

Especially since there’s a pretty woman wearing a white dress and a golden wig.

The same girl in that outfit was drawn in the booth’s sign.

She must be the protagonist of this new work.

Although her image is completely different from the previous protagonist.

Seokhoon was intrigued by the dramatic change.

But…

“What on earth is this?”

Seokhoon’s gaze unexpectedly shifted away from the booth girl to the petite figure of a monster wrapped in foil paper.

He couldn’t have known what it was.

“This must be the Hellic I’ve been waiting for.”

Even though there was an illustration right in front of him.

It felt as if this monster was blocking his way like an ominous barrier.

And then, it happened.

Startled―!

The foil paper-covered monster and Seokhoon made eye contact.

Even though its eye holes were small and hard to distinguish, it seemed like it was smiling.

“Did you come here to play games?”

What he heard was the voice of a cute girl.

The fact that the monster was a girl was the second shock for Seokhoon.

“Uh… yeah.”

He slowly nodded, his head spinning.

“Come this way!”

Seokhoon followed the guidance of the monster as if he were bewitched and entered the booth.

As soon as he sat down, two lively girls in business attire greeted Seokhoon.

“Welcome! This is Hellic 2!”

“Uh, yes…”

Seokhoon sat down.

He was the first guest to be welcomed by Hellic 2.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“Did you come here to play games?”

Foil-wrapped monster randomly accosted people passing by and asked that question.

The people who received the question all nodded their heads with blank expressions.

Afterwards, just like Seokhoon, they sat down inside the booth as if they were enchanted.

It was like a scene from a fairy tale where a young man with the flute lured children.

Click―!

The sound of a camera shutter echoed.

It was the sound of everyone taking pictures of Mosiac, one by one.

Suddenly, Seokhoon glanced at the blonde booth girl.

She was trembling, clutching her fists tightly.

For some reason, it frightened him.

“Would you like to try playing right away?”

The voice of an internal staff member was heard.

Seokhoon put on the headset that the staff member handed him while nodding his head.

“Yeah, sure. What does the booth girl have to do with me?”

After all, I came here to play a game, didn’t I?

With that thought, he immediately started the game.

And then it happened.

[Screams―!]

The familiar intro sound!

The corners of Seokhoon’s mouth turned up.

“It’s really Hellic 2!”

Just with that sound, it felt real.

As soon as he realized that he was one of the first to play Hellic 2’s demo as advertised in the community, Seokhoon’s eyes sparkled.

Before long, Seokhoon forgot everything around him and began to focus on the screen.

Tap!

That’s how the game started.