Game Director from Hell
Chapter 108: Growing Pain (1)

The beginning of the footage was marked by cheers and the sound of trumpets.

A stoic knight walked confidently along the grand avenue of the castle, with gazes of awe fixed upon him from both sides of the road.

“Hunter!”

“The most fearsome face!”

“Oh, he’ll behead every sinner!”

Following the murmurs, a thud!

The sound of drums echoed.

The screen went dark, and the melody of a violin began to play.

When the screen brightened again, it revealed a courtroom. The previously confident knight now kneeled, under the scrutinizing gaze of judges.

A stern-faced figure spoke, “Pronounce the defendant guilty!” With that, the once revered knight was pushed towards the cliff.

Behind the ominous music, a gentle and soothing melody emerged from the darkness. “Hello? I’m Miso!” A smiling woman extended her hand. As if triggered by that moment, the music intensified, and the screen kept shifting.

“I never wanted to do this!”

The sorrow of a farmer.

“Have I been unfaithful?”

The priest’s anguish.

“I wish my child was different from me.”

The blacksmith-father’s regret.

Following these, numerous voices and faces passed by, decorating the journey of the knight whose face was hidden by a visor. Finally, the footage returned to show him standing before the grand palace of the empire.

Once again, the screen went dark, and the title “Identity” appeared on the monitor, accompanied by a whisper of Miso as background music.

“Do you know? Smiles can be contagious.”

The trailer concluded.

“Ha, didn’t we choose well?”

Yang Gilsang chuckled with satisfaction. I nodded in agreement.

“Not bad at all. It captured just what was necessary.”

“It’s also fun to speculate!”

Interrupting, Yang Gilsang spoke with unusual satisfaction. Ever since testing the game a while ago, reactions had generally been like this. He had become a fan of the game, and that enthusiasm reflected in his work. It was a good thing. Also, something to be grateful for. With such reactions, I contemplated the upcoming schedule.

“The main part is almost complete.”

The story section only had the final battle QA remaining. Functional aspects were almost resolved, and now I was chiselling away at the balance and details of the boss battle.

Amidst this, I felt a profound change in our game and the company. The reactions of the public were a clear indicator.

With just a trailer and a few elements like mod support revealed, the response around us was unexpectedly warm. Perhaps, it meant our game had gained enough recognition to be anticipated among other major releases.

If I said I felt no pressure, it would be a lie. However, it was undeniably motivating.

There was a certain joy in speculating the reactions of others, but it was also undeniably rewarding. The support and encouragement from others oddly kindled a sense of confidence and enthusiasm within. It made me want to do better, and that enthusiasm was now manifesting in the final detail work, the ultimate challenge I faced.

“Change the angle here. This death pattern only occurs once in the entire battle. It’ll add a sense of intimidation…”

Not a single detail was overlooked. From the mechanics of executing the pattern to breaking down each motion into seconds, it resulted in many good ideas. However, incorporating all these into a single boss battle was impossible.

Some ideas were discarded due to factors like volume, pacing, or a sense of incongruity, and I pondered on how to reuse or discard them. Eventually, even the previous boss battles were modified.

“It won’t work. Let’s go through the ones before again.”

May was the month of meetings.

With the completed version unveiled, efforts were made to beautify it further. It was a challenging task. Despite all the welfare provided, the reality of development crunch during the final stages couldn’t be avoided.

Since games are made entirely by human hands, the perfection and welfare of the game seem to be proportional to how much the developers suffered in the crunch.

“Just a little more; we’re almost there.”

That was all I could say. Fortunately, the team followed along well. The entire company had that atmosphere. The desire to somehow make this presentable surpassed the previous game. It was evident that their opinions were taken into consideration. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the moment when the systems and plans I had implemented would come to life in the game.

Even such work was coming to an end soon.

“Yeonho…”

Myungkyu asked discreetly, “But what about the final boss sound?” I nodded.

With the overall balance being finalized in mid-June, the final boss was still being implemented in secret, shrouded by mystery.

—

The sound department at Rewind was advantageous compared to other departments in the company.

Not only spatially but also in the nature of the team, it was more fitting to call it individual studio rather than a company workspace.

There was no other choice. The sound director, Ayoon, had just graduated from college this year, making her a rookie in the workforce. In other words, hiring a new employee in the sound department was a first for this year, and the sound booth had been Ayoon’s personal space until now.

Consequently, the team atmosphere was still awkward. Rather than being familiar or cautious with each other, it was more accurate to say that there wasn’t enough time to become close. Most of all, it was because of Ayoon’s position. She was not only a founding member of Rewind but also the youngest in the company. Everywhere she went, she had been praised and adored, making it challenging for Ayoon to assert authority.

The apparent reason for the delay in sound production was this, but there was a more significant issue at hand.

“Um… I’ll just take care of this myself.”

Sometime during the expansion of the sound team, Yeonho had said something to Ayoon.

“It will be different from before. Leading people means gathering those with different thoughts under your command.”

Only now did Ayoon understand the meaning of those words.

She was unique, even if she didn’t realize it herself. From the moment of first receiving guidance to this moment. Ayoon’s directing skills when it came to sound design was unparalleled.

Although it was far from what he had known from the capabilities Jo Ayoon of his previous life possessed.

That only meant she was yet to unlock her full potential. Once she realized her max potential, she would be unstoppable. Taking Rewind to the same level as the top game companies worldwide.

But that became a problem. Ayoon couldn’t comprehend her team.

“Why can’t they do better than this?”

There were clear instructions. Base the sound on certain elements, add effects in a specific way, find sounds that match the main code of the BGM. In Ayoon’s opinion, it wasn’t a difficult request. Listening to her team members’ work, she could think of dozens of better sounds on the spot.

“Why make it so bland?”

Her team couldn’t do it. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Even what seemed like the most straightforward tasks in Ayoon’s standards were too challenging for her team members.

A poison had spread. It was a venom even Yeonho hadn’t anticipated.

“This… I’ll take care of it too…”

It was because Ayoon had only relied on herself and herself alone when it came to work.

All because Yeonho neglected to ever give her any team members from the start.

Not even one.

It was a fact that she had not developed the ability to work in a team, let alone lead an entire department. And Yenho was the one to be blamed for this outcome.

He now needs to answer a question.

Was it possible for one person to create and inspect all the sounds of a game alone?

Was it possible for a high school girl who just started learning music to make all the sounds of one game?

Was it possible for a single university student to create all the sounds of a AAA-rated game with a massive volume and receive widespread acclaim?

Needless to say, it was impossible within the general category.

But the reason it could still happen was hinging on the simple fact that—Jo Ayoon was too exceptional.

She possessed a talent so great that she didn’t need anyone’s help, to the extent that someone else’s assistance could become shackles, deadweight

And that talent had one characteristic—loneliness.

“Uh, everyone, please go home!”

Loneliness.

She felt the gap that she could neither hope for understanding nor understand herself. She couldn’t even vent about it. They were people Yeonho had assigned, and Ayoon was too young and innocent to say anything unpleasant about them.

Ayoon was still too inexperienced to navigate the world wisely.

In the end, it was a crack. As if she was the only two eyed person in a world of cyclops. She being the only one who could see a depth in things that no one else even seem to notice,

Ayoon felt a sense of discomfort in every environment she was in.

It always felt like she was doing something wrong.

Team members put on polite faces, then quickly put on awkward smiles and gathered their belongings.

Ayoon watched that scene.

For some reason, her insides felt stifled.

If it were to be described in one word, she was festering.

____

June was coming to an end.

The extensive tweaking marked the conclusion of the game’s balancing. With the core content finalized as a foundation for mods, aspects of daily life and housing content were decided not to be extensively covered in the main storyline.

No significant changes were expected in the game anymore. I could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and at that moment, I began to notice something peculiar about Jo Ayoon’s behavior.

“Jo Ayoon….”

“Oops! I forgot my headset…!”

Initially, it raised an eyebrow.

“Jo Ayo…?”

“Ah! My phone…!”

Midway, a sense of unease crept in.

“Ayoon….”

“…!”

Towards the end, a definite feeling of strangeness settled in.

Only after going through such a process did I realize that Jo Ayoon was avoiding me. I couldn’t help but wonder why.

Could it be that she’s avoiding me because of some delay in her work? If that’s the case, it’s needless worry. I have no intention of interfering with Jo Ayoon’s working environment; I just need to delay the release date if that’s the case.

The second possibility that crossed my mind was a slump.

That it was something I needed to address. So, with the thought of at least trying to talk, I went to find Jo Ayoon.

However, every time I went to the sound team, Jo Ayoon was nowhere to be found.

“Where did Jo Ayoon go?”

“Oh! She was here just a moment ago.”

It didn’t seem like she hadn’t come to work.

Frowning, I let out a sigh, and after a day or two of this, stress started to build up. Eventually, opting for drastic measure seemed necessary.

“Senior, want to go exercise… or maybe leave work early?”

“Yeah, let’s skip exercise today. I have somewhere to go.”

“Really? Okay.”

I canceled my exercise plan with Han Seorim and left the company. It was the time when everyone, except those involved in debugging and QA, were slowly leaving work.

I looked for the sound team. Jo Ayoon was already gone. That was the moment I felt something was off.

‘Clocking out?’

It was the right time to leave.

Especially in the sound department, it wasn’t a job where overtime was arbitrarily assigned. Given that their work relied more on spontaneous ideas and creativity than any other aspect of game development, forcing overtime on them was out of the question.

But the uneasiness didn’t come from there.

The expressions, looks, and the atmosphere inside the booth amplified my discomfort.

‘No one…’

No one was there, and there was no one trying to organize their work. More fundamentally, there was no communication among the team members. Or so it seemed.

When it’s time to leave, you should at least say goodbye.

Even that wasn’t there.

It was as if, metaphorically speaking, the sound team members left their seats like strangers who happened to get off at the same subway station, without saying a word, and disappeared.

In general, the moment emotional anxiety surges is when you realize that it’s the right thing to do. I went to the sound booth where all the employees had already left, and I realized the nature of my anxiety.

‘There’s no sign of usage.’

The office was so silent that it was evident that no one had done anything all day. There was no warmth or sense of living.

‘Has this been going on for all this time?’

It was possible. The sound team’s space was so glassed off that no other team could casually peek inside. So, what happened here?

The moment I thought about it, my heart sank heavily. It wasn’t anger. Strangely, I was convinced that I had made a mistake.

The feeling of Jo Ayoon running away, which I had been feeling for a while, came to mind. At that moment, my feet were already moving. I got into my rarely used car and drove on the road.

Damn traffic congestion heightened my frustration, and an hour passed since then. The destination was Jo Ayoon’s house. There, I could see her.

“Uh, what…?”

Jo Ayoon was trying to enter the apartment gate. My heart sank. Dark circles were evident under her eyes, and her complexion was pale. I just realized that her face looked like that.

Jo Ayoon’s eyes widened as if about to tear. Suddenly, she took a step back, showing a gesture as if trying to escape into the apartment.

Words slipped out of my mouth involuntarily.

“Wait.”

Abruptly, Jo Ayoon stopped. Seeing her struggling, I added more words.

“If you run away here, I’ll cut the LAN cable.”

Why did I say that? Why did I choose to say that? Out of all the things I could have said.

Habits can be terrifying.

The choice of words was probably not appropriate. And then,

“Uhhhh….”

Jo Ayoon’s stuttering wasn’t because of what I said. I took a cautious step closer. Jo Ayoon lowered her head. Her fingertips were trembling. Between her bangs, near her eyelashes, I could see a moist area.

Finally, Jo Ayoon, with a trembling voice, apologized.

“Sor, sorry….”

The desperation in her demeanor clearly conveyed at least one thing to me.

“I’m sorry…”

The person that needs to apologize is not you.

“…”

It’s me.

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