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 fearso face!
Oh, hell behead every sinner!
Following the murmurs, a thud!
The sound of drums echoed.
The screen went dark, and the lody 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 lody erged from the darkness. Hello? Im Miso! A smiling woman extended her hand. As if triggered by that mont, the music intensified, and the screen kept shifting.
I never wanted to do this!
The sorrow of a farr.
Have I been unfaithful?
The priests anguish.
I wish my child was different from .
The blacksmith-fathers regret.
Following these, nurous 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, didnt we choose well?
Yang Gilsang chuckled with satisfaction. I nodded in agreent.
Not bad at all. It captured just what was necessary.
Its also fun to speculate!
Interrupting, Yang Gilsang spoke with unusual satisfaction. Ever since testing the ga a while ago, reactions had generally been like this. He had beco a fan of the ga, and that enthusiasm reflected in his work. It was a good thing. Also, sothing 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 ga and the company. The reactions of the public were a clear indicator.
With just a trailer and a few elents like mod support revealed, the response around us was unexpectedly warm. Perhaps, it ant our ga 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 encouragent from others oddly kindled a sense of confidence and enthusiasm within. It made 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. Itll add a sense of intimidation
Not a single detail was overlooked. From the chanics 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.
So ideas were discarded due to factors like volu, 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 wont work. Lets go through the ones before again.
May was the month of etings.
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 developnt crunch during the final stages couldnt be avoided.
Since gas are made entirely by human hands, the perfection and welfare of the ga seem to be proportional to how much the developers suffered in the crunch.
Just a little more; were almost there.
That was all I could say. Fortunately, the team followed along well. The entire company had that atmosphere. The desire to sohow make this presentable surpassed the previous ga. It was evident that their opinions were taken into consideration. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the mont when the systems and plans I had implented would co to life in the ga.
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 implented in secret, shrouded by mystery.
The sound departnt at Rewind was advantageous compared to other departnts 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 departnt was a first for this year, and the sound booth had been Ayoons 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 wasnt enough ti to beco close. Most of all, it was because of Ayoons position. She was not only a founding mber 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 Ill just take care of this myself.
Soti during the expansion of the sound team, Yeonho had said sothing to Ayoon.
It will be different from before. Leading people ans gathering those with different thoughts under your command.
Only now did Ayoon understand the aning of those words.
She was unique, even if she didnt realize it herself. From the mont of first receiving guidance to this mont. Ayoons directing skills when it ca 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 ant she was yet to unlock her full potential. Once she realized her max potential, she would be unstoppable. Taking Rewind to the sa level as the top ga companies worldwide.
But that beca a problem. Ayoon couldnt comprehend her team.
Why cant they do better than this?
There were clear instructions. Base the sound on certain elents, add effects in a specific way, find sounds that match the main code of the BGM. In Ayoons opinion, it wasnt a difficult request. Listening to her team mbers work, she could think of dozens of better sounds on the spot.
Why make it so bland?
Her team couldnt do it.
Even what seed like the most straightforward tasks in Ayoons standards were too challenging for her team mbers.
A poison had spread. It was a venom even Yeonho hadnt anticipated.
This Ill take care of it too
It was because Ayoon had only relied on herself and herself alone when it ca to work.
All because Yeonho neglected to ever give her any team mbers 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 departnt. And Yenho was the one to be blad for this outco.
He now needs to answer a question.
Was it possible for one person to create and inspect all the sounds of a ga alone?
Was it possible for a high school girl who just started learning music to make all the sounds of one ga?
Was it possible for a single university student to create all the sounds of a AAA-rated ga with a massive volu 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 thatJo Ayoon was too exceptional.
She possessed a talent so great that she didnt need anyones help, to the extent that soone elses assistance could beco shackles, deadweight
And that talent had one characteristicloneliness.
Uh, everyone, please go ho!
Loneliness.
She felt the gap that she could neither hope for understanding nor understand herself. She couldnt 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 environnt she was in.
It always felt like she was doing sothing wrong.
Team mbers put on polite faces, then quickly put on awkward smiles and gathered their belongings.
Ayoon watched that scene.
For so 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 gas 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 ga anymore. I could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and at that mont, I began to notice sothing peculiar about Jo Ayoons 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 . I couldnt help but wonder why.
Could it be that shes avoiding because of so delay in her work? If thats the case, its needless worry. I have no intention of interfering with Jo Ayoons working environnt; I just need to delay the release date if thats the case.
The second possibility that crossed my mind was a slump.
That it was sothing I needed to address. So, with the thought of at least trying to talk, I went to find Jo Ayoon.
However, every ti I went to the sound team, Jo Ayoon was nowhere to be found.
Where did Jo Ayoon go?
Oh! She was here just a mont ago.
It didnt seem like she hadnt co 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 asure seed necessary.
Senior, want to go exercise or maybe leave work early?
Yeah, lets skip exercise today. I have sowhere to go.
Really? Okay.
I canceled my exercise plan with Han Seorim and left the company. It was the ti 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 mont I felt sothing was off.
Clocking out?
It was the right ti to leave.
Especially in the sound departnt, it wasnt a job where overti was arbitrarily assigned. Given that their work relied more on spontaneous ideas and creativity than any other aspect of ga developnt, forcing overti on them was out of the question.
But the uneasiness didnt co 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 fundantally, there was no communication among the team mbers. Or so it seed.
When its ti to leave, you should at least say goodbye.
Even that wasnt there.
It was as if, taphorically speaking, the sound team mbers left their seats like strangers who happened to get off at the sa subway station, without saying a word, and disappeared.
In general, the mont emotional anxiety surges is when you realize that its 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.
Theres 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 ti?
It was possible. The sound teams space was so glassed off that no other team could casually peek inside. So, what happened here?
The mont I thought about it, my heart sank heavily. It wasnt 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, ca to mind. At that mont, 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 Ayoons house. There, I could see her.
Uh, what?
Jo Ayoon was trying to enter the apartnt 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 Ayoons eyes widened as if about to tear. Suddenly, she took a step back, showing a gesture as if trying to escape into the apartnt.
Words slipped out of my mouth involuntarily.
Wait.
Abruptly, Jo Ayoon stopped. Seeing her struggling, I added more words.
If you run away here, Ill 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 Ayoons stuttering wasnt 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 deanor clearly conveyed at least one thing to .
Im sorry
The person that needs to apologize is not you.
Its .
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