Chapter 81: Failure Folder Release Day

The Seasons-exclusive studio in VR Chat was even more lively than usual.

“Seasons~ Everyone doing well?”

A small avatar customized based on the Soda model sat at the head of the conference room table, chin propped on hand, lips twitching.

Instead of Youngjun, who usually handles the monthly meetings.

Today, unusually, the president Daon himself attended.

“Jjun is busy today, so I came in instead~”

That’s a lie.

He just happened to have no broadcast schedule, and the agenda for today’s meeting was a very interesting topic, so he came himself.

“Anyway… Did you guys, like, have a fight? Sorted out the hierarchy or something?”

“Huh? We didn’t fight?”

“Then why are those two like that?”

Daon pointed towards Spring and Winter with his short arm.

The two sat side by side, heads bowed low with expressions like they had lost the world.

“Right~ Maybe something bad happened? Nyahahaha~”

Summer, sitting opposite Spring and Winter, grinned broadly and swung her legs.

“Ah, ha…”

Fall, sitting next to Summer, was caught between the gloomy group and the beaming group, unable to do anything, nervously glancing back and forth between them.

“Alright~ Shall we review the goals we set during our New Year’s collab?”

At Daon’s words, Spring and Winter’s shoulders flinched, and Fall just managed an awkward smile.

“Yes, Sacho (President)~”

Only Summer nodded with a bright smile.

“First, Fall.”

“Yes, yep!”

“You’re confirming the fitness broadcast as regular content whenever you’re late, right?”

“Well… I guess so? Hehe.”

Fall scratched her head with an awkward laugh.

It had already become a hot mega-content, rather than a penalty.

Viewers all started looking for the healthy-looking ponytail NewNeoAwesomeFall instead of the twin tail Fall.

It was too good to end after just one season’s sparkle.

“Still, the frequency of being late has definitely decreased lately. You even arrived on time for today’s meeting.”

“Um… Actually, I was 3 minutes late for yesterday’s broadcast.”

“…Should have been careful. Huh?”

“But like Sacho said, I’ve improved a lot! Now I’m only late maybe once a month! Ahem!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll acknowledge your effort.”

Daon shook his head, smiling as if he couldn’t be helped.

“And, Summer.”

Soon, Daon shifted his gaze and looked at Summer.

His eyes looking at Summer sparkled brightly.

“Congrats on getting two songs into the Melon Chart Top 100.”

The MVP of this New Year’s goal content was, no matter what anyone says, Summer.

“What’s the rank now? Isn’t it still climbing?”

“Hmm~ Was the Yoo Da-hee tribute song 30th? And Summertime was around 60th, I think.”

“Kiya~ Are you going to surpass Mary and hit the highest rank?”

“Surpassing senior Mary who was 2nd to become 1st? Possible. Nyahahaha~”

Drinking kimchi soup (counting chickens before they hatch), very refreshingly.

“I was really surprised~ Until February, you hadn’t even touched composing, so I thought you gave up, but your finishing power is no joke!!”

“Umhahahat! I dedicate this glory to Jina Mama!!”

The forehead of the bowed Winter momentarily twitched.

That subtle movement, Summer didn’t miss.

“Gave me inspiration for song creation~ Rushed over in a taxi when I was working on the song and watched over me for hours~ Really did everything…”

“Summer, you, what did you just say?!”

Winter cut Summer off and shot up from her seat.

“Y-y-y… You invited Jina Mama home? No, more than that… What did you do at home?!”

“Huh? Didn’t do anything special~ Just Mama fed baby Yeoreumi~ Listened to her whining~ Just did everything~ Nyahahaha!!”

Surprisingly, it was all facts, no fabrication.

“Summer you…”

“Winter, sit down. I was the one who begged Jina to go check on Summer.”

Before Winter could explode pang-, Daon calmed her down with a composed tone.

‘Why does this normally calm person become so emotional when it involves games or Jina?’

‘Truly incomprehensible,’ Daon thought, shaking his head.

“Well, anyway… As promised, Jina said she’ll produce one killer music video, have you decided which of the two songs it’ll be?”

“Ehh- Can’t you ask her to make both?”

“I already asked. A promise is a promise, so only one.”

At Daon’s firm answer, Summer pondered, then grinned and said.

“Then I’ll go with ‘Summertime’. If it were up to me, I’d want to do the Yoo Da-hee tribute song… but Winter-ssi buried that one~”

In the end, it was her scheme to monopolize Jina alone.

At Summer’s blatant attitude, Winter’s shoulders trembled pareureu.

But the defeated heroine(?) Winter could do nothing.

“Alright, then is it Spring and Winter’s turn now…”

At Daon’s sly gaze, the two shrunk back.

“First, Spring. You’re really bad at games.”

“W-well, everyone has things they’re good at and things they’re not good at…”

“Still, how can you play dozens of Battle Survival rounds and not even get 1 proper kill? This is the first time I learned there’s a life form worse at shooters than Cherry.”

“B-but it’s really scary…!”

As Spring jumped up and down with an aggrieved expression, Daon burst into laughter.

“If that’s scary, how are you going to handle horror games?”

“…!”

“Looking at your expression, your reactions will be delicious if you play horror games~”

After teasing Spring to his heart’s content, Daon turned his head towards the next target, Winter.

“And Winter.”

If Spring was the appetizer.

Here was the main dish.

“Um… first, congrats on finishing at Master.”

“…Thank you.”

“It was also brilliant how you cursed refreshingly at the end and raked in donations. I learned a thing or two this time too, ya know.”

Winter’s hair seemed to blaze, turning red.

Winter was properly triggered.

Watching this, Daon openly chuckled kuk.

This person enjoys being president for the sake of teasing employees.

“Anyway, failing the goal is failing, so Winter, you’ll have to schedule a horror game with Spring too.”

“B-but Sacho, what horror game are we playing…?”

Spring asked with an anxious expression.

She hoped it would be a game with small volume and less scariness if possible.

Of course, she knew the broadcast was also important.

But aren’t people mostly tuning in to see the streamers’ reactions anyway?

If it’s screaming, she’s confident she can scream deliciously, genuinely.

So please… a horror game for the super coward…!

“Ah, about that, I’ve already picked the game.”

“…?”

“No, to be precise, should I say it’s planned to be made?”

“…???”

“Jina-ssi said she’ll make it herself using the VR TRPG platform.”

“…?!?!!?!”

At Daon’s words, Spring and Winter’s expressions froze simultaneously.

“…Wow, this is a bit harsh.”

Even Summer, who had been laughing cheerfully until now, made a shocked tteuak- expression and swallowed hard kkolkak.

“Um… It feels weird saying this, but as someone with experience, let me give you one piece of advice: you’d better brace yourselves.”

Summer looked at Spring and Winter with a pitying expression and clicked her tongue.

“What Jina Mama makes isn’t a game, it’s another dimension’s reality.”

---

Quiet night.

Light poured out from the monitor in the dark workshop.

Jina, with the game creation program received from Rosy open, stared blankly at the screen.

The project he would work on today was an escape room horror game based on this VR TRPG creation template.

A game solely for Spring and Winter.

“Huhu… This day has finally come…!”

Jina was very serious about this content.

Of course, there was the heart of a Mama who loves her daughters.

But more than that, she was properly excited that the long-awaited folder warehouse grand opening time had arrived.

Jina moved the mouse, transferring numerous 3D models from the failed works folder to the work folder.

A bizarre humanoid variant model appeared on the monitor screen.

Superficially similar to a human, but the subtly distorted body structure was eerie.

The face was particularly intense.

The spacing of the eyes was unnaturally asymmetrical.

The corners of the mouth were subtly twisted.

“This one was a failure from making Spring-nim’s avatar… This one was a gacha failure from Winter-nim’s avatar…”

Jina adjusted the model’s form, lost in faint(?) old memories.

She narrowed the eye distance and twisted the jawline more bizarrely.

Sculpting beautifully is difficult.

But grotesquely ruining it is quite easy.

Soon, the face appearing on the screen was.

Seemingly smiling, yet actually not smiling at all, wearing an expression eerie just to look at.

After adjusting the face, she adjusted the body’s joint angles irregularly.

To make the movement unnatural, she deliberately removed frames in the animation settings or set the intervals between keyframes unnaturally.

As a result, the model moved, twisting unstably like a puppet with half-cut strings.

One step, two steps.

The footsteps taken were creepily unnatural.

Staring blankly at the model, Jina suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

“…Oof, sh*t. Scared it’ll appear in my dreams.”

It should be a model she made with her own hands.

Why are the fingers typing on the keyboard… trembling without her realizing it?