Ch.163Have you ever killed someone?

After middle school, 2 years.

Three years since the prototype of <Golden Resolution> came out.

About 5 years have passed, and now <Golden Resolution> has just revealed itself to the world.

“Huaaaaaah…!”

Five years is an extremely long time.

Long enough for a person to change completely.

“It’s done, it’s done! I said it’s done!”

Na Kangsik no longer stuttered when speaking.

If he had continued developing games alone locked in his room, he might still be stuttering.

“Minhyeok! We’ve done it now! We’ve really done it!”

“Great!”

By Na Kangsik’s side was his reliable partner, Kim Minhyeok.

Actually, Kim Minhyeok originally had no intention of helping Na Kangsik develop games.

But right after Kim Donghu evaluated Na Kangsik’s prototype.

‘I can’t view the game objectively, I need someone else.’

Feeling the limitations of developing alone, he immediately contacted Kim Minhyeok.

Since Kim Minhyeok hadn’t decided on his future yet, he accepted the offer right away.

Originally, his dream was to become Kim Donghu’s road manager.

But since he wasn’t old enough to get a driver’s license, he planned to help until then.

But at that time, Kim Donghu was busy preparing for the Rio Olympics.

And so, by coincidence, Kim Minhyeok ended up staying by Na Kangsik’s side until the end.

“S-Steam?! Should we upload it directly to Steam?”

“No, for things like this… reviews are important, right? Someone should make a video, you know?”

“E-e-e-email! Did you read the email!”

Na Kangsik still stuttered when extremely excited.

Meanwhile, Kim Minhyeok calmly assessed the current situation.

“We’ve finished the trailer too… Well, we just need to wait for a response on what to do next.”

After waiting for about 10 minutes, a reply came from Veritas.

But.

“Huh?”

The content was very different from what Na Kangsik and Kim Minhyeok had expected.

Cutting through the flowery language and summarizing the core message:

【 Wow, you really worked hard, that’s amazing! But as an investor, I don’t want to make any demands, just do what you think is best 】

“I-is this normal?!”

“No, investors usually want to set the direction and all that…”

From Kim Minhyeok’s perspective, <Golden Resolution> was honestly a money-eating hippo.

No matter how much of a genius developer Kangsik was.

The only way to reduce development time was money.

And game development was truly at the level of a money-eating hippo.

‘The money spent must already be in the hundreds of millions of won.’

It was truly amazing that the investor wasn’t directly involved in management despite this.

“Then… should we just go for it?”

As the situation unfolded this way, Kim Minhyeok came up with a brilliant idea.

“W-what do you mean go for it?”

“…Let’s ask Veritas to help with promotion one last time.”

“What? Ask them for promotion too?”

“Just… up to the tutorial, wouldn’t that be enough?”

Kim Minhyeok knew how unreasonable this request was.

But.

“We should get support while we can. It’s better to borrow and pay back later than to just sit still and fail, causing everyone to lose.”

From debugging to creating game art.

How much money had they spent?

Of course, it was all necessary expenses.

But in the end, the key was ‘how much of that investment could be recovered.’

“Y-you’re right.”

Na Kangsik nodded at Kim Minhyeok’s words.

There was nothing wrong with what he said.

It was definitely correct.

But at the same time.

“But it feels like losing.”

“What?”

He felt his confidence as a developer crumbling.

It wasn’t a matter of logic.

<Golden Resolution>, the game they had created over 5 years.

He strongly wanted it to be evaluated purely on its artistic merit.

“The reason Veritas hasn’t interfered much with us… is because they believed in us.”

He knew how illogical this sounded.

He was aware it might sound irrational and like a stupid sophistry.

“So let’s believe in our work too.”

At that moment, Kim Minhyeok realized why he had stayed by Na Kangsik’s side for so long.

Unlike himself, who helped with game development simply because he had nothing else to do.

‘He definitely has a place to go.’

Na Kangsik had a clear goal.

And he wasn’t showing any anxiety in his eyes about the present.

If there’s a path forward, he moves forward.

If there’s someone who believes in him, he doesn’t falter.

“So what do you want to do?”

“Steam… and let’s create our own YouTube channel and upload the trailer.”

“That’s it? Is that really enough? What are you going to name the YouTube channel?”

The channel name.

It was essentially the same as naming the company for the game they had developed together.

Until now, they had left it undecided.

But now it was time to really decide on a name.

Na Kangsik had already been holding that name inside him for a long time.

“Ha-Happy Note.”

“Happy Note?”

“Yes.”

From that time in middle school when the four of them played notebook games.

A name that preserved the moment when a single notebook could take them on a journey through space.

Happy Note.

The first page of that notebook was about to open.

+++++

Mid-February.

The first broadcast day of <Will You Marry Me?> featuring the Kim Donghu and Ryu Jaerin couple.

As always, there was a flood of articles and extensive promotion.

I sat in front of the TV with Jaerin to commemorate the first broadcast.

“By the way, how are your other shoots going these days?”

“Huh? Oh, well, you know, they’re going smoothly.”

I answered Jaerin’s question while putting an apple in my mouth.

<Our Fake Marriage> is currently progressing steadily.

And <The Real Hero> will have its first shoot next week due to the filming schedule.

‘Come to think of it, even though I’m the lead in The Real Hero, the filming is scheduled relatively late.’

This was at the director’s discretion, so I didn’t think much of it.

I was just eager to start filming my first lead role in a feature film.

“I see. But in that fake marriage thing… do you also, um, marry Sujin?”

“Oh, that? Yes, I do.”

“Oh… I see.”

I wondered why Jaerin, who had been quite lively until just now, suddenly became quiet.

‘Now that I think about it, Sujin asked about this too.’

Is asking about marriage the trend these days? Something like that?

Just as I was about to think deeply about what might be the issue,

“Our puppy, let’s eat.”

“Grandma, why did you prepare so much again?”

Jaerin’s grandmother had prepared enough food to break the table legs.

“It’s not for you, it’s for our Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim’s stomach is so big, right?”

“Yes, Grandmother.”

Jaerin’s grandmother calls me Mr. Kim.

It seems to carry quite a lot of meaning, but I didn’t bother to ask her to change it.

‘She probably wouldn’t listen anyway.’

And originally, with captions like <Groom, Kim Donghu! Bride, Ryu Jaerin!> appearing prominently on TV,

It would be ridiculous to deny it while watching that.

“Oh, right. I heard your second album made it to Billboard? I haven’t properly congratulated you yet.”

“No, we’re both busy, so it’s fine. If we’re talking like that, I haven’t properly congratulated you on your gold medal either.”

Proper congratulations, she says.

‘She sent me an Olympic support video, a gold medal congratulatory video… flowers and a handwritten letter. Isn’t that a proper congratulation?’

Jaerin’s sincerity was certainly dense.

What others would consider more than enough was just the baseline for her.

She was the one with the deepest sincerity of all.

“Others would think that’s more than enough.”

“I don’t think it’s enough. Is it burdensome to you?”

“No? How could it be burdensome? You’re doing things for me, what’s there to be burdened about?”

This was sincere.

Maybe it’s because I’ve known Jaerin since we were young.

But I’ve never once felt burdened by such things.

If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to properly accept gifts from fans either.

Anyway.

So Jaerin and I ate the meal prepared by her grandmother while watching TV.

Since there wasn’t much content in the first episode featuring us,

We didn’t exchange many reactions while watching.

Just thoughts like:

It came out well.

They filmed it in an entertaining way.

There must be a reason why they film so closely, and so on.

But then.

Click, click, click.

“…What are you doing?”

“Taking pictures.”

“Why?”

“To commemorate the first broadcast. It’s nice to have pictures, right?”

Jaerin was busily taking photos.

“But why are you taking pictures of me on TV when I’m right next to you?”

“The flavor is different.”

“Huh?”

“Huh? Oh… um? What did I just say?”

“…That the flavor is different?”

“Oh, I was mistaken. A slip of the tongue. It’s because I’m watching while eating, you know.”

“Ah, yes, right?”

“…”

A moment of silence.

At that moment, I suddenly realized.

‘Wait… so I watch Will You Marry Me? with Jaerin, and Our Fake Marriage with… Sujin?’

Does this feel like maintaining two households?

Is it just my imagination?

++++++

Basically, scenes where people are killed use well-made dolls.

Dolls that bleed when stabbed and twitch with each injury.

Such dolls are needed for actors to perform more realistically.

Even if wearing protective gear, when performing such acts against a real person.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

As humans, hesitation naturally arises.

Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!

That’s why Director Lee Seongdeok prepared human models.

For when the protagonist of <The Real Hero>, the hero, commits his first murder.

He wanted to create a more vivid scene.

But.

“You shouldn’t be alive, you should die. That’s how it should be, you deserve punishment.”

Stab! Thud! Stab! Thud!

He never expected such a realistic performance.

Honestly, it was frightening.

What could be more ridiculous than a director being afraid of an actor captured on camera?

But he was genuinely afraid.

The scent of violence permeating each line of dialogue.

The reason he didn’t film Kim Donghu from the first shoot.

It was to give the other actors time to adapt.

It was obvious everyone would be overwhelmed if Kim Donghu started acting first.

So he postponed it as much as possible.

“Blame your sins, blame your life for being born as trash.”

He never dreamed he would witness such a cruel performance.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Blood flows from the human doll, or rather, the corpse doll.

The blood on Kim Donghu’s fists drops to the floor.

‘Has he killed someone before?’

It made one think such thoughts.

Judging criminals with a deep smile.

The real hero, covered in blood, had appeared on the set.