SMNTCERR, Chapter 47 <111> #2.
The next day, Sangwoo’s daily life was the same as yesterday. No matter how he tried to study programming, it didn’t sink in. When he tried to read ahead to prepare for future lessons, there was no motivation.
‘Just one day off won’t hurt.’
Midterm exams were over, and he had no classes. On top of that, he encountered something shocking. He had the right to take a break, just like a tired person, a person with a long back, a lazy person like Jang Jaeyoung.
But it’s harder than he thought. If he doesn’t play games or take a nap during the day, time doesn’t go by. Sangwoo doesn’t know how to be lazy, at his mother’s house there are plenty of toys to play with to kill time, but when he goes out alone with his focus on studying, he never takes those things with him.
He walks around in a small room looking for something to do, and in the end, he wastes time moving furniture that is already clean, cleaning the bathroom, doing laundry, and going out to buy things to fill the shelves.
Even though he pretends like it’s nothing, the stress still weighs heavily on his emotions like walking on thin ice. It’s not much during the day, but the closer it gets to midnight, the worse it becomes. Sangwoo analyzes Jaeyoung’s behavior and speculates wildly.
[1.) Jaeyoung thinks about continuing the inappropriate relationship.
2.) Jaeyoung gives up on the idea of continuing the inappropriate relationship but wants to create a new game.
3.) Jaeyoung just sent the file he had previously prepared.]
Generally, he thinks that option two is the most likely, but it contradicts what was said before. The other party always does something beyond Sangwoo’s expectations, making it difficult to speculate on what he is thinking.
‘Let’s see how today turns out, then I’ll probably know.’
Sangwoo refreshes his email inbox and waits until midnight. Five minutes before the deadline, he gets ready and walks back and forth in the room before sitting in front of the computer. At that moment, the mobile phone on the table lights up, and both of Sangwoo’s hands grab the communication device and bring it to his face instantly.
[NonPaddler 3: Before the deadline, 5 minutes left_23:55.]
[NonPaddler 3: Memory alert – create a prototype [1]_23:55.]
Sangwoo looks at the message with an indescribable expression. He never thought there would be a day when Jaeyoung would warn him about the deadline.
‘I wonder what he is going to do.’
Although Jaeyoung is a strange person, this is too strange. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t understand the other party, and he can’t predict anything, like a difficult problem that Sangwoo cannot solve no matter how hard he tries. And at that moment, it’s midnight.
When he refreshes his email inbox, there are emails just like yesterday.
The sender is ‘Jae. J’, and the subject of the email is today’s schedule and all the postponed tasks. As he was about to click and open the email, Sangwoo’s gaze shifted to the bright phone screen. There was an incoming call.
When he saw who was calling, he reached out and grabbed the phone to answer the call immediately, without having time to consider if it was appropriate or not. His body responded before he could think. Sangwoo opened his eyes wide and held the phone like that for a moment. It was strange whether he answered without saying, “Hello.” or held the line without saying anything. Sangwoo slowly raised the phone to his ear.
[Hello.]
The sudden greeting almost made him drop the phone. Sangwoo held the phone tightly, pursed his lips several times before reluctantly letting out a voice.
“What’s up?”
[It’s time, but I haven’t heard from you.]
“I’ve prepared the prototype, but since there’s no meeting, I didn’t bother showing it.”
[That’s great. I thought you wouldn’t do it again.]
“I’m not your hyung.”
Then the words stopped. Sangwoo wondered about the faint interference that followed the line. How would Jaeyoung, who was also holding his phone, look like, what posture he was in, what type of pajamas he wore, whether he wore glasses or not, and felt strange thinking such things.
[Have the past two days been good?]
“There’s no reason not to be comfortable.”
[Why, maybe you are not comfortable.]
“Well, I’m comfortable.”
[Alright then.]
The conversation ended again, speaking, speaking, speaking without substance, wasting radio waves meaninglessly, but now isn’t the time for endless talking, they have a problem to solve between them.
“Jaeyoung-hyung.”
He called the other party again, but there was no response.
“Why did you send the file? What happened yesterday made our relationship worse to the point where I thought of canceling the event again.”
Jaeyoung remained silent for a moment, pretending to cough as if asking whether it was such a difficult question. Sangwoo tightly gripped the phone in his hand, which was damp with sweat.
[Maybe I should find a way to earn money for further studies.]
The answer that came back was beyond expectations. Jaeyoung was like a cloud that couldn’t be grasped, like snow melting when trying to reach out and touch it. Sangwoo felt slightly annoyed.
“I wanted to do that too, but you said that working with me was suffocating and that you couldn’t separate work from desire. Isn’t that right?”
[What else, I’m talking about something like that…]
“‘Listen carefully, I’ve already told you that even if you’re a man, I don’t care. Choose whether to start with me or to end everything, whether it’s the game or anything else. And we don’t have to meet again, there’s no middle ground’ hyung you said it like this.”
[Are you crazy? Why do you remember things like that?]
“If it’s about you, hyung, I remember all of that.”
The longest-lasting silence swallowed the radio waves, waiting is really difficult for Sangwoo. He doesn’t want to get involved in meaningless matters, like the idiom, ‘pouring water into a cracked cup [2],’ which he hates. If Jaeyoung clearly states that he will withdraw from the project, he thinks he will find someone else.
[I don’t intend to stop.]
After a moment, Jaeyoung spoke softly, making Sangwoo’s hand holding the phone tense up. The communication tool that was already intimate with his ear was pressed even tighter than before.
[Well then, I’ll continue.]
Well then, ‘I’ll continue,’ is it? That’s a strange use of words.
[There are three main reasons: First, a lot of work has been done. It would be regrettable to cancel it now, and the results should turn out well.]
“I agree.”
[Second, you said you wanted to make a good portfolio, right? If I can help you achieve that, I’d like to do my best.]
Those words made his heart beat like a drum, regardless of whether Sangwoo knows how his own heart feels. Jaeyoung continues to speak as if nothing has happened.
[And the third point…]
Then he fell silent and refused to speak any further.
[I want to tell you this next point.]
“Okay, then. If that’s the case.”
[What about you? Will you continue?]
“I thought you were going to stop for sure. But if you say you’ll finish it, I have no reason not to do it.” [Okay. Then sleep well. And…] Jaeyoung trailed off.
[See you at the meeting tomorrow.]
The call was cut off before Sangwoo could say anything.
The conversation lasted for twenty-one minutes. This was the first time he had talked on the phone with someone for so long. Sangwoo’s cheeks were as hot as the temperature of the phone screen. He turned off the light and walked to the bed, like a zombie before falling down. return 0;
“Chu Sangchu, it’s been a long time since we last met.”
“The last time we met was less than a week ago.”
“He used to come every day.”
Sangwoo entered the office room while listening to Yoona’s nonsensical words. Although Sangwoo had entered, Jaeyoung, who was sitting with his back turned, didn’t even pretend to notice. Sangwoo took out his bag from the adjacent seat and sat down on the chair.
“I’m here, senior.”
At that moment, Jaeyoung finally used his foot to turn the chair around. Even though the other party was acting cool, he could still tell that the face he hadn’t seen in a while looked tired and it was difficult to pinpoint where the problem was, but it seemed like things weren’t going well.
“Is there something bothering you?”
“He has been busy with work for the past two days.”
Yoona spoke as if she was Jaeyoung’s spokesperson. Sangwoo felt his face turning red. At the same time, he raised his hand and covered his eyes.
‘You fool, who told you to work all night.’
Even though he had given up looking for a cause, he didn’t know why he was acting like this all of a sudden. Sangwoo didn’t feel any better. At the same time, he picked up his phone.
“I’ve prepared the titles, character status, partial world maps, and level 1 farms. The damage still needs to be balanced, so take a look at all of this first.”
He opened the files that he had transferred to his phone in advance and handed them to Jaeyoung. Then he sat back and looked at the ceiling.
“Is this a test app? I want to see it.”
“It’s still just a prototype.”
“I have high expectations.”
While Jaeyoung played as an example, Yoona stood behind him, commenting along.
“Oh wow, cool, huh?, Oh… it doesn’t seem very continuous. Oh… um, like this, whoa-ho-ha! What’s that? Why is it moving like that? It’s super weird…”
While Yoona kept criticizing, Jaeyoung only looked at the phone screen and used his long fingers to play the game with a tired expression. Initially, Sangwoo didn’t think much of it, but when he saw that the other party’s expression didn’t change, he felt a little worried.
“This is still just an example, so it looks a bit rough.” “But even so, it doesn’t mean we can make it perfect.” Sangwoo raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, that’s right… this is going a bit too far, it’s not even a total breakthrough, but the game looks interesting.”
Yoona returned to her seat and picked up her headset. Then, not long after, Jaeyoung skillfully peeled the wrapper off his eyes and placed Sangwoo’s mobile phone down.
“Chu Sangwoo.”
“Yes?”
“When we first met, didn’t I already tell you that it’s just the system working is not everything?”
Sangwoo paused with an inexplicable look on his face. Finally, he made eye contact with Jaeyoung for the first time today. The other party’s gaze seemed more elusive than one could guess what he was thinking. He looked at Sangwoo silently before lowering his eyes as if tired.
“The title is too slow.”
“How slow? Well, 1.8 seconds, as agreed upon…”
“Fix it then, it looks too slow. Make it faster when changing scenes, when fading in the image, it’s slow, the transitions are slow.”
“That’s the same…”
“Fix it then, it looks slow, so try speeding it up. The basic movements of the characters don’t look natural. Have you heard what Choi Yoona said? Being able to make a flying hand explode is very strange. And when attaching the crystal [3] to the avatar, it would be good to add effects…
Let’s talk about this next time.”
Sangwoo kept Jaeyoung’s words in mind, but the other side didn’t say how he should do it, leaving him confused. Jaeyoung pointed out two or three more points that needed improvement.
“If you’re just an ordinary game developer, then go ahead with it like this. But if you want to hang a sign that says “creator.” you can’t do it without feeling.”
His blackened heart sank even deeper. Just being scolded by Jaeyoung at times, finding him boring and lacking imagination, but while working together, Jaeyoung was the only one who tended to get annoyed. Yes, it was the first time he encountered such a situation. Although he didn’t like it, Sangwoo had nothing to say.
“Don’t make that face, remember that this is teamwork.”
“How should I look then?”
“I don’t know… Look like you scored 79 on an exam, or something like that. Put on a poker face first; I’ll tell you what it means later.”
Sangwoo opened his notebook without saying anything, feeling uncomfortable with the atmosphere that was different from usual, perhaps due to lack of sleep. Jaeyoung didn’t complain or tease as usual, and there was no mischievousness on his face. In the past, the other party was like a wild horse that had to be both cajoled and provoked to be able to move forward. But today, for some reason, it felt like a partner who took things seriously.
“Do seniors not know how to use an avatar?”
“I tried searching just now. The GUI[5] seems to work fine. As for the parts I don’t know, you can tell me. Open the title first.”
Jaeyoung entered Sangwoo’s realm. They sat next to each other, close but without unnecessary physical contact. Their eyes were fixed on the computer screen. Despite this, Sangwoo felt flustered, as if he was being watched or scrutinized.
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[1] Prototype. In this case, it refers to the prototype of the game.
[2] Drowning in the bottomless pit, a Korean idiom meaning trying hard but not feeling proud or satisfied, or just trying in vain.
[3] Critical hit, abbreviated from Critical. It refers to a more powerful attack than a normal attack, with a random chance of occurring.
[4] Afterimage, a temporary visual illusion that appears after an object that you have seen disappears.
[5] GUI “Graphical User Interface”, the graphical part of the user interface, which is a way of operating a computer through symbols or images rather than just text. GUI elements include icons, windows, menus, buttons, and mouse usage, even touchscreens.