Chapter 12.3

After a long while, Jaeyoung spoke slowly. Strength poured into the hand that was holding the cell phone. Sangwoo was already holding the device tightly to his ear, but his grip got even tighter.

– I’m planning to continue with <VeVen> as well.

‘With Veven as well,’ he said. He was even using the postpositional article oddly.

– There are three big reasons, but the first one is that I’ve already done so much work, so it would be unfortunate to fold now. And I think the resulting product will be pretty decent as well.

“I agree.”

– Secondly, you said that you want to create a good portfolio. So I want to help until the end.

Those words rattled his heart like a loose drawer. Whether or not he knew if it made Sangwoo’s heart feel that way, Jaeyoung said those words as if they were nothing.

– And the third reason is…

He then paused.

– I want to tell you this in person.

“Ok, then.”

– How about you? Are you going to continue?

“I definitely thought that you were going to quit. If you say that you’re going to do it until the end, then there’s no reason for me not to, sunbae.”

– Ok, then sleep well and…

The final part of Jaeyoung’s words were slow.

– See you tomorrow at the meeting.

Sangwoo didn’t get the chance to say anything as the call had stopped.

Twenty one minutes of call time. It was the first time he had ever talked to someone for that long. Sangwoo’s cheeks were about as hot as the temperature of an LCD. He turned off the lights and approached his bed like a zombie and collapsed.

return 0;

“Long time no see, Chu Lettuce.”

“It hasn’t even been a week since we last saw each other.”

“You used to come by everyday before.”

Sangwoo entered the work studio while listening to Yuna’s meaningless words. Jaeyoung, who was sitting down on a chair with his back to him, pretended not to notice even when Sangwoo entered. Sangwoo put his backpack on an empty seat next to him and sat down on a chair.

“I’m here, sunbae.”

It was only then that Jaeyoung used his feet to turn his chair around. He was wearing a hoodie, but the face that he saw for the first time in a while looked tired. It was hard to pinpoint what the exact problem was, but he didn’t seem to be in a good state.

“Are you ill?”

“He’s been pulling all-nighters here for two days straight. A great workaholic has appeared.”

Yuna spoke as if she were Jaeyoung’s spokesperson or something. Sangwoo felt his face turn red and he covered his eyes with his palms.

‘Idiot, who told you to work all night?’

Jaeyoung was great at avoiding things by taking short cuts, so Sangwoo didn’t understand what was wrong with him all of a sudden. Sangwoo grabbed his cellphone while feeling slightly upset.

“I’ve implemented the status of the title and the character, a portion of the world map and farm level one. The damage balance still needs to be adjusted, so take that into consideration.”

He ran the file he had transferred to his phone in advance and handed it over to Jaeyoung. He then sat down and looked at the ceiling.

“What is it? What’s happening? Is it an app test? I want to see it as well.”

“It’s still a prototype.”

“I really look forward to it.”

During Jaeyoung’s demonstration, Yuna looked back while chatting.

“Oh, oh, oh, that’s cool. Huh? Uh… Something’s not connecting well. Oh… Mm, I see. HAHAHA! What is that? Why is he walking like that? It’s so stupid…”

Unlike Yuna, who poured out malicious comments, Jaeyoung just operated the game with his long fingers as he stared at the screen with an exhausted expression. Sangwoo, who didn’t have any thoughts at first, started to feel a bit anxious as his expression didn’t change.

“Since this is still a demo, it’s a bit sloppy, right?”

“You still can’t just make it do whatever you want at first.”

One of Sangwoo’s eyebrows rose.

“Right… This was too much, it’s not even a torpedo. Still, the game itself looks fun.”

Yuna went back to her seat, picked up her headphones, and shortly after that, Jaeyoung swept his eyes with his palm as he put down Sangwoo’s phone.

“Chu Sangwoo.”

“Yes.”

“I told you the first day we met. Not everything will work.”

For some reason, Sangwoo nodded while feeling nervous. At last, Jaeyoung made eye contact with him for the first time that day. It was an ambiguous gaze that didn’t tell him anything about what was on his mind. He quietly looked at Sangwoo and lowered his eyes as if he were tired.

“The title, it’s too slow.”

“How long is it? As agreed, it should be 1.8 seconds…”

“Correction. It looks too slow. Adjust it so it looks more speedy. Transparency changes are also slow when switching screens.”

“The same thing with that…”

“Correction. It looks slow, so speed it up. The basic way the character moves looks awkward. You heard what Yuna said, right? The way that the grenade flies is really weird. And it would be great to add an afterimage to the effect when the crystal appears… I’ll discuss this again later.”

Sangwoo took mental notes of everything Jaeyoung said. However, he was confused since he didn’t tell him exactly what to do. Jaeyoung pointed out and added a few more things.

“It doesn’t matter that you’re a simple developer, but if you want to get a title as a producer, you can’t do it senselessly.”

It was a direct hit. What was worse was that they were words that pierced through the feelings of discomfort that he had already pointed out. Jaeyoung often jokingly said that he was too cheesy or that he lacked imagination, but when they were working together, it was always Jaeyoung who was being scolded. It was the first time he experienced the opposite situation. He didn’t like it, but Sangwoo had nothing to say.

“Don’t make that face, and don’t forget to collaborate with me.”

“What kind of expression was I making?”

“Well… Like the face of the top student in the entire school getting 79 points? Turn on your engine or something. I’ll let you know what I’m trying to say.”

Sangwoo turned his laptop on without responding. He couldn’t adapt as the vibe was different from usual. Perhaps it was because he had stayed up all night, but Jaeyoung didn’t grumble as usual, and he didn’t have any playfulness on his face. Until this point, it had been like a wild horse that needed to be coaxed, whipped and dragged somehow, but today he felt like a legit partner for some reason.

“You don’t know how to handle this part though, sunbae.”

“I looked it up a bit earlier. The GUI is pretty good. It’s fine as long as you teach me the parts I don’t know. Let’s look at the title first.”

Jaeyoung entered Sangwoo’s territory. While sitting appropriately on the chair close to him, he didn’t make any unnecessary contact and just looked at the monitor. Still, Sangwoo felt a nervousness similar to when he would stare at him or stroke his head.

“How many seconds should we make it then?”

“Let’s not change the time, but make it slightly larger and then smaller at the correct size.”

“About what size… Is 110% okay?”

“Don’t think about getting the numbers right, but check how it feels yourself.”

The moment he was caught off-guard, Jaeyoung’s hand covered the back of Sangwoo’s hand, which was holding the mouse. Jaeyoung was looking at the monitor so seriously that Sangwoo missed the timing to withdraw his hand.

‘Oh… Oh, oh?’

While in a hurry, Jaeyoung grabbed the back of his hand and moved the mouse. He moved the mouse with an indifferent expression in order to change the timeline and adjust the size of the image.

“How do you preview it?”

Sangwoo was so distracted by those words that he withdrew his hand and pressed the shortcut key. The result of Jaeyoung’s touch appeared in a new window. The time was exactly the same as before, but it looked much more dynamic by just using a little bit more effect. Sangwoo stared at the monitor.

“Chu Sangwoo.”

“Yes.”

“It’s not a competitive relationship. Don’t forget to collaborate. When it comes to graphics, do you think I know better or you do?”

“Sunbae.”

“Then who should be the leader?”

“Sun…bae.”

Jaeyoung didn’t speak for a while. When Sangwoo turned his head around, he made obvious eye contact with him.

“Choi Yuna!” Jaeyoung suddenly screamed loudly.

Yuna was just working with her head moving to the beat as before. Jaeyoung, who confirmed that she wasn’t listening, lowered his voice and continued.

“Human relationships are not done alone. Can you decide on your own what the two of us agreed on and cancel it?”

The topic had suddenly changed. Jaeyoung didn’t seem to pay any interest in the monitor anymore. Sangwoo met his persistent gaze.

“No.”

“You were wrong, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“I won’t accept quitting. I’ll explain the reason now, so listen carefully.” Jaeyoung said while neither avoiding his eyes nor blinking.

“If you’re next to me, you struggle because of your sexual desire, right? You don’t seem to know this, but normal people get closer to each other in those cases in order to relieve that desire. They say it’s a proven method. What we’ve done is barely something to define failure. That was too hasty of a conclusion.”

“I made an effort as well.”

“It seems the decisive reason you asked me to stop was because of the video. Your research was too insufficient.”

“It was in…sufficient?”