Chapter 27

Do Jinho.

19 years old.

An owner of a cuddly bear-like appearance and a robust, muscular build.

This man, who prefers the characters from his favorite girl game over the few girl students in school…

Is a typical nerdy computer science student who has already planned out his future in engineering, the military, and advanced technologies.

Anyway, today was supposed to be a smooth resting day filled with leisure like dabbling in doujinshi, but…

“Haru…?”

As he examined the post from a link sent by a classmate, one illustrator’s name suddenly came to mind.

This was, without a doubt, the same art style he had seen at the convention from someone named Haru who was running a booth.

“Choi Arin from the Department of Design…?”

Turns out, the person who originally posted the link was a woman from the same school’s Content Design Department named Choi Arin.

“But the face doesn’t match?”

According to the school band rules, profile pictures must match student IDs.

Still, Choi Arin and Haru seemed completely different people — even accounting for the cosplayers’ outfits.

“What’s going on here?”

To Do Jinho, who was familiar with Haru’s art style and had even met her in person, this was all quite perplexing.

But…

“Anyway, if you’re up for coding, drop a line.”

This could potentially be an opportunity to collaborate with this Haru, even if it was unclear why someone with her skill level would need help from within a high school setup.

Regardless, she was looking for help.

“So let’s see the mail… H…H… Ah, Haru Spring. And Goldbell…”

After manually entering the email address, the next step was crafting the cover letter.

It was a cover letter he’d already written endlessly in preparation for high school entrance exams and would inevitably write again for future job applications.

But because of all this practice, writing such formal documents wasn’t too difficult for him.

“My name is Do Jin Ho, I’m a 19-year-old in my final year, and I really like this art style, so I would love to participate. I know a lot about the industry… I’ve played many visual novels… and my favorite is…”

However, had his enthusiasm gotten the better of him? He sent a rather incoherent cover letter without even proofreading it, and…

“Hmm?”

– Let’s set a meeting date within three days.

A reply came back almost instantly.

“Ah, this is how it’s done.”

Opportunities favor those who act decisively when others hesitate.

#

The next day.

Ha Yun and Choi Arin met at their usual cafe near the West Gate Station and sat next to each other.

The seat opposite them was still vacant.

While waiting for Do Jinho, who was about to join them, they dived headfirst into their illustration work.

“The color tones look good. I feel like this style will really harmonize with my illustrations, don’t you think?”

“Indeed, definitely… Filling the computer screen like this helps the character illustrations catch the eye instantly.”

“With the way the food is depicted — almost glossy, right? — the coloring is just so skillful. You’re quite a pro.”

“Hehe, thanks…”

Perhaps due to the familiarity from their previous meetings, Choi Arin, who was usually shy, happily beamed at Ha Yun’s compliments.

Ha Yun was undoubtedly recognized both objectively and subjectively as someone who drew exceptionally well, so receiving praise from her was naturally a mood-booster.

Naturally, this was not surprising.

In Choi Arin’s eyes, Ha Yun was a monster-like talent who, even before her first day of high school, had attended AGC in cosplay, promoted Pixiv, and even sold goods at conventions.

While Choi Arin provided the opportunity, it was Ha Yun who initiated the DM and proposed the collaboration after their brief encounter.

Receiving compliments from someone with such sharp decision-making skills naturally made one feel good.

“Could you send me the finished coloring? I’d like to do a contrast check.”

“Sure thing, it’s AirDropped.”

“Alright, let’s see. If we compile this quickly…”

“What do you think?”

“Maybe it’s because of the bright background, but the contrast isn’t really coming through. We should make a slightly darker type version of the outfit in casual wear.”

“Hmm… How about just dolphin pants and a hoodie? Highlighting the thigh disappearance will emphasize the thighs and make it quite pretty.”

“Let me think. The composition… Ah, this will work. For the second outfit. It’s always been about showing the chest, but this one also shows the thighs, so it’s good.”

Their work continued like this.

However, Do Jinho was not late for their appointment.

These two women intended to meet anyway and figured they’d work on their illustrations while they waited.

Whether Do Jinho arrived or not, they carried on drawing without a care in the world.

How much time had passed?

‘Huh…’

The young man who had just entered the cafe and stopped in his tracks knew instinctively.

‘Is this where I should sit…?’

Even from his student ID photo, Choi Arin’s striking features had grabbed his attention, and Ha Yun, possibly because of her cosplay outfit, emitted an aura that instinctively drew men in from afar.

For Do Jinho, who had only conversed with women outside of his mother and his teachers on countable occasions, this was an almost overwhelming situation.

“Could I have one iced Americano, please? Cold.”

“Are you planning to drink it here, or take it to go?”

“I’ll drink it here.”

“Thank you.”

To buy some time, he naturally headed to the counter to order a coffee first.

Hopefully, this would give him a moment to think.

However…

“Iced Americano ready.”

“Oh, yes…”

The heavens were unkind.

There was no moment of respite for Do Jinho who had come in at a time when there happened to be no line, and with a cold Americano in hand, he cautiously made his way to the two women seated side by side.

“Hello.”

He then attempted to start a small talk while naturally sitting down in the spot next to them.

Though, before he could fully start…

“Who are you?”

“Ah, well…”

A chill ran down his spine, and his speech was blocked.

Her strange squinting eyes.

Her lips tinged with a subtle red.

Most notably, an aura that seemed to devour men…

‘Am I scared of women…?’

And so, he felt like a rabbit left alone in front of a wolf.

“Do Jin Ho… Senior, right? Are you from our school’s senior year?”

“Oh, um, yeah, I’m in 3rd year. You’re in 2nd year, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Though certainly a beauty, thanks to Choi Arin speaking up while next to Ha Yun, he managed to continue the conversation.

“Right, um… It’s nice to meet you. Is the person next to you the one who draws for SCG?”

“For now, that’s right.”

“Oh…”

As Ha Yun tilted her head slightly and replied, Do Jinho unintentionally let out another deep sigh.

“Since you’re aware, I’ll let you know, the art and story already have direction. We plan to use full voice acting, so all we need from you is to tie everything together into a game form.”

As Ha Yun kept the conversation strictly professional, it left Do Jinho no room to just stand around awkwardly.

“So the source is all provided, and I just need to tie it all together?”

“Visual novels themselves don’t require advanced coding, so we hope to finish by the end of the year.”

“That’s reasonable since Visual Novel coding mostly involves manual labor anyway.”

“That’s why we contacted you through Arin. If anything happens and the person goes missing, we can easily find and confront someone closer.”

The priority was not just coding skill, but selecting someone diligent and capable of handling tasks efficiently.

However, the main challenge was balancing work and school.

Especially since Do Jinho was in his final year of high school.

Even in a specialty-focused school like Meister High, the final year was crucial, allowing for no exceptions.

Thus, doubts naturally arose.

“What’s the pay?”

“Pardon?”

“The pay is the most important issue.”

This guy certainly didn’t lack in decisiveness.

How else could an unmarried third-year high school student brazenly sleep with dakimakura?

To Do Jinho, whose lifestyle was already closer to an adult’s, immediate money was more important than a year of remaining high school life.

“Pay will be structured as an external collaboration, 2 million won for the completion of the main story, with additional incentives for bug fixes and patch updates. All tool purchase fees will be covered by me.”

“The pay itself is a bit low, but since it’s not a full-fledged external team and it’s just me receiving it, it should be fine. Are there any other important terms?”

“All the production costs are covered by me. The person sitting next to me, Ha Yun, is employed under me too.”

“Oh…”

“Hmm?”

“Damn….”

No production costs?

To Do Jinho, this was actually a benefit.

Investing money into a failing venture and losing it would be a problem, so this no-cost setup worked in his favor.

Of course, if the project failed completely, it would feel like wasted time.

Yet, compared to losing money, wasting time seemed better to Do Jinho. Given his judgment, a Visual Novel with Ha Yun’s art style was unlikely to fail.

The risk was minimal, but the return seemed certain.

Even if the project failed miserably, at least he would add working with professional voice actors to his resume, and with 2 million won guaranteed.

“Deal. I’m in.”

There wasn’t much to regret from Do Jinho’s perspective.

“Huh?”

Suddenly,

Ha Yun slammed her hand, as if realizing something.

“Now I remember where I’ve seen you…”

Do Jinho began to sweat nervously.

“M-P… A gatekeeper?”

“What the hell are you referring to?”

Choi Arin was utterly shocked.

This marked Do Jinho’s second social self-destruction.

‘Damn, I thought I had changed my nickname today…’

He wanted to die.

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