Chapter 83

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 2, 2025

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What’s the difference between art and popular culture?

It was all about who the target audience was.

The target of art is solely oneself.

Discovering something unique within oneself and bringing it out into the world—that was art.

That’s why artists didn’t seek empathy from others.

In fact, they might have been creeped out if someone empathized with them.

“Who are you to empathize with this? Are you a stalker or something?” Like that.

What’s inside each person is unique and different.

And people can’t understand each other.

But you understand someone else’s art?

That means something has already been compromised. It wasn’t perfectly executed.

A perfectly executed piece of art should make you feel uncomfortable the moment you see it. If someone says, “Do people like this really exist in the world?” then congratulations. You’ve become an artist.

On the complete opposite side of the artist was the popular culture creator.

As the name suggests, the target of a popular culture creator was the masses.

If an artist is someone who discovers something unique within themselves and brings it out into the world, a popular culture creator is someone who discovers something within themselves and plays tug-of-war with the masses.

“Do you like this? No? Then how about this? Oh, not this either?”

Like that.

Anyway.

So if you ask me which side I’m on, of course, it’s the popular culture side.

Since the games I loved were on <Nintendo> and <PlayStation>, it was only natural.

If you’re wondering why I suddenly brought this up, I wanted to say that I’m not particularly stubborn about games.

If something looks fun when I see it, I adopt it. I don’t vehemently oppose it just because it might compromise artistic integrity.

If I say this, someone might say, “A hardcore game enthusiast like you is saying that?” But I enjoy casual games too.

It’s just that, so far, hardcore games have suited the ones I’ve made better, so I made them that way.

In other words.

Fun comes first, and everything else is irrelevant.

That was my conclusion.

“Hmm hmm.”

I hummed while making the game.

Be wary of creators who look happy while working.

Because such creators don’t exist in this world.

Creation is the process of wringing your brain like a rag, condensing everything you’ve consumed into one piece. Who could possibly enjoy doing that?

It’s one of two things.

Either you’re a masochist like Pape, or you’re not actually creating.

What about me?

Neither.

Because I wasn’t in the process of making a game—I had already finished it.

Since I could skip the grind, game development was completed the moment I came up with a concrete idea.

Of course, coming up with ideas wasn’t easy either, but compared to other game developers, it was practically a freebie.

If you try to get a freebie in the summer, you might get a stomachache, so unless you’re a super developer, don’t try to follow my lead.

I wandered around a lot to get ideas.

I took a cruise in the East Sea, visited the secret base (now gone) I used to frequent as a kid, and even did a top run in <Eternal World>.

What came out of that was a single-player ocean adventure Age of Exploration game.

But that alone felt like something was missing.

So I did a collaboration with Yukimura Akane, appeared on Ga Joon-sik’s show, and even participated in a tournament.

And then I realized.

I realized that doing something with others is fun.

In other words, even running down a hallway with a friend is fun.

I immediately adopted that.

Thanks to that, the game evolved from a single-player to an MORPG ocean adventure Age of Exploration game, but…

[Heart Demon: Did you forget about me?]

You’re not seriously going to ignore the realization I had while witnessing the Great Old One (Iron), are you?

Are you for real?

But it’s hard to do that with a regular ocean adventure Age of Exploration game.

[Heart Demon: Look closely. Do I still look like a heart demon to you?]

No way?

[Heart: The answer is already within you.]

The final piece to make the game was already inside me.

The space adventure action movie I saw the day I went out to hire an editor.

That was the final piece.

This is why people should watch a lot of movies. Movies truly are the pinnacle of popular culture.

But the original novel, <Please, Call Me Leona>, is even more fun, so if you haven’t read it, you should. It’s a true masterpiece.

“Done.”

I nodded as I reviewed the final version, Final76_ReallyFinal_Final5.

A game where you build your own spaceship and explore a universe full of monsters in a group adventure.

Complete!

*

As I said, there are two types of afterparties.

Dinner gathering afterparties. And game afterparties. These two.

The former is sometimes broadcasted, but since it usually lasts about an hour, dinner gatherings are more like content for broadcasters.

But game afterparties are different.

Rare combinations of people coming together to play group games they don’t usually play is purely for the viewers.

Well, since it brings in viewers, it’s good for the broadcasters too, but unlike dinner gatherings where they just enjoy themselves, game afterparties have a clear purpose of “broadcasting.”

So, unlike dinner gatherings where you can just eat anything tasty, you have to think about what would be entertaining for the broadcast and what games would make people happy…

“Game?”

[Yes.]

“Unnie. Did you already make a game?”

Bunny Run was slightly surprised.

Everyone already knew that Han Yoorim’s game development speed was bizarre, and that she didn’t even try to hide it, but this was too fast.

It was just last month that she gifted a game to Yukimura Akane. In other words, Han Yoorim had made another game in about a month, even though she spent about three weeks in a tournament. Where did she find the time to make a game?

Bunny Run couldn’t hold back and asked.

“Unnie. Be honest. Do you have a game development Skynet at your house?”

[You’ve watched too many movies. It’ll take humanity 100 years to develop strong AI.]

“Then what are you? Is it classified?”

[I’m a super developer, duh.]

Since Bunny Run had been keeping up with Han Yoorim’s broadcasts, she knew what that meant.

According to Han Yoorim’s definition, a genius developer is a hymn to humanity, and a super developer uses cheat abilities.

So.

Han Yoorim was right about using something she herself classified as a cheat, but she had no clue what it actually was.

Honestly, it seems like it’s AI, but she insists it’s not.

Hmm.

Isn’t it just AI?

Unnie, you lie a lot, don’t you?

[I always speak from the heart, don’t I?]

“But you don’t always tell the truth, do you?”

At that, Han Yoorim closed her mouth for a moment, then let out a deflated sound effect.

[Ba-ba-ba-bam. Congratulations. The Han Yoorim route has been unlocked. Keep striving to uncover the truth.]

“…What’s that?”

[It’s a kind of event prepared for detectives. It’d be anticlimactic if there was no flair after getting the answer right.]

“Unnie, is your life a game or something?”

[It’s similar.]

Han Yoorim doing weird things wasn’t new, so it didn’t bother me, but hearing that made me curious.

“Unnie. How many people unlocked the Han Yoorim route before me?”

[You’re the fourth.]

“…There are three people ahead of me?”

[Don’t feel too down. The progress is pretty similar anyway…]

“You had three other close friends besides me?”

Bunny Run was shocked.

This liar.

You said you had no friends.

Han Yoorim spoke.

[You’re getting mad at the weirdest points.]

“It’s the popular people who already have everything but still try to take the loner’s spot. What’s so great about stealing that?”

[I don’t have many friends either. Aside from family and Bunny Run, my contacts are pretty limited.]

“Pretty limited? You’re not saying ‘pretty limited’ for like 1,000 people, are you? I can’t trust you anymore.”

[It’s just 10.]

“Unnie, you’re the best.”

Hearing the answer she wanted, Bunny Run tilted her head.

“But what were we doing again?”

[Bunny Run, you should get checked for ADHD. I’ve been suspecting it lately.]

“Then I’ll be just like you, unnie?”

[I’ve already been treated, so no. By the way, we were talking about our game.]

“Oh, right. So what game did you make that you want me to try?”

[You’ll know when you try it.]

Following Han Yoorim’s words, Bunny Run opened her mailbox.

Sure enough, there was an email from Han Yoorim.

No doubt, she probably sent a file that maxed out the email limit….

‘Huh?’

Bunny Run blinked.

6.5MB.

Seeing the unusually small file size, Bunny Run asked.

“Unnie. Did you send the wrong file? Is this it?”

[That’s the right one.]

“Did you make a text game this time? Even you must’ve been short on time, huh?”

[It’s similar.]

Similar? That was unexpected.

Han Yoorim’s strength was creating unbelievably high-quality games as a solo developer, but this time it’s a text game?

Well. When has Han Yoorim ever cared about that?

She probably just made what she wanted to make.

Bunny Run downloaded the file and launched it. Then.

Ding dong! Yoorim Company! A signature sound that would make someone who’s been forgotten say, “I’m really upset, but what’s the difference between Yoorim Company and Inho Company?”

The game title appeared.

True to its text game nature, there was just a title on a plain white background.

Bunny Run casually pressed the start button. Honestly, text games weren’t her thing, so she didn’t expect to be impressed no matter what happened.

Immediately after.

With a big bang signaling the beginning of the universe, the background changed completely.

Countless stars were born.

Stars died, emitting massive light. Gravitational collapse caused stars to become extremely dense. The acceleration of mass created ripples in spacetime, gamma rays exploded, stars collided, galaxies merged, and powerful energy was released from black holes that swallowed everything.

And the universe containing all of this expanded endlessly.

And Bunny Run, who witnessed all of this in an instant, muttered softly.

“Unnie. You said it was a text game.”

[Text games and <Cosmic Osuary> share the commonality of being large in scale. They’re similar games. Perfect for a wrap-up party, right?]

“…A wrap-up party game? How did you even make this 6.5MB?”

[It’s a cloud gaming service. What you downloaded is just a terminal. The main body is somewhere else.]

“…Isn’t cloud gaming service still far from being commercialized?”

[I needed the technology to make what I wanted. So I loosened the seal just a little.]

Han Yoorim continued in a slightly raised, humming voice.

[It was fun playing games together. So I thought I’d give it a try too.]

“Try what?”

[A platform-integrated wrap-up party. A kind of beta test before the official service. Wouldn’t it be fun to invite everyone and enjoy it? No? Alright, I’ll go post the announcement now.]

With that, Han Yoorim left the voice chat.

In the sudden situation, Bunny Run shook her head and continued playing the game Han Yoorim made.

I don’t really get it, but if unnie wants to do it, she’ll figure it out.

But Bunny Run didn’t know.

The impact Han Yoorim’s announcement would have.

—

The test period is 2 weeks.

Any broadcaster can apply.

There’s no limit to the number of participants.

You can apply even if you didn’t participate in the Yoorimlympics.

P.S.) If you discover hidden Easter eggs in the game, you’ll receive a small prize!

List of prizes!