NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 26
“First, I’ve incorporated everything we discussed at the last meeting, and it’s been confirmed that the background will be a cocktail bar. These are the background arts…”
Click.
Click.
As Hayoon clicked the mouse a few times, Arin’s illustrations appeared across the broadcast screen.
Since she marked the samples with watermarks, she didn’t have to worry about them being misused at this stage.
‘Hmm, now that I think about it…’
Once the season of corona ends, AI will surely gain popularity; as a precaution, it’d be wise to add watermarks beforehand.
Hayoon thought about the watermark design that could prevent AI learning while minimizing the departure of patrons.
“What’s that?”
“Did you really visit a cocktail bar?”
“What’s with this kind of dark yet bright tone?”
“It’s giving off the vibe of an actual bar.”
Viewers were amazed at Arin’s illustrations.
Despite Arin’s lack of confidence, her drawing skills were certainly above average.
“My collaborator, whom I mentioned at the last meeting, drew this. It wasn’t me.”
“Ah.”
“That’s why the color tones felt a bit different.”
“Nah, yours are more elaborate.”
“That’s true, but do you know what?”
Click.
Click.
As Hayoon clicked her mouse a few more times, the cocktail bar background remained, but this time two SCGs appeared on the screen.
“This coloring technique complements my illustrations well. Since the background is simple, it naturally draws your eyes to the character illustrations.”
“Woah…”
“Wow, impressive.”
“You really are too good at this for a high schooler.”
“I’m not yet in high school. There’s still time before the entrance ceremony.”
[1,000 won donation]
“But how do you have such extensive field knowledge at your age? Even if one knows the color theory, amateurs usually struggle to apply it.”
“Is that so?”
[1,000 won donation]
“Generally, amateurs tend to ignore color theory and stick to their own styles. At your age, it’s normal for skills to improve steadily with practice. But this?”
“In theory, I’m skilled, yet my drawings are universally appealing.”
[1,000 won donation]
“Seriously, some commissioned illustrations costing tens of thousands of won are less satisfying than what we occasionally get from your 1,000 won donations.”
“If you appreciate it, donate more. I draw more often for familiar IDs.”
[7,000 won donation]
“Yeah, rounding up to 10,000 won.”
“Thank you so much! Manager, please note this ID.”
“Okay.”
She also managed to interact with the viewers in between.
Anyway.
“Now, getting back to the main topic… Since this is our first piece, we’ll have two heroines. One will be a blonde glamor girl, and the other will be a black-haired glamor girl.”
“But why are they all glamor girls?”
“Not including slimmer girls?”
“For a three-person cast, one slimmer girl would be okay, but for two, it might not work so well. After all, men generally prefer larger chests, right?”
“Is that so?”
“Generally.”
“For a three-person cast, you often get a split between the curvy and less curvy girls, leading to balanced popularity. However…”
“Oh…”
“Two is different.”
“Is this kid really knowledgeable?”
Slimmer girls are not included unless there’s a third.
Hayoon’s almost perfect understanding of market structure and relevant manual impressed even experienced viewers.
This meant Hayoon was highly knowledgeable about the visual novel market…
“Are you considering voice-acting?”
“Voice-acting? Oh, voice actors?”
“Yeah. If you’re short on funds, it’s better not to include it. Voice acting can break immersion.”
“I only want to work with guild members.”
“So you’re only doing dubbing for the ECG parts?”
“No, full dubbing.”
Naturally, dubbing will proceed.
With professional voice actors.
Full dubbing.
It has always been Hayoon’s philosophy that without full dubbing, you shouldn’t attempt to create a game visual novel.
And on this point, she didn’t plan to compromise at all.
“Wow, uh, uh, yeah.”
“So you’re finally using the donations you received from us for a good cause.”
“I would’ve been pissed if you’d used the money to buy chicken and then skipped on dubbing.”
The audience mostly agreed.
In fact, more than expected.
After some of the chatty chat messages passed through, there was…
“Are you really using guild members?”
“Is that true? That’s expensive.”
“Do you have a lot of money?”
The usually cool-headed audience was full of admiration.
Since the average visual novel length is around four hours, and the starting wages of guild actors are at 500,000 won per hour.
Naturally, it’s understandable for pre-first year high schooler Hayoon to want to go for full dubbing with guild actors.
“Uh, I have a lot of money.”
Hayoon chose the direct route.
“I have enough money to hire voice actors for the visual novel I’m going to show you guys.”
As expected, audiences tend to be amazed by such minor details.
That’s how Hayoon continued to build a strong connection with her viewers today.
[100,000 won donation]
“Add more.”
“Yayyyy! Thanks, Millionaire! I’ll draw you a cute fan art later. Manager.”
“Noted.”
While high-value donations were accumulating, she was having a warm time with the viewers.
“But can you code?”
“Huh?”
One of the cooler-headed viewers had a question.
“Why coding?”
“Well, you’re into art, so is the person you met at the last meeting. So, who’s doing the coding? The sound will be handled at the studio with the voice actors, but inserting all that requires a programmer, right?”
“And as expected…”
“I can’t code.”
Hayoon can’t code.
She’s never even learned it.
Coding requires a good understanding of English, and Hayoon is not very skilled in English either.
But…
“I have a lot of money. I can hire someone.”
Hayoon’s solution was simple: money.
If all else fails, she planned to hire a student coder if need be, and ideally…
“As for the background artist, one of Arin’s connections might know a coder. We could use that person.”
She thought she could use Arin’s connections.
Since in high school, if you’re learning animation, you’re usually in a school that has programming departments too.
She figured something could work out.
“Not exactly. That’s just a possibility. You know… this generation has no plan.”
“Hard to believe.”
“It’s not easy, really.”
Of course, from the audience’s perspective, it just seemed absurd.
A while ago, Hayoon said she had enough money for full dubbing a visual novel for the viewers, and now she was talking about not having a coder lined up.
[2,000 won donation]
“Add for the coding search. Include transport costs for the meetings.”
“Ah, thanks for donating 2,000.”
Even as she said this, donations were steadily stacking up.
#
Actually, during the broadcast, she replied jokingly…
Still, they needed to hire the coding help.
They couldn’t make a game with just art and sound alone.
They needed someone to tie it all together…
“Sis.”
“Hmm?”
Hayoon, who had called Arin to a café to work on art together and waited for the right moment, brought up the topic.
“Who’s doing our coding?”
“Huh? Um… you?”
“I can’t code.”
“I, I can’t either…”
Naturally, Arin cannot code either.
She is not someone with future knowledge like Hayoon, and as an ambitious high schooler, she certainly doesn’t have the time for double majoring.
“Does your school have a coding department?”
“There probably is…?”
“Then there should be a school-wide community. Anything they do, like a Naive Band?”
“Naive band?”
“That’s it. Can you upload some of my SCGs on the site looking for a serious project? Honestly, my skills should attract interest.”
“Would that be okay?”
If there’s a programming department at Arin’s school, there’s no need to bring in a grown-up collaborator.
Not only would negotiating salaries with adults be tricky, but they’re not easy to manage on passion pay either.
“High school students are cheaper to manage. Give it a try. I’ll send you the image files.”
“Oh… alright…”
Hayoon judged that recruiting from Arin’s school was the best approach.
“I’m a high schooler too.”
“Hmm?”
“Ah, never mind.”
Arin wondered, ‘Am I also being cheaply used since I’m in high school?’ But…
When Hayoon directly asked, she couldn’t say anything.
She didn’t want to feel unnecessarily upset if that really was the case.
Sometimes, it’s best not to ask.
#
A few hours later.
“What is this?”
The guy,
soon-to-be third-year student,
Do Jinho,
who unexpectedly began checking his messages,
saw a certain post on the school’s Naive Band used for special announcements…
“Haru?”
Recognizing the familiar style,
he found the post asking for someone with more than three years of coding experience to contact via email.
And it seemed worth investigating.
As he was enrolled in the programming stream at Maister High school,
he met the qualification criteria.