The Regressed Game Director Is Too Competent

“How did you find out about my doujin activities? Really….”

There must have been a few other details revealed beyond just the name of the doujin circle, right? Perhaps she decided that denying it any further would be meaningless.

Yerin admitted openly.

Still, despite acknowledging it, Yerin couldn’t even meet my eyes.

She’s known as one of the best at maintaining a poker face in the office, but…

It seemed even she found it embarrassing to have her tastes so openly revealed.

“Yerin, you’re famous in the community, right? Have you maybe never seen this picture before?”

“With my company work and deadlines piling up, I just don’t have time for the community anymore…”

Out of curiosity, I glanced at Yerin’s expression, but there was genuinely no inkling that she knew anything.

With no choice, I showed her the photo from the internet.

“What… is this?”

I could see Yerin’s expression shifting moment by moment.

The scene captured in the photo was nothing more than her and her younger sibling happily selling doujinshi at a Comiket booth—but…

Yerin seemed completely shocked that the photo had even circulated online in the first place.

Surprise, embarrassment, irritation, unease, and resignation.

Her face cycled through various emotions before she finally sighed and put her smartphone down.

“There’s nothing I can do. It’s not like I can ask for it to be taken down if it’s already out there.”

“You’re thinking wisely.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can you just show me that thing you mentioned earlier?”

“That thing?”

“The project proposal you asked me to review, Senior.”

“Ah, right.”

I had forgotten about that after bringing it up.

I felt a bit awkward as I stood up from my seat.

“I’ll go to the office and grab it. Please wait just a moment.”

***

The break room, where only Yerin and I existed, was filled with silence.

Occasionally, her voice added some musing—“hmm…”—while she flipped through the proposal, but that was the only sound.

The atmosphere felt unexpectedly serious, leaving me slightly nervous.

After what felt like 10 minutes but stretched like an hour, Yerin, having reached the last page, set the proposal down with an unreadable look on her face and asked me directly.

“Senior, I have a lot of questions… Is this proposal really written by you?”

“Uh, yeah, but… why? Is it that bad?”

“Not at all. It’s actually much more interesting than I expected.”

Relieved by Yerin’s praise—albeit with a hint of humor—I finally relaxed a bit.

“But, Senior, is it even possible to adapt a story of this scale for a mobile game?”

“What? Isn’t it doable?”

“Of course not. You know very well how mobile devices these days can barely run the simplest games from the feature phone era, right?”

“Is that so?”

“If this proposal gets approved and the project starts this year, it’s set to release in 2013 or 2014. How are you going to pull this off?”

“That’s something my future self will figure out.”

“…You’re serious?”

It wasn’t my intention to be heavy-handed, but since it wasn’t taken seriously, I decided to lighten the mood.

But with her piercing, skeptical eyes, I had no choice but to confess.

“Just kidding, kidding. Surely you don’t think I wrote this proposal without thinking?”

“Yes.”

Her unwavering answer stung a little.

“Anyway… there’s no need to worry about that. I don’t intend to use in-game play to tell the story.”

“I don’t understand what you mean, Senior…”

“Think about it. You mentioned that smartphones have limitations, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Additionally, the inherent nature of smartphones makes their controls less convenient compared to PCs or consoles.”

She nodded after pulling out her smartphone and pretending to manipulate a tablet-like pad.

“It’s true.”

“So after careful consideration, I came up with this method.”

After finishing my explanation, I played a video on my smartphone and showed it to Yerin.

“Isn’t this… a dating sim? Did you do something like this too, Senior?”

“It’s more of a visual novel, but that’s beside the point. I found using 2D scenario presentations to be the best approach for this.”

“Sometimes I want to peek into Senior’s mind. You’ve done this before on past projects too.”

“But as time passes, isn’t it true that most of my ideas turn out to be correct? Right?”

Though my overly confident and somewhat brazen attitude made Yerin appear a bit baffled,

She eventually sighed and nodded.

“So that’s why I don’t have much to say. Anyway, I think you’ll handle this side well, so let me talk about the other side…”

As I feared slightly that her evaluation might not be positive on the other aspects,

Fortunately, everything else was praised.

“The story may vary depending on individual preferences, but by my standard, I like it. The concept of adults disappearing and students managing an autonomous city is appealing, as is the idea of everyone carrying their own weapons.”

“Having different school uniforms and allowing customization of those uniforms is also good, though the art team might go insane because of that.”

“In any case, if all of this can be properly executed, I’d probably give it a try. It seems fun.”

“That’s a relief.”

The tension lifted and a relieved smile escaped from me.

It felt like the lingering anxiety I carried disappeared.

For that reason, I couldn’t stop smiling, even as Yerin looked at me with a curious expression.

“Anyway, thanks, Yerin. It makes me feel much less anxious because of you.”

“I’m glad to be of help.”

“And since we’re at it, can I ask you one more thing?”

“What is it?”

“Ah….”

As I was about to ask, the words wouldn’t come out.

Because the question I intended to ask was rather sensitive.

Even though I’m quite close with Yerin, it felt somewhat awkward to bring up.

“What is it? I’ve never seen Senior act like this before.”

“Well, if… hypothetically…”

“If?”

“If, directly speaking, I switch companies and get assigned this project, would you consider coming along to be the art director? What do you think?”

As expected, Yerin was taken aback by my sudden bombshell.

In truth, this direct inquiry felt like an overreaction, but I had no choice.

The key to the success of this project was art, and the person right in front of me—Lee Yerin—was the one meant to oversee it.

***

This was still something from the early 2020s, when I was fiddling with my resignation paperwork.

“-Wow, first place in both South Korea and Japan’s Play Store and App Store revenue rankings? That’s impressive.”

“-Even the company didn’t expect such success. They’re celebrating with champagne and looking for more staff.”

“-The Japanese mobile gaming market was a red ocean nobody cared about. Guess you never know.”

That year, a game that would mark a milestone appeared in the mobile gacha game world.

[Blue Astralis]

The first mobile subculture gacha game to secure the top spot in sales rankings of both South Korea and Japan.

In fact, when it first launched, it wasn’t very well-received.

There were plenty of games from that period that had better gameplay than Blue Astralis.

However, the reason this game outperformed others and claimed the number one spot wasn’t anything else but:

-“Look at those designs. They’re insane…”

The art.

And the concept.

The game lacked in gameplay but soared in the two areas above.

Character design.

It reached the pinnacle of what could be shown within the genre of collecting cute girl characters.

While other games were trying to stand out by becoming flashier or more stimulating, this one achieved the epitome of simplicity.

Without extra accessories, with clean designs matching their clothing, players found themselves opening their wallets.

-“To be honest, the gameplay is mediocre, but the character designs are insane.”

-“This game is insane, running entirely on its art design and concept.”

As praise for the art team continued, the community started investigating who the art director was,

And when I saw the result, I was shocked.

Lee Yerin and her younger sister, Yena.

They were junior members I worked with at the company a few years ago.

I had hesitated in the past and missed the timing, leading to this result,

But this time, I wasn’t going to let it slip.

***

“Wait, give me a moment to think about it.”

“Take your time.”

She looked deeply troubled, her expression furrowed as if her head was swirling with thoughts.

“Senior, this is the problem with you. Why would you pop such a sensitive question without any warning?”

“I felt that if I didn’t bring it up now, I might never get another chance.”

“…Seriously.”

Despite the obvious flush creeping up her cheeks, Yerin gave me a sharp glance before suddenly breaking out into laughter.

Caught off guard by the sudden shift in atmosphere, I could only stand there dumbfounded,

“Okay, so if I follow Senior, what will you offer me?”

“Hmm… what would you like?”

After a brief moment of contemplation, Yerin unfolded her fingers and began speaking.

“First, I want full authority on the initial design of the three main characters from your proposal.”

“That’s not impossible. Why?”

“Senior’s design sense isn’t bad, but there are certain areas that fall a bit short. The characters are going to be the face of the project, so I’d like to handle them personally.”

It seemed reasonable enough, so I nodded in agreement.

“All right. That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“And secondly, are you free tonight?”

“Probably, unless something happens by the time I leave work. But I’ll leave early if I can.”

“In that case, my second wish is to enjoy a fine evening meal with you. Something expensive.”

“Is that really all?”

“Yes. But given the mental strain I’ve gone through today, it’s going to be expensive. Just be prepared.”

---