All the employees turned their heads, and one or two at a time stepped forward to recheck the documents. Sure enough, next to the characters spelling out Seo Sihan, the three characters for Jeong Minha were written. The handwriting appeared to be different, as if each had written their own name.
One employee asked in bewilderment.
“Could it be someone with the same name?”
“I thought so too, so I asked the Director.”
“Yes.”
“I spent 10 minutes listening to him praise Player Jeong Minha. This is the real deal.”
“Holy shit!”
Jeong Minha—isn’t that the genius athlete who just won the gold medal while setting a new Olympic record? The development team employees went into an uproar. And for good reason, since the event where Jeong Minha set the new record was none other than shooting.
“Still, that’s shooting at stationary targets while standing still, and in our game you have to shoot moving zombies while running away, so wouldn’t it be difficult?”
“Can you stand still and score a perfect bullseye on a target you can’t even see?”
“N-no, but still…!”
“For your information, that’s also why I spent time listening to the Director praise Player Jeong Minha. I’m saying I asked everything…. When I asked if Player Jeong Minha could shoot moving targets well because of the difficulty settings, he just kept saying ‘of course.'”
“Wow….”
The team leader made a somewhat fed-up expression at the flustered employee. That was because the meeting he’d just come from had been so packed with bragging he couldn’t tell if it was a conference or a praise session.
“Since he loves anything related to shooting, he said he’s even tried that moving… clay shooting? That thing too.”
“That’s hitting flying clay discs, right? That’s basically a zombie game, haha…. B-but if we ask him to shoot while running away….”
“Before, the Director told me never to tell anyone else, but apparently he walked around in a private shooting range and hit all the targets in one line.”
“Is he human? Isn’t he a soldier rather than an athlete? And didn’t the Director say not to tell anyone, but then he told you about it anyway, Team Leader?”
“I guess he’s that proud. Ugh, anyway, I heard such tremendous praise for his skills that I couldn’t help but think we need to push this forward immediately. I’ve scheduled it for this Saturday at 1 PM, so hurry up and prepare the center manager.”
“Wow, what do we do! Will we really get to see a hard mode clear?! I’m so excited—can’t we film this and use it for promotional purposes?”
Seeing the excited employee, the team leader proudly pushed up his glasses and said,
“I already got permission for that, knowing this would happen. In fact, the Director requested that we make Player Jeong Minha’s scenes look amazing, haha!”
“Yes!”
The development teams, who had been preparing to work themselves to death at the news of the Director’s application, lit up when they heard that Player Jeong Minha would also be participating. For a whole week, they worked overtime again, checking the programs and preparing the game play center perfectly.
* * *
Saturday at 1 PM, Jeong Minha arrived at the play center with wide eyes and an excited face, chattering away.
“Whoa, amazing! Is this for real?! Why is it so huge? It’s just an amusement park, isn’t it? Are you sure we can do this for free?”
“We’re testers, so it’s fine. We just need to give honest reviews afterward.”
“Wow….”
Inside the game center was like a giant indoor theme park. The difference from a regular theme park was that all the natural objects and buildings visible to the eye were machines.
They were just decorated to look authentic, and when you actually put on the VR helmet, it became a perfect ruined city. You could wear the equipment and actually go inside buildings, pick up gear, eat food, and really live like it was survival. It seemed to have gathered all the elements Jeong Minha would love—a world like being inside a movie where you move around yourself and even shoot guns.
The center was quite large in scale, so even without wearing the equipment, just standing there was imposing. It was the power of capital.
Seo Sihan and Jeong Minha came in comfortable clothes, but following the staff’s guidance, as they equipped themselves from head to toe, they transformed to look like proper soldiers.
“I’ve never been to the military, but I feel like I’m experiencing it now. I feel like a special forces soldier from a movie.”
“Me too….”
After they finished equipping everything, the person in charge gave a lengthy explanation about the game’s progression. Although the content had already been provided in documentation, since it was hard mode and these high-ranking people were participating directly, they had to explain the precautions in detail out of fear.
The person in charge asked if it was okay that they’d set the game difficulty to hard mode, the highest level, considering Player Jeong Minha’s shooting skills. Seo Sihan, who didn’t know much about games, just felt proud at the praise for Jeong Minha, but the person in question was startled.
“Th-this was a zombie game, wasn’t it? But if it’s hard mode….”
“Yes. Survival is a bit more difficult. But if we lower the difficulty, it seems like it would end too quickly….”
They had to somehow convince him, since the only person who could clear hard mode, which had no clear record yet, had come in person. The person in charge pleaded with a tearful expression.
“It’s because Player Jeong Minha’s shooting skills are so good…. You’re world number one, aren’t you? In the game we made, if it’s not at least hard mode, you might clear it in 10 minutes.”
Jeong Minha, feeling good from the praise for his skills, cleared his throat and pondered while suppressing a smile. Well, it’s not wrong. He was even more confident he’d do better since he was holding an actual gun rather than a mouse.
However, what Jeong Minha was worried about was a different issue. Since it was a zombie game you had to actually play in person, the problem was whether hard mode would make the horror factor even greater.
“I’m curious about the differences from other modes.”
“Basically, the number of enemies increases, their speed gets faster, and they won’t fall unless it’s a headshot. You’ll have to find bullets as you walk around, but the supply is insufficient so you’ll have to move around a lot. By the way, besides guns, it’s also possible to fight with axes, baseball bats, or bare hands.”
The more he listened to the explanation, the more it seemed like an actual situation rather than just a simple game. Jeong Minha shook off the strange tension and asked.
“If I get hurt in the game… will it hurt a lot in real life?”
“There’s a slight electric shock to the affected area. It’s just a tingle, so you don’t need to worry too much. Have you ever had physical therapy?”
“Yes.”
“It’ll be weaker than that. Before starting, we’ll test the electric shock on each part of the body from the equipment and adjust the intensity.”
“I see….”
Seo Sihan, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, asked Jeong Minha. If you don’t like pain, should we remove the electric shock? The person in charge looked at Seo Sihan with a dumbfounded expression. Didn’t I just explain that it doesn’t hurt? But they didn’t have the confidence to talk back to their superior.
Still, you need that for a more realistic play experience…. As the person in charge looked at Jeong Minha with regretful eyes, Jeong Minha said with a nonchalant expression.
“Now that I think about it, I just won’t get hurt.”
“……!”
“Are you okay with it, hyung?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
At the tremendous confidence, the person in charge breathed a sigh of relief. However, since it was hard mode, no matter how well they did, situations where they’d inevitably get hurt would occur. I’d better lower the intensity a bit in advance before anything is said. While making that resolution internally, they looked at the two people before them.
‘They’re… closer than I thought?’
In fact, when the two of them put their names on the application together, everyone who saw it had the same reaction. How on earth did the Director bring Player Jeong Minha here? Of course, no one had the courage to ask. They were just moved thinking, he personally brought a shooting genius for our team.
But seeing them in person was quite different from what they’d imagined. They’d expected a business relationship, but they seemed closer than that.
First of all, this was the first time seeing that Director use casual speech. The Director, who was famous in the company for being handsome and kind, wasn’t actually that kind. He always smiled slightly and spoke in polite language, but if you listened to the content, it contained tremendously cold feedback as if examined by a machine. Even though it was ultimately helpful work, just standing and listening to it face-to-face was simply scary. It felt like he was smiling while indirectly calling you garbage.
And Player Jeong Minha was also unexpected. When watching the Olympic competition and interview on TV, they’d thought this person would also be stiff like a machine. However, as soon as he arrived, he exclaimed and looked around here and there, and while his superior seemed to have little interest in games, only this player showed great interest and asked various questions…. They were grateful just for him coming as a tester, but to show this much interest—the person in charge looked at Jeong Minha with moved eyes.
But then, suddenly Jeong Minha hit Seo Sihan’s arm.
“……?!”
The person in charge’s eyes flashed open as they swallowed a scream. Wh-who did he just hit…..
They cautiously shifted their gaze toward their superior, whom even they were being careful around. Seo Sihan was also looking at Jeong Minha with surprised eyes. Jeong Minha immediately asked.
“Are you really okay? You always say it hurts even when I hit you lightly like this.”
Lightly? That didn’t seem light at all, though?
