1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 71



Only Noblemtl

71st – Game Art Contest Awards Ceremony

May, the queen of seasons. The weather was sunny, just like its nickname.

Kim Han-sol took out her favorite one-piece dress from her closet and put it on.

“You said there was going to be an interview? Isn’t it too bright? Why don’t you dress a little more calmly? Why not bring out your suit?”

“No. But it’s an awards ceremony. Even if you can’t wear a dress, you should at least wear something like this. I told you that you don’t have to wear a suit.”

“That’s just talk. Which company would really do that? But is that really a proper company?”

“Mom, that’s the most successful game company in our country. Oh, if I had known this would happen, I would have applied instead. I still can’t believe how my sister won an award there.”

Kim Han-sol, the younger brother, opened a newspaper and spoke as if he was being treated unfairly.

The day after Kim Han-sol received the call, all the winning entries from the graphic contest were printed in color on the back cover of the major daily newspapers. She bought 10 copies of the newspaper as a souvenir.

“What are you talking about? You weren’t even thinking about applying.”

“That’s because my older sister took my computer away and I didn’t have time to use it. If only I could use a computer, I would be the target.”

Leaving his grumbling younger brother behind, Hansol headed to the awards ceremony wearing a calm cardigan under his mother’s veil.

The location is Myeongseong Group’s main auditorium.

First of all, Hansol liked the location of the awards ceremony.

To be honest, she had heard an explanation from Manager Park and another long lecture about Starbeat from her younger sibling, but since she had never played the game before, it didn’t really make much of an impact.

My younger brother also showed me .

“This game is great, but what’s really amazing is that this game came out in Korea.”

“okay?”

The game looked pretty and fun to Kim Han-sol’s eyes, but he couldn’t quite understand why his younger brother was so excited.

Still, I believed it because the results were published in the newspaper and the awards ceremony was held in a large auditorium.

“Sister!”

At the entrance to the awards ceremony, Hansol’s photography club friends and juniors were waiting to congratulate him.

“Wow, this place looks like an exhibition hall.”

“I remember having a photo exhibition during our school festival.”

The interior of the awards ceremony hall was decorated like an art gallery exhibition.

Dozens of large prints of computer graphic works were installed at the entrance, and there were also several computers where all the submitted works could be viewed.

“That’s why you really sound like a writer, unnie.”

“Oh my? What are you talking about? We are all already writers. Photographers.”

Everyone laughed at Kim Han-sol’s words and said it was funny.

It was half-joking, half-serious, but it definitely felt different than before when I heard that I had won an award.

Whenever people stopped by Hansol’s painting and walked away, I felt my shoulders lift up for no reason. People who said they were reporters for a computer magazine came up to me and I even interviewed them.

It felt like I was floating a little in the sky.

The awards ceremony began soon.

There were a total of 11 winners, 6 in the general category and 5 in the student category.

At the general award winners’ table, a man was sitting wearing sunglasses and a flight jacket. It was the grand prize winner, Ko Seong-beom.

Next to Kim Han-sol was a woman with a pale face and long, flowing hair, wearing all white clothes.

Kim Han-sol suddenly felt like he was dressed too plainly.

The general category winner, Ko Seong-beom, was the first to go up to the podium. The excellence award winner, Kim Han-sol, was next.

“Congratulations.”

“Ah···, Mom! Thank you!”

In addition to the trophy and prize money, there was also a separate prize. Starbeat printed the winner’s drawing and put it in a frame.

However, when Hansol saw CEO Seo Nam-joon up close, who was giving his congratulations, he was much more handsome than he had expected, so he stared blankly and almost dropped the picture frame.

Fortunately, Seo Nam-joon quickly grabbed the frame and was able to receive the award safely.

After the awards ceremony for the general and student divisions were held, everyone took a commemorative photo.

After the awards ceremony was over, a new table was brought in and food was laid out like a buffet. While eating and chatting with the club members, someone in a black suit suddenly appeared next to Hansol.

It was Starbeat’s human resources manager, Park Chung-shin.

“Mr. Kim Han-sol? It’s time to go to the interview room now.”

“Oh, yes! Where should I go?”

“Just follow me.”

“Sister, have a good time on your interview~!”

“Don’t be nervous.”

“Go for it!”

Kim Han-sol followed Manager Park amidst the cheers of the people.

Kim Han-sol was more nervous about the award ceremony than the interview. He went along because they gave him the opportunity to interview, but he didn’t have any intention of sticking to Star Beat. His younger brother was adamant that he had to stick to it.

“Are you going by car? Aren’t you going to see it from here?”

“It should only take 10 minutes. It’s an interview, so I need to show you the company as well.”

Hansol didn’t think there was anything special about the office, but he followed along thinking it was just that.

“This is the company?”

However, the moment he entered the office without any particular expectations, Hansol was surprised. There was a different feeling from the iron emergency stairs installed at the entrance.

I have visited several company offices following my senior who was already employed, but no matter which office I went to, the feeling was similar.

But Starbeat was completely different. As soon as I stepped into the office, I felt a bright energy, a youthful energy.

She unconsciously formed a square frame with her fingers as if it were a camera viewfinder, and squinted one eye to capture the office within the frame.

No matter where I took the picture, it turned out beautifully.

As I turned around at the sound of footsteps, I saw a handsome man’s face in the frame of my fingers. It was CEO Seo Nam-joon, whom I had seen at the awards ceremony.

“Is it a transparent camera?”

“Oh, hello. Thank you so much for earlier. I almost ruined the awards ceremony.”

“I’m glad it ended without any problems. Do you like the office? It’s an office that our art director, Choi Han-il, worked hard to design.”

“Yes! I absolutely love it. I never knew there was an office like this in the world.”

“We also really liked Hansol’s work. How did you draw it?”

“How? Um… I just copied the picture I took and drew it.”

“Oh, that’s a picture you took yourself. You’re good at taking pictures, aren’t you? I bet you have a lot of great pictures.”

“I feel bad saying this myself, but I’ve often heard from my club that I take a lot of pictures since my freshman year. I have a few photo albums, so I guess I should have brought them.”

“Yes, I really want to see it. Bring it next time. Then, follow us. We’ll show you more around the company.”

Kim Han-sol followed Seo Nam-joon and Choi Han-il around the company and heard various explanations about the company. He also heard about the project that Choi Han-il is currently working on in his position as AD.

There were sketchbooks filled with sketches of people and backgrounds, and stacks of graph paper.

“Wow, you can draw like this on graph paper. I didn’t know. It looks exactly like a computer screen.”

“How did you work, Mr. Hansol? Did you just work right away by looking at the photos without any separate sketches?”

“Me? There wasn’t any special method. I just looked at it with my eyes and drew the outline first, then added dots inside. I liked computer graphics because it’s easy to erase. It doesn’t matter how wrong they are.”

“Are you saying that you drew it purely by feeling?”

“Yes, I’m not very good with computers. Actually, this is my first time using a computer. There was a computer in my brother’s room, but I wasn’t really interested in it until now. But I’m going to graduate and I need to get a camera….”

Kim Han-sol kept talking about things that weren’t even asked. Even though it was an interview, the atmosphere was comfortable, so she spoke without hesitation. She almost forgot that she was being interviewed.

“Then, could you show me here?”

“Here? What?”

“I’ll just look at it and draw it. Is that difficult?”

“Um… no. What should I do?”

“How about trying out a character?”

AD Choi Han-il asked, holding out a piece of graph paper. It was a drawing of a man in a nice suit and a bowler hat.

“I’ll try. Do you mind if it takes some time?”

“If it gets too long, we’ll stop. Make yourself at home.”

“Can I sit here and do it?”

Kim Han-sol sat down on a chair, took off his cardigan, covered his legs with it, took off his shoes, and sat on the chair with his legs crossed.

“I can’t concentrate well if I don’t sit like this. I always sit like this when I take tests.”

Hansol, who was sitting at the desk with her legs crossed and her hair tied up, soon began to transfer the drawing on the graph paper to the screen. She selected the free curve tool with her mouse and roughly drew a circle in gray to capture the mass.

I roughly outlined the head, torso, arms, legs, etc. and then started drawing the precise outlines.

“Oh no, it’s out of place. This is not it.”

Since it was his first time doing this in front of other people, he was a little nervous and his mouse kept clicking. However, Seo Nam-joon and AD Choi Han-il just watched without saying anything.

‘Are we ruined? Why is it so quiet? I think we’re ruined. I don’t know. It’s not like we have to stick around here.’

It started out as a prize for the camera. She was interested in computer graphics, but she still didn’t really know what a computer was, so she thought it was a miracle that she won a prize in the contest.

When the representative asked her to show him how to draw, she felt that now all of her skills would be on display.

Kim Han-sol doesn’t know anything about drawing, and he doesn’t know anything about computers. He just clicked his mouse on the pictures he liked the most and drew them as similarly as possible.

I couldn’t say no since I came all the way to the interview, so I grabbed the mouse, but it still felt wrong.

‘It’s a shame. I wanted to work for a company like this.’

After seeing the office, I was thinking that it would be fun to work at this company. The office was nice, and the interview atmosphere was comfortable and nice.

But her luck seemed to have run out. She moved her mouse with regret, clicking, clicking, clicking.

Without realizing it, her hand holding the mouse started moving faster and faster, and she started to focus only on the screen.

Since it was a drawing on graph paper rather than just a photo, it was much easier to transfer. I didn’t have to worry about proportions or composition, I just had to follow what was on the graph paper.

“You know how longing I feel. Why do I miss you so much? Why can’t you see me~.”

Hansol was nodding along to a popular song. When she was completely focused, she would disappear into her own world.

Hansol diligently drew a picture without even noticing that Seo Nam-joon and Choi Han-il were exchanging glances and smiling. He had already forgotten why he started doing this, and before he knew it, the picture was complete.

A handsome man in a striped suit, lifting his bowler hat slightly with his right hand, seemed to come alive on the screen.

“Ha~!”

Hansol, who had finished his work, leaned back comfortably in his chair. Then he realized that he was being interviewed and quickly sat up straight again.

“Did I make any strange noises or…sing or anything?”

“Yes, I sang, but it’s okay. Our company doesn’t hire singers.”

“Ahahahaha···.”

Kim Han-sol laughed awkwardly, thinking that she had completely failed. Her skills were outstanding, but her strange habits also came out.

There was even an urban legend that there was a ghost of a virgin in the darkroom of the club room because Hansol unknowingly hummed a song while developing film in the darkroom.

“Then I’ll take my leave now···.”

Hansol got up from his seat, giving up his obsession with finding a job and settling for the 1 million won prize money.

As I was greeting the two people, Seo Nam-joon suddenly extended his hand.

“Congratulations on your new job. When will you be able to start working? You said you’re a 4th year student, so I guess you can adjust your classes?”

“Yes? Me? Really? Is it okay if I just do this?”

“Your hands are much faster and more accurate than mine. I will be counting on you in the future.”

Following Seo Nam-joon, AD Choi Han-il reached out and shook hands with Kim Han-sol.

A prize of 1 million won and even a job.

Kim Han-sol’s two worries in life were solved at once.

***

Today was a busy morning with the Game Art Graphics Contest awards ceremony and interviews.

The awards ceremony was well prepared by Myeongseong Planning, and the key was the interview.

Everyone is curious about what kind of people they are, but the attention of the company people is especially focused on Oh Hyun-ji, who drew the grotesque picture.

“Why don’t you show up with heavy eye makeup and a leather jacket?”

“It must be a perm like a nuclear bomb. Like a lion.”

“A lioness doesn’t have a mane. You know that, right?”

Because of the rough-looking picture, I thought the appearance would also be strong, and I was expecting that kind of appearance.

However, when Oh Hyun-ji actually appeared at the awards ceremony, she had a delicate appearance and was wearing pure white clothes.

People were surprised by Oh Hyun-ji’s appearance, which was completely different from what they had expected, but they could not take their eyes off her beauty.

Go Seong-beom, who won the award, appeared at the awards ceremony wearing sunglasses and a US military flight jacket that looked like something he got from Hwanghak-dong, as expected of an F-14 enthusiast.

I thought he was a bit lenient, but when we talked, I found out he was actually a fan of Afterburner 2. He was just being true to his own concept.

“I probably spent as much money on Afterburner 2 as a few months’ salary. The problem is that since then, all the other games have become boring.”

“What if our company decided to make a game as cool as Afterburner 2, or even better?”

“Then I am prepared to bury my bones in this company.”

“Then I guess I should prepare the coffin in advance. Congratulations.”

Ko Seong-beom’s interview ended shortly, and Oh Hyeon-ji’s interview was also not long.

When asked what she does, her answer was as surprising as her appearance.

“I teach children at an art school.”

“This might be a rude question, but do you teach your children to draw in your own style?”

“No. If I do that, I’ll get kicked out right away.”

“Ah… Then what kind of movies do you like? Do you like things that are a little scary?”

“Yes, I like that. I liked Tim Burton’s “Ghost Lessons” so much that I bought the videotape.”

Oh Hyun-ji, this person is a grotesque maniac who cosplays as a regular person. She’s a nerd with social skills. I couldn’t not pick her.

Both Ko Seong-beom and Oh Hyeon-ji majored in art, so they had basic skills and creative abilities. There was no need to worry about hiring them.

I was a little worried about the winner of the Excellence Award, Kim Han-sol, because he seemed to have no background in art. However, when I asked him to draw it himself, he showed that he had a good eye, quick hands, and extraordinary concentration.

“It seems like a lot of good people came.”

“That’s right. You picked three people. It’s beyond my expectations.”

Starbeat’s first game art graphic contest ended successfully with an awards ceremony and interviews, and the hiring of three people: Ko Seong-beom, Kim Han-sol, and Oh Hyeon-ji.

From professional developers to art professionals now.

Now, Starbeat is also increasingly taking on the appearance of a gaming company.

I’m already excited to see what kind of games we’ll create with them in the future.