LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 3
#3 Episode: The Chaotic Game Development Chronicles
For Ryu Inseo, the new family members were incredibly uncomfortable and awkward beings.
No, without even needing to say ‘new,’ the very existence of family felt bothersome.
His father, who always treated him with an authoritarian air and regarded him with a disapproving gaze no matter what he did.
His prospective stepmother, wearing a smiling face on the outside, held a gaze full of anxiety and wariness when she looked at him.
Ryu Inseo wasn’t bad at social interactions, but he wasn’t clueless either.
He had long realized that the two saw his very existence as an inconvenience.
So, he acted as they wished.
He lived like a ghost, trying to avoid encounters, staying out of their way, and just coexisting like strangers.
However, the final person was someone he couldn’t quite grasp.
“Did you modify all the computers here yourself? Some of these devices look completely unfamiliar; you didn’t actually make them, did you?”
“…I just needed it while doing it.”
“Wow, you actually made that? That’s amazing.”
“It’s nothing special. It’s just a little adaptation of existing parts. I haven’t made anything from scratch.”
“That’s good enough. And please, just talk comfortably. There’s quite an age gap, and we’ll be siblings soon.”
“No, that’s okay. It’s not confirmed that we’ll be a family yet.”
After casually blurting that out, Ryu Inseo immediately stiffened.
In saying this, he’d implied that his father and stepmother might not fully unite and could end up separating.
Thinking of how his father might scold him for such a slip, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of dread.
The trauma etched in his body and mind since childhood wasn’t something one could easily overcome.
“Right. It’s not a done deal that we’re family yet. But seeing the two of you in such a sweet mood, it seems like there’s a high possibility.”
He’d outright denied her words, so one could assume she might feel bad, yet Yerin shrugged without a hint of annoyance.
While relieved that she didn’t seem about to lash out at their father, Inseo felt a strange emotion.
‘…Isn’t this a bit too mature?’
Inseo was nineteen years old this year, while Yerin was only fourteen.
Yet, he didn’t feel like he was talking to someone younger than him.
Given Yerin’s seemingly innocent nature, it felt odd that she would lean on or be swayed by others’ opinions.
‘Or is it the case that living with this kind of mother made me develop this personality?’
Just as Inseo had grown up unable to express his opinions under the domineering rule of his father, Yerin, too, hadn’t been able to develop a certain sharpness when it came to her mother, leading her to mature too quickly.
What followed was trivial chatter.
Mainly, Yerin pointed at various things in the room, asking what they were, and Inseo would reply.
Though Inseo wasn’t great at conversational skills, he had a wealth of knowledge, so answering basic questions wasn’t difficult at all.
About thirty minutes passed before all the snacks Yerin had brought were gone, and Yerin immediately stood up.
“Thanks for hanging out with me. I’ll head out now before I get in the way of your work.”
After Yerin left, Inseo stared at the spot she had occupied in a daze.
“What was that all about?”
He had no idea what her intentions were.
Was she just here to chat since they might become siblings in the future?
Lost in thought with no answers, Inseo eventually gave up.
It might have been a whim without much significance. After all, it wasn’t likely that the same thing would happen again, so it might be better to not dwell on it.
A bit of time was taken up, but thinking that he had just replaced his meal with snacks didn’t seem like a huge loss.
With that mindset, Inseo threw himself back into his work.
From the next day onward, he couldn’t hide his bewilderment at seeing Yerin stroll in casually every day, striking up conversations.
*
There are several ways to win someone’s affection, but one effective method is simply extending a kindness first.
The human heart is complicated yet simple; one cannot treat someone well if they are being treated kindly in return.
Of course, there are all kinds of scumbags in society—those who smile while stabbing you in the back, those who take kindness for granted and become bolder, and those who exploit your goodwill without a shred of guilt, so one can’t blindly trust everyone. But at least as a basic rule, it’s not a bad approach.
Moreover, this didn’t require any extraordinary effort or dedication on my part.
Just half an hour a day—going to Ryu Inseo’s workshop at a set time, chatting, and then leaving.
“What’s this? What’s that?” Asking questions made time fly, and watching how a future genius developer worked was a pretty entertaining hobby.
At first, Ryu Inseo had been overly cautious, not knowing my intentions. But after repeating similar interactions for about a month, he eventually started to accept this as routine. Nowadays, there were times when he would initiate conversation without me asking.
Whether he is the future mastermind or something, at this point, he’s still just an inexperienced brat under twenty who hasn’t had much real-life experience.
If someone with good looks shows genuine interest and kindness in what he’s doing, it would be quite impressive if he managed to keep up his walls until the end.
What? Isn’t it embarrassing to butter up one’s looks? Isn’t denying objective facts time and again more insidious?
That said, my actions seemed to have made my parents quite anxious.
“Yerin, I’ve noticed you’ve been visiting Inseo’s room often lately. Is there something going on?”
When our Mrs. Kang said this one day, I found it hard to hold back my sarcastic smile.
Setting everything else aside, isn’t it a bit strange that the keyword “something” comes up just because my sister occasionally hangs out in her brother’s room?
The expressions and gestures clearly reflected parents worried that their daughter might be entangled with some bad guy. The fact that this wasn’t some random guy, but their new son living under the same roof was comedic. Or maybe, from Mrs. Kang’s standpoint, he wasn’t a son at all.
And in this situation, I had a predetermined response.
“There’s no ‘something’ going on. Mom, once you remarry, he becomes my brother too, right? So it’s good for us to get along.”
“That’s true, but…”
The truth has a way of stopping arguments.
If asked whether a warm family atmosphere or a cold one would be better, most people would say the former. Our family situation was obviously leaning towards the latter, which was the problem.
“Mom just thinks you might be overdoing it, Yerin. If you feel forced to adapt because of me and him, you don’t have to go that far.”
“I’m fine. I’m doing it because I enjoy it.”
This wasn’t an excuse; it was the truth.
I mean, when I casually suggest, “What if we implement something like this?” within a few days, an amazing prototype emerges. How could I hold back from that?
Mrs. Kang seemed to try several more times to pull me away from Ryu Inseo, but noticing my resolve, she eventually gave up. Since the justification was on my side, it wasn’t that difficult to maintain.
If anything, my new stepfather didn’t interfere much with this. He only asked to tell him immediately if Inseo did anything inappropriate.
At this point, I started to wonder if I was discussing my new brother or defending a criminal as a lawyer.
This isn’t going to work. I need to receive compensation from the involved party.
I’m not asking for much.
Just quietly hand over a swimsuit skin, will you?
*
“No way.”
What? Why? What?
I stared at my future brother, or rather, was soon to be a brother (confirmed in a few weeks), but he was firm.
“Beyond Elysion is a medieval fantasy game. Modern swimsuits don’t fit the setting.”
Historical accuracy? With a cute swimsuit waiting, why does historical accuracy even matter? In any case, the domestic fantasy-based games are practically indistinguishable from clothing or underwear, with nudity being a daily occurrence, right?
But I couldn’t say that outright.
He’s not someone who would cage people in a game and force them to play. But this guy, while appearing calm on the surface, was stubborn as hell.
He trembles at whatever his stepfather says, but when it comes to game-related matters, he’d glare and fight back. Even trying to pressure him wouldn’t work.
So, I nodded obediently.
“Ah, I see. Your historical accuracy is important. Then it can’t be helped.”
“Hmm.”
“Then… the NPCs’ appearances will generally be shabby as well, right? They won’t have the means to wash themselves compared to modern people, huh? All the food will likely taste awful, and with poor drainage, the streets must reek of waste.”
“Umm.”
“Considering the culture and clothing production technology of the time, most clothes and gear would likely be dreary, and something well-crafted would just end up being, ‘Oh, is that all?’ from a modern perspective.”
“Uhhmm.”
“I thought that in a world where magic, swords, and monsters exist, the advancement of civilization would be somewhat different from reality. But I guess that was my misconception. I apologize for rudely butting in, being an amateur and all.”
“…Thinking about it, there’s a genre called Arcane Punk, so I don’t think we need to be too strict with the clothing.”
That’s it.
After that, I continued offering advice, er, sound and valid user feedback.
“Shouldn’t there be a base system? Even if it’s a game, fighting day in and day out might get boring for some people. There will definitely be players who find satisfaction in gradually expanding their home and decorating the interiors.”
“Let’s incorporate a musical system. Players can input notes onto a blank sheet to play songs that aren’t originally in the game. This way, even those who have never played an instrument in real life can feel like experts. Those struggling to create music sheets can get them from others or buy them from shops. Those who think of this as a cheat can just play with their own skill.”
In this way, I managed to put in my own desires.
“What? You die and your character gets deleted? Normally, you can revive after a battle, and character deletion only happens when killed by a specific boss, so that’s fine? That creates tension? Hey, are you out of your mind? Do you think people will just sit back quietly when you wipe out all the time, effort, and money they put into the game? Offering stronger rewards for defeating that boss won’t solve the issue at hand! The very existence of that risk is the problem!”
“Unique skills? Aren’t those just better not existing? Elements in online games that some users can engage with while others can’t are generally bad measures. Who in the world would enjoy just being a bystander? …You have to have them? A bait to ignite player ambition and curiosity?”
If that’s the case, first, diversify the ways to acquire skills as much as possible. Evaluate purely on in-game actions. If you grant in-game advantages based on external factors, like players’ physical attributes, that’s a dead game.
And if a player has any unique skill, they can’t obtain other unique skills unless they delete the current one, and there should be a publicly accessible list of unique skills, including the total count, hints for acquiring each skill, and whether they have been obtained, so players won’t be left guessing.
Lastly, add new unique skills continuously at certain intervals, providing ongoing opportunities for those who haven’t obtained them or later entrants.
In this way, I kept Ryu, the guy, in check.
After about a year passed, while my parents officially remarried, and my brother and I started to casually drop honorifics, our game development hit a major hurdle.
“Ugh, we’re out of money….”