Chapter 50: Bizarre Marketing
"No way!!! I can't talk about this at all~!! How can I tell you that when sexy female characters fly through the sky and get hit by ultimate moves, their clothes are partially torn off and they fall down?!"
In the end, I decided to show Yuki the image of 'Ryu Hwayoung,' the character with the most modest design (comparatively)!
This would be the first time anyone had seen her character profile, as I hadn't revealed it to anyone before.
Ryu Hwayoung was a secretive character, with her whole body covered in a black suit and half of her face concealed by a mask.
Her thick lips and impressive figure underneath the tight attire made Ryu Hwayoung a standout character, and she was my personal favorite in Psych Battle.
While the three main protagonist characters were Azusa Ren, the Fire Sorceress, Helena, the Lightning Sorceress, and Aoi Tsubasa, the Storm Sorceress, you could unlock and play as the superpower users who appeared as enemies in Story Mode and Battle Mode when you cleared the game to the very end.
The 2nd stage boss, Catherine, the Flame Sorceress, the 5th stage explosives sorceress, Jennifer, and the final 8th stage boss character, Ryu Hwayoung, had concepts and details that I personally created and shared with Morita.
Ryu Hwayoung was a character I held dear to my heart, more so than the protagonist, Azusa Ren, and her special abilities were set to be overpowered, fitting for a final boss character.
"Wow, the character looks really beautiful! Is she the main character?"
"Actually, all the playable characters in this game are female. It's a shooting game centered around battles between superhumans."
"Ah, I see. So in a shooting game, you fly around shooting missiles, right?"
"Well, that's roughly right."
"I really love airplane games! I often play 1942 at the game center. I'll definitely give Junhyuk-san's game a try when it's released!"
I mumbled quietly to her with a small voice, as she looked at me with a determined expression.
"Hehe... You don't have to make a point of trying it..."
"What?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just talking to myself. By the way, do you still have the Dragon Emblem I gave you earlier?"
"Ah, right."
Yuki took out the Dragon Emblem and the expansion cartridge from her bag and placed them on the table.
"Thanks to you, I had a lot of fun with it. You probably already know, but I thoroughly enjoyed the additional scenarios in the expansion cartridge. I bought it as a token of appreciation."
"You want to give it back to me?"
"Yes, it was such a fun game, and I thought you might have been too busy to play it."
"It's okay. I've already cleared the expansion scenario as well. It was a gift from me, so please just keep it as a cherished memento."
It wasn't a ring or a necklace, but asking someone to keep a game cartridge as a cherished item felt a bit odd. I awkwardly smiled and asked her.
"By the way, Yuki, what do you do for a living? I remember you were really good at games when I last saw you. You were one of the last surviving female players in that event."
"I've always enjoyed playing chess with my father since I was young, and when I came across the game Dragon Emblem, I bought it on a whim. Oh, and I work at a broadcasting station."
"A broadcasting station?"
"Yes, I'm currently working as an assistant writer for a late-night program."
"Excuse me, but how old are you?"
"Nineteen. It was my birthday last week."
"Oh, belated happy birthday."
Nineteen? So, in Korean age, that would be 21, right? She's technically an adult, but being 19 felt somewhat perplexing. I nodded and took a sip of my coffee.
"What about you, Junhyuk?"
"I'm... twenty-five."
I recalculated my age in my head and answered.
Come to think of it, setting my Japanese age at 21 and having spent four years since coming in 2015... Time really flies.
"Wow... you look younger than I thought."
"Is it that obvious?"
"Well, there's just something about you that feels a bit different from the typical early twenties crowd. To be honest, I thought you were in your late twenties."
Perhaps my way of speaking and habits from 2015 make it seem that way? Outwardly, I may be 25, but internally, I'm 38. Yuki's observation wasn't entirely off the mark. I chuckled and nodded.
"There's just a little over a month left in this year. The 1988 Olympics will be held in Korea next year. Do you plan to return to Korea?"
"Well, my job is in Japan, so I won't be going back permanently, but I'm thinking of taking a short vacation."
"Are your parents in Korea?"
My hand, lifting the coffee cup to my lips, paused at Yuki's question. My parents. Are they doing well...? Maybe next year, I should visit the neighborhood I lived in as a child when I was seven in 1988. I probably lived around Seoul Seodaemun area...
"Junhyuk?"
"Yes, my parents are in Korea. I should go visit them next year, especially with the Seoul Olympics happening."
As I gave my answer with a faint smile, Yuki didn't inquire further about my family. Instead, she took out a diary from her bag and began jotting something down.
"What's that?"
"I'm making notes about the restaurant we just visited before I forget."
"Forget?"
"There's a competition for new ideas among rookie writers for regular programs. It involves planning new variety shows or short dramas of around 20 to 30 minutes, and I'm thinking of using food as the theme for my submission."
Food? Is she talking about those mukbang dramas that were popular in the 2010s? Yuki neatly spread out the diary and began sketching the dishes we had eaten.
I watched her, leaning back in my chair.
A while later, after meticulously transferring each dish from the restaurant table onto the white paper, Yuki asked me.
"Junhyuk, what was the dish we had earlier?"
"It was soybean paste stew."
"Soybean paste stew... What about the meat?"
"That was charcoal-grilled beef."
"Charcoal beef..."
Her pronunciation, although delivered with a very serious expression, was adorable and had me burst into laughter. In response, Yuki grinned widely and said, "My pronunciation is weird, isn't it? Hehe."
"No, it's cute."
After finishing all the dishes and even writing down the names of the side dishes, Yuki closed the diary with a satisfied look.
"May I take a look?"
"It's embarrassing, and I'm not ready to show it to anyone yet..."
"Sharing ideas can make them better, you know?"
"It's not that..."
Yuki, with a shy demeanor, lowered her head and handed me her diary. I took the diary from Yuki and started flipping through its pages.
Inside the diary, there were detailed drawings of dishes from various restaurants and dessert shops in Tokyo. The drawings were so vivid that just looking at them made my mouth water.
Some of them even had photos pasted next to the drawings for reference. But I couldn't help wondering who, in this era, would use a film camera to take pictures of their food?
One picture was particularly interesting. Instead of food, it featured a cartridge for the game Minetendo. The game was titled "Dragon Emblem," and next to it, there was an egg-shaped character with a surprised expression and a speech bubble.
"Ah!! That's..."
Yuki quickly snatched the diary I was looking at and stuffed it back into her bag.
"Why are you so surprised?"
"It's just embarrassing. Ah, it's so hot."
Yuki fanned her face with a flushed expression.
"You're really good at drawing, aren't you? Did you create the egg-shaped character next to each dish? It seems to have various expressions."
"Oh, that's Tamagosan (Egg-kun). I created that character to evaluate the taste of the food with its expressions. What do you think?"
"It's fun. It's a unique approach."
So, like emoticons, it evaluates the taste with expressions. It's quite a unique concept in this era, isn't it? However, Yuki's expression wasn't particularly cheerful.
"Yuki, is there something on your mind?"
"In truth, the competition is just a few days away, and I haven't fully developed the concept for my program. I've decided on the genre of exploring Tokyo's gourmet restaurants, but just introducing the restaurants feels too bland."
"Gourmet restaurant exploration..."
At that moment, a drama idea that had crossed my mind around lunchtime came to my mind. It might be a bit of a stretch to use such a concept in the 80s, but wouldn't it be worth a try? It's not a regular program, and it's just a competition. With a contemplative expression, I spoke to Yuki, who was sulking with her hands propping up her chin.
"Yuki, how about a concept like this...?"
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