Chapter 86: The Empty Street
A little later, after hearing about the ending related to the heroine's death in the C route ending, she struggled with her emotions, her breathing heavy.
I waited for her to calm down and then asked, wanting to hear her honest opinion, "What do you think?"
"Junhyuk, I don't want to put a twist in the scenario you've created, but if the ending changes based on the player's actions, how about an ending like this?"
"Do you have any good ideas?"
Yuki hesitated briefly in response to my question, but then suggested a unique solution based on the scenario I had set.
After hearing her story, I pondered deeply, "Not bad at all. In fact, maybe it will leave a bigger impact on the players than the extreme scenario I created."
"What do you think? If I had to leave my loved one behind and depart, I would want to do it for their sake."
I liked Yuki's scenario very much, and I replied with a smile, "It's quite good. In truth, I was worried that such an extreme story might leave the players traumatized."
In fact, there were a few concerns I had while writing this scenario. Earlier this year, there were rumors circulating about some Gundam fans not being able to bear the sadness of the deaths of the protagonist Amuro and his rival Char in the Gundam anime "Revenge of Char," which led to some fans committing suicide. While this news may seem absurd to ordinary people, not only in games but also in the past, I have seen cases in newspapers where people could not recover from the shock of the deaths of their favorite movie actors or stars and took their own lives. "An overly extreme story can leave a strong impression, but it can also potentially provoke anger."
However, finding a way to convey the sad emotions of the main characters and heroine to the players while achieving a good ending was not easy. As a result, scenario development had been stagnating recently.
"Yuki, I have a favor to ask."
"What is it?"
"The ending you mentioned, can you write it as a scenario? I'd like to give it to Morita when I hand over the scenario next time."
Yuki brightened up and nodded, saying, "I'll do that."
&
A week later, when I arrived at Shinjuku Station to meet Morita, I heard a cheerful voice calling out, "Junhyuk!"
I turned my head at the voice calling me and saw Yuki waving from a distance. She rushed over when she spotted me, examined my face, and asked, "Is your body doing better?"
"Yeah, I've been getting plenty of sleep since that day."
"That's a relief."
"Is the work already finished?"
"Well, not everything, but I've written the last connecting part. I want to show it to Morita as soon as possible... But I wonder if Morita will like the scenario I wrote."
"Morita will probably love it, but Hayashi might not be too happy since it adds to his workload."
"Hayashi can be a little intimidating..."
A week ago, Yuki took a copy of the "The Empty Streets" scenario and used it as a basis to plan a new ending. She diligently reviewed the scenario from the beginning at her home, polished the rough expressions, and helped with the editing.
"Making games is quite fascinating, isn't it? When I played Dragon Emblem or Psych Battle, I didn't know much as a player, but now that I've written the scenario myself, I'm really curious and excited to see how the players will react."
We walked to the agreed-upon meeting place to meet Morita and Hayashi. On the weekend, the Shinjuku area was bustling with people shopping or couples enjoying their time, so Yuki and I had to navigate through the crowds to move forward.
There were many interesting dessert shops and clothing stores along the street, which piqued Yuki's interest, but she made an effort to not distract me, which I found cute.
I thought, "If we have some free time after giving the scenario to Morita, should we visit a dessert shop for dinner?"
With a sly smile, I held her hand and walked determinedly. A little later, we could meet Morita and Hayashi in a quaint tea house with a serene atmosphere.
"Huh? Yuki is here too?"
Morita welcomed Yuki and me warmly.
"Hello, Mr. Morita. I appreciate your help last week."
"By the way, I heard that the chief collapsed during a call with Yuki last week. Is your health okay?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Anyway, Yuki, what brings you here?"
"Well, starting from last week, I've been working on the scenario revision for 'The Empty Streets' and planning another ending route."
"Another ending route? Seriously, Yuki, is it your own work?"
Yuki answered Morita's question with a cheerful smile and a nod, "Please take a look, Mr. Morita."
"Ah! Yes, I will."
However, Hayashi's reaction wasn't as positive, "Another ending route added? If one route is added, that means we need to create three more endings. Even though it's just text, it's still taking up storage space due to Morita's artwork."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hayashi."
"No, I wasn't asking for an apology, Yuki. Morita, can you reduce the storage usage a bit?"
"Sorry, I'll do my best to minimize it."
Hayashi, who couldn't blame Yuki, reluctantly complained to Morita, who accepted her request.
Hayashi was quite sensitive about adding even one ending route due to the cartridge system's limited storage capacity. If it were a CD medium, this issue wouldn't exist.
Morita, on the other hand, was creating top-notch artwork with 16-color sprites while keeping an eye on Hayashi's concerns.
As we reached this point, it was becoming unclear who between Morita and Hayashi was the bigger perfectionist.
"By the way, if there's a new ending route, is it another sad ending? Chief, I can't handle it anymore mentally."
Yuki handed a brown envelope from her bag to Morita, "It's another ending route that I came up with. Would you take a look?"
Morita and Hayashi accepted the scenario Yuki handed them.
Even without saying anything separately, Yuki had prepared one scenario for each of us - me, Morita, and Hayashi.
As I was about to hand over the scenario received from Yuki, she nervously asked me, as if taking an exam, "Junhyuk, would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, right. What do you want to drink? I'll go and place the order."
"No, I'll order. I feel a bit hot in the face just thinking about you reading the scenario I wrote. Coffee for you, right?"
"Yeah, I'll leave it to you."
Finally, Yuki headed to the counter to place the order along with our drinks.
The three of us leaned back in our chairs and started reading the scenario Yuki had prepared.
Since we couldn't change the main scenario itself, the new scenario focused on the heroine's story after the protagonist's death.
After a while, Morita was the first to finish reading the scenario, and he spoke, "Chief, I completely agree with this scenario."
But Hayashi, who hadn't finished reading it yet, protested, "No! I haven't finished reading it yet. Don't say anything!"
We had to watch Hayashi nervously until Yuki returned with our drinks. Yuki also sensed the tension in the air and waited until Hayashi had finished reading the scenario.
"Oh, darn... The lighting in this place is too dim..."
Hayashi blamed the lighting again and wiped away tears from under his glasses.
"What do you two think?"
After exchanging glances, Morita and Hayashi nodded and told me, "Honestly, Mr. Morita, this scenario seems better than the chief's."
I agreed with them, but it seemed like they were trying to tease me a bit.
As I briefly examined the scenario Yuki handed me, I nodded, "After the protagonist's death, a story about the heroine receiving a letter from heaven... Come to think of it, there was a Korean movie with a similar story, 'The Letter,' wasn't it? I also cried a lot while watching that."
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