Life is Easier If You’re Handsome

“Ah, no, it’s just that, if it’s multiplayer, it’s easier.”

At Kang Sik’s follow-up words, I tilted my head.

“Is this multiplayer?”

As genius of a developer as Kang Sik was, had he already built an independent server for online play?

“Ah, no, it’s not that kind of multiplayer.”

But it seemed there was a clear distinction.

Kang Sik casually sat beside me and placed his hands on the keyboard.

“I mean, like, playing together.”

So, multiplayer means it’s referring to 1P and 2P, huh?

It seemed he’d perfectly assigned the keys because there was no overlap in our key allocations.

“The viewpoint is locked onto the main character, um, Aria, that is.”

With those words, I could see the character controlled by Kang Sik.

A cute little bee appeared next to the chick.

Though it was drawn like a mascot and was adorable,

it still had that rough charm typical of a one-person development.

“Hmm, if we’re both together, we could break it!”

Oh, by the way, this bee’s name is Bibi.

With that, the playing continued.

Peep peep.

Bzzz.

A small, cute little chick and a bee looked up at the giant.

‘This is going to cause some cognitive dissonance.’

The characters before me seemed like something out of a children’s anime aimed at 7-year-olds,

while the monster they were facing resembled a colossal monster from Yu-Gi-Oh.

“Let’s go!”

“Huh? Uuh.”

I unwittingly moved the character at Kang Sik’s shout.

Boom!

The giant stomped, repeating its previous pattern.

Usually, it would’ve been super fast, but—

Bzzz!

As Kang Sik controlled Bibi to poke the giant’s foot,

it let out a groan, and the giant slowed down.

“This way, the chick Aria plays the main character role, and Bibi plays a supporting role!”

While continuing the game, we suddenly found ourselves in peril.

Wooaahh!

Boom!

We ended up dying once again.

‘This game is way too intense, right?’

It went beyond just being difficult.

The issue was that this was the tutorial monster.

The monster meant to gently teach the game was attempting to kill a newbie from the get-go?

Noticing my confused gaze,

Kang Sik’s eyes sparkled as if he had something fun to show.

“I said it was multiplayer, so you can have one more.”

“One more?”

“Yeah, this one’s easy to control. So… um, it’s a character for a friend who isn’t good at games?”

Click click.

As he manipulated something,

a new character popped up next to Aria and Bibi.

This time, it was a goldfish.

The chick was yellow, the bee was yellow,

‘So did he pick a yellow goldfish just because?’

While contemplating that,

“This one’s name is Geum-bung.”

“…Geum-bung-bung.”

“Huh?”

“Ah, no, I just wanted to try saying it all of a sudden.”

The game restarted.

This time, Kang Sik controlled Bibi and Geum-bung simultaneously.

With the situation flowing like this,

it ended up using most of the keys.

‘So this is what they mean by multiplayer?’

A sense of foreboding crept in.

After all, first works often involve a lot of experimentation.

But still, this was—

‘No, the game is just too hard.’

But I couldn’t just say that outright.

I knew how incredible Kang Sik would become in the future.

“It’s still lacking in many areas, so it’s only implemented up to this point.”

Saying that, Kang Sik diligently controlled Bibi and Geum-bung.

However, since I was the one moving the main character in the end,

no matter how well the supporting characters performed, that limitation became clear quickly.

『 YOU DIE 』

The familiar phrase met me for the third time.

“But shouldn’t you add an extra D to that?”

“Oh, that’s just a placeholder phrase. I plan to make it a bit more Korean later.”

“Aah, ah…”

But after seeing that placeholder about three times, a strange determination began to rise.

I felt this burning desire to absolutely conquer it.

“Is it possible to clear this?”

“Ah… um, but I need to, I have to clear it.”

“Eh?”

Before I could even ask what he meant,

Kang Sik naturally started the retry.

This time, it seemed he wanted to do it alone.

He chose the main character, Aria.

“Okay, wait a moment. I’ll show you how to do it.”

Since it’s the early stage, I had adjusted the difficulty a bit higher.

With that said, Kang Sik began doing ridiculous things right in front of me.

‘Is he… controlling three characters simultaneously?’

While he continuously moved around with WASD,

he used the arrow keys and numpad to control Bibi and Geum-bung during moments when he didn’t need to adjust the viewpoint with the mouse.

“If I do it this way, um… I can put a slow when Aria attacks at the timing I want.”

Though controlling three characters simultaneously,

they all moved seamlessly together as if they were one.

As he kept attacking with Aria while Bibi and Geum-bung provided support,

Kuaaaah!

The giant really fell.

“Well, of course, it’s not made to be caught, but um, it’s like a boss for story progression?”

“But is it set to be catchable?”

“Ah… if someone happens to catch it, I thought it might feel good.”

Thinking about rewards and everything else,

Kang Sik excitedly started talking about the game’s direction,

‘He really created a devilish game.’

I was stunned by Kang Sik’s malevolence.

This innocent-looking guy created such a cruelly difficult game.

After listening for a long while,

I asked the most curious question.

“So, what’s the title of the game?”

“…Um, I’m estimating the development period to be at least two years more… Ah! The game’s name is ‘The Golden Resolve’.”

“Oh… that’s cool.”

“In English, it’s ‘The Golden Resolve’ too… and later, a supporting character will show up.”

“Oh, really? I’m seriously looking forward to it!”

“Hehe.”

Kang Sik smiled genuinely and gave me a thumbs up.

“Donghu, just like you believe in me, I’ll repay you for it.”

I couldn’t tell why, but

as Kang Sik said that, he seemed earnest.

+++++

Time quickly flew by, and it was mid-October.

The fall atmosphere was sufficiently ripe.

The filming for [Traitor: The Bud of Corruption] had also began.

“Overnight filming?”

“Yeah, it seems that’s how it’s going to be.”

“But my role and Jin Yuseong’s are excluded, right?”

“Yeah, it’s better not to overlap since our roles are different.”

Since [Traitor: The Bud of Corruption] had a confrontational structure,

an overnight filming was conducted for thorough immersion.

‘The villains are doing it separately, and this overnight filming is to create a stronger bond among the heroes.’

This time, from the planning stage, I realized they considered directing like this.

Just as I felt I had learned something,

“Donghu, but can you speak foreign languages well?”

Seok-ho’s sudden question followed.

“Foreign languages?”

“Yeah, you know… like English and Japanese.”

English and Japanese.

‘Just so happens I can do both.’

Those are standard examples when talking about foreign languages.

“Uh, the reason I ask…”

“I can do both.”

The timing of our words clashed momentarily.

Seok-ho looked dazed at my answer.

He stared at me, eyes wide open.

“Both? You mean like, uh… to what extent?”

“Um…”

To what extent.

I remembered the experiment I had tried before.

What impact does an unbreakable tower of Babel have?

Through that, I could conclude that

“At a level where everyday conversation is possible…?”

That level itself was pretty high.

It was more than just being able to watch anime without subtitles,

it meant I could live comfortably if I immigrated right away.

“What? Really?! It’s not that I can’t believe it, but there’s this movie issue.”

“Movie issue?”

“Yeah, you know the overseas distribution clause in the movie contract, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

Suddenly upon hearing that conversation, I realized why [Traitor: The Bud of Corruption] had a dual rating.

‘One for overseas, huh?’

Whether it’s for the next series or talking about DVD sales,

I wasn’t sure.

‘So now they’re showing overseas ratings.’

While I was thinking about that,

Seok-ho continued speaking.

“They asked if, if you could do dubbing.”

“Dubbing, huh?”

“Yeah, dubbing. So they were asking how good you are.”

But dubbing wasn’t an easy task.

I nodded at that.

‘That’s definitely true.’

Dubbing was quite complex.

While it was ideal for an actor to dub their own character,

it was tough to speak at that level of foreign language.

‘Tone differences are something you have to study consistently from the start.’

That’s why most requests go to the professional voice actors of that country.

But to solve this issue and perform the dubbing?

‘The quality of the work could only go up.’

Maybe that’s why the overseas rating was B.

‘If I get to do the dubbing, then the B rating makes sense.’

Dubbing, it was a section I was curious about, so I felt lucky.

“I can do dubbing.”

“R-really?! Then I’ll say yes!”

“But where’s the dubbing for?”

“Oh, darn it, I forgot to say that. I was too surprised…”

Seok-ho checked his notes on his phone again.

“They said they want the dubbing for the Japanese market.”

“Oh, Japan, huh?”

“Yeah, it seems they’re aiming for the Japanese market due to the emotions involved.”

“Sounds good, that’s not bad at all.”

“Right, it’s amazing. If this works, the contract terms will change a lot… if I can do this dubbing…”

Seok-ho seemed genuinely happy for my success,
as he chuckled and walked away after saying he understood.

And just as if on cue,

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Messages from Sims arrived.

-[I’m really bummed about losing in the game!]

-[But since it’s not the official release yet, I’ll bear with it.]

-[When it’s officially released! I promise you’ll set a record no one else can break!]

The first thing that caught my eye was Sims’ frustration at losing in the game.

Is losing just one game really that disappointing?

‘Besides, I lost.’

That thought lingered for a moment.

-[Kim Donghu, extraordinary Japanese skills, hints of a wave in Japan?! “Potential for anime dubbing…” A peculiar sense of anticipation!]

The next message made my eyes widen with surprise.

‘Wait, I’m doing dubbing?’

For Japanese anime?

No way, right?