Chapter 65: Chapter 66: Voice (2)

It turned out to be a bigger deal than I had thought.

I realized that the day after I received a list of voice actors from Lee Suchang.

“Boss…”

“Yes?”

“Did we underbid our rates too much?”

Yang Gilsang asked.

It was a sentiment I deeply shared.

The voice actors brought in by Lee Suchang were all top-tier stars in the industry.

In other words, their fees were at a level that could be astonishing.

What I had expected was at best hidden talents or voices that people had heard of once, and the proposed fees were in line with that.

However, the actors they brought in far exceeded those expectations, making it quite a tricky situation.

“What should we do?” Gilsang’s question was crucial.

In this industry, it’s a well-known fact that you need to build good relationships with various related professions.

For a fledgling company like ours, it’s even more critical.

If, by any chance, we treated external talent carelessly and word got around, it would have a significant impact on the company’s image.

Thinking about the future, it was even more concerning.

The star voice actors on the list now would likely be the giants handling all the major roles in the gaming industry within 2-3 years.

If our relationship with these people soured, it would become very difficult to bring in voice actors.

A cold sweat ran down my back.

Putting on a calm front, I said, “When is the day they start working?”

“Next Thursday. We’ll record the prologue and chapter one… and then the dialogue recording.”

“Please bring the contracts again. I’ll negotiate the rates myself to a reasonable level.”

We had to negotiate the rates properly, no matter what. It’s just good business practice.

***

A week passed like that.

We were well-prepared, but all our preparations turned into scraps of paper.

“It’s okay! We’re thankful for this opportunity!”

“Hello, Director! I really enjoyed playing Hellic 2!”

“Hmm?”

The voice actors didn’t negotiate their fees. They just sent grateful messages in languages I couldn’t understand.

I was puzzled.

“Director, can we start recording right away?” Lee Suchang, the voice actor, asked.

I nodded.

Rewind’s recording studio was small. Compared to other dubbing companies or major game companies, it was just the right size for four people.

“Seniors, please take care of us!”

The most humble junior bent at a 90-degree angle to greet us.

Even if I told him not to, he wouldn’t listen, so it was getting awkward.

Suchang clapped his hands and said, “Enough. Lift your head. If I make a talented guy like you bow, people are going to curse at me?”

“Who in the world…!”

“Save your throat. We’ll be shooting soon.”

With a sharp intake of breath, the junior held his breath.

His gaze felt uncomfortably burdensome.

Suchang awkwardly smiled and said to the other juniors, “Let’s do well today. Thanks for accommodating my unreasonable request.”

These juniors were more talented than him.

But they were also grateful juniors who always showed respect.

Suchang reminded himself not to belittle himself in such situations.

“I shouldn’t think like this.”

He cleared his throat with a smirk.

Fortunately, he had consistently taken care of his voice management, even after his livelihood became difficult, so it served him well today.

His condition was no different from usual.

However, there was something different for sure.

Suchang looked at the script.

“Clear your mind, Suchang.”

There was someone who remembered him in those moments.

Suchang’s gaze turned to the recording booth behind the soundproof glass.

Yeonho was there with another young-looking sound engineer wearing a green jersey.

Not only Yeonho but also the young sound engineer were both looking at him with shining eyes.

He recalled the previous incident.

“C-Can you do that for me…! weaker..person than myself…”

“I don’t listen to the words of a weaker person than myself.”

“Ugh…”

She trembled, clutching her heart. Her figure at that moment was still vivid.

Certainly, that young sound engineer had also grown by watching his acting.

He held back those emotions, refined and sculpted them, and placed them in a corner of his heart.

“I’ll take the shot!”

With the cue, the screen in the recording studio displayed the cinematic.

Among them, what Suchang was the barbarian.

It had taken about ten days of script readings to get to this day.

As Yeonho had said, the barbarian had similarities to the Black War Tyrannomon he had portrayed ten years ago.

The direction of torment was similar, as was the refusal to bow to anyone.

However, the two roles were different.

The direction of their torment was different, their life experiences were different, their paths were different, and even Suchang himself, portraying him, had changed.

Suchang decided to accept that.

So at this moment, there was no Black War Tyrannomon in Soochang’s mind.

Just an unnamed barbarian.

That role was all that existed.

[Boom!]

[Ahhhhh!!!]

Vibrations, explosions, and screams.

They heard that these were sounds collected by the sound director.

The realism in the resonance was overwhelming, and Suchang’s thoughts were stifled.

Suchang was someone who immersed himself deeply in his roles, seeking to gain total immersion.

For this reason, he looked at the world through the eyes of the barbarian in the midst of that spectacle.

He deduced the life of the barbarian in that way.

“You are…”

The leader of a tribe.

Yet, he always stood at the forefront, with the tribe’s warriors following behind.

“Ferocious.”

Barbarians show no mercy to their enemies.

Otherwise, the tribe’s people behind would suffer.

“Brave as well.”

Otherwise, the tribe’s people would be anxious.

“Full of affection.”

He blocked the enemy’s spears with his entire body.

Because that’s how he could protect those left behind with pain.

Survival and protection.

He understood the law of the jungle with his entire being.

That’s why he was desperate, courageous, and ruthless.

“No…”

He acted as if he had to.

[Thud!]

A tribesman fell.

The barbarian who embraced him looked up at the sky.

His expression was contorted.

What was he thinking as he continued to lose in this never-ending war?

Understanding of emotions deepened.

In the midst of this hell, Suchang revisited the agony he must have felt.

“Despair? Doubt? …No, no.”

The barbarian is, quite literally, barbarian.

They remain true to their instincts as raw beings.

He is a leader. The head of the pack.

He would want to survive and to save.

He would want to preserve the pack.

What mattered to him was solely the enclosure.

But that enclosure was crumbling.

Due to the relentless chain of wars and someone’s meddling.

In that case…

“Anger.”

He would get angry.

To the point where it would consume him with burning rage.

Click—

The switch in Suchang’s mind turned on.

The connection between the role and Suchang was established.

The scene began.

Voice actors began to speak.

“This is it.”

The voice of a young soldier played by his junior sounded grim.

A compelling tone, yet excellent articulation and diction.

Suchang didn’t think about that.

The voice wouldn’t reach the barbarian’s side.

What he thought about was only his turn.

Now was his moment.

Swish, a breath came in.

His back straightened.

His gaze was fixed on the script, and his expression contorted like a sinister villain.

With a deep inhale, vibrations mixed in.

“Anger.”

How should he express it?

Suchang brought forth the answer to his past pondering, projecting it boldly from his vocal cords.

The resonance, created by scratching his throat, reverberated harshly to the tip of his neck.

What erupted was a seething anger, a culmination of contemplation, immersion, and the boiling rage of the barbarian contained within a single word.

“…You there.”

The space fell silent.

In the midst of such intense anger, it felt as if they were alone in a different world, a sense of despair.

A moment of stillness, then another voice followed.

“…Oh, heavens.”

The sobbing voice of the Paladin.

“You wretched creature.”

The Spartan’s hate-filled voice.

Immediately, their breaths synchronized.

Their synchronized breaths were as precise as interlocking clock gears, as natural and exquisite as wind winding through a windmill.

The four exchanged glances.

None of them had planned it, but it was as if it had to be that way.

The scene was filled with intense emotions.

In other words, it was taking the most appropriate form in the moment.

Voice actors.

That term referred to people who voiced the stories of those who couldn’t give voice to themselves in the world of visual media.

It was different from actors who used their whole bodies to portray others. In voice acting, there was no actor, only a voice, and everything else had to be erased, leaving only the breath to be breathed into the medium.

The highs and lows of voice, changes in pronunciation, trembling, and modulation of accents—all came together to represent the stories of these unique individuals better than anyone else.

The breaths of these people, filled with a distant malice, stretched out in unison.

“Why must I fall to hell?”

In this moment, thanks to the breaths of the spokespeople, the four pilgrims began to come to life.

***

When the play ends, the stage goes dark.

The curtain falls, and by that time, the actors have exited their roles.

Voice actors were no different.

“Great job! Seniors!”

“It was truly amazing! It felt overwhelming! I almost made a mistake during my turn…”

The junior voice actors, known as stars, praised Suchang with admiration.

But Suchang couldn’t respond.

He was still within his role.

“How long has it been?”

How long had it been since he immersed himself in a role like this?

After finishing the cinematic, he had read the script for the prologue chapter.

Then, he had read a few lines of dialogue and interaction lines.

But he didn’t feel like he had “read” them.

At that moment, Suchang had become the voice of the barbarian, losing control of himself.

It felt like his energy had drained away, and his back was already soaked with sweat.

He raised his head, regulating his breath.

Suddenly, Suchang felt something melting in his chest.

Nothing had changed.

Suchang was still a voice actor struggling with the hardships of life, and this role was just one of the many roles he had played so far.

Yet, he felt like something had changed, and he eventually realized that it was a change in his mindset.

Suchang encouraged his juniors and left the recording studio.

Yeonho, who had been waiting, spoke.

“It was amazing. We can really never find a voice actor like you”

“Re-really…! Wow! Our staff can’t produce such voices… Ouch!”

Yeonho poked the side of the girl’s rib.

At that moment, Suchang burst into laughter.

“We have done well. There’s still a long way to go.”

“They say the start is half the battle. You’ve already done half of it.”

Yeonho said there were six more chapters left, and he didn’t even know how many cinematics would be included.

There would be more lines to record.

Despite that, Suchang felt a sense of enthusiasm that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

He didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.

He felt fulfilled instead.

“Bo-boss!”

The girl tapped Yeonho’s arm.

Yeonho, while lightly tapping the girl’s forehead, said, “I’ll contact you as soon as the next schedule is set. Thank you.”

His words were delivered with confidence.

There were no excessive compliments, but there was nothing to criticize either, which made it a proud moment as a voice actor.

His emotions surged.

Suchang finally released the emotions he had been holding back in a corner of his heart and added one more thing.

“There’s a line, you know. The one Black War Tyrannomon said.”

“Yes?”

“To be honest, I didn’t really like Black War Tyrannomon’s lines. I liked something else better.”

It was a somewhat disjointed remark.

“At the end, Black War Tyrannomon asks Bugmon how to live, and Bugmon replies.”

At that moment, Yeonho’s eyes widened slightly.

Suchang said, “If you want to know the purpose of life, you have to live hard.” [TL Note: I had a feeling it was Digimon Franchise ha ha ha]

That was what he had just remembered.

Suchang’s wrinkles formed a smile.

“You have to live diligently. You have to earn a living.”

He didn’t say anything more passionate.

He just wanted to say that the smoldering passion inside him had begun to shine again, thanks to you.

“See you next time.”

Suchang bowed deeply and then turned to the juniors who had followed him.

“Let’s go. I’ll treat you to a meal.”

He no longer felt lethargic.

***

The game now had voices.

To put it more precisely, “my” game had voices for the “first” time.

It was a voice I really liked.

Hey, you there.

I replayed the prologue several times.

But rather than getting lost in the experience, I analyzed it aesthetically.

“It really suits well.”

Click clack, I moved the console pad connected to the computer.

It was a demonstration of the prologue chapter.

I will kill you!!!

The third phase from the perspective of the barbarian.

The dialogue was quite witty.

In addition, the character’s motions were smooth, and there were no noticeable bugs.

This should be enough.

I was thinking.

Ring!

I received a message from Yang Gilsang.

[Urgent! You should come and see this!]

I was already familiar with the urgent message delivery method.

I paused the game for a moment and went upstairs to Yang Gilsang’s office.

Then, Yang Gilsang shouted, making a fuss.

“Boss! Something big happened!”

“Yes?”

“Yes? Not just yet! Did you forget? It’s the first week of the Hellic 2 console release today!”

Ah, that’s right.

“Has it already been that long?”

It was already late November.

The final model of the PS3, the Super Slim, was released, and at the same time, the console version of Hellic 2 was released on the market.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the sales. I was ignoring it because I didn’t think it would sell well.

Well, I already had significant pre-order sales, and there was no additional market share to gain, even if I tried to attract more customers.

Maybe Yang Gilsang was making a fuss because of the poor sales.

I tried to calm him down.

“It’s expected to underperform. Let’s calm down…”

“It’s not underperforming!”

Yang Gilsang grabbed my shoulders firmly.

His face was tense, and his mouth was twisted up to his ears.

“It’s sold out! It sold out spectacularly! We hit the jackpot!”

My body froze.

“?”

What does that /RomanceMTL