#48 Beyond the Scene － Creative Logs｜Even Good Wine Fears a Deep Alley
Dong Productions officially begins exploring overseas platforms.
And for once, even the Boss gets serious.
After a brief wave of confusion, the sound of doors opening echoed one after another.
By the time the last person took their seat, everyone was finally gathered.
The Boss stood at the front with his hands behind his back, flashing an overly bright grin.
“As you all should know, we’re about to undergo a major adjustment.”
He raised a finger and pointed toward ceiling.
“That is…”
Entire meeting room fell silent.
A few seconds later, the Director in the corner slowly spoke.
“…Bilingual alignment.”
The Boss immediately snapped his fingers.
“Exactly!”
He turned and tapped projection screen.
“After discussions with the Node Service Provider, they suggested we start with Penana and Royal Road.”
The Manager raised an eyebrow and tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
“Royal Road makes sense.”
“But Penana… is there even an English audience there?”
The Boss’s expression froze for a moment.
“Hmm…”
He touched his chin and tilted his head toward the Marketing Department.
“Bring up comparison slide.”
At the mention of his name, the Marketing Department skillfully pressed the remote control.
Projection screen flickered slightly.
The Boss pointed at projection screen.
“Here—this one!”
“So there’s also Reddit as an option, but we’ll need to wait for Node to finish testing first.”
He pressed his lips together.
“That place… is pretty intense.”
“And it’s very easy to get accounts banned.”
The Manager looked at projection for a moment, then nodded.
“From this perspective, we should probably focus on Penana for now.”
The Screenwriter’s frown deepened the longer he looked.
“…Are we supposed to handle all of this at the same time?”
The Boss immediately laughed.
“The Node Service Provider will take care of it!”
The Technical Crew closed his eyes briefly, then still raised his hand.
“…Strictly speaking, you finalize content and hand it over to me.”
As he spoke, he pointed to himself, then toward platform names on the screen.
“I’ll coordinate publishing process with the Node Service Provider.”
“After all, every platform has different operations, layouts, and formats.”
His gaze slowly shifted toward the Art Lead.
“If it involves covers, visuals, or layout adjustments…”
“We’ll still need your help.”
The Art Lead looked at him with a look of grief and indignation.
The Boss looked back at her.
They held each other’s gaze across conference table.
The Boss casually averted his gaze and turned to the Marketing Department instead.
“Hahaha…”
“So… uh… let’s talk about marketing…”
At the same time, he kept making eyes at the Marketing Department.
The Marketing Department looked at him silently.
After a few seconds, he cleared his throat and pressed remote control.
“Let me explain marketing side.”
“Considering official site still needs time to accumulate traffic, we plan to first publish works across major platforms to increase overall exposure.”
He pointed at workflow diagram on projection screen.
“Main storyline will remain free, to lower barrier to entry.”
“To give more people a chance to encounter work.”
“However, third-party platforms may not provide full access to all content.”
His finger traced down flowchart.
“Some chapters may be locked behind paid access.”
“If readers want to read full main storyline for free, they’ll return to official site.”
The Marketing Department paused briefly.
“Of course, if some readers are used to reading on third-party platforms and prefer to directly support via payment, we won’t stop them.”
“For some people, convenience itself is a form of value.”
He glanced down at screen.
“As for actual extended content—”
“Such as side stories, mature-rated content, behind-the-scenes materials, and so on…”
“Those will be included as additional support items.”
A brief pause.
“For now, that’s current plan.”
The workflow diagram on projection screen was still on display.
The Director, who had been leaning back in his chair without saying a word, finally spoke.
“…I understand that going bilingual is for reach.”
His voice was calm.
“But is it really necessary?”
“Six months is enough to finish works we have on hand.”
Smile on the Boss’s face finally faded a little.
“You’re right.”
“Honestly… I’ve been struggling with that too…”
He looked toward projection screen.
“But in this era, big data moves too fast.”
“And with wave of AI mass production, even good wine fears deep alley.”
“Especially since we still don’t have that many works we can offer right now.”
“We have to treasure every encounter.”
The Director looked at him for a moment.
“…I see.”
“Then let’s start with Guiltbound…”
A few people also began handling their work.
Watching everyone start moving, the Boss’s eyes reddened slightly.
“Aww… you’re all so nice!”
He suddenly turned and dashed out.
“I’m going to buy snacks!”
Door slammed shut.
The Art Lead stared at the door, then leaned back in her chair.
“…Did I live too well in my past life?”
The Screenwriter nodded thoughtfully.
“We might be an entire family of extravagant nobles.”
“And we’ve all somehow made the Boss, the only commoner, the victim.”
The Director lifted his head.
“So I’m clan leader?”
The Manager fell silent for two seconds.
“…Then I guess I’m scheming little ritual priest on the side?”
The Marketing Department and Technical Crew both laughed.
After the laughter faded, sound of keyboard typing filled meeting room once again.