Chapter 120: “Bomb” Released Amid the Craze

Because of that, many people bought the bread. And through those spirit seals, some people became interested in Spirit Stone in reverse, then began reading the manga and buying the game.

No, even if they did not buy the game, the important thing was that interest in the Spirit Stone IP had begun to remain.

After all, recognition was extremely important to IP power.

In the past, not everyone who bought Mickey Mouse or Dooly character goods bought them because they had watched those works. Many people bought them simply because they were famous and cute.

The same phenomenon was now taking place in the Republic of Smite.

Game sales had increased, but related merchandise was also beginning to sell tremendously well.

“Sales suddenly increased tenfold!”

Georg of the IP Management Team wore an expression mixed with joy and confusion. Anything related to Spirit Stone sold well, but toys and stationery used by children were selling so fast that production could not keep up.

At this rate, Meta Soft’s IP Management Team might become a massive dinosaur in the toy and stationery industries. That was not an exaggeration.

“They already reached fifty percent of Prazia.”

“Wow…”

Prazia was a stationery company even Ella, who had no connection to school education, knew about. It was a company that produced various high-quality stationery products and exercised strong dominance over the market. It was hard to believe that the stationery factories under the IP Management Team, which barely achieved average quality, were now chasing them this threateningly.

Ella could only marvel.

But when she thought from the perspective of children, it seemed understandable. Stationery only needed to be usable anyway, and if there was one with a character they liked drawn on it, of course they would choose that.

“We’ll release other products as well!”

Greatly encouraged by this, the IP Management Team began reaching into other areas too.

Starting with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠children’s clothing, they tried bags, cups, snacks, and anything else they came up with. The reason they could do this was because the places they tried at least did not fail.

Ras was slightly overwhelmed by their enthusiasm, but since it was good for the IP to grow and the company to expand, he cheered them on.

And once, he even gave them an idea.

It was in a somewhat unexpected field: T-shirts.

One of the things Ras had struggled to adjust to in this world was clothing. No, perhaps “struggled” was too strong, but it was a little uncomfortable. Since he had enjoyed wearing T-shirts back on Earth, he disliked this world’s clothing styles, where even shirts had a lot of buttons.

So while they were at it, he thought they could make and sell T-shirts with spirit illustrations on them and spread T-shirt culture a little.

“T-shirts… But aren’t those underwear?”

That was what an IP Management Team employee said. It was not as if this world had no T-shirts at all. But they were treated as undergarments, not outerwear.

Apparently, they came from overseas somewhere and were special clothing used in the military. They were fairly convenient, so they crossed the sea and reached this place, but they were unfamiliar and had not become popular.

“Yes. That’s true, but if there’s a large picture drawn on the outside, the feeling will change a little. Also, make the fabric dense enough so it doesn’t show through.”

Ras was not especially confident either. But because he wanted people to wear comfortable T-shirts instead of loose shirts or formal suits, he decided to push forward with it.

Even amid the Spirit Stone craze, other games were still being developed and released. That did not only apply to games from other companies. Meta Soft also had its own works.

It was Project “Bomb” from the Brunyad Development Team, which had already drawn quite a bit of expectation.

In truth, its prototype had been completed quite some time ago, and it had been nearly finished when Spirit Stone was released.

However, a typhoon was something one had to avoid. Since Spirit Stone was practically sweeping through the entire game industry, Ras thought releasing a new game in that situation was not right, so he pushed it back for a while.

If it had been an ordinary game, it might not have mattered, but this was also a highly anticipated title, so Ras thought it needed to gather attention.

There was no need to cause friendly fire for no reason.

“But we can’t wait forever…”

The problem was that the Spirit Stone craze had exceeded expectations. He thought it would die down over time, but it only seemed to burn hotter.

Strictly speaking, since they had kept feeding fuel into the fire with the manga magazine, Spirit Bread, character merchandise, and so on, it was a problem of their own making. And it was not exactly a mistake either. It was simply inconvenient now that they needed to release another game.

In any case, they could not keep a completed game stopped indefinitely, so Ras waited until Spirit Stone sales at least began to slow down, then released Project “Bomb.”

“This is incredibly fun.”

The response to the test conducted at Meta Soft headquarters was very good.

That was thanks to its subtle gameplay.

Games usually had immediate response as a major strength, but this game was unusual because the bomb exploded only after a short delay after being placed. However, that explosion was so satisfying that instead of feeling frustrating, it gave an even greater sense of catharsis.

On top of that, there were parts that required a certain amount of thinking, which doubled the fun again.

The co-op mode and versus mode were also fun.

In particular, they had been releasing versus games continuously lately, so a mode where players joined forces to clear stages together felt quite fresh.

“Aaah! How could you place a bomb there?!”

When Jenny’s bomb blocked her path, Pana raised her voice without realizing it. It was co-op mode, but that did not mean players were always helpful to one another.

Of course, they had deliberately made bombs damage allies too precisely to create situations like this.

Dnallin of the Brunyad Development Team watched the headquarters employees enjoy the game with a pleased expression. Now that development was finished, he could have rested, but he had personally come all the way to the Republic of Smite because he wanted to see the headquarters’ reaction.

In truth, he had suffered quite a bit emotionally.

Everything had been fine while making the game, but once the release was delayed, he began worrying that perhaps he had done something wrong.

Of course, Ras had told him that they were avoiding the overwhelming heat of Spirit Stone, and he understood that. Even so, the lingering thought of “what if” continued to shake his heart.

But now that the release was finally set and the response to the final test looked good, those feelings melted away like snow.

“You’ve truly worked hard. The characters are especially good.”

Ras approached Dnallin and praised the game. It was not empty flattery. The characters really were fun.

The sight of cute yet somehow insane animal characters throwing bombs everywhere and causing chaos felt different from existing games. One might call it lively, or perhaps madness.

In any case, it was immediately sent to Barbal Soft, received a very good evaluation there as well, and was released right away. This release was carried out simultaneously in Brunyad.

After all, since it even bore the name Brunyad Development Team, it had been a project started to actively target that market.

Kelt City, a small city in the southern Brunyad Federation.

Sijex was a man in his late twenties who liked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠computer games. He was an automobile dealer, so his income was not especially impressive, but there were times when he sold many cars and money came in. He saved that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠money to buy the computer he had always wanted, and he was now diligently buying and enjoying games on it.

Since he liked computer games, he also kept game magazines close at hand.

So when he recently heard that Meta Soft was releasing a new title, he had been counting down to the release date. Moreover, because it was made by the development team in Brunyad, his expectations were even higher.

Of course, he also had slight worries because it was not a work from the headquarters.

However, overseas Meta Soft fans, including those in Brunyad, generally did not trust release dates too much. Meta Soft and Barbal Soft did their best, but perhaps because this world was not yet globalized, distribution was not easy.

Because of that, in small cities like this, it was common for games to arrive only half a month after release.

But this time, it had been made by the development team in Brunyad itself, and they had said it would definitely be released on the exact date, so he was hopeful.

Gamers might not know it, but Barbal Soft was even producing the game at a package factory in Brunyad to keep that promise.

“Ah! It’s here!”

And when he went to the city electronics store on the release date, he was extremely pleased to see a flyer in the game corner that read, <New Meta Soft Release!>

Since the date was written on it too, it could not be advertising an old game as if it were new. When he actually approached, it was indeed Bomb Special Forces, the game that had appeared in the magazine.

(Translator’s Note: Bomb Special Forces — The game’s gameplay and structure are heavily inspired by the real-world Bomberman series, while Ras later specifically references Crazy Arcade (크레이지아케이드), a Korean online multiplayer game derived from the Bomberman formula developed by Nexon in 2001.)

He immediately picked it up.

Meta Soft’s games were so popular that even when they came in, they sold out quickly, so being able to get one immediately like this could be considered a stroke of luck.

After bringing the package home, he immediately opened it and took out the diskette.

He had been playing Spirit Stone enthusiastically until now, but he was slowly starting to get tired of it. Spirit Stone was certainly a fun game.

However, he also had a slightly uncomfortable feeling. It was not dissatisfaction with the game itself.

Why doesn’t network mode work in our country?

What irritated him was that he could not use the features people in the Republic of Smite were enjoying. First of all, the fact that network mode did not work was annoying.

Apparently, some people living near the Republic of Smite border enjoyed it through international calls, but if one lived at some distance like here, it did not work well. International calls themselves worked, but he could not understand why.

In truth, it was because of latency. Connections with excessively long delays were automatically blocked, but Sijex had no way of knowing that.

In any case, Sijex comforted his disappointment like the fox with sour grapes when he saw stories about people being hit with enormous phone bills after trying network mode.

But that was not Sijex’s only complaint.

What he envied even more than network mode was Spirit Bread. Or more precisely, the spirit seals.

If he had only played the game, he might not have wanted them this badly. But the Spirit Stone manga had also entered this region.

Rush had not officially ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entered yet, but the Brunyad Federation had many fans of Meta Soft and Gamers, so it had already come in through dark channels, been translated, and spread.

In any case, after seeing stories about spirits that seemed alive and breathing, he wanted those seals like mad.

There had been a Gamers article about someone eating only Spirit Bread for all three meals a day, and if Brunyad had Spirit Bread, Sijex thought he might have done the same.

Since he was feeling somewhat resentful like this, the new game felt even more welcome.

He immediately launched the game. It was his first time playing it, but he did not particularly get lost. These days, Gamers previewed every new game.

Some people complained that this reduced the excitement, but since the articles were not spoilers and only simple introductions, Sijex did not agree with them.

No, if anything, he enjoyed obtaining and playing something that had been introduced in a magazine. It might have felt similar to personally visiting a travel destination introduced in a travel magazine.

“Oh! Oh!”

The game was quite explosive.

It swept away monsters and walls alike, and the fact that even the character he controlled could die made that explosive feeling even more real.