Chapter 144: An Unexpected Ally
Chapter 144: An Unexpected Ally
And since Meta Hardware was the company that released many physical products, and Ustar was the person with the most knowledge and experience in this field, he was overseeing this matter.
Ras had just received a report from him that there was movement to block the release of the Magical Connector.
“Ah... Is the problem the advertisement comparing it to telephones?”
“No. It’s because of communication fees.”
“As expected...”
It was not completely unexpected. Ras had known even before launching Spirit Space that the telephone companies would earn a considerable amount in telephone fees through Spirit Space.
And even as Spirit Space’s users increased, he had been conscious of that. While investigating various metrics to determine usage fees, he had even confirmed fairly accurate figures on how much the telecommunications companies were earning in telephone fees.
“For the telecommunications companies, it must be a revenue source too valuable to lose.”
Another problem was that this world was still in the early stage where telephones were actively spreading.
In rural areas, there were still places without telephone lines at all, so the funds invested in laying infrastructure had not even been fully recovered yet. Unlike Earth, they were not in a situation where those costs had already been recovered long ago and they were merely collecting fees.
Moreover, the penetration rate was still only around sixty percent, and multiple companies were splitting that market, which was another reason their earnings were not satisfactory.
In Korea, during the landline era, telecommunications companies had been public enterprises, but the Republic of Smite was different.
Korea had been late in following the telecommunications business, and there were no companies capable of handling a business that required such large-scale investment. That was why it had happened that way. Here, once the telephone was invented and revealed to be profitable, several companies rushed in to get a piece of the pie.
Thanks to that, competition arose, and several companies, including Tontol, were beginning to consider withdrawing from the telecommunications business.
Then Spirit Space appeared, and suddenly, telephone usage increased sharply. Since this was not an increase caused by new subscribers, a miracle occurred where sales rose without additional costs.
Naturally, they had no choice but to welcome it. And for telecommunications companies in poor financial condition, it must have been like finding an oasis right before dying of thirst.
But if that revenue seemed likely to disappear again, it was only natural that they would resist.
“Hah...”
After hearing Ustar’s explanation, Ras let out a sound of disbelief. Of course, he understood their position. But this was not income they had earned through any particular effort of their own. Trying to interfere with his business just because they did not want to lose it was truly shameless.
Moreover, Ras had once sought cooperation from the telecommunications companies because Spirit Space users were suffering from excessive communication fees and he had wanted to reduce that burden. At the time, they had rejected him outright.
“The telecommunications companies are acting quite desperately.”
However, even if Ras felt that way, he could not ignore the power they were showing. Just as Ustar said, they were using all kinds of methods to obstruct the Magical Connector.
First, there were signs that they were lobbying the political world.
“Their primary goal is probably to make the Magical Connector itself illegal.”
Product registration had already been completed. But if it became legally prohibited, that would be automatically canceled.
“What grounds are they using to make this illegal?”
“Haha...”
When Ras burst out in anger, Ustar could not answer immediately and only gave an awkward laugh. What he had investigated was as follows.
“First, it seems this is the most commonly used method when attacking magical devices.”
Magic was, after all, more unstable than ordinary scientific technology. It did not always calculate neatly, and since the main agent involved was a being with its own consciousness, it could suddenly stop operating or cause problems at unexpected times.
“They’re claiming it’s dangerous to distribute such unstable objects to ordinary households.”
Unfortunately, there had been several past cases. The most recent was the insect repeller incident from twenty years ago. It was a magical device that drove away insects, and at the time, its performance was excellent, so it became quite popular. The problem was that it suddenly malfunctioned and released poison, causing great harm to the elderly, the weak, and especially young children.
Many children lost their sight in that incident, so the proportion of visually impaired people was high among the population now in their twenties and thirties.
“But wasn’t that because the manufacturer used Demonic Realm magic?”
Ras looked furious. This was a shared grievance among people who made magical devices. In truth, this was more a matter of the manufacturer’s conscience than a problem with magic itself.
They had used a forbidden method for the sake of product performance and efficiency, and a problem had occurred. Yet the public perceived it as though magic itself had a problem.
But this could not be helped. The general public did not have deep common knowledge about magic, nor did they have much interest in it.
“Beyond that, they’re also claiming that if the Magical Connector is used, people will spend more time on Spirit Space and become too absorbed in the virtual world.”
In other words, people would lose their sense of reality and labor productivity would fall. Of course, overindulgence could have those kinds of side effects. But that was a matter of individual choice. Moreover, it was absurd that the telecommunications companies, which had been fattening themselves on communication fees from those very heavy users, were now using such an excuse.
In any case, the justifications the telecommunications companies put forward were mostly like this.
They were not only lobbying. They were also trying to wage a public opinion campaign using these justifications. They intended to pay TV stations and newspapers to run such articles.
“What are we doing on that front?”
“For now, we plan to block it by purchasing advertisements on our side as well.”
The one fortunate thing was that Meta Hardware’s intelligence network, which Ustar had built up, was quite substantial, so they detected this trend before things actually happened.
And Ras’s company was not small either, so they could respond to attacks from the telecommunications companies, whether in money or influence.
At times like this, the reputation and name value of being an export company helped. The media could not simply side with the telecommunications companies unconditionally and had to watch the situation, which gave them time to respond.
However, the lobbying toward political circles was a bit troublesome. It was not that Ras lacked money, but the telecommunications companies had formed an alliance of several companies, and since they had long histories, they had many allies. Moreover, telecommunications companies required heavy infrastructure investment and employed many people, so they had strong political influence due to the number of people they employed.
Ras clutched his head.
Of course, Ras’s companies were now large corporations too. They had quite a few employees, and businesses like Arcade Game Land were highly visible, so they were not small enough for political circles to treat carelessly.
But if a sales ban really did pass, the damage would be enormous.
The inventory they had already produced, the production facilities, the hired personnel, and more would all become massive losses. Moreover, the internet business itself being delayed was also a problem. Of course, Earth had developed through telecommunications infrastructure without anything like magic, so it would probably develop somehow, but the delay would be obvious.
‘Ah!’
After thinking for quite a while, Ras once again found an answer from his memories of Earth.
“Mr. Ustar. What do you think of this method?”
“Yes? What method?”
Ustar looked into Ras’s eyes with a highly expectant expression.
“We reach out to the telecommunications companies.”
Ras had recalled the Korean business method where telecommunications companies sold mobile phones. They could solve the problem by entrusting the distribution, sales, and management of the Magical Connector to the telecommunications companies and sharing the profits.
And since there were several telecommunications companies, he also calculated that they could make them compete against each other and break the unity of their enemies.
“It is a good idea, but...”
However, Ustar’s reaction was not very positive.
The strategy of appeasing and dividing the enemy itself was good, but the problem was that the Magical Connector was a little different from the Korean case.
When mobile phones or smartphones were sold, consumers used those phones on the telecommunications network, and the telecommunications company profited. But in the case of the Magical Connector, communication fees would disappear instead.
This would be true even if Ras made a huge concession and shared Spirit Space usage fees with them. This was a business that had begun with the strategy of reducing consumer spending and rapidly growing the internet market. Even if he gave them not just a portion but all of the usage fees, from the telecommunications companies’ perspective, their income would only shrink.
“The incentive is too weak.”
Moreover, Ras was already planning to distribute the Magical Connector as cheaply as possible, almost without margin, and even use the trick of slowly recovering part of the cost through usage fees. Making a profit by selling it would not be easy.
Even if they somehow managed to sell it at a higher price, that would become a problem too, because a high price would clearly slow the spread of the device.
“I see.”
After hearing Ustar’s explanation, Ras scratched the back of his head and accepted it. Once he heard it, he judged that it would be difficult to win over the telecommunications companies.
In any case, when the method he had finally thought of was blocked, Ras felt as though his mind had gone blank. Fortunately, however, Ustar had a method.
“It may be difficult with the telecommunications companies, but I think we may be able to find allies elsewhere.”
He had thought of a more orthodox method. If the opponent’s faction seemed strong, then this side could also create alliances and increase its own size.
“Allies?”
At the word allies, Ras reflexively thought of partner companies. But companies like Barbal Soft or Panchi Games were not the kind that could exert power in this field.
“Actually, I thought of it after hearing what you said, Chairman, about sharing and dividing profits...”
“Ah...!”
After hearing Ustar’s answer, Ras unconsciously let out that sound and nodded.
He had not thought about it until now, but in truth, if the Magical Connector was released, there was a place that would naturally profit from it.
“The Magic Alliance may become our ally.”
More precisely, the companies that supplied Mana Cartridges. The Magical Connector was a magical device that continuously consumed mana. Thanks to Schutz’s negotiations, it only consumed around 10 Del per month, but if there were many users, that became a different story.
Even now, Spirit Space was estimated to have 300,000 users. If all of them used the Magical Connector, that would generate 3 million Del in monthly sales. Over a year, that would be 36 million Del, which was by no means a small sum.
Moreover, Ras planned to raise the internet penetration rate as quickly as possible, and based on Earth’s example, the internet would eventually have an enormous number of users. When that time came, the amount would become truly tremendous and could even become a funding source that supported the Magic Alliance itself.
“If we explain this properly, I believe we can draw them in as allies.”
Unlike Earth, this world’s civilization operated with magic as another pillar alongside science. In other words, magic’s influence was immense.
The Magic Alliance was the organization representing that influence, so if they could draw it in as an ally, they would gain tremendous power. It could not guarantee victory, but their odds would clearly rise sharply. And since Mana Cartridges were an important funding source for the Magic Alliance, there would definitely be a response.
“Proceed with it immediately.”
The situation left no room for delay. Ras immediately instructed Ustar to contact the Magic Alliance. After sending Ustar out, Ras remained lost in thought for a while, then began contacting companies that produced magical devices as well.
“Ella. Look into magical device manufacturers for me.”
“Okay. Got it.”
While thinking about whether there might be more allies they could draw in, he remembered that the telecommunications companies had attacked the Magical Connector by targeting the instability of magical devices.
That would certainly sound unpleasant to magical device manufacturers. Beyond being offensive, if things went wrong, it could even lower their sales.
So if he used that well, then even if they did not become active allies, he might at least form a loose coalition and use it to pressure the other side to some extent.