Chapter 16

“But what kind of game is it? I heard Pac-Man is about avoiding enemies and collecting items, but even after reading the description, I still don’t really understand what this ‘role-playing game’ thing is supposed to be.”

That was only natural.

Since it was the first game of its genre ever introduced in this world, it would naturally be difficult to understand through words alone.

Still, Ras had deliberately used appealing words like growth and adventure to attract consumers, so hearing such a puzzled reaction made him slightly anxious.

“You’ll understand once you play it.”

After struggling to think of how to explain it, Ras ultimately could only smile and say that.

Kandel looked somewhat frustrated by the answer, but since he already trusted Ras after the success of his previous hit, he signed the contract, took the sample ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠diskettes, and left.

Although Kandel had already been promoted and even had two subordinates under him now, he personally carried the game back to headquarters himself.

Even though his salary had increased, it was still not enough for him to own and drive a private car, so he had to travel by train and bus.

“So which one is his new game?”

Ras himself did not truly realize it, but the success of Tetris had been so impressive that many people at Barbal Soft had become interested in him besides just Kandel and the company president.

The large man who immediately approached Kandel’s desk after he returned was one of them.

This man, named Amans, had long thick limbs, a massive gray beard, and heavy body hair overall. He looked like a Viking, but he was also recognized as one of Barbal Soft’s top programmers.

Originally, Amans had little interest in games.

However, after encountering That Distant Galaxy in the past, he began recognizing the potential of gaming again. Then he was shocked once more by Tetris, a game distributed by his own company, and started thinking about creating games himself.

“It’s all right there.”

“What? There are ten disks here?”

Kandel laughed at Amans reacting exactly the same way he himself had earlier.

“One of them is a game called Pac-Man, and the other nine are all a single game. Massive volume, right? If it’s called Land of Adventure, maybe they really made an entire continent.”

He said it jokingly without actually knowing the truth, but he was half correct.

Intrigued, Amans grabbed the diskettes, saying he would test them out. In truth, that was exactly why he had come looking for Kandel in the first place.

“Don’t forget to make copies before trying them.”

Without even turning around, Amans simply waved a hand in response to Kandel’s warning before disappearing back toward his desk.

This is pretty fun.

He tried Pac-Man first.

Although it was not quite on the level of Tetris, it still undeniably felt like a solid game. It was somewhat simplistic and felt a little old-fashioned, but that simplicity also gave it direct and intuitive enjoyment.

This would probably work well as an arcade game too.

After getting a rough understanding of what Pac-Man was like, he decided to save the rest for later and inserted the diskettes for Land of Adventure instead.

A game spanning nine disks fascinated him immensely.

Oh...

When the game launched, a colorful map filled the screen.

It was not a detailed modern-style map, but rather a simple medieval-style representation of terrain.

Since Amans possessed decent geographic knowledge, he immediately realized this was not a real place but rather a fictional world created as the game’s setting.

In one corner of the map, a massive waterfall poured endlessly off the edge of the world, seemingly inspired by the ancient belief that the Earth was flat.

In the opposite corner, a legendary serpent said to encircle the world stretched its enormous body across the sea.

The feeling of adventure struck him instantly.

And the quality of the illustration itself left Amans — someone deeply familiar with the limitations of modern computer hardware — not merely impressed, but genuinely moved.

Then the title Land of Adventure appeared in flashy gradient lettering.

Beneath it was a small horizontal window that seemed to display actual in-game footage, and its quality was equally impressive.

Examining it more closely, he noticed that the color usage and overall design were exceptionally refined.

It seemed there was someone on the development team with real artistic sense.

Pressing Enter caused the title screen to transition into a menu.

He selected New Beginning and created a character as instructed.

It felt slightly strange, almost like playing house, but at the same time it also felt fresh enough that he simply accepted it and continued.

Then he learned the gameplay systems through the in-game tutorials.

At first, he thought it all seemed overly complicated.

But as he gradually became immersed in the dialogue and story — which felt more like a manga or novel than any game he had ever seen before — at some point the protagonist began feeling like an extension of Amans himself.

From then onward, Amans became completely absorbed in the world of Land of Adventure.

Three days later, at Ras’s office.

“This is truly a revolutionary game!”

Ras, who had been relaxing comfortably after sending the samples out, received a phone call from Paul Roxy that sounded almost like praise worshipping Land of Adventure.

“To the point that we completely forgot we were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠supposed to be testing it.”

Ras found himself amused, thinking this person ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠must have enjoyed it quite a lot.

In reality, it was not just Amans and the president. Most of Barbal Soft’s employees had become so immersed in the game that it was beginning to interfere with work itself.

Naturally, the game was released quickly amid growing anticipation.

However, perhaps because expectations had grown too large, the initial response was not as good as expected.

Pac-Man had received immediate praise and quickly climbed in sales, but Land of Adventure remained strangely quiet.

Of course, it still sold moderately thanks to being promoted as the new work of the creator of Tetris and receiving strong support from Barbal Soft.

But that was all.

As a result, both Ras and the people at Barbal Soft were disappointed and cautiously analyzing the situation, wondering whether the unfamiliar gameplay style was simply too strange for consumers.

Then, belatedly, the response exploded.

No one knew exactly where the rumors began spreading from, but suddenly all available stock vanished almost instantly, and demands for additional shipments poured in from every direction.

Computer magazines even published feature articles dedicated entirely to Land of Adventure, showcasing the scale of the phenomenon.

“Created an entirely new world.” That’s some ridiculously high praise.

Ras snickered while reading the article.

In the case of Land of Adventure, relying on his memories and experiences from Earth admittedly felt somewhat unfair.

Still, unlike Tetris or Pac-Man, this was undeniably something he could call his own original creation, so naturally he felt happy.

At the same time, hearing such blatant praise felt a little embarrassing.

Then again, he also took it as proof of just how strong the shock and enjoyment created by this entirely new type of game truly was.

Land of Adventure began selling at a terrifying pace.

Even if it did not suit everyone’s tastes, those whose preferences aligned with it experienced immense satisfaction and often spoke about it to others with genuine passion and overwhelming praise.

Furthermore, unlike other games, it was extremely complex and packed with content, giving people far more to talk about.

As a result, the popularity and positive word of mouth surrounding Land of Adventure spread rapidly.

And unexpectedly, one major reason people opened their wallets more readily was the sheer volume of the game itself: nine entire diskettes.

In truth, the psychology behind it was simple.

If two products cost roughly the same, but one gave you a single diskette while the other gave you nine, people naturally gravitated toward the latter.

Another positive side effect of the game’s enormous size was that it somewhat discouraged piracy.

Since blank diskettes were still expensive in this world, many people thought it was better to simply buy the legitimate product rather than spend nearly the same amount copying nine disks illegally.

Moreover, the cheap diskettes commonly used for piracy were notoriously unreliable and frequently defective, meaning copied versions often failed to work anyway.

Perhaps because of all that, the game sold an astonishing seventy thousand copies in just one month.

“I’m sorry. We couldn’t manufacture the packages fast enough... Otherwise we probably would’ve exceeded one hundred thousand.”

Now sounding completely like a devoted fan of Ras, Barbal Soft president Roxy called to report the sales figures while lamenting the fact that they had failed to surpass one hundred thousand copies within a single month.

Of course, he personally profited from higher sales as well, but the way he spoke no longer sounded like he was discussing a mere commercial product.

There was unmistakable fanboy enthusiasm mixed into it.

“No, it’s fine. I honestly never expected it to sell this well either. To be honest, even seventy thousand copies in a single month shocked me.”

Feeling awkward under Roxy’s passionate goodwill, Ras answered modestly.

He did not know the details of how manufacturing worked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in this world’s market, but physical packages still had to be produced in factories using actual people and machines.

And for a relatively small company to suddenly increase production from an expected twenty thousand units to more than triple that amount clearly could not have been easy.

Roxy merely chuckled without making a big deal of it.

After earning an enormous amount of money, Ras began thinking about how to use it.

The first person he decided to take care of was his only employee, Pana.

Honestly, while Ras himself could justify the workload because it was his own project, Pana was ultimately just a salaried employee, yet her workload had been absurdly heavy.

Moreover, she had not simply worked reluctantly. She had poured genuine passion into the project, which was one of the reasons such an excellent result had been achieved.

Ras truly felt grateful.

Still, since she had technically been working in exchange for salary, giving her company shares did not feel appropriate.

So he decided instead to give her a bonus.

Ras carefully considered how much to give.

Truthfully, it was not merely gratitude motivating him. Pana was difficult-to-find talent, and now that Land of Adventure had succeeded, it was obvious people would become interested in its development staff as well.

Part of him wanted to prevent potential headhunting attempts.

“This is your bonus.”

Seeing Pana stare curiously at the thick paper envelope, Ras grinned and explained:

“The game was a success.”

“Ah... thank you!”

After accepting it, Pana waited until Ras returned to his desk before secretly peeking inside.

The envelope was stuffed full of 100 Del banknotes.

The sheer feeling of wealth instantly brightened her face, though honestly, she could not immediately tell exactly how much was inside.

After work, worried about carrying so much money around, she did not even dare take the bus home. Though it felt wasteful, she took a taxi back to her room instead.

Only after arriving home and counting the money did she nearly faint from shock.

There were twenty thousand Del inside.

Considering her monthly salary was currently only two thousand Del, this amounted to ten months’ worth of wages — nearly an entire year’s salary.

Wages in this world were generally not very high. Ordinary laborers earned roughly one thousand Del per month.

University graduates earned somewhat more, but outside major corporations, very few companies paid fresh graduates salaries as high as two thousand Del.

Pana had nearly called Ras immediately to ask whether he had accidentally given her too much.

In truth, while creating the game had been enjoyable, the work itself had also been exhausting.

She had quietly wondered whether working life was always like this and whether she would really be able to endure it long-term.

But now, thoughts about what she could buy and what she wanted to do with this bonus completely filled her mind, instantly sweeping away all those worries.

She sat blankly on the old sofa for quite some time before finally grabbing the coat she had thrown aside earlier and heading outside, intending to call home and brag about it.

Yet while walking toward the public telephone outside, she suddenly decided she should buy a phone first instead.

Ras also spent money on himself.

Of course, he already had a phone, so he looked toward other things.

Most people probably would have become interested in cars after suddenly acquiring such wealth.

But to someone who came from Korea — practically a futuristic world compared to this place — the automobiles here felt far too outdated.

Unless he had been interested in classic cars, they simply did not appeal to him beyond the occasional curiosity of seeing them in museums or photos online.

Besides, his range of movement still was not large enough to truly need one.

Instead of cars, Ras focused on the things that genuinely interested him: games and computers.

And what suddenly came to mind was the “game console” he had briefly seen in a magazine before and become curious about.