Chapter 57: The Full-Scale Expansion of Arcade Game Land

However, Jundar was not the type who particularly liked using his body, so the boxing theme did not appeal to him much.

These days, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even Dwarves no longer lived in an era where they only worked in coal mines or handled metal like they had in the past. Because of that, Dwarves like Jundar were not especially rare anymore.

Still, it was not as if he was the one actually throwing punches, so he did not feel much resistance. After admiring the character selection screen once again, he looked around and found a Dwarf boxer like himself, then selected him.

Michael Tyson? That name doesn’t sound very Dwarf-like.

Jundar knew very well that racial traits did not really show in names these days. Even so, despite being a Dwarf himself, he had that idle thought.

When the game began, he tried using the command input he had seen in the manual earlier. Naturally, it did not come out at once, and there was some trial and error. At first, he grew a little irritated when it did not activate.

Ooh!

But after several attempts, the techniques gradually started coming out, and something thrilling filled his chest.

Perhaps he had some talent for this game. He quickly grew used to it and began controlling the character relatively freely.

Once he did, Michael Tyson’s strength, as a fairly advanced character, began to show.

His reach was short, but using a skill called peekaboo style, he endured the attacks of enemies with longer reach while taking little damage and quickly closed the distance. Then, at extremely close range, he quickly input commands and used D’Amato Shift to deflect the enemy’s pouring techniques.

Finally, when he used an additional command to unleash a hook technique called Nuclear Punch, Orcs and large Beastmen were beaten so badly they could not get their bearings.

In reality, Dwarves were not weak in strength compared to other races. So although they acted proud, they still had some inferiority complex because of their short height and reach.

But even if it was only through a game, freely beating up those huge guys gave him a pleasure that made those feelings seem to melt away like snow.

After that, he kept pounding the keyboard like mad and defeating enemies one after another.

Aside from these adults, children were also extremely enthusiastic. No, perhaps they were even more enthusiastic. Existing computer games tended to compete with arcade games through more complicated systems, but that had acted as a weakness for children, whose comprehension was still not very high.

“Hyung! Hurry, let’s play!”

(Translator’s Note — Hyung: A Korean term used by a younger male to address an older brother or older male he is close to.)

Kazes, a second-year elementary school student, held the Fighters’ Club package his father had brought home as a gift and ran to the room first.

“Sure, go ahead and play.”

Gale still pretended to be more grown-up because he was the older brother and checked his father’s reaction, but he was only in third grade now. When his father smiled and gave permission, he also excitedly followed his younger brother and ran to the room.

Of course, when their mother shouted from behind them not to run, they flinched in surprise and slowed into quick steps.

When they entered the room, Kazes was already booting up the computer. Naturally, the package had already been unsealed, and the diskette had been carelessly taken out.

Gale also wanted to play quickly, but he knew from experience that if he forcibly pushed Kazes away, they would fight and eventually get scolded by their parents. So he held himself back and picked up the manual.

Of course, even then, he could not help glancing at the computer screen.

The images were incomparably flashier than Great Counterattack, the shooting game with airplanes they had played before.

Until now, the two brothers had thought computer games were only better because they did not cost money, and were otherwise inferior to arcade games. But this one was different. No, it felt even more amazing.

On top of that, it was really easy to understand.

You just chose a character, an enemy appeared, and then you moved in the proper direction and hit them.

Their parents had bought them several game programs, but the reason they kept playing only Great Counterattack was because the others were too complicated and difficult to hold their interest. This one was genuinely fun.

And exciting. Wildly swinging punches and hitting enemies gave them an instinctive thrill. They did not know how to use commands and only used simple attacks, but because they were children, their concentration and reaction speed were good, so they could still play fairly well.

Still, winning continuously with only that was impossible, so eventually Kazes got stuck at the fourth stage.

“Damn it!”

After getting knocked down about eight times, Kazes got angry and spat out a rough word. Gale, who had been waiting and watching for an opening, stepped in right away.

“Hey, move. I’ll try beating it.”

“This is really hard.”

Kazes resisted for a moment, but since he could not beat it himself, he had no justification to keep sitting there. And because he had been playing until now, he felt mentally pushed back and hesitantly moved aside.

“Hyung won’t be able to either.”

Gale grinned at his younger brother, who was showing lingering resentment, and began trying the technique he had seen in the manual earlier. He made several mistakes, but the first few rounds could be won by pushing through roughly, so he had enough time to practice. Before long, Gale began using simple techniques.

“Huh! How did you use that?”

Kazes’s eyes widened. He had seen the computer use it, but when he pressed the keyboard, only punches came out, so he had thought maybe only the computer could use those moves. Seeing his older brother use one made him realize there was a method.

“Heh heh.”

Gale did not answer right away and acted smug. But he had no intention of hiding it forever, so he soon showed it off and explained. Kazes immediately grabbed the manual and began looking at the section labeled technique list.

He soon memorized a few techniques and began practicing by tapping his little hands against the floor as if it were a keyboard.

During that time, Gale easily passed the fourth round where Kazes had gotten stuck and continued progressing. That made Kazes burn with competitiveness. So when Gale got stuck, he immediately demanded that Gale move aside and charged in with the determination to clear it himself, but unfortunately, he failed.

As the brothers played the game like this, taking turns started to feel frustrating. So Gale wondered if there was a way for them to keep playing and then discovered in the manual that there was something called Versus Mode. He vaguely remembered seeing something like that, but since they had not even cleared Story Mode at the top of the menu yet, he had not paid much attention to it. But once he saw the explanation that two people could compete against each other, his interest was drawn.

So when his turn came, he suggested to his younger brother that they play Versus Mode, and since Kazes hated waiting, he immediately nodded as if it were a welcome opportunity.

From then on, a battle between brothers began.

They kept changing characters and fighting endlessly, becoming so absorbed that they completely forgot about Story Mode.

“Ah! That’s way too cheap!”

“What are you talking about? Then you use it too.”

The atmosphere grew a little heated, but since they were already hitting each other inside the game, it did not turn into an actual fight.

In this way, many people across the Republic of Smite enjoyed Fighters’ Club and learned what kind of game a fighting game was.

While Meta Soft’s vacation began and Fighters’ Club gradually grew popular, Ras’s arcade business expanded rapidly.

In Kames City, where Ras lived, they had already opened up to the fifth branch, and expansion into other cities had also begun.

“I think it would be better to expand directly to the capital first instead of necessarily moving to a nearby city.”

That was the opinion of a Management Team employee named Brams, and it certainly made sense. It was not as if they were transporting something from Kames City, so there was no reason to be restricted by distance.

Ras approved it immediately, and the Management Team secured an office in Ranchert, hired people, and immediately began searching for a site.

Expansion into the capital was somehow an exciting subject.

Opening the first Ranchert branch did not take very long. If there had been financial constraints, they would have spent time choosing carefully, but based on their experience so far, success was almost guaranteed. Since Ras did not spare money either, it took less than a month from deciding to expand until the opening.

Ras was starting to think about creating something like an Audit Team.

Since this was a world where he could not monitor the situation in a distant city in real time, if the Management Team harbored bad intentions, there were many ways for them to siphon off money. At the very least, he needed to visit the opened branches and occasionally check the ledgers.

Of course, if he entrusted everything to an Audit Team and the Audit Team committed fraud, it would all collapse, so in the end, Ras needed to check personally.

Thinking about the future, visiting every single branch one by one would be impossible, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠randomly checking a few branches should be enough to keep people tense.

“So, let’s go to Ranchert once.”

“Ranchert?!”

Ella opened her eyes wide in surprise at Ras’s words. That was only natural, since to her, Ranchert was the center of this country, a place she had only heard about. But Ras, who was smiling at her because she looked cute, had actually never been there either.

As he planned the long-distance business trip, Ras first thought about taking a train, but then started thinking it might be time to get a car.

Unlike before, he was no longer stuck only in the development room. He also went around to arcade branches, visited Bert’s house and the gym, explored good restaurants, went to performance venues, and had many other places to visit, so his taxi fares were already adding up.

Now that he would occasionally need to go on business trips to distant cities, he felt he needed mobility. But that did not mean he wanted to drive himself.

Part of it was because he had already driven until he was sick of it on Earth, but more than that, cars in this world were still not very reliable. To drive a car around, one needed enough basic maintenance ability to handle it.

And since he could easily afford to hire a driver, he did not want to spend time driving, maintaining the car, parking, and doing all those things ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠himself.

Thinking that he would look for a car and driver after this business trip, Ras headed to the department store with Ella to prepare for the trip.

They could simply pack other things from home, but he did not have a suitcase to carry them in.

“Wow...”

Ella, who had shown little reaction even in front of the department store, made a round shape with her mouth in admiration once they entered.

The countless products, the people walking around shopping, the many mirrors shining here and there, and the stairs that moved on their own, in other words, the escalators, all stole her attention.

Finding her honest reaction cute, Ras stroked her yellowish-brown hair. His hand lightly brushed against her ear, and the feel of cartilage and muscle beneath the soft fur was truly pleasant.

They were still both young, and Ras consciously held himself back, so they had not entered a very deep relationship, but they had reached the point where this level of physical affection was natural.

“Let’s go.”

“Mhm.”

Normally, she would have lightly complained that it tickled when he touched her, but now she simply followed blankly as Ras led her along.

Ras first went to the magical self-defense item store he had visited before.

“Welcome!”

He did not know if it was too overprotective, but since they were going on a long trip, he wanted to give Ella at least the minimum means of defense, just in case something happened.

Ella flinched slightly at the Elf employee’s greeting. Then she stepped back, stood behind Ras, quickly moved her head left and right to look around the store, then leaned near his ear and quietly asked in a much lowered voice, “What does this place sell? It looks really expensive.”

It seemed the high-class atmosphere itself was awkward for her.

“It sells magical self-defense items. I already have one, so I’m going to get something for you. Take a look and choose anything that seems good.”

Ella looked around the store again, then quickly shook her head.

“Isn’t it too expensive?”

“It’s fine. Think of it as a gift.”

“Mhm...”

Her face brightened slightly at the word “gift.” She gathered a little courage, moved away ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from Ras, and examined the items. But there was nothing particularly pretty that perfectly suited her taste, and the price tags with so many zeroes frightened her too much. Before long, she returned to Ras’s side.