Chapter 9
Chapter 9
This world had plenty of novels as well. Rather than classics, Hyuncheol picked up one of the newer works.
The writing style feels kind of old-fashioned.
That was the first thought that came to mind after reading only a few pages.
It was a science fiction novel, but even the latest works carried the atmosphere of roughly 1950s Earth, so it was unavoidable.
The story took place in space and featured androids as its main subject matter. If he ignored the prose style, it was fairly interesting.
Afterward, Hyuncheol flipped through several more books, but none of them felt especially alien compared to his own common sense.
At the very least, it seemed there would be no major issue using the kinds of science fiction concepts he already knew.
There were also quite a lot of historical novels and war novels, apparently both popular genres.
Still, perhaps because this was a world where magic actually existed, reading them somehow felt similar to reading fantasy novels.
They were more serious and rigid in tone, of course.
Not all of them were like that, however.
There was also a genre called alternate history novels, and those tended to feel much lighter.
But because they still featured magic, swords, monsters, and histories unrelated to reality, from Hyuncheol’s perspective they simply felt like fantasy novels anyway.
As a result, he found this genre more to his taste.
Among them, Hyuncheol borrowed a novel titled Chronicles of the Azan Continental Revolution.
Even within alternate history, this one was unusual, depicting events occurring on the entirely fictional Azan Continent.
To be honest, what drew his attention was the word “revolution.”
For a moment, he wondered if it might involve a communist revolution.
But after skimming through it, he realized it was actually about a republican revolution instead.
Later, he learned that although the Republic of Smite itself had not been founded through revolution, the country possessed strong pride in its political system, so themes like this were commonly used.
The novel was entertaining.
It felt almost like orthodox fantasy, but the characters and the writing itself felt vividly alive.
If he absolutely had to compare it to an Earth novel, it resembled A Song of Ice and Fire more than anything else.
And so, while reading novels and gradually discovering subtle differences between Earth and this world from various angles, Hyuncheol also watched the release of Tetris progress rapidly.
“This is the sample disk.”
Only one week later, Kandel visited the store carrying a floppy disk with a printed sticker attached to it.
The sticker itself might not have seemed particularly special, but at this point in time, it was what gave software the feeling of being a genuine commercial product.
“It looks amazing.”
The sticker featured colorful Tetris blocks arranged in red, green, blue, and white, with the title “Tetris” written in a sleek, angular font that created a surprisingly stylish atmosphere.
Hyuncheol felt extremely satisfied with the design, far beyond what he had expected.
“But this was really fast. A sample disk in only a week?”
“The people upstairs recognized that this thing’s the real deal.”
Kandel was right.
At first, one of the staff members in charge had casually tried the game simply to evaluate its marketability.
But they immediately became completely absorbed in it.
Then other employees, intrigued by the sight, gradually joined in as well, until it nearly started interfering with office work.
That proved the game’s entertainment value.
Then the employees of Barbal Soft effectively stole company time while verifying that the game had no problems.
And after the company president himself tried it and became convinced it would definitely succeed, the process accelerated rapidly.
That was why the employees avoided disciplinary punishment.
Though Kandel himself did not know it, simply bringing in a product like this had already elevated his reputation inside the company.
Then, three days later, Hyuncheol finally received confirmation by mail that the product registration had been approved.
And another week after that, he heard the news that the game had officially launched.
Naturally, it also arrived at Hyuncheol’s store.
He did not personally have purchasing authority, but Kandel had whispered to James that it was an extremely promising title, and since both computer and software sales had recently been performing well, the owner boldly decided to stock several copies on display.
“Can you run one of the games for me?”
A large customer wearing thick round glasses had been fiddling with the store computer before making the request.
Naturally, Hyuncheol seized the opportunity and immediately launched Tetris.
Until now, he had refrained from doing so out of fear of piracy and leaks.
But now that the game had officially released, he wanted to sell even one more copy, so this was his attempt at promotion.
“Oh. Oh?!”
At first, the customer looked unimpressed by the plain blocks slowly descending without fighter jets or tanks or anything flashy.
But after following the rules to complete a line and make it disappear, he quickly became absorbed in the game.
And after playing for quite a while, he praised it enthusiastically.
Then, while thinking that he absolutely needed to buy the game whenever he eventually purchased a computer, he asked for the title.
“What did you say this game was called again?”
“Tetris.”
Hyuncheol answered clearly with an extremely friendly smile.
Afterward, he began indirectly feeling Tetris’s growing popularity.
It was not as though there were many people around him who owned computers and played games, nor did communities exist where he could read public opinions.
Still, even this store was selling copies of Tetris.
Of course, because the store itself was small and the game market remained tiny overall, it would be difficult to say it was selling like wildfire.
But compared to the other software titles, it sold overwhelmingly more.
“The first shipment of two thousand copies sold out.”
Kandel grinned while holding up two fingers.
Accustomed to Earth’s market sizes, Hyuncheol initially only smiled politely to avoid embarrassing him.
But then he suddenly realized that his share was 24 Del per copy, meaning he had just earned a total of 48,000 Del.
Only then did overwhelming joy surge upward so intensely that his cheeks began aching from smiling.
Converted into Korean currency, it amounted to nearly 48 million won.
His original goal of merely buying a computer had been surpassed to the point that he could now purchase ten of them.
“Thank you.”
For a moment, Hyuncheol nearly hugged the small, somewhat rough-looking gnome man impulsively.
He barely restrained himself, though not enough to stop himself from grabbing Kandel’s hand and shaking it vigorously.
“Well, I’ll probably get a bonus because of this too. I should be the one thanking you.”
Not only that, but he was also scheduled to receive a promotion.
The head office had highly evaluated his eye for talent and intended to move him from ordinary sales work into scouting games for distribution.
Kandel felt slightly pressured, since he knew this success had come more from luck than actual skill, but he had no intention of letting the opportunity slip away.
As for Hyuncheol, now that he had successfully debuted under the name “Ras,” he decided to use that name permanently going forward.
It felt somewhat awkward and regrettable, but Korean-style names were simply too foreign and difficult to pronounce in this country anyway.
Eventually he would have ended up using this name regardless.
In any case, now that he had earned the money he needed, it was finally time to quit his clerk job.
Honestly, he wanted to resign immediately and leave on the spot.
But the owner had never treated him badly.
Even if James had not known Hyuncheol was making games, he had probably noticed he was doing unrelated things on the computer and had chosen to ignore it.
And to be honest, because the owner was absent so often, the job itself had been quite comfortable.
Hyuncheol could not bring himself to create chaos by quitting irresponsibly.
So Ras waited until the owner arrived at closing time.
Then, after James finished checking the daily accounts, he carefully spoke up.
“Um, boss.”
“What is it?”
His tone was blunt, but Ras already knew that was simply his personality rather than actual hostility.
Internally giving a bitter smile, he continued.
“I think I’ll need to quit my job.”
James widened his eyes in surprise.
Recently the store’s sales had risen significantly, so he had only assumed Ras was working especially hard.
This possibility had never crossed his mind.
For a moment, James considered offering a raise because it would be a waste to lose such a capable clerk.
But after looking into Ras’s eyes, he realized that was not the issue and instead asked:
“Why? Something happen?”
“No. I just have something else I need to do.”
Because he had secretly used the computers to create a game and earn a large amount of money, Ras felt guilty about openly admitting he no longer needed the job because he intended to become a game developer.
Though his eyes unconsciously flicked toward the computers, that was all.
Still, James’s years of experience told him clearly enough that Ras’s heart had already completely left the workplace.
If there had been even the slightest hesitation, he might have tried persuading him.
But once someone reached this point, words were useless.
At times like this, there was really only one thing left to say.
“Fine. But before you quit, teach me how to use these computers.”
“Ah. Yes.”
James had originally intended to let him go without fuss, but he worried that losing Ras would also reduce computer sales, so he decided to keep him around a few more days.
Afterward, Ras spent three days teaching the owner how to use computers.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the older James learned extremely slowly.
He seemed to struggle even with basic concepts, like the fact that manipulating input devices caused things to appear on output devices.
Eventually, the increasingly frustrated Ras had no choice but to write an actual manual himself.
Otherwise, it felt as though he would still be trapped there a month later.
And this accounting program was already absurdly simple.
Still, James learned games quickly.
Especially Tetris.
Ras felt inwardly proud, but at the same time his emotions became complicated when he thought that if James had learned everything else this quickly, Ras himself would not have suffered so much.
“Good work.”
“Yes. Thank you for everything.”
In any case, Ras managed to leave his first job in this world without any major trouble, feeling completely refreshed.
After walking several steps away, he looked back and saw James already sitting at the computer doing something.
Most likely, he was playing the Tetris game he had recently become obsessed with.
Ras snorted softly with amusement and turned away again.
The next morning, he woke up at the same time as usual.
He frowned at the sunlight filtering through the curtains, then suddenly remembered that he no longer had to go to work.
His expression immediately relaxed.
Then he simply closed his eyes again.
Still, perhaps because it had become habit, or perhaps because his daily sleep deprivation had only ever been slight to begin with, he woke again less than an hour later.
Looking around the room that had now become familiar, he suddenly felt happy.
When he had first arrived in this world, he never could have imagined it, but now this room had become the place where he felt safest.
Pulling aside the curtains and looking outside, he saw the sidewalks filled with people heading to work.
Imagining his former self from just yesterday walking among them sent a thrilling feeling through him.
Still, he could not simply relax forever.
Rest only felt sweet because life was busy and difficult.
If one did nothing but rest endlessly, that simply made them unemployed.
And conveniently, he was hungry as well, so Ras climbed out of bed and headed toward the kitchen counter.
His cooking was nothing special.
He fried eggs, placed them between slices of toasted bread with cheese, then stir-fried vegetables and mushrooms in the same pan.
Now that he lived in a foreign world, part of him did wish he could cook Korean food well enough to satisfy his homesickness.
But passion itself was also a finite resource.
Right now, he simply could not muster enthusiasm for anything besides game development.
After finishing his meal, he left home to buy a computer.
It would have been simpler to purchase one from James’s store.
But he still felt awkward about secretly creating games there and earning money from them.
And although it was merely an excuse he thought up afterward, he also felt that if problems arose later, arguing with the owner of an acquaintance’s shop would become uncomfortable.
Before heading to an electronics store, Ras stopped by a bookstore first.
He wanted to check computer magazines in case newer sixteen-bit computers had already been released.
The shop was called Baltan Bookstore, located along a major road not far from the apartment.
He had often passed by it before, but because of money concerns he had always used the library instead and never actually entered.
Honestly, he probably could have afforded to buy books all along, but his low income had made him excessively timid about spending.
There are so many people.
That was his first impression after opening the door and stepping inside.
The bookstore’s layout itself was not much different from Korean bookstores, but the number of customers was on an entirely different level.
The place looked around fifty pyeong in size, yet at a glance there seemed to be well over twenty customers inside.
Perhaps because of that, the store even employed three clerks.