Twenty Million, Guaranteed

Satoshi drew a bulky machine out of his bag.

"Would it be all right if I ran this?"

"What is it?"

"Project SD. The development kit for the Mega Drive."

So he meant to show me the thing actually running, the better to get advice worth having. I remembered the finished article well enough.

"Of course you should."

"Thank you."

While Satoshi buried himself in the setup, I let my thoughts drift. In my previous life, as I recalled it, Hyeon-gang and Mega had gone into partnership. Daebo, by contrast, signed with Daisho and released a handheld of its own, the Daebo Comboy. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠winner of the 16-bit era had been Daisho, and that was that. Hyeon-gang, its pride in shreds, simply closed the console business.

That was how the last life had gone.

This time, it's completely different.

Right then, Satoshi turned my way, as if the setup were finished.

"Would you like to play?"

Hm.

The pad he held out looked nothing like the one in my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠memory. I was fairly sure the original had carried something like six buttons. Still early in development, perhaps. Four buttons sat in a diamond, as if someone had studied the Super Family and taken notes.

"Is the pad... not to your liking?"

"No. It just looks a little like the competition's."

"Ah, that. Other designs did come up inside the company... but this is only a prototype. We built the least objectionable version."

Which meant development had not gone far. There was none of the Mega Drive's famous bright color, and the music felt flat and monotonous.

Hm.

A little embarrassing, taking a billion won for a consultation and answering inside a minute. Still, the thing had to be said.

"This is going to be difficult."

Perhaps he had come already half expecting my answer. Satoshi's reaction was oddly calm.

"If we had been confident... we would have launched it already."

So they knew, too.

"But to fold it like this... a great deal of investment has already gone in......"

"If gambling and business share one thing, it is this. Stay planted because you cannot bear to kiss your stake goodbye, and you lose the house."

Even so, they would not be able to let go easily. There is such a thing, to put it bluntly, as office politics. The moment a project is abandoned, planning has no road clear of blame, and so planning has no choice but to insist, all or nothing, that the thing must ship, whether the company bleeds for it or not.

My guess was that they had come all the way to me for an objective judgment from someone outside.

"What do you think, Mr. Satoshi?"

"Sorry?"

"You're on the development team. I assumed you had a view."

"Ah. Well."

He looked shy of offering an opinion of his own. When I held him with a serious look, though, Satoshi sat up straight.

Home consoles would become the mainstream?

"On what grounds?"

Having talked himself that far, Satoshi scratched the back of his head.

"I apologize. I came to be consulted, and ended up airing my own views."

"Not at all. I asked."

Satoshi's forecast was startlingly exact. I kept putting similar questions to him after that, and every time he returned a sharp answer.

This man... who was he?

"Mr. Satoshi, you said you're with Development Team 1?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Do you have a title of your own in development?"

The moment I showed an interest, Satoshi launched into an explanation, and a swift blue hedgehog flashed through my mind.

No wonder he had seemed out of the ordinary.

"I originally wanted to make an RPG, but a company has its policies. For now I am building something that could stand against Super Orlando."

So he was making it because he had been told to. And for an assignment, was it not coming out far too well?

Hm.

Enough small talk. We were still in a consultation, and it was time I handed down a verdict.

"You mean we should go in as a Daisho third party?"

These were people who had drawn their swords to beat Daisho. Being told to step in beneath that company would feel like a humiliation. Even so, blustering out of pride was a hundred times worse than laying plans for later. Fortunately, Satoshi's face suggested he more or less agreed.

"The conversion itself is not difficult... I only wonder whether our work would suit Daisho's style......"

"If sales are what worry you, taking my hand is one way."

"Sorry? Take hands with... JH?"

"But how could twenty million possibly......"

For me, it was enough to make the advertising fun. For instance.

"Your character races the fastest monster in Capsulemon. Then the Capsulemon fans lean in. What on earth is that fast?"

"And that is not all. Cut a spot where the hedgehog, already that quick, knocks back a can of Mad Bull and gets quicker still. Mad Bull and Mega both come out ahead. All of this is JH's own field!"

"If, if you could truly do even that much for us... we could not be more grateful......"

He still looked as though something else was itching at him. Fair enough. He had spent a billion won. You ask everything you came to ask before you leave.

"Suppose we do give up on a 16-bit console, one way or another. What of the 32-bit era? If we prepare ahead of time, might there be a chance......"

A chance. Like hell.

Mega's challenges in the console market were one failure after another. Play Studio, the machine everyone simply called the PS, flattened them outright. Their last throw, declaring a 128-bit era and marching out in splendor, was a total defeat at the hands of the PS2, and Mega entered a long dark age.

"Just walk away."

Put like that, he would not understand.

By now the long list of businesses I had made succeed would be passing through his head. Nor was that all. The way I had built a marketing plan on the spot out of the Capsulemon IP would keep snagging at him, too.

"Join as a Daisho third party instead, and you become my partner. The choice belongs to Mega."

There hardly seemed to be a choice left to make. As if his mind were settled, he gathered his things in a rustle.

Ah. One last thing.

"If the office politics have you sick to death of it, considering a move is also an option."

"Sorry?"

"Finish the title you are making. Then we will talk properly."

"......!"

"Come see me yourself, when you do. I will not be taking any consulting fee, so you can rest easy."

At the joke with the bone left in it, Satoshi's throat worked. A hard, visible swallow.

Back in my room, I sat with the thought for a while.

Had twenty million been laying it on? If history held, North America alone would land around fifteen million. That, though, was the figure for a Mega Drive release. Put the game out on the Super Family, and it would sell far past that.

And if I truly set myself to the marketing......

Thirty million might not be out of reach.

And another thing. A business agreement with Mom, and a consultation for Mega on top of it.

Am I working from the house now?

I could say it that way and still feel the dopamine bursting. A hundred times more exciting than a drink, if I was honest.

I will not be sleeping like this anyway.

Which was how I ended up in front of the phone on the desk. A target of a full trillion won. I lifted the receiver at once. The man on the other end was Tennessee.

I don't know the house number.

On the off chance, I rang the dormitory.

Well, look at that. He actually picked up.

Glad to hear me, and he still bites.

I had called to put him to work, and a reply like that almost made me feel sorry.

No. Park Jihoon......

Times like this, I had to be colder.

I tossed him a line with a hook in it, and he bristled at once.

Heh heh heh.

A scoff escaped me.

What did he think I was talking about. On a handheld, Tetris was a perfect fit, an enormous killer title.

Settle this alone, and two hundred billion of that trillion-won target would fill itself with room to spare.

By then he looked about half resigned.

The moment I hung up on Tennessee, it would be Dmitri's turn. That man also had to go to America and find someone... which, now that I thought of it, made us halfway to a detective agency. Ahem.

Anyway!