Chapter 22
Chapter 22
And Korea was heavily influenced by America, while from the very beginning after liberation, it had continuously longed for the American market.
So when he said he was aiming for a place like that, Hyein could not help but feel impressed by Insu’s ambition alone.
Of course, she still doubted whether it was truly possible. But this was already after a six-year-old child had created and released a game. And according to what she had just heard, a Japanese magazine had somehow discovered it and even praised it highly, so it no longer sounded entirely absurd.
Moreover, Insu was her son.
“Alright! Mom will look into it!”
“Yes! And once the game sells later, I’ll pay the translation costs too.”
“Mhm.”
At the word “costs,” Hyein unconsciously flinched. She might be his mother, but she was still only a woman in her twenties and merely a housewife. Just thinking about the money spent establishing the corporation already made her chest turn cold, and now another expense that looked anything but cheap had appeared, so fear was inevitable.
But she had already decided to support him. Besides, her son had already started running, and she couldn’t let him trip and fall because of something like this.
“Right! Just trust Mom!”
It was while Insu was personally preparing for overseas expansion.
There was a game distribution company in Japan called TechnoShoku.
While Korea barely had any specialized game software distributors, Japan’s economic scale was much larger, and its gaming industry was considerably more developed, so there were several companies like this that specialized solely in game distribution.
Though it was called a large company, strictly speaking, TechnoShoku was not among the top tier and could instead be considered mid-level. In Japan, famous developers often handled their own distribution, and their scale was so massive that it was difficult for a company focused solely on distribution to rank among the top.
That was why TechnoShoku had also attempted in-house development in its own way, but unfortunately, the results so far were poor.
“We’re screwed. Completely screwed.”
“...”
Department Head Isao Takahashi clicked his tongue while looking at the performance report, while Assistant Manager Kenta Fujimoto stood before him, unable to raise his head, like a sinner awaiting judgment.
The reason was that the new PC game created by the development team Kenta recruited from outside performed disastrously.
“Two thousand copies? At this rate, we won’t even recover the distribution costs!”
If there was any consolation, it was that they hadn’t produced many copies to begin with. Though whether that could really be called consolation was questionable.
“We should’ve killed it off during the alpha stage! At least then we could’ve saved money!”
Kenta could keenly understand the meaning of being utterly speechless. After all, Isao had originally said the game seemed bad, but Kenta himself strongly insisted on pushing it through to completion.
Seeing that the other man remained curled up without even attempting an excuse, Department Head Isao seemed to cool down slightly and turned away. Then he shouted at the other employees.
“You lot can’t just stand around watching either! We need to patch the hole in our finances! Bring me something, anything!”
As his gaze swept across the employees one by one, every single person avoided eye contact while pretending to be busy.
Takeshi Ikeda hurriedly lowered his head and pretended to review a list of development companies they dealt with while furrowing his brow in thought.
That guy’s persistent. He’s going to keep this up until something turns up.
The determination to keep trying until a solution appeared was admirable for a salaryman, and perhaps that was why he became department head, but for the subordinates beneath him, it was absolute misery.
Ah!
While desperately thinking if there was anything they could do, an article from a magazine he read previously flashed through Takeshi’s mind.
This is it!
He quickly searched through the stack of materials and found the magazine. Fortunately, it was still right where it belonged.
Though he thought it was a decent idea, seeing Senior Kenta getting torn apart made him reluctant to step forward.
As he hesitated and cautiously raised his head, his eyes met Department Head Isao’s directly.
“Right. Takeshi-kun. Got any ideas?”
Caught off guard, Takeshi failed to come up with an excuse and reflexively blurted out the idea he had been considering.
“Uh... I was thinking maybe we could import and distribute a proven overseas game.”
It was a reasonable suggestion. A game already proven overseas meant a lower chance of failure, and after their disastrous gamble on in-house development, it was a fitting approach.
But there was a problem.
“Yeah. Importing a proven game is a good method. But do you think nobody else knows that?! We already have a hole in our funding! Besides, overseas games don’t automatically succeed either! What if we spend a fortune bringing one over and it flops? Are you going to take responsibility!?”
In reality, Japanese game companies had once seen some domestic developers perform reasonably well in the American market and attempted the reverse approach by importing American and European games.
But the results were mediocre. Some definitely achieved decent outcomes, but due to cultural differences, there were also quite a few that simply failed to connect with Japanese audiences.
“No, this case is different. It won’t cost that much yet, and it also won’t feel too alien compared to domestic games.”
“What? There’s something that good?”
“Yes. It’s a game featured in All Clear.”
With slightly hurried movements, Takeshi brought over the magazine and opened it before Department Head Isao.
“The Land Of Fantasy? It’s a Korean game?”
At first, his expression soured at the mention of it being Korean, and he shot Takeshi a sideways glance. But when Takeshi, despite shrinking back nervously, gestured for him to continue reading, he reluctantly kept going.
And after a while, his expression gradually softened.
“...At least based on the article, it seems decent?”
Department Head Isao thought quietly for a moment.
This world also had a history where Japan colonized Korea, but Korea remained intact and independent rather than being divided, while Japan suffered heavily by being struck with three nuclear bombs and even losing Hokkaido.
Perhaps because of that, the hostility between the two countries was less severe than in the world Insu lived in during his previous life.
But it was only comparatively less severe, not nonexistent. And on the Japanese side, there was still a tendency to look down on Korea, since Korea had once been their colony and Japan still overwhelmingly surpassed it economically and culturally.
Still, a good thing is a good thing no matter what.
With circumstances being unfavorable, he needed to judge more rationally than usual.
Maybe because of this prejudice, the others won’t rush in. This could actually be our opportunity.
Department Head Isao bit his lip in thought before finally speaking.
“...First, get the game. You can do that, right?”
“Ah! Yes!”
The next day, TechnoShoku’s employees began playing the Korean game The Land Of Fantasy. Naturally, almost none of them knew Korean, so they had to play while looking through a translated manual Takeshi acquired together with the game.
Normally, if employees were forced to test a game while unable to even read the text, complaints should have erupted, no matter how poor the company atmosphere was.
But the office remained silent. Not because they were bored and secretly slacking off elsewhere, but because everyone was completely focused on the game.
Since it was an emergency situation, even Department Head Isao personally tried playing it.
This feels like a real gem.
He was older, fitting his position, but he was still the department head of a specialized game distribution company. He understood games to a certain extent. He no longer enjoyed them the way he once had, but precisely because even someone like him became immersed, he felt the game was extraordinary.
The graphics and sound alone are already top-tier.
Truthfully, the sound felt slightly inferior compared to true first-tier games. But it was still more than good enough. And the graphics were actually superior to any PC game he knew.
“Yukiko, doesn’t this game look better graphically than Genesis Hero that Aoi Soft showed us before?”
“Ah, yes... They both seem to use 256 colors, but this game’s artwork does feel more polished.”
Aoi Soft was a popular Japanese developer that succeeded with Aoi Legend. RPGs were its specialty, and it was currently developing games targeting the upcoming 386 era. The project was supposedly secret, but because they were distributors, they had been allowed to play the alpha version.
At the time, they marveled at the graphics, feeling as though a new era was arriving. Yet now, a game already released in Korea was displaying graphics even superior to that.
Even so, it was still difficult to be fully certain. They had already failed once and no longer had room for mistakes. After looking into it, they found the game had only recently launched in Korea, meaning its commercial success had not yet been determined.
Department Head Isao thought briefly before calling someone over.
“Takada!”
“Yes? Yes?”
Takada hurriedly rose from his seat after being completely absorbed in the game. He had a skinny body, an oversized head, and enormous glasses, giving off an unmistakably eccentric aura.
“What do you think of this game?”
His communication skills were somewhat lacking, so his overall work performance was not particularly good. But his eye for games was sharper than anyone else’s, and even Department Head Isao acknowledged him in that regard.
Upon hearing the question, Takada immediately lost his dazed expression and adjusted his glasses before answering.
“It’s incredible! This is truly a revolutionary RPG! The developer must definitely be a genius!”
“Really? It’s that good?”
“Yes! It’s been years since I experienced a game this shocking!”
“I see.”
“Yes.”
“Then contact the developer immediately! Who was the one who could speak Korean?”
Meanwhile, back in Korea, after asking his mother for help, Insu once again returned to comfortably planning his simulation game.
Well, if worst comes to worst, I can just start this one alone too.
Once things got underway and even a little money started coming in, he could hire people. Then it wouldn’t be nearly as difficult as developing The Land Of Fantasy entirely from scratch alone. Well, not completely alone, since there had also been Eunha Noona.
Still, it’d be nice if we had at least three more people.
Including himself and Eunha Noona, that would make five people, enough to resemble a proper small development team.
The problem was whether buying four more computers would even be possible.
Ring ring!
Just as he was thinking it would be nice if at least one person who understood sound design joined the development team, the phone suddenly rang. Thinking it might be Eunha Noona, Insu got up from his seat.
But every time he picked up the receiver, he thought the same thing: telephones in this era were really huge and heavy.
“Hello?”
But the voice heard through the receiver was not Eunha’s.
[Ah... hello. Is this ‘Parallel Soft’?]
The awkwardness in the voice distinctly sounded like a foreigner speaking Korean. The person also seemed slightly flustered, probably because the voice answering sounded too young.
“Yes, that’s right. What are you calling about?”
[Uh... is there another adult there?]
Without realizing it, Insu glanced toward the inside of the house.
“No. They stepped out briefly. What is it? If you tell me, I can pass along the message.”
The foreigner on the other side of the line seemed hesitant for a moment, but since Insu’s phone manner was calm and his vocabulary was not especially childish, he apparently concluded that despite the voice, he wasn’t actually that young.
[We’re contacting you regarding a publishing proposal.]
Oh!
Insu didn’t say it aloud, but his expression changed instantly. A publishing offer from what sounded like overseas. He hadn’t dared expect it, but it was exactly what he hoped for.