Chapter 24
Chapter 24
After repaying his parents’ debt, it was Eunha Noona’s turn.
“Noona. Here!”
“Mhm.”
Since he had already told her over the phone that he would be paying her, Eunha looked a little awkward, but she accepted the envelope without surprise.
“Whoa! How much is this?!”
However, once she saw the inside packed full of ten-thousand-won bills, there was no way a second-year middle school student like her wouldn’t be shocked.
This was an era where even fifty won was enough to buy snacks. There were even ten-won chocolates and candies.
So to children, ten thousand won was already an enormous amount of money.
“1.7 million won.”
“W-Wow...!”
By 2025 standards, it would be equivalent to roughly five to six million won.
Moreover, this was an era where children had extremely limited means of earning money. So to Eunha, this was an unimaginably huge sum.
At that moment, the exhausting memories of development work seemed to melt away smoothly.
The term didn’t exist yet in this era, but if she had known it, the phrase “financial therapy” would probably have come to mind.
“This is the first month’s payment. Your salary is 700,000 won, and the extra one million is your share of the profits after expenses were deducted. It got a little complicated because of taxes, but it matches the distribution we promised.”
“Mhm.”
Honestly, Eunha did not fully understand everything Insu said.
But that wasn’t particularly important, since her parents had already received a separate explanation.
And currently, she was in the process of registering as a freelancer.
To officially hire her as an employee, they would have needed permission from the school principal and even something called an Employment Authorization Certificate, but the procedures were complicated and approval was difficult to obtain, so they had no choice.
“If Noona keeps working with us, I’ll continue paying your salary even if there’s no profit. But profit distribution only comes when the game actually sells.”
“Got it!”
Fortunately, this explanation was easier to understand.
And after the complicated business talk came a gift.
“And now we’re buying computers too. From now on, we won’t have to share one machine anymore. Everyone will get their own.”
“Really?!”
The first thing Insu wanted to do once money started coming in was buy computers.
Looking back, he genuinely had no idea how they managed to develop The Land Of Fantasy in the first place.
“And we’re also looking for a development office.”
“A development office? Like my dad’s workshop?”
“Yeah. Exactly. A separate place dedicated entirely to game development.”
That sounded incredibly appealing as well.
It gave the feeling of being professionals, real creators, adults.
And since teenagers Eunha’s age were naturally developing independence and strongly wanted to break away from home, it probably sounded even more exciting to her.
As expected, his parents handled getting the office.
“Here it is.”
The place Mom brought them to was a five-story commercial building not too far from home.
It wasn’t in the busiest district, but it was located along a main road, so it was safe.
Safety had been Hyein’s highest priority while searching for an office.
Naturally so, since this was a place where her six-year-old son and her friend’s thirteen-year-old daughter would spend time every day.
In truth, Hyein herself was still only in her twenties, so there was no way she could be truly familiar with real estate matters. Even now, after signing the contract and bringing the children here, she still felt awkward and uneasy.
Anyway, Hyein led Insu and Eunha upstairs.
In this era, commercial buildings without elevators were common. Thankfully, they stopped on the second floor rather than climbing all the way to the top.
“Kids, hold on a second.”
Mom unlocked the thick fire door with a click and opened it with slight effort, revealing a small but clean office.
“They said it used to be some kind of office before too.”
Most of the floor was covered with large tiles, but one side had a raised section covered with vinyl flooring. It was probably meant as a resting area during work.
There was also a bathroom and a small kitchen.
“The desks and chairs have already been ordered, so they should arrive tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Hyein spent quite some time explaining the office and talking about the surrounding environment.
“I’ll come often to check on things, but Eunha, since you’re the older one, I’m counting on you a bit.”
“Ah! Yes, ma’am!”
Watching Eunha answer energetically, Hyein smiled bitterly inwardly.
After all, this child was still only a thirteen-year-old girl herself.
Hyein had gotten married and even had a child, but she still considered herself young and inexperienced because she was only in her twenties.
Yet because her own child was so extraordinary, she felt she needed to grow up faster just to keep up with him.
Afterward, they bought computers as well.
The 486 had already been released, but it was far too expensive, and that level of performance wasn’t necessary for game development yet, so they bought 386 machines instead.
Someone might ask how expensive a computer could really be, but one machine cost a staggering nine million won.
Even by simple inflation conversion, that would exceed twenty-five million won by 2025 standards.
Compared to that, a 386 cost 2.5 million won.
Even that had been around five million when they first started developing games, but in just over a year, the price had dropped by half.
The price really crashed.
Part of it was because the 486 had come out, but the major reason was the drop in semiconductor prices caused by technological advancement and intensifying competition.
From now on, computers would only continue becoming cheaper and better.
Thinking about it that way, spending 2.5 million won on a 386 felt wasteful.
But right now was too important a period to hesitate.
A few days later, once the desks and computers were finally installed in the office, it truly began to feel like a proper development studio.
“This is my seat?”
“Yeah.”
Eunha was still a growing young girl, so the desk, chair, and computer all looked enormous to her.
But Insu couldn’t laugh after seeing that, because it was obvious he would look even smaller.
And indeed, Eunha occasionally snickered when looking at him.
“And if there’s anything you need, just tell me. Even if it’s not directly related to development, if it’s something necessary while working here for long hours, we’ll handle it as company expenses whenever possible.”
“Like notebooks and pens?”
“Yeah. Things like that. Snacks while working are fine too.”
“Huh?! Really?!”
Since Eunha was a middle school student in the middle of growing, the word “snacks” drew an immediate reaction from her.
Insu chuckled slightly before adding another condition just in case.
“Yeah. Really. But only food eaten here. You can’t pack things up and take them home.”
“Okay. Got it. Then let’s go buy some.”
“Huh? Right now?”
“Yeah!”
Both Insu and Eunha were excited now that they had an office.
Children were at the age where they could be thrilled even by a hideout made from stacked cardboard boxes in an empty lot. Now they had a real place of their own, and moreover, somewhere they could do whatever they wanted without worrying about others watching them.
So their excitement was only natural.
However, Insu was different from ordinary children, so he did not spend all his time just playing around.
After enjoying things for a few days, he returned to development work again.
And naturally, Eunha resumed the tasks Insu had assigned her previously.
“Noona. Try using this.”
Now that they had funding, Insu had also acquired more diverse software and books.
In particular, although Eunha had already participated in developing one game, most of her skills had been learned by brute force, so there was still much for her to study and learn.
And many of these tools made the difficult tasks she struggled with easier while also producing more impressive results, which naturally fascinated her.
While Insu established the development office and prepared work on the next game, their previous work, The Land Of Fantasy, continued becoming increasingly popular.
“Noona! Did you see this?”
Under the excuse of collecting reference material, Insu bought every computer and gaming magazine he came across.
This time, while visiting a bookstore, he discovered a magazine called Game Heaven.
It was a specialized gaming magazine that had just launched in January 1990.
“Game Heaven?”
“Yeah. It’s a brand-new magazine, and our game’s in it!”
“Huh? Really?!”
Eunha practically snatched the magazine away and hurriedly flipped through the pages.
“It really is!”
[Latest Popular Game!]
This time, it openly called it a popular game.
Honestly, because there was no internet in this era and he had no opportunities to interact with large groups of strangers like in schools or workplaces, Insu himself couldn’t really tell whether the game was truly popular or not.
“I guess it really became a popular game?!”
In this era, there were very few places besides magazines where people could get information about games.
So believing articles like the one Eunha was reading wasn’t strange at all.
And because of that, magazine publishers also tended to be relatively cautious.
Surely they wouldn’t outright lie in their very first issue. Though since it’s the launch issue, they probably are desperate to attract attention.
The contents were also extremely thorough.
The earlier articles he had seen were merely brief introductions, but this one dug much deeper, even including strategy guides after thoroughly exploring the game.
Whether or not The Land Of Fantasy had truly become a popular game, one thing was certain: this reporter had genuinely played it with passion.
Reporter Lee Suchan?
At the very least, he memorized the name.
Afterward, other computer and gaming magazines also began continuously introducing The Land Of Fantasy.
“At this point, doesn’t this definitely mean it’s selling well?”
Unlike the excitement she had shown when she first found The Land Of Fantasy in All Clear, Eunha now read the magazine articles with a somewhat indifferent expression.
But that was understandable, since most of them repeated similar content.
“I’m not sure about sales, but it definitely seems like it’s getting attention.”
Insu carefully collected all those similar articles too.
Simply being mentioned by so many magazines would become valuable material during future distribution negotiations.
At this point, maybe we can take a shot?
But making the decision wasn’t easy.
First of all, even getting to America wasn’t simple.
Thankfully, overseas travel restrictions had finally been lifted just last year, but obtaining an American visa was still difficult, and above all, money was the issue.
Even economy-class airfare cost at least one million won one way.
Round trip would be two million won, around six million by 2025 standards.
Unless they were highly confident, it wasn’t money they could invest lightly.
Moreover, six-year-old Insu obviously couldn’t negotiate contracts himself, meaning his father would ultimately need to step in.
And for a busy office worker to fly all the way to America for distribution negotiations was far from easy.
If only I were at least a teenager, I could probably figure something out.
After much consideration, Insu decided to wait a little longer.
They still needed additional settlement payments before they could fund an American business trip or hire employees to send overseas.
And if they could prove the game had achieved a certain level of success first, their negotiating power would also rise.
Yeah. Let’s wait another month or two.
After that, The Land Of Fantasy’s popularity continued climbing.
Not only was it frequently introduced in magazines and other media, but now its posters and packages could easily be seen in computer stores and large bookstores around the city.
In this era, major bookstores also sold PC game packages.
In truth, the number of stores selling PC games was still quite limited, so only people specifically interested in them would really notice.
But for Insu, simply being able to see them directly within his own daily surroundings felt deeply meaningful.
The calls from Hyun Soft and the magazine articles still hadn’t felt entirely real somehow.
Ah. I kind of want to visit Yongsan Electronics Market once.
He would probably feel the popularity even more clearly there.
There would be large advertisements, handwritten notices made by individual stores saying things like “Popular Game The Land Of Fantasy In Stock!”, and stacks of game packages displayed everywhere.
But it really wasn’t an appropriate place for a six-year-old child.
Not only was it dangerous because of the crowds, but public safety there was also poor.
This was an era with thieves and pickpockets, older kids extorting money from children, and merchants attempting scams or even forcing sales onto customers.
Even so, children deeply interested in games and computers still willingly risked going there.
But Insu wasn’t desperate enough to go that far.
And just like that, another month passed.