Chapter 51: Persuasion
Chapter 51: Persuasion
Even before leaving the country, Insu’s family had been nervous about going to “a strange land across a distant ocean.” Right after arriving, they had also felt somewhat intimidated by the sight of Black people, white people, and Hispanics with completely different appearances filling the streets.
However, starting with the taxi driver and then after settling down somewhat in Koreatown, their tension gradually eased as they experienced the city that looked exactly like something out of a movie, the pleasant weather, and other things. Before long, after seeing the cheap cost of living, the free atmosphere, and the advanced computer and gaming market, they began thinking that life here might not actually be so bad.
“Insu! Look over there.”
The group, who had entered a large electronics shopping center in the downtown district, discovered a TLF poster in the game section.
Even though the game had already been out for quite some time, a huge poster still occupied one side, and several packages were still displayed on the shelves.
It definitely felt like a popular game.
Insu and his family became happy once again. Somehow, just because of this, living in America started to feel like it might not be such a bad thing after all.
But not everything was good.
“But the food we buy outside is kind of…”
Seongcheol chewed his hamburger several times before speaking in a small voice with a bitter smile, and the rest of the family cautiously nodded as well.
When they thought of America, they thought of hamburgers, so they visited burger restaurants and went around eating what could practically be considered America’s equivalent of gukbap—pizza and fried chicken. And the very first impression they all had was that everything was salty. It all looked plentiful and fresh somehow, but because it was so salty, they could not even tell what the actual flavors were supposed to be.
The breakfast they had at a retro diner near Hollywood had at least been decent enough. It was the sort of American breakfast that appeared in movies, with pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and even something like minced beef mixed with sauce.
Afterward, they mainly visited regular restaurants. Among them, the most memorable was a steakhouse that served enormous slabs of meat. Once they started choosing places more carefully like this, they found that local food could actually be quite good.
But somehow, later on, they ended up eating almost exclusively at Korean restaurants in Koreatown.
“If we end up living here, I think we’ll have to cook all our meals ourselves.”
Hyein said this with a serious expression. Insu also missed his mother’s cooking, so he unknowingly nodded.
They had considered visiting Texas to see Velocity as well, but it turned out to be much farther away than expected, making the time and cost burdensome. So they settled for a phone call instead.
“Yes. Yes. We’re in LA right now. I think that’s probably what’s going to happen. Oh! Really?”
After the call ended, Insu asked his father about it and learned that there was actually quite a large branch office in LA as well, and that there would be no major issues with establishing and supporting a development studio there.
“Well, a huge company like Velocity obviously wouldn’t fail to have a branch office somewhere like LA.”
What they wanted from Velocity was not really financial support, but rather administrative assistance such as invitations and visas, so they had not expected much. But hearing that Velocity also had influence in LA made things much easier.
In any case, after this final contact, Insu’s family boarded the plane back to Korea, ending their week-long trip to America.
“So, how was America? Do you think it’d be livable here?”
After sitting down in his airplane seat and waiting for takeoff, his father suddenly asked that question.
“Huh? Ah, yes. I think it’s nice.”
“Really?”
After saying that, his father seemed to sink into thought. Insu carefully watched his mood for a moment before opening a book. His instincts told him that his father had already made a decision of his own.
And after returning to Korea, the moment his father shoved the suitcases into the house, he gathered the family in the living room.
“I’ve thought about it carefully, and I want to help with Insu’s work.”
Hearing this, Insu clenched his fist tightly. But the person Seongcheol looked at was Hyein.
From the start, Insu had simply been waiting for his father to come around, so there would naturally be no reaction from him other than welcoming it. But for Hyein, his life partner, this was an extremely significant matter.
“…Okay. I understand.”
Of course, they had already talked about it countless times, so no matter what decision Seongcheol made, she had been prepared to accept it. Hyein wore a complicated expression, but without showing any particular opposition, she nodded readily.
“Still, even if I quit my current job now, I’ll need at least a month for the handover process. We’ll also need to look into all sorts of things in America, including housing, so we can’t leave immediately. We should assume it’ll take at least two months.”
“Yes. Understood.”
As Insu replied to Seongcheol, he began thinking about what he needed to do during that time.
“Noona. It’s me. Insu.”
[Huh? You already came back from America?]
Insu had initially considered talking at the office, but since Eunha was one of the founding members, and unlike the adult team members she was at least somewhat close to him in age, he arranged to meet her separately instead.
To be more honest, she was currently the most irreplaceable member of the team, so he had steeled himself to persuade her no matter what.
[Okay. Then let’s meet at your house. It’s been a while since I’ve gone there.]
Since Insu was still young, inviting her to a café or teahouse was difficult, so he had been thinking of places like the neighborhood playground or a snack bar. But as Eunha said, meeting at his house did not seem bad either.
Come to think of it, if we went somewhere like a playground, we might get caught by gangsters and shaken down.
Insu had never personally been targeted since he only traveled between school and the home development studio, but according to stories from Sangshik and the others, this really was the age of the wild.
And since Insu carried a lot of money around, he would probably become a treasure goblin for gangsters immediately.
Ding dong!
What? She’s already here?
Well, it was not that far away, and back when they were developing The Land Of Fantasy, she had practically come over every day, so if she really wanted to, she could rush over in no time.
“Long time no see.”
“Come on. It’s only been a week. Though… does a week count as a long time?”
Now that Eunha was in high school, she was at the age where she could have started acting more mature and ladylike, but perhaps because Insu had known her since middle school, she still did not pretend to be especially adult-like.
Then again, her appearance hasn’t really changed much either.
Considering how girls’ growth tended to stop earlier, Insu could not help thinking that becoming the mature type was probably already out of the question for Eunha.
“Where’s my gift? Give me my gift.”
“Uh-huh. Wait a second.”
First, Insu brought out the chocolates and snacks he had bought in bulk. He had thought quite a bit about what to buy, but food was still the safest choice since people’s preferences differed less and it was less burdensome.
“Oh! Thanks!”
And since Eunha normally liked snacks and chocolate anyway, he had expected her to be happy.
Watching her excitedly gather everything up, Insu carefully brought up the topic.
“Noona. Um… what do you think about America?”
“What’s this? Are you trying to brag?”
“No. I’m just curious.”
Eunha narrowed her eyes briefly, tilted her head once, then opened her mouth.
“It’s just the richest and most amazing country in the world, right? The gaming market there is also incredibly developed.”
Insu already roughly knew her thoughts because he had casually brought up America from time to time before, but fortunately, she did not seem to have any particularly negative image of it.
“Then have you ever thought about going to America someday?”
“Huh? I don’t know.”
“You have plenty of money too, noona. If you wanted to go, you could go anytime, couldn’t you?”
“Uh… you’re right. I do have a lot of money, huh?”
It seemed she had never really been very interested in traveling. Come to think of it, even during breaks she only read development and gaming magazines, so for a moment Insu was moved by the thought that her head might truly be filled with nothing but game development.
Such incredible talent!
His determination to bring her along grew even stronger.
“Noona, have you ever wanted to try living overseas?”
“Overseas? Not really.”
“Why? Doesn’t it sound fun?”
“Maybe? Ah, but what is this? Why do you keep circling around the point?”
He had thought he was leading her along well enough, but since they had known each other for so long, she had still noticed that something was up. Insu hesitated briefly, but figured it was about time to say it outright.
“You know how I mentioned before that I wanted to create a development team in America too?”
“Huh? Did you?”
“You do remember. And you remember me saying school was really hard for me too, right?”
“Yeah. Same for me.”
Insu had already been dropping hints to Eunha little by little for a while now. But Eunha had apparently thought it was just casual chatter, so she only remembered the parts she personally related to. That was only natural.
“Anyway, there are a lot of advantages to developing games in America. So I’m planning to move the development team there.”
“…What? Seriously?!”
Naturally, Eunha was shocked. She had assumed she would continue developing games together with Insu, so hearing that future suddenly collapse left her flustered.
“So come to America with me too, noona!”
“Huh?!”
One unexpected statement after another left Eunha momentarily confused. But when Insu stopped talking and quietly waited, she gradually regained her composure and began thinking things through slowly.
America? …America?!
It was frightening, but at the same time exciting.
And since she still lacked much social experience, she did not properly understand yet that people changed workplaces depending on circumstances. Without realizing it, subconsciously, her thoughts drifted toward following Insu, the colleague who had left the strongest impression on her short life and shown her a direction forward.
Because of that, it looked as though she was conflicted, but in reality she had already tilted heavily toward one side.
Then Insu pushed even harder.
“You don’t need to worry too much. We’ll build the development studio in LA Koreatown where there are lots of Koreans. The company will also get us a place to live. Somewhere close to the studio. So you’ll basically just commute between home and work exactly like you do here.”
“Really?”
Suddenly, Eunha realized that if she went to America, unlike here, she might not have to attend school anymore.
High school was not technically compulsory education, but everyone attended anyway, and since her parents wanted her to go, she had continued attending despite feeling it was unnecessary. But in a distant foreign country, there would be no need to worry about other people’s expectations.
Of course, unlike Korea, compulsory education in LA lasted until age eighteen, so the complete freedom she imagined would not actually be possible. But Eunha did not know that.
“…I’ll go.”
“Huh?! Really?! Okay! Noona’s coming too!”
After impulsively giving her answer, Eunha belatedly began wondering whether she had made too huge a decision too lightly. But she had already been working at the company since middle school, earning large amounts of money and developing a strong sense of independence.
Perhaps because of that, her family already treated her almost like an adult, so those anxieties did not last very long. More than anything, seeing how excited and happy Insu looked made it impossible for her to take it back.
Well. How different can America really be?
That was how she reassured herself, but excitement and anxiety still mixed together in one corner of her heart.
After successfully persuading Eunha, the person he had worried about the most, Insu felt greatly encouraged. The very next day, he went to work and brought up the topic of relocating to America with the other team members as well.
“Currently, the majority of our company’s profits come from America, and since our partner company, Velocity Entertainment, has promised active cooperation, we have concluded that operating the development team in America would be strategically advantageous.”
Of course, he did not say that the real reason was because he wanted to quit school as quickly as possible, instead packaging it in a much more convincing way. And technically, it was not even a lie.
Moreover, considering the future growth of the gaming market and the storm of software piracy that would arrive sooner or later, advancing into America really was a fairly good choice.
“I highly value all of your abilities. That’s why I hope you’ll come with me as part of the American development team.”
Naturally, the team members could not help being shocked.
After a brief silence, Yoo Juyeon raised his hand.
“Um! Team Leader!”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“Then… does that mean this development studio here will be shut down?”
“That hasn’t been decided yet.”
This was also something Insu had been seriously stressing over.