Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Let's Test the Fun, Prototype (2)
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When I laid out the staffing plan, they both looked flustered.
“Yes, unless something unforeseen happens, I’m planning to handle the game design by myself.”
“Will you be able to do that?”
The reason for their reaction was obvious.
A one-man design team. It sounded simple enough, but they must have thought there was no way I could handle that much work on my own.
No ordinary PD would make such an insane choice.
‘A PD is fundamentally a management role. Between meetings and other duties, there’s usually no time to write documents.’
However, I believed this approach was entirely feasible.
That’s because I had an ability that was a little different from others.
‘I can use the Acceleration skill, and with the God Game Maker’s help, I can handle it all myself.’
Minimize the cost of planning and invest the TO saved from it into programming and art as much as possible.
It was reckless, but for me, who had to push a project that seemed reckless from the company’s perspective, this method seemed the most effective.
Besides, a game made by a PD who did all the planning on his own becomes a success?
If I could make something that sounded like a tall tale a reality, I would solidify my reputation within the company and build my personal brand.
Perhaps I was being too greedy, but since I had decided to take a shortcut, my honest thought was to do it properly.
“Yes, I can. I’ve even made a game by myself before, and now I have such excellent people with me, don’t I? On that note, while it’s still a little ways off, I’d like you both to take on the roles of Part Leaders.”
“What?”
“You’re… you’re joking, right?”
At my words, both of them reacted with simultaneous shock.
Both were at the assistant manager level with seven years of experience in the game industry. It seemed they hadn't even considered taking on a middle-management role.
However, I was confident that those two would perform their roles perfectly.
The system window shown by the God Game Maker, as well as my personal intuition, told me that these two would pour their hearts and souls into my project.
“Why are you so surprised? Once we’ve hired everyone, we’ll need people to lead them, won’t we? We are a team, after all.”
“That’s true, but how could I be a Part Leader…”
“Ms. Heo, Mr. Jeong, you both have seven years of experience. For a team of this size, I think you’re more than capable of handling it. The regular promotion season is coming up soon, so you’ll both be promoted to Manager and appointed as Part Leaders then. After that, you’ll also need to participate in interviews when we hire team members.”
This was something I had already discussed with Division Head Shin Chihwan and the HR team.
After all, I too was set to be promoted to a deputy general manager level in the next round of promotions.
It was quite unusual, but it was something that happened from time to time in a game company where people with fewer years of experience sometimes demonstrated outstanding abilities.
“Your food is here.”
As we were talking, the dishes began to be set on our table one by one.
The two of them were just staring at me with blank expressions, so I clapped my hands to change the mood.
“Alright, if we keep talking about this stuff while eating, we’ll get indigestion, so let’s stop here for now. We can discuss the details later.”
“Ah, yes, of course!”
After wrapping up the conversation appropriately, I steered the topic toward lighter subjects.
“Mr. Jeong, what games have you been playing recently?”
What games they liked, what YouTube channels they watched, their favorite animals and celebrities—small talk that was utterly devoid of substance but enjoyable nonetheless.
“Ah, lately I’ve been playing Fly Away Animal Forest.”
“Wow, really? I was playing that too.”
Gauging each other’s tastes through casual conversation like this and getting in sync is quite helpful for collaboration.
“I’ve also played Atlantis Under the Floorboards, and Student Teacher Layton’s Mystery Classroom…”
“Oh, Mr. Jeong, I thought you’d only play macho-type games. That’s unexpected.”
“Oh, what do you mean by macho?”
As the conversation continued, Assistant Manager Heo Yuri tilted her head and asked a question.
“I thought you’d like games like Darkland or God of Field, you know, something brutal where you just smash everything.”
“Ah, haha, I don’t particularly dislike them. But if I play those games too often, I tend to get mentally exhausted, so I can’t play them frequently. I often get that misunderstanding because of my appearance.”
Assistant Manager Heo Yuri, with the impression of a small hamster, fired off direct questions at Jeong Yosep on their first meeting, and Jeong Yosep, who looked like he could have buried a few bodies, answered her calmly and quietly.
It felt like their personalities were strangely swapped, which I thought made for a rather interesting combination.
By the time the game talk wound down, the topic naturally flowed to YouTube.
“Oh, Mr. Jeong, you watch HaengTV too? You’re the first person I’ve met at work who watches HaengTV.”
“You’re the first I’ve met, too. The humor is a bit niche, so I think the barrier to entry is a little high.”
The two quickly found common ground in their tastes.
The conversation flowed naturally, and the stiff atmosphere quickly dissipated.
It felt as if they had known each other for at least a few months.
The relationship between these two, who would need to be the central pillars of the team, was crucial, so this atmosphere was a good sign.
‘I hope we can still talk and laugh like this after the launch.’
And so, the full-scale development of Pass On Dream began.
****
The 25th floor of NB Soft, the summit.
As if to symbolize the absolute power held here, an entire floor was used by a single man and the secretaries who assisted him—the president’s office.
Here, the man who could be called the company’s number three, Seo Donghyuk, the Head of Division 1, sat facing him.
“Division Head Seo, League of War’s sales are on a gentle decline. Are you sure it’s fine to leave it like this?”
He had been dragged into the president’s office because of League of War’s recent slump.
NB Soft was a one-hit wonder, with a single game, League of War, accounting for 70% of its revenue. The decline of this game was inevitably a tangible threat.
“I apologize for causing you concern. However, the team is proposing many improvements, and Division 1 is continuously developing new titles.”
“Division Head Seo, do you take me for a fool? I’m well aware that a game that’s been in service for a long time will inevitably see its performance drop. But has Division 1 produced a single successful new title since then? At this rate, I can only think that you just got lucky with League of War. I have nothing to say to the shareholders.”
Seo Donghyuk’s face turned crimson, but he gritted his teeth, trying to hide the rage in his expression.
‘That damn old bastard…’
Even as the company’s number three, he couldn’t talk back to Oh Geoshin.
In the publicly traded NB Soft, Oh Geoshin’s power, holding over 30% of the total shares, was absolute.
Even if he himself was a crucial figure for League of War, the position of Managing Director could be swept away by a single word from the man with the largest voting power at a shareholders’ meeting.
“However, the Phoenix Project is showing quite good results, isn’t it?”
“Are you kidding me right now? I may not know much about game development, but I’m not an idiot. The Phoenix Project and that PD, Oh Gwangseok, you pushed him in because he was from K University and you said he was trustworthy. You know that project got the worst evaluations at every build, right?”
“...But, that friend has a fairly sharp side to him.”
“Sharp my ass. So in the end, when you thought it wouldn’t work out, you dumped it on Division Head Shin Chihwan from Division 5. Do you think I don’t know that? Phoenix was Shin Chihwan’s success in the end, wasn’t it! With that Jo Hyunsoo guy or whatever his name is!”
At Oh Geoshin’s words, Seo Donghyuk’s anger shot to the top of his head, but he couldn’t utter a single retort.
Every word that came out of his mouth was a fact that was difficult to refute.
In the end, there was only one thing he could say.
“...I apologize, Mr. President.”
“You, get your act together and do it right! I acknowledge that you played a big part in building this company to what it is today, but that’s not forever. As it is, the shareholders are constantly questioning whether it’s right for you to continue holding the position of Managing Director.”
Anger was palpable on Oh Geoshin’s face, his brow deeply furrowed.
The meaning of his words was clear.
He was letting it slide for now, but if this continued, he would cut his throat one day.
Seo Donghyuk felt a chill run down his spine.
“Hoo, you’re a smart man, so I’m sure you get it by now. Let me give you a piece of advice. It’s good to look after your juniors, but try to hire people based on skill. Pick a sharp guy like that Jo Hyunsoo Shin Chihwan hired this time, understand? Just because someone is from K University doesn’t mean they’re good at making games, right?”
“I will take your words to heart.”
“Right, I lost my temper a bit. I’ve said all I need to say, so you can go now.”
“Yes, sir.”
After the meeting ended, Seo Donghyuk trudged out the door.
He walked to the hallway and, while waiting for the elevator to arrive, glared straight ahead with a murderous expression.
*CRASH!*
In the end, unable to contain his anger, he kicked the innocent elevator.
“That son of a bitch Oh Geoshin. A guy who only succeeded because he was born into a good family, does he have any idea who he has to thank for sitting in that chair to dare say such things to me?”
He let the rage boiling inside him explode.
At the core of NB Soft, currently the third-largest company in Korea by market capitalization, was the game he created, League of War.
League of War still generated over 70% of the company’s revenue, and since the game took off, the stock price had skyrocketed more than tenfold.
Simply put, the company had profited by trillions of won because of him.
Oh Geoshin had insulted him and had dared to compare him to some upstart division head with no background.
‘Damn stocks. If it weren’t for those goddamn stocks, I could have torn those incompetent bulldogs to shreds anytime.’
However, as a Managing Director, his power was too weak to dare oppose Oh Geoshin.
Currently, Seo Donghyuk held just a little over 8% of NB Soft’s shares.
He was exploring various ways to stand against Oh Geoshin, but realistically, his power was sorely lacking.
In the end, the only choice he had was to crush those below him, not those above.
His recent strategy of continuously placing his juniors from K University in PD positions was a strategic choice to further build his power.
But the problem was…
‘There are no useful bastards among my school juniors. Not a single one.’
The juniors he had placed were instead making a huge mess, which was, in turn, jeopardizing his own position.
To make matters worse, that bastard Oh Gwangseok from the Phoenix Project had hit the jackpot after he’d been discarded and was now clinging tightly to the side of the Division 5 Head.
If things continued this way, he was highly likely to become a threat to him.
‘Division 5 Head, that arrogant bastard, and that Jo Hyunsoo guy or whatever he’s called… I need to crush them, bit by bit.’
*Ding!*
While Seo Donghyuk was lost in such thoughts, the elevator finally arrived on the 25th floor.
He let out a deep sigh, stepped into the elevator, and muttered to himself.
“This might be for the best. I’ll use this opportunity to show them what I’m made of, with my skills. By bringing out my best chess piece.”
The Division 1 Head opened his smartphone and began to diligently type a text message to someone.
To scout a formidable chess piece that would bring him certain success.