Triple Combo on the Rising Sun
"Internship -3, 2, 1. Start!"
"Tonight Show, dear viewers. Welcome! I'm Conan O'Brien."
Conan O'Brien, host of NBC's flagship talk show The Tonight Show, launched into his opening monologue at the signal from the show's main producer.
"Our guest tonight is someone truly extraordinary. He made computers accessible to everyone, recently created the smartphone that fits in the palm of your hand, and his latest creation is the Xbox 2 game console. Parents might not be thrilled, but for an old computer-illiterate guy like me, it's become more familiar than the computer itself. The game bundled with the Xbox 2, The Pacific, has been generating quite a stir lately. Now, let's bring him out! He's the executive producer overseeing The Pacific, the epic game depicting the Pacific War—Chairman Yoo Jae-won."
The words flowed like a river. In one breath, he identified Yoo Jae-won while seamlessly introducing ID Group's latest releases, the Xbox 2 and The Pacific. Interestingly, the Conan O'Brien now hosting The Tonight Show had, in his previous life, been fired after only seven months due to plummeting ratings. Yet here he was, steering the late-night show with stable viewership. This turnaround was a direct consequence of Yoo Jae-won's acquisition of NBC.
The legendary host of the late-night slot had been Johnny Carson, who maintained steady ratings for thirty years. His successor selection, however, sparked controversy. David Letterman, the longtime sidekick and presumed heir, was passed over when NBC executives pushed through their parachute candidate, Jay Leno. Letterman left for CBS, where he achieved massive success with The Late Show, delivering a clear message of revenge to NBC.
Had NBC not been acquired by Yoo Jae-won, Jay Leno would likely still be sitting in the host's chair. But with the sweeping executive overhaul that followed the acquisition, no one remained to advocate for Leno's parachute landing. Moreover, Leno's contract renewal was scheduled for exactly 2004, and the extension that had once been routine simply never materialized. After Leno's natural exit, the host position went to Conan O'Brien.
Though Leno had been the parachute hire, he had cultivated a loyal following with his signature spicy talk-show style. Ratings dipped after the transition. Yet with the old management that had favored Leno and sidelined Conan now gone, production support remained steady despite the temporary decline. In the world of long-running talk shows, a one- or two-year ratings dip after a host change was normal. The previous NBC executives had been the strange ones for replacing a host after barely a year.
Yoo Jae-won knew full well that Conan O'Brien would become a massive success in talk shows, so he intended to back him fully. After all, even if the first year or two were rough, the following twenty-plus years would be a triumph. Today's appearance on The Tonight Show served both to address the The Pacific controversy and to support Conan.
-2, 1! Chairman, you're on.
As Conan's opening ended, the cue reached Yoo Jae-won. Stepping onto a television stage was always nerve-wracking, even for him, so his expression remained tense. He forced a natural smile and walked forward.
Twenty minutes into the recording:
"Oh no~!"
With Conan's despairing cry, the screen faded to gray and the words "GAME OVER" appeared in red.
"Why would you run straight into the machine-gun nest? The bunker strategy is to stay behind cover and wait for the reload window when the fire weakens!"
"If you've got the machine gun, isn't that exactly what you're supposed to do?"
Yoo Jae-won and Conan sat side by side, controllers in hand, deeply immersed in the game. The title was, of course, The Pacific, and they were tackling a co-op mission designed for two to four players. With a maximum of four participants, the difficulty was high. Because cooperation was the core theme, a single troll could make even the most skilled players fail to clear a stage.
Yoo Jae-won, familiar with every genre, ranked among the top players in The Pacific as well. Conan, however, was the perfect troll. Instead of mounting the machine gun to suppress the enemy rush, he had picked it up and charged like Rambo—only to die. After Conan's death, Yoo Jae-won single-handedly held off the assault with remarkable marksmanship, but lasting even one minute was the limit. The game had been programmed so that without a competent machine-gunner, survival was impossible. Even Yoo Jae-won had no answer.
"As you can see, The Pacific is an incredibly fun and well-made game—except, of course, for Japan. They've reacted quite sensitively. Was that your intention?"
Once both had met their game-over screens, Conan smoothly transitioned into the interview. The timing was perfect. It almost looked as though he had deliberately died to keep the show flowing, but in truth his skills were simply that poor.
Yoo Jae-won had come today not as chairman of ID Group, but as the executive producer of The Pacific. Demonstrating the game while addressing the surrounding issues was perfectly natural.
"Hmm, I can't exactly deny it."
"Oh, so you deliberately included controversial content?"
"Not quite. From Pearl Harbor to Midway to the Philippines campaign—when you cover the major battles of the Pacific War, you naturally encounter these events. We simply depicted them while staying within acceptable limits."
"What do you mean by 'acceptable limits'?"
"If we'd included the historical record as it stands, even an R rating wouldn't have been enough. It was that horrific—a living hell descended upon reality. We toned it down significantly for the game, so I didn't expect Japan to react this strongly."
"An R-rated The Pacific? I imagine quite a few viewers are as curious as I am."
"Please be patient. If it were purely fictional, we could have gone all out. But these events actually happened. Honestly, I did anticipate some Japanese backlash. I expected criticism because Japan holds a different historical perspective, but I didn't foresee this level of sensitivity."
Yoo Jae-won spoke with perfect composure.
"A different historical perspective?"
"Let's take Germany as an example. After World War II, Germany acknowledged its actions, issued apologies, and has consistently worked to prevent recurrence. That's why a film like Schindler's List could open in Germany without controversy. What if Germany had banned Schindler's List on grounds of historical distortion? Japan's response to The Pacific is exactly that."
"Ah! I think I understand the feeling."
Even the studio audience mirrored Conan's expression. If Germany had banned Schindler's List for distorting history, the outrage would have been enormous.
Yoo Jae-won continued.
"So why does Japan treat this as a problem? And why do neighboring countries become angry at Japan's response? Understanding that clarifies the entire The Pacific issue. Japan commemorates August 15th as the 'end of the war' anniversary. That's where the divergence from general perception begins."
"Not defeat, but the end of the war."
"The official name is 'the day to mourn the war dead and pray for peace.' That's why Prime Minister Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine under the pretext of commemorating the war's end—both this year and last. Watching that, I decided to make The Pacific."
"But Japanese news keeps saying they've apologized multiple times and that the matter is settled."
"Haha, apologies. Let me use Germany again. Suppose Germany said, 'We've apologized for the Holocaust, so it should never be mentioned again,' and then obstructed annual memorial services at Auschwitz with various excuses. How would that sound?"
Having a clear counter-example made everything simple. Even Americans far removed from East Asian history could grasp the issue through the German parallel.
"No matter how eloquently the prime minister's statement is worded, nothing changes. Visits to Yasukuni Shrine and remarks denying the comfort women victims keep surfacing. There's no reflection on the past. On top of that, political rightward shifts have been accelerating recently, so we can't help but view the situation with concern."
Yoo Jae-won's logical delivery won over the audience. For a businessman to take such a sharp stance against Japan carried risks—potential boycotts could cause massive damage. Yet Yoo Jae-won was prepared to absorb that level of loss.
"Then let me ask one final question."
"By all means."
"Will there be a The Pacific 2?"
Yoo Jae-won wanted to nod. Given Japan's reaction, releasing a sequel felt only natural. Unfortunately, The Pacific's narrative was already complete.
"Regrettably, no. From Pearl Harbor to the escort mission for the 509th Composite Group, the stages follow the flow of the Pacific War. There's no continuing story."
"Ah, that's a shame for gamers."
Whether a troll counted as a gamer was debatable, but Conan looked genuinely disappointed. Yoo Jae-won continued.
"Instead, we're planning additional mission packs."
Things like Operation Downfall or an expansion centered on the Battle of Midway, which had been relatively simplified in the base game.
"An expansion pack? Are you announcing this for the first time on The Tonight Show?"
"Yes, this is the first reveal."
Yoo Jae-won casually disclosed the expansion pack development to concentrate attention. He normally disliked splitting a single game into pieces for sale. The Pacific alone offered two to three times the playtime of typical mid-21st-century games. One title had covered the entire Pacific; the volume was substantial. He could easily have chopped it up and sold it piecemeal. Instead, he released it for a flat $49 and intended to make the expansion packs properly as well. Through them, he planned to properly depict the atrocities of the Japanese Empire that the base game had not fully covered. If that could apply even a small brake to Japan's rightward drift, he was willing to pay the development costs with a smile.
Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show episode recorded successfully. Along with it, the documents Yoo Jae-won had brought were handed over to NBC's news division and documentary team. These were materials he had never intended to bring up on the talk show itself. Half consisted of OSS—predecessor to the CIA—records on Japanese Imperial Army war crimes during World War II: the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, comfort women, and more. The other half contained reports on the behind-the-scenes negotiations and secret agreements between Korean and Japanese leaders at the time of the Korea-Japan Basic Treaty. There were diplomatic documents, but also CIA reports stamped with large red "TOP SECRET" seals. The reason was obvious: the secret agreements contained content that would cause an uproar if revealed.
One example was the story behind the $300 million in compensation received under the Korea-Japan Basic Treaty. Japan considered all claims settled with that payment, while Korea's narrative held that the funds laid the foundation for modernization. In reality, very little of the money had been used properly; most had gone to President Park Chung-hee and his inner circle. Furthermore, Japan had interfered in how the loans were spent, channeling funds back to Japanese war-criminal companies. Subway cars for Seoul Metro Lines 1 and 2, for instance, had been purchased from Mitsubishi and other such firms at prices inflated three to five times. The money flowed back into Japan's Liberal Democratic Party. And it was the United States that had forced this collusion. America's strategy to block communist expansion into the Pacific required using Korea and Japan as bulwarks. Yet with no diplomatic relations between the two countries and constant historical disputes, the U.S. had pressured them into restoring ties by any means necessary. Japan welcomed the American pressure, and Park Chung-hee, who had seized power through a coup, readily submitted. Countless diplomatic issues had been hastily wrapped up by the U.S. out of sheer inconvenience, but the Korea-Japan case had been especially damaging.
These documents had reached Yoo Jae-won's hands thanks to America's declassification laws. The National Archives released enormous volumes of classified material each year. While the name suggested earth-shattering secrets, finding documents capable of truly overturning the world was extremely difficult. Content with major repercussions was often redacted beyond recognition. The sheer volume of released documents, combined with poor indexing, made locating anything useful akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
But Yoo Jae-won possessed the ultimate weapon: memories from his previous life. He also had a capable special team to handle the work for him—elite snipers who never missed. NBC, having received this enormous bombshell, proceeded with characteristic caution befitting a nationwide broadcaster. After thorough cross-verification confirmed the documents' credibility, they would launch in-depth reporting and documentary production. Although Yoo Jae-won owned NBC, he had promised editorial independence, so he fully respected their decision.
As a result, on December 5th—two days before the Pearl Harbor memorial ceremonies—a special program titled "Pearl Harbor Special: The Resurgent Rising Sun" aired across North America. What began with The Pacific, continued on The Tonight Show, and now extended to a prime-time special felt like a triple combo landing critically on Japan, which had been riding the rightward train.