Lumina Arcana (3)
On the surface, public opinion seemed to favor Studio Tree. The mainstream media focused more on the plight of a small studio and creative freedom than on the corporation, so at first glance, things didn't look particularly bad for them.
"See? I told you it'd be okay. There are plenty of seniors who've been through exactly this kind of thing and are still working just fine."
The communities were split right down the middle in sharp conflict, of course, but with the established media seeming to take their side, their hunched shoulders slowly straightened.
"Remember what happened with that other company a while back? That was a huge shitstorm too, but it just blew over. We can change the studio name, set up a new shop, and sweep up all the same external contracts all over again."
Even with the formal legal notice in hand, she had no intention of backing down. The situation wasn't that bad.
Actually, Kim Ji-young's head was already full of ideas about pulling in a big payday from this, taking a year or two off, and then just rebranding and coming back.
"But",
"But, unnie... what if they really sue us?"
"I told you, don't worry! Without us, they're screwed on the update. They absolutely can't do it without us, so relax."
Seeing Park Seo-yoon unable to sit still, still anxious despite the reassurance, Kim Ji-young gave her shoulder a firm pat.
"Looks like everything's handled. Go home and get some rest. I'll take care of the rest."
"If we just leave it alone, it'll blow over exactly the same way it did a few years ago."
We'd trashed the old executive and working-level staff at Neo Gate, so I was curious how they'd handle things. It looked like they were starting to lose ground.
"Hand over what we have? At this rate, things are going to tilt against Neo Gate."
"Send it. We started this, so we're the ones who'll finish it."
The executives and staff had done everything they could, but they were out of cards to play. Still, it was a hell of a lot better than the old "but muh creative freedom" response we saw before, so it wasn't a complete failure.
"I'll pass the collected data over to CEO Kang Hyeok-jun. I'll tell him to proceed with the lawsuit alongside the exposé."
"And while we're at it, shut up some of those media outlets. This noise is driving me crazy."
Judging from experience a few years back, I figured we wouldn't have many press outlets writing favorable pieces for us, but this was just taking it too far. Way too fucking far.
"The recordings and internal messenger logs have been delivered in the form of an insider tip. It more than meets the requirements for a lawsuit. Should I leave the rest to Neo Gate?"
At this point, I was basically spoon-feeding them. If they couldn't swallow this, they had no business managing a company.
"Let's stop here for now. Did that writer get the lawsuit too?"
"Yes. I imagine their house is a complete mess by now."
After watching the situation unfold from the office and deciding things weren't looking too bad, Park Seo-yoon headed home. She opened the front door, breathed in the familiar air, and stepped inside, but the atmosphere in the house was different from usual.
"Seo-yoon. What the hell is all this?"
Her father, who'd barely exchanged a word with her since puberty, handed her a yellow envelope with trembling hands. The moment she saw the court's name on the legal documents, her heart felt like it stopped.
"You... what have you been doing out there? Do you know how much this is!"
She couldn't even register her father shouting at her, or her mother crying beside him. Her hands shaking, she looked at the damages lawsuit that had arrived. Written on it was 2.5 billion won—an amount utterly impossible for a regular person to ever repay.
"...It's nothing. The company's just trying to scare me."
Hearing bad news, her habit of avoidance kicked in again. She deliberately looked away and tried to head to her room.
"Nothing? Your father looked into this! The company is in an uproar over some drawings you did, and you're telling me this is *nothing*?!"
"What do you know, Dad! This is misogyny! It's because I'm a woman, men are trying to bully me!"
She reflexively screamed, and when she looked at her parents, her mother had collapsed onto the floor and her father was just letting out a deep, heavy sigh.
SLAM!
She slammed her door so hard it almost broke, then lay down on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling until a brilliant idea struck her.
The CEO who'd tried to reassure her it would be fine, the pig-dogs who had a seizure at the drop of a finger, her own parents—every single one of them was tormenting her.
"...You think I'm gonna die alone? No. We're all dying together."
She hauled her heavy body out of bed, sat down at her desk, and turned on her laptop. Accessing the company data, she saw the Studio Tree work files for the summer update of Lumina Arcana. Character concepts that weren't even fully colored, background art showing traces of meticulous work—she copied it all.
She secured everything, then switched an anonymous image-sharing site hosted overseas and her private SNS accounts to public.
As the upload gauge for the compressed files climbed higher, her mood, which had been scraping rock bottom, lifted right along with it. Feeling a strange sense of liberation, she trembled slightly. After confirming the upload, she shut down the VPN and turned off the laptop.
"You... you started this. I didn't do anything wrong."
"Master. Park Seo-yoon has accessed Studio Tree's internal files. She's using a VPN and uploading the planned summer update data to an anonymous community."
Park Seo-yoon thought she was just receiving a lawsuit, but she had no idea that everything she did was being watched.
"Let her upload it. We're scrapping all that stuff anyway, so who cares if it goes up or not. How much did we put on the lawsuit?"
"2.5 billion won. She's no alchemist, but the amount she'll have to pay back is going to more than double."
"Is she just planning to leak this and then die? I can't even begin to guess what she's thinking."
Of course, I wasn't going to let her die. I was going to keep her alive by any means and make her cough up every single won.
"Her VPN usage was so shitty that her real IP was completely exposed. Why bother using one?"
"How the hell should I know? I'll just take it at face value."
Once that data went live, the Neo Gate employees were in for some serious overtime.
"We're paying the employees extra for it, and I've already contracted the outsourcing work to a different company, so it's not my fucking problem anyway."
"They were a bit expensive, but their skills are better and they have none of these issues."
Listening to Athena rattle off all this info, I was refreshing the community page. Finally, the post I'd been waiting for appeared.
Exactly one hour after the leak went up, Neo Gate released its official position.
Hello, this is Neo Gate.
We have confirmed that many of our Adventurers are concerned about the resources for the Lumina Arcana summer update that were leaked today on specific overseas sites and communities. We are here to provide an accurate account of the facts and our planned course of action.
1. Reliability of Leaked Resources and Disposal Notice
The currently leaked resources have been confirmed as work-in-progress materials from Studio Tree, the company at the center of the recent controversy. Immediately following the outbreak of that controversy, our company ceased all collaboration with said contractor and had already decided to dispose of all their resources. Therefore, we clearly state that the leaked data are resources confirmed for disposal that will not be reflected in the actual update.
2. Update Schedule and New Collaboration Notice
There will be no disruption to the summer update schedule, which we know is our Adventurers' greatest concern. Our company has already signed a contract with a new partner studio possessing verified expertise and is producing resources of even higher quality. We promise to adhere to the planned schedule and deliver the best possible experience.
3. Secured Insider Tip and Strengthened Legal Response
Our company has recently secured crucial evidence from an anonymous internal tipster, including internal messenger logs, meeting minutes, and emails from within Studio Tree. This data contains detailed evidence of the conspiracy to intentionally insert hate symbols and the circumstances of corporate espionage.
Accordingly, in addition to the existing damages lawsuit, we will be adding charges of trade secret infringement and further obstruction of business arising from today's unauthorized resource leak, and will pursue every civil and criminal remedy available. We once again strongly declare that there will be no settlement or leniency whatsoever.
Our company will continue to respond decisively to any actions that undermine the precious values of our Adventurers.
Thank you.
If they'd phrased it like beggars, all hell would have broken loose, but they wrote it cleanly and made the announcement. It was solid.
"Guess cleaning house was worth it. It's horrifying to imagine what kind of mess the old bastards would have made of this."
The materials we'd secured from inside Studio Tree had already been subtly fed to the press. They'd tear into it themselves from here.
"But we handed them all that data. They're not still going to defend the studio, are they?"
"At that point, they wouldn't be 'the press,' they'd be 'the popular post on a community forum.' I highly doubt it."
They say it's the unlikely things that get you, but I was really hoping this wouldn't be one of those times.
Just a few hours ago, the media had clearly been on their side. But in an instant, Neo Gate's single position statement had completely reversed the situation. The internal data that had been slipped to several media outlets was making things even bigger, and public perception of her and the studio had now punched straight through rock bottom and was heading for the mantle.
"Who! Who gave that tip!"
Kim Ji-young had gathered everyone left in the office, shaking a printed copy of Neo Gate's statement as she screamed.
Their internal messenger logs. A recording of a meeting from just a few days ago. And the leak of the contracted artwork. Any one of these alone would have been a death blow, but all three had detonated at once.
The first two—the recording and the messenger logs—were actually the lesser evil. There was at least a chance they could somehow be smoothed over if they played their cards right. But she wasn't so stupid that she didn't understand the unauthorized leak of the planned update work was a completely different beast.
"U-um, CEO... we've gotten in touch with everyone except for Park Seo-yoon... She isn't answering..."
Looking at the subordinate reporting in a barely audible, crawling voice, Kim Ji-young instinctively knew. It was Park Seo-yoon who had leaked the files.
"This crazy fucking bitch...!"
She pulled out her phone with trembling hands and dialed. But all she got was a recorded message saying the phone was powered off. As she hung up and tried to dial again, an incoming call from a familiar name appeared on her screen.
It was a call from the journalist at the press outlet that had been writing favorable articles for them. She answered, but his formerly warm tone was gone. His voice was furious and rapid-fire.
"CEO Kim! Are you joking with me right now? Are you trying to play me for a fool?!"
His sharp, irritated voice echoed through the speaker and the entire office. It wasn't the voice of the journalist who, until a few days ago, had been acting like a comrade, talking about "creative freedom." A voice brimming with fury, it drilled into her ears.
"Reporter-nim, that's not... I'm still verifying..."
"Don't give me that 'verifying' bullshit! Do you know what materials just landed on our desks? Your internal messenger logs! And your recordings! Have you seen Neo Gate's statement? Is this data that came to us *all* fabricated? Answer me!"
"That... that was a private conversation..."
"'Private conversation,' my ass! Do you have any idea what situation you've put us in?! The editorial director is absolutely livid right now! How are you going to take responsibility for this?! If you don't put out an apology immediately, we're going to sue you for fraud too!"
Click. The line went dead.
The first ones to turn their backs on her were the journalists she thought were on her side. Kim Ji-young's legs gave way, and she collapsed heavily to the floor, sinking down.
"What do I do... what the hell am I supposed to do about this?!"