An Unexpected Call
Bam.
Daniel slammed his fist on the desk.
"You don't pay attention to sound while gaming?! Fuck! You idiot! Let me personally show you why sound matters—"
"Daniel. Enough with the community stuff…."
At our level now, we didn't need self-viral posts on communities anymore—the game stood on its own.
Still, I sighed watching Daniel, who'd crossed from U.S. forums to Korean ones, posting threads and comments.
"You're addicted to communities."
"Who made me this way?!"
I couldn't believe it.
During Dot Hero, he'd gotten hooked on viral marketing himself—now he was blaming others?
Daniel was the perfect example.
'Something about the abyss staring back….'
To blend in without getting caught as a shill, he'd dove too deep into the real communities.
"Sigh. Do whatever. You don't have tasks assigned anyway."
"I know. I'm a free man."
"Just don't make it obvious. You'll be the one embarrassed if caught."
"Okay. You know I'm good at it now, right? Creator something? That one."
"It's anonymous lurker."
"Anyway. Where else are you gonna find someone who works like me? Virals are part of the job."
"Part of the job, not the whole job."
He was just doing it for fun, but his excuses were top-tier.
I ignored Daniel clacking away at his keyboard and approached the diligently working staff.
"Art team. How's the Dot Hero skin prep going?"
"Yeees…."
Cha Ju-hee answered weakly.
"Why so drained?"
"Couldn't sleep last night. Watching downloads on Stormworks…."
Seong-bae's eyes were bloodshot too, and so were Min-ji's.
"You two as well?"
"Sorry."
"Haha. We were… just too curious about user reactions…."
I got it.
Unlike Dot Hero, where they'd joined post-launch, ACD was their first project from start to finish—excitement was natural.
"Hmm. If you're too tired, crash in the fifth-floor lounge?"
"Really?!"
Cha Ju-hee's eyes sparkled like her fatigue was a lie.
"Yeah. That's what it's for."
"B-but what about the skins? You said to hurry."
"Launch is early next month—plenty of time. If dev lags, we OT then."
"Might as well OT anyway—I'll nap now. Be back!"
The whole art team headed to the lounge.
Some watched enviously: the programming team.
"Jealous?"
"C-could we maybe nap a b-bit too?"
"I'm fine!"
Jae-min shot Seok-ho a killer glare. Seok-ho flinched—didn't expect that from timid Jae-min.
I wanted to let them rest too, but…
"Sorry. You two can't."
Art had leeway; programming was swamped.
"No. 31 slime spawn graphics glitch fixed?"
"Yes! Polygon tangle—tweaked rendering, done quick!"
"Jae-min, No. 77 lucky slot interaction sinkhole bug?"
"Th-that's fixed too."
"Light bugs cleared then. Deploy update."
"Yep!"
When are game studio programmers busiest?
Right after launch or updates.
QA misses tons; user scale reveals them all—no rest for coders.
Sound team lead chills on communities, art naps—but programming fixes nonstop.
Pat-pat.
I patted their shoulders.
"Bonuses incoming—don't feel too hard done by."
"Not at all!"
"B-bonuses rock… but no OT's better…."
I soothed the restless programmers and returned to work.
Dot Hero wasn't exploding like before but growing steadily; ACD's rise exceeded expectations.
'Thanks to Steve's favor.'
Didn't expect front-page banner from day one. Generous splits, promos—how to repay?
'He said he had fun—not empty words.'
ACD's first-day downloads: 82,162.
Exact 24-hour purchase tally.
Industry buzzing: another indie miracle after Terraria. One-third paid promo; rest rode the hype organically.
'Status check done—back to bug fixes.'
Paused debugger, opened browser again.
'Forgot business mail.'
Rushed bugs on arrival.
Replying one by one, one caught my eye.
'Publishing?'
Never outsourced Dot Hero—handled langs via freelancers, self-published on majors.
Curious, I opened it.
'Tensin… wants to publish our game?'
No outreach from us—China market came knocking.
*
China market.
A massive 1.4 billion souls.
Unlike open global markets, China's sealed tight—games need local partners unless domestic.
Entry guarantees sales, so industry drools over it….
'Sudden China push… too abrupt.'
Wanted in someday, but not expecting counter-offer first.
'From Tensin, no less.'
Tensin: future giant, current powerhouse—owns Riot Games, devs of global hit LoL.
Tricky spot; rubbed my temple.
'China. China.'
Local partner req turns most Chinese firms tyrannical.
Vicious splits gobbling revenue; treat devs like contractors. Rebates common.
Seniors' past gripes flooded back.
-Sigh… those bastards are ruthless. Just ops on our game, yet demand so much… 80% rev share. 80%. Won't even cover dev costs….
-More changes. Again! No blood, no exposed bone—fucking endless. Skeleton but hide bones? "Figure it out." Sigh… make it yourselves.
Meddling like evil MILs.
Just don't enter?
'MG sweet, hits print money on success—low split stings less.'
Poisoned chalice.
Leery at first, but scheduled a meet.
'Hope Chinese play my game.'
Open if terms sane. Geopolitics? Some anti-China vibe, but that's for assholes—not all Chinese.
They'd visit us—no China trip req. Tensin rep urgent: hotel in Seoul.
Checked time.
'Hmm… meeting soon. On time?'
Senior tales bred bias: Chinese tardy, cultural not power play.
'Tidy tasks meanwhile.'
Uncertain arrival; pulled laptop.
But Tensin's rep arrived on time.
Step-step.
Footsteps approaching; looked up.
'Chinese guy.'
East Asians sense nationality intuitively.
Pure Korean me clocked him as Tensin's contact instantly.
He strode over confidently—knew it was me. Stood to greet.
"很高兴认识您. 我是赵利汉."
"Director Jo Yihan?"
"Huh? Your Korean's fluent."
"真没想到您会说中文."
"…."
"…."
Crossed wires; scratched head.
"Shall we… stick to Korean?"
"Haha. Sure."
Shook hands, sat for small talk.
"Never imagined Tensin reaching out… Wanted China entry someday—grateful you approached first."
"Relieved. Worried PlayForge lacked interest."
Polite—no senior-story bias.
"Ah! No intro. Ma Chenyu, Head of Overseas Business Cooperation at Tensin."
Startled at reveal.
Early 30s, department head—core division.
"Shocked, huh."
"Sorry. Reflex…."
"Fine. Used to those looks. Curious how I hit head at this age?"
No need rudeness; shook head—but he beat me.
"My father's Tensin's CEO."
Stunned at bombshell.