Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Start
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I'm a game director.
At the same time, I'm what you'd call an otaku who enjoys subculture.
In other words, I was more familiar with popular media like games, comics, and novels, as well as subculture stuff, than most people.
From my perspective,
I think I've gone and regressed in time.
-Hojin! It's the weekend—how long are you planning to roll around in bed!
One day in 2011, when I was still living with my parents.
Back to that time when I was 29.
Ten years reversed, back to the past.
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Of course, I was confused by the current situation.
The last thing I remembered was definitely dying.
The phantom pain lingering like a ghost of agony proved it wasn't a dream.
And then there was this smartphone I pulled out to check the date.
It felt crude and heavy compared to the latest model from A Company that I'd been using before regressing.
"Is this... really the past?"
-Hojin! Come out for breakfast already!
"Coming right out!"
I couldn't hold back a smile at the familiar nagging from my mom after so long.
Ever since I started living alone, I hadn't had the chance to hear it.
After getting nagged out of bed by Mom, eating, and coming back, quite some time had passed.
Bonus: Eating with my parents helped me sort out my feelings a bit.
In short, it all depended on my mindset.
What did it matter why I'd time-traveled to the past?
I just had to humbly accept the regression and make the most of it.
To do that, first things first... I turned on the computer.
There were more than a few things I needed to check now that I'd returned to the past.
Starting with whether the events in my memories matched the actual events at this point in time.
If future events deviated from what I remembered, the whole plan could fall apart.
After about an hour of surfing the internet and comparing...
Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any major differences.
If there had been, I'd have had to revise everything from scratch. Dodged a bullet there.
While I was at it, I checked gaming news too—no changes from my memories.
PC games were still dominating, just like before the regression, as if it was still the era of PCs.
Mobile games only popped up sporadically as mini-game news, still in their infancy.
Smartphones were still too underpowered, and the games weren't much different from feature phone titles.
Considering that full-fledged mobile gacha games didn't start flooding out of Japan—subculture central—until 2014, two years from now...
I couldn't afford to take it easy just because I'd regressed.
First priority: recover the game proposal.
Lucky that I'd regressed right after finishing it...
If it'd been even a little later, it would've been tough.
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After half a day, I finished rewriting the proposal, uploaded it to the cloud, and launched a new Word program.
'Okay, fire's out for now. Next up...'
I had a vague goal of what to do now that I'd regressed to the past, but no detailed plan to execute it.
Let's think this through calmly.
Top priority: find a company to approve the proposal and let me make the game.
It was ambitious enough now that a yes wasn't guaranteed.
Starting my own company was an option, but I shelved that as a last resort.
I had nothing going for me right now.
No capital to make the game.
No team to build it with.
If it'd been right before regressing, scraping together a small indie studio might've been doable.
But in my current young body? Near impossible.
So, two choices left.
Get the proposal through at my current job, ND Soft,
or switch companies.
'What to do...'
Logically, switching jobs made sense.
From my pre-regression memories, the odds of approval here were near zero.
But... giving up without trying felt off somehow.
Call it company loyalty.
We hadn't parted on bad terms before, so I wanted to give it one more shot.
A week after steeling myself over the weekend and heading back to work.
I'd earned myself the nickname of company weirdo.
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I'd seen it coming.
If it was something that could've been easily persuaded, I wouldn't have struggled so much pre-regression.
I thought talking directly to the section chief might get through, at least a little...
Reality was the opposite of my expectations.
-Hojin, I get what you're saying, but this ain't it. Business isn't kid stuff, you know.
-Yeah, yeah. Smartphones spread, mobile gaming blows up. I get that. But out of all the genres, why that one?
-Something like an RPG that costs a ton but pulls in whales, or one of those minimal rage games like the building-smashing one that went viral lately.
-No way. You know the business division won't greenlight it. But hey, they're reorganizing soon and setting up a mobile dev team. I'll get you transferred there. Got it?
In the end, the 30-minute meeting with the chief left me with nothing.
I'd be lying if I said there was zero regret, but...
I'd braced for it, so no big emotional hit.
Just a slight bitterness at having to pull the job-switch card I'd saved for last.
To cool my head, I passed the team office and headed to the break room.
Even back at the desk, with the project wrapped, there wasn't much to do anyway. And I wasn't in the mood to chat with anyone.
Would've been a headache if someone was there, but luckily, the break room was empty.
Makes sense—prime morning work hours.
Savoring the joy of slacking on the clock, I sank into the reclining sofa when—
the door opened, and a familiar figure walked in.
"There you are, Senior."
The junior who entered glanced at me, then plopped into the chair next to me.
"What's up? Did the chief send you to drag me back?"
"Nah?"
"Then how'd you know I was here."
She gave me a nonchalant look at my question.
"After getting chewed out by the chief, the sad-sack spots for you are either here or the rooftop. Duh."
"You sure know how to talk..."
This cheeky junior's name was Yerin.
Currently the Art Director, she'd been a close work buddy since her designer days.
We first met about two years ago on a new project from this timeline's perspective.
We clicked surprisingly well, and her skills were top-notch, so we teamed up on every project since.
Late nights and all that wore down the formalities over time.
"More importantly, Senior, is something going on with you lately?"
"Not really? Why?"
"You've been the talk of the office. Even the chief said the guy who made great games without headaches has gone weird."
"That bad?"
"You seriously didn't know?"
"Nah, I figured it'd be something like that, but hearing it firsthand makes it real."
"So why the sudden antics?"
She leaned in a bit, peering at my face.
"You never showed any interest in subculture stuff, and now you're pushing a subculture mobile game? Everyone's curious."
For her—who rarely gossips—to bring it up meant the rumor mill had been churning all week.
"Truth is, I came back from the future. One where so-called 'otaku bait' games top the charts and anime movies hit 4 million viewers."
Knowing she wouldn't buy it, I told the straight truth anyway. Sure enough, she looked dumbfounded.
"If you don't wanna say, just say so..."
"It's true."
"Whatever. Shouldn't have worried."
I shrugged at her pouty reaction.
'Oh yeah, maybe ask her to review the proposal.'
I didn't think it'd get bad feedback personally,
but others might see it differently.
Plus, from pre-regression memories, Yerin's eye for this stuff was reliable.
"Yerin, mind doing me a favor?"
"A favor? Sure, why not..."
"Wrote a proposal but haven't shown it to anyone yet. Could you take a look?"
"The last project just wrapped. Already prepping a new one?"
"Not new—it's that one. The thing you were curious about."
"Curious? Oh."
Yerin tilted her head at first, then got it.
"The one you took to the chief and got roasted on?"
"Yep."
"I can look, but... I'm no expert there. Not much feedback from me."
I inwardly admired how she sipped her coffee—brewed just now—while playing coy.
If I hadn't regressed, if I hadn't heard her pre-regression words, I'd have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
But...
"It's fine. I already know everything."
"Huh? Know what?"
"That you're already deep into that culture."
"What're you..."
"What was your doujin circle called again... Nero Workshop?"
"Pffft...!!"
She clearly hadn't expected me to name her doujin circle—panic splashed across her face.