Chapter 114

Stream, a game distribution platform and a subsidiary of Surface, was a giant corporation that occupied 30% of the global game distribution market.

However, they were not receiving very good evaluations compared to their size.

This was because they were a perpetual second place.

First place was Crown, which had eaten 55% of the distribution market.

Crown was a traditional powerhouse of the game distribution market.

Crown was the very one that had once completely dominated the PC game market through the evil method of launching discounts ranging from 50% to 90% at every opportunity since the PC era, opening the wallets of users who didn’t even play the games.

And they were recognized as having transformed most successfully among existing companies to the change of the era called virtual reality.

Since they proudly kept their position as number one in the industry when companies in other fields were losing their markets to Surface’s subsidiaries, it was a natural evaluation.

Manager Han of Stream Korea, which was such a perpetual second place, was revising a report.

“We lost this time too.”

Surface was an absolute company that monopolized the virtual reality market.

Armed with overwhelming technology, capital, and the advantage of being a front-runner, they pushed out the traditional powerhouses all too easily.

However, they could not take over the entire market.

“Ah, I wish the parent company would make it so they can’t make virtual reality games unless they distribute through our Stream.”

As if that would ever happen.

If they interfered with fair competition, they would be hit with antitrust beams by courts in each country.

The company would be torn to shreds and lose its influence significantly.

From Surface’s perspective, it was like getting hit by a speeding truck while trying to pick up loose change dropped on the road.

If so, it was much better to leave Stream alone and stop caring.

“So we are virtually no different from an abandoned child.”

That did not mean Stream was lacking in anything.

No matter how much of an abandoned child they were, a parent was still a parent, and their parent was a conglomerate.

Therefore, on a global scale, Stream was fighting a battle to take away Crown’s market share, at least without any shortage of funds.

Korea belonged to the region with the best performance among them.

Crown’s market share in Korea was 45%.

Stream was 40%.

A difference of only 5%.

“I want to win.”

Game distribution platforms competed with exclusive titles that could only be purchased through that platform.

Exclusive titles had the most direct impact on a platform’s market share.

“Who creates, supports, releases, and pushes a better and more fun game.”

That was how they secured users, and they released another game to keep them using their platform.

This was what they did, and Manager Han liked his job very much.

He was someone who sincerely loved games.

Therefore, he believed that a distributor had a responsibility to help developers make various attempts for the sake of the industry’s development.

And he had worked that way.

“But the results aren’t extremely good.”

Because the company had plenty of money and a high reinvestment rate, he could support several game companies even with his method.

However, in order to prove that his method was correct, he ultimately had to defeat Crown and produce results, and including the work that had competed a week ago, his performance had not been so good so far.

“MONSTER’s release was today.”

Two Heads are Better, a game for which he had secured a budget after numerous meetings and persuasions.

Now that it was released, the only thing he could do was to purely pray that it would do well.

Just then, the phone rang, and Manager Han pondered with a face that showed he didn’t want to deal with it.

Should he pick up?

Or not?

[Deputy Manager Kim of Crown]

It was his college classmate and a friend working at the competitor Crown.

*Sigh*.

“Hello?”

-Hey. Seung-chul, how are things going lately?

Asking even though he knew full well.

“Haha. Well, so-so? The one you guys put out a week ago was pretty good. Congratulations.”

-Ah, that? I was with it from the planning stage to the very end. Uhaha. We couldn’t miss this Super Week, you know.

Super Week my foot.

It was merely a blank period with no hot topics after the Battleground ended, so it was just a period when package games sold the best.

The things his friend had brought during such a period were just obvious games that would sell just moderately well.

“Is that so? Congratulations.”

-Yeah. If I do well this time, I might get promoted to Department Manager.

His stomach felt a bit bitter.

-I also saw the game released by your company today. A 2-player co-op game? Wouldn’t there be a bit of a barrier if it’s 2-player?

The reason his boss had worried and rejected the support came out of his friend’s mouth.

-On top of that, you mixed in horror at the beginning. Hmm. Seems a bit ambiguous.

How did he know that again?

It must have been released not long ago, to the point where the tutorial had only just ended.

It was clear he had done a background check.

It was a natural thing.

In fact, he and his friend had had different ideas since college and clashed slightly.

But that had been maximized as they came to do the same job in the same industry.

“The game came out well. You’ll know when you see it.”

-I know. Since it was chosen by none other than you. But as you know, artistic quality and commercial success ultimately go separate ways. You need to become a Deputy Manager soon too. Since it’s not an industry that has been stagnant for a long time, promotions happen quickly, so you can’t stay as a Manager forever.

He is lecturing me.

-I even hear that your evaluation lately is a bit dangerous, you know? They say you rarely fail, but you can’t hit a jackpot either.

Manager Han muttered inwardly.

Obnoxious bastard.

His friend belonged to the faction that believed ‘what’s good is good’, making moderately safe choices.

That was why they clashed.

-Well, it’s not my place to say, but I’m just sorry because I became a Deputy Manager first even though I started two years later.

As if he was actually sorry.

“Sure, sure. So why did you call?”

-I saw you guys are advertising now. Congratulations on catching that streamer.

Aha.

Manager Han knew the reason his friend had called at that moment.

He had come to pick a fight because he lost that streamer.

“Thanks.”

-Yeah. I heard you gave almost the maximum amount, but is there any other secret to how you were able to catch him?

“There is none. He just said it looked fun.”

If a post on a topic one had no interest in rose to the top ten on the game community Adventure, it was fine for a regular user to just not look.

However, it was different for industry insiders.

They had to examine every single post appearing on Adven to grasp the trends.

Therefore, there would be no one who knew the fact that an incredibly skilled person had appeared as well as they did.

Except maybe the users of For Chivalry?

Manager Han said with a slight smile.

“I heard you guys also wanted to catch that streamer.”

-Uh? Well…

“I heard you guys also matched the amount to the maximum.”

For the record, Manager Han had also bothered to do a background check on his friend.

-That’s true. But we didn’t offer any more. It’s not like catching a streamer makes it work. You know that too, right?

It was clear he had called to say those words.

Vexingly, it was true.

It was close to impossible to revive a game just because of a streamer who drew attention.

Advertising through a streamer was strictly for the purpose of raising awareness.

For a game to hit the jackpot, it had to become a hot topic.

And for that game to become a hot topic and be talked about by people was, to borrow an industry expression, bestowed by heaven.

In other words,

-if catching a streamer was all it took for a game to hit the jackpot, wouldn’t large-scale streamers’ incomes really be inflated several times over? Hehe. Right?

What his friend was saying was this.

You caught that streamer?

But that won’t mean much, will it?

It was clear that the loser who had failed to catch Seo-jun like this had come just to achieve a victory of the mind.

…Or so Manager Han also concluded his own victory of the mind.

“Sure. Let’s have a meal sometime later.”

-Right. Hanging up.

The two concluded the phone call like typical Koreans.

A meal promise my foot.

“Ah.”

After glancing at the clock, he prepared to wrap things up and leave.

He really did have a meal promise.

“By the way, Crown has been paying special attention to the streamer side lately. Is it because of that?”

He heard they were preparing something like a game company’s partner program, where they would receive various supports or be able to start new works earlier in exchange for not playing the competitor’s (Stream’s) exclusive titles for a certain period.

Regardless of whether a streamer could make a hit or not, the streaming market had grown enormously and it was clear that it was a market that had to be secured, so Stream would also dive in.

In that case, would the competition to secure streamers become fierce in the future?

Thinking that he didn’t know well yet, he called the representative of the developer MONSTER.

“Hello?”

-Ah, Manager. I will arrive in front of the company soon.

“Haha. Take your time, Representative. By the way, how is the reaction to the game? You’re watching the advertising broadcast, right? I just finished my work now, so I couldn’t check it.”

-Yes, well. It seems to be just moderate so far.

“Haha. Still, don’t worry too much.”

The word moderate was not good.

Most games got buried without becoming a hot topic. Moderately.

However,

Manager Han smiled slightly.

They had something they believed in.

Indeed, the highlight of this game.

The chase.

“It will go well. That’s because…”

that chase was really, really scary.

-I’m not too worried either. The Heavenly Demon will do something about it.

Ah.

It seemed he was believing in something other than the game.

To join the Demonic Sect.

A bit of disappointment arose.

“hahaha… Then I’ll see you in a bit.”

For the record, in the past,

he was a user of the great, prestigious Orthodox Faction.

***

Seo-jun spoke calmly.

“It just left without doing anything.”

The bizarrely shaped doll that had been looking at them through the gap disappeared without a sound before they knew it.

Its exact appearance was not identified.

Because it had brought its face so close that light did not enter properly.

That aside.

Seo-jun turned his gaze and stared at Tae-woo.

“So, how long will this guy be like this?”

Meanwhile, Tae-woo thought without making a single movement.

I’m ruined.

It was the first word that came to mind as Tae-woo’s brain was momentarily paralyzed and began to run again after 30 seconds.

The next word was this.

I let my guard down.

The horror element mentioned by the developer was in Chapter 1, and what he thought was nothing special was probably the tutorial.

Did they say that when people were too surprised, they couldn’t even scream and froze?

Tae-woo realized this sentence acutely today, and as a result:

-Hello?

-What are you doing?

-I think he froze ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-This bastard let out a small ‘hup!’ as soon as the doll appeared and got scared. I heard it clearly ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Don’t tell me he gets easily frightened?

-Now that I think about it, this guy has never played a horror game. Let’s tell the president to check it out once.

The viewers accurately deduced the situation as if putting together a puzzle.

And Seo-jun was watching him with a smirking smile and an expression that showed he was looking forward to what kind of excuse he would make.

Tae-woo’s eyes rolled around, avoiding Seo-jun’s gaze.

Dammit.

What on earth was he supposed to excuse here?

His heart was still beating wildly.

As Tae-woo, who couldn’t find anything to say, remained frozen, Seo-jun preempted him.

“Ah, is this a horror game? The game company did say that the first chapter would have a bit of a horror atmosphere.”

-Aha

-Horror scent added? Even better

-Oh, the host’s horror game!

-Is the host easily scared by any chance?

“I’m not really easily scared, but someone seems to be a bit different?”

“…Whatever.”

Tae-woo moved his body, barely squeezing out the words.

However, perhaps because the tension had released in his body that was so full of strength, Tae-woo slumped down just like that.

Plop.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-His body is creaking?

-Beyond creaking, he falls over ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Just how scared was he! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Now it was really irreversible, right?

And above all, since Chapter 1 was just beginning now, the future was dark.

Nevertheless.

“I told you it’s not.”

Since admitting it now might mean he had to play much more horror games in the future, Tae-woo persisted stubbornly.

-What do you mean it’s not?

-I’m putting horror games in all penalties from now on ㅋㅋㅋㅋ coward bastard

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Getting startled? Admitted. Freezing? Admitted. But your legs losing strength? No way admitted ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-You are dead meat from now on ㅋㅋㅋ

Of course, no one believed him.

Tae-woo despairingly rubbed his dry face and pictured the future.

How many times would he be called out in the future?

And how scary would those be?

This was the biggest worry.

No, I’m telling you, things popping out suddenly is really crazy scary?

“Hey, being this easily frightened, why on earth did you do this advertisement?”

Now he spoke as if taking it half as an established fact.

Tae-woo ultimately gave up and confessed.

“Because I didn’t know! Because I didn’t know it would be this scary!”

-Tae-wan-yong ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Tae-jung-jae ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Because I didn’t know we would be liberated so early!

-There are two holes, you know ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Seo-jun burst into roaring laughter for a while along with the viewers.

“So, is your heart okay?”

“It’s not to that extent.”

“Then, do you want to lead the way?”

The only place they could go forward was the dark passage ahead.

Because they had already confirmed earlier that they could not enter the room through the wire mesh.

“No.”

“Then, I found an empty box over there, do you want to check it out too?”

“Yeah, I’m not looking at that either.”

The chat window was flooded with ‘Scared?’.

“No, if something pops out again, I will really die of a heart attack. No. It’s just because there’s no need to look.”

So that was it.

Seo-jun mocked him to his heart’s content along with the viewers once again and then went forward.

[What was that earlier?]

[I don’t know well. Isn’t it the factory manager here?]

[What? No matter how poorly it was seen, that doll looks that scary? I didn’t draw it like that?]

[You just didn’t draw any further.]

[That’s because you kept telling me to redraw it.]

Synthesizing the conversation so far,

“we can just view the two main characters of this game as Tae-woo 1 and Tae-woo 2.”

The developers, who fought day in and day out without properly holding their balance, and eventually fell apart.

They ended up entering the unfinished game to clear their karma.

“And it seems the blank spaces are filled differently from what they had designed.”

While Tae-woo was shrunk in fear, Seo-jun walked through the passage, leisurely conversing with the viewers.

Before long, something appeared beyond the dark shadow.