Chaebol

Jung Jin-wook's office was impressive.

The large space contributed, but his background in art was evident in how he used a few objects to completely elevate the atmosphere.

The most remarkable part was the painting hanging behind his desk.

At a glance, it was an old oil painting.

A simple piece, with a blue sky and white clouds drifting across.

If it had been placed among other paintings, one might have just passed it by.

It was that unassuming in style.

But why?

The more he looked at it, the more he felt a strange sensation.

He wanted to describe this feeling, but no words seemed to come to mind.

If Ji-hoon were here, he would probably deliver an eloquent critique.

'Wait a minute. Why did I come here again?'

He had been so absorbed in the painting that he forgot the reason for his visit.

'Ah, of course. I was here to ask Jin-wook for a favor.'

Even as the reason finally came back to him.

"..."

Park Yoo-geon's gaze remained fixed on the artwork.

Then, at that moment.

"Do you like the painting?"

"Oh, yes. It's stunning."

Jin-wook beamed with pride.

"It's my father's painting."

"Ah, I see."

"My father used to paint the sky all the time. Even when I asked why, he never gave an answer. He just kept painting the sky over and over again."

"Maybe because it's beautiful…?"

"Sorry?"

"The sky is so beautiful that he couldn't help but pick up a brush, don't you think?"

"Maybe you're right. He always painted clear skies."

Indeed, the sky in the painting was breathtaking.

If he lived under a sky like that, wouldn't music notes fall gently instead of rain?

Pitter-patter, instead of raindrops.

Ding, di-ding, ding, di-ring, would he hear music in its place?

Perhaps it was because the artwork was so magnificent that he felt more sensitive than usual.

'This isn't the time for that.'

Just as Park Yoo-geon was about to get to the point.

'Wait!'

Notes falling from the clouds.

With each note hitting the ground, a melody bursts forth.

'Could I create something with this concept?'

Maybe something like…

A game where you have to press the buttons at the exact moment the notes fall to progress…

'Rhythm In The Sky.'

The name of the game popped into his head right away.

He had come to ask about art for a new project but ended up brainstorming an entirely new game instead.

Even though his workload seemed to be piling up.

A small smile crept across Yoo-geon's face.

***

Time passed quickly.

In less than a semester, I had grown 5 centimeters and needed a new school uniform.

But that uniform didn't last long either before it became too small again.

This time, it was because of my shoulders.

Maybe swimming had some effect on me.

While I was "growing," a lot was happening around me too.

First, in the Weekly Manga.

"Dragon Ball" continued its successful streak, and the magazine's sales kept breaking new records.

As a result, with more readers coming in, Ryunosuke and Togashi's debut work also began to attract attention.

The title, due to Ryunosuke's insistence, became "Dream Quest".

It felt like history had taken a bit of a detour.

'Well, what can I do?'

The artist got what he wanted, so we had to go with it.

Anyway!

As a result of its solid structure combined with its elegant artwork, "Dream Quest" was cruising smoothly, ranking third in popularity.

Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing.

With the series gaining momentum, Togashi wanted to take a break, while Ryunosuke insisted that they should strike while the iron was hot.

"Don't worry, go ahead and rest. I can handle the drawing while you're gone," Ryunosuke said, offering to take on double the workload. What could Togashi do? Once again, Ryunosuke won the debate.

Thanks to their combined efforts, preparations for the animation were steadily progressing. The broadcasting station had already been decided, and all that remained was to finalize the time slot.

If everything went well, the first episode would air next month.

'Hmmmmm.'

I hate to say this, but.

Breaking into the U.S. market had required a huge investment of capital. Watching all that money flow out was… excruciating!

That's why I decided to start a small side business.

Since I already owned a publishing company, I officially launched Japan's "Weekly Manga" in Korea. As part of this, I released all the volumes of "Dragon Ball" in one go.

Naturally, Korea couldn't help but get caught up in "Dragon Ball" fever.

Fortunately, both the volumes and the weekly issues sold well.

It was certainly an impressive success, but.

'It doesn't really show much in my bank account…'

Well, no matter.

When "Buzzer Beater" is released, things will likely improve.

Despite what I said, my bank balance wasn't my main concern.

The most important thing, of course, was how well the game turned out!

So, it was finally time to dive into game development.

My older brother would rush to his team after school and only return home in the early hours of the morning.

The amazing thing was that, even with this schedule, he remained at the top of his class.

He was in his final year of middle school, and surely others were working hard too, right?

One day, I was so curious that I asked him, 'How do you manage such good grades?'

That day, my brother answered.

'Studying is honest. You get results based on how much effort you put in.'

He then added.

'But game development is different. No matter how hard your team works, there's no guarantee the game will sell.'

That was it.

My brother was doing his best, putting in every ounce of effort while calming his anxious heart.

It wasn't just me who noticed.

Even the developers at Nintendo were astounded.

People were saying, that if Japan has Ryunosuke, Korea has Park Yoo-geon. My brother was fully immersed in his work.

Thankfully, his hard work was paying off.

They finished the final version two months ahead of schedule!

Which is why I was now on my way to my brother's office to check out the final version of the game.

'It better have turned out well.'

The third floor of the publishing house was famous in the area for being lit up 24 hours a day.

And today was no different.

As I entered, Martin was the first to greet me.

His dark circles hung down to his cheeks.

"Pulled an all-nighter?"

"Pretty much the usual."

Martin was a genius coder, impressive enough to wow even Shigeru. 

He had picked it up just by watching others, which was amazing.

Because of that, he had joined the development team early on, and now he was handling tasks that normally required several veteran programmers, all by himself.

"There aren't any confirmed bugs yet, but you never know. We'll keep checking right up until the release."

Despite his words, he looked pretty confident.

Well, it was a card game based on clear rules after all.

"A programmer on Martin's level tackled it head-on, so if there's a problem, that would be stranger."

At the same time, the developers of Nintendo were dozing off, leaning against the sofa.

I wanted to tell them to at least get some proper sleep… but I held back.

All I could promise right now was some financial relief.

"Where's Hyung?"

"He went to wash his face. He'll be back soon."

About five minutes later.

Hyung approached me with a towel draped around his neck.

Worn-out slippers, sweatpants rolled halfway up, and a stretched-out T-shirt.

Who would believe this guy is a third-generation chaebol?

"They said the final version is out?"

"Yeah. I sent it to Shigeru-san, and we should get a reply by tomorrow."

Hyung soon led me toward the TV.

"There's not much difference from the 80% version. I just replaced the card illustrations that kept looking smudged with cleaner versions…"

As expected, Togashi handled the card illustrations.

A masterpiece created by a genius pushing himself to his limits.

But maybe because of the storage limitations…

Even in the game, it was hard to capture even a tenth of Togashi's masterpiece.

We kept pondering over any possible solutions and worked on it up until the final version.

But no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't overcome the physical storage limits.

There was no helping it, even if it felt unsatisfying.

We could only compromise at an acceptable level.

As for the card illustrations…

"I made sure the story unfolds as naturally as possible."

"Without the dialogues?"

"Yeah. Information unlocks each time you obtain a card."

Using dialogue would've been the easiest way.

But Hyung chose a new method of presentation to enhance immersion and a sense of achievement.

"It's definitely better."

The game was indeed excellent.

The level design by Natsume Eiji was brilliant, and the combat system that Kurosawa Takeshi refined multiple times felt polished.

Maybe that's why.

It felt like a work ahead of its time.

If it were rated by 'Famitsu,' it would be over 38 points (out of 40).

And on Metacritic, it could aim for over 94 points (out of 100) — an overwhelmingly impressive game.

'So, all that's left is a rosy future?'

With a well-made game, the manga ranking high, and the anime airing soon… hitting 100 billion in sales seemed only a matter of time.

But…

'Has Grandpa ever been wrong about money?'

As always, Grandpa's prediction was eerily accurate.

***

A month after the game's release.

The critics showered it with praise.

There was talk of a genius 10-year-old developer, how Shigeru's team had created another legend — people couldn't stop fawning over it.

It was undoubtedly a grand debut.

But!

The problem was the sales.

By September, it had sold 1.1 million copies.

Considering that 800,000 copies sold immediately after the release, it was clear that a core fanbase had been drawn in by the manga.

After that, word of mouth kept pushing sales at a steady pace.

At first glance, it seemed pretty good.

But unless that "steady" pace turned into an "explosive" one… Hyung and I would have to give up on our dream.

Oblivious to this, Nintendo was in a festive mood.

It was only natural. A rookie third-party developer selling 1.1 million copies of their debut game? Of course, they were celebrating.

Nintendo predicted up to 1.4 million copies sold this year.

They even added words of gratitude and congratulations.

Damn it… Our goal is 2 million copies, so why do they keep congratulating us?!

The person in charge cheerfully replied,

"By the end of next year, we might hit 2 million, don't you think?"

I didn't want to say anything.

Incredibly, Hyung had released two more games.

Both were purely his works, without Shigeru's help.

One was an action game paying homage to 'Rogue,' which was fine, but who in their right mind would think of making a rhythm game in this day and age?

Thanks to him, we gained a reputation as a developer that created original yet high-quality games.

In the long run, we were on the road to success!

Though Hyung's contribution stood out…

"…"

We couldn't celebrate just yet.

Despite the overwhelming critical acclaim, the sales trajectory was slowly trending upward.

'If only we had more time.'

That phrase meant we were on track to miss our target…

Maybe Grandpa had already seen the writing on the wall.

Grandpa quietly called me into his study.

"You worked hard, running around everywhere."

"…"

"You said the initial shipment hit 2 million copies?"

"…"

"But you can cover the loss with the rise in Semiconductor's stock, can't you?"

It was his way of telling me to admit defeat.

Even though there were still three months left, Grandpa spoke as if he had already seen the final score.

"So? Are you going to keep going until the end?"

"…"

"What can you do at this point?"

"…"

"Planning to secretly buy up a million copies yourself?"

There was no way out.

No, the more accurate way to say it was that there was no normal way out.

Yeah, if the usual methods wouldn't work… maybe I could water things down a little…

Did Grandpa read my mind?

"So? What kind of scheme are you cooking up this time?"

Even as he said this, Grandpa's expression showed he was dying to know what I had in mind.

TL/n -

Famitsu formerly Famicom Tsūshin, is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa.

Famitsu is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the form of special topical issues devoted to only one console, video game company, or other theme.