Chapter 61: Dating Simulation Game (3) Fin
The day the results of the contest jointly held by the Commercial Guild and Author Wei were announced.
Since this contest had drawn fervent attention thanks to Author Wei’s fame, compounded by the commotion caused by the adult comic [Journey to Find a Wife],
the Commercial Guild decided not to miss the opportunity and to hold an outright grand announcement ceremony.
They invited guests to a public venue to lend authority to the contest, and allowed the guests to read or experience the winning works for themselves.
And among those guests were quite a number of reporters invited from various newspapers.
‘How about letting the reporters experience the winning works for themselves and write articles about them?
They get material for their articles, and we get free publicity. Isn’t that a win-win?’
‘Oh.’
‘That is a truly excellent plan!
I’ll contact every newspaper at once.’
It was thanks to Wade’s plan to use the reporters to spread word of and promote the contents of the winning works.
In Wade’s previous life, inviting reporters to promote an event at times like this had been practically a given, so he had brought up the idea without thinking much of it.
‘What? They’re deliberately setting aside space and inviting our reporters to the event?
They’re not kicking us out, saying there’s no room for reporters?’
‘Then we don’t have to cover it with only interviews after the event is over, or sneak into the venue?’
‘Kuh! As expected of Author Wei! Such generosity!’
That plan he had mentioned so casually
filled the self-esteem of reporters who had never yet been properly invited to an event to the brim.
As a result, a special corps of reviewers overflowing with goodwill and enthusiasm was born.
“The special award in the comic category goes to [Journey to Find a Wife]! Congratulations!”
“As expected! I knew [Journey to Find a Wife] would win the special award! It was the work that best matched the conditions.”
“Well, it certainly is an extremely special work.”
Unlike the ordinary guests, who merely exclaimed in admiration and enjoyed themselves each time a winning work was announced,
“Hey. You’re properly organizing the list of winners, right? And the winners’ comments?”
“They said once all the awards are over, they’ll give us time to experience the works ourselves.
We should go through them in order of ranking, shouldn’t we?”
the reporters threw themselves passionately into coverage and review.
And once all the awards had been presented and it was time to experience the winning works,
they began moving faster than anyone else to secure the trial stations.
“It’s physically impossible for one person to look through every winning work.
In the end, we’ll need to split up at least a little.”
“Tch. Can’t be helped.
Just this once, we’re forming a temporary alliance.”
“Look who’s talking. I’m the one who still hasn’t forgiven you for snatching that scoop last time!”
Once they judged that it would be difficult for one person to examine every winning work alone,
they went so far as to team up with reporters from other newspapers, divide the coverage, and share their findings afterward.
Was it thanks to that effort?
The reporters’ alliance was able to claim at least one seat at most of the winning works’ trial stations.
And even among those reporters, the work that attracted the greatest interest was none other than
the dating simulation game that made a surprise appearance along with its award, [I’m a Cleric, But I Want to Date!].
It hadn’t even existed during the previous market evaluation.
And since it was the only entry in the game category and the first appearance of the winning work,
it naturally had no choice but to receive the reporters’ undivided attention.
‘The newspaper that gets to try that for itself is today’s winner!’
‘We agreed to share all our coverage, but an article written by someone who actually tried it will obviously be more popular!’
‘If I miss this, the editor-in-chief is guaranteed to nag me!’
That sort of understanding rapidly spread among the reporters,
and naturally, everyone wanted to be in charge of covering [I’m a Cleric, But I Want to Date!].
But there were only a limited number of seats where it could be tried, and if they only kept each other in check, they would miss even that.
In the end, they had no choice but to draw lots to decide who would seize the core of the day.
“I got it! I won!”
“Damn it! It had to be a reporter from The Moon?”
“You’re really taking everything for yourself.
Didn’t you rig this?”
“Hahaha! Please accept the result gracefully!”
The person who won the draw was a reporter from the Publishing Guild’s newspaper, The Moon.
Those bastards were already eating up sales for free through their connection to Author Wei, and now they were taking even this, so he was showered with curses for being underhanded.
But The Moon’s reporter lightly let all that resentment go in one ear and out the other, and confidently sat down at the trial station for [I’m a Cleric, But I Want to Date!].
“Please press the button in front of you.”
“Ah, thank you.”
As he pressed the button according to the explanation of the dedicated staff member beside him and started the game,
the reporter recalled the explanation he had briefly heard when it received the award.
‘They said it was a dating experience game with fictional characters, didn’t they?’
To be honest, he couldn’t quite grasp what that would feel like.
He merely guessed that it would be something similar to a romance novel, only a little more proactive.
It was a bit embarrassing to have to do some kind of dating experience or simulation while spectators watched from around him, but
‘I can’t hand it over to someone else!’
Thinking of this as work too, he focused on the game.
Since the reporter himself was male, he naturally selected male.
“Ohh. It uses illusion magic to show the characters’ appearances and lines?
For now, the character illustrations are of quite high quality.”
Beautiful illustrations and dialogue rose up through illusion magic, conveying a single world to the reporter’s eyes.
The sight
felt somewhat like a comic, since the illustrations of the characters appeared facing forward.
And since a great deal of dialogue appeared separately below, it also felt like a novel.
‘It might be more accurate to say it feels like it has one foot in each.’
Because it was in that state,
as he played, he could also feel the strengths of both novels and comics at once.
Like a novel, there was a large volume of dialogue, allowing him to understand the story in greater detail.
At the same time, illustrations were added like in a comic, making the expressions and direction far more concise, with stronger delivery and impact.
Of course, to put that the other way around,
its detailed descriptions could not match a novel,
and its illustrations were not as varied as those in a comic.
Depending on the person, they might feel it belonged to neither side and was stuck in an awkward state.
“Though the method is a little unfamiliar, it seems quite good.”
At least in the reporter’s eyes, that synergy was not bad at all.
And as if unwilling to simply leave that awkwardness as it was,
a trump card that connected and complemented the illustrations and writing soon appeared.
“Hah! The protagonist is actually speaking?
And I can hear music too?
Did they mix in not only novels and comics, but theater as well?”
It was sound.
Background music that changed tempo to suit the situation in the story,
dubbing that read the characters’ spoken lines with emotion,
and even small sound effects on top of that!
Once those various sounds were added to the game,
the awkwardness vanished in an instant, as if the final piece of a puzzle had been fitted into place.
“The sense of life is incomparable to when there were only pictures and text.”
The characters seemed far more vividly alive and moving.
Of course, the same was true of the story’s delivery and immersion.
Rather than simply having a line or picture saying someone was sad, it was easier to empathize when they cried out in a sorrowful voice.
Likewise, in a sad situation, having slow-tempo music accompany it was bound to convey the sadness better.
And the same was true in reverse for moments of joy and happiness.
Text, pictures, sound.
Faced with this fresh and radical combination that preserved only the strengths and disposed of the weaknesses,
the reporter had no choice but to become completely absorbed.
‘This will sell!
Not just the game—our newspaper carrying this information will sell tremendously too!’
At once, he began rapidly turning things over in his head and organizing material for an article.
—Beyond motion, now conversation as well!
Following comics, another innovation achieved through games!—
Something along those lines.
So that he could convey the shock and emotion he was feeling now to the customers reading the newspaper.
And the shock did not even end there.
—If I take the alley, I think I can save a little more time.
Which way should I go?—
[Let’s take the newly discovered alley and save time!]
[What if I go down the alley and get lost?
Let’s just take the road I was originally going to use.]
“What is this? Choices? If I choose one, the protagonist’s actions change?
Hah, so I wasn’t just watching the story?”
The choice system that appeared from time to time also made the reporter marvel.
‘It feels like I’ve really become Russell.’
Depending on which choice he selected, the protagonist’s actions and dialogue changed.
Because of that, he felt the illusion that he had truly become the protagonist, Russell, and was making the choices himself.
If it had simply been a story that flowed automatically, it would not have been easy to feel that illusion.
But once the single act of making a choice and changing the protagonist’s actions and dialogue was added,
the sense of immersion soared to a level that was truly in a different dimension.
If he hadn’t had to press a button to move on to the next scene, he might have really felt as though he had entered the game.
“This is... this is a revolution!
Khahaha! Thank you for allowing me to play this! Goddess!”
“What? That person suddenly started laughing.”
“Leave him be. He must have thought of some good article material.”
And the reporter thanked the Goddess that he had beaten countless competitors and gained the opportunity to play this game.
After all, the immersion born from choosing options was a sensation only the player could fully experience.
No matter how much the spectators behind him watched the same story,
unless they made the choices themselves, it was certain they would have a hard time feeling immersion equal to his own.
‘Which means my article can convey it far more vividly than the articles of the other reporters.’
The article he wrote would be superior to every other article?
He could crush the pride of all the other reporters?
For someone whose profession was reporting, could there be anything more thrilling?
Leaving all that aside, he also felt a sense of superiority at being able to properly enjoy the game more than the others.
And so, the Publishing Guild’s reporter played on with a broad grin, his fingers moving cheerfully.
As the protagonist Russell began attending the academy, new female characters gradually began to appear.
A classmate who enrolled with Russell.
A senior several years above him.
A young female professor not much older than the students.
An employee at the academy shop, and so on.
There were too many to count on one hand, and their personalities were diverse as well.
“So all these female characters are the protagonist’s romantic targets?
Damn, what a blessed bastard.
I’d like to be that popular just once too.”
“I like the senior character.
As an older woman, don’t you think she could lead the protagonist, who knows nothing of love, quite well?”
“Good grief, why would you act like that there, you dense fool?
They said he didn’t know love, but he doesn’t know a woman’s heart either.”
And as the romantic candidates began appearing one by one in earnest,
the voices of the spectators behind him also grew louder and more numerous.
It was proof that the spectators were becoming rather deeply immersed as well.
After he had finished meeting all the heroines like that,
another choice appeared.
It told him to choose one of the women he had just met and invite her to tour the academy together.
Seeing that choice, the reporter chose one person at once without the slightest hesitation.
“I’ll choose Emma.”
“What? I thought another girl was a bit more...”
“Ahem, who he chooses is up to the person playing.”
“That’s right. Let’s not interfere even with this.”
He chose Emma, the classmate who had captivated him with her warm appearance and kind personality.
Emma, who looked exactly like the girl who had been the reporter’s first love when he was young.
Thinking that he wanted to get to know her a little better, he pressed the choice.
—Prologue End.
Please look forward to the official release for the rest of the story!—
“What?”
Emma vanished before his eyes.
Emma, who had been slightly plain, but had smiled with warmth and comfort.
Emma, who had reminded him of the first love he had been forced to let go without even properly confessing.
She vanished.
Just like back then, she had simply vanished emptily once again!
“W-what is this?! Hey! Where did Emma go?!
She was clearly about to tour the academy with me, so where did she go?!”
“C-customer? Please calm down for a moment...”
“Do I look like I can calm down right now?! I made a promise with Emma, and she disappeared right in front of me!”
Was it because he had played the game himself and become far more deeply immersed than the others?
The reporter, who had stammered for a while, unable to accept the sudden change in circumstances,
soon went berserk, demanding that they bring Emma back.
He refused to give up, hammering the button repeatedly and trying to cling to the game device, so in the end, the spectators had to work together to drag him away.
“Urgh, sob... Emma is inside, so why can’t I meet her...”
“Good grief. Even so, you shouldn’t do that in front of other people.”
“Well, it’s not as though I don’t understand at all.
If I had been the one playing, I would have been just as angry if it suddenly ended like that.”
It seemed the effect of this dating game was more powerful than expected.
After all, it had immersed a person to that degree after only a few hours of play.
And a short while later,
“Aaaagh! No! Dante! I promised to go to a teahouse with Dante!
You can’t end it here like this!”
as a scream similar to the one from just before rang out,
and this time a female player was dragged away,
the watching people were able to feel certain.
On the day this game was properly completed,
a tremendous shock would surely strike the kingdom once again.
Though what sort of shock that would be, they could not know.