Chapter 60
An indie game is short for an independent game.
It’s a name given because a small number of people start a company to develop it and are free from various interference.
“Let’s start a meeting about the situation we’re facing now.”
“Yes, Boss.”
Park Hyuk-soo had long since adjusted to starting meetings right where he sat, since there wasn’t even a conference room.
Where he and his boss were was a garage.
You might wonder what they’re doing in a garage instead of Silicon Valley, but ten of them were developing a virtual reality game.
Although there were ten developers, the reason there were only two in the garage was that the other eight were working from home.
“The game is pretty much done, and even though the development schedule got slightly delayed, we got through it without a problem. Thank you all, for now!”
The biggest trait of indie game development is having no money.
The fact that there’s no one to interfere is synonymous with there being no investors.
“Luckily, thanks to institutional support and Stream thinking highly enough of us, we had no wage delays. What a great company this is.”
Park Hyuk-soo, momentarily choked up, stared at his boss in disbelief.
“I’m getting minimum wage, you know? You said you’d make us rich. What’s this?”
“In exchange, we agreed to share the profits. I truly have nothing left. Even as the CEO, I’m taking about the same as you guys.”
The boss had used up all the money he earned from working at a large corporation in the past to develop this game.
“What’s the point? The odds of success are so low.”
Every year, more than two thousand virtual reality games are released.
Out of those, only a small number even recoup their development costs.
Only a very tiny fraction of games rise to the ranks of success.
Fortunately, their game was viewed favorably by Stream, a subsidiary of Surface and a game distribution platform, so they were able to receive support.
Even this alone puts them in the top 10%. It means they saw potential.
While it might seem odd for an independent game company to receive support funds from a distribution platform, most people take it if they can get it.
That’s how difficult this path is. Wage delays and bankruptcy happen one after another, and even if you somehow get through it all and finish the game, there’s no guarantee of success.
“Ahem, anyway. It’s nearly done, so let’s think positively. Yeah? Now all that’s left is selling the game.”
“Right. So what’s the agenda for today’s meeting?”
“Even though we’re almost done, there’s still one hurdle left.”
“What’s left?”
“That is! Promotion!”
“Promotion? You don’t mean Stream won’t support our promotion, do you? Don’t tell me the two of us are having a meeting just to bring up disappointing news?”
“Disappointing news” means news related to money.
“I am not going to use my personal savings to support. No, even if I wanted to, I can’t. I have no money. You know that?”
Park Hyuk-soo stated firmly.
Fortunately, what came out of his boss’s mouth didn’t go in that direction.
“No. Don’t worry. We got a reply yesterday. The amount is 80 million won. It’s the promotional budget.”
“Oh, that’s a relief. But 80 million won is kind of an awkward amount.”
Of course, the sum itself was more than generous. There are tons of games that get no support at all.
But it’s 80 million won.
It seemed that Stream, the distribution platform, viewed their game extremely favorably.
However, the reason he said it was awkward is.
“Yeah. I’m worried about how on earth to compose the teams.”
Because the game they’re making is a two-player cooperative game.
So they planned to recruit streamers in pairs for the advertisements, and these pairings were the problem.
Should they recruit two top-tier streamers and have only one team, including big names?
Should they recruit four mid-tier streamers?
Or instead of pre-set teams, ask individuals to find their own partners?
Everything was a concern.
“Anyway, so about that. Try to make a list.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You know the most about streamers among us.”
“I’m not even in charge of promotions.”
“Where is there a promotion staff at our company?”
That was true.
All ten of them had gathered to develop a game, after all.
Park Hyuk-soo fell into thought.
He wasn’t exactly a hardcore fan of streamers.
Just someone who casually watched various streamers on iTube and broadly knew the ins and outs of their culture?
As Park Hyuk-soo kept imagining in his head who would suit their game, a streamer he’d recently seen suddenly came to mind.
“Hmm, boss. Would someone a bit below the mid-tier level be okay? There’s a streamer who’s up-and-coming recently.”
“Who?”
“His name is Jin Seo-jun, and his track record is remarkable...”
Park Hyuk-soo began explaining about Seo-jun within the scope of what he knew.
At the unconventional track record coming from Park Hyuk-soo’s mouth, the boss’s head started to tilt more and more.
The reason was.
“The first chapter we’re pre-revealing in our ad has a horror concept, you know. But that person is not just good, he’s too good, isn’t he?”
The exact genre of their work was action-adventure.
But the first chapter’s concept was horror, and the charm of a horror game was watching someone clumsy, lacking skill, and fearful trembling in fright.
But from what he’d just heard, Jin Seo-jun was exceedingly skilled, and his personality didn’t seem to be scared of anything at all.
Park Hyuk-soo nodded.
“Still, wouldn’t it produce a much more amplified effect if a person like that gets scared? And more than anything, you know the streamer Kim Tae-woo, right?”
“Yeah, I know him.”
The boss had recently looked up all mid-tier streamers on Trevel.
“They’re school alumni. People know it well too. A pairing like that seemed like it might be good.”
Hearing that, the boss sank into thought for a moment.
He was trying to picture it.
“Alright. Then, let’s put that pairing into consideration for now. And their ad rates would be an advantage too.”
If they could save costs and still produce an effect through the streamer named Jin Seo-jun, it would be the best.
“Yes, and if you’re really bothered, just ask him directly.”
“What?”
“Whether he’s good at horror games.”
* * *
Thud.
The sword pierces the heart.
[Dongdong eliminated]
-How can they not land a single hit? Is it that hard?
-Every time I watch, I always think, isn’t the host opening a swordsmanship dojo? I want to learn
-You want to learn? Didn’t you see how he did to Heaven’s Greatest Swordsman?
-That’s a bit much though...
-Even in reality, he does the exact same as on stream lololol
Heaven’s Greatest Swordsman was the first disciple Seo-jun taught swordsmanship in this life.
Before meeting the Swordsman, he had asked Tae-woo.
‘Wanna learn swordsmanship?’
‘Are you crazy?’
‘???’
‘I know what you do to athletes in the gym. Unless my head’s broken, I ain’t learning from you.’
That’s what happened.
-He might be a skilled teacher, but as a teacher, he’s not likeable lololololol
-He’s just using it to relieve his own stress
-For real, tormenting people is his wicked hobby
-Still, once you graduate, the tyrannical homeroom teacher becomes more endearing lololol
-Tyrannical homeroom lololol brings back trauma
-Is everyone here around the same age or what?
The evaluations are harsh.
He’d never heard such things in his previous life.
Anyway, putting the chat buzzing among themselves behind him, Seo-jun contemplated whether to wait here or go back.
The path he was currently standing on was along the carriage route.
Which meant if he waited, the carriage would come.
‘The enemies will come here too.’
It’s the shortest route.
Side paths are only for preparing ambushes.
“He said he’d go ahead and get ready, and now he’s dead.”
Perhaps because the distance was great, a faint voice was heard.
It was the enemy.
Since the carriage’s movement speed is slow, it couldn’t possibly be an ally.
And at the same time, a team chat popped up.
[Host. How about if you win this game without me, 200,000 won?]
Checking the ID, it was his viewer.
A mission?
Seo-jun laughed in disbelief.
“Suddenly a mission gets proposed.”
It wasn’t a bad thing.
A teammate suddenly proposing a mission mid-game was absurd, but the mission itself wasn’t unpleasant.
Seo-jun first backed away as quietly as possible and spoke.
“I’ll go right away.”
He opened the team chat window and sent a reply.
[Okay.]
-So you can snipe and directly propose missions lolololololol
-That guy seriously isn’t normal
-For real
-I’m scared that image of him posing with a tree branch from earlier will appear in my dreams lolololololol
Seo-jun thought.
Surely among the chatters saying such things, there are people similar to that viewer.
A reply came.
[In exchange, if you fail, show the Christina affection quest!]
[...]
[Alright.]
Seo-jun accepted sullenly, and the viewers were delighted.
Then, a system notification popped up in succession.
It was a notification that one of his teammates had quit the game and left.
He had left.
“No, but...”
Seo-jun let out another laugh in disbelief.
“Isn’t there really no need to go as far as leaving?”
Leaving the game by quitting comes with a penalty.
It’s designed to at least somewhat prevent unfair situations where people leave when the game gets even slightly disadvantageous, leaving the remaining teammates in a lurch.
-That’s bold
-The type to buy his own loss lololol
-200,000 won plus the leaving penalty lolololololol
-But he was magnificent.
-Hmm! He didn’t forget Christina!
-Ah right. Leaving...
Among the laughing people, one chat caught his eye.
Not knowing if it was real, he made sure to remember the ID.
In order to ban them if they dipped without paying.
“So it’s 2 versus 3 then.”
Sensing the approaching enemies’ presence, Seo-jun said,
“From now on, it’ll be better to catch the enemies before they even get to the carriage.”
Standing in the middle of the path, Seo-jun infused his internal energy into his sword and waited.
The enemies appeared.
“Seems like you still haven’t gone back to the carriage?”
“Then let’s catch him quickly!”
Two enemies.
Originally in the game, it’s hard to guess what class someone has just from clothing, but in For Cooperation, users dressed appropriately on their own, making it easy to tell.
Just by looking, the tattered, beggar-like clothes meant he wasn’t from the Orthodox Faction, so he must be from the Green Forest.
The other one, dressed formally befitting a prestigious family and holding a dagger, appeared to be from the Dang Family.
‘Speaking of the Dang Family, it reminds me of Dang So.’
After joining the Demonic Cult, Dang So acted like a fish to water.
It’s said she chose the Demonic Cult as her faction from the very start.
She showed a fervent passion to win since she’d come this far, telling the inside story that she couldn’t win on any battlefield and lost interest, eventually changing her nickname and going to the Dang Family.
“The Green Forest? Indeed, it suits your bandit ways.”
“What’s he saying? And calling yourself a Heavenly Demon, so childish.”
“Let’s just catch him quickly.”
The Green Forest user approached first.
The bandit took the vanguard, while the Dang Family member took the rear and provided ranged support.
Whooong!
The massive greatsword cut through the air, moving from left to right.
Instead of clashing, Seo-jun lowered his head and dodged the greatsword.
In the case of the Green Forest, they lack internal martial arts but have extremely powerful external martial arts as their characteristic.
So if you block a Green Forest’s attack, it requires resources like stamina and internal energy equal to that much.
Since it ultimately results in a loss, no matter how heavy the strike they swing, the opponent can’t even think about parrying.
Simple but powerful!
However, the countermeasure is also simple.
If you can’t block it, just dodge.
“You won’t even be able to touch the carriage.”
Seo-jun spoke in a calm voice while avoiding the sword.
“Why?”
“Because I have decided so.”
“This guy’s totally insane!”
Kwahjik.
The bandit’s sword, swung down from above, struck the ground.
Seo-jun twisted his shoulder to evade the attack and used his lightness skill to fly toward the Dang Family member who had been aiming at him from afar.
The flying daggers that had been targeting him from earlier were bothersome.
-Look at him spouting crazy talk the moment he meets enemies.
-Aiming for the Dang Family first is a good choice. For once, he used his head
-He’s normally smart. It’s just that his body’s even better so he doesn’t use it.
As Seo-jun charged, the Dang Family user backed away to create distance.
It was the correct choice.
Anyone using a shooter or throwing weapon must always keep the advantage of range in mind.
However, since he jumped backward, the distance was closing in real time.
At this moment, the choices were either to turn around and run properly to widen the gap,
“If you fly straight at me, that’s good for me!”
Or to just attack the approaching enemy as is.
Whoo-eek!
A dagger shot out from the enemy’s hand.
The dagger, having left the fingertips, flew precisely aiming for Seo-jun’s forehead.
Since Seo-jun was advancing forward, the felt speed of the dagger was more than double.
Swaeeek!
“Got him! No one has dodged this before!”
The development of throwing a dagger at an approaching person and turning the tables was the enemy’s favorite situation.
So he naturally thought it would hit this time too, but.
Clang!
A clear sound of metals clashing rang out.
Though a person being hit and tumbling was expected, the reality unfolded completely differently.
Seo-jun remained still except for his right hand, while a dagger stabbed into the ground made no sound after its initial cry and merely vibrated.
“Nonsense... you deflected a dagger coming from the front with a swinging motion?! You can’t even parry throwing weapons in this game!”
“I know.”
Seo-jun said indifferently.
Of course, it wasn’t a parry.
He simply struck the flat side of the blade.