1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 109



Only Noblemtl

Episode 109 – 8-Bit Team

“What happened?”

I asked President Jeong of All Electronics.

President Jeong hesitated a bit, and Jeong Byeong-cheol was watching me from the corner.

“Oh, I was going to tell you, but I think CEO Seo is busy at the arcade these days, so I couldn’t tell you in advance. Are you mad?”

“I’m more surprised. I didn’t expect to meet you at the boss’s store.”

“I thought so too, but you never know what’s going on with people. Have you heard about President Kim Je-minan?”

“I heard that Hyunmyeong Electronics filed a lawsuit for damages worth 1 billion won. After that, I was busy so I didn’t really care. There’s no need to care anymore.”

“That’s right. That’s right. A person with a bright future like CEO Seo doesn’t need to worry about that guy anymore. I think Ho-seung was also looking around here and there at first. I don’t think he has to pay the entire 1 billion won just because he’s been sued for 1 billion won? I don’t know for sure.”

“Yes, I guess. You have to prove the damages. As the trial progresses, the amount of compensation often decreases.”

“So I guess they were trying to do something about it, but lawsuits cost a lot of money, right? Hyunmyeong Electronics, but the money they put in is not that much, but they’re not like us. But because of the lawsuits, all the games were returned, and sales plummeted, so I guess they couldn’t hold out. They closed all their stores and ran away one day.”

“You ran away in the middle of the night? Where did you go?”

“Well, I don’t know either. The employees didn’t know either. When I got to work, Ho-seung’s office was completely empty, and it seemed like he took everything of value. Even the computers and floppy disks.”

“Didn’t the developers eat and sleep in the Seunsangga apartments?”

“That day, the boss gave us money and told us to go to the sauna together, eat a delicious dinner, have a drink, and come back slowly. He said that we didn’t have to worry and that he would take care of everything, so we went and came back, and in the meantime, everything…”

Jeong Byeong-cheol said, looking at the ground and scratching the back of his head.

“At that time, people who owed money to Cheonggye Media and Jeminan came in droves and there was a huge uproar. The remaining employees were grabbed by the collar and asked where the CEO was. The employees didn’t receive their salaries, retirement pay, or anything like that, of course. Anyway, he was a guy who only cared about himself until the end. Hey, he’s a bad guy.”

President Jeong of Modu Electronics clicked his tongue.

Anyway, that person just keeps causing trouble until the end.

“So why is that guy here?”

I looked at Jeong Byeong-cheol and asked.

“About a month ago? When the commotion had died down, I was walking along Cheonggyecheon and saw that guy shining people’s shoes.”

“Shoes? Why there?”

“Byeong-cheol. Come here and tell me.”

As the president gestured, Jeong Byeol-cheol stood up timidly, came towards me, and opened his mouth heavily.

“I need to make money, and also, just in case, Mr. Kim comes back.”

“What are you going to do when you come? Do you want to make clone games like before?”

“No! That’s absolutely not true. I’ve stopped doing that now. Seriously. The president of Umjisoft bought me a bowl of noodles and told me to come to him, but I refused. He said he would never do anything like copying games again.”

“But why did you wait for Kim Ho-seung?”

“Actually, there’s a lot of money that I haven’t received. Not only me, but my colleagues who worked with me on games—of course, you wouldn’t think we were making games, but anyway, we always received less than the promised salary. He said he would save it for you and give you a lump sum later as retirement pay. He said that since you guys would just waste your salary and disappear, he would save up the interest and make a lump sum for you…”

“Did you believe that?”

“President Kim can be a bit harsh, but I thought all business people were like that. I never thought he would run away after swindling his own employees like that…”

“So you’re going to lie in wait as a shoe shiner and then when Kim Ho-seung shows up, you’re going to collect the money? Do you think he’ll give you the money readily?”

“Honestly, I could have just forgotten about my money. I also know that it’s not exactly clean money. But I feel so sorry towards my younger siblings who trusted me and followed me. I brought them all here with me. Because of me, they almost became criminals and went to jail. I feel so sorry about that too…”

Jeong Byeong-cheol started to cry.

The president of Modu Electronics said.

“The child saw me and fell to the ground crying, apologizing. I couldn’t just leave him there and watch.”

“Has the boss forgiven you?”

“What can I do to forgive them? Even so, I haven’t done anything besides buying them jajangmyeon a few times. I didn’t have them as employees like CEO Seo did. At the time, these guys were at most 23 or 24 years old. It was bad to fall for Kim Ho-seung and break my promise, but I also wonder if that was the end of it. I brought them here so that they could work here and try to build a foundation and do something. Are you okay, CEO Seo?”

“I’m an employee of All Electronics. Do I have the right to say it’s okay or not? The boss says he’s forgotten everything.”

“I’ve lived this long. It’s useless to hate anyone. I met CEO Seo and my business is going well, my fortune is good, and I live smiling. That’s enough. Why should I hate anyone? I’m so busy making money that I’m dying. I feel better when I forgive those I need to forgive.”

President Jeong said with a smile. I nodded too.

As the mood softened a little, Jeong Byeong-cheol asked me.

“But me.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Is Ji-seok doing well? I thought he went to the CEO’s company.”

“Of course. Ji-seok is a very important developer at our company. He is doing well at the company.”

“Thank goodness. I was sorry for the last time because I did something bad to Ji-seok. I’m so glad that he’s doing well.”

“What happened?”

“that is···.”

Jeong Byeong-cheol confessed what happened the day Ji-seok took our company’s coding test.

Oh, so that’s why you came to take the test that winter without a coat. You still haven’t told me about that. That guy Ji-seok, you know.

The president of Modu Electronics clicked his tongue, and Jeong Byeong-cheol kept bowing his head and apologizing.

I talked a little more with the CEO of All Electronics and then returned to the company.

, , and Game Pocket were still selling steadily, but sales had clearly dropped significantly compared to the beginning of the year.

With the spread of and in arcades, demand for the two games has actually increased in local areas these days. If it weren’t for that, sales would have dropped significantly.

“I guess most of the people who were going to buy it have already bought it. I’m more surprised that it’s still selling. More than 300,000 units have been sold.”

Although President Jeong of Modu Electronics did not show any sign of the decrease in sales, it was clear as day that sales would hit rock bottom by the end of the year if things continued as they were.

Modu Electronics may have made a lot of money early this year, but a business that has a flash in the pan doesn’t mean much. What’s important is to do well consistently.

These are the people who helped us the most when our company was first established. If I’m not careful, I could end up with a lot of work to do and just sucking my thumb.

We need to quickly create a team to port 8-bit games for the Korean market, whether it’s MSX or Gemboy.

then···.

“Jiseok. Can I talk to you for a moment?”

I called Ji-seok, who had just finished school and gone to work, and took him out to dinner.

The restaurant I often go to for dinner was bustling with customers enjoying drinks in the evening.

While eating dinner, which was a fantastic combination of scrambled eggs, stir-fried pork, and soybean paste stew, I cautiously asked Ji-seok.

“Jiseok, what if Jeong Byeongcheol came to our company?”

“Are you Byeong-cheol hyung? Team leader Jeminan hyung?”

“huh.”

I told him the story of how I stopped by All Electronics and met Jeong Byeong-cheol. Ji-seok listened to my story while eating. He wrapped the stir-fried pork in lettuce, added chili peppers and garlic, and mixed the soybean paste stew with rice and ate it diligently.

“I see. It all went wrong. You damn boss.”

“Yeah, I warned you to stop. As expected, you didn’t listen to me.”

“Originally, CEOs don’t listen to others. That’s why they’re CEOs. They want to do whatever they want. If you want to work while listening to others, why don’t you just work comfortably and get paid? Why would you be CEO?”

“Is that so?”

I chuckled at what Ji-seok said without thinking. It didn’t seem like it was completely wrong.

“I’m not a CEO, but when I was developing , I felt like a CEO among my friends. But when I actually started, the kids were always nagging, the adults ignored me because I was a kid, and the game didn’t sell well. There was no one to talk about how hard it was. It was harder than I thought.”

“You know very well. Being a CEO isn’t an easy job.”

I have a background as a conglomerate and decades of experience in game development, but it’s still difficult. I thought I had everything, but it turns out there’s no such thing as perfection in what people do.

“I’ve been focusing on arcades and overseas expansion, so I’ve neglected the Korean market for the past few months, and sales have dropped considerably. So I’m thinking of forming an 8-bit porting team, and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to bring in Jeong Byeong-cheol. Do you think that’s okay, Ji-seok?”

“Me? I don’t mind.”

Ji-seok answered much more coolly than expected.

“Really? Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?”

“Not really?”

Ji-seok seemed to think for a moment, then answered coolly.

“Byung-cheol hyung told me to go, but he also helped me get out, so in the end, it’s equal. Teacher, teacher. Plus or minus zero. So I don’t really think about it. Rather, I wonder if he doesn’t notice if I’m uncomfortable. Since I’m here, I’m the senior now.”

“Yeah, that’s right. At Starbeat, you’re Ji-seok’s senior. So when you come in, you’re going to establish some discipline?”

“Hey, where is that kind of thing in our company? What am I to say about military discipline that even captains don’t follow? You just have to do your job well. And someone like Byung-chul hyung would be good at it. If you learn a little bit here, your skills will probably improve a lot.”

“Are you talking like an old man?”

“Me? Compared to Namjoon hyung, I’m nothing.”

“uh?”

Anyway, you’re sharp. I couldn’t say anything in return and just took a bite of the scrambled eggs.

When Ji-seok said he didn’t like it, I tried to think about it some more, but when he said he didn’t mind, I made up my mind.

The next day, I called the CEO of Modu Electronics and called Jeong Byeong-cheol to the company right away.

“Ah···, hello.”

Jeong Byeong-cheol came into the company with his shoulders hunched like a crouching turtle.

I took him to see the company. He was hesitant and cautious, but his eyes were filled with surprise as he looked around our company office.

Dozens of computers. Various game materials and images attached to partitions. Games filling up the cabinets. An arcade with a conference room set aside.

“wow···.”

Jeong Byeong-cheol’s eyes showed a complex mix of emotions beyond surprise and envy.

He watched the development team work for a while like a stone statue.

“How is the company?”

“This is what a real company is. The places I worked for were just imitations. No, it wasn’t just companies. The games I made were all imitations of others.”

Jeong Byeong-cheol said with a bitter expression.

Sometimes one wrong first button can ruin everything.

If he had been given a slightly better opportunity, he wouldn’t have been abandoned as a human game copier under Kim Ho-seung.

I hate what he did to Ji-seok, but he said it didn’t matter to me, so I decided to give him another chance.

“But what about Ji-seok?”

“Oh, Ji-seok went to school. He’ll go to work after school.”

“Are you going to school properly? Since you weren’t going to college anyway, if you didn’t feel like it, you could just skip school and make games and stuff.”

“I said that if I wanted to make better games, I had to go to college and study more. Ji-seok is going to college. That’s what’s needed.”

“But I guess Ji-seok listens to the CEO well. Well, he runs this kind of company. He never listens to what other people say.”

I chuckled to myself. That guy would tell me that the boss doesn’t listen to others.

“But that’s unexpected. You called me when Ji-seok wasn’t there. I thought Ji-seok called me because he wanted to hit me.”

“Huh? Why are we hitting Mr. Byeong-cheol? We’re not some thugs.”

“But I also did something to Ji-seok and so on…”

“On the contrary. I talked to Ji-seok and he said it had nothing to do with it. That’s why I called him.”

“Then why me···?”

Jeong Byeong-cheol asked with a face that showed he had no idea what was going on.

“Have you ever played with an MSX 2+?”

“I’ve used it up to MSX 2. Up to 2+. But I heard that they’re not that different. They said it had horizontal scrolling, but that’s because 2 could be used in a similar way with the SET ADJUST function anyway. The addition of colors and such are good, though.”

“That’s right. There’s not much difference. So it wouldn’t be difficult to make games for the MSX 2+, right?”

“Uhhh… I guess I’ll have to try it to find out, but maybe? But why are you asking? There’s no way you’re going to copy the game here.”

“Of course. I would never do something like that.”

“Then why?”

“There is something I would like you to take care of, Mr. Byeong-cheol.”

I briefly explained the company’s need for an 8-bit porting team, and also talked about the treatment.

“Honestly, it’s not a very prestigious position within the company. You’ll mainly be porting completed games. Your salary will be lower than others. The world will soon be in the 16-bit era. But there will still be people who play games on 8-bit consoles. This is a job to make games for those people.”

“Are you telling me to work here now?”

Jeong Byeong-cheol looked at me with a face of utter disbelief.

“Yes, but not alone. Reach out to the people you worked with at Gemininan. A formal interview is required, but unless you have any special disqualifications, we will hire you as part of the 8-bit team.”

“Representative···!”

Jeong Byeong-cheol seemed shocked and blanked out for a moment before jumping up from his seat and bowing in greeting.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it. I will really work hard!”

“You should do that. Otherwise, Jiseok will be the one who will take care of the military discipline.”

“Yes? Is it Jiseok?”

For a moment, I thought about Ji-seok giving me a cold shower.

If it’s Jiseok, I feel like he’d probably make me code even if it’s just a little bit…?

– Ten lines of code for one! A hundred lines of code for two! If a bug occurs, start over again! Who was wrong? Start over again!

It seems clear that this massive mental attack will continue in an infinite loop.

Ah···, this might be a bit difficult for me too.

A very fearful expression appeared on Jeong Byeong-cheol’s face.

A few days later, Jeong Byeong-cheol officially joined the company with three programmers.

There was originally one more person, but he said he no longer wanted to work as a game developer and went back to his hometown.

“Hello. We are the 8-bit team, in charge of porting 8-bit games such as MSX and Gemboy.”

“Hello. I will work hard to make sure that no one becomes a burden to Starbeat.”

I introduced the 8-bit team to the people and left the orientation to Manager Park Chung-shin and Captain Ko Dae-ryong.

“For general company life, you can listen to Manager Park, and for work, you can talk to Captain Ko. The first thing to do is to make for MSX 2+. Then, based on that, create a game for Oseong Gyeomboy. Please do the work as quickly as possible. Jewoo Electronics is preparing the next model of Jemix, Jemix Mega V, and I have to meet that schedule.”

The 8-bit team had an urgent project waiting for them as soon as they joined.

“I’m sorry for throwing work at you right away without giving you time to adjust as soon as you arrived.”

“Oh, no. What about adaptation? As you work, you adapt and things like that. Right?”

“Yes, of course!”

The 8-bit team went straight into the conference room with the ancient dragon and heard an explanation about .

They focused intently on what Captain Ko was saying, as if they weren’t going to miss a single word.

The 8-bit team seemed to understand that this was a godsend, but also their last chance.

That’s how desperate and desperate they were.

Suddenly, I remembered the day I sat down with them at the Jewoo Electronics Bucheon Research Center and talked about debugging.

When I pointed out a few causes of the problem, he looked at the printed code and was astonished, looking at me as if I were some kind of prophet.

The 8-bit team was attending the meeting with more serious looks on their faces than ever before.

Well then, I guess I can now focus on porting the Mega Drive with peace of mind.

If you want to see the surprised faces of the Sega people, you have to rush in now.