1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 31



Only Noblemtl

Episode 31 – Exclusive Sales Begin

The next day, before the sun had even risen, the president of Modu Electronics brought people.

“They’re not from the gaming industry, but people who work on all sorts of machines in Cheonggyecheon. They’re geniuses who can even do soldering with their eyes closed.”

“What the heck? You called us here to do some soldering?”

“This isn’t just ordinary soldering. This is where a new history of Korean games is being created.”

“What are you saying?”

“What kind of history is being made?”

When President Jeong showed , everyone nodded.

“That young man made this? While living in a house like this?”

“Wow, this is something you really have to live a long life to see.”

“Whatever. We just need to get a big daily wage. Let’s stop complaining and start cheaply.”

The most time-consuming part of the work is definitely the ROM chip soldering. Yesterday, Yang Geun-seok soldered until his shoulders were dislocated, but he was only able to make a few hundred.

Today, four engineers from Cheonggyecheon helped Yang Geun-seok with soldering. President Jeong bought a few more ROM writers and made several ROM chips at once.

I, who received tutoring from the chairman yesterday, also joined the soldering. Then, the work speed increased incomparably compared to yesterday.

“What are you doing, Oppa? Did you set up a factory at home?”

The youngest, who was curious, came down to the garage when I was out of the room for two days. I showed him the process of making a ROM pack. The youngest watched with curious eyes and came down with a camera.

The youngest took pictures of the makeshift ROMPAK factory set up in the garage and eventually offered to help out.

“Me too, I want to do it too!”

“No soldering. It’s hot and dangerous. Instead, help me with the testing.”

“That looks fun.”

“Let’s talk about that with Dad later. I learned it from him last night.”

“really?”

The youngest was in charge of testing the ROM packs. Yesterday, he checked them one by one, but now that there are so many, he couldn’t check them all, so he randomly picked one out of several and tested it.

The youngest even helped the engineers by calling their names while testing the ROM pack.

“The lead is running out.”

“I’ll bring it to you!”

“Is there any water here?”

“Me! I’ll bring it to you!”

Even though it was bustling with old men he was meeting for the first time, the youngest one was running around excitedly. He was a kid who was born with a natural sense of sociability.

“······.”

The second one took a quick look around the garage, made eye contact with me, and went up to the house without looking back.

As expected, it was second.

The work was done in 50-minute shifts with a 10-minute break. During the break, one of the engineers spoke while doing the .

“It’s a really well-made game. It’s a shame that it’s for Gemix. Gemix is ​​a bit behind the times.”

In the Korean video game market, the only console that was selling well was the Gemix, but it was an undeniable fact that even the flagship Gemix V was already more than a generation behind.

“I also feel a bit sorry about that. That’s why I’m going to remake it into an arcade game.”

“Well, that’s fine. The game isn’t too long. If you make it a little more difficult, I’m sure arcade owners will like it.”

“Is it more difficult here?”

“Oh, right. If the game is difficult and the players die quickly, they will spend more money. But if it’s too difficult, it won’t work. The players will feel bad about spending 100 won and won’t play.”

“That’s true. But to make it into an arcade game, you first need to make a circuit board. Do you know anyone around you who is good at making arcade circuit boards?”

“Arcade circuit board? Are you going to make a new one? Why not use the one you have?”

“Yes, I would like to do that if possible.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just buy what’s already there and use it? Well, the people who usually deal with it usually get it from places like Japan, the US, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and then fix it up a bit before selling it. They probably haven’t tried making something completely new, right?”

“Is that so?”

I thought that if I borrowed the help of Seun Sangga engineers, I could easily make a new board. Then, would I have to buy an arcade board from a Japanese company like Sega or Namco?

If I were to import it and use it, the price would be quite high, and it would be difficult to make it exactly to my liking.

Of course, developing something new also costs a lot of money. If you only consider the total investment cost, it might be better to buy it and use it.

But if you buy and use it, your skills won’t improve, and even if you sell the board to the arcade, there won’t be much profit left.

A person sipping coffee next to me joined our conversation.

“If that’s the case, isn’t Ki-cheol good at it? He’s the guy who can actually build a satellite? We say that as a joke, though.”

“Oh, that’s right! Ki-cheol was there. He’s the best among us at making new things.”

“There’s a really smart guy named Lee Gi-cheol. You can just ask him.”

“Okay, it’s time. Let’s get back to work. Let’s not waste time and get this done today!”

“Let’s go, let’s go! Let’s go!”

The work continued. It was easy to lose focus, but the tension of the work was high. This was because the engineers were competing with each other.

For them, making ROM packs was a small game of the day. They made the ROM pack while competing with each other and evaluating the soldering quality. When a defect occurred, they cursed at each other, but when they saw the youngest, they coughed in vain.

“It’s over!”

In this way, the production of 5,000 copies of ROM packs was completed.

“Wow, this can be done in one day.”

Yang Geun-seok was so surprised that he couldn’t close his mouth. I thought it would take a day or two, but I was surprised to see it finished in one day.

“Who’s last? As expected, it’s you, Godol! Let’s go, let’s go drink at Godol’s place!”

Even though I offered to arrange a company dinner, the engineers said it was a bet and went off to drink amongst themselves. In the garage, the 5,128 they had made were packed tightly in boxes.

Now all that’s left is the cartridge sticker work and case packaging. Since the production of the ROM pack, which has concerns about data leakage, is finished, the final work has been entrusted to a packaging specialist.

We watched the packaging company create and seal the products using ROM packs, stickers, case inserts, etc.

The female employees sitting down were putting stickers on the ROM pack cartridges, and they put the stickers on without hesitation, one after another. And yet, they weren’t crooked at all. It was truly the work of a god.

Finally, I put the title cover into the case, folded the inner pages containing a brief introduction to the game and instructions on how to use it, put the ROM pack in, and sealed it in plastic.

I looked at the sleekly packaged . It was amazing how many twists and turns there were to make this one game. It was amazing how much happened in just two months.

Anyway, now that everything is ready, it’s finally time to show the world .

However, President Jeong sighed after seeing the completed .

“Ha~, I managed to make it well, but now the problem is selling it.”

“Are there more stores than you might think that won’t sell ?”

President Jeong nodded heavily.

“Ah, seriously, that old man. Instead of sprinkling salt in the store, I should have broken his fingers so he couldn’t even make a phone call.”

Yang Geun-seok got angry and grumbled.

“First of all, there’s no store in Seun that wants to accept . It seems like they’re holding on tight because it’s their home. Still, there are a few game stores in Yongsan, Incheon, and various places in Seoul. There aren’t even ten of them. There are quite a few stores that I’m close with. They’ve all turned to that side, really…”

President Jeong said bitterly.

“I feel so embarrassed in front of CEO Seo. I boasted that I would take care of distribution, but I didn’t expect Seun Shopping Mall to be this weak. I don’t know if we can sell all that quantity by ourselves.”

“Don’t worry. I will soon be entering the Myungsung Electronics dealership. And I will also be entering the Jewoo Electronics dealership. At the latest, by early next year, I will be able to utilize the dealerships of major companies.”

“Really? Huh, that would be a relief. Of course, it won’t sell as well as a game shop, but there are still a lot of dealers all over the country.”

“Yes, and I think it’s okay if there aren’t as many game shops. Rather, let’s revive this and go backwards.”

“Upside down? How?”

“We are giving a certification mark that says ‘Emergency Stairs Exclusive Retailer’ to stores that sell .”

“Exclusive store?”

“Yes, we already distributed a lot of demos, so word of mouth should have spread. I’ll make additional posters with the exclusive store address and phone number. Please put them up near Seun and the game shops. I’ll also make a gold ‘Emergency Stairs Exclusive Store’ sticker. Stick it right on the door.”

“Will that work?”

“Of course. Since it’s something that has never been done before, people will think it’s special. If anyone asks, you can confidently say that we only sell to stores that we trust. This is an intentional sales strategy.”

“It definitely looks like there’s something there, Namjoon.”

“If it was a normal game, it wouldn’t be able to do this. It wouldn’t sell even if it was exclusive or something. But is different.”

“Yes, it is different. It is different.”

“Trust the games we make. Trust the gamers. They will recognize a good game.”

I said confidently.

Yang Geun-seok loaded the completed onto a truck and left to deliver it to a game shop.

Finally, has started selling exclusively in 8 shops including Modu Electronics.

***

Sanggye 5-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul.

Lee Won-sik, who inherited the clear energy of Surak Mountain and will be a second-year high school student next year, has only one thing on his mind these days.

Of course, it wasn’t a college entrance exam.

It was that I learned about two weeks ago when I went to the Yongsan Electronics Market with a friend. He had pestered his parents to buy him a Jemix V during summer vacation, but after a couple of months, he couldn’t find a suitable game.

There were no proper game shops in Sanggye-dong, or even in nearby Junggye-dong or Hagye-dong. The only places that would exchange your game for a few thousand won were local electronics stores or Jewoo Electronics dealerships. Even then, they only had a few games, and they were all mediocre.

Without much information about games, he carefully chose games that seemed plausible, but none of them really caught his eye. Still, he played the games without complaining.

Then, when I heard that a large electronics shopping mall was being built in Yongsan, I went on a long trip to Yongsan with a friend. And as if by fate, I discovered .

“Can this only be done on a computer?”

“No, this will be released for Jemix. They said it would be released around the end of the year, so please wait a bit.”

From that day on, Lee Won-sik started saving his allowance little by little without spending a single penny.

Even when I went out to eat ramen with my friends, I just ate it. I didn’t even buy my favorite Sophie Marceau bookend.

Instead, I called the Yongsan Electronics Market every day.

“Have you reached the ?”

“Hello. Are the out?”

“Have you seen the ?”

And finally the oracle came down.

“You again? Yes, it’s finally here. But our store is gone. We won’t be selling it in the future.”

But it was a frightening oracle, like a bolt from the blue.

“Yes? Why? Why aren’t you selling it?”

“What are you going to do about that? Anyway, we’re not going to sell. There’s a store called Modu Electronics in Seun Shopping Mall over there. They’re the distributor, so if it’s urgent, you can call them.”

“Oh, yes! Thank you!”

Lee Won-sik quickly hung up the phone and opened the yellow phone book. Then he looked for Modu Electronics in Seun Shopping Mall.

“Here it is!”

He dialed the number. His mind was in a hurry, but the dial was turning slowly, which was frustrating.

Doo-. Doo-. Doo-. Doo-.

But all the electronics were busy. It was the same no matter how many times I called.

“It won’t work.”

In the end, Lee Won-sik packed his clothes and left the house with 27,350 won of pocket money that he had saved up.

I went all the way to Yongsan, and I thought it was Seun Shopping Mall in Cheonggyecheon. But at that time, I had a friend to guide me, but now he was all alone.

However, the one thought that he had to buy moved him. He chose the subway while considering the bus and the subway. He heard that if he got off at Dongdaemun Stadium Station on Line 4, it would be a short walk to Cheonggyecheon.

Although it was a long way, if it was urgent, it was something he could just ask people. He hurried to Sanggye Station, took the subway, and got off at Dongdaemun Stadium Station. Hodori was drawn on the wall in tiles. It looked like a game dot graphic.

He got out of the subway station and walked straight along the street. He said that if you keep walking along the street, you will come across Seun Shopping Mall.

However, no matter how long he walked, he could not find Seun Shopping Mall and instead saw Jangchung Gymnasium. Only then did Lee Won-sik realize something was wrong and he went back the way he came and arrived at Dongdaemun Stadium Station again.

He mustered up his courage and bought an unnecessary newspaper from a newsstand, then asked for directions to Seun Shopping Mall. The merchant pointed to the road with his finger, and Lee Won-sik followed along with an uneasy heart.

And he discovered the Seun Shopping Mall, lined up like a wall. But it didn’t end there. Seun Shopping Mall was a complex of several shopping malls, and Lee Won-sik didn’t know the name of the electronics store.

Lee Won-sik was at a loss amidst the shops that stretched for several blocks and the crowds of people passing by.

Am I going to get lost like this? Am I going to get lost after coming here to buy a game? Does that mean I’ll never be able to play again?

While he was lost in thought, he noticed a poster on the wall. It was a dizzying contrast between a person bending down on an iron emergency staircase and a policeman swinging a club below.

It was a really cool poster.

And it was the poster for the game he had been desperately looking for, Emergency Stairs. The poster had an electronic lake all over it.

Lee Won-sik went to Seun Shopping Mall, Da-yeol 413, with a sense of relief that he was alive and a heart full of anticipation that he would soon be able to buy a game. As he climbed the stairs to the first, second, and third floors, his heart became more and more filled with excitement.

“uh?”

But something was strange. There was a line on the stairs going up from the third to the fourth floor. Lee Won-sik thought there must be some event going on today that he didn’t know about.

When he went up to the fourth floor, he saw that the line went all the way around the hallway and all the way down to the stairs. Wondering what it was, Wonsik Lee followed the line out of curiosity.

“uh···?”

Lee Won-sik froze in place.

At the end of that line was an electron.

“ costs ten thousand won, ten thousand won. If you only want to buy , please prepare your money in advance. Now, stand up straight so as not to block the road. Thank you for your cooperation.”

A large man was walking down the hallway, forming a line. The long line was full of people waiting to buy .