Villain’s Programming - Chapter 263



Only Noblemtl

Episode 263: General Ondal

The people gathered in the conference hall began to murmur.

“What? You’re saying you’re going to show me a real dog warrior?”

“So what you just showed me isn’t a dog warrior? A demo?”

“What the heck? I have no idea what’s going on with today’s presentation.”

Do-jun calmly looked at the reporters’ confused expressions.

‘Of course, what I’m going to show you from now on is what I really prepared.’

Dojun prepared very meticulously for this presentation.

‘This presentation isn’t just any presentation. It’s a life-or-death battle between Ssangryong and Gaemamusa.’

In most competitions, people don’t remember second place. It’s the same in games.

‘Which game has the stronger impact will determine the winner.’

Do-jun made eye contact with Professor Kim Jae-hwan, who was sitting in the front row. Professor Kim Jae-hwan made a confident expression as he looked at Do-jun.

Dojun had talked with Professor Kim Jaehwan about how to make an impact a month ago.

– The key is to let the world know that Goguryeo is part of Korean history. I will be the first to show it. Of course, I can’t just show it. If a game has stiff history, everyone will say it’s not fun. So I will borrow mythology.

After a while, an image began to appear on the screen.

Starting with the legend of Ungnyeo, who became human by eating mugwort and garlic and avoiding sunlight for 100 days, Dangun Wanggeom was born and Gojoseon appeared.

The video showed the fall of Gojoseon, Jumong founding Goguryeo, and Jumong’s son Onjo founding Baekje. Next was the scene where Park Hyeokgeose, a nomad from Gojoseon, founded Silla. Even though it was a familiar story, I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight of Park Hyeokgeose emerging from an egg.

Dojun clenched his fists as he watched the scene.

‘Okay. I think it’s been going well so far. But this is where it gets real.’

In the video showing the maps of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, the camera zooms in deep into Goguryeo.

[612 AD, Salsu, present-day Cheongcheon River, North Pyongan Province]

In 612, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty mobilized a large army of 1.13 million men to attack Goguryeo.

People in the presentation hall who saw the words in the video let out an ‘Ah’ sound without realizing it.

Because I knew exactly what scene I was about to show you.

“No way? The Battle of Salsu!”

“It’s the Battle of Salsu!”

“and!”

In the video, the first thing that was shown was the fluctuation.

“Isn’t that the castle that was shown in the demo earlier?”

Only then did people realize that the gameplay footage Dojun had shown them was of the Goguryeo army fighting the Sui army in Yodongseong.

The camera rose into the sky and then went back down to the ground.

[Amnok River]

A message indicating the area appeared and disappeared, and a river appeared. A man wearing armor and with a sharp gaze stood on the Yalu River. He looked at the Sui soldiers and said:

“I will surrender falsely and go spy on their base camp.”

Eulji Mundeok, who returned after spying on the enemy camp, fought seven times and was defeated seven times by false pretense.

The Sui army, believing they had won, pursued Eulji Mundeok. So, without knowing it, they came to the vicinity of Pyongyang Castle.

When Pyongyang Castle came into view, the Sui army realized that all of this was Eulji Mundeok’s contract and tried to retreat. However, at this time, the Goguryeo army began a full-scale attack.

[Of the 300,000-strong Sui army’s special forces, only about 2,700 reached the Yalu River.]

The message in the video appeared again.

Emperor Suyang, who suffered a major defeat, continued to invade for the third and fourth time, but ultimately failed to conquer Goguryeo.

As a result, rebellions broke out across the country, and Emperor Suyang was strangled to death by his guards in Gangdo, Gangnam.

The Sui Dynasty fell in 618.]

Koreans who watched the video unconsciously showed a proud expression. But the Chinese reporters were not like that. They were shaking with red faces.

The scene on the screen changed.

In his splendid palace, King Yeongyang of Goguryeo asked Eulji Mundeok.

“How did the general acquire such wisdom and strength?”

Eulji Mundeok answered.

“Thanks to you, Master.”

“Did the general have a teacher? Who was he?”

“He is someone the King knows well. He is a relative.”

“A relative? Who is he?”

“This is General Ondal.”

The video began to move backwards with Eulji Mundeok’s answer.

Below the video, a time display was shown, and the time began to decrease from 600 years to 500 years.

Time stopped. King Pyeongwon of Goguryeo smiled and spoke to his crying daughter.

“You always cry and make my ears noisy. When you grow up, you will definitely not be able to become the wife of a nobleman, but will end up marrying the fool Ondal.”

Princess Pyeonggang cried even louder. And the scene changed.

[Gaemagogwon]

A young man was walking through a snowy field holding a huge spear, accompanied by a video message.

“Haa, haa.”

As the young man walked for a while, he heard the sound of children crying. The young man quickly ran and stopped. It was because he saw the children in front of the huge cave.

“Please save me!”

At the entrance to the cave, several children were tied up, screaming and crying.

At that moment, a huge snake emerged from the cave. It was a dragon that had not yet become a dragon. The dragon opened its mouth and tried to swallow the children.

“Ahh!”

The moment the children saw the snake and screamed, the young man threw the spear he was holding.

– Hook!

The spear flew and pierced the snake’s eye. While the snake screamed, the young man kicked the ground and jumped up. Before he knew it, he was holding a ‘Dao’ in both of his hands.

The snake that had lost its eye to the young man screamed and flew towards the young man.

The moment the young man and the snake collided, the video stopped and words appeared.

[The Dog Warrior – The Story of General Ondal]

* * *

The video ended. The dark conference room began to brighten as the lights came on. People’s expressions were varied.

“What did I see… … ?”

“This is a gameplay video?”

“Ah, ah! This is crazy, this is crazy.”

“Now I understand what Hwang Do-jun is trying to do.”

“Incorporating the story of the fool Ondal into the story of General Eulji Mundeok. Who on earth came up with this idea?”

It wasn’t just journalists who thought this.

A lot of Korean gamers who watched the presentation live started leaving comments like crazy.

– Wow! I’m done. They show the birth of the Three Kingdoms in Gojoseon, and General Eulji Mundeok’s Battle of Salsu in a game. Where did the kids who said they weren’t going to talk about the Northeast Project go?

-Pansrun.

– Hehehe. What will the Chinese kids say when they see this?

– Wouldn’t you call me a joke?

– You’re right! That’s something that’s also recorded in Chinese history books. It can’t be refuted.

– But is Ondal really Eulji Mundeok’s teacher?

– Of course it’s fiction. But it’s a well-made fiction. In real history, the two were active in similar periods. I don’t know who made this scenario, but it was made very elaborately.

On the other hand, foreign gamers, excluding Korea and China, paid attention to something different.

– Did you guys see that? When I threw the spear at the Imoogi earlier, the ‘aim’ appeared.

Aim refers to the ‘target’ mark in FPS games.

– I see. So catching the Imoogi is the actual gameplay screen?

– This is crazy, this is crazy. The scene where the kids are crying and the snake appears is clearly a cutscene, but it’s indistinguishable from the gameplay screen.

– The graphics are good, but I remember the fighting scene from the demo earlier more. It seems like it requires a lot of control.

– I haven’t played it yet, but it looks like a pretty exciting game. I was impressed by the twin dragons, but ‘Gae-ma-musa’ looks several times more fun.

– Ah! When is this game coming out? I want to play it right now.

The strategy of Dojun and Professor Kim Jaehwan was accepted all over the world. People no longer thought of ‘Ssangryong’. All the gaming communities around the world were only talking about ‘Gaemamusa’.

It was a bonus to be curious about Goguryeo, Eulji Mundeok, and who ‘Ondal’ was.

Dojun said while looking at the people in the noisy presentation hall.

“We have finished preparing everything. Now we will take your questions.”

Many people raised their hands in response to Do-jun’s words. Do-jun selected 10 of them, received questions, and finished his presentation.

“Ah! There’s one thing I forgot to tell you.”

The reporters who were about to leave the conference hall stopped. Do-jun looked at them and said with a smile.

“Gae-ma-musa is planning to distribute a demo version on consoles at the end of December.”

* * *

“No, what are we going to do about this? Right now, it’s chaos, chaos!”

Ma Huateng bowed his head deeply to the words of Zhong Weijun, a member of the Central Politburo Standing Committee.

“sorry.”

“This isn’t something that can be ended with an apology. Representative Ma, you know how much effort we’ve put into the Northeast Project so far, right? But this incident has shaken it up considerably!”

The announcement of ‘Gae-ma-musa’ quickly spread around the world as a video.

The problem was that the video said that Gojoseon, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla were one people.

Moreover, there was also a story about the fall of the Chinese Sui Dynasty because of Goguryeo.

This was completely different from what was reported in the Northeast Project.

‘Why is this my fault?’

Ma Huateng wanted to question Zhong Weijun, but he couldn’t.

“Representative Ma, what are you going to do!”

Ma Huateng raised his head at Zhong Weijun’s words. In fact, Ma Huateng had expected that this day would come after the announcement of ‘Dog Warrior’.

‘Fortunately, the answer was also in the presentation.’

“Don’t worry, Commissioner. That’s just a presentation video. When the actual game is released, ‘Ssangryong’ will crush ‘Gae-ma-musa’.”

At Ma Huateng’s words, Zhong Weijun banged on the desk and said.

“No, Representative Ma, didn’t you see that video? Even to me, a non-expert, the Ssangryong and Gaemamusa can’t be compared?”

“The video is like that. But the game is not determined by the video, but by the actual play. Sir, do you know what CEO Hwang Do-jun said at the end of the video?”

“last?”

Zhong Weijun thought for a moment and then said.

“At the end of December… didn’t you say you were going to do something?”

“That’s right. To be exact, you said that you would distribute a demo version on consoles.”

“So what? Wouldn’t that be a big deal? If we release a trial version in December?”

Ma Huateng shook his head.

“No. The important thing here is that it is distributed as a ‘console’.”

“console?”

“Yes. That means releasing the game on consoles like XBOX or PlayStation.”

Zhong Weijun tilted his head because he didn’t understand.

“Why is that a problem?”

“Because those consoles have been out for a long time. The XBOX 360 came out in 2005, and the PS3 came out in 2006.”

Only then did Zhong Weijun’s eyes widen.

“What? It’s been a while.”

“That’s right. They’re really old game consoles. They say they’re preparing the next generation, but it won’t come out for a year or two. But what Hwang Do-jun showed us at the presentation is something that can only be implemented using the latest equipment.”

Zhong Weijun slammed his fist on the desk.

“Now I understand what Representative Ma meant. Hahaha. In the end, the Gaemamusa is just a shiny apricot. In the actual game, it doesn’t turn out as well as it does in the video.”

“you’re right.”

“Hahaha. Representative Ma had it all planned out.”

Zhong Weijun laughed for a while and then suddenly asked.

“But I have a question. When you release a console, why don’t you release a PC at the same time? You can use all of the performance on a PC, right?”

Ma Huateng shook his head and answered.

“That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“It’s because of contracts. Consoles are very exclusive to other platforms. If you release a game on PS, you may not be able to release it on XBOX or PC, or you may have to wait a few years for it to be released. The same goes for Microsoft, the maker of XBOX.”

“Wow, console companies are really greedy. The gaming industry isn’t easy either.”

“Isn’t that how it is for everyone?”

Zhong Weijun nodded at Ma Huateng’s words.

“That’s right. That’s just how things are in this world. Hahaha, I feel relieved now. I’ll report what Representative Ma told me to my superiors right away.”

“thank you.”

At that time, Zhong Weijun asked quietly.

“But you know. Is it possible that console companies… aren’t being greedy?”

Ma Huateng answered confidently.

“Absolutely not. If that were to happen, both MS and Sony would have to give in to Hwang Do-jun, but why would they give in so badly?”