An Investor Who Sees The Future

The joint statement to be announced at the closing ceremony of the Asian Economic Forum will emphasize cooperation for the prosperity and development of Asia.

We returned to Korea the day before the closing ceremony.

Since Ellie had to go to work, we headed straight to Golden Gate as soon as we got off the plane. Taekgyu, who had been playing at the OTK building, also came over.

Hyun-joo noona looked at me and said, as if it was a headache.

”You went and did it again. It’s a mess because of that right now. The North Korea-themed stocks are on a rollercoaster.”

After my remarks, the North Korea-themed stocks plummeted when the North Korean negotiating team stormed out, but then they soared again after my speech at the Far Eastern Federal University.

Taekgyu also added a word.

”The political world is also in an uproar.”

Whether they are progressives or conservatives, they all have a lot to say when it comes to North Korea. It seems that the ruling and opposition party lawmakers are grabbing each other by the collar in the National Assembly over this issue.

I asked Hyun-joo noona.”What do you think, noona? Do you think North Korea is really serious?”

”No one knows what they’re thinking. Even though they’re both communist parties, North Korea is different from China and Vietnam. If those countries are one-party dictatorships, North Korea is a one-person dictatorship. If anyone seems to be threatening his position, they are immediately purged.”

In fact, more than one or two people who promoted economic cooperation have been executed. From the perspective of the country or the company, it is absurd that the person they were talking to until yesterday was executed overnight.

”The infrastructure in the Hamgyeong Province, where the railway is connected by the Rason-Khasan project, is in a mess, to the point where even the roads are not being maintained. It maintained its shape until the late 90s, but now everything has to be rebuilt.”

Except for Pyongyang and its surrounding areas, the situation is worse than in the past.

This is the reality of the self-reliance that the leader so desperately cried out for. It is amazing that such a country exists in the 21st century.

Hyun-joo noona said coldly.

”For the project to proceed properly, China will have to guarantee it. North Korea doesn’t care about the United States, but it does care about China.”

China’s influence in North Korea is absolute.

North Korea is virtually dependent on China for food and energy. If China cuts off the supply, there will be a surge of deaths from starvation and freezing.

That’s why the United States also urges China to do something whenever North Korea provokes.

But it is difficult for China to invest directly in this project. In the first place, it is a project that is being promoted in cooperation with Russia to check Chinese capital.

In many ways, it is a tangled web of complex interests.

How should we untie this tangled knot?

Hyun-joo noona said.

”After the closing ceremony, President Heo Chang-min is said to be meeting with President Vysotsky and President Zhang Pinghua for a trilateral summit, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

***

After returning to the company, I received a call from Ichikawa Shigeru, the president of OTK Games.

[It seems that the Chinese side will resume issuing game licenses for online games.]

”That’s a relief.”

With a population of 1.5 billion, China is the world’s largest gaming market. Moreover, its size is growing by more than 10 percent every year.

The reason why games are so popular in emerging markets is because they can be enjoyed for a long time at a low price.

If you have a lot of money, you can enjoy a variety of leisure activities. Camping, traveling, surfing, sports, driving, and so on. If you don’t have money, the things you can do are limited. Among them, the most convenient and accessible leisure and hobby is gaming.

Online games can be used for a whole month for about $30, and there are plenty of free games.

The fact that it is cheap and fun is a problem in that it creates addicts. If your hobby is golf or surfing, the number of times you can do it is limited due to money, time, and physical strength, but there is no such thing with games.

In any case, the landscape of the gaming industry has changed rapidly in the last 10 years.

With the advent of smartphones, mobile games have become a huge hit, and PC games have become even more high-spec.

In addition, as the communication network has developed further, cloud-based games have even appeared. If you run a game in the cloud, you can play it even if you don’t have a high-spec device, as long as you have a display and an input device.

So far, due to technical problems, it is mainly casual games with simple graphics and controls, but it will soon expand to online RPGs.

The cloud is also closely related to VRMMORPG.

It is virtually impossible to store and process the enormous amount of data required for virtual reality implementation on a personal computer.

Therefore, a large part of the game’s operation must be processed in the cloud. That’s why President Ichikawa said that we need our own data center.

Akit has almost completed the design. It is the largest single data center in the world. To attract it, the United States, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, and Norway have announced various support measures and jumped into the bidding war.

As I was pondering the selection of a data center location, Taekgyu said to me.

”I’m going to LA this weekend.”

”Huh? Why there?”

”I told you before. I’m going to see StormCon.”

”Ah, that’s right.”

Founded in the early 1990s, IceStorm has had several hit games and was the first to create the genre of e-sports, growing into the largest game company in the United States.

Every year, the company holds an event called the IceStorm Convention... or StormCon for short.

At this event, they hold e-sports tournaments using their games and announce new games and patches to be released next year.

It is an event for fans and at the same time a kind of business announcement. It is the largest event of an individual game company, not a game show, in the world.

To attend this, you have to buy a ticket. The ticket price is a whopping $199, but it was sold out long ago.

Taekgyu crossed his arms and said.

”There were two things I wanted to do if I made a lot of money. One was to meet Mr. Ichikawa Shigeru, and the other was to go to StormCon.”

This is similar to how I wanted to go to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders’ meeting held in Eden’s, right?

Once, IceStorm reigned as the king of MMORPGs, but that is now a thing of the past. Currently, it is losing its popularity even in its home base of North America.

There are several reasons, but the biggest reason is the emergence of a strong competitor. Lost Fantasy Online, created by OTK Games, was a huge hit in North America.

It is rare for an MMORPG made by a Japanese game company to be a hit in the West. After Lost Fantasy Online was serviced in the North American market, IceStorm’s stock price fell by nearly 20 percent.

Still, as the saying goes, a rich man’s fortune lasts for three generations. IceStorm has had several successful games so far, and its genres are also diverse, including action, strategy simulation, RPG, FPS, and CCG.

As they have numerous IPs, there is always a possibility of them reviving with a new game.

”Aren’t you all about Lost Fantasy?”

At my words, Taekgyu wagged his finger.

”That’s true, but how can a person live on rice alone? You have to have side dishes sometimes. Isn’t diversity important in everything?”

That’s true.

That’s probably why so many games are being released right now.

”And as you know, my favorite game after Lost Fantasy is Mephisto. We played Mephisto 2 together in middle school.”

I nodded my head.

”That was fun.”

At that time, we would stay up all night playing games, not caring about our studies. There was no shutdown law at that time, so we both stayed up for days playing games.

The bus driven by Oh Taekgyu was safe and comfortable. Thanks to that, I could easily level up and pick up items.

”I’m suddenly reminded of the old days.”

”A good game is a beautiful memory of childhood.”

As we were reminiscing about the past and smiling, Taekgyu suddenly shouted in an angry voice.

”But Mephisto 4, which came out the year before last, was a complete mess!”

”I haven’t played it, but I’ve heard a lot about it.”

The graphics were terrible, the controls were complicated, the campaign was awful, there was not much to enjoy besides combat, and the balance between the races was a mess. Even though some users were using macro programs, the management did not impose any sanctions.

Above all, what angered Taekgyu the most was the breaking of the setting.

Mephisto 4 completely collapsed the worldview that had been steadily built up in the previous three series. Most of the fans treated 4 as if it didn’t exist.

It was a total mess.

IceStorm also seemed to have realized the seriousness of the problem and has since continuously patched and fixed it... but the users had already left.

Still, thanks to the name IceStorm, they managed to save face, but if it had been made by another developer, it would have been a complete failure.

”There’s a rumor that they’re announcing 5 at this StormCon. They’re going to completely overhaul it and reboot it. Because of that, the Mephisto fans are going crazy with excitement right now. If it goes well, it could be a masterpiece following 2.”

You could hear the anticipation in his voice. Well, unlike me, who only played 2 diligently, Taekgyu has played all the Mephisto series. He even played 4, which is said to be a failure.

Taekgyu put his hand on my shoulder and said.

”You should come too.”

I’d like to, but now that I’m back in Korea, I have a lot of work to do.

”If we both leave, who’s going to watch the company?”

Taekgyu said with a look of regret.

”Then I’ll take Team Leader Jung Gi-hong with me. I’ll take this opportunity to broaden his knowledge of games.”

”Go ahead.”

”Ah! Anneke and Hana are coming with me too. They both seem to be very interested in StormCon.”

”...”

Aren’t they more interested in you?

But one of the harem members’ names is missing.

”Isn’t Min Hayoung coming?”

”She wants to. She played Mephisto too.”

”Then why aren’t you taking her?”

Taekgyu said as if it were a matter of course.

”You’re asking because you don’t know? She has a deadline. She was begging me to take her, crying, but I refused her flatly. The promise with the readers comes first. Where is an artist who hasn’t even finished her deadline going to play?”

”...”

No, can’t she play a little?

***

Taekgyu headed to LA on a private jet with Team Leader Jung Gi-hong, and Yang Hana and Anneke.

Anneke said with joy.

”I’m going to StormCon again this year.”

As the princess of Norway and the promotional ambassador for Norwegian games, she has been invited to various game shows. She has also attended StormCon twice before.

Taekgyu looked at Yang Hana and asked.

”You look tired, are you okay?”

Yang Hana answered in a cheerful voice.

”Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

She pretended to be fine, but in reality, she was on the verge of collapsing.

’I barely finished Lost Fantasy, and now it’s Mephisto!’

She had stayed up for several nights studying how complicated the worldview was. No matter how many times she organized and reviewed it, there were more than one or two things she didn’t understand.

After worrying over the problem by herself for a few days, she cautiously asked Taekgyu.

”According to the setting, the only thing that can seal Mephisto is the Soulstone, right?”

”That’s right.”

”But in 4, you have to collect the scattered Soulstones and strengthen them to create the Philosopher’s Stone. Does that mean there were multiple Soulstones from the beginning? And you said the Soulstone was made in the demon world, so was what Lactium said about the Soulstone being a corrupted Soulstone from the celestial world that flowed into the demon world a lie to deceive the user?”

Taekgyu solved the mystery simply.

”That’s just a setting collapse.”

”...”

Thousands of people flocked to the venue where StormCon was being held.

Despite the expensive admission fee, there were people of all ages and genders, and some were cosplaying as characters from the games.

An elf with long, slender legs and a bare stomach, holding a bow in her hand; a paladin wearing chainmail that would have been used in the Middle Ages, holding a shield and a sword; a mage wearing a robe; a dwarf with a face covered in a beard, holding a battle axe; a muscular orc, and so on.

Since they were Westerners, they really looked like they had just popped out of a fantasy game.

Team Leader Jung Gi-hong was speechless at the tremendous enthusiasm.

”It’s amazing. I thought this only happened in Japan.”

Taekgyu said with a grin.

”Heh, the best of the best otakus are the Western otakus.”