"Then, what are we supposed to do?"
"You know, it is really cruel… Do you have some kind of negative impressions to the heroines?"
Due to the possibility of the death of the heroines, both Morita and Hayashi were in shock and was trying to stab me to death with the chopsticks they were holding.
As I expected, the way 'A Journey Without Me' is set is a very shocking turn of the storyline, so I understood their reaction.
I had to calm them down before I answered.
"Everything is dependent on how the player chose in the second stage. 'A Journey Without Me' is a multi-ending system, so her death will also become a different ending."
"Then… Is there a happy ending in this game?"
With a slight hope in his eyes, Morita carefully asked me. He was close to crying.
"Nope. There is no such ending in this plan."
"No~!!!"
Do you really think that I would have made such a hole in a story that is intended to make the players cry?
Please send tell them that my intentions are very clear~
&
A few days later..
Morita and Hayashi quit Mintendo. As they have planned to move to Pentagon Soft, they made their move as soon as they finished transitioning their work.
After a short vacation, they were to join the Lovely Girl Dating Simulation Game project. The weekend of their departure. I received a drink from Morita after helping them move luggage and sat on the stairs.
"Ah~ That is tiring…"
"You really didn't have to help us move these stuff, director.."
"I knew you guys were moving and couldn't stay still…"
I slightly smiled, drinking the drink when Hayashi came by.
"You. Are you taking your time just because you moved all your stuff? Huh? Why are you here director?"
"I'll finish this first and help you with your stuff."
"Thank you."
Hayashi brought a cigarette to his mouth while taking the drink from Morita.
"Everyone is going out for the weekend. Aren't you going someplace, director? What about Yuki?"
"She said she was going to arrive at Kyoto station, so I will be there later."
The nodded with an expression of 'I saw that coming..'
Mid-March. The cold winter was gone and then came the season of Spring. The cherry-blossoms were already preparing to fully blossom with their flower buds at the ready, while we were taking a break in front of the staircase with moving truck parked in the front.
Hayashi, breathing out a long trail of cigarette smoke, asked me.
"When are you coming, Director Kang?"
"Me?"
"Isn't the reason why you pulled us out and placed in Pentagon Soft was that you were planning to come over as well in the future?"
Hayashi was good at these things. Morita asked me in surprise.
"So, you do have places to move company?"
"Well… I don't have the intention of staying in Mintendo forever."
"But, you have the title of 'Director', you already have a successful experience in the US market and also being a game director. You are willing to throw all that and move company?"
I smiled and answered to his question.
"Mr. Morita. I am Korean."
"So?"
"Mr. Kamauchi does appreciate talent, but he would only give the owner position to his direct family. Even Mr. Gunpei remains as the department head for the last 10 years."
Especially in the future that I know, Kamauchi will give up his title in the year 2002, and the next owner is Mr. Kawata Saoru, who made the Balloon Fight and gave inspiration to Mr. Shige.
This was recorded as the first person to be the owner of Mintendo's history that was out of the family.
'And, he will deliver Mintendo from danger with one touch-pen that is included in the portable game console..'
Morita spoke with a sad expression.
"But, Mr. Kamauchi isn't immortal, so wouldn't he give up his title one day?"
"That IS true, but that it is very unlikely that the position will come to be. It would be faster for me to establish my own company."
"You, your own company!?"
"Why? Do you not have hope in me?"
"No. That was not what I meant.."
"There is another reason why I am leaving Mintendo. I felt this during the Side-kick Battle project, but Mintendo prefers games that all age groups can enjoy. 'A Journey Without Me' is far from what Mintendo wants."
Hayashi turned off the cigarette bud and asked me after listening to me in silence.
"Director. I wanted to ask you something…"
"What is it?"
"I've thought of this while looking at the concept of 'A Journey Without Me'. Are you the one who created… the Dragon Emblem?"
"What!? Hayashi, what are you talking about?"
"That game also had the scenario where one of the two heroines had to be sacrificed and was well known for the level of intensity which drove the players to their limit. In Side-kick Battle, there wasn't a story where a character had to die, but when I saw the concept for 'A Journey Without Me'. I was quite sure. I'm not going to tell anyone. I already left Mintendo. Tell me."
"Well.."
I finished the remaining drink and crushed the can, then I looked at Hayashi.
"That is correct."
Then, Morita looked at me and Hayashi with a terrified face. Hayashi answered with a smile on his face.
"I knew it. Honestly, the genre of these three games is new in the market. Now I can move on to Pentagon without a problem. It was an honor to be able to work with a person like you, director Kang. I am a fan of Dragon Emblem."
"Thank you. I look forward to working with you."
"I will follow you until you die, after knowing all this. So, you will have to end things quickly with Mintendo and come over to Pentagon as soon as possible."
"All in good time."
I stood up, throwing the can in a garbage bin.
"Ok~ Let's get back to work, shall we? Its almost time for Yuki's arrival so I will have to hurry."
"Ok. Will do so."
Morita and Hayashi nodded at me as they smiled.
&
Another six months have passed since that time.
September 17th, 1988. Starting with the historically famous Dove burning ceremony, South Korea hosted the 88′ Olympics and the whole world was in a celebrating mood, but I was still going through the busy days.
Do look back on what happened, in August, there was a Side-kick Battle user invitation event in Tokyo.
The price of 500 Golden tickets for Side-kick Battle was skyrocketing as the event drew closer and illegal tickets were being sold, even on the day of the event.
According to rumors, the Side-kick Battle Golden tickets were sold in about 100 thousand Yen, this showed how successful Side-kick Battle was in Japan.
There were about 1,000 users who confirmed the all-clear data, so there were about 1,500 users in the event hall.
Morita had already left the company, but as a meaning to compensate the users for loving his characters, he made many goods, so the Side-kick Battle's event was a great success.
Thanks to the character goods sold in the event, there was a good amount of profit and Mr. Kamauchi made a big fuss about opening an event like this every year.
"What about a Mintendo game show!? Huh? We will open annual events like this with games made by Mintendo!"
Because Mr. Kamauchi was saying many unclear things in front of journalists who were there to cover the event, Mr. Gunpei and I had trouble silencing the owner.
Also, the Side-kick Battle tournament where participants were selected based on their skills was so popular thanks to the thrilling controls.
The grand final became one of the most memorable scenes of the event to many gamers, with Ryu HwYoung was playing against Azusa Ren. Azusa was able to defend himself from the special lethal attach of Ryu HwYoung, with a special technique called Farreing when there was only 1 dot of energy gage left.
Farreing was a special barrier owned by Azusa Ren which could defend all of the opponent's attack by pressing the guard button at the same time the other player attached. And this crazy player would block all the attacks from Ryu HwYoung with Farreing and then at the very last moment shot a critical counter-attack, which resulted in a turnaround victory.
Tang Tang Tang!! Tang Tang Tang Tang!! Tang Tang Tang Tang!!
The sound of Ryu HwYoung's attack being defended made everyone who was watching the screen freeze.
"What? Is that..? Farreing?"
"Holy shit! Is that even possible?"
As soon as the winner was announced after the last blow, the gamers who were looking at the match through the big screen, all screamed and made a huge scene.
When the winner saw me on the stage to reward him, he was in disbelief.
"Aren't you the one who bought me a family set 5 years ago?"
Huh? Is he..?
"Are you Takashi?"
"Wow!! Right?! I didn't expect you to be the one who made Side-kick Battle!"
I smiled and nod in this unexpected coincidence.
"I didn't expect to see you here. Congratulations on winning."
"I told you back then that I am confident in being a better player than you. I really had a hard time coming here with the all-clear because I couldn't get a golden ticket."
I told a commemorative photo with Takashi, who was still complaining while receiving the trophy, and the grand one-day event of Side-kick Battle finally came to an end.