Chapter 48
‘I’m a developer?’
Reinhardt was feeling bewildered.
Purely bewildered. It was difficult to understand the situation itself.
[Isn’t this from that serial post guy??]
[No way, was that actually viral marketing?]
[It’s real? Why is this real??]
[Wasn’t he also in a past timeline? I saw a kid version of Irien was uploaded this time too?]
“What the hell is this supposed to mean.”
Reinhardt had suddenly become a developer who had practiced viral marketing.
The majority of the community users seemed convinced.
That it was 100 percent viral marketing.
That there were no other possibilities.
“What on earth did they see to make them judge it like that.”
Reinhardt could roughly guess what they had seen.
If so, the first order of business was to confirm it.
Click.
Reinhardt checked the post uploaded by the developer’s account.
The teaser video, and a rough outline of the new expansion pack.
[Players will explore the past of this world. If you change the events of the past, the results of the future will also change. Your choices will divide the fate of the world.]
[New playable characters will be added. The characters who helped the protagonist can now become the main characters of this world themselves. By greatly expanding the range of choices, we wanted to provide various forms of enjoyment.]
Reading the outline, Reinhardt’s eyes twitched.
The content was certainly a coincidence.
“This is……”
But this alone was not enough.
Reinhardt played the teaser video attached to the post.
First, grand background music played.
Then, with a whoosh, whoosh sound, the faces of numerous characters flashed across the screen.
Every single one of them was a main or supporting character on par with Reinhardt.
Then, a sequence followed as if to say that all of them could become the protagonist.
They used skills not seen in the original work, wore items, and were dealing with demons in a completely different way.
And Reinhardt saw.
In the middle of the flowing video, there was a little Irien.
There were the Taton Knights.
There was Knight Evangeline, talking and laughing with Ethan Taton.
The video was not very long.
He had only watched for about 3 minutes, but Reinhardt was already at a loss for words.
“It’s real.”
Reinhardt was living in the world of the expansion pack.
The past timeline of the original work.
A world where there was a little Irien, where Reinhardt was a member of the Taton Knights, and where demons like Agrio-s had not yet descended upon this land.
“What the fu……”
What the hell.
How is this situation unfolding.
Amidst the confusion, Reinhardt continued to browse the community.
The developers had declared they would release an expansion pack.
The release date was roughly three months later.
And at that announcement, the users were evaluating Reinhardt’s posts as ‘excellent viral marketing’.
“I’m telling you it’s not viral marketing……”
Reinhardt muttered with a blank expression.
He struggled to hold onto his wavering mind.
And.
At this point.
He thought about what he himself had to do.
“I have to make an excuse first. That’s right. It’s not an excuse, but anyway, I have to appeal the fact that I’m being wronged.”
Otherwise, the image he had built up in the community so far could crumble entirely.
It meant that the hope that someone who took it seriously might one day help him would be dashed.
Click.
Reinhardt pressed the post creation button.
He began to fill in the text with his heartfelt sincerity.
[Serial Post) This is viral marketing? This?]
[No, what kind of crazy game company does viral marketing like this three months before release?]
[Isn’t what I’m doing basically a content spoiler? They’re doing marketing by revealing everything like this? Does that make sense?]
[No, I heard the developers also lurk in the community. They must have seen my posts. If you just get me out, I won’t even ask why you put me in, I’ll just quietly go dark…….]
Text amounting to 5,800 characters densely filled the previously white page.
Then, Reinhardt also attached the images he had taken until recently.
What had happened with the little Irien.
The battle with the warlock who followed Nepas.
The sight of his own statue erected when he returned, and,
The sight of Reinhardt himself, staring into the air with an aggrieved expression from his current quarters.
“What kind of crazy bastard in the world advertises like this.”
“Pit? Piiii……”
“It’s okay. It’s okay, Bitdori. I’m not angry at you.”
“Piit.”
Bitdori rubbed its head against Reinhardt’s hand as if to comfort him.
Reinhardt petted the creature and stared blankly at the community.
Countless comments were posted.
Not only comments, but most of the posts that followed were related to Reinhardt.
[No, what’s with this guy’s sudden outburstㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Sophisticated viral marketingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Fr, please explain the noise marketingㅋㅋㅋ]
[Who’s that guy? Is he the one who said he was trapped in the game back then?]
The hive mind began to move.
Reinhardt’s post was like pouring oil on a well-burning bonfire.
The flames spread in all directions.
[The reason this has to be 100% viral marketing…… txt]
[Or did he hack it? Did he pull out internal data?]
[Is it a leakㅋㅋ]
[Then isn’t he going to get sued?]
The community users seemed satisfied that an interesting piece of gossip had emerged.
And at the end of the incessant burning, people’s speculations were largely divided into three.
[This is definitely viral marketingㅋㅋㅋ]
[Didn’t he really steal the data? Because he’s crazy for attention?]
[At this point, isn’t he really trapped in the game…….]
Public opinion was predominantly in favor of number 1.
Number 2 was not small either, but number 3 was a mere handful.
Reinhardt had gained a handful of allies.
With that alone, he was satisfied for now.
***
Skylines.
A game development company with its headquarters in Pangyo.
It was a new development company that had risen rapidly in the last 5 years, raked in money, and thanks to that, was able to advance to Pangyo.
Their main IP was, of course, Soul Calibur.
The RPG released in the form of an offline console game was a literal jackpot, and it achieved encouraging results not only domestically but also abroad.
“This……”
Kim Doo-yeol, the general manager of Skylines, looked at his subordinate with a beaming smile he couldn’t hide.
“Good idea.”
“Thank you.”
“Whose idea was it? Was it our Team Leader Choi’s idea?”
“I brainstormed with the team members.”
Marketing Team Leader Choi Ho-jun smiled as he received the words.
Fortunately, General Manager Kim Doo-yeol seemed to be in a good mood.
“Still, from next time, report first before executing. It makes me look like a stuffy person that you’re avoiding me.”
“I apologize.”
“It can happen when things are rushed. I’m just asking to confirm, but Team Leader Choi did handle this, right?”
“Yes, I handled it with my team members.”
“Continue with it. I’ll report to the CEO. Good work.”
“Understood.”
Marketing Team Leader Choi Ho-jun bowed his head deeply at the general manager’s dismissal and left the general manager’s office.
Hooah.
A deep sigh escaped from the depths of his lungs.
He had managed to sort it out somehow.
Somehow.
‘What kind of bastard was it?’
But he was still angry.
Team Leader Choi Ho-jun returned to his seat and called the team members into the conference room.
The team members sat around the long circular table with anxious expressions. Their gazes looked uneasy.
“I’ll get straight to the point.”
At Team Leader Choi’s voice, everyone perked up their ears.
“I got the general manager’s permission. He knows it’s a project we’re running, and he even gave instructions to continue with it. He seemed satisfied. He said the results look good.”
What was the role of the marketing team?
Of course, it was to promote the game so that more copies could be sold.
To increase interest in Soul Calibur, and to make even one more person who is interested in it.
“And it was actually effective. Because it was effective, the general manager must have laughed it off. The number of pre-orders has increased by almost 50 percent, right?”
Nod, nod.
The team members acted as if they agreed. But they avoided Team Leader Choi’s gaze, and only showed a passive reaction.
“So, if you come out now, I’ll let it slide. No. What do you mean, let it slide? There will be performance bonuses too. I’ll give you a separate budget for business expenses. I’ll even give you paid leave so you can hole up at home and enjoy the expansion pack all day.”
Team Leader Choi looked at each of the team members’ faces.
He tried to find a sign of confession.
But he couldn’t see any. Far from raising their hands, everyone was busy avoiding his gaze.
“Still not coming out? Still? I’m telling you I understand everything, right? You must have caused a scene because you thought such a proposal wouldn’t be approved. That’s okay too. I’m telling you I’ll even give you a separate performance bonus. Still not coming out? Not coooming ouuuut!”
Team Leader Choi eventually couldn’t control his emotions and burst out in frustration.
He couldn’t understand the situation he was in at all.
Internal data had been leaked.
And it was data related to Soul Calibur’s new DLC.
It was composed of a much larger volume than anything that had come out so far, and as such, the price was a little more expensive, and so the amount invested in it was an even bigger project.
But someone had leaked that content.
Of course, not all the content of the new expansion pack was revealed.
It just started with ‘Knight of Light, Reinhardt’, and only dealt with the incidents that occurred while playing as him.
“You’re not coming out, is that it? There’s no one among us who wrote that serial post, is that it? Fine. Let’s do this. From now on, we’ll do it too. Since that guy started with Reinhardt, we’ll start with a different character. Mr. Park Min-cheol.”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Min-cheol, you start with Irien.”
“……Like that Reinhardt?”
“Yeah, like that. Just push a similar concept. As if we blatantly adopted that concept. And Ms. Lee Min-ah? Evangeline.”
“Yes.”
Team Leader Choi Ho-jun assigned roles to several team members one by one.
They would be acting as ‘poor humans possessed by the game’ in the community.
Of course, it was a concept.
It would reek of advertising, but that was rather what Team Leader Choi wanted.
“And as we proceed like that, at a certain point, we stop. Because we can’t show everything. Right? You’re listening, right? Reinhardt knows how to wrap things up moderately, right?”
Team Leader Choi said pleadingly.
Hoping that Reinhardt would not cross the line.
Because as long as the ending was beautiful, the process wasn’t really important.
“Okay. Start. Ah, Assistant Manager Min, please manage the comments section. So that the interest doesn’t cool down until the release.”
And so, under Team Leader Choi Ho-jun’s instructions, numerous ‘possessed individuals’ were deployed to the community.
[Be careful of the phrase ‘Insufficient Quantity’…….]
[I was put in as a replacement, what should I do? How do I get out of here? Anyone who can get me out?]
A cleverly packaged lie is no different from the truth.
The marketing team members of Skylines thought so, referred to Reinhardt’s existing posts, and exquisitely imitated them.
At some point, they even copied the prefix [Serial Post].
They copied it, but.
[These guys can’t follow Reinhardt’s formㅋㅋ]
[fr ㅋㅋ They have no desperation]
The public’s intuition was sharp.
A fake could not follow a real one.