Season 4: Chapter 67. Cheese vs. Paprika (1)
In truth, no one knew how many copies a game sold unless the developers or publishers officially announced it. People usually estimated based on the number of reviews.
[Real-time G2B review count exploding lol]
[Is this really going to sell a hundred thousand copies?]
[Buggy AF trash game, but it’s selling well??]
Just from the number of reviews, one could guess that the game was selling pretty well. Still, most figured that around 100,000 units was the limit because a good portion of buyers didn’t bother to leave reviews and simply jumped straight into playing.
A week passed like that. Then came the announcement of the initial sales figures.
[Breaking: Ghostwo Busters sells 300,000 copies]
Everyone became speechless.
— ??
— For real?
— Whoa lol
— Crazy lol
— Future building owner... who is it?
└ lol seriously
└ Han Min-Gu... Pay attention!
└ LMAO
— Insane. Almond hit the jackpot, huh? lol
People attributed Ghostwo Busters’ success to a few reasons. It had a surprisingly reasonable price, provocative noise marketing, and most of all, trust. Most of the reviews echoed the same sentiment.
— Even if there’s an issue, I feel like they’ll patch it quickly lol. The concept is fun too.
└ What do you mean if there’s an issue? There needs to be one first lol
— They said they’ll keep adding content, and I believe they’ll stick to it
— I bought it out of pity for the Kim duo lol
The developers had succeeded in earning the gamers’ trust. Even if their methods had nothing to do with the game itself, their wildly successful marketing strategy had come full circle. Naturally, Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Kim were rewarded accordingly.
[Breaking: Post from their forum – The latest on the Kim duo]
==== ====
The Kim duo, consisting of Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Kim, have now become Department Head Kim and Manager Kim lol. Their salaries probably went way up too lol. They were well-liked in the office already, so everyone is celebrating.
Most of all, the video really carried our company!!
==== ====
— That’s crazy lol. Department Head Kim and Manager Kim
— Damn
— Now that’s a happy ending~
— Sheesh, Department Head Kim and Manager Kim lol
— But I feel like they’ll still be doing the same work even after the promotion lol
— Congrats, seriously!!
— The Kim duo ranked up like beasts!
— Damn, that promotion test was intense – they had to become nationwide celebrities first lol
└ Promotion tests being rough is just the Korean way lol
└ So true lol
— Korean-style happy ending, 100% agreed
***
“Pfft.” Ju-Hyeok chuckled as he scrolled down.
‘Guess I’ll be moving sooner than expected.’
Bzzt.
A message popped up on his phone.
[TMC Marketing Dept. Manager Kim: (photo)]
[TMC Marketing Dept. Manager Kim: Thank you! Everything worked out thanks to you! I owe you a drink! Hahaha]
The Kim duo slung their arms over each other’s shoulders and threw up peace signs in the photo. It looked like they had a celebratory drink after their promotions. Looking at it reminded Ju-Hyeok of his own corporate days.
‘We weren’t that close, but...’
He had a boss who, in his own way, guided him.
‘I wonder if he got promoted too.’
At Ah-Sung, the competition was much fiercer than at a place like TMC. If it was that person, Ju-Hyeok had a feeling that he pulled it off. Thinking back, he regretted not ever taking a personal photo together.
“Oh.” Sang-Hyeon came over wide-eyed and saw the message too. “Hey, hey. Looks like they got promoted. Wow.”
“Yeah. I saw.”
“Shouldn’t we do another round of Ghostwo Busters?”
“Nah. It already did well.”
“Guess so.” Sang-Hyeon was half-tempted, mainly because Bubblegum kept pestering him about it.
He hadn’t fully moved over to Cheese yet and mostly played light games like Run Guys. His viewership had dropped back down to around one hundred thousand and held steady there.
“Maybe I’ll do it to commemorate joining Cheese?”
Revisiting Ghostwo Busters sounded like a solid plan since he wasn’t playing any other main game right now. His eyes gleamed with interest.
“Dude. I told you, don’t.”
“Why not?”
Ju-Hyeok debated whether to say it or not.
“Why, why, why, why?”
Sang-Hyeon would just keep bugging him until he did.
“They said you really don’t have to.”
“Gasp.” Sang-Hyeon made a dramatic, shocked face.
“Don’t act surprised. Would you want to gamble on that again?”
“True.” His expression snapped right back to normal. The shock had been fake.
“One of the big reasons for the success was because you skipped through so much of the game with glitches. There were barely any spoilers. I mean, everything about how it turned out ended up helping...”
The glitch-filled run had actually reduced spoilers and helped the game grow bigger. In the end, it was the best kind of marketing.
“But it’s not like we’re pocketing tens of billions off this.” Ju-Hyeok scratched his head at the rising sales figures. “Damn reporters.”
They didn’t even factor in the actual revenue split and just threw out the raw sales numbers.
“Anyway, now’s not the time for Ghostwo Busters.”
“Yeah. Got it.” Sang-Hyeon sensed the mood and started to step away.
“You’ve got a ton of ads to do once you join Cheese. And don’t forget the Treevy farewell party. You’re going, right? Why won’t you give me a straight answer?”
And there it was, the nagging. Ju-Hyeok had been constantly bringing that up.
“Ah...”
The Treevy funeral... Well, it wasn’t really a funeral, but more like a farewell bash for streamers to socialize while they still could. With platforms splintering off and everyone settling into new nests, maintaining relationships like this was important.
“You going or not?”
“I don’t really know many people there, to be honest.” Sang-Hyeon scratched his head and tried to dodge the question.
“All the more reason to go.”
“Hmmm.”
He clearly didn’t want to, but Ju-Hyeok wouldn’t let it go.
“There are already rumors of a platform battle going around, but nothing is confirmed. You need to go and hear about it directly.”
As the name suggested, a platform battle was a competition between different platforms, similar to a friendly rivalry match between universities.
“Try to make friends and form a solid team. This could become a seriously important stage. Cheese seems like a good match against Paprika since it’s a newer platform, right? Nope. The size difference between the two is crystal clear. People are fickle. They just want to belong to whoever seems bigger and more successful. You could end up losing a lot of streamers to Paprika.”
Ju-Hyeok initially wanted to recommend Paprika for this reason.
“This is exactly why I was pushing for Paprika over Cheese. These kinds of things are all risks...”
Sang-Hyeon simply covered his ears and ran off. “Ugh! So much nagging!”
Pat pat pat...
‘Ugh.’
Ju-Hyeok swallowed his frustration and turned back to the monitor.
Sang-Hyeon didn’t want to attend an event like that because he had never been the type to cling to people. However, he also wasn’t one to avoid these kinds of gatherings. His mind was obviously elsewhere.
‘Is it because of Orange?’
Orange, the streamer who had given Sang-Hyeon the full playthrough mission. Ever since learning about that, Sang-Hyeon’s lifestyle had completely changed.
‘He suddenly went back into athlete mode.’
Sang-Hyeon went back to the routine he had when preparing for the national team matches. He resumed his morning jogs and ate bigger meals. He barely did strength training before, but now he had even registered at a gym. Even without streaming, he would enter the capsule and start an optimized training program.
Yeah, that was all it took. Someone had acted openly hostile toward him. And when that happened, Sang-Hyeon only had one way of dealing with it.
‘Break through head-on.’
He began preparing for just that. No one knew what kind of game the platform battle would be. Getting his fundamentals, synchronization, and stamina ready would make it easier to perform well in any game.
Ju-Hyeok had a different idea.
‘You’ve got to build a good team to stand a chance.’
The platform battle would surely revolve around team-based games. Almond couldn’t carry alone. The streamers from Treevy and those on Paprika were entirely different.
Paprika was filled with former pros, amateur elites, and specialized players who became famous purely through their skills. It was practically a nest of countless hidden masters. Compared to the LIL tournament, this would be an entirely different level of difficulty.
“I’m heading out.”
“Where to?”
“Workout.”
“Okay...”
Thunk.
Whether anyone cared or not, Sang-Hyeon was off to work out again.
Ju-Hyeok just bitterly smiled. “Geez.”
Well, Almond would probably just carry everyone again. That was his way of doing things.
***
Time passed without fanfare. Sang-Hyeon locked his meals and workout times into a fixed routine and trained in the capsule at least once every two days. His streams mostly focused on simple games, peppered occasionally with sponsored game content.
This was the classic variety streamer pattern. The number of live viewers slightly dropped compared to when he trended like crazy, but his YouTube views steadily climbed. This was all a part of a major streamer maturing.
— Damn, he’s getting sponsored by brands like this?
— Ad tier went waaaay up
— Whoa
— Almond is in a whole new league now lol
— The Ghostwo Busters ad was actually insane lolol
Sales for Ghostwo Busters had peaked and began to decline, but the numbers had already been so huge that even domestic news portals covered it. After that, major game companies began competing for him to promote their games. It reached a point where Ju-Hyeok had to carefully select what to take on.
“Whew. There’s too much work. Seriously.”
“Same here.” Ji-Ah collapsed next to Ju-Hyeok, who was busy reviewing ad offers.
Short games, loads of advertisements, Almond’s growing stamina, and longer streaming hours all meant an exponential increase in the number of videos Ji-Ah had to edit.
‘No wonder she’s exhausted.’ Ju-Hyeok brushed aside Ji-Ah’s messy hair.
Ji-Ah turned her head and avoided eye contact as she lay back down. “We need to hire more people if it’s this hard.”
“Tsk. What’s with the money obsession? You tiny thing.”
“N-No! It’s not that!” She sprang up and flailed her hands in denial.
“Pfft.” Ju-Hyeok knew it wasn’t about the money. He just teased her to see her reaction.
‘Guess she’s not ready to be a manager yet.’
Ji-Ah wasn’t good at handling people. In fact, she was a bit afraid of them.
“But... when is Almond moving over?”
“Oh, that? To Cheese?” Ju-Hyeok scratched his head. “There’s no set date yet.”
“Is he... still mad?”
“Mad? Oh... you mean that mode he’s in?”
Ji-Ah was aware that Almond had gone into full player mode.
“Yeah, probably until he... chickicha’s someone, I guess.”
“Pfft!” Ji-Ah laughed out loud at Ju-Hyeok’s imitation of chikicha. “That really doesn’t suit you.”
Ju-Hyeok could only remain silent in embarrassment.
“But we don’t even know the event or how teams are going to be picked. We don’t know anything.”
“Yeah, I only heard rumors about a platform battle. Nothing’s been officially announced.”
“Would Paprika even agree to something like this? Honestly, they’d be the only ones losing out.”
“I think so too. That’s why we need to go to these social events like Treevy’s funeral or whatever to pick up some info, but he’s suddenly in total block mode.”
“But how can he try so hard to win when nothing’s even decided yet?” Ji-Ah asked, genuinely curious.
“I dunno. Judging by his energy, he’s probably ready to throw hands in real life if it came to that.”
Ji-Ah giggled at Ju-Hyeok’s words. “Pfft! What kind of way is that to put it? Oh my god, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard.”
‘Maybe it’s just my face that’s funny.’
Bzzz.
Ju-Hyeok received a message on his phone.
[Cheese Representative - Go Ah-Sung]
That name... always made him feel a little awkward.
“Huh?” Ju-Hyeok’s eyes widened as he read the message.
[Hello! This is a notice to all our contracted streamers. We’ve planned a major event that will act as a launch celebration for our platform...]
His eyes lit up as he quickly scrolled. It was the platform battle.
‘So this is it.’
From the concept alone, it sounded like a large-scale event. They even included the game genre.
[The event will be tentatively called the “Platform Battle” (working title) and has been assigned a project name. The game genre for the event is...]
The prelude to the battle had officially begun.