NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 16
The Tokyo Game Show is one of the world’s three largest game shows.
Let me reiterate: The Tokyo Game Show is one of the world’s top three game expos and the largest gaming event in Japan.
That means both the booth staff and the number of participants are far greater than at any other gaming event.
After finishing the booth preparations, I was conducting the final checks.
A voice reached my ears, and I turned around to see Seol-i with a slightly anxious expression on her face.
“Um, Director….”
“Oh, what’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s not that something’s wrong exactly… but it feels like a lot of people are staring at us for some reason….”
“That’s only natural.”
“Uh…?”
“Just take a look.”
I took Seol-i outside the booth, her face full of questions.
And there we saw countless booths of Korean companies.
Among them, only one company in this section had received a larger booth than ours—Enson Korea.
“Do you understand now why the attention is on us?”
“Ah….”
“What’s more, what genre are we? Mobile games, right? Look around. What genres do the game companies gathered here represent?”
At my words, Seol-i began to look around at the nearby booths.
FPS, strategy simulation, RPG, puzzle, rhythm games, action games, and so on…
There was nothing but PC and console games wherever we looked.
“There’s nothing but PC and console games.”
“You see?”
I paused briefly before continuing, leaning closer to whisper to Seol-i.
“Our company is one of the fewer ones, but even among developers, there are a lot who believe that PC or console games are superior to mobile games—this kind of elitist mindset.”
“Ah….”
“So now do you understand why we’re drawing so much attention? Why many of these looks may not be friendly?”
“Yes, yes… I definitely understand now that you’ve explained it.”
Her response made me smile faintly as I added,
“Don’t worry about it too much. Eventually, as a few years pass, these perspectives will change.”
After nodding in agreement to my words, I patted Seol-i and sent her back to the booth.
“Still, this year is clearly a bad year—a bad year indeed.”
Before returning to the booth, I took a look around. Not a single one of the games that were famous back when I could see them.
In the midst of the Korean companies, there was one booth similar to ours that was showing mobile games, but it didn’t hold much significance.
At least, none of the names were on my list of successful masterpieces from memory.
I was lost in thought for a brief moment when,
Beeeeep!!
An announcement sound echoed through the venue, signaling that it was now opening time.
With this sound as a cue, the visitors began streaming in through the doors.
The sounds of footsteps and conversations vibrated throughout the venue.
Snapping out of it due to the overwhelming atmosphere, I entered the booth and announced,
“Everyone to your respective stations!”
At my words, everyone headed to their assigned positions.
Yerin and Seol-i waited at the booth entrance to attract visitors.
Senior Chae-young was stationed in the listening area to assist with the soundtrack samples.
Myunghoon would handle the game demo tech support at the experience zone.
Yumi was stationed in the goods zone to manage official merchandise reservations.
I took on the role of booth supervisor, wandering around to oversee everything.
Of course,
Our booth wasn’t anyone’s first step as visitors entered.
Unfortunately, the Tokyo Game Show’s main attraction was the Japanese companies after all.
*
Jae-hyun, who was participating in the Tokyo Game Show for the first time, was currently feeling confused.
“But I’m sure the mobile game booth was supposed to be here, so why can’t I find it?”
I had come to the booth where mobile games were supposed to be located, following the venue map correctly, and yet there wasn’t any sign of the Girls’ Memorial booth.
Had this been a domestic event, I might have asked the staff, but this was Japan.
After failing to communicate twice through body language with the staff, I decided to give up and start my own search.
After walking around for about ten minutes or so,
As I crossed a connecting corridor into another building, I began to see familiar logos from Korean companies.
“So that’s why I couldn’t find the booth…”
With a sense of relief, I looked around the area where Korean companies had gathered, when suddenly,
In the distance, a familiar figure caught my eye.
“Karin…?”
It was the unofficially popular vote-winning character from Girls’ Memorial and my personal favorite.
With a heart full of “just in case,” Jae-hyun approached the cosplayer portraying Karin.
“Excuse me….”
“Yes?”
The moment the cosplayer turned around, Jae-hyun couldn’t help but stare.
Well, because this was his favorite character whom he had only seen on the screen, and she looked almost exactly like her.
Though the cosplayer’s real features were remarkable, the uncanny resemblance felt as if the character had come to life from the screen, leaving Jae-hyun at a loss for words.
“Um… Customer?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. Do you happen to know where the Girls’ Memorial booth is?”
“Are you here for the game demo?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“This way, please.”
Thanks to the guidance of Karin, or rather the booth girl, Jae-hyun was able to arrive at the Girls’ Memorial booth.
“Please follow me inside.”
As Jae-hyun followed the booth girl into the booth, his eyes caught sight of a 1:1 scale cutout, and he couldn’t help himself.
I need to take a picture of this.
The booth girl, or rather Karin, nodded agreeably to Jae-hyun’s request.
“Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be allowed… but since you’re our first customer, feel free to take your time.”
Jae-hyun thanked the booth girl, who was heading further inside, and captured the cutouts in his camera.
‘This is definitely going to explode on the community when I post it.’
Not only was the quality of the illustration excellent, but a 1:1 scale cutout was not something one saw every day.
I even thought about buying the goods if they were for sale, but the lack of price tags suggested they were non-commercial items.
After taking enough pictures of the cutouts, Jae-hyun entered the booth, where a whole new world unfolded.
There was the experience zone lined with numerous smartphones and the listening area occupying the adjacent space.
The rest of the booth was decorated with official merchandise, dolls, and an information desk, a charming and tidy arrangement.
However, it seemed the booth girl hadn’t lied when she said he was the first customer, as no other guests were in sight.
“Welcome! The story of the girls’ youth—Girls’ Memorial!”
“Ah, yes…”
The energetic energy of the booth girls made Jae-hyun shrink somewhat.
He suddenly remembered the booth girl cosplaying as Karin and looked around the booth, but he couldn’t find her anywhere.
“Would you like to try it out right away?”
Though slightly disappointed, he reminded himself he came to play the game, so he could see her later.
With that thought in mind, Jae-hyun took the headset the attendant handed him and placed it on his head.
Soon, a rhythm filled with the youthful energy of a heartbeat started playing.
It was the main OST of Girls’ Memorial.
As the phone screen came to life with the logo of Girls’ Memorial against a clear blue urban background,
‘I’m finally playing Girls’ Memorial…!’
The excitement of being able to properly play the prologue that was unavailable during the closed beta was evident in Jae-hyun’s eyes.
Soon, Jae-hyun began to completely focus on the screen, ignoring everything around him.
The opening visuals were the landscapes of the academy city of “ARC” after the OST finished.
Only it wasn’t the same cityscape from the PV that Jae-hyun remembered.
Instead of the peaceful city, what appeared was the opposite—buildings in ruins, smoke rising everywhere, streets burning.
Through this apocalyptic scenery of a city in collapse, the script floated alongside the voice of a young girl.
[…It was our mistake.]
A calm voice acknowledging fault.
Though normally one to skip through stories, Jae-hyun couldn’t help but continue this time.
Despite the 30-minute experience limit, Jae-hyun felt that skipping the prologue would result in regret.
After calmly offering sincere advice to give the girls’ youth a proper choice, the young girl finally disappeared.
As the screen grew bright, the prologue story began.
Jae-hyun carefully read each line, savoring the tale.
After about ten minutes of playing,
Jae-hyun felt deep satisfaction after reading the last line of the prologue.
The OST was great, the illustrations beautiful, and the story itself was engaging and fun.
What was especially wonderful was how the prologue efficiently and clearly explained the overall setting of Girls’ Memorial within its limited scope.
Jae-hyun, content from the prologue, glanced at the time briefly and was startled.
Thought he had only spent about ten minutes, it turned out he had been playing for over twenty.
Realizing he had a little over ten minutes left, Jae-hyun quickly began devouring the other contents.
‘I’m seriously going to lose my mind…!’
Honestly, he wanted an extra hour.
If he could extend the experience by paying, he definitely would.
Though the gameplay might not compare to PC games in terms of depth, Girls’ Memorial had an addictive quality to it.
Battle systems, character gacha, relationship stories, and more.
In those limited 30 minutes, Jae-hyun became completely immersed in Girls’ Memorial.
But time doesn’t last forever.
Soon the 30 minutes were up, and Jae-hyun reluctantly got up after looking at the now darkened smartphone.
“Did you enjoy it?”
Startled by a strange male voice from behind, Jae-hyun turned his head.
A mild-mannered man stood there looking at him.
“Ah, uh….”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Jihojin, the General Director of Girls’ Memorial.”