Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 266

The online community was buzzing.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it was the hottest topic around.

Provocative posts were being uploaded uniformly across various platforms.

Not only that, but these posts provided a clear target for anger, someone to curse at.

The evidence presented was solid, fueling the discussion and leading to YouTubers reproducing the content, further amplifying the heat.

-This post is legit. Wow.

-ㅋㅋㅋ Look at the download speed. Crazy.

-Everyone seems to be trying it out.

-Ah ㅋㅋㅋ So boringㅋㅋㅋ

-Suspicions came out quite a while ago, but I couldn’t imagine they’d go this far.

-The fabrication is evolving day by dayㅋㅋㅋ

Ironically, [Zombie Island] skyrocketed in the rankings.

With the surge in downloads, its visibility was excellent. People who were previously unaware of the situation started playing it, leading to a flood of reviews.

Of course, most of them were negative.

-Hey you ♪♪♬♩! Is this what you call a game!

-ㅋㅋㅋ This game is on the charts?!

-I would have been so pissed if I bought this with money.

-Yeah. It’s trash.

After sufficiently venting their anger on the accused, curiosity arose about the developer who had reported the issue.

Although the number of posts wasn’t massive, it was enough to reignite the community’s interest.

-Let’s see how wronged they are. Let’s play the game.

-Wow. I played it, and it’s a shame it was buried? Kyung Trio?

-This is the level of game that should be on the chartsㅋㅋㅋ

-What’s with the quality?

-Wow, the story is amazing ㅋㅋㅋ The game direction is perfectㅋㅋㅋ

-Yeah, this is the real deal that should be on the charts.

In fact, considering the game’s quality and entertainment value, it was only a matter of time before it would find its place in the rankings.

However, this wave of attention accelerated that process.

Downloads and ratings soared instantly, propelling it into the top 100.

Specifically, it jumped to 47th place.

“Wow! This is crazy! Si-hyuk. We’re on the charts,” Ahn Kyung-ho exclaimed, putting his arm around Park Kyung-joon and jumping up and down.

Shin Kyung-hwan was also visibly pleased, his lips twitching into a smile.

Ahn Hyun-tae watched them with interest, as if this success was only natural.

“Now, I think it’s enough to safely get into the top 10. Estem Games will probably contact us,” Ahn Kyung-ho said, smiling brightly, though a worried expression flickered across his face for a moment.

“But, they’re not going to sanction us for making the community hot with our report, are they?”

“If they added sanctions to our unfair situation, it would become a hot topic again. Would they be that stupid?”

“That’s true.”

I chuckled at Ahn Kyung-ho’s worries.

How frustrating would it be if you couldn’t even voice your grievances in the world?

It might be tough without anyone acknowledging you.

But modern times are a bit different.

There are people who listen. There’s a system that turns attention into money.

That vested interest may not be a consolation for the unfairness, but it’s true that it becomes power and influence.

“Don’t worry too much. I put a lot of words in an email to Estem. Well, it might be a situation of giving a disease and then giving medicine [intentionally causing a problem and then offering a solution]. Or maybe they’ll be upset?”

“Why?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. I sent an email suggesting they close the Star Tester system.”

“What?!” Ahn Kyung-ho widened his eyes and pointed his finger.

“You, you traitor! We were just about to benefit from it!”

I just shrugged my shoulders.

“We’ll be the last to enjoy that honey. Are they going to apply it right away? Well, they’ll apply it as soon as possible.”

“What exactly did you send them?”

“Just an alternative system?”

***

-Estem Games Headquarters.

There are usually quite a few reports coming in, but there are a lot because of this issue.

Among them, the email from the Kyung Trio development team stood out.

In fact, they couldn’t look favorably on them for making such a fuss.

Of course, they were the wronged party, and the one who did wrong was someone else.

“Hey. Lecky! Kyung Trio sent us an email!”

“What? What did they send?”

“Let’s look at it together. We were in a meeting anyway.”

He sent the attached email to each person and received it on his pad.

They were reading the email in the conference room.

It argued for the closure of the Star Tester system.

“Haha. They’re interesting friends.”

[First. The manipulation of music charts, which is already a problem in Korea, is systematically done, so you can’t trust the rankings.

Estem’s system is the same.

It is subdivided into crowdfunding, app store, SNS advertising, and so on.

The same goes for app accounts that can create many IDs. There are endless ways.]

“That’s not wrong.”

[Second. You also had a situation where you secretly stole and uploaded games from other developers.]

“Tsk. I have nothing to say.”

The words that hit the situation were revealed one by one.

Estem employees here also knew it.

So they were discussing it now.

Certainly, seeing this organized file gave the feeling that they had deliberately given the data needed for the meeting.

Well, it was a coincidence.

“What’s more interesting is that this friend made a new proposal.”

“We were also thinking about this part.”

[I hope you eliminate ‘Star Tester’ and create a new ‘Star Direct’ (tentative name).

The contents are as follows.

1. Launch through screening.

2. Receive a screening fee of $100 (110,000 won). Return it if sales of $1,000 (1.1 million won) are generated after launch.

3. Set the screening period to 30 days.

*If internal screening is difficult, I recommend creating a separate outsourced screening.

*There will already be data created. YouTubers, reviewers.

*Most indie games have been discovered through these people, and it would be good to use them under contract.

*Of course, you may be worried about corruption in this area. But if you just leave it to one person’s voice, you can filter it out enough.

You have to reduce the amount of work.

There is no perfect system in the world.]

From then on, there were fairly detailed contract details and things about certain rewards.

Estem employees couldn’t help but smile blankly as they looked at it.

The CEO of Estem burst out laughing.

“Puhaha. What is this person?”

“I know.”

“Ah, they’re really crazy. They’re doing this much for us? What benefit do they have?”

“Looking at it, they’re listed as the translator for the Kyung Trio development team?”

“Right. If they’re a translator, they’re just a contract worker. They’re not even affiliated with the Kyung Trio development team. They’re doing this without any benefit?”

“Well, that’s the most strange thing.”

What benefit would this Lee Si-hyuk friend get?

Even if Kyung Trio’s game does well, there is little monetary gain to be made.

And this detailed and specific direction ‘report’ was also a benefit to Estem.

It’s the job that the employees at this conference table should be doing.

The CEO swept his brown hair up from his forehead.

“Interesting.”

“The reason is written at the end. If you have any hard feelings towards our Kyung Trio development team, please resolve them with this?”

“Puhaha! Ah, really.”

The CEO buried his head on the desk as if his stomach hurt and chuckled.

Wiping away the tears that had welled up.

“It’s this guy.”

“What is?”

“The Kyung Trio development team didn’t set this up. This guy set it up. He’s got a brilliant mind.”

“Hahaha. Well, is he slapping us on the left cheek and giving us medicine?”

“That’s not it. This case was going to explode anyway. This friend just used it. This is really. I like it. Jake. Don’t you?”

“Lecky seems to like it a lot?”

“Of course.”

The CEO pondered something and stroked his chin.

“Let’s supplement what’s here and proceed. It’s good.”

“Are you really going to do this?”

“Yeah. What’s the problem?”

“No. Don’t you think we’ll use it again later if we proceed like this?”

“That could be the case. I don’t know what they want, but they can’t do anything great with this. Ah! Have you played the Kyung Trio game?”

Jake nodded awkwardly.

“I don’t understand it even more because I played it.”

“Why?”

“It was a game that didn’t need to do this.”

It was the best compliment.

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t have been conveyed to Kyung Trio.

“Okay. Then send them a launch progress email when the time comes. Give them a good promotion too.”

“Well, I got it.”

In any case, the direction of the work was working well for Kyung Trio.

“Oh, right. Tell that Lee Si-hyuk friend to come to the company sometime. Is America too far?”

“I’ll send it anyway.”

“It would be fun to work with him…….”

Jake shook his head as if it was starting again.

***

When you work, you write a lot of emails.

People who come put emails in separate storage boxes, but there are still a lot.

An email of thanks also came from Estem.

Saying to come visit sometime.

Actually, this is not important. This matter is already almost over.

“Siha, Siha. You got an email?”

“Ah?” Siha, who was drawing intently, put down her pen and ran to me.

“Hyung!” She stuck to my back, becoming like a turtle’s shell.

I felt her strength gradually increasing as she hugged my neck tightly.

I feel that she is growing little by little in these trivial things.

“What is it?”

“Yes. It came to Siha Pepe writer. Happy New Year.”

“Really?”

“And they’re asking if you have any plans to release new emoticons?”

“Ahko!” Siha hits her forehead.

I’ve been wondering where she learned that from a long time ago.

It must be from some cartoon?

“Siha. Where does that come from?”

“Emperor Pepe does this a lot.”

“I guess the Emperor Penguin character does that a lot these days.”

I thought it was strangely frequent.

Children’s cartoons easily follow trends.

“Hyung. Let’s release Pepe. Pepe.”

“Huh?”

“Siha made a lot.”

“Oh. That’s right. You made a lot.”

I’ve been slowly making moving emoticons, but slowly.

A smaller number is registered than emoticons that don’t move.

A total of 24.

But as you know, there are more pictures to draw because they have to move.

That’s why it took even longer.

“Let’s release season 2 because it’s the new year.”

“Season 2?”

“Yes. Part 2! It’s the same thing. Huh? Super Emperor Penguin Two! It’s the same feeling.”

“Does it get stronger?”

“Wouldn’t it be stronger because it moves?”

But why are they sending me these emails?

Siha is one of the people who knows that she is 3 years old.

Maybe only a few people will know if they ride that line.

I seemed to know only after reading all the emails.

“You know Siha’s book came out too?”

“Ah?”

“Do you remember the person you signed the emoticon contract with before? I think they accidentally saw Siha’s book. It seems like they’re going to promote it together and put up a small banner?”

“Really?”

“Yes. That’s good. Right?”

“Ah ah.”

I said I understood without thinking and replied that I would send it to them soon as a moving emoticon.

I had to think about whether to put text on only a few of them.

Everything will work even if there is no text.

“I hope Siha earns a lot.”

“Siha too!”

I hope Siha uses this money well in the future.

“Why does Siha?”

Siha hugged me and buried her face in my neck.

“Siha. Siha. I’ll buy Hyung a house.”

“Huh? Why a house?”

“Siha knows. I watched TV.”

“What did you watch?”

“Idol came out. Buy a house. Mom, Dad.”

“Huh?”

“Siha will buy Hyung a house.”

I was speechless.

I’ve seen a lot of news about idols who make a lot of money buying houses for their parents.

But Siha can’t buy it for her parents and says she’ll buy it for me.

That fact… hurt my heart for no reason.

“Hyung? Are you okay?”

Siha touched my face.

“Yes. Of course, I’m okay. I was so surprised that Siha said she would buy Hyung a house. I was so touched. So that’s what my face became?”

“Siha will surprise you a lot~”

“What are you going to surprise me with this time?”

“Siha will give Hyung an allowance.”

“Puhup. What allowance. Hahaha. So how much are you going to give me?”

Siha spread three fingers.

“Thirty thousand.”

“Wow. Thirty thousand won?”

“No. Grandma’s thirty thousand.”

Grandma’s thirty thousand?

Ah! I think she was talking about three 50,000 won bills [approximately $45 USD].

150,000 won [approximately $135 USD]. The allowance was considerable.