12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

———————————

“Kie-e-e-e-e-ek!” The dragon, flying through the clouds, roared toward the sky. From there the man who was looking down rises from the dragon’s back and jumps towards the ground. He begins his free fall through the wind. When things like houses, hills, trees, and rivers on the ground become clear, he pulls on the rope he is holding. The parachute on his back is unfolded and he stops his free fall and slowly drifts down to the ground. His target is to fly toward a small town just a short distance from the castle. However, a muscular Orc with green skin right next to him is coming with his parachute open. The two look at each other in mid-air, and both of them hit the ground.

The two scramble on the ground almost at the same time and look at each other. In the meantime, an axe is shining next to a tree stump. The two run for the axe, no matter who comes first. The man manages to grab the axe in place of the muscular Orc by a tenth of a second. Then he rushes toward the terrified Orc warrior.

At the same time, the phrase Breathtaking Fantasy Battle Royale! Fantasy War Ground CBT Grand Opens! appears.

———————————

‘They’ve done a good job expressing the contents of the game in a short time.’ I looked down at the scroll. I could see the check box for “CBT Tester Winning.”

‘CBT stands for ‘Closed Beta Test,’ which refers to a game that is tested by a number of gamers before the game is released. It’s a kind of rehearsal. Usually, most successful games will be almost outstanding at this point. As I expected, Fantasy War Ground will receive tremendous acclaim from here. If it’s a world-wide hit, it should be good!. ‘

I put my name and phone number next to the confirmation cursor and pressed the “OK” button. “Name is Han Sang-hoon…” However, I met the phrase, “We are sorry that you didn’t win the lottery for the CBT. Please wait for the upcoming OBT.”

I failed out of my own company’s CBT. I picked up the phone right away and said, “Secretary Seo.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Call Kai Games, ask them for a Fantasy War Ground CBT key.”

Secretary Seo said, “CBT key?”

I said in a slightly sullen tone, “Yes, I failed.”

“Ha, no, these guys, don’t they know the name of their major shareholder?”

“They would have picked one at random. Get one anyway, and you get one, too.”

“Me too?”

“Yes, it’s our company’s game. You should try it.”

“Yes, sir.”

‘Of course, in one way or another, the game would succeed because correction news didn’t come. Just in case, I asked the Customer Service. There is no time limit for the correction news. So whenever the future changes, they’ll send it to me. I just want to see how the game works with my eyes.’

I got a call about a minute after I had called Seo. It was Shin Dong-woo, CEO of Kai Games. He telephoned me and apologized, “Mr. President, I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize.”

“Our staff chooses testers randomly. They didn’t know you are the president… I’m sorry. We’ll text you the closed beta key right away.”

‘He’s been really good to me. I’ve raised my stake in the company to 60% and didn’t say anything, so maybe he’s been a little nervous. “If I don’t do this right, I’m going to be fired as a founder.” Steve Jobs was also fired from his company, Apple, with less equity in his company.’

Of course, I didn’t intend to fire him. I just wanted to get enough of the success of the Fantasy War Ground by myself.

“Oh, that’s okay. I understand. I’m applying on the Internet, and I can’t get special treatment. I should have told you in advance.”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“No. By the way, how’s the CBT, getting ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, then, please continue to work hard.”

“Yes, sir.”

He said the same thing one after another and stayed still. He seemed to think he couldn’t hang up until I hung up first. I poked out my lips and pressed the call-end button. According to the text message, there were 20 beta keys like “XGKMPK2125 KEWN2385KJ.”

‘I just need one…’ I sighed as I entered a beta key. A message appeared soon. “Congratulations! You’ve won the CBT for Fantasy War Ground!”

Soon the game download window popped up. I started to get in. It was ten minutes after ten AM. The trade had ended early today, and I would spend my time playing the game that I had invested in.

In the meantime, Seo called again, “Boss, Shin Dong-woo sent me the CBT key right away. Do you want me to send it over?”

“Oh, no. I just got it on the phone myself. I got my keys, too.”

“Oh, yes. And Vice President Jang wants you to come to work.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, because of Blue E&M and personnel affairs.”

After buying a stake in Kai Games, I reached out to the next company, Blue E&M. The work went smoothly because they wanted to attract more investment.

“Well, aside from Blue E&M, what’s the matter with personnel affairs?”

“It’s not a problem, but there came some sort of guidelines for hiring young people.”

“Where? Government?”

“They’ve come from two different places at the same time; from the government, from Seoul City.”

“Well, it’s because of the youth unemployment.”

“Yes. It gets worse and worse.”

I knew it better than anyone. In recent years, I seemed to have seen the keywords “Youth Unemployment” in the category “Politics” and “Economy.”

“So, they want us to hire more young people? They’re cutting corporate taxes?”

“Yes, that’s what it sounds like. So the Vice President wants to talk to the boss himself about this.”

“Ummm…”

The game was being downloaded in front of my eyes, but I couldn’t refuse Jang’s request to play it.

“I’ll go. Now.”

“Will you?”

Come to think of it, I had a job at OH Entertainment, too. I thought I could stop by the company in the morning to receive reports, and go to OH Entertainment in the afternoon.

“Yes. And tell President Kwon, I’m going to OH Entertainment in the afternoon.”

“Yes, sir.”

I got up from my seat after finishing my phone call. ‘I have to go to work, go to work.’ I combed my hair and dressed in a suit, and looked out the window. It was snowing. After seeing the snow coming, I went out of the studio with a thick coat. By the way, Lee Ah-young was coming out from next door. She wore white pants, a light blue sweater, and a white parka on the outside. She looked like a big rabbit.

She looked at me, “Oh, hello.” She greeted me first and was a little tense. Because of the last time’s happening, I felt a little more familiar with her than before.

“Hello.” We stopped in front of the elevator together.

She asked me, “Are you going to work now?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Do you usually go to work at this time?”

Going to work at 10 AM was certainly not a normal situation.

“Ah… that’s different then.”

She nodded at my words. “Oh yes.”

‘What does this lady think of me? I’m having free time at work?’

But then, she said, “I like being the CEO of a company, too. you can go to work at your own time.”

I looked at her in slight surprise, “How did you know?”

She answered my question briefly, “I saw the TV program…”

“Ah!”

There was only one TV show that I’d ever been on: Meet A MBE Super Ant.

‘Did she see that? It’s not a program that a young woman would watch.’ I was thinking about it, and she kept asking, “No matter what, it’s better for an individual not to invest in stocks, right?”

Come to think of it, she was quite rich, perhaps looking for other investment sources besides real estate. Then, she might have watched the TV program.

I told her, “Yes, I don’t recommend it. Especially, Ah-young, don’t you major in fine arts ?”

She was surprised at me this time, “How did you know?”

“I’ve been in your home, though I didn’t mean it.”

She opened her mouth wide, “Ahh…”

We knew each other better than we thought. In the meantime, the elevator opened in front of us and we both got in. I spoke to her as I pressed the ground floor for the parking lot, “A stock may have a fifty percent winning rate in a field that one knows well. As for arts, we don’t have any listed stocks. Stock doesn’t suit an artist very well.”

She said with a slight smile at my words, “Well, I’m not even called an artist yet. I’m, I’m still, I’m a graduate student.” She even brought up her personal story.

“Oh, I see.” So, I also brought up a story I was curious about. “Who’s that white girl, then?”

“Oh, she was a roommate in college.”

‘Roommate? Was that why she knew her password? Come to think of it, there are a lot of people like that. Maybe she’s such a person who has the same password for homes in the U.S. and Korea.’

“I graduated from college in the U.S. Then I came to Korea for a while… I went out to have fun with her, and… that’s what happened.”

‘As she graduated from college in the US, she is not a foreigner with black hair.’

“Yes, I see.”

In the meantime, the elevator reached the ground floor and we went to our cars.

“Yes, then.” She bowed her head to send me off.

“Yes.” I also raised my hand goodbye.

———————————

“So, the capital increase by issuing new shares for Blue E&M will be completed sometime next week.”

Blue E&M was a case of being short of money, so we decided to make a third-party paid capital infusion. Blue E&M, which had been struggling with lack of funds even when it was trying to start a new business, received our funds while it was in a tight corner.

“Yes, I’ll… I’ll talk to you in private, but the Blue E&M…” I saw the report that Vice President Jang brought in. The CEO’s name was Oh Seong-gyun.

“Tell CEO Oh Seong-gyun to reorganize the service centered around Fantasy War Ground’s launching this time.”

“Well… it will be not bad for synergy between subsidiaries.”

“There’s synergy between companies, but just tell them it is going to be a big hit. Tell them to get ahead of European TV. I’ll tell Kai Games to give full support.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And the next one is…”

Jang took out the second report he was holding and put it in front of me. It was a bit of a stiff issue compared to what we’d been talking about before, whether it was a game or an Internet broadcasting.

“It’s an issue both for the federal government and the Seoul City Government.”