Chapter 28  

Chapter 28   : Strange Game (2)

I, who was leisurely browsing the bookshelves, let out a smirk after I heard that comment from the student .

‘Mmm~ Well, he’s not totally wrong I guess . ’

As if the curiosity of the other students were perked him, they started to barrage him with even more questions . One student looked around the bookstore and inspected the games released for the Family .

“There’s no game like that here?”

“I told you already that it wasn’t officially released…”

“What the hell do you mean? Then how did your cousin get a hold of an unreleased game?”

“That’s… He said he bought it at a second hand store?”

“He bought an unreleased game from a second hand store!? Just what kind of game is it? What’s the genre?”

“My cousin said that it was a new genre that he’d never seen before . The theme is a fantasy setting, but the characters inside the screen are standing on top of some kind of chessboard map . You’re suppose to move the characters around to fight the enemy . The problem is…”

“The problem…?”

“He says that the data inside the game will restart when his character dies…”

“What? What are you talking about?? You’re saying that if a character dies, then it’s gone forever?”

“Yeah…”

In response, one student, who was listening to the story, scoffed and remarked:

“Then you can just turn the device off and on or load back into a checkpoint . ”

“Apparently that specific character disappears even after a load…”

“What did you say!? Then how about starting from the beginning?”

“That’s not possible either . If all of the characters are dead, it’s game over . And the game is unplayable after that . ”

“Crazy f*cking… Who’s the developer? They’re making money off of a game like this? They should be protested against . ”

“He said that there were no mentions of the developers, so there was no customer center to complain to . Like I’ve said before, that game was bought in a second hand store in its bare disk form without the cartridge . Plus, its price might seem peculiar; he said it was 1000 Yen…”

“1000 Yen? It’s that cheap? No way . Is your cousin a liar?”

“He’s not that type of person . Anyways, he lost all of his characters and suffered a game over… So recently, he has been going around the second hand stores to search for a game named Dragon Emblem…”

“Phew~ That’s amazing . Perhaps we should search for that game too?”

Soon after the students stormed out of the bookstore, the store owner shouted in a loud voice to them:

“You rascals!! A book store is a place of serenity!!”

As soon as I stepped out of the bookstore, I watched the students running through the streets and closed my book . The mystical game that not anyone could play: Dragon Emblem…

The student’s explanation from a while ago was pretty accurate .

This game that required you to move your characters in a fantasy setting and fighting the enemies within would be called a simulation RPG genre in the future .

The title named Dragon Emblem was my first ever creation after the time slip . And… it currently boasted the highest difficulty in the history of games .

Of course, I made it so that it was possible to beat the game . However, it was impossible to clear the game on the first try . As soon as one character died, Dragon Emblem would turn into a game that would be impossible to beat…

I was able to distribute this to the market without going through Mintendo’s cartridge production factory . How was that possible?

First of all, I didn’t utilize the standard supply chain . Like the student said before, I passed this game to the second hand stores at a base price of 500 Yen per The bastard, Junpei, chased after me with a yakitori in his mouth saying that he must eat it every time in Osaka .

“Ah~ hot~!! Hah~ Haht~!!?

“You would come to your senses after burning your mouth…”

I shook my head and smirked at the scene of Junpei rolling the yakitori around his mouth .

Since I came here, aside from Mr . Gunpei and Mr . Shigeru, I did not have very many people around my age that I would call my friends .

Should I say that this bastard was one friend that I could freely speak my heart to?

After a while, we arrived at a raw fish restaurant with a unique crab sign and rented a room inside the restaurant .

“Was the nice place that you talked about… here?”

“Why? You don’t like it? Wanna go somewhere else??”

“Nah… I must’ve been possessed by a confused ghost for a brief moment . Of course…”

“Man . You probably ran over here anticipating that I would take you to a strip club…”

“Shut up~!! I work everyday so I don’t have time to meet a girl . ”

“What, you think I’m eating and playing every day?”

As I slowly lifted the shot glass, Junpei clanked his cup against mine with an unsatisfied expression . In the midst of filling our stomach with the raw fish and talking about recent game industry happenings, Junpei laid his chopsticks down at the table and wore a serious expression on his face .

“Actually, the reason I visited was to personally ask you a question . ”

“Yeah?”

As I half-heartedly responded and grabbed a piece of raw fish, Junpei slightly crinkled his face .

“Alright . I’ll pay attention, what is it?”

“Do you perhaps know about a game called Dragon Emblem?”

What, it was about this? I swallowed my laughter inside and answered .

“Yeah, I know about it . Why? Are you also interested in that game?”

“My job is a reporter for a game magazine, why would I not be interested? But, have you played it before?”

“Yup, I played it . ”

“What? Where did you find it!?”

“I bought it from a second hand game store like the rumors said . ”

“What game store was it? Please tell me . ”

“It’s a place in Kyoto, but we can’t go there right now . We’ve even drank… and there was only one copy left when I bought it . I was lucky…”

“The rumors were true after all!! It would appear at Kyoto or Osaka rather than Tokyo!!”

That was because I live here, so it was obvious that I would spread it near me…

“But was that game especially expensive? I bought it at 8,000 Yen from the second hand game store . I heard that it was 1,000 Yen from the rumors…”

“It’s glaringly obvious that the price would rise~!! That game is an incredibly hot topic amongst the Family game maniacs . ”

Like Junpei had said, Dragon Emblem that sold in the beginning for 500 Yen was now going for around 6,000 Yen . Of course, it was for the brand new copies that did not have the game data deleted…

After emptying the shot glass down into my throat, I took out a game cartridge from inside my jacket . Subsequently, Junpei’s eyes widened like a circle and opened his mouth .

“Uh…? You… that, you…”

“I knew you would ask about this, so I acquired another copy a couple of days ago . ”

Even though I actually brought this copy that was laying around my house…

“Junhyuk~!! You bastard~ Aaooohh!! You lovely object!!”