RedX43
patreon
[Game] Chapter 299: The Rival’s New Game
🕑 Added 2025-07-14 06:30:02 +0000 UTCWith her curiosity temporarily satisfied, Umiko smiled and said, “Finally, I’ve got a chance to work on a shooting game. Alright, time for me to head back and finish up the work I’ve been putting off. I also made plans with a few friends to go to the shooting range tonight—can’t be late for that.”
Just as she opened the office door to leave, she found a group led by Hazuki crowded at the entrance.
“Hey hey hey!”
“Ah! You’re squishing me!”
Seeing the group tumble over each other like a human pyramid, Umiko twitched the corner of her mouth. “What the heck are you all doing?”
Climbing to her feet, Kō Yagami rubbed her head with a sheepish grin. “Hehe, it’s all Hazuki-san’s fault. She asked if we were curious about what you two were doing together in here. We didn’t really want to come, but she dragged us along.”
Ichin, still inside, heard the commotion and came out of the office.
He looked at the group scrambling up from the floor and shook his head with a sigh. “You guys didn’t actually think I was doing anything shady with Umiko in here, did you? Didn’t you notice that even Utaha didn’t react?”
Indeed, Utaha hadn’t budged the whole time. She was sitting next to Rin Toyama, quietly reading a copy of Dream of the Red Chamber.
She had seen Umiko pull Ichin into the office earlier, but wasn’t the least bit concerned.
She knew Ichin and Umiko well enough—there was no way anything questionable was going on. It was almost certainly something related to a game.
Utaha was aware that Ichin often used his free time to develop game proposals, and she knew he had more than just Dark Souls in the pipeline—there was also a shooting game, which just happened to be Umiko’s favorite genre.
So Ichin probably shared some of that idea with her, and Umiko got a bit overexcited.
It was understandable.
Just like how she herself got hyper when discussing stories she was passionate about.
Naturally, Ichin wasn’t going to share the new game plan with everyone. Umiko alone was excited enough. If the whole team found out, how would anyone get back to work?
After sending the nosy crew back to their desks, Ichin made his way over to Utaha.
He hadn’t expected Utaha to start reading Dream of the Red Chamber, but as she had once said herself—if she was going to learn Chinese, she should use it for more than just daily communication.
Plus, as a novelist, it made perfect sense to absorb some of the literary heritage of China. With so many classic masterpieces, skipping them would be a waste.
Even though translated versions existed, Utaha insisted on reading the original.
Ichin, who had never read Red Chamber, sat beside her and glanced at the pages, whispering, “Is it hard to read?”
Utaha slowly shook her head. “Not really. It’s not written in the modern vernacular like I expected, but it’s not hard to understand. The content actually surprised me a bit—it’s quite captivating. I just hope Sonoko doesn’t start rushing me for Volume 2 just because she sees me reading.”
“I doubt it,” Ichin said, gently brushing the hair from her cheek. “The first volume hasn’t even released yet. She’s not going to push for the second one so soon. Even if she does, it won’t be for at least a month or two.”
Utaha thought about it and agreed. She was no longer a novice who needed hand-holding or who missed deadlines.
By now, she was a bestselling light novel author. She could easily continue for a few more years. And once she had accumulated enough experience and reputation, she could consider shifting to writing traditional fiction.
And if not that, she could even try screenwriting for anime or games.
Utaha was confident in her abilities. Whether it was deadlines or quality drops, none of those problems were going to happen to her.
Leaning gently on Ichin’s shoulder, she flipped a page and asked quietly while reading, “Did you tell Umiko about the new game just now?”
“Yeah, a little. But it’s still a long way off. We’ll need to finish Persona first, and expand the studio before development begins.”
Ichin still had several new game projects drafted, but he wasn’t going to rush anything. Steady and careful—that was the plan.
After spending a little time with Utaha, Ichin was about to head back to his office to check on the team’s progress when Hazuki came out of her office and walked over.
Leaning in close to his ear, Hazuki whispered, “Ichin, Akane Akasaka’s company just announced their new game online. It’s already live on Steam and—”
“Oh?”
Ichin raised an eyebrow and smiled. “If you hadn’t brought her up, I’d have completely forgotten about our latest ‘competitor.’”
He pulled over Utaha’s laptop, opened Steam, and asked, “What’s the title?”
Phantom Epoch. A 3D fantasy-style ARPG. I watched the PV—it looks like a pretty large-scale project.”
“Big budget, huh?”
Ichin’s curiosity grew. He searched the title, and sure enough, the game popped right up.
As he clicked on the promotional video, others in the studio began to gather around.
Eriri tugged Yukino over to watch too, muttering, “So Akane Akasaka really does plan to go head-to-head with you, huh?”
“‘Head-to-head’ might be a bit of a stretch,” Ichin said, enlarging the video. “The world settings are completely different, and the gameplay’s not the same either. This is an ARPG, real-time combat. Persona is turn-based. But I’ll admit, the models in this PV are pretty well done—though we’ll see what the actual game looks like.”
Everyone gathered around was from the art team, so they immediately noticed the high quality of the character modeling.
Kō Yagami squinted at the screen. “Wait a second—wasn’t Akane’s company originally a commercial doujin circle? Where’d she get such high-level 3D artists?”
Without anyone realizing it, Umiko had joined the crowd and casually answered the question.
“Easy. She poached them.”
Calmly sipping her drink, Umiko continued, “Didn’t I jump ship from another company to join Eagle Jump Studio? If you’re willing to pay enough, this kind of thing is nothing. And with Akane Akasaka’s connections and skills, I bet it wasn’t hard for her to recruit a few professionals.”
Ichin nodded in agreement. “Exactly. Poaching is common in this industry. For someone like Akane, who wants to make a name for herself in game development right from the start, targeting the right talent can yield immediate results.”
However, as the PV entered its later segments, Ichin began to notice a few flaws in the game.
...
