The Governnt Complex Seoul is MOGEF's ho ground.
Even a stray dog fights best on its ho turf, as the saying goes. Therefore, entering this place was no different from walking into the heart of enemy territory.
The air was thicker than ever with tension and a sense of grim resolve.
My concern wasn't so much about winning the debate, but whether I could return ho safely. Suddenly, I missed my mother and Ellie.
Various groups had already gathered in front of the governnt complex. So were affiliated with MOGEF, others were private organizations. Banners fluttered in the air.
[Strengthen Ga Regulation!]
[500 Cris Per Year Due to Gas!]
[Playing Killing Gas Turns You into a Murderer!]
[Gaming Lowers Grades and Destroys the Brain!]
[Parents Demand It! Implent Strong Ga Regulation Imdiately!]
In front of them, the president of the 'Moms Raising Kids Safely Group,' nicknad 'Anaki,' shouted through a gaphone.
"When my child cos ho from school, he doesn't eat, doesn't study, only plays gas! He plays PC gas on the computer, mobile gas on his phone, and console gas in front of the TV! If I try to stop him, he screams and rebels! My child, who never even watched porn and only knew studying! Gas ruined him!"
Watching from the car, Taek-gyu remarked,
"He's got the makings of a great pro gar."
Surprisingly, on the opposite side, ga companies had set up small booths, and gars had gathered in front of them.
There were nearly a thousand of them!
In South Korea, where protests can draw hundreds of thousands, this might not seem like much, but it's rare for gars to gather in such numbers.
They were all there to cheer us on as we headed into MOGEF... well, not really. They had simply flocked there because they heard limited-edition costu coupons were being given out.
I'd heard about the event, but I hadn't expected it to be this effective!
They weren't exactly chanting slogans or cheering, but seeing them gathered there felt sohow reassuring.
***
We entered the forum hall.
It was originally an auditorium, but the layout had been changed for the debate. Nurous people were already inside. On the right side of the debate table sat four people, including Minister Shin Jeon-mi, with the moderator in the center.
The moderator apparently specialized in MCing various MOGEF-hosted forums, so it was safe to assu he was on their side.
And in the audience seats sat about 30 parents and people from related organizations.
The ga regulation issue had garnered intense interest since OTK Company got involved. Consequently, press mbers permitted by MOGEF were also present.
To accommodate Taek-gyu, who disliked showing his face publicly, the cara angle was set diagonally so that only his voice would be heard.
Unlike my fearful self, Taek-gyu looked completely unfazed. Having him next to was sowhat comforting.
Before starting the debate, we exchanged greetings.
The moderator announced,
"We will now begin the 'Forum on Healthy Use of Internet Gas by Youth and Treatnt of Ga Addiction'."
The first to speak was Min Hak-gyu, president of the National Alliance for Youth Health. He was the only male mber on the MOGEF side.
He listed the problems with gas.
"...As such, the addictiveness and gambling-like elents of gas are severe. Look at Kangwon Land [Korea's main local-accessible casino]. It is operated under strict governnt regulation. So why is there such opposition to ga regulation?"
I was already dumbfounded from the start.
"Are gas and gambling the sa thing?"
He replied as if it were obvious,
"Their essence is the sa. Both are included in the 'Big 4 Addictions,' and there's research showing that ga addicts' brains are identical to gambling addicts' brains."
Gambling itself creates no added value. Wealth rely transfers from one side to the other based on card numbers. If possible, it would be best to eliminate it entirely, but since that's difficult, things like horse racing, cycle racing, and casinos are operated under strict governnt managent.
However, gaming is an industry that creates imnse added value. That's why many countries strive to foster their ga industries.
If they view gas and gambling as identical from the outset, is there even a point to this debate?
"There's also research showing that playing a lot of gas reduces sperm count."
"...Excuse ?"
That was easily among the top three most shocking things I'd ever heard.
Taek-gyu looked aggrieved.
"Seriously? Just playing so gas can make you impotent or infertile?"
"This is the result of research by a reliable scholar in Japan. Playing gas extensively causes the frontal lobe to degenerate and cognitive abilities to decline. Furthermore, the brain changes resemble that of a dentia patient, increasing violence and murderous impulses. A book detailing this research has even been published in Japan."
If this were true, it would be Nobel Prize-worthy... but of course, it was nonsense, and the book was treated as trash even within Japan. Yet, it had crossed over to Korea and was being used to justify ga regulation.
"So, does that an all pro gars have damaged brains?"
At Taek-gyu's question, Director Min Hak-gyu nodded.
"That's correct. They are just professionally trained, so they last a bit longer. Statistics show that pro gars who are still students have lower academic performance than other students. This is proof that their brains have problems."
"..."
Isn't it stranger if grades don't drop when juggling a pro gaming career and academics?
I asked him,
"So, is your main point right now that gas lower grades or that they cause murder?"
"Both. You know about the recent Yongcheon-dong PC bang murder case, right? The suspect, Kim Jeong-su, was found to have played online gas for five hours before committing the murder. How can you still say there's no link between gas and violence?"
Taek-gyu countered,
"Go into any PC bang right now, and you'll find many people who have played for over five hours. They don't all commit murder, do they?"
"There are also statistics showing that 25 percent of perpetrators in US school shooting incidents regularly played FPS gas!"
I don't know how they conducted the survey, but the statistic probably wasn't wrong.
Because...
"Actually, 25 percent of adolescents normally play FPS gas. By that logic, there are also statistics showing that 99.99 percent of adolescents who regularly play FPS gas do not commit school shootings."
He snapped irritably,
"This isn't about playing word gas."
Even a debate between conservatives and progressives probably wouldn't run on such parallel, non-intersecting lines.
Taek-gyu offered a rebuttal.
"There are plenty of students who play gas and still do well enough in their studies to get into top universities!"
Director Min Hak-gyu shook his head firmly.
"No. Not a single student like that exists."
Taek-gyu looked like he'd caught him.
"That statent is very easy to refute."
He quickly pointed at .
"This guy right here played online gas with all the ti at PC bangs."
"..."
Why drag into this?
The parents in the audience murmured slightly. Everyone knew I was a graduate of Korea University's Business School.
Isn't sending your child to Korea University every parent's dream?
I spoke calmly.
"I didn't graduate from a top-tier high school, nor did I receive much private tutoring. Nevertheless, as you all know, I entered Korea University's Business School. The reason is that when I got tired of studying, I relieved stress through gaming."
Although the real reason was that I quit gas and studied like crazy from my second year of high school, I decided not to ntion that.
For the record, while I didn't have private tutors, I did diligently attend cram schools. How many people really get into Korea University just with textbooks and EBS [Educational Broadcasting System]?
"While in university, I often went to PC bangs with my classmates and seniors to play battle gas. There aren't many Korea University students who can't play gas."
Though we lost all our team matches against kids from other universities, I decided not to ntion that either. It did seem like the lower the university's admission cutoff, the better they were at gas.
The parents listened attentively to my words.
The 'prestigious university' title really had an effect! No wonder everyone makes such a fuss about Korea University.
Director Min Hak-gyu was flustered. Having soone who played gas and went to Korea University right in front of him undermined his logic.
Flustered, he pointed a finger at Taek-gyu and shouted.
"But Vice President, who played gas with him, didn't even go to college!"
Taek-gyu, without changing his expression, bluffed.
"That's because I was set on entrepreneurship. Rather than dropping out of Harvard like Bill Gates to start a company, I thought it better just to start one directly. I nurtured my entrepreneurial dream while playing gas. Kang Jin-hoo getting into Korea University, the creation of OTK Company – it's all thanks to gas!"
Director Min Hak-gyu yelled back.
"Don't lie!"
I chid in.
"Even Facenote CEO Mike Goldenberg said that if he hadn't played gas, he wouldn't have been able to start Facenote."
He actually did say sothing like that. Though he himself went to Harvard. Seems like successful people succeed no matter what.
With Director Min Hak-gyu defeated, lawyer Park Hye-ji stepped forward.
She was the representative attorney of Ze Law Firm, a forr legal advisor for Heo Chang-min's presidential campaign, and currently served as a consulting attorney for the Gender Equality Promotion Institute.
She stated in a strong tone,
"It's true that the majority of people who play gas don't commit cris. But should we think of them as separate from the criminals? I believe that's a perspective that fails to see the society as a whole."
I asked, dumbfounded,
"What is this, guilt by association ?"
"Then why do we demand apologies from Japan? Japan's current generation are not war criminals. So why do we demand apologies from Japan now?"
I resisted the urge to scream.
Why on earth is Japan being brought into this?
"If the current generation of Japan apologizes and reflects on the actions of the war criminals, we can't keep chasing them down and calling them bad, can we? Similarly, the vast majority of gars do not condone criminals, so why should they be blad?"
"We must look at society as a whole. Can we just pick out this one part of what we see in reality and say it's not true? Look at Kim Jeong-su standing before the press line, making excuses."
"He's a criminal, isn't he?"
"Are he and other gars completely unrelated?"
"Then what is the relation?"
"They played the sa ga."
"We don't say anything to students from the sa school, people who ate at the sa restaurant, or people living in the sa building, we don't even bla the families. Why should people who play the sa ga bear collective responsibility?"
"Obviously, because the ga is the problem."
Before I could rebut, she brought up another topic.
"Let's look at another issue. According to a recent survey, gender discrimination and misogyny within gas have reached serious levels."
"Wasn't this forum supposed to be about discussing ga addiction and regulation?"
The moderator interjected,
"This issue is also included in this discussion. Please continue."
I looked through the discussion materials.
Indeed, on the question about gender discrimination in gas, over 80 percent of respondents answered 'severe' or 'very severe'.
"Where was this survey conducted?"
"It was conducted at Sungduk Won's University."
"...So the survey subjects were naturally all won?"
I wasn't even surprised anymore.
Lawyer Park Hye-ji didn't even pretend to listen to and continued.
"Let's take Warclass for example. The ga characters appearing here are all male, and the female characters are mainly confined to supporting roles."
Warclass was a currently popular mobile ga.
Taek-gyu blinked and said,
"That's a war ga, isn't it? It's set in Roman tis, and it's just about fighting wars with soldiers."
"Exactly! Making a ga like this where won cannot play active roles is gender discrimination."
Without losing my composure, I asked calmly,
"Why is achieving a 50/50 ratio for those ga characters important?"
"Why is 50/50 important, you ask? The problem and complaint we have is that the proportion of female ga characters is too low."
"What's good about the female proportion being higher?"
"Because the low proportion is the problem, raising that proportion solves our problem."
"Is being low inherently the problem itself?"
"Yes. That itself is the problem."
"..."
What kind of cause-and-effect relationship is this?
"Half the world is female. Yet, the fact that won are fewer among ga characters reflects the class structure."
"So should the Roman and Carthaginian soldiers appearing in the ga also be revised to be half male, half female?"
"Those are lower-ranking positions. I don't think it's necessary to make characters with relatively lower social status gender-equal. You can put in whichever characters you want. We're saying that high-ranking and important characters, like commanders, should be matched to be gender-equal."
"..."
Am I the only one who doesn't understand this?
Actually, it seed only Taek-gyu and I didn't get it. The other participants looked like they agreed with lawyer Park Hye-ji.
She said triumphantly,
"As you can see, the issue of gender discrimination in gas is severe. Therefore, it's necessary for MOGEF to have regulatory authority and resolve this problem."
I gave up trying to understand further.
"Alright. I understand. But speaking of which, Ms. Park, your law firm, Ze Law Firm, has a total of six lawyers. Excluding yourself, the representative, there is one female lawyer, and the remaining four are male lawyers. Ultimately, four out of five are n, which is 80 percent by ratio. You've been arguing since earlier that the ratio of high-ranking characters in gas should be gender-equal. Why then, Ms. Park Hye-ji, have you set the gender ratio in your firm at 8-to-2 male? Could it be that you only pay lip service to gender equality, while actually discriminating based on gender and harboring misogyny yourself?"
Hitting a nerve, she beca flustered.
"Wh-what did you say? Why are you only talking about the lawyers? Among the general staff, there are more won..."
Taek-gyu chid in excitedly,
"Lower-ranking positions don't matter! In fields with relatively lower social status, there's no need for gender equality, you can just hire whoever you want. But you insisted that high-ranking positions like lawyers must absolutely be gender-equal, right?"
"Th-that's..."
Frantically trying to think of an excuse, but apparently unable to find a suitable one, she abruptly stood up and shouted.
"Did you conduct a background check on !?"
I replied nonchalantly.
"It was listed right on your hopage."
"Going onto soone else's company hopage is a background check! I will sue you!"
It seems she likes doing things by the book, typical lawyer.
I nodded.
"Yes. Please sue."
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