It is rare for the governnt to back down on regulatory issues.
The dismissal of Minister Shin Jeon-mi, in particular, was a shock. This was because she was known to have the President's deep trust and was a key figure in the current administration's gender equality policies.
Consequently, upon her dismissal, groups such as parents' associations and won's organizations fiercely criticized the governnt, accusing it of succumbing to the ga industry cartel.
Yeon Nakyeong, leader of the Liberty People's Party, raised her voice in the National Assembly.
“This is a asure showing the governnt is bowing to the pressure of large corporations, abandoning its responsibility to protect youth and won! Is the President now the chief spokesperson for OTK Company and the ga industry?”
The ruling party protested vehently against this statent, and the long-awaited National Assembly session descended into chaos.
Dismissed from her ministerial post and now back to being an Assemblywoman, Shin Jeon-mi attended a scheduled eting with female executives.
There, she criticized the governnt.
“I beca a proportional representative because I am a woman, and I could beco a minister because I am a woman. As soone who has received significant benefits for being a woman, I understand very well how important this is. I was able to reach this position because I am a woman. Yet, for the current administration, which claims to prioritize gender equality, to exclude won from high-ranking positions like this is wrong and goes against the current of the tis.”
Then, a female executive spoke up. She was an executive at Golden Gate's Korean branch.
“I don't quite understand your point. Since a man wouldn't be appointed Minister of Gender Equality and Family, that position will eventually be filled by another woman. Doesn't that an your dismissal has no connection to the governnt supposedly excluding won from high-ranking positions?”
Caught off guard by the pointed remark, Assemblywoman Shin Jeon-mi looked flustered.
“Ah, well... regardless, won must be given more opportunities. We need to increase the advantages given to won in startup funding, and preferential asures for won-owned businesses must be expanded further. The current support under the Won's Enterprise Support Act—like startup aid, priority public procurent for won's enterprise products, and preferential financing—is simply not enough. Weren't all of you ladies here able to reach your executive positions thanks to this kind of support and these benefits?”
The executive shook her head firmly.
“No. I reached this position solely through my own capabilities and hard work. To get here, I competed fiercely against everyone around , n and won alike, and I never received any special treatnt just because I am a woman. To suggest that we could beco executives simply because we are won is, frankly, a remark that disparages the abilities of all won in senior roles.”
The other female executives present nodded in unison, seemingly in agreent.
Nevertheless, Assemblywoman Shin Jeon-mi later continued to work with won's groups, advocating for a mandatory 50 percent quota for female executives in private companies, which contributed to a decline in the approval ratings for the New Politics Party.
***
After the governnt's announcent, most ga companies retracted their plans to move overseas, but so decided to leave Korea as originally planned.
A total of four companies announced their intention, including RoanSoft, one of the top five ga companies.
This decision was driven not only by dissatisfaction with regulations but also by other factors.
Yun Jun-baek, CEO of RoanSoft, said:
“eting and talking with the Vice President of OTK Company and President Ichikawa of OTK Gas, I felt my long-dormant gar instincts reawakening. Creating a virtual reality ga that people worldwide can enjoy is likely the dream of every developer. We want to participate in its developnt too.”
According to Taek-gyu, many CEOs of Korean ga companies started as developers and genuinely love gas themselves.
Perhaps the desire to develop fun gas is a wish shared by all developers?
Despite attempts by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and local district representatives to dissuade them, these companies pushed ahead with relocating their headquarters to Detroit and held their shareholder etings as scheduled.
[RoanSoft Decides to Move Headquarters to Detroit!]
[Corporate Spin-off Plan Approved at Shareholder eting]
[A Dark Future for the Ga Hallyu Wave……]
[Governnt Cannot Avoid Responsibility!]
These companies directly employed nearly 10,000 people.
While this entire workforce wouldn't be imdiately laid off or moved to the US, the situation was inevitably perplexing for the governnt.
Criticism once again rained down on the governnt and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF), and Vice Minister Cha Yoon-hye struggled to manage the fallout.
Representative Yeon Nakyeong once again spoke out forcefully.
“Companies are fleeing abroad due to an incompetent economic policy that only harps on regulation! We must now end this left-wing misrule!”
- WTF, what do they want us to do?
- Weren't they just complaining yesterday that the governnt sided with the ga industry?
- The Liberty People's Party proposed the addiction treatnt law in the first place. Sa goes for creating the shutdown system.
- LOL, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
- But they have a point, the companies packing up and leaving now are the smart ones.
- I guarantee, when election season nears, they'll start bashing ga companies again to beg for votes from parents.
- You can tell just by seeing Shin Jeon-mi still hasn't learned her lesson and is just stirring up trouble (drawing aggro).
- Maybe she's a mole sent by the Liberty People's Party?
- Just flee to the US. Like President Ronald said, there's no MOGEF in Arica.
***
Perhaps feeling a sense of loss now that companies were actually leaving, both the governnt and the dia suddenly began trumpeting the importance of the ga industry.
They highlighted how gas are the top cultural content export, how the Ga Hallyu wave is a major contributor, and how it helped minimize the intellectual property trade deficit.
The governnt held etings to discuss the developnt of the ga industry, and the dia published articles praising gas daily.
This treatnt was unbelievable considering that just days ago, gas were treated like alcohol, gambling, and drugs.
Amazingly, Oh Taek-gyu had achieved all this!
“It’s fortunate that this incident helped people realize how important the ga industry is.”
However, Taek-gyu shook his head.
“How long do you think this mood will last? It’s obvious that if even one incident occurs, the governnt and dia will bla gas again. Murder, bullying, school violence, mass shootings, etc. It’s all because of gas. Haven't we been through this countless tis?”
Regardless, taking advantage of the currently favorable atmosphere, the ga industry engaged in a tug-of-war with the governnt, striving to gain as many concessions as possible.
Taek-gyu insisted that ga companies attempting to subtly back out of self-regulation must absolutely follow through, no matter what.
Amidst this situation, Lost Fantasy Online concluded its open beta service and officially launched simultaneously in Korea and Japan.
Although players now had to pay a monthly fee to enjoy the ga, it beca a massive hit, attracting 200,000 paid subscribers in Korea alone on the first day.
Gas, more than any other content, face a stark divide between massive success and utter failure.
If it fails, you lose the publishing costs as well; if it succeeds, you can recoup the entire production cost within a few months.
At this rate, they would recover the production costs and more within the year.
With Lost Fantasy Online achieving results beyond expectations, the VRMMORPG developnt plan beca even smoother. The ability to self-finance a portion of the developnt costs reduced the burden of seeking investnt.
Thanks to this success, Ichikawa Shigeru's reputation soared even higher.
However, he wasn't without his crises. Although he was the star developer who created the Lost Fantasy series and thrilled the public by consistently creating gas that pushed the limits of technology, he faced a prolonged slump after the rger of Linix and Pentagon, eventually halting developnt due to conflicts with managent.
There was even talk that the Lost Fantasy series was finished, but after leaving LinixPentagon and establishing OTK Gas, he proved his capabilities by achieving massive consecutive hits in both mobile and online gaming.
People praised him lavishly, calling it the 'Return of the Ga Emperor,' and closely watched his next move.
OTK Gas spun off its Japanese subsidiary. Since OTK Company held most of the shares, with the remainder held by Ichikawa Shigeru and the developnt team, there was no need for a separate shareholders' eting.
Next, they proceeded with relocating the headquarters to Detroit. This matter was under negotiation with the city. The city council began reviewing tax benefits and site provision.
The developnt of the VRMMORPG 'Seruana' is the largest ga-project in gaming history.
So experts still harbored doubts about its feasibility and anticipated nurous technical difficulties. However, there was confidence that Ichikawa Shigeru would undoubtedly overco these obstacles and create the ga.
If successful, how much added value would it generate?
Who could have imagined that banks, shopping malls, and bookstores would exist within the internet? Once virtual reality gas beco realized, there's no rule saying such things couldn't be created within the ga.
In a way, it's about creating not just a ga, but an entire world.
The initially allocated developnt budget alone was $10 billion!
This is the largest developnt budget in gaming history. Since they are creating a ga that has never existed before, it's impossible to know how much more it might actually cost.
Global attention was focused, and investors showed great interest.
There were three reasons for this. First, the technical foundation—VR technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data processing, etc.—was in place. Second, Ichikawa Shigeru's developnt capabilities were outstanding. And finally, OTK Company had committed to investing in the developnt costs.
OTK Company had achieved trendous success in all its investnts to date, without a single failure.
Even a seemingly unviable business suddenly appears more likely to succeed if Warren Bott invests in it. In tis like these, an investor's reputation certainly helps.
Interest in investing ca from various quarters.
Even at $10 billion, OTK Company could likely cover the developnt costs if it chose to. However, as this recent incident showed, gas are heavily influenced by governnt regulations. Therefore, there was a need to involve local companies or investnt firms to build cooperative relationships.
A publishing representative from WeChant in China flew in, and RCK Bros, Asia's largest private equity fund, also expressed interest. Nikolas Karlsen, Head of Operations for Norway's sovereign wealth fund (GPFG), visited Korea personally.
Norway actively invests in IT and the ga industry because they are high-value industries with little correlation to oil.
However, an unexpected person accompanied him: a young woman in her early twenties, around 160cm tall, with a cute appearance and faint freckles on the bridge of her nose.
It was Princess Anneke of the Norwegian royal family. This was her first visit to Korea.
The two ca directly to the OTK Company headquarters after landing at the airport. It was even nicer seeing people t in Norway again here in Korea.
Hyun-joo noona and Ellie also exchanged greetings.
Princess Anneke bead upon seeing Ellie.
“I’ve heard so much about you. I saw your comrcial too. You’re even more beautiful in person.”
Ellie smiled.
“Thank you.”
I casually asked.
“Which comrcial, might I ask… Ouch!”
Ellie pinched my side hard, and I quickly shut my mouth.
Princess Anneke spoke with a lively expression and voice.
“Congratulations on the success of Lost Fantasy Online. I play it whenever I have ti, it’s so much fun. Mr. Ichikawa Shigeru is truly amazing.”
Taek-gyu said,
“It’s not serviced in Norway yet, though.”
“I connect to the Japanese server to play.”
The princess apparently speaks so Japanese as well. Japanese is essential for fandom activities, after all.
While we discussed investnts with Head Manager Karlsen, Princess Anneke talked about gas with Taek-gyu.
Princess Anneke, chattering away with sparkling brown eyes, looked quite cute.
Their conversation continued throughout the al. If the topic is gas, Taek-gyu could probably talk non-stop for three days and four nights.
Watching them, I was bewildered.
“Why on earth do girls flock to him like this?”
Is he so kind of devilishly charming otaku? Or does his fortune in the hundreds of billions of dollars create a halo behind him?
Hearing my words, Ellie gave a sideways glance.
“Surely you’re not jealous?”
“……Of course not.”
Though, sohow, I did feel a little envious.
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