It’s nothing new, but South Korea is full of talent.
There are so many smart and exceptional people.
And the ga industry is no exception.
Prominent figures, various social organizations, and especially those lucky enough to be entangled with the state—professors and such—have repeatedly tried to classify gas as a disease, but even so, it’s said that the ga industry has brought in more foreign currency than even the Hallyu wave Korea is so proud of.
Even if most of the money-making gas turned soone’s life into in-ga currency and were laced with gambling elents, people naturally gather where the money is.
So of course, the ga industry was overflowing with talent too.
Of course, like everyone else, they were swept away like dust after the war, but not all of them died.
Several of them survived.
Among them were developers now working in Jeju.
One of them was the developnt team behind Red Archive, which Gong Gyeong-min used to enjoy, but Gong Gyeong-min—who’s deeply interested in the gaming scene—managed to bring in a good number of young, talented, and promising developers to Jeju, beyond just them.
Naturally, Foxgas—who already had the image of a has-been, a useless old fart clinging to his past glory—wasn’t even on the candidate list.
The talented developers, with full support from the new Seoul governnt, went on to develop a new ga called Seoulgrad.
And lo and behold, it was the sa genre as ours.
Cheon /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Young-jae, who knows a fair bit about gas, says it's not exactly the sa genre—that Seoulgrad is technically a looter shooter—but to , it looked the sa.
If guns appear on the screen and you shoot people, what’s the difference?
In truth, there's no need to nitpick genre differences between the two.
Even from my layman's perspective, Seoulgrad was overwhelmingly better than Skeleton Monster Battle.
Despite both being developed under the sa low-spec limitations, the results were night and day.
I’ll be honest.
The mont Cheon Young-jae showed Seoulgrad, the only thing that flashed through my mind was: Oh shit.
That’s right.
This isn’t going to work.
It’s like we both did a craft project with the sa modeling clay—only they made Neuschwanstein Castle, and we made a humble thatched-roof cottage.
Actually, even calling it a cottage is generous.
It’s a temporary structure with a slate roof.
And that temporary structure even asks for an entrance fee.
[Contains in-ga purchases]
It hasn’t officially been updated yet, but Skeleton Monster Battle uses an in-ga paynt system.
A trash ga that even tries to suck up your credit? That’s what this is.
No one’s going to look at it kindly.
Foxgas understood the seriousness of the situation.
“Shit... I think I get what kind of ga they bashed out. Kharkov, that looter shooter that was big before the war, right? Seoulgrad. They slapped Russian on Seoul and said fuck it, let’s just rip off Kharkov. That’s it. These bastards probably chew up conscience for breakfast. Don’t they have any pride as devs? Also, fuck... where’d they get those assets? No way they’re still accessing the dev market. Did they hack my files or sothing?”
He may have no character, but as a forr exec at a major company, Foxgas rarely cursed. Seeing him stumble over awkward Korean swearing instead of his usual broken English told just how badly Seoulgrad had shaken him.
But really—was he in any position to say that?
There’s plenty I could nitpick, but right now, the most pressing issue isn’t so developer-level suspicion.
He used my na.
I, Park Gyu, lent my mythic-tier na, and now the ga looks like it's going to lose the competition before it even launches.
Sure enough, the mont Seoulgrad was revealed, public opinion of our Skeleton Monster Battle (aka "Stel") nosedived.
Choi Myeong-jin: Wow... this ga’s over. Like, really over. It’s a ga that can’t ga.
YeonwooDad: Haha, the class gap is insane ^^
DryGin: What must it feel like to have such a clear skill gap thrown in your face?
InAnAgeWhereZeroCalJokesMakeSense: Can Foxgas even show his face anymore? I an, he’s supposedly a senior dev, and the gap is this big?
WantedToPlayPUBG: They just recycled Sudden Attack and slapped a new na on it. And in-ga purchases too? Can't drop that damn dog at BM, huh?
Anonymous1818: That bastard Foxgas has always been like this. Never made anything himself, just stole other people’s code and strutted around like he made it.
DogGas: Stel looks like dog at compared to Seoulgrad, tch.
SassyCutie: Even if washed-up Skeleton and Foxgas join forces, all you’ll get is a washed-up ga.
...
...
The criticism only grew harsher.
Ironically, the loudest critics were once his fans.
People who had played Foxgas’ ambitious but prematurely shut down ga—canceled because of his negligence in maintenance—were now dragging out their resentnt and leading the charge against him.
Has-been. Dog at. Dead ga.
The worst possible labels you could slap on a ga were now glued to Foxgas like titles.
I reached out for a serious conversation.
“Sorry, but... can you take my na off it?”
I can’t let my na be used in a ga like this.
If my na gets slapped on a dog at ga, then Skeleton becos dog at too.
What I had hoped would quell the backlash was only accelerating my own downfall. I couldn’t just sit there and take it.
Sure, we had agreed before, but it wasn’t a written contract. Just a verbal agreent.
And besides, the character Skeleton has a real na: Steamray.
“Just roll it back to the version with the mustache. Take Skeleton’s na off. I’m okay with leaving my na in the credits as a consultant, but anything more is too much.”
Even if I’m half-rotted, I’m still a cutlassfish. I know a lot of powerful people in New Seoul.
Even if Jeon Si-hoon doesn’t help, I can ask Kim So-uk, or hell, even Kim Daram to sabotage this thing before it launches.
Foxgas listened to my words with a face that said he understood everything.
“Yeah. Skeleton. I know what you’re worried about. Of course I do.”
“What I want isn’t understanding. I want my na off it.”
“Fine. I’ll delay releasing the Skeleton character. If the ga picks up later, we’ll release him then.”
“No, it’s not going to pick up.”
“A fight’s not over till it’s over.”
I silently watched him on the screen with a blank expression.
I’m going to pull my na anyway.
But I’m the one who agreed to this ss, so I figured I should at least listen to his grumbling for a bit. That much decency I can spare.
“To be honest, Seoulgrad? Yeah. It’s well made. Graphics are nice, gaplay’s fun. It’s a well-ripped-off ga. But Skeleton, how many gas have you really played?”
“Not much. Just a little of the stuff you developed.”
“Do you know how many gas start strong and then crash and burn? You know The Saga, the ga I developed and serviced on Viva! Apocalypse!? You rember how crazy popular it was at the start? Huh? Global users were going nuts, right?”
“...Yeah.”
That was true.
No reason to deny it.
“Ga developnt’s important, sure. But maintenance? Just as important. Even the company I was at made dozens of gas that had the Yankees foaming at the mouth. But they failed because of shitty operations. What’s the point of flashy combat and top-tier engines if you kill the ga in managent?”
I glanced at Cheon Young-jae, our resident gaming expert.
He nodded.
Seems like he agreed.
Anyway, Foxgas seed to be getting carried away with his own speech, his voice rising with emotion the longer he spoke.
“Yeah, Seoulgrad looks better than Stel. It’s a roided-up twenty-sothing gym bro ballooned with muscles. We, on the other hand, are skinny old guys. But not your average old guys. We’ve got labor-forged, real-world compressed muscle. To a newbie, the balloon guy might seem stronger, but in a real fight? That’s a different story.”
“...”
He had a point.
So people are weaker than they look, while others are way more than they appear.
Especially in the Chinese hunter world, you’d see that a lot.
The dia-pushed People’s Hero would flop in the field, while so unknown hunter in ragged gear would show shocking performance.
...Not that it mattered. They all died not long after.
“The ga Stel is based on—Sudden Attack—was serviced for over 20 years. There’s basically no chance of major technical issues. The gaplay’s proven too. Sure, people call it outdated dog at, but hey, if dog at didn’t taste good, why’d our ancestors eat it for hundreds of years? Boiled dog at with special dipping sauce and soju? That stuff’s amazing. Man, just talking about it makes my mouth water.”
I learned sothing new.
Foxgas was a dog at fanatic.
My opinion of him dropped slightly, but I had to admit his words made so sense.
“...Let’s just give it a shot. We’ve got a trump card.”
“A trump card...?”
Foxgas didn’t say what it was.
He just smiled faintly, like a sage from so religious myth who already knew everything.
At least in gaming, Foxgas wasn’t a coward.
Skeleton Monster Battle launched on the sa day as Seoulgrad.
There’s no need to ntion how Seoulgrad dominated.
Lines out the door.
Over 100,000 players in queue.
anwhile, Stel? A ghost town.
There were a few users, but most of them had only logged in to curse out and Foxgas.
But even on the darkest day, the reversal Foxgas talked about began to show.
KYJ2321: What kind of ga has this many bugs?
BeautyTissue: No matter the tis, releasing a ga without even one proper beta test is just trash.
vxbTqs: Fuck~ I could make a better ga blindfolded.
...
...
Criticism of Seoulgrad began to visibly increase.
Most complaints were about connection issues, but so were seriously questioning the ga’s polish.
Players who couldn’t log into Seoulgrad had no choice but to try Stel.
Reception was... so-so.
Not great, not terrible.
Mostly people calling it outdated.
But at least there were no reported in-ga issues.
As Foxgas said, Stel was built on a ga with over 20 years of proven stability.
“Gas are, at their core, rule-based competitions. Look at chess or Go. No one’s complained about them in hundreds of years. Sa goes for FPS. The core gaplay was established over 20 years ago. Everything since then is just a descendant. Those rules are already finalized, and everyone’s agreed on them. Ugly graphics? Doesn’t matter. You’d be surprised how fast people adapt to them.”
Foxgas was confident.
And sure enough, just like he said, the fate of the two gas began to diverge.
While Seoulgrad suffered constant server outages and bugs, Stel steadily gained traction.
And Stel hadn’t even released its main feature—the Monster Battle mode.
Naturally, Skeleton hadn’t been released yet either.
Foxgas was waiting for the right ti.
“At this rate, Seoulgrad’s going to crash within a week. Player complaints are already maxed out. That’s the fate of a rushed ga. Young devs may have flash and flair, but real coding and developnt? That’s all about grind. You’ve gotta have ass strength.”
He was predicting a crash within a week.
That’s a long ti.
At this rate, I might get pulled into a Rupture before I even see Stel’s success.
But the ga’s slow upward trend was encouraging for a face-model like , who lent his na.
In fact, my own reputation on the forums had started to rise, even if only slightly.
VOO8322: So, when’s Monster Battle mode coming out? It’s launching with Skeleton, right?
LostPoverty: People who datamined the client say the data’s already there, just locked. Probably not long now. Seoulgrad is crashing hard anyway.
Kim Myeong-cheol89: I’m looking forward to Skeleton. People keep bashing him, but didn’t that battle he showed us an sothing?
108Steps: Fr, Skeleton was sick. It’s all the newbs talking shit. Especially those Jeju punks, tsk tsk.
YYA_love: Without Skeleton, we’d all be dead already. These latecors bashing Skeleton? First-gen Seoul settlers don’t trash him.
BlueSky: I wanna hunt monsters as Skeleton ASAP lol
YeonwooDad: Haha, how much are the in-ga purchases going to be, I wonder?
...
...
“......”
Is this... the positive function of gas?
Even I’m starting to feel excited.
He might not be the best, but the man of stubborn resolve—Foxgas—and his implentation of Monster Battle. And within it, Skeleton’s heroic glory.
But the world has a way of throwing a wrench in things.
Just when one thing starts going well, sothing else also goes well—and you’re forced to choose.
Call it a blissful dilemma, but hey, people want to have it all.
Anyway, the one who disrupted my happy waiting was none other than Jeon Si-hoon.
“Oh! Hunter Park Gyu! Could you co to our office today?”
The man who would soday be king of Seoul had better tact than the king of Sejong.
“I’ll send a car discreetly. That woman has spies everywhere. Ah, yes—it’s about that.”
Jeon Si-hoon gave a low chuckle and clearly enunciated that fateful word:
“The Rupture.”
The eting of a hero at his peak—and a washed-up relic—was about to begin.
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