Chapter 17: Tokyo Game Show (3)

Jae-hyun was startled when Ho-jin addressed him.

*This guy is the director...?*

He was much younger than the image of a director Jae-hyun had in his mind.

But Jae-hyun quickly shook off that thought.

What did it matter if he was young or old?

Right now, he and Ho-jin were simply in a gamer-director relationship.

"I absolutely loved it! I usually skip all the story, but this time I couldn't. What I liked most was the beginning of the prologue..."

As if his typically shy personality was a lie, words poured out of Jae-hyun's mouth non-stop.

Unfiltered impressions.

But Ho-jin could sense the sincerity in Jae-hyun's enthusiasm.

"Lastly... may I ask one personal question?"

"Of course, feel free to ask."

"Is there... any chance of a Korean server? And if you can tell me, when might that be...?"

A hint of awkwardness crossed Ho-jin's expression.

*Did I go too far with that question...?*

Just as Jae-hyun thought this, Ho-jin smiled slightly and bowed his head.

"We're well aware that many people in our country are waiting for our game. I can't give you an exact date, but we'll have good news for you soon."

At Ho-jin's words, Jae-hyun's face lit up with joy.

"Th-thank you! I'll be waiting!"

"No, thank you. We appreciate your continued support for Girls Memorial. Take care on your way home."

With that, Jae-hyun said goodbye to Ho-jin and turned to leave.

Just as he was about to exit the booth, he ran into Ye-rin, cosplaying as Karin, whom he had been looking for earlier.

"Oh, are you leaving already?"

"Yes, my demo time is up. Haha."

Ye-rin smiled at Jae-hyun's response and said:

"Well then, please take care on your way home."

As she finished speaking and was about to bow her head and enter the booth, Jae-hyun hurriedly called out to her.

"Um, excuse me...!"

"Yes?"

"Could I... maybe take a picture with you?"

"Of course."

Contrary to Jae-hyun's worries, Ye-rin readily agreed to the photo.

Click─.

Only after tightly hugging his smartphone with the precious photo saved on it could Jae-hyun finally leave the venue.

*I'm so glad I came to the game show.*

*

That night, a review post appeared on the community forum.

[Username: oo]

[Title: Spilling the tea on my visit to the Girls Memorial booth at Tokyo Game Show]

【Photo of arrival at Narita International Airport】

【Photo of Makuhari Messe exhibition hall】

I'm still in Japan, so I'm writing this on my smartphone. Please excuse the brevity.

After getting rejected from the closed beta, I was feeling down, but when I heard about the Tokyo Game Show, I immediately booked my trip to Japan.

More than anything, the venue was incredibly huge.

It took a while to find the booth because the areas were divided by participating countries.

Here's a tip for anyone planning to attend: Don't go to the mobile game zone, head to the exhibition hall where Korean companies are gathered.

Girls Memorial was participating in the EnsonGT booth, so it was in the Korean game exhibition area.

Actually, I got lost trying to find the Girls Memorial booth and got help from a booth girl cosplaying as Karin, but I'll write about that later.

【Photo of life-sized standees at the Girls Memorial booth entrance】

As soon as I arrived at the entrance, I saw life-sized standees of the operator and the three main characters.

The quality was insane, I thought they were merchandise for sale, but unfortunately, they weren't for purchase.

【Photo of the inside of the Girls Memorial booth】

The inside of the booth was amazing too.

First, on the left is the demo zone.

I'll explain that in detail later.

Next to it is the audio sampling zone.

They had soundtracks and BGMs that weren't included in the closed beta available for listening.

There was also an information desk and chairs arranged for comfortable waiting.

【Photo of the merchandise zone】

This was the highlight after the demo zone.

EnsonGT didn't come unprepared.

They had samples of all kinds of merchandise like acrylics, hanging scrolls, keychains, t-shirts, etc., and you could even pre-order them.

That's it for the booth review, now onto the game demo review you've all been waiting for—100% satisfaction guaranteed.

The demo time was limited to 30 minutes, but it felt incredibly short when you actually try it.

Remember how the closed beta client only had Chapter 1 implemented?

This demo zone had the prologue properly implemented.

Those who were arguing about story hints during the closed beta will understand most of the confusing parts once they see the prologue.

Besides that, they also revealed quite a few juicy contents like bond stories, PVP, stage battles, and territory conquest.

Oh, and if you fill up the bond points, you can even marry the characters.

Anyway, if you're looking forward to Girls Memorial, you should definitely go check it out.

You absolutely won't regret it.

P.S.: I also met the Girls Memorial director at the booth, and he was surprisingly young.

And he said there might be good news about the Korean server soon, so let's wait and see.

P.S.2:

<Photo with Ye-rin cosplaying as Karin>

This is a photo with the booth girl who helped me earlier.

She was really pretty, and her Karin cosplay was spot-on.

I was so nervous when I first approached her to talk, I thought I was going to die.

[Comment Section][Sorted by: Oldest]

- Wow lol isn't the first day of Tokyo Game Show closed to the general public?

ㄴYeah, days 1-3 are business days, only industry professionals can attend

ㄴHow did you manage to get in then? lol Are you a journalist?

ㄴ ㄴNope, a game company I often do freelance work for sent me an invitation. I got lucky

ㄴSo jealous....

- Those life-sized standees at the entrance look tempting lol Will they be auctioned off?

- How many people were there?

ㄴSince it was a business day, there weren't as many as I expected. But everyone was industry professionals, so their manners were good.

- Is the Korean server talk real or just BS?

ㄴIt's real. But they didn't give a definite answer, just said there'd be good news and to keep an eye out.

Jae-hyun's Tokyo Game Show review post received an unprecedented number of upvotes and quickly became a trending post.

It was the power of the Girls Memorial fandom, who had been starving for information since the closed beta, patiently waiting for the official release.

*

After the relatively quiet business days ended, the 5th day—Public Day—began.

Unlike the business days where only industry professionals could enter, the public days were open to the general public.

Perhaps because of this, the number of visitors flooding our booth increased dramatically.

Especially our booth, probably due to word of mouth, was drawing in twice as many people as other Korean company booths.

To exaggerate a bit, you could say that half of the people visiting the Korean exhibition hall were coming to our booth.

We expected a crowd, but the sheer number of people surpassed my expectations, leaving us utterly exhausted.

"Please form a single line! Absolutely no cutting in line! Estimated waiting time is 1 hour and 30 minutes!"

"Official merchandise pre-orders are sold out!! Everything's gone!"

"When entering the demo zone, please don't push the person in front of you, and when you're done, place the smartphone back in its original position before leaving!"

"Please don't pull on the headsets in the audio sampling zone! They'll break!"

It was absolute chaos, like a bustling marketplace.

Everyone was busy, but Ye-rin was especially swamped.

Perhaps because SFLAG had promoted Ye-rin's cosplay on social media, quite a few people recognized her.

"Excuse me... Are you Ye-rin from Fairy Tale Workshop?"

"Ah, yes, that's me."

"I've been a fan for a long time! Could I get your autograph on this doujinshi?"

"Of course. If you give me a pen, I'll sign it for you."

Ye-rin signed the doujinshi her fan handed her, balancing the signboard on her shoulder.

"Wow, thank you. Are you planning to resume your activities...?"

"It'll be difficult for the time being. I'm busy with work these days..."

"That's a shame. Well, good luck!"

The visitor who got Ye-rin's autograph seemed to be her personal fan, offering words of encouragement before quickly heading to another booth.

"Good job."

I approached Ye-rin during a lull in visitors.

"Haa... I'm dying here."

"Hang in there, we're almost done. Is there anything you want to eat when we finish?"

"Meat... no, eel. Let's go with eel."

The glint in Ye-rin's eyes as she spoke was filled with determination to make the most of her hard work.

"Alright, I'll let the team know. Take a break now. Things should start winding down soon."

Perhaps because closing time was approaching, most visitors were leaving the booths and exiting the exhibition hall.

After confirming that all visitors had left our booth, I went inside to find everyone looking completely wiped out.

"Ji Ho-jin... Never again... Give me my overtime pay..."

"Please inquire with HR."

"Is it finally over...?"

"It's all done. Good work, Myung-hoon hyung."

"Senior... I'm just gonna rest for a bit..."

"Go ahead and rest."

"Good work. Don't forget the promise you made earlier."

"Of course not."

"G-good work..."

"You too, Seol. You've worked hard these past five days."

As I was tidying up the booth in place of my exhausted team members,

[Ding-ding-ding-ding─]

[The Tokyo Game Show has come to a close. We kindly ask all general visitors to exit promptly─]

Along with the announcement signaling the end of the event, applause erupted from all directions.

It was the sound of booth participants applauding the successful conclusion of the event.

With that, the Tokyo Game Show came to a triumphant close.