Chapter 34: The Controversy Over Explicit Content

It had been nearly three months since our visit to Enson Korea at the Chairman's summons.

After the private meeting with the Chairman, several changes occurred in our company life. The biggest change was the collaboration with Enson Korea.

Of course, there had been collaboration before the meeting, but many felt like they were walking on eggshells. 

After the meeting with the Chairman, those comments vanished completely.

At first, I thought, "The employees must have given up."

Logically, such a change wouldn't happen without reason.

But after visiting Enson Korea myself, I realized why the employees had stopped making those comments.

Just to be sure, I called Su-yeon.

["This is the first I'm hearing of it?"]

"Really?"

["Of course. If I had known about this, why would I hide it from our Director?"]

"Hmm... I see."

If even the CEO didn't know, it meant the Chairman had given secret orders...

It was truly baffling.

Anyway, now that I knew this, I couldn't just let it slide. I sent a gift to the Chairman through Su-yeon.

Of course, it was nearly impossible to buy a gift befitting the owner's family, so it was just a token of appreciation...

I believed the Chairman would understand.

The second change was with Su-yeon.

After she opened up about everything on the day we met the Chairman, it felt like the distance between us had shortened.

Of course, we each had our own social lives at work, so we didn't show it outwardly,

but we'd gotten closer, occasionally having lunch together or buying coffee when working late.

Today, too, I was returning to the office after having lunch with Su-yeon.

As I opened the office door and entered, I heard a commotion.

Wondering what was going on, I went further inside and found the source of the noise was the art team.

Going a bit closer, I saw the art team members huddled around one monitor.

"...What are you all doing here?"

Startled by my voice from behind, they all let out a "Eek!" and turned their attention to me.

Among them, Ye-rin, who was closest to me, greeted me with a slightly flushed face.

"Oh, you're back?"

"Yeah, did you have lunch?"

"I ate with Ye-na."

"So what are you all gathered here for?"

"Ah, well..."

Ye-rin adjusted the monitor's angle so I could see it too.

Curious, I looked at the screen to find a PV video of a game.

"It's a new Korean mobile game that's about to be released. Take a look."

Following Ye-rin's words, I played the video, and a PV with a familiar art style began.

A white background with nothing but the title "Liberty Unnon" visible.

Scantily clad characters appear above it, along with a [Touch] button, stimulating the viewers' desires.

Although it's just a video and the button can't actually be pressed, the video creator seems aware of this and presses it instead.

The touched area then starts to shake as if vibrating.

The quality itself was crude, just making certain parts wiggle around, but at this point in time, even this was shocking enough.

This wasn't the dopamine-inflated 2020s, but the early 2010s.

Just looking at the art team members going wild, in contrast to my nonchalant expression, should make it clear.

These were people somewhat familiar with doujin and adult-oriented works.

If even they were making such a fuss, the reaction after release was predictable.

In my memories from before the regression, it had caused an uproar both online and offline.

"Senior, what do you think of this game? It'll be some real competition for our game, right?"

"Competition? Well..."

Setting aside the fundamental difference between a game serviced in Korea and one in Japan, this game wouldn't be our competitor.

"Why? The illustration quality might be a bit cruder than our game, but isn't there still some potential?"

As I pondered how to answer Ye-rin's question,

I heard Yu-mi's voice from behind.

"Director!"

Turning around at that voice, I saw Yu-mi approaching me.

"What's up?"

"It's not urgent... but I have something to ask."

"Something to ask? What is it?"

"Well, both the community sentiment and the customer service team are getting a lot of inquiries about whether a Korean server is planned..."

"Is that all?"

"Yes... I even went to check with customer service, and the volume really can't be ignored..."

"Hmm..."

Even without Yu-mi's report, I knew Korean users wanted a Korean server.

I, too, had been continuously monitoring the community like Yu-mi.

But I hadn't even considered it because it was realistically impossible.

The Korean market wasn't mature enough for the seed of subculture games to sprout.

Opening a Korean server for Girls Memorial in this situation would surely face public backlash.

But even if I knew this outcome, making people understand was a completely different matter.

How can I make them understand... Ah.

"Ye-rin, when did you say that game you showed me earlier was opening?"

"I think the video said next month?"

Ye-rin's unexpected answer gave me a headache.

The opening date had been moved up this time too.

Originally, in my memories from before the regression, Liberty Unnon was released around August.

But this time, like with Inmila and Cindefere, the release date was moved up by more than a month.

This means I'll have to revise all the plans I've made in advance.

"Yu-mi, don't worry about public opinion and just keep doing what you've been doing. The talk about a Korean server... it'll die down soon."

*

There were several reasons why Liberty Unnon sank before the regression.

The user-hostile management approach of its creator, Ryan.

Balance patches that were essentially nerfs.

Controversies over explicit content and other internal and external issues.

Among these, the first two didn't explode right after the opening,

The controversy that broke Liberty Unnon's initial momentum was, inevitably, the explicit content controversy.

It even suffered the humiliation of being kicked out of the Play Store because of this.

Of course, knowing all this, I might have been able to prevent this situation if I had helped the creator, Ryan.

But why would I?

Given that the game concept itself aimed for an adult TCG, there was a high chance he'd reject my advice, and I had absolutely no reason to go out of my way to help a game that could become my potential competitor.

I just focused on my work without paying attention, and before I knew it, a month had passed, and Liberty Unnon was released.

As it had been controversial for its provocative PV even before release, the initial firepower after launch was tremendous.

It even hit #1 on the Google Play Store revenue rankings for a moment, despite being from a small developer.

But the success was short-lived. Just a month after release, a news article ignited a fire.

And what a fire it was—a huge controversy over explicit content.

[Exclusive] How Far Will Mobile Game Exposure Go? Game 'Liberty Unnon' Goes Against Industry's Self-Regulation Efforts

(By Kim Jae-hyun)

Amid efforts by the game industry to self-regulate and prevent negative regulations like the Youth Protection Act, a mobile game going against industry trends has sparked controversy.

...

Now more than ever, we need a voice of self-reflection for the continued development of the mobile game industry.

Comments (338) [Oldest First]

- These pedo bastards are so disgusting ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ

- What bullshit, did the reporter get paid off?

- Look at that illustration style lolololol

- If they just arrested all the people defending this in the comments, we wouldn't need the Youth Protection Act lololol

The comment section of this news article had turned into an absolute free-for-all.

This spark spread beyond the news article comments to online communities.

It was bad enough that Yu-mi, who had been monitoring the communities, came to my office.

"Director! Shouldn't we take measures to prevent this fire from spreading to us?"

"It's fine. We only service in Japan, so it won't spread to us."

"But still..."

"Well, there might be some talk about our game too, but that's as far as it'll go. They can't go after a game being serviced in Japan."

This was why I had planned for a Japanese server launch from the start when conceptualizing Girls Memorial.

Korea wasn't ready to accept subculture mobile games yet.

"But the talk about opening a Korean server has died down, right?"

"Yes...! Fortunately, most people are saying it's a good thing we don't have a Korean server."

"Good, that's a relief."

"Um, Director."

"Yeah?"

Yu-mi seemed to hesitate, as if pondering something after speaking up.

"What is it?"

"Well, um... It's not me who's curious, but Chae-young Unnie wanted me to ask..."

"Okay, go on."

"Uh, Chae-young sunbae said if you have the ability to read the future, could you tell her next week's lottery numbers..."

I looked at Yu-mi with a look of exasperation at her ridiculous question.

"If I had the ability to read the future, do you think I'd be working here at the company?"

Yu-mi, flustered by my reaction, just bowed her head and quickly left my office.

"Sigh..."

Left alone after Yu-mi's departure, I couldn't help but feel a bit bitter.

I should have memorized some lottery numbers...