Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

The young man is an employee of a nearby company.

This young man would come over almost every night to hang out.

Sing a song, or play a dance machine or something.

Then, during the day, this guy would go back to the company and continue his day of corporate slavery.

And so, day after day, the young man became a regular visitor here.

"Today's work was the same as always. My boss berated me for more than ten minutes because my revised design didn't meet the requirements. Ugh, I really want to quit," the young man sighed.

"Oh, is that so? Then go ahead and have some fun. I'll give you a discount today to make you happy."

The store manager answered casually, then continued to look the amazing game machine up and down.

The young man noticed the store manager's gaze and curiously approached.

"Manager, is this a new product? Why are you staring at it so intently?"

"Oh, this is called video game. I'm getting old and don't really know much about it. Do you know anything about it?"

"Video TV games?"

The young man carefully recalled the events in his mind.

He works at a media and internet company, where his daily work involves design, which allows him to be exposed to many new and trendy things.

However, he had never heard of the term "electronic television game" before.

The young man shook his head: "No, I've never heard of it. Is this a game? How do you play it? Is it like a dance machine?"

"No, I don't quite understand it either, but if you want to play, you need to insert coins and then use this thing to play."

The store manager picked up the handle that had been worn smooth and oily from being handled by a group of children in just one day and said...

"Huh? This is a strange way to play, and it looks really novel. I'll try this today. Is it on sale too?"

"Oh, this isn't from my shop. It's just a test piece that a young man said he wanted to temporarily rent a small area of ​​my shop for."

"Oh, it's okay, I'll just try it out. It doesn't matter if there's no discount."

The young man fumbled in his pocket, and finally pulled out a hundred-yuan coin from the deepest part of his pocket.

This hundred-yuan coin had probably been in his pocket for over ten days. If it weren't for this game console, the coin would probably have stayed in his pocket for another ten days or so until it was finally lost somewhere.

Ding-dong.

With a crisp sound of coins clattering together, the television screen, which had gradually dimmed, lit up again.

The familiar electronic melody played again.

The store manager has heard this voice so many times today that his ears are practically calloused.

However, he was also captivated by the voice.

Because once this sound is heard, it means there is a shortage of 100 yen.

Damn it! That guy made another hundred bucks yesterday.

Hopefully, this office worker will only do this once.

The store manager originally planned to take a look at the game consoles and then return to his office, and then consider simply sleeping in the office.

But now he was energized again; he wanted to see exactly how this arcade machine collected coins.

The controls for Super Mario are not complicated.

Even if you've never played a game console before, you can basically understand how the game works just by pressing the up, down, left, right and AB buttons on the controller.

"It doesn't seem like a big deal."

Some young office workers didn't take it seriously.

There are similar things on computers, but they're not very interesting. They're like side-scrolling walking simulators that quickly become boring.

It's quite novel that this little figure can jump so high.

The young people began to seriously explore it.

Soon, he pressed forward and crashed head-on into the first mushroom monster.

"Hey, watch out! You need to step on this to flatten it! Otherwise you'll lose it..."

Before the store manager could finish speaking, the young office worker lost his first life amidst a series of rhythmic sounds of defeat.

"Huh? That's it?"

The young man was stunned; he clearly hadn't realized what was going on.

The store manager had been keeping an eye on the game all day, and he had become quite familiar with how it was played, but he hadn't actually tried it yet.

He felt he absolutely couldn't put coins into the game machine, otherwise he would be taking his own money and letting someone else make money on his own turf, which he felt was a huge loss.

"It's okay, you have three lives, and you still have two left. Just be careful from now on. You need to eat a big mushroom, and if you encounter a mushroom monster, you can stomp on it."

Chapter 14 20,000 yen!

At this moment, the store manager was like a seasoned gamer, explaining the rules of the game to the young office workers in a very knowledgeable way.

The young, overworked office worker was thinking to himself, "You seem to know exactly how to play the game, so why did you say you didn't know anything about it just now?"

However, this was not a big problem, and the young man quickly immersed himself in the game again with his second life.

"Hey, hey, there's a mushroom here, you can eat it... Never mind, you've already missed it, but there's another one at the next spot... Hey, don't run so fast!"

Young working professionals: ...

Once again, accompanied by the rhythmic music of failure, the young office worker falls off a cliff and fails at the last moment before reaching the finish line.

"Manager, please let me play seriously, okay? Just stop talking."

"Oh? Oh, okay."

The store manager then realized his lapse in composure.

Very strange.

I clearly have absolutely no interest in this thing.

However, he got very anxious watching someone who didn't know how to play the game at all.

He really wanted to give some pointers so that young people could avoid many pitfalls.

But the young people were clearly getting impatient.

In a fit of impatience, the young office worker once again lost his last life.

This time, he accidentally collided head-on with the mushroom monster halfway there, and that's how he ended his life.

Store Manager: ...

I didn't say anything.

Young working professionals: ...

"One more time, manager, do you have any coins?"

At that moment, the young office worker subconsciously pulled out a thousand-yuan bill from his pocket and handed it to the store manager.

At this moment, the store manager's feelings were complicated.

This office worker seems to be starting to get interested in this game console.

Moreover, it's not just this young office worker.

Even myself...

The store manager shook his head vigorously, trying to banish the thought from his mind.

Then he went to give the young man his change.

"Dead..."

"Died again..."

"One more time!"

……

The next morning, Zhu Youxing stretched and walked to the window, pulled back the curtains, and looked at the scenery outside.

The spring scenery still carries a hint of chill, but some trees outside are already sprouting tender buds, heralding the arrival of new hope in the new year.

Zhu Youxing was also in a very good mood.

Good morning, Zhuyou Sang.

A lazy voice sounded from behind.

Airi Hayazawa walked out of the bedroom in a daze, a toothbrush still in her mouth, her hair looking a little messy.

In the days leading up to it, Airi Hayazawa had actually been quite mindful of her image in front of her boss.

But perhaps because Takeyusei was so easygoing, just like a friend, Hayazawa Airi stopped paying so much attention to her image.

It started with waking up late, and then progressed to walking around the house in slightly more casual clothes.

Then, up until now, I've been getting up early, looking a little unkempt, to greet Zhu Youxing.

Good morning, Airi. Today is going to be a busy day.

"Busy? Planning to continue manufacturing game consoles today?"

"Do not."

Zhu Youxing shook his head.

"Today, we're going to start making money."

Hearing the word "making money" seemed to sober Hayazawa Airi up a bit.

She blinked and asked, "Make money? How do I make money?"

"We should collect our first pot of gold from those game machines that were previously displayed in shopping malls and entertainment halls."

"Oh, you mean those arcade machines! Do they fill up with coins in just one day? I remember each machine had three extra coin boxes prepared in advance."