Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

Page 27

The ringing of the phone did ease the somber atmosphere somewhat.

Life is indeed tough these days, but fortunately, even the poorest people can still afford to buy magazines, so the magazine is doing relatively well and has a fairly relaxed atmosphere.

"Moshi moshi, I am Daigo Ikeda."

"Hello, Mr. Ikeda. My name is Takeyusei. I am a game developer. My mother recommended you to me, saying that you can help me find a suitable candidate."

Ikeda Daigo: "???"

Daigo Ikeda was completely bewildered.

What is a game developer?

Your mother recommended it?

"Wait, who is your mother?"

Daigo Ikeda suddenly realized that Takeyusei was his surname.

Bamboo tour?

"My mother's name is Takeyu Masako, and she is a painter."

"So it's Ms. Masako's child. I'm so glad you called. How is Ms. Masako doing these days?"

Daigo Ikeda, who had been somewhat casual, suddenly became energetic.

Masako Takeyu is now a painter with some international renown.

Before this, Masako Takeyu had also been kind to him, helping him out of a difficult situation.

So when he heard that it was Ms. Masako's child, he became very serious.

Zhu Youxing on the other end of the phone said, "My mother is doing well now and should be having an art exhibition abroad right now."

Daigo Ikeda exclaimed, "Ms. Masako is truly amazing. She has made a name for herself despite being a woman. I have always admired Ms. Masako. By the way, Mr. Takeyu, you said you needed to ask me for a favor. Please feel free to ask. I will definitely help you if I can."

"Here's the thing, I have some products that need some artwork for promotion, and I think it's best to use artwork with a comic style. So I want to find a well-known comic artist to do this for me, and of course, the return will be satisfactory to them."

"Just painting some propaganda posters? That's no problem at all, I can arrange it for you right now."

Zhu Youxing shook his head at this point: "No, it's not just about drawing promotional illustrations. If possible, I hope to work with a cartoonist on a long-term basis. In the future, I also hope that they can assist me in drawing official guidebooks and similar documents."

Chapter 35 A Down-on-his-Luck Cartoonist

The so-called official guidebook is a game setting book. It is a detailed introduction to the game's world view, characters, creatures, equipment, and so on, which is a favorite of die-hard fans and those who like to study the details.

Yusei Takeda originally intended to directly refer to the setting guide, but using the official guidebook format from the manga industry would make it clearer for Daigo Ikeda.

Daigo Ikeda was surprised.

"Takeyu-kun, you said you also need to assist with the writing of the official guidebook? This... this is no longer just simple promotional illustrations, is it?"

Zhu Youxing nodded: "That's right. What I want to do is video games, and the settings of video games can even surpass those of ordinary comics, so I need long-term partners, preferably those with a certain reputation."

Assisting in the writing of official guidebooks is no small task for a comic artist.

In the past, no one had ever asked a cartoonist to do this kind of thing.

No, it never happened at all.

Even in modern movies, there are no official formula books. At most, they are just detailed notes from the director's own writings. No one would go out of their way to have an outsider make one.

"Hey, Mr. Takeyu, I'd like to ask you, what exactly is this video game you're talking about?"

"This is a completely new form of entertainment, and I can't explain it to you clearly in a short time. If you want to know, I'll give you an address. Just tell the owner there that I introduced you to it, and he'll show you on the spot what video games are all about."

Is this a completely new form of entertainment? Daigo Ikeda pondered.

"Here's what I'll do. I'll give you two options. One of them is that I'll hire the manga artist for a year at a monthly salary of 50 yen. After that, we can continue our discussion."

"The second condition is that I will provide a base salary of 180,000 per month, but the comic artist can receive 5% of the future revenue from the entire game series."

If it were Zhu Youxing, he would definitely choose the second option, because he could foresee just how massive the game's future development would be.

If possible, Takeyusei also hopes that the other party can choose this option, because it will completely bind a manga artist to the project, and there will be no need to worry about problems for at least twenty or thirty years.

However, this was tantamount to giving someone an invisible blank check, so Zhu Youxing also gave them the first option.

I'll get you to cooperate with me in the first year, and then we can seriously consider the profit-sharing issue in the second year. However, you'll earn less of the profit-sharing from the first year.

500,000 yen.

Daigo Ikeda was somewhat surprised.

He didn't yet understand what video games were, but he could roughly grasp that they would be very complex.

In present-day Japan, a typical college graduate who can find a job earns around 180,000 yen.

Under normal circumstances, 300,000 yen is a relatively positive income and the average income of a full-time employee after four or five years of work.

This income level in Japan has remained virtually unchanged for over two decades since the bursting of the bubble economy.

This is one of the reasons why many people call it the lost twenty or thirty years.

As for Takeyusei, he was willing to offer a salary of 500,000 yen from the outset, which was enough to tempt a down-on-his-luck manga artist.

Oh, right, a down-on-his-luck cartoonist, but still somewhat famous...

Daigo Ikeda immediately remembered Tsuchiya-sensei, whom he had been chatting with the editor earlier.

His career peaked with his first work, but then plummeted.

Although he is not yet insolvent, his life is gradually getting worse. Some famous cartoonists are quite extravagant at the beginning, and some even become heavily indebted after the bubble bursts, eventually being crushed.

Mr. Tsuchiya was lucky. Just before the bubble burst, his manga quality wasn't very high. He focused on improving his manga skills and didn't spend money recklessly.

Or perhaps this can be considered another kind of luck.

If we can help him find this job, at least for a short time he won't have to worry about starving to death after losing his comic book income.

If Mr. Tsuchiya were to make a comeback after a period of reflection, his academic performance might soar once again.

Thinking of this, Daigo Ikeda immediately said, "If it's this salary, then I have nothing to say. I don't think anyone would refuse such compensation."

If a stranger suddenly said those words to him, he would probably think he was a liar or a madman.

However, this is Ms. Masako's child. Just based on Ms. Masako's reputation, her child would never lie about such a small matter.

So he was already preparing to introduce Teacher Tsuchiya to Takeyusei.

"Sansuke Tsuchiya, Takeyu-kun, have you heard of this teacher? He has a rather famous manga."

No, I don't know much about it.

He doesn't know much about many famous people in the world.

This place is like a parallel world to his previous life. Many of the famous people here are different. Moreover, after transmigrating, he devoted most of his time to making games and had no time to study the famous people in this world.

That's why he thought of asking his mother for help in finding a suitable candidate.

"I think this Mr. Tsuchiya should meet your criteria. He has a certain reputation, but... the quality of his works in recent years has not been very good, so his popularity has gradually declined."

Zhu Youxing immediately understood.

There were quite a few comic artists in my past life who reached their peak right from their debut.

These cartoonists are often not bad at drawing; the problem usually lies in their story writing.

Comics sometimes really require talent.

Some crazy cartoonists can attract people with their neurotic stories, and their drawing skills don't necessarily need to be very good.

However, some comic artists, despite their best efforts to delve into the plot, can only reach the beginner level, which is disheartening. In the end, they can only painstakingly improve their drawing skills, but it is difficult to stop the decline.

"I'll give you Professor Tsuchiya's contact information right now... No, I'll contact him now and have him come over, or I'll come to your place."

Ikeda Daigo was unwilling to easily give up such a lucrative opportunity.

He absolutely had to get it for Mr. Tsuchiya.

After all, he had mentored Tsuchiya-sensei, and he didn't want him to completely give up.

"No need to be so polite. Let's meet at the magazine office. It's better for both of us. Otherwise, it would seem like I'm being disrespectful to my teacher."

"Okay, okay, I'll contact Mr. Tsuchiya right now."

Takeyusei agreed to meet at the magazine office, which was exactly what Daigo Ikeda wanted to see.

Because he also wanted to see for himself what kind of person Zhu Youxing really was.

Judging from Ms. Masako's age, Takeyusei is probably quite young.

It sounds amazing that someone so young has started a company and seems to be pioneering a whole new world of entertainment.

He was also very interested in seeing what the so-called formula book actually contained.

Chapter 36 An Unexpected Surprise

Tsuchiya Sansuke has been feeling rather down lately.

The main reason is that his latest comic book is performing poorly as always.

He was once a well-known cartoonist who received a lot of attention.

But now he is often subjected to unwarranted abuse.

'Your comics are terrible, please stop drawing them.'