The author apologizes, as the previous chapter was updated to this chapter's content. If you see any repeated plot, please re-download chapter 283. The author apologizes to everyone and will add two more chapters as compensation.
"..." Representative Park stared at Huang He, utterly stunned. Huang He, with a smile, pulled out his phone and displayed a slightly pixelated photo on the screen, saying sincerely, "See, this is our Shanghai flagship store. Doesn't it look a bit bigger than your building!"
"Yes... but our building is in Seoul, and this is the most expensive area in all of Korea..." Representative Park recovered, trying to regain some dignity.
"Indeed, but my store is in Shanghai, right on the Huangpu River. The annual rent is equivalent to your one billion won. What's your annual rent again?"
Representative Park promptly shut his mouth, deciding not to pursue this topic further. He led Huang He and his entourage into the company and began a swift tour.
First, they viewed the development team. The entire development team occupied two floors of the company building. In this cramped room, over thirty people were developing the game together.
Just as Representative Park was about to boast about how amazing his development team was, he heard Huang He say, "It's still not as many people as one project team in our oo."
"May I ask how many development teams oo has?" Representative Park, with a bit of a smart mouth, inquired.
"Not many, only about twenty-plus!" Huang He replied with a smile. Representative Park decided to completely seal his lips.
Next, Representative Park showed Huang He a game demonstration video, which was the actual in-game footage. It was quite good. Then Huang He commented, "This player is too bad. Their movement is wrong, their mob-pulling is wrong, and their skill combos are also wrong. It takes a full minute to defeat such a trash monster. If it were me, it would take at most twenty seconds!"
Representative Park's face turned red because he himself had produced this demonstration video, and he was the one controlling the game character. Originally, Representative Park could have retorted with "If you can do it, you do it," but considering Huang He's astonishing record of winning five consecutive matches in the Sino-US arena, Representative Park could only obediently keep quiet. What if Huang He challenged him to a one-on-one match?
"Let's try it ourselves!" Representative Park said, finally feeling incredibly weary, and then began the final hands-on experience segment.
Fortunately, this time Huang He didn't mock him or the company. Instead, he seriously experienced the game for a full hour, playing with utmost seriousness. He constantly switched between various camera angles, adjusted display effects, and experimented with skill sets, exhibiting the demeanor of an extremely professional gaming expert.
"Mr. Huang, do you have any thoughts on our game?" Representative Park asked, regaining some pride. He was quite certain that in 2002, no online game in the world could compare to his "Triumph."
"It's very good. It's the best-looking and has the best 3D effects among all the online games I've played!" Huang He admitted quite readily. This surprised Representative Park, as he had expected this man to mock him again.
"Then, Mr. Huang, are you interested in becoming our game's distributor?" Representative Park asked with a smile.
"Before I answer your question, I have a question for you!" Huang He said calmly. "May I ask what is your company's minimum configuration standard?"
"Certainly, our company's minimum configuration is..." Representative Park promptly stated the game's minimum requirements.
"Isn't this minimum configuration a bit too high?" Huang He asked with a frown.
"It is indeed a bit high, but in Korea, 40% of computers can currently run our game. And our game won't be officially open for beta testing until the second half of next year. I believe the average computer configuration will improve significantly by then."
"Another excellent game is also an important factor in promoting the update of computer configurations. If the Jiangnan Group deals with computer equipment, then perhaps representing our game can also boost the speed of computer upgrades in your country!" Representative Park said with a smile.
"Heh heh!" Huang He chuckled softly and remained silent. This made Representative Park a little anxious, so he gave his secretary a look. The secretary nodded and then left the conference room.
A few minutes later, Huang He stood up to leave, but Representative Park enthusiastically invited Huang He to sit down and chat further. After another ten minutes or so of further pleasantries, the conference room door suddenly opened. A group of people walked in and stared blankly at Huang He, who was chatting with Representative Park in the conference room.
"Oh dear, my apologies, it was my oversight. I forgot, I also scheduled a meeting with the representative from Tengda Group for agency negotiations today!" Representative Park exclaimed, feigning a flustered expression and then apologizing profusely, hoping Huang He would wait a bit before they continued their conversation.
"Mr. Park, your acting skills have a lot of room for improvement. If you're interested in the future, you can come to our Jiangnan Group's entertainment company as an extra. We'll train your acting well!" Huang He said with a smile, and then led his entourage out of the conference room.
However, Representative Park showed no signs of anger. Instead, he gave a sly smile and then returned to warmly receive the Tengda people.
"Boss, you're truly incredible! You actually guessed it. This guy really thought we were pawns!" Hu Jing said from behind.
"That wasn't hard to guess. You just need to know that Tengda had already been in contact with this company and planned to acquire their 'Triumph.' Then you'll understand how ill-intentioned it was for this company to invite me for a visit!" Huang He said with a cold snort.
Even a fool could see that the reason Representative Park had gone to such lengths to invite Huang He was not because he genuinely wanted Huang He to represent their game, but rather to let the people from Tengda see that they were in contact with Huang He.
It was likely that both sides were engaged in fierce negotiations over the agency price. To force Tengda to concede, Representative Park had invited Huang He to pressure Tengda.
He was telling Tengda that even Jiangnan Group was interested in them now. If Tengda didn't take the deal, they would hand the game over to Jiangnan Group, which would further suppress Tengda in business. They would regret it later, so they should quickly agree to his terms and sign the contract.
"However, Boss, you were willing to visit hoping to use this to your advantage, to use this company to consume more of Tengda's funds, right?" Hu Jing asked.
"You've guessed wrong there!" Huang He shook his head. "Of course, I hope to consume Tengda's funds, but I even less wish for Tengda's funds to end up benefiting these disgusting Korean companies for nothing."
"Then what is your purpose..." Hu Jing was stunned. If it wasn't for that, why would Huang He agree to visit?
"You'll know in a moment!" Huang He waved his hand and then said to the driver, "Drive around this road, find an opportunity to switch cars, and then park near their company entrance again."
---
"President Zeng, what should we do? Should we just agree to these Koreans' terms?" An hour later, the Tengda team also left the conference room, but everyone on the team had a cloud of gloom over their faces.
This was because during the recent negotiations, the Koreans had overturned the previously proposed agency fee of 5 million USD and unilaterally increased the price to 8 million USD.
Their reasoning was that the agency fee negotiations between Shanda and Actoz regarding "The Legend of Mir" had concluded a few days prior, with the final agreed price being 8 million USD per year.
Therefore, Imazic stated that their game "Triumph," whether in terms of game quality, graphics, or gameplay, completely surpassed "The Legend of Mir," and by an entire era, crushing the opponent's product.
Thus, the agency fee for "Triumph" could not be lower than that of "The Legend of Mir"; it should at least be on par. Hence, Imazic also demanded an 8 million USD agency fee.
This change angered the entire Tengda team, as they had come today to finalize the contract, only to have the other party renege on their terms at the last minute.
What the Tengda team didn't expect was to see Huang He in the conference room... Although Huang He was only ordinarily handsome, everyone at Tengda knew Huang He, their impression of Huang He's appearance was deeply etched into their bones. Thus, even catching a glimpse of Huang He's back was enough for them to recognize him.
"What is he doing here? Could it be that Jiangnan Group also has its eye on 'Triumph'?" This discovery threw the entire Tengda team into a panic. Especially Representative Park, who, during the subsequent negotiations, had subtly hinted to them that Jiangnan Group had already agreed to the 8 million USD offer, but because they, Imazic, were unaware of the ongoing negotiations with the Tengda team, they were prioritizing Tengda out of principle.
As long as Tengda could accept the 8 million USD offer, they could sign the contract immediately.
The Tengda team was now completely in disarray. Everyone in China knew Huang He was rich. With "Warcraft III," Jiangnan had already earned at least over a hundred million USD. Spending 8 million USD on a promising online game was not an issue at all.
Especially since Huang He himself had personally stepped forward for negotiations, it was highly likely that the negotiations were close to being finalized. Representative Park's words were true; Tengda had no other option but to accept the 8 million USD terms.
However, the problem was that asking Tengda to fork out 8 million USD for such a game with an uncertain future and questionable potential for widespread popularity made Tengda very unwilling.
Therefore, Tengda ultimately did not agree, but they also did not refuse, and both parties agreed to continue negotiations the next day.
Thus, under the smug gaze of Representative Park, the members of the Tengda team left Imazic company with grim expressions and dejected spirits.
However, they didn't expect that just as they left the company entrance, a Chinese man stopped them and whispered, "Mr. Zeng, hello. I am Mr. Huang He's driver. He is waiting for you in the car and wishes to speak with you in person."