Chapter 240: A Long Time Has Passed   Sigh...

I opened my eyes a moment later, stirred by the sound of the wind rustling the leaves by the lakeside.

Startled, I jumped up from my seat as the fishing line plunged into the water with a splash.

"It's here!! It's here!!!" Judging by the sensation in my fingertips, it was undoubtedly a sizable catch.

"Argh!!!" The fishing chair tumbled backward, making a raucous noise, but I focused, exerting force on my legs as I quickly began reeling in the tightly stretched fishing line.

"Anyone seeing this would think I'm catching tuna by the seaside, not some lake fish! Why are they so strong!?" Tug-tug-splash!! Apparently, this one didn't want to be caught by me.

To resist this much...

Well, I've been here for two hours.

Even you must be caught to save face! Splash!! With an ominous sensation in my hands, the creature at the other end of the line was pulled up and, with a twist, plunged back into the lakeside.

"Ha...

this is insane..." "Dad, did you miss the fish?" I nodded with a reddened face in response to Seolhyun's voice from behind.

"Should I just give up? I might not catch a single one until Grandpa arrives." "Ugh...

probably.

I might hear about this from the expert adults." Sighing, I pulled up the fishing line, and Seolhyun approached, sitting down beside me.

"When are you going to catch a fish? Mom asked me to inquire.

She said Grandpa is almost here." "Oh...

really?" Oh no, this is bad.

I boasted about making spicy Korean stew, but I haven't caught a single fish yet.

When Grandpa arrives, I need to have something to show! Splash~!! With the sound of the splash, a creature emerged from the water.

I smiled triumphantly and set up the fallen chair for Seolhyun.

"Let's see, where were we in our conversation?" "We were talking about the PVP system!!" "Oh, right.

That's it.

Seolhyun has a good memory, doesn't she?" With my praise, Seolhyun stuck out her tongue playfully and looked at me with a mischievous expression.

"So, what happened then?" "Well? It was chaos.

Right after the Pentagon Conference ended, almost half the people, instead of looking back, rushed to Akihabara during our camping trip." "Wow...

that must have been fun." "After the Pentagon Conference, there was a scheduled conference for NEGA.

Nagata-san, who was the promotion model for Saturn, was desperate to grab any users leaving the venue." Even now, thinking about that time makes me chuckle involuntarily.

& "Hey, you there!! Play Saturn~!!" "You too, play it a lot~!!" "What!?" Nagata Sanshiro, who moved around shouting orders to users with a tough concept, frowned at the young user's response.

After about a quarter of the audience left following the Pentagon conference, the venue was thrown into chaos.

"What's going on? Why are those people acting like that?" "Pentagon announced the release of Dragon Emblem!!" "What did they say? When is it going to be released?" "Today!! I'm going to buy it first~!!" "Wa-wait.

I'm coming too!!" "Well, that's true.

I was really on the verge of getting fired.

Because of the busy broadcast schedule, I couldn't even make it to their live performance.

Anyway, ten years ago, Venture Idol was truly amazing.

They even performed at the Tokyo Dome the fall after their debut." "I remember, just a month before that performance, Tsukaki passed away, right?" "I didn't see it in person, but they say the performance that day was a sea of tears.

Especially, after Kanna took over for Tsukaki and sang 'If' as the last song, she collapsed from exhaustion.

There were even attempts of suicide from fans who wanted to follow her." "Among them, five actually died.

Thanks to the massive influx of visitors mourning her from all over Japan, the funeral was delayed for a week.

Pentacon had to hold an official press conference, urging users to refrain from extreme actions..." While listening to the radio broadcast, I swallowed a forced laughter.

"It was really overwhelming..." Sawano Tsukaki.

Even now, thinking about her name makes my heart heavy.

She left behind five songs, including 'Hold Me Tight' and 'If.' Among them, 'If,' co-created with Kanna, was the most highly praised.

Her death was one of the most difficult events for gamers to accept at that time.

Due to the mourning visitors from all over Japan, the funeral was delayed for a week, and there were several suicide attempts to follow her.

Among them, five actually died.

Because of this, it became a significant social issue, and even Pentacon had to hold an official press conference urging users to refrain from extreme actions...

It was around the time I resigned from Pentacon, just after the Tokyo Dome event of Venture Idol.

After Tsukaki's funeral and spending some time in a daze, I officially stepped down from my position at Pentacon.

Despite the efforts of many employees, including Mr.

Kawaguchi and Mr.

Morita, to persuade me otherwise, I couldn't turn back.

Since then, for a few years, Mr.

Kamauichi, the president of Mintendo, tried relentlessly to bring me back, but every time, I shook my head.

Mintendo was going through a tough time in 2005.

Despite Mr.

Kamauichi's final offer to step down from his position, I didn't want to return to Mintendo without Mr.

Kawaguchi.

Eight years ago, in the summer of 1997, I resigned from Mintendo due to the failure of the virtual reality game console 'Venture Boy.' Mr.

Gunpei, who knew about the future, could have avoided the traffic accident that led to his death, but it seemed he had a pre-existing illness.

At that time, while listening to the radio together, Seolhyun's voice rang out, "Oh! Grandpa~!!!" "Oh, our granddaughter, have you been well?" As I stood up from the table, the master craftsman's voice reached my ears.

Holding a plate full of food with both hands, he grinned and said to me, "You.

Still haven't caught a single fish, huh?" "Fishing is harder than it looks." "Gamers have been catching them quite well lately.

Tsk tsk..." Author's Note: I had a lot of thoughts while writing this part.

Honestly, it's been a concern for a few days now.

I mentioned earlier that I would conclude the story of the game market in about 10 volumes...

Writing one more volume seemed like it would end up being a repetitive episode.

I also felt this during the recent episodes, and it's a part I've been thinking about.

It's difficult to say exactly how many episodes will be the end, but I plan to conclude the story of Game Market 1983 by reminiscing about the past little by little.

Farewells will be saved for later as the story is not over yet.

Thank you for reading today...

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