Taming Master

Ding-dong Ding-dong!

Minsu heard a ringing sound and mumbled something, “Ah, I already know who it is just by listening to the bell’s sound.”

From the other side of the door, the voice of a woman could be heard.

“Yah, Minsu, open the door! I’m gonna die here!”

“I’m coming so shut up!”

After a year, Minsu, Young-hoon, and Semi took their first-time off.

The famous trio of the virtual reality department gathered in Minsu’s room.

Despite it being a weekend, the reason why they decided to come out of their capsule world was simple.

It was because of the latest server update in Kailan. The game couldn’t be accessed.

Then why did they have to come and meet in Minsu’s room?

“Yah, aren’t we late? It didn’t start yet right?”

“God! We aren’t late so don’t worry and sit down. We still have two more minutes left.”

“Phew, thank god. That idiot Young-hoon-ie was late, so I thought that we would be late too.”

As they were talking, both of them looked over at Young-hoon who was pouting.

“It was late for just about a minute or 2…”

“Shut up! Don’t talk rubbish, call the chicken house.”

“Ha…”

Young-hoon quietly took out the smartphone with a sigh.

Semi, who tossed over her coat at the corner of the room, sat on the couch with her eyes on the screen.

After a while, Minsu said the words that they all had been waiting for.

“It is starting!”

Everyone’s eyes went in the direction of the TV; the huge title appeared on the enormous screen.

‘Middle-Earth and Brave Canyon’. Ask the planner directly!

* * *

Kailan, the only game ever to have such a huge topic compared to any other game on earth.

The games that existed currently as well as any other games that were popular in the past, Kailan had an overwhelming presence compared to those games.

1st for having the most concurrent users.

1st for having the most cumulative number of visitors.

1st in annual sales.

1st in virtual reality assimilation.

Etc.

Even though Kailan was a famous and world-renowned game, it wasn’t easy for the developers who contributed to the game to be famous.

Users were usually interested in the game and not in the people who have made the game possible.

The developers, who developed the game, were sweating and were invisible to the users.

But just like everywhere, there were exceptions.

One of those exceptions was the guy in the game station of the newsroom in YTBC.

– Hello, this is Kim Incheon, nice to meet you.

– Wow, you really are Kim Incheon?

– Hahat, what is that supposed to mean?

– I’m so amazed. I have been a huge fan of Kim Incheon since my student years.

– Hut hut, I am a fan too, Miss Lucia. I’m not sure how to respond if Kailan’s goddess is my fan.

Kim Incheon, the GM of the Kailan’s current planning division and the creator who had written numerous myths in the Korean gaming industry.

Any Korean gamer had heard of him at least once.

In addition, for Jinsung who lived in the game, Kim Incheon was a name he heard numerous times.

“Wah, that uncle is coming on TV… I never even expected that to happen?”

At the mumbling of Jinsung, who was next to Harin, she asked, “You know him?”

“Yeah, he is a very famous uncle.”

As they were talking, the program on the TV was going on.

– The viewers too might feel that way, honestly, we too are a bit nervous.

– What Hines is saying is true. Today’s program is a corner show made by LB at YTBC, but we never expected that you will be the one joining us.

– But you are here! So we’ll dig into the deepest secrets of Kailan.

– Absolutely! How does that sound?

Hines and Lucia were asking.

The appearance of Kim Incheon was rather natural compared to the other two.

– Huh, these guys, I’m scared! I feel like everything will be out by today.

– Ha hat, you were the one who came here willingly. You can walk out whenever you feel like!

– Thank you!

The veteran MCs like Lucia and Hines led the conversation.

They were chatting for a moment, but the main stream had begun.

– Kay, let’s talk about the ‘Brave Canyon’ content, which the viewers are most curious of.

– Haa, I am very curious too! Please tell me, Mr. Planner!

As the story began, Jinsung became absolutely focused the moment it began.

He couldn’t even hear the voice of Harin, who was right next to him.

“The ‘Brave Canyon’ in the Warrior’s Village, Jinsung?”

“….huh? what?”

“Heu… nothing, I’ll ask you later.”

Kim Incheon seemed to be in his early twenties, but he didn’t look that way at all.

Although he had been in the spotlight for a long time, he was the youngest.

That was the reason why he was an active planner for a long time.

-In fact, we have always been dreaming of the ‘World Integration Server’ since the beginning of Kailan’s planning. But that wasn’t an easy one.

-Isn’t LB the best technological company in the world? How was that not easy?

-Well, there were a lot of problems, the biggest one being the ‘maximum number of users from the servers being accommodated’.

At those words from Kim Incheon, Hines smiled and asked again.

– Hmm… I don’t understand. With the server’s technology, you could know that hundreds of millions of people would connect at the same time?

Kim Incheon smiled and responded.

– The problem wasn’t with the skills.

– Then what kind of problem was it?

– It was a matter of ‘human resources’.

– …?

– In the LB planning team, we always had a desire to make Kailan the perfect world. A world which would really feel like another ‘reality’ for the users.

Kim Incheon paused and then spoke again.

– Because of that, our planning team gave a uniqueness to every NPC in Kailan. A story for every single one of them.

At those words, both Hines and Lucia nodded.

Kim Incheon’s explanation was something that anyone who played Kailan could relate to.

– In that sense, Kailan’s maturity is amazing. In fact, we have planned and implemented the world as it is, but from now on, the human resource is a matter of fact for further growth.

– I agree with what Lucia had said. But Mr. Planner, I still have a question.

– What is it?

– In my understanding, the current world of Kailan is huge enough. Wouldn’t it be great if all the worlds’ users were connected to the present-day Kailan without expanding the world further?

The map of Kailan was huge.

The terrestrial system that users used so far.

Among them, the human system alone could be compared to a small continent in reality.

The question of Hines was something that anyone would have thought of.

A large number of people played Kailan all around the world, but in reality, they wouldn’t even exceed 10 percent of the world’s total population.

If the Human Dimension and the Devildom were to be combined, it would be more than 10% of the world’s landmass, so fitting millions of users in it wouldn’t be a problem.

Kim Incheon smiled and shook his head.

– Of course, that isn’t an impossible task, Mr.Hines. However, if we do that, Kailan would be a lot less fun.

– Why?

– One of the biggest reasons why Kailan is fun is because the ‘users’ are very special and unique.

– Hmm…?

– And in the world of Kailan with hundreds of NPCs living in it, all the users will have to be the ‘heroes’.

Hines and Lucia chewed on the words of Kim Incheon and waited for his next words. Kim Incheon continued.

– In the world of Kailan, someone has to be ordinary. Some users have to farm, and some users have to carry bricks.

– But that ordinary person should be the user.

– Right. That is it.

Silence filled the newsroom for a while as well as Jinsung and Harin’s living room.

The words of Kim Incheon felt like a firm conviction.

After a while, it was Lucia and not Hines who broke the silence and asked.

– Then, Mr. Kim Incheon, what is the maximum number of users that a single server of Kailan could accommodate?

Without a speck of hesitation, Kim-Incheon answered.

– A single server can accommodate around 50 million users.

– What basis?

– When we first planned Kailan, our planning team was under the impression that all Koreans would want to play the game.

– Ah…

– Which was why from the very beginning, we planned based on our assumptions that 50 million users would play in one nation. So in China, which has a relatively large population, we had no choice but to open five servers from the very beginning. And that too is almost half full.

At the words from Kim Incheon, Hines asked.

– A rough estimate maybe?

– As far as I know, the number of Chinese users currently in Kailan is 1.1 billion.

– OMG, that much?

– In fact, in terms of ratio, Korean servers are amazing. Of the 50 million people, more than 9 million play Kailan. And China has over 13 billion people.

At the unique and low voice of Kim Incheon which was saying the story, everyone was sucked in.

The stories that he was talking about were strange yet attractive.

– And for that reason, our planning team was a bit concerned. We wanted to create a server that would be able to integrate the whole world while satisfying the users from all over the world.

– Ahha…

– Which was why we thought of a ‘parallel world’.

– Parallel… world?

– That is right. Firstly, the servers in each of the countries with the same worldview exist with the concept of ‘parallel world’. The plan was to set up a server with the concept of ‘Higher dimension’ that the parallel world would connect to.

At the words of Kim, Jinsung nodded his head.

For him who understood the worldview of Kailan much more deeply than any other user, the agony of Kim Incheon could be understood.

‘It was really shocking when I heard about the concept of the Middle-Earth from Lugarix.’

There have been numerous games before Kailan, which had tried to consolidate the servers all around the world.

But Ian had never seen an integration server be opened with such ease in the structured world of Kailan.

The efforts of the planners were the driving force that made Kailan a flawless game.

– Then Mr. Planner, this Brave Canyon, which is supposedly going to open today, will serve as the first gateway for users all over the world to enter the ‘integrated server’?

Veteran host, Lucia summed up all the points.

Jinsung wasn’t able to easily predict the next words that would come out of Kim’s mouth, so he waited.

Kim’s answer was surprising and outside the expectations of Ian.

– Hmm, not necessarily. The Warrior’s Village, there will be gateways in there too, but they will be different from the Brave Canyon.

– Huh?

– The Brave canyon is a battlefield that will select users.

Upon hearing what Kim Incheon said, Ian’s eyes went wide.