Chapter 141: Kojima’s Chance

[Today seems to be your lucky day! You obtained a Golden Week Card!]

"Haha! This is exactly what I needed! Kondo, looks like the universe itself wants you dead."

The Golden Week Card allowed the player to designate a prefecture to enter Golden Week, doubling all tolls collected there.

But that wasn't the end of it. As Player 4, once Kojima finished his turn, a new round began, and at the start of every round, there was a chance for a random economic event to occur.

[The seafood industry is booming right now!]

"No way! Kojima's properties are all..."

Since most of his investments were in Hokkaido, Kojima naturally hadn't passed up the numerous coastal properties, filling them with seafood-related businesses. This event couldn't have been more favorable for him.

Meanwhile, Kondo's expression had already darkened. In the span of a single turn, he had gone from the undisputed favorite to being in serious danger. Now, one wrong move and his entire fortune could be wiped out.

"This is unbelievably bad luck. I was so close to winning if I could've just held on a little longer..."

He slowly picked up the controller, covered his eyes as though he had accepted his fate, and rolled the dice. Before he could even peek through his fingers to see the result, the three people beside him cried out in surprise.

"Holy crap, what ridiculous luck! He actually survived that?"

Only then did Kondo open his eyes. The road ahead had been lined with expensive properties. Landing on almost any space would have been fatal.

Yet somehow, he rolled exactly a 5, landing on the only cheap yakitori restaurant among all those high-priced businesses. Although a huge chunk of his assets disappeared, he had managed to survive another turn.

Kondo finally realized something, this game wasn't over until the very last moment.

As long as he was still alive, there was always a chance to make a comeback, and that persistence didn't betray him.

At the very beginning of the next round, Lady Luck smiled upon him. Fukugami, the God of Fortune attached himself to Kondo, granting him discounts on various expenses while also awarding him a cash bonus.

Granted, out of the possible amounts beginning with digits one through nine, he somehow rolled the smallest possible payout starting with 1, making it rather underwhelming. Still, free money was free money.

How long could a game of Monopoly last? Momotaro Dentetsu had its own answer.

Three hours.

In the end, Kojima narrowly lost to Kondo by just ten million.

"What a shame. If I hadn't had such terrible luck at the start, I would've definitely won."

"Kondo's damn luck is unbelievable. I seriously thought he was finished that turn, but somehow he clawed his way back."

"Fukugami was absolutely the turning point. Otherwise, my Property Exchange Card would've finished him off right at the end."

"I thought monopolizing the Tokaido Shinkansen and collecting tolls there guaranteed my victory. I was just one move short."

It was fascinating. In games like Monopoly, the Matthew Effect was almost impossible to avoid.

This text was taken from NovelPhoenix. Help the author by reading the original version there.

As stronger players accumulated more assets, their advantage naturally snowballed, but the reverse was equally true. Because of this, Monopoly and virtually every game derived from it shared a distinct gameplay curve.

Once a player's wealth crossed a certain threshold, the pace of the game accelerated dramatically, allowing the strongest player to rapidly absorb everyone else's assets and secure victory.

In other words, once a player started falling behind, the rest of the experience was usually miserable. Yet somehow, Momotaro Dentetsu had broken that absolute rule.

Even though he had lost, Kojima didn't feel the crushing frustration or humiliation he had expected. Sitting in front of the television, watching the other three enthusiastically replay the match in their heads, he sank into thought.

His keen instincts told him there was something strange going on.

"Was Kondo suddenly getting thrown to Hokkaido... really just bad luck?"

He couldn't help asking himself that question. Everything had happened far too perfectly, yet it had also perfectly matched everyone's expectations.

The three of them had desperately wanted the dominant Kondo to suffer a setback. At the same time, Kondo himself had grown increasingly uneasy after being so lucky for so long, convinced his bad luck was due any moment.

Everything had unfolded exactly in line with the instincts of all four players, but that very perfection made it feel unsettling.

"The design of video games... is probably far deeper than I ever imagined..."

Kojima silently looked at the GAMENOVA logo on the game case. Throwing enough money at a project to create a blockbuster wasn't especially impressive.

Anyone with enough capital could do that. But making something simple genuinely fun... making it exceptional... now that was the real challenge

"Hey, Hideo."

Kondo's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"I say forget about Dragon Quest. Since everyone's already here, let's play another round. Loser buys dinner this time!"

"I'm in!"

"Come on! I feel like I really underperformed just now."

Looking at his three excited friends, Kojima smiled helplessly.

"You guys go ahead without me. I've got something I need to take care of."

....

Game Freak Headquarters

"Um... Mr. Kojima, Game Freak doesn't actually develop games. That's handled by GAMENOVA's main game development division."

Satoshi looked at the resume Kojima had handed over, looking rather speechless.

Situations like this weren't uncommon, as ever since GAMENOVA officially entered the Japanese market, countless developers had come to submit applications.

Although Satoshi carefully organized every resume and forwarded them to headquarters, Ethan had never once objected... But honestly, it was exhausting.

Applications from every kind of candidate imaginable poured in like a snowstorm, and after filtering through them all, only a small handful were actually worth considering.

And even those few promising ones were almost guaranteed to disappear into the void.

To be honest, he had almost wanted to send this man away immediately. An economics major applying for a game development position? Wasn't he just wasting everyone's time?

"Sir, this is the proposal for an AVG game I designed. I call it Snatcher."

"Uh... well, that's certainly keeping up with current trends. Very sci-fi, actually."

Satoshi casually flipped through a couple of pages. It appeared to be a cyberpunk themed adventure game. Judging from the design document alone, it was impossible to tell much.

"Well, I'll forward this to our main office along with your resume. But whether you get a reply isn't up to me."

"Thank you very much!"

...

KONAMI, MSX Game Division

Kojima had never imagined that the position he had dreamed of at a major company like Konami would end up turning out this way.

Inside the cramped office, besides himself, there were only a handful of developers. With staffing like this, they weren't even as well-equipped as some of the stronger indie studios.

"Everyone, I still don't intend to give up on my...."

"Keep your voice down, rookie."

Before he could finish speaking, someone rudely cut him off, not giving him the slightest chance to respond.

That day, Kojima truly experienced Japanese workplace culture firsthand. So, without a word, he returned to his desk, just then, the telephone rang.

He could only hope it wasn't another lecture from his supervisor.

"Hello, this is the Konami MSX Game Division. This is planner Kojima speaking."

"Kondo? Why are you calling me?... You want me to come home right now? Are you serious? Didn't I already tell you I'm at work?"

"...Who??"

"Satoshi Tajiri? He actually went to my house?? Have you been drinking??"

Listening to Kondo's frantic voice babbling excitedly over the phone, Kojima had no idea how to respond. Then, a familiar voice came over the line.

"Mr. Kojima, it's Satoshi. Do you think you could travel to the U.S.? Ethan Hayes wants to meet you."

"...??"

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