"Am I the boss... or you?"
The moment those words left Zaboru's mouth, the entire meeting room froze. Even Shinsuke looked genuinely stunned because everyone there knew something very clearly. Zaboru was not the type of leader who abused his authority. No matter how absurd an idea sounded, he usually countered it with logic, arguments, or discussion. He listened to suggestions, respected opinions, and even interns or junior developers inside ZAGE could speak openly during meetings without fear.
That was the kind of company culture Zaboru had built, which was exactly why this moment felt so terrifying. This was the first time anyone there had ever seen Zaboru openly assert his dominance as the boss, and somehow that made the atmosphere far scarier than if he had shouted.
Even Shinsuke, who had been with Zaboru since the early days of ZAGE, felt chills hearing that sentence. Normally, Zaboru never flaunted his authority. He always debated with reason, listened carefully, and gave people chances to explain themselves. Which was why everyone inside the room immediately realized just how serious this situation had become.
Young Rang noticed it too. His confidence from earlier had completely disappeared. He unconsciously stepped backward before quickly stopping himself while sweat continued dripping from his forehead.
"I-It's you, boss..." Young Rang answered weakly.
Zaboru stared at him for a few more seconds before suddenly grinning, but that grin did not make the room feel lighter at all. If anything, it felt even more dangerous.
Then Zaboru casually pulled a chair.
"Now sit here, Young Rang..."
Young Rang could only nod because Zaboru looked genuinely terrifying right now. The meeting room remained silent, and no one dared to ease the atmosphere with even a small comment. Zaboru looked at him for a few more seconds before calmly returning to his seat. He sat down casually, almost lazily, as if the pressure he had just created in the room had nothing to do with him.
"Young Rang, do you remember when you wanted to apply here?" Zaboru asked in a calm voice. "You loved video games. You had experience leading tech companies, and you were excited about working with me, right?"
Young Rang gulped before nodding slowly. "Yes, boss..."
Zaboru leaned back slightly in his chair while looking at him. His tone was still casual, but the weight behind every word made Young Rang unable to relax at all.
"Now, after a little bit of success and a little bit of money, you start changing into those higher-ups from common offices who think making money is everything." Zaboru spoke casually, but the sentence struck harder than a shout. "You, of all people, should know this. My goal, and ZAGE's goal, has never been only money. It was never that. It has always been customer satisfaction."
Zaboru slowly clenched his fist on the table. His voice became quieter, but somehow it made everyone listen even more carefully.
"I want to make good games. I want to make a lot of games, so everyone with different tastes can find something they love. I want to build a strong community, not just a market. I want customers and players to trust us, not fear us. I want the video game industry to flourish."
Then Zaboru looked at each person inside the room, one by one. The developers, the executives, Shinsuke, Seth Kang, Ji Hye, Hyun Woo, Tomohiro Kata, and finally Young Rang.
"And that will never happen if we start treating players like wallets with legs."
"And each of you should already know that I don't give a damn about money itself," Zaboru said with a faint grin. "Money is a tool for me. Nothing more. That is also why ZAGE employees can earn money so easily compared to most companies, right? I don't mind paying people properly. I don't mind spending money on better offices, better tools, better hardware, better salaries, or better benefits, because money is supposed to move. It is supposed to create something useful. But the moment money becomes the goal itself, everything starts rotting from the inside."
The room became even quieter after he said that. Some of the executives lowered their eyes because they understood the meaning behind his words. Zaboru had never been stingy with ZAGE's people. Developers were paid well, artists were treated with respect, hardware teams were given absurd budgets, and even branch offices were built like symbols of trust. That was why nobody could accuse him of being afraid to spend or earn money. His problem was not profit. His problem was greed pretending to be strategy.
"The idea you proposed earlier is bad, Young Rang," Zaboru continued while looking straight at him. "Maybe on paper, it sounds good. More money is always better, right? Players love us, so they will pay more, right? The graphs are climbing, so we should squeeze harder, right?" He chuckled softly and shook his head. "That kind of thinking sounds smart only when you forget the people behind those numbers."
Zaboru leaned forward slightly, and Young Rang immediately stiffened again. "What kind of thought is that? It is just greed concealed behind professional words. You call it maximizing revenue. You call it improving the economy. You call it premium value. But if the heart behind it is only to take more because you think players cannot leave, then it is greed. Nothing more."
He tapped one finger against the table, slowly and calmly. "Players are not stupid. Let's say we do what you said. We raise everything. Subscription prices, item prices, cosmetic prices, premium tiers, limited offers, all of it. At first, maybe the data says it is fine. Maybe the revenue increases. Maybe players grumble but still pay. Then what happens next?"
Zaboru's grin faded slightly. "You will propose another raise. Then another. Then another. Every time the data does not immediately collapse, someone will say, 'See? It is fine.' But that is the trap. The damage does not always appear in the first month. Sometimes it appears slowly. Trust disappears quietly. Goodwill turns into bitterness. Loyal players become tired. Communities that once defended us will start questioning us. And by the time the graph finally drops, it will already be too late."
He looked around the room, making sure every executive heard him clearly. "The one thing you should never forget is this. Players are not just numbers."
He looked at each one of them carefully. "They have hearts. They have circumstances. They have feelings. Some of them are students, some are workers, some are children asking permission from their parents, and some are people who only have a little money left at the end of the month but still choose to spend it on our games because they trust us. If we betray that trust by making everything expensive just because we can, they will not immediately disappear, but they will remember it. They will feel it. Slowly, they will stop trusting us, and that trust will turn into bitterness."
Zaboru sighed, and for a moment, his anger looked more like disappointment. "Not just that. If we raise everything, there are many video game companies that just barely started creating their own online games who might try to follow us. Right now, whether we like it or not, ZAGE is standing at the pinnacle of the game industry. People watch what we do. Competitors imitate us. Smaller companies learn from us. If ZAGE starts saying that it is fine to keep pushing prices higher and higher, then others will copy it without even understanding why it is dangerous."
His expression darkened again. "That will create inflation inside the video game industry itself. Subscription prices will rise. Item prices will rise. Premium services will become more aggressive. Then suddenly, every online game will start feeling expensive, and players will become exhausted before the industry even fully matures. I hate that kind of future."
Zaboru's eyes sharpened as he turned back toward Young Rang. "And what do you think, Young Rang? Do you think I never considered things like this before? Who do you think created these kinds of online games inside ZAGE? Who do you think prepared the system, the method, the structure, Steam, Steam Wallet, online purchases, subscriptions, player accounts, digital distribution, and long-term updates? Were those ideas yours?"
The room became completely silent again.
Zaboru answered his own question with a cold smile. "No, right? They came from me. So what makes you think I never thought about increasing player spending using the exact methods you said earlier? Of course I already know we can do that. I know it better than anyone in this room." Zaboru thought of his previous life somehow this things really make him mad.
He inhaled slowly, trying to calm the anger rising inside his chest.
"But that makes it not aligned with ZAGE's goal, doesn't it?" Zaboru said, his grin returning slightly, though his eyes were still sharp. "And let me tell you something, Young Rang. We don't need to raise prices to make more money. We just need to make customers and players trust us so much that they willingly spend their money on us. That has always worked so far, hasn't it?"
He leaned back in his chair and looked at everyone inside the meeting room. "When players trust a company, they buy the games without being forced. They buy merchandise because they love the characters. They pay subscriptions because they feel the service is fair. They purchase cosmetics because they want to support the world they enjoy, not because we cornered them with pressure. That kind of money is cleaner, stronger, and lasts much longer than short-term greed."
Zaboru's expression became colder again. In his mind, he already knew how dangerous this kind of thinking was. It looked harmless at first, like a small business adjustment, but to him it was a bad seed planted inside the video game industry. If nobody stopped it, that seed would grow into something ugly. He had seen it in his previous life, how companies slowly changed from creators of dreams into machines that chased spending habits, engagement charts, and artificial pressure.
That memory alone made him angrier than he wanted to admit. He remembered how greed transformed some video game companies in his previous life like EA , UbiSoft , Blizzard and many more. Games that were once made to entertain players became platforms designed to drain them. Beautiful worlds became storefronts. Player loyalty became something to exploit. Communities that once loved a series became exhausted, disappointed, and bitter.
Zaboru refused to let ZAGE become that kind of company. More importantly, he refused to let ZAGE become the company that taught the rest of the industry to act that way.
Shinsuke grinned faintly while watching Zaboru speak. Somehow, seeing this side of him made Shinsuke realize just how much Zaboru had grown as a leader over the years. Back when ZAGE had barely started, Zaboru still looked like an absurdly talented teenager trying to carry impossible dreams on his shoulders. Even though he was a genius, there were moments where he still hesitated to fully impose himself on others.
But now?
Now he truly had the presence of someone standing at the top of the industry.
Not because of power.
Not because of money.
But because he had conviction.
Shinsuke could clearly feel it.
And honestly, it made him strangely proud.
The other developers inside the room also showed small smiles after hearing Zaboru's words. Somehow, moments like this always reminded them why they followed him in the first place.
As expected, Zaboru really was a terrible businessman.
But he was a true gamer.
Meanwhile, Young Rang fidgeted in his seat. His earlier confidence had completely disappeared, replaced by a nervous stiffness that made him look smaller than before. "I... I see. I was wrong. It's not aligned with our goal at all..." he said quietly.
Zaboru nodded, his expression finally softening a little. "Good. At least you are aware of that," he said. "And don't worry. As you all know, I will always respect the opinions you give me, no matter how absurd they sound, as long as they do not come from greed. This time is an exception, okay?" He chuckled lightly, and the tension in the room loosened just a little.
However, Young Rang still could not fully let go of his pride. After a short silence, he raised his head again and said, "But from a business perspective, this is still a bad movement, boss. If we want to grow as a company, we should maximize benefits. What I suggested earlier may sound harsh, but it is more practical for long-term revenue..."
Zaboru chuckled again, but this time his amusement sounded almost playful. "Yeah, maybe you are right from a normal business perspective," he said. "But you remember what I'm known for, right?" Zaboru leaned back and grinned. "Bad businessman. Remember?"
For a moment, the room went silent before several people started chuckling. Even Shinsuke grinned, clearly amused. The developers smiled as well because, in a strange way, Zaboru was not wrong. He was a terrible businessman if judged only by the cold rules of profit, but he was also the reason ZAGE had become a company people trusted so deeply.
Young Rang could not really say anything after that. He only clenched his fist under the table, still feeling frustrated even though he knew he had lost the argument. Zaboru noticed it, of course. His smile became calmer as he looked at him.
"Don't let greed blind you, Young Rang," Zaboru said.
Then, almost casually, Zaboru activated one of his abilities, Blessing Words. His voice carried a strange warmth as he spoke the trigger phrase.
"You are very cool after all"
The effect came quietly. Young Rang suddenly sighed as if a heavy fog inside his head had been cleared away. His racing thoughts slowed down, and his anger lost its sharpness. He began analyzing Zaboru's words again, but this time without the same pride blocking him. The more he thought about it, the more he understood the danger behind his own suggestion.
"I see, boss," Young Rang said after a while, his voice calmer than before. "I was wrong. Greed really blinded me... I'm sorry."
But deep down, in a small corner of his heart, another thought still remained.
Damn it. I know I wasn't completely wrong. This company is just too weird.
Zaboru chuckled and nodded, secretly satisfied that he had finally acted like a truly domineering CEO for once. Of course, he would never admit that out loud, but there was a faint smugness in his expression as the meeting continued as usual. The suffocating tension gradually faded, reports were discussed, schedules were adjusted, and Team Dynasty's next steps were finalized with far more caution than before.
After the meeting ended, Zaboru returned to his personal office on the highest floor of ZAGE Hub Korea. The moment he was alone, his intimidating CEO aura disappeared almost instantly. He loosened his shoulders, exhaled like a tired gamer finishing a difficult boss fight, and glanced toward the new game waiting on his desk.
It was The White Hunter, a newly released title from Kang Soft this month. After dealing with greedy business talk, tense executives, and the dangerous future of online games, Zaboru wanted nothing more than to sit down, relax, and play a game like an ordinary gamer again and Zaboru the Gamer is Back!.
To be continue
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