Chapter 46. The President Truly Has a Keen Eye!
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Because the previous title, Onmyoji 1, achieved extraordinary results and built up a solid reputation, many players were eagerly anticipating Onmyoji 2.
On the first day of release, crowds of players flocked to game stores to buy the cartridge.
It sold out on the very first day, and Pokeni's phones were ringing off the hook.
The most common sound in the company every day was the phone ringing.
The colleagues in the marketing department were overwhelmed.
"Okay, Onmyoji 2, 2000 copies. Could you give me the address?"
"Alright, alright, no problem."
"Okay, Onmyoji 2, 4000 copies. Could you give me the address?"
…
Chief Operating Officer Takahashi Kazuma was busy to death.
This position didn't even exist before. Takahashi was only hired after the first Onmyoji became a hit and the company needed more manpower.
Although his title was Chief Operating Officer, in reality, the entire operations and marketing department consisted of just him alone.
After all, this was a small company of just over 20 people. In Japan, every employee had to do a lot of work. The workload was heavy, and efficiency was highly demanded.
If you didn't finish, you couldn't go home on time.
Fortunately, this job only got hectic intermittently. During sales periods, it was insanely busy, but during game development, there was almost nothing for him to do, which was easier.
To handle the current situation, Kiyoshi Yuuma even had colleagues whose development work was finished help out.
Answering phones, confirming orders, verifying payments, contacting the factory to burn cartridges, shipping…
The entire process was tedious and exhausting.
But precisely because it was so tiring, everyone's faces were full of joy.
Lots of orders meant the game was truly selling like crazy!
And a game selling like crazy meant a constant stream of—
Money!
After finishing a call, HR Ayase Akane looked at Kiyoshi Yuuma with sparkling eyes and said with a smile, "President, the game is going to be a hit!"
"Hmph."
Kiyoshi Yuuma let out a light snort. "Isn't that how it should be?"
Tsk tsk. Ayase Akane gave a knowing look.
This president acted calm on the surface, but his palms were already sweaty.
…
In the president's office, Hattori Hiroyuki lit a cigarette. Just after taking one puff, his secretary Fujiki knocked and entered.
"President, the game store on Akihabara Street just called to say Onmyoji 2 is sold out. They're asking if we can restock."
"Sold out?"
"What?"
Hattori Hiroyuki was utterly shocked. His finger trembled, and the cigarette dropped.
"Ah—hot, hot, hot, hot…"
He jumped up from his chair, hurriedly slapping at his pants.
A small visible hole had burned into them.
Fujiki couldn't bear to watch. She quickly turned her head away, struggling to stifle her laughter.
She had been professionally trained—she couldn't afford to displease the president. He wouldn't fire her over it, but he'd definitely scold her harshly.
"Which game did you just say?"
Straightening his clothes, Hattori asked in confusion, "You must have said it wrong. You mean Uncharted Waters, right?"
When it came to Koei's games, he was confident. This company had always been solid.
From Romance of the Three Kingdoms onward, it had released one big title after another. Uncharted Waters was also highly anticipated.
"No, President." Fujiki shook her head. Despite seeing the doubt on his face, she dutifully replied, "It's Pokeni's sequel to Onmyoji—Onmyoji 2."
She didn't know that the president didn't think highly of Onmyoji.
After all, the Onmyoji series had been personally "discovered" by Hattori himself. Before any other distributors noticed the game, he had already purchased titles from Pokeni.
From Onmyoji to Prestigious Academy, and now Onmyoji 2—
If he hadn't believed in the company's potential, would the president have made such a big investment?
Hattori Hiroyuki froze when he heard the name Onmyoji 2.
"And not just the Akihabara branch," Fujiki continued. "Every store across Tokyo is sold out."
The distributors together had only ordered just over 5,000 copies of Onmyoji 2 from Pokeni.
Under normal circumstances, that amount of stock was already considered plenty.
Distributors generally wouldn't place too large of an order at first. If the games didn't sell and got stuck in their hands, it would be a huge loss. So they would take a small batch as a test, then decide whether to restock depending on sales.
But a situation like this—selling out on the very first day—was truly rare.
Hattori Hiroyuki's eyes went blank.
Pokeni?
Onmyoji?!
Nani?!
This lousy game… it actually sold out on the first day it hit the shelves?
Hiss—
Unbelievable.
Unthinkable. Terrifying.
He clenched his teeth, bent down, picked up the cigarette butt from the floor, and crushed it hard into the ashtray.
Good grief, was this game deliberately going against him?
Back then, when he didn't believe in Onmyoji, that game blew up, selling over 100,000 copies.
When he thought Pokeni was promising, he bet big on Prestigious Academy—only for it to sink like a stone, stone-cold with no heat at all.
And now, when he refused to believe again, Onmyoji 2 suddenly surged out.
So… had he never once judged correctly?!
Just as Hattori Hiroyuki was feeling utterly miserable, his secretary Fujiki, standing nearby, clasped her hands in front of her chest and looked at him with admiration.
"President, your foresight is incredible," Fujiki said with a smile.
"Eh?" Hattori Hiroyuki was even more dumbfounded.
"At that time, when other distributors weren't optimistic about Onmyoji and nobody cared about Pokeni—it didn't even have the slightest reputation—you already saw their potential.
And you placed a bold bet on them.
President, you don't just have foresight and remarkable insight, you also have great decisiveness."
Ah~ hiss—hiss—
Hattori Hiroyuki sucked in a few breaths of cold air, not knowing what expression to make for a moment.
After a while of twitching his brows and squinting, a smug smile crept onto his face.
He sat back down in his chair, outwardly looking proud but inwardly full of loathing and frustration, and said, "Of course. Otherwise, what do you think allowed me to become president?"
"Mhm, mhm. That only makes me admire you even more."
Fujiki's words were sincere.
In the great tides of the times, foresight mattered even more than raw ability.
Especially for the leader of a company—so long as the choices were right, the business could stand undefeated.
From that perspective, Hattori Hiroyuki truly was gifted.
"There are so many things we should learn from you, President," Fujiki said.
"Heh, heh." Hattori gave two awkward laughs, unsure how to respond.
"Well then…" Fujiki asked tentatively.
"Restock. Call Pokeni," Hattori said. "Have the marketing department evaluate how much we'll need."
"Understood!" Fujiki nodded.