Chapter 274: Topaz Wants a Private Meeting with Su Mu? Reawakening Wings Special Stream Approaching!
"Director Su, I have something I need your help with..."
It was nearly time to get off work when someone knocked on Su Mu's office door. Carole poked her head in from outside, a trace of embarrassment on her face.
"What is it, Carole?"
Su Mu saved his work and looked at Carole, feeling somewhat curious. In his memory, Carole had asked for his help quite often, though mostly with technical issues. Since Carole and Timido became the heads of the Honkai Impact 3rd project team, they frequently sought Su Mu's help to review various plans. After all, a Game Director's role is to help subordinates resolve difficulties. However, Carole clearly wasn't here to talk about work, which piqued Su Mu's curiosity.
"Um... Director Su, do you know any lawyers?" Carole scratched her head and gave a cheeky smile.
"A lawyer? What did you do?" Su Mu raised an eyebrow, his curiosity growing.
"No, no, no, of course I didn't do anything! It's my friend—well, not exactly an incident... It's, how do I say this..." Seeing Carole's flustered state, Su Mu stood up and poured her a cup of tea. He knew she must be facing some trouble, otherwise she wouldn't be this nervous.
"Have you calmed down a bit?"
"Yes..." Carole held the teacup and took a deep breath. Once she had organized her thoughts, she spoke again. "I didn't want to trouble you with this, Director Su, but it's reached a point where I can't tolerate it anymore."
"What exactly is going on?"
"Director Su, you know that before coming to MiHoYo, I worked at other companies, right?"
Su Mu nodded; he was aware of this. At her previous company, Carole was responsible for action module design and planning, and her abilities were outstanding. However, that company was a literal sweatshop that exploited employees with various harsh and nonsensical rules. Unable to bear the burden, Carole eventually turned to her senior, Bronya, and joined MiHoYo. Since joining MiHoYo, the treatment—so vastly different from the black-hearted company—had moved Carole to tears. At private gatherings, she would often weep while denouncing her former scumbag company and praising the greatness of President Kiana.
"Actually, the company I worked for before is a contracted game company under the Interstellar Gaming Platform... Though it's a black-hearted enterprise, it has produced many excellent game developers and won numerous awards..." "But the situation for those developers is miserable. A friend of mine works there as a game developer and previously created a hit game with five million sales, yet they hardly received any money..."
Carole's expression darkened as she gestured a number. That number made Su Mu frown. While developers do rely on company resources to make games, for a developer of a five-million-copy game to receive so little after expenses... it was no different from handing out scraps to a beggar. Every company's contract might be different, but as the soul and core of a game, a developer's share shouldn't be small. Put bluntly, technology can be forced with enough money, but if a game's core is uninteresting, it will never be a great game regardless of the technical prowess.
Su Mu's share in his MiHoYo contract was thirty percent, plus a fixed salary. Based on *Honkai Impact 3rd* alone, he was set for life. He knew his situation wasn't the industry standard, especially since MiHoYo's benefits were the best in the business. Furthermore, during the early development of *Honkai Impact 3rd*, he handled almost every aspect himself—programming, scripting, and framework construction were all completed by him. Thus, he naturally received such treatment.
Don't think thirty percent sounds like much; in reality, that figure is staggering—enough to make others red-eyed with envy. Developing, operating, and maintaining a game costs money everywhere. After subtracting those costs from *Honkai Impact 3rd*'s revenue, the remaining profit pays the project team's salaries. Additionally, annual profits provide dividends for shareholders, and most importantly, it funds the development of MiHoYo's other games. While the revenue from *Honkai Impact 3rd* is terrifyingly high, it barely keeps up with so many projects needing funds; the living expenses for thousands of people alone are a massive expenditure. The amount of money MiHoYo burns through every month is a frightening number.
Su Mu's personal net profit was equally immense. However, he didn't use that money for pleasure; once he received it, he distributed it among MiHoYo's various studios and invested in Herta Studio's holographic virtual technology to aid holographic game development. Essentially, Su Mu used his money to make more games, leaving him with little surplus besides basic living expenses. He never bought designer brands, and his car was just a two-year-old SUV bought for his commute. It wasn't that he didn't want to show off; he simply cared more about making games.
"You have money but don't know how to buy yourself more clothes... You've got games on the brain, don't you?" Even Bronya was speechless at Su Mu's lack of self-care. When she organized his wardrobe, she found he only had a few sets of clothes and his underwear was practically falling apart. Su Mu couldn't argue about the clothes, but regarding the underwear, he had a lot to say! "Do you know how much effort it takes to wear down a pair of underwear like this!" After all, newer isn't always better for underwear! Partners that have been with you for years understand you best!
"???" Bronya immediately responded with multiple question marks. Afterward, she and Seele dragged Su Mu to buy several sets of new clothes, telling him to take better care of himself. Yet Su Mu showed up to work the next day in his old clothes, looking guilty when he saw Bronya. He claimed old clothes were just more comfortable and reassuring...
Su Mu's thoughts returned to reality. Carole was still describing her friend's ordeal. Simply put, while her friend was a rookie developer, they were tricked by the boss of that black-hearted enterprise into signing something akin to an indentured servitude contract. It mandated they couldn't switch industries for five years and ruthlessly exploited their salary. While the contract listed a high salary, there were always nonsensical fees; after deductions, the actual take-home pay was meager. This situation was widespread in that company, not just with Carole's friend. Although these developers thought about resisting, they were caught in traps before they knew any better, leaving them unable to fight the company.
"Traps?"
"Yes, for example, taking you to a party and setting up a honey trap, then filming evidence. If you don't comply, they threaten to call the police and send you away..." Hearing Carole's examples, Su Mu's brow furrowed. These tactics weren't rare, as every industry has its dark side, but honey traps were usually for competitors. Using them on one's own employees was beyond despicable.
"In other words, your friend wants to leave the company but is trapped because they have something over them... Is that it?"
"Yes, and not only that, the contract clearly states that if they breach it, they must pay ten times the amount in damages..." Carole clenched her fists, her emotions becoming heated. "My friend didn't make much money in that company to begin with! Now they're facing astronomical damages... I can't just stand by!"
"I understand the general situation... May I ask who the head of this company is?"
"Scott... The guy's name is Scott. He's a Senior Specialist at the Interstellar Gaming Platform and the mastermind behind that black-hearted enterprise... He uses his position on the platform to search for talented developers and forces them to join his game company through threats and bribery to work for him... No one knows how many people he's harmed! He's absolutely detestable!"
Scott... the name intrigued Su Mu. He was familiar with it. In his previous life, Scott from *Honkai: Star Rail* was a pure villain who used any means to get promoted, even ruthlessly casting aside those who loved him. He was a man without scruples. This wasn't the first time Su Mu had heard Scott's name in this world either. He had previously asked a hacker friend of Firefly's to investigate the trolls attacking him online; the conclusion was that the IP addresses originated from within the Interstellar Gaming Platform. That hacker friend was very thorough and provided recordings and footage after being paid. Su Mu was shocked to see video of Scott frantically typing away like a Zaun keyboard warrior, posting rumors and slander on various forums. But the hacker friend said it was nothing—just a bit of control over the other party's camera and recording equipment, a simple task for the queen of the underworld.
Carole's request was simple: she hoped Su Mu could help her friend and the others Scott had victimized. Since Su Mu intended to enter the Interstellar Gaming Platform anyway, this killed two birds with one stone. After Carole left, Su Mu immediately contacted a lawyer friend—Zhang San, a man known as an "extra-legal fanatic." Zhang San was legendary for having once managed to get both the opposing lawyer and the presiding judge sent to prison during a trial. Zhang San's only hobby was gaming, and he was a man who detested evil; upon hearing the story, he slammed the table in anger. "What the hell? This is still happening? We have to deal with him!"
Zhang San quickly calmed down and told Su Mu that if it was only the word of Carole and these employees, it would be hard to use as evidence. Furthermore, the victims of the honey trap would be too ashamed to testify for unsavory reasons; Scott exploited this to remain so arrogant. They needed concrete evidence that Scott had engaged in clear deception, inducement, and threats when signing the contracts. If possible, they should also preserve evidence of his abuse of power. This required someone to infiltrate the Interstellar Gaming Platform. "A strategist enters the game... We have a perfectly good game developer right here, don't we?" Zhang San's words made Su Mu smile; they were thinking the same thing.
---
"Hello, I am Scott, a Senior Specialist at the Interstellar Gaming Platform..."
Looking at the message box on his screen, Su Mu's lips curled up. His plan was to join the platform with a strong presence to gain as much resource as possible. Once he gained a voice and became a pillar of the platform, collecting evidence or dealing with Scott would be much easier. As Su Mu expected, after the success of *Cat Mario*, Scott quickly sent a message wanting to discuss a contract with the platform. Su Mu had Zhang San review the contract; at the very least, there were no issues with the terms proposed by the platform.
Due to *Cat Mario*'s success, the value of Su Mu's "4399" persona had skyrocketed. Coupled with the pressure *Titanfall 2* put on the platform... it was clear they wanted his persona to join and release a hit game to save their waning momentum. Thus, the platform was very cautious with this contract. Su Mu expected Scott to set a trap for him to gather evidence, but to his surprise, Scott's next message was...
"If it's convenient, could you meet with my boss in person to discuss?"
"Boss?"
"You should have heard her name; she's one of the Stonehearts, the famous Ms. Topaz."
This caught Su Mu off guard. No wonder Scott hadn't set a trap; the collaboration was being handled by his direct superior. "Topaz, huh... I didn't expect the Strategic Investment Department to be involved. It seems the value of this persona is higher than I thought." Su Mu smiled and made no excuses, setting a time to meet with Topaz. As the Strategic Investment Department was busy and Su Mu needed time to prepare, the meeting was set for three days later in the afternoon—right after the special livestream for the *Honkai Impact 3rd* main story, *Wings of Reawakening*.
"To gain absolute influence in the platform quickly? Then I'll definitely need a true money-making beast..." Su Mu looked at his new folder; the game proposal inside had only two words: *Genshin Impact*. While controversial in his previous life, it was undeniably the most terrifying money-making beast among anime-style games. It was this game that allowed MiHoYo to earn a fortune in his past life. As for what happened after it became a hit... well, forget it.
Aside from various other factors, *Genshin Impact* was undoubtedly a commercially successful work, and its terrifying profit potential perfectly matched Su Mu's current needs. If it weren't for the long-standing opposition between the Interstellar Gaming Platform and the Homu Gaming Platform—which prevented MiHoYo and Su Mu from entering the former—Su Mu wouldn't have gone through the trouble of creating a persona and leveling a new account. His goal was clear: quickly accumulate funds, establish a position as a main pillar of the platform, and gain influence that no one could ignore. By using the resources of both platforms, he could recreate the massive library of games from Earth's previous life in this world.
"Helping those unfortunate game developers escape and gaining massive resources from the IPC... This is killing two birds with one stone." But the prerequisite for achieving this was the meeting with Director Topaz... Though Su Mu never showed his face in streams or events, with the IPC's methods, they likely knew what he looked like already. Su Mu thought for a moment and then called Herta Studio.
"Hello? Is this Asta? I'd like to borrow a Synesthesia Beacon? What? Have Peppy bring it over? I'm not planning on sensing with Peppy... What? Peppy says he misses me? He hasn't stopped thinking about me since I left? No..." After hanging up, Su Mu was breaking out in a cold sweat. Kamisato Ayaka, just what did you say to your master, Sangonomiya Kokomi?
END OF CHAPTER
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