Murakami Kazuo, a person who had gained a certain level of fame in the video game industry.
Under Takayuki's guidance, he pioneered the brand-new field of game review media and gradually cultivated it, making a name for himself.
However, his father was rather short-sighted and too early turned Murakami Kazuo's review media into a tool for advertising and making money, even accepting money to change review scores and promote bad games to high ratings.
Over time, the review site Murakami Kazuo founded — Kazuo Game Network — ended up with a terrible reputation.
Murakami Kazuo himself gradually became disheartened. He did make money and successfully got into Tokyo University as he had hoped.
At one point, Murakami Kazuo thought he'd never want to touch this industry again for the rest of his life. He just wanted to be a regular gamer, find an ordinary job.
But Takayuki's personal invitation rekindled a new hope in him.
Being acknowledged by the idol in his heart made him feel that what he was doing was meaningful.
...
...
Then, he founded a brand-new game review media outlet. This time, he had learned his lesson — he rejected all interference from his father. Murakami Kazuo was now an adult, and his father no longer had any reason to forcibly meddle in his career.
With Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's support, Murakami Kazuo once again became the number one figure in the game review field.
He was grateful to Takayuki, but the person he was most thankful for was the mysterious individual who had never revealed their face — the anonymous user who led him into this industry.
Nintendo is the goddamn ruler of the world.
That was the username — a very strange one. What was Nintendo? Why would it be the ruler of the world?
But that didn't matter. What mattered was that this mysterious user, with that strange name, was his benefactor.
Later, he tried countless times to contact that mysterious user online — wanting to express his gratitude, hoping to meet them in person, wanting to thank them face-to-face, and to see if he could recruit such a person to start a company together.
That mysterious user had once given him many tips related to the game review media industry.
"Professionalism is the greatest strength of a review outlet. You must never sell your professionalism for money." Murakami Kazuo had always remembered those words.
But sadly, that mysterious user disappeared completely not long after, never to appear again online.
No matter how much Murakami Kazuo messaged them, there was never a response.
Had something happened to them? Were they still healthy?
He wanted to know. But no one could answer.
Over time, he began to accept that this mysterious benefactor might never return.
Even so, within his current game review company, he always kept one office empty:"Exclusive Office of Honorary Director — 'Nintendo is the goddamn ruler of the world.'"
Murakami Kazuo no longer had any way of contacting the mysterious user. Even their address had long expired. So all he could do was fulfill his promise: place a copy of every game reviewed into that office, hoping that one day his mysterious benefactor would reappear so he could show them the office meant for them.
Even if that person never wanted to come to the company, Murakami Kazuo would still keep that office for them — and have it cleaned regularly.
Now, Murakami Kazuo's daily life at university was quite relaxed.
With his own company, he no longer needed to worry about work. His review media outlet was growing steadily. His studies were now secondary — he was only staying in school to get the diploma.
Being somewhat well-known, Murakami Kazuo also enjoyed a bit of special privilege. Even if he didn't attend much, Tokyo University was willing to let him graduate. So for the past year, he had been working full-time at the company, spending his time reviewing various games.
Recently, following the advice of his second idol, Takayuki, he was preparing to host another large-scale game awards show. Takayuki had already secured support from several famous foreign game companies — they were willing to attend the event and participate in the judging. Murakami Kazuo cherished this opportunity and hoped to turn the show into a world-class game award ceremony, just like the Oscars in the film industry.
"Murakami-senpai, Murakami-senpai! Good news!"
Murakami Kazuo was working on a new review article when an employee walked into his office, looking quite excited.
At Murakami Kazuo's new company, the atmosphere between employees and management was very good. Maybe it was because Murakami Kazuo himself was still young — he didn't like the very traditional Japanese hierarchical work culture, something he had also picked up from Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.
So the employees never addressed him as "President" or anything like that. Murakami Kazuo saw himself as nothing more than a simple game reviewer.
Murakami Kazuo smiled and said, "What is it, Miura-san? What's the good news? Is it that another game company agreed to participate in our awards show?"
Miura shook his head. "No, not that. It's about the person you once asked us to help find online."
"Someone to find?"
"Yes — the honorary director of our company."
Murakami Kazuo was stunned for a moment, then suddenly said in excitement, "You found a lead?!"
Miura nodded. "Yes, we found a user with that name appearing on a platform. But I'm not sure if it's the same person you've been looking for."
It must be him!
Murakami Kazuo was sure of it.
He had only ever seen that name once in his life — it was almost impossible that someone else would use such a strange name.
"Where did you see it? Tell me!"
Murakami Kazuo couldn't hide his excitement.
He had been searching for this benefactor for so long. He really wanted to talk to him again.
"On the Battlenet platform — the game distribution platform for PC."
Murakami Kazuo, of course, knew about Battlenet. It was one of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's businesses. But compared to the handheld and console platforms, the PC-based Battlenet wasn't very prominent.
To this day, the games most commonly played on the platform were StarCraft and Doom. Few other titles had reached the same level of popularity.
"On Battlenet? As a user?"
Miura shook his head. "No — the honorary director used that username to release a game. It's called Stardew Valley."
A game?
Murakami Kazuo was very surprised.
That was something he hadn't expected.