"Did you find them? Who is this person?"
At the headquarters of YOO Corporation, Nagao Ame asked one of his subordinates with a stern face.
The subordinate was sweating profusely and replied cautiously, "I'm very sorry, President. We've done our best, but this person is extremely well-hidden—we couldn't dig up any information at all."
Stardew Valley had already started becoming a hot topic.
And because it rose to fame so quickly—while also essentially creating a new game genre—players began referring to it as a "farming game" or "crop-growing game."
In this parallel world, Takayuki had already achieved the status of a "God of Games." He was the one leading the entire industry from the top.
Most players were used to Gamestar Electronic Entertainment being the company to first release games that set new trends.
But this mysterious game developer had proven, all on their own, that Takayuki wasn't the only genius in the world.
There were still other truly remarkable people out there—people who could suddenly burst onto the scene and shock everyone.
For a time, this developer called "Nintendo is the Damn Overlord of the World" was even considered by some to be on par with Takayuki.
Naturally, someone gaining this much attention so suddenly drew a lot of interest from others in the industry.
Several game companies had already begun investigating this mysterious developer.
Unfortunately, this person had virtually no information available online.
The only recent activity was the release of Stardew Valley, and some short-lived activity on the now-defunct Ichinan Game Web.
They also discovered that Kazuo Murakami's success seemed to be loosely tied to this person, but even Murakami admitted that he knew very little—just that the person loved games and had given him valuable guidance. Murakami even said he'd consider this person a mentor, though that sentiment was never acknowledged by the other party.
While smaller game companies were interested, larger studios also paid close attention to this independent developer.
YOO Corporation, which now had more than ten game studios under its umbrella, was no exception.
Their CEO, Nagao Ame, had recently become addicted to Stardew Valley himself.
Just a couple days earlier, he had spent the night playing it nonstop.
He had to admit—the game was really addictive.
He wasn't even someone who loved games that much, yet this one managed to move him.
Maybe it was because the journey from rags to riches reminded him of his own path to success—it resonated with him deeply.
Nagao realized that this mysterious game creator was a major talent.
And judging by the current momentum, if this developer made even one or two more games on par with Stardew Valley, they could easily rise to the same level as Takayuki in the eyes of fans.
If Nagao could recruit someone like that, it might give YOO Corporation the power to finally compete head-to-head with Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.
So, he was determined to find and recruit this "Nintendo is the Damn Overlord of the World."
He immediately ordered his team to gather all available intel on the person.
But, just like other companies, they ran into the same roadblock.
This developer had no traceable online presence.
It was baffling.
Even though the internet wasn't yet dominant in society, it was still a growing trend and fashionable among young people. Nowadays, there wasn't a single young adult who didn't use the internet.
Yet aside from that brief activity on Ichinan Game Web and the release of Stardew Valley on Battlenet, there was nothing. No other trace.
Maybe this person had alt accounts?
Even so, IP addresses don't just change on their own—unless the person was intentionally and carefully hiding themselves.
Why go through all that effort to stay anonymous?
Could it be that they were a wanted criminal?
But even if they were, Nagao was confident he could get them out of any legal trouble.
With a scowl, Nagao said, "How do you earn your salary? Is this all you're capable of—failing to find a single person? What good are you, then?"
The employee standing before him kept his head down, not daring to speak, fearing he might anger Nagao further.
Japan had a very strict corporate hierarchy. Gamestar's laid-back style was a rare exception and couldn't be used as a standard.
Even at a newer tech company like YOO, those traditional power dynamics were still in full force.
As angry as Nagao was, he understood this wasn't entirely the employees' fault. The person was just too well-hidden.
It was like they had appeared out of thin air.
"Does anyone here have a good idea on how to find this person? If you can, I'll give you 10 million yen—cash."
Nagao said it with confidence. His company had grown rapidly in recent years, and he had more money than he knew what to do with.
Some employees lit up at the mention of a cash reward, but they also knew just how difficult the task was.
The person was simply too well-hidden.
In reality, Takayuki had seen many of these attempts to contact him, but he ignored them all.
The offers didn't interest him—he was already a company president himself. He didn't need a higher salary from anyone else.
Even messages from Kazuo Murakami went unanswered. Takayuki believed Murakami had found his own path now and no longer needed guidance from his anonymous mentor.
Just then, one employee raised his hand and said, "President Nagao, I think I have an idea."
"Speak!"
The man hesitated. "Well... this method might be a little... illegal."
"Illegal? Don't worry about that. That's not your concern. Just say it."
"We could hack into the Battlenet platform and extract the submission data for Stardew Valley. That way, we'd be able to get the developer's personal information. Battlenet is bound to have it."
Nagao's eyes lit up.
That was actually a solid plan.