"Wait... you were a programmer before this?" Watanabe Keisuke asked, his voice cracking with a mix of suspicion and genuine curiosity.
Aoyama scratched his head, looking a bit sheepish. "Not really. I'm just a mangaka. Always have been."
He didn't have the previous owner's memories, so he had no idea what the 'original' Aoyama did for a living. And in his past life, he'd been a junior lawyer struggling to pass the bar exam before a sudden, inexplicable twist of fate landed him in this world. He certainly wasn't a professional coder in either life.
"Just a mangaka..." Watanabe Keisuke muttered, slumping back into his chair.
If a "mere mangaka" could produce a combat demo of this caliber as a side project, then what had he and his team been doing for the last five years? It was a soul-crushing realization.
Aoyama stood up, sweeping his laptop into his bag. "Well, I've shown you what I wanted to show. I've proven my point: your current roadmap doesn't fit my vision. I'm not going to stick around to watch a 2D brawler drag my series into the bargain bin."
He turned to leave, but a voice rang out, sharp and commandingly loud.
"Wait! Aoyama-sensei!"
Ryo Shien had stood up, his eyes burning with an intense, focused light. He looked less like a corporate CEO and more like a visionary on the verge of a breakthrough.
"If you want a AAA masterpiece... then we'll build a AAA masterpiece!" Ryo's voice was filled with a sudden, infectious energy. "How does that sound?"
Aoyama stopped, blinking in surprise. "Are you serious? Do you even have the capacity for that? Don't look at me to carry the whole project. I can solve specific technical roadblocks, but a 3A game requires a massive, synchronized effort from every department."
He shook his head, his expression turning grim. "Building a world like Night City takes time, money, manpower, and resources in quantities most studios can't even dream of. If you don't have the foundation, I don't want to see Cyberpunk 2077 turned into an expensive piece of junk."
He remembered the figures from his own world. CD Projekt Red had spent hundreds of millions of dollars over an eight-year development cycle. Even with that kind of backing, the initial launch had been a technical disaster.
Even if Aoyama used the System to bridge the technical gaps and used his perfect memory to optimize the design, the cost would still be astronomical. He estimated that even a "lean" version of the project would require at least a tenth of that investment.
And he wasn't about to go back to being a "shachiku" grinding out code eighteen hours a day. He needed a partner with real weight.
Ryo Shien gritted his teeth, his gaze hardening. "I believe we have the potential. And more importantly... I want to make the Federation's very first true 3A masterpiece!"
The demo Aoyama had just shown him had ignited something. If they had this kind of brilliance at the helm, why stop at a mobile-game clone? Why not aim for the stars?
Aoyama watched him, seeing the raw, unpolished ambition in the young man's eyes. It was a rare thing in this corporate-dominated world.
"Let's talk numbers then," Aoyama said, crossing his arms. "How much are you prepared to sink into this? A 3A game isn't a hobby. It's a financial black hole."
Ryo managed a thin, determined smile. "I know the score. Contemporary blockbusters cost hundreds of millions to develop, some even billions. I'm well aware of the risks."
"And your company can handle that?" Aoyama asked, his brow raising.
Ryo's smile widened slightly, though there was a hint of nervousness underneath. "The company... no. LightSpeed Interactive doesn't have that kind of liquidity."
Aoyama's face fell. "Then what are we even talking about?"
"The company doesn't have it," Ryo corrected him, leaning over the table. "But I do. I have my own capital, separate from the studio's operating budget. I can personally inject a hundred million into the initial phase right now. And if that isn't enough... I'll put in two hundred million. Three hundred. If it takes five hundred million to see this vision through, I'll find it."
He'd spent years building up his "personal vault" from his family's real estate empire, waiting for a project that felt worth the gamble. For the first time, he'd found it. If he failed, he'd have to go back to his father and inherit the boring, soul-sucking world of property development. He was more than willing to bet his entire inheritance on this one shot.
"As for the technical side..." Ryo continued, his voice wavering with a hint of concern. "We have a solid art department for 3D modeling. Our core dev team of fifteen are all veterans, but... we've never built anything on this scale before."
"Leave the technical side to me," Aoyama said, his confidence radiating through the room. "Any roadblock, any engine limitation, any optimization hurdle... it won't be an issue."
He was a man with a "System shadow-manipulator" in his corner. "Impossible" was a word that didn't exist in his vocabulary.
Watanabe Keisuke, the senior dev, looked like he wanted to argue, to point out that 'any technical hurdle' was a ridiculous claim even for a genius. But then he looked back at the black screen of his laptop, the memory of that flawless time-dilation effect still fresh in his mind. He kept his mouth shut.
"Then it's settled," Ryo said, his voice ringing with triumph. "With Aoyama-sensei leading the charge, we're going to change the industry!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]