"This is the worst roasting a clown has ever taken."
"Let's be real—a clown brings people joy. What about Mr. Bell?"
"Co on, hasn't Mr. Bell brought us enough joy?"
"LMAO, thanks to Lucas I found out about Mr. Bell. I was in a bad mood, but reading his old quotes cheered up."
"But seriously, I'm still curious what Lucas's new ga actually is. It just doesn't sound reliable."
"Has fa gone to his head?"
"Hard to say. But judging from Mirror and Undertale, I'll believe it when I see it."
"Doing all that in just ten days sounds super sketchy."
With Lucas's post, a lot of players who had followed him since Mirror and Undertale started talking again.
Most people were thinking the sa thing—it just didn't look very promising.
The ti fra was way too short.
...
Compared to the players, the industry, and the dia buzzing with discussion,
in the Swordfire Studio under NetDragon, a ga designer's hands were shaking as he read the news online.
Marcus, the lead designer at Swordfire, was working on a sci-fi ga called Galaxy Heroes.
He was aiming for the sci-fi ga competition with this project.
NetDragon sounds like a powerhouse on paper,
but in reality, it's just packed with tons of internal project teams.
Swordfire Studio, which Marcus leads, is just one of them.
Not every team gets millions or even tens of millions in funding.
At NetDragon, even a few million is already a mid-sized project.
Marcus's goal for joining this contest was to win first place,
hoping it would boost his status in the gaming world and inside the company, so he could get better resources and more funding for future projects.
Everything had been going smoothly—until Lucas suddenly announced he was making a sci-fi ga and entering the sa contest. That completely ssed up Marcus's plans.
Not that he was overly worried about Lucas's actual ga.
Like a lot of people, he didn't think anything good could co out of such a short developnt ti.
But the real issue was this: with the massive success of Mirror and Undertale, Lucas was now a traffic magnet.
To gaming dia, Lucas ant clicks and attention.
To players, Undertale was still riding high in popularity, and anything Lucas did would instantly catch their attention.
Even Bell's mocking comnts were, in a way, just giving Lucas more publicity.
So that put Marcus in a tight spot.
He had set aside part of Galaxy Heroes' budget just for marketing
and had already started rolling out promotions.
But now?
All the attention got stolen!
There was nothing they could do. Even though NetDragon was one of the top publishers in the country and they were part of NetDragon's studios, the publishing team was run by the operations departnt, while they were just a separate developnt group.
The operations team wasn't about to sacrifice their own numbers just to help out soone else.
Want to use NetDragon's channels for marketing?
Sure, since we're technically coworkers, we'll give you a special discount—how about 10% off the usual price?
What? No budget?
Then why are you even here?
Get lost!
No money and you still want promo? You think our numbers don't matter?
Looking at all the trending articles online—"Lucas's New Ga to Join Sci-Fi Ga Awards," "Is Lucas Getting Arrogant After Making Undertale?"—Marcus felt his chest tighten.
They barely had any budget for promo to begin with, and now it's all wasted!
"What did I ever do to deserve this?" Marcus clutched his chest in pain.
Seeing all the back-and-forth between Lucas and Bell on their social dia accounts, for a second Marcus really thought about tagging Lucas and throwing so shade, hoping to stir up so buzz for his own ga.
But in the end, he stopped himself—not because he was scared of losing, but because he wasn't in the sa position as Bell.
Bell might just run a small indie team, FlowArts Studio, but at least he was his own boss.
But Marcus? He was just a producer under NetDragon. If he went rogue, he'd be screwed.
Back in the day, even rebels had to make a speech about how the emperor was corrupt.
If he jumped out and started attacking people for no reason, it might feel good in the mont, but it would be a ss afterward.
A public apology would be the least of his worries. What if the players' anger at NetDragon ended up being directed at him personally? What if he also took the bla for problems in other departnts?
Others would be raking in money while he got stuck with warnings and punishnts. Just thinking about it made him sick.
Having the spotlight stolen was already bad enough. If he ended up taking the fall too, that would be a nightmare.
But even now…
He couldn't help but feel bitter.
What made it worse was that Lucas wasn't even trying to target him—he probably had no idea this was even happening.
That just made it feel even more unfair.
"Fine," Marcus thought, "revenge is a dish best served cold."
Even if it wasn't all Lucas's fault, he still had sothing to do with it.
So right then and there, Marcus started imagining how he'd get back at him.
"You stole my spotlight, huh? Then we'll settle this at the Ga Awards. Let the gas do the talking!"
"Honestly, I don't even think your ga will pass the screening process. But if it does, I hope you at least win sothing like a bottom-rank prize. That way the ga departnt will invite you to the awards ceremony."
"And when that day cos, in front of all the players, ga departnt leaders, and reporters, I'll give you the coldest handshake of your life. I'll smile and say I've heard great things, and complint your ga like it's a masterpiece!"
Staring at the headlines about Lucas blowing up again, Marcus took a deep breath and closed the browser. In his head, he was already playing out the whole scene.
Red carpet. Caras. Handshakes. A speech.
One month from now—that would be the day he got his sweet revenge.
...
Back at Nebula Gas, Lucas had no idea soone out there was already planning to get back at him.
He'd been completely swamped lately. On one hand, he had to manage the developnt schedule for To the Moon. On the other, he was doing interviews and trying to hire new team mbers.
He had posted job openings on a bunch of ga dev forums and communities.
Thanks to the success of *Undertale*, he definitely caught the attention of a lot of industry folks.
The problem was that barely anyone really impressed him.
After reviewing all the applications, Lucas sighed and said, "Man, it's so hard to find the right people."
He was hoping to hire an assistant art lead to help take so of the load off himself and Rachel.
At the sa ti, they were also planning to hire a systems designer and a level designer.
But so far, they still hadn't found any good candidates.
Just then, there were two knocks at the office door. Lucas responded, and the door opened. A man in his thirties walked in.
Ethan, the marketing manager at Nebula Gas. He was in charge of promoting the gas and handling business deals.
"Boss Lucas, have all the contacts for the team been confird?" Ethan asked with a bit of admiration and a hint of doubt on his face.
"Yeah, go ahead and get in touch with them," Lucas nodded with a smile.
After a few words with Ethan, he left the office.
Lucas turned his focus back to the computer to continue working on To the Moon.
(End of Chapter)
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