[Ex-Nightmare Forge Studios Employee Suspected of Stealing Trade Secrets, using them for the creation of his own gas.]
The headline was glaring.
I only needed one look to understand that it was talking about .
My heart sank at the sight, but I didn’t panic. Instead, I nodded quietly and took out my phone.
"Boss, what is the aning of this? Did sothing happen? Is this true...?"
The new employees whom I had hired were understandably confused. However, I quickly reassured them that everything was fine.
"Don’t worry. I understand what is going on. None of it is true. It’s a bit hard to explain, so for now it’s best if you all just get familiar with the equipnt. I’ll handle the situation for now, and I’ll let you know more about the situation when I can."
The three looked at each other, obviously at a loss. In the end, however, they still decided to listen to and moved towards the main studio.
I felt grateful and moved towards my seat.
"So this is how they chose to retaliate."
I got a better look at the article.
———
[Daily Malovia] — Seth Thorne, a forr developer at indie horror ga studio Nightmare Forge Studios, is under suspicion for allegedly stealing proprietary materials and trade secrets during his ti at the company.
Insiders close to the matter claim Thorne may have used internal design docunts, engine assets, and unreleased gaplay chanics to develop his own line of horror titles shortly after his departure earlier this year.
His new gas, released under an independent label, reportedly bear striking similarities to concepts that were still in developnt during his tenure at Nightmare Forge.
.
.
.
———
Daily Malovia was a fairly popular and reputable source.
"They sure didn’t hold back. It must’ve cost quite a bit of money to get an article like this out. Perhaps they even used the money that Zoey has given them."
My teeth slowly started to grind together.
It was becoming clearer and clearer to that Zoey was right. I was a pushover, or at least, that was how I used to be in the past. This was the reason why the Guild was taking so many liberties with .
They believed that they could get away with anything.
This...
I was starting to be really pissed off.
Not only did they steal from , but they were also claiming that I had stolen from them.
"Hoo."
It was rare for to get angry, but I was really starting to get angry.
Taking several deep breaths to calm myself down, I started to check the comnts.
—Seth Thorne? Isn’t he the guy who recently made headlines with the Severed Stars Guild? That maniac with the sunglasses? It’s no wonder...
—I played his gas. A quiet day in the office, I think...? It was nothing impressive. At least, nothing compared to Death Company by Nightmare Forge. It’s really a pity that people would go this low.
—There’s really no moral integrity in people these days. It’s disappointing to see.
—Used to be a big fan of his gas. It’s a pity that he was like this. No wonder such crappy computer gas were doing so well. Turns out he was just stealing.
Not one positive comnt.
The comnts were flooded with negative comnts, all directed at .
Staring at them, I felt my grip on the phone tighten.
I wasn’t naive. I could see that a lot of the comnts were most likely paid by the company in order to further push the sar compaing.
I’d normally not be worried, but looking at my socials, I could see that the sar compaign was working.
—It makes sense if you think about it. He’s obviously doing well at the Guild. Where do you think he has the ti to develop gas? It’s obvious that he’s stolen from them.
—Didn’t they go bankrupt not long ago? That’s so pretty shady stuff. Stealing while they were down. I’m thinking of boycotting whatever this developer is making.
—His gas are shit anyways so who cares?
—What a rat.
Click!
I had to turn off the screen of my phone to stop myself from staring at the comnts. I could see my own blood pressure rising the more I stared at them.
"Should I just go ahead and sue them?"
There were ways for to prove that the programs and music was mine. This wasn’t hard for to prove. The main issue was the fact that even if I did end up suing them for defamation, the likely situation was that the case would drag on for several years.
The amount of money that I’d need to spend on legal fees would also be quite exorbitant.
It was simply... not worth it.
However, I couldn’t let the situation continue like this.
My reputation was on the line.
"Ah, fuck."
Leaning forward, I rubbed my forehead. The situation was really giving a headache.
"What should I do?"
It wasn’t like I was starvered for options. There was the Guild Master. I could very easily send him a ssage, and he’d probably help get rid of them in a couple of seconds. That was how much power he held.
But the issue was that I didn’t want to rely on him too much.
The more I relied on him, the more control he had over . This was sothing that I didn’t want to happen.
’Maybe I’m overthinking, but I’d like our relationship to be more equal. If I bother him with sothing like this, he might bother for more annoying stuff later.’
"Ugh."
I groaned.
"There’s also Mr. Jingles and my new skill. I could attach the Realmwalker to the CEO."
Those options were also viable. I could repeat a similar stunt to what I had done with Nova Studios.
Those were great and all, but it felt like a little bit of a waste.
I didn’t have many clothes that I could use with Mr. Jingles, and since they were one ti use, I had to be careful when choosing my target.
Then...
Realmwalker?
"That’s also a waste."
Sending the Realmwalker to spy the CEO would an not having the Realmwalker with . That wasn’t an option I was willing to take for a re gaming company CEO.
The Realmwalker was too valuable for at the mont.
I needed a atshi—valuable companion when handling anomalous entities and the like.
"Then...?"
I rubbed my forehead harder, feeling a headache coming. I knew that I was making my life harder by rejecting the several options that I had available, but I knew that choosing such options would have a downside that I preffered not to take.
However, given my current situation, it seed like I didn’t really have much of a choice.
"No... Maybe, I do."
Leaning back on my chair and carefully studying my phone, I eventually unlocked the screen again and logged into my socials.
Seeing the flood of hate comnts that still poured in, I chose to ignore them all and instead decided to do sothing I’d never dared to do before.
I made a post.
"They call a pushover, right?"
I gritted my teeth.
"Fine! I’ll show you who the fucking pushover is!"
I decided to burn all bridges.
[Seth Thorne]
: I will be streaming in a couple of hours. Here is the link. I will be adressing everything there.
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