Living in the bubble economy of Tokyo, I became a literary giant through lotteries.

Yuta Ogawa, at a young age, is already an elite member of Nintendo's legal department.

Ever since I stumbled upon Sword Art Online through a friend at Mitsui Fudosan, I've been deeply captivated by the imaginative game setting in the book.

With Shinchosha's permission, after circulating the book internally, the investment department unanimously decided to purchase the copyright.

But they were being a bit too simplistic.

Yuta Ogawa sat opposite Kaze Sekiya, his coffee already half-cold.

He wore a professional smile, and his eyes shone with an air of confidence that he was certain of victory.

"Mr. Guan Gu, a buyout of five million yen is quite a lot for a writer of your caliber now."

Five million yen? Are you trying to fob me off like a beggar?

This year in history, Nintendo didn't have enough compelling games at the Game Boy launch.

The Game Boy spent ten million dollars just to acquire the exclusive rights to Tetris, and it was because of this game that the Game Boy became the king of handheld consoles.

This isn't Japanese yen, it's US dollars, damn it!

Although Guan Gufeng was inwardly amused, he remained outwardly calm: "Mr. Xiaochuan, if I may ask, how does your company plan to operate the copyright to my book after acquiring it?"

Yuta Ogawa paused for a moment; to be honest, they hadn't really thought about it carefully.

After the investment department made its decision, they sent him directly to negotiate. After all, in their view, an unknown author could be easily dismissed with a little money.

Five million yen is not a lot of money for Nintendo's investment.

But he remained unfazed, his smile unchanged: "The company has its own plans."

Guan Gu Feng was silent for two seconds, then stood up, picked up his backpack, and turned to leave.

One step, two steps, three steps.

"Mr. Sekiya!"

Ogawa Yuta finally realized what was happening. He stood up abruptly, his chair sliding backward with a screeching sound. He quickly chased after him and reached out to stop Guan Gu Feng.

"Please wait! We can discuss your thoughts in detail!"

He grabbed Guan Gufeng's arm and, half-pleading, half-dragging him, pressed him back into his seat.

"You can't just say you won't sell it anymore with a single sentence. When it comes to buying and selling, there's always room for negotiation."

Guan Gu Feng sat back on the sofa, feigning anger, and said, "Let's not even talk about the price your company wants to buy out for five million yen."

"You don't even have a follow-up operational plan. If your market reputation suffers and it affects my reputation, who will be responsible?"

"We'll see." He flipped open the contract on the table, pointing to one of the clauses, "For example, your vague definition of the term 'work'."

"I wrote the first volume of Sword Art Online. According to your definition, do I have to pay you royalties for writing the second volume?"

Yuta Ogawa's forehead began to sweat. He knew, of course, that there was something wrong with what Kaze Sekiya had said.

But this was the company's standard contract, and he never imagined that a new author would scrutinize it so closely, clause by clause.

Guan Gu Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that expression on his face.

He wasn't a business elite; he just crammed a lot of knowledge before coming here.

Yuta Ogawa wiped the sweat from his forehead, his attitude noticeably softening.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Guan Gu, this is a standard contract that we use regularly. How about this, you come directly to the company with me, and we can sit down and discuss the details. It will also be easier to revise the contract at the company."

"OK."

Chiyoda Ward, Nintendo Tokyo Office.

The meeting room was small, but it was decorated formally. Seven or eight people were sitting on one side of the long table, including heads of relevant departments.

They heard that Yuta Ogawa had "returned defeated," and they all wanted to see this young man who had caused Nintendo to stumble on its first copyright acquisition.

Guan Gufeng sat on one side of the long table, opposite a row of high-level white-collar workers in suits. There was an invisible pressure in the air.

He took a deep breath and kept his face calm.

Yuta Ogawa sat at the end, his professional smile returning.

"Mr. Guan Gu, now we can discuss this in detail."

Guan Gu Feng nodded.

"Generally speaking, the core rights in copyright are usually the film and television adaptation rights, publishing rights, game adaptation rights, and derivative product development rights."

"Nintendo is a game company, so it doesn't need film and publishing rights. As for game adaptation rights..."

"From game conception to development, the process is lengthy and requires significant investment. Even if the copyright is acquired, the costs are too high, and the returns are uncertain."

The expressions of the people opposite them changed slightly.

"What remains is the right to develop derivative products."

He looked at Yuta Ogawa.

"Although Mr. Ogawa did not explicitly state your company's marketing plan, I presume... it is still in the 'MKDIR' stage, awaiting creation."

One of the technical staff couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The others looked grave; the initiative in the negotiations had shifted without them even realizing it, and...

Isn't this person a novelist? How come he's so knowledgeable about business?

"So," Guan Gufeng said, getting more and more excited. He got up, walked to the whiteboard in the office, picked up a marker, and wrote a few large words.

"Derivative product development rights".

He turned around and looked at everyone present.

"This is the area we're discussing."

He randomly pointed to someone and said, "Sir, do you think Nintendo's game consoles are the best-selling in Japan?"

"Ah...yes."

He then looked at Yuta Ogawa, "Mr. Ogawa, didn't you say that you wanted everyone in Japan who plays games to know about my novel?"

"Ah, yes, I did, but I was a little excited at the time..."

"That's right."

Guan Gufeng tapped the whiteboard, his tone carrying a rhythmic quality he'd picked up from watching motivational videos in his past life.

"Are our game consoles going to sell even better?"

"Yes." This time, several more people responded.

"Well, here's a ready-made solution: print the Sword Art Online logo and character images from the novel on our game consoles, and make them into stickers, keychains, and limited edition cases."

"We'll do collaborations, sell merchandise, and do marketing." He spoke faster and faster, his marker flying across the whiteboard.

"Limited edition, lottery, exhibition exclusive..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" someone below quickly interrupted. "Mr. Guan Gu, our principle is to focus on the game itself. What you're saying will dilute the game's essence and damage the brand's image."

Unbeknownst to them, Guan Gufeng, through his persuasive tone, became one with the group, referring to them as "we".

"That's right." Guan Gufeng wasn't angry about being interrupted. "I completely agree with President Yamauchi Hiroshi's philosophy of 'games as the core'."

He put down his marker. "But to convey the concept of 'games as the core,' you first have to sell game consoles. To sell game consoles, you first have to have games."

"As far as I know, the game we are currently promoting for the Game Boy is Super Mario Land as its launch title."

"Then I'd like to ask, why create a completely new series when we already have an existing Mario concept?"

Will consumers really buy into this?

The meeting room fell silent.

Guan Gufeng smiled.

"That's so hard to guess!"

The people below looked at each other, knowing full well why.

Starting two years ago, NEC and Sega made a major foray into video games, posing a serious threat to Nintendo's existing products. The president was very worried about the over-reliance on a single product line.

The Game Boy was invented by Gunpei Yokoi, but due to its limited functionality, it was met with disapproval from within the company.

Yokoi wanted to ask Shigeru Miyamoto to develop a Mario escort, but Miyamoto refused on the grounds that the "functionality was too poor," leaving only the First Development Department to fight alone.

Guan Gu Feng saw that his words had touched their souls, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

No, you can't laugh yet.

Just then, the middle-aged person in charge, sitting in the center of the group, spoke up, his voice steady.

"Mr. Guan Gu, what you say makes sense, but how can you guarantee that your novel alone will make our handheld console a bestseller?"

Guan Gufeng looked at him and answered crisply.

"It cannot be guaranteed."

"what?"

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment. He thought that Guan Gufeng would give a passionate speech to prove himself, just like before.

Guan Gufeng knew that he relied on nothing more than his memories from his past life and some speaking skills. He never thought that he could fool the industry elites present with just these.

"My plan is just a marketing tactic; ultimately, the market will judge the quality of the product itself."

"So, let's get back to copyright."

He walked to the whiteboard, erased what he had written before, and wrote a few new lines.

Scope of Licensing: Development rights for Sword Art Online merchandise, sales of Game Boy related products, limited to logos and character designs.

Revenue sharing ratio: 10% of total sales.

Other: Retention of auditing rights, right of attribution, right to protect the integrity of the work, right of modification, etc.

"In exchange," he turned around, "the minimum deposit amount can be lowered. Furthermore, I can grant your company priority for future cooperation."

In the meeting room, several people were discussing in hushed tones. Ogawa Yuta would go out and come back every now and then, and then go out again.

Guan Gufeng sat in a chair, drinking coffee, his expression calm.

Half an hour later, the middle-aged person in charge looked up.

"Mr. Guan Gu, we have no objections to anything other than sales revenue sharing and character licensing."

"We'll offer a 5% commission on sales. If you insist on 10%, then we'll have to sign a performance-based agreement."

"What kind of performance-based agreement?"

"If your novel's first print run sells out within a week of its release, we'll give you 10%. Otherwise, 5%."

"What about 7%?"

"No, 5% or 10%, there's no middle ground."

Guan Gu Feng frowned, but then he realized that if there was no compromise, he might as well take a gamble.

Moreover, he had his reasons for being determined to finalize this collaboration.

"no problem."

"Mr. Guan Gu is a straightforward man," the middle-aged man said with a smile. "As for the character's portrayal..."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Guan Gufeng waved his hand. "Weekly Shonen Jump will have a color page in a while with my novel's cover on it."

"I drew the cover myself, and I can draw the characters later on."

The meeting room fell silent again, everyone staring at him with blank expressions that were all copied and pasted.

No? What did you say, Weekly Shonen Jump?

Aren't you a writer?

How come you can even draw?