My name is Yuna Park, CEO of Paragon Unlimited, one of the most prominent companies in the world.
Though, some refer to it as “Parun.”
After my drunken attempt to say Paragon Unlimited, “Parun” stuck with us. Why, you ask? Well...
A flashback begins, showing Yuna in a drunken state, with her staff of 20 in a BBQ restaurant with streamers, balloons, and a large banner that says, “Congratulations on your launch!”
I drunkenly yell, “I’m shooo shoo happy that… hic! Paragoonnsghahsd… Parun…”
“…..”
“We finally launched after so many years of the work we put in. I love you ALL! My TEAM! Parun forever!!”
The crowd screams in excitement and laughter, with their drinks in the air, “YEAH! Parun forever!”
Since then, and 30 years later, Paragon Unlimited, or “Parun” is one of the largest companies in the world for gaming and entertainment. Now, I’m 65 years old.
I wake up from slumber, feeling unfulfilled and stressed out.
“Sajangnim?” says Juno, or Juno Lee, my loyal secretary since I established my company.
* Note: Sajangnim is a word in Korean for “Boss, Owner, or Chief” mostly used in business settings. *
“What time is it… I think I need more rest… Come back in 15…” I groan.
“Your meeting with the press is today, we must hurry,” says Juno.
I jump out of bed, hair disheveled, and teeth un-brushed, and rush into the restroom. After 20 minutes, I finish, and rush out the door with Juno and into the company car with my stylist and the rest of my team.
“We have about 1 hour to prepare, you remember what we talked about last night, right ma’am?” says Lena, or Lena Lee, my press assistant and sister of Juno.
“Discuss the numbers, avoid any unnecessary issues… Yep, got it.” I reiterate to Lena.
While speaking, my style team work quickly to get my makeup, hair, and wardrobe done before the big press meeting as the car moves carefully through traffic.
“Yes… But remember, make sure you are careful with your words Sajangnim, anything you say can be taken and twisted!” exclaims Lena.
“Oh Lena, I’ve been in this business for years, I know what I’m doing.”
Juno and Lena look at each other in dismay.
The team arrives at Paragon Unlimited, with swarms of reporting and news vans all around the building entrance. The swarm of people rush to the car.
I’m ready.
We finally make our way towards the building.
Suddenly, we’re stopped by the swarm of reporters.
“Yuna Park, what’s your take on the situation happening in the game?”
“How do you plan on fixing the issues in your game?”
The reporters kept mentioning the same thing, over and over.
I look over at my team, confused.
“Good morning, everyone! We’ll discuss everything you mentioned during our conference, please come inside!” says Ken, or Ken Jung, the COO of Parun.
We get inside and I make my way to Ken.
I ask him to explain the situation and he says that they’ve lost about 20% of their player base overnight due to a new virtual reality game by a gaming company, called Triad Co.
Juno looks to the president and tells her that this information was new to him as well.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Why wasn’t this information handed over to my team too?” I ask.
Ken looks at the CEO with arms folded together, “Reaching you has been impossible these days.”
“Does everyone feel this way?” I ask.
The team stays silent.
“Okay, I guess we’ll discuss more of this after the press conference. Let’s go.”
The team makes their way into the conference room. Yuna goes over all the numbers and discusses the future of Parun.
Suddenly, a group of protesters enter the building.
“Scammer Yuna Park, your game sucks!”
“Parun is gonna fail if you don’t step it up!”
“Parun is dying, go to Triad!”
The security team runs to the scene and gets the protestors to leave.
Before they can get them out, I stop the security team momentarily to ask the protestors what is going on.
“Your game is unfair. We’ve sent so many requests to your team about fixes and nothing is ever done. The rates are bad, and the players deserve better!”
The protestors erupt in shouts of agreement and before they are pushed out, I bow my head.
“Please give me some time. I’ll work with every department myself to make sure things are corrected.”
The press conference ends.
After the conference, I go with my team and COO to my office.
“Can someone explain to me what’s going on? What do you mean you guys can’t reach me?”
Everyone looks at each other. The COO speaks up from the silence,
“You’ve been taking on a lot of time with the investors that it’s been difficult to reach you. Do you need to keep buttering them up?”
I look at Ken in shock.
“I’m just trying to make our investors happy!” I exclaim.
“Yeah, by spending all your time drinking and partying with them…” whispers Lena.
“Sajangnim, we’ve had a lot of trouble getting a hold of you since you are either too busy with the investors or are retired from your nights out.” says Juno.
It seems my whole team agreed that I’ve been too wrapped up with trying to please my investors that I began to neglect every other part of my company and my life.
The team begins to explain each issue, along with those mentioned by the press and protestors, showing charts detailing low drop rates, moderator abuse, and more. It was very apparent why players were leaving.
My team looks at me anxiously. I announce to them that it’s time to get the bottom of this.
Every issue seems to be game related. The protestors were right... I reiterate in my head.
“No use crying over spilled milk, we’ll find a way to make this right. We can’t lose more players because of this."
I say this as though I'm attempting to reassure myself.
After so many years of working as a businesswoman, I must have forgotten my whole point of creating Parun; To be an enjoyable gaming experience for everyone involved, but I guess I was wrong.
I need to go back to square one and remind myself of what inspired me to create this company.
No more lip service to the investors, who are no longer my top priority. Parun has run successfully for years, even without the help of some of these sleazy investors. I spend hours trying to please these people to no avail.
I seem to have forgotten that the player base needs to be heard too. What have I been doing? I need to move my focus to the people who matter the most.
The people who are gaming. The gamers.
"Gaming. That's it!"
“I need to see the game myself. I need to see what the problem is in person!”
Although reluctant, it looked like everyone was on board. Juno made a call to our technical team to set a cube up in my office.
A few moments later, the gaming cube is installed and ready to go.
I login to the game I created with my team, Paragon Unlimited, for the very first time since its launch.
A voice resonates in my head, welcoming me to Parun.
“Please choose your name."
This is one of the most important parts, I must name it something that goes perfect for me.
Yes, that’ll do it.
“Sajangnim,” I yell.
“You've selected Sajangnim as your username, please select your appearance."
The advanced system scans my body structure and comes up with several appearances that are most suitable to my game play.
I notice it even has very similar versions of what appear to be my younger self at different ages.
I choose the appearance that reminds me most of when I first created the company, 8 years before the launch, or myself at the age of 27.
"You've chosen Scanned Appearance, selection age: 27."
With that, everything is ready. The system notifies me that I’ve finished character creation,
“Welcome to Paragon Unlimited. Enjoy your adventure, wherever it takes you…”