At this moment, the shopkeeper seemed more like a seasoned gamer, explaining the gameplay to the office worker.
The office worker, on the other hand, was silently complaining in his mind: "Don't you claim to be completely unfamiliar with gaming? Why were you just explaining it like an expert?"
However, it wasn't a big deal. The office worker quickly immersed himself in the gameplay again with his second life.
"Hey hey hey, there's a mushroom here that you can eat... Oh well, you missed it already, but there's another one up ahead... Hey hey, don't run so fast!"
Office worker: ...
Once again, accompanied by the rhythm of failure music, the office worker fell into a cliff at the last moment before reaching the finish line.
"Shopkeeper, let me play seriously, could you stop talking?"
"Ah? Oh, okay."
At this point, the shopkeeper also realized his faux pas.
It was strange.
He had no interest in this thing at all.
But, watching someone who didn't know how to play the game, he felt anxious.
He just wanted to give a little guidance to the young man to help him avoid many pitfalls.
But the young man seemed impatient already.
In his impatience, the office worker lost his last life once again.
And this time, he accidentally collided head-on with a mushroom monster halfway through, ending his life.
Shopkeeper: ...
I didn't say anything at all.
Office worker: ...
"Let's try again, shopkeeper, do you have any coins?"
The office worker subconsciously pulled out a thousand yen bill from his pocket and handed it to the shopkeeper.
At this moment, the shopkeeper's mood was complicated.
This office worker seemed to be getting interested in this game machine.
And it wasn't just this office worker.
Even himself...
The shopkeeper shook his head vigorously, trying to clear these thoughts from his mind.
Then he went to get change for the office worker.
"Dead..."
"Dead again..."
"Let's try again!"
...
The next morning, Takayuki stretched lazily and walked to the window, pulling back the curtains to look outside.
The spring scenery still carried a hint of coldness, but some trees outside were already budding, heralding the arrival of a new year and new hope.
And Takayuki felt quite good.
"Good morning, Takayuki."
Behind him, a lazy voice sounded.
Early in the morning, Sayuri walked out of the bedroom, still holding a toothbrush in her mouth, her hair a bit messy.
In the past few days, Sayuri had actually paid attention to her appearance in front of her boss.
But perhaps because Takayuki was so easygoing, completely treating her like a friend, Sayuri no longer cared about her appearance as much.
Starting from waking up late, then dressing somewhat casually and walking around the house.
Then, right up to now, greeting Takayuki with a slightly unkempt appearance.
"Good morning, Sayuri. It's going to be a busy day today."
"Busy? Are you planning to continue making game machines today?"
"No."
Takayuki shook his head.
"Today, we're going to start making money."
Upon hearing the word "money", Sayuri seemed to wake up a bit more.
She blinked and asked, "Making money? How?"
"Those game machines we placed in the malls and entertainment halls, today is about time we go collect our first earnings."
"Oh, you mean those game machines! Do you think the coin boxes will be filled with coins in just one day? I remember each machine had three extra coin boxes prepared in advance."
Takayuki said confidently, "Trust me, at least half of those coin boxes are already filled by now. If we don't collect them soon, players won't be able to continue putting coins in at night, which would greatly affect our earnings. And, I think some people might be getting impatient today."
Upon hearing that they could collect the money they earned, even though it wasn't theirs, Sayuri became interested.
"Wait for me!"
Sayuri quickly ran back to the bathroom in the bedroom, spending about half an hour grooming herself, then rushed downstairs again.
"Let's go, boss, I'll drive!"
"Okay."
Takayuki and Sayuri were the first to arrive at the entertainment hall they visited on the first day.
It was the closest one to their home.
At this moment, it was only around eight o'clock in the morning, but Takayuki found that there were already at least a dozen children gathered at the entrance of the entertainment hall.
The children's little faces were slightly red from the cold, but this did not dampen their enthusiasm.
Many children were eagerly awaiting the opening of the entertainment hall.
"Wow, so many people! Those children must be here for our game machine, right?"
Takayuki casually replied, "Probably."
Sayuri widened her eyes, looking somewhat surprised.
In her memory, there weren't so many children coming when they were doing trial runs in the park.
Among them, at least one-third of the children learned about electronic games through word of mouth, and out of curiosity and the desire to join in the fun, they followed along to see what the supposedly super fun game machine was all about.
"Let's go in first."
Takayuki and Sayuri got out of the car, and some children immediately recognized them. A few excited ones ran up to Takayuki.
"Ah! Big brother and aunt."
"Hey, kid, watch your words. Who's the aunt?!"
"Uh... big sister."
"Big brother, is there more Super Mario? We queued up all day yesterday, but we could only play for a few minutes each time. We really want to play more!"
The children's faces were full of anticipation, hoping to hear the answer they wanted from Takayuki.
"Sorry, not yet. There aren't any more for now, only about a dozen designated locations available for playing. But don't worry, next, the game machines will be sold separately, and then you can buy them to play at home. And, I can give you a heads-up, besides Super Mario, there will be another new game available."
A new game!
The children who already knew about the game machines were excited.
So this game machine isn't just for playing Super Mario?
"That's great, big brother! When it's available for purchase, please let me know where to buy it. I'll make sure my mom buys it right away!"
"Yeah, when it's really available for purchase, I'll definitely let you know."
After Takayuki finished speaking, he led Sayuri into the entertainment hall.
Customers couldn't enter yet, but Takayuki had informed the shopkeeper in advance, so they could enter directly.
At this moment, the bald-headed shopkeeper's mood was extremely complicated.
There were dark circles under his eyes.
Twenty thousand yen.
That's the income of this game machine in just one day.
Yesterday, that office worker, if described with modern internet slang, was like a noob.
The group of children could play Super Mario for at least three or four levels, averaging about five minutes each.
But the office worker, on average, couldn't even last two minutes.
And then, he managed to spend over six thousand yen in an hour, until the shopkeeper couldn't bear it anymore and said he had to close. The office worker reluctantly left.
At the same time, he told the shopkeeper he would come back tomorrow and even said the machine was reserved for him...
Twenty thousand yen in one day, is this thing a money-printing machine?
And this was just one machine. If there were dozens of them, the daily income... it's unimaginable.