147: Is there hope for authorization to authorize Chapter 147, "Miracle"?

"Ring, ring."

The phone rang, and Chen Fan picked it up.

The screen displayed an unfamiliar landline number.

He tapped to answer.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Is this President Chen of Fanyu Technology?" A middle-aged man's voice came from the other end of the line.

"It is. Who are you?"

"Hello, President Chen. I am Lin Jianming, Secretary-General of the Software Association."

Chen Fan paused for a moment. The Secretary-General of the Software Association? Why was he calling?

Could it be that Dean Zhou had pulled some strings?

"Hello, Secretary-General Lin. May I ask what this is about?"

"President Chen, I have reviewed your company's application for software enterprise certification." Lin Jianming paused, his tone becoming much more polite. "The materials are fine, and the conditions are met. It was our association staff's lack of familiarity with the business that caused you trouble. I am truly sorry."

Chen Fan didn't respond, waiting for him to continue.

"I have already signed the preliminary approval opinion, and it will be submitted to the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology in the next two days. Once the department approves it and the certificate is issued, I will have someone notify you immediately."

"Thank you, Secretary-General Lin."

"You're welcome, you're welcome, it's only right." Lin Jianming chuckled, then changed the subject. "By the way, President Chen, I wanted to tell you that Zhao Zhiyuan—the one who held up your materials before—has been transferred from his original position. He is now in the archives room managing files."

Chen Fan was stunned upon hearing this; he hadn't expected Zhao Zhiyuan to be dealt with as well.

Chen Fan was already very satisfied with this result. He had originally only been thinking about the software enterprise certification matter, so having Zhao Zhiyuan transferred from his position was undoubtedly an unexpected bonus.

"I understand. Thank you for the trouble, Secretary-General Lin."

"Well, if you need anything in the future, just come directly to me. There's no need to trouble Director Han."

"Understood."

The call ended. Chen Fan placed his phone on the desk and leaned back in his chair.

To be able to make the association's Secretary-General call personally, the person Dean Zhou found must have significant influence.

This person was likely the Director Han that Lin Jianming mentioned at the end.

Dean Zhou was truly capable to be able to find a department-level leader to help.

However, since Zhou Mingyuan himself was the dean of the school and the Party Secretary of the School of Management, he was administratively a vice-department-level cadre, so it wasn't surprising that he could find a vice-department-level leader to help.

Chen Fan felt a bit fortunate now that he hadn't had the thought of not going to college just because he had been reborn and become wealthy.

After all, the leaders in the university were the best connections Chen Fan had in this life.

Since the Software Association side had passed, the rest was just following the procedure.

He picked up the desk phone and asked Qiao Linlin to come to his office.

Soon, Qiao Linlin pushed the door open and walked in.

"Boss, did you need me for something?"

Chen Fan leaned back in his chair and pointed to the chair opposite him. "Sit."

Qiao Linlin sat down, resting her hands on the edge of the chair, her body leaning slightly forward, waiting for him to speak.

"The Software Association side is all sorted out," Chen Fan said.

Qiao Linlin was stunned for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes. The preliminary approval has been signed. It will be reported to the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology in the next two days, and the certificate will be issued once approved."

"That's great!" Qiao Linlin clapped her hands, unable to suppress the smile on her face. The bit of playfulness from earlier had turned into genuine happiness. "Boss, you're too amazing. You scolded that guy surnamed Zhao this morning, and it's already sorted out by the afternoon?"

Chen Fan glanced at her. "That guy surnamed Zhao has been transferred to the archives room."

Hearing this, a flash of surprise crossed Qiao Linlin's eyes. Her mouth opened slightly, and she was stunned for two seconds before reacting. "Transferred? Because of what happened this morning?"

"More or less."

Qiao Linlin stared at Chen Fan for a few seconds, as if re-evaluating him.

She blinked her eyes. "Boss, you aren't some heir from a big family, are you, coming here specifically to experience life?"

A black line appeared on Chen Fan's forehead. This girl must watch too many TV dramas—heir to a big family?

"Watch fewer TV dramas. If I were some heir, would I need to start a business?"

"That's true."

"Alright, stop guessing. I asked our school leaders. It was Dean Zhou who visited our company last time."

Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, Qiao Linlin suddenly realized and nodded, not asking any more questions.

"You continue to follow up on the certification matter; it should come through very soon."

"Okay," Qiao Linlin replied, turning and walking toward the door.

...

"President Chen, I contacted the people at Webzen, and they said the company is not currently conducting any IP licensing business."

In the office, Wang Jing sat at her desk, reporting the matter of the mu online license to Chen Fan with a troubled expression.

"Are they unwilling to license it?"

"No, I specifically checked. They haven't opened licensing to any game company right now. It seems they truly aren't conducting this licensing business."

Hearing this, Chen Fan frowned.

The peak of "mu online" was from 2004 to 2005; it had been 10 years now.

Although the game was still running, almost no one played it anymore. The only thing of value left in this game now was the IP license.

After all, back then, this game, like "the legend of mir", was the nostalgia of the generation born in the 80s.

And this generation was currently in their prime earning years.

With the "mu online" license, even if the developed game was terrible, it could still reap a harvest based on nostalgia.

In his previous life, why was "archangels sword" successful? Besides the game being well-made, another reason was that it claimed to be "officially licensed, authentic and original."

That was why it could attract a large portion of old "mu online" players into the game.

Chen Fan wanted to make "archangels sword", so the "mu online" license was an indispensable part.

"In that case, contact Webzen again. Make an initial offer with a licensing fee of 3 million, and you can go up to a maximum of 5 million to see if they will loosen up."

"President Chen, 5 million to buy the license for a game that almost no one plays anymore—isn't that too much of a waste?"

"Although no one plays the game, the game IP is still quite valuable. You have to know how popular this game was back then; it was only slightly worse than "the legend of mir". With this IP license, casually developing a game could quickly earn back the 5 million."

Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, Wang Jing hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay, President Chen, I understand. I will contact Webzen now."

"Go ahead."

He saw Wang Jing's hesitation; after all, spending 5 million in real money to buy the license for an outdated game, in many people's eyes, was no different from throwing money into the water.

However, Chen Fan truly knew that the "mu online" IP would still be very valuable even 17 years later.

Therefore, even if he didn't make "archangels sword", just obtaining this game IP license would be very worthwhile.

He just didn't know if Webzen would loosen up.

The people in South Korea, just like their country, were very petty. This wasn't Chen Fan's prejudice; it was an industry consensus—Koreans were always known for being "stingy" and "finicky" when it came to IP licensing.

Not only were the licensing fees high, but the scope of adaptation was strictly limited, and even the art style couldn't be changed much.

Moreover, they had a characteristic in negotiations: they liked to feint to the east and attack in the west, entangling you with secondary issues first, and then suddenly blocking the core terms once you lowered your guard.

Even more troublesome was their slow decision-making—the front-end might be chatting enthusiastically, but the back-end headquarters could veto it, making all previous efforts go to waste.

It was unclear whether he would be able to secure it now.