An exotic word

In 2009 and 2010 Italian, German and Polish private servers were called LongJu, Longju2, DeviLongju, NewLongju. It sounded like a word picked up from somewhere: 龍駒, "dragon colt," a young man of great talent. Nobody in Europe knew where it came from.

The official name

《龍駒 Online》 was the name under which Metin2 was published in Hong Kong and Taiwan by Run Up Game Distribution Ltd (雲起遊戲代理有限公司, incorporated in Hong Kong on May 24, 2002). F The contract with Ymir dates to May 2006 and appears in Webzen's Korean filings ("2006.05 RUNUP과 계약 체결"). F Hong Kong was the game's first paid foreign market, in September 2006, three months before Germany. F On February 2, 2007 Run Up announces the name; on March 8 and 17, 2007, closed and public beta in Taiwan, with servers named after famous horses (閃電, 流星, 追風, 赤兔). F

The name comes from a building: in November 2004 Run Up had moved into the 龍駒企業大廈, in Mongkok. F The game took its name from the publisher's headquarters, two and a half years later.

The proof was in the first post

The page of rain's first release (9/19/2009) points, for the game client, to the official sites of the Taiwan and Hong Kong publisher. F The pirate server was played with Run Up's legitimate client. The title of the post says so itself: "更新为龙驹原版完整服务端," updated to the complete original 龍駒 server files. In December 2009 a Chinese forum-goer dismissed the news like this: "倚天2，台湾龙驹的服务端？如果是那个，早就有了" — the Taiwan 龍駒 server? that's been around for a while already. F

The file itself confirms it: LOCALE = big5, the hongkong locale, the OX quiz with info@runup.com.tw and the address of the Taiwanese 龍駒 site already in February 2008. F

The leak isn't continental

This shifts the origin of everything. The common story says "Chinese files"; Mainland China had its own edition, 《倚天Ⅱ》 by CATV.net (Beijing), with a different client (V5.0 of 11/28/2008) and a service that, in the leak's own quarter, was expanding, not closing (closed beta of 《倚天2外传》 on 12/15/2009). F The 2009 files are Run Up's. Mainland Chinese are the pirates who ran them and published them.

Seventeen days

On August 5, 2009 Run Up announces the merger of the Hong Kong and Taiwan servers. On August 24 the last 龍駒 Online press release comes out. On August 26 at 10:00 the merger is carried out: HK server 「狂雷」 merges into TW server 「玉馬」. On September 1 at 13:02:29 someone closes game0901.tar.gz. F Between the announcement and the file, twenty-seven days pass; between the merger and the file, six.

The end

On March 3, 2010 the official site announces the closure: the Korean licensor is not renewing Run Up's operating rights. On April 7, 2010 at 12:00 《龍駒 Online》 ends its service, seven months after the theft. F On April 20-22 Bahamut removes the board moderator: "it's dead, delete the board." F On December 8, 2011 Webzen Taiwan brings the game back to the island under another name, 《鬥 III 國》. F

Italian kids spent years exposing, without knowing it, the sign of a Hong Kong company that had taken its name from its own building.