Times Square (1)

CRASH!

Chairman Jo hurled the remote at the television he had been watching. It flew across the room and shattered the screen.

“Damn it!”

He clutched his head.

The guild battle. The result had been far too overwhelming.

That meant public support for Kim Minwoo would grow far stronger than before. For Dorim, already battered by the boycott, it was nothing short of a devastating blow.

‘What do I have to give him?’

At this point, who was right or wrong no longer mattered. What mattered was what it would take to satisfy the bastard and make him back off.

If this were merely a grudge over what his son had done, Minwoo would have come running the moment compensation was offered. Or he would have settled the matter once and for all when he broke his son's legs.

But Kim Minwoo had done neither. He kept appearing in the public eye, casually slipping Dorim's name into the conversation.

He wanted something bigger. He might even demand that Jo carve off a business and hand it over. Just thinking about how much he would have to surrender was giving him a headache.

One of Dorim's bodyguards approached and spoke cautiously.

“Chairman, Mr. Kim Minwoo is here.”

“... All right.”

Chairman Jo rose with a weary reply. Before long, he was face-to-face with Kim Minwoo.

“Good to see you, Chairman.”

“... Yes. Chairman Kim and I aren't exactly strangers, so you won't mind if I dispense with the formalities?”

“As you wish.”

“What do you want? What will it take for you to stop? Do you want a heartfelt apology from me?”

Kim Minwoo chuckled.

“You're joking, right?”

“... No sense dragging this out. I'm sure you've worked out what you want. So what is it?”

“I'll leave home appliances alone. But I'll need telecommunications and electronic semiconductors. Throw in the mana-stone battery division, construction, and shipbuilding, and we can wrap this up neatly. I'll make sure there are no more repercussions.”

“You must be out of your goddamn mind.”

He had been prepared to give up his coat, only for the bastard to demand his trousers and underwear too. Handing all that over would ruin Dorim in no time.

Kim Minwoo dropped onto the sofa and looked at Chairman Jo.

“What do you propose, then?”

“The matter with Piluk has nothing to do with the company. Do you honestly think that entitles you to demand our businesses?”

“Well, if that's how you see it, we have no reason to continue this conversation.”

Kim Minwoo sprang to his feet.

GRIT.

Chairman Jo bit his lip.

It was an outright threat. Yet Dorim had fallen so far that even a threat from a young punk like this could shake it.

If these talks fell apart, Dorim would be the one screaming. Simply dragging things out until their next meeting would leave it covered in wounds. That was doubly true now, with Ilseong's market share rising by the day.

“... Tell me what you really want.”

“The battery division. And I'd like a few production plants to go with it.”

“...”

Kim Minwoo addressed the silent chairman.

“Plenty of your factories must be sitting idle right now. And as for batteries, you keep pouring money into research with nothing worthwhile to show for it, don't you?”

Home appliances, semiconductors, and telecommunications were Dorim's core businesses. The same went for construction and shipbuilding. It had countless other subsidiaries as well.

‘That first demand was just an opening highball, anyway.’

They would sooner tell him to do his worst than surrender those. Push too hard, and the government was bound to object, so settling things at a reasonable point would be better for both sides.

Even now, the government was nudging him to ease off.

‘The battery division is what matters, anyway.’

A division that developed high-efficiency batteries using mana stones. Research was underway all over the world, but...

‘Dorim hits a home run with this.’

Not right away. In about three years, Dorim's enormous research spending would pay off with a home run.

A new battery with far greater capacity and dramatically lower depletion than existing models. Developing it successfully would have them raking in money.

Dorim had already been steadily eating into Ilseong's share of the pie. That would be the moment it surpassed Ilseong's market capitalization and overtook it completely.

‘Not a chance of that now, though.’

He looked Chairman Jo straight in the eye.

“We'll take on all the associated personnel as well. We'll pay a reasonable acquisition price.”

“... And if I hand those over, you're certain you'll stop?”

“A deal is a deal.”

The battery division, along with the factories and all their personnel, would cost two to three trillion won at most. There would be a discount, after all.

For a company of Ilseong's size, that was readily affordable.

“Do you agree?”

“... Very well.”

Chairman Jo nodded.

The mana-stone battery business.

American battery companies held an overwhelming lead in the field. Naturally, American batteries had long since conquered the global market.

Dorim had been pouring money into research to weaken that dominance, but even after nearly ten years of investment, it still had no meaningful results.

It wasn't just Dorim, of course. Leading companies around the world were throwing themselves into battery development with bloodshot eyes. The problem was that none could produce anything better than the Americans.

That made the battery division something of a white elephant. Everyone poured money into the field hoping to hit the jackpot, but only American companies ever won.

‘It's a shame to give it up, but...’

It wasn't a fatal loss. He would have to give something up to make Minwoo stop anyway. Better to surrender a money pit than a profitable division. That was why he could hand it over with a certain sense of relief.

You want to try developing something even the world's leading companies haven't managed?

Go right ahead.

That more or less summed up his attitude.

“I'll send the working-level team over tomorrow. I'll be going, then.”

Kim Minwoo stood and left Chairman Jo's house.

‘I've got everything I came for.’

The battery market was rather enormous. In this world, the age of electric cars had given way to mana-stone cars, and the market had long since exceeded a quadrillion won.

He had obtained the key to controlling that market. Chairman Jo might well bitterly regret this someday.

‘Not my problem.’

All Minwoo had to do was sit back and enjoy the benefits.

* * *

He arrived at the savory-pancake restaurant where the others had gathered. When he entered their private room, Park Siwoo's face was already quite flushed.

“Minwoo! Over here!”

Siwoo kept enthusiastically patting the seat beside him, so Minwoo sat down there.

“Have a nice big drink!”

He filled a bowl to the brim with makgeolli.

“... How much has he had?”

“That much.”

Seo Yerim pointed to a collection of more than seven empty bottles.

‘He certainly put away a lot.’

He was only this sober because he was an awakener. An ordinary person would have been completely wasted long ago. Even if the two of them had split seven bottles, that still held true.

After a drink, Minwoo picked up a piece of scallion pancake, dipped it generously in soy sauce, and popped it into his mouth.

Rich and tangy.

‘That's good.’

The virtual reality game's sensory synchronization had topped out at around fifty percent. Back then, taste had also been limited to fifty percent.

Now, by contrast, the pancake delivered a full hundred percent of its flavor, just like reality. At times like this, he could hardly tell whether he really was inside a game or in the real world.

He watched Park Siwoo giggling as he endlessly polished off pancakes and makgeolli.

Since they were having a celebration anyway, he might as well do his job as guild master too.

“Siwoo, is anything giving you trouble?”

“Trouble?”

Siwoo tilted his head, then shook it vigorously.

“Oh, come on. What could possibly be wrong? I've got a nice home now, and a big salary too.”

“That's only what your abilities deserve. Anything else?”

“Hmm... I guess I'd like to get a lot stronger? Honestly, seeing you and Yerim makes me a little nervous. It feels like the gap keeps growing no matter how hard I try...”

He scratched his head as he spoke.

It wasn't hard to understand his reaction. It happened in other guilds too. Getting cut from the first team and sent down to the second when your skills fell behind was an everyday occurrence.

That was probably what he was worried about...

“Just keep doing what you're doing. Yerim's level is high, so of course there's a bit of a gap. As for me... don't aim for me. Aim for Cedric instead.”

Honestly, telling him he could catch up if he worked hard enough would be misleading.

‘There are four legion commanders, too.’

It was better to be honest at times like this.

“... Well. I don't think I could beat him either, honestly. I'd need Sanctuary just to hold my own...”

“That's only natural, really. His world is completely different from Earth.”

“How different?”

“If one of the dragons that ran rampant there came to Earth, it could destroy the planet?”

“... Seriously?”

“Yeah. He said it today, didn't he? A count's knightly order could wipe out Korea's first-team fighters. I'd say he's right.”

Minwoo had seen a few knights at the academy. On average, the people of that world really were far more skilled.

“Didn't the holy sword tell you?”

“It can't hold a long conversation. Its memory is pretty patchy too. Sometimes it's honestly like an old man with dementia.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. It's much better than it was at level one, but even so, it's hard to have a proper conversation with it.”

“So leveling up does help, at least.”

“That seems to be how it works. Anyway... he's impressive, sure, but he's still just one summon. Making him my goal feels a bit...”

“Cedric's the same rank as you.”

“... Seriously?”

“Yeah. So is Merhen. So it's not a question of one being better than the other.”

Not only Park Siwoo but Seo Yerim, who had been listening quietly, widened their eyes in surprise.

They had known Kim Minwoo's achievement rank was high, but even his summons were that highly ranked?

“Wow... is this for real? So you're walking around with SSS-rank summons? And your own achievement rank is even higher?”

“Yep.”

“... That's fucking awesome.”

“I am pretty awesome. So don't go comparing yourself to me and getting stuck in your own head. Besides, there are plenty of ways to get stronger. Just look at the Sword Immortal.”

“True... I've seen his Mind Sword once, and it really was incredible. I couldn't even put up a fight. He sent me rolling!”

Seo Yerim nodded in agreement.

“What about you, Yerim? Anything giving you trouble?”

“Well... pretty much the same as Siwoo. I want to get stronger. Most awakeners worry about that, really.”

Minwoo nodded.

Things might be different when an awakener had just awakened and was struggling to get by. But once they had established themselves and satisfied their material needs, most had similar concerns.

They wanted to get stronger. They didn't want to stop here.

Nine times out of ten, that was what troubled them.

“I'll give that some thought too. There must be something we can do.”

There were roughly four main ways for awakeners to grow stronger: elixirs, equipment, fortuitous opportunities, and insights.

Insights weren't something he could do much about.

‘But fortuitous opportunities might be worth looking into.’

Getting a token from the Heavenly City and giving it to them would count as something like that. With Stage Six opening up a far broader playing field, there were bound to be more than just one or two such opportunities.

He could look for equipment suitable for the two of them at the Sky Auction House.

As for elixirs...

Park Siwoo wasn't high enough in level yet, so that was out of the question. Seo Yerim could take a top-grade elixir, but couldn't get her hands on one.

‘I need to get those for these two as well.’

It was a full six hundred stat points. That was far too much to pass up.

The problem was that he couldn't even be sure he would get to take one himself right now.

‘Maybe the rookie selection tournament will turn up something?’

He had never seen this kind of tournament before, so he didn't know what the rewards would be. Still, given its scale, he hoped there would be something useful.

Just then, his phone rang.

“Yes, Father. Yes, the talks went well. You can send the acquisition team tomorrow. Oh, the investment's gone through? Yes. Yes. Oh, really? We're all together right now, so I'll ask them. How much, though? Ah, that's not bad. Understood.”

Kim Minwoo hung up and looked at the two of them.

“We've got an advertising offer. Interested?”

“... Advertising?”

“Yes. They want to shoot an ad with our guild for the upcoming Ilseong phone. They say they'll run it worldwide, starting in New York's Times Square. The pay's pretty hefty.”

Seo Yerim perked up.

“... How much?”

“Five hundred billion won each. Cash. One lump sum.”

Seo Yerim and Park Siwoo's jaws dropped.

“... Five hundred billion? Each?”

“I guess they want to knock the Apple phone off its perch this time. So, interested?”

“... How could we not be?”

“Minwoo! M-me too!”

Kim Minwoo nodded.

An ad that would run worldwide. Naturally, his fame would grow rapidly as well.

And with sixty trillion won in investment on top of that, perhaps his invitation to the Sky Auction House would arrive sooner than he expected.