Family (1)

After obtaining the skill, the very first thing Minwoo did was...

“It's been a while, Mother.”

...meet his family, who had returned to Korea for winter break. He had promised Chairman Kim that he would have a meal with them.

“I've heard so much about you lately. You went through quite an ordeal, didn't you? Are you feeling all right?”

Choi Yeonok held his hand as she spoke, looking pleased.

“Yes. I'm fully recovered. Good as new.”

“You've grown so much more mature while we've been apart, my son.”

A young man and a little girl stepped forward from behind her. Their faces were familiar to Kim Minwoo as well.

'Kim Hyeongseok, Kim Naye.'

Chairman Kim had two sons and a daughter. Thankfully, there were no complications like children by different mothers. Despite being the head of Korea's largest conglomerate, he was devoted to one woman.

Kim Hyeongseok, the second child and younger son, had long been singled out as the heir who would inherit the group instead of the eldest son, Kim Minwoo. It was only natural. He had awakened without trouble at an early age, stayed out of trouble, and had a good head for his studies. His admission to a prestigious American university said it all.

Then there was the youngest, Kim Naye. She had just turned six, and one of her defining traits was how adorably affectionate she was.

All three were familiar faces. After all, he had been seeing them throughout the six years he had played the game. Now that he had possessed Kim Minwoo and absorbed all his memories, they practically felt like his real family.

“Big brooo!”

“There you are, Naye. It's been a while.”

“Pick me up.”

Naye came over with her arms spread wide, and he scooped her up beneath her legs. A few playful bounces had her giggling.

Kim Minwoo might have been a complete bastard, but he had always doted on Naye. Unlike his younger brother Hyeongseok, she wasn't someone who could make him feel inferior. She was always affectionate, so there was no reason to push her away. Besides, her social status was on a par with his own.

He, too, found the little girl adorable.

Just then, Chairman Kim sidled over and asked in a wounded tone, “My little girl, can't you even see your daddy anymore?”

“Hehe. I see you too, Daddy.”

“Ahem!”

An irrepressible smile spread across Chairman Kim's face.

'Sunk in a single shot.'

Well, she had inherited her mother's beauty rather than Chairman Kim's burly looks. And she was the baby of the family to boot. It would have been stranger not to dote on her.

Minwoo exchanged greetings with Hyeongseok as well.

“How's life in America?”

“Oh, pretty good. The food's a little greasy, but otherwise it's fine. Anyway, you've really been making a name for yourself lately.”

“Hardly. I've still got a long way to go.”

“Whoa, that actually gave me goosebumps. They said you'd changed a lot, but now I really see it.”

Hyeongseok stared at him as though he were an alien. He had heard from his father over the phone that his older brother had changed considerably, but hearing about it and seeing it in person were entirely different experiences.

Kim Minwoo, being humble? Those two things simply didn't go together. Yet here he was.

He used to glare at Hyeongseok as though he wanted to half kill him. Now he was chatting with him as if nothing were wrong. Had his S-rank awakening eased his resentment? He certainly had changed a great deal.

“Let's head inside. The food will get cold.”

“Of course.”

Chairman Kim led his wife inside.

An enormous spread covered the dining table.

“Why did you have so much prepared? We can't possibly finish all this.”

“It's been so long since the whole family was together. Everyone, sit down.”

“Food! Food!”

Naye eagerly plopped down beside Kim Minwoo.

“Eat up, sweetheart.”

“Okay!”

Naye piled a mountain of bulgogi onto her rice. As well as being the cutest, she had the biggest appetite in the Kim family.

“Naye. Didn't Mommy tell you to eat your vegetables first?”

Choi Yeonok served her a selection of vegetables. Naye recoiled in horror.

“No! They're yucky! I'm not eating them! I want meat! Big brooo!”

She clamped a hand around his forearm beneath the table. Her grip was far stronger than he expected. This was not the strength of a mere six-year-old.

'Has all that meat gone straight to her muscles?'

For a moment, the thought actually crossed his mind.

But only for a moment. Seeing the pleading look in her eyes, so unwilling to give up her meat, Minwoo spoke.

“Mother, it's a special occasion. Why not let Naye have all the meat she wants, just for today?”

“... She ate four platters of grilled beef ribs all by herself yesterday, too.”

... Four platters?

He knew the girl had a healthy appetite, but...

'It was never this bad, was it?'

His puzzlement was short-lived. He looked at Naye. Four platters of beef ribs? That was taking things too far.

“Eat your vegetables.”

“Aww! Big brooo!”

“Ah-ah.”

“...”

“Even a little is fine. Just eat some with your meat. All right?”

“Daddyyy.”

“... I'm sorry, sweetheart.”

Chairman Kim looked away.

Naye accepted the plate of vegetables with a face as grim as if she were being handed a cup of poison. Chairman Kim watched with sympathy, but he offered no support. By any standard, four platters was too much.

After watching Naye reluctantly chew through her vegetables like a cow working through fodder, Choi Yeonok turned to Chairman Kim.

“How's business these days?”

“Business? Haha, it's doing almost too well. All thanks to our Minwoo.”

Beaming with pride, Chairman Kim launched into an account.

“We've overtaken Dorim in home appliances, and our new premium models are selling like hotcakes. It's much the same in our other markets... Our share of the equipment market has risen by more than twenty percent in the past month alone.”

“That makes sense. My friends have been delighted lately, too. They say Ilseong's share price has gone up quite a bit.”

Chairman Kim nodded, all smiles. The share price had been gradually slipping over the past few years as Dorim closed the gap, but lately it had picked up real momentum. Immediately after the news that Kim Minwoo had returned alive from the A+-rank gate, it had jumped a full eight percent overnight.

For a group the size of Ilseong, a jump like that happened only a handful of times a year. It must have priced in the impact of everything from his upcoming advertisements to his many future gate clears. Foreign buying in particular had gone wild.

Choi Yeonok nodded, then turned to Minwoo.

“Minwoo, have you thought about working at the company?”

“No. Not at all. Give it to Hyeongseok here.”

Hyeongseok and his mother both looked at him in surprise.

“... Really? You didn't use to feel that way.”

“Being an exceptional awakener doesn't guarantee I'd be good at running a company. Keeping up with this field alone has my hands full. I'll handle the awakener side, and Hyeongseok can manage the company. Isn't that a perfect fit?”

There was a reason division of labor existed. Kim Hyeongseok would make a perfectly decent successor.

'It's not as though we're enemies.'

It was Kim Minwoo who had felt inferior to his successful younger brother, not Kim Hyeongseok who bore him any ill will. So he had no objection to making the guy the heir. It would simply mean replacing Chairman Kim with Kim Hyeongseok.

After the meal, Minwoo went into the study with Chairman Kim and spoke.

“Father.”

“Yes?”

“A lot of organizations are eager to come knocking with bundles of cash to invest in our guild these days.”

“I-is that so?”

“Yes. Naturally, I'd like to give Ilseong a stake... but I've got a lot of people depending on me now, and the public is watching. I can't just hand out preferential treatment, can I?”

“O-of course not.”

“I need to buy C-rank skill books, and feeding, clothing, and housing our guild members takes money.”

“Naturally.”

Chairman Kim nodded.

Still, he couldn't entirely conceal the pressure he felt. They were about to start talking in the trillions of won for real. Yet refusing to invest was unthinkable.

The Money-Blowing Guild. It was a small guild with only about three members, but its potential already put the world stage within reach. And on top of that...

'... They have a good chance of producing results in the Gate Contest, too.'

His gaze grew serious. Gates generally fell into three categories.

First, random gates. Both the time and place of their appearance were entirely random. Nobody knew when or where they would emerge. The A-rank gate that had recently appeared in Gyeonggi Province was one such gate.

Second, hidden gates. They existed, but were concealed: special gates that could not be entered through ordinary means.

And the third and final category...

'Designated gates.'

The reason for the name was simple. The system literally designated recipients and gave them gates. Of course, it didn't hand them out for nothing. It held an official competition—one in which participants competed on a national basis. Nations that achieved meaningful results were awarded gates.

The first distinguishing feature of these designated gates was their extremely high rank. S-rank was the baseline.

Korea had a few S-rank gates as well, such as Dragon's Tomb, which the Sword Immortal had cleared recently. Thirty years ago, the Sword Immortal and Korea's other leading awakeners had won Dragon's Tomb through the contest. Unfortunately, since the top awakeners who had brought Korea glory had largely gone into semiretirement, the country hadn't won a single designated gate.

In any case, designated gates offered numerous advantages. Securing the first clear went without saying, and as entirely new gates, they yielded a flood of new materials, resources, and mana stones.

The United States, the world's foremost awakener power, won the designated Gate Contest held every two years almost every time. It possessed dozens upon dozens of top-tier gates. Naturally, American companies and awakeners monopolized all the resources that came out of them.

Of course, designated gates weren't all advantages. What if a country had lots of S-rank gates, but failed to clear them within the allotted time? Hell would break loose. The gates would burst in a chain reaction, unleashing chaos.

But this was America, the strongest awakener nation. It had the power to handle that risk. With each individual S-rank gate capable of swaying a country's strength, nations staked everything on the Gate Contest.

Naturally, Korea gave it its all whenever the contest was held, too. The problem was that, lacking suitable awakeners, it suffered the bitterness of elimination in the preliminaries every time. The system only awarded gates to nations that placed in the top three, at least. For Korea, that goal had been far too lofty.

But now a new variable had emerged: the Money-Blowing Guild. Every single member stood a good chance of being called up to represent the country, because the Gate Contest featured a wide range of awakeners, from low-level to high-level.

Gates were awarded based on each individual's share of the contribution. An organization or individual would receive a gate first, along with exclusive rights to use it for twenty years. They could, of course, open it to outsiders during that period. In return, the gate's owner could claim ownership of up to fifty percent of the materials and loot obtained inside.

Of course, nobody claimed the full fifty percent. No parties would come if they did, even with the gate open. About ten percent was the accepted standard. After twenty years, ownership of the gate passed to the state.

Chairman Kim hadn't invested so readily in the Money-Blowing Guild, or offered such generous terms, solely because Kim Minwoo was his son.

'Designated gates.'

Chairman Kim was looking at the bigger picture. If the Money-Blowing Guild secured even one S-rank designated gate, its economic value would range from tens of trillions of won at minimum to hundreds of trillions, depending on the type of gate. Naturally, Ilseong, with its ties to the guild, would instantly rise to a whole new weight class and soar. The stakes involved were enough to make him tremble.

“You want us to purchase a stake?”

“Yes. If someone's going to get a share, we might as well keep it in the family.”

Kim Minwoo nodded without hesitation. He would have to give up equity to secure investment anyway. Those shares would serve various purposes down the line. If they were going to be used that way, it was naturally better for them to benefit Ilseong. It would be a win-win arrangement.

“... All right. I'll convene a group meeting tomorrow. What's your asking price?”

“Three trillion won per percentage point. I'll sell up to twenty percent.”

“... Sixty trillion.”

That was a considerable increase from the previous price of five trillion for ten percent. But was it expensive? Not in the slightest.

Especially now that he had demolished an A+-rank gate and added Seo Yerim to the guild. His son had privately informed him that she, too, was an SSS-rank awakener.

What if a country like the United States discovered the guild's true value? One EX-rank awakener and no fewer than two SSS-ranks. He couldn't even imagine what they would pay for a one-percent stake.

The guild already looked remarkable to those who didn't know its true worth. What would happen once they found out? They would pour money into it even if they had to print more dollars.

Perhaps this was Ilseong's last chance to invest. As time passed and the guild's true worth became known, every nation would scramble madly to get involved. If a nation on America's level came calling, even Minwoo would find it difficult to refuse its investment. Other investors would eventually enter the ownership mix. Ilseong had to establish its position before then.

'I'll have to persuade the board.'

He made up his mind.