episode_0001

Episode 1

A week after the global panic, UFJ BANK. 6 PM.

The bank employees began their commute in a zombie-like trance.

“What are we going to do now… Nasdaq dropped by 5% yesterday, is this even reasonable?”

A man holding coffee and a report sighed. His eyes were filled with exhaustion.

“Forget it, our team leader was just a fool. Who could have known that the contract brought by that Korean would turn out like this. He was already a well-known investor, but now we really have to admit it.”

The man with glasses next to him looked up at the sky as if recalling someone.

The man with coffee drank it angrily as if he was frustrated.

“Ha! What on earth did that Korean believe in to bring that contract here?!”

Korean.

They were all talking about one Korean.

“If they knew, would we still be here as employees…”

The man with glasses pondered the gap between himself and the Korean. Breaking the reality, he let out a bitter smile.

“By the way, how much do you think that guy earned?”

The man with tousled hair finished his coffee, threw the empty cup in the trash, and flipped through the report.

At the tousled hair man’s words, the man with glasses looked up at the sky.

“Well….”

***

The man who is currently the hottest topic.

He leisurely walked down the street, looking at his phone.

At that moment,

At the intersection in Shibuya where the man passed by, breaking news was constantly flowing.

– Breaking news. An investor who made nearly 50 trillion in profit during the current global panic has been identified.

On the billboard in Shibuya, the story of the man who made a fortune was being broadcast.

The protagonist of the news already knew that fact. That’s why he got involved.

– It is known that the investor is Korean.

The general public could only know one thing.

The nationality of the man who triumphed against the world is Korean.

No one on the streets of Shibuya could have imagined that.

That the person speaking on the billboard was right next to them.

“Oh, this new release seems quite interesting.”

A clean-cut face with black hair. Slightly brown eyes. A figure that would catch anyone’s attention. Messy hair and a stubble that hadn’t been shaved for a few days.

The man looked like an unmanaged model in his twenties.

He walked down the street casually, looking at his phone. His exterior may seem ordinary, but his inner thoughts were not.

“Hmm… they’re making an anime here. Should I acquire it?”

Kim Seonghyun, 38 years old. Entered Seoul National University as a top student and dropped out.

After serving in the military and being a second-year student, Seonghyun realized his investment sense and immediately dropped out.

He became a hot topic at school. But as with all news, Seonghyun was soon forgotten by everyone.

Most of them didn’t know what Seonghyun was doing now. Where he was living.

“Ah~ What should I do now? It might take a while for the market to stabilize, should I try something new? A virtual reality game.”

It seems like it would be fun.

Seonghyun thought about his future.

How can he live a more interesting life?

Investing hasn’t bored him yet.

But he needed something new to stimulate him.

“Hmm… for a virtual reality game… what technology is needed? Super artificial intelligence must be there, and a quantum computer that will serve as the basis for the game…”

While Seonghyun was contemplating changing the world.

Across the street, a persistent disease of the world was occurring.

Bullying, ostracism, suicide—all different words but used with similar meanings.

“Hey, walk properly… people are staring. Act friendly, act friendly. Smile.”

A group of boys in school uniforms were harassing a boy, and a girl was following them from a distance.

Seonghyun noticed this and immediately raised his phone.

“Ha… Are there still people like that?”

Seonghyun scratched his head. There was no need for him to intervene.

No one was getting hurt. It was just students bullying each other, right?

But Seonghyun raised the corner of his mouth as he looked at them.

“That looks fun, doesn’t it?”

He put on the sunglasses he had in his pocket.

“I guess I have money to use in situations like this, right? I must have made some money. I should do some good deeds.”

Although he said that, Seonghyun despised the idea of strong people tormenting weaker ones.

That’s why he couldn’t just let this slide.

Seonghyun called his secretary on his phone.

-Hello. Mr. Kim Seonghyun? What’s going on? You were supposed to take a month off…

“Yes, yes, it’s nothing serious, but could you take a look at the screen for a moment?”

Seonghyun switched to a video call and showed his secretary the scene in front of him.

-Is that Jima? I’ll send someone right away. It’ll take about 10 minutes, can you wait a little… I’ll also talk to the local police.

In reality, the secretary knew. That this man had no intention of waiting.

“Oh, that’s too late. I’ll go there for now, so please call someone. That’s it.”

Seonghyun smiled.

Interesting things were happening in the morning.

-Oh… I understand for now. Please don’t handle it too harshly…

Click-

“Shall we go?”

Seonghyun whistled and walked towards the students.

***

Slap! Slap!

A boy with blue hair slapped Hayato’s cheek with the palm of his hand.

It sounded like hitting water.

Hayato smiled softly at the boy with blue hair.

“Natsume… Can’t you stop now? We have to go to school soon…”

The boys next to him heard Hayato’s words and laughed, pointing fingers at him.

“Hahaha! Natsume! This guy wants to go to school?”

The followers behind Natsume pointed fingers at Hayato and laughed.

Natsume paused for a moment after hearing Hayato’s words, but only for a moment. He grabbed Hayato’s hair again.

“Hey, Hayato… If you talk nonsense one more time, I might really kill you…”

As Natsume tried to raise his hand again.

Thud!

A girl grabbed Natsume’s hand.

Hayato’s pupils shook at the appearance of the girl.

“Sasaki?”

“Stop it!”

The girl named Sasaki shouted at Natsume.

“Sasaki…? Why are you here?”

Perhaps because of the unexpected appearance of someone, Hayato’s soft smile disappeared long ago.

Natsume exhaled strongly.

“Ha! Am I being funny?”

Thump!

“Get lost.”

Natsume pushed the girl with force, causing her to hit the wall and groan.

“Ouch!”

As Sasaki was pushed back, Natsume’s eyes flickered.

The followers behind Natsume laughed at the sight.

“Don’t mess with me, you’ll end up like that, hehe.”

Watching this, Hayato clenched his teeth.

‘I can’t take it anymore.’

As Hayato grabbed Natsume’s wrist and pushed him away, footsteps could be heard from the end of the alley.

Thud, thud-

“Alright, students, that’s enough.”

It was Seonghyun.

Seonghyun clapped his hands and approached Natsume’s group.

When Seonghyun first entered the alley, he saw Natsume.

He saw Natsume lifting Hayato’s hair.

Seonghyun immediately took a picture of the situation with his camera.

Then, before intervening, he sent the video to his secretary.

‘Perhaps this video is already being sent to the police or lawyers coming here.’

Seonghyun shrugged nonchalantly.

“Kids these days, huh?”

“Who are you, mister? Are you leaving or not?”

Natsume half-turned his face and growled as he spoke.

“Ha! How dare a young kid talk back to an adult like that. Finish it here nicely when I’m being nice.”

Seonghyun had no intention of ending Natsume like this.

But, for now, this situation had to end.

Seonghyun looked at the girl lying on the ground.

“I didn’t realize it from a distance, but it’s worse than I thought.”

Blood was flowing from her forehead where it hit the wall.

“So, what are you, mister!”

Natsume punched Seonghyun’s face, ignoring his words.

“Huh? Look at this guy?”

Seonghyun took a step to the side and immediately slipped his leg between Natsume’s legs.

Thud!

Natsume lost his balance and fell as he stepped on Seonghyun’s leg.

The nearby henchmen immediately rushed towards Seonghyun.

Seonghyun skillfully avoided the henchmen’s attacks and used his phone to hit them on the head one by one.

“Ha… I tried not to touch the kids, but they have no manners these days. Manners. Ugh?”

Seonghyun pressed his shoe tightly on Natsume’s ankle.

“Ahh!”

Natsume screamed in pain as if his ankle was being broken.

Seonghyun pointed at the injured Sasaki.

“Ha! Can’t you bear your own pain while hurting others?”

Seonghyun showed Natsume a video on his phone.

Natsume tried to grab the phone, but it was impossible.

“No way!”

“What, you want to live a proper life with this attitude? What can’t you do, you brat.”

Seonghyun entrusted the female student to Hayato.

“Hey, can you take care of this friend and take her to the hospital?”

Seonghyun handed 10,000 yen from his wallet to Hayato.

“Y-yes!”

“Darn it! Darn it! What is this!”

Natsume couldn’t contain his anger and kept hitting the ground with his fist.

“Look at this loser. Pathetic.”

Seonghyun mocked Natsume.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps could be heard from somewhere.

Thud thud thud thud-

“Boss!”

Along with the footsteps, familiar voices of the men were heard.

“Oh? Those guys are here?”

Seonghyun’s legal team. Three police officers and one man in casual clothes.

The man in casual clothes was unexpected.

“I’m from the Tokyo Police Department. Detective Narita.”

The detective showed his badge.

“A detective, huh? Just a neighborhood cop following along with the police.”

Seonghyun thought rudely as he looked at the detective.

“Oh, I’m fine, so please send that friend to the hospital quickly.”

Seonghyun pointed at Hayato and the female student. The police officers were already supporting them.

The man who introduced himself as Detective Narita suddenly reached out his hand to Seonghyun.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Kim Seonghyun. I was really impressed by this investment.”

Detective Narita said with a gleam in his eyes.

“What? Do you know me? I’m not a celebrity, you know?”

“Well, I work in the finance department, so I had to know. I have to talk about you in that area.”

But that wasn’t all.

“Haha. This case is directly related to your company, so I had to come even if I had to force my way in. Hiyah~! By the way, kids these days are really scary.”

The detective alternated between watching the video on his phone and Natsume writhing on the ground.

“Yes, that’s true. Do I need to go to the police station too?”

“Oh! No, sir. The video taken by the boss is too clear, and it would be too much of a waste of time for the boss to be involved in this kind of case. You can leave this case to us and go on your way.”

At the detective’s assertion, Seonghyun turned around with a smile.

“Alright then. I’ll leave it to you.”

Seonghyun then turned his feet to head out of the alley.

At that moment.

A massive geometric pattern appeared around Hayato.

Simultaneously.

Suddenly, a young man’s voice was heard in Hayato’s ear.

-Found him.

However, this voice was not only heard by Hayato.

Seonghyun heard it too.

“What… what is this!”

Seonghyun started running, thinking it might be a terrorist attack.

But.

The light was too strong to determine the direction.

Then, the voices of the defense team were heard.

“Boss!”

Four men in suits ran towards Seonghyun, piercing through the light.

Even before the situation occurred, their gaze was always on Seonghyun.

So they were able to rush to Seonghyun as soon as the situation arose.

However, just before they reached Seonghyun.

The light became even stronger.

A level of light so intense that they couldn’t move forward.

“What the hell! What is this! A bomb?!”

Seonghyun tried to understand the situation, but there was nothing he could figure out.

“Damn it!”

With a scream that no one knew who let out, everyone disappeared without a trace.

In the future, this incident would be referred to as follows.

-The Shibuya Group Disappearance Incident.

On January 14, 2024, SH Investment Company’s CEO Kim Seonghyun and 11 others present at the scene disappeared with an unknown light.