episode_0045

05. Night of Muyeol

It was Monday, September 21st.

The day before yesterday, the 19th,

So, when I was holding auditions for over 100 celebrities and trying to subdue Yoon Ha-young, Real Production made an important announcement.

The CEO came out and said several things, but the gist of it was, ‘All virtual reality games currently on the market are ‘fake’. I will make the ‘real’ one. I will create another world.’ That’s the gist of it.

They revealed their grand ambition to create a virtual world that is almost exactly the same as the real world, allowing players to become the main characters of that world.

It even had a well-written demonstration video attached to it, which caused a worldwide stir last weekend, and the video uploaded to YouTube recorded an absurd 180 million views and 7 million shares.

Naturally, Real Production’s stock price is skyrocketing.

“Master, Master! Real Production’s stock price is… . 190,000 won!! Our stock is… . 1.8 trillion won… !!”

As expected.

The legendary gu-raping of Real Production CEO and the resulting stock price rise.

Everything is going smoothly.

‘But isn’t it a bit fast?’

Even if you calculate it from the time the game was released, it went from 8,000 won to 190,000 won in about a week, and if we apply this trend as is, it will hit my expected high of 330,000 won next week.

‘It wasn’t this fast.’

I’m not a settings guy or anything, and I haven’t delved too deeply into this or that, but I know it wasn’t this fast.

‘Ah. No way… .’

“How about the stock price of Enter?”

“Enter? It’s just a total disaster there. Some companies have already been liquidated. Well, they’ve already hit -30% in theme there.”

“I guess the money came from there.”

It is human nature to want to somehow recover the cost of investment.

Since one axis called entertainment has flowed down to this extent, there may be a tendency to want to buy a stock that is rising rapidly or something that looks like it will rise.

The real production that recently became a huge hit is a perfect fit for that.

‘The game that was just released was a success, and the stock price is soaring thanks to the CEO’s grand ambitions, so you might think it’s a good time to get in.’

Since everyone is rushing in and asking, the stock price is rising much steeper than the original setting.

I was just trying to kill my competitors in advance, and this is what happened.

‘Then can I hold it a little longer?’

The highest point in the original game was approximately 330,000 won.

But with this firepower, it seems like we can aim for more than that.

‘No. Let’s not do anything stupid.’

I briefly felt that way, but I quickly shook it off.

I’m not good at stocks, I just know the future. If you get greedy and do strange things, there’s a high chance you’ll end up not having what you want.

It’s better to just play it safe and do it as you know.

Maybe later on, when money is overflowing and rotting away, that’s another story.

“Adjust the selling price to 300,000 won.”

Still, I had some very humble greed.

The firepower is this strong, so it seems a bit wasteful to spend 270,000 won in advance, and it seems appropriate to start spending around 300,000 won.

With investments coming in like this, I think it will hold out for a while.

Maybe I’ll have enough left over to buy all my stocks and the bubble will grow even bigger.

Then later on, a bigger explosion occurs… .

“Let’s see… If the stock price is all sold for 300,000 won, how much is this?”

“About 2.8 trillion won, sir.”

“2.8 trillion… .”

At this point, instead of hiring mercenaries, I could just buy a mercenary company, build a prison, and do whatever.

However, that doesn’t mean that it will be able to rise to the level of a major player in the market.

A level of funds that can be used to just enter and build a foundation?

That’s about it.

“Did you pick a mercenary company?”

“Oh, yes. There are some promising places, but there is a problem.”

“What’s the problem?”

“There is no place that only has female mercenaries.”

“… .”

“There is no place that only hires female employees.”

“… .”

“Of course, there are no places that only accept female clients.”

“Hmm.”

These are all the conditions I requested.

Even when she received the order, Su-ah kept saying, “I don’t think there’s a place like that…” but she gave the order anyway.

Why is it possible in such a vast world?

But how could that be?

There is no such company.

It’s obvious that operating in that way won’t make any profit.

at last,

“Are you saying I have to make it?”

“That’s right… .”

But unfortunately, not just anyone can create a mercenary company.

Not just anyone can own it.

However, since it is much easier and faster to own through stocks than to create them directly, I was trying to pursue hiring mercenaries or acquisitions… .

“Just give me a list.”

“Here it is.”

I looked at the list of mercenary companies that Suah had chosen.

Most of the photos showed very dark and ugly men with confident looks.

I don’t really want to see it.

“Tsk.”

He hands it back to Su-ah.

“… Did you find the land?”

“Ah, yes… . Uh… . Ah! Here it is.”

He goes through the file and finds it and hands it to me.

“As you said, I looked into the Namdong Industrial Complex first. There is a secret nature of solidarity there, so if you touch one side without consulting the other side, there is a high possibility that the other side will react as well.”

“Are you saying that individual attacks don’t work?”

“Yes. There are five organizations that are currently dominant, and they are all in some kind of alliance. It’s loose, but there are laws.”

“What is the law among them?”

He thinks while tapping the document.

‘I want to build it in Namdong Industrial Complex…’

Incheon is a huge city that takes 1 hour and 30 minutes to get from Incheon to Incheon, or even over 2 hours at worst, but paradoxically, it has no land.

Considering all the other circumstances, there is no place like Namdong Industrial Complex, but to do that, we have to get rid of all the organizations in Namdong Industrial Complex.

“Can’t your police catch them?”

“Of course it would be possible if we really pushed through with all our might, but there are a lot of people involved, and if they take a hard line, we don’t know how many casualties there will be. Considering the security vacuum that will occur in the meantime, I think it’s highly unlikely that the higher-ups will make such a decision. It’ll be hard for the police to do it alone.”

I guess so.

If that were the case, wouldn’t it be called Demon World Incheon?

‘This is a neighborhood where the police chief makes a killing by selling drugs out the back door.’

“How about an island, Master?”

“Island?”

“Yes. There are quite a few islands off the coast of Incheon. Some of them have some plains. Even without that, there are quite a few islands that could accommodate a prison.”

“Island… .”

“If you build a prison on an island, it will be easy to cover Incheon City’s eyes, and it will also be easy to get out of the Korean Peninsula. There may be some disadvantages in terms of transportation costs and operating costs, but I think it is worth it when looking at the future. You are not only going to do business in Incheon, right?”

“That’s true.”

I was swayed by her persuasion.

Anyway, I’m not trying to make a profit from the prison, so I don’t really need to worry about operating costs.

Why should I do the troublesome things? The employees do them.

If you can tolerate that, it’s good for hiding, it’s good for confinement, you don’t have to go through the city when you go out, and when you go to China or the sea, you can just go out.

You can even use it later when you feel like collecting things like warships.

They build a port and anchor there to use in times of emergency.

‘Then we’ll have to look into a place where we can build a port.’

“Okay. Then let’s go to the island. Let’s look for an uninhabited island with a large area.”

“Okay, master.”

“And also organize the things needed to create a mercenary company.”

“Yes.”

+++

Nonsan, Goryeo Military Knights Training Center.

The trainees who had completed the simulation test poured out into the hallway.

“Is Snow White in first place this time too?”

“I can’t win against that guy.”

Everyone sticks out their tongues at the sight of one woman.

“1st place isn’t just 1st place. It’s overwhelming. If it’s martial arts, it’s martial arts, if it’s shooting, it’s shooting, if it’s mecha, it’s mecha. There’s nothing that falls behind.”

“So, is he going to be promoted to general?”

“Oh my! It’s him! You should be polite and call him ‘General’.”

“What are you talking about?”

If you successfully complete the 15-year knight course and become a ‘knight’, you will basically be treated as a ‘colonel’, the highest rank among colonels.

Among them, some of the best ones could be promoted to one star and assigned to each military headquarters according to the agreement between the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea and Korea Military. However, since the number of generals cannot be increased indefinitely, this was not always the case.

But what if you perform overwhelmingly well, like Snow White?

Then, most likely, you will be promoted to general.

‘General… Even so, he’s just a slave.’

Snow White passed the murmur and laughed cynically.

Whether you are a colonel or a general, the essence of a knight is obedience.

A fate that is genetically and separately implanted with a chip, which means that one has no choice but to obey the orders of the one in command.

They are saying that they will put a leash on you because you have a lot of power, but that is practically slavery.

It was fortunate that she was born to be a knight, but if she had been able to choose, she would never have taken this path.

“Snow!! Snow White!!”

As I was heading to my accommodation, a man came running towards me.

He had his hair cut short like a soldier’s and was a head taller than Snow White.

He is also a trainee knight.

The grade is second to Snow White.

“I hate it.”

“… You haven’t said anything yet?”

“I guess I’ll confess again.”

The man has been confessing to her for some time now.

Let’s do it together after we finish.

Let’s walk this path relying on each other.

In terms of number of times, it’s about 30 times?

But every time, she refused.

“We are slaves. There is no benefit to enjoying such luxuries.”

“That noise again.”

“Why don’t you stop having false hopes and live according to nature? Advice from a friend.”

Snow White leaves those words behind and walks forward.

The man followed her.

“You don’t hate me either, do you?”

“… .”

“We used to eat together, right? Hey, how can I not know that when we’ve known each other for so many years? I’ve been staring at the back of your head for 15 years.”

“… .”

But I ignore it and keep walking.

Eventually the man stopped.

“In the end, you’re just scared, right? ”

“… What?”

Even Snow White stopped.

“Scared?”

“If you do something good and then you can’t do it, it’ll be too heartbreaking, so you say you can’t do it, right? Right?”

He approaches.

And stretch out your hand-,

“Don’t touch.”

“Ahem… . Snow White. I really like you.”

“… .”

“You don’t think I’m bad either. I don’t know what will happen later, but can’t we just enjoy the present? Can’t we just enjoy the future as it is, and enjoy the present as it is?”

“… I,”

Snow White bit her lip.

She didn’t look down on him either.

She is the best trainee, except for herself, and she is also very pretty.

And she also wanted to try living the way everyone else did.

Just like the man said… I’m just scared.

That feeling of loss when you feel happiness and then lose it.

“Let’s give it a try. Okay? You won’t know until you try! Are you going to be so scared? For the rest of your life?”

“… .”

He continued to persuade her.

at last,

“Then… . Starting tomorrow.”

“Uh, yeah… ?”

“… .”

“Really??”

He left with a word of consent and walked out.

It was a much faster speed than usual.

“Really? There’s no tomorrow??!!”

The man was so excited that he ran back to his room.

Snow White smiled faintly.

okay.

It’s scary to be scared before you even start.

That’s not knightly.

The next day.

The training center director called the trainees together early in the morning.

“To trainee reporter Baekseol.”

“?”

What the heck is going on?

He tilts his head and goes up to the stage.

“Trainee Knight Snow White will be graduating today, September 22nd, 2076 AD.”

“Yes?”