Chapter 18
Chapter 18
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Olivia's Recruitment and the Game Acquisition
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Financial hub located south of Manhattan in New York, USA.
The place known as the heart of the world economy is called Wall Street.
Towering skyscrapers and bustling streets.
This is a spot where tens of billions of dollars change hands daily, a whirlwind of endless competition.
A woman seated at a table by the central fountain.
Jin Seol-hwa, reading the day's financial paper, set it down upon spotting a familiar shadow.
"Long time no see?"
"Hehe, I'm honored that Seol-hwa reached out first."
Tall for a woman, with golden blonde hair gleaming subtly.
Her porcelain-pale skin instilled a strange tension in the men around her.
Turning her head, her waves of hair cascaded like a mystical veil of gold.
The woman's name was Olivia.
Her credentials? Harvard economics major.
Graduating with top honors, Olivia was a notable figure on Wall Street.
She frequented the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where investors, traders, and financial experts traded stocks and other assets, wielding massive influence over the U.S. and global economies.
And such a heavyweight had rushed over at Jin Seol-hwa's call.
"The head of DJ Investment, who's been drawing all the attention lately, summons me, and I couldn't even put on shoes..."
"Your jokes have gotten better."
"Hohoho, I really came out without them."
Olivia showed her feet as proof.
Sure enough, no shoes—just black stockings.
But Jin Seol-hwa knew better.
Just 100 meters away, her security detail and multiple vans were stationed, armed to the teeth for any contingency.
"..."
"Don't look at me like that. It's been three years since we last connected, right? How was PMC life?"
"Awful..."
"No surprise. Trading blows with those damn Russian mercenaries in Africa must've been a sight."
Wall Street had ears everywhere.
Not just stocks and finance—they even delved into defense intel.
After 9/11, before the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, Wall Street got wind first.
To survive the world's shifting tides, no scrap of info could be ignored. Olivia sat at the pinnacle of that flow.
She'd clocked the reason for that knowing smile right away.
"The EV market's been chaotic lately."
"..."
"Hehe, that surprised look says DJ's eyeing it too? Jumping into EVs?"
Jin Seol-hwa shook her head.
Even with DJ Investment's buzz, their war chest was just $600 million. Not enough to ignite a national-scale future industry.
She was just thinking differently.
"Even if we can't join hands, we can trip them up for a bit."
"!"
Caught off-guard, Olivia nearly choked on her sandwich, eyes widening.
"Seol-hwa, what are you scheming?"
"Volkswagen's pushing to shutter its German plant after 87 years. You know China's onslaught with cheap costs and superior quality is no joke."
"So you're targeting them?"
"Everyone's reeling from China's push anyway. You heard about Daehyeon and GC signing that MOU, right?"
MOU.
Memorandum of Understanding for comprehensive collaboration.
Two fierce rivals joining forces? That said volumes.
Olivia, plugged into Wall Street's info veins, couldn't be unaware.
"You've already made your move...?"
"Yeah."
"Why share such prime intel with me? You could've just sat back and raked in cash."
"Help me."
"What?"
"Please help."
"Me? Help the Wall Street wunderkind Jin Seol-hwa?"
"Yes."
Olivia dropped her sandwich, stunned she'd hear this.
"Ha, snatching Selig for a measly $300 million was insane enough, but topping leukemia breakthrough with a cure for the government's nightmare tick virus? The head of that Selig?"
"Yeah. So help me. It's a bit much on my own."
"You're killing me."
Her perfectly coiffed blonde hair turned into a tousled mess in seconds.
The two had been close friends since college.
How Stanford's Jin Seol-hwa and Harvard's Olivia became besties? Even they weren't sure.
Just some random SNS chat that clicked.
"I don't even know what to say. Congrats. You're the one who shut up this Olivia—not the president or treasury secretary."
"...I'll use the wish ticket."
"What?!"
"Said I'm using the wish ticket."
Ironically, Jin Seol-hwa cashed in her "use on deathbed" right now.
After a heated debate went unresolved, they'd settled it fairly with poker.
Jin Seol-hwa won.
A one-time eternal favor, no questions asked, in dire straits.
She invoked it.
"Fuck..."
A crude curse slipped from Olivia's lips at the sudden demand.
Jin Seol-hwa's eyes curved softly as she gazed at her.
"Olivia."
"Yeah?"
"Join DJ Investment."
"..."
Leaving her friend dumbfounded, Jin Seol-hwa cast aside her pride before her.
"For DJ to survive, I need you, Olivia."
She bowed deeply to the rival often dubbed her foe.
Jin Seol-hwa owed a debt she'd never repay.
The man who'd saved her critically ill sister with the best care and setup.
For him, she'd shed every last shred of pride.
Her repayment?
Turning DJ Investment and Selig into the world's top firms.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Ah, this is too much..."
"Tell me about it, President."
I couldn't hide my frustration while fiddling with a mobile game on my smartphone screen.
Unexpected lotto jackpot.
Impulse coin buys.
Selig acquisition to lure Jin Seol-hwa under some pretext.
Eerily, every venture I'd pushed had succeeded without fail.
Now, trying out this trendy mobile game to gauge current vibes...
Fuck!
I just feel scammed.
"No, we barely scraped together graduation gear a week ago, and now it's total garbage today?!"
"Tell me about it, President."
"This is straight-up fraud! To make better gear, they should've given time to sell on the exchange! Post-maintenance, it's worth shit!"
"Tell me about it, President."
"Yun-ah?"
Her eyes were twitching weirdly.
Like staring down a serial killer.
As if she'd snap any game dev's neck on sight...
A man and woman holed up in the room for days.
Our mindless obsession: the game Raising Witches in Another World.
Tailored for busy modern folks, this trendy idle game was perfect. Like my bubble-popping on streams, a few taps and AI handled everything—auto-hunting, auto-selling when inventory filled.
Leave your phone on indefinitely, and it ran itself.
My interest? The source webnovel.
Running into Kang So-yeon at the reunion sparked it—no coincidence.
Her TS novel boasted 40 million views. Reading it explained why.
Insanely fun.
Didn't tire me all night.
After finishing, it lingered beautifully.
'So-yeon's novel is primed for adaptation.'
Episodic structure fit games perfectly.
Protagonist reborn as otherworld girl, items neatly tiered.
Those tantalizing illustrations hooked readers relentlessly.
'Nothing missing. Might outperform what I'm building.'
Webnovels now spawn dramas, movies, anime.
And beyond—expanding into new realms, forming mini-vortices that could whirl into giants.
Next venture decided.
Crackle!
But that's that, and this is this.
Mood's still sour.
"Wh-what the hell?!"
A shrill scream echoed through the living room.
In rage, I'd enhanced my +7 weapon—and it failed. Failure's fine, but at 90% odds?
Makes sense?
How does 90% slip five times straight?!
"These bastards rigging it?"
Korean game devs' classic sin.
Probability manipulation.
Users dump millions, build samples—they play dumb.
I clenched my fists, nearly crushing the phone.
"You fuckers... cut the crap or choke on it. Does the homepage probability even match reality?!"
Head boiling with fury.
Fun game means squat.
If ops are this trash...
Community was in uproar too.
📰 Breaking News Watching When This Bullshit Game Finally Tanks Not just me—others fumed too.
Their rage palpable even here.
— Anonymous Dumped 100 million won into this game. But it's barely better than no-spend. Fuck, enhancements all exploded on me too? Dropped 1.5 million today? No-spend life. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Go easy, damn it. Game or gambling den? Even Gangwon Park ain't this bad. Anyone wanna buy this game and run it right? — BlackCow Kid, No-Spend Here But Higher Rank Than That Loser Blackcow bastard, I'm no-spend and rank higher than him. — Top Comment Hey bitch above, that's not the point right now, fuck. — Agree 75% enhancement rate, 12 straight fails? Logical? — Retards Who forced you idiots to play? Blackcows yapping too much. — WannaQuit Wanna quit but can't. Money aside, sunk time deserves rewards ㅠㅠ — Exactly That's what I'm saying. Money's replaceable, time isn't... — BuyerPlz Anyone buying this out? — LmaoNo What psycho buys a shit company like this? — kekeke ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Total money burn. ⭐ Top Comment — Maybe? Who knows... some rich nutjob obsessed with the game might buy it? — YeahRight As if! Aaah, changed my mind.
Peering at the public mood, my inner dark dragon's rearing to burst out.
"Yun-ah."
"Tell me about it, President."
Same response nonstop.
Is she game-deep or losing it?
Ting-crash!
Ah, her phone shattered mid-enhance too.
Silent tears wailed around us.
"...Let's acquire it."
Next biz locked as mobile games—perfect target appeared.
"This game company we're playing. We'll buy it."
You scamming bastards.
Met your match.
I'll show you how hellish a rich blackcow user can be.