Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Do I Have to Buy Stocks Too?
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"Even stocks?"
Right now, things look utterly bleak.
Ding dong!
I turn my head at the alert chime. Now that I think about it, the gifts waiting in the suite aren't limited to stocks. There's a mannequin neatly dressed next to the table.
A note is attached to it as well.
[Postscript]
Ah! And we noticed that the clothes you arrived in don't match the dress code for the forum. Our clients place great importance on appearances... Consider this another gift.
I set the note aside and eyed the mannequin straight ahead.
"Wow, now that's customer service."
The suit draped over the mannequin radiates luxury. A versatile dark gray hue. Crisp lines draping cleanly from the shoulders, fabric that's soft yet springy to the touch.
I stripped it off the mannequin and slipped it on.
It clung perfectly to my body, as if tailored to my exact measurements. Satisfied, I detached the smartwatch from the mannequin and strapped it on too.
The smartwatch came preloaded with a permanent energy shield and blink spell—straight out of [Revenge].
"Hold on, this suit... why does it feel so familiar?"
I checked the label in astonishment. There, inside the jacket, a logo shimmered faintly in gold thread.
"No way, Black Lightning?"
You could call the name flashy for clothes, but this is no ordinary suit. It's a Grade 2 magic item equipped with auto-repair, protection spells, and even elemental resistances.
"This retailed for 7.5 million won..."
I knew it well. I'd worn one during a home shopping promo and taken a barrage of magic bullets to demo it!
A sudden thought struck me. I levitated Cheda in midair and searched Nemesis.
"How much per share... What? 1.5 million won!?"
Unbelievable. That meant President Baesarang's gifts totaled 22.5 million won.
At this point, it went beyond mere customer service.
'No way—they can't actually know about me, can they?'
But on second thought, that didn't add up for a bunch of reasons. If she knew what I was capable of, there'd be no need to hand over info like this.
Thanks to her, I'd learned dummy items couldn't be used in Ardania—and that stocks could interfere with the system.
These were critical details no amount of hardcore gaming could uncover.
'No matter how I slice it, there's no reason for her to handle things this way. Calling it some grand scheme feels too off.'
A whirlwind of thoughts swirled, but as always, I resolved to give my all within my limits. Pondering some colossal picture beyond my grasp felt like a waste of time.
"Nyaong, nyaong, nyaong."
That's when Cheda meowed. Meeting time was approaching, so I tidied the room and headed out. The finale of a suite that had felt like a month-long stay despite being just one night and two days.
I followed the directions on the invitation to the forum venue.
"No... this is the forum location?"
Nemesis's user forum was set up in a venue utterly unlike what I'd imagined.
No idol singer stages, no roaring crowds, no trivial events or swag—just a calm, solemn atmosphere.
It felt less like a user meetup and more like an academic conference. Most attendees at the tables—arranged for one, two, or four people—were middle-aged men sharply dressed in suits.
"You arrived right on time! Over here, over here!"
Right—everyone except this guy.
"You're first on the scene. Mr. Lee Sung-jae."
"Haha, skipped breakfast, so I'm starving. The fan meet ran intense till morning."
"......"
Fan meet? My jaw dropped on instinct.
'Am I the outdated one? Spent too long in medieval land!?'
A moment of disorientation hit, but I shook it off and took the seat beside him. As I settled in, the separated tables slid together like living things. The drinks atop them didn't so much as ripple—silent perfection.
'Nano machines... everything here's top-tier.'
With me seated, Sung-jae spoke up.
"Wow, bigger crowd than usual today. Normally under a hundred, but this looks like two hundred. Bolder gifts too—Nemesis must've gone all out."
As he whispered, the user forum kicked off.
"Hello, I'm Nemesis Deputy Manager Kwon Hyung-jun. Before we dive in, my deepest thanks for attending the 2089 Revenge user forum. For this gathering..."
Deputy Manager Kwon launched into a steady presentation.
Game topics came first, as expected. New updates, fresh items and skills, fine-tuned balance changes, and so on.
"Cheda."
I perched Cheda on the table and jotted notes on anything from Kwon's talk that seemed crucial or useful. Like a forum veteran, he sprinkled in jokes and flashed charts here and there, progressing smoothly.
After some time, he shifted to a different vein.
"As you all know, this year's revenue boom is nothing short of miraculous. The Mythic Age, right? Frankly... I figured the content was as good as nonexistent. What a shock."
A few gazes flicked my way as he broached the topic.
'Figures—the insiders know.'
But I'd done nothing wrong, so I ignored it. The lookers glanced once and moved on.
Deputy Manager Kwon pressed ahead.
"And that windfall? CEO invested over 99% right back in. Actually more than that. Company reserves poured in, even personal funds."
The unexpected bombshell stirred murmurs. A few widened their eyes, clearly in the know.
Sung-jae muttered beside me.
"Wow, so the rumor was legit?"
"Rumor?"
"Ah, just whispers from family circles... but word is Nemesis inked a tech alliance with Legion using this revenue. Sounded too wild, so I brushed it off."
I flinched at his words.
'What? Legion?'
Once the scourge battling every civilized race in the universe—even the United Alliance's arch-nemesis—Legion remained terrifying even as neutrals.
They'd forced entire civilizations to self-impose limits on their own convenient AI tech. What more needed saying?
But money aside, a single company allying with Legion for tech? And what tech did Revenge even have worth partnering over?
Swish. Swish.
Clatter!
The hall transformed abruptly. Chairs and tables shifted on their own, rearranging the scattered attendees.
Sung-jae muttered.
"Ah, guild meeting's underway."
"Guild meeting?"
"Yeah, see that guy? Kim Young-chan, CEO of Sky Pharmaceuticals—guild master. That one's Yu Seong-min from Seongmin Entertainment... Kang Won of the Fast Three Sect... all Snow Train guildmates."
"Thick as thieves in real life too, huh."
"Not just friends—business intertwined. You don't join a guild without ironclad trust."
While I reeled at this alien guild mentality, Deputy Manager Kwon continued.
Talk of converting a Terra-class battleship into a massive data center flagship, installing thirty-odd ultimate magics, onboarding 110,000 personnel, and more.
I listened but couldn't grasp the implications.
'What the—? Just scaling up the business?'
Unlike my bafflement, the others seemed clued in. The once-staid crowd now buzzed loudly.
"If I cover the rest, it'll lack gravitas. Allow me to introduce Nemesis's CEO, Ms. Baesarang."
Deputy Manager Kwon bowed and stepped back as the Baesarang from that morning took the stage.
"President Baesarang! This can't be—you're really doing it?"
"Didn't you scrap it?"
"President Baesarang, you're stunning!"
"Ugh! Cough up Elma Wang's volcano castle! Gimme~! My mythic class is locked!"
"Kwon, deputy. Mute that scrub. He's disruptive."
Amid the fervor, she waved with leisurely poise and a smile. Cocky, considering the room full of middle-aged men.
But I knew she had the credentials.
'Looks young... but she's seventy. Could be the eldest here.'
Even accounting for seniority, it bordered on rude with clients present... yet her flushed cheeks betrayed her thrill.
The others sensed it too.
"President! You're really launching the Second Life Project? You said no at the shareholders' meeting!"
"When did I say no? I said we didn't."
"But—"
"So it's true? You actually called in Legion for it? H-how many Legion units linked?"
"116 entities."
"My God, over 100 tera..."
Groans rippled through.
Baesarang swept her hand like a conductor before them.
A hologram bloomed in the air, projecting a colossal castle.
"As you know, Revenge's lore scales realms far beyond real life. Distances between castles hit 100 kilometers. And the castles themselves? No mere forts—they're city-sized bastions."
"All that... for virtual reality?"
"Precisely. Revenge is no longer a game you boot up and log off from. It's transcending into something greater!"
Dazed, I absorbed her rhetoric.
I felt utterly detached from everyone else here.
'What? VR's a big deal? Isn't jacking in with a connector already VR?'
But inexplicably, the others disagreed. Too influential for mere excited nerds—these were CEOs and newsworthy heavyweights.
One composed himself amid the buzz and raised a steady hand.
"Then... what grade is Revenge's immersion depth proceeding at?"
The middle-aged man in a suit. Baesarang replied.
"Grade 1."
"Impressive... What? Grade 1?"
"No way! Even with over a hundred Legion units, depth at Grade 1? That's completer-tier!?"
"My God!"
Screams erupted everywhere. Some bolted for the exits; the rest whipped out comms in a frenzy.
"What're they... wait a sec."
I still couldn't follow. No clue what "depth" meant, let alone Grade 1.
But their reactions sparked a ominous chill.
"Wait, hold on... Cheda."
I hastily lifted Cheda back to the table and queried Nemesis.
Nemesis – 2,131,000 won (+612,000 won)↑
"Ah, wait..."
Nemesis – 2,251,000 won (+732,000 won)↑
"Wait, hold—"
Nemesis – 2,601,000 won (+1,082,000 won)↑
"Stop, stop! Halt!"
My panicked shout drowned in the excited clamor.
And naturally.
The surge showed no signs of stopping.