A Shrewd Investment
Gyeon Mujin, the chairman of the Ohsung Group. In truth, from the very moment he first laid eyes on Cheon Doyeon, he had already calculated her worth.
'She is a top-tier investment target.'
Her beauty alone was already the highest of the high. On top of that, he could faintly sense an incredibly pure Daoist energy radiating from her.
'This isn't the energy of some low-rate sect. It's a Daoist sect belonging to the Nine Great Sects and One Union.'
Gyeon Mujin had dabbled in martial arts himself. Though a lack of talent had prevented him from achieving any great personal heights, his eye for evaluating the caliber of other martial artists was quite reliable.
A martial artist belonging to the Nine Great Sects and One Union, blessed with such peerless beauty. The combination of the two was unmatched. She was a top-priority target, someone he had to invest in regardless of anything else.
Yet, there was a reason Gyeon Mujin had gone out of his way to propose a wager. There was one more thing he wanted to verify.
Luck. By seeing if she could correctly pick the single genuine article out of the three, he wanted to test just how strong her luck was.
"Mmm... All right. I'll take you up on that wager."
"Excellent."
Cheon Doyeon approached the three martial arts manuals.
"By the way, where did these martial arts come from?"
"They were retrieved from inside a Gate that opened near Pyongyang. They are S-rank."
Cheon Doyeon's fingers slowly brushed over the three manuals. The left, the middle, and then... the right.
"..."
That was all she was permitted to do. She had to find the genuine one without opening the books.
Suddenly, Gyeon Mujin had a thought.
'If I were to capture just this moment on camera, there would be no shortage of people willing to pay a fortune for it.'
It was the instinct of a merchant—to see something and immediately think of a way to monetize it. If this were the world before the Gate outbreak, he would have introduced her to an entertainment agency.
"..."
Cheon Doyeon slowly stroked them again, this time from right to left. Then, she knit her brows. Anger flared in her beautiful purple eyes. After stroking them once more in the opposite direction, she turned her indignant face toward Chairman Gyeon Mujin.
"Are you messing with me right now? Every single one of these is a fake!"
"...What?"
Mind Reader of Martial Arts—the unique cheat ability Cheon Doyeon had acquired upon awakening. It was the power to vividly experience the mental image of a martial art simply by touching its manual. Yet, even after touching all three, she hadn't felt a single trace of that energy.
'Wait, is this some kind of WWE-style script?'
'Like, the correct answer of "none of the above" was set from the start, and if I failed, he'd mock me before pulling out the real one, but if I got it right, I'd get special points? Ah, maybe I'm taking this wrestling drama too seriously—'
Gyeon Mujin shouted.
"What do you mean by that! One of those three is absolutely the genuine article!"
Wait, so this is a real fight?!
"I'm telling you there isn't one because there actually isn't one! What are you even talking about?!"
"That cannot be...!"
Chairman Gyeon Mujin personally opened the three manuals one by one. The first one, contrary to its cover, was completely blank inside. The second one was the same. And the third one—
"Look! It is perfectly—" Chairman Gyeon Mujin's voice cut off. After the first few pages, the rest of the book was entirely blank.
"A fake...!!!!!" The Chairman staggered backward. "We've been robbed...! What bastard would do such a thing...?!"
"Chairman!" The female secretary also seemed deeply shocked, and the atmosphere in the room grew tense.
'...Wait a minute.'
Since the Gate outbreak, theft had become an extremely, extremely common crime. However, thieves always carried a distinct aura. That specific look in their eyes—the anxious scanning because they didn't want to get caught, darting their gaze back and forth between the stolen goods and the original owner.
"The only person who has access to this room, knows the manuals are hidden in there, and is capable of swapping them out is...!"
"Right here." I grabbed the collar of the female secretary, who was trying to slink away.
"Ah!"
"Hey." I glared at the secretary, projecting as much intimidation as I could muster. "Spit it out. Can't you see you've already been caught red-handed?" If I'm wrong, my bad. I'll apologize then.
"...!" The secretary hesitated for a moment before dropping to her knees. "I'm so sorry!! I did it!!!" She knelt on the floor and pulled the genuine manual from her breast pocket.
'Oh, so that one's the real deal?' Lucky!
A moment later, Chairman Gyeon Mujin politely and formally presented the manual to me.
"You saved my son, and now you have even recovered our precious stolen property. How can I ever repay this debt of gratitude?"
"Pay me in cash."
"Very well. If you want pure cash with absolutely no strings attached, I can offer three hundred million won. If you accept a few conditions, I can go up to one billion won."
"Oh..." As expected of a merchant. He was quick with his math.
'The latter option would definitely require me to pay an equivalent price... If it's just pure, unconditional cash, it's three hundred million won.'
If I added the one hundred million won I received from the Dobong Sect last time, that would bring the total to four hundred million won. With this much, couldn't I pull off something big?
Four hundred million won in cold, hard cash. In this world where inflation had gone haywire, that was a substantial amount of liquid capital. While it wasn't enough to move cities or nations, it was certainly enough to wield decent influence within a local region.
"Father," Gyeon Geumsu whispered. "Aren't we currently in a position where we need to secure one hundred million won in cash ourselves, rather than giving away three hundred million to one billion?"
"That is a minor transaction. This is a major deal."
"Still... if we could just secure the cash, it would double in no time..."
"Even so, it cannot be helped. Do not lose the forest for the trees."
My curiosity was piqued. "What are you two whispering about?"
"A business venture. Importing goods from the Qing faction and bringing them into the country. The one billion won I mentioned earlier was originally intended to be used as payment for that."
"Can't you just buy one billion won worth of goods and sell them?"
"We cannot."
"...What if, hypothetically, I invest one hundred million won to get this business moving? Could you give me fifteen percent of the net profit as my share?"
If she was covering one-eleventh of the investment, it would be standard to receive one-eleventh of the distribution. That would be roughly 9.09%. Yet, she was asking for fifteen percent.
"If that were possible, we would gladly do so. It is far better than letting the business stall entirely. However, does the young Daoist master possess one hundred million won in cash right now?" The Chairman quickly added, "Forgive me. I do not mean to look down on you, but you do not exactly look like someone who carries that kind of sum around..."
*Thud.* I pulled out the box I had received from the Dobong Sect and slammed it onto the table.
"..." Chairman Gyeon Mujin carefully opened the box. "Mmh." The Chairman nodded. "Geumsu."
"Yes, Father."
"What are you doing? Greet our esteemed investor."
The savory aroma of green tea wafted through the chairman's office. "Geumsu. Her cup is empty."
"Yes, Nuna." *Pourrrr.*
"Then we shall finalize the contract details like this... Do you have a personal seal? Or perhaps a thumbprint?"
"I'll just sign it."
After officially drawing up the contract and shaking hands.
"Thanks to the young Daoist master, we are able to proceed with a very lucrative business venture."
"Isn't this a drop in the bucket compared to the overall scale of Ohsung?"
"A business with such high liquidity is far more valuable, even if the profit margin is the same as other ventures."
"Anyway, as promised, I'll be taking this manual with me as collateral, okay?"
"Of course." The Chairman brought up another topic. "It seems a major clash with Seonkyung is inevitable after all."
Not only had they sabotaged Gyeon Geumsu's business site and sent assassins, but they had also bribed the Chairman's secretary to steal from them.
"This has already crossed the line of a mere dispute between merchants. Furthermore... the Gate they intend to develop is far too dangerous."
"But aren't there already several Gates that are kept from collapsing so they can be mined for resources?"
"There are. However, this particular Gate strictly has a boss monster."
"...How do you do long-term mining when there's a boss?"
"They claim they will keep the boss pacified using sleeping poison."
"...Ah."
Even though I had only tagged along as a mere porter, I had been going in and out of Gates for nearly ten years. When it came to the interior of Gates, I was far more knowledgeable than those half-baked martial artists. And in my expert opinion, Seonkyung's plan was...
"Completely ridiculous."
"Indeed. It makes no sense. And if it goes out of control... it will cause catastrophic damage to the surrounding area." Chairman Gyeon locked eyes with me. "Young Daoist master." His voice was solemn. "Won't you join hands with Ohsung to overthrow the evil corporation that is Seonkyung and correct this injustice?"
Oh, boy. "Huh? Why should I?" This old man was trying to drag an innocent bystander into his family's feud.
"To be blunt, I became friends with this guy, but my relationship with your family is strictly business, you know?"
"Nuna..."
"Don't get touched, you bastard, this isn't the time for that. Anyway, to put it bluntly, what do I gain by getting caught in the crossfire between Ohsung and Seonkyung?"
"A sense of justice?"
"You know better than anyone that 'justice' isn't a word that should come out of a merchant's mouth, don't you?"
"..." Uh-oh. Why did it suddenly go quiet? Did I speak too harshly? No matter how easygoing I tried to be, it would be pretty terrifying if the Chairman of the Ohsung Group actually became my enemy.
"Heh." The Chairman's shoulders shook. "Hahahahahahahahaha!!!" He burst into roaring laughter. He clapped his hands, laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath.
"My word, young Daoist master! How can a Daoist be so incredibly gifted in the art of commerce? You are quick-witted, have an excellent eye for value, remain level-headed without being swayed by emotion, and on top of all that, you even have luck on your side!"
Chairman Gyeon suddenly leaned forward. Whoa, he startled me.
"Young Daoist master, as you can see, I am an old man."
"You still look quite healthy, though."
"Even if that is true, we live in a world where one never knows when they might die. At any rate, that brings me to my point..." Uh-oh. Why was this old man giving me that look? The look I'd been seeing a lot lately.
"How would you like to become my successor?"
"Father?!"
"Be quiet. Well, what do you say? Being a Daoist is fine, but Ohsung is quite a formidable enterprise. We have branches not only nationwide, but also in the three Chinese nations connected by land, and even in Far East Russia. I will pass down everything I know about commerce to you."
"Mmm... I don't know. I'm not really interested in that kind of stuff. If you want to give me something, I'd prefer it in cash."
"Chairman Cheon. How does that sound? Doesn't it have a nice ring to it?"
"Tsk."
"Chairman Cheon Doyeon."
"Tssssk."