Numbers Never Lie
Investing when you already had money on hand turned out to be a surprisingly interesting line of work.
It was also a completely new field to me, one I’d barely known anything about until I was nearly thirty. And unlike my old job, where I’d simply forced myself through each day just to make a living, this was something I genuinely wanted to be good at.
Of course, the business of investing was also just a stepping-stone toward sleeping with even higher-grade women.
Sex and success.
Once I’d started a company, my pride as a man had kicked into gear.
Dice Capital Partners weekly meeting.
“Hmm… the price is roughly one hundred billion won.”
I tapped the desk with my fingertips as I looked over the report that had been brought in.
“I think it’s too early to be talking about an acquisition right now. There’s still plenty of room for it to fall further.”
“Absolutely.”
I pulled the industry trend report, which had been pushed aside, back in front of me.
As time went on, the entire cultural business sector was sinking deeper into stagnation.
Or perhaps polarization was the more accurate word for it.
“Let’s keep an eye on the trend for now, but please report any matters related to a possible acquisition first.”
“Understood.”
Without joining forces with the OTT capital and power led by Enflix, it was hard to make what people called a true blockbuster. The production costs were already so high that a mere broadcaster couldn’t hope to shoulder them alone.
No matter how much you might try to export it overseas and recoup the money that way.
“You’re not just aiming to invest, but to produce as well? I assume you understand how difficult that is in today’s market. Especially when success itself is hard to guarantee.”
Of course, as with every industry, the hardest thing of all was simply—
success.
Success no one could ever know for certain.
“Right. Success is always difficult. But if we succeed at production after succeeding at investment… wouldn’t that be interesting?”
“If there were such a person, they’d really be called the Midas Touch.”
Laughter broke out. Because in reality, no such person existed.
That was true of every pursuit in the world, but investing was especially a direct war against failure, wasn’t it?
“Oh, and the results from the independent films you first invested in are starting to come in.”
The head of marketing and PR scratched his head and clicked to the next slide on the PowerPoint.
“Every single one of the works you invested in was a success. The second-round investment titles have also started entering the market now.”
I had nothing to say to that. Every one of the first dozen or so projects we’d invested in before I came had turned a profit—big or small, all of them a “success.” Every single one.
“I’m lucky, I guess.”
Usually, with investments on this scale, at least one or two were bound to fail, no matter what.
But all ten-odd investments had yielded gains?
“You’ve got a very good eye. It’d be hard to dismiss this as mere luck….”
“If this is luck, then some incredible fortune must be following the chairman around.”
“I suppose so. I do seem to have pretty good chemistry with numbers.”
I only gave a faint smile.
Not just good chemistry—I was straight-up controlling the numbers.
“Good. Keep a close watch. And make sure our website gets updated properly too.”
This was only the beginning. For now, it might just be a dozen indie films, not enough to attract much attention. But give it a year or two, and I’d make sure nobody in this industry had ever heard of Dice Capital not to know it.
“All right, that’s it for the meeting. Short and sharp. Everyone, keep in mind what I mentioned earlier. The second-round investments will be moving forward soon, so stay on top of it.”
“Yes, sir~!”
After signing off on a few more items, I rose from my seat.
“And it’d be nice if everyone watched at least one of the films we invested in. It’s our first company investment, after all. Put that through company expenses, and tell anyone who wants to go to leave a little earlier by team.”
“Understood.”
***
Of course, I planned to watch one myself. Since it was an indie film, there was the hassle of actually having to go find a theater that was screening it, but still.
Watching a film I invested in at the theater.
Even if it wasn’t one of those hundreds-of-seats multiplex auditoriums reserved for blockbusters—
And even if it was an old, tiny screening room.
“But why the sudden movie?”
Lee Yeoreum hooked her arm around mine as she entered the theater, her voice bright with anticipation.
“I just felt like seeing it.”
“Hee~ Oppa, you’re surprisingly sentimental. An indie youth film?”
I didn’t bother mentioning that I’d invested in this one. I just wanted to hear her honest reaction to the movie.
If I said I’d invested in it, she’d just start flattering me, wouldn’t she?
“Sometimes movies like this are nice too. Better than those loud, big-budget smash-and-crash films every single time.”
Maybe because it was a weekday morning, the theater was practically empty.
“We’ve got the place to ourselves. It’s just us.”
“That’s probably because it’s a weekday morning. Still, I heard this one’s drawing some viewers. This movie.”
“Stars’ Whispers, huh. We’ll see when we watch it. For the record, I’m pretty picky, okay? I love movies~”
Was there anyone in Korea who didn’t like movies? Probably not. Instead of answering, I just kissed her lightly on the cheek.
“Ugh~ You little playboy.”
“I’d rather call myself a free spirit who doesn’t like to be tied down.”
Yeoreum knew that if Seol Yeomyeong hadn’t had other plans, she would definitely have come with us, or else the two of us would’ve gone together with Seol Yeomyeong. That was why she was full of nothing but irritation.
Still, she couldn’t just throw herself at me recklessly. From what she’d heard from Haneul, it seemed like I’d already fucked more than one woman besides her.
Better to draw the line here than end up drifting away from him for no reason.
It was almost like a friends-with-benefits relationship that flirted with the idea of dating.
And after the threesome with Haneul, I’d learned through experience that Song Hoon had a very clear “line.”
And as long as you didn’t cross it, he was extremely generous.
“Oppa, you’ve got a call.”
“A call?”
Three cell phones came out of my pocket. One iPhone, one new Galaxy, and one old Galaxy.
“Why on earth do you have three phones?”
“Business. It’s business.”
The name displayed on the old Galaxy was unmistakably a woman’s name.
“Tch.”
She clicked her tongue, hit decline, and then blocked the number that had just called.
I got curious. Which of those three phones did I know the number for, I wondered?
And what exactly were the differences among them?
I was really curious, but I let it go.
After years of streaming online, I’d learned one thing: sometimes it was easier not to know.
There was no benefit in digging too deep into the truth, or into anything at all.
Use what you could use, and keep your own position where it needed to be. That was enough.
“Why? Did that call piss you off?”
“Huh? No.”
He didn’t seem to notice it himself, but his eyes had sharpened a little more than usual. You could almost say there was a trace of annoyance in his expression.
“Hehe. Relax your face.”
Yeoreum slid her hand deep between his thighs and slowly stroked him.
“I said I’m not angry.”
“I know~ That’s one thing, and this is another.”
When the movie started and the previews were still playing, Yeoreum glanced around. It was still just the two of them in the theater.
And because the booming sound filled the whole room—
Haaah—
she lowered the zipper, took his cock out, and took him into her mouth.
Wuuup—
The cock in her mouth seemed to grow in real time, pressing against her uvula and making her want to gag, but she stubbornly rolled her tongue around the shaft and moved her head anyway.
“Pfft… Seriously.”
The moment he said that, Song Hoon grabbed her cap and started thrusting into her mouth by force.
With roughness she’d never experienced before, he fucked her mouth as violently as if he were taking a real cunt.
His cock pushed straight down past her mouth and into her throat.
It wasn’t just going in. Hard and rigid, it jabbed into different spots in her throat.
Even though she kept coughing and gagging hard enough to feel sick, even though her hands slapped at his thighs and pinched him—
Song Hoon didn’t let go of her head.
As her breathing grew ragged and her lungs began begging for oxygen—
“Ugh… I’m about to cum.”
At the words about to cum, Yeoreum’s struggling stopped.
Splurt—
And after more than ten minutes of use, he slipped out of Song Hoon’s cock.
“Haaah— haaah— haaah.”
Half-collapsed in her seat, Yeoreum panted hard and swallowed mouthful after mouthful of the man juice in her mouth.
“Seriously.”
Song Hoon kissed her cheek, then used a handkerchief to wipe her nose and mouth.
And he licked away the tears streaming down her face.
“I wanted to look pretty for you~”
Her makeup had smeared in several places, and it was only a relief that she’d been wearing a cap. If she’d just come with her hair as it was, there was no doubt she’d have ended up a total mess.
“You look pretty enough to me.”
He wiped the saliva-slicked area around her mouth and the tears from her face with the handkerchief, then wrapped an arm around her flushed shoulders.
“Hmph.”
“The movie’s starting.”
Yeoreum massaged her sore throat and focused on the screen.
In her head, she was already looking forward to what would happen after the movie ended.
***
“Sniffle….”
After the movie ended, Yeoreum kept wiping away the tears that wouldn’t stop falling with Song Hoon’s handkerchief.
“That sad?”
“It was sad, yeah, but it was also really well made… I don’t even know which director made it, but seriously… it must have been a woman. Especially that scene at the observatory—god, that was just...”
I barely managed to hold back a laugh as I thought of Director Kim Gwang-sik, with his thick, bristling beard.
“If she’s reacting like this to an indie film, then I guess it really was well made. Shame there aren’t more theaters showing it, though.”
“It’s not just well made! It’s an indie film, you know? And there aren’t even that many screening rooms!”
Yeoreum clenched her fist tightly.
And seeing that reaction, I was certain of one thing.
Numbers never lie.