Six Billion in Spite
Kim Taeyoung worked the lounge, making the acquaintance of a few whales. Contrary to what he had expected, most of them were perfectly sane. Right up until they had chanted "Ah! Sex!" he had taken them for lunatics. There is a saying that a full granary makes a generous heart, and these were men with room to spare in their lives, so the talk had no sharp edges. All except one.
"You little bastard! Just the man I wanted!"
Bulgom. The same Bulgom who had been glaring at Kim Taeyoung since the opening ceremony came on in long strides the moment he spotted him. Taeyoung had hoped it would not come to this. If it did, he had no choice but to play the devil himself.
"What do you want."
"You thought I'd just let it go? You haven't forgotten what you did."
Kim Taeyoung worked a finger in his ear.
"So? What do you want me to do about it."
"Apologize. Do that, and I'll let this one slide."
A genuine madman had shown up. What kind of mind could even produce a sentence like that?
"Hey, Mr. Bulgom. Don't do something you'll regret. Stop here, and I'll let you off."
"I try to be patient, and this is what I get! I swear—!"
Bulgom closed in, fury rolling off him. The bulk he had been born with was threatening enough. But what could he actually do? Kim Taeyoung did not flinch. The man seized him by the collar, and Taeyoung lifted one corner of his mouth in a wicked little smile. So this is how you want it. You're out.
He had seen this breed until he was sick of it, back when he worked at the department store. Hot-tempered, and convinced that everyone else ranked beneath them. Their sense of entitlement far outran what they actually owned, so the moment the world refused to obey, they led with their temper. They put on the airs of the rich, and beside real wealth they had none—which was exactly why, the instant they decided someone was weaker, they were on him like a shot.
"You planning to hit me? You know your life ends the day you do."
"This bastard, right to the end—!"
"Mr. Bulgom! What are you doing! Why are you fighting again!"
"Shall we leave it there? On a night like this?"
A few of the whales who had seen the scuffle stepped in and held him back. His name in this circle was already poor. His clout amounted to very little; he had slipped into the gathering on luck, and still he kept starting fights. A pot that leaks indoors leaks outdoors too, and they treated him as the group's problem child. The whales did not even know the cause. They simply assumed Bulgom had picked the fight, and took him to task.
"Tch—! Just you wait."
Looking thoroughly wronged, Bulgom let go of Kim Taeyoung's collar.
"I don't intend to wait."
"What?"
"Look forward to it. Starting tomorrow, good things are coming your way."
"What are you talking about?"
Bulgom wanted it spelled out. If a man asked, answering was only human.
"Yuseong Industries. Hyeseong Enterprise. You know those companies, don't you? I'm putting three billion won into each. And the condition of the investment will be that they lock down market share across Seoul and Gyeonggi."
Bulgom's eyes went wide. Those two firms were rivals of Youngwoo Metal Industries, the company he ran. His business was metalworking, specialized in dies, turning out metal parts for his clients. Competitors, of course, came with the trade.
If three billion won in free capital landed on each of those rivals, he would lose on price. Should they go after his clients at cost—or below it—just to seize market share, his goods would stop selling. He could not copy that strategy. Eat a loss of six billion won, and his factory was finished.
"That's a lie! You'd burn six billion just to crush one man?"
He did not believe it. A natural reaction. What lunatic torches six billion won because his feelings are hurt? By the lights of his common sense, the claim was unbelievable. But Kim Taeyoung was precisely that lunatic. He had already held back twice. The other man kept picking fights, and that called for a real punishment.
The stage, as it happened, could not have been better—a room full of KoreaTV's whales. Dance with the blade properly once, here, and no one would come at him again.
"If you want to know whether it's a lie, check tomorrow. My lawyer will be walking into Yuseong Industries and Hyeseong Enterprise with the investment contracts."
Bulgom's eyes trembled. He could not make himself believe it. It still sounded like a lie. So why was he this uneasy? He all but ran out of the lounge.
"Tsk. I knew he'd come to that someday."
"That was satisfying. I was sick of watching him muddy the water."
"But what does Mr. Coin God even do? Throwing six billion won around like it's nothing."
Every whale had watched the commotion Bulgom started. In a breath, the talk jumped to Bulgom and Coin God. They were curious who Coin God really was. Confidentiality was the rule, and nobody kept it perfectly.
The gathering itself existed so they could push one another up and pull one another along. Talk long enough, and what a man did for a living was bound to come out. You had to know the measure of someone's money and power before you could be of any use to each other.
"Oh dear. I did say, quite clearly, that disputes were forbidden."
"He picked the fight first. What was I supposed to do?"
"Haha. Fair enough."
And then Daegari came over to Kim Taeyoung. He smiled as if the situation put him in a difficult spot, and still made a point of showing goodwill.
"He's a member who's already caused more than his share of trouble. I've been wondering what to do with him. He keeps starting fights with the others. From the look of things, today will be the last time he shows his face."
Did "well done" really need that many words? The chairman was, as expected, a talkative man. Suggesting they speak for a moment, he drew Kim Taeyoung into a small room. Taeyoung sat down across from him.
"Even a noisy club goes dead quiet once you shut the door on a VIP room. The people who run places like this—shall we say they've attained enlightenment? They know exactly how to keep a VIP satisfied."
"What did you want to talk about?"
"A man in a hurry. I like that. I prefer getting straight to the point myself."
He really didn't seem the type.
"Did you hear a business proposal from Park Myeongcheol?"
"Yes. He said he was building a new platform, and asked me to help with the investment."
"I was told the money behind that venture was you, Mr. Coin God. Is that true?"
"Hard to say. I haven't involved myself that deeply. For now the business plan and the contract are still under review."
"I see. Park Myeongcheol really isn't a man one can trust, then. He told me you had already promised a large investment and solid results. In that case—is it true you promised cash-outs on the order of tens of billions of won on the new platform?"
Park Myeongcheol seemed to have reached for the other whales as well. From a businessman's seat, the more spigots money could pour through, the better. From an investor's seat, luring people in with something that amounted to a lie did not look good.
"Not a promise. I said I'd consider it. The fee would be ten percent. KoreaTV takes forty."
"Am I to take that as meaning you intend to invest?"
"Wouldn't I? He's only asking for ten billion won. It isn't even that much."
"Haha.... Ten billion isn't that much.... Amusing. Even among the chaebol, it's rare for a private individual to be holding ten billion won in cash."
The talkative Daegari closed his mouth. He poured a drink, then turned the glass a few times with a snap of the wrist. Had this not been the man who led the chant of "Ah! Sex!", Taeyoung might have thought he cut quite a figure.
"Very well. I'll invest as well."
"Sorry? Why are you telling me?"
"Ahaha. You only invest in coins, Mr. Coin God? Is this your first time putting money into a business?"
"Yes. I suppose so?"
"When investors are of one mind, the more of them gather, the stronger they become. The equity piles up. The total Park Myeongcheol planned is fifty billion won. If you put in ten billion of that, that's already twenty percent. I intend to put in about one billion, and if we gather the other members here, I expect something like fifteen billion. That's twenty-five billion already—fifty percent."
Daegari laid out the strength investors held. Fifty percent of the equity was enough to bend a company to one's will. A brand-new internet platform could be shaped to their taste.
He had long known Park Myeongcheol for a hustler, and for that reason he had hesitated. Meeting Coin God in the flesh changed the calculation. A businessman's character might be pure garbage; if the money behind him was solid, the venture had a way of succeeding regardless.
Above all, the results would be real. Whatever his reasons, Coin God was cashing out through a livestream platform rather than a coin exchange. From the way he spoke, his fortune sat far above a few tens of billions of won.
A newborn company whose numbers you could take to the bank. Only a fool would refuse to invest. It was also a chance to strike up a personal tie with Kim Taeyoung, a man sitting on an absurd amount of cash.
And there was one more benefit.
"Park Myeongcheol should be here any moment."
Park Myeongcheol arrived with a whole crowd of camgirls in tow. As sales director of KoreaTV, he had long since mastered the handling of them, and among the whales his nickname was the Pimp. However he sweet-talked the women, at setting a camgirl in front of a whale he was nothing short of brilliant.
The VIP lounge filled with Park Myeongcheol and the women. Eight camgirls in all. Six were Small Fries Taeyoung had never seen; two he knew by face and by name. One was "[BJ]LeeSia♡", called the next generation's top female BJ in the line after Hwayeon, and the other was "EDohee❤", Hwayeon's old rival.
"Aigoo, good evening, Chairman. And Mr. Coin God is here as well. Hahaha. We met not long ago, and it's even better to see you again."
Having dragged the camgirls along, Park Myeongcheol rubbed his hands like a court flunky and bent at the waist. Tonight mattered immensely to him. This was the seat where the investment would be decided.
"The friends I brought today have already promised to transfer to Okusu TV. Before they move, they came to put their faces in front of the whale brothers. I hope you'll look kindly on them."
You could not raise a platform and leave the BJs out of it. Park Myeongcheol had dangled enormous signing money and a full year with the fees waived, and succeeded in prying the camgirls away from KoreaTV. He watched Daegari's face, and Kim Taeyoung's. He had the air of a man who wanted to say something more, off to the side.
"Come along. Mr. Coin God, you should join us. You're the money behind it, so it'll be easier if we talk together."
"Thank you, Chairman."
Until a moment ago the narrow room had held only Daegari and Taeyoung. Now Park Myeongcheol made three. With exquisite deference, Park poured for both of them.
"Besides the girls I brought tonight, there are others we've already discussed contracts with. And... if you wish it, Mr. Coin God, I'm prepared to offer contracts to the friends people call the CoinGod Corps."
The CoinGod Corps?
Kim Taeyoung was hearing the name for the first time. He did not know it, but his every move was already under a great many eyes. Spray at least tens of millions of won in a day, and you were bound to become a topic. A handful of BJs who basked in his particular favor had come to be called the CoinGod Corps.