Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: A Windfall and a Warning
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I was tempted to check my stocks right away, but I prefer to save the best for last.
I started by browsing the VR gaming communities.
-What's new with the Rhythm Saber update? Is it a must-have?
-You get a new mode. It's just for your feet, kinda boring. Slashing beats is where it's at.
-You have no idea. You gotta buy the Answer DLC and try the new mode. It's insane.
-But why a DLC for Answer's new song? They're not Fire Emblem, they're just starting to get big. Isn't that a stretch?
-Seeing the DLC drop right after the song, they must've signed the deal and started working on it ages ago. The quality is top-notch.
-The song is great, and slashing with lightsabers while doing the steps is a hell of a workout.
-If you play it on Expert or higher, it basically becomes the choreography. So cool.
-Beat Room made it. Isn't that the person famous for custom maps?
-No wonder the quality is off the charts.
-It's fun and a good workout. I just played for two hours straight, now I'm charging my headset and browsing the forums.
-I'm the kind of person who's never bought DLC in my life, but this is a must-buy. It feels like a completely different game. A total transformation.
-Ugh, you idiot, you made a typo lmao. It's *transformation*.
-Maybe he didn't misspell it. Maybe he meant 'withdrawal' or something like 'leg'?
-Stop defending him. Is that your alt account?
-Kids these days have terrible spelling and reading comprehension. What's wrong with them?
-'Kids these days...' Typical boomer talk from another idiot.
-~~~~Using tildes~ Typical old person.
-The reactions are good. Trusting you guys, I'm off to buy it. Iku yoooo!
-'Iku yo?' lmao. You an Answer fan by any chance? lol
-Nice to meet you. I ended up here searching for Answer too lol
Until now, the game had been all about full-body movement and arm motions. But the Answer DLC was tailored for a new mode that required matching footwork, offering users a completely new experience.
Seeing the positive reactions, it wouldn't be a stretch to say my share alone would be in the hundreds of millions of won. It would be slower than domestic sales, but global sales were bound to increase too.
I'm glad I negotiated a percentage-based deal.
If I had accepted their initial offer, we would have ended up with just a few hundred million for a product that could earn billions.
Now, it was time to check the stocks. I opened the foreign stock market window and closed my eyes while it loaded.
For a DLC that you have to buy after purchasing the main game, not getting flamed is considered a moderate success.
So, the fact that it was receiving nothing but praise made me 100% certain that expectations for improved performance would be reflected in the stock price.
If not, oh well.
“…Gasp!”
Metaverse, the stock that had peaked at $1,200 before plummeting to $300. My average purchase price from ten days ago was around $400.
But now, it was nearing $1,500, a surge of over 250%. And today's rise alone was more than 200%.
This was only possible in the US market, which doesn't have the 30% daily limit like Korea, but in any case, my two billion won had become a whopping 7.5 billion.
“Damn.”
The word escaped my lips.
I looked up the news. Although it was an American company, Metaverse's 200% single-day surge was a hot topic even in the Korean media.
-Metaverse, a leader in the metaverse sector, has seen its stock price skyrocket. Twenty months after peaking at $1,200 and then crashing to $300, the stock has surged nearly 383% to a new high of $1,450, surpassing its previous peak. The primary driver for today's 201.5% rise is attributed to anticipation of new user growth from the new DLC and mode for their original IP, [Rhythm Saber].
The stock price consensus also predicts a continued upward trend, drawing further attention.
Notably, the new DLC features the latest album from the popular domestic group Answer, serving as another indicator of K-pop's expanding global influence.
A smile spread across my face as I read the article.
So now our Answer is a 'popular group,' huh.
We still have a long way to go.
I counted the digits in my stock account one by one again.
It was 7.5 billion.
I rubbed my cold, sweaty hands on my clothes.
I looked up something I hadn't paid much attention to before: taxes on foreign stocks.
The amount to declare and pay to the National Tax Service was around 1.7 billion won, but even after that, I'd still have 5.8 billion left.
No, I miscalculated. It's 22% of the profit, so I have to pay 22% of the 5.5 billion I earned, minus my seed money. The tax is about 1.21 billion.
So, after taxes, I'll have about 6.3 billion left.
Either way, it was a huge amount of money, but wasn't it still far from enough to take down Gyeon Sang-jin?
The tension vanished in an instant, and warmth slowly returned to my cold hands.
My plan, which began with the sound maker 'Beat Room,' was a slow, long-term build-up, and so far, I had confirmed its potential.
Two new groups, set to debut soon with trendy songs that were slightly ahead of the curve, were also in the pipeline.
From Answer's continued success to Beat Room making hits for teams from different agencies, there was no way Gyeon Sang-jin wouldn't take an interest.
Eventually, a thirsty Gyeon Sang-jin would gulp down the cool drink right in front of him, oblivious to the fact that it was poison.
To deliver that final blow, I needed financial power incomparable to what I had now.
I manipulated the stock window and sold about 400 million won worth of shares.
* * *
Kim Sung-hoon's living room.
“Whoa, damn, this is fun. Hah! Hyaht!”
Answer's song flowed from the VR headset Kim Sung-hoon was wearing.
“Oho! Hah!”
Kim Sung-hoon was having a blast, slashing at the incoming notes and hitting the steps within the target area.
*'I should ask him to make a song for me too. This kid's seriously talented.'*
Kim Sung-hoon grinned, thinking of Min-jun. It was a perfectly designed game, one that naturally brought to mind Answer's choreography he'd glimpsed while passing by the practice room.
*Ding-dong.*
He vaguely heard the notification sound from his banking app, the one that chimes for transactions, but Kim Sung-hoon was busy.
*Ding-dong.*
A second time.
“Hah! Hyaht!”
*Ding-dong.*
A third time.
“……”
The consecutive notifications made Kim Sung-hoon a little anxious.
*'My card hasn't been stolen or anything, right?'*
The distracting thought made his hands and feet, which were fending off countless beats, grow clumsy.
*Ding-dong.*
A fourth time.
“Argh!”
*Thud!*
[MISSION FAILED]
In the end, Kim Sung-hoon gave up on the stage because of the transaction alerts.
“…Ah, hell, what is it?”
Annoyed, Kim Sung-hoon half-removed the VR headset, resting it on his forehead as he checked his phone.
“What's this… 40 million won.”
Grudging even this brief interruption, Kim Sung-hoon took off the headset, which was low on battery anyway, plugged it in to charge, and called Min-jun.
-Yeah, Hyung.
“Hey. What's this? 40 million won. And not all at once, but in four transfers of 10 million.”
-It's not 10 million.
“Pfft. If it's not 10 million, what is it, 100 million... Huh?”
Kim Sung-hoon checked again. It was indeed four transfers of 100 million each, for a total of 400 million won.
“Holy shit. What is this!”
-You said even an investment manager would give you at least 7% interest.
Kim Sung-hoon tried to remember why he'd mentioned 7% interest, then snapped back to reality.
“Are you saying this 100 million is the interest?”
-Yes.
“You crazy bastard.”
Kim Sung-hoon muttered, dumbfounded.
-I made you money, you should be thanking me. Why are you cursing?
“…You didn't do anything illegal, did you?”
-Illegal like a crime? What's that supposed to mean?
“No, no! Don't tell me! I don't want to hear it. I don't know anything, okay?”
Suddenly feeling hot, Kim Sung-hoon fanned himself with his hand.
-I can tell you, if you promise to keep it a secret.
“I don't want to hear it. Don't. If you do, I'm hanging up.”
-...I thought you lent me all that money because you trusted me. I'm a little disappointed.
“Hey... Why do you have to say it like that? Fine, tell me.”
Kim Sung-hoon squatted down on the spot and swallowed hard.
-…….
But no answer came from Min-jun.
“What? You're not going to say anything now that I'm all ears?”
*Ding.*
Instead, a picture came through.
Kim Sung-hoon counted the digits of the amount in the photo one by one.
“…A hundred thousand, a million, ten million, a hundred million… 7.1 billion? Not 710 million, 7.1 billion?!”
Kim Sung-hoon exclaimed as if screaming.
-I had a good amount of seed money myself, so it's not purely from your money. I also have to pay nearly 2 billion in taxes. You don't have any complaints with this, do you?
Kim Sung-hoon's face was a mixture of shock and joy. His unease had vanished.
“Hey! Complaints? Hell no. Congratulations. This is insane, damn it.”
-You should really work on cursing when you get excited, Hyung.
“Hey, what the hell are you talking about, I didn't curse. …Oh, I did.”
-I'm showing you this because I trust you, just like you trusted me, so there are no misunderstandings. You have to be the only one who knows. The only people who know are you and Yoo-jun.
“Shit… Sorry for cursing. Choi Yoo-jun knows too? Hey, hey, hold on. Where are you?”
-Come where? I'm busy. Oh, right! Hyung.
“Yeah?”
-Didn't the Daepyo-nim give you a hard time about your anxiety disorder before?
“Yeah. He was indirectly dissing me, saying you can overcome that stuff with mental strength. It pissed me off to no end.”
-It's not certain yet, but I think our Daepyo-nim might have an anxiety disorder.
“Really?”
-Yeah. He was clutching his chest, saying he couldn't breathe, so we're at the emergency room now. Judging by the nurses' attitudes, it really seems like an anxiety disorder. He's doing a stress test ECG right now.
“Wow! I did that before too! I thought it was a heart condition, but they found nothing wrong. That's when I realized I had a panic disorder.”
-Heh. Got it. I'll call you back later. You're buying drinks next time.
“Hey! You're the one who made more money, you should be buying, you punk!”
-Ah. I'm out of time.
“You, damn it. You're getting smoother, huh? When you act all tough in front of everyone else?”
-…….
“…Did you hang up?”
*Bee-bee-beep.*
Hearing the disconnect tone, a satisfied smile spread across Kim Sung-hoon's face.
* * *
“Well, the basic tests don't show any particular findings.”
“But earlier, I definitely couldn't breathe. And my chest felt tight.”
“You're perfectly normal.”
The doctor looked at CEO Park Jae-yong with an expression that said he had more to say but wouldn't.
“Then what caused it? There must be a reason.”
“Well, if you must ask... it could be stress. Or perhaps hormonal changes due to weight gain... and considering your age.”
CEO Park Jae-yong's scalp twitched at the doctor's words.
“I have been under a lot of stress lately.”
“As of now, the best course of action for you, Mr. Park, is exercise and a balanced diet.”
One way or another, the solution to most ailments was exercise and diet.
On the way back to the company.
The usually talkative CEO Park Jae-yong showed an uncharacteristic anguish.
“Am I... having panic attacks?”
“It is similar to what Kim Sung-hoon Hyung went through.”
“…Yeah. I can see that.”
Leaning his head against the headrest, CEO Park Jae-yong sighed repeatedly.
“Is there still a crisis left for us to face?”
“…Today is Answer's comeback music show, right?”
*Why the different answer?*
“Yes. It's an important day.”
CEO Park Jae-yong started calling someone.
“Oh, Lee Sun... It's fine. They said it's nothing.”
-…….
“Should I go with Min-jun tonight?”
-Really?
I could clearly hear the surprise in the Isa-nim's voice.
“Alright. Let's talk when we get there.”
CEO Park Jae-yong hung up.
The comeback stage, set up as a special performance on the music show, was special treatment reserved for top-tier performers. He wants to skip such an important schedule and go with me? What on earth is going on?
The CEO ends up in the emergency room with an anxiety attack... this can't be an ordinary matter.
“Hand it over to Yoo-jun and let's have dinner together.”
“Yoo-jun was handling Lee Yoo-ah's schedule until dawn. I'll check on the stage rehearsal before I go.”
“Alright, then. It's a dinner meeting, after all.”
I didn't feel a particular sense of crisis. No, in fact, my 'Sixth Sense' trait was even giving me a faint positive signal.
What the CEO and the Isa-nim considered a crisis might just be a huge opportunity for me.