This Game Is Mine Now, Part 2

"...How do you plan to price the acquisition?"

"No need to be nervous. I intend to pay a fair price."

I tapped my fingers on the desk, letting out a smirk.

"The current market cap is seventy billion won, right? You've inflated it quite a bit."

"Inflated?! This stock price is strictly based on Leonplay's performance!"

"Performance puffed up by all sorts of tricks, you mean."

"..."

He really expected to get full price. What a shameless bastard. Fine, let's squeeze him a bit more.

"Sixty-one percent of fifty billion won. That's the exact amount with the bubble stripped away from your bloated market cap. Not a penny more, not a penny less."

"Are you insane? You're cutting it nearly in half and calling it a bubble?!"

"Hmm."

Did I slash it too much? The resistance is stronger than expected. Time for a special prescription.

I tapped the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠documents scattered on the desk.

"I am giving you an opportunity right now."

"What do you mean by..."

"Soon, Leonplay will be subjected to a large-scale accounting audit and tax investigation."

"...!"

"What do you think will happen then?"

Choi Jae-young's face went pale, as if the blood had been drained from it, and his clenched fists trembled. I let out a chilly laugh and opened my lips.

"You, Choi Jae-young, will have your face plastered across the nation as a disgusting white-collar criminal, branded an embezzler. And is that all? Leonplay will be torn to shreds, reduced to a meal for the hyenas."

"..."

"Will it just be you? Your family members ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who joined in on the insider trading and embezzlement as board members and shareholders—I promise you, I will lock every single one of them up for damages and violations of corporate law."

"Please, stop..."

"Oh! And all those illicit gains you've pocketed over the years will have to be clawed back, right? But since you're already running on fumes and playing tricks with the accounting books, there's no way you have the cash to return it."

"Stop..."

"Every single asset under your name will be seized. If that happens, what will become of your only daughter?"

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!"

Slam!

The previously meek Choi Jae-young slammed his hand on the desk and roared like thunder. It seemed I had struck a nerve. Time to put away the whip and offer the carrot.

"You don't have the stomach to handle all of this. But Taewung and I do." I curled my lips into a smirk. "Dump all of this trouble onto me."

I met Choi Jae-young's murderous glare head-on.

"Forty billion won will be the seed money for your fresh start."

The acquisition of Leonplay went smoothly without any major hitches. Through the Taewung legal team, the acquisition contract was signed, and all authority and payments were transferred. I took this opportunity to completely sweep out the rats that had been gnawing away at the company. Naturally, the operations department was completely overhauled.

"I'm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exhausted..."

Restoring Leonplay's internal structure took more time and money than expected. The biggest issue was the lack of a proper manager. Therefore, I appointed a professional manager, connected through Chairman Kim Young-hoon, as the new CEO. As expected of Taewung Group, their talent pool was ridiculously deep.

That wasn't all. I initiated a massive hiring campaign for departments that needed reinforcement and downsized those that were bloated. Afterward, I gathered the team leaders of all departments to hold a meeting regarding the future direction of Epic of Seven.

My goal was clear: the glorious revival of Epic of Seven. I restructured all strategies around this single premise.

Reviving a game whose reputation was already in the gutter was a massive pain. The chances of success were slim, and normally, I wouldn't have even tried. But Epic of Seven was different. If it came down to pure gameplay elements, no mobile game could surpass Epic of Seven. I bet everything on that.

I just needed to fix its public perception first. And what is the first thing needed to improve perception?

"Noise Marketing."

Noise Marketing refers to a marketing strategy that deliberately creates public uproar or controversy to increase brand awareness. Now, it was time to put the puzzle pieces together one by one.

Seo-ha. It was her real name, and also the nickname she used in the community. Today, as usual, she finished her daily routine, sat down, and turned on her computer.

"This place has really died down, too."

The Epic of Seven Gallery. This place, which felt like her hometown, was slowly dying. It wasn't a surprise, really. Honestly, it was more surprising that it had held on for this long. There was no way a game's community could remain healthy when the game itself had gone under.

With a tinge of sadness, she repeatedly hit refresh, waiting for new posts to appear.

"Potato Oppa doesn't even come on anymore..."

Hot Potato. He was a ghost of the Epic of Seven Gallery and someone she had recently grown quite close to. She had been truly shocked during the charity auction last time. Come to think of it, was that Unilabs stake he bought back then okay? It looked like it was on the verge of delisting...

"I wonder what Potato Oppa is up to~"

The last post Hot Potato had written before vanishing. Many users had left comments on his post asking if Epic of Seven was about to die. And after that post, Hot Potato had vanished. He didn't answer calls, and he was completely absent from both the game and the gallery. Had he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠really lost all affection for the game?

Just in case, she kept hitting refresh. Suddenly, a new post popped up.

"...Whaaaat!!!???"

What kind of crazy talk was this? He bought the game company because he didn't like how the game was being run? The content of the post went so far beyond her imagination that she completely lost her mind.

Ding! Ding!

Her phone started ringing incessantly. When she turned it on, the E-O-Se chatroom was in absolute chaos.

It was an absolute uproar. A user bought the entire game company because they didn't like how the game was being run? It was literally an unprecedented event in history. Furthermore, considering the influence Hot Potato wielded, this incident would spread far and wide. The comments section was also exploding in real-time.

It was the moment a massive, unprecedented topic of discussion was born in the stagnant Epic of Seven Gallery.