Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Major Shareholder's Arrival
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‘When the hell is he coming?’
Kim Min-su was waiting anxiously.
The link to the major shareholder who had taken more shares in Chocolate Entertainment than headquarters itself.
He had learned the name.
‘Park Hae-jin.’
But that wasn’t enough.
So Kim Min-su instructed one of his employees.
To find the major shareholder’s personal number right away.
Impatience crept across Kim Min-su’s face.
And then, after that long wait.
His secretary relayed a message to Kim Min-su.
[CEO, the Strategy Planning Team Leader is here.]
“Tell him to come in.”
[Yes.]
As soon as the secretary responded, Kim Min-su ended the call, and the employee who had previously reported on Park Hae-jin entered the room.
It was the Strategy Planning Team Leader from Chocolate Entertainment.
As soon as the team leader entered, Kim Min-su asked urgently.
“So, the contact info?”
“I got it.”
“Yes, I’ll share it right away.”
And so the Strategy Planning Team Leader passed the number of the Park Hae-jin he had tracked down to Kim Min-su, the CEO.
Having received Park Hae-jin’s number, Kim Min-su said to the team leader.
“Okay, you can go now.”
“Yes.”
The Strategy Planning Team Leader left the CEO’s office.
After that, Kim Min-su checked the number he had just received from the team leader.
“Phew, please don’t let it be that guy—just a namesake.”
The moment Kim Min-su heard the name Park Hae-jin from the team leader, he thought of the hottest figure lately.
Massacre Park Hae-jin.
Word of mouth among Players had spread so far that it heated up online media, eventually even hitting broadcast news.
But all that was known was the name.
Nothing solid.
The problem was whether this Park Hae-jin, who had become Chocolate Entertainment’s top shareholder, was that man.
If the top shareholder was indeed Massacre Park Hae-jin, that spelled big trouble.
‘If rumors spread that it’s a company owned by the Massacre, the stock price will tank even harder, right?’
That was why Kim Min-su wanted to meet Park Hae-jin as soon as possible.
If he wasn’t the Massacre, great.
But if he was?
‘I’ll have to clamp down to keep that fact from leaking.’
The stock was already at rock bottom. If word got out that a murder-crazed maniac was the top shareholder, it’d be a disaster.
No matter what, a company had its image to uphold. They couldn’t bury a murderer.
With those thoughts, Kim Min-su dialed Park Hae-jin.
Park Hae-jin picked up immediately.
[Hello?]
“Ah! Park Hae-jin, is that you?”
[Yes, who’s this?]
“Ah! This is ‘Kim Min-su,’ CEO of Chocolate Entertainment.”
After that, Kim Min-su set up a meeting with Park Hae-jin.
Once the call ended, Kim Min-su reacted with utter confusion.
“What’s with the sudden coordinates talk?”
No sooner had he said it than another call came in from Hae-jin.
Kim Min-su answered and asked.
“Yes, have you set out?”
Kim Min-su naturally assumed Hae-jin was calling while heading to the destination he had just sent.
However, the response that followed was absurd.
“Yes? You’re already here?”
Hae-jin informed him that it wasn’t a departure, but an arrival.
Bewildered by what this could mean, Kim Min-su prepared to go greet him.
But Hae-jin simply asked which floor he was on.
‘What’s he planning to do, find out himself...? He can’t come up without a badge anyway?’
With that thought, Kim Min-su spun wild fantasies on his own.
‘No way he’s one of our employees?’
That would explain everything.
Someone who could claim to arrive the moment contact was made and still meet the conditions to reach the CEO’s office... physically possible.
But he realized it was just delusion right away.
‘No, if he were, he’d know where I am.’
No employee would not know where the CEO’s office was.
Therefore, Park Hae-jin, the top shareholder, was not an employee of Chocolate Entertainment.
‘Then how’s he planning to get here?’
Once again, Kim Min-su failed to grasp Hae-jin’s words.
At that moment, something black suddenly surged up right in front of his desk.
Whoooosh-!
Seeing it, Kim Min-su jumped in shock.
“Gasp! What the...!”
Before the startled Kim Min-su stood a man.
The man in black attire extended a hand to Kim Min-su.
“Nice to meet you. I’m ‘Park Hae-jin.’”
Seeing Park Hae-jin greet him, Kim Min-su shook his hand awkwardly.
“Ah...... yes. I’m ‘Kim Min-su,’ CEO of Chocolate Entertainment.”
It couldn’t be helped.
How could anyone react normally to someone popping up out of nowhere?
Teleportation, no less.
Like something straight out of a comic book?
‘Comic book...... He’s a Player.’
Park Hae-jin had shown him a comic-book phenomenon.
From that, Kim Min-su realized.
Park Hae-jin was a ‘Player.’
‘Ah...... So he really is that Massacre?’
Kim Min-su was shocked by Hae-jin’s appearance.
It couldn’t be helped.
‘He could be an idol?’
He’d imagined the Massacre having some psychopathic look, but Hae-jin could pass for a movie star.
Actually, it was something you could tell just by looks.
Putting that aside, he definitely seemed like a Player.
How else could a normal human teleport?
Anyway, after the greetings, Hae-jin spoke up.
“So, may I hear why you called me here?”
“Ah! Please, have a seat over there first?”
“Very well.”
Hae-jin moved to the sofa in front of the CEO’s chair that Kim Min-su had indicated.
As Hae-jin headed to sit, Kim Min-su called his secretary.
Beep-.
[Yes, CEO?]
“Two cups of coffee...... Ah, hold on. Coffee or tea alright with you?”
[Pardon?]
The secretary wondered what on earth this was about.
Kim Min-su was in the middle of ordering when he suddenly talked as if there was already a guest in the CEO’s office.
Yet the secretary had never left her desk outside.
The only one who had come and gone from the office was the Strategy Planning Team Leader. So who was inside that he was ordering two cups for?
Or was he asking her if coffee or tea was fine for her?
At that moment.
“Tea, please.”
“Ah! Got it. Two teas, please.”
[Ah! Yes!]
Only after hearing another voice during the call did the secretary realize.
Someone was in the CEO’s office.
Having finished the bewildering call with his secretary, Kim Min-su moved as well.
Toward the sofa where Hae-jin was seated.
Once there, seeing Hae-jin in the main seat, Kim Min-su said.
“Ah! Please sit here, Hae-jin.”
Hae-jin waved his hand dismissively at Kim Min-su directing him to the main seat.
“No need. Let’s sit across from each other.”
“Understood.”
Kim Min-su sat down opposite Hae-jin.
As he did, Hae-jin asked.
“So, what’s the reason you wanted to see me?”
“Ah, didn’t you just become Chocolate Entertainment’s top shareholder?”
Hae-jin knew that too.
But admitting he knew he’d become the top shareholder with 40% felt off.
It might sound like he knew internal company affairs.
Reacting to Kim Min-su’s question as if he had no idea.
“Really?”
“Yes, you bought 40%, after all......”
At the mention that he was top shareholder because of the 40% he bought, Hae-jin spoke like someone utterly clueless about stocks.
“Don’t you need 51% to be the top shareholder?”
Well, Hae-jin really didn’t know much about stocks anyway.
He was just doing as Leader Joo-hyuk had told him.
Anyway, at Hae-jin’s words, Kim Min-su chuckled.
“Well, with shares scattered everywhere...... Right now, Park Hae-jin is Chocolate Entertainment’s top shareholder.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“So, what is it you want to say?”
“I’ll get straight to the point.”
“Go ahead.”
“By any chance......”
Kim Min-su hesitated.
He wondered if he even needed to ask.
Who else could it be but ‘Massacre’ Park Hae-jin, appearing via an absurd phenomenon anyone could see?
But still, clarifying the facts would let him decide whether to control information afterward.
It could be a lucky namesake.
With that thought, he swallowed hard and asked.
“Are you ‘Park Hae-jin,’ known as the ‘Massacre’?”
To Kim Min-su’s question, Hae-jin answered nonchalantly.
“Well, that’s what they call me.”
“......”
Kim Min-su fell silent.
Inside, he was practically biting a handkerchief and sobbing hysterically.
‘Damn it! He really is Massacre Park Hae-jin!’
He’d prayed it wasn’t so, but it was the Massacre.
Kim Min-su wondered what to do.
Of course, Hae-jin knew all this too.
‘He’s probably agonizing over how to hide that I’m the top shareholder. Not that it matters much...... Time to get to the point?’
With that thought, Hae-jin called out to Kim Min-su.
“CEO.”
“Yes?”
“You just need to keep your people’s mouths shut.”
“Yes?”
Suddenly told by Park Hae-jin to gag the company, Kim Min-su feigned surprise.
Hae-jin said to him.
“You’re worried the stock will plummet further if word gets out that I’m the top shareholder, right?”
“That’s...... right.”
“I won’t go blabbing about it anywhere. So if anyone asks you whether the new top shareholder Park Hae-jin is the Massacre, just say you don’t know. Say you only bought the stocks and never met.”
“W-Would that work?”
“I don’t want the stocks I bought to crash either.”
“Thank you!”
Kim Min-su bowed deeply, overflowing with gratitude.
Everything was unfolding exactly as he’d hoped.
The fact that Chocolate Entertainment’s top shareholder was Massacre Park Hae-jin wouldn’t be revealed.
Plus, Park Hae-jin had somehow teleported straight into the CEO’s office—no one the wiser.
From Kim Min-su’s perspective, it was the best-case scenario.
As long as the Strategy Planning Team kept quiet, the truth wouldn’t leak anywhere.
“But one thing.”
“Yes?”
“There’s something I want from Chocolate Entertainment from now on. Mind if I share?”
“Of course! As top shareholder, you have every right to speak.”
Kim Min-su replied with a beaming face.
Then Hae-jin spoke.
About the direction Chocolate Entertainment should take going forward.
“I suspect many agencies will neglect celebrities who awakened as Players for a while, thinking they’ll lose them anytime. They’ll focus on those who didn’t awaken or claim they didn’t.”
“Well......”
That was something Kim Min-su had already instructed both the Strategy Planning and Sales teams on.
Not just them—most entertainment agencies were planning and executing the same strategy.
But Park Hae-jin knew better.
‘The celebrities who awaken as Players—the ones they think they’ll lose soon—are the golden eggs.’
Early on, the agencies’ intentions worked perfectly.
Fans who loved Player-awakened celebrities kept losing their favorites, so they shifted to underage idols or those over 40, as the agencies intended.
Naturally, management of affiliated Player-awakened celebrities became lax.
Plenty pretended not to have awakened even if they had.
No point investing when they might vanish into the Survival Game soon.
But the world had something called ‘sympathy votes.’
As the Trials’ Arena dragged on and celebrities dwindled.
With more people losing family and friends to it, support swelled for Player-awakened celebrities.
Lucky for Chocolate Entertainment, they’d invested in Player-awakened celebrities with nowhere else to go just before this shift—and it paid off big.
‘No, not luck.’
But now Hae-jin knew.
How Chocolate Entertainment had charted that course back then.
‘It was Joo-hyuk who set the direction.’