Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Fantasy Life Hits Big
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"Is it a huge hit?"
Hae-jin asked cautiously while watching CEO Kim Min-su's reaction.
But he already knew the outcome.
'Fantasy Life' becoming a massive success was a predetermined sequence.
Still, seeing CEO Kim Min-su so thrilled while reporting, Hae-jin decided to play ignorant.
Anyway, in response to Hae-jin's subtle reply, CEO Kim Min-su spoke up.
"Yes, exactly. Chocolate Page hasn't had a blockbuster for a while, but this time, both the web novel and webtoon based on 'Fantasy Life' IP exploded. Even though it's pre-launch serialization, not the official debut, downloads have surpassed 20 million. Of course, we invested quite a bit to secure those blockbuster authors..."
We invested quite a bit.
Hae-jin had told CEO Kim Min-su not to skimp on money to bring in top authors.
As a result, the investment was substantial.
CEO Kim Min-su had gone all-in on the funding as Hae-jin instructed, so he was glancing nervously now.
Even so, CEO Kim Min-su shared his outlook.
"Both will officially launch at the end of this month, alongside the game open. If that happens, I think we'll recover all the investment."
"Is that so?"
"Yep!"
"Well, I'm sure you'll handle it perfectly, CEO. So, we can consider the anime and movie sides as good as confirmed."
"Yes, confirmed. And we've also checked on the matter you mentioned, Hae-jin."
"Live-action using the game?"
"Right. They say it's possible."
Hae-jin smirked at CEO Kim Min-su's answer.
'Of course it's possible.'
It was all something the former Leader, Joo-hyuk, had already done.
There was no way it wouldn't work.
Hae-jin said to CEO Kim Min-su.
"Since everything's succeeding anyway, there's no reason not to do the anime and live-action movie."
"Hmm, we'll have to see until the official launch... but at this rate, failure seems unlikely. Plus, just scouting and organizing the celebrities as you suggested in your periodic updates has already boosted company revenue significantly."
Scouting and organizing celebrities.
Thanks to the inherited memories from Joo-hyuk, Hae-jin knew far more celebrity info than originally.
He always compiled and sent it to CEO Kim Min-su separately.
Using that, CEO Kim Min-su managed Chocolate Entertainment like a pinpoint tutor.
The resulting revenue surge was enormous.
So, naturally, CEO Kim Min-su had no choice but to follow Hae-jin's directives.
After receiving various reports from CEO Kim Min-su and things settled, Hae-jin returned home.
But upon arriving home, Hae-jin got a call.
"Hmm? It's Team Leader Park."
Team Leader Park.
It was Park Jong-pal, who had become the team leader of the Villain Task Force centered around Hae-jin.
After cleaning up Korea's villains to a certain extent, Hae-jin had stopped acting as the Villain Task Force leader.
All the villains in Korea had either been rehabilitated or killed—nothing in between.
Sparing the unreformable ones would only cause more problems anyway.
With everything sorted, he'd fully handed the Villain Task Force to Park Jong-pal. So when a call came from him, Hae-jin roughly guessed the purpose.
'Countries are requesting help with overseas villains now.'
It was exactly the right timing.
Hae-jin answered Park Jong-pal's call.
"Yes, Park Hae-jin speaking."
[Leader, I have a favor to ask.]
"What is it?"
[Overseas, they need the Villain Task Force's power.]
"Is that so?"
[Yes.]
Park Jong-pal said overseas needed the Villain Task Force's help.
Hae-jin told him how to handle it.
"You don't need me to move. Just take the First Squad and resolve it."
[The First Squad?]
"Yes."
"Understood."
Villain Task Force First Squad.
When Hae-jin demanded special privileges from South Korea to form the Villain Task Force, he'd filled his own party members into the slots that received the most benefits.
Anna couldn't be included due to nationality issues, but he'd even changed Raffaello's nationality to South Korean to include him.
The rest—Kwon Na-ye, Lee Sang, and Manager Kim—were already Korean, so no nationality change needed.
After registering those First Squad members, from Second Squad onward, it was filled with villains the Villain Task Force had captured and rehabilitated.
Park Jong-pal must have judged that post-First Squad members couldn't handle the villains requested by foreign countries.
That's why he contacted Hae-jin, and when Hae-jin said he'd send the First Squad, Park didn't push further.
Hae-jin moving would solve it faster, but the First Squad alone was plenty for overseas villains.
Excluding Hae-jin, they were the ones who took 1st in each zone and never missed hidden missions in their Trials' Arenas.
To Park Jong-pal, Hae-jin's existence was absurd, but the First Squad was ridiculously strong too.
With them coming, he figured no need to request Hae-jin himself.
Sure enough.
After Hae-jin sent his First Squad party members to the Villain Task Force, just ten days later, massive news articles popped up everywhere.
-South Korea's Villain Crime Task Force Eradicates Villains Worldwide!
-South Korea Rehabilitates Villains Across the Globe!
-South Korea's Villain Crime Task Force Holds Global Immunity for Killings.
-Is South Korea the Strongest Player Nation?!
...
And so on, countless articles praising South Korea.
They also feared it.
Why?
South Korea's Villain Crime Task Force had wiped out villain organizations that other countries couldn't even touch, in record time.
Some were terrorist groups.
But that meant nothing to South Korea's Villain Task Force.
Once they appeared, villains had only two fates.
Rehabilitation or death.
Seeing the villains cleared, Hae-jin smirked as he skimmed the articles.
"That was quick. Guess this month's tasks are mostly wrapped up?"
As Hae-jin said, he personally had little left to do.
But excluding him, his party members actually had plenty.
Why?
They needed to learn survival methods from Manager Kim more than anyone for the upcoming Trials' Arena.
Survival methods.
In the previous eighth Trials' Arena, a massive tornado at the end swept away all players.
The ninth Trials' Arena continued from there, and Hae-jin had explained it.
『This ninth Trials' Arena has 100 per zone, but like the Tower of Job Change, it's individual environments. Think surviving on a deserted island. You endure until 50 per zone die. That's why the hidden trial reward lets you pick whatever you want.』
Hae-jin said they'd each go to deserted islands, hunt monsters or animals to survive.
So, he told his party to learn survival from Manager Kim.
And so, August waned, and September arrived.
*
September 1, 2030.
Naturally, with the 1st arriving again, all players were pulled into the Trials' Arena.
Content: Survive on the stranded island.
-Zone 33,333 Participants: 99
The electronic board displayed the trial content and participant count, and Hae-jin commented.
"Even after clearing the villains, one more died."
One more died.
Survivors from the previous Trials' Arena were definitely 100.
But now participants: 99.
Someone died in that one month.
Hae-jin didn't find it particularly noteworthy.
It wasn't a one- or two-day occurrence.
He just accepted it and looked around his summoning spot.
"A beach... No monster respawns on day one, so I need to build a shelter quick."
Build a house.
One might think it's not easy.
But those pulled into this Trials' Arena were players.
Players with superhuman strength and stamina beyond normal imagination.
So, if you knew how, building alone wasn't hard.
However, one issue for players in this Trials' Arena.
"Normally, I'd start with an axe..."
Make an axe.
If Hae-jin hadn't inherited Joo-hyuk's abilities, the first step would be primitive stone dagger or axe from rocks.
This Trials' Arena gave nothing but skills beyond light minimal clothing covering vital areas.
Of course, skills were better than none.
With stats and skills making the body stronger than a normal person's, surviving a deserted island wasn't too tough.
But Hae-jin didn't need an axe.
"Just slash with aura."
Saying that, Hae-jin headed from the beach to the forest with trees, then extended his hand blade in front of them and circulated his energy.
Then.
Wooong-.
From Hae-jin's hand blade, a gray energy glowing purple surged like a blade.
Chaos Aura formed into a blade.
Far more efficient than a primitive stone axe.
Hae-jin proceeded to chop trees with the generated Chaos Aura.
After felling trees, Hae-jin began building his hut.
He'd told his party that depending on ability, a leaf hut was fine since it was annoying, but learning hut-building helped since survival duration was unknown.
Of course, Hae-jin didn't need to study it separately.
It was already in his head, and in Joo-hyuk's memories too.
Afterward, Hae-jin entered the forested beach area, chopping trees here and there.
To build a hut.
He'd build shelter himself, and water/food were no worry.
Hunt island animals/monsters, roast with fire magic, purify seawater with water magic for drinking.
Of course, this only applied to magic users.
So, Hae-jin, Lee Sang, and Raffaello faced no major survival issues.
While preparing, Hae-jin thought of those without magic.
'They'll survive fine, right?'
Almost no one to worry about.
Besides the three magic users, Manager Kim was survival expert anyway, and Anna could just desalinate seawater.
So, Hae-jin's biggest concern was Kwon Na-ye, the only one without magic or survival experience.
'I wonder if Na-ye is doing okay?'