Vol 16 Chapter 9.2

Today’s translation is somewhat unique in that I tried to leave much of confusing Korean phrases in tact, rather than fixing it so that it sounds like phrases that are used by English speaking nation.  My reason?  I guess you can say it is my attempt to sort of give the readers a taste of something different from what we all are used to seeing/reading.

The flow of the story, or that of reading, would be a bit rough, which I hope would make the readers think about its actual usage in the native language and how such differs from English speaking phrases/meanings.

As I have mentioned before, I am not just, simply, ‘Translating’ a novel.  It is good that you all are interested in stories that are written in another country, but I feel that things do not have to be all about fun and entertainment.  There is nothing wrong with learning about something different while you are meeting your entertainment needs.

We live in a society, or perhaps a world, that is all about receiving something that was not earned or didn’t take much effort to gain.  There is nothing wrong with freebies, but at the same time, there is this concept called “wasting away” where one’s life is wasted away reading translations after translations of novels without a sense of control…knowing how much is enough…knowing how much is too much time wasted…

I think there is more to life…more to being an individual…more to being a human than simply “existing” because that is what we are doing if we are not bettering ourselves in acquiring/learning something meaningful.

Hope you enjoy!

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-…..that is all.

Alan’s voice came out of the speaker inside the theater with a “Woongwoong” noise.

-As I have explained, in a sector of Ikyulus, according to the Galaxy Federation reports, Helium, which is widely used by many to make the most advanced armor that is available today, had been determined to be readily available.  Also, commonly used component to make fuel for the spaceships, Ether, is deposited in Ikyulus as well.  Of course it would take some time in order for these to be acquired, packaged, and transported, but once the infrastructure is set, there would be much money to be made.  The monthly return on the investment is estimated to be roughly 5%.

‘………No doubt!’  It was a good thing that this was left up to Alan.

In the screen behind Alan was a projection of visual aids for his explanation.  The explanation was made in a way that the layman, such as HyunWoo, was able to understand easily regarding the Ikyulus situation.

Alan, the guy that works exceptionally well even with complaints.

If HyunWoo had done it instead, he wouldn’t even be able to do half of what Alan did.  The same was true for the explaining procedure.

“I have a question!”  One of the listener got up from his seat.

-Yes, speak

“How is the usage of the fund determined?”

-That depends on the total amount that had been raised.  If explained, simply, about 50% will be used for the development of the planet, which include expenditure used by the Dark Eden.  The remaining 50% will be strictly used for returns on the investment.  For now, we are considering that 50% to be 5W.

“5W……!”  (TL, as a reminder, this amount is 500,000,000 won, which is about $500k)

The audiences were surprised by the amount.  No matter how much money is being thrown around in this society, 5W was still an astounding amount of money….and all this was for the development inside of a game.

To be clear, the people that were gathered were mostly gamers that were not presidents of big corporations which are used to spending such money.  Therefore, mention of 5W would be astounding to most of them.

But Alan spoke as if it was natural.

-To repeat, 1W would secure a return of 10% on the investment, but this is not something that is set in stone.  If the investment amount was to increase to 10W, for example, the said 1W would produce a return of 5%.

“Does that mean that the return percentage would drop with the increase in the investment?”

-Yes.  Now, it may feel like it is a waste of money, but it is not.  The fact that the total investment is increasing is a testament to the investment potential, and the development will be quickened, thus quickening the return on the investment.  It means that the percentage may change, but the overall return wouldn’t change.

“How will the investment be made?”

-Of course, contract will be available inside the game, but since we are speaking of quite a bit of money, we plan on having contracts drawn in real life as well.  If you were to invest right now, you will be given contract that had been drawn up by a lawyer.

“I also have a question.”  Soon, many questions followed.

Then, with every question, Alan gave them answers without a hitch.  Like that, the number of questions gradually dropped after 20 minutes.  They heard pretty much all there was to hear.

What was left was whether they would invest or not.

‘Now the problem is their response…..’  HyunWoo scanned the potential investors with an uneasy feeling, and then!

Three men sitting quite a distance away from HyunWoo started to talk in whispers.

“Are you really going to do it?”

“Yeah, I have already made up my mind.” A man nodded at the other’s question.

‘Ark is a bastard, but! And therefore I do not want to accept him, but!  That jerk’s business sense is nothing to be laughing about.  That Alan person on the stage is that jerk Rapid, but the man behind him is ‘that’ Ark.  Since it is him, this business won’t fail.’

“That’s why I am saying this doesn’t seem right.”

“Yes, this is Ark we are talking about investing in….”

“Even if we will make a lot of money…..”

“No, Ark was the reason for me wanting to invest in this project.” A bit obese man replied with a serious facial expression.

“We ended up living the life of slaves even in the Galaxian.  For us to get out of the shadow of ‘that’ Ark, there is but one solution.  That is money.  If we were to pay back the  3000 gold that we stole from him, we wouldn’t be in this situation, but if we were to earn that amount back from this investment?  That means we are repaying Ark with his own money.  Think for a second.  Doesn’t that feel good?  That is not all.  If we invest in this, we are part owners of Ikyulus.  No, if we were to invest sizable amount of money, we may be able to mess with Ark in return!”  Ferguson replied with a big smile!

“Ohoh! That is right!”  The two men that were ecstatically happy at hearing Ferguson’s reasoning were A, B.

“HoohooHoo!  Now you understand right? Therefore, don’t be all naggy and give me all the money that you have brought.”

“Yes!”

The three men combined all of their money!

Total: 785,000. Total: 893,000. Total: 1,345,700.

3,000,000…..about 0.03W

This was roughly 0.3% of the target investment amount…..

“Hyu, Hyungnim….”

“Don’t say anything!  It is not a sin to be poor!  And there is no guarantee that the investment will really be 10W!  It could be that only 50,000,000 will be invested!”  (TL: 0.5W)

“Even then, it is not even 5%.”

“No, it could be that only 10,000,000 will be invested!  Then that would be 15%!”

It was at that time.

“I will invest 3W!”  All of a sudden there were loud noises from the audience.  Then all looked in the direction of the voice.  The person that yelled 3W was a man in his 30s.

This man’s identity is…..

“Business proposal?”

“Yes, I am sure that is what I had heard.”

“What kind of business is he proposing?”

“After asking around, I was told that the young master is developing a planet inside of a game, and the money was for that development.”

“Investment fund…….!”  This was Alan’s father, Yoo HanPil.

Actually, Yoo HanPil had been monitoring Alan’s activity for a while.  Alan, instead of thinking about taking over his father’s business, had been doing nothing but going inside of that video game, and Yoo HanPil’s heart was burning black.  But, recently, he noticed that Alan was spending most of his time reading over books on business funds and investment strategy.

Yoo HanPil was convinced that Alan was finally setting his mind straight and was concentrating on taking over his business, and he was hoping that Alan would come over to him and ask question as if he was a high school kid asking his father.

However, he, yet again, noticed that Alan had returned to playing nothing but the video game, and he was disappointed.

Yoo Hanpil’s disappointment was nothing to be overlooked, but his inquisitiveness had heightened as much as his disappointment.  Why would he spend all that time reading those books only to return to the game?  And if he asked Alan, all he got was a mumbled response.  That was the reason for his secretary keeping track of Alan’s activity.

‘Now I can make some sense out of this!  Yes, that was the reason for all that studying!  Alan was using the game to gain some experience in running a business.  No, actually, it would be considered as business simulation.  He is doing that so that he can take over my business!  To take over his father business!  In order to make his father’s business even more successful!  With his own strength!’

Yoo HanPil cried a tear of pride.

However, now that he knows what is going on, how can he ignore what Alan is doing?  And thus, Yoo HanPil yelled.

“Secretary Kim, immediately send someone to invest in Alan’s business!”

“Yes, how much would you like?”

“That boy is wanting to do it on his own without letting his father know.  I want to invest 100W, but it is bad to help him too much.  3W.  Yeah, that would be plenty.  3W!”

Due to Yoo HanPil’s overreaction…..

“3, 3W?”  Ferguson’s eye opened up real wide.

Alan’s goal was 10W, but to think that the fund would go up this fast….and the first call was not 1 or 2 but 3W?

Combining his two underling’s money was only 0.03W.  Therefore, their total investment was in the range of 0.5%.

“T….this is less than 0.5%!”  This was what Ferguson said as he swallowed his dry mouth.  But then…

“I will invest 5W!”  Another man followed up with another big amount.

This man is….

“Business Proposal?”

“Yes, that is what I heard.”  Two people were having the same conversation elsewhere.

The relationship of these two were also that of a president and his secretary.

This president was Cho MinSun’s father.  He had recently gained a new hobby.  That was tailing his daughter’s boyfriend.  Why did it become his hobby?  It was because the more he found out about HyunWoo, more mystical he became.

HyunWoo was someone that had made a name for himself playing a game.  He knew at least this much.  He knew about the jokers that earned spending money – though to normal people it was a sizeable amount – merely playing game.  What he couldn’t figure out was what came next.

‘A man in his 20’s is a vice president of a corporation?  For playing video game well?  For that reason only?’

For a man owning a legitimate business, such was nonsense.

Well, whatever, Global Exxus probably had their own circumstances, but what was even hard to believe was the fact that for someone that had gotten lucky and became a vice president to be on friendly terms with SungYun Group’s president and Oil Tycoon Abdul.  It was truly unfathomable.

‘What is this guy’s identity?’

As such, he developed unending interest in HyunWoo, but this HyunWoo is, yet again, creating a stir.  He had a business proposal to develop a planet in a game.  He was making money on a planet that does not even exist in real life?

“Is something like that really possible?”

“Well, now days, even the virtual assets are being recognized as legit so….”

“So it is possible huh?  Then should I stir things up a bit?”

“Huh?”

“Put in 2W.”  He still didn’t know the man called HyunWoo.  He didn’t know what kind of man he was.  All he knew was that real identity of a person is always revealed with money.  That was the reason for the 2W.  It was an amount that was big enough to make an individual hesitate.  He wanted to know how HyunWoo would react upon given that kind of money.  HyunWoo’s relationship with his daughter can be questioned at that time.

…..so that was his thought, but…..

“President, I have just heard from the man that was sent to make the investment.  As soon as the proposal was explained, there was a man investing 3W.”

“3W?”

They weren’t making a video game, and they were simply developing something inside of a game, but still invest 3W?  He really couldn’t make sense out anything.  Another, something, is happening around HyunWoo.

However, that can be questioned at another time.

‘Is there someone else around HyunWoo that I don’t know about?  No, it is definitely possible.  For someone that doesn’t even have canine teeth to know president Kim and Abdul, it simply is not possible.  3W is not too big of an investment, but for an investment to be for an inside game development, it was quite big.  Something that big would not be given to him without a reason.  There is definitely something.’

“It is 5W.”

“What is this?  Is everybody insane? Am I the only sane person here?”  Ferguson looked at the two men that had invested 3W and 5W, respectively.  3W? 5W? It was an amount that normal working person would be lucky to even tough in his/her life.  It was not to buy a house or something, but for that to be used to invest inside of a game?  Though Ferguson, A, and B were also crazy enough to spend most of their time inside of a game, but they couldn’t think such investment was normal.

But that was not the end.

“I, I am investing 2W!”

Another crazy person revealed himself.

This crazy man’s identity is…..

“Business Proposal?”

Same line of conversation is happening elsewhere so…..SKIP.

If the explanation was to be explained in 2x the speed, the third crazy man was SoLin, the online game reporter.

SoLin had been tailing the Federation soldiers coming out of the Pentagon, and he happened to have seen the Ikyulus coming out of its hiding.  Ever since that moment, he had been keeping up with all of Ark’s doings.  That’s how he found out about this business proposal.  He reported his finding to the main MC Lee JiOng.

“This may be a good opportunity.”

“Huh? Opportunity?”

“Think about it.  Ark has been constantly refusing our interview invitation.  However, what would happen if we were to become a major investor in his business?  Businessman always looks out for the investor.  The fact that you are giving him money is no different than holding a leash around his neck.”

“Therefore, what you are saying is…”

“We are to invest in his planet, a sizeable amount.  Then it would be like we are squeezing Ark’s neck, and therefore, we would no longer have to beg him to interview him.  Isn’t that right?”

“That is true, but where would we get the money?”

“No matter how much you think about it, the investors are the gamers.  How much would they invest in something like that?  In a best case scenario it wouldn’t be much.  Therefore, if we invest around 0.3-0.4W, that would be more than enough.  We can always invest and take it back if something was to happen so let me worry about the amount.”

But now that he went to the meeting, the first batter called 3W! and the following batter called 5W!

SoLin had no other choice, but to call Lee JiOng.

“Hy, hyungnim, they are not playing around!  Two individuals invested so far and the total is already 8W!  This is definitely not a small business that we thought about!”

“8, 8W?”

Now that 8W was already invested, 0.3-0.4W was nothing.  The plan was to invest and take out, depending on the situation, but to invest even more money just to control Ark was a bit unreasonable.

‘Yeah, if it means to control Ark, that would be the case!’

But after hearing 8W, Lee JiOng had no option but to think of something else.

Two individuals put in total of 8W.  No matter how much money they had, such investment was unreasonable.  However, if a big hand (?) was to make a move, there had to have been reason to.  In other words, two individuals that had invested 3W and 5W had some kind of understanding that others didn’t.  Lee JiOng was convinced.

‘This business will definitely make money!’

“This may be a chance of a life time!  I will empty out my entire bank account, so bet all of it in!”

And therefore 2W!

That is the fact of being human.

Even if you hesitate about buying something, if they see others buying it, they would immediately buy it as well.

Investment was the same.

‘It is already 10W!’

‘Only three individuals invested and it is already 10W!’

‘What is this?  Wasn’t this a business within a game? Why are they investing so much for a business within a game?’

‘I thought it would be fun to come see what was going on since it was on TV, but this was no joke?”

‘Yeah, now that I think back on it, the guy called Alan didn’t seem like a normal guy.  For some reason professional smell permeates from him.’

‘Maybe it may be a real stupendous business!’

‘If it goes well….’

It wasn’t that Lee JiOng was special.  In such moments, others would think in the same manner.  Therefore, even the general visitors that had come for an entertainment also ended up investing.

There was even a line that was made in order for them to invest in on the development, and the end result was…..20W!

“Hy, Hyungnim, our portion is only 0.074%!”

“Won’t this amount invite Ark’s haze?”

“Don’t ask me!  Why ask knowing what would happen?”

“Kyak!  HyunWoo ssi, it is 20W! 20W!  This is a jackpot!”  Cho SunMin exploded with a yell and ……

‘Oooohahaha! 20W! This amount is enough to build all the infrastructures on Ikyulus at once!  Good!  Wait for me, my planet Ikyulus!  I will show you what money is!’  HyunWoo’s head was already at Ikyulus.

At the same time.

There were 5 individuals that were looking out the side window to look at the Ikyulus.  They had their hood down to their chin, and they were looking at Ikyulus with big white eyes.  One of the five turned to look at the man sitting on a chair.

“Look like they failed.”

“Looks that way.”

“Wouldn’t that be a problem?”

“It doesn’t matter.  It didn’t meet my expectation, but we did get plenty of data.”

“But the Arch Duke….”

“It, Does, Not, Matter, I, Said!”

The man sitting in the back, unlike other five, this man had white skin spoke with red glare in his eyes.  Then the man that had asked the question froze stiff as if he was a frog looking at the snake that was about to eat it.

He was able to move only when the red eyed man turned to look at the Ikyulus once again.

“I, I am sorry.”

The man with the red eyes didn’t even respond and kept on looking at the Ikyulus, and underneath his hood was a bright smile.

‘I can feel your presence Ark!  You probably can’t even tell how much I want to meet you, and I am sure, though not as much, you would want to meet me as well.  But the time is not yet right.  We will have to meet at a much later time.  Rise while you still can, and make sure to come up high.  Then it would be so much more pleasant to kick you back down.’

“We are returning! Ready the warp!”  The man turned 180 to give out the order, and with a sparkle in the space, their spaceship, with the design of a black wolf on the side, disappeared.