Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 117

“Are you perhaps Mr. Leopard?”

Leopard scratched his head, at a loss for words. He never expected to meet someone here who knew his past. It wasn’t that there would be any problems if it came out, but he felt a bit awkward about revealing it.

“Ahem. That’s right. You recognize me well.”

“How could I not? Fifty years ago, you were practically a god to your fans.”

Beomseok blinked, looking at Gloria. How old was she originally to remember someone from fifty years ago? These modified humans only had their age recorded right after the procedure in their information window, so it was impossible to accurately determine their actual age.

However, what he was more curious about was Leopard’s identity. To think that this almost decrepit old man was once a godlike figure was hard to believe. His information window vaguely mentioned that he was a famous singer, but it didn’t provide enough details.

“Gloria, what do you mean? Are you saying Leopard was an entertainer in the past?”

“Yes. Back then, chanson [a lyric-driven French song] swept the world, and Mr. Leopard was a huge star who led the trend. In any case, he was the best singer who dominated an era.”

Beomseok made a surprised expression and looked at Leopard.

“Is that true?”

“It’s embarrassing, but yes.”

“I’m really sorry for not recognizing you.”

“It’s okay. It’s all in the past anyway, and I didn’t particularly want to brag about it. In fact, I preferred not being recognized.”

Even if he was once called the world’s top singer, he was now in a state of near poverty. It would be troublesome if someone recognized him.

At that moment, Gloria impudently threw out a question about his current situation. Because he had a decent suit made at the tailor shop, she had no idea about his current circumstances.

“But how are you doing now? I heard that after retiring, you jumped into the entertainment management business and became very successful.”

Leopard coughed loudly, showing a clear sign of discomfort. He didn’t want to recall that memory at all. However, she was an acquaintance of Beomseok, to whom he owed a great debt today, and a fan of his from the past. He couldn’t coldly refuse her question.

“Well, things didn’t work out, so I had to quit. Ahem.”

“Oh? Why? I thought you were doing quite well. Every singer or actor you recruited became a hit, and you grew the company into a famous entertainment management company, right? And then you changed the company name after a while, what was it again…….”

“It seems you’re talking about when it changed to Hyena Entertainment.”

Gloria clapped her hands.

“That’s right. Hyena Entertainment. I think the media was quite noisy about it back then.”

Then Beomseok’s expression became quite a sight to behold. Hyena Group was the group run by his enemy, Julian’s family. The CEO of that company was Leopard, who was standing right in front of him? He didn’t know what to do in the current situation.

However, after thinking a little deeper, he realized that there must be a story behind it. Julian, who spent billions of krang [a fictional currency] without a second thought, and the CEO who was being chased away for not having taxi fare, didn’t match up at all. And Julian’s last name was clearly not Leopard, and according to the information he knew, there was a separate group chairman.

‘There’s definitely something going on.’

As expected, Gloria’s face was turning pale. Recalling the news articles from that time, she realized that she had asked a question that she should never have asked.

“I, I’m sorry. It was such a long time ago, so my memory is hazy, and I made a mistake.”

Leopard waved his hand and replied.

“It’s okay. It could happen. I don’t mind at all.”

Gloria closed her mouth and picked up a caramel syrup that was passing by on the rail. It was a food that she, as a pregnant woman, should avoid because it contained a lot of sugar, but she had forgotten about it for a moment because she was so flustered. Gloria soon took a small bite of one side with a fork and pushed it aside.

Then Beomseok looked at Leopard with calm eyes and said.

“But Mr. Leopard, how did it change to Hyena Group?”

Gloria subtly lowered her hand and poked his side. It was a sign not to ask any further. However, Beomseok didn’t care at all and continued to stare at Leopard. Hyena Group and he were in a hostile relationship. He needed to know even the smallest details.

In response, Leopard said quietly.

“Do you really need to hear it?”

“Yes. If it’s not too much trouble, please explain it to me. It’s something I really want to know.”

Leopard sighed deeply and paused for a long time before finally opening his mouth. He didn’t want to talk about it, but he had received a lot of consideration from Beomseok today, so he needed to repay him for it.

The story began when he retired from his singing career. At the time, Leopard’s life as a singer came to an end due to an unexpected diagnosis of vocal cord nodules. Of course, it could have been treated with advanced medical technology, but he decided to retire because he wanted to leave at the top and was tired of his long career in the entertainment industry.

Having become an ordinary person, he lived a truly peaceful life. He had a lot of money saved up, and the royalties from his records that came in every month were considerable. Thanks to this, he was able to go on the world tour he had always dreamed of, and he was able to enjoy various professional sports games that he had liked in the past to his heart’s content.

Then one day, a senior singer in the music industry came to visit Leopard. He wasn’t very famous, but he had good interpersonal skills and was so sociable that he was well-regarded in the entertainment industry.

“That person is Maier, who is now the honorary chairman of Hyena Group.”

Maier suddenly made him an offer. He asked if he would be interested in establishing an entertainment management company together. At the time, he was living a boring life due to a long break, so it was quite an appealing offer. Although he had left the entertainment industry due to his desire for fame and his tired mind and body, it would be a lie to say that he didn’t miss the place where he had spent his entire life. Moreover, since he would be participating as a manager, he wouldn’t have to travel around the world and handle a busy schedule, so it didn’t seem too difficult.

Leopard eventually succumbed to his persistent persuasion and invested almost all of his assets to establish Leopard Planning, an entertainment management company.

“You invested all of your assets? You were very brave.”

“I was still young at the time, so I wasn’t afraid. And I had been successful as a singer, so I was full of confidence…….”

However, contrary to his worries, Leopard Planning grew rapidly and achieved great success. His recognition as the face of the company and Maier’s managerial skills with good interpersonal skills created a synergy effect. Soon, the affiliated entertainers stirred up the broadcasting world around the world and brought a lot of wealth to the company.

In the meantime, an employee in charge of the company’s accounting secretly sent a report. It was an email containing information that Maier, who was the executive director, was embezzling a large amount of funds. However, at this time, Leopard chose to turn a blind eye rather than investigate the facts. Although Leopard had the title of CEO, Maier was in charge of all management aspects, so if he resigned, the company could fall into great trouble. And anyway, the company had been making huge profits for several years at the time, so it was in a financially sound state. There was no reason to expose the corruption to the outside world and be criticized by the media.

“Why did you do that? If your flesh was rotting, you should have cut it out for sure, even if it was painful.”

“Sigh~ I should have. At the time, I didn’t want to make trouble and cause harm to a successful company. And the amount of money that was embezzled wasn’t that big.”

As such, over the years, the company grew even more and became a huge entertainment management company recognized around the world. In response, the media re-examined Leopard, who was the CEO of the company, and began to pay attention to him as an outstanding manager. It was perhaps natural, as he had not only succeeded as a singer but also grown the company he founded after retirement into one of the top entertainment management companies in the industry in less than ten years.

However, at this moment of receiving the spotlight of glory again, he did not feel the dark hand approaching from behind. It was a vicious trap containing the bait of being the best.

“The best? A trap?”

“That’s right. I wanted to be the best as a manager as well. I couldn’t tolerate anyone being in front of me. At the time, Leopard Planning was ranked around 5th in the industry, and that bothered me.”

Then Maier approached him and made a suggestion. It was a strategy to diversify the company’s business and target the leading companies in the industry with the synergy effect of this.

“What strategy did you come up with that caught your attention?”

“To put it simply, it was to expand the business into film and drama production companies, professional sports teams, etc., and enter into a size competition. Generally, when evaluating a company, it is based on sales, right? That’s what I was aiming for.”

“Really? But business expansion requires a lot of funds, right? No matter how well the company was doing, there must have been some difficulties.”

“That’s right. But there was a way.”

Raising funds for business expansion was surprisingly easy. At the time, there was an investment company that was interested in Leopard Planning, and under Maier’s persuasion, they promised to invest a large amount of funds. Of course, it was inevitable to transfer company shares through a rights offering, but he believed that he could sufficiently defend himself because he and Maier owned most of the existing shares.

Eventually, Leopard received funds in exchange for transferring 30% of the company’s shares and purchased several area league-level professional sports teams to increase the size of the company. In this way, Leopard Planning gradually grew, and eventually reached the level of vying for the top spot in the industry.

And at the moment when the moment of glory was looming before his eyes, an unexpected thing happened right in front of him. On the day of the shareholders’ meeting, Maier and the investment company conspired to remove him from the position of CEO and kick him out of the company. In addition, they took down the signboard of Leopard Planning and put up the name of the current Hyena Entertainment.

Enraged, Leopard drew his sword of revenge. He could understand the investment company because they were hyenas, but he could not tolerate the betrayal of Maier, whom he trusted and relied on. So, after selling all of his shares, he established a new entertainment management company and confronted him. He may have lacked managerial skills, but he was better than anyone else at finding and discovering talented dreamers, so he believed that he could compete sufficiently.

However, he could not compete with Hyena Group, which had already reached the top. Every time an entertainer with some recognition was born in the company, they would take them away with their huge financial power, so there was nothing he could do. In the end, the newly established company fell into ruin, and he became almost penniless and collapsed.

“What I have explained so far is my past related to Hyena Group. Are you satisfied now?”

Beomseok nodded. It was a great achievement just to know that Hyena Entertainment was born with such a background. Of course, he couldn’t defeat them with this, but at least he could tarnish their moral image.

“Yes. I heard you well. Thank you for your help.”

“But why are you interested in the past of an old man like me? I can’t understand it at all.”

“Well, how should I explain it to you? To be honest, I asked because I was more interested in Hyena Group than in Mr. Leopard’s past.”

“Why do you want to know about Hyena Group?”

“To put it simply, it’s because they and I are in a hostile relationship. There have been many conflicts while running the team so far.”

At those words, Leopard’s eyes widened. Hyena Group itself was a huge company, but behind them was an economic organization with enormous power. The reason why he, who was obsessed with revenge in the past, was unilaterally defeated by them was precisely because of that. At best, a person running a professional gladiator team was not someone they could compete with.

“You seem to be making a mistake. They are not opponents that you can touch carelessly. I know it well because I fought them before.”

“Of course, that’s true. But they are not the only ones in the world. No matter how great that economic organization is, when you look at the whole world, it is just a speck of dust.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It means that there are many forces comparable to them. And one of those beings is supporting me from behind.”

Leopard’s eyes lit up as if he was interested. To think that there were people fighting against the people who had brought him down so miserably, he was so curious.

“Who, who is it?”

“It’s the Black Society. They are the ones who are fighting against the economic organization that Hyena Group is affiliated with.”

Leopard also knew the Black Society very well. Although they were not directly involved in the entertainment industry, he had heard that a considerable number of broadcasting stations and media companies were under their control, and that they wielded great influence and exercised enormous power in all aspects of society, including the economy and politics. They were definitely an opponent who could fight against that damn economic organization.

============================ Author’s Notes ============================

Following yesterday, I found a locker in the corner while cleaning up today. When I opened it, there were piles of certificates. They were things I had obtained when I was young, and there were quite a few. Various engineer certificates and technician certificates, etc…… I even had a Korean food chef certificate. Hahaha. I really lived diligently in the past. Why have I been living so carelessly lately…… Sigh. I think I should write diligently, using my past self as a mirror. Hahaha.

Then everyone have a good day. I will see you at the same time tomorrow.