Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 290

A long, sandy beach stretched out before a villa nestled on a deserted island, thick with tropical trees. The calm, emerald sea created a dreamy landscape in every direction, and the cumulus clouds visible on the horizon slowly drifted eastward and disappeared.

Bumseok, who had been napping on a beach chair on the villa’s veranda, squinted at the sunlight filtering across his face and pulled his hat lower. He didn’t want to be disturbed from his sweet nap, which he was enjoying for the first time in a while. But soon, he frowned. The chattering voices of women coming from the beach in the distance were grating on his ears.

He lifted himself up slightly and turned his gaze toward the sound. There, Natalia and Karen, wearing well-fitting swimsuits, were splashing water at each other and playing.

‘Well, it’s not so bad.’

Although it was noisy, it was nice to see the two beautiful women playing on the beach. Bumseok, deciding there was no reason to disturb them, watched the women in their swimsuits and smiled contentedly.

At that moment, a cameraman and a PD [Production Director] approached him. Karen was on break, so they wanted to get some footage of Bumseok. He quickly smiled brightly and waved at the lens pointed at him. Even though today’s event was ostensibly prepared as Karen’s coming-of-age celebration gift, Bumseok’s stated reason for coming to this deserted island was for filming.

The PD asked him a simple question.

“Bumseok, what have you been up to?”

“I was taking a nap.”

“Really? It’s almost lunchtime, do you have time to be so leisurely?”

At those words, Bumseok smacked his lips and stretched as he got up. He was in charge of preparing lunch today. It was a hassle, but it was part of the filming schedule, so he couldn’t avoid it.

“Tch. I’ll start now.”

Bumseok put on his slippers and entered the villa to prepare the meal. He couldn’t prepare a grand feast, but he was skilled enough to make something other than ramen.

He went into the kitchen and took out onions, green onions, potatoes, and pork from the refrigerator and began shredding them. The PD, curious about the dish he was making, approached him.

“What are you cooking?”

“Chinese food.”

“Oh, really? I’m looking forward to it.”

Bumseok chuckled. It wasn’t anything special. The dish he was going to make was Jajangmyeon [Korean-Chinese black bean noodles], which was easier to make than almost anything else. Moreover, once the main dish was finished, there was no need to prepare any side dishes other than pickled radish, so it was very convenient.

He soon took out the noodles and boiled them in boiling water, then stir-fried the shredded vegetables, potatoes, and Chunjang (black bean paste) in a frying pan. After about five minutes, he placed three bowls of Jajangmyeon on the table.

“Okay. It’s done.”

The PD in charge looked dissatisfied with the short filming time. Originally, the meal preparation process was supposed to take up a large portion of the broadcast.

“Is that all?”

“Of course. What else do you need here?”

After saying that, Bumseok opened the living room window and called out to Karen, who was playing on the beach.

“Okay, everyone, come eat!”

Karen and Natalia stared at Bumseok for a moment, then stopped playing and walked towards the villa. They had spent a lot of time playing in the water, so they were hungry.

They went to the bathroom to shower and gathered around the dining table.

“Bumseok oppa! [Older brother figure] It’s Jajangmyeon!”

At Karen’s exclamation, Bumseok, who was sitting in his seat, pouted. The amount of Jajangmyeon he had prepared had doubled while they were showering.

“No. It’s all bloated Jajangmyeon.”

Karen, as if it didn’t matter, tore open the wooden chopsticks on the table and mixed the Jajangmyeon noodles. She didn’t know how long it had been since she had eaten Jajangmyeon. She used to eat it often when she was a poor, unknown actress, but now her grandfather, Leppard, had put it on the forbidden list because it wasn’t a balanced diet, so it was difficult to get a taste.

Karen put a mouthful of Jajangmyeon in her mouth and gave a thumbs up. She was so hungry that anything would have tasted good, but the Jajangmyeon that Bumseok made tasted as good as the ones sold in local Chinese restaurants, if not better.

“Oppa, it’s delicious.”

Then Natalia also took her chopsticks. She was a staff member, but Bumseok had made three bowls of Jajangmyeon.

“Can I eat too?”

“Yes. I made it for you to eat.”

Natalia asked her subordinates for permission and started eating. She felt a little bad, but she really wanted to taste the food that Bumseok had cooked.

It was rare for women in this era to eat a meal cooked by a man. A short mealtime followed. While the camera was rolling, the three men and women created a friendly atmosphere and had a conversation.

There was no script in particular, but they were so close that they had a lot to talk about.

After the meal, they went out to the beach again, where the intense sunlight was shining. It was to film their daily life on the beach. But Karen didn’t care about the camera’s gaze and was busy playing as she originally intended. She had been in front of the camera for so long that she had reached the point of ignoring it.

And after finishing filming until sunset, a long break came. So Karen went into her room, spread out her bedding, and fell fast asleep. She had been playing in the water all day, so she seemed quite tired.

“Natalia. Is Karen asleep?”

“Yes.”

“Really? Then I’ll go out for a while.”

Bumseok nodded and walked past the villa’s porch towards the door. He was thinking of enjoying a quiet walk.

The villa was now bustling with staff taking a break, which was making him feel restless. Natalia followed him, perhaps feeling the same way.

All the staff members were older than her, so she felt a little awkward when it came to break time. During filming, she would scold them and yell at them for work-related reasons, but when they were freely resting, she had nothing to say and was often at a loss for words.

“Bumseok-nim [Honorific title]. Let’s go together.”

Bumseok, who had just stepped outside, waited for Natalia while holding the door. Before putting on her shoes, she seemed to remember something and went into the kitchen to rummage through the refrigerator. She was getting alcohol and snacks. A glass of alcohol on the dark beach at night was truly heavenly.

Natalia, who had returned to the veranda, shook the plastic bag containing whiskey and snacks.

“How about a drink?”

“Of course, I’d love to. Hehehe.”

Bumseok, snatching the bag from her hand, went down the wooden stairs and started walking on the beach. It was dark because it was a deserted island, but the lights and the unusually round full moon made it possible to distinguish the surroundings.

He gently put his arm around Natalia’s, who had followed him, and looked at the dark beach.

“Natalia, how is LKS Broadcasting doing these days? Is it going well?”

“Yes. The number of viewers has increased somewhat, so I think we can start free broadcasting now.”

“Free broadcasting? Then won’t sales drop?”

“Yes. It will drop a lot at first. But in order to become a giant broadcasting company, it’s a rite of passage that we must go through at least once.”

“Why is that?”

“Free broadcasting can attract far more viewers than paid broadcasting.”

Bumseok nodded in agreement.

“Well, that’s how people’s minds work. So, you’ll be making sales through advertising in the future?”

“Yes. We have to. However, reruns will continue to be paid content.”

Bumseok looked worried. Unlike reality, the advertising market in this world was a direct transaction between companies and broadcasting companies. Thanks to this, there was unlimited competition, and if they didn’t do business properly, they would be in trouble.

“But will it be okay? Advertising doesn’t come in easily, does it?”

“Yes, but fortunately, the surrounding conditions are good, so we decided to try it. Our broadcasting is so popular with professional elf players that major sportswear sales companies are responding positively, and private flying car manufacturers and other fashion clothing companies are constantly making inquiries. And since the election season is approaching, there will be a lot more political advertising.”

The main viewers of LKS Broadcasting were elf professional players, who were widely known as sports stars. Since they were always exposed to the media, the clothes they wore and the flying car products they rode had the effect of indirect advertising.

If the elf sports stars who watched LKS Broadcasting purchased their products, they could get dozens or hundreds of times more advertising effect, so related companies couldn’t help but pay attention.

And soon the election season was coming. In this world, politicians could put their pledges and ideologies on TV as advertisements, so broadcasting companies made a lot of money. If LKS Broadcasting, which had high recognition in the region, started free broadcasting, it could get high viewership in the Avonnd region, so it would be able to win a lot of advertising from politicians in that region.

“I see. Still, it’s a matter of giving up all of your existing sales, so aren’t you worried?”

“Hoo~ I’m worried. There are quite a few broadcasting companies that have failed because they made mistakes in switching to free or paid broadcasting. And there are countless places that are suffering from falling sales. But we have no choice if we want to compete with major broadcasting companies. We can never beat them with paid broadcasting.”

Natalia made a determined expression. There were more than a few times when she felt angry at the tyranny of the major broadcasting companies. This was true not only for sports broadcasting, but also for program retransmission issues and many disadvantages when filming important news.

Bumseok patted her stiff shoulder and said.

“Yes. You’ve done well so far, so you’ll continue to do well in the future. And the members of Ilsimhoe [One Heart Society], including me, will support you a lot.”

That was a reassuring statement. If Ilsimhoe helped, it would be a great help.

Until now, the members of Ilsimhoe were only seven in total, including Bumseok, Natalia, Lexter, Margaret, Gloria, Karen, and Leppard. But recently, Ilsimhoe had been growing rapidly. The main reason was the annual banquet incident of the Federal Professional Sword Fighting Association.

At the time, the chairmen of the professional sword fighting teams, who were about to be kicked out of the league, thought it was necessary to gather their strength and gathered under Bumseok. They had seen him move the heavyweight of the sword fighting world, Vice Chairman Louis and Ms. Angela, to persuade Chairman Ibrahim in person, so perhaps it was only natural.

So, first Amas and Roben joined, and then the remaining 80 or so sword fighting team chairmen were joining Ilsimhoe one after another. But the characteristic of these people was that they were so rich that they could create a professional sword fighting team that cost at least hundreds of millions of won [Korean currency] with their own funds. Of course, they or their parents were running huge companies, so just receiving the advertisements they provided was a great help to LKS.

“Thank you for your concern.”

“What. How much have you worked hard so far? Thanks to you, Gloria-nim’s Rainbow Group was also protected.”

Bumseok, who had arrived at a secluded part of the beach, turned on a portable light and spread out a mat. There was no one around and the scenery was good, so he was going to drink here.

He took out dried snacks and a bottle of alcohol and put them on the mat, then rummaged through the plastic bag he had brought. He hadn’t brought glasses.

“Huh. There are no glasses.”

“Really? I’m sorry. I must have forgotten in a hurry. I’ll go get them now.”

Bumseok, stopping Natalia from getting up, opened a bottle of whiskey and handed it to her as it was.

“What. Can’t you drink without a glass? Just drink it.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

Bumseok opened another bottle of whiskey and drank it straight from the bottle. And after taking a few sips, he looked at Natalia.

“Of course, it doesn’t matter.”

Natalia chuckled and drank the whiskey straight from the bottle and picked up a snack. And then, as if something suddenly came to mind, she asked a strange question.

“By the way, I have one thing to ask you. Why did you recruit Renka? I think you gave her quite a bit of money, but when I saw her training the other day, she didn’t seem that great.”

“Hehe. Our Natalia president. Your eye for talent has gotten quite good. You even noticed that Renka’s skills are lower than her price.”

“Of course. How long have I been living in the God’s Knights dormitory? I know everything about sword fighting matches now.”

Indeed, it had already been over three years since she came to God’s Knights. In the meantime, she had always lived in the dormitory, watching and filming the training of her sword fighters, so she should know a lot about sword fighting matches.

‘Should I tell her?’

Bumseok hesitated for a moment to answer. There was a reason why Renka hadn’t shown off her outstanding skills yet.

In fact, she could become a world-class player right now if she copied the stat-boosting trait. But Bumseok didn’t allow Renka to learn the stat-boosting trait. It was because he had her learn ‘Response of Origin’.

This trait had several troublesome options, one of which was the period of abstinence. This meant the time it took to activate the trait, and the longer this period, the greater the fruit obtained.

For example, Roben, the original owner of the trait, invested 31 years to receive a prize of 45 billion krang. Of course, he didn’t intend to have Renka invest the same amount of time, but he was thinking of having her have a period of abstinence of about 3 years.

Even that would bring in about 4.3 billion krang, so he could recruit a pretty good sword fighter.

However, it was a bit difficult to reveal this to the outside. Bumseok was thinking of making Renka perform poorly in the league to destroy the myth of transfer success he had built up so far. Recently, other teams had been keeping him in check in many ways every time he transferred, which was quite a headache.

But there was nothing special he couldn’t do. Thanks to his efforts so far, Natalia’s favorability was almost at its peak. If she didn’t know about his relationship with other women, he would have attacked her long ago. He thought that if he gave her a warning, she wouldn’t reveal this fact to the outside. He explained the reason step by step.

============================ Author’s words ============================

Have a nice weekend everyone. I’ll see you again tomorrow.