Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 338

340

Beomseok entered a cafe in a bustling entertainment district of Senocide City. He scanned the interior, spotted Amas and Roben sitting at a window-side table, and waved cheerfully.

Although these two weren’t core members of Ilsimhoe [a private social club], they wielded considerable influence. They had played a leading role in bringing the presidents of gladiatorial teams, structured as individual companies, into the organization en masse. Beomseok figured that persuading Amas and Roben would easily sway the rest.

“How have you all been?”

They stood up and smiled brightly.

“Welcome, Chairman.”

Beomseok wore an awkward expression at the unexpected mention of ‘Chairman.’ It seemed Amas and Roben were mistaking him for the chairman. Of course, he was fulfilling a similar role, but Ilsimhoe was merely a social gathering, and they hadn’t established any formal positions.

“Hahaha. Chairman? You flatter me. All members of our Ilsimhoe are equal. We don’t have a leader, so such titles aren’t fitting.”

“But even a neighborhood social club has a chairman, doesn’t it? Naturally, Beomseok-nim [a Korean honorific] should become our chairman and lead us.”

Beomseok wore a somewhat convinced expression. In the past, when it was just a small gathering of a few people, there were no problems running it without a leader, but now there were nearly 90 members. It seemed necessary to properly organize the group.

However, contrary to his thoughts, he shook his hand as if denying it. He thought it was time to show humility.

“Well, that’s true, but I haven’t received the support of the organization’s members through a formal meeting yet. Naturally, the title of chairman doesn’t suit me.”

“Hahaha. Is that so? Then please arrange a meeting soon. We’ll push you with all our might.”

“Hahaha. Thank you.”

After taking a seat, Beomseok decided to skip the pleasantries and get down to business. Another guest would be arriving soon, so he needed to explain the current situation to them.

“Now, I have something important to tell you all, so please take your seats.”

“Yes, understood.”

As they sat down, Beomseok took out his electronic notepad from his pocket and quietly opened his mouth.

“Actually, the reason I asked to meet you today is to discuss several things. First, let’s look at the data screen.”

“Ah, yes…….”

As the hologram screen appeared, Amas and Roben glanced at it and wore slightly surprised expressions. The title read, ‘Support Plan for Gladiatorial Teams in the Form of Individual Companies.’ They could see that Beomseok was promoting some kind of business for them.

“What is this?”

Beomseok answered immediately to Amas’s question.

“Actually, I’ve been promoting several ventures recently to help the newly joined members of Ilsimhoe.”

“Oh, really? May we ask what kind of business it is specifically?”

“Yes. It’s a support plan for promising gladiators.”

Amas and Roben exchanged glances with interest. They had heard rumors that Beomseok had a good eye for promising talents. They thought that a young gladiator recommended by him would be worth investing in.

“Are you perhaps recommending promising talents to us?”

“Yes. I’m willing to provide information on promising talents already in existing teams for free.”

Roben eagerly stepped forward into the conversation. His team, Middle Fingers, had recently been promoted to the Area League, so they needed a lot of promising talents. If he could just get an introduction, he was planning to do everything he could to recruit them and grow the team.

“Really?”

“Yes. I’ve already set up all the plans and am ready to introduce several promising gladiators.”

Roben wore a slightly suspicious expression. Even though they were in the same Ilsimhoe, introducing promising talents to other gladiatorial teams would be detrimental to Beomseok. Their teams could grow and threaten God’s Knights’ position.

“But why would you go to the trouble of doing this, even at a loss? We’re competitors since we also own gladiatorial teams, aren’t we?”

“Hehe. There are competitors everywhere anyway. Even in our High-Roon Central League, there are 20 teams vying for position. Naturally, there won’t be any problems if Ilsimhoe members take up some of those spots.

No, frankly, I think you should take them quickly. If teams like ours occupy many of the top leagues in the gladiatorial world, then that agenda wouldn’t have come up at the last Federal Pro Gladiator Association annual banquet.”

Roben nodded. Certainly, if all the members of Ilsimhoe were teams above the Central League level, the existing teams wouldn’t have dared to suggest excluding gladiatorial teams with the characteristics of individual companies from the league.

“I guess that’s true. If about 80 Central League teams were to leave the league, the pro gladiatorial world would collapse.”

“Yes, that’s right. And one more thing, God’s Knights doesn’t need many promising talents right now. We need gladiators with somewhat mature swordsmanship skills since we’re aiming for the World League in the future. So, there won’t be many acquisitions of inexperienced gladiators, so I thought, why not provide you with my list of promising talents?”

A faint smile appeared on Roben and Amas’s faces. They were looking forward to the promising talents that Beomseok would provide. He had never made a failed acquisition before.

“Then we’ll gratefully accept. Please do.”

Beomseok turned to the next page and continued the story.

“And one more thing to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“I recently started another business. It’s about opening an Elf School and an Elf Market. The purpose of these businesses is to preemptively secure promising talents from the Elf Factory and Elf School, train and educate them to become excellent gladiators, and then sell them to the outside.”

Roben and Amas looked at him with interest. They thought that Beomseok would be able to successfully lead the business. However, the question was why he was bringing up the story in this place.

“Oh, really? But why are you telling us this?”

“Hehe. Because you’ll be the customers. I’m not planning to sell the elves from this business to existing gladiatorial teams. Only those who want to be owners will be my customers.”

“Then are you selling them to us?”

“Yes, of course. And it will be supplied to members very cheaply. You’ll probably be able to purchase satisfactory promising talents at a much lower price than bringing in an elf gladiator from an existing team.”

Roben and Amas clenched their fists as if excited. In fact, they had wanted to receive promising talents from the Elf Market.

Because it was much cheaper than buying from a regular team. However, tens of millions of elves are born each year. Even if you only look at a small portion, you need a large number of scouts. Of course, you can build such an organization if you have a lot of capital from the beginning, but the problem was whether it would be successful.

It was not easy for them to get involved in such a business, like finding a needle in a haystack.

But Beomseok was trying to solve their problems. If it was him, he would be able to find a lot of useful promising talents, and if they were recruited cheaply, it would be of great help to the team.

“Yes. Please do. We’ll recruit gladiators on a large scale as soon as the business opens, so don’t worry about the sales channels.”

“Hahaha. Yes, thank you.”

In a friendly atmosphere, Beomseok took a deep breath and darkened his expression. The story from now on wasn’t very good news. He licked his parched lips and opened his mouth in a heavy tone.

“The content I’m about to tell you is a bit serious. It’s probably something that concerns you too, so you’ll have to listen carefully.”

“What do you mean? It concerns us too?”

“In fact, the Black Society is planning to attack us again.”

Beomseok began to explain what he had heard from Vice President Louis a few days ago. It was about the Angry Bombs team, and it was a detailed and specific story about the damage they would inflict and the repercussions it would have on the gladiatorial world.

Amas and Roben initially listened without much thought, but as the conversation progressed, they grasped the seriousness of the situation. If the team called Angry Bombs splashed mud [caused scandal], the damage they would suffer would be enormous. Eventually, Roben, unable to bear it, slammed the table forcefully.

“Oh, really! Those Black Society bastards! They’re going too far!”

Amas quietly bit his lip, as if feeling the same way. He thought he had found a business that he could enjoy for a while, but an unexpected obstacle appeared and was interfering.

Beomseok, watching this, subtly mentioned his plan.

“So, I’m going to take this opportunity to eliminate the Black Society.”

As soon as he said that, Amas and Roben’s faces turned black. They were intimidated by the giant organization called the Black Society. No matter how much money they had, they were like children playing house in front of their organizational power. If they touched it wrong, they could become teacups in a typhoon [easily destroyed] and fall into an endless abyss.

Amas said with a very nervous expression.

“Wait. What are you talking about? We’re eliminating the Black Society?”

“Yes, that’s right. If things continue like this, the future of Ilsimhoe is uncertain. We need to make sure they don’t do anything else and fix their habits.”

“But, but, they’re the Black Society.”

Beomseok slightly raised one corner of his mouth and said.

“They’re just the Black Society. Although their power is great, they have too many enemies around them. An enemy of an enemy is an ally. If we unite with them, we can definitely give them a hard time.”

“Are you saying that there are forces that will fight with us?”

“Yes. A very large force comparable to the Black Society. Moreover, there are other forces that support us materially and spiritually.”

“Who are they?”

“I’ll tell you that in a moment. I have an appointment to meet one of them today. Please meet them once and judge for yourselves.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the cafe door opened and a man with red hair came in. It was Piler, the successor of Vermilion. He immediately approached Beomseok, grabbed his hand, and expressed his gratitude.

“Beomseok-ssi [Korean honorific]. Thank you so much. If it weren’t for Beomseok-ssi, our company would have been in big trouble.”

“Hehehe. It’s nothing. Sit here and explain the situation from the beginning. What on earth happened?”

Piler gulped down the glass of water brought by the employee and opened his mouth.

In the past, Beomseok had hinted to him to be careful because there might be an attack from the Black Society on Vermilion. It was something he told him with a doubtful mind, but Piler, who highly valued him, took it seriously and thoroughly re-examined all the company’s confidential ledgers that could be problematic or hid them somewhere. But what? A few days ago, financial authorities and judicial institutions suddenly rushed in and confiscated all the company’s ledgers.

It was a very dizzying moment, and if he had been caught off guard, he would have been caught in the Black Society’s scheme and fallen into a difficult situation.

“Thanks to you, Vermilion was able to overcome this crisis safely. The situation will probably enter a calming phase soon.”

“Really? But the news says that a large number of illegal ledgers have been found?”

Piler waved his hand and said.

“That’s the old ledger.”

“The old ledger?”

“Actually, a guy named Taekle, who was our company’s executive director, took the old ledger and stuck with the Black Society. Although there are countless fatal contents for us in that ledger, our company’s financial status and cash flow, which we discussed with our main bank and changed, do not match at all. It will be clear that it is a wrong ledger over time.”

“Hahaha. Really? That’s a relief.”

Piler, who nodded, then sighed deeply. He had overcome one hurdle, but another crisis was approaching. If he couldn’t overcome this situation, the Vermilion family would be ruined.

“But there’s another problem now.”

“What problem are you talking about?”

“There are signs that unidentified funds are buying our stock in large quantities.”

Currently, the Vermilion Company’s shareholding rate is 18% for the Vermilion family, 4% for economic organizations, 16% for institutions, and the remaining 62% is the share released on the market. If those unidentified funds are the Black Society’s funds, an unfortunate event could occur where the company’s management rights are transferred. Piler was very worried.

At this, Beomseok opened his eyes wide and said.

“No, why is the shareholding rate like that when it’s Vermilion? It doesn’t make sense that institutions only have 16%.”

“That’s because they originally held more than 30%, but when the corruption scandal broke out, they released it all at once on the market. In fact, institutions are sensitive to crises. If there is a problem with our company, a large amount of money can be lost at once, so they reduced the holding rate first.”

“Still, that’s too much. You said there’s nothing wrong with the corruption case?”

“But the media is making such a fuss about it, so the institutions don’t trust us. In fact, our economic organization also held more than 10%, but now it’s only 4%. Not to mention them…….”

Well, you can’t easily trust people in front of money. If things are urgent, you can make up things that didn’t happen.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

The weather was really nice yesterday. It’s a good day to go on a trip…….. It’s lonely to go alone. Sigh~ It seems like I’m being pathetic. I just decided to stay home. ㅠㅠ.

Then have a nice day everyone. I’ll see you again tomorrow.