Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 35

“Hey, you guys want a drink too?”

Reimi hurriedly stood up.

“Master, we’ll pass to prepare for the next match.”

Bumseok waved his hand, saying there was no need. Of course, drinking would significantly reduce performance, but there were still more than ten days until the fourth match of the GA Cup. Until now, they had been playing matches once a week, but from now on, the matches would be held every two weeks according to the professional team’s schedule. There was plenty of time to recover even if they drank today.

“It’s okay. We’re not ordinary humans, and we can recover by the time of the match.”

“But it will interfere with practice…”

Reimi glared at Oscar, who was reaching for the bottle. Seeing this, Bumseok chuckled and said.

“Hehe. Reimi, let them drink. The GA Cup isn’t a tournament we have to cling to desperately anyway. The real goal is the promotion tournament next spring. It’s the only gateway for amateurs to become professionals. If you pour too much passion into it now, you’ll be exhausted by then, especially Oscar, who has a weak mentality.”

Reimi eventually accepted Bumseok’s opinion. It wasn’t wrong, and it was hard to refuse her master’s words.

“Yes. Then we’ll have some too.”

Oscar smiled brightly and filled the other elves’ glasses with overflowing amounts of Kaoliang liquor [a strong distilled spirit from China]. Bumseok raised his glass high and looked at Lexter.

“Detective, let’s have a toast for the first round.”

“A toast sounds good.”

Lexter clinked his glass with Bumseok’s and raised his voice.

“Cheers!”

The clear sound of ceramics echoed from all around, and everyone poured the liquor into their mouths. Oscar smacked his lips as if it was sweet, and Venus, who was drinking for the first time today, frantically grabbed dishes and ate them to soothe her burning throat. Reimi and Erfina, who were pleased to see this, poured more liquor for everyone.

The drinking party continued for a while. Lexter pulled his chair closer to Bumseok.

“Now, what I’m about to tell you is only for you as repayment, so keep it a secret from everyone. Tell your elves to keep their mouths shut too. Remember that. Got it?”

Bumseok, not knowing what he was talking about, nodded and picked up some pepper steak with his chopsticks, chewing it thoroughly.

“Mumble mumble. Yes, I will.”

“Actually, I’ve been wondering how to manage my current funds lately, so I thought about using my connections to gather information and then invest. I have unique relationships with police officers dispatched to various levels of society, you know.”

“Yes, and?”

“Recently, a junior from the intelligence department who was dispatched to the police security office blurted out one thing he had overheard while drinking: there was an ominous atmosphere detected between Micro Engineering and Sun Energy. Apparently, Micro Engineering tried to steal the design of Sun Energy’s recently developed micro-fusion reactor by infiltrating industrial spies.”

Micro Engineering was a giant corporation that held the world’s leading position in the energy field. Their main products were large fusion reactors for power generation facilities and micro-fusion reactors used for self-generation in large buildings. And Sun Energy was their competitor, a smaller company but one that was making a name for itself through massive research investments.

“But what does that have to do with me?”

“Hey, be quiet and listen to the end.”

“Well, it’s not hard to listen. Yes, go on.”

“Fortunately, intelligence agents stepped in and arrested the industrial spies, preventing information from leaking, but the important thing is that Micro Engineering hasn’t given up and is plotting something else. That’s because if the finished product is released, it could greatly impact their sales.”

“Oh, are there such bad guys? Stealing product designs from other companies and now doing something else?”

Lexter scolded him.

“Hey, save that moral talk for school. Listen to me carefully. This is important.”

“Yes, I understand. Please speak.”

“This time, I heard from a senior working at the tax office that Micro Engineering sold off all its useless subsidiaries before this economic crisis and secured huge funds. So, the tax officials secretly started investigating and found out that it was funds to prepare for a forced merger and acquisition [M&A] of Sun Energy.”

Bumseok now understood what Lexter was getting at. A stock price increase inevitably follows a hostile M&A, which could be an opportunity to make a lot of money.

“Ah. So, you’re telling me to buy Sun Energy’s stock?”

Lexter waved his hand wildly as if it were absurd.

“Absolutely not! They’re on the verge of collapse because of the aftermath of this economic crisis and massive investments. Of course, it would get better if they could complete the development and start selling that micro-fusion reactor with the latest technology, but when I looked into it, they hadn’t even finished developing the product, let alone preparing the production facilities. And for the same reason, Micro Engineering gave up on the hostile M&A, so there’s no investment merit at all.”

“Ah, if you’re not telling me to invest, then why are you telling me all this?”

“Don’t you get it yet? The place you should invest is Micro Engineering.”

Bumseok couldn’t understand why he was suddenly being told to invest in Micro Engineering.

“Why? Does that company have any good merits?”

“Of course, it does. Before this economic crisis, they happened to do a solid restructuring to do a hostile M&A of Sun Energy, and they’ve secured huge funds. The moment this fact is known to the outside world, the company’s stock will hit the upper limit every day and soar. In the current situation, a safe company with plenty of funds is the top investment priority. I’ve already poured all my money into it. What are you going to do?”

Listening to him, it made sense. In this situation where small and big companies are closing down every day, few companies have as much investment value as a company that guarantees absolute survival. Moreover, it was a large company that was leading in sales among the same industry. As the saying goes, ‘too big to fail,’ its name value alone would increase its stability.

‘Give it a try. You don’t have anywhere to spend money right now anyway.’

Bumseok currently had about 36 million krang. He hadn’t found a gladiator he liked enough to recruit, and he had to spend a busy schedule with the GA Cup, so he didn’t have a place to use this money for the time being. And because the government lowered interest rates to recover the economy, he wasn’t getting much interest either. Naturally, it was a shame to leave this money buried.

Once he made up his mind, he hurriedly took out his electronic notepad and checked the stock index.

‘Hoo. The stock index is in the 7800s…’

Before the economic crisis, the stock price was maintaining in the 21000s. This was also much lower due to financial instability, but it was usually between 30000 and 40000. In other words, the current stock price was only a quarter of the usual.

He then displayed Micro Engineering’s stock information on the screen.

‘What. It’s fallen a lot. Is it really a safe company?’

The average stock price of Micro Engineering was around 1200 krang per share. But now it had fallen to 168 krang. Fortunately, it seemed to be repeating ups and downs at the bottom, so it didn’t seem like it would fall much further, but it was still uneasy.

“Detective. Is this company really okay? The stock price has fallen too much.”

“Oh. It’s because two companies in the same energy industry went bankrupt a while ago. And news keeps coming out that Sun Energy is also unstable. Naturally, anxiety is bound to play a role.”

“Hmm. I see. But is that information reliable?”

“Needless to say. It’s information that came out simultaneously from two major national institutions with completely different characteristics. If you can’t trust this, you can’t invest in stocks.”

Bumseok nodded, brought up the stock trading menu, and immediately pressed the buy button. His philosophy was that you have to go for it when you have to.

– Ding. You have purchased 210,000 shares of Micro Engineering stock at 168 krang.

Lexter was horrified by the purchase confirmation message that was being broadcasted externally. The number of shares traded at once was enormous, but he was amazed that he had invested tens of millions of krang without any hesitation. He thought that no one could match him when it came to spending money.

“Geez. You’re unstoppable. I poured all the money I had, but at least I pondered it for a few days.”

“I’m going to do it anyway, so I have to do it quickly. That way, I can focus on other things. If you know me, I’m a busy person.”

He said this, but there was a calculation underlying his actions. Originally, the economy has its ups and downs, and the stock price would rise someday. And the world Bumseok was living in was a space in the game, so the degree was generally more regular and faster than reality. He couldn’t let the play period of less than 100 years live in a recession or boom forever.

And this money was just game money, not real money.

“Hahaha. Anyway, now that we’re comrades on the same boat, let’s have another drink.”

“Sounds good. Let’s drink until we pass out today.”

Bumseok and Lexter kept toasting and drinking. As more and more empty bottles piled up on the table, the sun gradually set in the west. The drinking party that started at lunchtime continued until evening. Not satisfied with this, they went to a nearby meat restaurant for the second round and poured more liquor again. And the third and fourth rounds continued until dawn before they went home.

Bumseok now understood why he always lived with a disheveled appearance. They were modified humans and elves, so they were strong against alcohol, but Lexter was an ordinary human. Nevertheless, he kept drinking like this, so there was no way his body could handle it.

Bumseok, who greeted the rising morning sun, gave him one piece of advice because he was worried about him. If he made a lot of money this time, he told him to get a body modification procedure. If he became a modified human, he could drink as much as he liked without much harm to his body.

Lexter expressed deep agreement as if he was tempted by the words. He could fulfill his dream of a healthy drinking life and even extend his life.

——————

See you next time.