Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 434

436

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too. But when I think about the entire Ilsimhoe [a powerful organization], not just the God Knights, things change.”

“W-What does that mean?”

“You know that we have about 80 gladiatorial teams affiliated with Ilsimhoe, right? Many of them are Area League or Wide League teams, so helping them out wouldn’t be a bad idea. Even if their growth potential is a bit lower, if their swordsmanship is solid, they should have no problem working as professionals.”

Julien, looking grim, slammed his hands on the table and stood up. He couldn’t possibly be unaware that the Hyena Group had established a growth plan through the rookie draft, so his words sounded suspicious.

“You! Are you threatening me right now!”

“What threat are you talking about? I’m just asking what you think. We’re not strangers, let’s share a little.”

Julien was certain of his snake-like tone. Beomseok had something else in mind.

“What exactly do you want? You know that if you interfere with the rookie draft, we’ll be in trouble! I’m already annoyed that we couldn’t recruit a single S-class gladiator this time…”

Beomseok smiled and raised his index and middle fingers simultaneously. It was time to get to the point after this much intimidation.

“Give me two tickets for Mayron and Chairman Henry, no more, no less. Then I promise not to mess with the rookie draft for the next four years. Except for one or two female gladiators.”

Julien bit his lip. This was it.

“You! You son of a…! Why didn’t you just say so from the start!”

“Hahaha. Would you have given them to me if I had been honest? So, what do you say? Yes or no?”

Julien sighed heavily, as if he had no choice. It was better to give Beomseok two tickets than to have him as a competitor. There was a clause about excluding some women, but there weren’t many women in the rookie draft anyway.

“Sigh~ Fine. But what about after four years?”

“Well, it’s simple. If we fail this time, give me some more tickets in four years. Then I’ll extend it again. Hehehe.”

“What if you get the hosting rights this year?”

“Hmm. I’ll have to think about it then. Actually, I’m only interested in female gladiators with good growth potential. I don’t know about the other Ilsimhoe members yet…”

Julien glared at him with fiery eyes. It was annoying that he was threatening to throw dirt on something he wasn’t even going to eat. And when he thought about it, the Ilsimhoe members didn’t seem particularly interested in the rookie draft. Other than Beomseok, none of them even showed up at the draft venue.

In fact, they were focused on finding promising elves, with the God Knights as their motto. It was all to build a harem team.

Since their goal in running the team was just a hobby, they had been tainted by Beomseok’s vulgar ideas. But if he wanted to, they would have to jump into the rookie draft. Beomseok was the main supplier of promising players for the Ilsimhoe members.

Of course, they couldn’t help but be mindful of him.

‘There’s never been a time when being at odds with Beomseok has been beneficial. No matter how I look at it, it’s better to maintain a good relationship with him.’

Julien slumped back in his seat, as if giving up. It was better to cooperate with Beomseok for his own good. The Hyena Group had its own growth goals, but he might need Beomseok’s help in the future.

The growth of the gladiatorial teams owned by the current Ilsimhoe members was frightening. Beomseok was constantly providing them with promising players, but it was also because the gladiators themselves were highly motivated. And the existing teams’ thoughts on them were beyond concern; they were terrified.

As long as this world was a country ruled by law, there was no way to stop them. They had no doubt that their leadership would one day be taken over by gladiatorial teams with the characteristics of private companies. The strategy to take was simple.

If they faced gladiatorial teams with the characteristics of private companies with elves who were not passionate about the game, their downfall was obvious, so they had to change themselves.

Chairman Ibrahim, already sensing this situation, created several teams with the characteristics of private companies, including Queen Blaze, to nurture his successors, and spared no support at the family level. The Hyena Group was also preparing for the future by recruiting human gladiators through the rookie draft, and Julien himself was planning to create a private company at the order of his father, Chairman Henry, although it was only tentative. Perhaps the time would soon come when Beomseok’s support would be essential.

“Okay. Then promise me you’ll keep your word?”

“Hehe. Don’t worry.”

Julien sat down heavily and quietly opened his mouth.

“By the way, how’s the business you’ve been doing lately?”

“What business?”

“You know, running the Elf School and the Elf Market.”

“Ah. It’s losing money every year. I’m worried that I’ll have to keep pouring money into it until next year.”

Julien tilted his head. Beomseok’s current goal in running the Elf School and the Elf Market was to discover promising players early, train them, and sell them to various private teams. With Beomseok’s abilities, it was likely to be very profitable.

“Why? I thought you’d be making a lot of money.”

“Well, I was, but I’ve changed my business direction lately.”

“How?”

“I used to try to recruit from the Elf School, but it seems better to bring elves directly from the Elf Factory. Since I’m running the Elf School anyway, it’s much better that way.”

Julien, resting his chin on his hand and pondering, nodded in understanding. The Elf Factory was a company that produced elves and sold them to Elf Schools, and it usually involved large-scale production.

Naturally, it was much less of a waste of manpower to find promising players there than to search for them in Elf Schools scattered like a network around the world. Moreover, the Elf Factory and the Elf School had the same chance of finding promising players, and the price difference was significant.

This was due to the fact that they had to go through more than one stage of distribution, and the competition from other professional teams looking for promising players at the Elf School.

“I guess so. It’s definitely better to find them at the Elf Factory. The only problem is that three years of training is required.”

“That’s right. So, there’s no income for the time being.”

Julien looked at him and said,

“But are there many good kids?”

“Well, not really. I haven’t recruited that many because I don’t have enough staff yet.”

“So, how many have you gathered in total?”

“About 70?”

“Hmm. That’s quite a few, isn’t it?”

“It’s not bad. It’s not common to have a kid with a growth potential of over 800.”

Julien stared at him in shock. A growth potential of over 800 meant that they would grow into a Central League-level player or higher. If Beomseok guaranteed it, even 10 million krang [currency] wouldn’t be too much. He could say that he had earned at least 700 million krang.

“R-Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve checked them all. And the good thing is that there are some kids with growth potential over 900 and good traits.”

“Hey. Sell them to me.”

Beomseok shook off Julien’s hand, which was grabbing his arm.

“No way. Our kids are only sold to teams with the characteristics of private companies. You don’t qualify.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll soon have a team with the characteristics of a private company.”

“What are you talking about? Why would you have a team with the characteristics of a private company? What about the Dark Hyenas?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep running the Dark Hyenas for the time being.”

“Then what about the newly created private company team?”

“I’ll just be the chairman, so I’ll have to appoint another manager. Honestly, what’s there for the chairman to do?”

Well, the chairman of a professional team is just a figurehead, and the manager does all the work. Beomseok had no choice but to step in because of the gladiator recruitment, but originally Esther should have been responsible for the overall team management.

“Well, I’ve been entrusting everything to Esther lately, except for gladiator recruitment. Well, I guess that’s okay.”

“So, you’ll sell them to me?”

“Hmm? Let’s think about it calmly. I don’t even have enough to give to our Ilsimhoe members.”

Julien shouted.

“You. That’s so unfair! I told you I’d join the Ilsimhoe before!”

“Wasn’t that a joke?”

“What joke? Where else would I go?”

“Really? Then talk to me after you join. Then I’ll give you a good one cheap. One with a growth potential of 900 and ability-enhancing traits.”

That would be more than satisfactory. If raised well, they would become a gladiator worth at least billions of krang in the future.

“Well, that’s fine, but… Why are you doing this? Giving away such a kid.”

“Well, I can’t keep all the elves to myself. It’s okay now, but if I bring them under my control indiscriminately, there’s no solution later. It’s more profitable to raise them well for three years and sell them at a high price.”

Julien nodded in agreement. The biggest disadvantage of a private company is that one individual cannot endlessly keep elf gladiators under their control. That’s why the Hyena Group was only planning to make three or four teams ranked at the top as private companies, and the remaining lower teams would maintain the existing joint-stock company form.

Of course, you might think that the elves would not work hard in the games except for the top teams, but if you look closely, that’s not the case at all. To get an owner, they have to go to the top teams, so the gladiators in the lower teams have no choice but to do their best in the games.

Good grades were a shortcut to the top teams.

“Hehe. I guess that’s true.”

Beomseok glanced at the time. He had achieved his goal, so he was checking if he had time to stop by another place. But the time was a bit ambiguous. He had to go in by 7 p.m. for the evening strategy meeting, and it was currently 4:30 p.m. Two and a half hours was not enough time to persuade.

“Hmm. I don’t have enough time to go to see Mrs. Angela.”

“Mrs. Angela? Are you going there too?”

“Yeah. I have to get her tickets too. A whopping three tickets. Hahaha.”

The tickets under Angela’s influence were one regional ticket, and a total of three, including herself and one committee member who followed her. However, the problem was that it was not easy.

Julien looked at him with a troubled expression.

“But can you get the tickets?”

“Yeah. You know I’m close to Mrs. Angela.”

“That’s true, but not Theresa, right?”

“What about it? I found out that Theresa can’t do anything to Mrs. Angela.”

“Well, that’s true, but Mrs. Angela has delegated all authority for this vote to Theresa.”

Beomseok’s eyes widened. If he could get these tickets, he might get a sponsorship of 1 billion krang. If it was Theresa, she would try to exclude him as much as possible, so he expected a big obstacle in getting the tickets. She was also the daughter of Chairman Lucas, who was currently imprisoned for the attempted assassination of himself and Margaret, so she harbored a great deal of resentment.

“What are you talking about? Why would Mrs. Angela do that?”

“She’s sick and has gone to a quiet place with good mountains and water to recuperate.”

“What’s wrong with her? I haven’t heard anything about it?”

“You wouldn’t have heard. It’s a recurring annual event.”

“Annual event?”

“There’s something like that. Does Mrs. Angela like men a little? So, if the rumor spreads that she’s sick, you can’t even contact her by phone.”

Beomseok quickly took out his electronic notebook and tried to contact Angela. But all he heard was the beautiful female voice message saying that the electronic notebook was turned off. He bit his lip and frowned deeply. That meant that 600 million krang had flown into the sky.

‘Damn it, any man will do! I’ll see you later, Mrs. Angela.’

He was furious. He was angry not only about the 600 million krang that would fly away, but also about the fact that Angela was meeting another man. He hadn’t been able to pay attention to her lately because he was busy, but he never imagined that he would be betrayed like this.

“This is driving me crazy!”

“Keep trying to contact her, and if you can’t, give up. There’s nothing you can do this time.”

Beomseok shook his head. He was a little reluctant to let 600 million krang fly into the air like this.

“I can’t give up. I’m going to make Theresa’s ticket mine.”

“Hehe. Please don’t say anything funny. Last transfer period, she didn’t want to sell Lacami to you and raised the price to 4 billion krang. So, the Ancient Warriors reluctantly bought it for 3.7 billion krang. I’ll eat my hat if Theresa gives you a ticket.”

It was difficult as he said, but Beomseok didn’t think it was impossible at all. As humans live in the world, there is at least one or two weaknesses. If he dug in well, he might see a way.

“Julien. That’s why you can’t beat me. If it doesn’t work, you have to make it work. Why are you giving up from the beginning? Stop talking nonsense and get ready to eat your hat. I’ll give you some great news in a few days.”

“Kekeke. Yeah. Please do.”

Julien was laughing. Beomseok’s words were not wrong, but Theresa was an exception. There was no evidence yet, so he couldn’t point it out, but she was a woman who was likely to be a spy for the Black Society. There was no way she would help him.

So, Beomseok patted Julien on the shoulder, said goodbye, and hurried away. He had to attend the evening strategy meeting and make a plan to persuade Theresa.

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

I’m searching for data to write a new book, but new ideas keep popping up. This is very difficult. It will take several years to write them all. I’ll have to cut out most of them.

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