Chapter 13

Chapter 13

13. I Became a Boss

The one who signed the contract was Hunter Lee Jinho.

I’m simply receiving the compensation I’m rightfully owed.

-I’ll transfer the 76.5 billion later, then.

“Yes. Thank you.”

I hung up.

“76.5 billion...”

I lay on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

‘That makes 77.5 billion total.’

One billion plus 76.5 billion.

A total of 77.5 billion.

“What should I do with this money?”

Spend it on the game?

Or buy a house?

A car?

Whenever there’s something difficult to think about!

‘Let’s play a game first.’

I turned on my computer.

When you’re troubled, you really do need to clear your head.

Ding!

[Web Message]

[KakaoBank]

3333-01-987654

Deposit Amount: 76,500,000,000 KRW

Depositor: Friends Capital

“Oh...”

I checked my balance.

[Balance: 76,500,000,000 won]

Exactly 76.5 billion won!

“Damn...!”

Just looking at the number made my hands tremble.

B-b-b-b-brrr!

“76.5 billion...”

My grin stretched from ear to ear.

I took a screenshot of the balance and set it as my wallpaper.

‘Now what?’

I’d had the same dilemma when I got one billion.

But once it became 76.5 billion, the weight of the problem changed.

Back when I had one billion, it was, ‘How should I spend it?’

Now it was, ‘How do I spend it without getting arrested?’

‘The National Tax Service.’

Just thinking about it sent a chill down my spine.

76.5 billion won had landed in my account overnight.

And if the source of the funds was ‘Friends Capital,’ then from the National Tax Service’s perspective?

‘I’m suspicious as hell.’

Of course I was.

If 76.5 billion suddenly appeared in the account of an unemployed bum and that didn’t look suspicious, that would be suspicious.

‘What if I say it’s profit from an assigned claim?’

That would make sense.

I had the contract with Hunter Lee Jinho.

And the settlement statement from the loan shark, Friend.

But.

‘What about taxes?’

I opened my calculator.

How much tax would there be on a 76.5-billion-won transfer gain?

“...That’s not an amount I can calculate myself.”

I took out Attorney Kim Dongho’s business card.

Seeing it reminded me again of that painful two million won.

‘But!’

My hourly wage was four billion won.

If something could be solved with one phone call and I sat around agonizing over it myself.

That would be the bigger loss.

I made the call.

Riiing.

-Kim Dongho Law Office.

“Hello. This is Choi Hyunwoo. I had a consultation there before.”

-Ah, yes! Sir. One moment, please.

Hold music played for three seconds.

-Mr. Choi Hyunwoo, hello. This is Kim Dongho.

“Yes. I’d like another consultation.”

-Of course. When would you like to come in?

“Can I come right now?”

-...Right now?

“I’ll pay double.”

Half a second of silence.

-Come on over.

Money really was power.

* * *

Kim Dongho’s law office.

“76.5 billion won?”

The lawyer adjusted his glasses.

The look in his eyes behind the lenses subtly changed.

‘This is the power of money.’

Last time, his eyes had said, ‘Why is a guy like this paying two million?’

Now they said, ‘We need to take good care of this client.’

“I received 76.5 billion won from assigning a claim, and I want to know how to handle the taxes and use the money legally from now on.”

“You have the contract, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And the settlement statement?”

“Yes.”

The lawyer skimmed through the documents and nodded.

“Let’s start with taxes. Profit from assigning a claim is classified as other income. Roughly...”

The lawyer tapped on his calculator.

“You’d be looking at around 27 billion won.”

“Twenty-seven billion?”

My voice rose before I could stop it.

Twenty-seven billion.

In terms of my hourly wage.

‘Six hours and forty-five minutes of my time would disappear in taxes?’

That was ridiculous.

“Is there any legal way to reduce it?”

“There is. Establish a corporation.”

“A corporation?”

“Yes. Corporate tax rates are much lower than individual income tax rates. And business-related expenses can also be deducted.”

The lawyer continued explaining smoothly.

I was only half listening.

‘A corporation.’

It sounded impressive.

Corporate representative.

CEO Choi Hyunwoo.

‘Not bad.’

I liked the sound of it.

“How much could I save?”

“If structured properly, the difference could exceed ten billion won.”

“Then let’s set one up immediately.”

“That’s a faster decision than I expected.”

“My time is expensive.”

The lawyer nodded.

His eyes said, ‘Fair enough.’

“What industry would you like to register under? It depends on what you plan to do.”

“Hmm...”

What kind of company should I make?

What exactly did I do?

‘I open and close gates.’

I obviously couldn’t list that as the business purpose.

“Real estate leasing.”

“Real estate? Do you currently own any property?”

“Not yet.”

“...You can acquire it after incorporation, of course.”

The lawyer began preparing documents.

“What about the company name?”

“The company name?”

“Yes. The name of the corporation.”

“Ah.”

I thought for a moment.

‘Should I just use my own name?’

Choi Hyunwoo Corporation.

‘Hmm...’

Kind of lame.

‘I want something that sounds impressive.’

Then something suddenly came to mind.

Opening and closing gates.

In that case?

“Gateway Company.”

“Gateway Company?”

“Yes.”

“If you use the English name as-is, you’ll need a Korean rendering for registration. Could you decide on that as well?”

“Gateway Company Corporation.”

“...So you’re just using the English words phonetically?”

“Yes.”

The lawyer fell silent for a moment before typing.

He looked like he wanted to say something.

But seemed to hold it back.

It was a two-million-won consultation, after all.

[Gateway Company Corporation]

-CEO: Choi Hyunwoo

-Business Purposes: Real Estate Leasing, Investment, Other Profit-Seeking Businesses

“What about capital?”

“How much do I need?”

“The more you put in, the more credibility the company has, but legally even 100 won is possible.”

“You need credibility just to establish a company?”

“It helps. It’s advantageous when taking out business loans too.”

I doubted I’d ever need a loan.

But how much capital did companies usually start with?

‘No idea.’

I’d never done this before.

Still, if it was a company, I’d need a decent office, employees, and rent.

So...

“Would ten billion won be enough?”

“...Ten billion?”

“Is that too little?”

The lawyer adjusted his glasses again.

“No. That’s more than enough.”

“Then I’ll put in ten billion.”

And just like that.

I became the CEO of a corporation with ten billion won in capital.

* * *

My house.

[Gateway Company Corporation Establishment Complete]

I stared proudly at the notification on my smartphone.

‘I’m a boss now too.’

Gateway Company Corporation.

CEO Choi Hyunwoo.

‘I’m not a fucking unemployed bum anymore.’

Should I get business cards printed later?

‘But I don’t have any employees.’

Without employees, I wasn’t really a boss, just a one-man company.

Wasn’t the owner of a one-man company basically self-employed?

‘Whatever.’

I could hire people once there was work to do.

I launched my game.

Another peaceful day in the game world.

While doing some life-skilling content, the chat suddenly became noisy.

-Hey did you guys see gas prices? wtf

-They broke 4,000 won per liter

-Heard the Tower that appeared in the Middle East wiped out the oil fields?

-Saudi king canceled his press conference apparently

-Seriously? They must be panicking

-Do I need to buy an EV now

-EVs still need electricity and electricity uses oil lol

-Fuck, what am I supposed to do about gas prices

-Is Man City screwed now?

I stared blankly at the chat until my fingers stopped.

‘A Tower appeared in the Middle Eastern oil fields?’

Four thousand won per liter.

That meant fuel prices had doubled.

‘Then...’

A brilliant idea flashed through my mind.

‘What if oil came out of my land?’

Underground.

An oil field deep below, gushing with crude.

What if I opened a gate leading there?

‘Can it search for that?’

Half doubtful, I muttered.

“An F-Rank gate leading to an underground oil deposit.”

[Searching for conditions matching the user’s request...]

‘Oh, it can search.’

My heart began pounding.

[Search complete.]

[Multiple gates matching the conditions have been found.]

This works?

‘And there are multiple ones?’

Jackpot.

“Recommend a decent one.”

[Unable to determine the user’s intent.]

[More specific information is required.]

“Something big enough for Korea to swagger around as an oil-producing nation. But not dangerous, and somewhere oil would be easy to extract.”

[Search complete.]

[Approximately 15 billion barrels of crude oil are buried in the ‘Endless Desert,’ 25th Floor of the Tower of Fate.]

[Warning! The oil-bearing layer is under high pressure. Opening a gate may cause crude oil and gas to flow backward.]

“It’ll flow backward?”

I imagined it for a moment.

Crude oil exploding out with a bang in the middle of my studio.

A black column of oil shooting all the way to the ceiling.

The wallpaper, bed, computer, even Lady Shin Saimdang.

‘...No.’

I could never allow Lady Shin Saimdang to be soaked in oil.

Just imagining the spirit of the Korean people contaminated by crude oil was horrifying.

If I opened the gate underground.

The ground might collapse too.

‘Can’t I just change the location?’

Couldn’t I open it on some empty plot of land?

But then.

‘What if oil starts gushing out in an empty lot?’

That would cause its own problems.

For starters, I had no container to hold the crude oil.

Should I rent a tanker truck?

‘And how do I even sell crude oil?’

I’d need refining facilities.

And distribution channels.

How much would all that cost?

‘This is more complicated than I thought.’

If I messed around carelessly, I might get arrested for environmental contamination.

No, before that, I might suffocate from toxic gas.

‘What about the land?’

What if I bought land under my name where oil was going to come out?

I could buy it under the corporation too.

‘Gateway Company!’

I’d already registered it for real estate leasing, so it fit perfectly.

Buy the land, then add underground resource development to the business purposes.

Perfectly legal.

Probably.

‘But what land should I buy?’

I muttered again.

“Can you tell me where there’s land likely to have lots of oil?”

[Searching for promising undeveloped domestic reserve candidates...]

[Search complete.]

[Promising indications detected in an offshore zone near the East Sea deep-sea gas field.]

[However, due to the characteristics of the seabed zone, maintaining an F-Rank gate is unstable. A D-Rank or higher Gate Ticket is required.]

“I have D-Rank tickets.”

I checked my inventory and saw I still had several D-Rank tickets left.

But.

‘The seabed of the East Sea?’