Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Spendthrift Necromancer (70)

Family (1)

After obtaining the Skill.

The very first thing he did was.

“It's been a while, Mother.”

Meet the family who had returned to Korea for winter break.

He had promised Chairman Kim they would all have a meal together at least once.

“I've heard a lot about you lately. They say you've been through quite a lot? Are you feeling all right?”

Madam Choi Yeonok smiled warmly as she held his hand.

“Yes. I'm completely healed. Perfectly fine.”

“You've grown so dependable while I wasn't looking, my son.”

Then the man and little girl standing behind Madam Choi stepped forward.

Both were familiar faces to Kim Minwoo.‘Kim Hyungseok, Kim Naye.’Chairman Kim had two sons and one daughter.

Fortunately, there was none of that nonsense about different mothers.

Despite being chairman of Korea's greatest chaebol conglomerate, Chairman Kim had remained devoted to one woman.

Kim Hyungseok, the second child and younger son.

The one who had long been chosen to inherit the Group instead of eldest son Kim Minwoo.

And for good reason. He'd Awakened normally at a young age, never caused any major trouble, and had a good head for studying.

The fact that he'd gone to a famous American university said enough.

Youngest child Kim Naye.

The baby of the family, who had just turned six.

Her defining trait was that she was extremely affectionate.

All three were familiar faces.

Of course they were.

Hadn't he seen them constantly during his six years playing the game?

And now that Kim Minwoo's memories had been fully implanted into him after possession, they practically felt like his real family.

“Oppaaa.”

“Naye's here? It's been a while.”

“Pick me up.”

Naye approached with both arms spread wide, so he scooped her up under the legs.

After bouncing her up and down a few times, she burst into giggles.

Kim Minwoo might have been a complete wastrel, but he'd always adored Naye.

She wasn't someone he could feel inferior to like his younger brother Kim Hyungseok, and she'd always treated him warmly, so there had been no reason to push her away. Their positions in the family were also fairly similar.

Minwoo found her adorable too.

Then.

Chairman Kim crept closer and asked in a wounded tone.

“My daughter, can you not even see your father anymore?”

“Hehe, I see Daddy too.”

“Ahem!”

A smile he couldn't possibly hide spread across Chairman Kim's face.‘One-shot kill.’Well.

Instead of inheriting Chairman Kim's rugged appearance, she'd inherited Madam Choi's beauty.

And she was the youngest child on top of that.

Not finding her adorable would be the abnormal response.

He greeted Hyungseok too.

“America treating you all right?”

“Yeah, I'm fine. Food's a little greasy, but otherwise it's good. More importantly, Hyung, you've been doing ridiculously well lately.”

“Doing well? I've still got a long way to go.”

“Whoa, I just got chills. Dad kept saying you'd changed a lot, but seeing it myself really drives it home.”

Hyungseok looked at him as though staring at an alien.

He'd heard over the phone from their father that his older brother had changed greatly.

But hearing it over the phone and actually seeing and talking to him were completely different experiences.

Kim Minwoo acting humble?

Those two concepts shouldn't coexist.

Yet he really was doing it.

And compared to the way Minwoo used to glare at him like he wanted him half dead, now he spoke as though there were absolutely nothing between them.

Maybe his S-rank Awakening had finally eased his heart?

He definitely had changed a lot.

“Let's go inside before the food gets cold.”

“All right.”

Chairman Kim escorted Madam Choi.

The dining table.

An absurd amount of food had been prepared.

“Why did you make so much? We can't even finish all this.”

“The whole family hasn't gathered together in a long time. Everyone, sit.”

“Food! Food!”

Naye excitedly plopped herself into the seat beside Kim Minwoo.

“Eat plenty, sweetheart.”

“Okay!”

Naye grabbed a mountain of bulgogi and piled it onto her rice.

Among the Kim family, this child had an appetite as impressive as her looks.

“Naye. Mom told you to eat vegetables first, didn't I?”

Madam Choi portioned out several kinds of vegetables and handed them over.

Naye recoiled in horror.

“No! They taste bad! I won't eat them! I'm eating meat! Oppaaa!”

She grabbed Minwoo's forearm tightly beneath the table.

Her grip strength was unexpectedly tremendous.

This wasn't the strength of a six-year-old.‘Did all the meat she's eaten turn into muscle?’The thought genuinely crossed his mind.

Only briefly.

Naye stared at him with eyes overflowing with desperate hope, begging for reinforcements.

Kim Minwoo opened his mouth.

“Mother. It's a special day. Why not let Naye eat as much meat as she wants just for today?”

“……

Yesterday she grilled and ate four whole plates of beef ribs by herself.”

……

Four plates?

He'd known this child's appetite was enormous.‘But it wasn't this bad before, was it?’After a brief tilt of his head.

He looked at Naye.

Four plates of beef ribs?

That's crossing the line.

“Eat your vegetables.”

“Aah! Oppaaa!”

“Hey.”

“…….”

“Just eat a little with the meat. All right?”

“Daddyyy.”

“……

Daddy's sorry.”

Chairman Kim looked away.

Naye accepted the plate of vegetables with the face of someone being handed poison.

Chairman Kim watched her with sympathy, but made no attempt to provide support.

Four plates really was too much no matter how you looked at it.

After watching Naye force down vegetables like a cow chewing fodder for a while, Madam Choi looked toward Chairman Kim and spoke.

“How's the company these days?”

“The company? Hoho, it's doing so well that it's almost a problem. It's all thanks to our Minwoo.”

Chairman Kim answered proudly.

“We've already overtaken Dorim in the appliance market, and the premium versions we released this time are selling like hotcakes. The same goes for the other markets…… and our equipment market share has risen more than 20% over the past month.”

“That makes sense. My friends have been happy lately too. They say Ilseong's stock went up a lot.”

Chairman Kim nodded with a broad grin. After drifting downward for several years under pressure from Dorim, the stock price had finally gained serious momentum lately.

Immediately after news broke that Kim Minwoo had returned alive from the A+-rank Gate, the stock surged a full 8% in a single day.

For a Group the size of Ilseong, a one-day jump like that happened only a few times a year. Between the advertisements Minwoo would release in the future and the countless Gates he would clear, investors were probably pricing in the effects and repercussions.

Foreign buying in particular had gone completely insane. Madam Choi nodded, then looked at Kim Minwoo and asked.

“Minwoo, don't you have any thoughts about working for the company?”

“No. None at all. Give it to Hyungseok here.”

Hyungseok and Madam Choi both stared at him in surprise.

“……

Really? You never used to say that.”

“Being an exceptional Awakened doesn't guarantee I'd be good at running a company. I'm already busy enough focusing on this field. I'll handle Awakening, Hyungseok handles management. Doesn't that fit perfectly?”

There was a reason division of labor existed. Kim Hyungseok was perfectly adequate as a successor.‘It's not like we're enemies either.’Kim Minwoo had been the one who felt inferior to his successful younger brother. Kim Hyungseok had never held any particular grudge against him. So there was no problem with making him successor.

It would simply mean Kim Hyungseok eventually replacing Chairman Kim.

After finishing the meal.

Minwoo entered the study with Chairman Kim and spoke.

“Father.”

“Hmm?”

“These days, a lot of people are practically trying to throw sacks of money at us for the chance to invest in our guild.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. Naturally, I'd prefer giving the equity to Ilseong…… but I have more people depending on me now, and public opinion is watching closely…… so I can't exactly hand out preferential treatment recklessly, can I?”

“R-Right.”

“I need to buy C-rank Skill Books too, and feeding, clothing, and housing our guild members costs money.”

“Of course.”

Chairman Kim nodded.

Still, he couldn't completely hide the pressure.

Because from this point onward, they were talking about real trillions.

Yet refusing to invest made even less sense.

Spendthrift Guild.

A modest guild with only around three members, yet its future potential already reached toward the world stage.

And.‘……

There's a high chance they'll perform well in the Gate Contest too.’His eyes turned serious.

Gates were generally divided into three types.

First, Random Gates.

Their appearance time and location were completely random. Nobody knew when or where they would appear.

The A-rank Gate that had appeared in Gyeonggi Province was one of those.

Second, Hidden Gates.

They existed, but were concealed.

Special Gates inaccessible through normal routes.

And the third and final type was.‘Designated Gates.’The reason they were called designated was simple. The System literally designated and granted the Gates.

Of course, it didn't simply hand them over.

It held an official competition.

One in which nations themselves participated.

Gates were awarded to countries that achieved meaningful results there.

The first major feature of Designated Gates was that their ranks were extremely high.

They started at S-rank.

Korea possessed several S-rank Gates as well. Dragon's Grave, which Sword Immortal had cleared recently, was one example.

Dragon's Grave was a Gate that Sword Immortal and Korea's other top Awakened had won through a contest thirty years ago.

Unfortunately, after the elite Awakened who had once made Korea shine entered semi-retirement, Korea hadn't managed to win a single Designated Gate.

Anyway.

Designated Gates had enormous advantages. The first clear was guaranteed, naturally, and because they were new Gates, they poured out new materials, resources, and mana stones.

The United States, the world's strongest Awakened nation.

America won most of the Designated Gate Contests held once every two years.

They possessed dozens of top-tier Gates alone.

Naturally, American corporations and Awakened monopolized all the resources flowing from those Gates.

Of course, Designated Gates weren't nothing but advantages.

Lots of S-rank Gates?

What if you couldn't clear them within the required period?

Hell began.

The Gates would burst one after another and chaos would descend.

But America was the world's strongest Awakened nation.

They possessed the strength to handle that.

Each S-rank Gate could influence an entire nation's power, so every country fought desperately over the Gate Contests.

Naturally, Korea always tried hard whenever one was held.

The problem was that without enough worthwhile Awakened, they got knocked out in the preliminary rounds every time. The System only granted Gates to countries that placed at least third.

For Korea, that was an impossibly high bar.

But now, a new variable had appeared.

Spendthrift Guild.

Every individual member had a high chance of being called upon by the nation.

Because the Gate Contest allowed everyone from low-level to high-level Awakened to participate.

The System calculated each person's individual contribution and awarded the Gate accordingly.

The Gate was first granted to an organization or individual, who received exclusive usage rights for twenty years.

They could also open the Gate to outsiders during that period.

In return, the Gate owner could claim up to 50% ownership of byproducts and loot obtained inside.

Of course, practically nobody claimed the full 50%.

If they did, no parties would bother entering the Gate.

Around 10% was generally considered the standard.

After twenty years, ownership of the Gate transferred to the nation.

Chairman Kim.

The reason he had invested so boldly in Spendthrift Guild.

And offered such generous conditions.

Wasn't simply because Kim Minwoo was his son.‘Designated Gates.’Chairman Kim was looking at the bigger picture. What if Spendthrift Guild secured even one S-rank Designated Gate?

Its economic value would range from tens of trillions at minimum to hundreds of trillions depending on the Gate.

Naturally, Ilseong, tied to the guild, would instantly rise into an entirely different weight class. The interests at stake were enough to make one's skin crawl.

“You want me to purchase more equity?”

“Yes. If we're dividing the pie anyway, better to keep it in the family.”

Kim Minwoo nodded without hesitation. If he wanted investment, he had to sell equity anyway.

That equity would eventually be used in all sorts of places.

If it was going to be used regardless, naturally it was better for Ilseong to hold it.

A structure where both sides could win.

“……

Very well. I'll convene a Group meeting tomorrow. What price do you want?”

“Three trillion won per 1%. We'll sell up to 20%.”

“……Sixty trillion.”

Far higher than the previous deal of five trillion won for 10%.

But was it expensive?

Not at all.

Especially now that he'd demolished an A+-rank Gate and added Seo Yerim to the guild.

His son had also privately told him that she possessed an SSS-rank Achievement.

One EX-rank and two SSS-ranks.

If a nation like America discovered the guild's true value, what would happen?

It was impossible to imagine how much they'd offer for even 1%.

The guild already looked extraordinary without knowing its true value. If they actually learned what it contained?

They'd probably print dollars just to throw money at it.

Perhaps this was Ilseong's final real opportunity to invest. As time passed, the guild's true value would become known, and every nation would begin swarming it like mad.

Once America entered the game, even Minwoo would find it difficult to reject every investment offer.

The equity would inevitably become mixed.

Ilseong needed to secure its position before then.‘I'll have to persuade the board.’Chairman Kim made up his mind.