Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Spendthrift Necromancer (71)

Duel (1)‘That's sixty trillion secured.’Sixty trillion won was almost all of Ilseong's excess cash.

Chairman Kim knew the true value of this guild, so he'd do everything possible to persuade the board.

Once the investment came in, Minwoo would hold roughly 70% of the guild and Ilseong around 30%.

Minwoo would take the equipment that dropped from Gates, while Ilseong would probably take new materials and mana stones from within them.

That was what Ilseong had been investing for in the first place.‘Getting more investment from Ilseong will probably be hard after this.’Companies needed time to grow. Sixty trillion was cash Ilseong had accumulated over decades.

Once they spent it all at once, it would take a considerable amount of time to build up the next sum.

Considering their recent growth, it probably wouldn't take decades again, but at minimum it would still be several years.

That was fine.‘I can scatter the remaining shares little by little among other rich parties.’Ilseong held powerful friendly equity.

Shares that would always vote on his side.

The remaining equity, he planned to split appropriately among several countries and wealthy individuals.

That way they couldn't gang up and play games together.

Naturally, not yet.‘I'm nowhere near being valued at my real worth.’Three trillion per 1%.

Even that was a genuine mega-fire-sale price.

If America knew Minwoo's real value, they might offer quadrillions for 100%. Those bastards would print dollars and pour them into his lap if they had to.

They were absurdly obsessed with maintaining the title of the world's strongest Awakened nation.

Give it around a year from now and they'd probably be sweating bullets trying desperately to contact him.‘Though they're probably not that desperate yet.’America?

S-rank Awakened were overflowing there.

Just because someone showed some impressive results in Korea didn't mean America would grab his pants and beg him to accept their investment.

At most, they'd think.

Oh, that guy's pretty impressive?

Korea had an Awakened like that?

That was probably the extent of it right now.

The same applied to the other major Awakened powers.

What if he sought investment from other nations at this exact moment?

They might value 1% slightly higher than Ilseong did.‘But I'd be getting openly fleeced.’Kim Minwoo was a super rookie.

But if one judged him completely coldly, he wasn't yet valued at the same level as an established elite S-rank Awakened.

He was still low-level.

The biggest reason people valued him so highly.

Was because he was showing absurd performance despite that low level. That was why such a huge premium had been attached.

With things like this, negotiating favorable national-level contracts was difficult.

America?

They'd probably stick their noses in the air, offer some money, and order him to obey their commands.

That kind of money was junk food.

Eat it and you'd only get indigestion.

Ilseong's money, on the other hand?

Healthy, wholesome money that filled your stomach properly.‘Need to raise my price higher.’He needed to keep proving that the more levels he gained, the stronger he became to an unstoppable degree.

Then at some point, he needed to make them realize.

Ah, shit. We can't do anything about this guy anymore.

Should've brought him our entire fortune earlier…….

If we don't throw money at him even now…….

Something like that.

Regret, desperation, obsession.

He needed to make them feel all of it.

He looked at Chairman Kim.

“By the way, Father. Can we put Jo Pilwook in prison?”

“Hmm…… now that you've returned alive, it won't be so simple. They're fighting for their lives on this too. They don't want the stigma.”

A guilty verdict would give him a criminal record. Naturally, the public's view of Dorim would worsen.

Their reaction was obvious.

Figures.

Knew it.

An accident? Bullshit.

That kind of cynical response.

Apparently Dorim had begun desperately fighting to prevent that.‘Then getting him locked up will be annoying.’Like Chairman Kim said, if Minwoo had died, they could've tried applying murder charges or something similar, but he'd come back alive. And Dorim was still the second-largest Group, so they'd bring an elite legal team.

“It'll go all the way to the Supreme Court, right?”

“Probably?”

Meaning there was no guarantee they'd actually get him imprisoned, and even if they did, it would take ages.‘Need to use him differently.’Conveniently, one use for Jo Pilwook came to mind. Level 300-range Awakened with an A-rank Achievement.

To summarize.

A newbie crusher.

What if Minwoo crushed him instead?‘Perfect for proving it.’His own strength.

Until now, all people had actually seen were the F-rank Gate record and the first clear of an A-rank Gate.

They merely assumed he'd gone through a Hidden Gate or two.

Even his contribution inside the A+-rank Gate was something they had to believe solely on Seo Yerim's word.

Of course, Sword Phoenix was famously terrible at lying, so people believed her to some extent.‘Still, hearing it and seeing it with your own eyes are completely different.’Jo Pilwook was perfect prey.

Easy to beat without guilt, and ideal for demonstrating Minwoo's power.

And conveniently…….‘It's about time I streamed again.’His subscriber count had exploded to forty million after this Gate clear.

He could advertise.

Call that bastard out.

Turning on a stream wouldn't be bad.* * *A notice posted a few hours earlier.[Going live tonight. Something huge is coming.]

The shamelessly attention-grabbing announcement had viewers waiting all evening.[Wastrel has started a live broadcast.][Viewers: 103,230][Viewers: 302,324][Viewers: 504,453]..

The instant the stream began, viewers flooded in.―What's the huge thing??? What's the huge thing??? What's the huge thing???―Is something actually huge coming? Is something actually huge coming?―First stream in two months, for real? First stream in two months, for real? First stream in two months, for real?―Please stream at least once a week lol Please stream at least once a week lol―Is this Mr. Kim's stream?―Overseas viewers are flooding in now too lolThe viewer count broke one million in an instant as chat flew by in a blur.

“Good to see you. I'm Kim Minwoo. It's been a while, everyone.”―It's Cedric.

He greeted them together with Cedric.

“I said something huge was coming today, right? That's right. We're going big. But…….”

He glanced at the viewer count. It had begun passing five million.

Judging by the steep rise, overseas subscribers were pouring in too.

This should be enough to get started.

“Before the big thing, I have one important announcement.”―Important announcement?―What's up?―I am excited.

“Ilseong has released a lot of new products. Premium versions. They're really quite good.”―I see haha―Very important announcement haha―But we already know, so maybe that's enough…….

“Then shall we review them?”―Ah.―What?

The chat exploded in outrage.

Ignoring all of it, Minwoo and Cedric launched into a passionate advertising performance.

He couldn't stream often.

Normally he was busy clearing Gates, crafting, and doing countless other things.

So when he had an opportunity to squeeze every drop of value out of a stream, he needed to take it.

Around two hours later, he checked the viewer count.

It had actually risen to ten million.―Watched the entire ad again lolol―Think I'm actually getting addicted to these ads lol―Honestly pretty good to watch while eating snacks?―What is that?

“Ten million. Your bodies are very honest, everyone. You had fun, right?”―All the foreigners are completely lost lololol―This is Korea's spicy flavor lol Feeling awake now?―Is this the famous advertisement?―I feel slightly dizzy.―Please, the big thing now…… Please, the big thing now…… Please, the big thing now…….―Haha, please get to the point now.

“Ilseong will also release some new plus items soon. The Required Levels should be one tier higher than last time, around 51 to 100. Please give them plenty of love.”―Magic-grade too?―Damn lol Around 100 means I should buy some too lol―Are the prices as cheap as last time?―Please discount them…… Auction house is too expensive…….

“Discounts? Of course. They'll be discounted along with the previous stock.”―Ilseong is god! Ilseong is god! Ilseong is god! Ilseong is god!―Damn lol At this rate are they gonna start releasing plus items for high-level gear too?―If they sell even those that cheap, Ilseong's gonna go broke lololol―Fucking sweet lol I'm pitching a tent outside the equipment store right now lolHe'd announced the equipment too.

Time to get to the real point.

“About Mr. Jo Pilwook. Looks like you hired quite the legal team? Our side says it'll be difficult to get you into prison.”―Holy shit, something big is coming―Jo Pilwook? Yeah. Heard he's grinding his teeth preparing to counter the lawsuit.―Funny bastard lol He shoved the guy and now he's the one pissed off lol―Dorim covering for him is a problem too lol People say chaebols protect their own lol―Whoa, point that gun somewhere else.―Of course we're not talking about Ilseong ^^―We know Jo Pilwook too. Famous person.

“I don't particularly want this dragging on forever either, so I'll make you a proposal.”

The chat fell silent for a moment.

Then Kim Minwoo stared directly into the camera.

“Pilwook. You're watching, right? Come fight your hyung. You win, I'll drop the lawsuit. But if you lose, you're getting the shit beaten out of you. Deal?”―Daaaaamn lolololol―Isn't the level gap at least double? lol―Conqueror's Haki lol―Now we're fucking talking lololol―Nobody's missing this stream, right? If you are, you've wasted half your life lololol“Come to the Ilseong Training Center. I'll be waiting.”

Kim Minwoo stood.

It didn't matter whether the bastard was watching the stream himself.

With this many viewers, word would spread instantly.

Jo Pilwook.

Could someone like him hear this and stay quiet?

He already had a vicious temper.

And.

Someone like Jo Pilwook was far more likely to blame everyone else than reflect on his own mistakes.

The normal reaction would be to jump out thinking this was perfect.‘Then I'll tear him apart.’And prove it.

His own value.

He stepped outside without ending the stream.

Camera crews hurried after him.

After climbing into his car.

“You guys take one each too.”

He pointed toward the parked sports cars.―Damn; how many cars is that?―Sports-car parade lolSoon, dozens of sports cars tore down the main road.

Before long, a massive building came into view.

Ilseong Training Center.

The largest Awakened training facility in Korea, equipped with everything from specialized training devices to extensive training grounds.

It was even completely free for Awakened above a certain level.

Part of Ilseong's effort to build relationships with high-ranking Awakened.

Kim Minwoo had never visited before.

No matter how advanced the equipment, training there wouldn't raise his stats.

But today was different.

There was no better place to beat Jo Pilwook into shape.

Soon.

Another convoy of sports cars arrived.

And Jo Pilwook stepped out.

“Yo, Pilwook! Guess you've still got some balls between your legs. You actually came.”

“You fucking XX! Since when were we close enough for you to act friendly? Do you have any idea how much shit I've been through because of your fucking slander?”

Jo Pilwook unloaded a refreshing stream of abuse the moment he saw him.

Minwoo shrugged.

Snowy, sitting on his shoulder right now, was probably shrugging too.

“Slander after shoving someone? Did our Pilwook start taking drugs again? Damn, look at your eyes rolling around…….”

“You fucking XX!”

Dorim personnel desperately restrained Jo Pilwook before he could charge.

Millions of people were watching live right now.

Fighting during an official spar would be one thing.

If he caused an incident right here, there would truly be no saving him.

Then.

Jo Pilwook, breathing heavily, glared at Minwoo.

“Fuck, let go! I'm calm now.”

The bodyguards carefully released him.

He stepped closer, poked Minwoo's chest several times with one finger, and spoke.

“Hey, Kim Minwoo. I've been thinking. You don't want some boring fight either, do you?”

“So?”

“Then challenge me to a Duel, you bastard.”

“A Duel?”

“Yeah. A Duel. We only need guarantors. Why? Starting to get scared now?”

There it was.

He'd been waiting for that.

Perfect.

Now the stage was set.

Entirely legally.

To cripple Jo Pilwook.

Kim Minwoo grinned.