Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 181

Reable smirked. His hands were holding something that looked like hazy smoke; Ji-Cheok knew what it was, because he had seen it once before.

It was a soul.

In the aftermath of the ‘battle,’ Reable was already hard at work, interrogating people.

“Yes~ You guessed correctly. They’re really persistent,” Reable said.

“They really are.”

‘SL Chemicals. It’s you again?’

“Hoohoo. Do you really have to ask?”

“You’re right.”

It was almost impossible to have this kind of large-scale military operation in Korea. In other words, it had to be a big company like SL Chemicals to be able to pull off something like this.

“Then, as per our contract, I will be taking these corpses. Mercenaries are evil people who kill others for money.”

“Go ahead. But do remove their faces first.”

“Thank you~ Arigato~ Xiexie~”

‘Well, I guess this takes care of the bodies. You evil Big Pharma… I hope you’ve learned your lesson from this. And I hope the SL Chemicals guys burn in hell~ ????’

* * *

“Wha… FUCK!”

Park Il-Sung looked at the video, dumbfounded. There was a video taken from a distance, and another video taken by the body camera worn by one of the PMC employees. As he saw from these two videos, the operation to neutralize Um Ji-Cheok had ended in complete failure.

The armored vehicles were amped up with hundreds of Arcane Engineering skills, and there were dozens of high-level Hunters for this operation. Each one of them had massive bounties on their heads, and each of their equipment sets was worth hundreds of millions, billions maybe.

Those people and those items had all evaporated into thin air within less than a minute. Hundreds of billions of won had disappeared like smoke.

“Director, we are receiving complaints from the Black Hound.”

The expression of the Strategic Planning Office head, Park Seong-Chan, hardened into a sour grin.

Black Hound, a foreign PMC, was an evil company that did everything from starting wars to assassinations, and consequently, everyone in the company was an evil person. They killed people for money, so it was impossible for them to be good anyway. If anything was profitable, they would do anything, even if it was morally wrong.

Since this operation had lost them hundreds of billions, Black Hound’s reaction was bound to be ferocious.

“Complaints? They’re the ones who didn’t finish the job. Those bastards!”

Park Il-Sung’s face was distorted from anger. Park Seong-Chan carefully continued his report.

“They are claiming that they fell into the trap because we didn’t give them clear information. If we ignore their complaints, they might retaliate later…”

“Let them be. This is not our top priority.”

Park Il-Sung calmed down and rubbed his eyes. As he said, this wasn’t urgent. He knew that Black Hound was going to start assessing whether they could extort more money from SL Chemicals.

The problem was the aftermath of that battle.

“Have other companies connected you yet?” Il-Sung asked.

“No, not yet, sir.”

“Are those fuckers trying to back down or what? Why aren’t they picking up?”

SL Chemicals was not only big in Korea. It had grown into a global conglomerate ranked in the top ten worldwide by forming alliances with foreign pharmaceutical companies. And SL Chemicals was not the only company that had a hand or two in the Um Ji-Cheok removal operation. Other companies on the stock market also participated, and it was a US-based company that had arranged to bring in Black Hound. Those companies also knew that if they left that tacky Likes Potions alone, the hegemony of the potion industry would collapse.

After all, they all knew that Hunters’ skills became stronger as they leveled up. It was still unknown how Um Ji-Cheok leveled up, but if his potion-making skill was upgradable, its output could soon become so large that it would affect the entire world. In overseas countries where medical insurance was not available, many people were starting to look for ways to purchase Um Ji-Cheok’s potions.

There were countless low-income families that were sick and needed potions. In particular, there were rumors that Um Ji-Cheok’s potions were excellent for treatment of spine injuries and chronic pain, some of the most common aftereffects of traffic accidents. That was why many people were trying their best to get their hands on his potions. They even tried to move their families to Korea to have a better chance to obtain the potion.

‘I can’t believe he started to target the treatment of chronic pain after traffic accidents… Does the asshole even know how much that market is worth?!’

Chronic pain forced people to constantly take painkillers, and all those sales of painkillers meant more money for SL Chemicals.

‘Damn it. Does he think he is some kind of righteous activist fighting against the privatization of healthcare?’

Considering the global painkiller market sales, Il-Sung had to prevent such an unfortunate event from happening. And that was why all the companies had joined forces.

“It is likely that they are deliberately delaying contact to buy time, Director.”

Park Seong-Chan reported on the analysis from the Strategic Planning Office.

“So they’re trying to find ways to survive while throwing us under the bus?” Il-Sung said.

“According to our analysis… That is correct, sir.”

The failure of the operation was what had ignited this betrayal. Because they couldn’t kill Um Ji-Cheok this time, they had to wait for at least a few months before they could attack him again. By that time, the Korean potion industry would have completely collapsed. And what would happen if Um Ji-Cheok started to target foreign countries next? Those foreign companies were thinking of ways to secure their profits while Korea collapsed.

“What’s our cost of production?” Il-Sung asked.

“It is estimated to be around three hundred thousand won per potion. We won’t go in the red with just the potion production, but…”

“I know, there are other areas where we put our money into.”

SL Chemicals had to spend their huge profits on other areas such as lobbying, hiring Hunters, investing, and many other activities. However, since the revenue was going to drop significantly, they had to greatly reduce their budget, which in turn would result in decreased influence.

“Ha… Fuck this. I guess there is no other way. Lower our potion price to 480,000 won. And try to squeeze more out of our subcontractors and call our affiliates—”

“Sir! Sir! We have a big problem!”

One of his subordinates rushed in while bursting the door open. Usually, Park Il-Sung and Park Seong-Chan would have scolded him for coming in without knocking, but looking at his frenzied expression, they let him speak.

“There is a fire at the Hwasung Potion Factory!”

“WHAT?!?!”

SL Chemicals’ largest potion manufacturing plant was on fire.

* * *

“Oh wow… We’re making a lot of money…” Ji-Cheok said.

‘How can someone make this much money from short-selling?’

?I think that factory burning was probably the fatal blow.?

‘I think so too. Their stock was already going down because of me. At this rate, the company is going to be delisted or go bankrupt.’

?The potion Industry has a lot of in-house reserves, so I do not think they will go bankrupt. Besides, the recovery potion is not the only focus of SL Chemicals. They have many other products, so I believe they can survive this. However, I think it would be impossible for them to regain their former power.?

‘Hm… You’re right.’

SL Chemicals was one of the top five domestic companies. The amount of cash they had was no joke, so it was impossible for them to go bankrupt from just one incident. Still, Ji-Cheok could keep pushing the air out of the balloon called SL Chemicals. And if he kept doing that, the balloon was bound to shrink in size.

In just a few days, their stocks had recorded a whopping -78%. They were down more than half of the original stock. Conversely, Ji-Cheok’s own stocks had gained as much in the same amount of time.

‘Wow, look at all this money I’m making. And SL Chemicals is almost done.’

“Do you think their stocks are going to fall even more?”

As soon as Ji-Cheok had started selling potions from GodTube, people who had bought put options before him were screaming in happiness on social media. Cheok-Liang showed him the comments.

-I never thought I would buy stocks from his agency… I hope dogshit Jungjin will get screwed! Wait, no no no, never mind, I hope they don’t get screwed.

-Jungjin is such a shitty agency. ^^ But please let their stock go up until I sell them. ???

-I hate Jungjin so much, but I couldn’t help but buy their stocks.

Even though put options were risky, it seemed that there were quite a few fans who had bought the stocks. Fans who had already bought the stocks and fans that were planning to were debating which way was the best to make a profit. However, there was a problem.

“Cheok-Liang. For some reason, fans seem to hate our agency, Jungjin. They’re saying we’re not working hard enough…”

?Yes, Master… I think it is because other agencies advertised a lot during the streaming event, but Jungjin did not put much effort into it.?

‘Is Ji-Han busy right now?’

?And one of our company employees was caught distributing information that should not be seen by fans to social media, ?

‘...What? When did this happen? Did we put out an apology letter for it?’

?Well, they say they are still looking for the culprit, but it is not going smoothly. And on top of that, Jung Ji-Han seems to be out of office.?

‘Hm… I guess he is on a business trip to save the world again. There is a high probability that he is killing monsters or his enemies. But if it’s a company problem, there is really not much I can do.’

Ji-Cheok had a massive share in the company, but it was Ji-Han who was responsible for the management.

?And for the last photo card event, it was discovered that the winner was actually an acquaintance of a company employee, so there was another uproar. I believe that we posted an apology letter for that.?

‘...What a mess.’

?Yes, Master. There are a lot of things happening in the company.?

‘I guess that’s why the comments contain praises as well as curses about our company.’

?In my opinion, I think it would be wise to just take a selfie and post what you are doing.?

‘You mean I should just stick to what I’m doing right now?’

?Yes, Master. I do not think the problems can be solved by saying more things about the matter. Jung Ji-Han has to be here to contain the situation.?

This was very complicated.

-This shitty Jungjin, we can’t even call this company a major company with all that unprofessionalism. You are just holding Umji hostage at this point!

-This company is holding Umji hostage and fighting with his fans. Dogshit company. It makes me want to stop being Umji’s stan.

After thinking about it, Ji-Cheok sent a long message to Ji-Han and uploaded some of the pictures that he had prepared in advance to Nstagram. There were pictures of the World Tree and pictures of the two brothers sharing a cookie that Mu-Cheok had baked. He also posted pictures of Seong Kwang and the sheep he raised.

After a while, Cheok-Liang again showed some comments on social media.

-Ha.. Those pictures are so soothing… Umji!!

-Look at Umji~ He’s killing it in Paju.

-Look at how handsome he is… I hope his good looks keep increasing like their stocks. 乃乃乃

-Should I buy Umji souvenirs instead of the Jungjin stock? I’m being serious.

…The pictures seemed to calm down the public for the time being . Ji-Cheok just hoped that Ji-Han would come back soon and solve the company’s problems.

‘I pray to God of Heaven and Earth, Allah, Jesus, Buddha, Nyarlathotep… Please…!’

After he took care of that, he returned to his original target. He sat under the World Tree and looked at his stocks. His profit almost made him dizzy.

?I think this should be our land in the sand. I think we should start exchanging the stocks for cash. ?

Ji-Cheok agreed with Cheok-Liang, who had somehow become some kind of stock expert. A few moments later, hundreds of billions of won were transferred into his account.

‘Wow! That’s a lot of money! But Cheok-Liang,’

?Yes, Master.?

‘When you sold short, didn’t you say that Ji-Han was also going to do it?’

?He did say that, yes. And Jung Ji-Han is going to try to grab the management rights of SL Chemicals with the profits he earned.?

‘I guess I was wrong. Not only was he killing monsters and enemies, but he was also cutting down companies. Do you think he could go ahead with a hostile takeover?’

?With the fall in their stock price, the value of SL Chemicals has decreased tremendously, so a takeover might be possible with the right actions. Of course, Jung Ji-Han cannot do it by himself. No matter how much it has fallen, it is still a very large company.?

‘If that’s the case, I’ll just have to leave everything to Ji-Han, I’m sure he has things planned out. I just hope I don’t have to see ‘dogshit Jungjin’ in the comments again.’

1. A put option is a type of stock transaction that gives the holder (purchaser of the put option) the right to sell stocks at a specified price on a specified date.