Chapter 451
Tae-Sung went to spend time with his family after logging out from the game.
“I’m enjoying such luxuries thanks to you, but I haven’t really done anything for you as your mother...”
“What are you talking about, Mom?!”
“Sniff... Sniff...”
Tae-Sung’s mother cried tears of joy at her son’s success.
She cried tears of joy, as Tae-Sung had purchased a two-hundred-square meter duplex apartment unit and a twelve-story building for his mom.
Others might think she was crying tears of joy because of the value of his gifts, but that was not the case at all. They were financially suffering just a year ago, and she knew her son was going through a rough patch at that time.
However, seeing him get back on his feet and achieve all of this in just a year brought tears to her eyes.
‘Then again... It’s sort of thanks to Cheon Woo-Jin that I managed to earn this much money,’ Tae-Sung thought. Accepting Cheon Woo-Jin’s offer at that time was indeed a turning point in his life.
“You should grab the opportunity while it’s present. And it’s the same here in the game and in reality. The one who owns some land will always be better off than others. Do you really think that the saying: landowner is above the creator exists for no reason? Owning land will automatically make you reap tremendous profits. Lands don’t lie. You want to become rich, right? Grab the opportunity while it’s up for grabs.”
These were Cheon Woo-Jin's words as he tried to convince Tae-Sung to win the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament just a year ago.
Thanks to his advice, Tae-Sung became the first king among Adventurers, and he was able to rule over a small kingdom, which significantly boosted his income.
If an analogy were made, then the other Adventurers were busy foraging fruit and manually squeezing them to make juice while Tae-Sung was running a large plantation with workers doing the work for him.
In other words, the profit Tae-Sung was reaping from running a kingdom, which was basically a company, was far greater than what a normal Adventurer could earn from farming monsters.
On top of that, Tae-Sung’s luck played a huge role in opening numerous opportunities for him, and he was able to amass wealth thanks to it despite his kingdom being a weak and tiny one.
There were two sayings Tae-Sung absolutely agreed with, and these were: "it is better to be the tail of a dragon than to be the head of a snake, and a fish must swim in deeper waters to grow bigger."
Well, Tae-Sung sort of disagreed with the first saying at least, but he could not deny the accuracy of the second saying. He had personally seen his wealth multiply exponentially after he started playing with the big boys.
A good comparison would be if someone ran a successful business in South Korea versus in the United States, which one would earn more money? There was no need to answer such an obvious question.
‘Hmm... Do I have to give a gift to that jerk, Cheon Woo-Jin? But he has more money than me. What can I even get him...?’ Tae-Sung pondered for a while, but he decided to forget about it. Then, he turned to his sister and asked, “How are you these days?”
“Everything’s fine. I can study without any worries these days; thank you, oppa,” Tae-Hee replied. She was a kind-hearted kid who studied hard and was often at the top of her class. In fact, her grades were so good that she was studying to become a doctor right now.
“You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. Focus on your studies and don’t worry about money, okay?”
“Okay!”
Then, Tae-Sung added, “Also, don’t even think about going anywhere near games, okay? Never, ever, ever play games!”
“H-Huh?”
“No questions asked! Just don’t!”
Tae-Sung was against Tae-Hee even thinking of becoming a gamer despite it being the hottest job in recent times.
Times had already changed, and gamers were now earning tens of billions of won annually, and society was starting to look at games in a new light, too. Gaming was now considered a kind of sport, too.
However, Tae-Sung did not want Tae-Hee to become a gamer.
Why?
Because he knew very well the consequences of becoming a gamer. Gamers were often unhealthy due to lack of exercise and malnutrition. The majority of gamers also had a non-existent social life, and there was also the mental health decline from being addicted to the game and a variety of other reasons.
Tae-Sung did not want Tae-Hee to experience what he had experienced in his journey as a gamer. Of course, he was fine if she wanted to play a game solely to enjoy it, but he would vehemently oppose it if she tried to become a gamer for money and fame.
“Tsk... You’re a gamer yourself...”
“Don’t do it if I said so!”
“You don’t have to worry. My dream is to become a good doctor, not a gamer.”
“Good.”
Tae-Sung was satisfied by Tae-Hee’s response. It did not matter if she wanted to become a doctor, judge, lawyer, or any other occupation as long as she didn't become a gamer.
Tae-Sung was prepared to give her anything and everything she needed to achieve her dreams.
‘Ah... This is happiness,’ Tae-Sung thought with a smile. His success brought about happiness to his family, and the fact indeed put a smile on his lips.
***
Tae-Sung finished eating dinner with his family, and he hopped into his Mercedes Benz S-Class Maybach, which was capable of self-driving.
‘Ah, Mercedes Benz is really the most comfortable car out there,’ he thought while enjoying the comfortable leather seat on the way to Ma Dong-Po’s office.
“Huh? You should’ve told me that you’re coming, Tae-Sung!”
Ma Dong-Po welcomed Tae-Sung warmly despite the latter's late-night visit.
‘This piece of trash...’ Tae-Sung despised the loan shark.
Ma Dong-Po was the most irredeemable trash in a pile of trash. He was prepared to work in cahoots with anyone as long as he would profit from it, and he would stab someone in the back if he stood to gain something from it.
Most importantly, Ma Dong-Po was the loan shark who had plunged Tae-Sung into despair at one point.
‘I’m going to send you to hell with my own two hands, so just you wait...’ Tae-Sung swore inside but did not forget to smile on the outside.
“I’m not an esteemed guest, so don’t worry about it,” Tae-Sung said with a shrug.
“Still~ I should prepare a warm welcome for you~” Ma Dong-Po replied while preparing a cup of coffee made with a cheap coffee mix.
‘This fucking miser!’ Tae-Sung cursed the loan shark for serving cheap coffee mix to his guest even though he was making a lot of money. Then, he composed himself and asked, “How are things these days?”
“We’re in a recession,” Ma Dong-Po bemoaned. Then, he grimaced and continued, “The banks have started loaning money to gamers, too, which dealt a huge blow to my business.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, so I was thinking... Can you help me out a bit, Tae-Sung?”
Ma Dong-Po was hinting at the exact same partnership he used to have with Chae Hyung-Seok, which was to drive gamers into a corner and force them to take out loans from Ma Dong-Po.
Tae-Sung shrugged to show he understood what he was trying to say and replied, “Ah, that one? I’m making preparations for it, but I don’t have enough people I can trust. I’ll call you soon about it, so don’t rush me.”
“Okay~ Tae-Sung~ Hahaha!” Ma Dong-Po replied with a burst of laughter and sheepishly grinned after hearing that Tae-Sung was preparing to con people.
“Then, what brings you here? I doubt you’re here to borrow money...?”
Tae-Sung narrowed his eyes and said, “I was curious about what Chae Hyung-Seok is doing these days. Do you know what he's been up to?”
“Ah, Hyung-Seok?”
“Don’t think about lying to me, and I hope you only tell me the truth.”
Ma Dong-Po waved his hands and replied, “Of course! Why would I lie to you, Tae-Sung? In fact, I was about to make a report as I’ve noticed something odd these days.”
“Something odd?”
“Well, Hyung-Seok has...” Ma Dong-Po proceeded to explain the updates he had on Chae Hyung-Seok.
“What? He’s repaying his loan? Are you sure it’s the principal and not the interest?”
“Yes, I’m sure of it.”
“Hmm...”
“I was planning to take one of his kidneys and corneas, but he appeared out of nowhere and started paying his dues. I couldn't extract his organs because of that. Tsk, anyway, I can’t do anything against him as he’s diligently repaying his debt.”
Tae-Sung icily smirked and said, “No wonder something was fishy. I guess he’s been secretly making money from the game.”
“I think so, too. I mean, how else can he come up with such a sum of money if not from the game?” Ma Dong-Po added.
“You’re right,” Tae-Sung nodded in agreement. Then, he thought, ‘My beloved Hyung-Seok has been hiding like a rat and playing the game... I guess that means he’s plotting something to get revenge against me.’
Tae-Sung came to check just in case, and it turned out his suspicion was correct. There was indeed something fishy about Chae Hyung-Seok these days.
“Alright,” Tae-Sung stood up from his seat after getting the information he needed.
“Huh? You’re already going, Tae-Sung? Why don’t we go for a round of karaoke? I’ve asked them to prepare the pretty ladies for us.”
“I’ll call you.”
“...”
“Our partnership will start soon, so wait for it.”
“O-Okay...”
“I’m going,” Tae-Sung said as he left the office and hopped into his Mercedes Benz S-Class Maybach. Then, he retched, “Bleurgh! Damn it... Why do I have to mix words with that filthy bastard?”
Unfortunately, he had no choice but to play along with Ma Dong-Po for now. He was the best way to keep an eye on Chae Hyung-Seok, so it was still too early to send him to jail.
‘Let’s be patient. We can lock him up once we finish using him...’ Tae-Sung grimaced and gritted his teeth. Then, he suddenly thought of another person who had been out of touch recently.
‘But what’s he doing these days? I can’t get a hold of him...’ Tae-Sung grumbled while thinking of Cheon Woo-Jin. Then, he tried calling Cheon Woo-Jin, but the latter did not pick up the call.
‘Is he still hiding from me?’
Tae-Sung decided to leave a message saying he was not going to retaliate for conning him last time before driving home.
Well, it was more like the autopilot was the one driving him home.
***
Tae-Sung turned on his VR capsule as soon as he got home and connected to BNW.
‘I’m going to sleep with Brunhilde tonight~’ he planned to sleep inside the game tonight.
[Proatine Kingdom: Royal Palace]
Tae-Sung descended upon the Nürberg Continent as the Adventurer Siegfried, King of Proatine.
The first thing he did as soon as he descended was to go look for Brunhilde and Verdandi.
“Do you know where the queen and princess are?” Siegfried asked a passing maid.
“I believe they are at Your Majesty’s treasure vault,” the maid replied.
Siegfried hurriedly headed to the treasure vault and...
“W-What the hell is that?!” Siegfried exclaimed after being greeted by a strange sight.
“Goo! Goo! Fwooo!”
The reason was that his daughter, Verdandi, was playing with a strange creature the size of a chick. The creature was small, but there was something mysterious about it.
The creature had a slender body with four wings like that of a dragonfly. Its eyes shimmered in a gold light, and a green aura flowed throughout its slender body.
“Ah! Welcome back, my love,” Brunhilde greeted him.
“Honey! W-What’s that thing? Did it hatch from that egg by any chance? You know, that big egg? But it’s too small for something that came out from such a big egg,” Siegfried asked while pointing at the eggshells on the floor.
“I found that to strange, too, but I witnessed it with my own eyes. That small creature hatched from that egg, and it seemed to have imprinted on our beloved daughter as soon as it hatched,” Brunhilde replied.
“I-Imprinted?”
“A few creatures tend to imprint on the first person they see when they hatch, and they will treat them as their parent or their forever companion.”
“Haha...” Siegfried laughed in disbelief.
‘What in the world is that thing...?’ Siegfried could not help but wonder, so he flashed his Rune of Insight at the small creature.
[Fairy Dragon]
[One of the creatures mentioned in the fabled Cryptozoology.]
[It is the smallest creature in the dragon race, but it is considered the rarest one.]
[Its size will not change throughout its life, and its magic prowess is equivalent to the Gold Dragon itself.]
[It is unable to polymorph into a human, but it is capable of transforming into a small fairy.]
[Type: Neutral Creature]
[Race: Dragon]
[Level: 200]
[Gender: ♀ ]
[Note: Those impure cannot communicate with the Fairy Dragon.]
“A-A Fairy Dragon?!” Siegfried was shocked.
Wooooong!
Siegfried's shock was shortlived, as the mythical creature shot out a beam of golden light that enveloped Verdandi.
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