Chapter 281
-I’m not saying to leave it to the goddess’ intelligence, but to leave it to her power. She’s the only one with the power to see into the future.
-Indeed, that’s true.
This was something Choi Yeonseung felt every time he talked to constellations. They… They really didn’t know anything about Earth and humans.
Just like Choi Yeonseung didn’t know anything about an ant’s lifestyle, desires, feelings, and so on, the constellations didn’t know anything about humans.
Thus, there was nothing more absurd than asking constellations about business tactics. In fact, there had been several cases of businesses going down in flames because of constellations.
-Oscar Carter, a B+ hunter, reportedly filed for bankruptcy in court recently, leaving people in shock. He had gained a huge fortune after twenty-six successful raids, but lost everything after investing heavily in a business by order of the Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons...
The constellations heard about various things from their household members. For example, they heard that capitalism was great and tried their hand at business...
However, the results were rarely good.
-In addition, the goddess of balance is now in control of England. It wouldn’t hurt to discuss it together.
-Umm. Yeah, you’re right, but...
Choi Yeonseung was hesitant.
-Isn’t this matter too trivial to call her? She might get annoyed if I contact her for something like this.
-Ah, you have a point.
The goddess of sloth understood what Choi Yeonseung was apprehensive about. Constellations were majestic rulers, and nobody ever called them for trivial matters. If one prayed to a constellation for toilet paper because they had run out, they would be instantly struck by lightning.
-Why don’t you try to make it seem not trivial?
-Alright, I’ll try that.
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ accepts the suggestion!]
[She urges you to quickly show her what the issue is.]
[She says she is going to send Adaquaniel.]
-...
-...
***
“Father, this is an opportunity. Please give me permission!”
“...”
Jacob Parker, the eldest son of the Parker family, spoke firmly, but Alex Parker was silent.
Ever since the gate had opened, the American companies had been fighting fiercely to become the leaders of the new industry. For the Parker family, Dragon Industry was a rival more oppressive than the Chinese or European companies. The latter could be due to a difference in technological advancement, but the Parker family was suppressed even by Dragon Industry.
However, in such a situation, Dragon Hwang had become a hermit due to his injuries, and those from the Parker family couldn’t have received better news. Despite that, Alex Parker didn’t act rashly.
“There has been a lot of damage recently. Starting from the development of artifacts to the raids, we’ve been dropping the ball in all departments. Do you know how much money we had to spend in order to fix Gerrity’s blunder this time?”
“...”
Gilbert Gerrity, the A-grade hunter of the Western Shields, was basically a hunter of the Parker family. A-grade hunters were so valuable that they couldn’t easily be discarded. Because of that, the Parker family had to rectify Gerrity’s mistake by offering a large compensation.
“In addition, the damage is even greater because back then, you boasted that the situation was over when a hunter who didn’t know anything became the CEO of Dragon Artifact.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Jacob lowered his head. After all, it was him who had said such words when Parker Artifact had been preparing their new product. However, it wasn’t just Jacob. Several other executives had said the same thing.
-Dragon Hwang messed up!
-I knew that Dragon Hwang is capricious and can’t control his emotions, but he actually put a hunter who doesn't know anything about business in the CEO position just because they’re close.
Back then, they thought Dragon Hwang was self-destructing… However, much to everyone’s surprise, the artificial artifact released by Dragon Artifact had been well received and sold like hot cake.
Presently, Parker Artifact was fighting for market share with the Chinese artifact company, Yin Nie, which was quite shameful for them.
Shame was one thing, but they had to quickly get back on their feet. They now had to make money from other profitable businesses in order to repair the damage.
“But if we miss the chance now...”
“If you fail, do you plan to hang yourself?”
Jacob flinched at Alex Parker’s harsh words. The latter was the kind of man who would strangle even his own children if they failed.
Jacob had goosebumps when he thought of how Richard, his younger brother, was treated like an outcast just because he had joined the Icarus clan.
“That... No...”
“Take care of Parker Energy. The core is the heart of all businesses. Do you understand? Even if other businesses fail, you can still stand as long as you hold the core in your hands.”
There were many studies going on, and the most extensive one was on core purification. Experts were trying to research a way to extract energy with an efficiency of 99.9999%!
In this kind of industry, even one decimal place could make a huge difference, so they could never compromise on this. No matter how competitive a company was, without a high-purity core, they had nothing. The importance of the core couldn’t be overstated.
‘...’
Jacob broke out in a cold sweat at his father’s words. He still hadn’t mentioned that one of the white dungeons owned by Parker Energy had been stolen. He didn’t dare to mention it now because he didn’t know what would happen to him if he got caught. However, Jacob became more afraid as time passed.
‘I have to somehow find a replacement...’
“There are many people who don’t think well of you. You have to prove your abilities. Don’t do anything in vain.”
“Yes...”
“Mr. Parker! There is good news!” shouted one of the secretaries with an urgent tone.
“??”
Alex Parker frowned as one of the secretaries rushed in and interrupted his conversation with his son.
“What’s so important that you interrupted our conversation?”
Jacob sympathized with the secretary. If it was useless news, then his father would give this secretary hell.
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung has lost his mind! He came up with a ridiculous plan!”
“???”
Both Alex Parker and his son were instantly intrigued by the secretary’s words. What the hell had Choi Yeonseung come up with?
“Look, it says that he plans to raise the animals and plants that are found in dungeons and in the Abyss in state-of-the-art barns and artificial farms on Earth. Isn’t that crazy?”
“Hah...”
Alex Parker sounded incredulous, and Jacob also snorted.
“He’s out of his mind!”
Ever since the gate had opened, various industries had sprung up. Because of monsters, the materials industry had gone through a revolution. There was no law preventing this from happening in the food industry. Despite that, there had been surprisingly little impact on the food industry.
One of the few problems was the meat taken from monsters because it generally wasn’t suitable for consumption. Most types of monster meat were poisonous, hard as steel, downright lethal, and so on. Of course, the meat of some monsters was considered a delicacy that would make most gourmets roll their eyes, but such cases were quite rare.
Some people tried raising monsters as a source of food, but...
‘They all failed.’
It was rather difficult to raise the monsters of the Abyss. Not only did they reproduce, but they also fought with each other until they collapsed or died within the first year.
The plants of the Abyss weren’t easy to deal with either. Some of them had shown surprising effects, but… Growing these plants was many times more difficult than raising animals.
Abyssal plants sucked up the magic power around them, emitted a poisonous gas that contaminated the surrounding area, and some even killed the people who managed the plants. It had been such a huge failure that the parliament had issued a special law because of some clans that had attempted this.
It was natural to be dumbfounded when Choi Yeonseung, the new chairman, suddenly said he would raise animals and plants from the Abyss.
“Father! This is a real opportunity!”
“Be polite in front of others!”
“...Chairman, this really is a great opportunity!”
“He wouldn’t be doing this if he hadn’t thought carefully about it.”
“No! You know that hunters don’t have anything in their heads!”
Jacob refuted his father’s assertion while pounding his chest. Hunters only had strength. They didn’t have the brains to do business.
To Jacob, the current situation seemed obvious. Choi Yeonseung, who had taken Dragon Hwang’s place, had made an unreasonable move in order to assert himself within the company. It was understandable. The senior executives of Dragon Industry were formidable people, so Choi Yeonseung had to do something in order to be acknowledged.
‘But he messed up!’
Jacob decided to take advantage of this opportunity in order to prove himself.
“...Okay. Let me hear your plan.”
“Yes!” said Jacob with a glint in his eyes.
The Parker family also had a company in the food industry, namely Pask Food, the president of which being Jerry Kuber.
“No matter how well Dragon Industry’s companies operate without outside funding, they’ll face significant losses if they attempt something like this and fail. The damage will be even greater if we mobilize the lawmakers and reporters with whom we have ties to go after them when their project fails. In the end, we’ll expose their weaknesses and whatever loopholes they try to use when they look for outside funding! That’s when we’ll hit them the hardest.”
“...”
“Chairman?”
“Alright, give it a try.”
Ultimately, Alex Parker gave his permission. However, Jacob felt strangely uneasy, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.
***
Zhang Xiaobo, the CEO of Dragon Biopharm, spoke with a thrilled expression, “As expected, you thought my proposal was good. I was sure you would agree, Chairman. You have discerning eyes, so you have to admit that the plan is solid. Now, here is the land in China that I’ve been looking at. If you bribe some of the government officials...”
“No. I won’t do it in China.”
Zhang Xiaobo flinched at Choi Yeonseung’s words. Why would he refuse?!
“Where else would you do it except China? Anywhere else, you’d have to bribe even more people.”
“The United Kingdom.”
“Ahh....!”
Zhang Xiaobo nodded with an enlightened expression.
Come to think of it, wasn’t Choi Yeonseung the household member of one of the constellations that occupied the United Kingdom? It made sense for Choi Yeonseung to have this much privilege there.
“I see! Well, I don’t care if we contaminate British soil,” said Zhang Xiaobo with an indifferent voice. This would’ve certainly infuriated any British person.
“No. I don’t intend to ruin their soil. I’m thinking of a more careful approach to this.”
“...?!”
Surprisingly, the goddess of balance chose Zhang Xiaobo’s plan, which stunned everyone in the room. Adaquaniel knew Earth well, and even she was worried.
-The kings and nobles of the United Kingdom might get angry and harass you.
-They aren’t kings and nobles... Ah... Forget it.
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ protests that she merely peeked into the future.]
The goddess had done her best to help, so she turned sullen at everyone’s reaction.
Choi Yeonseung was troubled by the response. What did that future entail?
The goddess of sloth began speculating. -Isn’t it possible that she saw the wrong future?
-No. The goddess of balance wouldn’t make such a mistake.
-You are too soft toward the goddess of balance.
After thinking about it some more, Choi Yeonseung had an epiphany. Come to think of it, he currently had strong warriors under his command.
‘The orcs of my domain!’
The orcs were expelling capitalists from the United Kingdom, demolishing buildings, and securing land to expand the farmland.
If he put the orcs in charge of their project, he could perhaps grow not only Abyssal plants, but also raise monsters there.
“But Hunter Choi Yeonseung, unlike the well-improved plants of Earth, the plants of the Abyss will require a lot of work,” Adaquaniel advised carefully. She knew this because she had planted a flower bed for the goddess. “The orcs are resilient and strong, but you should be careful not to overwork them. I’m sorry for being presumptuous in advising you, but...”
“No. You helped me a lot.’
[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ advises you to stop chatting and move quickly.]
-Wait.
Choi Yeonseung suddenly recalled something.
-Goddess of sloth... Didn’t you say you would find a way to turn the undead into workers?
-...I-I’m working on it. Really…
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