12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

I accepted the documents that Vice President Jang brought: one from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the other from the city of Seoul. I turned them over. There were stories like ‘Extended Employment for Youth by Small and Medium Business’ and ‘Youth Unemployment Countermeasures by Seoul City.’

By the time I read all of them, Jang said, “You know, with youth unemployment becoming a problem recently, policies are pouring in.”

I suddenly remembered the last talk I had had with Secretary Seo. What about Min-seo, a junior member of the business startup club? She wanted to meet the boss because she couldn’t find a job. Everyone was in a difficult situation because they didn’t have a job. It seemed to be getting worse and worse, even though it was directed at me.

“If we hire a young man, they will give us benefits… It’s not a bad suggestion: do good work, and get a subsidy. Vice President Jang, what do you think of?”

“I think it’s good, but…”

“But?”

“They are not very many people needed in the company. That’s why I asked the boss.”

I looked back at the report and said, “What do you mean they are not very many people needed in the company?”

“It means we don’t have work for them right now. Maybe it’s just a waste of labor charge. It’s also a problem when training new employees.”

“But it’s a good cause. If we join them, we might be able to appeal to the government, to politicians.”

“Yes, that’s the case, but it’s a matter of the cost.”

I studied it with my chin up. It reminded me of the time when an investigation was conducted by the Financial Supervisory Service. I passed it without much trouble, but if anything was wrong, I might be in danger.

‘Even if it costs… …if I think of this as some kind of investment too, I think it’s not bad. The cost itself isn’t much anyway, I can deal with it myself. It’s worth it if we hire young people and make ourselves some credit, because we have to donate where the jobless are.’

I looked up at Vice President Jang and said, “This is… Let’s do it.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes. Didn’t you say that last time? In order to become rich in Korea, we have to be close to civil servants to a certain extent.”

“Yes, I did.”

‘What he says is true. If we divide the economy into two categories, not like the canonical cohesion, the big axis is the government and the other is the market. They have no choice but to rub together in various fields. In addition, they say that they live on taxes, but because public officials also wield power, businessmen are forced to read their countenance. This will be about buying a favor without giving the politicians and the public officials money directly.’

“… let’s make it hot. Don’t pretend like we’re getting a grant. Let’s be at the top of the list, whether it’s the Ministry of Employment and Labor or the Seoul City Government. So let’s implant a good corporate image for the civil servants.”

“Yes, sir.”

“By the way, is there anything else you need when we add more people?”

“Oh, I think there’s a space problem.”

“Ahh…”

Our office, which was quite spacious when we first came in, had been expanding to a point where it seemed a little messy recently. I said, pointing up with my fingers, “Isn’t it empty upstairs still?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Then we’ll rent there. Would that be enough?”

“We’ll have empty space for a while.”

I just thought about it and said one more thing, “Oh, and just in case, could you ask them how much the sale price of this building is, and if they’re willing to sell it?”

‘Even if this isn’t the case, our company is bound to grow bigger and bigger. It wouldn’t be bad to buy the building itself rather than making a fixed outlay on rent.’

“Yes, sir.” Vice President Jang excused himself and left the room.

After he went out, I glanced down at the report he had brought. If we had ties to the political community, it might be helpful to pressure people such as Lee Won-jae of the Daewon Daily News and Director Tak Joon-gi of the Suyeon Group. I looked at the report with my arms crossed and turned to the monitor.

Come to think of it, now they might start the CBT. I knew the future roughly, but I still wanted to know what the direct evaluation was like. I searched for Fantasy War Ground and looked around the responses from game webzines, game communities, and famous game strippers. As it was a great hit, it was good for the whole.

– It’s refreshing. I’m going to do this for a while.-

– It’s fun. I hope there’s no more lag.-

– As the above says, there is some server lag. I could do it without it. Since we’re in the CBT, this is going to get better, right?-

I turned on the HTS and saw the stock price of Kai Games. The stock that used to play in the +1% range in the morning was around +4% by the time they were with the CBT.

‘Okay, it’s going well.’ Kai Games’ stock price had been rising ever since I had taken over. The reason for this was that even after receiving the volume of first major shareholder, the Chinese company, and third-largest shareholder Tak Joon-ki’s in block deals, I had continued to buy more and more shares until my stake reached sixty percent of the shares, and so the price had risen more than thirty percent since my first purchase.

Of course, it wasn’t a real gain for me, since I used my money to raise the price. By the way, as I kept buying shares, there was a rumor, “The major shareholder of Kai Games knows a great deal of good news to himself without anyone else knowing, and that’s why he continues to buy.” The strange rumor turned around, and the ants joined the buying spree and the stock price continued to rise.

‘It’s nothing, it’s just that I bought it because I knew it was going to be a success… Now that the CBT has started, some of the game’s leading players, who know the game well, must have figured out what the big news the major shareholder knows is: the game is really fun. Game players are all about fun. Watch out for Kai Games and OH Entertainment.’

It was becoming more and more true to say, “Pay attention to OH Entertainment and Kai Games.”

‘The problem is OH Entertainment…’ OH Entertainment was the first stock I had acquired, but it continued to fall even after the acquisition. The drama that was tied up in China still hadn’t unraveled, and with the exception of Oh Hyun-joo and Kim Jun-hyung, no celebrities had been able to achieve good results. Therefore, on the OH Entertainment Stock Bulletin, there were written many swears and complaints directed at Mr. Kwon, our company, and me in various ways.

-Kwon Oh-hyuk, you bald ass, you’re an old man. It’s like his management skills are like his hair numbers.-

-What are these boys, Invictus? Did they take over to pay for their dowry?-

-What is it that Han Sang-hoon is doing with his company?-

Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to do. I was doing the People Search for the entertainers and prospects of the company every day, and giving the orders, “Do this for this guy and that for that guy.” But I usually saw the news in 12 Months After, and gave the orders, so it took longer for the effects to be reflected in the stock price.

‘The Idol Manager 108 airing, which is expected to be a big hit this summer, still has half a year left. The stock price may fall a little further by then. I don’t like that. I want to be more famous.

‘If I say, “This is going up,” it goes up. And if I say, “That’s going up,” that goes up; I am going to be such a huge investor, so that when I hit “Han Sang-hoon” in the People Search, I’ll have a better chance of coming out.

‘Should I buy more shares of this stock then? In fact, whatever happens, the price goes up when someone buys it. My stock goes up when I buy it. So, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. My prophecy of ‘OH Entertainment stocks will rise’ can be realized, by raising the shares by myself.’

‘Can I talk to President Kwon about this?’ As it happened, the board meeting was scheduled for 2:00 p.m. today.

I picked up the phone and called Secretary Seo.

“Yes, boss.”

“Call OH Entertainment and tell to President Kwon that we’ll have lunch together at 1:00 PM, and then we’ll go to the board.”

“Yes, boss.”

———————————

Kwon asked me over the sizzling, boiling sausage stew, Budae Jjigae, “So, you want to buy more shares in our company?”

I looked around for a moment. There was no one around listening. “Yes. Originally, the shares of Do Chan-ki were a little small for a major shareholder. I am trying to increase my stake further in order to stabilize the management and boost the stock price… about ten percent more.”

‘This is a huge good source. If the general public hears it, they can sell their houses and sell their cars to buy the stock. If I had seen the news on future news, “OH Entertainment parent company, Invictus Investment, will increase its stake,” I would have bought it right away. I’ve been trading stocks on the news, but now I will be a subject of creating news like this.’

“Shareholders will like it. Yes, I see, Boss.”

Lifting some cooked ramen, ham, and noodles from the Budae Jjigae, and putting them on my plate, I said, “By the way, how many shares in OH Entertainment do you have now?”

“I have about 2.6 percent.”

It was small. That was what he had left after he handed over OH Entertainment to CEO Do Chan-ki in the old days by taking some shares instead of cash. Of course, it was worth around three million dollars, but it was too small a share for a company-run president.

“Then, I think it`s okay for you to increase your stake before the company begins to buy its shares in earnest.”

“Me too?”

“Yes, as you know, if we sweep ten percent of the market, the stock price will rise smoothly. It’s like breaking news that only you and I know. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to increase your stake now and think you’re getting a bonus. If you buy it, you can say that you’re responsible for management. It’ll be okay to stock up on your annual salary and loans.”

I spoke for him from the bottom of my heart; it was a 100% favor. Moreover, as I believed in him, I had set a pretty high salary for the CEO of a small company, so there was a chance that he had cash and high credit.

Kwon nodded and said, “Yes, I think so.”

But his words were a little weak. I advised him one more time. “Of course it’ll cost you the money you’re saving for education, but make sure you buy it. If I put in an order saying ‘Go!’, Invictus Investment will start the buying in less than a week. You have to buy it before then.”

But then, Kwon said, “Yes… but sir!” I looked at him, and he continued, “I’m single…”

I tried to pick up the ramen with chopsticks, but I was surprised and apologized to him. “Oh, I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”

“Ha-ha, that’s okay. At my age, it’s normal to think I’m married.”

He was about forty years old. I guessed I had a stereotype picture of him. I didn’t say that anymore. I didn’t know how he hadn’t been married yet, but he also had a CEO title and quite a bit of money, so it wouldn’t be difficult to marry. I was a little bit concerned about his baldness, but I was sorry anyway, I rolled my head around to change the topic. Come to think of it, there was something I wanted to ask Kwon. I carefully opened my mouth to what Director Tak Joon-gi said before he left our meeting. “By the way, President Kwon, the CKD where you were at in the previous years…”