Chapter 56: Meeting (3)“You must be crazy, dude. Don"t you remember you and I went to the club just three days ago?”
“Lol. Oh, you"re right.”
“You"re so dumb, man!”
They kept on chatting and laughing over trifling things, but I didn"t join the conversation.
Why? Because I was a good boy? Or because I could not find fault with others? Or because I think all humans are equal? Nope. Absolutely not. There was only one reason why I didn"t join them. It"s because I"m a game addict who has a regular timetable in order to devote as much time as possible to playing games. So, I was only listening to them quietly.
A small room located on one side of the banquet hall on the 19th floor of the Kilton Hotel.
A total of 13 people were there, with four to five men from the four business groups.
Kusan Group Chairman Unki Chung, the oldest of them, said to his Chief Secretary Suman Ham right next to him, “So, are you done confirming it?”
“Yes, sir. All clear. I made sure of no eavesdropping as well as soundproofing in advance. I did it together with the people from Daesung and Myongjin.”
“Good job. The fewer they know, the better,” Chairman Chung replied, nodding to his reply. Then after looking at Daesung Chairman Jonghan Kim and Myongjin Chairman Sangman Hong quickly, he said, “Thank you for accepting my request.”
Since Kusan, Daesung, and Myongjin existed as top business groups for a few decades, they had a strong relations.h.i.+p with each other. So, Chairman Kim and Chairman Hong replied with a smile on their lips, “You"re welcome.”
“I think we should have met one way or another even if we had not met here like this. I think our get-together today is a bit late.”
“Hahaha. Thanks for saying so. Then let me get to the point because you guys are always busy. First of all, what happened on the Wailing Island is a tragedy for all of us, right?”
As soon as Chairman Chung mentioned the Wailing Island, Chairman Kim and Chairman Hong cleared their throats because they fought fiercely over the dominance of the island for years, which resulted in enormous damage for all of them.
“Hmm. Hmm. Well…” said Kim.
“I think so,” Hong chimed in.
“So what about this? Instead of fighting over the island in vain, why don"t we take turns dominating the island month to month? If an outside force attacks to occupy the island, we can unite to defeat their attempt.”
“Are you saying we have to form an alliance now?” Chairman Hong immediately asked.
But Chairman Chung replied with a smile, “Hahaha. Don"t be impatient. If you think about what will happen later, I think it"s good for us to agree first even if we don"t form an alliance right now. Besides, we have had a long business relations.h.i.+p together with our base in South Korea. So, isn"t it better for us to rely on each other rather than foreign groups such as the US, Chinese, or j.a.panese business groups?”
“I agree with that idea. I"m not sure of the benefits of our alliance at this point, but if we fight among ourselves, it will only benefit others. In particular, Mirae and Daeyu will be so happy if we fight. I don"t think we have to do them good by fighting amongst ourselves,” said Kim.
“You bet! That"s what I mean,” Chairman Chung agreed, smacking his knees while listening to him quietly.
They kept talking in that small room for a while, for their activities were supposed to grow too as their power grew more and more, and they felt the need to coordinate because their business interests did not conflict over just the Wailing Island.
While they were up to their ears in the business discussion, there was another group chatting in one corner of the banquet hall.
“Hey, Juyoung, it"s been a while since we met!”
A guy walked up and spoke to me. He was Cholmin Kim, Chairman Kim"s grandson.
He was smart enough for people in top business groups to remember his name.
That"s why he received the greatest spotlight among those my age here.
But I was no exception, for I, a mediocre student, was rumored to have entered Seoul National University (SNU) at the top of my cla.s.s by studying very hard in a couple of years and getting perfect scores in the SAT exam, let alone my ability to speak several foreign languages natively including English and Chinese. My entrance into SNU was a very hot topic among the people of the top business groups because the Myongjin Group"s PR department released very positive articles about it.
“Oh, long time no see,” I replied casually.
Anyway, I have known him for a long time, and we were cla.s.smates in the Business Administration Dept. of SNU anyway.
Kim said, “By the way, I heard the rumors that the reason why you didn"t return to school after you were discharged from the army was because Myongjin wanted to make you grow as soon as possible after finding out the rumors about Revival Legend first. Is that true? And Myongjin pulled strings to help you play Revival Legend even when you were in the army, according to the rumor.”
“Oh my…” I couldn"t help but clear my throat.
Then I replied, “You don"t believe such ridiculous rumors, do you?”
“Well, I don"t know because the rumors about you are so spectacular. I just came to believe the rumors to some extent anyway.”
“…”
I didn"t refute him altogether.
“Anyway, it"s good to see you like this. By the way, you"re playing the game, aren"t you?”
“Well, kind of.”
Kim was asking me if I was playing Revival Legend, so I replied with a nod.
“I see. I think you are definitely playing the game. Well, it has been a year since I took time off school. My grandfather, who was so happy when I entered Seoul National University, told me to quit right away, saying the diploma from Seoul National University would be useless in the future.”
“Maybe…if it actually happened.”
I agreed because the SNU graduate certificate would be useless in such a society.
After confirming my situation, Kim continued, “I"m glad to see you anyway. Hope to see you more often. I like you because you have better judgement than your brother who"s so dumb.”
“Okay, see you later.”
Soon after I parted with Kim, I saw the chairmen and their closest aides filing out of the small room. After that, the meeting disguised as a management meeting ended in an amicable way. It seemed that they emerged from the meeting with good outcomes. The meeting was over at nine thirty in the evening. I moved to my house in Chongdamdong after that.
Back at the house, I went down to my father"s bas.e.m.e.nt study.
“Juyoung, come in.”
I went there with my brother and sister, Chief Secretary Ahn and General Manager Sok who was in charge of the Myongjin Group Revival Legend team.
General Manager Sok led the general review of the day"s meeting, while I and my sister listened to him quietly because we were not present at the meeting. Honestly, there was nothing I had to pay special attention to because most of Sok"s review focused on Myongjin"s continued partners.h.i.+p with Kusan and Daesung. Of course, there was one thing that I recalled while listening. It was about my fight against the eleven Daesung Guild members at the ant caves. But I gave it a pa.s.s because it was too trifling and n.o.body knew it was me.
Sok ended the review by saying that that one day there would be an inevitable fight among Myongjin, Daesung, and Kusan to claim hegemony over Revival Legend, so it was dangerous to trust Daesung and Kusan 100%. He also added that we should pay more attention to Mirae and Daeyu that lagged far behind other top business groups in the gaming world.
And when the meeting ended, everyone was about to leave when my father called me.
“Son, you"re playing the game well?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you need anything else?”
“…”
Anything else? I couldn"t answer my father"s question quickly.