Chapter 59
It was already the case that, in the wake of the Middle East war, the possibility of deploying Awakened as military forces in an emergency had come to the fore.
This meant the Awakened Management Bureau had ample justification to tap the Ministry of National Defense’s budget.
“Let’s do that.”
President Kang Min-guk readily agreed as well.
Of course, the Ministry of National Defense was in an uproar.
“B-But our budget isn’t exactly lavish...”
“Can’t we just put off the next-generation tank procurement by shifting it to next year’s budget, along with a few other items?”
“Mr. President! Procuring next-generation tanks is a matter of utmost importance...”
“Expanding our necromancer forces is even more important.”
The Minister of National Defense clenched his fists, wanting to shut the mouth of the Awakened Management Bureau minister, who was needling him from the side.
“The next-generation tanks won’t run away if we produce them next year, but if we don’t secure the undead now, they’ll go overseas. It’s not as if we can keep getting them. They’re a first-clear reward.”
“I agree. We need to distinguish between what can be delayed and what can’t.”
‘Damn this cabinet full of former Awakened!’
After a brief moment of thought, the Minister of National Defense made up his mind.
If those guys were going to drag the Ministry of National Defense down with them...
then the Ministry of National Defense had no choice but to drag them down, too.
“We have shares!”
At the Minister of National Defense’s shout, President Kang Min-guk tilted his head.
“...Shares? What are you talking about?”
“We may have bundled everything under SG Group for now, but there’s one crucial problem, isn’t there? The owner, Kim Segyun, has an incredibly weak shareholding structure.”
“That’s true.”
The cabinet ministers nodded.
It was something they were worried about, too.
“If the government changes and decides to hand control over to someone else, there’d be nothing we could do to stop it. Even if that doesn’t happen, the danger is still real.”
Kim Segyun’s stake was, at best, about 1% of the whole company.
Even if he was the owner in name and symbol alone, a stake of around 5% would at least provide some stability.
“Why not use this opportunity to increase it? The shares held by the National Pension Service belong to the people’s pension funds, so transferring them might be difficult, but surely we could transfer the shares held by the Development Corporation?”
“Hmm. That’s a good idea, too.”
At those words, Jeong In-hyeon, the Minister of the Awakened Management Bureau, grew flustered.
The Awakened Management Bureau was the ministry that oversaw the Dungeon Development Corporation.
“Mr. President! About that... We should ask Hunter Kim Segyun what he wants first. He might prefer cash.”
“Minister Jeong! What are you saying? Even if he asks for cash, we should be the ones urging him to stabilize his control!”
The cabinet once again nodded along with the Minister of National Defense’s rebuttal.
An exciting cabinet debate, with the tide turning back and forth.
“The dividend income from the Dungeon Development Corporation makes up a large portion of our budget...”
“So our budget is just money you can grab, while the Awakened Management Bureau’s budget is sacred or something?”
“Minister Kwon!”
“Minister Jeong!”
As the mood turned hostile in an instant, the president raised his hand to calm them down.
“Calm down, all of you. Please.”
“Mr. President, this is too much. What kind of behavior is this, raiding another ministry’s budget when there’s money we can use!”
“The shares held by the Dungeon Development Corporation are meant to be held for the long term. We can’t just sell them off like this!”
At this point, the Minister of National Defense prepared his finishing blow.
“But! For the greater good, our ministry can postpone the next-generation tank budget, too.”
The Awakened Management Bureau minister stared at him in surprise, as if asking, What is this guy? Did he take something?
“So the Awakened Management Bureau should make some sacrifices, too.”
“Sacrifices?”
“First, our ministry will buy the shares held by the Dungeon Development Corporation for about half their current market value. Then we can pay Hunter Kim Segyun with that money, can’t we?”
Minister Jeong, who’d thought he could pass the whole burden to the Ministry of National Defense, was beside himself at the prospect of having to split the cost (?) in an instant.
But he had a point.
No matter how they spun it, the defense budget was being cobbled together, and everyone would agree that the Awakened Management Bureau should pay for necromancer-related expenses.
Besides, when the Ministry of National Defense even offered to shoulder half in a magnanimous gesture, public opinion swung in an instant.
“Hmm. That seems reasonable. Minister Jeong, are you still opposed?”
“...No.”
Minister Jeong agreed with a deep sigh.
He thought that, as expected, it was hard to get something for free.
Only then did the Minister of National Defense breathe a sigh of relief, too.
He’d stopped them from robbing him blind.
Since they’d only taken half, a little first aid and bandaging should be enough.
With that thought, the Minister of National Defense looked at the Awakened Management Bureau minister.
Their eyes met, and sparks nearly flew.
After staring at each other for a long while, they simultaneously turned away and snorted.
““Hmph!””
**
“...Shares?”
“Yes. What do you think?”
At Director Cho Hyeong-bin’s words, I glanced at Zephyros, who shrugged.
“Wouldn’t it depend on what valuation you put on the shares?”
“We’d transfer them at a price slightly below market value.”
Well, I was happy to increase my stake, too.
I’d spent my own money and even borrowed more to increase my shares however I could, but even so, I only had 1%.
It was only natural.
They’d brought together every major dungeon development company in South Korea...
Combined, their market cap came to just shy of a quadrillion won.
Nearly twice that of Seonggwang Electronics, previously South Korea’s largest company.
Even 1% of that was 10 trillion won.
It wasn’t a small amount...
But honestly, it was an embarrassing stake for someone called the owner.
I’d kept increasing my shares with revenue coming in from overseas and managed to bring it up to around 1.8%...
But I needed to get it up to 5% for stability.
“We’re fine with that.”
“Yes, then we need to set a price per unit... Actually, we can’t simply pay a fixed amount without knowing how capable they are.”
“That’s true.”
I found that hard to pin down, too.
Since we didn’t know how capable they’d be, we had no idea how much to sell them for.
And once I transferred one, I couldn’t get it back... so testing them wasn’t an option either.
“So I’d like to propose this. We put them up for blind bidding, sell just one of each type, and test their performance.”
“Oh.”
“If their performance falls short of expectations, we’ll lower the final bid price; if it exceeds them, the government will purchase them at the winning bid. After that, we can assign them to suitable recipients.”
Assign them...
They weren’t puppies or kittens...
Calling it an assignment felt strange when we were talking about undead, but it was technically what we’d be doing.
“Sounds good.”
It was a reasonable proposal, so I had no reason to refuse.
As expected of the Kang Min-guk administration.
I really liked it.
**
And so...
A once-in-a-lifetime undead auction was held.
As a bonus, someone I knew called me right away.
─Brother! If you had something that good, you should’ve called me first! I’m on my way! See you in Korea!
A lunatic was coming.
He’d probably win the auction, but there were a few dark horses.
Necromancers were generally rich.
More precisely, it was hard to become a powerful necromancer unless you were rich.
No matter how strong undead were, early-game undead were weak.
Necromancers overcame that weakness with what people called ‘gear.’
If you decked them out in expensive equipment, even an osteoporotic skeleton could become thick-boned. It was only natural.
Undead could equip items.
And so...
Incheon International Airport was in an uproar.
Photos of private jets, each with its own flashy livery, appeared on social media via plane enthusiasts.
─Whoa, isn’t that skull-liveried plane the private jet of American billionaire Daniel Krug?
└Yep. Heard he came for Germ Man’s undead auction?
└I heard he rented out an entire floor of the Rodeo Hotel in Myeong-dong.
└His rival, Elliot Sage, rented out the entire hotel right next door.
─Fuck, what kind of insane money flex is this?
└It’s good for our country, though.
└Apparently the expected economic impact over these few days is in the trillions.
└Seems bigger than the Hunter Expo.
─But Germ Man is the one hosting it, right?
└As expected of KkyuKkyu God.
└Kick the KkyuKkyu cult out. Germ Man does all the work, but Kkyu gets the praise!
└KkyuKkyu!
└KkyuKkyu!
The reactions that had continued for a while...
exploded with the arrival of the final boss.
─Hey, breaking news! Triain’s private jet just took off from Paris!
└Then he’ll be here soon.
└He just took off from Paris. How’s he going to get here soon?
└That’s the one-of-a-kind private jet Triain made with an item he found in a Gate.
└Right. I heard it folds space to travel or something. It can go over Mach 10.
└He’ll probably make it from Paris to Korea in an hour.
It was Triain’s famous private jet, ‘Eclair,’ the one I envied, too.
It meant lightning in French.
It really did fly like lightning.
Still, if I didn’t go greet him, the guy would sulk.
My phone vibrated, and when I checked it...
─Brother, I’m taking off now :)
And right on cue, I got a message.
From here in Gangnam to Incheon Airport, it took roughly an hour...
What, that was about the same time as flying from Paris to Incheon Airport.
I felt a little existential.
So this was the life of a top-tier Hunter.
I headed out immediately and arrived at Incheon Airport, where I heard he had gotten off the plane and was going through immigration.
And shortly after...
A rattling sound came from the VIP exit.
His skeleton attendants followed, carrying a mountain of luggage, while a man draped in luxury brands strode forward, smiling.
“Brother!”
“You’re here?”
“Wow, I’m starting to forget what you look like. Come to France more often!”
“Haha.”
I’d wondered if I’d ever have a reason to go, but this man had come to Korea himself.
The gathered reporters started snapping pictures of Ahmad and me meeting.
Seeing them, Ahmad put an arm around my shoulder playfully and even posed for them.
“What is your relationship with each other!”
“Our relationship? Why even ask! We’re sworn brothers!”
Cheers erupted from every direction.
No, that’s not it.
I tried waving my hands to deny it, but I had a bad feeling the media would soon immortalize me as Ahmad’s sworn brother.
**
I arrived at KINTEX in Ilsan, where the auction was being held, by helicopter with Ahmad.
I’d planned to come by car, but when Ahmad said he’d summon his Bone Dragon, I talked him out of it and arranged a helicopter.
At this point, he was practically a walking bomb.
That walking bomb...
met someone at KINTEX.
“Hah, some Yankee who doesn’t know his place showed up.”
“...Triain.”
It was Daniel Krug, the American billionaire necromancer.
He smirked and said,
“I may be outclassed in ability, but I’m confident I won’t lose when it comes to money.”
“You can say that because you’re prepared to back it up, right?”
“Of course.”
Between their sparks-flying war of nerves, a woman appeared beside me and whispered behind her hand.
“Oh my, how scary. You shouldn’t hang around scary people like that.”
“...Elliot Sage?”
“It’s an honor, Hunter Segyun Kim.”
She, too, was a world-class necromancer and billionaire.
“By the way, you all do remember we’re auctioning off specimens whose abilities haven’t been proven, right?”
“Hmph, do you think I’m an idiot? I’ve already seen the monsters from Saudi Arabia’s Stage 29 Gate. Even in their weakened state, they gave pretty powerful buffs.”
“Even if they’re only half as good, they’re worth bidding a billion euros.”
“...What?”
To the other two, Ahmad’s words sounded like he was saying the bids would definitely reach a billion euros.
A billion euros for a single undead...
The two of them were stunned, but they put on a brave face.
“W-Well, I’ll consider a billion euros the starting price.”
“That’s nothing...!”
I was stunned just listening to them.
The problem was...
Director Cho Hyeong-bin, standing behind us.
Judging by his completely ashen expression... should I say I felt a little sorry for him?
Come on, surely it wouldn’t go over a billion euros?
For just one undead?