Chapter 61
Thus, the extraordinary auction came to an end, with the Guardian Knights going for 150 billion won and the Priests for 2.5 trillion won.
“I’m busy, so I’ll head out first, Brother. Thanks to you, I got something great. Thanks.”
In the end, Ahmad was the winner, but...
Still, getting acquainted with famous necromancers from various countries wasn’t a bad thing.
“Just let me know when you reach my level. There are lots of dungeons I want to run with you.”
“Same here. I’ll be waiting.”
Those were Krug and Sage’s parting words as they returned to their private jets.
It seemed like I’d made a lot of promises to raid dungeons together.
There were also secondary economic benefits, such as several famous necromancers clearing dungeons while they were in Korea.
All that remained now was negotiating with the government.
The price had shot up so much that I wasn’t sure whether negotiations could proceed as planned.
At 2.5 trillion won per unit, selling them all would amount to 50 trillion won.
But the government’s annual budget was around 700 trillion won.
Fifty trillion was a huge sum, nearly equivalent to the entire annual defense budget.
The government’s finances weren’t in bad shape since President Kang Min-guk took office, so there was always the option of a supplementary budget... but that would cause another uproar.
The opposition was already accusing the government of favoring a certain individual... namely me, too much.
And even if it was a reasonable price set by auction, there was no way people wouldn’t complain if tens of trillions of won in government funds went to one person.
“Ah, screw it. They’ll figure it out.”
The minister had looked pretty pleased, though.
Whatever the minister was plotting, the Minister of the Awakened Management Bureau made a call and disappeared for a while.
That was when...
My phone rang, too.
What? Who was it?
This was the secure phone the government had given me, so nobody else could possibly know the number.
When I checked the caller...
Oh, boy. I’d better answer quickly.
“Yes, Mr. President.”
─Congratulations on the successful auction.
“... Yes, thank you.”
He hadn’t called just to congratulate me on the auction.
─When might you have time to stop by the Presidential Office? There’s something I’d like to discuss briefly.
“... Well, I’ve heard you don’t use time because you have it; you make it.”
─It’s nothing urgent, so there’s no need to push yourself. I just have a proposal.
“Yes, it’s no trouble. I don’t have any plans today anyway, so may I come by today?”
─Of course.
“Then I’ll see you shortly.”
The Minister of the Awakened Management Bureau had been smiling, and then the President called me? Was that a coincidence?
When I told Zephyros, he tilted his head, unable to figure it out either.
“...Do you think he’s calling you to ask for a discount?”
“President Kang Min-guk wouldn’t summon someone just to ask them to lower the price.”
“Still, that’s all I can think of.”
“He said it was a proposal... so he must have something to propose. Whether it’s good or bad for us, I don’t know.”
“...You’ll come with me, right?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I still didn’t have enough experience to make decisions like this on my own.
Still, there was nothing to worry about with Zephyros by my side.
**
“Please wait a moment.”
When we arrived at the presidential residence, we had to wait a little, apparently because a meeting was still going on inside.
Finally, the door to the President’s office opened.
Inside, Minister Jeong In-hyeon and Director Cho Hyeong-bin of the Awakened Management Bureau, whom I’d seen at the auction earlier, were also in attendance.
I didn’t see anyone else, so I guess the President had been meeting with them privately.
What exactly were they plotting?
“Ah, come in and have a seat. It’s been a while, Hunter Ryu.”
“It’s been a while, Mr. President.”
Once everyone was seated, the President opened the conversation.
“The reason I called Hunter Kim Segyun here is... I wanted to ask whether you’d be interested in participating in a national project.”
“...A national project?”
Out of the blue?
It was such an unexpected question that I was momentarily dumbfounded, but Zephyros answered smoothly on my behalf.
“I think we’d need to hear what kind of project it is before we can decide.”
“Ah, of course. It was a somewhat hastily put-together idea from Minister Jeong, but it seems quite promising.”
Minister Jeong’s idea...
Was that why the minister had been smiling earlier?
“The price was 2.5 trillion won, wasn’t it? And the high-grade undead can be repaired, too.”
“That’s what I heard.”
I’d seen it with my own eyes, after all.
“Minister Jeong proposed that we acquire that Priest undead and operate a state-run undead repair center.”
“...A state-run undead repair center?”
What? I hadn’t thought of that...
That’s pretty clever.
Zephyros’s eyes widened in surprise, too.
It wasn’t the sort of idea you’d expect from a bureaucrat with a rigid mind.
Perhaps because Minister Jeong had been an Awakened, the minister knew exactly what Hunters wanted.
“To acquire all 19 at the same unit price would cost 47.5 trillion won, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“How about taking 50% of the shares in a state-run undead repair center in exchange for half the payment?”
Hmm, would that work?
While I was considering it, Zephyros spoke up.
“Mr. President. I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but under those terms, there doesn’t seem to be any difference from us running it ourselves.”
Huh? He’s right?
“There is a difference.”
“...Are you referring to risk management?”
“Yes. The government would be taking on the risk first.”
What did he mean?
When I looked confused, Zephyros explained quietly.
“If we run it ourselves, we’d also be responsible for managing the necromancers who receive the undead.”
“Ah.”
Simply put, it’d be a huge problem if someone ran off with an undead worth 2.5 trillion won.
But if we ran the business with the government involved, we’d receive about half the value upfront, and the government would take over the responsibility of managing the necromancers.
But...
What if I could retrieve them?
‘Revise the contents of Imperial Decree. Transfer subordinates to someone else, and allow me to retrieve them at any time after the transfer?’
I muttered it to myself and tried it again.
[Imperial Decree: Temporarily store them in subspace in a recalled state. Transfer the subordinates to another person. At the original owner’s will, the transfer can be canceled and control reclaimed. Reclaiming control may fail depending on the recipient’s control.]
[Decree duration: Permanent (Control 250% applied; duration extended with the targets’ consent)]
There was a failure condition added at the end...
But it wasn’t a problem.
Because my control was practically off the charts.
While even the control of top-ranked necromancers barely exceeded 100%, mine was 250%.
It was absurd.
Anyway, now that I’d confirmed I could retrieve them, the terms had completely changed.
“What if I can retrieve them?”
“...Y-You can retrieve them?”
Minister Jeong In-hyeon’s eyes widened in surprise.
“If that’s actually possible...”
“...Then the whole situation changes.”
President Kang Min-guk picked up where Minister Jeong left off.
“That was the only risk we were concerned about, and the only thing we could offer was to take responsibility for managing the necromancers... But if retrieval is possible, then the entire playing field changes.”
“With that risk resolved, there’s no need to split it 50:50. We’ll buy them outright.”
That fast?
“...So the Awakened Management Bureau wouldn’t really be losing out either.”
It was Zephyros speaking.
I sort of understood.
And when I heard what he said next, I understood completely.
“You’d just be handing over shares that were assets for the Awakened Management Bureau’s profit-making business and converting them into another profitable asset.”
“That’s right. SG Group’s shares have risen considerably in value, so it’s practically a realization of gains.”
SG Group might be worth close to a quadrillion won now, but the Awakened Management Bureau had probably acquired its shares for less than half that.
Some of those shares must have been acquired for less than a tenth of their current value through initial investments and the like.
They’d transfer 47.5 trillion won worth of those shares to us, take the undead, and run a state-run repair center that would guarantee returns exceeding the dividends.
“...The Awakened Management Bureau sure knows how to do business.”
Zephyros’s words perfectly captured how I felt.
Minister Jeong said with a smile,
“You flatter me.”
“Then we’ll take a little time to discuss it. Please give us a moment.”
“Take all the time you need.”
With the President’s permission, Zephyros didn’t even bother stepping out; he spoke right there through his Ansibl Earrings.
─It’s not a bad offer.
─You think so?
─It wouldn’t be bad for us to hold the undead and run a long-term profit-making business ourselves. But the shares will appreciate more than the business would earn. Besides, what we need right now isn’t a long-term profit stream; it’s to increase your stake in the short term.
─That’s true.
This whole thing had happened because my stake in SG Group was too small to begin with.
─At this point, I think it’s fair to call it a win-win for both the government and us. Of course, that depends on whether you really can retrieve the undead.
─I can.
─Then let’s proceed.
Once we reached a conclusion, negotiations proceeded smoothly.
First, the government agreed to buy all the Guardian Knights at 400 billion won apiece.
That alone came to 20 trillion won.
“We’ll use them as bait to lure in necromancers.”
They were undead on the level of Death Knights, after all.
Any necromancer would be unable to resist.
According to Minister Jeong, the government would distribute the Guardian Knights to necromancers in exchange for twenty years of mandatory service at government agencies, then transfer ownership outright at a slightly reduced price once their service was complete.
It would’ve been a policy too risky to implement if I couldn’t retrieve them, but after hearing that I could, Minister Jeong pushed it through like a bulldozer.
Add the 19 Priests worth 47.5 trillion won, and the total came to around 70 trillion won.
“We’ll transfer 10% of the 12.3% stake in SG Group held by the Dungeon Development Corporation.”
At current market value, the shares being transferred were worth 100 trillion won, so they were effectively being handed over at nearly a 30% discount.
It was such an extraordinary decision that even Zephyros was surprised.
“A-Are you sure that’s okay? The opposition...”
“I can put in a few appearances at the parliamentary audit, no big deal.”
“You’ve gotten awfully bold, my friend... Do you think parliamentary audits are a joke?”
Despite President Kang Min-guk chiding the minister, Minister Jeong stood firm.
“SG Group will be reducing its dividends and focusing on securing voting rights through share buybacks for the time being, won’t it?”
That was true.
Under commercial law, treasury shares had no voting rights, but SG Group was a conglomerate.
When subsidiaries bought shares in other subsidiaries, those shares were technically treasury shares, but the subsidiaries could legally exercise voting rights.
Up to 10%.
Because the group had been thrown together in such a hurry, it didn’t even have the 10% cross-held shares that ordinary chaebol affiliates legally maintained.
Since that was the easiest way for an owner with management control to increase their control over a company, each affiliate would have to raise its holdings until the affiliates held 10% of one another’s shares. That meant there would be almost no dividends for a while.
The stock price rising without dividends was practically equivalent to receiving dividends, but for the Dungeon Development Corporation, which held shares for the long term without realizing its gains and focused on dividend income, it wasn’t a very good situation.
Cash coming in steadily from the state-run undead repair center would be better anyway.
President Kang Min-guk and Minister Jeong In-hyeon, who had already figured that out, were smiling brightly.
“I wonder if the Awakened Management Bureau isn’t getting too rich. Hahaha.”
“The more we earn, the more policies we can implement for Hunters, don’t you think?”
And so, a first-of-its-kind...
state-run undead repair center was about to be launched.
And my assets...
Had shot up by 100 trillion won in an instant.
Overnight.