"It will take a few days until the agents come back. You noticed how other people are becoming interested in us."
People were greeting us, and I knew there would be rumors about the Asian couple staying in the Wilson Hotel's penthouse and making big bets in the casinos.
"They were friendly."
Yeonhee was talking about the wealthy crowd who had been sitting next to us. They even tried to invite us to their party.
"We will remain in the hotel until tomorrow."
"That's all right. I had enough fun."
She did not know what went below the glossy exterior of Las Vegas, especially in parties loaded with money. They were primitive and wild to the extreme. However, I had another event in mind, and Yeonhee looked at me sensing my excitement.
"Finally? I need to wash up."
Yeonhee rushed to the bathroom while I thought over the boxes we had earned so far. We had earned thirty Silver Boxes and thirty Gold boxes. I had removed my Earthquake skill and had not added others, as I felt my skill set was enough for the moment. I wanted my skill points to be allotted to skills with the highest potential from now on.
"Status Window."
I saw that most of my stats were nearing D class, and it was time to party.
[You have opened a Silver Box.]
[Your trait Interdiction has increased by 2 points.]
[Interdiction has been raised a level. F - E]
[Interdiction (Trait) Effect: You gain an accomplishment reward when you destroy a dungeon or meet the conditions to destroy a gate. Class: E(0) Reward: 0] (EN: Chapter 76)
I had received this Trait as a reward for the achievement "Buried", for destroying a dungeon for the first time as an Awakened. I kept this Trait despite it being useless at F class because I thought such a Trait could have potential and that I had not known anything about accomplishment rewards in my past life. I knew I had discovered something new about the system and would need to investigate it. I opened other Silver Boxes.
[You have gained an Insignia (Plunder).]
[Will you remove the Insignia?]
[You have gained 2 Stamina Points.]
…
My Speed-up Insignia (EN: Chapter 54..so Insignias can be upgraded. _) and Keenness trait both increased from F to E class and had gained skill points. (EN: Chapter 101)
[You have received 1 Strength point. Your Strength Class has increased from E - D.]
I stopped opening Silver Boxes and changed to Gold Boxes.
[You have opened a Gold Box.]
[You have gained 29 skill points for Night Eyes.] (EN: Chapter 46)
[You have gained 15 Stamina Points.]
[You have gained an item 'Agile Trap Hammer.']
[You have gained 11 skill points for the Man Who Overcame Adversity.]
[You have gained an Insignia (Assassin).]
…
[You have received 31 Agility points. Your Agility Class has increased from E - D.]
[You have received 30 Perception points. Your Perception Class has increased from E - D.]
My stats were now all D class except for Stamina, and the notable thing was that my Perception was now D class. That meant I could see various item effects in numbers now.
"Status Window."
[Name: Sunhoo Na
Stamina: E(85) Strength: D(0) Agility: D(0) Perception: D(0) Accumulated points: 100
Traits (8) Skills(4) Insignias(8) Items(8)…]
I had gotten this far by only going through F class dungeons. Monopoly was amazing, and things were only beginning for me.
"You are right. Even the system cannot digitize life as there are innumerable variables."
"But…?"
"When you go into high-class dungeons, there are monsters with protective barriers."
Yeonhee looked at the ring on her hand that could absorb up to 1000 physical damage.
"The numbers on items are all about protective barriers. We're not really computer game characters that can still fight with 1 HP and die at 0, even if it seems like that sometimes. It is far more complex than that."
"However, if barriers become the norm…"
"Then, things start to resemble computer games even more."
Yeonhee needed to know only up to here, and I did not expand my explanation to fights between Awakened. High-rank hunter fights began after the barriers were nullified, but that was for the future.
I had come back to Korea since I had to take my qualification exams. I arrived two days before the test with gifts for my parents. (EN: Chapters 92, 114)
"I'm at the airport."
-Why didn't you tell me when you landed? I have to prepare a meal. You're coming home now, right? Did you call Father?
"I will right after this call. I'll see you at home."
Yeonhee looked at me with warm eyes, after hearing my side of the call, and I was grateful she did not seem sad. I had returned to Korea after four months abroad and had heard that Korea had overcome the IMF Crisis on the way here. Things had speeded up compared to my past life.
I met Yeonhee again after I took my exams, and she was wearing a skirt.
"Look, I had it made in a shop."
She raised her skirt quite up to show me a dagger sheathed in her thigh.
"Yes, but the view's showing me other things…" (EN: _ )
"Ah!"
I gave her a document I had prepared as Yeonhee smoothed her skirt down.
[Foreign Currency Deposit Certificate (Blank) Payment at Maturity: USD 20,000,000
Period: 1 year. Maturity Date: April 7th, 2001…]
"What is this?"
"Have you heard of something called unregistered bonds, or bearer bonds?"
(EN: A bearer bond is a bond or debt security issued by a business entity such as a corporation or a government. As a bearer instrument, it differs from the more common types of investment securities in that it is unregistered—no records are kept of the owner, or the transactions involving ownership.)
"Is this it?"
"It's for you. This is your pay for 23 out of 25 dungeons, as I had gone solo in two."
"What?"
"Take this to your accounting firm, and they'll explain it to you. Sell this in the market and don't wait a year to pay taxes, pay them right away to avoid trouble. You should do this now."
Yeonhee looked at the document like it was on fire and held it as such.
"It seems criminal…I'm not doing anything bad, right?"
"Don't be afraid of it."
"I mean, the amount…"
"The money's clean. We will be going to Japan in a week…"
That was when my cell phone rang.
Jonathan was banging on his keyboard, as Sunhoo had not answered back when he checked his email. He had sent his driver to Seoul after not being able to contact him for weeks. Jonathan rumpled his hair in irritation and shouted.
"Send Brian up!"
The problem was that things were going too well according to Sunhoo's plans. The Texas Governor was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate. The oil market was steady. The dotcom crash made the FED lower the standard interest.
(EN: The Federal Reserve System, often referred to as the Federal Reserve or simply "the Fed," is the central bank of the United States. It was created by the Congress to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.)
Sunhoo's long-term proposal had been detailed, and his short-term one had listed the firms Jonathan would need to buy shares in. That has not been difficult, but Jonathan's headache came from what Brian was suggesting in order to maximize the long-term profit. Brian came in.
"I recognize the necessity."
"We need to go into banking." It was Brian's job to keep pushing, despite Jonathan's seeming reluctance.
"Is it really necessary?"
"If we lower estimates, we do not need to."
"Don't."
Sunhoo's proposal had been perfect, and it was Jonathan's job to make the best of it.
"If we're interested in the real estate markets, we have to go into banking to make mortgage loan products. You know that."
Brian's expression was dogged as they had been going over the same thing over and over again.
"I will speak frankly. I do not understand why you're so hesitant. We have almost nothing to lose when thinking of the profits we may earn by going into banking."
Brian looked at Jonathan's face and saw something that made him push harder.
"Jonathan, our group has to go into banking."
Brian showed the same report on the planned mortgage products that he had shown in previous meetings. One product branched out to tens of others, and they gathered together to make another product which branched out…
It was magic, and while Brian had not been the sole brain behind this, he had been the one to lead this project.
"Our group has to lead before other groups go in."
"I need to think things over."
Jonathan looked at the report again after Brian went out. The numbers were still alluring, and there would be almost no risk if they stepped back before the real estate bubble burst. He got goosebumps at realizing he was thinking of such things even before they were happening. Jonathan looked at his phone again and called Sunhoo.
-Hello?
Jonathan stood up in reflex and stuttered for a moment before gulping a sip of water.
"When…when are you going to send an answer?"
-Banking?
"Yes!"
-No answer means to wait. It's not been that long since we fought with the government.
Jonathan could not agree to Brian's proposal because he had been warned by the government continuously not to go into banking.
"I know, but I can't let other pigs grab this opportunity."
-Just wait for a little while.
"Until when?"
-When no one can touch us.
"There's more?"
-I can't talk about this over the phone or by email. You will know soon enough, so trust me and wait. What about the short-term items?
"We're buying from those that had fallen the sharpest."
-Right, buy as much as you can. Don't forget I wrote the long-term proposal as a list of things that should be prepared in advance. Focus on the short-term first. If you do well, our group will be called an empire. Try your best.
Jonathan sat back in his chair and thought things over. He now knew that Sunhoo would not be satisfied with grabbing a few markets in North America, and the thought chilled him. Sunhoo was planning to take over the world to Jonathan's eyes. The terrifying thing was that it seemed like a probable future.
