Chapter 22 : First, indulgence_

When I tilted my head at the sudden question, the masked man typed again.

[Do you happen to be affiliated with or preparing to join a team?]

A team.

Seeing as he mentioned affiliation, he’s probably talking about a pro team. Is this person related to the Soul Frame pro scene?

[No. That’s not the case.]

Simultaneously with my denial, a notification for an external message arrived with a ‘ding’. A message sent from outside the capsule.

[‘Manager Cha’: Chairman. We’ve put people in the industry to find out who owns the Professor account. That’s APK NoSurrender’s sub-account.]

Oh, APK NoSurrender?

He was one of the players listed in Miley’s report.

A player who mainly uses bruiser and tanker-type heroes, I heard. He’s said to be one of the top two in sticking to ranged heroes and disrupting their casting.

It seems NoSurrender was casually playing ranked games to maintain his senses while resting after the ‘Soul Frame World Heroes’ ended and the season was over.

Was he using the Professor on a sub-account for practice, or to leave records of using various heroes here to deceive other teams?

‘Well, seeing as I’ve already caught him, it’s probably for practice.’

More importantly, he is really in a different class. Since he is around a pro player, he can drive a truck at the level of destroying even if he is not a main hero, a bruiser type, but the opposite, the Professor.

‘More importantly, the fact that he’s asking me this means…….’

Is it a recruitment offer?

I pretended to be in deep thought and sent a message to Manager Cha. This is the convenience of a Minder. Since I don’t even have to show the act of waving my hand in the air when typing, no one knows if I secretly do something.

[‘To Manager Cha’: Are there any vacancies in the APK roster right now? Any empty spots?]

[‘Manager Cha’: Please wait a moment, Chairman.]

[‘Miley’: Yes. The sub-dealer position is vacant.]

Mm, it seems Miley replied instead, perhaps she checked the chat while Manager Cha went to look. Miley, you’re fast.

Well, as Miley crammed an enormous amount of Soul Frame-related knowledge into her brain to help me, her answers would naturally be quicker than Manager Cha’s.

[‘Manager Cha’: Butler Mackie answered for me. As the butler said, there is currently no sub-dealer on the APK roster. They released him as soon as this season ended due to a personal life issue. It seems there’s no one immediately available to use right now.]

Really? Is that so…….

I can roughly grasp what kind of picture they are drawing. Since sustained damage is weak, but surprise assassinations and burst nuking are possible, it’s a cute idea to put a Minder in as a sub-dealer.

‘And am I being considered as a candidate?’

Well, that’s obvious.

Since I’m the only one… no, besides me, there’s no one who can handle a Minder, so I’d be the only candidate.

It’s a bit strange that a player is directly making this kind of recruitment offer instead of the APK office, but…….

‘Well, it doesn’t really matter.’

I have no intention of accepting such an offer.

Because an interesting idea has already popped into my head.

[‘To Manager Cha’: Manager Cha. Did you attach a reporter to my broadcast?]

[‘Manager Cha’: Yes. But it’s a bit ambiguous to have them write an article yet. It’s still a small, unknown channel, after all.]

[‘To Manager Cha’: Use it, now.]

[‘Manager Cha’: Yes?]

[‘To Manager Cha’: I’m going to drop something interesting right now, so tell them to get ready to write a good article.]

After typing that, I glanced up.

Still waiting for an answer, the masked man…… no, NoSurrender.

This, being virtual reality, makes it difficult to grasp the opponent’s psychology since I can’t hear physical information like heartbeats. But he’s probably nervous. Knowing that much is enough.

Anyway, he’s going to be really nervous soon.

[For now, I’ll think about the transfer offer.]

I typed something that could be easily misunderstood.

At the same time, I ‘accidentally’ un-privated the friend chat.

Then? Ta-da!

[Huh?]

[Transfer?]

[What, did you just get a pro transfer offer??????]

[Who’s that opponent who’s making a pro offer?]

[What transfer? Is the opponent a pro?]

[?????]

[A pro offer on the second day of broadcasting…… The streamer is a legend……]

[Wow]

The chat room instantly turned into chaos.

At the same time, the opponent was bewildered by my sudden, out-of-the-blue answer. With my fast cognitive acceleration control, I turned the private chat option back on before the opponent could even reply.

Now, what NoSurrender sends won’t appear on the broadcast.

[Huh? No. It’s not something grand like a transfer offer.]

[Uh? Wait a minute?]

[Hey?]

Soon, as if he’d received a call from outside, NoSurrender, who realized what was going on, shouted in panic.

“No, wait a minute, this…….”

[I’m sorry, but today’s broadcast will end here.]

And.

I turned off the broadcast.

***

-Clank!

The sound of hydraulics, which now seems somewhat refreshing.

‘Is this why people listen to ASMR?’

Thinking that, I got up from the virtual machine, and saw Manager Cha rushing over from afar.

“Chairman! Chairmaaaan!”

Manager Cha charged as if to embrace me.

Well, he’d want to hug me.

Didn’t we save some marketing costs with this incident?

Even though I’m pouring money in, cost reduction is still a very important and significant achievement for the employees here who still have a strong company employee mindset.

But, even so.

‘Ugh, he’s really ugly.’

I bought a virtual machine for the office to communicate smoothly with TS Media employees during broadcasts, but seeing that face makes me regret it a little.

“Stop, immediately.”

Fortunately, Miley, who has the same normal aesthetic standards as me, stopped Manager Cha from rushing at me.

“Chairman is drenched in sweat from excessive cognitive acceleration, to the point where his skin is visible. How dare you try to hug him like that? Are you perhaps trying to sneakily fulfill your vile lust on the Chairman?”

Then, with a chilling aura, she mixed in a terrifying story and rebuked him, and Manager Cha trembled in fear.

“N-No! Absolutely not! What are you saying, that’s grounds for arrest under the Child Protection Act!”

“Then step away. About 10 meters.”

“Y-Yes, sir?”

However, unable to withstand Miley’s cold gaze, Manager Cha eventually tried to move 10 meters away from the virtual machine but was blocked by the office wall and ended up trembling in an awkward position. The atmosphere of the TS Media office turning to crap was a bonus.

“……What’s that?”

David, who happened to enter the office, tilted his head at the sight of Manager Cha.

“An appropriate distance from a pervert.”

“I don’t know what he did, but stop bullying him. Don’t you feel sorry for Manager Cha? He’s already being ostracized for helping put the president in jail.”

“……? Isn’t that his own fault?”

With that, the original problem child and the second problem child ended their banter.

Lately, the two problem children have been quiet. Relatively speaking, compared to before. Before, they would growl at each other like beagles that hadn’t been taken for a walk, whenever they met.

‘Well, they must have come to some agreement.’

Or maybe my benevolence has influenced them and made them calm. After all, I tamed the rowdy cultists well, so how could I not reform the two problem children? This is a victory for human reason!

“Here’s the fund management report for this quarter.”

“Let me see.”

I examined the report David handed me.

I’ll read the small and detailed parts later, and check the important asset increase first.

“Hmm. Managed assets increased by $2.3 billion?”

“That’s correct. We made a small profit this time.”

So my total assets are $22.5 billion. Let’s see, the current exchange rate is…… Hmm. A little under 30 trillion won?

“Isn’t this, am I richer than Future Car?”

“That’s actually true. The publicly disclosed assets of the Future Car Group’s chairman are a little under 28 trillion won. Of course, there are undisclosed assets, but even considering those, Chairman, you would be ahead.”

“Oh, ranked 2nd in the business world.”

Of course, I can’t really say I’m 2nd in the business world.

The Future Car chairman is a powerful figure who controls the Future Car Group, and I’m just a cash-rich person. Still, it feels good to have more money than that bald guy.

Thinking that, I raised my head, and David’s lips twitched slightly. Hmm, is that it, David Kim.

“Now, David. Come here.”

“Yes? Yes.”

I was about to pat David’s head as he approached, but then I remembered that this person is not Miley, but a middle-aged man in his 40s with hair loss. So, I patted his shoulder instead of his head.

“Good job, David.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Look forward to this quarter’s bonus.”

“……I understand, Chairman!”

Then, seeing that, Manager Cha grumbled.

“Why am I stuck to the wall while Representative Kim…….”

“If you have time to grumble like that, how about checking the news articles about APK, like Team Leader Lee over there, Manager Cha. Wouldn’t that be a more wholesome activity?”

However, under Miley’s pressure, he shrank again, so it seems Manager Cha’s attribute is rubber.

Well, whether he’s rubber or a rubber man, it doesn’t matter as long as he does his job well.

“Manager Cha.”

“Yes. Chairman.”

“The source you tossed to the reporter, what happened with that?”

I asked, wiping my face and body roughly with the towel Miley handed me. Then, Manager Cha’s eyes gleamed, and he started laughing with his mouth wide open.

“Hahaha! Thanks to Chairman’s acting, it was absolutely perfect! I was wondering if I should give them a little extra, but there was no need! The reporters really took the bait.”

Saying that, Manager Cha had Team Leader Lee hand Miley a tablet. Miley received it with a displeased expression, then politely handed the tablet to me.

Let’s see.

“It seems Soul Frame is indeed a popular game. Eight articles popped up with just this much source.”

“The gaming reporters are all over it, so that’s about right, but it’s a good catch. It didn’t seem like a particularly juicy source, but it seems the recent poor performance of the APK team was a major factor.”

“What about APK’s reaction?”

At that, Manager Cha shrugged.

“We don’t know that either. They probably have a rough idea of the situation? I guarantee it’s not a reaction they like.”

***

“No, Player Baek…….”

NoSurrender, Baek Jihyuk, sighed and avoided the gaze of the team owner who called him. The elderly team owner with white hair tried to say something, then closed his mouth again, and then let out a deep sigh.

“How did you fall for something like that? Sigh.”

Then, the main coach standing next to him muttered.

“Looking at the articles that came up now, it seems some reporters have attached themselves. Looking at the community reaction too…… We won’t be able to get through this quietly. Damn, talk about bad luck.”

“Sigh, sigh. This is really.”

Baek Jihyuk groaned. It feels uncomfortable and guilty to be scolded by an old man.

The team owner probably knows that, which is why he’s doing this.

Contrary to his fairly gentle appearance, the APK team owner was known as a sly fox since his days as a professional gamer who used a keyboard. He’s a professional at tormenting people.

As if to please such a team owner, the coach gritted his teeth and fumed.

“This is a setup by that streamer. Based on Baek’s story and the broadcast replies, it’s 100%. Right after typing that chat, he immediately turned off chat sharing. I checked, and the VOD was also edited at that part?”

“Who doesn’t know that? Geez.”

The team owner sighed again and looked intently at Baek Jihyuk. A sharp gaze poured from his thin eyes. Baek Jihyuk felt his breath catch for a moment.

“What’s the community reaction?”

Then, the coach clicked his tongue.

“As expected…… it’s a mess.”

He sighed and said.

“Well, we weren’t a team that didn’t get criticized, were we?”