Chapter 43 : If you want to have it, you have to hold it

“……What is that outside?”

David, who had come to the company for a regular report, asked me with a sour face.

I could hear the sound of *thud thud squeak squeak* through the closing door.

It seems he’s still wearing them well.

“What are you referring to?”

“That, that……. Outside, CEO Cha’s shoes.”

“Ah, those.”

I pondered for a moment, then shrugged.

“A penalty?”

“……I don’t know what sin CEO Cha committed, but that’s a penalty I never want to receive.”

“Well, maybe he likes them?”

At that, David wore a subtly troubled expression, but I just shrugged.

Anyway, if he’s satisfied with them, isn’t it his choice to keep wearing them?

It’s not like I told him to wear only those forever.

‘But the fact that he keeps wearing them, well…….’

Could it be that he likes them?

‘Come to think of it, he seems to come to work wearing dress shoes and then changes into those at the office…….’

Maybe I should order a few more and have them available, in case other employees want those shoes too.

I sent a message to Miley to order several pairs of the *thud squeak* shoes in various sizes.

Today, Miley had a meeting with Park & Jeong, so one of the secretarial staff was accompanying me instead.

A female employee wearing sunglasses; I couldn’t tell if she was from the secretarial pool or the security team.

Come to think of it, why are all the secretarial staff women?

I tossed the curious thought to the back of my mind and checked the documents David handed me.

“Hmm. Is this the performance for this quarter?”

“Yes. The profit for this quarter is modest.”

David Kim answered as if he were proud.

In fact, he had reason to be.

“Well, as long as we didn’t lose money during a bad economy, that’s good.

I heard that Europe got hit directly and was smashed this time.”

“We increased the proportion of Korean Won this time, hahaha!”

David Kim’s nose seemed to rise by an inch.

But, this isn’t something to just gloss over.

I lightly crossed my legs and instructed David.

“Then let’s invest in Pachichik’s parent company.

The goal is to take over Pachichik and bring it under our control.”

I had been thinking about acquiring Pachichik for a while.

It has the advantage of being able to directly examine internal indicators without going through other places, and the broadcasting system is outdated, which is a bit inconvenient.

“Pachichik, you say?”

At my words, David blinked, then grinned.

A slightly wicked smile.

Like a mischievous child.

“Hmm, certainly. It would be convenient for managing broadcasts.”

“What’s their current market cap?”

“A little more than the Chairman’s assets, but…….”

David chuckled and made a fist.

“Anyway, the shares are all fragmented, so if we get about 30%, we can grab the board of directors by the collar and shake them.

I understand there’s quite a bit of internal factional fighting…….

With appropriate negotiations, I don’t think it will be too difficult to extract Pachichik.”

Oh?

Is that so.

My eyes narrowed involuntarily.

I uncrossed my arms.

“If we acquire it, will we be able to operate it without difficulty?”

“Well, we’ll have to look into it.

As far as I know, the operating entity is the parent company, but as for the employees, well.

We can just bring them over, can’t we?

Like we’re doing now.”

“That’s true.”

We’re currently working hard to poach talent from all over.

It’s a bit bumpy, but it’ll be fine soon.

“We’ll sever all ties with the Chairman in preparation for the future.

Anyway, it’s not like you intend to use it in a way that violates the ‘rules’…….”

That’s right.

It’s not like me taking over a site and manipulating my viewer count to 99.9 billion would make it real.

That would be a rule violation.

A rule violation.

David Kim bowed his head.

“I will come up with the direction.

That’s my job.

Please wait, Chairman.”

“Good.

I trust you.”

I smiled, and then a thought suddenly occurred to me, and I asked.

“By the way, did you perhaps tell CEO Cha that he had to kneel when apologizing, or something like that?”

“……I’m not sure.”

“Hmm.”

His heart says otherwise, but okay.

“Well, I understand.

You may go.”

I waved my hand and thought to myself.

‘Liar, David Kim.’

Minus ten points.

*

*

*

Summer has gradually started, but I don’t really feel the heat.

It’s probably because I keep the air conditioner running at home, in the car on the way to work, at the office, and even inside the virtual machine.

Well, I have no complaints since it’s nice and cool.

I’ll be running the heater diligently in the winter too.

But it seems others aren’t so fortunate.

[[MintChocoUnderprivileged has sponsored 1,000 won!]]

[[I’m so hot I’m dying but I can’t turn on the AC because the electricity bill is too high;; I guess global warming is real]]

I was startled by the sponsorship notification that popped up while I was hosting a communication broadcast about global warming.

Oh my!

“Ah……. An underprivileged person who can’t turn on the air conditioner because the electricity bill is too high.

That’s so unfortunate.”

There was a pitiful person among the viewers!

Not being able to turn on the air conditioner because they don’t have money to pay the electricity bill.

I also had a time when I was an orphan when I was afraid of the electricity bill, so I hesitated to use not only the air conditioner but also the fan.

How could I use a fan when I didn’t even have enough money for rice?

How could I use something like an electricity bill when I was barely surviving on rice provided by the country?

I even bought a used smartphone with the remaining money after using the subsidy for other things.

It was a time that brought tears to my eyes.

A viewer with such a story.

I naturally wanted to empathize.

“That’s a really unfortunate story.

But…….”

If only that were true.

I displayed the angry bear emoticon.

“How do you have money to sponsor?”

[[MintChocoUnderprivileged has sponsored 1,000 won!]]

[[No, I can afford 2000 won]]

“A truly underprivileged person who can’t turn on the air conditioner because they’re worried about the electricity bill wouldn’t waste 2,000 won like this.”

It’s common sense!

2,000 won?

‘2,000 won is too much money.’

If you save that ten times, you can buy 10 kilograms of rice.

[[Lol]]

[[Someone who can throw 2000 won at a broadcast can definitely afford to turn on the AC lolololol]]

[[It’s not like it’s the old days when the progressive tax was crazy lololol underprivileged]]

[[Must have a 100-pyeong house lol]]

“So…….”

You must pay the price.

“I’ll spin the penalty roulette.”

Then, the chat immediately started scrolling up.

[[Hey teacher, it’s not a penalty roulette, it’s a purge roulette]]

[[Pur]]

[[Pur]]

[[Call it by its proper name]]

[[Ge]]

[[It’s a name chosen by vote!!!]]

It’s a protest chat saying I called the name wrong.

I was reluctant, but they were right, so I nodded.

“Ah. Right. The ‘purge’ roulette.”

It’s a system that started recently on the broadcast.

‘Kawasaki Shigure, was it?’

Anyway, it was suggested by a new Japanese recruit who recently joined.

It’s not enough to be systematically sanctioned, but it’s an action to pick out one obnoxious viewer and publicly punish them to make the communication broadcast smoother, while also strengthening my personal character, blah blah blah…….

Well, that’s it.

The problem is the character that is applied and strengthened…… there’s a bit of a problem.

TS Media likes it, but I don’t particularly like the character.

[[MintChocoUnderprivileged has sponsored 1,000 won!]]

[[Oh please]]

As I turn on the roulette, the target of the punishment cries out in injustice.

No one will believe you when you say that while throwing a thousand won punch.

“Now, this is a roulette wheel with no manipulation.”

[[But SeongWon, why are you saying this line every time you turn on the roulette lately?

I don’t really get it]]

[[She must have done something to the roulette before lolololol]]

[[Anyway, no manipulation]]

[[50% seems like manipulation;;]]

[[If it’s not manipulation, that’s even more of a problem]]

There are four punishment locations on the roulette.

[Gulag]

[Aoji]

[A/S Center]

[Bear-topia]

Among those four, the only place one can survive is Bear-topia.

The others all have chat bans.

It’s short, though.

I spun the roulette vigorously.

Then, the spinning roulette soon pointed to one spot.

[Bear-topia]

He survived this.

“Hmm, confirmed.

Return to Bear-topia.”

[[Hey, welcome back]]

[[He survived this]]

[[Too bad]]

[[What a shame]]

[[Congratulations on returning to Bear-topia]]

[[Lol]]

[[MintChocoUnderprivileged has sponsored 1,000 won!]]

[[Phew~]]

For reference, Bear-topia is just the name of the chat room.

The influence of the Bear-Thumbs-Up group is now spreading to the name of the chat room.

The whole world is becoming a bear.

‘If it had been decided as Chungcheong-ja……!’

I wouldn’t have had to see this!

I’m angry, but there’s nothing I can do.

I have no choice but to accept it.

This is all because I wore a bear costume.

‘If I had chosen a different costume…….’

No, I would have chosen this because it looked the best at the time.

Regretting it is like smearing my own face.

It would be better to get out of the bear quickly.

……Well, I’ve already finished talking with CEO Cha.

“Come to think of it.

I’ve found something I want lately?

I think I can get it soon.

Should I get it?”

[[What what]]

[[I can already predict what you’re going to say lolololol]]

[[It’s so obvious]]

[[The way you’re changing the subject, it’s obviously something strange lol]]

“It’s not something strange.

It’s almost time to enter The Hundred, right?

I think if I win just one or two more games, I’ll be in the top 100.”

[[That’s right]]

[[Are you almost in the top 100?]]

[[Yeah, there’s a summary post on the community]]

[[Looking at the high-ranker ratings in North America and South China, it’s within reach]]

I shrugged and laughed.

“But, it’s a shame to just reach 100 and stop, isn’t it?

It’s not like I’m just dipping my toes in.

I’m a sauce-all-over person to begin with.”

[[???]]

[[As expected of the new king god general soul genius lol]]

[[Sauce-all-over is a bit much;;;;;]]

[[SeongWon/Controversy/Sauce-all-over declaration]]

[[Lololol]]

“At the very least, I have to go to number one.”

[[?????]]

[[This is a real /controversy lololololol]]

[[What do you mean number one lololol]]

[[Real controversy dddd]]

[[Why is she suddenly like this, is she sick?]]

[[SeongWon, if you’re sick, you have to go to the hospital, the hospital is not a respawn point dddd]]

The chat exploded as soon as I declared my intention to go for number one.

I could read it all, but I doubt the average person could.

It’s not rising at an ordinary speed.

The fire has been properly lit, so it’s time to pour some oil.

“When I reach number one, then…….”

I tapped the bear costume.

“I’ll take off this stuffy thing and broadcast.”

[[Face reveal dddd]]

[[Ah lolol so you’re saying you won’t reveal your face]]

[[Oh, the curveball is crazy lololol]]

[[Lololololololol]]

[[Ah lol, saying you’ll never reveal your face so don’t be curious lololol, saying you’ll show it when you reach number one lololol]]

[[Face reveal after controversy dddd]]

Of course, it seems like the oil put out the fire a bit…….

‘I should really start climbing seriously.’

Things will probably be different starting tomorrow.