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102. LC Group
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Chairman Ma Dae-cheol was forcing himself to hide his surprise.
Because the person with ultimate management control was far younger than he’d expected.
‘At that age, he holds 51% of the shares?’
Didn’t that mean he possessed at least 280 billion won?
“You’re said to hold a 51% stake in this company— is that true?”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“If you don’t mind, could you tell me which company’s son you are?”
Judging by the wealth, it seemed he’d assumed Ryu Min was a chaebol like Ma Kyung-rok.
Ryu Min shook his head.
“I don’t have parents. And my background is insignificant.”
“……”
“The reason I was able to gather that much money is simply because I was lucky. By good fortune, I was able to gain sudden wealth.”
“And then you put all that money into my son’s company?”
“Because I was confident.”
“Confident that if you change industries, it’ll grow dramatically?”
“Yes.”
“……”
His expression didn’t change, but Ma Dae-cheol was repeatedly shocked inside.
‘He really is no ordinary young man.’
Even while facing him, there was no wavering in his eyes and no tremor in his voice.
What’s more, he had ability.
He said it was luck, but most people let luck slip away even when it comes to them.
That’s why people say luck is also skill.
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty this year.”
It matched his appearance, but the attitude he was showing did not.
‘When my son was twenty, did he have this kind of eye and nerve?’
Ma Dae-cheol could only shake his head.
His children were impressive, but they couldn’t compare to this young man.
“So you’re saying it’s certain you’re the one who proposed this business item.”
“It’s true that I proposed it. But I only tossed out the source—most of the detailed system here is CEO Ma’s work.”
“Kyung-rok did?”
When Ryu Min pushed the credit toward him, Ma Kyung-rok was inwardly surprised.
It was a statement he hadn’t expected at all.
“To be honest, what I did wasn’t much. CEO Ma designed the concrete system, devised multiple business items, and operated it all. I only handed over the skeleton; the one who stayed up all night putting the frame and flesh on it was CEO Ma.”
“Is that true?”
“Ah… yes.”
In truth, Ryu Min’s contributions were in there too, but it wasn’t a complete lie.
Back when they were founding it, ideas had bubbled up, and Ma Kyung-rok would talk with Ryu Min about this and that regarding items.
At the time, Ryu Min’s advice helped quite a lot, but…
‘He’s crediting all of that to me.’
If it was the Chairman of Ohsung Group, it would’ve made sense to try to look good—yet Ryu Min was lifting Ma Kyung-rok up instead.
But there was no way Ma Dae-cheol, with his years of experience, wouldn’t notice that.
‘Hmm. A young man who knows how to praise others—and he’s not even greedy?’
He was truly a talent worth coveting.
So much so that he almost wanted to adopt him and properly teach him management.
‘Ahem… Have I gotten too old? What nonsense am I thinking…’
Clearing the thought away with a cough, Ma Dae-cheol turned his body.
“Alright. With this much passion, there’s nothing to worry about going forward.”
Saying that, Ma Dae-cheol started walking off without even greeting.
Ma Kyung-rok, flustered, followed after him.
“A-are you leaving?”
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
“Stay a little longer before you go.”
“What for? I’m busy, too.”
Ma Dae-cheol turned his head and spoke in an indifferent tone.
“I’ll watch to see how much you grow. If you enter the KOSDAQ top 50 within a year, I’ll appoint you as successor as promised.”
“Thank you.”
Leaving only those words behind, Ma Dae-cheol disappeared just like that.
He didn’t even look back once.
“Whew… he’s gone.”
“Major Shareholder. You spoke well.”
“I don’t think you know how nervous I was inside. Haha.”
Ryu Min joked around, but Ma Kyung-rok didn’t laugh.
There was something he wanted to ask seriously.
“Major Shareholder. Why did you tell my father it was all my idea? You clearly proposed several items too.”
“But what I did was only that. You’re the one who thought about the item, developed it, and carried it out, aren’t you, CEO Ma?”
“……”
“I only told the truth.”
Ma Kyung-rok quietly studied Ryu Min.
He’d almost ended up having it treated as someone else’s merit, but thanks to Ryu Min lifting him up in front of his father, his pride had been saved.
‘This is all thanks to Major Shareholder Ryu Min.’
The light in Ma Kyung-rok’s eyes as he looked at Ryu Min changed.
From wariness to something softer.
At that, Ryu Min smiled to himself in satisfaction.
‘Good. I managed to lower his guard.’
In any case, Ryu Min didn’t need to look good to the Chairman.
Even if he claimed it was his own idea, nothing would drop into his lap.
‘It’s better to do it this way and build up Ma Kyung-rok’s goodwill.’
Pretending not to notice Ma Kyung-rok looking at him with gratitude, Ryu Min smiled inwardly.
The world remembers only first place.
Second place is always overshadowed by first.
There was a company feeling that fact most keenly.
That company was LC Group, Ohsung Group’s rival.
Click— click— skrrk—
The more he moved the mouse, worry deepened on the face of LC Group’s chairman, Song Baek-hyun.
[Player Place Co., Ltd., stock rises again today!]
[Plpl, nearing 100,000 users in just one month after opening!]
[A company growing by the day, Player Place!]
[What’s the secret behind Plpl’s success? Accurately grasping players’ needs… ]
[Player Place’s CEO Ma Kyung-rok revealed as Ohsung Group’s successor… ]
“Did they scatter money or something? Why are there so many articles like this?”
Muttering, Song Baek-hyun clicked the comments on the article.
└Anyone using Plpl, raise your hand!
└Me! Selling items here is seriously convenient! The app’s usability is insane, too.
└I sold all my unnecessary materials on Plpl too.
└Me too, me too. I thought, ‘Would this even sell?’ because it looked useless, but someone actually buys it, lol.
└I’d been short on living expenses lately, but I sold items and pocketed a nice chunk of cash, haha.
└Lol, this is real. I quit my part-time job and I’m scraping by selling junk items.
└I’m the type who buys right away if some decent rare gear gets listed here.
└Buying gear is seriously convenient too.
└We really needed a site for players, and Plpl is exactly it.
└The stock hits limit-up every day too, it’s so damn sweet.
└It’s even crazier than the Bitcoin boom days. I need to raise money and shove it in as fast as possible.
└This is true. Anyone not investing in Plpl is a moron.
└Maybe LC Group’s chairman won’t invest because of pride?
└So Plpl was made by Ohsung Group. That’s insane.
└If it’s Ohsung Group, fair enough. They did it again.
└Ohsung did Ohsung things again.
“What a damn circus they’re putting on. Hoo.”
Song Baek-hyun turned the monitor off entirely.
If he read any more, he might die of a rage-induced illness.
Knock knock—
“Come in.”
When he saw who entered the chairman’s office, Song Baek-hyun’s eyebrows curved like a bow.
It was none other than his eldest son, Song Jae-gyeom.
“Father. You called for me?”
“Jae-gyeom. How old are you this year?”
“I’m thirty-two.”
“In international age.”
“Thirty… I am.”
“Hoooo…”
At the Chairman’s sigh, Song Jae-gyeom lowered his head like a 죄인—like a guilty man.
“Players were up to age twenty-nine, right?”
“Yes…”
“You’re frustrated too, aren’t you? That you couldn’t become a player because you were off by one year.”
“Well…”
“Why? If you become a player, you get abilities. No matter how incompetent you are, you still gain a superpower—an extraordinary ability. How great is that, huh?”
“……”
Of course it would be great.
But Song Jae-gyeom couldn’t smile.
Because he knew what his father was saying was a jab at his incompetence.
“Look at our rival, Ohsung Group. While they’re expanding worldwide, we’re always lagging behind in second place, aren’t we? Why do you think that is? It’s not like our technology is massively inferior, is it? Huh?”
“……”
“Because people only remember first place. Aside from first, it doesn’t matter whether you’re second or third. And that first place is, in most cases, likely influenced heavily by luck. It’s not even that far ahead of second. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“……”
“It means that if you just put in the effort, second place can become first. If you just put in the effort! But is it that our group doesn’t work hard? That’s not it either. We work our asses off, and yet we can’t surpass them. Because the gap is already so wide that it’s hard to narrow with ordinary effort. So what does that mean? It means we need one heavy, decisive hit. Understand?”
“……”
Even at the somewhat heated voice, Song Jae-gyeom listened with one ear and let it flow out the other.
He’d heard this kind of nagging so much by now that it would almost feel strange not to.
“Do you know what article I was looking at until just now?”
‘Probably something about Ohsung Group. You spend all day watching only that and getting angry.’
“Recently, Ohsung Group has been launching a business with a jackpot item. Have you heard of Player Place?”
“Player… Place?”
Song Jae-gyeom’s eyes widened slightly as he nodded like he knew.
“I’ve heard of it.”
“That’s an item Ohsung Group made. And it was done by their eldest son, Ma Kyung-rok.”
Ma Kyung-rok was Plpl’s CEO?
As if it was the first time he’d heard it, Song Jae-gyeom’s expression hardened stiffly.
“How many years apart are you and Ma Kyung-rok?”
“Three years…”
“And Ma Kyung-rok is younger than you, right?”
“……”
“And yet that younger punk—still, a tiger cub—seems to have an eye for business. Just look at him setting off a jackpot item like this. Meanwhile, someone else grew up in an environment not lacking compared to his, yet can’t even produce a single article line with his name on it.”
“……”
Despite the blatant comparison, Song Jae-gyeom remained indifferent.
He wasn’t even exhausted by it anymore.
“If you’d at least become a player, I wouldn’t have berated you this much. Then what should we do? You need to hit it big in business like Ma Kyung-rok, don’t you? I’m not even asking for a jackpot. A medium hit is fine—hell, even a small hit. Huh? You’re a guy who even took management lessons; shouldn’t you show some kind of results? As LC Group’s eldest son.”
“I’ll… show you results.”
“Yeah? Then what—do you have some project in progress?”
“There is something I’ve been preparing in secret.”
“What is it?”
“It’s not the stage to reveal it yet. Please wait a bit longer, Father.”
“Didn’t you say this last time too? You’re not just making excuses to dodge my nagging, are you?”
“It’s really true, so please believe me and watch. I’m preparing one heavy, decisive hit.”
“Hoo… Fine. At this point, you must have heard and felt something. Get out.”
“Yes. Rest comfortably.”
Bowing his waist, Song Jae-gyeom left the chairman’s office.
Thud—
After closing the door, he thought carefully.
How things had ended up like this.
‘This is all because of that bastard Ma Kyung-rok.’
When someone gets compared so often their ears grow calluses, they’re bound to develop a vicious edge.
Wouldn’t he want to become a player, too?
‘What am I supposed to do about not having luck?’
Someone might consider it fortunate that he was excluded by a single year.
Because it meant not having to survive a life-or-death survival game.
But for Song Jae-gyeom, whose reality was hell, it was no different from misfortune.
‘If only I’d become a player too…’
Then, at the very least, he could have competed with Ma Kyung-rok on the same level.
‘Regretting it now won’t help.’
Step— step—
With the sound of dress shoes, Song Jae-gyeom walked.
Click— creak—
Entering his private office, he leaned back into his chair.
“Hoooo…”
He took off his glasses for a moment and pressed hard on his temples.
These days, his stress was no joke.
‘Player Place was Ma Kyung-rok’s?’
It was information he was hearing for the first time.
To confirm whether it was true, he turned on the monitor and searched for the article.
“It’s true.”
Suddenly, irritation surged.
And to think he’d recommended it to café members to use it, without even knowing.
Wasn’t that basically helping a rival he wanted to beat to death, from behind?
As he frowned, another article caught his eye.
[National Assembly member Lee Seong-hyeon. Vote passes the anti-player bill!]
[Lee Seong-hyeon says: “Players are like cancer cells in society.”]
[As player crime increases, voices supporting Lee Seong-hyeon are also increasing… ]
[If the bill is enforced, it will become possible to subdue players by force!]
[Players hunting players? It has been decided to prioritize drafting players among the police.]
[As early as next month, an anti-player police organization will be formed.]
‘That bastard really was a headache.’
Song Jae-gyeom hated players as well.
But if he wanted to swell his forces and stand against Ma Kyung-rok, he had no choice but to stand on the players’ side.
‘That congressman bastard. I can’t just leave him alone.’
Seeing that it was just about time for the meeting, Song Jae-gyeom entered the chatroom.
[The Chairman has entered the chatroom.]