GalaxyTL
After ridding myself of drug addiction, I purchased a house in Songdo using an app.
The property was about 500 pyeong (roughly 1,650 square meters) with a building area of 150 pyeong (about 495 square meters) spread over three floors.
The price was around 16 billion won (approximately $12 million).
Of course, I paid for it using the capital of Go-ryeo Entertainment.
Considering Go-ryeo Entertainment’s total capital was about 100 billion won, spending 16% on a house was quite a significant amount!
And even though it was a quick sale, it was still a good deal because the price had dropped due to the previous owners—several of them—dying one after another.
‘Turns out it was all just a coincidence.’
The house’s value would skyrocket later, so it was a profitable investment even at that price.
I had the police deliver the drugs and other items from the underground warehouse to the new house, and then I headed to my next destination with Im Soo-ah.
The initial things I had to do were.
- Find a secretary.
- Secure the female protagonist.
- Kill the male protagonist.
- Develop and secure facilities for the RK-99 project.
These were the four big tasks.
Finding a secretary wasn’t difficult.
If things went well, I could kill two birds with one stone with task 2.
If not, I could always just contact Go-ryeo Prestige and hire one through them.
Or I could even scout Im Soo-ah; from what I could tell, she’d jump at the opportunity if I offered the right salary.
So, first up was task 2.
In this game, there were two protagonists.
If the player started as a female, the male protagonist was out there somewhere, and if one started as a male, the female protagonist was also out there.
Both gain mored influence as the story progressed.
Now that I’d possessed Go Mu-yeol’s body, it was safe to assume that both the female and male protagonists were living their stories somewhere in the world right now.
The female protagonist, Seo Ah-ram, had a particularly grim backstory.
In short, her mother had a rare illness, and Seo struggled to make ends meet, eventually resorting to selling her body.
The real story kicked off in the summer of ’77, when her mother passed away.
Since today is August 25, 2076, she was likely not at the stage where she was selling her body just yet, though she was probably already being pressured by debt collectors and facing tough decisions.
My goal was to pay off her debts, treat her mother, and secure Seo Ah-ram’s loyalty in exchange.
I could even hire her as a secretary if needed.
As for the male protagonist, he’d simply need to be eliminated.
There was nothing to gain from keeping him around.
Lastly, RK-99 referred to a room-temperature and atmospheric-pressure superconductor.
In the game, players could acquire the highly encrypted manufacturing recipe, albeit with very low odds.
After collaborating with various companies to decode it, you’d get a recipe for RK-99, though it was written in frustratingly vague terms.
Something like this:
- Heat lead or copper at a temperature of 110-190 degrees for 12 to 24 hours.
- Heat copper or lead at a temperature of 190-250 degrees for 24 to 48 hours.
- After heating, mix the lead and copper in a ‘certain ratio,’ and heat again for 24 to 48 hours.
Of course, that was not the end of it.
There were dozens of other steps, each with its own wild temperature, time, and ratio ranges, requiring countless trials and errors to find the optimal point.
That was why collaboration with many people and companies was necessary.
But if one could manage to find the perfect combination, the dream material that could revolutionize every industry in the world would be born.
Of course, I didn’t need to collaborate.
I already knew the perfect recipe and the optimal points.
“Here…?”
I arrived at the hospital where Seo Ah-ram’s mother was admitted.
“Are you injured?”
“No. I’m here to see someone.”
——-
“This month’s total is 17,320,000 won. Please sign here.”
“Se-seventeen million…?”
“Yes. Just sign here.”
With trembling hands, Seo Ah-ram signed.
Normally, the payment would be transferred to the hospital immediately after signing, but unfortunately, she had no balance left.
“… I’m sorry, it says there’s insufficient funds. Do you have another payment method?”
“Ah… Just… Give me a moment.”
She stepped away from the counter.
‘Ha… I have no money…’
She worked all day, took on a second job in the evening, and then did a night shift until 4 AM.
She’d go home for a quick nap and then head out again by 8 AM.
This grueling life had been going on for two years.
Even after all that, she had no money.
In fact, her debt was only increasing.
No matter how optimistically she tried to think about it, there was no solution in sight.
But if she didn’t pay the hospital bills, her mother would eventually die.
With trembling hands, Seo Ah-ram picked up her phone.
The contact she was about to dial was a loan shark she had recently been dealing with.
– How much?
The loan shark was familiar with these calls. He started with the amount.
Ah-ram’s lips trembled several times before she finally answered.
“Seven… No, eight hundred.”
– Eight hundred? You sure about that?
“…”
The loan came with upfront interest.
If the interest was 10%, borrowing a million would only give her 900,000.
Of course, that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be additional interest.
The monthly interest was separate.
For this particular loan shark, the upfront interest was 15%, and the monthly interest was 10%.
In a year, that amounted to a ridiculous 120%, compounded.
She needed about 7 million won right now.
Factoring in the upfront interest, borrowing 700 or even 800 wouldn’t be enough.
And it wasn’t just the hospital bill—she still needed money for basic living expenses.
In the end, she asked for 1 million.
– You’re looking worse, huh? Why don’t you just give in? You could make a fortune. You’d sell well.
“…”
On a normal day, she would have coldly rejected the suggestion and hung up.
She would have paid the hospital bill with the borrowed money and gone back to work.
But… She was reaching her limit.
The loan shark’s bold promises, which she had always dismissed as nonsense, were starting to sound tempting.
‘With that face and body, you could earn a grand in a day. I’ll hook you up with a high-end job. Over there, the minimum is 600 for one session.’
‘No, I’m serious. What, have you been naive all your life? Of course, I’d take a cut for the introduction.’
‘The world isn’t that simple. Work yourself to the bone, and you’ll still never pay off that debt.’
‘You’ll end up coming to me eventually.’
“… Mom.”
Hanging up the phone, she checked the 850,000 won that had been transferred and the loan agreement.
She began to sob.
The hardest part wasn’t the crushing debt.
It was that she was starting to resent and hate the mother she loved so dearly.
“Haa…”
After crying silently for a while, Ah-ram walked back to the counter.
The staff didn’t comment on her red and swollen face—cases like this were common enough.
The clerk simply handed her the bill without a word.
Just as Ah-ram was about to sign, someone suddenly snatched the bill from her hands.
“It’s really you. Seo Ah-ram.”
——
I had just arrived, and luckily, I spotted Seo Ah-ram.
“Oh? Are you the guardian?”
“Who… Who are you?!”
“Who am I? Me?”
With her tear-stained, reddened eyes, Seo Ah-ram asked me.
As expected from the protagonist, she had a very pretty face.
It would be such a waste for a woman like her to sell her body.
Better for me to groom her properly and make her mine.
“I’m your owner.”
“Excuse me?”
I signed the bill and practically tossed it at the clerk.
The clerk glanced between me and Im Soo-ah and hurriedly accepted it.
“Y-Yes, payment completed!”
“I can help you get out of this shitty cycle, depending on what you do. What do you think?”
“…”
Ah-ram stared at me and the bill, looking bewildered.
It appeared like she still hadn’t fully grasped the situation.
I turned to the clerk and asked.
“How much was it again? The bill?”
“Ah, yes. 17,320,000 won—”
“If I’ve spent that much, I think I deserve at least some time to talk, right? Come down to the lobby. Wash your face, redo your makeup, and make yourself presentable.”
“Ah, um…!”
With that, I headed toward the elevator, hearing Seo Ah-ram shout, “Thank you!!” loudly from behind.
She was already thanking me before she knew what she’d have to give in return.
Still so naïve.
Im Soo-ah, who had been watching the scene, quickly followed me.
“Do you know her?”
“Nope. I’m about to get to know her.”
“Oh my. So, you don’t even know her, yet you just dropped 17 million like that? Well, I guess that’s nothing to someone like you, huh?”
Chattering beside me, she rushed to press the elevator button as soon as she saw it.
“Or is it… For that?”
“Hm?”
I tilted my head in confusion, and Im Soo-ah made a lewd gesture with a sly smile on her face.
She formed a circle with her left thumb and forefinger and poked her right index finger through it.
“She’s definitely the type men would love.”
“Is that something a cop should be saying?”
“What’s wrong with that? It’s just the way the world is these days.”
Even inside the elevator, Im Soo-ah kept talking.
“Even within the police force, once you reach a high enough rank, having a couple of mistresses is nothing. And it’s not just that, some even brag openly about having slaves. You know, there are tons of people in Incheon who don’t even officially exist, without any legal documentation.”
“The world’s gone to hell. If even the police are like that.”
“These days, there’s hardly anyone working for justice. Especially in our proud ‘Demonic Incheon’! All those righteous people were long gone, wiped out. Only the ones who can turn a blind eye to injustice if it doesn’t bring them money or results have survived.”
“Impressive. Just ignoring injustice, huh?”
Usually, when people talk like this, they express some disappointment or bitterness toward the organization they’re part of.
But she didn’t seem to have any of that.
She just shrugged her shoulders.
“Isn’t that just the way the world works? Survival of the fittest. In a city this messed up, if you try to act righteous all the time, you’ll end up sleeping with the fishes.”
“And what about you?”
“Me? Well… Don’t you already know? Hehe.”
She gave a sly, almost coy smile while glancing at me, as if she was embarrassed.
She was a tempting woman, her expression making it seem like she was trying to seduce me.
Maybe she really was trying to seduce me. Or maybe it was just my burning desire making me think that.
“I’m already yours, aren’t I? Ah, but maybe it’s rude to say that. Sorry—”
“Then how about this?”
I reached out my hand.
Starting from the hem of her police skirt, which was essentially a tight-fitting H-line skirt, I ran my hand over her thighs and then firmly grabbed her ass.
“!!”
“And how would our Team Leader Im Soo-ah respond to this kind of injustice?”