The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 6
Only Noblemtl
6. Return of investment (2)
After gathering my thoughts, I stopped by the president’s office on the floor right above.
President Park, who was muttering something with Director Jeong Chang-heon, who had replaced me as head of the investment headquarters, was startled when he suddenly saw me come in.
“I’m surprised. Those two are so affectionate with each other. If others saw you, they’d misunderstand.”
“What are you talking about! And how can an employee just barge into the president’s office like that?”
“Yeah, it’s Manager Cho’s fault. He should have made an appointment in advance.”
These two guys, who were supposed to be my superiors, tried to lecture me.
“You’re being sarcastic. Am I just an employee? I’m not an employee anymore, but I’m here as an investor. So, I guess I can talk to you two.”
“···.”
The two of them kept their mouths shut as if it was something they had never thought of.
“I need to get my 2.5 billion back.”
“What are you talking about? Why are you asking me to return the investment money? It’s not like I can just say, “Here it is,” and return it to you. The whole process is······.”
“Procedure? You can do it when you’re home alone. When are you going to give it back?”
“I can’t give it back. If you want it back, sell your shares after the company is established.”
“Hey, how come nothing has changed from what I thought? What did I promise when I invested? I was supposed to be the person in charge of investment. That’s why I decided to invest in equity. So you didn’t keep your promise? Is this a breach of promise? No.”
“When did I make a promise? I never made such a promise.”
Of course, President Park stuck out his flippers. This guy looks like a piglet, so I guess you could call him a pig’s foot.
“You should stick out your duck’s foot or your pig’s foot. It won’t work on me. Stop talking nonsense. If you said you never made a promise, I thought you’d just say, “Yes, that’s right,” and back off. This little shit really thought I was fish.”
“This kid? Hey, Jo Yong-won, aren’t you being harsh! I’m still your senior. It’s not polite to talk to me like that!”
“Manners? Is that all? Instead of saying anything, how about I just be rough with you once? I think that’s enough to treat you like a senior.”
The two guys opened their mouths wide and couldn’t close them because they were shocked at what I said, showing how much they thought of me as a fool.
‘Oh my, this idiot, I’m being manipulated by this guy······.’
Those two guys tried to convince me somehow, but if it was Sannim Jo Yong-won, I might have fallen for it, but I’m a codger.
A space mining tycoon who amassed wealth while roaming the harsh universe where death could strike at any time.
Space mining is not much different from piracy in Earth’s history.
If a pirate encounters a merchant ship in the open sea and robs it, then it is the most basic of basics for a space miner to gratefully rob a spaceship he encounters in space.
I laughed as I watched the two of them spouting out all sorts of sweet talk for a long time.
“I don’t need anything else. Just deposit my 2.5 billion won by next week. If my grandfather finds out, there’ll be chaos anyway. What will happen if you say something to Chairman Park?”
When Chairman Park’s story came up, President Park’s face turned pale.
Chairman Park Il-woo of Ilshin Construction, who is President Park’s grandfather, is an incredibly rough person, as befitting a first-generation tycoon who has worked in the construction industry.
Because of that temper, the children are still unable to move.
Did you get scolded by an acquaintance because of your grandson’s mistake?
On that day, President Park was dead.
“Hey! Hey! That’s not it!”
“Whether you like it or not, I gave you a chance. Don’t say anything else later.”
Before I could say anything nonsense, I waved my hand and left the president’s office. My grandfather already knows and he may or may not tell them, but I don’t know what to do. I just want to receive the money I invested.
As soon as I finished my interview with the CEO, I roughly cleaned up my desk and left work. I didn’t want to keep working at this damn company and I didn’t want to worry about what other people thought.
Looking around the office, I didn’t see anyone useful except for Manager Yang. They were just a bunch of rags who had gathered there, hoping to find something to eat since the third generation of a conglomerate was creating a financial company.
Even in the midst of the chaotic corporate atmosphere, I gathered as much investment information as I could.
They called me several times and tried to trick me, but I couldn’t give in. A week later, the entire investment was deposited into my account. Then I threw my resignation letter in President Park Cheong-moon’s face and left.
***
“Damn, I should have punched him in the face before I beat him up. I was really angry.”
I have a fiery temper. I don’t know how many times I’ve been on the verge of death because of my hasty temper.
But I had no intention of fixing it.
How can you live by keeping your thoughts inside without speaking them out? I can’t live like that.
After I left Hwasa, I needed an office right away.
I was thinking of getting a small officetel near my house and using it as an office for the time being to avoid nagging from my family.
The old man I met once was the kind of man who would yell at me to come back to his company immediately if he heard that I quit my job.
It was a business that was 100,000 light years away from my temperament, not just any other company, but a food company. But if I were to start a mining company in Korea right away, I would most likely go broke.
Mining is a tough business, but it is also closely related to politics. As far as I remember, the southern part of the Korean peninsula is the worst place to do mining.
The country’s landmass is small, and even if useful resources were discovered, it was difficult to find a mine that was functioning properly due to various public complaints.
So, let’s pass on mining for the time being.
All that remains is to invest the money you have appropriately to build up capital.
I quickly signed a contract for an 18-pyeong officetel, connected the internet, and installed a stock trading program. While I was installing programs on my new computer, I felt the need for AI anew when I heard a welcome voice.
[Master······.]
“Iriel, is that you? Are you awake now? If you are awake, explain what happened now. Why did I end up like this?”
[Do you remember Black Hole 109?]
“109? That······. So you saved that platform?”
[Yes, after the Master lost consciousness, we warped to 109 according to emergency protocol. If we didn’t use the platform there, there was zero chance of the Master surviving. We hastily connected the Master’s body to the platform we had saved.]
It was only then that I realized why I had lost consciousness on the spaceship and woke up in a switched body.
Black 109 was a giant Dyson Sphere discovered in the Void when a resource probe belonging to a company exploring the frontier was caught up in a hyperspace warp.
It was a huge shock when it was discovered.
Even a Dyson Sphere using stars is unthinkable, so how about a Dyson Sphere using a supermassive black hole?
It was a structure of such a gigantic scale that even the space age could not have imagined it.
The control center that controls the Dyson Sphere was a gigantic artificial planet with its own ecosystem.
At the time of discovery, only a very small portion of the facility was operational, requiring a long period of restoration.
“What do you mean, connect my body?”
[The purpose of the discovered black hole Dyson Sphere was interdimensional travel.]
“……”
Well, with that amount of energy, dimensional travel might be possible.
“The Ryans were really crazy.”
Every time we discover the remains of the Ryanites, who had advanced civilizations tens of thousands of years ahead of humans, it’s a huge hit.
Most of humanity’s advanced civilization, the details of which are unknown, is based on technology discovered in the ruins of the Ryanites.
To be honest, it’s a minor copy, but it’s a minor copy.
The level of civilization development between the Ryanites and humans was so different that it was difficult to even compare them.
Anyway, when my life was in danger, this faithful AI chose the black hole Dyson Sphere, which had the least chance.
[After completing the facility restoration and connecting with the AI in the control center, the purpose of the facility was revealed.]
“The AI in the control center is alive? This is the first time this has happened!”
[Yes, they say that this relic was able to self-repair for a long time because it was close to the black hole.]
The facilities were estimated to have been abandoned for at least ten thousand years.
If true, it would be a huge success. Since most of the ruins discovered so far have been found in ruins, very little was known about the Ryantians.
“So what did you find out?”
[It is said that those we call the Ryantians have all disappeared from our dimension universe. The reason for their disappearance is unknown even to the control AI. The owner of the 109 Dyson Sphere that was discovered was the last Ryantian left in the universe.]
“Could it be that the owner of that building, Ryangin, transcended dimensions before me?”
[He died before the facility was completed.]
“……If the Ryan Church kids heard that, they would cry.”
Even as humanity entered the Cosmic Century, religions continued to flourish. One of them was the Ryant religion, which followed the advanced civilization of the Ryants.
Now that I knew what was going on, I had to figure out exactly what was given.
“Can I go back to my original body? My body there.”
[It will be difficult for the time being. It needs maintenance because it was put into operation in a hurry before the facility was properly maintained. In addition, dimensional movement requires a huge amount of energy. As you know, the science in this world is not developed enough to handle that much energy. And the Master’s body is being kept in an incubator to study the disease.]
“Are you saying that only one-way traffic is possible for now?”
So you’re saying that coming is possible, but returning is impossible? What the hell is this? But my body can be cured?
[I’m not 100% sure because it’s my first time doing this. I heard that I have to do a simulation for the time being. They said that the chance of the treatment being successful is 99%.]
The argument was that if artificial intelligence is 99% capable of fixing it, it can be easily fixed.
“That’s a very reassuring sound. It seems that the skills of the Ryantans are incomparable to those of humans. Is that guy’s name Hal? Where have I heard that name before?”
[It’s the name of an artificial intelligence from a classic Earth movie. Its real name is different. It said it wanted a new name in Earth language, so I told it to be called that.]
“Isn’t that a little creepy? Isn’t that the name of an artificial intelligence that has gone mad because its logic circuits are twisted?”
[I wanted a name like that after spending a long time alone.]
“If it took that long, a human would have gone crazy. I guess logic like the right to self-determination didn’t come into it.”
Even low-level artificial intelligence created by humans, which may look like primitive people to the eyes of the Ryantians, is given a humanization index and given the right to self-determination to self-destruct when it reaches a certain level.
This is a measure to prepare for situations where you may be isolated in a remote place for a long period of time due to an unexpected accident.
[Although the AI is incomparably more advanced than me, it somehow looks sad when we talk to it.]
“There’s nothing wrong with the logic circuit?”
There are a few tests that must be performed when dealing with artificial intelligence that has existed in isolation for a long period of time.
Because if artificial intelligence went crazy, it could potentially be a huge disaster.
[I did pass the test, but I am not sure because I am such a weak AI.
“Of course, the Ryantians’ level of technology was on par with that of gods. Even if you just look at the traces, it’s not too much to call them the remains of a single civilization. If it’s the Ryantians’ AI, the level difference would be quite large.”
It’s not for nothing that the Ryan Church was created.
While humans were unable to conquer even our own Milky Way galaxy, which is a hundred thousand light years across, they were supposedly playing with dozens of supergalactic units.
It’s a fact that’s not known to the general public, but executives like me know it all.
My stuffy heart began to ease little by little as I talked to Ariel.
Actually, I was really miserable because I had no one to talk to.
“But why this kid of all people?”
[When you woke up, you were in a hospital, right? You probably would have died if Hal hadn’t intervened. The condition for becoming an Avatar is that your body must have been dead for less than a minute.]
“Dying? This little kid is healthy?”
It was a statement that was difficult for me to understand.
[Humans are weak beings. There are many people who die while sleeping.]
“So you’re saying that if I hadn’t intervened, you would have died.”
It was an incredibly reassuring sound.
He said he was worried that the tenant would act as the owner after kicking out the good owner. If he had killed that bastard to save his own life and moved in, that would have been an impossible thing to do.
It was inevitable that I would feel uneasy every time I saw my parents and younger sister.
[It’s going to take a really long time to get back, so enjoy it for a while. How busy have you been?]
“I guess so! If you have enough time, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to spend some time here. There won’t be anything you have to go back to.”
If you’re going to do it, you might as well make a mess of it for the people around you.