92 Opening Ceremony

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92. Opening Ceremony

The place Ryumin headed while invisible was Lost Yak's studio apartment.

It has video chat equipment and he doesn't have to be cautious, so he visits like this every Sunday.

'Now if I put on the Assassin's Mask and transform...'

Ryumin's appearance rippled and changed into the tanned Lost Yak.

It was so perfect that no trace of his previous appearance could be found.

[Lost Yak has entered the chat room.]

He connected to the regular meeting channel but no one was there.

It seems they haven't arrived yet since there's still time left.

Just as he was waiting boredly, Yamtti connected.

-Welcome, Yamtti-nim.

-Lost Yak-nim, you're here early?

-I didn't have anything else to do, haha.

His voice and face were exactly the same as Lost Yak's.

Even his speech patterns were the same.

'I figured out all of Lost Yak's speech patterns with the Rune of Inner Thoughts.'

There's no way Yamtti would notice.

Sure enough.

Her gaze was directed elsewhere as if she lost interest.

[Chairman has entered the chat room.]

-Ah, Chairman is here?

-Hello, Chairman.

-Hello everyone.

The Chairman answered but smiled bitterly.

It's understandable since only two executives remained.

-Let's start the meeting right away. We were going to recruit executives last time, right? Lost Yak-nim?

-Yes.

-Were there any useful talents among the applicants?

Ryumin opened the prepared statistics file on the desktop.

It wasn't difficult to prepare.

All the necessary data and programs were installed on Lost Yak's computer.

-I've narrowed down 30 candidates with the highest levels and area rankings among current applicants.

-Black Scythe isn't among them, right?

-That's right. I would have reported immediately if he was.

-What about other named players?

-None in particular. I looked but there were no applicants using nicknames like Sky Horse or Dumb Poops.

-Hmm... Then we have no choice but to select executives from among the 30 candidates.

Though there were no named players like Black Scythe, they were still candidates in the upper ranks.

-Then Yamtti-nim will conduct the interviews. Select five candidates who pass the murder test and appoint them as executives.

-I will, Chairman.

-And the next agenda. There's a congressman who's been denouncing players these days.

-Ah, I saw that news. Congressman Lee Seong-hyun.

-When we dispatch executives later, we should also discuss how to deal with him. He's someone in the legal world trying to bind us players with laws.

'What do you mean "us players" when you're not even a player.'

Ryumin sneered but didn't show it outwardly.

The meeting proceeded smoothly after that.

When all necessary agenda items were resolved, Ryumin casually spoke using the opportunity.

-Did you all see the article?

-What article?

-The article about a player-exclusive market being created. It says it's opening next week?

-Ah, I saw that. I looked around the temporarily opened homepage and it seemed pretty good?

-Right? I'm planning to list some items right when it opens. I have a lot of useless things in my inventory now...

-I should do that too.

Ryumin and Yamtti spoke as if excited.

Only the Chairman who wasn't a player remained silent.

Ryumin watched carefully and spoke.

-Chairman, I have a good idea.

-What is it, Lost Yak-nim?

-How about actively recommending players to use the open market called Player Place as an announcement?

-Why should we do that?

-You may not know, but these days the number of cafe members is gradually decreasing. We have 10,000 members but there are few new posts. At a time like this, if we inform them about the existence of an open market where they can trade items?

-It would have the effect of revitalizing the cafe more.

-That's right! As expected of Chairman! You understand right away!

As he deliberately flattered the Chairman, he showed a pondering expression.

He seemed to be seriously considering Ryumin's proposal.

-Hmm, that doesn't sound bad.

The Chairman accepted.

-Let's do as Lost Yak-nim said.

He drew Plseba into promoting the site as he wanted.

-Thank you, Chairman.

No one saw the corners of Ryumin's mouth slightly rise.

* * *

'Finally today.'

The long-awaited opening day of Player Place arrived.

Ryumin who attended the opening ceremony in a suit looked at the monitor.

Ma Gyeong-rok sitting beside him whispered.

"What do you think, Prophet-nim? Will many people connect when it opens soon?"

"Well, we'll have to see the results."

Ma Gyeong-rok's eyes widened at those uncertain words as if he'd been hit on the back of the head.

"No, we prepared everything as you said, but if you speak like that..."

"Minor futures can always change. The big picture that the company will be a huge success won't change though."

"Ah... I was startled for a moment."

Soon other shareholders entered behind the two conversing.

They were shareholders with the highest shares after Ma Gyeong-rok.

"You've come, shareholders."

"Ah, yes."

"Hello."

"..."

After exchanging perfunctory greetings, everyone sat down.

Honestly, they felt uncomfortable being here.

It was a business they reluctantly agreed to at the last shareholders' meeting.

'Tsk, changing the good company name to something strange too.'

'Let's see how well it does.'

Everyone watched the monitor with visibly displeased expressions.

The homepage of the social market would open in 5 minutes.

Director Kim, who was recognized for his skills in the Cheonma Consulting days, was in charge of the proceedings.

"The official site of Player Place will open soon. I'd like to thank everyone who came here and briefly explain the site opening process..."

The 5-minute explanation passed and it was time.

"Now, finally 10 seconds left until opening! 9 seconds! 8 seconds!"

Everyone watched the countdown with pounding hearts.

Though their expressions differed, they were of one mind in hoping it would do well.

"The opening has started! If you look at the traffic and number of connections next to it, you can see the trend, huh?"

Director Kim who was looking at the monitor trailed off and adjusted his glasses.

"Uh, um... Just a moment. Th-this..."

Everyone watching lost their words at the rising traffic.

Only Director Kim opened his mouth.

"H-huge! It's a huge hit!"

The words he barely squeezed out were of joy.

"The traffic is rising unbelievably!"

It was visible without saying.

The rising numbers were increasing so rapidly that the thousands place changed in the blink of an eye.

Not even 5 minutes had passed but site connections exceeded 50,000.

Ma Gyeong-rok looked at Ryumin with excitement.

If they hadn't expanded the servers after hearing the prophet's words, it would have crashed long ago.

"Major Shareholder Ryu Min. It's a huge hit."

"It seems so."

Though he spoke calmly, Ryumin was also quite surprised.

'It wasn't this much even before.'

He had watched the opening ceremony many times through repeated regressions, but this was the first time seeing such explosive traffic growth.

The shareholders smiled faintly seeing the traffic exceed 200,000 by now.

It was the first smile they showed since attending today's opening ceremony.

"Congratulations, CEO."

"This seems to be doing much better than Cheonma Consulting."

"Haha, thank you. We'll have to keep watching though."

The shareholders who greeted Ma Gyeong-rok also turned their eyes to Ryumin.

"Congratulations. It's a huge hit as you said at the shareholders' meeting."

"Now the company only has to keep prospering."

"Thank you for believing and following."

Ryumin smiled brightly at the shareholders' congratulations.

"Over 1,000 people have already applied to register sales!"

As sale registration approval requests flooded in, the employees on standby in the office got busy.

"Sales posts are being uploaded!"

Item sale posts popping up like mushrooms after rain.

And the comments, ratings, purchase requests, and money charges on them.

The site that was empty until just before opening became as lively as a bustling market.

"Major Shareholder Ryu Min. At this rate, we might really list on KOSPI within half a year."

"Can you tell that just from the first day's performance?"

"Of course. They say you can tell a promising tree from its sprouts, I can tell at a glance. This is a huge hit as you said."

Ryumin didn't miss the corners of Ma Gyeong-rok's mouth twitching.

He was trying to maintain his composure but his expression couldn't hide his joy.

'If no one was here, he'd probably be grinning from ear to ear.'

Ryumin smiled as he turned his gaze to the monitor.

The original purpose of creating the social market was to make item supply easier.

The better the site does, the more it will help Ryumin's growth too.

'The stock price rise that comes along in the process is just a bonus.'

It's gaining enormous popularity as expected.

He couldn't help but feel pleased that the business item he proposed was doing well.

While people were celebrating looking at the monitor status, Ryumin spoke as if prophesying.

"CEO Ma. Something interesting will happen soon."

"Huh? What do you mean all of a sudden?"

"I told an employee to register an item for auction on opening day."

"Auction?"

PlPl has an auction system.

It's a system where anyone can participate in 24-hour auctions for items if they have money charged on the site.

"So you're saying you secretly put up auction items without telling me?"

"Yes. I thought having auction items would attract more people's attention."

"Ah."

"Of course I'm not donating. The profits from the auction should be counted as mine."

"Of course. But what kind of item did you put up?"

Ryumin grinned.

"You'll see. Director Kim."

"Yes!"

"Please show the auction progress on the monitor."

"Understood."

Director Kim clicked the mouse to show the auction section.

[Design: Minotaur's Armor]

[Auction in progress]

[Starting price: 1 won]

[Current price: 1,210,392 won]

[Time remaining until auction end: 23:52:34]

[The player with the highest bid at the end time will win the auction.]

"This is the auction status. As you can see, it's currently at 1.21 million won."

It had risen quite a bit in less than 10 minutes.

But when 1 hour passed, the price exceeded 10 million won.

When 3 hours passed, it exceeded 50 million won.

And the next day.

Ding-

[Mr. Ryu Min. Your registered auction item has been finally sold.]

Ryumin couldn't help but be surprised seeing the text message.

[Final winning bid: 1,000,123,912 won]

The auction price was a whopping 1 billion won.

********************************************

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