Chapter 506

Las Vegas E3 Game Show.

OTK Games attended this game show for the first time since moving its headquarters to Detroit. Since Lost Fantasy Online is hugely popular in North America as well, the press and gamers showed tremendous interest.

President Ichikawa Shigeru of OTK Games personally appeared and announced the progress of VRMMORPG development along with the Lost Fantasy Online update.

"We are building the world's largest data center in cooperation with our parent company, OTK Company, continuing cooperation with Seosung Electronics in the hardware sector, and also pursuing a connection with SpaceLink, a satellite internet service promoted by SpaceX."

Most of it was a rehash of what had been announced before, and there was nothing particularly special.

However, there is a difference from before. That is, the parent company, OTK Company, now has the technology and capital to implement all these plans.

The Vice President announced that he would spare no support for the development of the next game, drawing support from gamers and developers.

Just as CarOS completely changed the automotive industry after the launch of autonomous electric vehicles, it was clear that OTK Games would change the game industry if it released a VRMMORPG.

A competition to attract data centers also broke out in each country. Surprisingly, South Korea also joined in.

Previously, the Liberty People's Party, which had opposed anything Kang Jin-hoo did, proposed a bill before the New Politics Party.

"We must attract the data center to Korea. We will eliminate the practice of law enforcement agencies demanding personal information at will and enact related laws. Attracting OTK Company's data center will be a new opportunity for Korea to leap forward as a data powerhouse."

***

Until now, if asked about the world's largest company, everyone would have pointed to Saudi Arabia's ARAMCO. But no one disputed that OTK Company had now taken that place.

Experts evaluated that OTK Company's market capitalization was larger than ARAMCO's and larger than the combined market capitalization of Npple and MS, the largest companies in the US.

The future growth outlook was even brighter.

Electric cars, batteries, aviation, space, games, construction, porn, and so on.

It was truly amazing that the shareholders of such a giant company were not the state or numerous investors, but only three people.

Strangely, while Kang Jin-hoo and Oh Hyun-joo were well known, almost nothing was known about Oh Taek-gyu's identity.

As there was talk that the Vice President played a big role in this incident as well, many people were curious about his identity.

A cafe in Cheongdam-dong.

People's eyes kept turning to one table.

A woman with a small frame and rabbit-like eyes. On either side of her sat a woman with a sophisticated appearance like a celebrity and a lively-looking white woman with short hair.

And sitting with them was a man wearing black horn-rimmed glasses and a gray tracksuit.

Who would think he was a person with hundreds of trillions of won in assets, leading OTK Company with Kang Jin-hoo?

As it had been a while since they met, Taek-gyu drank juice and caught up on stories. The three women listened to every word he said.

"Since Jin-hoo was agonizing over it, I put my hand on his shoulder and said, 'Jin-hoo. This is something we have to bet everything on. The global economy... no, the fate of the world depends on us.'"

For some reason, Kang Jin-hoo's role was minimized, while Oh Taek-gyu's performance was greatly highlighted. But the three women, who had no way of knowing the truth, could not help but admire him.

"So that's what happened!"

"Wow, that's amazing."

"You're incredible, Oppa!"

It was a great honor to meet and hear directly from the person who had achieved a tremendous feat that would be recorded forever in the history of the world economy.

Anneke looked at Taek-gyu with envious eyes and said.

"Thanks to you, Oppa, Norway was safe!"

Norway is a member of NATO, and although it did not join the EU, it was a country that paid EU contributions and traded with the single market.

If the EU had split and war had broken out in Ukraine, Norway would have also been affected.

Yang Ha-na also said.

"Thanks to you, the CL Group also avoided the crisis."

Also, CL Chemical, where her father is the president, is accelerating production of JN Batteries following Seosung SB.

Taek-gyu drank fresh fruit juice and recalled what happened a long time ago.

A fact that many people don't know is that he was the one who pushed Kang Jin-hoo, who didn't think much about investment or business.

If it weren't for Oh Taek-gyu, the Kang Jin-hoo of today would not exist.

'And if it weren't for Jin-hoo, the me of today wouldn't exist either.'

Thanks to him, he now has enough money to do whatever he wants.

Taek-gyu was making plans on how to spend all that money.

'Supporting game development for OTK Games and other game companies, acquiring an animation studio to make the animations I want to make. Ah! There's so much to do.'

Even his otaku activities were on a global scale.

Anneke said.

"It would be fun to write a book about this later!"

"Oh, that's true."

Taek-gyu recalled the things that had happened so far. Looking back, every single thing he and Kang Jin-hoo did was a series of amazing events that could turn the world upside down.

Min Ha-young quickly said.

"T-then I'll draw it as a webtoon!"

Oh Taek-gyu thought with his arms crossed.

'Hmm, if I have nothing to do later, should I try writing a novel?'

***

Although Saemangeum's official name was decided as Saemangeum Special Self-Governing City after the administrative districts were classified, many people called it OTK City.

A convention for foreign investment was held here.

With President Heo Chang-min, politicians from the ruling and opposition parties, and domestic businesspeople in attendance, working-level officials from abroad came in.

The unusual thing was that not only working-level officials came, but Asian leaders also flocked in like clouds.

Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and so on.

Anyone seeing this would think an Asian summit was being held.

Surprisingly, the Japanese leader was also here.

Prime Minister Okazaki extended his hand to me.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, CEO Kang Jin-hoo."

I grasped his hand.

"Thank you for coming, Prime Minister."

Prime Minister Okazaki said with a smile.

"I hope economic cooperation between Japan and Korea will continue in the future, centering on Saemangeum."

South Korea, China, and Russia have formed an economic bloc centered on space development and the JN Battery, and Central Asian countries are participating from the north and ASEAN countries from the south. But Japan is missing here.

He must be anxious.

I nodded readily.

"Of course. Korea and Japan are important economic partners that cannot do without each other. OTK Company also hopes for cooperation with Japan."

At my words, Prime Minister Okazaki's expression brightened.

"Please visit Japan sometime."

I also smiled and said.

"Of course, Prime Minister. I was actually planning to go to Japan to start negotiations on the compensation Japan has to pay to North Korea. Japan's apology for war crimes and compensation for damages are the most urgent issues to be resolved."

"..."

After the investment briefing ended successfully.

President Heo Chang-min and other leaders toured the Saemangeum construction site themselves. Businesspeople followed closely behind.

The appearance of Saemangeum had changed a lot from before. The image of only sand and dust blowing like a desert had disappeared, and infrastructure construction was in full swing everywhere.

With regulations lifted, various advanced construction techniques were also mobilized.

"This must be the Seosung Electronics semiconductor factory."

At President Heo Chang-min's words, Chairman Im Jin-yong quickly spread his fingers and said proudly.

"With the money to build this one building, you could build five Incheon Airports."

"Oh! Is that so?"

Seeing him appeal so hard about the investment, it seems he really doesn't want to be detained again.

I looked around.

This place will be our new home in the future. We plan to move the OTK Company headquarters and our home here.

I've already commissioned Architects to design the house.

I checked the time and said.

"I'm sorry, but I'll be going first."

Since a dinner banquet was scheduled afterward, everyone looked surprised at my words that I was leaving first.

President Heo Chang-min asked.

"Why are you leaving already?"

"I have a very important appointment."

***

Ellie had arrived at the airport first.

We all boarded the private jet together. The destination is Hong Kong. The reason for going is to meet Ellie's parents.

I decided to meet them first and greet them, and then hold the formal meeting of the families in Korea.

"You're busy with work, aren't you rushing too much?"

"Noona said that wedding preparations should be rushed even if it's a bit much."

It will only get busier in the future, not freer. If we put it off, there will be no end to it, so we should do it when we can.

"And I wanted to get married as soon as possible."

It's good to have someone who will be on my side at any time.

"What are your parents like, Ellie?"

"They're just like other parents. Since I'm an only daughter, they're always worried. They were surprised to learn that I was seeing you, Jin-hoo. They never imagined my boyfriend would be the richest man in the world."

"When did you tell them?"

"At first, I just told them I was dating a Korean businessman, but they found out because articles were published after the Vester commercial."

They must have been really surprised.

After arriving at the airport, we headed to a hotel in Central. As we arrived at the restaurant room first and sat down, Ellie smiled at me.

"Why are you so nervous?"

I wiped the sweat from my palms with a handkerchief.

"Does it show?"

I don't think I was this nervous even when I met Chairman Zhang Pinghua or President Vysotsky.

Ellie said with a smile.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they'll like you, Jin-hoo."

"I hope so."

What will Ellie's parents think of me?

Ellie is an only daughter. And I took such a precious daughter to Korea, and now I'm trying to marry her.

From a father's perspective, wouldn't he want to shout 'You bastard! I can't give you my daughter!' and land a flying kick as soon as he sees me?

Ellie stroked my hair with her fingers.

As I waited nervously, a middle-aged man with a dignity like a protagonist in a Hong Kong noir film and a middle-aged white woman with blonde hair and an elegant appearance entered together.

Seeing the two of them, I think I know where Ellie's beauty came from.

Ellie, meeting her parents after a long time, hugged and greeted them warmly. Then she introduced me.

"This is Jin-hoo. You all know him, right? These are my father and mother."

I bowed and greeted them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kang Jin-hoo."

The middle-aged woman said in slightly awkward Korean.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ellie's mother, Michelle Ilia."

But the middle-aged man kept his mouth shut and stared at me for a moment. When Ellie's mother nudged him in the side with her elbow, he opened his mouth as if he had no choice.

"I'm Mark Kim."

After the greetings, we sat down.

Ellie's father looked at me with a disapproving expression.

An awkward atmosphere hung in the air. Ellie's mother was the first to speak.

"I was surprised to see the article that Ellie was dating you, Mr. Jin-hoo. I never thought the two of you would end up getting married. The airport proposal was cool."

"Ah, thank you."

Ellie's mother said to her husband.

"You say something too."

"What is there for me to say?"

Ellie said.

"Dad, don't you have anything you're curious about regarding the man who's going to marry your daughter?"

Then Ellie's father cleared his throat and opened his mouth.

"Ahem, I heard you're good at investing."

"Yes."

"Is the company doing well?"

"Yes. It seems to be doing well."

"Have you prepared a house to live in?"

"Yes."

Ellie pouted her lips and said.

"Why are you asking the richest man in the world such things?"

"Ahem!"

Ellie's mother said with a smile.

"Even though he talks like this, ever since he found out Ellie was dating you, Mr. Jin-hoo, he hasn't missed a single article. He cheered for you so much this time too."

At those words, Ellie's father was flustered.

"No, when did I do that?"

"We respect our daughter's choice. We just hope Ellie will be happy."

If you have money, you can buy nice clothes, cars, a good house, delicious food, and do what you want.

Since food, clothing, shelter, and freedom of time are directly related to happiness, it is not a lie that money can buy happiness. However, having infinite money doesn't necessarily make you happy.

What's the use of having a lot of money if you're sick and can't be with the person you love?

I said honestly.

"I think the biggest achievement I've made while investing is not a lot of money, but meeting Ellie."

Ellie looked at her parents and said.

"I'm also happiest when I'm with Jin-hoo. We'll live well, so don't worry."

At those words, Ellie's father's expression softened.

"Well, if that's the case..."

Ellie's mother winked.

"If the two of you really love each other, we are fully in favor."

We held each other's hands tightly under the table.