Chapter 538: Chapter 538

“Your... blood... I know...” Tardus spoke as if to explain the situation.

Chairman Parker shuddered in humiliation. He just couldn’t believe this was real. He never would’ve thought that his son would stab him in the back!

“He is a fool! He is no longer my son!”

Family had no meaning in a group dealing with an astronomical amount of wealth. Besides, Alex Parker wasn’t the kind of father to raise his children with love and faith. In fact, it wasn’t that surprising that Jacob, who had failed multiple times and had no place in the family, had betrayed him in such a fashion.

“Don’t worry, I can fix this. That imbecile... If he’d stayed still, he could’ve taken what was left. Instead, he’s digging his own grave...” Chairman Parker gritted his teeth. The betrayal of his trusted son didn’t hurt so much as it angered him.

How had he even managed to betray him in the first place? After all, everyone knew that Jacob Parker had failed many times and was incapable.

In any case, Alex Parker just had to explain that his child was being vindictive after being kicked out because of his failures. Then everyone would understand. After all, those cores had been tested a few times, and no abnormalities had been found...

-Gloria Parker, a senior member of the group, is shocked by the discovery. She is now arguing that the newly refined cores in the group are very dangerous...

-Richard Parker, currently a hunter in the Icarus clan, also backs up the accusations. He has seen the cores being developed within the group before. He claims that they are very dangerous.

Tardus cast the chairman a look of disdain. Discord with one’s own child wasn’t necessarily unique to Earth, but it was rather shameful for a father to have all his children betray him.

***

Choi Yeonseung was surprised in many ways. Firstly, far more people listened to him than he had expected.

Initially, he thought that governments and companies around the world would just nod to his warning before continuing to buy the cores. But in fact, many people followed Choi Yeonseung’s advice regardless of the rationale of his warning.

It was surprising indeed.

How come they were listening?!

-...Humans might be less intelligent than I thought.

-They’re not dumb, but they’re greedy.

He was suspicious that they would pretend to listen to him and buy the cores behind his back, so he checked again and again. But even after Choi Yeonseung checked on them, it became apparent that they were actually listening go him.

Why...? Why were they listening?

-Hunter Choi Yeonseung sent a warning... Should I take it seriously?

-Hunter Choi Yeonseung isn’t the kind of guy to joke or talk nonsense about such things.

-But we could get cores with such good terms... If we don’t sign a contract, Parker Group might attack us.

-It’s better to postpone the contracts and observe the situation for a bit. If we sign and then something goes wrong, we won’t be able to deal with it.

The governments that received the warning were quite worried about what would happen if they ignored Choi Yeonseung’s advice. What if he made a public statement, saying things like “The government of this country ignored my warning and acted as they pleased!” and then something actually went wrong?

It wasn’t worth the risk. Rather, it was better to wait and see how things would develop, even if they had to delay the deals with Parker Group. If governments delayed it in consideration of the political situation, companies were monitoring the state of things.

Nobody considered Choi Yeonseung the vindictive type, but people could be unpredictable. If they bought the cores despite the warning and Choi Yeonseung decided to retaliate, it would be a nightmare.

The amount of monopolies that Dragon Industry was currently handling was beyond imagination. As such, many companies and clans would be crippled if Dragon Industry decided to cut off their supply of magic items, cores, armor, and so on.

Safety-conscious companies decided to wait a bit longer than to be arrogant and get hit by headwinds. Besides, Choi Yeonseung wasn’t an ignorant man. If they listened to him, wouldn’t he reward them?

That was what baffled Tardus. Why would those humans waste time being careful instead of jumping in to buy quality goods for cheap?

“Are you sure it is okay?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Jacob Parker nodded.

“I’m not doing this for me. I’m doing it for the whole world. If those cores spread, who knows what problems will arise...”

‘One would think he’s a constellation...’

Choi Yeonseung was stunned. He was spreading fake news about the danger of the cores in order to stop their sales, but this didn’t matter to Jacob Parker. What mattered to him was bringing down the chairman and gaining as much as possible from Parker Group.

He could actually manage that if he looked good in front of Choi Yeonseung, the man who held true power in the United States!

[The ‘Chef of Endless Gluttony’ thinks you are being absurdly greedy.]

It wasn’t just Jacob Parker; Gloria Parker also jumped on the bandwagon when she realized she could gain a share. As for Richard, he complied because he was working for the clan...

Then, the tactic of spreading fake news turned out to be much more effective than Choi Yeonseung had expected.

-The Parker Group’s stock prices have crashed!

-Despite clarifying the situation, a large clan has terminated its contract with Parker Group...

-An anonymous source states that ‘Parker Group’s core is like a ticking time bomb’...

Choi Yeonseung felt sorry despite being the one who gave the order.

Thanks to having power and having the American media in his pockets, Choi Yeonseung could say anything, no matter how ridiculous, and many people would quickly believe him.

Of course, Parker Group was trying to fight back, but it wasn’t very effective. The influential media outlets in the United States had practically been cut off from them. They could use the power of the Master of Slowness and Silence to mobilize the Chinese media, but...

It didn’t work as well as they expected.

They mobilized the media companies with headquarters outside the occupied areas, thinking that people wouldn’t believe any news coming from regions occupied by the evil god constellations. But even so, the Chinese people didn’t trust the headlines.

The Chinese media held far less power than Tardus had thought. This was where Choi Yeonseung and Tardus differed.

Having been born human, Choi Yeonseung would never think, ‘If something happens, I should mobilize the Chinese media to manipulate the news.’ But Tardus, an Abyssal creature with a limited understanding of humanity, didn’t know that. He was just flustered.

“It’s a lot shakier than I thought, but in the end, it’s only a matter of time. They can get a lot of cores. No one will resist buying them!” Chairman Parker said firmly. His optimism was rather unexpected, but he genuinely thought that things would eventually turn around.

-The shocking return of Gary Nelson, America’s first-generation hunter...!

-Gary Nelson, who was on the run after being accused of murder and terrorism, has resurfaced today! He pleads his innocence and denounces Parker Group!

Gary Nelson—as a first-generation American hunter, he was a great figure who had developed the group together with Alex Parker.

However, Alex Parker eventually stabbed him in the back and placed various charges on him. Baffled, Gary Nelson tried to overturn the situation with force, only to gather more charges. In the end, he made a deal with an evil god constellation and fled.

Eventually, Choi Yeonseung found Gary Nelson being subjected to endless labor. Now, he brought him out as a trump card.

-Hunter Gary Nelson denounced the wrongdoings that took place within Parker Group and accused the current chairman, Alex Parker...

“...”

No matter how calm Alex Parker tried to be, he didn’t expect his old enemy, who had been assumed dead, to re-emerge and do this. For the first time ever, he got goosebumps all over and had a chill go down his spine.

‘How the hell...?’

***

Even though their stock prices had collapsed and investigations were being carried out at their overseas facilities, Parker Group no longer made any response. With that, Choi Yeonseung realized he had won.

He had won!

...By resorting to questionable means.

‘Huh, feels great to win.’

He hadn’t even looked at the cores to see if they actually had any problems, but he had nonetheless smashed his opponent and won with just those rumors. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He was glad he had won, but he was also kind of embarrassed.

[The power of existence has increased due to strong faith!]

[...]

[...]

In the process of smashing Parker Group, his power of existence had naturally increased. In the eyes of other companies who were unaware of the situation, Choi Yeonseung seemed to have trampled on his competitor.

-Didn’t Parker Group try to keep Hunter Choi Yeonseung in check?

-I heard he insulted Hunter Choi Yeonseung personally. Chairman Parker is such a stubborn man.

-Hunter Choi Yeonseung must’ve remembered that and decided to properly wield his sword this time. It’s scary... I didn’t think he’d destroy them that quickly.

Parker Group had suffered this fate because Chairman Parker had made a deal with the household member of the Master of Slowness and Silence, but to other companies, it looked like Choi Yeonseung had set up an ingenious trap.

He had prepared various materials, set a trap for Parker Group, and defeated them at once.

Absolutely terrifying!

-I’ll make sure to never get on his bad side!

-Do you remember that you almost accepted another company’s offer last time?

-My clan feels uneasy because we didn’t participate in the last Abyss raid...

-What? You actually didn’t participate?! You’ve got some balls... I wouldn’t have dared. You should apologize as soon as possible.

As many companies were freaking out for nothing, the constellation Choi Yeonseung had forgotten about sent a message again.

[The ‘Goddess of Pleasure and Lust’ proudly congratulates you on your victory in the battle.]

[Now it’s time for you cheeky mortals to challenge the Fifth Kingdom...]

Choi Yeonseung brushed aside her message, as he still had work left to do.

-The enemy has failed to sell the cores, but I know they’ve accumulated a lot of materials. Is it okay to leave this alone?

-It’s definitely a bit suspicious. Even if it isn’t possible now, they can sneak it out later through other means.

Choi Yeonseung was talking to the constellations when he suddenly felt the future come his way through a vision.

Future Sight was being activated!

“!”

The cores scattered by the Master of Slowness and Silence... They were gathered in one place, and the blurry image of the Master of Slowness and Silence was taking shape.

Choi Yeonseung was stunned.

‘Did he leave a part of himself in the cores before scattering them?’

It was both amazing and unbelievable. Constellations could create clones or incarnations of themselves, but they were afraid of weakening their own power... To think the Master of Slowness and Silence had infused part of himself into the cores, leaving them to be scattered and possibly damaged or consumed.

It wasn’t surprising that this hadn’t been detected during the testing. It was also hard to imagine what the Master of Slowness and Silence would do once the cores were scattered all over the place.

-I have to collect them.

-Yes, collect and destroy them.

The goddess of sloth cheered like it was a good idea, but Choi Yeonseung paused.

-Do I have to destroy them?

-...Then what would you do with the remains of the slowness constellation’s vicious plan?

-I was thinking of doing business with the evil god constellations.

-......

If Choi Yeonseung sold them little by little to constellations all over the Abyss, not on Earth, it would be impossible for the Master of Slowness and Silence to retrieve them, no matter how vicious he was.

-...Do what you want.

At this point, the goddess of sloth felt like she should just cheer for and sympathize with the evil god constellations...