Royal Roader on My Own

Chapter 149: Trustworthy Comrades (1)

“My company? You want to buy one of them?”

Jung Man Yong looked shocked. It seems as if my condition was completely unexpected.

I guess it makes sense since Jung Man Yong just sees me as a typical athlete. A businessman and an athlete are completely different paths, even if you have a lot of money. Furthermore, it was one of Chairman Jung Man Yong’s companies.

But I’m sure he’ll be interested after hearing my proposal.

“I believe that it is a company you are trying to sell off. It’ll be beneficial for both of us if a deal is made.”

Jung Man Yong’s gaze slowly changed.

“A company that I want to sell off? Which one are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you acquire an automobile company in India about 5 years ago? I’ve been told it is returning a loss year after year.”

“Ah, you are talking about HI Motors. Not all automobile companies are large. HI Motors is so small that the loss isn’t a big deal for me.”

Even I know that much. I have been gathering information on it for close to three months now.

Thanks to that, I know the financial structure of HI Motors, as well as personal information about the staff members.

HI Motors is better described as an electric car company. It only creates small electric cars. (TL: An Indian Tesla?)

The yearly production is less than 1 million vehicles.

But the Golden Dragon Auto had invested in the company while expecting a profitable future. They thought that the knowledge base and skill set of the Golden Dragon Auto’s team working with the cheap labor costs in India would help them be competitive in the small electric car market.

However, the results were not as they had hoped.

The growth of the Chinese competitors was so fierce that the difference in skill set did not allow them to have an overwhelming advantage. Furthermore, it was hard to get past the stigma of the fact that it was, ‘made in INDIA.’

Most importantly, it was not very cheap either. It was cheaper than the Chinese models, however, the consumers didn’t care about the slightest of savings.

This led to the thought of HI Motors creating the future for Golden Dragon Auto falling to the ground.

It was not just HI Motors. The Golden Dragon Auto’s own electric car business was not doing well. Although electric cars were the path to the future, it was still hard to be competitive based on cost and required skill set.

This was why the Golden Dragon Group talked about letting go of Golden Dragon Auto as well.

Of course, Chairman Jung Man Yong threw a fit every time it was brought up.

Anyway, it was at least certain that the electric cars were choking the Golden Dragon Group. Keeping the company would just make the deficit continue to grow, and that may eventually end up affecting the entire Golden Dragon Group in the future.

I would think Chairman Jung Man Yong would want to sell it as long as someone was willing to pay a fair price for it.

“I will give you 300 billion won for it. I will take over any remaining loans that need to be paid off as well.”

Chairman Jung Man Yong’s eyes turned vicious. He had turned from a senior who enjoys golf to an experienced businessman.

“You are looking down on business too much.”

If you think something is simple, then it is simple. If you think something is difficult, then it is difficult.

In addition, I was jumping into the battlefield while knowing that it was a battle I was going to win.

“I can take the Golden Dragon Auto’s Electric Car Factory as well if you would like me too. The decision is yours, Chairman.”

Chairman Jung Man Yong could not easily respond. I’m sure he has nothing prepared for the sale of HI Motors or the Electric Car Factory.

He’ll need to put together a task force in order to deliberate the pros and cons. He’ll then create a negotiation team in order to try to raise the price I pay for the companies.

But that would be difficult. That is because I have no thoughts of negotiating.

“I would like a YES or NO answer for at least HI Motors. I will take it as a NO if you want to negotiate the price, so I hope that you do not waste our time. Oh, and one more thing. Whether or not I play with the Golden Dragon Group’s logo depends on whether I can purchase HI Motors or not.”

Chairman Jung Man Yong was rubbing his chin with his fingers.

“Hmm. Then I will ask you one question. I’m sure that is allowed?”

“Please ask.”

“Why do you suddenly want to purchase HI Motors? I heard that you purchased a Vietnamese Food Company, but food and cars are extremely different.”

‘Does he think I don’t know even that much?’

All of this was President Kim In Hwan’s request. He had brought it up as soon as I agreed to invest in the Sodium-Ion Battery.

Of course, he didn’t bring up HI Motors right away. He just told me to purchase companies that would be competitive based on the price and capabilities of batteries, such as electric cars, drones, and cell phones.

It made sense after he explained it to me.

I thought that it was best to go with electric cars. The battery is what determines an electric car’s performance and price.

Of course, the skill set when building the vehicle is important as well, but the main reason people avoid electric cars is because of the cost and lack of charging stations.

As long as we have the cheap yet reliable Sodium-Ion battery in our hands, we will be able to create better and cheaper electric cars than any other company.

Furthermore, President Kim In Hwan is currently developing a Sodium-sulfur battery as well.

The Sodium-sulfur battery is supposed to hold eight times the charge of the Sodium-Ion battery. It would allow us to increase the duration of usage while keeping the battery the same size.

President Kim In Hwan thinks that he could develop it in the next year or two.

I had already checked his future with the Chaos Jewel.

That meant that Kim In Hwan will definitely succeed. He will also continue to develop much greater things.

Where else would I find such a good investment?

“My goal since I was young was to own an automobile company. Plus, won’t electric cars dominate the future? I want to turn it into a world-renowned automobile company, even if it requires my entire wealth.”

“Hmm…… I will think about it. Anyway, let us eat. I don’t like to talk about business when there is food in front of me.”

I had no reason to rush. Although I have already done a lot of research, I still didn’t know everything about HI Motors nor the Golden Dragon Auto’s Electric Car Factory.

I need to do even more research from here onward. That is why I presume the actual purchase will be in about a year.

Today was just the tape cutting to get it started. So, this much discussion is already good enough.

“Ah, my apologies. Thank you for the delicious meal.”

* * *

Boom! A Golden Troll fell over with a loud noise.

I heard a refreshing voice as soon as it fell.

[Golden Troll’s Blood Essence]

Consuming this item will increase your recovery rate by 300%.

‘Golden Troll’s Blood Essence?’

It wasn’t bad, but it was not a very useful item. Human recovery rate was so low that three times the norm would not make much of a difference.

It would be better to use healing magic or drink a potion.

However, it still was too precious to randomly give to someone else. I’ll just put it in my bag for now.

I had a more important task to take care of right now.

I quickly opened a magic bag and collected the Golden Troll’s blood. There was a lot that was spilled onto the ground, so I only managed to fill one bag.

But it was still a Golden Troll’s blood. I’m sure that it will be worth a lot.

‘The magicians will go crazy if I bring it to them.’

But I had no plans on taking it to the magic tribe, the Shapir.

I had already finished upgrading my equipment. I had no reason to take any more Golden monster blood to the Shapir.

I was planning on taking it to someone else.

Avanguarde’s colossus, Humbley. He will put it to its best use, whether it would be selling it off or making a magic item with it.

‘It has been a while since I’ve seen his face.’

I had been focused on clearing Demon Caves for almost a year now.

It made me think about Kaldera as well. She was someone whose beauty overwhelmed even Shione’s beauty.

Of course, I didn’t think she was that beautiful anymore.

This was bad. My perspective of beauty has gone up quite a bit since meeting the High Elf. Will I even be able to get married at this rate?

Anyway, I managed to reach my desired level after working hard for a year.

‘Status window open!’

[Kang Hwi Ram Level 400]

Dexterity: Advanced Level 8, 95%

Strength: 400

Agility: 1,803

Stamina: 101

Intuition: 145

Magic: 201

Vitality: 41

Mana: 770

HP: 848

Endurance: 41

Reinforced Toughness: 150

Guard Point: 3,598

Intelli Point: 3,256

Spirit Energy: 396

Level 400 wasn’t necessarily that high. The Dwarf Goonto was already past level 500.

However, this should be enough to safely enter the Southern District. My greatest strength is the fact that my skills allow me to attack with strength way beyond my actual level.

[Combo (Under 40%): Advanced Level 4, 7%]

[Drake’s TBSA: Advanced Level 3, 57%]

I have been working to raise my combo’s proficiency. Combo becomes stronger the higher you raise it.

And, after a long time, I finally managed to reach Advanced level 4.

The exponential damage increased from 26% to 28% at advanced level 4. This means that the damage will double every 3 hits.

Then I should be able to hit a monster with at least 10,000 damage with just a 30-hit combo. That would be 170,000 at a 40-hit combo and 2,000,000 at a 50-hit combo.

It is damage that cannot be created with just strength, agility, or magic.

Most importantly, I have reliable comrades. I have Goonto and the Dwarves, as well as Harrison’s forces that also had Bernard.

“I think we’re all done.”

Shione’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.

The rest of the team had cleared the remaining monsters once I took down the Golden Troll.

My slave Rohas played a pivotal role. He showed off his overwhelming abilities from the moment we entered the Demon Cave, and he showed us his strength in the final battle.

Seeing him fight like that made me wonder how I had managed to take him in as a slave. I couldn’t help but wonder about it.

Shione’s level should have gone up a lot as well. She also had built up a lot of experience participating in the Demon Cave Clearing Squads with me.

She’ll help a lot if she goes to the Southern District with me.

It was now time. I needed to tell Shione about it as well.

“I gathered the final piece of the map.”

Shione’s beautiful eyebrows slightly twitched.

This was the secret code we had determined a long time ago. It meant that we were done with the Demon Cave Clearing and that it was time to prepare for the restoration of the Batoru Kingdom.

Shione’s expression turned bright.

“That’s great. Let us leave.”

We went through the portal and headed out of the Demon Cave.

The bishop looked as if he was going to cry after hearing that we completed the map of the Church of the Sun.

“Oh, we can finally restore peace to the continent!”

‘Peace to the continent?’

That was too extravagant of an expression. All we did was figure out the location of the Church of the Sun’s headquarters.

Although the headquarters is important, the fact that there are over a few thousand of branches of the Church of the Sun throughout the continent made it so that they would not accomplish much by just taking the headquarters out.

It would just allow the Ameri Kingdom’s strength to grow a bit. Finding the Church of the Sun’s headquarters meant that they can figure out the location of the Altar of the Sun and develop stronger forces.

However, even that would be impossible. There was no way that they would be able to climb the Peria Mountains.

But that was none of my business. I just needed to take my reward.

“Then is the quest completed?”

“Ah, the quest! Reward! O, of course!”

The bishop seemed to have forgotten about it for a bit.

I guess it made sense since it has been close to a year.

However, the quest does not disappear, regardless of how long you take.

The bishop put his hand on my head. I soon heard a wonderful reward message.

Translator: Miraclerifle

Proofreader: Borderline Masochist