The Returnee's Hidden Strategy Stream

[Translator - Jjescus ]

[Proofreader - Starfall ]

Chapter: 67

"I can't believe this."

Lee Hanson, the eldest daughter of the group chairman and CEO of Yeonhwa Gaming, a subsidiary of the Yeonhwa Group, let out a deep sigh as she stared at her monitor.

<Another unprecedented event created by player Black Dragon!>

<The first-ever episode reset in RP history. What will the advance players choose?>

<Black Dragon, who appeared like a comet. How did streamer Roper discover him?>

The list of articles on the Record Project was growing almost by the second.

There was only one reason for Hanson's headache. It was because her company had a chance to scout him.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The recruitment attempt had failed around the time of the Rashtan Corporation's monopolistic incident.

Due to a misjudgment by the employee in charge of the contact at the time, they had immediately expressed strong doubts about Black Dragon and Roper.

Of course, it wasn't their fault, and in the end, the name Yeonhwa had become distant to the two.

"I wish they'd reported it a little sooner..."

Roper was one thing, but Black Dragon was a force of nature. It was difficult for anyone to recognize his value immediately.

There would have been many ambiguous things for a mere employee to judge. It wasn't something that just anyone could decide to report to the CEO out of the blue.

"And the contract terms were so inadequate. The donation amount too."

The new contract terms and the sponsorship thrown into the stream to put out the fire were ridiculous considering Black Dragon's value.

It was a difficult decision for a manager to make.

Tok tok-

Hanson tapped her desk, her mind racing for solutions.

But from hidden skills to episode resets, Black Dragon had grown as vast as a mountain.

And with no response even to the continued attempts to contact him, it felt like the sky was falling.

To make matters worse, he was now joining the company Roper was creating.

She wondered if he might have developed animosity towards other companies.

"Haah..."

Bang-!

Suddenly, a loud noise startled her.

Hanson turned to see who had caused it.

"Does my little sister have no sense of time? Kicking the door open at this hour?"

"Sense? When was the last time you went to bed before 4 AM?"

Her younger sister, Seol-ah, burst into the room with her hair in a ponytail.

She was wearing a blue pajama set under a stylish leather jacket.

"Seol-ah, what if someone sees you dressed like that?"

"So what? There's no one else in the company except you."

"Hey, don't call me 'you'."

"Yes, my lady. Happy now?"

"You really..."

Seol-ah, who had answered playfully, grabbed some snacks from the desk and walked to the large window.

From the top floor of the high-rise building, they could see a panoramic view of Seoul.

"Isn't there a raid tomorrow? If you have nothing to do, go to bed early,” Hanson said, rubbing her temples, as if giving up.

It was no wonder. Her younger sister, Seol-ah, was a member of Yeonhwa Gaming's vanguard team.

A raid to clear a long-blocked episode was scheduled for noon.

"You think you can clear it just by banging your head against a wall? No way."

"You're stuck too. And the results from all the world's experts aren't much better."

"I know how to clear it."

"What?"

Hanson's eyes widened at the sudden confession.

She jumped up and asked her sister, "What's the strategy? No, why haven't you shared it?"

"Why would I share it with a bunch of idiots? It would just give me a headache thinking about all the noise they'd make."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'll tell you after I clear it."

"No... Haah."

Hanson leaned back in her chair, dizzy from the nonsensical answer.

She rubbed her temples and said, "How did you even end up in this family?"

"Dad said the same thing, so I stole his wig and ran away."

"Haah."

Hanson sighed at her sister's typical behavior.

But she couldn't deny her sister's talent.

The word 'genius' suits no one better than Seol-ah, who's sitting there mindlessly munching on snacks. She wasn't just intelligent; she was a bundle of talent in every way.

‘How did she end up like this?’

My brilliant younger sister had gone off the rails in high school.

Given her talent, it was on a scale that forced the entire family to give up. At least, with the Record Project, she'd settled on something.

And when I created Yeonhwa Gaming, I took charge of managing Seol-ah.

"Ah, I don't know anymore. Go quickly. I don't have time to worry about you."

"Why, because of Black Dragon?"

"...Just go. I need to find a way to cut ties with him quickly."

Since the RP world was in an uproar, Seol-ah knew about Black Dragon too.

Swallowing her snack, she turned around quickly and approached.

"That's why I came."

"What? Why you?"

"I'm just curious. Isn't it interesting?"

"...You're curious? No, you're curious?"

Hanson's eyes widened at the absurd statement.

It was the first time since that strange deep-sea creature that her genius younger sister had shown interest in something living.

"Everything about him is so strange. The strategy doesn't make sense either. It's not like playing a game."

"You mean the web novel Erport? You think that's where he got his information?"

"Do you really believe that? Even if he read the original story, there's so much that doesn't add up."

Seol-ah's eyes sparkled as she pondered the mysteries.

Before her curiosity turned into madness, Hanson spoke.

"I don't know what it is, but this is company business. If you're curious, go search the community. Don't mess things up by poking around."

"It's meaningless right now. They're talking about hiring assassins."

Scoffing, Seol-ah walked up to the monitor.

She tapped the news article that popped up and smirked.

"You can't figure it out just by reading articles."

"We have to find another way. Black Dragon will be helpful in some way or another."

As the episodes progressed, the strategies became increasingly complex.

Since the top advanced team had hidden all their information, they couldn't expect any help.

In this situation, the player Black Dragon had appeared out of nowhere.

Even though it was only the beginning of Episode 1, what he showed was on a completely different level.

It was enough to give hope for any possibility.

"If all else fails, I'll contact him directly."

"If you butt in, Black Dragon might resent you because of Rashtan. Their impression of a large corporation isn't good." Seol-ah firmly rejected her sister's suggestion.

Unable to refute her, Hanson frowned and said, "You keep saying no. Tell me your opinion."

"I'm already done."

"What?"

Hanson was puzzled by the sudden reply.

Her sister smiled and showed her smartphone screen.

The auction listing that Black Dragon had posted was displayed there.

"100 million. I used my own money."

* * *

Hanbit left the office and went to the emergency stairs.

"Calm down. This might not be real."

He closed his eyes and slowly opened them, looking at his smartphone screen.

<Auction winning bid: 100 million won>

<Winner: Luna>

"Wow, crazy."

The amount was clearly visible.

There was no need to pinch himself; it was reality.

"100 million..."

He had expected to earn hundreds of millions someday, given his popularity on the streaming channel.

But he hadn't expected to achieve it so quickly.

The significance of this amount was immense.

"She bid within three minutes?"

The auction ended just three minutes after Hanbit posted the listing.

There was no competition; she simply entered the buy-it-now price.

"Who's Luna?"

Curious about the winner's identity, Hanbit quickly logged into the community.

The place was already buzzing with talk about Hanbit's auction.

Judging from the speculations about the winner's identity, it seemed to be private information.

"Luna... huh?"

When he searched for the name, a character information window appeared at the top.

She was a member of the Yeonhwa Gaming advanced team and used four main skills.

Her main skill seemed to be ice-based.

"So it's those people from Yeonhwa."

The recruitment offer from Yeonhwa Gaming, which had gone awry due to the tan incident.

"I guess they felt bad about it, because they’ve been making their presence known in various ways since then."

They'd sent multiple recruitment offers and poured in a lot of donation money.

"But it's not the company, it's an individual."

Obviously, as a member of the company's advanced team, she was definitely connected.

Maybe the reason she didn't use the Yeonhwa name was because she was also wary of the past incident.

"Hmm."

Anyway, he had a pretty good idea of her intentions.

A price ten times higher than the market value.

For an advanced player or a company, 100 million won wasn't a small amount.

It must be a fee to get some information.

"But I can't just leave 100 million on the table."

He didn't want to get involved with any company, but it was ridiculous to turn down money that had already come in.

<Please enter the appropriate account number to receive the auction proceeds.>

Hanbit entered the information as instructed on the settlement page.

Beep-

<Deposit completed.>

Carefully turning on his phone, Hanbit accessed his banking app.

<Deposit History>

<RP Trader: +99,000,000 won>

"Crazy..."

The amount deposited after deducting a 1% fee.

He exhaled deeply at the sight of the dazzling numbers.

Hanbit quickly called his mother.

Beep-

“What's wrong? Is something wrong?”

Her worried voice came through as soon as the call connected.

Naturally feeling guilty, Hanbit took a deep breath and slowly said, “Mom, don't be surprised."

“What is it? Why?”

"I made 100 million."

“...What?”

For a moment, there was silence followed by a single question.

“What did you say? 100 million?! How did you make 100 million?!”

"100 million! Well, it's actually 99 million, but I made it anyway!"

“What are you talking about?”

His mother couldn't comprehend it easily.

Hanbit, who could fully understand, decided to give her time.

"I'll tell you the details at home. I'll wake up early in the morning."

“Not at home, but what... Oh, yes! Just a moment!”

He could hear the customer's voice faintly over the noise.

Sighing briefly, his mother said quietly.

“I don't know what it is, but okay. Let's talk later.”

Beep-

His busy mother's voice cut off.

100 million.

It was a lot of money, but it wasn't enough to change his life.

His priority was a house.

With the money he had, he could easily move out of this rented place.

"Heh."

He smiled as he checked the account balance again.

As he was checking it, his phone beeped again.

He clicked on the notification, and a one-on-one chat window popped up.

[Luna: Hello?]

"Alright, alright."

The auctioned items were automatically sent to the winner.

If she was contacting him like this, her intention was obvious.

[Black Dragon: Hello. You're from Yeonhwa Gaming, right? If you need any information, I'll tell you.]

Hanbit got straight to the point.

He wasn't stingy enough to ignore her after receiving such a large sum of money.

It was better to finish things cleanly without any lingering feelings of obligation.

Beep-

The reply came quickly.

[Luna: I don't need any information. Can we just chat for a bit?]

It was an unexpected answer.

[Translator - Jjescus ]

[Proofreader - Starfall ]