Chapter 53: The Meeting at Mega Company

‘Is it here.’

This is Pangyo.

The headquarters of Mega Company is located here.

As soon as Seong-woo saw the reply he received, he quickly pulled his cap down and hailed a taxi.

There was no reason to hesitate.

It wasn't just anywhere—they wanted to meet at the Mega Company headquarters itself. Missing out on an opportunity like this would be as good as proving he was a fool.

The moment he got out of the taxi, Seong-woo was genuinely impressed by the sheer size of Mega Company’s headquarters.

‘As expected of Mega Company. The scale is on a different level.’

Mega Company is a relatively new company, not even a few years old.

But after creating Warlord, which boasts the highest profit margin in gaming history, they have the biggest building in Pangyo as their headquarters.

It was enough to make him hesitate to go in.

But he had to go in.

He had to go inside and meet the person in charge to receive his compensation.

With his resolve firm, Seong-woo took a step toward the headquarters building.

Uuuuuung…….

The vibration of his phone.

When he checked the caller, it was a number he didn’t recognize.

He considered answering but decided against it.

After all, ever since he secretly took a leave of absence without telling his parents, he’d been careful not to answer unfamiliar numbers.

Seong-woo set his phone to silent and entered the building.

The interior was as grand as the exterior.

Seong-woo approached the information desk in the center of the lobby and stated his business.

“Hello?”

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“I’m here in response to a visit request from headquarters.”

“May I have your name, please?”

“Han Seong-woo.”

“Ah, Mr. Han Seong-woo. Please wait a moment, and I’ll call the person in charge for you.”

Upon hearing Seong-woo’s name, the female staff checked the visitor list, made a call somewhere, and notified them of Seong-woo’s arrival.

Soon after, Oh Jae-hyun appeared.

But the moment Oh Jae-hyun showed up, all the women at the desk stood up abruptly.

Seong-woo tilted his head in confusion.

‘Why are they standing up?’

He didn’t even have a name tag on his chest like the other employees, and he even looked a little disheveled.

Even so, the reason the staff were so tense was because Oh Jae-hyun was a powerful figure with executive-level authority.

But since Seong-woo didn’t know Oh Jae-hyun’s status in the company, he just found the situation puzzling.

Upon arriving at the information desk, Oh Jae-hyun approached Seong-woo with a bright smile and reached out for a handshake.

“You must be User Han Seong-woo, right?”

“Ah, yes. Hello. I came after receiving your reply.”

“I didn’t expect you to come so quickly. Thank you for making the long trip. Why don’t we move somewhere more comfortable first?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Oh Jae-hyun led Seong-woo to the company café.

He deliberately didn’t go into the development team’s area.

As the head of the development team, there was no need to get approval from anyone above, and above all, the development room was off-limits to outsiders.

That’s why he came to a private room in the café.

Oh Jae-hyun brought the drinks himself and handed one to Seong-woo.

“Sorry for the late introduction. I’m Oh Jae-hyun, head of the development team.”

“Excuse me? The head?”

“Yes. But my position is Manager.”

The way he said his title was Manager sounded humble. And with good reason—within Mega Company, the development team was the core of the core departments.

‘No wonder the staff stood up for him.’

He might only be twenty and inexperienced in the ways of the world, but Seong-woo was quick to pick up on things.

He was quietly impressed.

He’d expected at best a GM or part-timer to show up and go through a formal interview.

Because of this, Seong-woo found himself reevaluating major companies—especially Mega Company—from today on.

But he quickly shook his head.

‘No. I need to keep my wits about me. With how much damage I’ve suffered, there’s no way just this kind of courtesy can make up for it.’

There’s a saying: Even if you’re dragged off by a tiger, as long as you keep your mind sharp, you’ll survive.

He’d suffered a loss of hundreds of millions.

Seong-woo decided to lay out the thoughts he’d put together on the taxi ride over.

To do that, he needed a firm attitude and direct approach.

So he got straight to the point.

“I’m honestly touched that a Manager himself came out to meet me. Then I suppose our discussion about compensation will go smoothly. So, may I ask what kind of compensation you’re considering?”

“For the compensation issue, of course, we hope to resolve things as smoothly as possible. The company intends to reflect Mr. Han Seong-woo’s requests as much as possible. But there are some things I need to mention beforehand.”

“What are those?”

“First, while we’ll provide compensation, company policy prevents us from compensating with in-game currency, equipment items, or any unrevealed game information.”

As expected.

Unless Mega Company had made a mistake like deleting an item or a character, giving out compensation that disrupts fairness between users would be hard.

Seong-woo nodded.

“It’s because of fairness, right? So, consumables like potions, teleport scrolls, enhancement stones, and catalysts would be okay?”

“Yes. Those are allowed. However, I should tell you in advance that the items given as compensation cannot be traded.”

“I figured as much. But as I wrote in my inquiry, you have a general idea of how much loss I suffered because of that Eavesdrop skill, right? So, I have a few personal questions. May I ask?”

“If it’s something I can answer.”

“Then first... Is Symbiotic Pendant an item with a drop limit?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“How many are there?”

“Well......”

The number of Symbiotic Pendants dropped.

There was no reason not to tell.

It was an item that had already been dropped, and Seong-woo had every right to know.

But if he told Seong-woo the number, he’d definitely be furious.

Because Oh Jae-hyun also knew the price Symbiotic Pendant had reached in the hotfix.

After hesitating, Oh Jae-hyun decided to answer.

“50...... there are 50.”

“50?”

“Yes.”

A moment of silence.

The air turned icy.

Seong-woo’s mind went blank.

Because 50 Symbiotic Pendants was the same as 5 billion won.

Seong-woo was left slack-jawed, half out of his wits.

Oh Jae-hyun could only manage a bitter smile, holding back his words.

After a long moment of shock, Seong-woo finally spoke.

“Manager......”

“Yes, yes?”

“The compensation you’re going to give me... is it worth about 5 billion?”

“......No.”

“Ah......”

Even with prices rising so much compared to the past, 5 billion was still enough to buy a whole building.

No wonder he was in shock.

Seong-woo fell back into a daze, and only came to his senses about five minutes later.

He took a sip of water to moisten his dry lips, then slowly spoke.

“Why did you do it?”

“Pardon......?”

“It was listed on the auction house for a whole billion gold. Why did you allow 50 of those items to drop?”

“Th-that’s......”

50.

When you look at it like that, it’s a big number.

But actually, for a boss monster—especially if the drop limit for a single item is only 50—that’s extremely low.

Because Warlord is a global game with tens of millions of users—a massive online game.

So, compared to the number of users, 50 is a very small number.

Besides, the fact that Symbiotic Pendant was priced at a billion gold was purely Iron Dragon’s doing. So the so-called ‘5 Billion Incident’ was, in the end, simply a natural result of market economics.

Having listened to Oh Jae-hyun’s explanation, Seong-woo had no choice but to accept it.

But only in his head.

His heart still couldn’t accept the reality, burning hot inside him.

He considered just dropping all pretense and raising his voice.

In Korea, the loudest guy wins anyway.

But just then—

Uung-

The phone vibrated.

He wasn’t expecting anyone to contact him. Who could it be?

Seong-woo checked the message he’d received.

It was from an unknown number.

But the contents of the text were anything but unfamiliar.

 
[010-xxxx-xxxx]

-Revahn-nimㅠㅠㅠ This is Guildmasterㅠㅠㅠㅠ I just wanted to reach out because I have something to say about the misunderstanding between usㅠㅠㅠ Actually, what happened is……

 
The sender’s identity was none other than Guildmaster.

As soon as Seong-woo realized who it was, he unconsciously frowned.

But after reading the entire message, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

After reading it all, Seong-woo excused himself to Oh Jae-hyun.

“Excuse me, may I make a phone call real quick?”

“Ah, yes, of course. Take your time.”

“Thank you.”

With permission, Seong-woo left the room and moved to an empty private room.

He then dialed Guildmaster’s number, which he had previously blocked.

Trrrr…… Click!

Before the phone even rang three times, the call was answered. On the other end, Guildmaster’s urgent voice came through.

“Revahn-nim!”

“Yes, Guildmaster.”

“D-did you see my text?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. As I wrote, it’s a tradition in our guild to play a prank on new guild members…… I didn’t think it would get this out of hand. So……”

Guildmaster sincerely apologized, sounding truly sorry. Seong-woo listened silently.

As Guildmaster’s apology was ending, Seong-woo asked.

“Guildmaster.”

“Yes?”

“Putting everything else aside—is it true that you have Iron Dragon in custody?”

“Yes! I just heard that we’ve confiscated all five Symbiotic Pendants that Iron Dragon had!”

“Five?”

“Yes. That’s what Iron Dragon said.”

At Guildmaster’s confident declaration, Seong-woo instinctively smacked his forehead.

‘This guy, seriously? Lying even now?’

He’d hoarded almost 50, and now he’s pretending it’s just five.

It seems his experience wasn’t for nothing.

Seong-woo sighed.

“Guildmaster.”

“Yes, Revahn-nim.”

“Do you really want to make up with me?”

“Of course! We’re the ones who invited you to join the guild, and if things end up like this, I’d feel too guilty……”

Yeah.

Guildmaster was always this kind of person.

Seong-woo never thought Guildmaster’s original behavior was fake.

So he figured the real mastermind behind all this was probably Vice-Guildmaster Romantic Sword.

Seong-woo said,

“Alright. I know you didn’t mean any harm, and the real villains are those guys from the Plague Guild, so I’ll accept your apology. But I have one condition.”

“A condition?”

“Yes. Let’s meet up and talk. I’ll tell you the details in person.”

“Understood. Then I’ll send you a teleport scroll to where we are right now.”

“Okay.”

An unexpected move from Guildmaster.

For some reason, Seong-woo had a feeling he might finally be able to untangle this twisted mess.