Chapter 78: Crisis is an Opportunity (1)

While Thomas Motors was in chaos in the United States,

a game company in Korea was in turmoil for a different reason.

LB Studio had launched a PC MMORPG called Fantasia Tales a few months ago. Many gamers were enthusiastic about this large-scale PC online game, which had been a long time coming.

Fantasia Tales was initially successful and seemed to be on a smooth course.

However, an incident occurred.

A user with the ID 'Mocha' bought a Shining Sword from a user named 'Bronzeman' for 60 million won.

He was overjoyed to obtain one of the few strongest weapons in the server.

But his joy was short-lived.

Mocha sensed something was off.

Bronzeman was selling another Shining Sword elsewhere.

'How could this be?'

To craft a Shining Sword, various materials are needed, the hardest to obtain being Sandpearl, which drops when the boss monster Sandrock is defeated.

Users competed fiercely to defeat this boss, which respawned once every two weeks, and a raid typically involved 20 people.

Even after all this effort, Sandpearl was not guaranteed to drop.

So, how could Bronzeman have obtained enough Sandpearls to craft two Shining Swords?

Mocha suspected that the item had been duplicated using hacks or bugs. Such actions are strictly dealt with by all game companies as they ruin the game's system.

If he was wrong, he could face permanent account suspension or deletion for buying a duplicated item.

Mocha posted his concerns on the official forum.

However, he received a response stating there was no problem, and his post was immediately deleted. When he posted again, it was deleted once more.

Feeling something was amiss, Mocha demanded a refund from Bronzeman. But Bronzeman refused, claiming there was nothing wrong with the item.

In the process, they got into an argument, and Bronzeman not only mocked Mocha but also killed his character.

Enraged, Mocha began investigating Bronzeman.

He discovered that Bronzeman had only created his account 20 days ago and had sold many high-value items during that time.

Mocha suspected that Bronzeman was a game administrator.

[Mocha: You're an admin, right?]

Bronzeman immediately deleted his account and disappeared.

With this confirmation, Mocha reported the incident to the game company.

However, the company's response was unexpected.

If this became public, it would certainly dampen the game's success. This major scandal erupted at a time when the game was already riding a wave of popularity.

Concerned, the company tried to contact the user and offer compensation to cover up the incident.

This made Mocha even angrier.

"Are you thinking I'm doing this over just one item?"

He compiled all the events and posted them on the official forum, Fantasia Tales official forum, galleries, and cafes.

As the news spread, users were in an uproar.

While it's not uncommon for administrators to cause trouble in other games, this was beyond the pale.

Not only had the admin duplicated items and sold them, but he had also killed the user who reported him!

It was an unprecedented situation.

The incident, known as the Bronzeman Gate, Dongnam Incident, and Dongnam Affair, quickly spread across the internet.

Users began posting their account cancellations, and media articles followed.

[Fantasia Tales: Admin Duplicates Items for Unfair Gain]

[Admin's Abuse of Power Shakes Game's Trust]

[LB Studio: Ignoring the Problem and Hushing It Up]

[Company Finally Takes Action Against the Employee]

[Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Calls for Stronger Regulation of the Game Industry]

[Ministry of Gender Equality and Family: This Incident is Related to Game Addiction; Shutdown System Must Be Expanded]

[Minister Jin Mi-soon: The Only Solution is to Levy Funds from Game Companies!]

- Damn, the game company not only sells various items but now the admin is duplicating and selling them.

- Wow! Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, and you can make infinite money.

- This is true creative economy.

- K-games are running smoothly~

- Get caught, and you're immediately PK'd. Are you scared to play the game?

- Do you see users as pigs?

- Yes, they are pigs. Who treats users like this?

- Spend 100 million won, and you're treated like a VIP at a department store or supermarket!

- In a way, it's fair, isn't it? Other places treat you according to how much you spend, but Korean game companies treat you like a pig whether you spend 100 won or 100 million won.

- Haha, our game company doesn't discriminate against users. Because they're all pigs.

- I'm quitting all LB Studio games!

- The answer is to quit this trash game.

- I'm leaving now, so admins, please manage the game~

- By the way, why is the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family suddenly involved?

- I was also surprised when I read the news.

- What does this have to do with game addiction?

- I don't know...

- Haha, look at them trying to levy funds in the middle of this.

As the situation escalated, the company finally issued an apology and announced disciplinary action against the admin, including a criminal lawsuit.

However, the public outrage did not subside easily, and the company hastily offered 200,000 gold and 300 enhancement stones to all users as compensation.

This, however, created another problem.

200,000 gold and 300 enhancement stones are resources that a beginner would need a month to obtain. Distributing them to all users caused the value of these resources to plummet.

Moreover, the compensation could be transferred between users.

In other words, users could create multiple sub-accounts and transfer the compensation to their main account.

The company tried to prevent the transfer of compensation items, but many users had already done so. This widened the gap between new and existing users, creating a barrier to entry.

When the company announced it would roll back the transferred compensation, users rebelled again.

Feeling helpless, the management team handed the issue back to the development team. The development team, including Development Team 3, had to work through the night to fix the problems.

Kang Seon-woo sighed.

'They were boasting about how it would be a huge hit.'

He had a grand dream.

First, he wanted to make Fantasia Tales a huge success, gain recognition as a developer, and then start his own game company with investment.

But it seemed to be failing from the start.

'What's the point of working hard on development if the operation is so poor?'

A large-scale game with many players is like a world in itself. By tampering with the balance, the world became chaotic.

Especially, the large-scale distribution of resources as compensation caused severe inflation, effectively collapsing the economic system.

After hours of continuously modifying the system, someone offered him a cup of coffee. It was a woman with clear skin, her hair tied back, wearing a simple outfit of jeans and a T-shirt.

"You'll get a stiff neck. Take a break."

"Sure."

At Cha Su-yeon's suggestion, Kang Seon-woo finally lifted his head, which had been bent over, and stretched his back.

Although they were both in Development Team 3, she was in charge of design. She had no specific tasks but stayed to help the other employees.

"Ah! What happened to the accomplice? Was it really Gwan-hui?"

"It seems so. They're pushing the blame onto each other, Kim Dong-nam and Gwan-hui."

Initially, it was thought to be the work of a single admin, but an accomplice was revealed during the investigation.

The accomplice was none other than Park Gwan-hui, a manager in the business team.

According to Kim Dong-nam, Park Gwan-hui had proposed the scheme and even provided the method.

The two had made a profit of 380 million won from selling items, which they split equally.

Kang Seon-woo, hearing this, said in disbelief,

"Kim Dong-nam is one thing, but Park Gwan-hui is the son of Vice President Park Hyun-jong."

"Right."

"Why would someone from a wealthy family do such a thing?"

"It's because of stocks. He apparently used the money to buy more stocks."

Park Gwan-hui had worked at Mirae Investment Securities before joining LB Studio.

He was known to have made a considerable amount of money from stocks, but he lost it all by investing in a penny stock called KNC International.

'I even grabbed him by the collar back then.'

Well, he did apologize later.

Kang Seon-woo recalled the incident and said,

"So, did he make money this time?"

Cha Su-yeon shook her head.

"No. He invested in a company called Thomas Motors and lost everything."

"Thomas Motors? What kind of company is it?"

"It's a hydrogen car company in the U.S. It was quite profitable, but a few days ago, its stock plummeted by 90%."

Kang Seon-woo was taken aback.

"Really?"

What kind of stock could plummet by 90%?

What was even more surprising was...

"How can every stock he touches fall so drastically?"

Cha Su-yeon nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. It's harder to pick stocks that fall by 90% than to pick winners."

It almost seemed like a talent.

"Was it a penny stock?"

"No, but it turned out that all the technologies they had previously announced were fraudulent. A private equity fund called Continuum Capital exposed them. It seems that stocks aren't for everyone."

"Um."

This reminded him of a friend who was heavily into stocks.

'I wonder if he's doing well in the U.S.? I hope he hasn't lost everything and can't return to Korea.'

Fortunately, his friend's wealth was steadily increasing.

* * *

Heo Min-woong returned to Korea.

As soon as he landed at Incheon Airport, he headed straight to the headquarters of the holding company, Hwahwan. The chairman, Heo Sung-hoon, and executives from Hwahwan Energy and Hwahwan Solutions were all gathered there.

Heo Min-woong sat down without a moment to catch his breath.

As the meeting began, the executives from Hwahwan Solutions expressed their dissatisfaction. They wanted to know why the agreement was broken and the stocks sold without prior consultation.

Heo Min-woong calmly explained the situation.

"As I mentioned, I met with Bread Button's CEO and sensed something was off. I postponed the signing ceremony and conducted my own investigation. When I saw the report from Continuum Capital published in the Wall Street Journal, I realized the severity of the situation and advised President Bang Su-hwan to sell the shares."

'In reality, I received the information from Han Miru and didn't do much investigation myself.'

President Bang Su-hwan of Hwahwan Energy nodded in agreement with Heo Min-woong's explanation.

Then, President Im Tae-ju of Hwahwan Solutions said,

"The hydrogen energy agreement involves not only Hwahwan Energy but also Hwahwan Solutions. It was right to discuss the decision to sell the shares together."

Heo Min-woong shook his head.

"At the time I suggested selling, there were only suspicions, not concrete evidence. However, if the agreement had been announced, it would have been impossible to sell the shares, so I acted quickly."