The next day, MOX’s stock weakened further. Its internal problems with the games weren’t public knowledge, yet the shareholders were selling their stocks.
It was because of those with insider information.
Woosung was buying the stocks little by little so that it goes unnoticed.
“The problem is the 5% rule.”
5%.
If an individual or a company bought over 5% of a particular company, it had to be disclosed. If Woosung’s name was mentioned, it would be an issue.
Woosung thought of Jang Gwangchul. MOX’s stock would decline further. In his previous life, however, things happened very differently. MOX released an FPS game in China, which garnered huge success. The mobile version of Legend was also a hit, and MOX became a 20-billion-dollar company.
“So what I need to do is to buy as many stocks as possible now so I can take over the company…Then develop the games that are popular in 2018…”
This way, he could accomplish his revenge and make a huge business profit.
Woosung called for Jang Gwangchul and explained his plan of adding a gaming component to the Coconut Talk.
Jang Gwangchul replied, “So this will be profitable for the company? And we need to make our games too?”
“Well, to be honest, I would like to do this as my personal project.”
“But you would like to buy the stocks under someone else’s name.”
“Yes. I will take over MOX and use it as our own game development department.”
“How much is the company worth now?”
“As of yesterday, it’s 3.2 billion dollars.”
“So if you only bought half of it, it would still cost you 1.6 billion dollars.”
“For now.”
“What?”
“The stock price will continue to decline.”
To Woosung’s confident prediction, Jang Gwangchul asked, “You are hiding something from me, aren’t you? You already spent so much money on taking over Tel-Tech and preparing for the mobile carrier business. Now, you are saying you have enough money to buy MOX?” Jang Gwangchul took a deep breath and continued. “Even if MOX’s stock price goes down, it will still cost hundreds of millions of dollars. You’re saying you have that much money?”
“We’ll make money with Coconut very soon. Blue S’s sales are also increasing quickly. I can also sell a small share of KND if necessary to raise funds.”
Jang Gwangchul didn’t buy Woosung’s explanation. This was reasonable since Woosung did have another secret.
He was waiting for the new flu, H1N1.
Then in November, there would be the Dubai Shock.
Woosung knew there were more future events coming up for him to make money.
Jang Gwangchul looked at Woosung and asked, “No, you are lying to me. Look at my eyes and tell me the truth.”
Woosung stared at him and replied, “Why aren’t you asking me why I want to use someone else’s name for the stock purchase? Isn’t that a more important question?”
“I assumed you must have a good reason for it.”
“Then, what about this? The answer you are looking for is actually within the assumption you just mentioned.”
“If you don’t want to tell me, just say so.”
“Do you remember what I said about my dreams?”
Jang Gwangchul nodded slowly. Woosung continued, “I can see many different things in my dreams. Sometimes I can see opportunities to make money. That’s why I am confident about my plan.”
“Is there anything you can tell me?”
“Do you know what H1N1 is?”
Jang Gwangchul remembered hearing about it on the news, but only vaguely. It wouldn’t hit the headlines until the end of July.
“We will soon be facing a pandemic flu. The entire world will fear it. It will be a great chance to make some money.”
Big events caused volatility in the stock market.
“…”
“I am still not sure how to go about it, but I’m working on it. Oh and remember, this is a secret.”
Jang Gwangchul nodded firmly and replied, “And as for using someone else’s name, I know someone who might be able to help you. Let me look into it.”
Woosung nodded.
After Jang Gwangchul left the room, Woosung remote accessed his home computer and opened a file with information on his previous life.
There were two more big events left this year.
H1N1.
Dubai shock in November.
Dubai World asks for a debt standstill. It asks the creditors for a 6-months standstill on its debt repayment.
Woosung remembered the KOSPI index going down over 1% due to this incident.
This was his chance.
“The first death from H1N1 in Korea has been recorded. The Health Authorities have warned the public to avoid heavily crowded areas including restaurants and public bathhouses. They are also recommending washing your hands as often as possible.”
“Currently, tens of thousands of people are suffering from H1N1 in the world. Unlike other countries, however, the Korean government is showing an unprepared and uncaring attitude towards its people.”
Jung Jinchul, an owner of a new internet café, turned off the TV.
He just opened this new business recently, but because of H1N1 scare, it was empty. He was losing money every day.
He sighed.
Restaurants. Internet cafes. Malls. Grocery stores.
The streets were empty.
After work, people went straight home and many spent a lot of time playing games. The game industry boomed, except for Legend. Choi Gilak became more nervous.
“The other game companies are gaining more users…But we are still losing customers.”
The general manager was aware of this problem. “Are you saying it’s time for us to act on it?”
“The new guilds are invincible. I used my personal guilds to fight and take over the castles, but it was impossible. The balance within the game has been destroyed.”
Choi Gilak was again asking to use the master account.
The master account was created and owned by MOX. It could bend the rules within the game to get whatever outcome it wanted. There was no way anyone could win against the master account character.
“I believe this is the only way to restore the balance in the game.”
“Fine. Let’s try it in a couple of servers.”
Choi Gilak nodded.
Woosung’s phone vibrated with a message.
“You have lost the 27th server Arin castle.”
Woosung looked at it in surprise. This was unexpected. He has been the owner of this castle for the past month and no one managed to win against his character.
“Master Knight?”
It was a nickname he has never seen before. Woosung checked the data Jung Jinsup gave him, but while he checked the database, Woosung found something strange.
“Huh?”
It looked like Master Knight seemed to have unusual items and abilities that went against the game logistics. This was not possible.
This meant one of two things.
There was an error or the character was owned by a hacker or a bug user.
Woosung analyzed the character, its items, and its past activities.
“This doesn’t make sense. There is no record of this character until now.” Woosung was now sure that it was a hacker. “Did I just get hacked? Or the game got hacked?”
But it still didn’t make sense. Woosung studied the character further.
After two hours of it, Woosung decided, “This isn’t from hacking or any kind of bugs.”
Woosung swallowed nervously. This situation reminded him of the time when he was murdered.
Company interference.
Woosung’s death started when he found out about strange transactions with certain IP addresses. He initially thought the company was hacked, but it was the company itself that was behind the illegal activities.
This was the same situation. MOX developed the character and interfered with the game from the inside.
“Bastards…”
Unfortunately, he couldn’t use this information. He couldn’t release this information to the public without revealing himself too, at least not at this point.
Instead, Woosung contacted his substitute gamers.
“Take over the 27th server Arin castle immediately.”
“Hire more gamers for this and make sure to destroy Master Knight.”
“I don’t care how much money it costs.”
“Make sure to record the takeover.”
The gamers responded quickly. Woosung was furious, but he was also excited.
This was his chance to bring MOX down to its knees.
