I'm enjoying a leisurely vacation in the finest suite the hotel has to offer.
It wasn't actually provided by the hotel, but rather by Park Yu-jung.
She's seriously brilliant.
I only had my mind on the ruins, but Park Yu-jung showed the initiative to buy the hotel immediately.
Why didn't I think of that?
It's a bit frustrating, but her buying the hotel was a huge help.
To put it bluntly, if Barbat had owned the hotel and tried to pull an entrance-blocking stunt, it would have been quite a nuisance.
While I'm lying on the sofa lazily sipping wine, the four who searched the ruins with me walk in.
"Yoo-hoo~ Were you satisfied with our hotel service?"
"It's not yours anymore."
"Ah, right."
Along with the ruins, the hotel was also part of a cool deal with Hera.
In this world, you can't just travel abroad easily, so management would have been a pain.
"How much did you sell it for?"
"I didn't mark it up much. About five times the purchase price? Just some pocket money."
She said she bought it for twice its original value, so she sold it for ten times that.
But since the ruins were discovered, it's worth even more than that.
As everyone prepares to sit on the sofa, Park Yu-jung grumbles at me as if she just remembered something.
"Wait! More importantly, why didn't you tell me all the bathroom ingredients were being mass-produced?"
"I couldn't mass-produce the beaks..."
"You were producing everything except the beaks. It's a relief I found out late, or I would've lost money."
In the game, you can own fields or villages to cultivate materials.
Naturally, I own a farm incomparable to anything in the game, and I've been diligently stacking materials until now.
At the time, some were impossible to cultivate, but do you think I set up a money-hungry laboratory for nothing?
Our laboratory has three primary goals.
First is the mass production of materials to treat the Whiteout Phenomenon, second is the commercialization of recipes I only know through game knowledge, and third is the mass production of materials for fixed events like this one.
Although research on the first goal is still sluggish, the others are showing considerable results.
"You didn't lose money, did you?"
"Of course not."
Park Yu-jung smiles brightly.
Only Park Yu-jung and Rebecca know that I've been piling up materials in the warehouse.
Since a material supply agreement hasn't been signed with Barbat yet, the prices of the materials are skyrocketing, and Park Yu-jung will surely sell them at a premium.
"Now, then. Since we sold the ruins, we have to pay out dividends to our shareholders."
As I stand up to announce the exciting dividends, Angelica smiles awkwardly.
"Yeon-woo discovered the ruins. I didn't really do anything..."
"No, I didn't discover it; we discovered it."
"Still..."
"Why are you being so picky? The shares were split into decent 10% portions. If you don't want it, should I take it?"
When Park Yu-jung cuts in, Angelica looks troubled but eventually agrees to accept it.
Honestly, Angelica is just too kind.
"So, how much did you sell it for?"
Park Yu-jung stares at me with eyes full of expectation.
Just as she sold the hotel because she couldn't manage it, the ruins had to be sold to Barbat anyway.
Park Yu-jung understood this and requested that if I were to sell it, I should sell it for the highest price possible.
I flash a grin and hold up three fingers.
"30 million G?"
"300 million G?"
"30... 30 billion?"
Chika, you're the granddaughter of a wealthy family—what do you mean, 30 million G?
Honestly, these third-generation chaebols. They just swipe their cards without looking at the price, so they have no idea about market rates.
Come to think of it, all four here are rich.
Park Yu-jung is self-made, but the other three—Fraser, Graham, and Amagi—are all powerful third-generation chaebols.
I stare intently at Shizuka, who hasn't said a word, but she only sends back a gaze that says, 'What are you looking at?'
You rich brats who don't know the value of money.
"Three..."
"Isn't 30 billion too cheap? You could get at least a hundred billion... It's 300 billion, right? Am I right?"
Let me speak.
Park Yu-jung, who at least guessed a somewhat close price, stares at me intensely with eyes full of greed.
"3 trillion."
"... ... Eh?"
"Trillion? Not billion?"
Everyone's eyes go wide at the astronomical amount.
Even Park Yu-jung's mouth hangs open as if it's beyond what she imagined, and Shizuka's beautiful eyes widen as well.
If money doesn't work, consider whether the amount was simply insufficient.
As expected, there's nothing wrong with the words of the ancestors.
Even Shizuka, who acted uninterested, is shocked.
3 trillion G. In Korean Won, that's 30 trillion.
It's about one-seventh of the Barbat government's annual budget, and it's enough money to slap a major corporation's face back and forth.
"Is that... even possible?"
"I got it because it's possible. Since it's such a huge amount, it'll be paid in installments, but I'll make sure to take care of your dividends first as they come in."
"Since it's 10%... 300 billion?"
Chika, having done the math, mutters in a daze.
"Yeon-woo, I love you!"
"Wait, let me finish explaining first."
I stop Park Yu-jung, who suddenly jumped up to cling to me and shower me with kisses, and look at each person one by one.
"As the money comes in, I'll deposit it into the personal accounts of Park Yu-jung and Angelica."
"Is it okay to receive such a large sum of money?"
"Just think of it as being lucky. But even if it was luck, in the end, you and I—we—discovered the ruins. Not me alone."
When I emphasize the word 'we,' Angelica finally shows a slightly happier face and nods.
"Next, Chika. I'll give you the money, but let me ask one favor."
"What is it?"
"If your father asks for it, don't give it to him. Use it only for getting stronger."
I wonder if that bastard Roman would really reach for his daughter's pocket money, but the man has such a severe inferiority complex that he'd do anything to get stronger.
And Chika is the type of girl who would offer up anything if Roman asked.
If she showed even a bit of that mad dog spirit to Roman, he wouldn't be able to say anything, but she craves her father's love too much.
I was prepared to be cursed at for interfering in her personal affairs, but Chika thinks for a moment and then nods.
"Next, Shi—"
"I don't need it."
When I turn my gaze to her, Shizuka speaks indifferently and stands up to leave.
"No, you do need it."
"... ..."
Shizuka, who was walking away, stops and looks back over her shoulder.
Her beautiful red jewel-like eyes are devoid of emotion, making them incredibly cold.
"I said you need it."
"Who are you to decide what I need?"
"I told you, I'll solve it for you."
Shizuka glares at me for a moment before returning and sitting back down on the sofa.
Park Yu-jung mutters, "Why was she acting so cool if she was just going to do that?" but Shizuka ignores the provocation.
"When the money comes in, I'll set up a dummy account and send it to you."
"Why?"
"Because you'll need money that isn't under the influence of your family."
"... ..."
She clearly has a lot she wants to say, but the fact that she's holding back because of those around her is written all over her face.
We have to fight the Amagi Family from now on, so the war chest needs to be ample.
Though it wasn't intentional for Chika and Park Yu-jung to be involved, I hope they'll fight alongside us now that things have turned out this way.
The Amagi Family is just that massive.
In the game, Akito-style 'coincidence magic' keeps triggering—coincidentally finding clues, coincidentally gaining allies, coincidentally seizing opportunities—but I don't know that kind of magic.
I can induce things because I know how he won, but I don't expect to save Shizuka by having everything fall perfectly into place like Akito.
I have to mobilize everything I have, just like this time.
Kki-ik—
Just as I'm debating how to bring up the topic, the door opens and Yukina, Bukgeukjwa, and Akane walk in.
"Phew—it was even better than I expected."
Perhaps because the three of them just came from the ruins after a bath and a sauna, their hair, damp with dewy moisture, looks incredibly sexy.
While I was stuck in the Barbat prison, the school trip had long since ended, so I had the three of them summoned by requesting it from Yggdrasil.
Having fully enjoyed the ruins' effects beyond expectations, Bukgeukjwa smirks, saying she feels like she could beat me this time.
I told you, you need to fix your flaws before your strengths; if you don't fix that, you'll never beat me.
"Eonni, how was the sauna?"
"It was the best. The sweat drops trickling down a slender nape, the flushed skin... it's electrifying."
Was it good because of the ruins' effect, or because she enjoyed it with the women?
At Park Yu-jung's question, Bukgeukjwa hugs herself and shudders.
"It's too bad you couldn't use the sauna. It's really great there."
As expected, she didn't bring it up for nothing.
Park Yu-jung looks at Yukina and smirks.
"... ...? I went in and came back, though?"
"What? How...?"
You can't use the sauna unless you're a virgin, so when Yukina says she went, Park Yu-jung looks at me in bewilderment.
Among the heroines who stayed by the protagonist's side for so long in an erotic game, how many would still have their virginity preserved?
In the first place, the sauna's condition was ridiculous.
It meant you couldn't use it unless it was a new character or one that had become completely impossible to romance, which would make the event itself pointless.
Unless the creator was insane or had a significantly malfunctioning head, they wouldn't have made it like this.
But it actually happened.
When the game first came out, it really was in this state, and the users who chose Barbat cursed them out like crazy.
After that, they hurriedly added a hidden item through an update that allowed anyone to use it.
When I reach out my hand, Yukina hands over a small rectangular plaque.
"What's that?"
"An item that will double the ruins' revenue."
When I smirk, Park Yu-jung understands without further explanation and grins.
By the time someone reaches the level of the Zodiac, where would they find someone who has maintained their virginity?
With that much power, skill, and money, and considering their age, anyone still holding onto their virginity would probably be a eunuch.
Seeing as not a single one came even though I invited them, it's 100% certain.
Even if they aren't part of the Zodiac, anyone with a certain level of ability would be pounding away and living well, which would cause the usage rate to plummet.
But with this pass, even if you're a slut, everything's OK!
Of course, if I advertised it like that, it would fail. Not that I plan to.
"I'd like our kids to use it too. How much would it be for one go?"
"Well... I should probably charge at least 100 million G, shouldn't I?"
"Heh—that's expensive."
"It is. It takes an enormous amount of money and effort to imbue this with the power to deceive the ruins. Besides, it's a consumable."
"I see. It would be expensive then."
Glancing at the item in my hand that didn't look like a consumable at all, Park Yu-jung chuckles.
I didn't just take 3 trillion for nothing.
Starting from the ruins' entrance fees, the derived benefits—tourism, international relations, Barbat's power—are immense.
On top of that, excluding the money distributed to the girls, most of it will be reinvested into Barbat.
While Barbat enjoys a boom, it will also have to tighten its belt.
I will return the money I received and develop Barbat in Hera's name to make her the true ruler.
In the game, there's a system for managing a village.
It's a system where Akito saves a village, gets recognized by the government, and does various things, but I plan to scale that up just a bit and run an entire nation.
Well—it's not like I plan to work myself to the point of hair loss; I'll leave most of it to Hera.
How well she utilizes the money, which is free from political opposition, to develop Barbat depends on Hera's ability.
I don't need to worry about Barbat's future anymore...
I look around at the people gathered in the room.
As I stare silently, the girls who were chatting amongst themselves quiet down and look at me.
"We're going to war soon. Can you all help me?"
"Again? Where this time? Since you've conquered Barbat, is Malta next?"
Park Yu-jung giggles and takes a sip of her drink.
"The Amagi Family."
"... ..."
The weight that the name Amagi carries is incomparable to Barbat.
Even Park Yu-jung flinches, her eyes turning tense, and everyone looks at Shizuka.
"Don't overstep. Revenge is mine."
Shizuka radiates killing intent as if she could slit my throat right this second.
Come to think of it, she had this same reaction when I said I'd help Yukina.
Thinking of the past, I smirk and meet Shizuka's eyes.
"You didn't think you could take down the Amagi Family all by yourself with just a single sword, did you?"
"... ..."
"You're the one who will have your revenge. You. By using me."
Ultimately, the one seeking revenge is Shizuka.
Whether she cuts off her father's head, takes over the Amagi Family, or smashes it to pieces, it's her decision.
I'm merely a card she can play.
Except, I'm an invincible card that can crush anything.