After finishing their meal, Oh Taekgyu and Min Ha-young got in a car and headed to a cafe. The car Taekgyu drove today was a Raven.
Min Ha-young was surprised.
"You bought another car? Isn't this the new model from Eunsung Motors? Does it really drive itself?"
"Yeah, it works."
Once the route was set, the car moved along the road by itself. Min Ha-young was fascinated, almost giddy, but Taekgyu, who had previously driven an AD series, wasn't particularly impressed.
Arriving at a cafe in Yeonnam-dong, the two found seats and sat down. Min Ha-young ordered a vanilla latte, and Taekgyu ordered a strawberry latte.
Min Ha-young frequently checked the site for reactions. Having her comic featured on the main page of a portal site was, no matter how she thought about it, an amazing thing.
Currently, over 100 webtoons were officially serialized on NeoTin. There were many popular works, so ranking within the top 5 was a huge accomplishment.
The top ranks were crowded with formidable popular works, but at the current rate, aiming for first place wouldn't be impossible.
Perhaps thanks to Lost Fantasy's popularity, even though Min Ha-young's webtoon wasn't officially exported, it was quickly translated into English, Japanese, and other languages, and spread across overseas sites almost as soon as it was uploaded.
"They're already talking about serialization on overseas sites. It seems they're considering simultaneous serialization with Japan, too."
Min Ha-young, who had been looking at the site with a constant grin, suddenly had her expression darken.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, no. There are some hate comments."
Taekgyu took the phone and looked. Most comments said it was fun, but the number of malicious comments was also considerable.
'Super boring', 'Even I could draw better than this', 'Not even worth 1 star', 'Stop tarnishing Lost Fantasy's image and drop the series', 'How about you stop drawing and learn a useful skill?', etc.
"When there are many comments, it's natural for there to be many hate comments too."
Unlike the days of publishing physical comics, webtoons serialized online receive reader reactions in real-time. This is a double-edged sword for the author.
"If it's valid criticism, accept it and fix it. If not, just ignore it. As long as it's fun, people will read it even while complaining."
Min Ha-young nodded.
"Yeah, that's true. Okay. Ah! I have something for you."
"What is it?"
"Don't be surprised when you see it."
"Okay. I won't be."
Min Ha-young took something out of her bag.
"Ta-da!"
"Gasp!"
Although he said he wouldn't be surprised, Taekgyu was startled. What she showed him was none other than concert tickets.
Not just any classical concert, but...
"Lost Fantasy Orchestra tickets! You know how incredibly hard these are to get, right?"
The origin of the Lost Fantasy Orchestra dates back to the end of last year. The Korea Symphony Orchestra needed renovations for its concert hall. The Vice President of OTK Company offered to support the costs, a staggering 2.7 billion won, requesting they perform Lost Fantasy as an orchestra.
The Korea Symphony Orchestra accepted the proposal and completely remodeled the Korea Music Hall, including replacing seats, upgrading sound equipment, and renovating restrooms.
Meanwhile, the members diligently practiced the game music arranged for orchestra every day. To understand the music's story and background, they studied the game's world together or even played the game themselves. (Some members genuinely became fans of Lost Fantasy in the process).
The Korea Music Hall completed its modern renovations, and the concert date approached, set for this weekend.
Recording was completed before the performances, and OTK Games decided to temporarily change the mobile and online background music to the orchestral version as a limited-time event.
Initially, it started as a commemorative event for fans celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Lost Fantasy series. The media treated it as merely an unusual event.
However, when Lost Fantasy Online became a global hit and Ichikawa Shigeru announced the development of a VRMMORPG, the atmosphere changed.
This was the largest project in gaming history, promising enormous added value if successful. Game companies, publishing houses, fund companies, and financial institutions were already jumping in or considering investments. The world's largest sovereign wealth fund, the Netherlands' GPFG, had already expressed interest in investing in development costs and negotiations were underway.
As interest in Lost Fantasy exploded, so did interest in the orchestral performance. However, the hundreds of seats had long been sold out to Lost Fantasy fans.
With the hype building, scalped ticket prices soared even higher. Requests poured in to increase the number of performances, but that was difficult due to scheduled overseas tours.
Taekgyu took the tickets and examined them. Even though it was game music, it was still an orchestral performance, so the cheapest seats cost 100,000 won.
But the tickets Min Ha-young brought were VIP seats.
"How did you get these?"
Min Ha-young said proudly.
"OTK Games Korea sent them to congratulate me on starting my webtoon serialization."
"Ah..."
Did they really do something so pointless?
It was a very awkward situation. Understandably so, as this concert was essentially sponsored and organized by Oh Taekgyu himself.
Min Ha-young blushed slightly and said.
"A-are you free that day? You like Lost Fantasy, right?"
"Well, yes, but..."
The Seoul performances run for a total of three days. On the first day, Kondo Hayashi, the general music director for the Lost Fantasy series, was also scheduled to attend.
Taekgyu was already scheduled to attend with Jinhoo.
But the tickets Min Ha-young brought were, of all days, for the first day!
Instantly, a myriad of thoughts raced through Taekgyu's mind.
I didn't expect things to turn out like this. Do I have no choice but to reveal my identity?
Min Ha-young was Taekgyu's high school classmate. They had met through extracurricular activities (CA) and had in-depth discussions about comics and games. They lost touch after graduation but reconnected due to a multi-level marketing scheme incident. Taekgyu had hidden his identity while helping her start drawing comics again. He hadn't planned to hide it forever and intended to tell her at the right time. The problem was, once he started hiding it, it became harder and harder to reveal. So, he hadn't said anything until now... but now she was a proper webtoon artist for a major portal site.
Maybe it was finally time to reveal his identity?
Taekgyu made up his mind and opened his mouth.
"Actually, the thing is..."
"You know the VP of OTK Company planned this concert, right?"
"...Huh?"
Min Ha-young's eyes lit up as she said.
"Isn't that person amazing? They were the one who revived Lost Fantasy in the first place. If the VP hadn't invested, neither LFM nor LFO would have come out. Then I wouldn't have had the chance to draw the Lost Fantasy webtoon either. If I happen to see them at the concert, should I thank them?"
"..."
"But who could they be? Are they hiding their identity even from people around them?"
Taekgyu casually asked.
"What if it was someone you knew? How would you feel?"
Min Ha-young frowned.
"I'd feel completely betrayed. Just thinking about it makes me feel bad."
"Gulp!"
"Think about it. Wouldn't it feel like a total backstab? It's not like they're playing games with people just because they have money. Right?"
Taekgyu quickly nodded.
"R-right."
Looks like it's better not to say anything.
"Ah! Did you see the video of the debate between OTK Company and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family? It was a huge issue. The VP's face wasn't shown and the voice was altered, but strangely, the way they spoke sounded familiar. Like I've heard it often somewhere?"
Taekgyu panicked.
"R-really?"
"Somehow, that video kept coming to mind while talking to you today. It just occurred to me, but your way of speaking seems kind of similar..."
Min Ha-young trailed off, then stared intently at Oh Taekgyu. For a moment, their eyes met.
Min Ha-young smiled and asked jokingly.
"Surely you're not the OTK Company VP, right? Like, OTK standing for Oh Taekgyu or something?"
"..."
Instead of answering, Taekgyu averted his gaze.
In that instant, Min Ha-young recalled everything that had happened. How did he have 10 billion won in his bank account? How could he move the CEO of Bansum and the prosecutors to crush JG Blockchain? And why did Yang Hana and the president of CL Chemicals show up at that drinking gathering?
This certainly explained everything. And yet, she still couldn't believe it.
OTK Company had succeeded in numerous investments and had grown into one of the world's largest corporations. The Vice President of such a company was Oh Taekgyu?
"Th-there's no way something so absurd could actually happen..."
But just then, Taekgyu's phone, lying on the table, vibrated. Absurdly, the name 'Kang Jinhoo' appeared on the screen.
Taekgyu turned to the bewildered Min Ha-young and said.
"Well, that 'absurd thing' actually happened."
Min Ha-young shot up from her seat and yelled.
"What? Don't tell me the friend you live with is Kang Jinhoo!?"
People nearby turned their heads in surprise. Realizing her mistake, she clamped her mouth shut and sat back down.
After a while, having collected herself, Min Ha-young first gulped down her vanilla latte.
Isn't that hot?
But Min Ha-young, seemingly unfazed, immediately asked.
"Why did you deceive me all this time?"
"Well, uh... rather than deceiving, it was more like refraining from sharing unnecessary information? Avoiding TMI."
"Are you joking right now? Just how much money do you have?"
"I don't really know myself. It's not really money until you sell it."
The world's richest person was, undeniably, Kang Jinhoo. And the second richest was Oh Taekgyu. Due to successive investment successes, OTK Company's value had surpassed 1 trillion dollars, and Oh Taekgyu's assets also exceeded 200 billion dollars.
From Min Ha-young's perspective, the amount was so large she couldn't even grasp its scale.
"W-wasn't it just that you made a lot of money from cryptocurrency?"
Indeed, there were people who had hit the jackpot with cryptocurrency. That's why she thought he was friendly with the Bansum CEO. And since he always liked games, maybe he just happened to know someone from OTK Games Korea.
"Ah! That part is true. I used that money to start OTK Company, but even I didn't know Jinhoo would grow the company this much."
"..."
She was so dumbfounded she couldn't even speak properly.
She had thought that once she became a webtoon artist, she could stand beside him proudly...
Min Ha-young looked crestfallen.
The Vice President of OTK Company... that's just too much!
***
The Korea Music Hall, neatly renovated, opened its doors anew. Today was the first performance of the Lost Fantasy Orchestra. The concert hall bustled with people for the first time in a while.
I arrived early at the venue with Taekgyu and greeted the people from the Korea Symphony Orchestra. CEO Park Hyejin, Conductor Jang Kihun, and the orchestra members expressed their gratitude for the support.
CEO Park Hyejin said.
"To be honest, at first, I was skeptical about performing game music with an orchestra. But my thinking has changed now. Thanks to this, it's become a great opportunity to introduce classical music and the Korea Symphony Orchestra to the world. And I've also come to love the Lost Fantasy series."
I nodded.
When Taekgyu first brought it up, I also wondered, 'What is he talking about?' But I never imagined it would be this successful.
Beyond profits, it greatly helped promote the game and popularize classical music.
We stayed indoors where the press couldn't enter, greeting people. People from the business world and the gaming industry, with whom we'd formed connections during the previous game regulation issue, filed in.
Chairman Im Jin-yong and President Im Su-mi came with their children.
"You must be busy, thank you for coming."
"Even if busy, one must engage in cultural life. It's been a while since I've been to a concert."
I greeted the children too. Chairman Im Jin-yong's daughter, perhaps shy, hid behind her father and bowed her head.
Should I give the kids some pocket money in times like this?
Henry and Hyunjoo came together. Henry, dressed in a suit, looked as handsome and cool as ever, and Hyunjoo had also dressed up, taking off her glasses for a change. Arm in arm affectionately, they looked incredibly sweet together.
Hyunjoo shook her head.
"I never thought I'd attend a concert like this."
"Taekgyu pulled off another big thing, didn't he?"
Who else but Oh Taekgyu would orchestrate something like this?
A short while later, Ellie arrived, having come from the hair salon.
"I'm here, Jinhoo."
She wore a wine-red off-the-shoulder dress that fully exposed her shoulders, paired with patent leather high heels. Adorned with earrings and a necklace, and with her hair perfectly styled, she exuded a completely different charm from when she was working.
Ellie asked me.
"How do I look? Does it suit me?"
She was so beautiful my heart pounded.
"It's beautiful, but isn't the neckline a bit too low?"
I worried that other men's eyes would be drawn to her.
At that, Ellie stuck her tongue out slightly.
"Heh, everyone wears this much these days."
Ellie naturally linked her arm with mine.
"If you're worried, Jinhoo, you can just shield me like this."
"Alright."
While I was greeting presidents and chairmen with Ellie, I noticed a crowd of young women from prominent business families gathered around Taekgyu.
"..."
What the? Why is he so popular?