The Emerald Resort, which Manager Gang Jaeho would oversee, had finally finished construction.
At first, it had been expected to take over ten months,
but thanks to Manager Gang Jaeho’s effective and systematic planning, it had been shortened to six.
As expected, his experience rolling around on construction sites,
the owner’s mindset he’d gained from running his own office,
and the theory he’d learned through night school—
once he even had the authority to oversee everything, it created synergy.
Manager Gang Jaeho knew all too well just how much profit could be gained from shortening the construction period.
Of course, he hadn’t sacrificed quality either.
“Wow, this is incredible.”
The first one to speak was Sandro.
Overall, the building was white, with what felt like an emerald-colored river running through the entire structure.
Just looking at it made you feel cool and refreshed.
Blending with the surrounding scenery, it truly gave the illusion of passing through Emerald Canyon.
The guest rooms were designed with Lumina Lake as their motif.
When the lights were turned off, it seemed as though the mysterious glow of Lumina Lake seeped out.
Of course, it couldn’t compare to the real Lumina Lake,
but it seemed to have captured the intent of the design well.
“Are we going into business starting today?”
I asked Patrick.
“No, sir.”
“Then? Is there still some permit left to get? When can we start operating?”
“We’ve been operating since a few days ago. The construction was finished, so we couldn’t very well refuse to operate just because we hadn’t held the opening ceremony yet, could we?”
“Th-that’s true?”
Now it seemed tourism ran perfectly well even without me touching it.
Everyone handled things on their own.
In any case, with the opening of Emerald Resort, we could breathe a little easier in terms of room operations.
Vicente Palace had been seriously short on rooms, and Emerald Resort filled that gap.
It was especially good that we had more large rooms that could accommodate four or more people.
There were many family travelers here, so we needed a lot of rooms like that. It was truly fortunate.
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.
.
After finishing the opening ceremony and returning to the office, Sandro started talking.
“Ah, I talked with CEO Jang Yunmi last time, and she asked what I thought about making a camping tour.”
“A camping tour?”
“Looks like the people who went to Lumina Lake had really great memories of camping in the Philippines. Apparently, they kept asking if they could go camping. That came up while we were gathered and talking at the funeral back then, and I thought it was a pretty decent idea too, so I checked whether it was possible. There weren’t any problems.”
“Really?”
“We can just rent out camper vans or camping gear and let them camp. How nice would it be to drive around, find a place you like, pitch a tent, and rest? Bohol doesn’t have any no-camping zones.”
“But there’s the safety issue.”
“Of course we’ll attach one person as both guide and safety staff. A guard who can drive, plan routes, and provide guidance. And most decisively, touching a Candy Tour vehicle in Bohol? That’s suicide.”
It was nice hearing the confidence in Sandro’s voice.
Even after a brief thought, it didn’t seem bad.
“Then what do we need?”
“We can hire employees to use as guides, and the rest is just camper vans and camping equipment. We can get that much quickly.”
“Then let’s first decide on basic routes. There may be people who know this place, but more people won’t, so pick a few points and set the routes. Some people will want to sleep by the sea, others in the mountains, so make it possible to decide on the route in advance.”
“Okay. Then we proceed right away?”
“Yeah. Once you’re ready, go ahead.”
“Got it.”
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“Boss. Too many works are coming in for the contest.”
Im Yuna’s whining could be heard morning and night.
Im Yuna’s appearance had already become a mess.
As the price for selling us ten drawings.
Im Yuna, who had been half-forcibly employed and stuck here because she had made goods for the first time,
was personally checking every single work submitted to the Bohol tourism contest.
Even if the prize-winning works were chosen by the organizers, Im Yuna had to choose which works would be made into goods.
But there were too many pieces she liked.
So many she couldn’t choose.
Diverse colors, unique perspectives, distinctive designs.
Everything was varied and vibrant.
No matter how much she picked and chose, more works she liked kept coming in.
She kept looking at pieces until her eyes turned bloodshot,
but there were still far too many works she hadn’t seen.
No, what kind of contest gets this many submissions?
She grumbled at the wrong target, but there was no one to listen.
In the end, Im Yuna went to find Alex.
“Boss. Too many works are coming in for the contest. I can’t filter them out.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I can’t choose. There are too many I like.”
“Then just make all of them into goods.”
“I thought about that too, but that doesn’t seem right either.”
“Why?”
“It feels like there’d be no identity, and if we increase the number of goods, they’ll be hard to manage and hard to produce.”
“Mm... Then how about holding an exhibition or something?”
“An exhibition?”
“Yeah. Once the contest judging is over, talk with Bohol Province and consider holding an exhibition altogether. Then you can make the ones that get good responses there.”
“Oh~ That sounds like a really good idea. Boss, are you a genius?”
“Coordinate with CCAD so it can move forward. If the provincial government says there’s no suitable venue, talk with Manager Gang Jaeho and check whether we can use the basement of Emerald Resort.”
“There’s a basement there too?”
“There’s a huge space underground. It’s being used as storage right now, but it should be more than enough for an exhibition. Still, to hold an exhibition, we’ll need to install new lighting and set up temporary walls, so talk to Manager Gang Jaeho.”
“Yes.”
“And take it a little easier. Your face looks really worn out.”
“Y-yes... Yes, yes, yes.”
With her face turning red again, Im Yuna left as if fleeing.
******
“Boss, I’m here to report on GoGo Casino.”
Department Head Nam Yongu came in carrying the settlement report.
I’d been in Korea for a few days, and now the reports were endless.
Checking the report, I saw that GoGo Casino was growing by large margins every single day.
To the point that I thought it would be nice if it stopped growing now.
“How are Candy Coin and the exchange?”
“I think allowing people to buy coins with points was a stroke of genius. Sales have increased significantly.”
“Will it be all right if it keeps increasing like this?”
“It may be fine for the time being, but I think you’ll have to do something soon.”
“For example?”
“Something like separating the casino from the sports betting section currently attached to one side.”
“Oh~ If possible, get started as soon as you can.”
“Yes. I’ll proceed right away. Should we keep Candy Coin attached?”
“Yes. Leave that there so it can continue.”
“Understood. And...”
“Do you have something else to say?”
“This isn’t certain, but recently, there’s been a huge increase in users coming in from China through VPNs.”
“What? From China?”
“Because of the VPNs, we can’t confirm the exact region, but there’s over a 90% chance they’re coming from China.”
“Why would China do that? Do you know?”
“I think perhaps Chinese people who enjoyed GoGo Casino domestically returned to China and kept accessing it. Maybe it spread within China too. China goes crazy when it comes to gambling, after all.”
Was that so?
China was a country that went crazy over gambling?
I didn’t know.
They were good, decent people who liked gambling?
I’d judged them unfairly for no reason.
This is why prejudice is scary.
Then I should help them too.
“GoGo Casino can be switched to Chinese, right?”
“Of course. We can service it right away.”
“They’re even using VPNs just to come gamble, so we should do that much for them. Provide Chinese service, and while we’re at it, make it so we can also provide English and Spanish service.”
“Yes. I’ll proceed immediately.”
“And tell Anna to come here.”
“Yes. Anna?”
“Yes. I have something to discuss with her separately.”
“If you tell me, I’ll relay it to her.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll just talk to her myself. Please call Anna.”
“Yes. Understood.”
.
.
.
A little while later, Anna entered the office.
“Anna. Where is GoGo Casino registered?”
“Here in the Philippines.”
“You know GoGo Casino’s revenue is increasing right now, don’t you?”
“Yes. It’s increasing frighteningly fast.”
“Is it right to keep it in the Philippines? Or do you think it would be better to move it?”
“If you’re asking purely for my opinion, then of course it’s better to move it.”
“Why?”
“The Philippines is an unstable country. Even if things are fine now, they could start a crackdown at any moment. When that happens, laws and lawyers won’t mean anything. So before that, we should move it somewhere with no regulations on this kind of thing. Since we already have the coin and exchange in the Cayman Islands, I don’t think it would be bad to move it there together. Then laundering would be easier too.”
“Okay. Got it. Then you handle that, Anna.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll proceed right away and report back.”
.
.
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The Damaya base in Mindanao.
“If you don’t have stamina, you can’t do anything. No matter what, you have to run more than the enemy and move more than the enemy.”
“Fix your posture.”
“Don’t shake when you shoot. You may not have moved even one centimeter, but at the target point, it can be a difference of over ten meters.”
“I told you to make proper use of concealment and cover. The moment your head comes out, your head could explode. A sniper may be waiting.”
“Grasping the situation is the most important thing. Check constantly where you are and where the other team members are.”
I was training the Damaya rebels.
I took out the manual I’d used when I was an instructor in Congo.
I had no choice.
In order to keep them alive.
I couldn’t see them off on a road leading to their deaths.
It was strange to call it a hobby,
but I had affection for them and was pouring time, money, and energy into them.
While training Allen,
and gradually mingling with them,
I wanted to stop them from being annihilated.
I didn’t want to see them go into battle unprepared and die without even firing a single shot.
Simple things.
I planned to teach them mainly the basics.
With that much, they should be able to protect their own lives.
But when I tried to teach even that, the environment was too poor.
Their guns were poor, they had no uniforms, and they had no food.
I do not sponsor them.
But this isn’t sponsoring.
It’s just... helping disadvantaged neighbors? Something like that.
You can’t exert strength if you can’t eat.
And you can’t fight while wearing conspicuous, colorful clothes.
Even if it isn’t a modernized weapon, they should at least have guns that fire as intended.
Shouldn’t they at least have radios so they can contact one another?
I put things like that in their hands.
And I drilled simple tactical movements into them by rote.
Read, write, memorize, repeat.
Was it because I had no expectations at all?
Or because they were like blank slates and moved exactly as I wanted?
In a short time, they began to show a fairly decent appearance.
And Allen.
“Allen. Do you know what a sniper is?”
“A sniper? You mean someone who shoots from far away?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Why?”
“I want to recommend that you become a sniper.”
After training Allen, I found that the kid was truly outstanding.
Not only were his athletic senses good, he was smart, quick to learn, and good at applying what he learned.
Most of all, perhaps because of his desire for revenge, he had venom in him.
Kids like this should become snipers.
Kids like this can stay motionless for days and stare at one place.
“A sniper? Why?”
I kindly answered Allen as he asked me back.
“Allen, you remember the bet we made last time, right? No complaints, no dissatisfaction. Not a peep. No venting. No grumbling, whining, lamenting, denouncing, or pleading. No giving up. Don’t talk back and just do what you’re told. It’ll be hard.”
“......”
“It’s one of the hardest positions. It’s basic to lie in ambush in one place for days just to fire one shot, and you have to shoot while calculating wind direction and speed, atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, even the Earth’s rotation. That’s why it’s a position that requires a lot of study and training.”
“What gets better if I do that?”
“The possibility of Damaya winning will increase exponentially.”
“Then I’ll do it.”