The Final Boss Has Returned - Episode 167
Simseong Iron Stars is being sold!
Moreover, the party acquiring Simseong Iron Stars is none other than Jeil E&M, the company Drakan belongs to!
That earth-shattering news was enough to pour fuel on the internet public opinion already blazing in an uproar over Drakan’s ascension to EX-Class.
[Wait? Simseong Iron Stars sold? Is this official?]
[Yeah, the official announcement just dropped.]
[No way, are they crazy? lol Jeil is acquiring it?]
[Wow, Jeil’s capital is insane;;]
[If Iron Stars and JDG combine, won’t they become the largest guild?]
[Still can’t compare to Five Eyes;;]
[They might become the largest in terms of single-guild scale, though.]
[Lightwing is an elite small-force guild, so if we’re just talking scale, they could hit the top;]
To borrow the media’s expression, it was a deal worthy of the term “big deal.” The union of the two guilds truly brought an enormous shock.
Two guilds that until moments ago had been at each other’s throats in a war were suddenly eating from the same pot under one roof!
Even in a capitalist society, this was truly absurd—an unprecedented event.
[Vice Chairman Sin Jeong-hyeok appointed to Simseong Electronics U.S. branch.]
Amidst all this, the fact that Vice Chairman Sin Jeong-hyeok had been appointed to the Simseong Electronics U.S. branch also surfaced and became a hot topic.
[What? Why the sudden U.S. assignment?]
[Is there an internal power struggle within the Simseong Group?]
[Sin Jeong-hyeok, who was backing Iron Stars, got sent off to America, lol. Is that why it was sold?]
Rumors regarding Sin Jeong-hyeok’s relocation to America and the sale of Iron Stars sprouted here and there, but they couldn’t spread far before sinking beneath the surface.
Simseong Group and Jeil Group.
The two conglomerates, ranked 2nd and 4th in the business world, had joined forces to bury those rumors.
While all manner of delusional speculation ran rampant online, Jeil Group’s acquisition of Simseong Iron Stars proceeded swiftly and without a hitch.
And finally, after the acquisition of Simseong Iron Stars was completed, Sin Ha-yeon spun off the New Media Business Unit—until then merely one division under Jeil E&M—into an independent subsidiary.
The company’s name was Jeil New Media!
It was the moment a massive user management company was born, commanding JDG, Iron Stars, and numerous big-name users and streamers including Drakan under its umbrella.
And naturally, the real power of Jeil New Media fell to Drakan.
Jeil New Media headquarters.
Having moved out of the Content Hub building into a massive commercial building in the heart of downtown Seoul, the main conference room of Jeil New Media held the usual members—Sin Ha-yeon, Ignis, and Drakan—along with two new faces.
“I didn’t expect the boss to change so quickly.”
“I never imagined, even in my dreams, that you would become my boss.”
They were the two Over Rankers, Paul and Leila, who until very recently had been waging war against Drakan as members of Simseong Iron Stars.
The two of them gazed at the man sitting at the head seat—Drakan—with complicated eyes.
As they say, yesterday’s friend is today’s enemy, and yesterday’s enemy is today’s ally; in Ard World, there were neither eternal enemies nor eternal friends.
But having turned from enemies to allies so abruptly was inevitably a bit awkward.
After all, until just the day before yesterday, they had been fighting with a murderous intensity.
“Well, you don’t still hold a grudge against me, do you? If we’re pros, let’s act like it.”
Drakan said, looking at the two of them.
“That’s not it. It’s already in the past.”
“It was a war we couldn’t win anyway. And though it’s a bit late to say this, Mr. Sin wasn’t that great of a boss.”
Paul and Leila answered Drakan with a smile.
As Drakan said, the two were professionals and held no particular ill feelings toward him.
The one harboring feelings was Vice Chairman Sin Jeong-hyeok, not Paul and Leila.
Of course, when fighting Drakan, they had felt the ambition to defeat him and gain fame, as well as humiliation after being crushed in one blow, but those were merely temporary emotions.
In the real world, Paul and Leila were not foolish enough to let such temporary emotions ruin their work with Drakan, who had become their boss.
Above all, Drakan was a user who had already achieved EX-Class—a class one step higher than themselves as Over Rankers.
Defeat at the hands of Drakan, who had risen to the same standing as Yujin, was only natural in retrospect, so Paul and Leila could quickly resign themselves to the outcome.
Moreover, the moment they witnessed his overwhelming strength that had split the sky during the war, Paul and Leila were nearly ashamed of their past selves who had dared to dream of challenging for supremacy.
Furthermore, the treatment proposed by Drakan and Sin Ha-yeon was not bad either.
Sin Jeong-hyeok.
The various benefits he had promised and provided were fully inherited even now that they belonged to Jeil New Media.
Thus, they had no particular complaints.
No, rather, they were looking forward to it.
Drakan.
He was a legend of the past who was still writing legends in the present—the only one spoken of as Yujin’s rival across past and present—and they were eager to see what deeds he would perform leading them from now on.
Drakan looked at Paul and Leila and smiled.
“Truly a professional attitude. This is why I like pros.”
Drakan spoke in a voice filled with sincerity.
Organizations formed on camaraderie and loyalty might look tight-knit on the outside, but beyond a certain scale, they became like houses of cards.
To maneuver a massive organization, one run by mutual interests was far more efficient, Drakan believed.
Of course, the side effects could not be ignored.
To be united by interests meant that when those interests ended, the organization’s centripetal force vanished.
The Ironblood Alliance and the Guild Alliance had collapsed so futilely in the latter half of the World Revolution because the enormous vested interest of continental hegemony—the very thing binding them—had visibly dwindled.
‘But I won’t lose this time, so it doesn’t matter.’
The reason the Guild Alliance and Ironblood Alliance had collapsed so futilely in the previous work was because he had been defeated.
And Drakan had no intention of repeating that defeat as he had in the previous work.
Therefore, Jeil New Media would never collapse as futilely as the Ironblood Alliance or Guild Alliance of the previous work.
Rather, Yujin.
His Five Eyes would be the ones to eventually collapse and splinter apart.
Thinking so, Drakan looked at Paul and Leila.
In any case, the two Over Rankers were acting like professionals, not letting personal emotions interfere with business, and were following Drakan.
As long as he satisfied their interests, they would never betray him.
Not only could they not join Five Eyes at this point, but the shackles of capitalism built by Sin Ha-yeon that bound them were not something easily broken.
“I’m glad the boss is pleased.”
“What are your plans going forward?”
Drakan nodded at Paul’s words, and upon hearing Leila’s question, smiled and replied at once.
“The hegemony of Ard World.”
Hegemony!
The moment Drakan uttered that word, a heavy silence fell over the conference room.
Drakan.
The fact that he was aiming for the hegemony of Ard World was an open secret among Rankers, if not common users.
But Drakan never revealed his ambition to challenge for hegemony to the outside.
It was true that since his return, his actions had been quite groundbreaking, and that he had acted in ways comparable to Yujin multiple times. However, Drakan himself had never openly declared that he was aiming for Yujin’s position.
But now, here, Drakan had finally and publicly specified his challenge for hegemony.
The one who broke the silence hanging over Drakan’s words was none other than Ignis.
“Are preparations finally complete?”
By preparations, he meant preparations to challenge for hegemony.
At Ignis’s words, Drakan shook his head.
“No, it’s still insufficient.”
“What part is lacking, boss?”
“Yujin and I are both currently EX-Class. If this were a one-on-one match, I would be confident I could beat him. But the fight against him is not a one-on-one match.”
Drakan continued, sweeping his surroundings with a sharp gaze.
As he said, if it were a one-on-one match, Drakan had more than enough chance of victory.
Even during the World Revolution, Drakan had held a slight advantage over Yujin in one-on-one duels.
“He has the powerful forces of the Lightwing Guild and Five Eyes, not to mention the Church of Infinite Yujin and the Holy Alliance, and even further, the powerful force of grassroots support. In comparison, our forces are still laughably weak.”
But war was not fought by individuals, and Yujin still had countless forces remaining.
To face them head-on, the power currently held by Drakan, the Dark Alliance, and Jeil New Media was still severely lacking.
It was an objective inferiority in strength, and everyone present knew it.
Just looking at the number of Over Rankers they possessed—even counting Ujing the disciple from Syungmao Esports—they only had five, whereas Yujin’s side had a whopping fourteen even excluding Yujin, who was classified separately as a Top Ranker.
It was truly a hopeless disparity.
“Then why did you mention challenging for hegemony, boss?”
Paul retorted.
If Drakan’s words were true, declaring a challenge for hegemony at this stage was premature.
Drakan smiled at that.
“We are weak, and the enemy is strong. Then first, we must divide the enemy’s forces.”
Drakan’s words were sound strategy.
The enemy was too strong, so split the enemy’s forces and weaken them!
It was the most fundamental of strategic fundamentals.
The problem was that while it sounded easy, driving a wedge into and splitting the solid alliance that had ruled Ard World for over six years since the World Revolution was a task bordering on impossible.
“Can that really be done as easily as you say?”
It was natural for Leila to express such doubts.
Drakan nodded at that question and spoke.
“While fighting you, I already watered the seeds of division I had planted.”
An intelligence operation carried out through Sin Ha-yeon.
The time for that result to appear was now.
“Soon, sprouts will emerge from the seeds and flowers will bloom. You may look forward to it.”
Drakan said so and smiled.
And not long after, an article was uploaded to a famous paparazzi media outlet.
[(Exclusive) Famous User ‘A’ from Ard Saga Second in ‘Two-Timing’ Controversy.]
Indeed, it was the moment the seed of division Drakan had planted long ago finally began to sprout.