Russell listened as Ryu Min told him the details.
"Wait, you made that much off the lottery?"
"Yeah. Enough that Powerball would be jealous."
"And after that? How did you grow the money from there?"
It felt like he was bragging, but Russell kept asking, so he had no choice but to answer.
He told him everything—how he'd multiplied it with cryptocurrency, then bought a 51% stake in a company and seized management rights.
"Ah, so that's why you said you're the company's actual owner?"
"Right. It's a company that has nowhere to go but up. We just changed the name and completely switched out the business model. We're gearing up ambitiously."
"If it's coming from the Prophet who turned a few hundred billion in such a short time, I'd be an idiot to doubt it. I really did well investing. Haha… Oh, right, technically that was your money too, huh?"
Watching Russell scratch his head in embarrassment, Ryu Min smiled benevolently.
"Don't feel pressured. Just use it."
'No, actually, I do want him to keep feeling pressured. That way he'll be a rock-solid ally later.'
Muttering a thought quite different from his expression, Ryu Min led him toward the office.
"Let's go inside and I'll explain what kind of business it is."
"I don't even really need to hear it. If it's where you went all-in, Prophet-nim, of course it's going to be a massive success."
"Even so, you invested a serious amount of money. You should at least know what kind of company it is. Once you hear it, you'll probably be tempted too. It's the kind of business any Player would be interested in."
Grinning, Ryu Min opened the office door.
All around, he could see ordinary office staff in their 30s and up.
They were all people who'd worked there back when it was still Cheonma Consulting.
"This way."
Ignoring the glances from the employees, he headed straight for the president's office.
Right in front of that office, An Sang-cheol was standing like a statue.
'Why's he blocking the door like that? Do we have a guest?'
Just as Ryu Min was wondering, An Sang-cheol looked up in surprise and spoke.
"Major Shareholder Ryu-nim? What brings you here…?"
"Sorry for dropping by without warning. I wanted to show the company to a foreign investor."
"Ah."
His eyes slid over to Russell.
He looked young, which made him assume he might be a Player.
"We'd like to see the President. He's in, right?"
"Yes, he is, but he currently has a guest inside…"
"A guest?"
Even when Ryu Min deliberately craned his neck to peek inside, An Sang-cheol just stood there, expression stiff, making no move to step aside.
It seemed Ma Kyung-rok had ordered him not to let anyone in.
'Even so, I'm a Prophet standing here giving you clear hints, and you're just staring off into the distance?'
It was absurd, but knowing what kind of person An Sang-cheol was, he could understand.
'If the President told him to die, this guy would at least pretend to die.'
Or maybe he wouldn't just pretend.
'So who came by that he's being this strict?'
Curious, he read An Sang-cheol's thoughts.
As he did, even Ryu Min couldn't help being surprised on the inside.
'What? Who?'
An unexpected guest had arrived.
'Christine… is here?'
He had to consciously restrain the corners of his lips and control his expression.
The very Priest who had approached Ma Kyung-rok—and the one he needed to bring along to Round 20—had appeared.
'As long as it's come to this, I have to meet Christine. But how do I get her to come out?'
On second thought, there was no need to make her come out.
'I'll just wait here until she does.'
Ryu Min turned as if he were about to leave, then stepped to one side and took up a waiting position.
Seeing that, An Sang-cheol's eyebrow twitched.
"Uh… you're going to wait here?"
"I have something to discuss with the President."
"…"
Unable to bring himself to tell him to go, An Sang-cheol went back to staring at empty air like a wooden statue.
"What's going on, Mr. Ryu?" Russell asked.
"I came to see the President, but apparently he's got a guest inside."
He explained the situation in English and waited.
He intended to stand there until Ma Kyung-rok came out.
'It's a bit early, but it won't hurt to at least put my face in Christine's mind.'
After a short while, the conversation inside seemed to wrap up; the door clicked open and two people stepped out.
One was Ma Kyung-rok.
The other was the Priest Ryu Min needed to bring with him to Round 20.
"Hm? Major Shareholder Ryu?"
Startled by the unexpected visit, Ma Kyung-rok's eyes widened.
"What brings you here without so much as a call?"
"It's not like I can only come in if you invite me first, is it?"
At Ryu Min's retort, Ma Kyung-rok gave an awkward laugh.
"Haha, it seems my wording caused some misunderstanding. My apologies."
'Misunderstanding, my ass. You act like you respect me as a Prophet on the surface, but I know you secretly look down on me.'
Of course, the fact that Ryu Min looked easy to push around played a part, but fundamentally, Ma Kyung-rok saw him as weak.
The Prophet class wasn't a combat class, and aside from seeing the future, it looked like it didn't amount to much.
'That's why he always worries whether I survived whenever a Round ends.'
Deep down, he thought it wouldn't be strange if the guy died at any time.
Trying to dispel the awkwardness, Ma Kyung-rok continued.
"You're the major shareholder and effectively our company's top executive. Of course you can come whenever you like. It's just that you always made an appointment beforehand, so I spoke carelessly since you came without notice today."
"Is that so?"
Ryu Min gave him a thin smile.
'Nice excuse. Doesn't change the fact you're in the palm of my hand.'
His gaze shifted to the side.
Standing there was a blonde foreign woman with a graceful bearing.
'Finally. The one and only Priest in the entire world.'
Christine Craig.
A woman with the unique Priest class, and a track record of surviving up to Round 15.
She was also the one he had earmarked as the must-have class to bring to Round 20.
'Just like a Buffer, a Priest is one of the absolutely essential support classes.'
Every one of a Priest's skills was extremely useful.
Especially her level 60 skill, [Resurrection], an undeniably broken ability that brought the dead back to life.
'Of course it has conditions. You can only revive a Player who's been dead for less than ten minutes.'
Even so, the fact it effectively gave you an extra life was an enormous advantage.
'I didn't expect to meet her at this point in time.'
He'd originally planned to use Ma Kyung-rok to slowly and carefully make contact, but he'd met her earlier than planned.
'Well, I've never dropped by the company at this point in the timeline before.'
If Russell hadn't come, he wouldn't have thought to visit the office.
He trusted that Ma Kyung-rok would handle the business preparations on his own.
The future had changed, but that actually worked in his favor.
It was someone he had to meet anyway.
All that had changed was that the timing had moved up a bit.
'No matter what, I have to bring Christine over to my side.'
Looking at Christine, he asked Ma Kyung-rok:
"And this is?"
"Ah… this is my friend, Christine Craig."
'Friend? Don't make me laugh.'
Ryu Min knew the truth.
Christine wasn't just some foreign friend of his.
'She's a foreign fiancée for the sake of family alliances.'
In the past, chaebols had looked for political marriage partners domestically.
Those days were over.
'These days, they sometimes look abroad for family-network marriages.'
With the global age in full swing, chaebols had started turning their eyes overseas.
Naturally, they weren't looking at children from ordinary families.
'And of course, Christine's family is wealthy.'
She was the daughter of a pastor who ran the largest Christian church in the United States, with a congregation of one hundred thousand.
As a prospective fiancée, she lacked for nothing.
'I told him he shouldn't hide anything from me, and yet he tried to hide his fiancée?'
After shooting a sharp look at Ma Kyung-rok, Ryu Min turned to Christine and spoke in fluent English.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Christine. I'm Ryu Min, President Ma Kyung-rok's business partner."
At his self-introduction, Ma Kyung-rok's eyes widened.
Anyone could manage a basic self-introduction in English, but his rolling pronunciation wasn't something you heard every day.
If you closed your eyes, you might mistake him for a native speaker.
Christine's eyes widened as if she hadn't expected that, then she bowed her head politely in the Korean way.
"Nice to meet you, Ryu Min. I didn't know the President had a business partner."
"Is that so? I also had no idea President Ma had such a lovely fiancée."
"Oh, so he has told you about our relationship?"
At her gaze, Ma Kyung-rok stiffened.
He'd never actually told anyone she was his fiancée.
'He even knew about my fiancée?'
Once again, he was reminded that trying to deceive the Prophet was pointless.
He glanced nervously at Ryu Min.
His look all but said, "Were you planning to keep your own fiancée a secret from me?"
Having no choice, Ma Kyung-rok admitted his mistake.
"My apologies, Prophet-nim. I didn't hide it with the intent to deceive you, I just…"
"It's fine. I understand that it might feel burdensome to introduce your fiancée. I get it."
"Thank you for your understanding…"
"But I would have liked it if you trusted me a bit more…"
Letting his sentence trail off with a disappointed expression, he left Ma Kyung-rok with no room to breathe.
'Damn it. There's nothing good about falling out of the Prophet's favor…'
As he was in the middle of regretting introducing her merely as a friend, Christine asked:
"What are you two talking about?"
Hearing them trade serious-sounding Korean back and forth had made her curious.
"It's nothing. Just some business talk."
"Really? Well, you did say you'd be opening your business soon…"
She spoke like she understood, but her eyes were completely indifferent.
They might be engaged, but it was a political marriage; there was no sweetness at all between them.
"Please give the Chairman my regards, and tell him I had to head out early because of a service."
"Of course. Father is busy too, so don't worry about that. He'll understand."
"Thank you. Then I hope we both survive to see each other next Round."
"I'll pray that luck is with you too, Christine."
After saying goodbye to Ma Kyung-rok, Christine glanced once at Ryu Min, then turned away as if she had no further interest.
Or at least, she tried to.
"Just a moment, Christine."
Ryu Min stopped her.
Both Ma Kyung-rok and An Sang-cheol looked over in confusion.
Christine did the same.
"What is it?"
"About the next Round. You'd do well to be careful."
"…"
Instead of answering, Christine looked at Ma Kyung-rok.
'Who is this guy?'
Reading that look, Ma Kyung-rok spoke, doing his best to keep his composure.
"Major Shareholder-nim, why don't we talk about that later, just the two of us."
"President Ma. There's no need to hide my identity. Wouldn't it be better for your fiancée to know about the next Round as well? For her sake, that's the right choice."
Ryu Min deliberately spoke in Korean.
He wanted to give Ma Kyung-rok a choice.
But in reality, Ma Kyung-rok had no choice at all.
Because of his mistake just now, he'd already handed the initiative to Ryu Min.
If he refused here, not only would he anger him, he'd also look like a cold-hearted man who didn't care whether his fiancée lived or died.
"Prophet-nim is right. If I care about my fiancée, I shouldn't keep this from her."
Looking at Christine, he said:
"Shall we step inside for a bit? There's something I didn't get to say."
Christine looked bewildered, but she nodded.
She was perceptive enough to sense that something important was going on.
"Russell, could you wait here a moment?"
"Sure thing, Mr. Ryu."
Leaving Russell to wait, Ryu Min followed Ma Kyung-rok into the president's office.
Creak— click—
Once the door closed, the noise from outside was completely shut out.
Christine watched Ma Kyung-rok, as if to say: "Well? Go on."
"Christine. I didn't introduce him properly earlier, but this man is my business partner and the one managing our company. And he's also…"
Before finishing, he hesitated and glanced at Ryu Min, as if asking for permission.
When Ryu Min nodded, he continued.
"He's of the Prophet class, able to see the future."
"What does that even mean? A Prophet?"
Christine didn't accept it at face value.
Who would believe someone could see the future?
Seeing the doubt in her eyes, Ryu Min took over.
"What he said is true. I'm the unique-class Prophet, and I can see the future. For example, I can tell you the strategy for the upcoming Round 7."
"Really?"
Ma Kyung-rok nodded.
"Prophet-nim's words contain not a single lie. He's never been wrong—not once."
"So you're saying you've been relying on his help this whole time?"
"Yes. Thanks to Prophet-nim, we've known future Rounds in advance and cleared them."
"…"
It was hard to believe, but both of their expressions were completely serious.
"So why are you suddenly telling me all this?"
"Christine. I'm going to give you information about Round 7."
"With no strings attached?"
From the fact that she instinctively brought up payment first, he could roughly guess what kind of life she'd led.
"Don't worry. There's no price attached."
For Ryu Min, a living Priest was an asset.
'Even without my help, she'll survive to Round 15 anyway…'
But regardless of the outcome, what mattered was that he appeared to be the one giving help.
"…"
Christine still eyed him with suspicion, but after a moment, she nodded.
"If you're offering information, I'll at least hear it."
So bold, even when someone was offering future intel for free.
'She still doesn't really believe me.'
Making sure Ma Kyung-rok was listening too, Ryu Min spoke about Round 7.
"Do not be swayed by temptation. For Round 7, that's all you need to remember."
"Mm… That's it, Prophet-nim?"
"I can't say more. If I did, everyone would end up worse off. Do not be swayed by temptation. Burn it into your mind like a mantra. That's as far as I'm willing to go."
"…"
Christine and Ma Kyung-rok both held their tongues.
The somewhat vague prophecy clearly left them at a loss.
"That's all?"
"Yes. But Christine, there's something else I want to tell you, just for you."
"What is it?"
"It's actually the main reason I asked for this meeting…"
After a brief pause, Ryu Min spoke, his expression turning a shade more serious.
"Christine. When Round 11 comes, you will be in danger. Your life may be at risk."
"…Me?"
"But don't worry. When that time comes, a lifeline will be there to save you."