Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 135

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

135. The World’s Only Dragon, Yong-yong
[(Breaking News) China Discovers Übermenschen Spy Among High-Ranking Officials]
[Übermenschen Attempted to Sway Liu Zhen After His Defeat to the Space Mage?]
A new headline emerged. The story was that China had uncovered Übermenschen operatives within its borders. I naturally knew that Liu Zhen had reported them.
After all, Liu Zhen was the one who’d told me about Übermenschen in the first place. His eyes had gleamed at the mention of a great revolution, and it seemed he’d reported it to his superiors.
‘My persuasion seems to have worked.’
My confirmation that they were bad people must have carried some weight. I understood why he’d acted so quickly.
Separate from the revolution, he needed to earn trust within his own country.
Though I’d made excuses, the internal discussions I’d had with Blaze could have looked suspicious to China.
[UN Gate Countermeasures Committee Issues Übermenschen Alert to All Nations]
[How Did Übermenschen Infiltrate China’s Interior?]
The fact that Übermenschen had been discovered in China, which was far more closed off than other nations, was shocking enough to become quite the topic of discussion.
[Did Übermenschen Exploit the Chaos Following the Third Gate Incident?]
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a case of external forces infiltrating. You could tell from previous cases where those cooperating with Übermenschen had been arrested.
It was more akin to their method of swaying Hunters, much as they had with Liu Zhen. They’d offer money or items, or exploit weaknesses.
The former were people of poor quality from the start, while the latter were those in difficult circumstances making wrong choices.
After cooperating with Übermenschen in this way, they’d either leak classified information or cause trouble before fleeing to Übermenschen’s headquarters.
[Two of Three Übermenschen Spies in China Killed During Suppression. One Still at Large.]
In any case, one of the Übermenschen operatives in China remained uncaptured.
China’s forces were quite formidable, so judging by this, that one must possess considerable skill.
With so many people around, there were plenty of Hunters, and according to Mister, they’d cast a wide net. But if someone could shake off that pursuit, I suspected they might be a Thief-class Hunter.
Well, China’s problems were theirs to solve. We had our own work to focus on.
.
.
.
The employee who’d chosen Protix Forest was Sung-ho. I made sure to give him a generous bonus—twice his annual salary. He couldn’t hide his smile.
“Ha-ha, Guild Master. Whew, something like this… ha-ha, truly, whew, thank you so much, ha-ha-ha.”
He kept laughing even as he spoke, so his satisfaction was unmistakable. I couldn’t give Sung-ho a bonus alone, so I gave bonuses to everyone else too.
With a slight difference from Sung-ho’s amount—exactly one year’s salary for the rest. Money was plentiful enough.
“Guild Master!”
“Thank you, thank you so much…!”
“I don’t know how to express this overwhelming gratitude.”
An unexpected bonus. The loyalty that suddenly gleamed in every employee’s eyes was no illusion on my part.
And then there was a meeting with the newly established marketing team. I’d gotten help with this from Lee Shin-hee.
“When I asked Father, he said the company would send someone skilled.”
“Well, then I’m grateful.”
The person was Han Bi, and upon hiring her, I delegated considerable authority to her. Neither I nor Mister had experience with this sort of thing.
I even left the marketing team interviews entirely to her. I figured she’d judge far better than we would.
After some progress had been made, a meeting was scheduled for an interim report and decisions.
True to her introduction by Lee Shin-hee, Han Bi’s work was certainly competent.
“First, I’m planning to create official accounts for the Dragon Guild and Yong-yong on social media.”
Guild official accounts are honestly case-by-case. Even large guilds sometimes don’t operate them, while smaller guilds sometimes do.
Like sports teams, accounts are used to share guild news and post medical reports when there are injuries.
The main reason many guilds don’t operate official accounts is because deaths during Gate subjugation weren’t uncommon.
You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but I thought a guild of our caliber could manage it, so I agreed.
“As for the guild’s official account, I believe now is the right time with all this global attention. We must row when the tide comes in.”
The advantages of an official account are clear. We can increase public affinity through self-promotion and collaborate with various companies, opening up many possibilities.
“After my investigation, all hunter-related companies have sent collaboration requests, and there are diverse inquiries from other fields as well. Should we maintain our current approach?”
Just as Han Bi said, the collaboration requests pouring in for our guild were beyond count. The highest proportion came from basic hunter supply provisions.
There are companies that manufacture hunter equipment, and simply using our own products serves as promotion for them.
It’s similar to celebrity airport fashion. Gate fashion, you might say. Just carrying or wearing a specific company’s products when entering a Gate is enough.
Once we post those photos on the guild’s official account, it becomes genuine advertising.
‘Watches, accessories, hunter suits, backpacks… Some hunters even drink coffee at the Gate entrance.’
We hadn’t particularly focused on that sort of thing.
Among the free samples offered to try, I’d just take the ones with decent performance and put them in the Subspace before entering.
“Hmm. What should we do?”
“May I ask why you weren’t interested in that area originally?”
Actually, most guilds are open to this sort of thing. It was for guild operating costs and financial gains for hunters.
By using products of similar performance, you could earn tens or hundreds of billions in advertising fees.
There were two reasons we hadn’t done it until now. First, it was bothersome to pay attention to such matters. We were busy training and entering Gates.
The second reason was that signing major contracts made it difficult to use other companies’ products.
‘Magic research had only just begun.’
Better, upgraded versions of products were being released quarterly. Hunter suits obviously, and lightweight, miniaturized equipment being developed in the United States as well.
So we used whichever products had the best performance at any given time. After explaining these reasons, Han Bi smiled.
“You don’t need to worry with reasons like that.”
“Is that so?”
“Considering the current value the Dragon Guild possesses, there’s no problem. Even one-time contracts would be sufficient, and we can add performance-related clauses to the contract.”
The solution was simple. According to Han Bi, we held all the leverage.
We just needed to add a clause stating that if better products emerge, we can switch without issue.
“The contract amount would decrease, but considering the Dragon Guild’s popularity, even the reduced amount would exceed what most guilds earn.”
“I, I see.”
“We can handle performance comparisons across multiple product lines, so you only need to make the final decision at the end stage. I’ll minimize any bothersome work for you.”
Han Bi actively recommended it. There was no reason to leave money on the table that we could earn. I was convinced as well.
Wasn’t now, after defeating Liu Zhen, the peak of our stock value?
A reliable reserve force. Multiple companies would want to maintain long-term relationships, so we held all the leverage.
Hmm. I should have expanded the guild’s scale earlier.
As a small five-person guild, I’d only hired the minimum staff necessary for guild operations, but experiencing it again showed it was on a different level.
‘Come to think of it, it’s necessary.’
While I’d achieved financial freedom through the Subspace, I couldn’t exactly say I obtained gold coins every time I needed money.
Repeated transactions would raise suspicions no matter who looked at it. I needed to expand my funding sources in other directions as well.
“Then, I’ll be counting on you.”
* * *
After discussing the strategic direction in detail, Han Bi said she would provide a separate report on that matter later.
Then the main topic began.
“I plan to upload the photos you sent sequentially to Yong-yong’s dedicated account. Following that, information about the merchandise currently in production will be posted as well.”
In truth, we’d hired additional guild staff because of Yong-yong. The fans had requested it too.
The earlier discussion was simply an added benefit that came with that decision.
“We have quite a few childhood photos, but they’re limited, so I’m planning to release them gradually. There’s also the option of releasing them exclusively through merchandise-related channels.”
We had no room to intervene in this matter. She was a professional in a league entirely different from ours.
“For merchandise, I’ve negotiated contracts with top-tier industry manufacturers and included strict quality control clauses.”
Instead, the conversation shifted to future plans. From figurines to photo cards, smartphone cases, plushies, card sleeves, and more….
Yong-yong’s intellectual property could be utilized in far more diverse ways than I’d ever imagined.
“Honestly, the interest is so massive that the revenue scale is unpredictable. You can safely assume that initial inventory will be sold out regardless of which manufacturer we choose.”
Official merchandise for the world’s only dragon. It’s not just Korea—there’s global interest, and the scale of counterfeit merchandise being produced illegally is beyond imagination.
“The cumulative sales of world-famous IPs exceed 100 trillion won. Of course, that’s accumulated over quite a long period, and the diversity and scale of those IPs are different….”
Still, Yong-yong is the world’s only dragon.
Even if it doesn’t reach that level, if Yong-yong’s IP expands into various sectors, the long-term projection easily exceeds hundreds of billions of won.
“That much?”
“Wow….”
Even the guild members participating in the meeting with me were amazed at the figure. This was something I’d never considered because I didn’t know much about it.
Beyond mere treasure and gold, it seemed money would accumulate from other sources far beyond what I’d imagined.
“Hye.”
Mister let out a hollow laugh as he looked at me.
“Dragon Coin seems a bit different from what we thought?”
That’s right. Before Yong-yong hatched, I’d discussed Dragon Coin with Mister. Back then, I’d only considered the ripple effect of the Dragon Knight’s growth.
“Yong-yong Samgyeopsal completely outclasses beef, huh?”
Actually, I hadn’t even thought of Dragon Charcoal Grill, but there were simply too many other directions to explore.
Mister scratched the back of his head.
“If we hadn’t grown Yong-yong, wouldn’t we have made even more money?”
“Maybe. Yong-yong is still cute now, just a bit cooler. Before, the cuteness was overwhelming.”
“Right.”
“Of course, I would’ve grown Yong-yong even if I could go back….”
No matter how massive the ripple effects in this direction, that wasn’t our true purpose.
We had to overcome the erosion of mana. Everything we were doing now was just part of that process.
* * *
[YongyongE]
(A photo of baby Yong-yong with wide round eyes staring at Kasaka)
A cute dragon has landed on Earth!
That evening, Yong-yong’s SNS account was created. The impact was tremendous. Of course, Han Bi had laid the groundwork beforehand.
News of Yong-yong’s SNS account had been quietly circulating through journalists since the afternoon.
[Dragon Guild’s Mascot Red Dragon!, Starting SNS?]
[Yong-yong, the Global Sensation, Childhood Photos Coming Soon?]
-Is this for real?
-It seems legit seeing how they’re posted almost simultaneously?
-Yeah, before there was a hint that they wanted to release old photos, but this feels different.
The moment articles originating from Korea were translated and spread overseas, a photo appeared on Yong-yong’s account.
The impact was so tremendous that the entire SNS platform momentarily crashed.
Yong-yong achieved one million followers in eighteen minutes, setting a world record. The reaction to Yong-yong’s childhood appearance was equally explosive.
The comments were filled with words of adoration and heart emojis.
“This is insane.”
Han Bi sent me a video—it showed a smartphone screen with notifications popping up endlessly.
Perhaps Yong-yong could have achieved financial freedom without all the gold and treasures in the Subspace.
And the funny part was….
[Found the Kashakasha That Yong-yong Was Looking At!]
The Kashakasha that appeared in the photo sold out in less than thirty minutes.
Well, it seemed the fans would soon be showing up with Kashakasha in hand. I was certain of it.
“Krr!”
While all this was happening, Yong-yong remained oblivious to the endless surge of followers, contentedly tearing into beef beside me.
I smiled and stroked Yong-yong’s head.
“Eat plenty.”
A true blessing, nothing less.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————