The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King - Chapter 132

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

Chapter 132: The Value of Black Iron (2)

Sea routes weren’t cut off immediately after the mana invasion.

Even as coastal cities were submerged due to global warming and monsters began appearing, ships continued sailing the seas.

Though existing shipyards were flooded, new ones were built to construct vessels.

Sea routes were completely severed less than 50 years ago.

Perhaps because the ocean depths were relatively less affected by mana?

Unlike on land, marine monsters appeared much later in the oceans.

Therefore, elite marine monsters also emerged relatively very slowly.

In fact, if there had only been ordinary monsters, sea routes might not have been cut off.

However, the problem was elite marine monsters.

Creatures with the power to sink even large oil tankers in one blow.

That said, not all seas are dangerous.

Nearby waters, especially shallow areas, are uninhabited by monsters.

So fishing is possible, and cage farming can be done.

The danger lies in venturing into deep waters.

Sea routes are the same.

Relatively short sea routes remain viable.

For instance, some routes connecting the Empire and the former Japanese Archipelago.

This is because the Emperor found safe sea routes through various trials and errors during his conquest of Japan in the past.

Even now, there are ferries traveling between Kyushu domain and the Empire.

But straying from this route is dangerous.

Countless accident cases exist.

Tae-ju first acquired a small fishing boat.

A vessel used in nearby waters, mainly at cage farms.

After weaving black iron wire into a net pattern and securing it to the boat’s hull.

Whoooosh!

He set sail for the deep sea.

He traveled for quite a while.

Far enough to reach areas where monsters might appear.

But everything remained fine.

‘Could it be they can’t approach because of me?’

Even after putting Saekkitokki on the boat instead and flying high into the sky on Manribibeom.

‘It’s safe.’

He even tied a rope around Saekkitokki’s neck and dropped it into the sea.

As if fishing.

But there wasn’t even a nibble.

‘Should I check with my own eyes?’

Tae-ju set the boat to low speed, then dove into the sea.

Using his enhanced vision, he spotted a blade-finned great white shark in the distance, the most representative marine monster.

Moreover, its size was extraordinary.

‘…Elite?’

With that size, it was definitely an elite.

The boat with black iron wire around its hull approached the elite blade-finned great white shark.

Suddenly!

The elite shark startled and hurriedly swam in the opposite direction.

‘The effect is certain.’

Finally, Tae-ju removed all the black iron wire attached to the boat’s hull.

Then he mounted Manribibeom and returned to the sky above.

Shortly after.

Bang! Crack! Crash!

The marine monsters’ attack began.

A spike-headed ramming dolphin appeared out of nowhere.

The fishing boat was instantly punctured and shattered to pieces.

The verification was complete.

The results were truly astounding.

The entire boat wasn’t even made of black iron.

It was just roughly attached wire.

Yet the monsters didn’t dare approach.

If properly constructed?

‘Sea routes would open up.’

And not just sea routes.

A revolution would come to land transportation and railways too.

Railway tracks in safe areas could remain as existing iron, while tracks passing near monster-infested areas would use black iron.

Besides that, the applications for black iron are endless.

But problems still remain.

What about the quantity?

Would there be sustainable supply to meet all demand?

‘It seems possible though…’

There must be more.

A lot more.

* * *

Tae-ju devoted several days to black iron experiments.

There was so much to investigate.

He experimented in various ways.

He melted the wire in a furnace again and formed it into different shapes.

He tried making iron plates by melting it, and attempted welding pieces together.

The effects remained the same.

No matter how many times he melted and reformed it, the effect didn’t disappear.

The final experiment.

Alloys.

He mixed it with other metals.

Alloys produced slightly different results.

He prepared pure black iron, alloys with over half black iron content, and alloys with less than 30% black iron.

The high-content alloys didn’t differ much from pure black iron, but the low-content ones allowed monsters to approach.

If using alloys, finding the proper ratio would be crucial.

Now for the final experiment.

Tae-ju returned to Jirisan and wrapped the Giant Panda Bear’s body tightly with wire containing high black iron content.

What would happen?

“Kkeok? Kekekeok? Keeeeek?”

The monster writhed, overcome with terror.

Then.

“Kuooooooo!”

It went berserk, consumed by madness.

Crack, surrounding trees fell with a single gesture.

‘Hmm…’

Fear seemed to have induced madness.

It was more crazed than monsters during waves.

He drew his Divine Spirit Blade and quickly dealt with it.

Swish! Thud!

This method shouldn’t be used.

The black iron only instills fear in the demonic beasts, but doesn’t seem to have any neutralizing effect.

The experiment was over.

Tae-ju returned to Gurye headquarters.

He called Baek Seo-yeon aside.

“Seo-yeon, please look into whether there are more pharmaceutical companies in the Samhan Empire that we can acquire.”

“…What? In the Empire? Then what about the Hwai-baek acquisition?”

“I’ve changed my mind. I’m wondering if there’s really a need to acquire it.”

“Hmm, I’ll look into it.”

“And are there any shipyards in Samhan? Ones that can build large vessels?”

“Well… there are some, but they’ve all gone out of business.”

The Samhan Empire was once a shipbuilding powerhouse.

However, when the sea routes were cut off, they all went bankrupt.

“But what exactly is this all about?”

“It’s not decided yet, but… it seems like there might be a way to export through sea routes.”

“What?”

Baek Seo-yeon looked confused about what this meant.

“I’ll tell you the details once I’m certain. Just keep it in mind for now.”

“Ah, understood.”

“And since the third shipment of MRC is finished, let’s gradually reduce production and increase the proportion of Saengibulkkun and Saesalssugsseug production.”

“I’ll implement that right away.”

Mana rejection syndrome isn’t an immediately dangerous disease like a heart attack.

It’s a slowly progressing disease, and since almost all patients with moderate to severe cases have been cured, there’s no problem with reducing production.

After the conversation with Baek Seo-yeon ended.

Ding ding ding.

Right on schedule, the heavenly delivery signal rang without fail.

‘There it is.’

He put in the remaining parts for installing the medium-sized generator. And also the items ordered by the immortals and heavenly beings…

And he also included a smartphone with the black iron experiment results video and requests.

‘Will the quantity be sufficient?’

A positive response would definitely come.

He was almost certain of it.

There were still many days left before departure.

Tae-ju went home and met Kim Dong-hun.

“Dong-hun.”

“Chairman!”

“How’s the preparation going for what we discussed before?”

“Ah! You mean building a self-contained intranet without internet connection?”

“Right.”

“I’ve prepared all the equipment. And I’m filming videos on how to install it.”

“Make it as detailed as possible, assuming the person watching the video knows nothing about network configuration.”

“That’s what I’m doing. But who’s going to be installing it? Can’t I go and install it myself?”

“No, you can’t.”

I can’t even go to the Immortal Realm myself.

After that, Tae-ju spent time with Ilisambaeyi.

He took out three Seondo pills and fed them one by one.

“You can’t cause trouble while I’m gone, okay?”

“Meow!”

“Stay in Paju for now. If anything happens, help people immediately.”

“Meowww…”

As time passed, it was approaching time to depart for America.

Thankfully, the Emperor provided an entire chartered plane.

After going to New Seoul and spending a day there.

Tae-ju boarded the plane with the working staff.

* * *

Kansas City, American Republic.

Financial magnates and investment firm bigshots gathered at the New Plaza Hotel.

Major bank presidents, hedge fund and private equity fund managers.

David Morgan was the leader of this gathering.

Because he held the largest stake in Hwai-baek.

“Let’s resume stock trading after Kim Tae-ju enters America and holds a press conference.”

“It’ll hit record highs from the first day.”

“We’ll have to buy up as much as we can.”

“We need to squeeze out as much as possible. He must have made a lot of money from MRC sales.”

David Morgan nodded as well.

“He’ll probably contact us directly. Don’t sell at rock-bottom prices.”

“…What if the White House intervenes?”

“Ha! What can they possibly do?”

“They might use public opinion. He’s quite popular.”

“Don’t worry. We have enough power to respond to that.”

That was right.

This was the American Republic.

And what ruled this place was the power of capital.

The power of capital built over many years was stronger than political power.

“What if he changes direction? For example, if he gives up on acquiring Hwai-baek?”

“Right. What if he gets help from the White House to pursue building a new factory…”

That was actually the biggest obstacle.

But David Morgan had countermeasures too.

“Site selection will be difficult. We’ll make sure of that. And even if he finds a suitable site, will construction proceed smoothly?”

“Hmm, that’s right, to do construction he’d have to use American construction companies…”

“And we can control those construction companies.”

“We can make it difficult to secure production equipment too. He probably won’t be able to complete the factory even after 10 years.”

“We just need to give him a subtle hint. That building a new factory is impossible, so don’t even dream of it, and that if he wants to enter the American Republic, acquiring Hwai-baek is the only way.”

The first thing to do.

Get Kim Tae-ju to answer that he plans to acquire Hwai-baek.

Simultaneously lift the stock trading suspension.

Enter negotiations while subtly playing hard to get, and wait for the stock to skyrocket?

‘We’ll make a solid profit.’

* * *

The Immortal Realm.

The amusement parks were nearing completion.

There was still much work to be done.

Demon Valley Immortal was directing the work while looking at blueprints.

He had been a genius even before ascending to immortality.

He had completely read the encyclopedia Tae-ju sent, and was also studying the specialized scientific texts occasionally sent. Therefore, he knew better than anyone how to apply Earth’s scientific civilization to the Immortal Realm.

“This will be the power plant site. The power lines will be buried underground.”

Demon Valley Immortal held a baton made from tree branches and designated where the sinners needed to dig.

There was no real need to dig the ground.

Among the martial arts sinners, there were plenty who had learned earth tunneling techniques.

They could just grab the power lines and burrow through the ground like moles.

Iron Seonin and Great Tree Immortal began creating attractions.

Roller coasters and rails, carousels, bumper cars, viking ships….

Originally, the only materials available were wood and stone, but fortunately, with the production of black iron from Hwangcheon-gye, they could now make much sturdier amusement rides.

Now, when setting the price for ingots.

Who knows how much would be needed, but since there was demand, they had to make purchases.

Danggumak proposed to Yama.

“Let’s make it 10 coins per ingot.”

If it were black iron ore, he would have driven down the price, but he took into account the labor costs of melting and processing it into ingots in the scorching region.

However, Yama didn’t seem satisfied.

“Hmm, a bit more….”

“Come now, Seondo costs 100 coins. Do you think this ingot has one-tenth the value of Seondo?”

“….”

Yama thought the same.

Even ten of these iron lumps couldn’t compare to Seondo.

If only he could sell them in large quantities, he’d hand them over for 5 coins, not even 10.

Regrettable, but he’d have to be satisfied with this much.

“Open the gate.”

Whirrrr!

A gate leading to Scorching Hell was created.

Then sinners came streaming out in a line.

Their hands were full of black iron ingots.

“Put them over here.”

Black iron ingots stacking up neatly.

They kept stacking. Higher and higher.

Would the Immortals just sit quietly watching this sight?

“What’s that? How unsightly, is the Immortal Realm a junkyard?”

“They’re trying to dump their troublesome trash on the Immortal Realm, aren’t they?”

“Do they think someone will buy them just because they pile them up?”

“Always dealing with sinners… isn’t forcing unnecessary goods on people also a crime?”

“The people from Hwangcheon-gye who judge sins are committing sins themselves.”

The Immortals clicked their tongues and pointed fingers.

Yama and the magistrates didn’t respond.

They endured and pretended not to hear.

“How many are there?”

“We’ve stacked 5,000.”

“Only that much?”

“We don’t even know if they’ll all sell….”

“You bastard! We have to sell them somehow. Don’t you want to come to the multiplex?”

“N-no, sir.”

“Melt all the ores from Hwangcheon-gye and make them into ingots.”

It was do or die.

Since it had come to this, they’d go all the way.

Since they don’t rust, if they stacked them full, they’d all sell eventually.

But would things go as planned?

“Stop! That’s enough. There’s no space left to stack them.”

Danggumak stepped forward to stop them directly.

“B-but the Immortal Realm is so vast. And we have more ingots we’ve made.”

“What will you do if I return them later?”

“Then we can take them back at that time.”

Pitiful, so pitiful.

Yama trying to sell the ingots by any means.

Still, he couldn’t be swayed by emotion.

Business had to be cold.

“How frustrating. No matter how urgent the need for coins….”

Suddenly!

Ding ding ding.

A delivery signal ringing in Danggumak’s head.

“It’s here.”

The Immortals came rushing over.

“It’s here?”

“Did the quantum mechanics book I ordered arrive?”

“What about the oven chicken? I’ve been getting sick of greasy food lately.”

“Hurry and give me the ice cream for our Haemak. I need to put it in the refrigerator.”

Danggumak acted leisurely.

Taking out items, putting them in, and finally checking the air-type smartphone that Tae-ju had sent….

Suddenly!

“Huh?”

Danggumak let out a brief exclamation.

Could this really be true?

Those heavy iron lumps….

“Aha!”

He had forgotten.

He shouldn’t judge Earth people by Tae-ju’s standards.

If he had thought about it even a little, he would have realized how valuable this black iron was.

‘Well, I can send it now.’

The Shared Warehouse was still sparkling.

He took items out of his subspace bag and hurriedly walked to where the black iron ingots were stacked, swoosh, swoosh swoosh swoosh! sweeping them all up.

“Huh?”

“What….”

“Why is he taking those?”

“C-could it be?”

Danggumak barely managed to send the black iron by delivery.

Then he strode over to Yama.

Yama’s eyes filled with expectation.

“From today, please mass-produce black iron ingots as much as possible.”

“Huh, then?”

“They have a use. I’ll buy them all.”

“I-is that really true?”

“Today’s stacked ingots were 5,000, right? I should deposit 50,000 coins.”

Hwangcheon-gye was in a festive mood.

“Uhahahaha!”

“Great King! We’re saved.”

“The day when sunlight shines on our Hwangcheon-gye has finally come.”

“What did I tell you? I said they would sell!”

“Right, Kang Rim, you bastard, it’s all thanks to you.”

“This isn’t the time for this. Let’s mobilize all the sinners and move the ores to Scorching Hell.”

“But then there won’t be a place to punish the sinners.”

“We can make new ones. Until then, cram them into Frozen Hell—burning or freezing, the pain is the same.”

Drunk with joy, Yama, Chasa, and magistrates all embraced each other and shouted hurray.

“Hurray!”

“Long live the Great King!”

“Long live Heukamcheol!”

“Long live Great Hero Tae-ju!”

But at some point, the Sinseon had sneakily joined in, shouting hurrahs together.

“Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!”

“….”

Yama’s piercing gaze.

Even so, the Sinseon spoke with shameless expressions.

“Great King, congratulations.”

“I knew this would happen. As expected of Hwangcheongyeol!”

“The moment I saw the Heukamcheol ingot, I immediately felt it. That’s no ordinary item.”

“Of course! That’s right, it’s a treasure comparable to Seondo. I knew it from the start.”

“Now you’ve hit the jackpot. Let’s be good friends from now on.”

“Is there anything you need help with? I’m quite good at work too.”

“Let me work for Hwangcheongyeol too.”

“Me too!”

Naturally, Yama only snorted in derision.

What kind of pathetic change of attitude is this?

And asking to work for Hwangcheongyeol.

Not a chance.

It was obvious as fire why the Sinseon were acting this way.

Did they think he wouldn’t know they planned to steal Heukamcheol and sell it separately?

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