The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 45: Territory Setting

Tae-ju brought back Baek Chang-hun and Jang Soon-cheol on his way home from work.

Having been in the jungle for ten whole days, both of them were in terrible condition.

“You’ve worked hard all this time. Rest well for a while.”

“…But we have to go back to the jungle tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to go. That’s enough. You’ve had plenty of real combat practice too.”

“Awesome!”

The reason Tae-ju took Baek Chang-hun and Jang Soon-cheol was to have them master their registered skills through real combat.

They had done enough.

The processing of the Giant Panda Bear gallbladder was also at a satisfactory level.

Now it was time to do other things.

“From now on, you’ll learn how to perform the final refinement of antidotes using the Five Elements Divine Art.”

“What? But it’s a secret technique, are you sure you should just teach it to us…”

“What among the things I’ve taught you wasn’t a secret technique?”

“Well, still, I’m so grateful. To think you trust us this much.”

“I’ll study hard so that medicine can be produced without the chairman having to lift a finger.”

Baek Chang-hun was moved, and Jang Soon-cheol made his resolution.

“You’re still looking for capable people, right? Keep an eye on the orphanage graduates too.”

“Yes, we’re still searching. Those who are capable and sincere…”

“Soon-cheol, capability isn’t what’s important, it’s trust! You should only look at that one thing.”

“That’s basic. And since the chairman makes the final decision, we just need to find them and have them interview.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Looking at faces could filter them out in the first round.

It might sound unscientific, but based on Danggumak’s experience, it was almost always accurate.

These two would become the practical managers of the awakened civilian guild to be established later.

Taehong Guild – hunting, gathering medicinal herbs, and handling security and protection.

More people were needed.

To build power and establish a clan, people actually came before money.

The reason prestigious noble families like the Namgung Family, Paeng Family, Eon Family, and Dang Clan wielded power in the Gangho Murim was related to this.

Whether direct or collateral lines, they were all connected by blood, united by bonds forged in blood.

Of course, sharing blood didn’t mean there was no betrayal or backstabbing.

Tae-ju’s people were the same.

Baek Seo-yeon, Baek Chang-hun, Jang Soon-cheol, and the company employees from the orphanage. Though he met them through Baek Hong-pyo, they had now become very close to Tae-ju as well.

Let’s move forward together with these good people around us.

What’s the point of succeeding and being happy alone?

There should be people you can share it with.

“I’ll give you a vacation before you start learning, so rest well and come back.”

“Oh!”

“I need to take a bath first.”

Tae-ju also headed home.

He needed to organize his infinite space too.

Suddenly!

‘Huh?’

The Taehong Bio headquarters building still had its lights on.

It seemed past quitting time.

‘Who is it? Is there still overtime work?’

In the early days, it was unavoidable due to lack of manpower, but now there were enough employees, so he had prohibited additional night work.

‘Let me check before I go.’

And he needed to make it clear.

Absolutely no overtime work, regardless of the reason.

As he entered the company building, the security guards saw Tae-ju and rushed over in a hurry.

“Chairman! What brings you here…”

“It seemed like someone was working overtime.”

“It’s President Baek Seo-yeon. She hasn’t left work yet.”

“Ah! Is that so?”

If it’s the president, it can’t be helped.

What could be keeping her so busy?

He should meet with her before leaving.

Meeting Baek Hong-pyo was lucky, but Baek Seo-yeon, whom he introduced, was also a windfall.

She had established the company’s structure in a short time and was now even planning expansion into New Seoul.

She was worryingly workaholic.

Recruiting talent to operate and grow the company – he could never do that himself.

Work as important and valuable as manufacturing new drugs.

Just because he was Jeoldaedokma, or rather the Poison Sage Danggumak, was he skilled at everything?

Not at all.

He was also terrible at managing the family or handling finances.

He had spent so much money making poisons and running around.

So he brought in trustworthy people, gave them the position of chief steward, granted them the Dang surname, and entrusted them with full authority over the family.

‘I should give her a bonus.’

Baek Seo-yeon seemed to be staying at the orphanage without even having a home.

He could buy her a decent building near Gurye Castle as performance pay or a reward.

Land prices had plummeted recently, so it wouldn’t cost much.

Knock knock.

Tae-ju knocked and entered Baek Seo-yeon’s office.

“Who is… Chairman!”

“Please finish work quickly and go home to sleep. If there’s not enough manpower, hire a few more people.”

“I was just about to finish up and leave.”

“Hmm, your skin looks better? Ah…! You finally took the elixir.”

“Hoho, it’s thanks to you, Chairman. I should have taken it sooner. I don’t get tired at all even working overtime. But… Chairman, why has your skin become so smooth too?”

“Does it show?”

Mutual compliments on appearance.

The elixir effect seemed to have worked well.

The existing elixirs only worked on compatible individuals and awakened ones, but the one Tae-ju made was different.

The medicinal effects applied to ordinary people as well.

She probably became a compatible individual.

“Anyway, it’s good that you came. I have something to report.”

Baek Seo-yeon brought a tablet and showed it to Tae-ju.

“These are the talents who will work with us at the New Seoul branch. I selected them considering ability, character, and sincerity.”

“Already?”

They were diverse.

In gender and age too.

“And I’ve also selected candidate sites for the New Seoul branch building. These are buildings located in Shinjongno District…”

“They’re expensive.”

“It couldn’t be helped, it’s New Seoul.”

The cheapest building was 20 floors in the early 100 billion range, with 30-floor and 40-floor buildings in the 200 billion and 300 billion ranges.

But there was a reason for choosing expensive buildings.

Tae-ju had told her to do so.

They needed to shatter people’s preconceptions about how much money could be made selling medicine in Gurye Rural Village.

“Don’t think about the price, buy a building with good accessibility that really catches people’s eyes.”

“Yes!”

“Anyway, we’re not the only ones moving in, and we’ll get rental income too.”

“And this too….”

The next page was a report on two new drugs to be released in the future.

He had even come up with names in advance.

The trauma treatment drug was Taehong Flesh Sprout, and the nutritional tonic was Taehong Vitality Burst.

“Hmm, Flesh Sprout, Vitality Burst….”

“Tacky, right? But this kind of thing sells well these days.”

“…If it sells well, we should go with it.”

Well, what’s in a name?

Medicine competes on efficacy.

“The patent preparations are going well, right?”

“We’re proceeding with maximum security. We’ve bought land on the outskirts of New Seoul for the factory and production facilities, and construction is currently underway.”

Getting the patent was the most important thing.

It had to be done by surprise so other competitors wouldn’t catch on.

Once a patent was recognized, there was no expiration period.

However, patents were never easy to obtain.

“Let me know when you’re ready. I’ll help with whatever I can.”

“Yes!”

Connections were very important in these official approval procedures.

Not that he intended to break the law, but rather to defend against any disadvantages that might be imposed.

‘Doesn’t Master Oh Jin-hyeong have connections in New Seoul?’

At best, they’d be military connections.

Come to think of it, he should have gotten a bit friendlier with Fifth Prince Ryu Jin-cheol.

‘A way to expand my network….’

Tae-ju said to Baek Seo-yeon.

“That Leaders Club invitation that came before?”

“I’m keeping it safe.”

“Give it to me. I’ll go check it out after the Jirisan subjugation ends.”

Baek Seo-yeon’s face lit up.

“Yes! Thank you… Should I also give you the Noble Purples Marriage Information Company invitation?”

“No! That’s not necessary.”

The company was growing bigger and bigger.

It would be irresponsible to just leave everything to Baek Seo-yeon and Baek Hong-pyo and ignore it.

He had many people depending on him now.

And there would be even more in the future.

‘I should do what I can too.’

Tae-ju returned home.

After greeting the staff, he went inside, took a shower, and changed into comfortable clothes.

‘Infinite Space’

Then a cube-shaped space appeared in his mind’s eye.

Originally enormous, but scaled down so he could see it all at once.

‘I need to set up zones.’

It was fine if only small amounts went in, but when putting in various types of items in large quantities, he needed to set up sections for organization.

How nice it would be if it were a game inventory that organized itself automatically.

‘Hidden weapons go here.’

Then.

Swoosh.

A transparent barrier appeared across the three-dimensional space.

The hidden weapons zone.

The size was 60% of the total space.

Too big?

He could reset it later.

How many Willow Leaf Flying Daggers would fit in here?

Maybe… tens of millions?

He didn’t know.

Let’s skip the complex calculations.

He put in all the hidden weapons he currently carried and all the extras he had stored.

Naturally organized by type.

He also made an equipment item space.

About 5% in size?

He’d need to store weapons like firearms too.

Civilian Aptitude Users and Awakened could also own firearms.

They just needed to get a permit from the nearest military base.

Firearm permits were quite strict, but with the military, well.

15% would be daily necessities space.

Subdivided into food, clothing, survival equipment, and so on.

Tae-ju went down to the shelter in his house’s basement.

Originally, when building houses in Gurye, shelters were mandatory.

Inside, there was everything you could need.

Ramen and various canned goods, snacks, preserved foods, dried foods, beverages, alcohol….

‘So thorough indeed.’

Who had instructed them to make it like this?

Obviously President Baek Seo-yeon.

He put them in by category.

The remaining space was for miscellaneous items.

‘Should I subdivide this too?’

That’s when it happened.

‘What’s this?’

While examining the infinite space, he caught sight of something strange.

In one corner area, there was already a preset zone.

‘I didn’t set this up….’

It was about the size of a travel suitcase.

The reason Tae-ju noticed this space was because it was emitting a faint light.

He felt a somewhat familiar energy from that light.

‘This is immortal qi.’

The immortal qi that Danggumak had transmitted seemed to be gathered there.

It might be the immortal qi left over from creating the infinite space.

‘Can items go in there too?’

Tae-ju experimentally put a Willow Leaf Flying Dagger into that zone.

Swoosh.

It went in.

A can of spam too.

Swoosh.

Premium champagne too.

Swoosh.

He put in a bag of snacks.

Swoosh.

Then took it out again.

Swish.

‘Hmm, it’s the same.’

Tae-ju tried to take out the items he had put into the glowing space.

But at that moment!

Pop!

The light disappeared in an instant.

Then.

‘Huh? It won’t come out.’

Was it some kind of error?

Probably something like that.

When he received qi from Danggumak to draw the infinite space technique formation, the connection was severed the moment he finished drawing it.

That might have caused problems.

Like a computer hard disk bad sector or something.

‘Tsk, let’s leave it. It’s only a tiny area anyway.’

He just wouldn’t put items in that area.

After that, Tae-ju completely forgot about it.

* * *

The fifteenth day of the Jirisan monster subjugation.

The operation was going very smoothly.

Thus, the distance between each main force had narrowed to within 1km.

Now the ordinary monsters of Jirisan had been reduced to training dummies for novice awakened officers.

And elite monsters were being hunted one after another.

– GS Team, successfully hunted Elite Blade-Toothed Ferret, failed to secure elite crystal.

– SS Team, annihilated Elite Storm Weasel, secured one elite crystal.

– HS Team, caught Red-furred Wolf. Crystal secured.

What’s more, this kind of thing was even happening.

– This is NS Team. We’ve encountered an Elite Steel-Feathered Owl.

– What’s the capture method?

– Hyper archer anti-tank missile is being prepared. Requesting permission to use from GS Team.

– GS, this is Oh Jin-hyeong. Use it freely, we’ll provide support.

At this point, even using missiles in the jungle wouldn’t cause wave concerns.

They were practically wiping them out completely.

Rather, it would be more convenient to deal with monsters that gathered around waiting.

But there was one slightly concerning point.

– GS Oh Jin-hyeong here. Question for all teams. Has any team spotted a Three-Headed White Tiger?

– HS Team, haven’t seen one.

– NS Team, haven’t even heard a growl from an ordinary Three-Headed White Tiger, let alone an elite one.

– SS Team, now that you mention it, that’s strange. There’s no way Jirisan wouldn’t have Three-Headed White Tigers.

Three-Headed White Tiger.

Even ordinary Three-Headed White Tigers were strong enough to rival elite monsters.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say there were no monsters stronger than this in Jirisan.

– Hmm, did something devour them all perhaps?

– Who do you mean?

– One strong creature, I mean.

A moment of silence followed.

It was a reasonable enough speculation.

Three-Headed White Tigers were particularly territorial.

They were creatures that wouldn’t be satisfied unless there was only one monster of their kind on this mountain.

Also, elite monsters were born by devouring other monsters of the same species.

What if the Three-Headed White Tigers had fought each other to the death until only one survived?

– Then something tremendous would have emerged.

– Right. All teams, stay alert at all times. Chairman Kim Tae-ju too.

Tae-ju was also listening to the teams’ conversation through the radio.

Crackle!

“Yes, I’m being careful.”

He was currently hunting alone.

It was a kind of gap exploitation, you could say.

The basic strategy of the Jirisan subjugation operation was encirclement and annihilation.

But there were quite a few areas left out.

Tae-ju was focusing on attacking those places.

He had to devour everything by himself.

He had asked Master Oh Jin-hyeong for permission and had been hunting alone for five days.

He didn’t even bother with ordinary monsters.

Only elites.

He decided to keep wearing the fox fur coat.

If he suddenly stopped wearing the clothes he’d been wearing, people might look at him strangely.

They’d wonder where all those throwing weapons came from.

Instead of throwing it away, he went to a leather workshop to have it repaired.

He planned to wear it only during the subjugation operation.

Still, how light and comfortable it was.

The coat pockets were completely empty, that’s why.

A group of Elite Storm Weasels appeared before he knew it.

Whoooosh!

They rushed at Tae-ju clustered together like a ball.

The characteristic of Elite Storm Weasels was that they looked similar in shape and size to ordinary monster weasels. So they traveled in groups together.

Probably one of them was the elite.

Swish!

Just thinking about it made throwing weapons appear.

Zing!

As they were coated with strong qi

‘Single Flash.’

Swoosh!

The Willow Leaf Flying Dagger shot toward the weasel group like a beam of light.

But even before it could hit the monster’s body.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

It burst into pieces.

Ordinary throwing weapons definitely couldn’t handle the power of strong qi.

Death-Escaping Flying Daggers could endure it about once, but these thin Willow Leaf Flying Daggers especially burst apart midway.

Even so.

‘This is actually better.’

Because each broken fragment still retained the strong qi and poison qi.

‘Automatic fragmentation.’

A method Danggumak also liked to use.

The downside was that the Willow Leaf Flying Dagger shattered completely and couldn’t be reused. It was a bit wasteful.

Pop pop pop pop pop pop pop!

The weasel group mixed with the elite burst apart.

‘Which one among them is the elite?’

It would be the one still alive and moving.

The finishing touch was with Bloody Poison Palm infused with water-strong qi.

Thwack!

The elite monster’s qi protective barrier had already been neutralized.

Moreover, poison had entered its body too.

What remained was collecting the Elite Mana Crystals.

‘Oh! One came out.’

Lucky.

Originally, killing an Elite Magical Beast doesn’t guarantee a crystal will drop.

But from the 5 Elite Magical Beasts killed today, as many as 3 crystals came out.

‘I’ll put the crystals in the miscellaneous section.’

Once I designate a section, the hidden weapons come out very quickly.

I can launch them the moment they appear.

The target being attacked will be hit by hidden weapons that appear from thin air like magic.

‘It’s already this easy now, but later when I can make Elite Willow Leaf Flying Daggers that can withstand strong qi…’

Right then!

Swooooosh!

Suddenly, I felt a flow of mana.

‘What’s that?’

At the same time, from far away.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

A very low, deep roar of a magical beast was heard.

Flinch!

A roar filled with such chilling fear that even Tae-ju hesitated.

‘Could this be…’

In an instant!

Crackle!

– Did everyone hear that?

– Yes, yes, we heard it.

– It sounds like an Elite… Three-Headed White Tiger.

– Everyone withdraw from your current positions and gather at GS Team.

Crackle.

– And Chairman Kim Tae-ju?

Crackle!

“Ah! Yes! I heard it.”

– Be careful. Clock out early if you need to.

Tae-ju had no intention of clocking out.

Whoosh!

He was already running quickly toward the direction of the sound.

The place where the sound came from was Cheonwangbong, the highest peak in Jirisan.

He could tell just from that one roar.

That this was incomparably stronger than all the Elite Magical Beasts Tae-ju had seen so far.

At least he could take a look at what it looked like.

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