Chapter 4: Money and Power
[Intiate Code M]
[27 Groups Identified]
[Starting...]
ˢᵗʳᵘᶜᵗ ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ ⁱⁿⁱᵗ_ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖˢ ⁼ { .ᵘˢᵃᵍᵉ ⁼ ᴬᵀᴼᴹᴵᶜ_ᴵᴺᴵᵀ⁽²⁾ };
ˢᵗʳᵘᶜᵗ ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ *ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖˢ_ᵃˡˡᵒᶜ⁽ⁱⁿᵗ ᵍⁱᵈˢᵉᵗˢⁱᶻᵉ⁾{
ˢᵗʳᵘᶜᵗ ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ *ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ;
ⁱⁿᵗ ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ;
ⁱⁿᵗ ⁱ;
ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ ⁼ ⁽ᵍⁱᵈˢᵉᵗˢⁱᶻᵉ ⁺ ᴺᴳᴿᴼᵁᴾˢ_ᴾᴱᴿ_ᴮᴸᴼᶜᴷ ⁻ ¹⁾ / ᴺᴳᴿᴼᵁᴾˢ_ᴾᴱᴿ_ᴮᴸᴼᶜᴷ;
ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ ⁼ ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ ? : ¹;
ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ ⁼ ᵏᵐᵃˡˡᵒᶜ⁽ˢⁱᶻᵉᵒᶠ⁽*ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁾ ⁺ ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ*ˢⁱᶻᵉᵒᶠ⁽ᵍⁱᵈ_ᵗ *⁾, ᴳᶠᴾ_ᵁˢᴱᴿ⁾;
ⁱᶠ ⁽!ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁾
ʳᵉᵗᵘʳⁿ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ;
ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ⁿᵍʳᵒᵘᵖˢ ⁼ ᵍⁱᵈˢᵉᵗˢⁱᶻᵉ;
ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ ⁼ ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ;
ᵃᵗᵒᵐⁱᶜ_ˢᵉᵗ⁽&ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ᵘˢᵃᵍᵉ, ¹⁾;
ⁱᶠ ⁽ᵍⁱᵈˢᵉᵗˢⁱᶻᵉ <⁼ ᴺᴳᴿᴼᵁᴾˢ_ˢᴹᴬᴸᴸ⁾
ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ[⁰] ⁼ ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ˢᵐᵃˡˡ_ᵇˡᵒᶜᵏ;
ᵉˡˢᵉ {
ᶠᵒʳ ⁽ⁱ ⁼ ⁰; ⁱ < ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ; ⁱ⁺⁺⁾ {
ᵍⁱᵈ_ᵗ *ᵇ;
ᵇ ⁼ ⁽ᵛᵒⁱᵈ *⁾__ᵍᵉᵗ_ᶠʳᵉᵉ_ᵖᵃᵍᵉ⁽ᴳᶠᴾ_ᵁˢᴱᴿ⁾;
ⁱᶠ ⁽!ᵇ⁾
ᵍᵒᵗᵒ ᵒᵘᵗ_ᵘⁿᵈᵒ_ᵖᵃʳᵗⁱᵃˡ_ᵃˡˡᵒᶜ;
ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ[ⁱ] ⁼ ᵇ;
}
}
ʳᵉᵗᵘʳⁿ ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ;
ᵒᵘᵗ_ᵘⁿᵈᵒ_ᵖᵃʳᵗⁱᵃˡ_ᵃˡˡᵒᶜ:
ʷʰⁱˡᵉ ⁽⁻⁻ⁱ >⁼ ⁰⁾ {
ᶠʳᵉᵉ_ᵖᵃᵍᵉ⁽⁽ᵘⁿˢⁱᵍⁿᵉᵈ ˡᵒⁿᵍ⁾ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ[ⁱ]⁾;
}
ᵏᶠʳᵉᵉ⁽ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁾;
ʳᵉᵗᵘʳⁿ ᴺᵁᴸᴸ;
}
ᴱˣᴾᴼᴿᵀ_ˢʸᴹᴮᴼᴸ⁽ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖˢ_ᵃˡˡᵒᶜ⁾;
ᵛᵒⁱᵈ ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖˢ_ᶠʳᵉᵉ⁽ˢᵗʳᵘᶜᵗ ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ *ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁾
{
ⁱᶠ ⁽ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ[⁰] !⁼ ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ˢᵐᵃˡˡ_ᵇˡᵒᶜᵏ⁾ {
ⁱⁿᵗ ⁱ;
ᶠᵒʳ ⁽ⁱ ⁼ ⁰; ⁱ < ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ⁿᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ; ⁱ⁺⁺⁾
ᶠʳᵉᵉ_ᵖᵃᵍᵉ⁽⁽ᵘⁿˢⁱᵍⁿᵉᵈ ˡᵒⁿᵍ⁾ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁻>ᵇˡᵒᶜᵏˢ[ⁱ]⁾;
}
ᵏᶠʳᵉᵉ⁽ᵍʳᵒᵘᵖ_ⁱⁿᶠᵒ⁾;
}
On 100 different computers, similar lines of green codes began to fill its screen.
Its purpose? Of course, to hack and steal money.
Solus wasn't stupid. He knew how important money is to society, but he thought it was pointless if you can just use brute force to get anything you want. Money? He can just take it if he wanted it to. Food? He can hunt for his own. House? Hypnotize someone to give it to you.
Money was a flaw and strength was better.
But he was proven wrong. Just by using money, the public can be swayed with just a snap of a finger. Anything and everything can be bought by money.
Money was worth even more than lives in some cases. And evidently, money can do a lot more than just brute force. It was a convenient tool that can get things done without getting dirty.
2 days ago, Solus had witnessed the power of money at first hand. He saw how one larger company can completely dominate others even without getting physical. He saw how one man can go from being richest to homeless, all in seconds. He saw how a man had been beaten to death due to loan sharks. All because of money.
He thought that, if he had a lot of money, wouldn't life be so much simpler? After all, this whole society hinges money. They can't abandon it even if they wanted to.
With money, he wouldn't need to do everything himself. It can just be solved with just a quick tap and be done.
What's better... if he has both strength and money? What can anyone do to him?
That was why, even though money was so flawed, he could use it to its max potential.
So, he ate 4 of the world's best hackers and 7 of the world's best security specialists. Then he proceeded to read all hacking books in existence, to the point where he can even invent more than 392738 different viruses that humanity can never hope to decrypt nor destroy.
Even if one of these viruses were to be out, the humankind will never function the same again. They would never try to offend Solus if they ever knew what he had in store for them.
But he wouldn't go so far... yet.
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Modern Magic. It is one of the many companies that specialize in implementing mana into modern appliances.
What sets it apart from all its competitors, though, is due to it being the first company of its kind and the fact that it is the NUMBER 1 in the entire world.
But all of that ended today.
"What the f**k is going on!" A handsome man in a black suit yelled out to his subordinates, who were scrambling around like headless cockroaches.
"Sir CEO! We don't know! None of our computers are able to turn on. Neither are our phones able to do that! We suspect we're under an EMP attack. But..." one of the workers anxiously answered back. He too, had no idea what was going on.
"But what!"
"...All of our other electronic devices work, it's just that only computers and phones that are affected. One of our drivers found that it's not just us... it's the entire United States... and possibly the entire world. Though unlikely, there's a chance that it's a large scale cyber attack."
With a grave expression, the CEO was furious at the whole situation. For more than 30 minutes already, all phones and computers were down, rendering communication and working impossible. If things continue at this rate, his company's security reputation will be a complete joke and his company stock will plunge down hard.
But what he didn't know was that... something far worse happened. All of his company's information and savings were already stolen. Sooner or later, his company will be in debt and closed down.
The same thing happened similarly to 26 different large companies, including even the Pentagon itself.
The entire world was in for big trouble.
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"Hmm... 2.72 trillion U.S dollars, 1.2 trillion Canadian dollars, 4 trillion Yuan... and about 1.9 trillion dollars worth from other countries. Just about enough. Let's open a corporation.
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That day... the world welcomed a new era of technological advancement.
One that would improve the world much rapidly than before.
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Sitting inside a high-end penthouse that Solus reserved entirely for himself, Solus said in a quiet voice while still watching TV. "Report."
Then from the speakers on the ceiling, a pleasant voice resembling neither that of a man nor woman rang out. It was an AI.
[Yes. Sales for the True Virtual Helmet had increased by 592.8% from last month, bringing the total revenues to 42.7 billion dollars worldwide. Project Another patch 1.8 is expected to launch within 3 days, all bugs have been tested and eliminated. Militaries and Hunter Agencies from 13 different countries had asked our company to make a separate world for training purposes. That's all.]
Without thinking much, Solus replied back.
"Tell all of them we accept, on the condition they pay us 250 million dollars per month. No bargain. Here's the file. You can do the rest."
[Yes Master]
In the exchange between these two, there were some strange terms that one might not be familiar with... at least that was until two and a half months ago.
After the fallout of what humanity had dubbed as, the 'Disturbance Cataclysm', the world had entered a state worse than the infamous Great Depression.
But that all ended 15 days after, when a newly created corporation found its opportunity to present itself the world. Its official name was called LoSus Corporation, which though seemed dubious at first, had solved what experts have predicted to last at least 3 months and up to 5 years.
And by that time, everything would have been too late.
Of course, the 'Disturbance Cataclysm' was done solely by Solus, and through his hand alone, he had brought the world back up from its collapsed state.
First, he created 5 thousand companies worldwide, hiring over 4 million people in the process.
This, of course, wouldn't have been enough.
But what those companies have done though, was beyond revolutionary.
Out of those 5 thousand companies, 126 were banks, banks that loaned out money with only 0.01% interest. This mind-blogging move had allowed people to regain confidence in their financial status, and in turn, raised the stock market to a height way bigger than its previous peak.
Then there were the 392 companies created to accommodate as a server, for a never before seen device—the True Virtual Helmet. It allows people, even normal citizens, to experience a virtual world through the game Project Another.
Basically, normal people now have access to Hunter-like powers, just by playing this VR MMORPG game. Furthermore, the game even allows the disabled to experience all 5 senses, even if they had none.
That was why, despite all the conspiracy theories going around, Project Another had attracted more than 1.9 billion players worldwide, contributing to most of the revenues the company made.
As for the rest of the smaller companies, they only served to increase the reputation of the name LoSus. Most of them are basically for non-profits, using the main company's own resources to function.
Many of those companies are just normal orphanages, some are entertainment companies, hospitals, homeless shelters, etc.
Everything was done under the name LoSus Corporation. And one could even argue that the corporation hasn't even make any profit yet despite being the largest in the world.
That was why, no one dares to speak up against the LoSus, in fear of triggering the public opinion.
The world couldn't live without LoSus. Evidently, it was so.
4 weeks ago, three countries, Japan, the US, and China, led an antitrust investigation against LoSus Corporation in hope of destroying the company before it grew larger. They did it under the pretense that LoSus were monopolizing the VR market.
Funnily though, Solus didn't even bother fighting back. He just simply withdrew his companies from those three countries totally. No more LoSus... just what those countries wanted, except, it was in a different form from what they expected.
And what happened next was just as what Solus predicted.
The public was outraged at the loss of the VR world. Outraged at the loss of hospitals, orphanages, homeless shelters. They were outraged that suddenly more than a million people were unemployed.
Everyone was on LoSus' side, in order to curry their favor.
The world needed LoSus.
And because of that, no one knew... that they had caused the lives of nearly everyone in the world to be in the hand of Solus.
He had planted a neurological message into the brain of anybody who had put on the True Virtual Helmet, even if they had only tried it once.
But what does the message entail?
You see. Humanity has this thing called apoptosis planted inside their DNA. When the brain tells a cell to execute apoptosis, that cell will self-destruct. That was meant to be a self-defense mechanism against cancer cells. But such a flaw designed system was too flawed, which was why Solus had used that to his advantage.
If he wanted, he can easily wipe out a fourth of the world's population.
All those powers were within Solus' hands.
He was born to rule everything.
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Heaven
[An ally or an enemy?]
Suddenly out of nowhere, a heavenly voice sounded out as it unfurled its 6 blazing wings.
It looked like a human. But no human could ever hope to rival such beauty and elegant radiating from the archangel.
[Enemy]
[Enemy]
[Ally]
[Enemy]
[Ally]
[Ally]
Out of the 7 archangels present, 6 had made their decision. 3 votes for enemy and 3 for ally.
The subject of their conversation? It was Solus.
For these past 2 months, they have been observing the monster's action. But unlike any human or monsters, Solus was different.
He didn't have an ally. He was alone.
He didn't like monsters, for they are inferior than him. He didn't like humans, for they are flawed.
He was neutral.
But considering Solus' past, the total number of Hunters and monsters he had killed are already beyond tens of thousands. To three of the archangels, such being was pure evil.
Yet, to the other three, they had only thought that was totally normal. Considering that Solus only wanted to live, he hunted to become stronger. That was normal. But if they could rope him onto the 'good' side, the balance of power would tilt to the Rulers.
[We should kill him. If the Shadow Monarch Ashborn or Dragon Emperor Antares choose this monster as a vessel... we would lose again.] A fierce-looking archangel said.
But disagreeing with her fellow archangel, an archangel argued back. [That's why I said we make him our ally.]
[Too unpredictable. Likely to betray.] Another archangel who disagreed earlier, lazily voiced his opinion.
[We need to make a decision. We're going to lose at this rate. We only have one 'try' left.] With a serious expression, an archangel said gravely. He was one of the people who agreed earlier.
But even after arguing for a couple more days, no one changed their mind. Then in unison, all the angels turned to look at their leader, who have yet to make a decision.
[What is your decision Raphael?]
[I...]
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Korea
"Today is the day that 5 S-ranked Hunters will depart to Jeju island to destroy the ant colony... one and for all. Two previous attempts had failed due to a lack of preparation and firepower. Now, after a two months delay after the 'Disturbance Cataclysm', Korea had announced that they will place 5 of their S-ranked Hunters into this raid, which constitutes more than half of their manpower."
Then suddenly a picture of the LoSus logo appeared right next to the reporter on the TV. It was quite a simple logo. Just an upside-down L and an S inside it, with the tip of the S connected with the end of the L.
"Furthermore, this raid is sponsored by LoSus, which had allowed Korea to have 5 of their S-ranked Hunters in this raid, rather than only the three planned 2 months ago. They had also made a statement that an S-ranked Hunter of their own will also be dispatched if anything goes wrong. Let's hope for Korea's success."
With a nonchalant look, Solus turned off the TV, and walked out of his private jet. He was going to join the Jeju raid together with the other Korean Hunters.
Of course, everything will be live on TV, so he can't do anything stupid like slaughtering those S-ranked Hunters.
But he's only back up, so if the other Hunters began to lose, he will join with them. At that time, who knows how many might be left.
This will also be the first time he shows himself to the world that he is a Hunter... but this time, as a human.
This entire time, everyone thought he was just a successful young entrepreneur. But imagine their reaction when the world learns that he is also an S-ranked Hunter.
An S-ranked Hunters that saved Korea. An S-ranked that saved the world.
No one will ever dare to fight against him again. All humans will submit to him.
That was the influence of absolute money and power. The world belongs to him. And it was just a matter of time before those National Level Hunters will be beneath him.
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"Testing testing 1, 2, 3. Testing testing 1, 2, 3. Good, the camera is on." A lively middle-aged man clad in expensive armor said in front of the camera.
Seeing it was working properly, he decided to introduce himself and the others.
"Hello! I am the cameraman, Min Ho-Sook. And as you all know, the man with the wild orange hair is the Guild Master of the White Tiger Guild, Baek Yoon-Ho, and an S-ranked Fighter. And as the S-ranked Tanker, Ma Dong-Wook is in charge of protecting everyone, who is also known as the Guild Master of the Fame Guild."
Taking a quick pause to breathe, he continued again.
"And over there is the S-ranked Mage Eun-Suk. He is currently not in any Guild and is a freelancer. And then we got the man who had already joined the previous two raids, Min Byung-Gyu. He had expressed that he will retire after this raid, but despite that, he is still an S-ranked Healer, capable healing people from near-death to using versatile buffs."
After he finished introducing nearly every S-ranked Hunters, he turned the camera to the unfriendly bald man in the front.
"And last but not least, we have the strongest S-ranked in the entire South Korea, Hwang Dong-Su. Though he had told the press that he will leave for America, he will join this raid as his last service for being a loyal Korean."
Then Dong-Su suddenly turned back and gazed straight into the camera. His creepy smile nearly frightened all the viewers at their home.
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"Oh! Did You hear that?" The cameraman said before pointing his camera into the sky.
"Can you see that logo? That's LoSus! It seemed the LoSus Corporation had sent their own S-ranked Hunter for this raid. I wondered who it is. This will be the first time LoSus showcase off their physical prowess."
Then just 30 seconds later, the futuristic jet landed down vertically, something that was only possible with helicopters.
But instead of seeing a famous Hunter walking out, the figure that appeared instead was someone that everyone knew. LoSus Corporation CEO and founder.
"Hey, hey, hey. Is this a joke? Why is this little twerp here?" Dong-Su scoffed the moment he saw who walked out. He thought this boy just wanted to play around and enjoy the prestige of becoming part of the raid party. But speaking truthfully, he was just jealous of the boy's success.
"Watch your mouth Dong-Su. I don't care if the Scavenger Guild is on your side. That boy there is the CEO of LoSus... You should know how influential they are..." The man with the wild orange hair, Yoon-ho, reprimanded the bald man. Korea can't afford to get on LoSus' bad side.
But Dong-Su didn't care. He approached Solus while radiating a menacing aura. He didn't give a f**k about Korea's reputation. He was going to defect to America anyway and the Scavenger Guild he was going to join was literally the biggest one in existence. How strong can LoSus be to fight against dozens of S-ranked and 2 National Level Hunters? In Dong-su's mind, not a chance.
"Little dipshit. You better get out of my sight before something happened. I'm not here to babysit." Dong-su said with a threateningly while taking off his sunglasses. The fierce gaze that he gave can easily kill babies with just look alone.
"Get out of my way." But Solus stood his ground. S-ranked Hunters? High S-ranked Hunters? It's all the same. All are just bugs, tenacious bugs.
Surprised that the boy didn't even flinch, Dong-Su began to release his aura that will flatten anyone A-ranked and below.
"HAH?? I don't give a damn about you and your corporation! How about you go back to suck your mama's ti—?"
But before he could speak any further, an overwhelming pressure was emanated from the boy.
It pulverized nearly everything around the boy, with Dong-Su completely on his knees while his bones were cracking madly.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"
Dong-Su screamed painfully, but it didn't lessen the pressure. Instead, it was increasing every moment.
This scared the shit out of everyone in the entire world who was watching. But Solus' actions were justified, Dong-Su had attacked first.
But... the move that Solus was showing... was eerily similar to the might of the 'psychokinesis' that National Level Hunter possesses.
Was Solus at the level of a National Level Hunters? Not really, but if he fights, he won't lose either.
No one dared to believe that Solus was at that level. But of course, everyone couldn't help but marvel at Solus' strength, and who had completely dominated Dong-Su, Korean's strongest Hunter.
No one spoke up for Dong-Su, even though he was a fellow Korean. They enjoyed watching this f**ker, who would soon betray the country, suffering. A delight for the eye.
"P-pleaseeeee Stop!!!!" Dong-Su tried pleading. He had completely surrendered, but it fell on deaf ears.
Just then someone was about to speak up, but seeing the boy's face devoid of remorse and emotion, he shut up. He didn't want to be the next Dong-Su.
The world watched in still silence for 30 seconds before Solus finally stop. But by that time, Dong-Su was completely on the ground, passed out. He was barely breathing, with most of his blood vessels popped from the tremendous pressure.
He was bleeding profusely, 84 bones totally cracked, and with his legs turned nearly into mush. He was lucky that Solus only focused mostly on the lower body, leaving the upper parts mostly intact.
"We start in 4 hours. You heal him." Solus said as he looked briefly at the Healer Min Byung-Gu
The other Hunters could only nod in response. In their mind, this boy was just a monster in disguise and luckily they didn't offend him.
Who knew such a monstrous power was hidden inside such a little body.
Dong-Su was stupid enough to provoke Solus. A stupid move. Even if Solus has no physical strength, he can even mobilize dozens of countries to take down whoever he wants. Dong-Su was just too stupid to realize that.
Solus' message was clear. Him and LoSus was unstoppable.
And the world went nut when they realized such a thing.
Some grimaced at Solus' ruthlessness. Some cheered at the fact that the King had showed his real self to the real world.
Either way, whether they like it or not... the King now rules the world.
It's now just a matter of where the people stand. To be enemy? Or to be ally?
But an answer was made clear. Choose the former and it won't end well for you.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AverageWannaBe
AverageWannaBe I don’t know why I’m still writing this novel. It’s quite fun.
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Gonna do my hw now
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Did anyone noticed name LoSus is just and anagram of Solus? Solus means Solo.
LoSus is supposed to match the word Locus, which btw, means the center of power or in math, the set of all points.
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Ty for reading
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I got some question about this, but the storyline is a year before when the canon starts.
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Ty for reading. Plz leave suggestion for any grammar errors.
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