Royal Roader on My Own Chapter 153

The soldiers that Harrison brought with him were the best that the Batoru Kingdom had to offer. He was planning on turning them into Knights of the Sun and having them be at the vanguard of the Batoru Kingdom's revival.

Although there weren't too many of them, they still were probably one of the strongest armies in existence.

There was nothing that needed to be said about the Dwarves. As a warrior race, they had no fear to start with, but these were also the greatest experts that Goonto had personally selected.

Even then, they all seemed to be nervous.

That was how dangerous the Western District was known to be. It was this thought that made people believe that, 'Western District Quests,' were, 'Impossible Quests.'

So what originally gave the Western District this t.i.tle of, 'Impossible?'

I was able to experience it with my own body soon enough.

It was not because of the sun that continued to s.h.i.+ne down on us. Although the sun made it so difficult that I wanted to sit down and do nothing, it was actually the terrain that made it hard to move.

"What is going on? Didn't we just pa.s.s by here?"

I was certain of it. I had been paying close attention to the details as we walked. I might have forgotten about it if we had pa.s.sed by here a long time ago, however, there was no way I would get a spot we pa.s.sed just 30 minutes ago confused with something else.

Especially because of this extremely unique boulder that resembled a bird. I felt as if we had seen this boulder two or three times already.

That meant that we were going around in circles.

I was a bit worried as well. The current situation was quite different than what I had experienced in the game.

First of all, the timing was off. Although it wasn't possible to get an accurate timeline, my entrance to the Western District was brought forward by about 2 years.

My party was different as well. None of them, Harrison's group, the Dwarves, the Dark Elf nor the Stone Elves were with me in the game.

I was with a group of people that I would not meet until much later. That was why it had been so difficult.

Furthermore, seeing the terrain and weather through a screen and experiencing it with my own body were extremely different from each other. Even though I had been through here in the game, walking through with my own body made it feel completely foreign.

I had no choice but to get angry at Chief.

"Chief! What is going on? Are we going around in circles?!"

"Caw! No sir. We are continuing to go west."

"Then why do we keep seeing the same things?"

"That is because of the unique nature of areas affected by demonic aura. Caw! The majority of what you are seeing are illusions."

"Ah! Illusions!"

I quickly understood after hearing Chief's explanation.

In simple terms, the demonic aura was making it so that we could not find our way through.

However, not everything was made of demonic aura. Approximately 30 percent of it was made with divine power.

The reason was simple. Both the G.o.d of the continent and the Demon Lord needed a boundary in order to prevent the other from invading their territories.

This was the area where the G.o.d of the continent was cutting off the demonic attack while the Demon Lord was cutting off the continent's advances.

These obstacles ended up being created as they were wary of each other.

"So then how are you certain that we are going west?"

"Caw! There is always a fragrant scent coming from the west. Chief can smell that scent."

'Is it similar to a salmon returning to its birthplace?'

Anyways, I had no choice but to trust Chief. I can only hope that he guides us properly.

However, not everybody felt the same way. I knew about Chief after experiencing it through the game, however, n.o.body else in our group had that experience.

Harrison's group was the most suspicious.

"Can we really trust that monster?"

Of course not. Even I do not trust my slave Chief as the master.

Chief is guaranteed to betray me. He did that in the game as well.

The situation could change because the story has become twisted, but I am still preparing for that moment.

But everything has a time and place.

I know exactly when Chief is going to betray me. It shouldn't be too big of a problem since I know when it will happen.

But there's no reason for them to know about it.

"If you can't trust Chief, please trust me."

"Ugh, I understand. We will trust you."

* * *

"These are the items that showed most promise during the judging."

Director Kim Sang Bin showed me the business plans.

It was a list of ten most promising ideas in the Dandelion School's 'Entrepreneurs.h.i.+p Challenge.'

There were 11 judges who were all experts in their respective fields.

They were all more talented than I was in their fields. Although I could easily predict the future if I used some Chaos Jewels, I couldn't use them as I pleased because I had less than 20 of them left.

Anyway, the fact that these experts seriously looked through it doesn't mean that they will all succeed. That was why I had to be careful about making any large investments.

"How much is the investment amount?"

"The cheaper ones are 100 million won while the expensive ones are a bit over 10 billion won."

So then they should be about 50 billion won total. I can easily invest that much.

"Please invest in all of them."

"I understand."

Director Kim Sang Bin exited the office.

My intercom went off as soon as he left.

- Director Bae Young Man-nim is waiting for you.

"Please let him in."

The door opened and Director Bae Young Man entered.

Kim Sang Bin was responsible for the venture capital company I created called, 'Fulfill,' while Bae Young Man was responsible for the overseas corporate investment for the Dandelion School.

Bae Young Man sat down on the couch and handed over a doc.u.ment.

"I have completed the legal doc.u.ments for Venezuela. We will start recruiting students early next month and start operating in two months."

Then the lessons will start around June.

It didn't matter. The overseas locations did not follow a normal school schedule anyway. Whether they start in June or September depended on each individual school.

"What about the school in China? Did they finish the selection process?"

"They just finished."

I had been a bit nervous. We were planning to recruit 1,000 students for the Shanghai Dandelion School, but we received 90,000 applicants.

We were accepting students at a 90:1 ratio.

That was why the selection process had been very difficult.

"Li Xiang Nan-nim helped us out quite a bit."

If Li Xiang Nan was involved, he probably ordered them to admit some students.

There was nothing I could do about it. I needed to maintain a good relations.h.i.+p with Li Xiang Nan in order to do something in China.

If that relations.h.i.+p goes awry, I may need to fold everything in China.

"Please send a gift to Li Xiang Nan."

"Li Xiang Nan wishes to meet with you rather than receive any presents."

I had no reason to reject that meeting. Everything will be smooth in China if I maintain a good relations.h.i.+p.

However, I've just been too busy lately to make any time for a meeting.

I will meet with Li Xiang Nan soon.

I wrote a letter on the spot. Of course, I used red paper and hand wrote it.

It was a short message.

[ I will come to pay you a visit soon. ]

"Please deliver this letter along with the gift."

"I understand sir. Is there anything else you need?"

"Not right now. I do not need to worry with you taking care of everything, Director Bae."

"Haha, you are praising me too much. I will make my leave then."

Director Kim Sang Bin exited the office.

Like last time, the intercom went off right away.

- Teacher Lee s...o...b..ng is here.

'Wow, look at the time!'

I really didn't have any time to rest. I finished day trading and came to work at 2 pm and have been meeting with people ever since then.

It's because I started too many things at once. The businesses related to the Dandelion School have been growing at a scary pace.

The original Dandelion School was expanding their teaching subjects from just cooking to also include design, acting, arts, medicine, eastern medicine, and programming for a total of eight subjects. We also increased the number of students significantly as well.

The number of new students we took in this year ended up being 3,600 students.

The reason Teacher Lee s...o...b..ng was here was probably related to that as well.

The Dandelion School's overseas branches were even worse.

Vietnam, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Venezuela now all had a Dandelion School. The total number of new students for all of these countries was 6,000 students.

There were many other countries asking us to create Dandelion Schools in their countries as well. We already had three countries we promised to build a school in next.

But building the school wasn't everything. There was more to it.

The thing that I was looking forward to was the venture capital support department. Regardless of whether they are 10 years old or 50 years old, anybody can enter as long as they have their own unique entrepreneurs.h.i.+p idea.

They would prepare their business while receiving the support of the experts, while I would provide the funds in order to help them get started.

We also needed to prepare restaurants and whatnots for the graduates.

The employees took care of most things, however, they still reported to me and I took care of the final decision for all transactions. I needed to make sure everything was thorough, even though it was annoying to do so as we are just getting started.

However, I will leave each site in charge of their own things starting next year. Everything should be going smoothly by then.

Anyway, I'm starting to feel hungry. I guess I can eat with teacher Lee s...o...b..ng.

"Please welcome him inside."

I then got up as I could not greet someone like teacher Lee s...o...b..ng while sitting down.

The door soon opened and teacher Lee s...o...b..ng came in.

I tried to quickly walk over and shake his hand, but he was holding something. The fact that it was wrapped in cloth made it look like a lunchbox.

I helped him with the bag instead of shaking his hand.

"I would have come to you if you had given me a call."

"How can I ask such a busy person to come and go as I please? I have more free time, so I should come to you. You have to move more the older you get."

"Please sit over here."

I offered him the better couch and he shook his hand.

"No need. That is your seat."

He then sat down in the guest couch and we were looking eye to eye.

"By the way, what is that?"

"A lunchbox. Didn't we agree to eat dinner together today?"

Lee s...o...b..ng responded and opened up the cloth.

It really was a lunchbox. He opened the lid and I could see rice mixed with chestnut, jujube, and pine nuts, as well as tteok-galbi and other side dishes. (TL: Tteok-galbi is galbi that is beaten down and then formed in the shape of a rice cake (or tteok in Korean). It was generally eaten by Kings, as it does not look regal for a King to be ripping galbi off the bone.)

"I was planning on treating you to someplace nice."

"I like this more than eating out. Take a bite, I'm sure you'll be shocked."

Lee s...o...b..ng lifted his spoon first.

We chatted about all sorts of things as we ate. The meal that Lee s...o...b..ng prepared really was different. I doubt I would be able to experience such a delicious meal even if I went to an extremely fancy restaurant.

There would be no better meal if you set the right atmosphere.

"How is it?"

"Do you even need to ask? Your skills are known around the globe, teacher."

"Don't use such cheesy words and be honest. Contrary to what it looks like, this is not your average meal. The world can end up changing based on your evaluation."

Lee s...o...b..ng did not look like he was joking.

I took another look around the meal. It seemed quite normal to me.

I then noticed the tteok-galbi. It looked as if it was made of meat, however, there were slight differences.

Most people wouldn't be able to notice it, however, my senses have been improved thanks to my Royal Roader stats such that I was able to notice the faint differences.

I also recalled how Lee Man Bok had once had a business where he made tteok-galbi with meat made out of beans.

However, this was different than tteok-galbi made with beans. I've tried it many times already, including the newest one that Lee Man Bok had created.

That one was still extremely easy to tell that it was made out of beans.

But this was different.

I paid more attention to it as I took another bite.

'It feels like meat, but something is a bit different.'

But I was certain about something.

'It tastes almost the same as regular meat.'

At least the regular consumers would feel that way.

And if this was made of beans or something similar?

'It's going to be a jackpot!'

Translator: Miraclerifle

Proofreader: Borderline m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t