The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King (Novel) - Chapter 142 - The Outbreak of War (2)

But those articles were quickly buried.

Because news had suddenly broken of civil war in the Kingdom of Moscow.

But there were several times more articles about `TJ` and the Pacific crossing than about the war.

The death of a financial investor and a civil war in a small city-state were not newsworthy to begin with.

Tae-ju, the star of the news, was in the middle of the sea.

Since it had taken ten days to come, it would likely take about that long to go back as well.

How should he kill this boring time?

Since his main occupation was chairman of a pharmaceutical company, naturally he ought to develop a new drug.

The new drug he planned to make this time was a raid-related doping potion.

He was thinking of focusing on temporary enhancement of physical strength, speed-ups, or temporary mana increases.

The key would be how to reduce the side effects.

He combined the herbs and crystals he had brought in advance and began testing them one by one.

Of course, he did not only work himself to death.

He had to rest too.

He played games on his smartphone, browsed social media,

and then, through the news, read about David Morgan’s death and the war.

David Morgan being dead was one thing, but war?

‘No, is now really the time to be fighting a war?’

It was frustrating.

Human prosperity had only just begun in earnest thanks to the success of MRC.

There was also a Tube video link in the article comments.

It seemed to have been uploaded by someone who had been in Red Square and recorded it.

When he followed the link, there were quite a few related videos.

Tae-ju played one of them.

– For the revolution!

– All power to the New Bolsheviks!

Footage of a suicide-bombing terror attack.

The scene of pale-faced people with bombs strapped to their bodies charging the platform.

‘Hmm, this is strange.’

On the surface, they looked like an ordinary (?) group of terrorists.

They were fast and agile, but unnatural.

They kept their heads and upper bodies upright and moved only their legs as they ran.

Their arms too were bent oddly.

‘Would a human move like this?’

He looked up other videos as well.

Footage of the terrorists taken a little more closely.

Their expressions were rigid.

They did not even blink.

They resembled jiangshi.

He became certain.

These were not human.

No, they were human, but already dead.

In other words,

‘…Undead?’

He surely was not the only one to judge it that way.

Anyone with a sharp eye would have sensed that something was off.

He also had a lead that came to mind.

The Black Mafia, that black-magician organization.

‘…I’ll have to look into it.’

His first bad blood with them had begun in Paju.

They were bastards he would have to meet one day or another.

Back then too, they had run their mouths about preparation.

Preparation?

He should crush them before that.

In any case, it looked like the moment he reached the Samhan Empire he would be heading for Moscow.

‘Chief Baek is going to scold me again for being away so often.’

It could not be helped.

He would go and dig into it.

Since it was a cramped city-state, it would not be hard to catch the smell of demonic qi if he moved around.

He did what he could.

Even if there was no need to do so.

There would probably be quite a few soul linkers like himself in the world.

The Heavenly Demon, the black-magician organization, and so on.

But there was one decisive difference between them and him.

The shared storage born from coincidence overlapping with coincidence.

If that had not existed?

‘I would never have become this strong.’

He never would have even dreamed of reaching mastery in Primordial Everchanging Poison Spirit Art or of Poison Spirit.

He would not have thought of MRC or the crossing of the Pacific either.

The first linkage, that was no different from the other soul linkers.

The beginning of the decisive difference came after Tang Gun-ak attained enlightenment and ascended.

At just that time, the second soul linkage took place in the Immortal Realm.

Poison Immortal Tang Gun-ak transcended dimensions and passed immortal qi to him, creating infinite space.

The core was that this whole process took place in the middle of soul linkage.

As a result, part of infinite space became shared.

That is, the birth of the shared storage.

Thanks to that, he came to interact directly with the Immortal Realm.

Could there be another case like this?

Thus the being connected to him was not only Tang Gun-ak.

The Immortal Realm, the Heavenly Realm, and even the Yellow Springs Realm were with him too.

Could there be another connection like this?

Tae-ju did not fear the other soul linkers in the slightest.

With Poison Immortal and Sword Immortal, all the immortals, Bright Maiden and the heavenly people, Yama and the messengers and judges helping him, what was there to fear?

And he had met many good people on Earth too.

They too were assistants lending him strength.

Come to think of it, were Gurye and Paju doing all right?

He was curious about Ilbaek-Ibaek-Sambaek too.

For the first time in a while, Tae-ju opened the group chat.

Perhaps because he had turned notifications off, there were well over a thousand unread messages.

For now, he took a selfie with the Pacific Ocean as the background,

click!

and after uploading it to the group chat,

[Tae-ju]: It’s the Pacific Ocean. Let’s talk when I get there.

Messages exploded upward.

[TJ Guild Sun-cheol]: Wow! The sea!

[TJ Guild Chang-hun]: Master! Can I ride the ship next time?

[TJ Guild Tae-gyun]: Have you been well in the meantime?

[TJ Guild Ga-eun]: Hello. Guildmaster, no, Master.

.

.

.

The civilian guild centered on his disciples.

Originally it had been the Taehong Guild, but before he knew it the name had changed to the TJ Guild.

In truth, it was a bit awkward to regard them as disciples.

The only thing he had taught them was Five Elements Divine Art; Sword Immortal’s videos and Jeong Yeon-hui had raised them all.

Even so, Five Elements Divine Art was Tang Gun-ak’s secret qigong.

Could he just spread it around?

It had to be transmitted according to the procedure of a master-disciple relationship.

And then,

[Director Baek]: Heh heh heh, just seeing it in a photo feels refreshing.

[Paju Jeong Yeon-hui]: Did you fight any marine demonic beasts? What was underwater combat like?

[Chief Executive Baek]: This is good timing. I had a report to make anyway.

[Tae-ju]: A report?

[Chief Executive Baek]: A request came in from the government of the Kingdom of Moscow to export Taehong recovery medicine and Saenggi Bulkkeun.

[Tae-ju]: Ah!

It seemed the repercussions of the war had reached all the way to Gurye.

[Chief Executive Baek]: They said they’d buy it even at twice the list price. What should we do?

[Tae-ju]: Make up a suitable excuse and refuse.

No matter how much more they offered to pay, this was war materiel.

A civil war in another country. Neither side was on their side.

In Burma, the distinction between good and evil had been clear, but in this civil war there was not even that.

If they sold to one side, would the other stay quiet?

[Paju Jeong Yeon-hui]: I have something to report too.

[Tae-ju]: What is it?

He had been thinking of asking after their well-being, but it was turning into handling work over the chat room.

[Paju Jeong Yeon-hui]: Lately the demonic-beast concentration zone in the Paju DMZ has been unusual. Maybe because the population has suddenly increased, but the demonic beasts seem agitated. They’re crossing the boundary more often too.

Paju Territory sat right next to the concentration zone.

Factories had been built, jobs had increased, and the territory’s population had exploded…

Since changes had occurred, naturally the demonic beasts would be affected as well.

If left alone, an accident might happen.

[Tae-ju]: Hmm, it looks like it’s about time for a major sweeping extermination.

[Paju Jeong Yeon-hui]: Yes, I think the same. About when?

[Tae-ju]: For now, I don’t plan to participate.

[Paju Jeong Yeon-hui]: Ah! Well, I think it’ll be possible even without you there. We’ll try it with our own strength.

Breaking through using only the strength of the TJ Guild and the Paju territorial army.

They too had to experience real combat.

There was Jeong Yeon-hui, there was Ryu Jin-cheol, and there was Ilbaek-Ibaek-Sambaek as well.

And also the raid-use doping potion he had developed while riding the ship.

He would test it in this extermination operation.

At that instant!

Jjiririr!

The delivery signal rang out over the sea.

“Oh! I was wondering when it’d pop up.”

He had prepared in advance.

The first batch of equipment for installing the Immortal Realm intranet, one sports car, and the rest assorted goods.

As expected, they had sent black darksteel in great quantity.

In the leftover space, they had put Immortal Realm flowers and heavenly peaches.

After swapping the goods, Tae-ju pulled out the spare smartphone Tang Gun-ak had sent.

A phone in which videos of the changed Immortal Realm were saved.

For now it was used only to store materials, but once the intranet was completed it would soon be able to play its proper role in the Immortal Realm as well.

“Let’s see how much it’s changed.”

He liked this moment best.

Lying atop the containers, Tae-ju ran the video.

* * *

It was a world in which one could no longer tell whether it was Earth or the Immortal Realm.

These days, the immortals’ daily routine began at the cafe inside Immortal Realm World.

Tea Immortal Jak-seol, who had invented tea in the human realm and spread it widely, was the owner of the cafe.

Influenced by the Wine Immortal selling liquor, he spent a large sum of money to purchase an espresso machine and an ice maker.

Then, on condition of paying monthly rent, he opened the Immortal Realm Cafe.

“One iced Americano.”

“For me, a hot Americano.”

“One iced vanilla latte, one abara. Pump the syrup five times. I found I like sweet things.”

“Can you do grapefruit ade?”

The immortals, their purses fattened by the Immortal Realm mutual-prosperity subsidy, enjoyed their leisure in the cafe.

“Ah, right! Did you see He Xiangu?”

“Of course I did. Tsk tsk, how outrageous.”

“How could there be a delinquent girl in the Immortal Realm…”

“Now all she’d need is a tattooed pig beside her and it’d be perfect.”

“Still, it’s fortunate she didn’t shake anyone down.”

“Can we be sure? If it hadn’t been credit-tag coins and had been real currency, she probably would’ve extorted it on the spot.”

At that instant!

“Hk! It’s Dolphin.”

“…He Xiangu?”

“Shh! Be quiet.”

He Xiangu had come to the cafe.

She walked up to Tea Immortal, who was standing there awkwardly, and ordered a drink.

“One iced tea, please.”

Tea Immortal Jak-seol’s complexion darkened.

“…There is no such thing.”

“Then one strawberry smoothie.”

“I don’t know how to make that.”

“Then one Omija-yaja tea with extra ice.”

“I don’t know that either!”

He Xiangu clicked her tongue and said,

“Tsk, it’s not because a cafe serves only coffee. Learn a somewhat wider variety of menus.”

“…”

With that one sentence, Tea Immortal took a critical hit.

Indeed, in the dramas and movies, cafes sold all sorts of drinks.

He had rashly opened a cafe after seeing only the coffee machine.

Still, as the owner of the tea cafe, he could not be weak.

“Then what would you like to drink?”

“Mm, then just give me a yulmu latte with extra rich water.”

“That too I don’t know!”

“Tsk tsk, hopeless. Then just give me barley tea.”

That, he could do.

Tea Immortal quickly stepped into the kitchen and began brewing barley tea.

As he watched that, He Xiangu thought,

‘At this rate, I should just open one myself.’

A cafe would suit her too.

There was enough money.

There was no reason not to.

That was then.

“Tea Immortal Jak-seol! Poison Immortal requests your presence.”

“…”

At the sudden summons, Tea Immortal sighed deeply.

“What is it now…”

“They say the Heavenly Peach has ripened.”

“What?”

At the word Heavenly Peach, not only Tea Immortal but all the immortals in the cafe pricked up their ears.

The Heavenly Peach.

The fruit that would go to the chosen one.

And the fruit that could become the seed of a great war.

Tea Immortal quickly took off his apron.

“Everyone, the cafe is closing now.”

“Eh? Suddenly?”

“What about my Americano?”

“I said it’s closing.”

At that, the immortals too all rose from their seats.

Because they all sensed it.

That something large was about to happen.

At the same time,

in another place of Immortal Realm World,

the immortals were not the only ones lazing around and playing with their thick mutual-prosperity subsidies.

They were not even going out to the Yellow Springs Realm black-darksteel-management part-time jobs.

‘Did I give them money for nothing?’

Even so, he could not employ sinner bastards like the Heavenly Demon or the Blood Demon.

Was there no method?

But right at that moment!

“Um, Poison Immortal.”

“Aren’t you Miho Immortal Maiden? Do come in. For what reason…”

Wait!

A thought flashed through his mind.

‘Ah! Right.’

Miho Immortal Maiden was originally from the Spirit Beast Realm; in essence, she was a fox.

High-realm spiritual creatures could transform into human appearance like that.

‘What if I hire the spiritual creatures who ascended from the Spirit Beast Realm as Immortal Realm World staff?’

They would actually be better than the immortals.

The heavenly people would also like them.

Then what would be a method to draw them in?

‘It might work.’

There was one method worth trying.

Items that he had not been able to sell in the shopping mall and had only kept stored in Infinite Space.

Because Tae-ju usually bought out an entire department store in order to send deliveries to the Immortal Realm, there were things that came in without even checking the labels.

For example pet food and snacks.

On the outside they looked like food people ate.

At first, Tang Gun-ak too had almost eaten them.

‘Foxes are of the dog family, aren’t they? Let me check. Whether she likes them.’

Tang Gun-ak took dog food out of Infinite Space, put it on a pretty plate, and said,

“Since you’ve come all this way, please try this.”

“Hm? What is it?”

Miho sniffed with her nose.

It smelled good.

So, forgetting even the business for which she had come, she took the dog food in hand.

Crunch, craack.

The dog food broke in her mouth.

“Mm-mm, mmmm, i-it’s delicious.”

It seemed so.

Miho Immortal Maiden’s nine tails spun like pinwheels.

He gave her one dog chew for puppies too.

“Seeing you eat well makes me feel good.”

“Hehehe.”

“But I have one favor to ask.”

“What is it?”

“It is simply that…”

Tang Gun-ak told Miho his thought.

That he was trying to hire Spirit Beast Realm spiritual creatures as Immortal Realm World staff, with wages in coins, and with lunch and dinner and snacks provided for free.

“What do you think? Would there be Spirit Beast Realm creatures who’d want to work here?”

“Mm-mm, there definitely will be.”

Miho too was certain.

Until now, among the foods humans ate there had been many that did not suit her.

So she had not bought them often.

But the food Poison Immortal had just given her was extremely delicious.

And on top of that, lunch and dinner and snacks all for free.

If tempted with this?

“I’ll go to the Spirit Beast Realm and meet the others.”

“Heh heh, then I leave it in your care.”

The staff problem was solved too.

But more importantly,

“Right! Miho Immortal Maiden, didn’t you say a moment ago you had some business?”

“Ah! That? Queen Mother of the West said to bring Poison Immortal.”

“…For what matter?”

“She says the Heavenly Peach has fully ripened. She said to come and pick it, and not be late to the Peach Garden…”

Had he heard wrong?

Tang Gun-ak’s eyes opened round.

The Heavenly Peach? The Heavenly Peach right now?

“It ripened?”

“Yes!”

“…Why are you only telling me this now!!!”

“No, I, I forgot while talking…”

“Heh heh, last I heard, there were still a few days left.”

“Well, I only came after receiving Queen Mother’s order.”

“Damn it!!!”

Tsupat!

Tang Gun-ak’s body vanished in an instant.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

Miho Immortal Maiden was left alone with a bewildered expression, and then met He Xiangu coming down from above.

“Fox, fox, what are you doing?”

“Eating…, ah, no,”

“What a cute one, but why are you alone?”

“Mmm, actually, that is…”

Miho Immortal Maiden explained what had just happened.

Then He Xiangu’s eyes shone.

‘Shall I cast a divination for the first time in a while?’

He Xiangu’s immortal art predicted the flow of the future through fortune-telling; the near future came out comparatively quickly.

She took out her divination basket and shakakakakak! shook it, then spread it on the ground with a slap.

‘Hm?’

Well, would you look at this.

“That stone-monkey bastard has completely gone mad! You’re dead!”

He Xiangu descended to the first floor with a chilling smile.

The outbreak of war.

It was the prelude to the great war of the Upper Realms over the Heavenly Peach.