Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan

Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan – 206

Lee Geon-ha’s Rift (3)

As he got up, clutching his throbbing head, he found himself in a place that was both familiar and strange.

“…A studio apartment?”

A scene far from the luxurious apartment overlooking the Han River. Hero Isaac had never been to office worker Lee Geon-ha’s 330 square foot studio apartment.

In this modest studio that he had briefly visited as a reward for his encounter with the sky, Lee Geon-ha raised his heavy body.

“Did I lose?”

As soon as he met Satanael, who could tear through space and control time, he was struck by a flash of light.

His consciousness immediately blurred, and the robust defense mechanism known as ‘The Goddess’s Gratitude’ failed to function.

That was the last memory before losing consciousness, and when he woke up, he was in Lee Geon-ha’s studio apartment.

What could this mean?

‘Seems like I was taken out before I could do anything.’

The night visitor who came after the assassination tournament must have dispatched Isaac with a mysterious instant-kill weapon. As a result, the soul possessing Isaac’s body must have returned to Lee Geon-ha’s body.

Swish.

The mise-en-scène outside the window, both nostalgic and tiresome, hadn’t changed much since before the possession.

The view of the residential area seen from the window after opening the blackout curtains was still shabby.

[07:35]

Current time: Monday, 7:35 AM.

Traces of communication with a friend remained intact on his smartphone. It seems the Earth where he met the agent of Tetragrammaton was the real reality.

The timeline appeared to have continued as it was.

Though his head was still throbbing, his heart was beating well and he could breathe smoothly, which assured him that this wasn’t the afterlife.

“I don’t know what’s what anymore.”

After gulping down some cold water, Lee Geon-ha sat blankly in front of the computer, waiting for something to happen.

Thinking that if he just sat there absentmindedly, transcendent beings like the agent of Tetragrammaton or Satanael’s avatar might make contact.

Riiiing―

However, what arrived two hours later was a phone call from his team leader urging him to come to work, after 1 year and 3 months.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I suddenly developed some symptoms.”

Lee Geon-ha managed to get through the crisis with a white lie about having breathing problems due to mental stress.

Since Lee Geon-ha had always been a good worker, the team leader ended the call with words of encouragement to rest well, without much further discussion.

“Is it really all over?”

As if in a trance, he launched Clan of Heroes. The account information remained the same.

Isaac still had the leader skill [Final Finish] and the charisma [Bored Genius] equipped, and examining the other members revealed no signs of deleted characters or changed equipment.

Office worker Lee Geon-ha, for whom the years lived as Hero Isaac now felt like a distant dream, mechanically watched YouTube videos and such to pass the time.

===

* * *

===

Three days passed.

No unusual occurrences, like the agent of Tetragrammaton appearing in the form of a young boy as before, took place.

Click.

After three days and nights, he left his studio apartment for the first time.

Just as he had forcibly adapted to the life of Hero Isaac, Lee Geon-ha now had to resume his life as an office worker.

A common citizen of Korea who had to worry about next month’s credit card bill and rent. That was the peaceful daily life given to Lee Geon-ha.

“Geon-ha, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I’ll manage to catch up on the work somehow.”

“Ah. I’ll leave it to you. It’s fortunate that it’s not a busy season, but in the future, I’d appreciate if you could let me know in advance if something difficult comes up, okay?”

“Yes, I’ll be more careful.”

A world without villains and monsters.

Finally seated in an office, away from life-and-death situations, Lee Geon-ha focused silently on his work.

The team leader, who had only hoped that his subordinate wouldn’t quit for personal reasons, soon lost interest in Lee Geon-ha, who was performing his duties as if nothing had happened after his consecutive absences.

A quiet office worker doing just his share.

Lee Geon-ha’s company life was close to textbook perfect.

===

* * *

===

The peaceful days in Seoul seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, and before he knew it, summer had gone and autumn had arrived.

In the meantime, the company underwent a drastic change.

[Restructuring due to corporate merger]

The culprit was the aggressive M&A of a foreign company that had been eyeing domestic marketing firms.

The details were beyond the knowledge of anyone below executive level. Employees were simply floundering in the waves of massive recommended resignations and department transfers.

Lee Geon-ha, who had been an ordinary office worker, couldn’t escape the storm either.

“So you’re saying I should either resign or move to the entertainment business department?”

“That’s what has been decided.”

The verdict handed down to him was to either move to another department related to his career or quit.

While feeling gloomy about the plight of an office worker staggering under the decisions from above, he also thought it might not be a bad proposal. After all, he had gained management experience, albeit in a different body.

Just as he had been adapting to company life and starting to contemplate a change in his field of work, this cold personnel restructuring actually acted as an opportunity.

“Will I be going to the PR team?”

“For now, you’ll be moving to the management team. It’s a new business, so the structure isn’t fully established yet.”

The merging company was CultureBricks, a famous American capital firm extending its capitalistic tentacles to every corner of the world.

The entertainment business was a new venture of ‘Innovation Core Media Inc.’, a corporation under CultureBricks that had been aggressively investing in the web novel, webtoon, and animation industries.

Given that the parent company was a globally recognized giant corporation, the salary increase wouldn’t be stingy.

Of course, there was a possibility that the parent company’s investment might end prematurely due to the abnormal sales growth graph of the entertainment industry, but on the flip side, there was also the future value of potentially rising to a high position by standing out in the early stages of the business, which shouldn’t be ignored.

For Lee Geon-ha, who had started his career at a small-to-medium sized company with annual sales of 20 billion won, this could be seen as a successful career move, couldn’t it?

“I’ll move there.”

===

* * *

===

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

The 12-story building in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, Innovation Tower, was the headquarters of Innovation Core Media Co., Ltd., where Lee Geon-ha now commuted to work.

The entertainment business division was located on the 8th floor. Lee Geon-ha’s position in the management department was none other than manager.

Due to the shortage of staff, he was in charge of various odd jobs, arranging meetings, and writing minutes. His quick and accurate work processing skills were noticeable even to the newly appointed director Kim Jinseok, who was seasoned in the industry.

The desire to give this polite junior manager a team leader title rather than bringing in someone with ambiguous experience was growing, knowingly or unknowingly.

“Mr. Lee, you said you worked in the marketing department for about two years, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t have any experience as a PD, in entertainment, or stage planning?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Huh, you’re a rare breed.”

The reason the director called a mere deputy manager a ‘rare breed’ was because of the 10-page report Lee Geon-ha had submitted.

[Analysis of the Virtual Idol Industry]

The entertainment division’s target was, of course, actors and idols. If they were going to make money with virtual broadcasters, the department wouldn’t have been established in the first place.

‘Although it would cost overwhelmingly less.’

The parent company’s business purpose was to nurture leading entertainment companies with massive capital.

Ultimately, CultureBricks’ vision was to own a K-pop group that would be recognized worldwide.

‘He’s pinpointed it well, item by item.’

Therefore, Deputy Manager Lee Geon-ha’s report took on the character of a rebuttal to counter a competitor’s broadcast project.

The director’s goal was to tie the next program of ‘Show on Top’, a cable channel known as the holy land of idols, to their company’s connections.

① Virtual idols are VTubers. The idea of conducting group broadcasts with a single account is a foolish notion.

② Lack of a long-term revenue generation model

③ Copyright issues in the production of secondary content

| For the above reasons, it is judged that the program planning lacks understanding of virtual idols.

It was a common-sense analysis, but the courage to confidently present such a report and the sense to immediately grasp the superior’s intentions were uncannily sharp.

‘He’s definitely a dangerous one.’

Sometimes, that gloomy gaze that seemed to see right through people’s hearts sent chills down his spine.

A type you wouldn’t want to turn into an enemy if you could help it. For better or worse, he was someone who would make a big move someday.

“Oh, and. The trainees are coming today, so please guide them according to the manual.”

Wondering if he was raising a tiger cub, the newly appointed director, with a complicated mind, delivered today’s instructions a beat late.

Current time: 4:05 PM.

Throwing work during the golden hours two hours before the end of the workday might not be courteous as a fellow employee, but what could he do when there was a lack of talent he could trust and assign?

“Understood.”

Even the cunning Deputy Lee accepted the additional work without any trouble, seemingly conscious of behavior that might hinder his promotion. Moreover, noticing that the situation was favorable to him, he even brought up a sensitive topic.

“The team will be formed within next month, right?”

“Of course. We’ll be bringing in people with solid experience in large numbers.”

“I believe you know well, Director, that having a lot of experience doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good at their job. You’re the youngest director, after all.”

He slipped in a compliment amid words that might sound disrespectful at first. This was the first time this troublesome new deputy manager had openly hinted at his desire for a team leader position.

Wasn’t this a gesture saying, ‘If you treat me well, I’m willing to be on your side’?

“I’ll give it some thought.”

“Yes. Then I’ll take my leave now.”

Deputy Manager Lee Geon-ha’s expression didn’t change even at Director Kim Jinseok’s faint smile.

That cold atmosphere kept piquing his curiosity. It made him wonder if he might have an unusual background, like being from the National Intelligence Service.

In reality, his ability to read people went beyond that of ordinary individuals, but the schemes of this deputy manager, labeled as a tiger cub, were even darker and more cruel.

‘You’ll have to be my growth engine.’

The weaknesses of the connection-addicted director had already been gathered as much as possible.

Some were at a level that couldn’t avoid criminal punishment, so Director Kim Jinseok would soon become an excellent puppet superior who had no choice but to move as he was told.

Swish. Thud.

Around 5 PM.

The talents who might potentially cause unexpected overtime for the scheming Deputy Lee Geon-ha were delivered in a sleek SUV.

Lee Geon-ha, who had decided to personally greet them in the parking lot, was secretly looking forward to seeing the visuals of the trainees that the new talent development team had claimed to be ‘certain idol material’.

After all, it was the moment he would meet the aspiring celebrities he would manage, three months after his department transfer.

As a former CEO of Hero Entertainment, wouldn’t he be able to tell at a glance? Whether these kids could become real idols or not.

“Ah! Hello.”

“…!”

However, as soon as he met the individuals in question, Deputy Lee Geon-ha’s pupils dilated like those of a cat about to pounce.

It was because the face of the woman, whose visuals were indeed certain idol material, was strikingly similar to someone he knew.

“What’s your name?”

“It’s Seo Eun-ha.”