Money
Buying an entertainment company
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Kang Ming was a lazy person. Anything he wasn’t interested in, he would be too lazy to do, but as for the things that he was interested in, that could always ignite unlimited determination within him.
When he was interested in a game, he has to battle until the skies and earth turned dark, until the high ranks of the game was reverberating with legends of him.
When he was interested in commentating, he has to don a façade and go into battle with a high standard of logical reasoning and his extraordinary predictive skills to take control of the battlefields.
When he was interested in streaming, he has to become the ruling king with the highest popularity on the platform, even if right now, he only streamed whenever he wanted and constantly stood up his own streams whenever he liked.
Whether if it was due to his good luck or due to his pure potential, there was no denying that Kang Ming’s many routes of exploration were smooth sailing and largely successful, which then slowly raised him up into his straight-laced, straightforward and carefree personality.
But he was most scared of people who liked to dilly dally around
– Read this at wuliaotranslations.wordpress.com –
Despair and pain was dripping through Zhang Ye’s voice, making Kang Ming suspect that he had gotten himself into a debt with a loan shark so bad that he needed to sell his organs in order to compensate.
“Old Man Zhang, say something!” He was panicked to near death on this side of the phone, Zhang Ye threw out a sentence saying he needs money, and then following after that he began sighing like Lady Lin who found out she was going to be sold off by her grandmother1 from that tragic drama, he could even vaguely make out sobbing sounds.
Was this guy crying? Kang Ming couldn’t take it when people cried, what was there that a good old man couldn’t settle properly, what use is crying about it?
“You old man, speak to me, how much do you need, I’ll give it!” Kang Ming’s hands were still controlling Genji’s movements on the keyboard, and the price of dividing his attention was getting eliminated by a McCree with a smooth swing of his gun.
Kang Ming angrily shouted, he straight up wanted to throw his keyboard.
“No, I just think that I’m really a failure, I can’t do anything right.” Zhang Ye’s voice sounded downcast, “I’ve made so many analysis’ and data compilations, in the end I sold it for a good price to Boss Liang, as long as we can find a suitable player, our pro-gaming team would definitely not become a problem, why doesn’t Boss Liang believe me?”
Kang Ming rolled his eyes, Boss Liang was the kind of person who was stingy and only had an eye for money, if it wasn’t something that he could immediately sell for a good profit, how could he invest in things like e-sports clubs that don’t earn money.
“Okay, okay, I’ll get ready, tell me more about it later when I get there!” When Kang Ming heard his voice he really wanted to explode, Zhang Ye was certainly professional in his career, but he was also someone that could easily grow dejected when he’s met with any setbacks, just based on this one point, Kang Ming really couldn’t leave him sobbing despairingly on the phone alone with a peace of heart.
“Don’t queue for games yet.” Kang Ming spoke hurriedly into the mic, hastily stopping Yingren from clicking into ranked games.
“What happened?” Yingren’s voice came from the voice channel.
Even though a few simple words wouldn’t easily expose Kang Ming to his die-hard fans from his stream, but he still chose to type the words out.
[Team] ShimadaGenji: Something’s come up, I’m going offline.
Kang Ming also didn’t bother explaining much, he swiftly shut off his computer, grabbed his phone and keys and ran outside.
– Read this at wuliaotranslations.wordpress.com –
Needless to say, Zhang Ye’s condition was really terrible, if he didn’t know that the guy basically never drinks, Kang Ming would think that this person had already been marinated into an alcoholic.
Zhang Ye worked as a manager in the e-sports company, though he’s a manager in name only, he was actually more like the team’s babysitter, he wore his heart out fussing over the group of players that he had personally scouted out, one by one.
Kang Ming would always hear him say, “Today, there wasn’t much results while looking into battle techniques, but everyone is working so hard to practice them, I feel a little sorry for them somehow.”
“Their teamwork today was great, they have ideas on a new battle technique, I think you could make use of it when commentating.”
“Today they finally won against RTK in their practice matches, it feels like their resolve as warriors is solidifying!”
The group that was beaten into a pulp had slowly grown gained some capabilities, they’ve even begun participating in some games, but in the end he heard that they needed to recruit members all over again.
Kang Ming who had never cared much about any pro-gaming teams, had only just heard from Zhang Ye’s own mouth right then: The player that left was bought out by RTK, and not only that, that happened the day before the finals!
“You haven’t signed a contract?”
“We originally wanted to finish the Rainbow Cup first, then we can talk about the conditions with Boss Liang, before this the money that he offered was too little, stubbornly pushing for a contract wasn’t a good thing.”
The treatment a pro-gaming team received was directly correlated to their results in competitions, Boss Liang gave a low starting price, Zhang Ye wanted to provide results before raising the price, Kang Ming could actually understand this, the strength you have is equal to the benefits you can receive, it was just that simple.
But something like buying out the opponents team member right before the finals, this kind of despicable behaviour that pissed people off, made his impression of RTK drop to rock bottom2.
“Why have I only heard that you guys forfeited the match, I never heard anything about a member being bought out at all?”
Zhang Ye opened his mouth, but in the end he only sighed, his face filled with bitter pain, he spoke again with a voice chock full of sobs, “Wang Tianrui is still a child, I don’t want to ruin his future because of this. It was also this situation that made everyone sign a contract with the entertainment company, but I didn’t think that Boss Liang would want to sell the pro-gaming team now!”
“So for the sake of the reputation of this ungrateful dog that bit the hand that fed it3, you almost ruined the other five player’s futures?”
Kang Ming felt that this scene of getting cold feet and running away the day before the battle4 was truly too mythical, a new professional gaming team, even if they lost at the finals, the fact that they could place second was quite a good result. Larger entertainment companies weren’t bad, but to jump ship before the game, whether it be the player or the company that took them in, they would both still be faced with heavy criticism and drama.
He saw the look on Zhang Ye’s face when he was dealt a hard blow by the gravity of his words, his appearance sank even more, his height of 1.77m shrinking down like he wanted to squeeze into a ball.
Kang Ming aggressively slapped his curled up back, speaking in a stern voice, “Raise up your head right now, is this how you treat your new boss?”
Zhang Ye rushed to hug Kang Ming’s thighs with his face full of sobs, with a loud cry he wailed, “Lingdong, I really can’t think of any other way!”
“Go away, go away.” Kang Ming removed his grip from himself with a face of contempt, “How much do you want, just name it.”
“Five hundred thousand.” Zhang Ye’s voice was laced with desperation, he wasn’t someone like Kang Ming who could live day to day without any worries, all of his savings added up together didn’t even make six figures, “A hundred thousand for each kid.”
Kang Ming gave a mocking laugh, and criticised, “I feel like I’m human trafficking.”
This was certainly a business transaction of people, each player in Zhang Ye’s team was painstakingly scouted from a public audition, some were passing by geniuses in the ranked games, some were professional players from different games who switched games, and some were even found by him in livestreams that had little viewers, their youngest was only 17, and their oldest hadn’t yet passed 21, to him, they were certainly as delicate as children.
A team that was painstakingly managed by him from the bottom up, not mentioning the fact where their own members were bought out for now, just because they couldn’t find a new damage position hero in a short notice, they couldn’t keep partaking in professional games for Overwatch within the country, and now they were about to be packed up and sold off by the entertainment club’s boss?
Kang Ming felt that this was definitely something that stingy fool–Boss Liang–would do.
“The kids are all very sensible, the day before we were suddenly dragged off to talk things out with Boss Liang, and they all said they’ll listen to my decision. But Boss Liang either wanted me to pay money for their contracts, or to advise them to earnestly take their spirit to compete in e-sports and put it into playing in the new game instead. Now the situation in the team is terrible, listening to Boss Liang’s intentions, he’s going to sign the transferral contract tomorrow.”
Such a tragic situation, but Kang Ming couldn’t resist from mocking him, “It seems like the old quack5 is just trying to strike a shady deal under the table6. Who does Old Liang plan to sell them to?”
Once he’s been guaranteed the money, Zhang Ye finally gained some spirit back into his voice, he massaged his face for a moment and said, “Zhang Chengsi from REcent.”
“How come I didn’t know that he’s dipping into e-sports?” Kang Ming has heard of this person, the boss of REcent, but they were a company that focused on marketing and advertising, they’ve never had their hands on anything else, like entertainment companies, before.
Kang Ming’s reaction came as no surprise to Zhang Ye, he said, “That’s what I asked Boss Liang too, but he said REcent wanted to mold the entertainment company into a first-rate pro-gaming team for King of Guns.”
“The what of guns?” Kang Ming furrowed his brows, he’s played nearly every single FPS game, but he’s never heard of this name before.
Zhang Ye grabbed for his phone, searched up a webpage, then turned the screen over to show Kang Ming.
The colourful webpage made Kang Ming furrow his brows even more, these kinds of games aimed at the younger audience, would often have really bad criticism. Not predicting the future of this new game yet, the professional players who were originally determined to play out good results in Overwatch being forced into a different brand of games, this in and of itself, was something that really made people choke.
A businessman’s favourite tactics he’s well aware of, when a entertainment club can no longer bring in any profit, even if other people dared to take over and give it a shot, these businessmen would instead rather be rid of it without hesitating.
Kang Ming thought about it, he quite liked Overwatch, other than streaming and commentating, he’s never dipped his hands into the e-sports side of things, if he had to play competitive games day and night for entertainment without rest, that was still okay, but if he had to train accordingly to the strict and tough standards required to play professionally, he’s better off dead.
The boss of a e-sports entertainment company, come to think of it, that doesn’t sound too bad, actually?
“I’ll give you five hundred thousand first, and then another additional two million, seeing as you have confidence in them, I’ll just be a puppet boss7. Give me some results from the pro-gaming team, then I won’t take anything into account, not knowing anything but to spend.” As he said the last phrase, his voice took on a playful tone.
Kang Ming held up his phone and began checking the remainder in each of his credit cards, he doesn’t remember the exact number, but he should probably have five hundred thousand in cash.
“Two million and five hundred thousand?” This time, it was Zhang Ye’s turn to be shocked, “Where did you get that much cash?”
Kang Ming thought about it, then said, “Don’t bother with it, you don’t need to auction off your organs anymore anyway. Don’t keep that face of despair, I’m your financial backer now, give me a smile to look at.”
“Hey.”
“You’re so damn dumb.”
Zhang Ye forced out a smile, but still wasn’t too relaxed in his heart, even if he had settled the issue with the five player’s life contract, their pro-gaming team still faced a tremendous problem.
“But I’m still missing a carry.”
Kang Ming felt especially frustrated, and said, “Suitable supports and front-liners should be the hardest to find, how come all of you are lacking attack heroes!”
“This, this…” Zhang Ye felt that it was hard to spit the words out from his mouth, “Our team is a little unique, especially our commander, if the players at the tryouts don’t catch his eye, it’s basically GG8!”
This was Kang Ming’s first time seeing a mysterious team that gave their commander free reign to make decisions regarding their team members, he had a face full of contempt when he looked back at Zhang Ye, honestly asking, “Are you hiring players or looking for a matchmaking, Old Man Zhang? They even need to catch your son’s eyes before you’ll agree to marry them into your household?”
Zhang Ye’s brain circuits suddeny came back online at this moment and said, “A teammate that can’t accomplish the task of following commands completely, is meaningless even if you took them in, so our team definitely has follow the lead of the commander!”
“Don’t you feel like, this is more of a characteristic of a team bully, and not those of a team commander?”
A team bully, was the boss of a team, everyone must place him first, dote on him, and obey his words, anything that didn’t go his way or anyone who didn’t listen would all be thrown into the dungeons9 by this team bully, and then be forced to take the blame. This was basically a cancer that would destroy a team’s harmony and cause the team to split off and take sides.
When Zhang Ye heard these words, he clumsily retorts, “No no no! Lu You’an is a very respectful and polite kid!”
“Seems like your team bully is called Lu You’an.”
“He’s not a team bully…” Zhang Ye’s retorts weren’t persuasive at all, “Just tell me if there’s anyone you recommend from your friends list.”
A lot of names flashed past him in his head, but were then rejected from the selection one after another, “They’re all the center of their team, they can’t leave.”
There was even a split second, where he thought of Yingren’s name.
However, that was impossible, even if he had a bad impression of RTK, but based on his own conscience, other than the fact that their action of buying out a member is unsightly, this entertainment company has never mistreated their players.
Even though Yingren had been trying out for their second team, but based on his potential alone, if he become the first team’s center someday, Kang Ming wouldn’t be surprised.
Compared to this eighteenth rate team with no results that looked like it was about to break up before it was even formed that even had a team bully(?), it was better by several hundred thousand times.
Kang Ming skipped over this topic and said, “Bring them over to the Lily Garden, we’ll make that the headquarters then. Whatever you need to do, just tell me, I’ll pass the keys to you tomorrow. Oh right, I still think that you should first talk to your team bully first, see what kind of genius that old man really wants.”
“Not a team bully, he’s Lu You’an.”
“Yeah yeah yeah, Lu You’an.” Kang Ming was too lazy to bother with him, anything that could be settled with money, wasn’t something he wanted to spend too much time worrying about.
“Boss Chen, what should your pro-gaming team be named?”
“Named?” Kang Ming thought about it, “Five minus one? Coming baby? Coming soon?
Zhang Ye looked like he was at a loss.
“I’m joking, give me some time to think. You’re still missing a member for now anyway, we can talk once you’ve gathered them.”
Kang Ming stretched his sore back, and felt that he was really exhausted from tonight, he’s gotten hold of an e-sports team out of nowhere just like that, if his family knew then they’re gonna start gossiping far and wide again about how their rich second generation young master was burning up money.
Since he planned to move the gaming team’s headquarters over to the Lily Garden, then how should he explain this to that crazily arrogant, modern and eye-catching, heaven-defying10, domineering boss of an older brother?
– Read this at wuliaotranslations.wordpress.com –
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Translator’s notes:
Oh! Ohoh! Kang Ming is finally going to upgrade his status from being the stood-up-friend to… his boss???? (♡°▽°♡)
(Truthfully speaking, you should prepare your hearts for more drama in the future when the e-sports team gets involved… I know I was certainly taken aback ; ω ; )
Footnotes:
1. 林嫂 (lin sou): Mrs. Lin, wife of Mr. Lin, the name of the actress who led a tragic life and was about to be sold off by her grandmother, so she ended up running away to work and earn for herself. The entire slab of information there was non-existent, so I thought putting in the text there would help with context!
2. 跌到谷底 (die dao gu di): To fall to the bottom of a valley, meaning to have the price or value of something or someone drop so low, it can be compared to a vertical line to rock bottom.
3. 白眼狼 (bai yan lang): White eyed wolf, meaning someone who betrays a person who once helped them. Similar to “biting the hand that feeds you”.
4. 临阵脱逃 (lin zhen tuo tao): To escape before the battle, to jump ship, to turn your back on someone when you need them the most. This phrase can be used pretty flexibly despite literally meaning war. 😀
5. 老鸨 (lao bao): Literally a type of bird, the great bustard. Because the species of birds that consisted of only females, it is used to refer to a woman that owns a brothel.
6. 拉皮条 (la pi tiao): Meaning to have improper relationship between men and women, or to have shady and improper business conduct, or shady contacts.
7. 甩手掌柜 (shuai shou zhang gui): Translates to ‘fling your hand and hold the cabinet’, it means a leader who only orders people to do things and isn’t personally involved on it themselves.
8. GG: Good game, usually said online at the end of matches, originally used to indicate goodwill, some players would also use it to sarcastically imply that the game was ending quickly due to certain incompetence. It’s equivalent to saying “It’s over.”
9. 打入冷宫 (da ru leng gong): Literally to be beaten into the cold palace, used to refer to when concubines lose favour with the emperor and will never have a future in the palace. You can infer what it means when used situationally ^^
10. 狂拽酷炫吊炸天 (kuang ye ku xuan diao zha tian): Literally… crazily flourishing cool flashy handsome to the point where the skies could explode. It is the title of a popular song, used to mean people who were extraordinarily shockingly amazing at something, a certain aspect or skill. You do not know how hard it is to make that make sense.
Translated by: Yasu
Published: 2021/2/18
yasu
wuliao translations 
A boss-subordinate relationship is also very appealing (although I can sense misunderstandings)… I like how we’re learning more about Kang Ming.
Thank you for the chapter~ ^^
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And thank you for your footnotes 😀
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Glad you enjoyed them 😁
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hi! i’ve been having so much fun reading this novel! love your translation (and your ending t/ns hehe) ^^
very excited to see the drama up ahead! right now, kang ming doesn’t have an accurate grasp on yingren’s personality and motivations + to yun yun, kang ming is a non-existence, so far as he’s concerned (but they’re closer than he thinks, aa how exciting!)
lastly, can i enquire about the posting schedule? is this story on hiatus? (i’ll be bookmarking, regardless, so no pressure!)
thank you!
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I’m glad you enjoyed it! Their relationship is really slow burn for real, but it definitely feels worthwhile sticking with them until the end (or at least, until near the end for me, since I haven’t finished reading the cn raws yet haha).
It’s in a short hiatus for now, but rest assured I have some chapters saved up so the updates will return! Unfortunately I haven’t had time to proofread any as resuming work at school hit me hard (and my editor KV is out of commission lmao). Editing will be on-and-off so it’ll probably just be pure luck if I can get a chapter out per week honestly, but it should get going soon!
Thank you so much for the support! 😭
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