***
[This morning, ‘3 Dollar Meat has officially announced the transfer of the Hexen Group. Those present at the scene…]
Amon nodded as he watched the breaking news flooding all channels.
On his bed, instead of the unappetizing and healthy hospital food, there was a hamburger made with ‘real’ pork.
Amon took a bite of the hamburger and nodded once more.
”Good call.”
Last night.
Amon sold the Hexen Group’s data and rights licenses to a food service mega-corp.
The name was 3 Dollar Meat.
It was a food company that franchised selling all kinds of meat at 3-dollar increments.
When the Hexen Group existed, it was the mega-corp equivalent of the city’s cornerstone.
Amon handed over all the Hexen Group headquarters’ data to the company through the Vatican’s mediation.
From Hexen’s core technology to its patents, everything.
If it were his past life, this would have been unthinkable, but in this world, there was a special law for dungeons.
To streamline dungeon processing, companies turned into dungeons automatically lose all their rights.
And the contents acquired inside the dungeon automatically become the property of the individual, including patents and core technologies.
The first to acquire becomes the rightful owner.
If a second person claims ownership of the rights or technologies obtained from the dungeon, the first person can even sue them.
Amon exercised those rights and sold everything of the Hexen Group to 3 Dollar Meat.
However, the process of selling was a bit complicated.
Amon knew well how socially vulnerable he was.
If he openly proposed a deal to 3 Dollar Meat, the chances of being swiftly dealt with were high.
So, he sought the Vatican’s help.
”The archbishop loved it a lot.”
Here’s how it was done.
First, he connected to the archbishop through the priest’s connections and, with his help, disguised Amon’s identity.
From a slightly special orphan with sacred power, he transformed into a legendary secret paladin who single-handedly conquered the mysterious dungeon that destroyed the Hexen Group in just one hour.
After changing his affiliation to the church’s sword, the Vatican took on the role of the paladin’s trading conduit.
Since the legendary paladin didn’t want to reveal his face, all transactions were conducted through the Vatican.
As the Vatican acted as the paladin’s agent, they contacted 3 Dollar Meat, which was the second-in-command in the city, and the counterpart accepted the deal under very generous conditions.
”I never knew 3 Dollar Meat was such a quick-moving company.”
The 3 Dollar Meat he knew would take seven hours to answer a call about a food poisoning incident, a week to connect with a manager, seven months to go through legal battles, and after seven years of litigation, the victims would lose.
It was the first time he saw such a company respond to calls in seven seconds, resolve legal procedures in seven minutes, and solve all problems in seven hours.
”How many employees did they rotate overnight?”
However, he could understand why they reacted this way.
Originally, 3 Dollar Meat remained the second-in-command in the city because they had no marts to sell their meat.
Even if they wanted to create a butcher shop, everything from general goods to groceries had to go through Hexen Group’s Heizen Mart, so 3 Dollar Meat had to crawl to Hexen Group.
A deal that could alleviate their grievances suddenly came.
The disappearance of Hexen Group, which had been blocking their market entry at every turn, was already good news, but the offer to sell all the rights of Hexen Group Mart, along with the core technology of the Hexen Group’s underground process and low-cost 3D printing technology, was even better.
They offered to provide marts to sell the meat, 3D printing technology to lower production costs, and other rights that Hexen Group possessed.
They contacted him saying they would provide everything, leaving no room for concerns like employee sleep rights.
Every minute and second must have been precious.
Instead, according to the archbishop he was dealing with, the Vatican was so accommodating that they kept saying YES YES no matter what conditions were brought up.
Thus, the deal was finalized in one night.
Heizen Marts worldwide decided to rebrand as 3 Dollar Marts, and the city, which had fallen into chaos, was calmed by the new king, the 3 Dollar Group.
”Is this the completion of a world where everyone is happy?”
The Vatican was pleased to receive regular key money from the 3 Dollar Group while also tightening the reins.
The 3 Dollar Group thrived, surpassing the Heizen Mart and doubling its market capitalization, Amon received money and secured the safety of the nuns and his siblings, It was the perfect happy ending.
Of course, someone might ask Amon, ”If you monopolize those rights, even the mega-corp president’s dreams would be unattainable. Don’t you feel bad about that?”
Regarding that, Amon could say for sure, ”If you become greedy, your stomach will burst and you’ll die.”
Amon knew his limits.
He had neither the factories nor the capital to use that technology, nor the ability, power, or connections to protect those rights.
In such a situation, those rights were nothing but bombs.
Instead, it was better to sell them to the Vatican, receive money, and gain their favor abundantly.
He didn’t worry about the Vatican exploiting them cheaply.
From the Vatican’s perspective, Amon was a benefactor who prevented incidents that could have threatened the Vatican’s existence, but at the same time, he was a skilled person who single-handedly defeated an artificial saint.
The disguise as a legendary paladin was not only to deceive corporations but also meant that the Vatican thought the same.
From the Vatican’s standpoint, the various interests through that technology were immensely profitable, but they wouldn’t want to bear the risk of antagonizing the big players.
As Amon expected, a reassuring answer came through the priest’s mouth, “At least, you won’t have to struggle with money for the rest of your life, Amon.”
“Really?”
“Under the premise that you live a normal life, yes.”
“Damn.”
Even though wrapping his entire body in endgame-level equipment usually earns enough money to acquire small and medium-sized companies, it seemed like it wasn’t the case here.
Still, Amon could rest easy.
”With this amount of money, you don’t have to worry.”
He had been burdened by the attack from the Hexen Group and the destruction of the orphanage, but that problem seemed to be resolved.
”Is the money not a waste?”
Not at all.
Why would anyone hesitate to use enough money to fix their own home?
That was exactly how Amon felt.
Fixing his home with his own money felt like both repairing his house and fulfilling filial duties at the same time.
He was a bit disappointed that he could only fix the orphanage.
He wished he could build something like a hospital next door, but building a hospital wasn’t the problem—the maintenance and management were, and Amon’s money couldn’t cover that.
Instead, the 3 Dollar Group promised to supply high-quality synthetic meat to the orphanage for life for free, and that was enough for him.
“Now, we have to worry about obesity, not malnutrition.”
Amon quietly shared this good news only with the nun who came to visit him.
Upon hearing that, she hugged Amon and cried.
“You are surely an angel sent by the goddess, Amon. I’m truly grateful… Really…”
“Ugh…”
There was an incident where the pain from his burns was intensely stimulated by her embrace, but it was truly a touching ending.
”It was worth suffering the burns on my side.”
It was a genuinely moving conclusion.
It had to be this way.
“Amon, can you explain?”
Until Sonia, who came to visit, shoved a photo of herself arm-in-arm with the madam from the brothel in front of him.
Amon turned to look at the priest.
The priest had already fled the hospital room.
”What on earth did he explain!?”
One thing he was certain of was that the explanation was pathetic.
Otherwise, Sonia’s eyes wouldn’t have been consumed by madness.
Gathering his courage, Amon directly asked what the priest had explained.
And the returned answer, “The priest said this:
“You’re a man who was full of vigor during your prime. The goddess said she would strictly punish men who commit adultery, but she also encourages peaceful interactions as much as possible.’”
After hearing the priest’s explanation, Amon couldn’t help but resent him.
”He didn’t explain anything!!”
It was a clear excuse that made it seem like the priest had intended to involve Amon.
Of course, since it was during a mission and he was trying to maintain secrecy, he mumbled something, but couldn’t he have come up with a better explanation?
Amon cursed the priest inwardly and looked at Sonia.
Seeing her load her gun with dead eyes, Amon thought, ‘Fuck. I don’t even know how to counter patterns.’
A legendary paladin who killed a demon, Amon.
His combined experiences from his past life and current life in romance were in the very first round.
It was a crisis of a lifetime.