Chapter 110

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Positions? All set?”

“Yes. We barely made the 3-month deadline.”

The National Pension moved busily for 3 months according to their plan, selling all assets and taking short selling positions with that.

A super-large position completed with a whopping 700 trillion.

Although they were targeting the entire global market.

Digesting 700 trillion within 3 months certainly wasn’t easy.

Because to take short selling positions, someone first has to buy the holdings, and if there’s no liquidity, taking positions is impossible.

“But this time there wasn’t much difficulty with that. Everyone is rushing into the stock market like crazy. We didn’t need to worry about liquidity. Other things are the problem.”

Right now, the financial market was experiencing an all-time boom.

While disposing of assets and taking positions, global stock markets were rising, so from the National Pension’s perspective, they were burning inside.

“The momentum is terrifying. At this rate, the US stock market is expected to hit an all-time high soon.”

“It’s not just the US. European markets are also about to break through the ceiling. Every market is just in an uptrend.”

Was someone really doing a hidden camera prank?

The moment the National Pension took short positions, everyone seemed to be raising stock prices as if on cue.

And that’s the entire global market.

“Didn’t WHO declare an emergency because of that Wuhan pneumonia thing?”

“Yes. But they couldn’t stop the market that had already risen to the top. As if nothing was happening.”

The Wuhan pneumonia situation was more serious than expected.

The city of Wuhan with a population of 11 million was being sealed off.

Not only that, but infected people were appearing in succession in other countries too.

WHO didn’t declare an emergency for nothing.

At that time, Chairman Choi thought this was the beginning of the financial crisis Jeong Jin-ho spoke of.

But lo and behold.

Instead of stock prices crashing, they were piercing the sky.

“Chairman. We need to stop now.”

Accordingly, the executives also reached their limit.

“If we go further, prime brokers will demand additional margin. But we’ve already spread money worldwide, so we can’t provide additional margin.”

They hadn’t invested all 700 trillion in shorts.

Because they need margin.

However, there are ways to minimize margin using complex financial products and systems. But even that hits its limit.

If stock prices rise this steeply, various financial firms start demanding additional margin.

But what if they hold out without paying?

“Then it’s forced liquidation.”

“…How much do we lose if we cut losses now?”

“We’ll have to accept 7-10% losses. But if we miss the timing here, it’ll become uncontrollable.”

10%.

Tens of trillions of won would vanish at once.

In this dizzying situation, Chairman Choi closed his eyes.

‘Should I get out now?’

Tens of trillions of won had already vanished.

They had accelerated the pension’s depletion considerably.

And the hope of future generations was also trampled just like that.

Because of the Chairman’s stubbornness and selfishness.

I, it was I who destroyed the future Republic of Korea.

“……”

Chairman Choi, sunk in self-loathing with his head deeply bowed, let out a deep sigh.

Just when they thought that old man was finally breaking his stubbornness—.

“Let’s hold out a bit more.”

“Ch-Chairman!!”

“Everyone already knows, don’t they? It’s too late to turn back.”

“It’s not too late yet! We said 10%, but that’s the worst-case figure due to volatility. We’ll try to limit losses to 6% at most!”

But even so, nothing changes.

Didn’t they decide the moment they took short selling positions?

Return in glory or die here together.

“Since we’ve come this far, we have to go to the end.”

He said that, but Chairman Choi’s hands were trembling.

His lips were parching, and he couldn’t sleep.

Did I really make the wrong choice?

While regretting and blaming himself more than 100 times.

“Ah……”

Finally, the US stock market hit an all-time high.

A historic record.

At the same time, calls demanding more came flooding in from financial firms that had been spreading the National Pension’s money worldwide as prime brokers.

Pressure to provide more margin.

They also expressed that if deposits weren’t made within days, they would forcibly liquidate positions.

“……”

The executives no longer rushed the Chairman.

They already knew it was too late to liquidate positions.

They just had to watch blankly as positions got forcibly liquidated and hundreds of trillions of won flew away into thin air.

“……”

Just when they were waiting for forced liquidation with the feeling of kneeling before the guillotine.

“It-it burst!”

Executives who couldn’t leave work and stayed at the company poured into the Chairman’s office shouting roughly.

“Wh-what happened?”

“It burst, Chairman!”

“What? What burst?”

“The global stock markets! They hit all-time highs and then suddenly started crashing massively!”

“What?”

Was hitting the peak the last flame?

From then on, all stock markets were suddenly plummeting vertically.

“Wh-why?”

“Infected people are appearing in succession across countries. The Wuhan pneumonia’s transmission speed is tremendous, and countries are closing their doors one by one. Above all, rumors are circulating that WHO will soon declare a pandemic, so it seems to have been hit hard by that.”

“Pandemic?”

“It’s acknowledging that the infectious disease has reached a level beyond emergency, virtually uncontrollable. Declaring a pandemic means all countries including ours must simultaneously seal their borders.”

“!?”

The Chairman had also been in the financial market for a long time, so he quickly assessed the situation.

“If that happens… isn’t it a depression?”

“Yes. We also thought it was just a passing epidemic since the financial market wasn’t reacting much. But it seems unusual. Looking at how all markets are stirring like this.”

“Thailand has already sealed its borders and is banning people from gathering from workplaces to schools.”

Sealing borders and controlling people’s movement.

Because of an infectious disease at that!

The economic damage that would cause would exceed imagination.

That’s why the financial market was shaking now.

“What about our stocks?”

“All prices are falling. If they fall at this terrifying speed, we might be able to realize profits as early as today. Of course, disposing will take some time.”

“What if this is a one-time drop?”

“That’s fully possible too. That’s why we need to dispose quickly now while profits are realizable.”

This must be what it feels like to go from hell to heaven.

The problem is they don’t know how long this state will continue.

So it would be right to get out faster than anyone when they can escape.

But—.

“This isn’t for us to decide.”

“Pardon?”

“This investment was possible all thanks to Gwangwoon. So Gwangwoon would know when we should clear positions.”

“Ah—.”

The executives nodded.

The beginning of this was Gwangwoon, wasn’t it?

“But… did Gwangwoon predict this?”

“How on earth did they know a virus would spread worldwide?”

“It’s certainly strange. After the UK stock market collapse, Gwangwoon took pharmaceutical companies, right? Plus, months before this hit, they told us to take large-scale short selling positions.”

“So what. Could Gwangwoon be directly related to this virus?”

At the executives’ murmuring, the Chairman raised his hand.

“Sigh. That’s enough. That’s a ridiculous conspiracy theory.”

“B-but the timing is too perfect……”

“Then did Gwangwoon create and spread that virus directly? That’s not it. However, they may have detected this virus earlier than others. They grasped its danger in advance. So they prepared this crazy operation.”

Hearing that, it sounded plausible.

Don’t they say major securities firms get information faster than the National Intelligence Service?

“If that’s the case, they could have given us a hint in advance.”

“Even if they told us, it would have just made the atmosphere weird. And we have no connection to Gwangwoon. Everyone remember that. And all these investment decisions were made unilaterally by me, so everyone should know that.”

“Ch-Chairman.”

They also know why the Chairman is saying this.

Is he trying to take all the credit if this investment succeeds?

No. No matter how much money this investment makes, someone has to take responsibility for this situation.

And the Chairman is trying to embrace everything and go.

“Don’t look at it that way. I was prepared for this before starting. So everyone stop standing around and move. Whatever happens, this investment must succeed.”

“Y-yes!”

Only after all the executives left did the Chairman’s tension release and his legs began to tremble.

Now I can relax a bit.

But it might really be a one-time crash.

But why?

The Chairman kept thinking this was just the beginning.

————————————————————————————————————————

Before the facts about Wuhan pneumonia were known to the media.

WHO circulated official documents to pharmaceutical companies.

A request asking if they could develop vaccines for a specific virus.

Since it was an unexpected proposal, pharmaceutical companies seemed to hesitate a bit.

From their perspective, if not providing separate funding while asking them to create vaccines, they couldn’t help but think about cost issues.

But AstraZenon, acquired by our Gwangwoon, embarked on vaccine development faster than anyone. While receiving all virus information WHO provided.

“President. Italy is starting complete lockdown too.”

“Wow. Even Italy? Then essentially all EU member countries could seal their borders?”

The first to seal borders fastest was North Korea.

Other countries started by banning foreigners from China from entering.

“Until then, everyone thought it would die down quickly.”

But once the virus started spreading, its transmission speed far exceeded our predictions.

Countless people started getting infected, and governments of each country realized that simply blocking foreigners from China wouldn’t solve the problem.

Then came the decisive blow.

“Wow… even America.”

America deployed up to level 4 countermeasures, effectively blocking foreigners from most countries.

America also implemented border lockdown.

“How much has the US stock market fallen?”

“-20%. At this rate, it’ll hit -30% soon. They say this is the first time in history the stock market has fallen this fast.”

The current stock market crash speed is reportedly the shortest in history.

Even during the Great Depression, stock prices didn’t fall this fast.

That’s how terrified everyone is.

“It’s also the first time a virus has spread like this, and the first time sealing borders.”

So everyone has no choice but to panic.

“Was pneumonia such a scary infectious disease?”

“Ah. They say we shouldn’t call it Wuhan pneumonia anymore. They say to call it coronavirus?”

“Why?”

“You know. China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. WHO is also watching their reaction.”

China strongly denied that the Wuhan pneumonia virus never started from their country.

The irony is that the first virus report was from China, and China was also the first to hand over the virus gene sequence to pharmaceutical companies.

Everyone knows it, but everyone just pretends not to know and moves on—a situation that’s strangely funny yet not funny.

“Anyway, AstraZenon immediately started vaccine development and seems to be getting quite good results. Other vaccine companies expect at least 1 year until vaccine development, but we look like we’ll be done in 3 months.”

“But just because development finishes in 3 months doesn’t mean we can distribute it, right?”

“Yes. First, we need each country’s approval. Normally, such vaccine development takes over 10 years.”

Normally, the time for vaccine development is an average of 15 years.

Development takes about 3 years, but clinical trials alone take over 10 years.

Also, getting national approval takes 2-3 years.

This is why companies were initially negative about vaccine development.

Because it takes too long.

What came out from that was mRNA technology.

Using this technology, vaccine development that took about 3 years can be shortened to months, and with more development, it can be reduced to days.

However, the problem is still clinical trials and national approval.

That alone is at least 2-3 years.

“But that might also be resolved quickly. The virus transmission speed is exceeding everyone’s predictions, so if they don’t develop vaccines as fast as possible, there’s no answer. There’s already talk that WHO is coordinating with the UN to issue vaccine approvals as quickly as possible.”

In other words, from now on it’s a race.

The moment the UN agrees, all pharmaceutical companies will jump into vaccine development and production.

Who finishes development faster and distributes first.

That was the key.

“The fortunate thing is, thanks to the President investing in mRNA technology from before, no company can catch up to AstraZenon. Also, AstraZenon owns many factories, so if we invest all of them into vaccine development……”

Manager Seo’s voice trembled slightly as he continued.

“We’ll be able to supply quickly worldwide. If that happens, we might record the highest profits in pharmaceutical company history.”

mRNA technology was already being developed by other major pharmaceutical companies too.

But they weren’t developing it while pouring in massive investment like us.

That’s where the difference comes from.

“Report AstraZenon’s vaccine development status to me without missing a day.”

“Yes, President. But… what should we do with what we’re holding in short positions? Will it fall more from here?”

I briefly brought my hand to the US stock market in the report.

“…!”

An intense feeling dug into my fingertips.

A signal that it would fall more.

It seemed like it had already fallen plenty, but it would fall more from here.

How far is it trying to go?

“Let’s hold for now. Ah. And there’s one more thing I need you to look into.”

“Ah, yes. Just tell me.”

“It’s……”

————————————————————————————————————————

Gwangwoon Shipping had no major work since being forcibly dismantled by the EU.

Following Jeong Jin-ho’s instructions, they just maintained the minimum appearance while everyone took their salary without doing anything.

“……”

So everyone gradually started breaking under anxiety.

At first, they thought maybe an opportunity to bounce back would come, but as that period lengthened, they lived in anxiety wondering when restructuring would happen and their necks would be cut.

“Phew……”

Among them, the most frustrated was CEO Kim Du-young.

These days, he reached the point where he couldn’t sleep at night without alcohol.

Should I just quit now?

Someone might say how great it is to take this salary without doing anything. But for Kim Du-young, his conscience and his pride had been hitting rock bottom for a long time.

[CEO Kim?]

“Ah, yeah. President Jeong. It’s me.”

Today, he would say it.

That he would resign now.

Just as he was about to open his mouth.

[Perfect timing. I was about to contact you anyway.]

“Hmm?”

Was he going to fire him himself?

[Now get ready to work again.]

“…?”

But that wasn’t it.

[Shouldn’t we take back the trading companies we lost?]