Chapter 111

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“This is the first time seeing each other like this.”

Due to coronavirus, gatherings of 4 or more people were currently banned in each country.

Also, most companies had switched to working from home, and even institutions that needed to make critical decisions had to hold video conferences like this.

Having to see faces they always met in person through video.

This situation somehow felt both ridiculous and bitter.

But as the Standing President of the EU, didn’t she need to gather the heads of state to quickly come up with solutions to overcome this European crisis?

The Standing President doesn’t have decision-making power, but leading meetings by gathering the heads of state and key EU personnel like this was her role.

“I’ve received the reports you all sent. The infection rate from the Wuhan pneumonia… I mean, the coronavirus, was unbelievably higher than expected. Deaths are also increasing. It seems additional response is needed.”

[What more response can we do here? We’ve already sealed the borders and blocked all travelers. Do you know how much economic damage we’ve taken from just this?]

What comes to mind when you think of Europe?

Tourism.

Europe’s tourism revenue holds a very large share in national economic income.

The problem was that by blocking foreign entry due to coronavirus, considerable economic damage was inevitable.

“I know. It’s a very serious problem. But the bigger problem is that if we don’t stop the virus from spreading further, this level of loss is just the beginning.”

Chairman Sharol displayed the screen for everyone to see.

It was an indicator showing tourism revenue that would be lost if the virus kept spreading and border closures continued throughout the year.

[……]

The heads of state and EU executives attending the meeting momentarily lost words looking at that data.

“1.5 trillion dollars. That’s the estimate calculated by our EU. Meaning it could be higher than 1.5 trillion dollars.”

They expected it, but it was too painful a blow.

The problem is this indicator only calculated tourism revenue.

“If you add overall industrial costs excluding tourism… it’s truly a horrific level.”

They had expected to some degree.

But they didn’t know the damage would be this big.

[So, what do you propose we do?]

“There’s only one way. Vaccines. We need to produce vaccines as quickly as possible.”

[With this much spread, wouldn’t it be better to expect herd immunity?]

“That’s nonsense. For that, over 70% of citizens in each country would have to be infected, the death toll from that would be massive, and above all, this virus can evolve.”

[Evolve? What does that mean?]

“It means variants emerge. That’s why vaccines are even more necessary. We can respond accordingly and block variant viruses through booster shots. Without vaccines, corona will never end.”

The problem with this virus wasn’t just its terrifying infection capability, but the fact that it mutates was the biggest issue.

Even if you get immunity from catching corona, there’s a very high risk of catching a variant coronavirus again.

So unless they block it in advance through vaccination, the corona epidemic wouldn’t stop.

[Where exactly did this virus come from? I heard it leaked from the Wuhan Laboratory.]

“We don’t know. WHO is putting more weight on natural occurrence.”

[This is natural occurrence? Nonsense. If it were truly natural, it would have spread and caused chaos long ago.]

“Mr. President. Now is not the time to argue about that. Let’s determine fault later and solve this problem first.”

As the Chairman said, they couldn’t point fingers at whose fault it was now.

Shouldn’t they put out the urgent fire first?

[Where can vaccines be made?]

“There’s only one place on this planet that can make them most quickly and accurately. AstraZenon. They can quickly produce vaccines through mRNA technology, and their technology is currently the world’s best.”

[Wait. AstraZenon… isn’t that a British company? The EU and Britain are already on very bad terms right now. Isn’t there another company?]

“There are other pharmaceutical companies. The problem is those companies would take more than twice as long to develop vaccines compared to AstraZenon. Are you confident you can wait that long? I just showed you. 1.5 trillion dollars will be lost this year alone.”

[……]

“Plus, AstraZenon started development when WHO released the gene sequence and has already reached completion stage.”

[Then exactly when can the drug be distributed?]

“As everyone knows, vaccines normally take over 10 years to release. And going through clinical trials to get approval from each country takes an additional 3 years. If we minimize that period, distribution is possible within 6 months.”

6 months.

Everyone thought even at fastest it would take several years, but not 1 year—6 months.

[I-is that a possible speed?]

“That’s why mRNA technology is called revolutionary. Of course, we’ll have to see the clinical trial results, but they’re confident of success. So if each country provides investment, they’ll produce as much as requested. Above all, AstraZenon is no longer a British company.”

[Then?]

“It’s a Korean company. It’s been a while since Gwangwoon absorbed their controlling stake and became the new operator.”

[G-Gwangwoon?]

Murmuring arose there once more.

Gwangwoon—wasn’t that the company the EU forcibly dismantled their shipping business?

It would be better to negotiate with Britain than Gwangwoon!

And at that, Gwangwoon operating a company in Britain!

Doesn’t this mean they have to deal with both Britain and Gwangwoon simultaneously!

“I know well that the relationship between Gwangwoon and the EU isn’t good. But Gwangwoon is ultimately a corporation, isn’t it? If they can receive subsidies and sell vaccines, those people will completely forget the past.”

That’s how businesspeople are.

When holding grudges, they hold them viciously, but if you compensate, they quickly forget.

Ultimately, their means of communication is money.

In front of money, they’re people who can smile and shake hands with their worst enemies.

“If anyone says Gwangwoon is absolutely not acceptable, I won’t stop you. However, you must remember this one thing. Other countries are already quickly connecting with AstraZenon and sending investment. While they escape from the corona nightmare, our citizens will have to suffer for a longer period.”

If Gwangwoon gets vaccine regulations lifted, they can produce in the shortest time, but other places need to wait at least twice as long.

The economic losses and death toll during that period would be at a level they absolutely couldn’t bear.

[But is it just me?]

“Pardon?”

At that point, President Perong, who had kept his mouth shut, was wearing a self-deprecating smile.

[Isn’t this situation funny? That we have to beg for vaccines from a company we forcibly dismantled. And what happened to all those shipping companies Gwangwoon sold at high prices?]

“That’s……”

[They’re all on the verge of bankruptcy. They believed predictions that the shipping business would explosively grow and pushed through acquisitions too hard, and ended up buried in debt.]

The shipping industry took the biggest hit from this coronavirus.

With travel becoming tight due to the coronavirus issue, and above all, with all factories and companies temporarily stopping, shipping naturally had nothing to do.

“If they hold on a little, won’t things get better soon?”

[Once vaccines are distributed as you said, things will normalize to some extent. The problem is they don’t have the capacity to hold out until then. When they acquired shipping companies from Gwangwoon, everyone rushed to take them on by taking big loans and got in trouble.]

The problem was almost no shipping company now could hold on until the shipping business stabilized.

[Gwangwoon sold all their shipping companies at the peak, bought AstraZenon with that money, and now sells vaccines back to us… No matter how you think about it, doesn’t it feel like we’ve been playing in Gwangwoon’s palm?]

It would be a lie to say otherwise.

[Rumor has it Gwangwoon moved the National Pension to short sell billions of euros’ worth worldwide. At this level, it’s believable that Gwangwoon is behind all of this.]

“Then does France mean not to cooperate with Gwangwoon?”

[We can’t do that. You said the US and Asian countries are already cooperating with AstraZenon, right? If we don’t and only Europe keeps struggling with corona?]

He could already hear votes falling.

That absolutely couldn’t happen.

[It’s already checkmate. Gwangwoon holds cards we absolutely can’t refuse, and we have to follow. What can we do.]

It hurt his pride, but as President Perong said, it couldn’t be helped.

Because Gwangwoon currently holds the knife handle.

But when all this is over and things somewhat stabilize…

That would be another matter.

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

“After calculating all the investment results this time……”

Everyone swallowed dry spit waiting for the Division Head’s next words.

“If we recover all investment now, the calculation comes to a total of 1,000 trillion.”

“O-one thousand trillion!?”

“Really!?”

Soon the meeting room was filled with heated cheers.

It wasn’t just the Chairman who had been tossing and turning at night trembling with anxiety day after day.

“Moreover, the actual investment was 500 trillion, and the remaining 200 trillion was all used for margin. Even so, we earned over 300 trillion.”

They wanted to put all 700 trillion into short selling, but since they couldn’t break the margin system, they left 200 trillion as margin.

“So what. We earned more than 50%? Didn’t the overall stock market fall below 30%?”

“Yes. On average, that’s true. But some places we bet on had leverage, there were various derivatives, and some stocks really fell 50%.”

“So all of that was bought following the stocks Gwangwoon provided?”

“That’s right.”

1,000 trillion.

The day finally came when the National Pension, which was 700 trillion, broke through 1,000 trillion.

Earning 300 trillion in this short time would be a first in financial history.

“But Chairman… It’s a joyful thing, but is this really okay?”

“We didn’t disrupt the market, did we? We minimized shock.”

“Yes. But once we recover our funds, rumors will spread everywhere. Then many countries will start sharpening their knives.”

But those knives wouldn’t be aimed at the National Pension.

Because unless they’re stupid, they know Gwangwoon is behind the pension.

“We need to deny as much as possible. That we have no connection to Gwangwoon. That everything was started by my own judgment.”

“Even so, everyone will be suspicious. Especially they’ll put numerous sanctions on Gwangwoon. Maybe even this Wuhan pneumonia from Gwangwoon……”

“Sigh. I told you not to say that.”

“Oh. Yes. I apologize.”

Actually, they didn’t say it.

But watching how things were going, the Chairman was having all sorts of thoughts.

Could this Wuhan pneumonia be Gwangwoon’s work?

But rumor has it this virus leaked from the Wuhan Laboratory?

But didn’t Gwangwoon have deep connections with China?

And at the end, this thought always came.

Just how terrifying a person have I gotten entangled with?

‘What am I thinking right now?’

Right. Let’s not think about such things.

He’s a hero who pushed back the National Pension depletion far into the future with this profit.

Future generations should praise the name Jeong Jin-ho.

He prevented the chaos of the Republic of Korea today.

Of course, we can’t say it was completely prevented, but—

“This isn’t the time for this.”

The Chairman immediately called Jeong Jin-ho after the meeting ended.

[Yes, Chairman.]

As always, his voice sounds as kind as his appearance.

Even though he’s actually a terrifyingly ruthless person.

That’s what made him nervous.

“Yes. President. I called to express gratitude. Did you receive the materials we sent today?”

[Ah, yes. I received them well. You made decent profits.]

Decent?

Does that mean it’s not even good?

“Now we’re thinking of gradually clearing our positions. We plan to put it back into safe assets like before.”

[……]

“President?”

[Ah, yes. It is about time to start clearing.]

As expected, it’s time to clear now.

The Chairman breathed a sigh of relief thinking he could finally escape from these tense days.

[But……]

This was the problem.

But—.

[Isn’t it too disappointing to stop here?]

“Pardon? Th-that means……”

[Now that stocks have hit bottom, won’t they rebound?]

“You mean we should go long now?”

[Yes.]

The Chairman blinked several times and asked just in case.

“By any chance… into safe assets?”

[No.]

“……”

[……]

The Chairman caught his dizzying mind.

“Then you’re saying to pour all 1,000 trillion into long positions this time? Into regular stocks, not safe assets?”

Then a voice that seemed to be smiling came from the other end of the phone.

[Exactly.]