Chapter 112

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The days of being like a shut-in were over.

Kim Du-young, and the executives here too.

Hadn’t they been spending days where even coming to work meant everyone had dead faces, and it wouldn’t be strange if they were laid off tomorrow?

But now they looked full of energy for the first time in a while.

“So, how is it?”

“Looking into it, the condition of companies that were acquired from us is serious. At that time, didn’t we dismantle and sell shipping at the industry’s highest prices?”

“You’re saying they pushed too hard for the acquisition?”

“Yes. Most of them didn’t have enough even getting emergency loans from banks, so they seem to have touched other financial sectors too.”

There was a reason they pushed that hard.

Because at that time, the value was enough to bid that much.

It wasn’t simply because they were blinded by greed.

Who could have possibly predicted?

That in this 21st century, an infectious disease would ravage the entire world.

“Therefore, all the companies are now on the verge of bankruptcy. Some have already gone to auction.”

“If we acquire them, what would the price be?”

“It’s less than 30% of the price we sold at. It’s no exaggeration to say they took a massive depreciation hit.”

In other words, all those shipping companies sold at high prices had turned into dirt cheap.

“Moreover, even if we take on all the debts those companies have, the price is still much cheaper.”

“That bad?”

“Yes. There’s scary talk circulating that shipping is finished. Borders closed due to corona, factories all shut down. Shipping has nothing to do. But maintenance costs are still enormous. They can’t hold on.”

Kim Du-young felt chills down his spine there.

What if the EU hadn’t forcibly dismantled Gwangwoon Shipping?

Kim Du-young would have, as always, continuously acquired shipping companies and kept buying ships, growing as large as possible.

And if corona had hit then, what would have happened?

Like the shipping companies now in ruins, Gwangwoon Shipping might also have taken tremendous damage and self-destructed.

“So that means… President Jeong Jin-ho was right again this time?”

“Yes. Beyond phenomenal levels, honestly it’s scary. Did President Jeong Jin-ho really predict this far?”

Kim Du-young didn’t know either.

Looking at the situation alone, wasn’t it the EU and countries worldwide that split the shipping company?

It wasn’t Jeong Jin-ho’s intention in the first place.

“But thinking back, didn’t President Jeong Jin-ho give up shipping easily? A company we worked so hard to build. At that time, we also thought his behavior was strange.”

That was true too.

Kim Du-young also thought Jeong Jin-ho was giving up too early without even putting up a fight.

“Could it be… something like this?”

“What?”

“President Jeong Jin-ho knew things would turn out this way, so he deliberately contacted UN people to apply pressure. So from the outside, the company would look like it was unavoidably being split. Then he could sell the company at a very high price with that sympathy, wait for a time like this to come, and then again…!”

“Stop.”

Kim Du-young snorted with an incredulous laugh.

“You’re writing a novel here. Why don’t you just say our President Jeong spread corona?”

“The timing is just too suspicious……”

“Enough. Stop with the useless talk, and as President Jeong said, we need to do our job now, right? Everyone’s been resting well, right? Getting paid without any work to do. Now we need to do some overdue work, right? Let’s burn through the night. It’s been a while.”

Is there anything office workers hate more than being told to work a lot?

But here, at the words to work without even sleeping, they were actually smiling broadly.

“Come on. We don’t have time for this. Let’s first determine which companies we need to reclaim as top priority. And I heard there’s not a single place trying to buy shipping companies right now? We wait until they’re completely dried up and dead, then we just give them one sip of water. Okay?”

“Yes!”

After sending the executives to work, Kim Du-young let out a sigh alone.

“Deliberately dismantled shipping…?”

What one executive said kept circling in his head.

What if Jeong Jin-ho really encouraged the shipping dismantlement for this very day?

“…Just how far is President Jeong looking ahead?”

Kim Du-young involuntarily gulped.

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

“I-is this right?”

“I don’t know anymore either. If they say strip, we strip.”

The National Pension employees were all in such elevated spirits at the news that the 700 trillion won short bet succeeded that they were practically singing hallelujah.

The magic of 700 trillion becoming 1,000 trillion.

It was the best dopamine of their lives.

For the time being, the National Pension didn’t need to worry about depletion.

So now there was nothing to be anxious about, the situation was over, and they thought they would put all the 1,000 trillion into safe assets.

“Well, I thought as always they’d slam about 50% into bonds and buy blue chips with the rest to just hold quietly. But putting 100% into regular stocks? Experts were saying the stock price would fall more from here and hit -50%, weren’t they?”

Division Head Jo also thought after this crazy jackpot operation ended, they would return to the old safety-first National Pension.

And the Chairman also seemed to be preparing to put money into safe assets after ordering position clearing.

But after the phone call with President Jeong Jin-ho, the Chairman’s instructions changed.

To scoop up all the stocks currently hitting bottom.

“So ultimately it’s President Jeong Jin-ho’s instructions again?”

“That’s about right. After all, this crazy 700 trillion mass short selling was that person’s operation too. But I have no intention of speaking badly of him.”

Jeong Jin-ho was essentially a national hero.

He saved future generations who would have suffered miserably.

It was just unfortunate they couldn’t announce this publicly.

“But what if we lose everything this time? If it really hits -50%, we’re in big trouble. Plus the Chairman told us to secure holdings as quickly as possible through OTC trading……”

When taking short positions, they took 3 months to stack positions carefully, rushing but stably.

But this time was different.

If they just threw 1,000 trillion in, the market would shake, so the instruction from that side was to secure holdings as quickly as possible through OTC trading.

“Does Gwangwoon think the stock market that’s drilled through to the mantle will recover soon?”

There was a reason the stock market collapsed this much.

All markets died from a worldwide pandemic no one anticipated.

Consequently, companies going bankrupt in succession increased, and that became a domino causing the shortest stock crash in history.

This record was the only one of its kind in financial history.

“But this isn’t 100 trillion—this is a whopping 1,000 trillion.”

Instead of taking months to build long positions with this money, build positions as quickly as possible.

The problem is the person who gave this instruction is someone who thoroughly understands the stock market.

That means they must clearly know the meaning of 1,000 trillion.

Yet giving such an order means……

“Just as it crashed at record speed, it will also recover quickly?”

Actually, they didn’t even want to think about it anymore.

Because they had already half let go of their sanity since the talk of 700 trillion short selling.

“But isn’t the problem starting now?”

“Hm?”

“Rumors have already spread throughout finance that our pension made 700 trillion in shorts. Will other countries just leave that alone?”

“……”

It was as he said.

Given the scale, rumors couldn’t help but spread.

Countries like America wouldn’t just stand by watching.

The reason nuclear bombs are scary is because of the fallout, isn’t it?

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

Trent felt like the world was trolling him.

Of all things.

A worldwide pandemic that might happen once in 1,000 years just had to occur during his term.

Normally when something happens, he could make excuses about it being from the previous president’s mess, but he couldn’t do that here.

Before making excuses, he had to hurry and seal the borders to stop this crazy pandemic.

Plus, citizens absolutely wouldn’t listen when told to wear masks and not gather in groups of 4 or more.

Some people didn’t even know what masks were or how to wear them.

“Yet while the world suffers from this pandemic, there are people who made hundreds of billions of dollars?”

With such a massive crash, there had to be people who bought lottery-like put options and made money. Actually, weren’t there people who put money in lottery-like products during 9/11 and made fortunes?

“But this is even a national institution?”

“Yes. The Korean National Pension.”

Korea…… Korea.

Korea was an important place for Trent.

There were defense cost issues this time, and above all, it was because of North Korea.

He was in the middle of playing mediator between North and South Korea by making their relationship better.

Well, it wasn’t like he was matchmaking them so they’d actually unify.

It was just to boost his own approval ratings, to achieve the accomplishment of being a pacifist president who achieved peace between the two Koreas that no one else could.

“They made this scale of short selling there? You expect me to believe this?”

But this was an unbelievable scale.

Short selling with 700 billion dollars.

“We also thought it was an unbelievable scale, but taking months to slowly build positions across global markets makes it not impossible. That way, they took positions in almost all markets including the US, Europe, and Asia, and profited.”

That alone was surprising, but the really important thing wasn’t that.

“And Gwangwoon is believed to be behind all of this.”

“Gwangwoon?”

It was a company name he’d been hearing often lately.

Especially among the chaebols.

“Gwangwoon’s mysterious movements go back to China. A consortium in China pressured Gwangwoon and took the Tianjin Port business rights. After that, a mysterious Tianjin Port explosion occurred and the consortium was completely dissolved. After that, Gwangwoon became a core partner in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.”

“And China just let that happen?”

“Yes. That’s the surprising part. Word has it that Gwangwoon was connected to China’s top brass, and the consortium didn’t know that, touched them wrongly, and got completely purged.”

That seemed plausible if it was China.

Isn’t that a place where purges happen several times a day?

“The problem is Gwangwoon became the shipping leader by predicting and stockpiling for the oil price shock, acquired numerous shipping companies and became the absolute ruler of the seas. And the first they started pressuring was Taiwan. They blatantly targeted TSNC and collapsed the semiconductor market.”

Trent remembered that.

Because TSNC’s collapse was a very shocking event in the semiconductor market.

“With TSNC’s collapse, Kangsung completely dominated the semiconductor market, and Emvidia was also shaken. Gwangwoon acquired AMC and took market share with Kangsung’s help.”

“The server issue also happened then, right?”

“Yes. It was a collaboration between Gwangwoon and Kangsung.”

“But why did we leave that alone?”

“That’s… because you didn’t view Emvidia favorably, Mr. President. Didn’t Emvidia support the other side since the election? Most companies did, but. Plus Kangsung was the one that supported us the most.”

The political funds Kangsung sent.

Gwangwoon was behind that too.

“So there’s also the fact that we somewhat overlooked those two’s actions until now. But we felt a sense of crisis seeing them dominate the SNS and OTT markets and topple Japan first, then France and Britain in succession.”

They even used SNS’s overwhelming power to cause the Yellow Vest movement in France and bring the Perong administration, which was trying to keep Gwangwoon in check, to its knees.

“Plus Hong Kong is their work too?”

“Yes. Not content with crashing the financial market using British Brexit, they leveraged the democratization movement in Hong Kong to aim for capital outflow. Their biggest competitor Singapore just got hit while sitting still and the market shook considerably.”

Trent, who was reading the report while listening to the explanation, blinked with exasperation.

Is this really something one company can pull off?

If all of this was intentional, it would be a design surpassing artificial intelligence.

“As Gwangwoon’s influence grew too large, the EU destroyed their shipping.”

“But even that was Gwangwoon’s design?”

“Yes. Looking at the current results, Gwangwoon deliberately dismantled shipping and sold it at high prices. To buy it back at dirt cheap.”

That means Gwangwoon also knew about the corona situation.

“Could they have… corona…?”

“That’s not certain. WHO also sees it as natural occurrence. There’s talk it came from the Wuhan Laboratory, but the exact cause is still being investigated. The important thing is Gwangwoon made big money again from this incident.”

“The National Pension?”

“I suspect it’s a smokescreen to hide their identity. So… it was a shield. They’re crazy people who short sold hundreds of billions of dollars, aren’t they? All criticism will be focused on the National Pension. Not Gwangwoon.”

They’re determined to take no damage to the end.

“We should keep Gwangwoon in check before they grow any larger.”

“Even though they’ve helped us? No. Is there even anything to legally punish them for?”

“That’s… it’s true they made massive short sales, but since they spread money across the world, it’s hard to call it market manipulation. But we can make excuses, can’t we?”

He was saying they should make excuses to check them.

Trent agreed with his staff’s opinion for the first time in a while.

But then a thought occurred to him.

These are terrifying people who planned this far—could they really not have predicted the US government would step in?

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

When the Chairman contacted me saying he would clear positions.

I lightly checked the stock market with my intuition.

The stock market that always hit bottom.

But that day, instead of bottom, a vision of it bouncing up like a spring flashed before my eyes.

Very high and fast at that.

So I advised them to clear all positions and fill up stocks according to the portfolio I designated.

“But that Chairman really listens to our Jin-ho well.”

“They succeeded with a 700 trillion won short sell, so wouldn’t they follow whatever you say?”

“Well. That’s true too. Our Jin-ho basically saved future generations. Hahaha.”

Hyung-nim burst out laughing, but actually this wasn’t the atmosphere for laughter.

“So… how bad is the situation?”

“Word is not only the EU but the US is closely examining the market to figure out the actual state of the National Pension and our Gwangwoon.”

“Are there any matters that could be legally problematic?”

“We took positions slowly, so we didn’t greatly disrupt the market. We didn’t manipulate stock prices either. However, since the scale of 700 trillion is so large, they’re probably preparing to shake us down for anything once they find something.”

Hyung-nim nodded silently and looked my way.

“Jin-ho. Don’t worry.”

“Pardon?”

“If there’s a problem, I’ll take responsibility. You all just moved according to my instructions.”

“No. Hyung-nim. What are you saying?”

“Looking at how things are going… it’s not normal. Unless we burn one scapegoat, they won’t just let it go.”

Hyung-nim was trying to take all responsibility himself.

Like the National Pension Chairman.

But that couldn’t happen.

‘Isn’t there some way?’

Until now my intuition has done many things, but none of it resulted in damage to me or hyung-nim.

That means there must be at least one escape hole this time too……

Finding that with intuition wasn’t easy.

Because I need to check all situations comprehensively.

“But I heard AstraZenon has already received subsidies from countries and entered vaccine production… Other places take more than twice as long as us, right?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. Vice President.”

“Then countries will have to buy our vaccines no matter what to avoid astronomical losses?”

They had already finished the 2nd clinical trial.

And it was very successful.

Because results showed it could suppress corona with 95% probability.

“Plus, according to WHO reports, even if the vaccine turns out well, it will take at least 3-4 years to stabilize due to variants. Until then, don’t we have to keep supplying booster shots?”

“That’s… true?”

“By then, most countries’ administrations will have changed, right?”

Then an indescribable thrill began flowing slowly from beneath his feet.

“Then let’s negotiate with the countries targeting us while distributing vaccines cheaply? We’ll provide vaccines as quickly and stably as possible, so don’t touch us until the country stabilizes.”

“…?”

As soon as the Vice President finished speaking, the thrill that had only tickled his feet spread throughout his entire body.

“So Vice President. You’re saying we should threaten them with vaccines……”

“Not threatening, but buying time. This incident will tank their approval ratings, so administrations will inevitably change in the next elections anyway. By then, won’t everyone forget and move on?”

I quietly stared at the Vice President who was calmly drinking coffee after finishing his words.

This was employee of the year……

No. Executive of the year.