Chapter 119

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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6 years.

In fact, even if just 6 months pass, people forget even the most dangerous places or objects.

But a full 6 years had passed.

It was enough time to take lightly the fact that thousands of tons of extremely dangerous chemicals were stored in the place where they work.

No. It would be fortunate if they even remembered.

So today too, workers doing simple repair work continued their work right next to the warehouse where the chemicals were stored without a second thought.

“What did you do to start a fire?”

“Everyone stop just watching and put it out quickly!”

“Huh? But this fire extinguisher isn’t working?”

When the fire first started, no one took it seriously.

A fire just needs to be put out.

Sparks flying while welding was unavoidable.

But a fire started from those sparks.

But as the fire spread to the warehouse right next to them, someone said.

“Wait. Didn’t they say this warehouse has chemicals that absolutely must not catch fire?”

“What?”

Right at that moment,

Pop pop—!

A small explosion occurred.

The scale of the explosion wasn’t that big. Kind of like fireworks.

Wheeee~!

“Phew. Got scared for nothing.”

“Right.”

And not long after.

KABOOM—!!

A massive mushroom cloud rose as if a nuclear explosion had occurred.

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

“R-report again. Wh-what happened?”

Levant, which had been entering full-scale expansion using Beirut port as a base.

Its head, Khalid, was trembling at the news that had just come in.

“The ammonium nitrate stored in Warehouse 3 exploded and the entire port is gone. The number of casualties hasn’t even been determined yet, but they’re estimating at least several thousand.”

“Ah…”

Khalid, who had jumped up upon hearing the news, suddenly lost strength in his legs.

“CEO!”

“Th-the damage situation?”

“That… all buildings within 1km suffered major damage, and it was such a massive explosion that buildings within a 10km radius had all their windows shattered. Also, a crater 130m in diameter was created at the accident site.”

Thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate had exploded, so it made sense.

“What I’m asking is not the damage to people unrelated to us. I’m talking about our company and things tied up in the port right now!”

“As I mentioned earlier… everything has turned to dust and disappeared. Everything in the port. Whether it’s people, goods, warehouses, even ships nearby are flooded from the explosion damage.”

“I-it’s really all gone?”

“Yes. Without anything remaining.”

Even the voice of the employee reporting was getting smaller.

If that report was true, just counting what was in the port, losses of already billions of dollars must have occurred.

The problem was the explosion radius.

Didn’t they say building windows shattered up to 10km from the explosion’s effect?

That means things close to the port were shattered to pieces.

Adding those up, the damage would balloon to tens of billions of dollars.

“The bigger problem is didn’t we acquire the port business rights for 30 billion dollars? But with the port’s facilities all destroyed from the explosion, port operations are impossible until it’s rebuilt.”

Khalid’s mind went blank.

This is all because of those Lebanese government bastards.

“That’s true, but are you suggesting someone committed arson?”

“The timing is strange, the timing! Right after we acquired the business rights, something quiet for 6 years suddenly explodes. Isn’t that strange?”

The timing was certainly suspicious.

Why would an explosion suddenly occur in a warehouse that hadn’t had even a small accident for 6 years?

If those guys had disposed of that troublesome ammonium nitrate just a little sooner, this accident wouldn’t have happened.

But because they left it neglected for a full 6 years, this disaster occurred.

“The cause of the accident? Is it out?”

“Not yet. But there are records that welding work was done around there. Maybe the fire started there…”

In other words, it was an accident due to carelessness about safety.

After being quiet for the past 6 years, this accident happened right after Levant acquired the port business rights. On top of that, Gwangwoon bastards forcibly raised the bid price, so now Levant has suffered irreversible damage.

“Wait… Gwangwoon?”

“Pardon?”

“Who benefits most from this incident? Isn’t it Gwangwoon?”

“Then could Gwangwoon have…”

“It’s certain. This is those bastards’ doing.”

“But there’s no evidence to point to Gwangwoon as the culprit.”

That was the problem.

Even if there was evidence, it would have disappeared with the explosion.

“Wasn’t there a rumor that the previous Tianjin Port incident was also connected to Gwangwoon?”

“Ah, yes. There was a place called the Yonghai Alliance that forcibly took Tianjin Port from Gwangwoon and started business, and not long after, a big explosion occurred and the Yonghai Alliance was forcibly disbanded by the Chinese government.”

“Right. Isn’t now similar to then?”

To call it a coincidence, the situation was too similar to then.

That means these Gwangwoon bastards really…

“For now, it’s circumstantial, but now is not the time to worry about that. The Lebanese government’s movements have been suspicious since the explosion occurred.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re trying to pin all the blame on us. The damage is so severe that responsibility for the Lebanese government neglecting ammonium nitrate for 6 years is inevitably growing.”

“So they’ll pin everything on us and pretend they don’t know?”

“Yes. Isn’t it a national emergency that could become a political issue?”

It was indeed a national emergency.

Lebanon handles 80% of its imports through Beirut port. And that port has been blown away.

“We absolutely cannot be held responsible. So spread money to key figures in the Lebanese government and stop it no matter what!”

Capitalism is cold.

But politics was even colder.

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

Finally, the vaccine distribution that all humanity had been waiting and waiting for began.

As a result, governments of each country were mandating vaccinations for citizens.

“First, our country will issue a confirmation certificate after the first vaccination, and once verified through QR code, all facilities like restaurants, cafes, amenities, gyms, etc. will be freely accessible.”

“What if you don’t get vaccinated?”

“You won’t be able to use them. You have to verify through QR code that you don’t have corona, and refusing that means even going to work is impossible.”

This meant if you don’t get vaccinated, social life itself becomes impossible.

“I heard there are people who refuse vaccination?”

“Yes. Refusing for health reasons is possible. But even so, you can’t enter any facility. You’d have to just stay home.”

It’s like a scary world has come.

“Because of that, it’s chaos both abroad and domestically. Especially in America, there’s quite severe agitation saying this vaccine is the 666 mark mentioned in the Bible and absolutely must not be taken.”

There’s a prophecy like that in the Book of Revelation in the Bible.

That in the future, those who don’t receive the 666 mark won’t be able to buy things, can’t move, and social life itself becomes impossible.

“Plus there’s a conspiracy theory going around that getting this vaccine means being mind-controlled. At least one fortunate point is such conspiracy theories are very weak in our country.”

“I think that’s because of high education levels, civic awareness, and cultural differences. Compared to other countries, our country has strong collectivism.”

Our country’s citizens understand the concept of herd immunity very well.

Also, collectivism is more valued than individualism, so resistance to vaccination was lower compared to other countries.

“Anyway, looking at current progress, our country will likely complete vaccinations fastest in the world.”

Since our Gwangwoon owns the AstraZenon company, naturally the Republic of Korea and Britain were the first to receive primary vaccine distribution.

Britain received the advantage because AstraZenon headquarters is located there.

“WHO is looking at 3 years until corona is controlled, considering booster shots.”

3 years.

That meant our company’s vaccines would continue being distributed during that period.

“What about other vaccine competitors?”

“First, our technology was especially excellent, the time gap is more than double, and above all, we have overwhelmingly more production lines. So Pfizer and several other companies have given up on vaccine development.”

It meant we Gwangwoon would essentially monopolize vaccines.

“The money earned just from vaccines must be tremendous.”

“Yes. According to AstraZenon’s calculations, if we monopolize vaccine supply like this, annual sales will reach 150 billion dollars. Stock prices have already risen more than 7x.”

In other words, just from AstraZenon alone, we earn hundreds of trillions of won annually.

This is why monopolies are scary.

“Ah. What’s happening with that Beirut port situation?”

“Yes. They’re busy with damage recovery. Since the port’s function is completely paralyzed, Middle Eastern countries that were trading through there are sweating trying to find alternatives.”

“They must be seeking out our Gwangwoon Shipping?”

“Yes. Gwangwoon Shipping is also opening new routes to help Middle Eastern countries.”

It seems what I felt through intuition was this accident after all.

Perhaps that’s why my heart didn’t feel good.

“Contact headquarters and tell them to deliver a donation through the foundation. Take a portion of the revenue coming from AstraZenon.”

“Ah, yes. So what scale…”

“I heard the damage there is tens of trillions of won, so shouldn’t we do at least several hundred billion?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll convey that.”

I know several hundred billion is a lot of money.

But if it’s taking a portion of vaccine sales, it wasn’t that big either. Plus my heart feels heavy.

But the eyes of the employees looking at me were somewhat strange.

“Why is everyone like that? Is there something you want to say?”

“N-no. Haha.”

“We’ll go back to work right away!”

Why is everyone like that?

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

“It looks like the Lebanese government will use Levant as a scapegoat.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Under the charge of improperly managing the ammonium nitrate. As soon as that rumor spread, the Levant people completely left Lebanon.”

“What about the business rights?”

“If they run away like that, they’ll have their business rights forcibly taken too. And even if they keep the business rights, conducting business in Beirut now is at an impossible level. Everything is literally blown away.”

Levant must feel wronged too.

The Lebanese government left chemicals neglected for 6 years, but Levant has to take responsibility.

“Of course, it does seem like Levant caused the accident. There are records that welding work was done around there.”

“So it’s an accident? Not something someone intended.”

“The authorities seem to see it that way, but detailed investigation results are unknown. Even if they want to investigate, nothing remains.”

“…”

Kim Du-young quietly nodded.

“Are you perhaps worried about something else?”

“Hm?”

“Didn’t this accident happen right after Levant acquired the business rights? Like that old Tianjin Port.”

“You heard the report just now. It’s an accident.”

“Yes. But it’s strange, that’s true. From this incident, Levant has reached a level where recovery is impossible. If only we hadn’t raised the bid to 30 billion dollars, Levant would have somehow maintained the company.”

That’s where the first big bleeding occurred, and this port explosion dealt the finishing blow.

“And didn’t Gwangwoon recently purchase storage facilities in large quantities? That’s also playing a very big role now.”

By Jeong Jin-ho’s instruction, Gwangwoon had purchased storage facilities in various countries.

At that time, they thought it was bought in preparation for oil falling to negative.

But even when oil recorded negative 20 dollars, Jeong Jin-ho only told them to wait more.

So they thought the price would drop further.

“Thanks to those storage facilities, we could handle all the inventory stuck in the Middle East. Because we bought especially many storage facilities in the Middle East.”

Those storage facilities weren’t holding oil.

Because they absorbed all the inventory stuck due to the Beirut explosion.

“To call it a coincidence, it’s too…”

“Tsk. What is everyone saying right now?”

CEO Kim Du-young’s already fierce face turned even scarier as it scrunched up.

“Are you saying our President Jeong deliberately set fire or something there to cause the explosion?”

“Th-there’s no way.”

“Right. As everyone heard from the Lebanese information, this is just an accident. If I hear any more nonsense in front of me about the timing being strange or it’s suspicious for a coincidence, I won’t let it go. Got it!?”

“Yes!”

At the tightly disciplined executives’ voices, Kim Du-young also cooled his anger.

“What’s the next report item?”

“Yes. The Gwangwoon Foundation plans to provide large-scale support to Lebanon.”

“They’re donating? How much?”

“They said they’re preparing 300 billion, split into 3 payments of 100 billion each.”

“What? That much?”

Donating 300 billion!

But suddenly a thought occurred that this might not be just a simple donation.

“Could it be investment money disguised as a donation? With this amount.”

“Hmm. It does look like that, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. If we spread about 300 billion, we can do groundwork with Lebanon, and after port recovery is done, we’ll naturally have a high chance of getting the business rights. There won’t be anywhere that donates more than us. We’ll capture public sentiment and get the government on our side. Also, if facilities are built with that money, we’ll be able to control them as we please.”

That meant this 300 billion was investment money for the near future.

“This must be President Jeong’s intention too?”

“Yes. All funds moving through the foundation are managed by President Jeong Jin-ho.”

Jeong Jin-ho often doesn’t properly explain why he’s moving funds. But they don’t complain about such things.

If you’ve risen to this level, shouldn’t you figure out by reading the air what intention your superior is moving money with?

This was also a kind of test.

“Then we should match our steps to President Jeong’s intentions. Gather necessary daily necessities and send them to Lebanon. The faster the recovery work, the faster we can get the port business rights.”

“Yes, CEO.”

After sending the executives off, Kim Du-young briefly fell into thought.

Emptied Levant’s pockets with 30 billion dollars, bought storage facilities in advance to absorb all the Middle Eastern inventory, and now sending 300 billion in donations to start groundwork.

Is this really a coincidence?

At that moment, Kim Du-young flinched and shook his head.

“Wh-what am I thinking…”

Right. This is a coincidence.

No. Even if it’s not a coincidence, he should believe it’s a coincidence.

Because that’s the mindset a Gwangwoon executive should have.