Chapter 125

===================

Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

“It’s really fascinating. Our Gwangwoon made a ton of money from the corona vaccine and using the National Pension, yet what’s becoming an issue is this.”

“It’s where our country’s most popular sports star plays. Above all, people prefer things like this over dry financial talk.”

For several years, Gwangwoon had always been connected to major incidents.

Look at the companies Gwangwoon is handling now.

The world’s largest Bitcoin exchange.

A global SNS platform.

The world’s top vaccine company.

Yet Gwangwoon’s name hadn’t become a major issue.

Various news articles came out and appeared on the news, but surprisingly, the internet reaction was lukewarm.

But as Gwangwoon acquired Tottenham, suddenly that name started appearing all over the internet.

“Maybe this was also intended by President Jeong Jin-ho?”

“By Jin-ho?”

“Yes. We have a large SNS platform called PikPik, but we never actually conducted separate marketing to promote the Gwangwoon name. Also, even when we made enormous profits through the National Pension, we didn’t announce that all the credit belonged to us.”

In other words, those who know, know, but those not interested in this field wouldn’t know the details.

“Isn’t there a saying? Hidden power is stronger than exposed power.”

“So Jin-ho intentionally prevented our Gwangwoon from becoming a big topic among the general public?”

“Yes. Even though we could have easily made our name roll off the public’s tongues, not doing so means he judged that was more beneficial.”

What if Gwangwoon had received a lot of public attention from the start?

Right now, conspiracy theories about Gwangwoon were constantly emerging on Wall Street.

If those things became issues and became chaotic, the government would also seriously look into the matter and pressure Gwangwoon.

“But suddenly letting Gwangwoon’s name be revealed…?”

“Perhaps he judged there’s no longer a need to watch anyone’s mood?”

No need to watch anyone’s mood?

“We already have a firm grip on SNS. Marketing is flawless. Also, we opened a foundation and are giving scholarships to key talents domestically, and externally spreading trillions in donation funds. Plus our baseball team is doing great, and recently we even acquired Tottenham.”

Not only that, as it became known that Gwangwoon played a key role in helping the National Pension overcome its biggest crisis and actually grow assets, the corporate brand image was hitting its peak.

“Now even if such conspiracy theories come out, there’s little damage. Even if those become issues and public opinion boils, the government won’t step forward to pressure our Gwangwoon.”

It meant at least in Korea, there was nothing to touch Gwangwoon with.

“And it’s not like we actually committed any crimes, right?”

“Yes. We pay taxes properly, didn’t give political funds, and there’s no corruption.”

That’s what Hwang Dae-woon found most frustrating.

Hwang Dae-woon could proudly say he had never done anything shameful to heaven while running the company.

Yet the image of Gwangwoon spoken of on Wall Street was close to a shadowy mastermind.

When they’re absolutely not such a place.

“If I had been spreading large sums to politics daily, maybe I’d understand. How frustrating. Plus our Jin-ho is such a good kid! To treat such a kid like…!”

What upset him most of all was people’s misunderstanding of Jeong Jin-ho.

That gentle and kind kid—people think he’s some bloodless, tearless person who’s only crazy about money.

Of course, there had been various incidents, but Hwang Dae-woon didn’t suspect Jin-ho even by a grain of millet.

It’s not his fault he’s just a lucky guy!

“I hear there are tons of conspiracy theories about Jin-ho on SNS.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Have the company take those posts down.”

“Pardon?”

“Not just SNS. Conspiracy theories about our Jin-ho floating around the internet—mobilize the entire legal team and wipe them all out. Such malicious posts can’t be left up. Criticizing our company is fine, but I don’t like driving Jin-ho like that.”

Criticizing the company is fine.

But they couldn’t just leave posts depicting that kind kid like a devil.

You can’t just stand by and watch your most cherished younger brother being disparaged like that.

“I understand what you’re saying, Chairman. I’ll discuss with the legal team and proceed.”

“Yes. As fast as possible.”

“Yes sir.”

Now he felt somewhat relieved.

I can let other things slide, but I can’t let my brother be cursed at everywhere.

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

As the new government was established, Aiden promised the citizens.

That he would restore lives ruined by corona.

Also, that he would restore America that Trent had ruined.

“Trent also had bad timing. Corona just happened to break out during his term.”

Before corona, there were many predictions that Trent would be reelected.

Because American presidents usually get reelected.

But from corona’s aftermath, Trent’s administration also died.

That was actually a phenomenon happening not just in the US but worldwide.

Because no matter how well the government responded, resentment toward corona couldn’t be avoided.

“President, here is the list of companies for this green energy activation.”

“You only selected companies related to the US, right?”

“Yes. But the green energy sector is connected to Europe in many places, so even selecting domestic companies, they’ll have to cooperate with that side. But… this time the nature is a bit different?”

“What does that mean?”

“To perfectly pursue the policy you’re pushing, there are a few companies we must cooperate with. The problem is, following the connection points of those companies, they ultimately lead to one company.”

Leads to one company?

Does that mean there’s already a place that has taken over the green energy industry?

“Where is it?”

“Gwangwoon.”

“…?”

Gwangwoon was a name Aiden had heard many times.

“Wasn’t it Trent’s closest ally company?”

So he was uncomfortable.

“Honestly, I’m not sure about that.”

“Not sure? Didn’t Trent, that senile old man, join hands with Gwangwoon and throw a big money party in the US market?”

“It’s true that former President Trent did unprecedented crazy things, but there were reasonably valid reasons. The US stock market also came back to life thanks to that. Above all, didn’t the EU adopt the same method and successfully revived the dying European market?”

And with that, Gwangwoon made big profits—that was an undeniable fact.

“Yet Trent and Gwangwoon weren’t on the same side?”

“They may have cooperated, but at least former President Trent seemed to be quite wary of Gwangwoon. In fact, he supposedly mobilized all intelligence resources the US could muster to dig into Gwangwoon’s background.”

Having a specific company or businessman investigated at the White House’s instruction wasn’t something that happened often.

But if that company was embroiled in various conspiracy theories, especially if connected to a special situation like corona, this was clearly a security matter.

That’s probably why Trent ordered the investigation.

“Looking at the records, they seem to have really dug through everything. They seem to have investigated all the things that had been floating around as conspiracy theories to find connections to Gwangwoon.”

“Really?”

Aiden smiled slyly.

Trent did do one admirable thing after all.

“They must have found quite a few things to use as weapons against them.”

“…”

The chief of staff was silent to that remark.

“Why no answer?”

“The thing is… nothing came out of the investigation.”

“What?”

Aiden blinked his half-open eyes.

“John. I have ears that work. I know very well how much Gwangwoon’s name is spreading on Wall Street. Even that lately they’re being careful to even mention Gwangwoon.”

At first, Gwangwoon on Wall Street was just one of the laughable conspiracy theories.

But the intensity gradually increased, and after watching a large British investment company get ruthlessly torn apart for doing something to displease Gwangwoon, everyone became afraid to even dare mention that name.

What is Gwangwoon?

An invisible giant hand.

A mysterious place called a giant behind the scenes.

Gwangwoon was always mentioned in countless major incidents that occurred so far.

Of course, some of those were probably unfair, but surely some incidents must definitely be connected.

“Yet nothing came out?”

“Yes. Nothing at all.”

“And Trent accepted that?”

“As soon as he received that report, he stopped all investigations into Gwangwoon. He didn’t even mention it afterward.”

That’s not like Trent.

Even Aiden couldn’t accept that not a single incident was connected to Gwangwoon, yet that cantankerous old man just let it go?

“Borrowing from what his close aides who were there said, former President Trent seemed to have gotten scared after receiving that report.”

“Gotten scared?”

“Think about it. There are only two possibilities if such a report came out. Everything Gwangwoon has gained so far was simply coincidence, and all the conspiracy theories were just delusions.”

“But that can’t be, can it?”

“Yes. Probabilistically, it doesn’t make sense. Unless there really is someone who can see the future. Even if they could see the future, they couldn’t set up schemes that meticulously. Then there’s only one remaining assumption.”

Aiden’s mouth went dry even before hearing the chief of staff’s words.

“Gwangwoon has become a giant deep state.”

Deep state.

Secretive, but with overwhelming power, especially not regulated by any government—it means a secretive government that moves according to its own agenda.

“They dug into Gwangwoon’s background using all those intelligence agencies, but couldn’t find a single connection point. That means someone has already cleanly erased those traces, and there’s a high probability the investigation agencies looking into Gwangwoon have also been absorbed by them.”

“!?”

“Trent noticed that too and got scared. Because he could no longer trust even the American agencies and close aides he believed in.”

“Wait. Does that mean perhaps even that report…”

“Yes. If Gwangwoon really wanted to hide themselves, they would have left small traces to make Trent fixate only on those. But they erased all connections and let the report go up as is. It was a clear message.”

Aiden felt like the strength was draining from his legs.

To think there was a force that had infiltrated so deeply into each American agency and government.

“Th-then shouldn’t we stop these people? By catching someone like Gwangwoon’s chairman or someone!”

“That won’t be very effective. Especially the one called president of Gwangwoon Securities at the center of Gwangwoon was originally unemployed. Then one day he suddenly entered Gwangwoon Securities, got promoted at high speed to become president, and reached where he is now.”

They brought in an ordinary person with no connection to finance and put him in the president’s seat?

“That means they’re merely smokescreens?”

“Yes. The real ones are behind them. It’s just that nobody has been able to identify who they are. Nor how far this secretive force is connected. Perhaps our own close people are already on their side.”

“…That’s uncomfortable to hear. I trust our people. Just as I trust you.”

They were close aides who had been with Aiden throughout his long political life.

Yet they might have fallen to unidentified dark forces?

Nonsense!

How loyal those people are!

“But President, we’ve been quietly internally deciding which companies we’ll prioritize pushing for green energy as our top priority, haven’t we? But as if Gwangwoon knew that in advance, they swept up stakes in that field before the election.”

“Information already leaked internally?”

“Yes. Someone is already cooperating with Gwangwoon.”

Aiden let out a small sigh.

He really trusted those people.

The money they received from that side must have been that large, to betray such long loyalty.

“John.”

“Yes, President.”

“I can trust you, can’t I?”

“Of course.”

“Then… can you please identify who the true mastermind behind this Gwangwoon is, who dares to play with our America?”

The president’s closest aide is the chief of staff.

This means placing the most trustworthy person in this seat.

If even this person has already fallen into their hands, Aiden didn’t know who to trust anymore.

“President. It won’t be easy. But I will definitely uncover who the master of this shadow government is. I promise. I will never betray you no matter what.”

At Chief of Staff John Klein’s words, Aiden felt tears welling up slightly.

Because his loyalty felt genuinely sincere.

But those tears weren’t simply from being moved.

That there was only this one person left to trust here, and that this beautiful America had been sullied by dark clutches, made him sad.

No. Perhaps these were tears from being terrified.

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

“Running a club is harder than I thought.”

I thought it would be similar to the domestic baseball team, but it wasn’t.

Isn’t the Premier League the most popular league in the world?

So I couldn’t just worry about London—I needed to consider global revenue and calculate accordingly.

From marketing to player composition. It was more complex than expected.

“Yes. There’s a lot of outgoing money too. But unlike baseball teams, Premier League clubs are quite profitable. Getting into Champions League alone earns hundreds of billions.”

I thought football clubs like baseball teams only spent money, but if managed well here, you could really make a lot of money.

They say they’re in the red now because of corona, but once they get past this period, there will come a day to bloom again.

“Please deliver this to the club side. I checked one by one the staff and player lists they sent.”

“You did all that in one day?”

“Yes. Barely finished, though.”

Spending half a day meant I invested a lot of time by my standards.

“President, do you like football? Do you often watch the Premier League?”

“No. I never particularly sought it out to watch.”

“Ah…”

But now that Tottenham is ours, I was planning to start watching.

“And here is the research data that just came out. We’ve put some capital into the European market for now, but the US side is yielding really good profits.”

Right now, stock markets around the world were all rising together.

Europe, Asia, America.

Among them, the one with the best profits was the US.

Especially as tech stocks like Nasdaq were rising ominously, people’s capital was flowing to the US.

“…”

I briefly looked through the data research sent.

Seeing blue light in everything, it seemed like prices would rise no matter where you put money.

“Hm?”

Then my gaze stopped at one stock.

Not blue light, not red light, not golden light either.

Like when I first saw Bitcoin before, all sorts of colors mixed together—a stock of utter chaos.

“GameStop?”