Chapter 130

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Early corona.

Prices of REITs, real estate funds, and such sectors all crashed.

It was due to global financial market panic selling, and a situation that occurred as countless stores closed because people didn’t go outside due to corona.

But the crash was only momentary, and it quickly rebounded.

Thanks to stimulus measures put out by the government.

Through low interest rates and liquidity supply from the government’s emergency measures, REITs and real estate funds began explosively rising.

“But why is that thriving market suddenly collapsing?”

Investment in real estate sectors including REITs was very hot.

With explosive growth and high dividend rates, people’s money was pouring in.

So many funds put money into REITs and were taking high dividends.

“It’s because of Robinhood. With the digital bank run occurring, people started dumping their holdings. What’s more serious is that Robinhood stopped trading, making the situation worse. Robinhood members happened to hold lots of REIT stakes…”

“On top of that, seeing Robinhood suddenly become like that, investment sentiment naturally shrank. With talk that even the famous high-dividend real estate sector might be dangerous, everyone is selling their volumes.”

Real estate companies that had been receiving all the benefits through government policies were starting to wobble. The problem was the aftermath was spreading not just in America but worldwide.

“Robinhood removing the buy button did escalate things, but honestly it was a problem that could have been managed. There’d be lawsuits sure, but if they defended well and somehow kept people from panicking…”

“Then Gwangwoon stepped up and it became like this?”

“Yes. As Gwangwoon filed the 100 billion dollar lawsuit and absorbed members from Robinhood en masse, a tectonic shift occurred. Robinhood members are disposing of all their stakes and moving to KW Exchange.”

“Stock prices are already wobbling from that, but with the bubble crisis theory due to Robinhood being highlighted, it dealt a direct blow to our real estate market. No, it would be more accurate to say it’s shaking all stock markets.”

After listening to the executives’ reports, Evergrande Group Chairman Xu Jiayin removed his glasses.

“But what does that have to do with us? We’re not running REITs.”

“Yes. There’s no direct connection, but indirectly, critically indirectly. First, the financial institutions and funds providing us capital from overseas have been damaged. With the overall real estate market damaged, the value of the real estate we put up as collateral is plummeting.”

“So?”

“As our collateral value drops, the other party has no choice but to demand larger collateral or pressure us to repay loans. Then we have to issue bonds to secure funds, but right now real estate sector corporate bonds are only plummeting in value—no one’s buying them.”

Once he grasped the situation, the hand holding his glasses started trembling.

“We didn’t do anything wrong. KW Exchange… or rather Gwangwoon tried to crush their competitor Robinhood and sparks flew to us?”

“Yes. Not just sparks but more like taking a stray bullet.”

Even if far apart, the world now moves as one body.

So when a hole opens in one place, other places receive chain damage.

Who would have predicted that an exchange turf war in America would shake up the real estate market?

“Then what happens now? Doesn’t this mess up our plans?”

Evergrande Group was facing bankruptcy crisis.

But they were still hiding that fact from the outside.

Currently, debt tied up in Evergrande Group was 300 billion dollars.

They had reached the point where they couldn’t even handle interest on maturing debt.

So what should they do?

There was only one method they could take.

Sell everything worth money, pocket it, and let the company go bankrupt.

“But different from our expectations, the sudden real estate collapse made it difficult to secure funds. With loan repayment pressure starting, following our initial plan is…”

“So the plan that should have progressed over 5 years is blocked from the start?”

Evergrande Group realized there was no way to revive and had planned to spend 5 years gradually selling off and dismantling what the company had.

File bankruptcy in New York courts, put on a show and drag it out for a few years. Finally receive the final bankruptcy ruling in Hong Kong courts. And the Chinese government would impose an 8 billion dollar fine as pre-arranged.

By that time, nothing would remain in the group.

It was a perfect plan to eat well and get out.

But it’s blocked from the start!

“Find a way somehow. Why did our government approve this plan! It wasn’t just to line their own pockets, but to prevent shock to the Chinese market as much as possible!”

Evergrande Group is #1 among Chinese construction and real estate companies.

Such a place collapsing would be equivalent to causing a Chinese version of Lehman Brothers, so the Chinese government was trying to minimize the shock.

“But if the company goes bankrupt far faster than planned, then the entire Chinese real estate market collapses. You understand? Before we and those higher-ups line our pockets, everything we have will fly away! Do you think they’ll leave us alone if that happens?”

If they eat well and slip away with the superiors, no one raises problems.

But shaking the entire Chinese market and collapsing the real estate market becomes a problem.

If it comes to that.

Someone will have to take responsibility.

Not materially, but with blood.

“Everyone here could disappear without a trace.”

A businessman, chairman of a group at that, being executed happens more often than you’d think in China.

If this situation spreads seriously, some people here disappearing as dew on the execution ground wouldn’t be a joke.

“So everyone find a way! Hurry!”

The executives also realized knives were at their throats and hurried to move.

After sending off the executives and being left alone with the secretary, Xu Jiayin let out a deep sigh.

He already had a headache having to blow up the group he’d built for so long, and now this happened on top of it.

“About Gwangwoon though.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Did those bastards really not know that crushing Robinhood like that could collapse the real estate market?”

“…Pardon?”

“You think I don’t know about those Gwangwoon bastards? They’re the lunatics who blew up Tianjin port saying they’d eliminate the Yonghae Alliance. There’s lots of talk that this Lebanon port explosion was their doing too. Those bastards know exactly what they’re doing, why they’re doing it. Also what effect one incident has on other countries.”

And those people couldn’t predict this aftermath from the Robinhood incident?

Plus, this happened at the timing when Evergrande Group was quietly trying to settle its assets.

“Is this really a coincidence?”

“But Gwangwoon is foreign capital so they can’t buy the real estate we’re holding. There’s nothing they’d benefit from messing with us, is there?”

Chinese land cannot be taken by foreign capital.

Leasing is possible, but purchasing is not.

And isn’t Evergrande Group in construction and real estate?

Most of their assets are real estate.

Even if Gwangwoon wanted to pick up that real estate at a bargain, they can’t.

“That’s true, but…”

Still, he couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling.

Because the one who caused this was none other than Gwangwoon.

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

“Ramsey sent their response.”

“How’s their reaction?”

“Very positive. No, I should say they’re dying to sell immediately. They must be having that much financial difficulty.”

Viterra, the large grain company in Canada.

Ramsey Corporation, which owned it, accepted our acquisition conditions as is.

“Since it’s directly connected to citizens’ food supply, it’ll need Canadian government approval, but it should go through without issues.”

“Acquisition price?”

“10 billion dollars.”

“Not bad.”

“Yes. Also, as per your instructions, we looked into other grain companies. Here’s the list.”

Due to last year’s historic great famine, the grain business was in crisis.

Because of that, companies were experiencing financial difficulties.

“The Robinhood incident leading to real estate market collapse did cause considerable damage to Canada too. Since holding companies in this sector are related to real estate a lot.”

I too didn’t predict that Robinhood collapsing would damage the real estate market.

This is why the financial market is scary.

When one collapses, you can’t predict what else will fall together.

“…”

I scanned through the list.

With the great famine and real estate collapse overlapping, quite a few companies came on the market.

Several companies among them were sparkling, asking to be picked.

I checked only those companies and handed it back to the manager.

“You picked all companies operating centered in Alberta?”

Alberta was a region in western Canada.

Actually, I didn’t pick them based on region.

“Yes. Please tell the Group to negotiate with those companies for acquisition. It’s not an investment with our securities firm money after all.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll do that.”

Suddenly, my intuition was drawn to something related to grain of all things. Honestly, it was strange.

Plus, the vision I saw through intuition the other day… was so horrific I didn’t want to think about it again.

Those ear-splitting explosion sounds and screams—surely a war isn’t going to break out?

But war in this day and age.

What if nuclear war happens?

Then everyone dies, right?

Then grain warehouses or whatever become useless.

Humanity would all be dead anyway.

‘If it were really that, it would have told me to buy a bunker.’

Yeah. Let’s stay calm for now.

I’ll just have to pray that a terrible war doesn’t happen.

“Any other matters?”

“Ah, reports keep coming in that China is not looking good.”

“China?”

“Yes. Evergrande Group’s debt exceeded 300 billion dollars, their credit rating dropped. Also, taking critical damage from the real estate collapse, all their asset values dropped and they’ve been driven to the brink of bankruptcy.”

I had known from research materials for several years that Evergrande Group had been over-expanding like an octopus.

But those whose main fields are construction and real estate endured and endured before finally bursting this time.

“Is it very serious?”

“Yes. It’s Evergrande Group after all. Originally the company was in crisis, but they were trying to proceed with bankruptcy slowly to not shock the market. But with the real estate collapse hitting too hard this time, they couldn’t plug the hole.”

“So as the Chinese real estate market shakes all at once, chain bankruptcies are continuing.”

With a giant like Evergrande Group bursting, Chinese real estate couldn’t be fine.

“But the problem is with Evergrande Group bursting and various construction companies getting swept up together, major projects China was proceeding with are about to be overturned.”

“Which ones?”

“Natural gas pipelines and new terminal construction. Starting 2 years ago, China was exceptionally accepting foreign capital to expand natural gas production and imports. But with construction companies all collapsing, all the projects that should have proceeded have stopped.”

China’s natural gas consumption is 3rd in the world.

Half they produce domestically, the other half they import from overseas.

As consumption grew larger, they were constructing new terminals and pipelines to receive more natural gas.

Those were overturned.

“Because of that, China cancelled all contracts. Thanks to that, Russia, Australia, Qatar, America, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.—countries selling natural gas to China are left with excess volumes.”

Actually, natural gas prices were hitting highs right now.

But if China, the 3rd largest consumer, cancels contracts, volumes will be left over and that leads to price drops.

“So natural gas prices are fluctuating wildly right now. The country with the 3rd highest consumption in the world suddenly cancelled contracts, so an enormous volume was released.”

And right there, my intuition stirred.

Very intensely, I felt a signal coming from this natural gas.

Surely it’s not telling me to buy this natural gas.

With futures?

“…”

But futures didn’t give me a strong feeling.

It just passed by very weakly.

If that’s the case—

“What if we purchase those natural gases in large quantities?”

“O-our Gwangwoon Securities? Perhaps with futures…?”

“Futures too, but could we purchase the actual natural gas entirely and store it?”

“…Pardon?”

At those words, Manager Seo’s half-closed eyes opened wide.

“Th-the enormous volume China was going to take, all of it?”