Chapter 136

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Surpass Google?”

After finishing the meeting, Nick Mactman looked back at the Gwangwoon Securities office where Jeong Jin-ho was.

“Honestly, it’s a difficult thing.”

“Yes. It’s Google of all places. Both capital and roots are too deep. There’s nowhere Google’s influence doesn’t reach.”

When the official version of ChatXpt is released to the public, the whole world will be stirred up.

People will go crazy over the shocking development of artificial intelligence, and they’ll think the singularity is finally approaching.

Close AI was that confident.

That XPT would change the world.

“But if it’s Google, they’ll catch up quickly. They might even show innovation beyond what we imagined.”

However, once XPT is released, everywhere will start accelerating AI development, and before long, Google will take the lead.

They knew that too.

Some of them had actually worked at Google for a long time.

“What AI needs most is data, isn’t it? There’s nowhere in the world with data as vast as Google’s.”

For AI to develop, lots of data is needed.

Only then can it learn various situations.

And Google was ahead precisely in that regard.

“That person knows that too, so he said he’d hand over the vast data from various platforms including PikPik.”

He even said he doesn’t care how much money goes in.

“Can we really beat Google even with all that?”

“I don’t know. What’s important is that Gwangwoon promised full support. And their target is Google.”

Google is the world’s largest IT company.

Also, this was a place where no matter how many stocks you buy, you can never secure a controlling stake.

Because the founders have more than 10 times the voting rights.

“Even spending hundreds of trillions won’t let you control Google, but… what if control isn’t the goal?”

“Just like Gwangwoon has always done, the goal is to crush the competitor?”

Looking at Gwangwoon’s history, you can tell.

They were very cold to competitors unless they were Korean companies.

How many companies have fallen because of Gwangwoon?

Even if it meant sacrificing an entire country, they didn’t hesitate to cause major incidents for Gwangwoon’s success and monopoly.

“So they’re really thinking of destroying Google?”

But how?

No matter how many times he thought about it, he couldn’t think of a way to bring down Google.

Because Google’s existence was already too overwhelming to destroy.

“That method isn’t something we need to think about. As developers, we just need to develop. We’ve been promised enormous support rivaling Google, so we just need to produce results worthy of that.”

Mactman was right.

Developers just need to develop.

Although Mactman is the CEO and they’re executives, their participation in AI development remains unchanged.

While Gwangwoon fights on the front lines, the people here would make the weapons they wield.

“It’s taking down Google of all things. I think it’s worth trying. Plus, with a stage being set like this, if we can’t create something that even Google can’t catch up to, wouldn’t we look too incompetent? Right?”

At those words, the executives’ blood boiled too.

“Let’s give it a shot.”

“We take down Google? Hahaha.”

“Nothing’s more satisfying than stabbing a dagger into the people who fired you.”

They’d come to Korea and had planned to do some sightseeing and take a break, but suddenly that thought disappeared.

They wanted to hurry back to headquarters and focus on development.

As Mactman boosted the executives’ morale and walked together laughing, he suddenly had a thought.

‘But… how far is Gwangwoon trying to go?’

With what they already have, Gwangwoon is already a group that could be called a dinosaur.

But they weren’t satisfied yet.

Now they were even targeting companies that would never fail with roots already deeply planted.

If others had said such things, he would have laughed them off as crazy, but…

He felt it in Jeong Jin-ho’s eyes today.

Gwangwoon is serious.

They seriously intend to topple a great kingdom and build a new empire on top of it.

An empire named Gwangwoon.

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

The meeting with Nick Mactman was interesting.

Especially, the development of AI exceeded my expectations, which was shocking.

And that was just the early version.

“Is it that good?”

“Yes. The development of technology was scarier than I thought.”

“Wow, then later college students will do all their assignments with AI, and office workers will have AI do all their reports and Excel, won’t they?”

“Tsk. For something like that to be possible, wouldn’t it take at least 10 more years?”

“I wonder. If what I saw today is just a prototype, that might be possible within 2 years.”

In the vision I saw, the whole world was running on an AI system.

I even saw android robots with AI installed, which meant the era of AI and robots we only saw in movies was about to arrive.

“Then should we look into investment targets in that sector?”

There was no particular need for that.

I had already promised massive support to Close AI.

And we had set one goal.

To develop AI technology that surpasses Google—no, that no company including Google can follow.

That was our goal.

That didn’t mean we’d recognize Google as a competitor and fight them.

Like Messi and Ronaldo.

Don’t they say having a fierce rival to fight against allows for more development?

“Any other matters?”

“Yes. The lira is looking serious right now.”

The lira is Turkey’s currency.

“7 lira to 1 dollar was the normal range, but it’s now soared to 9 lira.”

“It went up a lot?”

“Yes. President Erdogan’s policy is the problem. That president and administration have strange economic sense. They have a strong belief that high interest rates cause high inflation, so they forcibly lowered the base interest rate, and that crashed the lira’s value.”

High interest rates cause high inflation.

Originally, basic economic theory says high interest rates suppress inflation.

But Turkey’s President Erdogan expressed that interest is Satan and hated high interest rates.

“So even though the Turkish central bank governor warned several times, he didn’t listen and instead fired him. Three times at that.”

The governor changed three times, and all three didn’t listen to him so he kicked them out.

“So by continuously lowering to low interest rates, inflation is occurring?”

“Yes. That’s why the lira’s value is crashing. The problem is even after doing this much, that president should come to his senses, but he’s not budging. He probably thinks his beliefs aren’t wrong. He even declared he’d lower the interest rate further.”

It was absurd.

Low interest rates create inflation and that leads to rising prices—yet he still insists on pushing low interest rates despite proving it himself.

“So foreign investors are fleeing Turkey en masse right now. This is also contributing to the lira crashing further. At this rate, everyone predicts the lira’s value will keep crashing. If they go high interest rate now, they could put on the brakes, but they have no intention of that. If things go well, we might need to consider the extreme situation where 1 dollar equals 20 lira.”

The manager wasn’t saying this to suggest we short the lira.

“Since foreign investors are all fleeing, President Erdogan seems to be getting anxious too. So he’s drastically deregulating foreign capital and advertising for major investment. To be precise, he’s sending SOS signals everywhere.”

“He could just raise interest rates sharply.”

“That’s the one thing he absolutely won’t do.”

This is why human beliefs are scary.

Leaving the easy path and struggling to go the hard way.

“Thanks to his stubbornness, foreign investors are fleeing and the Turkish government is unprecedentedly deregulating foreign capital. I brought a list of companies in Turkey, thinking it might be a good opportunity.”

I looked through the list.

But… there were quite a lot of decent stocks.

“There are quite a few startups.”

“Yes. Among them, the place I’m personally watching is Dream Games. Their performance isn’t bad either. However, with foreign investors fleeing en masse due to this situation, they suffered a lot of damage.”

The color emitted by the mobile game company the manager recommended was quite good.

I was checking companies that looked good one by one, then my gaze stopped at one place.

“Baykar?”

Especially this one was shimmering with golden light.

“Ah. That company is a bit unusual. Originally it was a company that made auto parts, but after changing the company’s nature, they now make drones. And for military use.”

A place that develops UAVs, drones, and software.

“It’s unlisted?”

“Yes. Being a defense industry company, they seemed reluctant to receive outside investment. Most importantly, this place is apparently run by President Erdogan’s son-in-law. But since Turkey’s situation is so bad now, they’re unprecedentedly opening investment to defense industry as well.”

“Are they trying to sell to civilians besides military?”

“Yes. There are limits to making money with just military use, so they’re trying to make drones for sports purposes rather than military purposes. That’s why they need investors. Defense industries overall are going through hard times right now.”

Seeing the color is this good, maybe they’re going to achieve great success in sports.

I don’t know the detailed business direction, but seeing my intuition is stuck on this place, it seemed to have sufficient investment value.

“Please proceed with the list here. And especially make sure lots of money can go into Baykar.”

“Yes. If we say we’ll invest, the Turkish government will welcome it. But defense industry companies will inevitably have regulations, so in exchange for investing diversely, I’ll try negotiating for as much equity as possible.”

I left that work for the employees to handle themselves.

Because what was truly important to us wasn’t Turkey but domestic and America.

“I brought the stock market status and stock list for domestic and America.”

Due to corona, people weren’t going out much, so there was tremendous stock fever domestically and in America.

“Especially the domestic KOSPI rise is tremendous. It finally broke through 3,300 and is running toward 3,400. There are even positive predictions that it might really break 4,000.”

I never thought I’d see the day KOSPI breaks 3,000 in my lifetime.

And corona, that terrifying epidemic, became the trigger that pulled KOSPI to extreme highs.

But KOSPI didn’t stop at 3,000 and once it started breaking walls, it was now looking at the 3,400 peak.

“It was always a KOSPI that only stayed in a box range, never going up. But now that it’s become a market looking at 4,000, I have mixed feelings.”

“What’s 4,000? Everyone’s only looking up, right? Then couldn’t it go to 5,000 too?”

When KOSPI rises consecutively like this, every moment is enjoyable for securities firm employees.

Isn’t it a market where you can make money wherever you put it?

“Plus Bitcoin is continuing to rise and is on the verge of breaking through 50,000 dollars.”

Like this, everyone was grinning, looking only at a rosy future.

I was the same.

The moment I opened the report, holding the hopeful dream that the era of KOSPI 5,000 might truly come beyond 4,000.

“!?”

Only one thing was visible to my eyes.

Red.

And stocks burning in hellfire.

‘Wh-why is this suddenly…’

I panicked and flipped through the documents quickly.

Here too, there too, the next page too.

Red whirlpools were swirling everywhere.

And in the stocks where all our money was invested.

“…President?”

When my hands trembled, the employees also seemed to sense something strange.

“Right now… all our money is in KOSPI and the US stock market, right? The National Pension fund too.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

Right now, all I could see was red.

It felt like my intuition was shaking and pulling my head, telling me to get out quickly.

“Starting now, we’re recovering all money from KOSPI and the US market.”

“Pardon…?”

At those words, the employees stared at me blankly with stunned faces for a while.

“P-President. But right now the US market too, and our KOSPI is hitting year-highs. To cash out everything here is…!”

I raised my hand to silence the employees who were voicing objections.

“Everyone, proceed with cashing out before it’s too late. And hold on a moment.”

I looked at the report once more.

Everything was drenched in red and I couldn’t make out what was written, but one by one, things were emitting light from within.

I quickly checked those stocks with a pen.

What stocks they were didn’t matter.

They were shelters to escape this terrible whirlpool.

I flipped through all those many documents quickly, checked the stocks I barely found, and handed them to the employees.

“While cashing out, please buy as much as you can of the stocks here.”

Something was coming.

Something that would shake this KOSPI and US stock market that was painting a rosy future.

Could it be. Could the terrible vision I saw before be about to become reality?

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

“Tsk. It’s strange.”

“I know. It’s a market where money is being copied right now. And he tells us to cash out everything.”

The employees who left the president’s office were all tilting their heads.

It was truly a market where money was being copied.

But President Jeong Jin-ho ordered all stocks to be sold.

Even the ones the National Pension fund had invested.

“What if we go back in now and tell the President…”

“Quiet. Everyone’s heads have gotten so big that they forgot the most important thing.”

“Pardon?”

“Did you forget our company motto? Discard your ego. Whatever instructions the President gives, don’t doubt it. Even if it’s heading into a pit of fire.”

At Manager Seo’s scary glare, everyone lowered their heads deeply.

They’d temporarily forgotten.

The #1 rule that must absolutely be kept in this Prime Department.

“But Manager, the stock list the President gave us.”

“What about it?”

“It’s a bit strange.”

“What?”

“Looking at the stocks the President told us to buy while cashing out, the sectors are similar.”

Did that mean something was coming that would make everything else drop while only that sector skyrockets?

“What sector?”

“Defense.”

“…?”

Defense?

Until now, President Jeong Jin-ho had never once put money into defense stocks.

That’s because until recently, defense stocks’ performance hadn’t been very good.

“Did he focus only on defense stocks?”

“The main focus is defense stocks, and he did pick other stocks too, but this is…”

“Don’t drag it out, just tell me. What is it?”

“I also thought there might be some connection at first and looked closely. The President gave instructions to put money in energy, grain, crude oil, and raw materials in addition to defense stocks. And for all of these to rise simultaneously, there’s only one scenario.”

At Assistant Manager An’s words, Manager Seo swallowed dryly.

Because that answer had already flashed through his mind.

“War. That’s the only one.”

“!?”

The employees who heard that froze in place.

“N-no way.”

“Right, there’s no way war is happening…”

But they weren’t fools.

As Assistant Manager An said, the only scenario for all these stocks to rise simultaneously was war.

And the point was that the one making this prediction was President Jeong Jin-ho, who had never been wrong once.

“…”

Knowing that, everyone was frozen stiff, standing in a daze.

As everyone kept silent in shock for a while, someone cautiously spoke up.

“…Shouldn’t we be evacuating right now?”