Chapter 138

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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When Russia reinforced its military and deployed troops to the front, when the Russian government made threatening statements that they’d advance toward Ukraine as early as tomorrow,

Each time, Europe laughed it off.

Saying Patin, that guy is bluffing again.

Even when America expressed concerns about Russia’s movements, the EU didn’t react much.

Russia causing such a scene wasn’t just once or twice, they’d just gotten used to it.

“And they really invaded?”

But Russia, which they thought was bluffing again this time, actually started full-scale war against Ukraine.

“Ha. Why didn’t America warn us more strongly?”

“They did consistently warn about Russia’s danger too. Of course, they also seemed not to know Russia would really attack Ukraine.”

America had consistently warned about Russia.

The problem was they gave the same warnings last year and the year before too.

So Europe had become used to such warnings.

In fact, even America, which had been continuously warning, wasn’t certain Russia would actually do something this crazy.

“Now isn’t the time to blame anyone. Russia has declared full-scale war, and we need to respond to this.”

Thanks to that, the EU was now in a state where their feet were on fire.

So these unpleasant people had to face each other again.

“What’s the current situation?”

“They’re attacking from three directions. They’re breaking through attack routes from the north, east, and south. They’re reinforcing military power on the eastern front in the Donbas region, and Belarus government and Russia have joined hands to target the capital Kyiv.”

“So they’ll wage a war of attrition on the eastern front while stabbing the capital through Belarus, which is close to Kyiv, to end it at once?”

“Yes. Russia’s strategy seems to be to quickly overthrow the Ukrainian government.”

A war already started.

If it drags on, Russia also suffers greatly.

So they were trying to end the war quickly.

“It’ll probably go as Russia wants, right? When Russian troops enter, many Ukrainian citizens are likely to flee without fighting. Actually, President Zelenkis’s approval rating dropped to 20%, and there’s significant public opinion that it’s better to integrate with Russia.”

“The internal situation in Ukraine isn’t good either. With news of war breaking out, everyone’s busy fleeing. Even with forced conscription, morale is at rock bottom—who would sincerely try to fight?”

It was Russia’s attack no less.

How could Ukraine block that mighty military force?

The conquest war would be over in an instant as Russia wished.

“Then… how should we respond?”

“If Russia is expected to occupy Ukraine in a short time… wouldn’t it be better to just watch?”

“A country invaded without justification, and you’re saying just leave it?”

“It’s not like they have no justification at all. President Patin has always claimed one Russia.”

“That can’t be justification. If we just leave this, China won’t hesitate to invade Taiwan either. And do you think President Patin’s ambition will end at Ukraine? The next target could be us, Europe.”

Russia is a fuse.

If Ukraine is pathetically occupied here, where would be next?

It was Taiwan, which China was eagerly eyeing.

The problem was that after Russia and China each get the territory they want, they might reveal their ambitions even more.

“So you’re saying we should send troops? Ukraine hasn’t officially joined NATO yet. Plus, the moment we send troops, this becomes a full-scale war between Russia and Europe. Then it could escalate to nuclear war.”

“…”

That was right.

Sending troops here would be like a declaration that Europe would fight full-scale war with Russia.

Under international law, weapons support isn’t considered an act of war.

But the moment you send troops and fight the enemy forces, that means entering the war.

In other words, it could be interpreted as being prepared for nuclear war with Russia.

“Then what we can do is weapons support at most.”

“Accepting refugees fleeing could also be one way we can help. According to reports coming in, as soon as the war news spread, many Ukrainian citizens are crossing the Polish border.”

The fortunate thing was that Poland and Ukraine had a good relationship.

They share a common history of being ruled by Russia in the past.

With such cultural ties formed, 80% of Polish citizens believed they should accept refugees coming from Ukraine well.

“If the war ends quickly like this, we can briefly accept refugees and send them back. And rather than actively supporting Ukraine, how about just pretending to while watching? It’s a place that’ll be occupied soon anyway—wasting our resources would be a shame.”

“Right. Rather than waste resources, it’s better to go in a direction that doesn’t provoke Russia too much.”

If Ukraine was going to fall into Russian hands anyway, there was no need to deliberately worsen relations.

“For the EU’s dignity and since we need to show we’re doing something on the surface, we’ll immediately implement economic sanctions in connection with America. We can lift the sanctions through negotiations after Ukraine is occupied.”

“Yes. Russia has a hold on natural gas and nickel, so if they block that supply, we’ll be in trouble too.”

The EU currently depends on Russia for a whopping 50% of natural gas.

If they block this gas pipeline that’s connected, European energy would be in emergency.

“But if the war goes longer than we expect, Russia will keep the pipe shut, and then we’ll have to get gas from elsewhere.”

“There’s exactly one place that has large quantities of natural gas right now.”

“Where?”

“Gwangwoon. The place holding the most natural gas right now would be there.”

Gwangwoon.

Just when he thought he’d forgotten about them, that name popped up again.

“Gwangwoon is holding that much natural gas?”

“Last time, when the GameStop incident caused China’s Evergrande Group to collapse and the real estate and construction markets shook greatly, the pipelines and tunnels China was developing were all indefinitely suspended. Due to that, all natural gas contracts were also cancelled, and there was a time when enormous volumes poured out.”

“And Gwangwoon bought all that?”

“Yes. And they purchased all the largest natural gas storage warehouses in Canada and are storing it there. They’ve even been steadily buying whenever natural gas came on the market and storing it in warehouses in various countries.”

This was just a year ago.

“That’s not all. While massively purchasing natural gas, they also purchased enormous amounts of nickel ore from Indonesia.”

“What? From Indonesia? I heard they don’t sell ore anymore?”

“Yes. But somehow they convinced that stubborn Indonesian government to surrender and give nickel ore as much as they wanted. Rumor has it this Suez Canal incident was also Gwangwoon’s doing to shake the Indonesian government.”

“Wait, Suez Canal? That wasn’t an accident but Gwangwoon’s doing?”

Still vicious bastards.

To think they even grabbed and shook that eccentric Indonesian government.

“So… the place holding large quantities of natural gas and nickel right now is Gwangwoon? And they’ve been preparing gradually since a year ago.”

“Yes. Back then I wondered why Gwangwoon was buying useless things, but maybe they predicted the Russia-Ukraine war a year ago. So they built strategy since GameStop.”

If that was really true, they were still vicious and chillingly meticulous.

Someone might think GameStop was just a happening in the financial market, but actually that was a smokescreen, and the real thing was Gwangwoon’s design for something else.

GameStop, the retail investors who went into GameStop, and Robinhood that got swept up in that responsibility and ultimately closed—they all played into Gwangwoon’s hands.

“But even they were too greedy. Do they know what kind of country Russia is to make such a gamble?”

“If Russia quickly occupies Ukraine, all that stockpiling will be useless, right?”

What the EU worried about most wasn’t Ukraine’s survival.

It was natural gas and nickel.

If they impose economic sanctions against Russia, those two most important resources would disappear.

Gwangwoon knew that too, which is why they purchased in advance.

Planning to sell at a very expensive price.

But that’s only a problem when war goes long-term.

If Russia sweeps up Ukraine with overwhelming force, the problem with those two resources disappears.

“I don’t know about other things, but we can’t fatten Gwangwoon’s belly.”

If Russia occupies Ukraine quickly, that would be a problem in its own way, but at least one thing was certain.

Gwangwoon would be unable to do anything with the natural gas and nickel they’d stockpiled and would take enormous losses.

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

The moment Russia suddenly declared war and invaded Ukraine, everyone sensed it.

Ukraine was finished now.

Actually, not long after the war started, news was already spreading everywhere that the Ukrainian president and key personnel had all fled to the West.

I too thought the war would end in one breath.

But before long, a video was uploaded that heated up SNS.

[We are still here!]

Zelenkis, who was supposedly already gone from Ukraine, personally filmed a video and posted it on SNS.

Appearing with key staff, he left a speech that we are all here, and our soldiers and citizens will defend this country.

[Glory to Ukraine!]

With that, Zelenkis ended the short video and properly conveyed his will to resist.

“This… is unusual. I thought it would be a short-term war for sure, but now with the SNS video spreading widely, even people who were fleeing are stopping and all gathering in Kyiv.”

“Soldiers who deserted early are also returning en masse and voluntarily going to the front. Most importantly, it’s the EU and America’s reaction. Everyone thought the war would end soon and was just watching, but suddenly Zelenkis united the will to fight, putting them in a position where they can no longer look away.”

How great the influence of one nation’s leader is, and how important the leader’s capacity is—I came to realize through this incident.

If Zelenkis hadn’t stayed in the capital to the end instead of fleeing, strengthening the will to resist and uploading the video, Ukraine would have been quickly occupied as everyone expected.

“Now the problem is economic sanctions. America has started full-scale economic sanctions. Europe too.”

“Our country would be included too, right?”

“Yes. With all allied nations doing economic sanctions, it would be strange if only we slip out. What’s most critical is that Kangsung and various manufacturing companies have factories in Russia.”

Corporations naturally don’t want to participate in economic sanctions.

Especially companies with factories in Russia or doing lots of exports there would be shedding tears of blood.

“It’s not like we have no damage either. We have to stop all shipping trade related to Russia, and Enflix and KW Exchange can no longer service in the Russian region.”

American and European companies all suspended services in Russia.

Along with that, they were sending donations or starting technical support.

“I heard Google separately sent 15 million dollars in donations. Should our foundation… consider it too?”

It wasn’t about funding the war.

It was called humanitarian aid—donations for people harmed by war.

“…”

I carefully brought my hand toward the foundation.

“…!”

My intuition was intensely drawn to it.

So my intuition wasn’t a cold thing either.

It was extending a helping hand to those who rightfully needed help.

“Isn’t our foundation’s purpose to help in situations like this?”

“Yes, that’s right. Then how much should we make it?”

I wrote amounts next to it until my intuition reacted.

“Let’s do 500 million dollars.”

“…That’s a lot.”

“You know. When you suffer damage from war, 500 million dollars disappears quickly.”

Even natural disasters cause damage of billions of dollars.

Then war?

It can only cause damage of hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars.

“Then I’ll proceed immediately as you said, President.”

May my small donation be of great help.

And may this war end quickly.

That’s all I could pray for, and it was my best.

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

“Was Russian military power only this much?”

They predicted it wouldn’t even take a week to occupy Ukraine.

But what do you know—even after more than a month, the war showed no signs of ending.

“Rather, the Ukrainian military is counterattacking, aren’t they? Russian forces are being shaken in the opposite direction.”

They say what’s important in war is justification.

Why you’re fighting this war, why you must sacrifice your life to fight.

Without that justification, troops’ morale can only be low.

In that regard, Russia was suffering serious morale drops due to a war without justification.

In contrast, Ukraine’s morale was piercing the sky.

Because they had the justification that they must protect their homeland.

“Then this becomes a long-term war?”

“It’s already flowing into long-term war. Russia’s operation to capture Kyiv has been blocked. Moreover, weapons being supported by various countries are steadily entering Ukraine.”

Among them, many were sent by the EU.

“To think this would become a long-term war… against that Russia?”

“Zelenkis did something great. He revived morale that was about to completely collapse.”

But now wasn’t the time to praise the Ukrainian president.

“Natural gas prices have now soared a whopping 40%. Nickel prices too. With Russia locking all pipes and blocking nickel supply, prices will rise further. The problem is there isn’t much volume to cover all of the EU.”

It was fortunate that Ukraine was resisting centered on Zelenkis, but the problem was resource supply was blocked.

Natural gas, nickel, and numerous raw materials were breaking through the ceiling.

“On top of that, grain prices are also skyrocketing. From flour to make bread to feed for animals. All prices are rising like crazy.”

Natural gas and nickel weren’t the only problems. Grain prices skyrocketing was also a problem.

Especially wheat was rising the most.

“Aren’t Ukraine and Russia responsible for over 40% of the world’s wheat? With exports from both cut off, the supply chain can only collapse.”

Russia blocking Ukraine’s Black Sea port meant the wheat piled up in Ukraine couldn’t get out.

That was causing grain prices to skyrocket.

“With the supply system paralyzed, it’s difficult to even make bread immediately. Even running lines urgently can’t meet demand.”

French President Perom, who attended the EU meeting as always today, swallowed dryly.

Didn’t France’s revolution occur because of skyrocketing wheat prices?

“That’s why we urgently need quick supply for everything from grain to natural gas to nickel.”

“That means…”

“We have to request help from Gwangwoon.”

Deep sighs erupted from everywhere.

During corona, they bowed their pride multiple times receiving help from Gwangwoon, and watched quietly as those bastards played with money in the European market amassing massive wealth.

They swore they would never again do anything to fatten those bastards’ bellies.

Yet they have to receive Gwangwoon’s help again!

“This isn’t the time for pride. I don’t like Gwangwoon either, but it’s also true that Gwangwoon is the only one who can help us right now.”

How on earth did they predict this?

No one predicted the Russia-Ukraine war would break out so quickly, and they certainly didn’t know Ukraine would hold out this well against Russia.

“I heard Gwangwoon Foundation donated 500 million dollars to Ukraine last time…”

“What? 500 million dollars!?”

It was an enormous amount.

Even those big companies only gave up to 15 million dollars in donations.

But 500 million dollars alone!

“Wait. Then this might be…”

It had always been a question.

What on earth did the Ukrainian government trust to resist Russia like that?

But today that question seemed to be answered.

“Ukraine’s backing was Gwangwoon…!”