Chapter 139

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Is the withdrawal complete?”

“Yes. All employees who were dispatched have returned. They tried to minimize losses, but there were limits. Russia is also forcibly shutting down foreign factory facilities and modifying them.”

Chairman Kang Seong-ho, who was listening to the report, bit his lip tightly.

“These thugs. So we got robbed blind?”

“That’s about it. Since our country and all allied nations are all imposing economic sanctions on Russia, Russia used that as an excuse to seize all overseas company facilities.”

Establishing yourself overseas costs a lot of money.

You have to do groundwork, and you need a solid foundation to handle any issues later—so Kangsung Group and various companies poured money in as they entered Russia.

Russia has a population of 140 million people.

For companies, it was a land of opportunity.

“But I never thought we’d lose it all this way.”

What good is laying a solid foundation to respond well to any crisis?

When war breaks out, it all becomes useless.

Honestly, it still feels like a dream. War!

If not for that, companies that entered Russia wouldn’t have suffered this much damage.

“It might sound strange to say this, but I never expected Ukraine to hold out this well. If Ukraine had been occupied within a week as expected, we could have just pretended to withdraw and then normalized again.”

And this also seemed unreal.

That Ukraine was blocking Russia’s powerful military force.

“The saying that Russia is second only to America seems outdated now. I thought Russia’s military would overwhelmingly sweep away the Ukrainian military, but they’re actually struggling.”

This war was dealing a very critical blow to Russia.

There was damage from economic sanctions by numerous countries, but the biggest thing was Russia’s status falling.

In movies, isn’t Russia often portrayed as the only country that can check America?

But seeing them struggle to occupy just Ukraine, the perception that Russia’s military was powerful did a 180.

“So why the hell did these idiots start a war and create this mess? How many companies are taking losses because of this? And Russia isn’t even benefiting. What are they thinking?”

“There have been rumors about President Patin’s health problems for a while. Maybe it’s related to that?”

Rumors about Patin’s health problems had always circulated.

But this time the intensity of the rumors was unusual.

“So Patin started a war to fulfill his ambition before he dies?”

“Many interpret it that way.”

In the end, one person’s misguided ambition resulted in driving countless young people to hell.

“Other companies? They’re taking losses like us, right?”

“Yes. There’s nowhere that isn’t in chaos. First, wheat prices are soaring nearly 40%, so the food industry is flipped. This year’s inflation rate is expected to hit a record high. Also, energy and raw material prices are all expected to rise, so the construction industry will be severely shaken too.”

Even before this, there had been criticism that construction during corona had many shoddy projects.

Expensive raw material prices, mass exodus of foreign workers and entry restrictions, explosive rise in labor costs, and so on.

For those reasons, apartments built during corona were said to be full of shoddy construction, and this would get worse due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“So the only ones profiting are in defense?”

“Yes. Defense stocks are rising the most, and energy, grain, and shipping sectors are expected to see greatly increased performance.”

Except for those sectors, everyone was wiped out.

Kangsung’s damage was no small matter either.

It was the first time in history that Kangsung Group was hit so comprehensively on all fronts.

“Groups profiting from defense stocks are actually taking losses elsewhere, so they’re not exactly smiling. They have to make up their losses with defense anyway.”

“So in the end, this is a time when no one wins?”

“Yes. Except for exactly one place.”

“One place?”

“It’s Gwangwoon.”

Gwangwoon.

But Gwangwoon should have taken damage from this war too?

“Of course, Gwangwoon couldn’t be free from this war either. They got held back in various sectors including Enflix. But they’re also benefiting the most this time. Didn’t Gwangwoon make big investments in grain, natural gas, nickel last year even at a loss?”

Back then, even within Kangsung Group, there was talk that Gwangwoon was doing something strange.

No matter how cheap the price to gather volume, storage problems would arise.

Why don’t you buy lots of oil when it’s cheap?

The storage problem.

Storage costs are unimaginably expensive, so everyone tries to minimize volume.

That’s why shipping uses the JIT system to send exactly the right amount.

“Nevertheless, Gwangwoon pushed through to the end. Even buying up warehouses en masse. And they’re likely to harvest big this time. As the war shows signs of lasting longer than expected, the EU, which was being prideful, immediately bowed their heads and entered negotiations with Gwangwoon.”

At this time when all groups in Korea were taking losses—no, when all companies in the world were taking losses—there was exactly one place taking huge profits.

“So… Gwangwoon knew a year ago that war would break out?”

“Yes. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have crazily gathered volume while accepting that level of losses. Wasn’t Gwangwoon mocked for being fools at the time?”

Kang Seong-ho remembered when Gwangwoon suddenly swept up grain companies in Canada, increased warehouses, and gathered volume—many people mocked Gwangwoon.

Just like everyone laughed when Noah built the ark.

But a flood called war swept the entire world, and everyone was rushing to the ark called Gwangwoon to survive.

“Chairman. But… didn’t President Jeong Jin-ho give you any hints?”

“No. There weren’t any.”

Both Jeong Jin-ho and Kang Seong-ho were busy with work, so they didn’t meet as often as before.

Still, he thought their relationship hadn’t grown distant—but was that just his own delusion?

“It is a bit disappointing. If he really predicted the war, he could have at least given a hint…”

“Well, think about it. If suddenly a year ago, President Jeong came to me out of nowhere and told me to withdraw all factories in Russia, how do you think everyone would have reacted?”

“Obviously, absolutely not.”

“Yes. Well, since I blindly believe whatever President Jeong says, let’s say I really did withdraw all personnel from Russia. But what if war didn’t break out? Then what would you do?”

“…”

“And I’m not President Jeong’s direct superior—we’re clearly running different companies. No matter how much we’re partners, he has no obligation to come report to me about everything.”

That was true too.

No matter how close Jeong Jin-ho and Kang Seong-ho were, they were ultimately running different companies.

They could share simple information, but for serious matters like this, they could only be careful with words.

Because if the information was wrong, one of them would inevitably suffer greatly.

“…”

He understood it all in his head, but human feelings are strange.

He couldn’t erase the slightly disappointed feeling.

“But, Chairman. There’s something I heard through the grapevine. Apparently, there’s a secret organization that Gwangwoon Group organized.”

“…Hm? What does that mean? Secret organization?”

“It’s a gathering where high-ranking government officials as well as many businesspeople are members. There’s a rumor that President Jeong Jin-ho personally built a building and is running that gathering. I can’t confirm if this is really true or not… but if it is, wouldn’t information have been circulating there?”

“!?”

For a moment, it felt like lightning struck behind him.

A secret organization!

He’d never heard of this.

“Wait. Now that I think of it…”

Sometimes when he had time on weekends, Chairman Kang Seong-ho tried to meet Jeong Jin-ho, but lately Jeong Jin-ho wouldn’t meet him, saying he had appointments with other people.

Same with Chairman Hwang.

Only now did he understand why.

A secret gathering led by those two.

That was why.

‘But he didn’t say a word to me. Is that it?’

But Jeong Jin-ho didn’t know one thing.

That the man named Kang Seong-ho was more obsessive than expected.

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

“Your complexion looks dark.”

“Ugh, don’t even get me started. You know. We completely withdrew from Russia this time. Which company isn’t crying out? Even defense companies say their performance is up so that’s good, but raw material prices have risen so much they don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

Chairman Kang Seong-ho downed his soju bomb. A chaebol chairman enjoying soju bombs.

It was always an unfamiliar sight.

“Hehe, I didn’t originally drink soju bombs either. I didn’t really like soju either. But you and Chairman Hwang always eat pork belly with soju. So drinking only soju bombs, now I don’t drink anything else.”

“Soju bombs with pork belly feels weird having whiskey instead.”

“That’s true too. Ah. I heard. The EU negotiation went well?”

“Yes. They must be desperate too.”

Storage costs were starting to become a burden right around that time.

No matter how many warehouses we bought, maintenance costs kept going out, and warehouses we couldn’t buy had to be stored through leasing.

The costs going out were so enormous that the tail was wagging the dog.

Plus, in the early days of war, everyone thought the war would end quickly, so they didn’t react much to price changes.

“Then seeing Ukraine hold out well, everyone was startled and started moving.”

“Right. Thanks to them hesitating like that, prices rose even more.”

Oil prices broke through 130 dollars, and natural gas prices also more than doubled.

Even so, the EU had no choice but to buy volume from us even at expensive prices.

“They’re buying time from us. Because there’s nowhere else holding as much volume as us. They need time to endure until they can receive stable supply from countries other than Russia and Ukraine, and we’re selling that.”

By the time we exhaust all our volume, the EU will be able to stably procure resources.

We could provide just enough volume for them to endure until then.

“Wow… you’ll make enormous money. Again.”

“We got lucky. No, I can’t really say we got lucky when there’s a war. It feels like making money from war.”

“No need to blame yourself for that. It’s not like we started the war. That senile old man went crazy and started it—what are we supposed to do about it?”

It wasn’t wrong, but the heavy heart was unavoidable.

Maybe that’s why I’m sending donations to Ukraine—to lighten the burden even a little.

“But President Jeong. If you knew about the Russia war in advance, why didn’t you give me a hint?”

“Ah. I couldn’t be certain either.”

“Someone who couldn’t be certain spent that much money preparing a year in advance?”

I just smiled silently.

I merely prepared according to intuition.

Still, maybe I should have said something.

I was too busy to pay attention to that.

“I understand. It must have been burdensome to reveal such sensitive information. Even though we drink together like this sometimes, we’re clearly people running our own companies. It’s a bit much to open up about everything. Most importantly, you’re not my subordinate, President Jeong. Rather, I feel like I’m the subordinate. Haha.”

“Oh come on. Why would you say that? I absolutely don’t think that way.”

“No. In the past, Kangsung Group was the group representing this country, but now Gwangwoon has taken that position. But I won’t be jealous. I’ve received favors from President Jeong all this time—to forget that would be something only an animal does.”

He didn’t need to go that far, but just knowing he viewed me and Gwangwoon favorably was enough.

Kangsung is an inseparable partner from us.

“But President Jeong, I enjoy meeting and talking with you like this, but I strangely feel a wall. Why don’t we tear that down now too?”

“Pardon?”

“What I mean is… I’d like us to become closer.”

“I told you before, I’m not doing blind dates.”

“Aigh. That’s not what I meant.”

Chairman Kang Seong-ho had something he wanted to say but kept beating around the bush.

“What is this about?”

“That… *cough*. How do I say this?”

Then the man who said soju bombs or nothing drank a big shot of straight soju and opened his mouth.

“I heard something. So I’ll ask directly. Is there really a secret gathering that you’re leading, President Jeong?”

“…Pardon?”

“I heard about it. You even built a building. The specs of the members there are supposedly no joke.”

I wondered what he was talking about.

Could he be talking about our gaming guild?

We did build a building, and most importantly, the members’ specs were good. Not talking about real-world specs.

Their actual in-game specs were very high.

Of course, I was surprised that some were quite successful in real life too.

I was being picky about in-game specs and only choosing people my intuition strongly pointed to.

“Ah. That.”

I chuckled and was about to explain everything but hesitated. Because a different good idea came to mind instead.

“Are you… interested?”

Then Chairman Kang Seong-ho looked at me with wide eyes.

“I-if I say I’m interested? W-will you accept me?”

They were the most sparkling eyes I’d seen recently.

I barely held back the laughter about to burst out.

“We’re inevitably picky about recruiting new members. Because they could potentially have a bad influence on our organization.”

“I understand that. But I will absolutely never muddy the waters. I promise.”

“It might be hard in the beginning. You’ll have to follow the guidelines well. There will be many parts requiring effort. Will you really… be okay?”

“Ugh. Effort is my middle name.”

It was Chairman Kang Seong-ho, thumping his chest with the world’s most serious face.

“Then are you free this weekend?”

“I’ll make time if I don’t have any.”

“Got it. Let’s go together this Saturday.”

“Where? Don’t tell me to that building?”

“Yes. I’ll personally introduce you.”

“!?”

At those words, Chairman Kang Seong-ho smiled broadly.

“President Jeong. You really won’t regret it.”

“Of course. I’ve been watching Chairman Kang for years. But once you step in, you absolutely cannot quit. You understand the reason without me explaining, right?”

“I naturally expected that much.”

Chairman Kang Seong-ho coming to our guild.

He was originally on the scout list, but I never thought he’d voluntarily join.

‘What position should I put him in?’

Dealer? Healer? Tanker?

Anything works.

Just imagining what nagging Chairman Kang Seong-ho would hear from hyung while practicing games was already fun.

‘Do I need to make a new application form?’

Once the application is written, I should go make a very unreasonable application form today so that he absolutely cannot leave by his own will.