Chapter 151

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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[PikPik Acquires Faceweb]

[Birth of a Massive SNS Empire!]

[SNS Pioneer PikPik Devours the Dinosaur Called Faceweb.]

Faceweb, which had been plagued by continuous stock price crashes and even rumors of company bankruptcy.

Additionally, the US government said they would thoroughly investigate Faceweb’s actual state of personal information issues and other matters outside legal boundaries, proceeding to detention if necessary.

Unable to withstand the pressure, Markus ultimately handed over all his shares to PikPik.

For a mere $30 billion.

The tragic end of Faceweb, which had once surpassed $1 trillion.

“How’s the reaction from the US government?”

“Quiet. They’re not objecting, but not supporting either—truly no reaction at all.”

“That means those guys could suddenly start tormenting our Jin-ho at any moment?”

“Yes. Right now, it seems like they’re being cooperative because Kangsung and Gwangwoon play key roles in the semiconductor project America is pursuing, but you never know. President Aiden is someone who’s rolled around in politics for decades.”

“We don’t know when that sly snake might stab us in the back?”

“There’s definitely a possibility of that.”

What Chairman Hwang Dae-woon found most puzzling was actually this.

Why did America just stand by and watch Faceweb fall?

No, why did they even move the judiciary to help Gwangwoon?

To prevent Gwangwoon and Kangsung, the pillars of the semiconductor project, from straying elsewhere?

But America didn’t really need to go that far.

Because if the US government came out with semiconductor regulations, both Kangsung and Gwangwoon would be suffocated.

Despite that, they encouraged Gwangwoon to swallow Faceweb rather than pressuring them.

“Something does seem off, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, very suspicious. It’s quiet now, but it’s certain they’ll turn their guns on us whenever public opinion shifts.”

“So we need to make public opinion our ally?”

“Yes. Should I have the PR team circulate some articles?”

“Yeah. Circulate everything. And for overseas media outlets too, give them advertising money or whatever it takes to have them write articles for our Gwangwoon, praising our PikPik.”

America’s ulterior motives were unknown, but no matter how powerful America was, they couldn’t ignore public opinion. They’re politicians who live and die by votes, after all.

“Should I report separately to President Jeong Jin-ho?”

“No, no need. He’s probably had a hard enough time with this Faceweb acquisition—we can’t make him worry about things like this too. What’s our job? Making sure nothing goes wrong with whatever Jin-ho is doing.”

In other words, they should be able to handle things like this themselves without being told.

“Besides, it’d be a burden for Jin-ho to order me around for everything. Don’t we have a brotherly relationship? That guy is more particular about manners than most old-fashioned people. So even if he wants me to do something, he can’t say it comfortably.”

Knowing Jin-ho’s heart better than anyone, Chairman Hwang was tactfully and sensibly handling things behind the scenes on his own.

“So move quickly, domestically and overseas. Don’t be stingy about spending money. That way, the tower Jin-ho worked so hard to build will become even more solid.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

Jin-ho keeps trying to move forward.

But that’s how the world is.

Especially to handle bigger money, someone has to get their hands dirty.

But it can’t be Jeong Jin-ho.

That was something Hwang Dae-woon himself had to take responsibility for.

***

The Faceweb acquisition was a globally shocking event.

Naturally, Japan, being close to Korea, was also closely watching this situation.

“But….. won’t this get caught under antitrust laws? I know America is very strict about that.”

During Faceweb’s heyday when stock prices were high, they were already facing an antitrust lawsuit from America.

But strangely, despite PikPik acquiring Faceweb, there was no talk whatsoever about monopoly.

“From American media to Europe to Asia. Everyone is only full of articles praising PikPik. There are almost no articles criticizing monopoly. Even if there are, they disappear quickly for some reason.”

“So they’re controlling the media.”

“Gwangwoon holds an incredible amount of funds. The media outlets must be happily accepting that money.”

Spreading massive funds to silence not just domestic but all overseas media outlets.

What an amazing company.

“Let’s talk about that later. We didn’t gather here to praise Gwangwoon, did we? Ultimately, the reason we’re in this miserable state is because of Gwangwoon!”

The leadership of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party was now facing the biggest crisis of their political careers.

“For over 50 years, our LDP has governed this country. During that time, we briefly lost power to the opposition twice, but quickly regained it. But now the situation is completely different from then. It may have come to the point where our LDP can never govern again.”

Japan was a very conservative country compared to others.

Also, rural votes carry significant weight, and the LDP has a solid rural base.

The progressive opposition party is urban-centered, but the conservative rural-based LDP is much more advantageous.

On top of that, even urban people prefer conservative over progressive.

They prefer stability over change.

For that reason, the LDP had governed Japan for over 50 years, and Japanese citizens who dislike change supported the ever-consistent LDP rather than pursuing change.

“But now that foundation is shaking. We’ve been overtaken in approval ratings by the opposition.”

The LDP had rarely been reversed in approval ratings by the opposition.

It happened occasionally, but being pushed back this much since Dobe’s administration was a first.

“After Prime Minister Dobe stepped down, the opposition is gaining even more momentum. Unless there’s something to reverse this, our party won’t be able to govern anymore.”

The LDP had been boosting the Japanese economy through Dobenomics. Actually, up to that point it was fine.

Just governing the country smoothly.

That’s what the citizens liked the most.

“Sigh. Why did they have to provoke Korea back then……..”

The problem burst when they provoked Korea. Like poking a sleeping lion’s nose.

Pressuring Korea was fine, but provoking Gwangwoon behind Korea was fatal.

“If we hadn’t been hit by Gwangwoon back then, it wouldn’t have come to this.”

The famous financial operation called “Cherry Blossom Ending.”

Having taken enormous economic damage from Gwangwoon, the Japanese government hurriedly lifted the pressure on Korea and essentially raised the white flag.

It was somehow resolved, but the problem was that the economic damage taken couldn’t be recovered.

“Weak yen, negative economy, inflation, real estate problems, and so on. Gwangwoon’s attack instantly collapsed our Japanese economy, and even conservative citizens realized change was needed. That’s why approval ratings flipped like this.”

In other words, the Japanese economy collapsed and the LDP’s approval ratings hit rock bottom—all because of Gwangwoon.

“Shouldn’t Gwangwoon take responsibility for this?!”

“But when you think about it, we were the ones who provoked first……..”

They couldn’t blame Gwangwoon either.

If Japan hadn’t needlessly provoked Korea, none of this would have happened in the first place.

“So what are you suggesting we do? Is there a card that could reverse this situation?”

“…………”

As everyone fell silent, Finance Minister Ishiba spoke up.

“Neither the Bank of Japan nor the Ministry of Finance can solve this problem. That’s how structurally and severely our Japanese economy has collapsed. Using that as leverage, the opposition Democratic Party for the People is pushing for regime change and gaining support.”

With YCC collapsed due to Gwangwoon’s attack, Japan was now in a very serious economic state.

They barely avoided national bankruptcy by pooling overseas capital.

“There’s only one way to solve this.”

“What is it?”

“Request help from Gwangwoon.”

“………!?”

The conference room started getting noisy.

“Are you in your right mind? You want us to go beg for help from the ones who put us in this state?!”

“It’s not simply requesting help. Even if we ask for help, would Gwangwoon help us? We’d have to grovel before they’d even consider it.”

“Wh-what nonsense are you saying!”

“It’s not nonsense. Look at America. Gwangwoon openly devoured Faceweb, yet they haven’t said a word. Even though it’s clearly a monopoly. What does that mean? Gwangwoon’s power has already become so great that even America can’t touch them.”

There was no rebuttal.

Even in a situation where they were monopolizing SNS—which could control public opinion—America wasn’t checking Gwangwoon in any way.

“Our party, and this country—Gwangwoon does bear some responsibility for putting us in this state, but it wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t provoked Korea in the first place. And we need to acknowledge what we must acknowledge. How can we take revenge on a company that even America can’t touch?”

“………….”

“Rather than revenge, we should think in a different direction. The only escape route that can save our LDP.”

The only escape route that could save the ruling party that’s losing to the opposition?

“Do you really think Gwangwoon can help us?”

“Look at what Gwangwoon has done so far. They truly seem to be a company that doesn’t know the meaning of impossible. And now they’ve issued something called KW Coin and are pursuing new-concept currency reform. Having devoured Faceweb too, they won’t be able to stop its acceleration.”

Gwangwoon was now a massive shadow broker that everyone acknowledged.

There’s even talk that it’s already too late to stop their momentum.

Then rather than fighting such people, wouldn’t it be better to beg for their help?

If it were anyone else, maybe not, but if it’s Gwangwoon, they might have something to break through this crisis.

“But as I said, even if we ask for help, Gwangwoon has no reason to move. So we need to put forward extraordinary conditions. Even if it means grabbing onto their pant legs.”

“………..”

Just hearing about it was a blow to their pride.

But now wasn’t the time to worry about pride.

This was a very important moment with their political careers on the line.

“But……former Prime Minister Dobe won’t accept our decision. Just mentioning Gwangwoon makes him jump up even from sleep, grinding his teeth.”

“That can’t be helped. Even if he opposes, it’s a decision we have no choice but to make to save this party.”

Even though former Prime Minister Dobe was a retired politician, he was still an influential figure.

But they couldn’t just watch the LDP crash while worrying about his mood.

“Then……let’s first discuss what kind of proposal to make to Gwangwoon.”

It was painful that they had to grovel and surrender to Gwangwoon, but honestly, surrender had never been that difficult for these people, then or now.

***

After the Faceweb acquisition, the process of merging with PikPik was more complicated than expected.

Since there were still many users using Faceweb, our first goal was to absorb them into PikPik while maintaining the existing system as much as possible.

“And we plan to enable free use of KW Coin on Faceweb as soon as possible. We’ll also need to build new systems so it can be used on various games and sites linked to Faceweb.”

The merger of PikPik and Faceweb. And the spread of KW Coin.

Due to this EU regulation and the privacy protection law from Ampl, revenue through advertising had become harder than before.

“That’s why the spread of KW Coin is even more urgent. The more people use KW Coin, the more it can somewhat replace advertising revenue. Also, to attract more creators to PikPik, we need to recruit famous streamers as well as content creators en masse.”

“That’s a good plan. Tell them not to be stingy with investment funds. Right now, rather than struggling to make money, we need to solidify our foundation.”

“Yes. Now there’s almost no SNS that can compete with our PikPik, and for video the only one left is NewTube. If we invest a bit more in our foundation, we believe we can completely overwhelm them.”

There were several incidents involved in acquiring Faceweb, but it was resolved well in the end.

Now all that remained was stabilizing the chaotic market.

“Is the report finished?”

“Ah, yes, Vice President.”

“Then everyone clear out for a moment. The President and I have something to discuss.”

“Ah, yes.”

Seeing the Vice President, who rarely attends Prime department meetings, come in person meant he already had something to talk about.

“President. We received contact from Japan’s LDP.”

“……Huh? Wait. Why suddenly from there?”

But this was an unexpected topic.

“The LDP is apparently facing a very big political crisis right now. Opposition approval ratings are rising tremendously. So the LDP has put forward very extraordinary conditions to us.”

I briefly looked over the conditions the LDP proposed.

They said they’d allow KW Coin to be used like currency in Japan, and they’d lift all remaining regulations.

“They really said they’d do all this?”

“Yes.”

But those conditions were more extraordinary than expected. So much that I even wondered if it was a trap.

“But there’s a condition. For them to do this, the LDP needs to win this House of Councillors election. If they don’t get a majority, the current administration effectively becomes a lame duck, and the Prime Minister would have to resign taking responsibility.”

In fact, in 2007, a Prime Minister had resigned citing defeat in the House of Councillors election.

That’s how important this election was.

If they don’t get a majority, the legislation the LDP is pushing won’t pass, and current Prime Minister Yoshida’s position will narrow significantly, eventually having to hand over the Prime Minister position to the opposition.

That’s why they needed to break through this crisis.

“But…..is there even a way for us to solve that?”

The question was why they were asking us.

“Actually, I was puzzled when I received the official letter too. How do they expect us to raise approval ratings that they themselves dropped….. But it’s true these conditions are very good. Too good to pass up. So I think it would be good to consider a major investment in Japan.”

America had just announced a new semiconductor project.

They said they’d build semiconductor factories within America and increase productivity, which made Japan’s role even more important.

After all, there are major semiconductor components currently being produced in Japan. We needed exactly those.

So if Japan was going to remove all regulations and fully accept our capital, there was no reason not to enter.

“I’ve brought materials on the LDP and the opposition Democratic Party for the People.”

I opened the materials the Vice President handed me.

How the structure of the LDP and Democratic Party for the People works.

What legislation they’re currently at odds over.

And if the Democratic Party for the People wins, who’s the likely next Prime Minister, and so on.

“But just because we invest, it’s not like we can reverse approval ratings…”

I muttered as I turned to the next page.

The profile of former Japanese Prime Minister Dobe Shinzo appeared.

“………….”

It didn’t seem like particularly important information, so just as I was about to turn this page too,

“!?”

The moment I touched that page, a red image along with a sound that shook my eardrums rang out.

…………..!

It was a gunshot.

<End of Chapter 151>