Chapter 164

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Sir, here’s the next list.”

“There’s more?”

“Yes. I can see now why Cyclone was struggling with cash flow problems. They had way too many teams.”

After acquiring Cyclone, we launched a full-scale restructuring. The problem was that every time the Division Head brought in a new list, the names on it were all highlighted in red.

I had no idea there were this many unnecessary teams in the company. No wonder operations had been such a disaster.

“But sir, looking at the list you returned, if we let go of this many employees at once, we won’t have enough people to handle the work. Wouldn’t that be fatal for game operations?”

There were too many teams and plenty of surplus manpower, but even so, my intuition was unwavering right now. I was essentially marking a red line through every name I saw.

“If we don’t do this now, we’ll never get another chance like this. You have to cut away all the rotten branches before you can run a company properly. Besides, didn’t you mention after acquiring those startups that we should use their developers?”

“Ah, yes, that’s right. That’s why I brought an additional list related to that.”

I examined the list the Division Head handed me. After looking at lists covered entirely in red just moments ago, it was like a relief for my eyes. There were even a few names that glowed with a golden light.

“How are things with the startups right now?”

“It’s uncertain. No, I should say it’s difficult. The U.S. government keeps raising interest rates, right? So investors aren’t showing up, and getting loans has become difficult too. Startups are getting crushed left and right.”

When the U.S. government implemented zero interest rates to stimulate the domestic economy, it was truly a golden age for startups. Especially with the IT startup boom, enormous amounts of money poured in. But as the IT bubble burst, startups were dying along with it.

People had finally realized that over half of all startups were scams designed to pocket investment money.

“But if there are genuine ones among them, they’ll definitely be a help to our company. Plus, since many of them are essentially unable to operate, we could acquire them at bargain prices.”

“And absorb their capable developers into our company?”

“Yes. Apparently, the Chairman had the strategic team analyze each startup to identify truly exceptional talent.”

In other words, this was a list that had already been filtered once. No wonder they all seemed to emit a good light. It was thanks to the headquarters staff stepping up to help.

Moreover, my brother was also paying close attention to this matter. After all, these were the game companies where our guild members played.

“……”

I went through the list and checked off only the ones showing a good light. There were so many promising ones that I actually questioned whether it was okay to acquire them all.

“Well, good is good.”

When had my intuition ever recommended something strange before? I continued checking diligently.

“Please acquire all the companies checked here.”

“Even though they’re startups… that’s quite a lot.”

“Yes. Buy as many as you can and have them integrated into our company right away.”

“Understood. I’ll make the request. Also, sir, Sentinel is trying to establish a base in Europe, but it seems the EU is pushing back hard.”

Sentinel sent in regular reports. But the reports were always brief. They’d just write something about successfully warding off pirates during their escort missions, without properly reporting on damage or other situational updates.

However, hearing what the shipping industry had to say, ever since Sentinel established proper cooperation with the Nigerian military, they hadn’t suffered a single pirate attack. So I stopped pressing further. I trusted them to handle things on their own.

That was exactly why my intuition had picked those people in the first place.

“Recently though, criminal organizations and pirates alike have been moving freely between Africa and Europe, so a base is truly necessary. That way, we can request military assistance when passing through certain national waters.”

“Isn’t this beneficial for Europe too? We’re voluntarily offering to provide escort services, even for ships that aren’t ours.”

“Yes, it’s certainly beneficial for Europe. But it seems they’re extremely reluctant because it could become a military issue. Above all, this EU Vice Chair person is opposing it very strongly.”

Vice Chair Never Kaila was Greek. And the place where Sentinel wanted to establish a base was Greece. That was apparently why she was the most vocal in her opposition.

“What does Sentinel say about this?”

“They said they’ll do their best to make sure they can establish a base in Europe.”

Since they said they’d handle it themselves, I had no intention of interfering. Even if they failed, the fact that shipping routes were operating safely was proof enough that Sentinel was fulfilling its role.

“Then I’ll go submit the documents as they are, sir.”

“Yes.”

I was about to let the Division Head go when a news story I’d seen that morning suddenly came to mind.

“Ah, wait a moment, Division Head.”

“Yes?”

“Did you see the news this morning?”

“Ah, yes. I check it every day.”

“Then you must have seen the story about China.”

“China?”

The Division Head rolled his eyes for a moment.

“Ah, is this about the Sichuan Province incident?”

“Yes. They said there was a pretty big earthquake there, didn’t they?”

The headline dominating this morning’s news was about an earthquake in Sichuan Province. A magnitude 7 earthquake triggered massive landslides, killing over 1,000 people in a devastating natural disaster.

Over 100,000 people were left homeless in an instant. Seeing that news since morning, it had stayed in my memory. And since my intuition also reacted while I was watching the news, perhaps it meant there were many people there who needed help.

“Contact the Gwangwoon Foundation and have them send some aid over there.”

“Yes, that would be a good approach. Since Gwangwoon has been doing the semiconductor project with the U.S. and showing a stance of keeping China in check, sending donations along with volunteer workers could help restore relations somewhat.”

“That would be nice, but it doesn’t have to be for that reason. Just ask the Foundation to take good care of it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Korea was often cited as one of the countries that disliked China the most, but it wasn’t cold enough to turn away from people in need.

You had to give help when you could, so that when we were in trouble, others would help us. Wasn’t that what humanity was all about?

***

“The startups?”

“Yes. After Cyclone was taken over by Gwangwoon, they implemented massive restructuring, right? We were wondering if operations would be possible with so many people cut, and they planned to fill those gaps with startups.”

Wall Street was carefully watching Gwangwoon’s moves this time. They were tense, wondering why Gwangwoon had suddenly acquired the major game company Cyclone, and what devious plan they were cooking up to shake the financial markets this time.

“Are they genuinely trying to gather startups and develop games?”

“Yes, that’s what we initially thought too, but the situation doesn’t look normal.”

Gold Reagan’s Director, Raynold, tilted his head.

“The mass acquisition of startups?”

“Yes. On the surface, this might really look like it’s for game development. Isn’t Gwangwoon pushing XPT and KW Coin right now? They’re trying to integrate these two into games to create a new system.”

“Right. So they’re gathering startups for that development?”

“Yes. But as I mentioned, that’s just the cover story. The real target seems to be somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else? Where?”

“Silicon Valley Bank.”

“What?”

Silicon Valley Bank was a massive bank with assets totaling $300 billion. It was directly connected to the American technology industry ecosystem.

“Why there?”

“All the startups’ money is concentrated in SVB. Now that Gwangwoon has started absorbing all these startups, massive funds are being withdrawn. Because of this, we at Gold Reagan and other places are also telling our clients to pull their money out of SVB quickly.”

“Wait, are you saying a bank run could happen? At such a large bank?”

“It’s not impossible. As U.S. interest rates rose, the bonds SVB had invested in all plummeted in value, causing enormous losses. And now the startups being acquired by Gwangwoon are all withdrawing their money, causing a sudden surge in withdrawals that they can’t handle.”

Only then did Raynold see the full picture. But even so, could a bank as large as Silicon Valley Bank really face a bank run?

“Our assessment is that starting today, customers flocking to withdraw their deposits could overwhelm them, and a bank run could happen within this week if things go well.”

So Gwangwoon had casually bought a game company, and this was their real intention.

“But why would Gwangwoon target SVB…”

However, after thinking about it briefly, I could understand why Gwangwoon was going after a bank.

“Isn’t it because of KW Coin? To increase the value of the currency they’re pushing, they’d need to bring down the bank and decrease the value of other currencies.”

Just bringing down SVB alone wouldn’t decrease currency values. Moreover, if currency values dropped, it could also damage KW Coin, which was linked to the dollar.

But what if you looked at the bigger picture? What if they brought down banks one by one, continuously driving down currency values, while only KW Coin maintained its value?

“Could these madmen actually be planning to make KW Coin the world’s premier currency?”

***

“So, she looked familiar. It was indeed this woman.”

Anthony smiled with satisfaction as he reviewed the documents from his informants.

“But Director, if this breaks, the impact will be bigger than expected.”

“Of course it will. If this gets leaked to the press, everyone will go crazy calling it Qatar Gate.”

Qatar Gate.

It hadn’t hit the press yet, but if this information got out, it would definitely be called that. The scale was simply enormous.

“Qatar hosted the World Cup, and plenty of countries boycotted it. But then they all suddenly changed their positions. Now we know why.”

“That’s what makes oil money so terrifying. They had so much money they could buy people off with it.”

Qatar had faced much controversy even before the World Cup.

They were particularly criticized for treating workers like slaves, raising serious human rights concerns. So some countries announced boycotts, but then everything quietly blew over.

And there was a reason for all of it. Qatar had spent enormous sums to ensure the World Cup’s success.

Among those who received payments was the EU Vice Chair.

“Whether it’s our luck, or whether headquarters deliberately created this vulnerability, either way, once this breaks, the biggest obstacle blocking Sentinel’s expansion into Europe will be gone.”

“Yes. We’ve already sent the materials to media outlets across European countries. We’ve also handed over a massive amount of evidence to Belgium, which is handling the EU investigation.”

The evidence was overwhelming and undeniable. If the press latched onto this properly, the EU wouldn’t be able to just sweep it under the rug.

Then the Vice Chair who had been blocking Sentinel’s expansion would voluntarily resign, and Sentinel could take advantage of the chaos to quietly establish a base in Greece and expand its influence across Europe.

“Make sure this breaks for certain. Don’t let anyone wriggle out of it. And make as much noise as possible until we’ve successfully completed our European expansion.”

“Yes.”

“But what does headquarters say? We sent them a brief report.”

“Ah, there were no specific instructions.”

No specific instructions. What did that mean?

It meant handle it yourselves. We’re monitoring everything you’re doing anyway.

“There is one issue though.”

“What issue?”

“After our report was submitted, we suddenly received orders from headquarters to send Gwangwoon Foundation employees to China.”

“China?”

“Yes. Didn’t a major earthquake hit Sichuan Province recently? They’re sending volunteers along with donations to help rebuild the villages destroyed by landslides.”

Anthony stroked his chin. What kind of place was the Gwangwoon Foundation?

A foundation that gave donations?

A place that helped the poor?

If you truly thought that, you were a fool. Gwangwoon’s scholarship foundation wasn’t there to help anyone.

It was merely a tool to realize Gwangwoon’s meticulous and devious plans. It was a place where devils wore angel masks.

“A place like that suddenly going to China…”

A thought flashed through Anthony’s mind.

“Select some people to deploy to China immediately.”

“What?”

“Why would the Gwangwoon Foundation suddenly go to China? To actually help? When Gwangwoon is currently teaming up with the U.S. to beat down China?”

“Ah, so could it be…”

“They’re opening a path for us to enter China. Just like they did in Africa. Of course, we can’t deploy mercenaries under the guise of security like we did in Africa.”

“But we could infiltrate quietly under the cover of volunteers.”

“Right. Anyone who’s been around this industry knows what kind of place Sichuan Province is. It’s a very famous Chinese military region. Sending volunteers there is obvious. Gwangwoon wants to infiltrate us into the Chinese military, doesn’t they?”

Sichuan Province housed many Chinese military bases. It was a true strategic military hub, home to special forces operating in secrecy and strategic command centers. Planting spies in such a place was an excellent opportunity.

“Gwangwoon is gradually taking control of America, but ultimately, to achieve global dominance, the U.S. alone isn’t enough.”

“The Chinese side… will be quite difficult.”

“That’s exactly why they need veterans like us. Weapons that can operate freely without the constraints of the law.”

Africa, Europe, and now China. Gwangwoon’s reach was extending ever more boldly.

Perhaps that was why. This moment was far more thrilling than anything he’d done at the CIA.

< End of Chapter 164 >